Research on using english sóng to reduce pronunciation mistakes for 10th grader at lam king high school in tho xuan dítrict

HONG DUC UNIVERSITY FOREIGN LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT  GRADUATION THESIS RESEARCH ON USING ENGLISH SONGS TO REDUCE PRONUNCIATION MISTAKES FOR 10TH GRADER AT LAM KINH HIGH SCHOOL IN THO XUAN DISTRICT Supervisor : ThS Hoàng Thị Thu Hà Student : Đào Thị Diệu Class : K20A- FFL Course : 2017 -2021 Thanh Hóa, năm 2021 i Acknowledgement I would like to sincerely thank the Instructor Ms Hoang Thu Ha for her enthusiasm and interest in answering the difficulties and questions, thanks class 10A5, at Lam Kinh high school (course 2020-2023) cooperated to help me complete this topic Thank you very much i Summary Pronunciation is one of the linguistic elements which plays a very important role in assisting learners to access the speaking , as well as develops their language skills Mispronouncing can cause misunderstanding in everyday communication Therefore, learning the correct pronunciation has become a priority for many learners However, the reality shows that many learners' pronunciation problems have not been paid attention to, so they are facing difficulties In fact, I found that students in class 10A5 at Lam Kinh high school are still having many errors in English pronunciation With the hope of finding out the pronunciation mistakes which students often make, I conduct research on this topic to find out students' pronunciation mistakes, and find out effective measures to improve students pronunciation ii TABLE OF CONTENTS PART ONE: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale Objectives of the study Scope of the study Methods of the study 5 Research questions PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW Reasearch problem history 1.1 Overseas research situation 1.2 The research situation in the country Definition of skill Teaching of Song as Media Language The basic concept of English pronunciation and about music 4.1 What is pronunciation? 4.2 What is Song? 10 4.3 Music's role in life 10 4.4 The role of song in English learning 10 5.Phonetics in English 10 6.Some common principles in English pronunciation 11 6.1The word has the ends : “ s / es ” 11 6.2 The word has the end : -ed 12 6.3 Word stress is a rhyme or syllable of the word that is read louder, longer, and higher than the rest of the rhymes 12 6.4 Minimal English pairs 13 Motivation to improve English 15 iii The man differences between Vietnamese and English pronunciation 16 Conclusion 17 CHAPTER : RESULTS AND EVALUATION 18 Findings from observation 18 Findings from tests 24 2.1 Seperate pronunciation errors 24 2.2 Errors of consonants group based on articulation position 27 2.3 Errors of consonants group based on articulation maner 29 Solution 30 Specific measures 31 Conclusion 33 PART CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS 35 Conclusion 35 Suggestions 37 2.1 Suggestions for schools: 37 2.2 Suggestions for teachers 37 2.3 Suggestions for students: 37 iv LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS Table System of voiceless and voiced consonants 13 Table The table shows the consonant position of consonants 14 Table 3: Table shows the manner of consonant articulation 15 Table 5: Data from test before singing practice 24 Table List of pronunciation errors 31 Chart 1:Chart show errors of consonants group based onarticulation position 27 Chart 2: Chart show errors of consonants group based on articulation maner 29 v PART ONE: INTRODUCTION Rationale In the general context of the world, the Party's view on education and training is clear that : "Really consider education as the top national policy education and training is an investment for development "(Resolution of the Second Conference of the VIII Central Executive Committee) The Resolution of the Ninth Party Congress has the strategic objectives of: "Creating a fundamental and comprehensive change in educational development; standardizing, modernizing, and socializing; continuing to improve quality overview" In implementing Party Resolutions, Resolution 40 of the National Assembly, the education sector has made great efforts, gradually improving the quality and efficiency of education and training with the reform of education since 2000 The program was created for all subjects, including foreign languages in which English is the major To integrate with the world, the exchange of information, access to cultures of the countries in the world is a very important issue Therefore, teaching and learning foreign languages in general and English in particular is reallynecessary Along with informatics, foreign languages are classified as one of the priority areas for development, a breakthrough spearhead in socio-economic development, science - technology and education and training in the public period industrialization, modernization of the country and global integration Among of many foreign languages, English is the most common one nowdays Most transactions in the world are in English Therefore, in the integration trend, many countries have included English in the education and training program Experience of the developed countries in the world as well as in the Asia-Pacific region has clearly shown: foreign languages are an effective and effective tool and means in the integration and development process The trend of global integration and