DICTATION AND ITS BENEFITS FOR TEACHING PRONUNCIATION TO EFL VIETNAMESE COLLEGE STUDENTS

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY NGUYEN THI NGOC THAO DICTATION AND ITS BENEFITS FOR TEACHING PRONUNCIATION TO EFL VIETNAMESE COLLEGE STUDENTS Major: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.01.11 MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION Supervisor: Dr Tran Thi Ngoc Yen Nghe An, 2017 ABSTRACT Dictation is a teaching technique which has been proved effective at all levels of EFL instruction This study, in the first place, explored the impact of dictation activities on EFL Vietnamese college students’ pronunciation The study also aimed to determine the role of frequency in using dictation activities to achieve optimal results An experiment was conducted among three groups of college students The control group did not receive any dictation activities while one treatment group had one and the other had two dictation sessions a week After the treatment, the three groups had the post-test, which was designed to evaluate their pronunciation Two comparisons were made: a comparison between the average total scores of the control groups and the two treatment groups, and a comparison between the average total scores of the first and the second treatment groups It was found that both treatment groups outperformed the control group, but the treatment group that had two dictation sessions a week achieved better results than the other treatment group Based on these results, the relationship between more frequent dictation and better pronunciation competence was consolidated ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Tran Thi Ngoc Yen, lecturer of Faculty of English, Vinh University, for her enthusiastic instructions, careful guidance, invaluable advice and encouragement from the first draft till the completed thesis I am also grateful to my lecturers at Faculty of English, Vinh University, for all their kind guide and help I also wish to thank my colleagues and students at Long An Teacher Training College for all their help to finish the study My special thank also go to my family who have been interminably encouraging and facilitating me to fulfill this assignment TABLE OF CONTENTS IST OF CHARTS Chart 4.1: Result description of the General test - the Control class Chart 4.2: Result description of the General test - the Treatment class A Chart 4.3: Result description of the General test - the Treatment class B Chart 4.4: Pre-test results of the control class Chart 4.5: Pre-test results of the treatment class A Chart 4.6: Pre-test results of the treatment class B Chart 4.7: Post-test result of the control class Chart 4.8: Post-test result of the treatment class A Chart 4.9: Post-test result of the treatment class B Chart 4.10: Result description for the pre-test and post-test of the control class and the treatment class A Chart 4.11: Comparison the means of the pre- test and post-test for the control class and the treatment class A Chart 4.12: Result description of the pre-test and post-test for the treatment class A and the treatment class B Chart 4.13: Comparison the means of the pre- test and post-test for the treatment class A and the treatment class B LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1: The test result of the previous semester (before the treatment time) Table 4.2: The test result of the pre-test Table 4.3: Mean scores on pre-test of the control class and the treatment classes Table 4.4: The result of the post-test Table 4.5: Mean scores on post-test of the control class and the treatment classes Table 4.6: Mean and standard deviations of participants’ pronunciation increases (post-test minus pre-test) for the control class and the treatment class A Table 4.7: Mean and standard deviations of participants’ pronunciation increases (post-test minus pre-test) for the treatment class A and the treatment class B CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Introduction Language is a means of communication and English has become a language for global communication these days Richards (1991) stated that it is a medium for international commerce, industry, communication and a source of scientific and technological advancement Its role in the academic world cannot be overemphasized In Viet Nam educational system, English language has been treated as one of the compulsory subjects And Vietnamese students now are studying English also for their own communicative skills The growing emphasis on communicative approaches for the teaching of English has placed higher needs for correct pronunciation, especially with English majored students at a ‘teachers training’ college Current pedagogical thinking and research on pronunciation reveals that intelligible pronunciation is a very essential component of communicative competence Pronunciation is definitely the biggest thing that people notice when you are speaking English Vietnamese students encounter many difficulties when they learn to pronounce English sounds The pronunciation of another sound system is really a factor that they find difficult In Vietnamese, a letter is often represented by the same phoneme (except /r/, /ng, ngh/, /k/ (c,k) While in English, the same letter may represent different sounds or each English sound has more