An investigation into efl teacher s activities of teaching pronunciation to grade 5 students in some primary schools in hue city

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES TRAN NHU PHUONG AN INVESTIGATION INTO EFL TEACHER'S ACTIVITIES OF TEACHING PRONUNCIATION TO GRADE STUDENTS IN SOME PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN HUE CITY MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master os Arts, Hue University of Foreign Languages HUE, 2018 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES TRAN NHU PHUONG AN INVESTIGATION INTO EFL TEACHER'S ACTIVITIES OF TEACHING PRONUNCIATION TO GRADE STUDENTS IN SOME PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN HUE CITY MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 60.14.01.11 SUPERVISOR: TON NU NHU HUONG D.Ed HUE, 2018 i BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ TRẦN NHƯ PHƯƠNG NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ HOẠT ĐỘNG CỦA GIÁO VIÊN TRONG VIỆC DẠY PHÁT ÂM DÀNH CHO HỌC SINH KHỐI Ở MỘT SỐ TRƯỜNG TIỂU HỌC TẠI THÀNH PHỐ HUẾ LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH MÃ SỐ: 60.14.01.11 NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: TS TÔN NỮ NHƯ HƯƠNG HUẾ, 2018 STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY This work has not previously been submitted for a degree or diploma in any university To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the thesis itself Date: 07/12/2018 Signature Tran Nhu Phuong iii ABSTRACTS The main purpose of this research was to identify the English pronunciation teaching methods of English teachers for the 5th grade students at some primary schools in Hue In order to gain the objective of study, firstly, the author finds out the review of the theoretical background of English pronunciation, including the definition of pronunciation, features of pronunciation, factors affecting the pronunciation learning, the definition of young learners and their characteristics Besides, the author also discovers some previous studies regarding to the pronunciation teaching of English teachers Moreover, the research questions are related to some issues, including activities mainly used to enhance student‟s pronunciation, teacher‟s guidance for students to practice pronunciation at home, teacher‟s difficulties in teaching English pronunciation to the student Furthermore, the research was investigated through questionnaire, interview and class observation instrument The questionnaire was designed for 30 English teachers at some primary schools in Hue In addition, through class observation and interview, the author found out the English pronunciation teaching methods From that, the appropriate solutions to improve the pronunciation teaching skills were recommended Finally, I hope this research will contribute a small part in helping teacher improve English pronunciation teaching skill to help student study English better iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I cannot accomplish this thesis without valuable supports of my supervisor, my colleagues, friends, family and particularly the fifth-grade students in some Primary Schools in Hue Firstly, I would like to send my grateful expression and sincere thanks to my supervisor, Dr Ton Nu Nhu Huong for her invaluable advice She has been able to offer me some of his time despite his demanding professional duties Secondly, I would love to express my warm thanks to teachers who have been participating in my research contributed the project‟s success They have further inspired and provided me a lot of useful results for my thesis Thirdly, I want to spend my thanks and gratitude to my friends and family who supported me a lot during my master course v TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY iii ABSTRACTS iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT v ABBREVIATIONS ix LIST OF FIGURES LIST OF TABLES CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Research objectives 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Scope of Research CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Review of the theoretical background of English pronunciation 2.1.1 Definitions of pronunciation 2.1.2 Features of pronunciation ( Source: British Council, 2016) 2.1.3 Benefits of having a good pronunciation 2.1.4 Factors affecting the learning of pronunciation 2.1.5 Teaching and learning pronunciation 12 2.2 Young learners and their characteristics 17 2.2.1 Definitions of young learners 17 2.2.2 Characteristics of young learners 18 2.2.3 Teaching pronunciation to young learners 20 2.2.4 Teaching pronunciation to Vietnamese young learners 22 2.3 Vietnamese EFL teachers and young learners 