the integration of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is spreading and going into each industry and profession in Vietnam, affecting everyone in society To be able to integrate and stand firmly on our feet, each of us can understand that foreign languages, including English, are increasingly becoming an indispensable tool in communication activities, work, diplomacy Only being good at English, using this communication tool well, can be successful in everything To ensure the quality of human resources for the integration, the English teaching becomes more and more important Recognizing that, for many years, Vietnam has introduced English programs to teach at all educational levels, from general education to university and postgraduate Also for a long time, English has been taught at lam Kinh high school as a basic subject English plays an important role and plays an indispensable role in a comprehensive education, in order to enhance and expand knowledge, thinking and understanding for students Lam Kinh High School is a school with a tradition of fondness for learning ; in which improving English pronunciation skills is an important content to improve English learning capacity Pronunciation is one of the most basic and important language skills for English learners, and good pronunciation builds confidence in communication English users with correct pronunciation can make the other person understand what they say, and at the same time understand the other person more easily and accurately Language skills are always closely linked; This skill supports another skill Correct pronunciation, therefore, is not only good for speaking skills, but also for better listening comprehension However, pronunciation is also a difficult skill; Without regular, active guidance and practice, progress will be almost impossible Besides, there are many different factors related to teaching methods, learning methods, the influence of the mother tongue or the conditions to communicate with native English speakers that are not much progress of learners After two months of teaching English to the 10th graders, I find that the students of the school have a lot of difficulty with pronunciation I have also made a lot of effort to help them improve their English pronunciation But in my opinion, the effect is not high They still make frequent pronunciation mistakes even for words that have been used many times This I find it necessary to have a deeper study of common pronunciation errors in students of the school, to find out the causes and propose solutions to help teach and learn pronunciation more effectively So in my opinion learning English through music is an extremely effective method, this method can help you improve your Listening and Speaking ability quickly, and easily Argument 1, SCIENTIFIC & EFFECTIVE (Scientific, Effective, Correct): There is scientific evidence that Music can help second language learners acquire grammar, vocabulary and improve spelling quickly The method is known as the "Mozart Effect," the concept that listening to classical music enhances the performance of mind-related tasks such as studying (You can find more research on this method at website: mozarteffect.com ) Learning English through music is a proven method Argument 2, REAL ENGLISH (Music Using Common Speech and Language): Songs and Music always contain many words, phrases and banners that are common in everyday communication And because Music has a native audience, the songs include a variety of colloquial phrases and languages that are updated regularly The language used in the song is colloquial and is really helpful if you know how to choose the right song to learn Argument 3, IMPROVE LISTENING & SPEAKING SKILL (Music improves Listening & Speaking skills quickly): Listening to music helps you flexibly familiarize yourself with difficult titles in English such as: rhyme, syllable, up and down intonation The characteristics of the songs are that the melody is very rich so we can listen and sing along to practice both phonetics and intonation in sentences If you practice phonics in a phonics class, a phonetic lesson will make you want to throw the book away a few times The good thing here is that the song helps us practice phonics in a very enjoyable way and so of course the effect will also be much higher Argument 4, DEEP LEARNING (Music makes English ingrained in your memory): Language is actually imitation, repetition At birth, children's minds are not yet formed, so they learn language this way: imitation, repetition As people grow older, the human brain thrives on logical thinking, remembering and learning everything depends on logic Without logic, it is very difficult to learn When learning a new word, for example "fish" is "fish", we just memorize it, there is no logic here It is like memorizing a phone number 0900039787, for example, merely memorizing thanks to repetition A professor, doctor or ordinary person who memorizes this phone number they use the same way to remember It's all just memorization thanks to repetition! So in order to memorize English, it is extremely important that we have repetition When we listen to music, we can listen to a favorite song over and over again without getting bored The songs have good meanings so they are easy to remember, especially the ones we like Thus automatically, we will have many repetitions of English