The effects of teaching the schwa on elementary teenage learners english listening comprehension ma

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HOCHIMINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE THE EFFECTS OF TEACHING THE SCHWA ON ELEMENTARY TEENAGE LEARNERS’ ENGLISH LISTENING COMPREHENSION A thesis submitted to the Faculty of English Linguistics & Literature in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in TESOL By LA NGUYET THANH Supervised by TO MINH THANH, Assoc Prof Dr HO CHI MINH CITY, OCTOBER 2O22 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc Prof Dr To Minh Thanh for all the expert guidance, tremendous support, great patience, and strong belief in me Her detailed comments and constructive recommendations put a theoretically and methodologically solid foundation for the research reported in this thesis This study would not have been possible without the support of YOLA Language Center, where I have been working, and my fellow teachers and students The participation of the students brought valuable data for the main findings to be fulfilled Especially, I am much obliged to my Academic Manager, Ms Thuy Linh for giving me the permission to carry out the study in the center Additional thanks go to my teammates at university and my best friends for their great help and tremendous support as well as for all the precious moments I have had with them Last but not least, I owe my Mum a special thank for her patience, support, encouragement, and strong belief in me i STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY I hereby certify my authorship of the thesis entitled “THE EFFECTS OF TEACHING THE SCHWA ON ELEMENTARY TEENAGE LEARNERS’ ENGLISH LISTENING COMPREHENSION” This work has not been submitted for a higher degree to any other university or institution Ho Chi Minh City, October 10th, 2022 La Nguyet Thanh ii RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, LA NGUYET THANH, being the candidate for the degree of Master of TESOL, accept the requirement of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Theses deposited in the Library In terms of these conditions, I agree that the originality of my thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Library for the care, loan or reproduction of theses Ho Chi Minh City, October 10th, 2022 La Nguyet Thanh iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ii RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS x LIST OF TABLES xi LIST OF FIGURES xiii ABSTRACT xiv CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the study 1.2 Aim of the study 1.3 Research questions and research hypotheses 1.4 Significance of the study 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Overall structure of the study CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Listening 2.2 Listening comprehension 2.2.1 Definition of listening comprehension 2.2.2 Role of listening comprehension in language learning 2.2.3 Difficulties in practicing listening for comprehension 2.2.3.1 Accent 2.2.3.2 Speed 10 2.2.3.3 Sound changes 10 iv 2.3 The schwa 11 2.3.1 The schwa as a segmental feature 11 2.3.2 The schwa as a suprasegmental feature 12 2.3.2.1 The schwa and word stress 12 2.3.2.2 The schwa and sentence stress 13 2.3.2.3 The deletion of the schwa 14 2.3.2.4 The insertion of the schwa 16 2.3.3 Relation between the schwa and listening comprehension 16 2.3.4 Techniques in teaching the schwa 17 2.4 Previous related studies 19 2.5 Conceptual framework 23 2.6 Chapter summary 26 CHAPTER METHODOLOGY 27 3.1 Research design 27 3.2 Research site 27 3.3 Participants 28 3.4 Research instruments 29 3.4.1 The pretest and the posttest 29 3.4.2 The experimental teaching 31 3.4.3 The questionnaire 31 3.4.4 Summary of the research instruments 32 3.5 Materials 33 3.6 Data collection procedure 33 3.6.1 Pilot experiment 33 3.6.2 The main study 34 v 3.7 Data analysis procedure 35 3.7.1 Data collected from the pretest and the posttest 35 3.7.2 Data collected from the questionnaire 36 