Table 4.9 Descriptive Statistics of the challenges of practice of shadow ing in speaking
24.1 think practicing shadowing consumed much time.
25.1 think practicing shadowing was boring.
26.1 think 1 couldn't react appropriately in speaking situations after practicing shadowing week after week.
27.1 think I W'as unable to follow up the sound tracks while I am doing shadowing.
28.1 dislike shadowing because it is challenging for me.
29 The shadow ing wasn't useful because I couldn't find my mistakes.
30.1 found it difficult to apply shadowing for long conversations.
Tabic 4.9 shows a different picture when it comes to the dimension of challenges In contrast to the previous dimensions, some students were unsure that shadowing were challenged while others believed shadowing was easy to them Students disagreed with item 29 so it means that they agreed the effectives of shadowing to help them find their mistakes The challenges with the highest Mean score 4.09 and the lowest mean score 2.47.
Table 4.10 Background information about the groups in the interview
Name Age Gender No of students
Question I: In response to the part of the interview's open-ended questions, " How did you feel about shadowing?", all five groups interviewed shared the similar opinion that shadowing was new interesting and effective technique Group I Group 4 and Group 5 told that shadowing was "a new method, and we were interested in practicing shadowing" Group 2 shadowing was “difficult and strange", and Group 3 thought “shadowing is boring", so they were unsure its effectiveness al first However Group 2 and Group 3 “felt more and more excited" to learn by shadowing practice After many weeks practicing shadowing, they built a new habit to learn English and have more options to learn speaking.
Question 2: When participants were asked to response to the question “What do you think are different aspects between shadowing practice and repetition", students of five groups responded the repetition was simple but boring Although shadowing was more difficult and require complicated skills, students felt “more active after practicing shadowing” week after week Shadowing also helped them pay more attention to the conversation.
Question 3: “How could you explain the benefits and difficulties of shadowing alone, in pair and in group" is the third question of the interview Students in group 4 explained that shadowing alone teaches them to listen carefully and collect knowledge to share with others in pairs and groups later Partners aided them in becoming more self- assured Group 3 and Group 5 agreed that shadowing in pairs and groups helped them recall the content for longer periods of time and improved our shadowing performance They could practice more and assist others find their mistakes Four groups agreed that shadowing in pair is more enjoyable, while shadowing in groups allows them to share ideas on how to shadow more effectively Only Group 3 prefer shadowing alone because I felt comfortable.
Question 4: In regard to the questions of “What do you think are positive aspects of shadowing practice" Group I group 2 and group 3 responded that “we think that shadowing practice helps US learn and remember vocabulary and understand belter the content of the conversation" Group 4 and group 5 “we think Our structure, pronunciation and fluency were improved after practicing shadowing" All groups had got similar ideas that their vocabulary, structures and fluency and pronunciation had been enhanced.
Question 5: “What do you think are difficult aspects of shadowing practice'.’" All groups stated that shadowing was time consuming Group 3 Group 4 and Group 5 thought that the most difficult was the “fast speed of native speaker" It was challenging to keep up with their fast speed Listening and speaking at the same lime needs additional effort Group 2,3.4 felt stressed because they could not shadow at first Group I said they were impossible to shadow even known words if Ihey don't practice shadow ing many times.
Question 6: “What did you and your friends do to overcome difficulties of shadowing practice?" Group 1,2.3 and group 5 shared that “we think we should be familiar with the vocabulary and structures" Group 4 mentioned that “we should make effort to
48 focus on intonation by listening carefully before practice shadowing" All groups tried to adjust their speaking pace and focus more on intonation to match that of native speakers They could reduce their anxiety and felt more confidence after practicing shadowing many times They needed to familiarize themselves with the vocabulary, structures and understand the material and were able to read the text.
Question 7: "Do you believe the researchers' procedures for shadowing practice will help you? If not, do you have any suggestions'?" Group 1,4,5 answered that "We can read the text smoothly before practicing shadowing" Group 2 added that "We can practice on our own speed until we feel confident" Group 3 said that "we think we should practice shadowing as much as possible to improve our speaking skills" Students of five groups added more their view Text that was simple and easy to read could be used for shadowing Before they practiced shadowing, they should read the text smoothly They could practice at their own pace until we felt comfortable.