structures without having to invest anything, and just relax In addition, the chorus and chorus are repeated many times throughout the song So we get to repeat those sentence structures more and more Plus the strong impression the song leaves on our heads, it's much easier to memorize than traditional dry lessons In each song, many words and sounds are repeated and this makes it easy to stick in your mind Music has an extraordinary ability when it is deeply embedded in our consciousness Melodies and lyrics will often enter our thoughts and dance All this will make learning English through songs easier for you to remember the words and phrases in it In fact, after a short while you will feel almost impossible to forget them If you pay attention, you will see that the people who have a good voice, standard pronunciation, good phonetics while speaking in English are all people who have a hobby of singing in English This is a testament to the "Deep learning" method that they have unconsciously learned through songs without even noticing them themselves Argument 5, EMOTION (Music Creates Emotions): Our relationship with Music is profound, powerful, and productive It is the key to unlocking our emotions, influencing our moods, and strengthening us mentally and physically When something is emotional, it is of course easier to remember students not know how to form sounds, so they tend to pronounce them incorrectly or pronounce them like Vietnamese sounds Thus, the influence of mother tongue is also the root cause of pronunciation errors (Ellis, 1997) In general, learning in a relaxing way is considered by students to be the most favorable element of the method of learning English through songs Music is originally produced for entertainment purposes In the songs, the words become soft, rhyming and catchy, making learners feel more relaxed, comfortable and no longer burdened with study pressure The language content integrated into the song will help students comfortably listen to the lyrics conveyed, even making them completely focus and forget they are learning a foreign language Many students, when listening to English songs, not understand the lyrics because the pronunciation on the background of music is not clear, the singer sings fast and many sounds are skipped, in addition, for some students, especially learning When students just started learning English, their listening skills and vocabulary are still weak, so they can't hear many words in English songs, leading to not understanding the content and messages conveyed In addition, different cultures, so some articles contain content about violence, sex or use non-standard language, not suitable for high school students Another drawback of this method is the time requirement Many students with tight schedules and activities cannot meet the time requirements of this method Based on the data analysis in chapter II and the discussion in the previous chapter, I would like to make a conclusion After analyzing the result of the research, I got the data about the score of teaching learning process by using songs I concluded that teaching learning process by using songs is more effective It can be seen that the above statistical calculation results in which the percentage of students' incorrect pronunciation has been reduced From the explanation above, it means that teaching learning process by using songs can improve students' ability in English pronunciation 36 Suggestions With data collected from 41 students in grade 10a5 of Lam Kinh High School by questionnaire, we have investigated the effectiveness, improvement of English ability, common difficulties of students at Lam Kinh High School when learning English through songs From the available results, we also propose some recommendations to improve the effectiveness of the method of learning English through songs as follows 2.1 Suggestions for schools: Support audio devices in classrooms to make it more convenient to apply the method of learning English through songs 2.2 Suggestions for teachers - Prepare songs and design appropriate activities to use in English classes - Accordingly, the song can be used in warm-up activities, listening practice, speaking practice, writing practice, even in consolidation activities - The teacher should increase the student motivation in learning English by using songs or other attractive teaching approach, teaching materials and teaching aids as much as possible in the classroom - The teacher should be able to select technique which suitable with situation and condition of class 2.3 Suggestions for students: - Choose the right song based on your interest and level - Find English songs in reliable sources - Determine your own goals to apply the correct method of learning English through songs - Be more persistent in learning English through songs Each student is different It does not guarantee that if one student likes a thing so other students like that thing too Each of them has his own like Therefore, before deciding the media that will be used in the teaching learning process, teacher should know the things that the students like 37 The condition of each student is different The students' achievements can be different although they seem the same thing It can be seen from the students' achievement in English pronunciation Their achievements are different although They like the method that is used Because of