3.8 Chapter summary 37 CHAPTER RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 38 4.1 The results of the two tests 38 4.1.1 The normal distribution tests 38 4.1.2 The students’ results of the pretest 39 4.1.2.1 The students’ results of the pretest Part 39 4.1.2.2 The students’ results of the pretest Part 41 4.1.2.3 The students’ overall results of the pretest 43 4.1.2.4 Summary 44 4.1.3 The students’ results of the posttest 45 4.1.3.1 The students’ results of the posttest Part 45 4.1.3.2 The students’ results of the posttest Part 47 4.1.3.3 The students’ overall results of the posttest 49 4.1.3.4 Summary 50 4.1.4 The EG’ results of the pretest and posttest 51 4.1.4.1 The EG’ results of the pretest and posttest Part 51 4.1.4.2 The EG’ results of the pretest and posttest Part 52 4.1.4.3 The EG’ overall results of the pretest and posttest 54 4.1.4.4 Summary 55 4.1.5 The CG’ results of the pretest and posttest 56 4.1.5.1 The CG’ results of the pretest and posttest Part 56 4.1.5.2 The CG’ results of the pretest and posttest Part 58 vi 4.1.5.3 The CG’ overall results of the pretest and posttest 59 4.1.5.4 Summary 60 4.2 Responses to the survey questionnaire 61 4.2.1 Responses to the students’ personal information 61 4.2.1.1 The students’ biological sex 61 4.2.1.2 The students’ years of age 61 4.2.1.3 The students’ years of learning English as a foreign language 62 4.2.1.4 Summary 62 4.2.2 Responses to the students’ background of listening comprehension 63 4.2.2.1 The students’ evaluation of the importance of listening comprehension 63 4.2.2.2 The students’ difficulties in listening comprehension 63 4.2.2.3 The students’ self-evaluation of their listening comprehension 64 4.2.2.4 The students’ participation in extra-curricular listening activities 64 4.2.2.5 Summary 65 4.2.3 The students’ attitudes towards the application of their knowledge about the schwa to their listening comprehension 66 4.2.3.1 The students’ responses to the schwa and listening comprehension 66 4.2.3.2 The students’ responses to the schwa and the words in stressed positions 67 4.2.3.3 The students’ responses to the schwa and the words in unstressed positions 68 4.2.3.4 The students’ responses to the schwa and the words in plural forms and regular past tense forms 70 4.2.3.5 Summary 71 4.3 Discussion 72 vii 4.3.1 The effectiveness of the schwa on the elementary teenage learners’ listening comprehension 72 4.3.2 The learners’ attitudes towards the application of their knowledge of the schwa to their listening comprehension 74 4.3.3 Summary 75 4.4 Chapter summary 76 CHAPTER CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 77 5.1 Summary of findings 77 5.1.1 The effectiveness of the schwa on the elementary teenage learners’ listening comprehension 77 5.1.2 The learners’ attitudes towards the application of their knowledge of the schwa to their listening comprehension 77 5.2 Recommendations 78 5.2.1 To the students 79 5.2.2 To the teachers 80 5.2.3 To the syllabus and the coursebook 84 5.3 Limitations of the study 85 5.4 Contribution of the current study 86 5.5 Conclusion 87 REFERENCES 89 APPENDICES 96 APPENDIX A LESSON PLAN 96 APPENDIX B LESSON PLAN 99 APPENDIX C LESSON PLAN 101 APPENDIX D LESSON PLAN 104 APPENDIX E HANDOUT FOR LESSON PLAN 108 viii APPENDIX F HANDOUT FOR LESSON PLAN 110 APPENDIX G HANDOUT FOR LESSON PLAN 111 APPENDIX H HANDOUT FOR LESSON PLAN 112 APPENDIX I PRETEST 113 APPENDIX J ANSWER KEY FOR PRETEST 115 APPENDIX K LISTENING TRANSCRIPT FOR PRETEST 116 APPENDIX L POSTTEST 118 APPENDIX M ANSWER KEY FOR POSTTEST 120 APPENDIX N LISTENING TRANSCRIPT FOR POSTTEST 121 APPENDIX O QUESTIONNAIRE (ENGLISH VERSION) 123 APPENDIX P QUESTIONNAIRE (VIETNAMESE VERSION) 125 APPENDIX Q LISTENING PRETEST’S RESULTS 127 APPENDIX R LISTENING POSTTEST’S RESULTS 128 ix Woman: Oh good How long is the course? Man: It begins on the eleventh of July and (7) on the twenty-ninth Woman: That's three weeks, isn't it? Do the students live in the college? Man: Not on these courses We put the teenagers