Positive effects of games application in teaching pronunciation in vus centers graduation paper, major english language

HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES GRADUATION PAPER POSITIVE EFFECTS OF GAMES APPLICATION IN TEACHING PRONUNCIATION IN VUS CENTERS Advisor: NGUYEN HUY KHAI, M.A Student name: TRAN THAO MY Student’s ID: 15DH710347 Class: SA1502 Major: English language Ho Chi Minh City, June 2019 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It is impossible for this research to be completed without the support, assistance, contribution, and guidance of these special people The researcher would like to send the appreciation to these followings: Department of Foreign Languages, HCMC University of Foreign Languages and Information Technology for allowing this research to be recognized Mr Nguyen Huy Khai (M.A), an enthusiastic advisor, who gave me step-by-step instructions for this research to be finished in details Mr Le Hoang Duy, for being a friend who encouraged and assisted me to solve problems while the research was being conducted Ms Tran Thanh Truc (M.A), for encouraging and giving me advice when needed Ms Tran Kim Thy, Training Quality Manager of VUS Kids Tran Nao Campus, for allowing this research’s experiment to be conducted in the campus VUS’s teachers and staffs for supporting me to carry out the research successfully VUS’ learners for the enthusiastic participation in the experiment and the interview All my family members and friends who support, motivate and encourage the researcher until the end ABSTRACT Games application is used popularly in most of English centers in Vietnam It has been known as a great tool in attracting young learners and imparting knowledge Furthermore, it also assists children to learn English and communicate with each other better in a more natural way However, the number of reliable research has been done in Vietnam is minor Therefore, the demand for practical experiments and further study has been rising This paper examined how far games application could have positive effects on teaching pronunciation In addition, learners’ attitude towards in-class activities was also recorded to support the idea All of the subjects participating in the experiment which was conducted in a campus of VUS centers were at the beginning level of English proficiency The final result showed fairly positive attitude of learners towards in-class games, and some aspects of pronunciation which were improved through activities On the other hand, some negative cases in the experiment were also recorded to support for this research Overall, this paper’s findings support the original idea of the positive impacts of games application in teaching pronunciation and attracting learners’ attention Contents I INTRODUCTION II LITERATURE REVIEW The concern of teaching and learning English pronunciation: 2 The difficulties in learning English pronunciation of Vietnamese learners:3 The application of games in teaching pronunciation: Difficulties in organizing games in classroom and tips for managing classroom: III METHOD IV RESULT 12 Data analysis from structured interview 12 Data from the observation 18 V DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATION 26 Discussion 26 Implication 29 VI CONCLUSION 33 APPENDIX 34 REFERENCES: 50 I INTRODUCTION The advantages of games application in teaching English to young learners have been known for years However, not many experiments to confirm the benefits and drawbacks of this method have been conducted in Vietnam Despite the fact that games are used commonly in warm-up, and review sessions in teaching four skills of English, the games application in teaching English pronunciation is still unpopular Although there are many teachers who believe in the positive effects of games application in teaching English, particularly pronunciation, some people still go against this idea Furthermore, due to the limited conditions of the researcher, this paper only focused on a small group of young learners who were studying English in Tran Nao Campus of VUS English Centers in district The purpose of this study was to clarify the positive effects of games application in teaching English pronunciation for young learners in elementary level Additionally, students’ attitudes toward games application in teaching English pronunciation were also considered The performances of students which were conducted through the observation, combined with their attitude to support the original hypothesis The research begins with an introduction about games application in teaching pronunciation and the scopes that researcher has met while carrying out this experiment The paper then discusses more intensely about the positive