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TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration i Acknowledgement ii Abstract iii Table of contents iv List of charts vi INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale Objectives of the study Scope of the study Methods of the study Design of the study DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Pronunciation 1.1.1 Definition of pronunciation 1.1.2 The importance of pronunciation 1.2 Pronunciation in language teaching 1.2.1 The status of pronunciation in current language teaching 1.2.2 Elements of pronunciation teaching 1.2.3 Current ideas on pronunciation teaching and learning 1.2.4 Teachers‟ roles 10 1.2.5 Learners‟ roles 10 1.3 The use of games and other communicative activities in pronunciation teaching 11 iv TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 13 2.1 Context of the study 13 2.2 Participants of the study 14 2.3 Activities applied in the course 14 2.4 Instruments 18 2.4.1 Diagnostic test 19 2.4.2 Final oral examination 19 2.4.3 Questionnaire 19 2.4.4 Teacher‟s notes 20 CHAPTER 3: DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 21 3.1 Quantitative results 21 3.1.1 Scores in diagnostic test and final oral exam 21 3.1.2 Responses to the questionnaire 22 3.2 Qualitative results - Teacher‟s notes and observations 31 3.2.1 Diagnostic Test Analysis 31 3.2.2 The researcher‟s observations during class time throughout the course 322 3.3 Discussion 34 3.3.1 The effectiveness of games and other stimulating activities 34 3.3.2 Some disadvantages of the use of games and other stimulating activities 35 CONCLUSION 37 Conclusion 37 Implications 38 Limitations of the study and suggestions for further study 39 REFERENCES 40 APPENDICES v TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com LIST OF CHARTS Chart 1: Students‟ scores in diagnostic test and final test Chart 2: The role of pronunciation in language learning Chart 3: The influence of pronunciation on speaking and listening Chart 4: Students‟ evaluation of their own pronunciation Chart 5: Students‟ evaluation of the difficulty of pronunciation Chart 6: Students‟ interest in learning pronunciation Chart 7: Students‟ effort in learning pronunciation Chart 8: Students‟ self-studying time Chart 9: Students‟ evaluation of pronunciation lessons Chart 10: Students‟ evaluation of the effectiveness of pronunciation lessons Chart 11: Students‟ evaluation of class activities Chart 12: Students‟ preference of activities inside class Chart 13: Students‟ preference of activities outside class vi TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com INTRODUCTION Rationale It is undeniable that English has become a language of global communication thanks to its contribution to different fields of our life such as: science, technology, aviation, diplomacy and so on No one can deny that the rapid expansion of information technologies and the spread of globalization have led to an explosion in the demand for English worldwide English is now taught throughout of Vietnam in different levels of education from primary schools to universities because it serves as an international language and as a mean to promote mutual understanding and cooperation between Vietnam and other countries In fact, more and more people desire to know and master English in order to keep them up-to-date with the global development As a result, English is taught not only at schools and universities but also at many foreign language centres, on radio, television and even via the internet However, both teaching and learning of English are still far from being satisfaction One main problem is that most Vietnamese learners are rather good at English writtenly but not orally Many of them have a good command of grammar and vocabulary, which promises very high marks in written tests, but cannot communicate successfully with foreigners The reason lies in the imbalanced development of four language skills In most schools and universities (except those whose major is English), teachers focus too much on reading and writing rather than speaking and listening of which pronunciation is a good foundation Thus, students not often have English competence, especially in oral communication In the present context of teaching and learning English at English Department, HANU, speaking and listening are very important for first year students because they establish a firm base for students‟ further development, especially in interpreting skills In recent years, the department has taken teaching and learning pronunciation into consideration because it is a paramount feature of speaking and listening Being a teacher of English in general, and pronunciation in particular at English Department, HANU, I am well aware of the importance of pronunciation to TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com help my students improve these skills, but like other teachers, I have faced many difficulties in creating motivation so that students are eager to practise in and out of their classes After two years teaching pronunciation separately from speaking to first year students, we have realized that the class time is not enough for our students to have great improvement However, just few students are motivated and spend time self-studying Thus, even though we have tried our best in class, our students still have a lot of problems in pronunciation, which badly affects their speaking and listening skills We have questioned ourselves about how to motivate our students to maximize their time of practising in class and even outside class, which leads to the use of games and other stimulating activities We have tried activities collected from different sources, which seems to bring about great effect However, we just have the feeling but not a specific study on how effective they are Therefore, I have conducted an action research on the application of games and other activities in teaching pronunciation to first year students