with English (8) in their homes Our teachers think it's better That way, they speak more English and learn about English life Woman: Good idea! How much does the course cost? Man: It's (9) pounds That's for (10) Woman: And where exactly is the college? Man: It's in Farley Street Woman: How you spell that? Man: That's F-A-R-L-E-Y Woman: Thanks Man: Certainly What's your name ? Could you 114 send me a booking form? APPENDIX J ANSWER KEY FOR PRETEST Part 1: (1) (women's) coat(s) (2) 8.40 (3) Friday (4) 5.27 (5) Grable Part 2: (1) College (2) courses (3) daughter (4) teenagers (5) thirteen (6) older (7) finishes (8) families (9) six hundred and ninety/ 690 (10) everything 115 APPENDIX K LISTENING TRANSCRIPT FOR PRETEST Part 1: You will hear a woman asking for some information about a job Listen and complete questions 1-5 You will hear the conversation twice Man: Jones Department Store, can I help you? Woman: Yes, please I saw your job advertisement in the newspaper Can you tell me about it? Man: Certainly We want a shop assistant to work in our women's department selling coats It's a small department but a busy one Woman: And what are the working hours? Man: Well, the shop opens at nine o'clock but the assistants must start work at twenty to nine They finish at three thirty Woman: Is that every day of the week? Man: We are closed on Mondays and we don't need any more staff on Saturday or Sunday The job is four days a week, from Tuesday to Friday Woman: And how much assistants earn an hour? Man: At the moment it's five pounds twenty-seven I'm afraid we don't pay you for your lunch break Woman: That doesn't matter I'd like the job Man: Then you must send a letter to Mrs Grable — that's G-R-A-B-L-E — before the end of the week Woman: Right, that, thank you 116 Part 2: You will hear a conversation about a holiday English course Listen and fill in the blanks You will hear the conversation twice Man: Dudley College Woman: Oh hello Could you tell me about your holiday English courses, please? Man: Yes, they're in our college in Oxford Woman: It's for my friend's daughter She's fifteen and comes from Poland Man: Fine Our holiday courses are for teenagers We take students from the age of thirteen but most are a little older Woman: Oh good How long is the course? Man: It begins on the eleventh of July and finishes on the twenty-ninth Woman: That's three weeks, isn't it? Do the students live in the college? Man: Not on these courses We put the teenagers with English families in their homes Our teachers think it's better That way, they speak more English and learn about English life Woman: Good idea! How much does the course cost? Man: It's six hundred and ninety pounds That's for everything Woman: And where exactly is the college? Man: It's in Farley Street Woman: How you spell that? Man: That's F-A-R-L-E-Y Woman: Thanks Could you send me a booking form? Man: Certainly What's your name ? 117 APPENDIX L POSTTEST Part 1: You will hear a man asking for information about a holiday in Ireland Listen and complete questions 1-5 You will hear the conversation twice HOLIDAY IN IRELAND Leave on: (0) Friday Number of nights: (1) Name of hotel: (2) am Coach trip to visit: (3) a factory Price this month: (4) £ per person Date of holiday: (5) 17th Part 2: Listen to Grace telling a friend about a hotel and fill in the blanks You will hear the conversation twice Friend: Hello, Grace, did you have a nice time at the Rosemount Hotel? Grace: You mean the Rosebank, yes, I enjoyed it Friend: Where was it? Grace: Five minutes from the (1) , right on the beach The shops were ten kilometres away Friend: It sounds rather (2) Grace: It was, but I liked that Friend: Was there a pool? 118 Grace: Yes, but it was closed I swam in the sea once but I spent most days on the hotel golf course There (3) tennis courts in the town but they were too far away Friend: Did you have a nice room? Grace: Yes, it was quite big and I could watch (4) and (5) there in the (6) If I (7) a cup of coffee or cold drink I went to the bar downstairs Friend: And how about the meals? Grace: There were lots of (8) but the meat and fish were always fried and often came with chips I really (9) rice or pasta Friend: Me too Grace: Anyway, my stay didn't cost much and it was a nice quiet break away from my noisy (10) ! 