23 vi 2.4 Review of previous studies 24 2.5 Summary 28 CHAPTER RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 29 3.1 Research design 29 3.2 Research participants 30 3.3 Research instruments 33 3.3.1 The questionnaire 33 3.3.2 The interview 33 3.3.3 The classroom observation 34 3.4 Procedure 34 3.4.1 Piloted the questionnaire 34 3.4.2 Data collection process 35 3.4.3 Procedure of data analysis 35 3.5 Summary 36 CHAPTER FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 37 4.1 Introduction 37 4.2 The practice of teaching pronunciation 37 4.2.1 Activities mainly used to enhance student‟s pronunciation 37 4.2.2 Teacher‟s guidance for students to practice pronunciation at home 40 4.2.3 Teacher‟s difficulties in teaching English pronunciation to the students 43 4.3 Discussions 46 4.3.1 Activities used to enhance students‟ pronunciation 46 4.3.2 Teacher‟s guiding activities for home practice 47 4.3.3 Teacher‟s difficulties 48 4.4 Teachers‟ suggestions on improving the teaching of English pronunciation 49 4.5 Chapter summary 51 CHAPTER CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS 52 vii 5.1 Introduction 52 5.2 Summary of key findings 52 5.3 Implications of the study 53 5.3.1 Implication for teachers 53 5.3.2 Implication for students 55 5.3.3 Implications for administrators 55 5.4 Limitation of the study 56 5.5 Suggestions for further research 56 REFERENCES 58 APPENDICES 63 viii ABBREVIATIONS ELF English as foreign language FL Foreign language ix teaching more successful Although the administrators not take charge of teaching English pronunciation and activities, they can arrange and provide the students and teachers with the facilities for better English learning and teaching activities Finally, some pronunciation competitions for teachers and students should be organized in order to motivate and stimulate the spirit of teaching and learning pronunciation skill 5.4 Limitation of the study This research has shown the reality of teaching pronunciation, and gave suggestions relating to teacher‟s English pronunciation teaching at some primary schools in Thua Thien Hue province However, the study has some limitations as below: Due to the time limit and many other subjective and objective reasons, the study results were far from being perfect However, the number of respondents might be enough in order to give the reliable answers The number of interviews was still small Besides, the author observed ten classes in which some teachers prepared the activities for lesson in advance, the others did not because they did not have enough time in the class Therefore, the results from class observations might not reflect all real situations of teaching English pronunciation Finally, the study has not been very well due to the limitation of knowledge and academic ability Thus, some parts might not be analyzed profoundly and meticulously 5.5 Suggestions for further research From the above limitations, there are some suggestions which are given for the future research Firstly, this study only concentrated on the activities that the teachers used for teaching English pronunciation for grade at some primary schools in Thua Thien Hue province, hence the further studies should be focused more on the textbooks because the textbooks are the first foundation for student to see the words clearly In addition, further research can be conducted on some other 56 grades, such as lower grades at other primary schools so that the study can be more general Besides, future research should be carried out on teachers at many primary schools not only in Thua Thien Hue province but also other provinces of Vietnam Thus, the author will conduct more interviews and class observations in order to get more reliable results In addition, the strategies used by the teachers and students at primary schools to improve English pronunciation should be looked at Furthermore, a new research can be carried out to analyze the effectiveness of teacher‟s feedback on the learner‟s English pronunciation One more recommendation is that it is also interesting to investigate the effects of guiding the students to practice English pronunciation in order to enhance the teacher‟s pronunciation teaching skill 57 REFERENCES Alan, H (2017), „8 Great Tips to Learn English Through Songs and Music‟, Fluentu Ali, K (2015) Improving English Pronunciation Among Arabic EFL School – Age Student Using Minimal Pairs Fredonia, New York Anderson, & Lynch (2012) Effective English Learning London: British Council Apus (2017) What is Mixed Methods 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Canadian Modern Language Review, 59 (4), 547-566 Derwing, T M & Rossiter, M J (2002) ESL