at English Department, HANU in order to investigate the effectiveness and to help other teachers choose suitable activities for their classes Objectives of the study The study is aimed at: Finding out their advantages and disadvantages Helping pronunciation teachers choose suitable activities for their classes Thus, this thesis is to answer two research questions: How effective is the use of games and some other stimulating activities? What are students‟ attitude towards the use of games and some other stimulating activities? Scope of the study To create motivation for students in pronunciation classes, teachers at English Department, HANU, have applied a lot of games and activities However, the researcher in this study only focuses on and analyzes some typical ones (which will be presented in the following parts) and then suggests some effective activities that teachers can introduce to students so that they have more practice outside class TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com There are 10 first year classes which consist of 250 students who have to take pronunciation as a compulsory subject; however, this action research was carried out in only two classes of which the researcher was in charge Thus, the questionnaire was delivered to only 50 participants Additionally, the study was conducted in only 12 of the total 32 weeks of pronunciation teaching Methods of the study Action research is the method employed in this study To achieve the aims mentioned above, the researcher has used a number of instruments to collect data for analysis which include a questionnaire distributed before the term started and after it ended, teachers‟ observation and notes, an oral diagnostic test, and end-ofterm test Design of the study This minor thesis is composed of three parts Part 1, INTRODUCTION, presents the rationale, aims, scope, methods and design of the study Part 2, DEVELOPMENT, is divided into three chapters Chapter 1, Literature Review, presents relevant concepts to pronunciation and pronunciation teaching Chapter 2, Methodology, involves the information about context, participants and instruments of the study Chapter 3: Data Presentation, Analysis and Discussion, focuses on data analysis to show students‟ point of view towards pronunciation and the effectiveness of different activities Part 3, CONLUSION, summarizes some major findings, provide implications for pronunciation teaching, limitation of the study and suggestions for further research TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Pronunciation 1.1.1 Definition of pronunciation There are various ways to define pronunciation Macmillan Dictionary gives an easy-to-understand definition, that is “the way in which a word or language is pronounced” Similarly, Oxford Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary defines pronunciation as the way in which a language or a particular word or sound is pronounced or the way in which a particular person pronounces the words of a language More specifically, pronunciation can be understood as one of the three explanations given in the http://www.thefreedictionary.com: The act or manner of pronouncing words; utterance of speech A way of speaking a word, especially a way that is accepted or generally understood A graphic representation of the way a word is spoken, using phonetic symbols According to Adult Migrant English Program Research Centre, pronunciation refers to the production of sounds that we use to make meaning It includes attention to the particular sounds of a language (segments), aspects of speech beyond the level of the individual sound, such as intonation, phrasing, stress, timing, rhythm (suprasegmental aspects), how the voice is projected (voice quality) and, in its broadest definition, attention to gestures and expressions that are closely related to the way we speak a language It is obvious that the four sources above not have the same way to define pronunciation but they share a common knowledge that pronunciation is how words or sentences are spoken 1.1.2 The importance of pronunciation Nowadays, no one can deny the significant role of pronunciation in language teaching and learning Pronunciation is one of the most important aspects of language We may be proficient at grammar and have a huge store of vocabulary, TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com but if we pronounce words wrongly, we just will not get understood Wong (1993) argues that the importance of pronunciation is even more distinct when the connection between pronunciation and listening comprehension is considered As listeners expect spoken English to follow certain patterns of rhythm and intonation, speakers need to employ these patterns to communicate effectively If the rhythm and intonation are different, listeners simply can‟t get the meaning Similarly, listeners need to know how speech is organized and what patterns of intonation mean in order to interpret speech accurately Thus, learning about pronunciation develops learners‟ abilities to comprehend spoken English Furthermore, Wong demonstrated that a lack of knowledge of pronunciation could even affect students‟ reading and spelling Varonis and Gass (1982) examined the factors affecting listening comprehension in native speakers of English exposed to foreign or second language accents They concluded that grammar and pronunciation interact to influence overall intelligibility As indicated above, it is surely that pronunciation plays a very important role in communicative competence because successful communication can not take place without correct pronunciation (Celce-Murcia, Briton and Goodwin, 1996) 1.2 Pronunciation in language teaching 1.2.1 The status of pronunciation in current language teaching The status of pronunciation teaching in different schools of language teaching has varied widely According to Castillo (1990), pronunciation teaching has no role at all in the grammar-translation method, but it is the main