119 APPENDIX M ANSWER KEY FOR POSTTEST Part 1: (1) (2) Kildare (3) glass(es) (4) 129 (5) November Part 2: (1) mountains (2) quiet (3) were (4) television (5) videos (6) evening (7) wanted (8) vegetables (9) prefer (10) family 120 APPENDIX N LISTENING TRANSCRIPT FOR POSTTEST Part 1: You will hear a man asking for information about a holiday in Ireland Listen and complete questions 1-5 You will hear the conversation twice Woman: Good morning Man: Can you give me some information about your short holidays in Ireland? Woman: Certainly You fly to Ireland on the Friday morning and spend two nights in a hotel, returning on the Sunday evening Man: So that's almost three days What's the hotel like? Woman: Excellent It's a five-star hotel called the Kildare Man: How you spell that? Woman: K-I-L-D-A-R-E It's by a lake, so it's good for fishing and walking But if you want to buy some presents there's a coach trip on the Saturday morning You'll visit a factory where they make beautiful things from glass Man: Oh good — I can buy some glasses for my cousin — she's getting married soon How much does the holiday cost? Woman: It was two hundred and forty pounds, but this month we have a special offer of a hundred and twenty-nine pounds per person Man: Can I book two places for next weekend? Woman: That will be Friday the seventeenth of November Yes, that's fine Can I have 121 Part 2: Listen to Grace telling a friend about a hotel and fill in the blanks You will hear the conversation twice Friend: Hello, Grace, did you have a nice time at the Rosemount Hotel? Grace: You mean the Rosebank, yes, I enjoyed it Friend: Where was it? Grace: Five minutes from the mountains, right on the beach The shops were ten kilometres away Friend: It sounds rather quiet Grace: It was, but I liked that Friend: Was there a pool? Grace: Yes, but it was closed I swam in the sea once but I spent most days on the hotel golf course There were tennis courts in the town but they were too far away Friend: Did you have a nice room? Grace: Yes, it was quite big and I could watch television and videos there in the evening If I wanted a cup of coffee or cold drink I went to the bar downstairs Friend: And how about the meals? Grace: There were lots of vegetables but the meat and fish were always fried and often came with chips I really prefer rice or pasta Friend: Me too Grace: Anyway, my stay didn't cost much and it was a nice quiet break away from my noisy family! 122 APPENDIX O QUESTIONNAIRE (ENGLISH VERSION) This questionnaire is designed to investigate learners’ attitudes towards the application of schwa sound in listening comprehension skill Your responses will serve the sole purpose to apply into the study entitled “The effects of teaching the schwa on elementary teenage learners' English listening comprehension” (Please answer by ticking (x) the box of your choice.) PART A PERSONAL INFORMATION Gender: Male Female Age: years old You have been learning English for: years PART B PERSONAL BACKGROUND OF LISTENING COMPREHENSION Do you think that listening comprehension is important? Yes No Do you encounter any difficulties in listening comprehension? Yes No How you evaluate your listening comprehension? Very poor Poor Average Good Very good Are you engaged in any extra-curricular listening activities? Yes (Move to question 5) No (Move to part C) How much time you spend on the listening activities? Less than half an hour a week 1-2 hours a day/ three days a week 1-2 hours a week Every day/ more than two hours a day 123 PART C LEARNERS' ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE APPLICATION OF KNOWLEDGE OF THE SCHWA TO THE LISTENING COMPREHENSION Mastering the schwa may help learners improve listening