The data evaluated and interpreted w ill be discussed further in order to address the two research questions stated in Chapter I As a result, the discussion of the findings is divided into two parts: one about the students' perception of the impact of shadowing on speaking skills and the other about their perceptions of the benefits and challenges of the use of shadowing in speaking classes.
4.3.1 Discussion on the findings of Research Question 1
What are students’ perceptions of the impacts of shadowing on their speaking skills?
The findings from indicated that the majority of learners perceived their speaking skills of pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar and fluency were improved, which indicated that shadowing had effective impacts on speaking skills From the results of the survey, it indicated that the pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary and fluency were improved after the treatment In general, the results of the studies indicated the importance of shadow ing during the pre-speaking stage on students' speaking skills The results were supported by previous studies shadowing impacted on pronunciation (Omar& Umehara, 2010, Foote &
McDonough 2017), vocabulary and grammar (Tamai and Kadota, 2004; Hamada, 2011) and fluency (Wiltshicr, 2007; Foote & McDonough 201 7; Hamada 201 8) Learners could remember more vocabulary and could apply the vocabulary and structures in their speaking Besides, learners could pronounce clear individual sounds after many weeks of practicing shadowing Learners could apply linking words in their speaking, so they could speak more fluently These findings supported the results of Omar & Umehara (2010) Nakanishi
&Ueda (201 1) and Hamada (2018) who stated that shadowing improved students' speaking skills.
It's interesting to note how those elements arc extracted in particular trends, such as impact of shadowing on pronunciation, impact of shadowing on grammar and vocabulary and impact of shadowing on fluency The results implies that participants tend to assess their improvement for speaking skills of vocabulary is the best of all The results are understandable that participants choose to pay attention to word, sentence stress and sound recognition while they focus less on intonation It is still a noticeable and significant gap in this study The results showed that shadowing could assist students improve their pronunciation in general but the improvement of intonation is not clear as the finding of item 3 in the questionnaire showed low score.
Most students were interested in practicing shadowing because it was a new way for them Others believed shadowing was difficult and unusual, and thus doubt its effectiveness They were, however, becoming increasingly excited to learn via shadowing After several weeks of shadowing, they developed a new habit of learning English and now have more opportunities to practice speaking Despite the fact that shadowing was challenging and requires more complex abilities, they perceived the influence of shadowing on their speaking skills.
4.3.2 Discussion on the findings of Research Question 2
What are their perceptions of the benefits and challenges of practice of shadow ing in speaking classes?
The study's finding showed that the majority of participants in this survey believed shadowing improves their speaking According to Horiyama (2012) shadowing
50 assignments are beneficial in assisting students in understanding their existing skills of vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation input, comprehension, and output, as well as in promoting their willingness to produce speech The findings of a study of one English class where students practiced shadowing show that shadowing increases students' interest and involvement.
INTRODUCTION
Background of the study
The topic of encouraging shadowing in education in general, and language learning speaking in particular, has stimulated the interest of researchers, practitioners, and educators Shadowing is primarily viewed as a technique that allows students to benefit from the learning approaches (Hamada, 2019) The student is regarded as a decision maker who possesses or will acquire the ability to choose to construct what is required for the activity in question utilizing available tools According to several research, it can increase learners' pronunciation and fluency (Foote & McDonough 2017; Hamada 2018) as well as vocabulary and grammar (Tainai and Kadota 2004; Hamada 201 1).
For the following problems, the researcher options the research topic; "EFL students' perceptions of the impact of shadow ing on speaking skills”:
The problem faced by adult learners is the limit of spoken vocabulary (Nation, 2000); hence, students often get into embarrassing situations in conversation Additionally, students also face challenges in speaking English, especially pronunciation or fluency Pronunciation is considered the most problematic aspect of teaching and learning English (Fraser, Department of Education & Affairs 2001) Besides, students are often discouraged in their classroom as they are concerned about making mistakes, losing face while attempting to learn a foreign language I lr (20 12) shows that "speaking requires some degree of real time exposure to an audience", so psychological factors like shyness or inhibition affect students’ speaking (p I 18) Hamada (201 1) believes shadowing should be seen as an active and highly cognitive behavior in learning language Also Hamada (2019) states that a framework that explains speaking growth through shadowing.