learners' perceptions of their pronunciation needs and strategies System, 30 (2), 155-166 Docent N (2014) Improvement Of English Pronunciation Of Russian Learners In A Russian School With The Estonian Language Immersion University of Tartu 59 Efdeportes (2016), “The Intonation In The Oral Expression Design Of A Handbook For Training The Intonation”, Fangzhi, C (1998) The teaching of pronunciation to Chinese students of English Retrieved from http//exchanges.state.gov/english teaching/forum/ archives/1998/docs/98-36-1g.pd Gardner, R (1985) Social psychology and second language learning: the role of attitude and motivation London: Edward Arnold Fraser, H (2000) Coordinating improvements in pronunciation teaching for adult learners of English as a second language Canberra: DETYA (Australia National Training Authority Adult Literacy Project) Fraser, H (2001) Teaching Pronunciation: A guide for teachers of English as a second language (CD-ROM) Canberra: DETYA (Available from Language Australia: Email: sales@la.ames.vic.edu.au, Fax: 61 9926 4780) Gardner, RC & Lambert, W (1972) Attitudes and motivation in second language learning MA Rowley, Newbury House, California Gilakjani and Ahmadi (2011) Why is pronunciation so difficult to learn Vol.4, No.3, pp81 Gimson, A.C (1989) An introduction to the Pronunciation of English Sevenoaks, Edward Arnold Guiora, A, Brannon, R & Dull, C (1972) Empathy and second language learning Language learning, vol.22, no.1, pp.111-130 Harmer, J (2001) The Practice of English Language Teaching London: Longman Hewings, M (2004) Cambridge Academic English Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Hewings, M., 2004, Pronunciation Practice Activities: A Resource Book for Teaching English Pronunciation, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 60 Hong Thi Nguyen, Heather F & Wendy W 2014, EFL Teaching and Learning at a Vietnamese University: What Do Teachers Say?, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia Karahan, F (2007) Language attitudes of Turkish students towards the English language and its use in Turkish context Journal of Arts and Sciences, (May), 73-87 Kelly, G., (2000) How to teach pronunciation Harlow: Longman Morley, J (1991) Trippingly on the tongue: Putting serious speech/pronunciation instruction back in the TESOL equation, ESL Magazine, January/ February, 20-22 Nation I S.P & Newton, J (2009) Teaching ESL/EFL listening and Speaking NewYork: Routledge Nordquist (2017) Glossary of Grammatical and Rhetorical Terms London: Oxford University Press Nixon, C, Tomlinson, M (2005) Primary Pronunciation Box: Pronunciation games and activities for younger learners Cambridge, Cambridge University Press Phillips (1993) Young learners Oxford University Press, Oxford Pourhosein Gilakjani, A (2016) What Factors Influence The English Pronunciation Of EFL Learners? Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods (MJLTM), 6(2), 314-326 Roach (1992) Introducing Phonetics London: Penguin English Ruthwickham (2016), “10 ESL Activities for Powerful Pronunciation Progress”, Saundz (2015) Students’s attitudes towards learning English pronunciation, The Saundz Research Team Retrieved from http://saundz.com/wp- content/uploads/2015/01/Students-Attitudes-towards-Learning-EnglishPronunciation.pdf December 2015 61 Saul M 2018, „Questionnaire’, Simply Psychology Sis International Research (2016) ”What is quantitative research? S lattery, M., Willis, J (2001) English for Primary Teachers: A handbook of activities and classroom language Oxford, Oxford University Press Tench, P (1991) English Pronunciation Harlow: Longman Taylor & Francis Teaching ESL/EFL Reading and Writing New York: Routledge Tran Hien Lan (2016), teaching English pronunciation for the primary students in Vietnam, Hanoi National University of Education pronunciation”, Yates, L., & Zielinski, B (2009) Give It a Go: Teaching Pronunciation to Adults Sydney, Australia: AMEPRC Wil 2016, „10 Tips For Perfect English Pronunciation‟, Englishlive 62 APPENDICES APPENDIX NO.1 TEACHERS’QUESTIONNAIRE Dear my responders, Thank you very much for your participation in my survey I am completing my research of “An investigation into EFL teacher's activities of teaching pronunciation to grade students in some primary schools in Hue city” and I would like to get your opinions, experience, which is of great contribution to my study Please complete this questionnaire by putting a cross (X) in the box next to the best response that you choose Thank you for your time and generosity! PART 1: GENERAL INFORMATION How old are you?  22 - 25  26 - 30 31 - 44  ≥ 45 What is your gender?  Male  Female Which school are you teaching at?  