the differences of each student, a teacher should also choose the way of teaching that is suitable with the condition of the students Due to limited ability and time, I only studied the pronunciation of consonants of grade 10a5 students and came up with a method of using English songs I hope this research topic will help them improve the pronunciation of LAm Kinh high school students in particular and English learners in general 38 REFERENCES Ann, B (2004) Ship or sheep Publishing House of Transport Thao, D.X (1994) Modern Vietnamese phonetics Hanoi Pedagogical University Huynh Ngoc Mai Kha (2010) studies on teaching English grammar to children through song Hoang Thi Nhung (2013) Kusnieriek (2016) studies the role of song and music in teaching English vocabulary Murphey (1992) Claerr, T., & Gargan, R (1984) Lems (1996) According to VA Krutetxki, K.K Platonop and G.G Coluvep 10 Oxford Advanced Learners' Dictionary, 7th Edition 11 Bowen, T & Marks, J (1992), The pronunciation book: student centered activities for pronunciation work, Harlow : Longman 12 Burns, R B (1994) Introduction to Research Methods Melbourne Longman Cheshire Press 13 Grant, L (2014) Prologue to the myths: What teachers need to know In L Grant (Ed.), Pronunciation myths Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1–33 14 Hancock, M (2003), English pronunciation in use, 3rd edition, New York: Cambridge University Press 15 Hewings, M (2004), Pronunciation Practice Activities, 4th edition, New York: Cambridge University Press 16 Jones, D (1998), The pronunciation of English, New York: Cambridge University Press 17 Kemmis & Mc Taggart (1988) Action Research Universidad Autónoma De Madrid 39 18 Kenworthy, J (1987), Teaching English Pronunciation, 7th edition, London, New York: Longman 19 Pennington, M C (1996), Phonology in English language teaching: an international approach, London, New York: Cambridge University Press 20 Halsey, A.H (1972) Educational priority EPA Problems and Policies Volume 21 Hancock, M (1995),Pronunciation games,Cambridge: New York: Cambridge University Press 22 Hewings, M & Goldstein, S (1998), Pronunciation plus: practice through interaction: North American English, Cambridge, U.K ; New York : Cambridge University Press 23 Kelly, G (2000), How to teach pronunciation, London: Longman 24 Macneil, D (1987), Teaching pronunciation to Vietnamese students Australia : A program support group research 25 Macneil, D Into speech, bilingually : An individual pronunciation course for Vietnamese learner, Adult Migrant Education Services 26 Maurer Smolder, C (2012), Be understood! :a pronunciation resource for every classroom, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 27 Meyers, C M & Holt, S (2001), Pronunciation for success: student workbook, Burnsville, MN : Aspen Productions 28 Nguyen, Quoc Hung (2009), Ky thuat luyen phat am tieng Anh My, 29 NXB Tong Hop Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh 30 O'Connor, J D (1990), Better English pronunciation, 2nd edition, New York: Cambridge University Press 31 Roach, P (1983), English Phonetics and Phonology, New York: Cambridge University Press 32 Tench, P (1981), Pronunciation skills.3rd edition, London: Macmillan Publishers Ltd 33 Trim, J L.M (1975), English pronunciation illustrated, New York: Cambridge University Press 40 34 Underhill, A (2005), Sound foundations: learning and teaching pronunciation, Oxford : Macmillan 35 Wallace, M.J (1998) Action research for language teachers Cambridge University Press Supervisor Student Đào Thị Diệu ThS Hoàng Thị Thu Hà 41 APPENDIX The songs used : Cry on my shoulder If the hero never comes to you If you need someone you’re feeling blue If you’re away from love and you’re alone If you call your friends and nobody’s home You can run away but you can’t hide Through a storm and through a lonely night Then I show you there’s a destiny The best things in life They’re free But if you wanna cry Cry on my shoulder If you need someone who cares for you If you’re feeling sad your heart gets colder Yes I show you what real love can If your sky is grey oh let me know There’s a place in heaven where we’ll go If heaven is a million years away Oh just call me and I make our day When the nights are getting cold and blue When the days are getting hard for you I will always stay here by your side I promise you I’ll never hide What real love can What love can What real love can What love can What real love can 42 What love can (According to the author Super Star) Pround of you Love in your eyes Sitting silent by my side Going on Holding hand Walking through the nights Hold me up Hold me tight Lift me up to touch the sky Teaching me to love with heart Helping me open my mind I can fly I'm proud that I can fly To give the best of mine Till the end of the time Believe me I can fly I'm proud that I can fly To give the best of mine The heaven in the sky Stars in the sky Wishing once upon a time Give me love make me smile Till the end of life Hold me up hold me tight Lift me up to touch the sky Teaching me to love with heart Helping me open my mind 43 I can fly I'm proud that I can fly To give the best of mine Till the end of the time Believe me I can fly I'm proud that I can fly To give the best of mine The heaven in the sky Can't you believe that you light up my way No matter how that ease my path I'll never lose my faith See me fly I'm proud to fly up high Show you