than just one pronunciation For example, in Received Pronunciation, the letter ‘a’ has many different pronunciations, including /æ/ as in trap, bat; /ɑː/ as in ask (BrE), bath (BrE); /eɪ/ as in face, famous; and /eə/ as in care, parent It also can be pronounced /ɔː/ as in all or it can be used as schwa If the learners have no knowledge about this inconsistency, this will lead to unintelligible pronunciation As one of the oldest language teaching activities, dictation has been neglected by teachers For them, the word ‘dictation’ is synonymous with ‘old-fashioned’ and ‘teacher-centred’ In fact, with a number of studies and commentaries, dictation is regarded as a supportive learning technique It is thought that dictation can help develop all language skills, that is, grammar, oral communication, listening comprehension, especially pronunciation First year students at Long An teachers training college have to complete the English courses with the course book “American English File” by Clive Oxenden, Christina Latham-Koenig and Paul Seligson (Oxford, 2008) From my own observation and experiences, my students who were confident in their knowledge of Grammar had serious problems in pronunciation Because of their poor pronunciation, they usually felt unconfident when communicating as well as get difficulty in Listening and Speaking They thought that it was no worth learning and boring of learning pronunciation In order to improve my students’ pronunciation, I chose to conduct a study on ‘Dictation and its benefits for teaching pronunciation to EFL Vietnamese college students’ 1.2 Rationale Teaching pronunciation involves a variety of challenges Teachers often find that they not have enough time in class to give proper attention to this aspect of English instruction Drilling sounds over and over again (e.g., minimal pair work) often leads to discouraging results, and discouraged students and teachers end up wanting to avoid pronunciation altogether Moreover, most of the students were convinced that English pronunciation was exceptionally difficult and their affective links with their mother tongue are normally positive and strong The use of dictation as a valuable language teaching and learning technique has gone through a long history and has been used for centuries all over the world Research has shown that dictation can help students improve different aspects of their language proficiency as Davis and Rinvolucri (2002) explained that “Dictation provides activities suitable for a wide range of levels and ages, example texts for many activities, opportunities for students to create their own texts, and a variety of suggested correction techniques” It is surprising that despite all the benefits, dictation is not widely used in teaching English because some linguists/teachers consider it teacher-centered and old-fashioned This study was written for my improvement of teaching English pronunciation As a teacher of English, I wish to re-introduce dictation as a beneficial language teaching and learning device and to suggest ways for using it in an effective and interesting manner in order to for EFL Vietnamese college students to achieve intelligible pronunciation 1.3 Aims of the study The aim of the thesis is to explore dictation and its benefits for teaching pronunciation to EFL Vietnamese college students 1.4 Research questions The thesis is designed to answer the two following research questions: - What is the impact, if there is any, of dictation activities on EFL Vietnamese college students’ pronunciation? - How often should dictation activities be used in order for EFL Vietnamese college students to achieve optimal results? 1.5 Scope of the study There are a large number of definitions about pronunciation In this thesis, pronunciation is defined as ‘a way of speaking a word, especially a way that is accepted or generally understood’ (American Heritage Dictionary, rd, 1992) It is also the scope of the study 10 In addition, this thesis was aimed at doing research among adult learners Young learners were not included in this research 1.6 Thesis design The thesis is divided into five chapters: Chapter is an introduction to the whole thesis It includes the rationale of the study, aims of the study, research questions, scope of the study and thesis design of the study Chapter is about literature review This chapter consists of five parts It presents the definition and role of pronunciation in communication Factors affecting pronunciation learning, common pronunciation problems met by Vietnamese learners of English and methods to teach English pronunciation are also included in this chapter The next part of the chapter is about assessing EFL pronunciation ability, definition of dictation, history of dictation across foreign language methodologies, characteristics of dictation as well as different types of dictation and the use of dictation in teaching English pronunciation Chapter describes the methodology of the research which consists of research questions, participants, materials and procedure Chapter 4, Findings and Discussions, gives a detailed presentation of the effects of dictation on the participants’ pronunciation and the role of frequency The last part of the chapter includes the discussion of the results and findings Chapter is the