comprehension Strongly agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly disagree Mastering the schwa may help learners recognize the words in stressed positions Strongly agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly disagree When recognizing the words in stressed positions, learners may know key information and meaning these words carry Strongly agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly disagree Mastering the schwa may help learners recognize the words in unstressed positions Strongly agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly disagree Mastering the schwa may help learners recognize the reduced forms of the function words Strongly agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly disagree When recognizing the reduced forms of the words, learners may determine the full forms underlying these reduced forms Strongly agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly disagree Mastering the schwa may help learners recognize the words in plural forms and regular past tense forms Strongly agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly disagree Sincerely thank you for your co-operation Your responses will be worth for our experience 124 APPENDIX P QUESTIONNAIRE (VIETNAMESE VERSION) Bảng khảo sát thiết kế để tìm hiểu thái độ học sinh ứng dụng kiến thức âm /ə/ vào kỹ nghe hiểu tiếng Anh Phần trả lời bạn phục vụ cho đề tài luận văn thạc sĩ “Hiệu việc giảng dạy âm /ə/ kỹ nghe hiểu tiếng Anh học viên trình độ lứa tuổi thiếu niên” (Vui lòng chọn câu trả lời cách đánh dấu (x) vào trống.) PHẦN A THƠNG TIN CÁ NHÂN Giới tính: Nữ Nam Tuổi: Bạn học tiếng anh rồi? năm PHẦN B KỸ NĂNG NGHE HIỂU Bạn có nghĩ kỹ nghe hiểu tiếng Anh quan trọng khơng? Có Khơng Bạn có gặp khó khăn việc nghe hiểu tiếng Anh hay khơng? Có Khơng Bạn đánh giá khả nghe hiểu tiếng Anh bạn nào? Rất tệ Tệ Trung bình Tốt Rất tốt Ngồi học lớp, bạn có luyện thêm kỹ nghe hay khơng? Có (Chủn sang câu 5) Khơng (Chủn sang phần C) Bạn dành thời gian để luyện thêm kỹ nghe? Ít nửa tiếng tuần 1-2 tiếng tuần 1-2 tiếng ngày/ ngày tuần Mỗi ngày/ tiếng ngày 125 PHẦN C THÁI ĐỘ CỦA HỌC SINH KHI ỨNG DỤNG CÁC KIẾN THỨC VỀ ÂM /ə/ VÀO KỸ NĂNG NGHE HIỂU TIẾNG ANH Việc nắm rõ âm /ə/ giúp bạn cải thiện kỹ nghe hiểu tiếng Anh Hoàn toàn đồng ý Đồng ý Khơng đồng ý Hồn tồn khơng đồng ý Không Việc nắm rõ âm /ə/ giúp bạn nhận diện từ nhấn mạnh câu Hồn tồn đồng ý Đồng ý Khơng đồng ý Hồn tồn khơng đồng ý Khơng Khi nhận diện từ nhấn mạnh câu, bạn biết thơng tin mà từ truyền tải Hồn tồn đồng ý Đồng ý Khơng đồng ý Hồn tồn khơng đồng ý Khơng Việc nắm rõ âm /ə/ giúp bạn nhận diện từ khơng nhấn mạnh câu Hồn tồn đồng ý Đồng ý Khơng đồng ý Hồn tồn khơng đồng ý Không Việc nắm rõ âm /ə/ giúp bạn nhận diện dạng rút gọn từ chức Hồn tồn đồng ý Đồng ý Khơng đồng ý Hồn tồn khơng đồng ý Khơng Khi nhận diện dạng rút gọn từ chức năng, bạn xác định dạng đầy đủ chúng Hồn tồn đồng ý Đồng ý Khơng đồng ý Hồn tồn khơng đồng ý Khơng Việc nắm rõ âm /ə/ giúp bạn nhận diện từ hình thức số nhiều hình thức khứ đơn có quy tắc Hồn tồn đồng ý Đồng ý Khơng đồng ý Hồn tồn khơng đồng ý Khơng Chân thành cám ơn đóng góp bạn! 126 APPENDIX Q LISTENING PRETEST’S RESULTS Student Control group Student ID ID Part Part Overall C01 2 E01 C02 E02 C03 E03 C04 3 E04 C05 E05 C06 E06 C07 E07 C08 E08 C09 2 E09 C10 E10 C11 E11 C12 E12 C13 E13 C14 E14 C15 E15 C16 E16 C17 2 E17 C18 E18 C19 E19 C20 E20 C21 E21 C22 E22 C23 E23 C24 2 E24 C25 E25 C26 E26 C27 E27 C28 E28 C29 E29 C30 E30 127 Experimental group Part Part Overall 5 2 2 5 6 5 5 3 3 3 5 5 1 2 APPENDIX R LISTENING POSTTEST’S RESULTS Student Control group Student ID ID Part Part Overall C01 E01 C02 E02 C03 4 E03 C04 E04 C05 E05 C06 E06 C07 E07 C08 E08 C09 E09 C10 E10 C11 E11 C12 E12 C13 E13 C14 12 E14 C15 E15 C16 E16 C17 E17 C18 4 E18 C19 E19 C20 E20 C21 E21 C22 10 E22 C23 E23 C24 E24 C25 E25 C26 E26 C27 11 E27 C28 10 E28 C29 10 E29 C30 E30 128 Experimental group Part Part Overall 12 13 12 10 15 10 11 8 10 12 10 12 5 10 8 12 11 12 10 12 11 10 14 10 13 11 12 12 10 11