Most Vietnamese students are likely to be good at reading and writing, and they arc able read to understand documents or write something to convey their messages; however, they are struggling with speaking The Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training is concerned with the development of realistic communication skills, but this seldom happens at classroom “Concerning listening and speaking skills, students practiced these two ones very little in class because they spend most of their time learning grammar, vocabulary and reading text documents" (p I 56) (I loa 2016).
It is critical for learners to be proficient in speaking as well as to develop a variety of other language abilities The majority of non-major English students from regular classes find it difficult to learn speaking Using shadowing to aid learning has become popular today However, in Vietnamese context no research on the adult learners’ perception of the impact of shadowing on speaking skills particularly has been conducted thus so far.
The problems discussed above have encouraged the author to conduct this study to investigate how shadowing stimulate learner’s psychological aspect from the perspective of adult learners’ perceptions of the impacts of shadowing on spoken English, as well as their perceptions of the drawbacks and benefits of practicing shadowing in speaking classes.
In order to nil the gap described in the preceding section, the purpose of this study is to examine learner's perceptions of impacts of shadowing on their speaking skills It also investigates the learners' perceptions of advantages and drawbacks of shadowing when they practice shadowing in speaking classes The study seeks to answer the following research questions:
1 What arc students' perceptions of the impacts of shadowing on their speaking skills?
2 What are their perceptions of the benefits and challenges of practice of shadowing in speaking classes?
Scope of the study
This study looked into learners' perceptions of the impacts of shadowing on the first- year students' speaking skills The study was conducted on one group of learners at an English center in HCMC University of Transport where students practiced shadowing in their speaking skills Then a questionnaire was designed to collect the learners' ideas on the influence of the shadowing technique in speaking, and their perception of the benefits and challenges of practice of shadowing in speaking lessons Finally, the learners were invited to answer an interview to clarify their thoughts and beliefs, which they responded in the questionnaire.
The scope of the current investigation imposes two constraints First, only students' perceptions of the impact of shadowing on speaking skills was investigated The survey would be more complete if EFL teachers' perceptions were included However, starting with the students' perceptions is vital because the study's key purpose is to provide instructional implications to examine students' perceptions of the impact of shadow ing on speaking skills Second, the sample is limited to one regular class at a university in southern Vietnam, limiting the findings' generalizability Nonetheless, thanks to the sample used in this study, the findings can be extended to the population under investigation.
Significance of the study
This thesis conducted an investigation of perceptions of learners on the impact of shadowing on speaking skills, and the findings of this study were significant in some following aspects First, the thesis had valuable contributions to the field of speaking learning and teaching applying shadowing technique The findings of this study may assist teachers in realizing the key benefits of shadowing technique on speaking skills to expand their speaking teaching Second, the topic to a great extent is expected to meet the learners' needs and to enhance their speaking skills In many Vietnamese universities, shadowing is not commonly used, so it will be interesting to sec how students' speaking skills grow during their week after week practice shadowing Third, learners' good perceptions on the impact of shadowing on speaking skills demonstrate that this technique is unquestionably practical because students improve their speaking skills when they arc excited about new learning methods Last but not least, the findings can provide useful information about the application of the shadowing technique to improve students' speaking skills, so the findings will hopefully be beneficial to researchers who desire to conduct research on relevant topics.
Structure of the thesis
The thesis is divided into five chapters.
Chapter I Introduction, gives a summary of the research paper, including the background of the study, research aims and questions, study scope, significance of the study and structure of the thesis.
Chapter 2 Literature Review, establishes theoretical backgrounds, analysis and synthesis of past studies with the same focus as the current study It reviews related literature with particular focus on the notions of speaking, perceptions and shadowing as well as benefits and challenges of using shadowing in language education This section also discusses previous studies in the field to highlight possible gaps that motivate the current research.