conclusion of the research It presents summary of the findings, conclusions, limitations of the study and suggestions for further research In the last part of the thesis, references and appendices are given in order to assure that the study is really valid 69 Try to ask impersonal …………… like “I love your bag Where did you get it?” That will help to start a conversation Smile, smile, smile Use your body …………… to give a positive, …………… impression That way people will want to talk to you *Student B: How to survive at a party … (When you don't know anybody!) Has this ever happened to you? You …………… at a party or wedding reception where you don't know anybody Everybody there seems to know each other What can you do? Here are five simple tips Don’t stand in the corner You need to be positive Find somebody you ………… you would like to meet and go and ……… …… yourself Try to ask impersonal questions like “I love your bag Where did you get it?” That will help to start a conversation ……………, …………., …………… Use your body language to give a positive, friendly impression That …………… people will want to talk to you Key: Student A: Everybody corner questions language smile Way friendly Student B: arrive think introduce This reading article was originally designed for Grammar learning Instead of asking the students to read the article about parties and complete the five rules with an infinitive then lead to the main grammar point This dictation activity not only met the requirement about Grammar learning but also help to improve students’ pronunciation, not to mention the fun and interesting atmosphere which is essential for students to learn and develop 70 This kind of dictation was not only used to teach Grammar point as mentioned above but also was developed for Writing skill teaching For the primitive design on page 61 at the end of unit 5, students were asked to read the e-mail to a language school then look at the highlighted expressions in order to identify the differences between formal and informal e-mail (or letter) With this adapted dictation activity, students could learn writing skill through dictation activity with fun and exciting + Student A: Dear Sir / Madam, I am writing to ask for information about your ……… courses I am ……… interested in an intensive course of two or three weeks I am 31 and I work in the library at the National University of Colombia at Medellin I can read English fairy well, but I need to ………… my listening and speaking The book I am currently studying is at a pre-intermediate level I have looked at your website, but there is no information about intensive courses next …………… Could you please send me information about dates and prices? I would also like some information about accommodation If possible would like to stay with a family My wife is going to ………… me for a weekend when I am at the school Could she stay with me in the same family? I look forward to hearing from you Sincerely, Hugo Lopez + Student B: Dear Sir / Madam, I am writing to ask for information about your language courses I am especially interested in an intensive …… … of two or three weeks I am 31 71 and I work in the … at the National University of Colombia at Medellin I can read English …………… well, but I need to improve my listening and speaking The book I am currently studying is at a preintermediate level I have looked at your website, but there is no information about intensive courses next summer Could you ……… send me information about dates and prices? I would also like some information about accommodation If possible would like to stay with a family My wife is going to visit me for a weekend when I am at the school Could she stay with me in the same family? I look forward to hearing from you ………………, Hugo Lopez Key: Student A: language especially improve summer visit Student B: course library fairy please sincerely Proceeding Reading skill with dictation activity was apparently endorsed In part – Reading – of unit 6C, a cloze dictation activity was applied +Student A: How to make decisions When you have to ………… between two possibilities: - Take your time The most important thing is not to make a ………… in a hurry - Make a list of the positive and negative points for both options Then ………… which points are most important and compare the two lists - If you ask other people for their …………., don’t ask more than one or two If you ask a lot of people, this will probably confuse you 72 - When you’ve made a decision, wait a bit before you tell other people, to see how you feel If you feel comfortable with your decision after an ……… , you have probably made the right decision +Student B: How to make decisions When you have to choose between two possibilities: - Take your time The most important thing is not to make a decision in a ……… - Make a list of the positive and negative points for both ……… Then decide which points are most important and ………… the two lists - If you ask other people for their advice, don’t ask more than one or two If you ask a lot of people, this will probably ………… you - When you’ve made a decision, wait a bit before you tell other people, to see how you feel If you feel comfortable with your decision after an hour, you have ……… made the right decision Key: Student A: choose Student B: hurry decision options decide advice hour compare confuse5 