effects of games application in teaching English pronunciation and mentions some other works on the same matter of different researchers The next chapter focuses on how the research was conducted and provides findings After that are the discussion, recommendation, and conclusion II LITERATURE REVIEW The concern of teaching and learning English pronunciation: In the past, when people talked about learning English, they usually paid attention to skills – reading, speaking, reading and listening Pronunciation was just mentioned as a sub-skill Gradually, people’s awareness about correct pronunciation has been increasing Gilakjani (2011) claimed: “Pronunciation is one of the most important skills in English Language Teaching If speakers have very bad pronunciation, their speech will not be understandable to the listeners (p.1).” Pronunciation is a combination of phonemes and suprasegmental features (Kelly & Harmer, 2000) According to Coombs (2017), “pronunciation teaching was important in the classroom because it was relevant to some of the core teaching methodologies of the time” (p.12), and “correct pronunciation is a basis for efficient communication in English” (Nguyen, 2015, p.2) In teaching pronunciation, it is very important to help students recognize and make new sounds, and that is also a part of teacher’s roles (Kenworthy, 1987) Moreover, a teacher needs to decide what activities are suitable to different classes, how to assessments and help students to establish practice plans for improving pronunciation (Kenworthy, 1987) Teachers are also recommended to figure out pronunciation mistakes and help students correct them, provide opportunities for students in practicing pronouncing words correctly (Nahari & Alfadda, 2016) Besides, teachers have to consider the amount of knowledge given to students each course, and use their contact hours effectively to support learners without making them feel under pressure (Cunningham, 2009) Moreover, “teachers need a greater appreciation of the pronunciation difficulties faced by learners of ESL/EFL and the reasons for these difficulties, and a simple framework for understanding the situation of the second language learner” (Gilakjani, 2011, p.11) According to Cunningham (2009), every student has their own demands in the target of learning English However, “English is not widely spoken in Vietnam” (Cunningham, 2009, p.115) Hence, there are many students who rarely have chances to speak English in other situations besides communicating with each other in class (Cunningham, 2009) On the other hand, learners at young ages often have great imagination, and love to study in a joyful environment where they can learn and play at the same time (Nurhayati, 2015) Thus, children’s motivation and enthusiasm in learning English pronunciation can be raised by teachers through inclass activities like games (Nurhayati, 2015) The difficulties in learning English pronunciation of Vietnamese learners: Young learners, especially students who are at the ages of kindergarten school, have typical problems in learning English pronunciation English is a new language to them Thus, there are some words which are difficult for them to pronounce They prefer reading the words based on the letter than the sound, so they will tend to guess the words by logical thinking (Nurhayati, 2015) Another concern is that young students lack language input, and they are not active enough, and easily get bored (Nurhayati, 2015) Hence, “if the activities are done monotonously, they will be bored because there is no variation in that learning process (Nurhayati, 2015, p 216).” According to Hewings (2004), the problems with English pronunciation can cause students to be disappointed, and less motivated since they make the same mistakes continuously when communicating with others Asian students in general and Vietnamese students in particular are good at writing skill but have problems with speaking (Hewings, 2004 and Avery & Ehrlich, 1992) Mispronouncing can cause difficulties for non-native speakers in expressing themselves to the native ones (Kelly & Harmer, 2000) The mistakes of mispronouncing happen in almost elements of pronunciation Firstly, Vietnamese students can find difficulty in pronouncing English consonants since some of them not exist in Vietnamese consonant system (Lane and Brown, 2010) According to Lane and Brown (2010), there are 24 consonants in North American English Among them, /ð/, /θ/ - fricative dental sounds, not exist in Vietnamese sounds system, which will cause difficulty for Vietnamese to pronounce without the instruction from teacher For example, in pronouncing the word “think”, instead of saying “θɪnk”, learners usually say “thɪnk” with the