Chapter 3, Research Methodology provides a detailed account of the research design and associated instrument concerns I’ll is chapter describes data collection tools as well as well as other methodological matters like reliability and validity Finally, it explains how the data was gathered and what tools were utilized during the study
Chapter 4 Results and Discussion, includes the findings from the survey and discussion on the findings Based on questionnaire and interview analyses, the study's findings arc discussed respectively.
Chapter 5, Conclusion, is a chance to present the significant findings, which the researcher has reached Conclusion is aimed to bring together, integrate, and synthesize the many problems discussed in the discussion sections, while reflecting the initial thesis objectives This helps to answer the research questions Conclusion highlights limitations, implications of the study in relation to the broader sub ject area and provides future research directions’.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Speaking skills
Speaking has been defined in a variety of ways by experts Speaking is defined as reception and production skills requiring both speakers and listeners (Byrne 1986) Speaking skill involves the knowledge of the basic spoken grammar and workable vocabulary and skills in using this know ledge of the target language (C c Goh 2007) Speaking skill is mostly concerned with “pronunciation, and with getting new' language noticed and integrated into the learner's competence" (p 15) (Nunan & Carter 2013) Fluency is defined as the skill to speak without unnecessary hesitation or ambiguity, and to combine units of speech together Fluency is considered the most difficult part of the speaking skill for most language learners because learners need to speak smoothly and meaningfully (Hedge 2001).
From these definitions, it can be stated that speaking skill is an interactive process of understanding and responding to interlocutors Therefore, in order to speak successfully, learners' language knowledge alone is insufficient, learners need to develop a range of skills to employ this knowledge of pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary knowledge and the speech skill of fluency
Speaking consists of the combination of components namely grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and fluency (Harris 1969) An oral communication necessitates a subject to reply, to speak, and to initiate it While grammar is required for students to arrange right sentences in discussion, vocabulary refers to the suitable diction employed in communication One cannot communicate successfully or explain their views orally if they do not have an adequate vocabulary A lack of vocabulary is another barrier that prevents learners from learning a language Without grammar, little or nothing can be communicated So based on this argument, the researcher concluded that English learners will not be able to speak English properly unless they master their vocabulary sufficiently Pronunciation is the process by which learners produce clearer language when speaking It is concerned with the phonological process, which is a component of grammar composed of the parts and concepts that define how sounds change and pattern in a language Pronunciation is important in speaking since it helps to make the communication process easier to understand Many language learners strive for fluency, which is the ability to read, talk, or write easily, smoothly, and expressively.
According to Vanderkevent (1990) pronunciation is the key clement in communication Speakers are the ones who create the sound, which can be utilized to express one's thoughts or feelings to the listener As a result, if there are no speakers, the opinion or feelings will not be expressed Listeners are people who understand or accept the speaker's point of view or emotion If there are no listeners, presenters will write down their thoughts on paper In this context, utterances are words or sentences that speakers employ to communicate their thoughts If there is no utterance, both speakers and listeners will use sign.
According to Brown (2000) fluency are two crucial factors in communicative language teaching The expert considers fluency as "an initial goal in language teaching" (p.265), so language-related emphasis on fluency is covered to meet learners' need Teachers should make sure that the assignments include this skill designed to help students understand and use language effectively.
Speaking requires language development and negotiation very differently from the way it is used in literature In both generating and processing conversations, interlocutors are involved concurrently They are under lime constraints, meaning they have to interpret language as they go with no chance of going back and making adjustments Speakers often foresee the different kinds of experiences and vocabulary they could use in specific social
8 contexts with their various purposes Purposeful language variation will include identifying the overall text form or structure, but also choosing the language and patterns relevant to a specific spoken situation (Burns & Seidlhofer 2010).
A variety of skills arc taken into account when developing the speaking skills of adult EFL students Knowing the grammatical rules of a foreign language isn't enough to learn it Learners must learn how native speakers use the language in the context of structured interpersonal conversation, which includes a number of components (Mendelsohn & Rubin 1995).