the best of mine Till the end of the time Believe me I can fly I'm singing in the sky Show you the best of mine The heaven in the sky Nothing can stop me Spread my wings so wide (According to the author Fiona Fung) At my worst Can I call you baby? Can you be my friend? Can you be my lover up until the very end? 44 Let me show you love, oh I don't pretend Stick by my side even when the world is givin' in (Yeah) Oh, oh, oh, don't Don't you worry I'll be there, whenever you want me I need somebody who can love me at my worst Know I'm not perfect but I hope you see my worth "Cause it" s only you, nobody new, I put you first And for you, girl, I swear I'll the worst Ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh If you stay forever, let me hold you hand I can fill those places in your heart no one else can Let me show you love, oh I don't pretend (Yeah) I'll be right here, baby, you know I'll sink or swim Oh, oh, oh, don't Don't you worry I'll be there, whenever you want me I need somebody who can love me at my worst Know I'm not perfect but I hope you see my worth (Yeah) "Cause it" s only you, nobody new, I put you first (Put you first) And for you, girl, I swear I'll the worst Ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh Ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh I need somebody who can love me at my worst Know I'm not perfect but I hope you see my worth "Cause it" s only you, nobody new, I put you first And for you, girl, I swear I'll the worst ( According to the author Pink Sweat ) Tests a) First practise the target sound /p/ in words from the dialogue Read the words aloud or visit the website to practise 45 The sound /p/ is louder before a vowel, and fairly loud before 'l' or 'r' One-syllable words: pot pie piece spoon plate plane please Two-syllable words: pencil Peter pepper pocket Poppy postcard pulling Paris airport stupid practise plastic people apple (The strong stress is always on the first syllable in these words.) TWo-syllable words: surprised perhaps (The strong stress is always on the second syllable in these words.) Three-syllablewords: passenger newspaper potato impatient pepper pot Note on word stress: Word stress doesn't usually cfrange Bold is used to show you which part of the word is strongly stressed, i.e which syllable is always pronounced more LOUDIy and s I o w I y than the other(s) Note on sentence stress: Sentence stress changes with the speaker's meaning Underlining is used here to show you which words in the sentence are being strongly stressed, i.e which words are pronounced more LOUDIy and s I o w I y than the others: It's a piece of potato plc on a plastic plate Peter is surprised The sound /p/ is often quieter at the end of a word Ex an envelope with a stamp, a cup , Help! a pipe What happens to the quiet sound if the next word begins with a vowel? a cup of tea Help us! The sound /p/ is usually quiet and sometimes almost silent before a consonant Listen and repeat empty upstairs dropped helpful perhaps Mr Tupman stop talking stop pulling help me stop shouting b) Listen to the dialogue, paying attention to the target sound Notice that it is sometimes louder or quieter Then read the dialogue and fill the gaps (1-6) and (a-f) with the correct words from the boxes Numbers and a) have been done as examples 46 Words 1-6 have a louder /p/ sound: past pocket passports policeman pepper potato Words a-f have a ouieter /p/ sound: upstairs stop envelope cup dropped help ( Mr and Mrs Tupmon are at the airport They have just got off the plane from Paris) OFFICIAL : Passports, please! MR TUPMAN : Poppy! Poppy! I think l've lost the (1) passporfs ! MRS TUPMAN: How stupid of you, Peterl! Didn't you put them in your (2) MR TUPMAN: (emptying his pockets) Here's a pen a pencil my pipe a postcard an a) envelope with a stamp a pin MRS TUPMAN: Oh, b) taking things out of your pockets Perhaps you put them in the plastic bag MR TUPMAN: (emptying the plostic bog) Here's a newspaper an apple a pear a plastic c) a spoon some paper plates a pice of (3) pie a (4) .pot MRS TUPMAN: Oh, stop pulling things out of the plastic bag, Peter These people are getting impatient MR TUPMAN: Well, d) me, Poppy MRS TUPMAN: (to official) We've lost our passports Perhaps we e) them on the plane OFFICIAL: Then let the other passengers (5) ., please MR TUPMAN: Poppy, why don't you help? You aren't being very helpful Put the things in the plastic bag OFFICIAL: Your name, please? MR TUPMAN: Tupman OFFICIAL : Please go f) with this (6) , Mr Tupman 47 c )Listen to the dialogue again to check your answers Then practise reading the dialogue aloud Record your voice to compare your production of the target sound with the recording Data sheet of times students' pronunciation test before listening to singing after listening and practicing singing for weeks - and finally weeks Order Frequency of consonant mistakes number Sound Phase Never P % Rarely Often Frequent P P P 1st /θ/ 2nd 3rd 1st /ð/ 2nd 3rd 1st /ʃ/ 2nd 3rd 1st 2nd /s/ 3rd 1st /tʃ/ 2nd 3rd 1st /dƷ/ 3nd 3rd 1st /t/ 2nd 48 % % % Always P % 3rd 1st /d/ 2nd 3rd 1st /j/ 2nd 3rd 10 1st /Ʒ/ 2nd 3rd 11 1st /p/ 2nd 3rd 12 1st /b/ 2nd 3rd 13 1st /k/ 2nd 3rd 14 1st /g/ 2nd 3rd 15 1st /f/ 2nd 3rd 16 1st /v/ 2nd 3rd 17 /z/ 1st 49 2nd 3rd 18 1st /m/ 2nd 3rd 19 1st /n/ 2nd 3rd 20 1st /ŋ/ 2nd 3rd 21 1st /h/ 2nd 3rd 22 1st /l/ 2nd 3rd 23 1st /r/ 2nd 3rd 24 1st /w/ 2nd 3rd Note : P : People 50