Ly Thuong Kiet  Thuan Loc  Tran Quoc Toan  Thuan Hoa  Le Loi How many years have you been teaching? 1-5 years 11-20 years  6-10 years Above 20 years Questionnaires: What are current activities employed by the teachers to teach pronunciation to the 5th grade students at some Primary Schools in Hue? What are the teachers’ suggestions for the better use of activities to improve the 5th grade students’ pronunciation? 63 PART 2: TEACHING ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION TO THE 5TH GRADE STUDENTS  Please tick the respective blank as mentioned below Have you ever taken English pronunciation courses?  Yes  No Have you taken any refresher courses in English pronunciation teaching in the past?  Yes  No How important you think these training courses are?  Very important  Important  Neutral  Not important Do you think it is crucial to teach students at primary school level correct English pronunciation?  Yes  No Do you think it is crucial that the teacher have correct English pronunciation in order to teach English at primary school level?  Yes  No Is there any foreign teacher at your primary school?  Yes  No What you think your student’s English pronunciation is?  Excellent  Good  Acceptable  Poor  Very poor Do your students seem to have troubles in spelling and/or pronunciation when reading aloud?  Yes, they seem to have troubles very often  Yes, they but mainly with new words  No, generally they don‟t seem to have troubles Do you use any materials other than the textbook?  No, I only use the textbook  Yes, I use some supplementary materials 64  Yes, about half of the materials I use are selected by me  Yes, most of the materials I use are selected by me 10 Do you use the pronunciation exercises in the textbook?  Yes, I only use pronunciation exercises in the textbook  Yes, I use both pronunciation exercises in the textbook and my created ones  No, I only create pronunciation exercises  No, I never use pronunciation exercises 11 Do you use activities for students in pair/groups?  Never  At least once a month  Sometimes during the lesson  Every week 12 Which activities you mainly use to enhance student’s pronunciation? 1: Never 2: Sometimes 3: Often 4: Frequently 5: Most frequently Activities Level Listen and repeat Phonetic training Minimal pairs Games Songs and rhymes Others (please be brief and specific): ………………… ………………… 65 13.Do you make your students repeat sounds, words or sentences that you speak/other sources?  Never  At least once a month  Sometimes during the lesson  Every week 14 How you guide students to practice pronunciation at home? 1: Never 2: Sometimes 3: Often 4: Frequently 5: Most frequently Activities Level Watching videos Listening to music Repeating learned sentences Others (please be brief and specific): ………………… ………………… 15 What are your difficulties in teaching English pronunciation to your students? 1: Never 2: Sometimes 3: Often 4: Frequently 5: Most frequently 66 Mistakes Level Vowel and consonant Intonations Stresses Ending sounds Others (please be brief and specific): ………………… ………………… 16 What are your suggestions for better English pronunciation teaching? (Please be brief and specific) ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… 67 APPENDIX NO.2: SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS WITH HEADS OF ENGLISH DIVISION Good morning, Ladies and Gentlemen! My name is Phuong Currently I am a teacher at Tran Quoc Toan primary school Presently, I am studying about “An investigation into EFL teacher's activities of teaching pronunciation to grade students in some primary schools in Hue city” I am really thankful for your spending time with me today All of your information provided shall be only for my research and study purpose Do you think teaching English pronunciation important for students? Do you usually hold training programs for your teachers to improve teacher‟s pronunciation teaching? Do you invite foreign teachers to collaborate with your teachers? If you have, how often is it? What are the benefits of this to the teaching of pronunciation? Do you arrange attendance? Any class observations for checking the quality of English pronunciation teaching and learning? What are your suggestions for better teaching of English pronunciation? 68 APPENDIX NO 3: CLASSROOM OBSERVATION SHEET Teacher: Class: Peer/Observer: Date & Time Activities in the class Teacher’s activities Braining storm (5 minutes) Conversation/listening & repeat (10 minutes) Vocabularies (10 minutes) Practice pronunciation with the exercises in textbook (10 minutes) Teacher‟s assessment after lesson (10 minutes) 69 Student’s activities Strengths observed: Suggestions for improvement: Overall impression of teaching effectiveness: 70