Using A Record Sorfware To Promote High School Students English Listening And Speaking Skills.pdf

Output file 1 Vietnam national university, Hanoi University of Languages and international studies Faculty of Post graduate Studies NGUYỄN THỊ THU THỦY USING A RECORD SOFTWARE TO PROMOTE HIGH SCHOOL S[.]

1 Vietnam national university, Hanoi University of Languages and international studies Faculty of Post-graduate Studies NGUYỄN THỊ THU THỦY USING A RECORD SOFTWARE TO PROMOTE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ ENGLISH LISTENING AND SPEAKING SKILLS (Sử dụng phần mềm ghi âm để phát triển kỹ nghe nói tiếng Anh học sinh trung học phổ thông) MA MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Supervisor: Trần Thị Thu Hiền, M.A Hanoi, 2010 Vietnam national university, Hanoi University of Languages and international studies Faculty of Post-graduate Studies NGUYỄN THỊ THU THỦY USING A RECORD SOFTWARE TO PROMOTE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ ENGLISH LISTENING AND SPEAKING SKILLS (Sử dụng phần mềm ghi âm để phát triển kỹ nghe nói tiếng Anh học sinh trung học phổ thông) MA MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: Hanoi, 2010 60 14 10 Table of contents DECLARATION i Acknowledgement ii Abstract iii List of abbreviation iv PART A: Introduction 1 Rationale Aims of study Scope of the study Hypothesis Methods of the study Organizations of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT Chapter Literature Review 1.1 Theoretical background of application technology in language teaching 1.2 Adobe Audition software: A description 11 1.2.1 Origin and evolution of Adobe Audition software 11 1.2.2 Available versions of Adobe Audition software 12 1.2.3 Functions of Adobe Audition 15 1.3 Benefits of using record software in listening and speaking teaching 16 1.4 Chapter summary 19 Chapter The Study 20 2.1 Setting of the study 20 2.2 Subjects 20 2.3 Instruments 21 2.3.1 Test 21 2.3.1.1 Listening test 22 2.3.1.2 Speaking test 23 2.4 Questionnaire 23 2.5 The Experiment 24 2.6 Data collection procedure 24 2.6.1 Listening test 25 2.6.2 Speaking test 25 2.6.3 Marking 27 2.6.4 Questionnaire 27 2.7 Data analysis procedure 27 2.8 Chapter summary 27 Chapter 3: Results and Discussion 28 3.1 Speaking test results 28 3.1.1 Pre - speaking test 29 3.1.2 Post - speaking test 30 3.2 Listening test results 31 3.2.1 Pre - listening test 31 3.2.2 Post - listening test 32 3.3 Students‟ interest in English speaking and listening lessons 33 3.3.1 Speaking 33 3.3.2 Listening 34 3.4 Discussion 35 3.5 Chapter summary 37 PART C: Conclusion 38 Major findings of the research 38 Concluding Remarks 39 Implications 39 Limitations 40 Recommendations 40 I References Appendix A Pre - post survey questions V Appendix B Speaking and listening lesson plans V Appendix C The five speaking criteria were specified into the marking scales XI Tables and charts Table 1.1 Listening test procedures and tasks 25 Table 1.2 Speaking test procedures and tasks 26 Table 3.1 Students‟ English speaking 28 Table 3.2 Students‟ English listening 31 Table 3.3 Speaking survey results 33 Table 3.4 Listening survey results 34 Chart 3.1 12D1 and 12D2 Pre- speaking level 29 Chart 3.2 12D1 and 12D2 Post- speaking level 30 Chart 3.3 12D1 and 12D2 Pre- listening level 31 Chart 3.4 12D1 and 12D2 Post- listening 32 Chart 3.5 12D1 and 12D2 Pre- post speaking data 33 Chart 3.6 12D1 and 12D2 Pre- post listening data 34 ABSTRACT The main aims of this study are to test the hypothesis on the benefits of applying record software named Adobe Audition in enhancing the high students English speaking and listening as well as in changing their interest in listening and speaking lessons To fulfill this objective, a quasi - experiment research method in which prepost tests and brief questionnaire survey were used as research tools in this study The results obtained from the study are as follow: both English speaking and listening increased when using record function in Adobe Audition software However, the promotion in students speaking was not as good as that in listening Both students‟ interest in English speaking and listening was raised after using Adobe Audition Hopefully, the results of the study can be used as referential material for teachers and students to enhance the effectiveness of using technology in teaching and learning English speaking and listening skills, and it will be the topic for other further studies in the future in reading and writing skills LIST OF ABBREVIATION CAPT: Computer Assisted Pronunciation Training CLT: Communicative language teaching CMC: Computer mediated communication EFL: English as Foreign Language FL: Foreign language ICT: Information and communication technology OHPs : Overhead projectors PBT: Paper based test TOEFL: Test of English as a Foreign Language V1: Version V2: Version V3: Version 10 PART A: Introduction Rationale English becomes very important in the time of globalization and as a result, communicative ability in English becomes necessary, and in many cases essential, to people of various professions This is true of Vietnam, too, where great efforts have been made to promote the quality of teaching and learning English At this time in Vietnam, the students who can speak English fluently are not many, which may be due to the fact that students are not tested orally Another factor accounting for students‟ low oral proficiency is that they not have adequate opportunities to produce the language