sound /th/ in Vietnamese accent, or “tɪnk”, which make the foreigners confused when hearing Students, furthermore, have problems with aspirating sounds like /k/, /p/, /t/ When pronouncing these sounds at the beginning of the words, especially the sound /p/, students usually forget to release a puff of air (Avery & Ehrlich, 1992) For example, Vietnamese learners usually say “bay” instead of “pay”, which completely changes the meaning of the speech Moreover, the sounds /ʒ/, /dʒ/, /tʃ/ are difficult for Vietnamese to pronounce them as the final sounds (Ha, 2005) Nguyen (2007) claimed that people are confused with /t/ and /d/ as final sounds and /t/ and /d/ in everywhere of a word Secondly, consonant clusters are another new term to Vietnamese learners In fact, consonant clusters not exist in Vietnamese sounds system According to Nguyen (2008), “Final consonant clusters consisting of voiced stops, fricatives, or liquids will be the most difficult for Vietnamese L2 learners of English to pronounce (p.5).” Therefore, the tendency of learners is omitting one or more difficult consonants in a cluster (Avery and Ehrlich, 1992) Strong and weak form also cause students to be confused According to Avery and Ehrlich (1992), “when function words are spoken in isolation, they are stressed; that is, they are pronounced in strong form In connected speech, when function words are normally unstressed, they are pronounced in weak form (p.81).” However, students whose mother tongues not have much distinction between strong and weak form tend to produce strong form unreasonably (Hewings, 2004) “Assimilation is something which varies in extent according to speaking rate and style: it is more likely to be found in rapid, casual speech (Roach, 2009, p.110).” According to Le (2011), Vietnamese learners have trouble with assimilation due to the differences between English and Vietnamese phonetics system; therefore, they tend to omit the ending sounds when speaking Moreover, “students’ awareness of practicing assimilation process is not high enough (Le, 2011, p.22).” Some English vowels are also difficult for Vietnamese students to pronounce According to Avery and Ehrlich (1992), “vowels are differentiated from consonants by the relative wide opening in the mouth as air passes from the lungs out of the body.” Based on the length, there are two kinds of vowels: the long and the short ones Short vowels include ɪ, æ, e, ʌ, ɒ, ʊ; and long vowels include iː, ɜː, ɑː; ɔː; uː (Roach, 2009) Avery and Ehrlich (1992) claimed that Vietnamese learners have difficulty in distinguishing tense vowels (iy, ey, uw) and lax vowels (ɪ, ʊ, ɛ) /æ/ and /e/ are also mistaken by Vietnamese students as the vowel æ does not exist in Vietnamese sounds system; therefore, they tend to pronounce /e/ instead of /æ/ /aʊ/ and /ɔ/ share the same situation with /e/ and /æ/ On the other hand, Vietnamese learners also have problem with linking sounds Avery and Ehrlich (1992) claimed that consonant omission at the end of English words is a popular habit of people who were born and live in Vietnam Therefore, the transition from a word to another is not smooth, which will affect the qualities of students’ speech Avery and Ehrlich (1992) found that Vietnamese learners have problems with contraction The reason is there are some difficult sounds combinations are created by contraction (Avery and Ehrlich, 1992) The application of games in teaching pronunciation: There are many ways to teach pronunciation including song, chants, games, etc Applying games in teaching to help students improve their pronunciation has been using for years because of its advantages By applying games into a lesson, students can enjoy it without thinking that they are studying; furthermore, students BẢNG CÂU HỎI KHẢO SÁT VỀ ỨNG DỤNG TRÒ CHƠI TRONG VIỆC DẠY PHÁT ÂM TIẾNG ANH DÀNH CHO HỌC VIÊN Ở TRUNG TÂM ANH NGỮ VUS Cô tên Trần Thảo My, sinh viên năm trường Đại học Ngoại Ngữ - Tin Học TP.HCM (HUFLIT) thực Khóa Luận Tốt Nghiệp Dưới bảng khảo sát mức độ ảnh hưởng (tích cực) việc ứng dụng trị chơi (hoạt động) vào dạy phát âm (chủ yếu mức độ nhận diện âm) tiếng Anh mức độ sơ cấp thiết kế Mong dành thời gian hỗ trợ hồn thành khảo sát Xin cam kết tất thông tin giữ bí mật phục vụ cho việc thực Khóa Luận Con tên là: …………………………………………………… Tuổi: …………… Giới tính:  Nam  Nữ Con có thích vừa hoc vừa chơi trị chơi thầy tổ chức khơng?  