focus in the audio-lingual method The audio-lingual view of the pronunciation class was also mirrored in situational language teaching, developed in Britain (Richards and Rodgers, 1986) During the late 1960's and the 1970's questions were asked about the role of pronunciation in the ESL/EFL curriculum, whether the focus of the programmes and the instructional methods were effective or not Pronunciation programmes until then were 'viewed as meaningless non-communicative drill-andexercise gambits' (Morley, 1991) Purcell and Suter (1980) claimed that the teaching of pronunciation was pushed aside in many language programmes and TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com many studies concluded that little relationship exists between teaching pronunciation in the classroom and attained proficiency in pronunciation They also found out that the strongest factors that affect pronunciation seem to have little to with classroom activities' Nowadays, teachers and learners have realized the importance of pronunciation in English teaching and learning, however, it still has not received enough attention In fact, pronunciation tends to be de-emphasized in most English courses because many teachers believe that pronunciation cannot be taught effectively and it is not worth spending time on this field because it should be allowed to develop naturally by students Although Morley (1991) insisted that it is necessary to teach English pronunciation in the ESL or EFL classroom, this important area is still neglected at many universities and colleges around the world According to Michael Wei, in China, there is no place for English phonetics courses in English teaching and learning and a pronunciation course is still only an elective in the universities or colleges According to Lin, Fan and Chen (1995) some teachers in Taiwan might argue that English pronunciation is not important at all, for very few tests would require students to show abilities related to pronunciation or speaking Michael Wei also pointed out that in the U.S., many students and teachers believe that it is useless spending time on pronunciation because it would be difficult, if not impossible for students to hear differences English pronunciation is simply ignored in the curriculum of some universities in Thailand (Wei and Zhou, 2002) In Mexico, pronunciation was described as “the Cinderella of language teaching”; that means an often low level of emphasis was placed on this very important language skill (Dalton, 2002) As mentioned above, pronunciation is still neglected in EFL/ESL classrooms throughout the world including Asia today In reality, this ignorance has been noticed by few teachers of ESL/ EFL who have recently provided valuable empirical articles with model techniques and activities that help to improve pronunciation in and outside class Till now, new ways of teaching pronunciation are still developed and tested, then there is still a need for careful experimentation to determine the effectiveness of methods TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 1.2.2 Elements of pronunciation teaching Different researchers have different points of view toward what should be taught in pronunciation classes Colin Mortimer (1985) claimed that elements of pronunciation teaching include weak forms, clusters, linking-up, contractions and stress time However, according to Gerald Kelly (2000), teaching pronunciation involves: vowels, consonants, word and sentence stress, intonation, other aspects of connected speech and spelling Jennifer Jenkins (2004) provided more comprehensive elements of pronunciation teaching This researcher stated that depending on the second language in question, pronunciation teaching typically covers any or all of the following: consonant and vowel sounds, changes of these sounds in the stream of connected speech, word stress patterns, rhythm, and intonation, which might be described as the nuts and bolts of pronunciation Consonant and vowel sounds It is obvious that learners of English need to know and pronounce letter sounds correctly because they are the basement for the combination of sounds into words However, students must know that English pronunciation does not match spelling and one of the most confusing aspects of English pronunciation is sound and spelling patterns English has borrowed lots of words from other languages such as ancient Latin, Greek, Eskimo and Farsi, so its sound and spelling correspondences are irregular Thus, phonetic transcription is an indispensable part of pronunciation teaching Word stress patterns Word stress must highly be focused on at the beginning of any pronunciation courses because without correct word stress, speakers of English cannot have understandable pronunciation In every two or more-syllable words, one of the syllables is stressed, which means it is higher, louder and longer than the others This stressed syllable is very important because it helps listeners distinguish the word from others Therefore, listeners often find it hard to understand what the speaker is saying when he or she misuses word stress TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com APPENDIX Teacher’s observation and anecdotal notes Date 18/10/2010 .Time 7.30-9.00 a.m .Class…5A10… Homework check: All students completed their homework……… ………………… Contents:…/i:/ , //, /u:/, //……………… …………………………………………… Activities applied:……………Sounds in focus……………………………………… Students’ attendance 24 students were present student was absent due to her illness Classroom atmosphere Relaxing, entertaining and competitive Students’ participation and performance Participation: Most students were excited about making sentences including the pairs of sounds Almost all of them were willing to read their work aloud with great enthusiasm However, some students were still shy and timid, they kept silent and did not contribute any ideas to sentence making Performance: Students were very creative and made a lot of interesting sentences They read the sentences loudly and clearly Some students showed the distinction between the two sounds in pairs, but many others still could not distinguish those sounds both in speaking and listening There were a lot of problems with word stress and sentence stress when students orally presented their work Teacher’s difficulties It was sometimes too noisy when students were working in pairs, so it was rather hard for the teacher to drive them back to class work XIX TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com APPENDIX Teacher’s observation and anecdotal notes Date 8/11/2010 .Time 9.30-11.00 a.m .Class…6A10………… Homework check: students did not complete their homework……… …………… Contents:…//, // /e/ …………………………… ……………………………… Activities applied:……………Poem composing.