Based on Canale and Swain's (1980) work Shumin (2002) depicts grammatical competence and strategic competence arc the essential components underlying speaking skills The foundation of this framework implies that, while grammatical competence is an important component of speaking skill, it is not sufficient for itself They're really simple to teach and test Components like stress, intonation, and pitch are focused for speaking skills.
Speaking skills for effective communication involve four essential parts of speaking competence Phonological skills is dccribcd as producing accurate sounds at the prosody (stress and intonation) and phonemes (vowels and consonants) in the target language Speech function skills are recognized as the usage of communication function such as encourage, request, explain and so on Interaction management skills arc facc-to-facc interaction management skills including initiating, continuing, and terminating conversations, managing turn-taking, changing topics, and negotiating meaning Ending discourse organizing abilities entail using established standards to structure various sorts of spoken information in order to achieve coherence and cohesiveness in extended discourse.
[.earning to speak, however, whether in a first or other language, requires gaining knowledge and skills One of the most important aspects of daily communication is that it takes place in a range of cultural and social contexts We communicate in order to cany out many social behaviors, even though we are not always entirely conscious of it (Bums & Seidlhofer 2010) Teaching speaking is regarded as a unique instrument for language input,
Based on Willis's theory (1996 2005) grammatical forms are addressed once the assignment has been finished Teacher encourages students to pay attention to meaning and intentional language use Carter and McCarthy (1997) also identified spoken grammar and modal expression assists learners to avoid vague language Words and phrases arc used to establish boundaries and enhance speaking skills By removing subjects and verbs, learners do not necessarily have to respond in entire sentences To soften the impact of what is spoken, certain words or phrases are employed.
Learners work with specific types of language elements to express themselves in whichever way they choose There arc opposing viewpoints on this subject Brumfit (1984) stresses that practices of fluency should provide the freedom for learners to improvise their own language J Willis (1996) and Skchan (1998) agree that activities should not target specific qualities, but rather include factors that influence the level ofcomplexity or fluency generated by learners.
Cognitive processes in speaking followed by three interrelated stages of speech learning and output The information to be delivered is chosen by the speakers based on their prior know’lcdge The speakers' ideas or selected information is then communicated through utterances The articulatory system is used to speak prepared utterances (Bigatc
1998) In addition to these phases, what the listener hears is the result of several cognitive processes It entails mentally rehearsing what is being said and how it is being said In fact, some students still struggled with nervousness and confusion when they began to talk due to lack of confidence As a result:, students were not focused on the speaking process, they did not gain points for the lecturer's topic, and it was difficult for them to practice speaking When the researcher taught speaking in the classroom and asked studentss to speak fjiglish, the majority of them W'erc unable to do so fluently and used language mixing when interacting with the lecturer and their classmates Involving students' perceptions and rasing learner’s awareness of language use process will be essential.
Perceptions I 1
The scholars have defined the term perception in a number of different ways (Lave and Wenger, 1991; Williams and Burden 1997; Critcher et al.,2010) Lave and Wenger
(1991) explain that learners' perceptions are shaped by language used in speaking and teaching If learners have more chances to get exposed to the language, they could overcome their anxieties WiLiams and Burden (1997) indicate that perception of individuals in language learning results in their motives in learning the language This leads to how effectively learners acquire that language Learning takes place in a social setting, so it involves a dynamic interaction between teachers, students, and learning activities Critcher et al (2010) classify perception into two themes of behavior and judgement Perception of judgement means that someone has to experience something in order to perceive it Perception of behavior could be described as an individual's attempt to restore some certain situations to support an existing situation In other words, perception of behavior is the range of actions made by individuals in response to themselves or their surroundings.
Based on the preceding definitions, learners' perception can be defined as how learners interprete their surroundings based on their experience, judgment and behavior Therefore, the researcher tries to explore learners' perceptions of the impact of shadowing on speaking skills in order to learn about their judgment and behavior after learners attended a class of practicing shadowing.
The significance of students' perception has been thoroughly explored in previous studies Students' self-ratings of increase in knowledge and skills from the course influenced their selection of approaches to learning, which exerted their progress
Fadiga (2010) claimed that perception plays an important role in facilitating language learning Through processing of words and sentences, learner can recognize the speech.
