The Ha Noi Department of Education and
Training said it had helped to improve pronunciation and spelling of Vietnamese
in primary schools in the capital with its new teaching programme.

Nguyen Tri Dung,
deputy head of the Primary Education Department, said the authority had been
running a pronunciation training programme since 2009 for both teachers and
students in primary schools in thirteen suburban districts with some success.

He said teachers and
children for example often had trouble distinguishing between the sounds of “l”
and “n”.

“This is a long-term
programme because the habit [of mispronouncing words] began long ago and cannot
be easily eliminated in a day or two,” Dung said.

Nguyen Thi Bich Hang,
a teacher at Trung Mau Primary School in Gia Lam District, said primary students
misspelled words because they were picking up bad habits from family members and
friends.

Hang said students’
diction was usually correct when reading out loud formally in class but that
they reverted to mispronouncing words out of school.

“Mispronunciation
leads to misspelling, and misspelling will negatively affect the students’
academic performance and cause problems in communication,” Hang said.

To tackle the
problem, the Department of Education and Training has drafted guidance documents
with suggested pronunciation training courses.

Hang said students
were asked to read stories, fill in the missing letters in a poem – particularly
involving “l” and “n” – and tell stories and take part in role-play.

The documents,
however, are for reference only. Primary schools are encouraged to be creative
and draft their own courses.

“In many schools that
I visit, the teachers make funny poems so that the students will have fun while
they practise reading,” Dung said.

To reduce confusion
between letters and promote accurate pronunciation, teachers have been asked to
correct students’ spelling and diction in non-language classes.

Pronunciation
training also forms part of extra-curricular activities. Meanwhile, teachers are
encouraged to meet regularly to boost their language skills.

Dung added that the
programme was designed to promote standard Vietnamese not just at school but in
society as a whole because students would interact with other members of the
community.

Vu Thi Du, the
principal of Quang Trung School in Phu Xuyen District, said the programme was
implemented two years ago and had achieved positive results.

Pronunciation and
spelling training is now given in all classes.

“I think the
programme is practical and useful,” Du said.

According to a survey
conducted in thirteen suburban districts by the Department of Education and
Training, the number of primary school teachers with poor diction had fallen
markedly and now stood at 9 per cent as opposed to 12 per cent at the end of the
2010-11 school year.

Meanwhile, the
proportion of students mispronouncing words has fallen from 22 per cent to 18
per cent during the same period.

The ministry surveyed
about 11,000 teachers and 204,000 students in thirteen suburban districts for
the study.

VietNamNet/Viet
Nam News