……………………………………… Students’ attendance All 25 students were present Classroom atmosphere Joyful and friendly Students’ participation and performance Participation: Students were eager to join the activity Most of them were happy when being called randomly by the teacher to present their utterances Some other students were nervous and anxious when the teacher called them They refuse to make utterances including the diphthongs Performance: Students produced many interesting and funny utterances They had better pronunciation of vowel sounds and diphthongs However the minority of students still pronounced the diphthongs too short, which made the sounds not sound like two vowel sounds Many students still had problems with word stress and put more force on the last syllable (anxious, nervous, strongest, etc) Their intonation was still not good and rather flat They dropped the final sounds very often Teacher’s difficulties It was sometimes hard for the teacher to encourage some very timid and shy students to take part in the activity XX TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com APPENDIX Teacher’s observation and anecdotal notes Date 13/12/2010 Time 9.30-11.00 a.m .Class…5A10… Homework check: None of the students forgot to complete their homework………… Contents: Sentence stress and intonation.…………… ……………………………… Activities applied:……………Subtitle reading.……………………………………… Students’ attendance All 25 students were present Classroom atmosphere Relaxing and encouraging Students’ participation and performance Participation: Many students volunteered to take part in the activity Some others were nervous and anxious when the teacher called them Most of the students enjoyed watching the clips and listening to their friends reading the subtitles They were very attentive and kept silent when their classmates were reading Performance: Students had better pronunciation of vowel sounds and diphthongs They were more aware of the final sounds and more careful when pronouncing them Most students had a lot of improvement in word stress and sentence stress, at least when they tried to imitate the intonation of the characters in the clips However, some others still had flat intonation and did not show their emotion in the reading Teacher’s difficulties Preparing for the lesson was time consuming The teacher had encountered some problems when using the software named Mc Funsoft Editor to extract the clips from the whole films At the beginning of the lesson, the speakers did not work well, so it was hard for the students to hear the characters‟ voice It took time to fix the problem XXI TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com APPENDIX Pronunciation Games SENTENCE STRESS & INTONATION WORD STRESS INDIVIDUAL SOUNDS FOCUS GAME PAGE Hidden names 34 Pronunciation journey 36 NOTE This game can be used to help Ss revise stress in multi-syllable words by changing the rules Turn left if Ss hear words that have stress on the 1st syllable Turn right if Ss hear words that have stress on the 2nd syllable Wind a word 46 Two vowel jigsaw 52 Phonetic crossword 66 Bingo 70 Stress dice 19 It is not easy to have a dice for each pair/ group To carry out this game in class, T can print the stress patterns on pieces of paper and give each pair/ group a set of pieces Ss take turns to pick a piece of paper instead of throwing the dice Stepping stones 22 This game can be used to help Ss revise stress in words with more than two syllables by replacing the words on the stones with those T wants to check and ask Ss to step on the words that have the same stress pattern Happy family 27 Fishing 84 Intonation direction 104 This game is used to help Ss mainly revise contrastive and emphatic stress XXII TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com APPENDIX TOMB GUEST SCISSORS STREET THANK JUDGE YOUNG TWICE WOOD PAIL TREES LIVE WHICH SIX PIN THOSE ROUGH FULL BAD EXIT CLOTHES FIFTH WOUND CURVE XXIII TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com APPENDIX 10 p ð ɪ əʊ b s e aʊ t z æ ɪə d ʃ ɒ eə k ʒ ʌ ɑː g h ʊ ɔː XXIV TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com tʃ m iː ʊə dʒ n eɪ ɜː f ŋ aɪ ə v l ɔɪ j θ r uː w XXV TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com APPENDIX 11 road thank nis quer safe ful com den ty hon merce tist home est broad mar work van cast ket sol ish king med dier warn dom ium sys ing un na tem sight ique tive tea see your rail spoon ten self XXVI TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com APPENDIX 12 ancestor imagine organic basketball afternoon memorize container magnify several factory battery wilderness allergy possibly operate volunteer sleeplessness crocodile history butterfly decorate already happily wherever difficult personal gravity minimum comedy multiply telescope injury barbecue XXVII TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com APPENDIX 13 Sounds in focus Sentences with / i:/ or / ɪ / There is a very big sheep licking milk and eating some meat in a pink ship On Christmas, in a very dirty kitchen, a big chicken and a tiny pig were eating something and feeling happy Peter was sitting with a big pig at the table in a big ship eating pizza, cheese, meat; drinking