probably In part for Listening skill of unit 6D, teacher could also apply dictation activity to replace one part of the Listening activity In the textbook, students were asked to listen to three people (Barbara, Kelvin and Catherine) calling What’s the Problem? then complete the sentences with one word Instead of having students listened to the whole listening, one part of the listening (calling from Kelvin) was adapted into cloze dictation activity +Student A: Presenter: Our ………… caller is Kevin Hello, Kelvin 73 Kevin: Hi Presenter: What’s the problem? Kevin: Uh, my problem is with my best ………… Well, the thing is, he’s always flirting with my girlfriend Presenter: Your best friend flirts with your girlfriend? Kevin: Yes, when the three of us are together, he always says things to my girlfriend like, “Wow! You look …………… today,” or “I love your dress, Suzanne,” things like that And when we’re at parties, he always asks her to ………… Presenter: Well, you think he’s in love with your girlfriend? Kevin: I don’t know, but I’m really ………… about it What can I do? Presenter: Well, let’s see if one of our listeners can help, Kelvin +Student B: Presenter: Our next caller is Kevin Hello, Kelvin Kevin: Hi Presenter: What’s the ……………? Kevin: Uh, my problem is with my best friend Well, the thing is, he’s always flirting with my girlfriend Presenter: Your best friend flirts with your girlfriend? Kevin: Yes, when the ………… of us are together, he always says things to my girlfriend like, “Wow! You look fantastic ……… ,” or “I love your dress, Suzanne,” things like that And when we’re at parties, he always asks her to dance Presenter: Well, you ………… he’s in love with your girlfriend? Kevin: I don’t know, but I’m ………… angry about it What can I do? 74 Presenter: Well, let’s see if one of our listeners can help, Kelvin Key: Student A: next friend fantastic Student B: problem three today dance angry think really Picture dictation is a low preparation fun activity that works well with large classes In part 3C – Communication (Pronunciation) unit 5D, instead of the original activity: “Cross country: Tell your partner where the runner went”, the two pictures were given to student A and B for picture dictation activity Teacher explained that student A was the organizer of a cross-country race He/she had to plan the race for the runners Student A drew a route on the map marker MY RACE, beginning at START and finishing at the FINISH line All the things in the picture must be included, but he/she could choose the order Next, student A described his/her route to his/her partner, for example: You have to go down the hill, around the lake, etc Student B had to draw it on his/her map marked MY PARTNER’S RACE Then, the two students would compare the two routes and change roles (The pictures are taken from part – Pronunciation/Communication, on page 117, American English File 2, Oxford University Press, 2008) Similar cloze dictation, drawing to 75 dictation can also be applied for teaching different skills In the drawing dictation activity for for unit 7C – Grammar, student A will read aloud the five sentences with USED TO and DIDN’T USE TO about a boy called James and student B will draw two pictures: “THEN” and “NOW” to see how James has changed He used to have short hair He didn’t use to be slim He didn’t use to wear glasses He used to wear a uniform He didn’t use to drink wine Then, they change role Student B reads aloud the other five sentences about Thomas Student A also draws two pictures about Thomas to see the differences between “THEN” and “NOW” He used to have longer hair He used to wear glasses He didn’t use to wear a uniform He used to like wearing T-shirt He didn’t use to smoke In case you are not an artist, drawing a picture is really funny and exciting, especially when you are required to draw an animal At the beginning of unit 6B, instead of teaching Speaking & Listening then Grammar alternately, teacher asked one student reads aloud the sentences, one by one for his/her partner, or even for the whole class, to draw a picture of an animal to fill in the blanks What would you if you were in the middle of a river and suddenly you saw a …………… swimming quickly toward you? 76 What would you if you were in a forest and a very large ………… came toward you? What would you if you saw a …………… in your room? If I see a ……………., I would be terrified! I wouldn’t know what to if I found a ………… in my garden Key: crocodile bear spider snake horse A musical or song dictation is surely very exciting and encouraging With dictation activity for unit 6B, teacher can use the song “Wouldn’t it be nice?” which related to the main points of the unit Wouldn't it be nice if we were older? Then we wouldn't have to ………… so long And wouldn't it be nice to live together In the kind of ………… where we belong You know it's gonna make it that much better When we can say goodnight and ……… together Wouldn't it be nice if we could wake up In the morning when the day is new? And after having spent the day together Hold each other close the whole night ………… Happy times together we've been spending I wish that every ………… was never ending Wouldn't it be nice? Maybe if we think, and wish, and …………., and pray, it might come true 77 Baby, then there wouldn't be a … …… thing we couldn't We could be married