Shadowing
Shadowing could be defined in various ways, but researcher will focus on shadowing of the speaking skill aspects in this paper Neisser (1967) reveals that shadowing is applied in behavioral studies of selective attention by repeating of phrase by phrase in spoken messages Lambert (1992) considers shadowing as the process of development, which provides a paced tracking of parrot-style, the word-for-word repetition to receive the message through the headphones in one language Shadow'ing is mostly used by cognitive psychologists and neuropsychologists to increase stimultaneous interpretation skills.
According to Tamai (2005) definition of shadowing is "a task in which the learner tracks the heard speech and repeats it as precisely as possible while listening intently to the incoming information" Active attention to in-coming sounds is critical in the human brain during the language process As a result, shadowing practice is suitable to apply in language classes Hamada (201 1) argues that previous definitions of shadow ing refer to the auditory repetition but not encompass cognitive processes, so the concept of shadowing is not fully understood and the vocabulary were increased He claims that shadowing should be considered a "active and highly cognitive activity" Kadota (2019) defines shadowing as a task in which learners need to repeat speech aloud as learners hear it precisely while continuing to listen attentively to the incoming speech.
According to stated definitions, it can be concluded that shadow ing is a highly active and cognitive practice in which students follow speech they hear and vocalize it as clearly as they can while simultaneously listening The shadowing requires learners to reproduce the speech while they are listening to continuous speech.
After using shadowing to investigate interaction between input and form during word recognition in continuous speech Marslcn-Wilson and Welsh (1978) presented an
12 active direct access model after investigating the relationship between input and form during word recognition in continuous speech employing shadowing Top-down processing limitations communicate directly with bottom-up information in this paradigm to provide phonetic input ofcorc lexical neaning Further research by Fait and Hambly (1986) demonstrate that if learners fail to identify incoming phonemes, particularly the beginning ones, the words heard will not be recognized The inadequate phoneme comprehension abilities of learners would therefore have a detrimental effect on the subsequent listening processes.
Wiltshier (2007) analyzes shadowing and evaluates evidence demonstrating that shadowing can improve speaking fluency Following the presentation and study analysis, seven examples of classroom peer shadowing procedures arc explained The author thinks that this study will help teachers employ shadowing to practice active listening and enhance oral communication skills in their students' target language Kuramoto et al (2007) found that shadowing is effective for reading instructions and rcad-aloud assignments Moreover, Takeuchi Ct al (2020) explores the effect of shadowing on language skills, working memory, and brain mechanisms involved in second language acquisition
Shadowing has also been utilized as part of a broader study routine to improve vocabulary, collocations structures that students already learned (Shiki, Mori, Kadota & Yoshida, 2010) Moreover, Hamada's (2014) study shows that “post-shadowing is suitable for regular EFL classrooms, w here difficult materials that contain new vocabulary and new expressions arc used" However, shadowing is not about listening abilities Practicing to communicate through shadowing, learners arc practicing physical feeling of how to speak.
Alicia (2018) also lists five reasons why using the voice shadowing approach to learn new languages is beneficial Speech shadowing improves pronunciation Instead just reading the text, learners listen to it with speech shadowing When learners have really heard the pronunciation, they will be able to grasp it better Therefore, learners can also understand the target language Besides, learners can expand the target language's vocabulary As the saying goes, one believes what their cars hear, and what they believe in stays with them When learners listen to a foreign language, they can also add extra words to it Beside using shadowing, learners can improve their language fluency Shadowing help to create a mental image of the sentence structures When learners are exposed to something repeatedly, their minds begin to process the information in the same way As a result, they unconsciously begin framing phrases in the same pattern This is similar to a youngster learning to speak and making up his own sentences based on what his parents say As a result, learners have a goal to match the audio in speech shadowing When learners create a goal for themselves, their ability to achieve it increases The same is true for the speec thanks to shadowing technique.
According to Doling (2010) in a shadowing activity, students repeat at the same rate what they have heard, such as speech and news The training's goal is to improve learners' ability to split their attention and speak while listening It is preferable to begin this instruction with your mother tongue and then go on to other languages.