milk and coffee Smith is eating pizza, peaches, tea, meat, cream with his three teachers and six green sheep in the pink ship There is a cinema ticket on the seat in the building A police is reading about a thrilling film in an interesting magazine in his office A story with /t/ A frightening night I was sitting in a tiny tent at ten o'clock last night A little cat stepped lightly over my seat I thought it was a ghost so I shouted loudly Then, my sister turned on the flashlight, sat down next to me and asked "what?" I told her what happened and that I was frightened all the time She immediately understood all She gave me a cup of tea so I kept my temper for twelve minutes After that, I felt better but couldn't sleep till midnight XXVIII TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com A story with /k/ My uncle’s cat Kitty is my uncle's cat Its fur has colours: black and white My uncle takes care of it very carefully He usually takes it for a walk It often lies in the kitchen or under the desk It scarcely makes him angry Last weekend, it broke a vacuum flask and it also concealed his pocket in the cupboard In that pocket, there were many important things: his car's key, a ticket, his credit card, etc It took him all day to look for it However, he still likes the cat It is his close friend XXIX TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com APPENDIX 14 Poem composing My knight I love a handsome knight I dream of him every night We fly together in the sky Seeing many beautiful sights Wishing a happy life with a lovely child Hoping he has a dream as mine A strange sound I lived in a little town One night I heard some sound It seemed to be a little cow It was up and down Maybe the cow had a very big mouth I was curious and went out Amazingly I just saw a little mouse I ran out and shouted aloud!!! Nightmare In July, I met a nice guy We drank wine and ate chocopies Last night, we flew to high sky I admired his wonderful smile But finally he said goodbye I wondered whether he told a truth or a lie XXX TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com However, that made me wants to die A lie He is looking in to my eyes He has a beautiful smile The birds are singing in the sky It makes me want to fly Suddenly he kisses my eyes It makes me surprised I feel happy in my life And I want to be his wife But…I am telling a lie XXXI TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com APPENDIX 15 News reading An ordinary student becomes famous Yesterday, the sixth of April, people all over the world were extremely shocked by a piece of news Michael Jackson is a famous pop star with a special style who has a younger sister lost when she was born in hospital Until now, approximately 19 years went by, nobody has heard any pieces of information about her Suddenly, the Jacksons saw a girl in a fashion show on TV yesterday morning They were surprised that her face and Michael‟s were as like as two peas Immediately, they investigated about her Unbelievably, she is now living in Vietnam And guess what? Her Vietnamese name is Nguyễn Thị Thu Huyền More specially, she is studying at Hanoi University at 5A10 The Jacksons decide to fly to Vietnam to pick their daughter up tomorrow It is a great honor for Vietnamese people! An important event for Vietnam’s universities In Hanoi University, there was an important event on April, which attracted the attention of many people, especially students of other universities Bill Clinton- the former president of the United State- visited and had a talk show with all students in this school Mr Clinton appreciated the scholastic achievements of class 5A10 of English Department Each student in this class had the honour of being shaking his hand The talk show lasted hours and didn‟t intend to stop until Mr Clinton said that he had to come back to America to be in an important meeting He promised to come here some other times because of many beautiful and lovely girls in 5A10 The monitor of 5A10 showed deep gratitude to Mr President for his visiting XXXII TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com Pitiful boys' accident Yesterday, 2th April, a very dreadful incident was happening in Hanoi University All of the teachers and students of this university were announced to leave the building at once FBI, CIA and many police were coming and blockaded everywhere surrounding They immediately found a doubtful package on the floor in class 6A10 The small package contained something which had very bad odour At least boys of class 6A10 were fainted right after having smelt it After hours of being enthusiastically aided, they didn't wake up and were all still falling in a deep coma No one dared to open or even come close to the package The situation was going to panic until one of the boys, Quang Huy, recovered his consciousness: He slowly spoke with very weak voice :" I don't know what happened First, Cong and then, Viet were falling down The last victim may be me." “Do you think there is a very dangerous poison in the package?" asked the FBI staff “No, that‟s only our sticky rice for breakfast We saved it for months in the drawer and decided to eat it this morning We felt really hungry So, where is our breakfast???" Huy questioned back with great anxiety XXXIII TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ... taken teaching and learning pronunciation into consideration because it is a paramount feature of speaking and listening Being a teacher of English in general, and pronunciation in particular at English. .. use of games and some other stimulating activities? What are students? ?? attitude towards the use of games and some other stimulating activities? Scope of the study To create motivation for students. .. pronunciation (Celce-Murcia, Briton and Goodwin, 1996) 1.2 Pronunciation in language teaching 1.2.1 The status of pronunciation in current language teaching The status of pronunciation teaching
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