In order to address the problem of inadequate exposure to the input of the target language and the opportunities for linguistic output, technology seems to be a workable solution The benefits of using technology in the language classroom have been studied by many researchers in applied linguistics in terms of its benefits to the development of students‟ communicative skills Unfortunately, these benefits have not been researched sufficiently in the context of Vietnamese schools, particularly, the high schools Thus, this study is an attempt to examine the benefits of using computer software to the students‟ speaking and listening proficiency The software which is experimented in this study is the „Adobe Audition‟, which is produced in the United States of America From my practical experience, the Adobe Audition software has a number of advantages when it is used in the classroom Firstly, it allows teachers to record their voice when necessary for different pedagogic purposes, to edit the recordings as they want to improve its quality, to give and check students‟ homework effectively The software also supports teachers and saves their time planning their lessons, presenting their lessons or producing recordings for testing students‟ listening comprehension Teachers feel free to edit the recorded messages easily, for example, by shortening or lengthening sentences, while guaranteeing the voice quality Secondly, the software allows students to record their own utterances as frequently as they wish or to make their own recordings for further practice at home The third benefit of the software is that, with this software, students can make video clips with their own scripts so that they can listen again to their own voice at home by means of a mobile phone or a computer As a result, students can reduce their 11 anxiety in practicing speaking English This is extremely important given the fact that students‟ anxiety is a common classroom problem in many Vietnamese high schools Fourthly, the software is instrumental to promoting learner autonomy because they can learn English according to their own time and interest outside the school where teachers‟ direct supervision is absent All the benefits mentioned above have been experienced by the researcher of this study herself However, those benefits are just what the researcher felt intuitively, rather than being tested empirically It is the absence of empirical evidence of the benefits of the Adobe Audition in the context of a Vietnamese high school that motivated the research to conduct this study, which was set out to test the benefits of Adobe Audition to the enhancement of high school students‟ speaking and listening profiency as well as their interest in the speaking and listening lessons The study was conducted in a school in Hanoi where the researcher herself was teaching Aims of the study The study aims to reach the following targets:  To examine the benefits of using Adobe Audition in teaching listening and speaking English for high school students  To find out whether, and to what extent, Adobe Audition enhances the students‟ interest in speaking and listening lessons Scope of the study The study limits itself to the testing of the effectiveness of Adobe Audition on grade 12 students‟ two communicative skills, i.e., listening and speaking only The reasons for limiting the study to these two language skills are more practical than pedagogical Firstly, these skills are most important to students‟ English communicative ability because students cannot communicate well in English unless they are sufficiently good at speaking and listening Moreover, Adobe Audition is designed for teaching listening and speaking in the language classroom, not for other language skills such as reading and writing 12 The language input used for this study is mostly based on the textbook and some other supplementary materials, which were selected from authentic sources such as English newspapers or self - making video clips Hypothesis In this study, the following hypothesis was tested:  The use of Adobe Audition enhances students‟ interest in listening and speaking English, thereby helping to improve their listening and speaking proficiency Methods of the study Since the purpose of the study is to test the impact of Adobe Audition on students‟ interest in listening and speaking English as well as their listening and speaking proficiency, an experimental design is appropriate However, given the practicalities of the study, a true experimental study was impossible For example, the researcher was unable to randomize the sample and to control other extraneous variables such as students‟ learning style preferences, or motivation Instead, two intact groups, 12D1 and 12D2, were selected for the study Therefore, the study is a quasi-experimental in nature ... the study can be used as referential material for teachers and students to enhance the effectiveness of using technology in teaching and learning English speaking and listening skills, and it will... five speaking criteria were specified into the marking scales XI Tables and charts Table 1.1 Listening test procedures and tasks 25 Table 1.2 Speaking test procedures and tasks 26 Table 3.1 Students? ??... Vietnam national university, Hanoi University of Languages and international studies Faculty of Post-graduate Studies NGUYỄN THỊ THU THỦY USING A RECORD SOFTWARE TO PROMOTE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS? ?? ENGLISH