However, shadowing shows some difficulty aspects One of the obstabclc is that shadowing is time-consuming, both the teacher and students must be aware of the process and intent of shadowing in order for students to remain focused and inspired According to study, students must understand exactly they are shadow ing from five to six times of the same piece to be acceptable (Shiki Ct al., 2010).
Before beginning shadowing, students should be familiar with the target material's content, but the instructor should urge them to focus on phonological aspects rather than meanings Asking them to shadow an ambiguous story is too hard and tough because numerous processes in their brains would result in cognitive overload (Hamada 2014) Shadowing can be used for both listening and speaking practice, but in general, shadowing should only be utilized for listening practice if the learner lacks appropriate phoneme comprehension skills (Hamada 2018).
Shadowing is a task that nvolvcs conscious thinking in terms of voice input based on the structure patterns Learners must be able to understand, memorize, and recreate conversational actions in real time To be effective in improving their listening
14 comprehension, speaking, and conversational activity, both hearing and speaking abilities must be used together (Omar & Umehara 2010) To reduce the difficulty of shadowing, it is vital to start with simple materials so that students can complete the work, then gradually increase the difficulty of the materials while obtaining feedback from students on the method (Nakanishi & Ueda 2011).
Previous research has demonstrated shadowing contributes to students' speaking development and provides an insight into the impacts of shadowing on their interest in speaking Many earlier research shows the effectiveness of shadowing, the procedure of shadowing, and the influence of showing on students' spychological aspect Some studies in Vietnam arc also mentioned in this section.
2.2.4.1 Studies on the procedure of shadow ing in teaching approaches:
Kadota and Tamai (2004) propose the following six shadowing phases for using shadowing in the context of second language teaching During the first phase of shadowing, students listen to the audio without the script and attempt to absorb the content and manner of the speech In the second phase, students practice mumbling by shadowing without a script and focus on the audible sound rather than the pronunciation In the third phase, students practice synchronized reading to comprehend the content while shadowing w ith the script and focusing on the script's meaning In the next phase, students focus on prosodic qualities like as stress, rhythm, intonation, pace, and pause know'll as prosody shadowing Later, they practice synchronized reading difficult points by shadow ing with the script and focusing on the sections that they find difficult In the final phase, students practice content shadowing by focusing on the content without reading the script.
Horiyama (2012) stated that the instruction involved the following procedures First of all, students were instructed to work in groups of two and to listen to the CD only once They were instructed to slice the meaning pieces, verify the prosody, and practice pronunciation Following that, students practiced reading aloud with a partner Secondly, students were asked to shadow by paying attention to prosody twice They were urged to concentrate on the prosody of the story rather than the substance or content of the story Students attempted to mimic the speech while focusing on proper enunciation and intonation This practice was repeated by the students twice Students were urged to improve their shadowing skills in the second round by paying attention to the sections where they had made mistakes, and they were also encouraged not to replicate in a monotonous manner Shadowing by focusing on meaning twice was required.
2.2.4.2 Studies on the effectiveness of shadowing assisting students’ speaking skills:
Theoretical framework of the study
A theoretical framework is critical to the success of the research Speaking skills, shadowing and perceptions are the three constructs depicted in the diagram of the thesis Speaking skills arc considered as an impacted construct, it will be included in this framework For the reasons stated above, this study only focused on pronunciation. grammar vocabulary and fluency Perception is divided into two categories: judgement and behavioral This research looks into both judgement and behavioral perception Speaking skills and perceptions are the dependent factors which are influenced by shadowing Many practical investigations have been conducted on this topic There arc some models are applied in teaching shadowing described This study looked into the learners' perceptions of the impact of shadowing on speaking skills and their perceptions of the benefits and challenges of practice of shadowing ill speaking classes.