Con thích  Con có thích  Con thích  Con khơng thích * 38 5* Vì khơng thích việc vừa học vừa chơi? (bé chọn nhiều đáp án)  Con khơng thích vận động  Con thường xuyên chơi thua bạn  Con khơng nhớ học ngày hơm  Khác: Con xếp thứ tự từ đến trị chơi mà thích chơi (1: thích nhất, 5: khơng thích nhất)  Guessing Game  Slap The Words  The Missing Flashcard  Chinese Whisper  Bingo Vì thích chơi trị chơi nhất? (bé chọn nhiều đáp án)  Vui  Giúp phát âm  Giúp nhớ từ tốt  Giúp thích học tiếng Anh  Khác: Vì khơng thích chơi trị nhất? (bé chọn nhiều đáp án)  Trị chán  Con chơi thua bạn*  Nó khơng giúp nhớ từ  Khác: 39 9* Vì chơi thua bạn? (bé dược chọn nhiều đáp án)  Con chậm  Không hiểu luật chơi  Không nhớ từ vựng  Không nhớ bảng chữ  Khác: 10 Hãy xếp thứ tự trò chơi từ dễ đến khó: (1: dễ nhất, 5: khó nhất)  Slap The Words  Guessing Game  The Missing Flashcard  Chinese Whisper  Bingo 11 Vì trị chơi khó với con? (bé chọn nhiều đáp án)  Con cách chơi  Con không nhớ từ vựng  Con hay phát âm sai  Khác: 12 Nếu thầy cô tiếp tục cho vừa học vừa chơi trò chơi bây giờ, có thích khơng?  Thích  Khơng Cảm ơn hợp tác! ☺ Questionnaire for the structured interview in VUS Centers (Vietnamese version) 40 Observation sheet for bingo game on April, 27th 2019 41 Observation sheet for Slap The Words game on April, 7th 2019 42 Observation sheet of game The Missing Flashcard on April, 14th 2019 43 Observation sheet of game Guessing Game on April, 20th, 2019 44 Observation sheet of game Chinese Whisper on April, 21st 2019 45 Learners in VUS Centers are playing Chinese Whisper 46 Learners in VUS Centers are playing Slap The Words 47 10 Learners in VUS Centers are playing Bingo 48 11 Learners in VUS Centers are playing The Missing Flashcard 49 REFERENCES: Avery, P., & Ehrlich, S (1992) Teaching American English pronunciation New York: Oxford University Press Codina, A B (2018, n.d n.d.) The use of pronunciation games to teach English pronunciation Retrieved from The university of San Fransisco: http://repositori.uvic.cat/bitstream/handle/10854/5576/trealu_a2018_bosch_a ina_use_pronunciation.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Coombs, C A (2017, 18) No more games: A pronunciation guide book for new ELF teachers working in Asian countries Retrieved from The University of San Fransisco: https://repository.usfca.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgiarticle=1513& contextcapstone Cunningham, U (2009, December 23) Models and targets for the pronunciation of English in Vietnam and Sweden Retrieved from Research in language: https://content.sciendo.com/view/journals/rela/7/1/article-p113.xml Garton, S., & Copland, F (Eds) (2019) The Routledge handbook of teaching English to young learners New York: Routledge Gilakjani, A P (2011, December 1) A study on the situation of pronunciation instruction in ESL/EFL classrooms Retrieved from Journal of studies in education: http://dx.doi.org/10.5296/jse.v1i1.924 Ha, T C (2005, n.d n.d.) Common pronunciation problems of Vietnamese learners of English Retrieved from Tap chi khoa hoc DHGHN: https://www.academia.edu/31932255/Common_pronunciation_problems_of _vietnamese_learners_of_english 50 Hewings, M (2004) Pronunciation practice activities: A resource book for teaching English pronunciation Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Kelly, G & Harmer, J (Eds) (2000) How to teach pronunciation Harlow: Longman Kenworthy, J (1987) Teaching English pronunciation New York: Longman Lane, L., & Brown, H.D (Eds) (2010) Tips for teaching pronunciation : A practical approach New York: Peason Longman Le, M T (2011) Assimialtion experienced by Quang Ngai students in Pham Van Dong University Retrived from: http://tailieuso.udn.vn/bitstream/TTHL.125/ 1128/2/Summary.pdf Nahari, A A., Alfadda, H., A (2016) From memorising to visualising: The effect of using visualisation English Language Teaching, Nguyen, N (2008) Interlanguage phonology and the pronunciation of English final consonant clusters by native speakers of Vietnamese Retrieved from Ohio University: http://www.ohio.edu/linguistics/workingpapers/2008/nguyen_2008.pdf Nguyen, T T (2015) Using games to improve pronuncation of the second year non-English major students at Hanoi University of Business and Technology Retrieved from https://mir-nauki.com/PDF/04PMN215.pdf Nurhayati, D A (2015) Improving Students’ English Pronunciation Ability through Dinamika Ilmu Roach, P (2009) English phonetics and phonology: A practical course Cambridge: Cambridge University press Santamaría, I E (2013) Pronunciation resources for primary school teachers and learners Retrieved from https://biblioteca.unirioja.es/tfe_e/TFE000407.pdf 51 Scott, W A (1990) Teaching English to children Longman Srivener, J & Underhill, A (2011) Learning teaching: The essential guide to English language teaching Macmillan Underhill, A (1994) Sound foundations: Learning and teaching pronunciation Oxford: Macmillan Wattana, S (2012) Talk to me! Games and students’ willingness to communicate In Reinders, H., Digital Games in Language Learning and Teaching New York: Palgrave Macmillan 52