And then we'd be ………… Wouldn't it be nice? You know it seems the more we ………… about it It only makes it 10 ………… to live without it But let's talk about it Wouldn't it be nice? Key: wait hope world single stay nice through talk kiss 10 worse Songs with soft tunes and lyrics help students remember easily the grammar point In the case of the grammar point “used to”, students assuredly never forget with the song “It’s all over now” at the end of the unit Well, baby used to stay out all night long She made me ……… , she done me wrong She hurt my ……… open, that's no lie Tables turn and now her turn to cry Because I used to love her, but it's all over now Because I used to love her, but it's all over now Well, she used to ………… around with every man in town She spent all my … …… , playing her high ……… Game She put me out, it was a pity how I cried Tables turn and now her turn to cry Because I used to love her, but it's all over now Because I used to love her, but it's all over now 78 Well, I used to …… … the morning, get my ……… in bed When I'd gotten worried she'd ease my aching ………… But now she's here and there, with every man in town Still trying to take me for that same old clown Because I used to love her, but it's all over now Because I used to love her, but it's all over now Because I used to love her, but it's all over now Because I used to love her, but it's all over now 79 Key: cry eyes run money class wake breakfast head In standard orthography (the system of spelling in a language), the same letter can be used to represent different sounds In unit 6D, part about pronunciation of the sound /ʊ/ with the usual spelling “u” and “oo” and in cases of the words would, should, woman and could Students have a tendency to pronounce /ʊ/ for all the words with the letter “u” or “oo” In order to help students to recognize this problem, a dictation activity which is a variance of minimal pair dictation was applied Teacher showed words that content the letter “u” and “oo” on the board and marked with number Student had to decide the correct pronunciation of the words If they thought that the word is pronounced with the sound /ʊ/ then they raised their right hands; otherwise, they raised their left hands book bus choose should floor good lucky pull busy 10 ugly 13 room 14 food 15 tooth 11 look 12 door Another exciting dictation activity was applied for unit 7A As the students had tendency of pronouncing all the letters “i" with the sound /ɪ/, the teacher had dictation activity, other version of minimal pair dictation, in order to help them distinguish /ɪ/ and /aɪ/ sounds Instead of raising hands, the teacher assigns each sound an action, the sound /ɪ/ could be "stand up", and the sound /aɪ/ could be "sit down" Then teacher calls out the words, and the students should perform the action The last student to the correct action becomes 'caller' and calls out the next word child children since win wine life live (v) mind mint lion 80 litre promise like hit hide minute retire high rice mice In this activity, the teacher re-designed a pronunciation activity in the coursebook Instead of asking the students to put the words in the correct column, teacher assigned another work with interesting dictation activity Dictation test (Pre-test and Post-test) Read aloud the words: world heart enough bread busy promise through friend quiet 10 exhausted 11 course 12 eye 13 ugly 14 really 15 spider 16 music 17 exam 18 language 19 great 20 bear 81 21 history 22 foreign 23 extremely 24 mind 25 decide 26 child 27 jealous 28 argue 29 earn 30 diet 31 lion 32 frightened 33 college 34 produce 35 ginger 36 aunt 37 northern 38 women 39 chemistry 40 advice Key: Because the students have been taking an English course based on American English (American English File 1&2, Oxford University Press, 2008), the pronunciation here is also based on American English – NAmE of the Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries 82 world /wɜːrld/ heart /hɑːrt/ enough /ɪˈnʌf/ bread /bred/ busy /ˈbɪzi/ promise /ˈprɑːmɪs/ through /θruː/ friend /frend/ quiet /ˈkwaɪət/ 10 exhausted /ɪɡˈzɔːstɪd/ 11 course /kɔːrs/ 12 eye /aɪ/ 13 ugly /ˈʌɡli/ 14 really /ˈriːəli/ 15 spider /ˈspaɪdər/ 16 music /ˈmjuːzɪk/ 17 exam /ɪɡˈzæm/ 18 language /ˈlæŋɡwɪdʒ/ 19 great /ɡreɪt/ 20 bear /ber/ 21 history /ˈhɪstri/ 22 foreign /ˈfɔːrən/ /ˈfɑːrən/ 23 extremely /ɪkˈstriːmli/ 24 mind /maɪnd/ 83 25 decide /dɪˈsaɪd/ 26 child /tʃaɪld/ 27 jealous /ˈdʒeləs/ 28 argue /ˈɑːrɡjuː/ 29 earn /ɜːrn/ 30 diet /ˈdaɪət/ 31 lion /ˈlaɪən/ 32 frightened /ˈfraɪtnd/ 33 college /ˈkɑːlɪdʒ/ 34 produce /prəˈduːs/ 35 ginger /ˈdʒɪndʒər/ 36 aunt /ænt/ 37 northern /ˈnɔːrðərn/ 38 women /ˈwɪmɪn/ 39 chemistry /ˈkemɪstri/ 40 advice /ədˈvaɪs/ ... order to improve my students? ?? pronunciation, I chose to conduct a study on ? ?Dictation and its benefits for teaching pronunciation to EFL Vietnamese college students? ?? 1.2 Rationale Teaching pronunciation. .. order to for EFL Vietnamese college students to achieve intelligible pronunciation 1.3 Aims of the study The aim of the thesis is to explore dictation and its benefits for teaching pronunciation to. .. of dictation activities on EFL Vietnamese college students? ?? pronunciation? - How often should dictation activities be used in order for EFL Vietnamese college students to achieve optimal results?