METHODOLOGY
Research site
The study took place at the English center of Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport, which is located in Ho Chi Minh City's Binh Thanh District The English center offered a variety of English programs to fulfill students’ needs including General English English for specific purpose and TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication) for career At the center, the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) was regarded as an English competence assessment method The European Examinations Council created the framework with the assistance of the University of Cambridge F.SOL (English for speakers of other languages) The CEFR categorizes learners' competency into six levels: Al A2 Bl B2 Cl and C2 which were further subdivided into eight courses Level A I was the most basic level, after which students could go to other levels until they were skilled in English These university students expect learning in English to well prepare themselves for their successful employment The English center employed ten office staff including managers as well as more than forty English official and guest lecturers In the year 2022, the University's training scale had approximately 22,000 university students, with each English class having 30 to 35 students The study was conducted at this university for three reasons First, the researcher had been teaching English in this center for two years, which meant the researcher had easy access to data collection Second, the researcher observed that many students in these classes were struggling, with their speaking Third, the researcher found that students were bored with the traditional tactics in speaking, so the researcher found new ways to assist students to develop their speaking skills.
This study's supporting materials included textbooks, audios, and DVDs in the English textbooks named pre-intermediate Solutions (third Edition) Shadowing materials for the current study were developed with the purpose of developing shadowing proficiency while focusing on speech production fluency As a result, the shadowing materials in this study included a variety of vocabulary and grammar expressions, with the degree of unfamiliarity varied substantially depending on students' same level of English proficiency For the audio speed of the shadowing model, the steady speed progression method was employed The main purpose of this method is to guarantee that all students were comfortable with slow shadowing practice, and then to gradually increased their speed to moderate and then faster on a weekly basis, with the goal of being at a moderate speed.
The course was taught by one teacher and had the course curriculum, syllabus, and assignments The curriculum highlights the development of the four skills, in which speaking and listening are initially emphasized Speaking accounted for forty percent of the total marks for the final test Using shadowing in speaking might enhance students' speaking skills Therefore, it is suitable to implement the research project with the researcher's working setting The shadowing practices in the course consist of five topics: Talk about your drcam job talk about a visitor attraction, talk about your favorite shop, talk about a crime and talk about your favorite gadget Students were also taught with the additional resources designed by the teacher in addition to the course book For their shadowing and speaking assignments, students were encouraged to use the Oxford dictionary and collocation dictionary, as well as other available resources to support them to look up appropriate vocabulary and grammatical knowledge to build their own sentences.
Participants
The participants of this study arc thirty-two non- English major students who were from regular General English class at the first year and accumulated from seven to ten years of English learning experience prior to entering university The selected class was the one that the researcher was assigned with teaching at the lime since it was the most easily accessible By the time of data collection, the students passed the test in General English (Al CEFR) and had elementary level of English proficiency A2 level was consisted of two
24 courses, which were named General English 3 and General English 4 All students finished General English 3 and were arranged into the same class of General English 4 based on their same level This course was designed for students who aimed to achieve pre- intermediate level of English proficiency (A2 CEFR) They were learning speaking as one of their four major skills This shadowing course consisted of fifteen sessions within eight weeks including one training session in the first week and fourteen practicing sessions in the next weeks Each session lasted for ninety minutes on practice shadowing per class Students experienced practice of shadowing in their speaking classes for fourteen sessions, which were equivalent to 21 hours of the total 50-hour course They had two classes per week during the semester After training, students practiced shadowing for ten sessions and four sessions for review with five different topics.
Research design
The overall purpose of this study was to find out how adult learners perceived the impact of shadowing on their speaking skills The mixed methods design of both quantitative and qualitative method was employed in this study in order to achieve the paper's main purpose Two tools used in to collect the data in this study were a questionnaire and a structured interview Descriptive statistical analysis for scores of participants was used in quantitative method Content analysis of structured interview scripts was applied in qualitative method.
The survey was divided into Iwo sections of demographic information and questionnaire items The questionnaire in previous studies of Horiyama (2012) and Sumiyoshi and Svctanant (2017) were adopted in this study The researchers selected these models as they could help enhance shadowing in speaking skills The questions in the second section were created to collect data on the constructs of the areas with thirty questions The first fifteen questions were designed to assess students' perceptions of the impact of shadowing on their speaking skills: (I) students' perceptions of the impact of shadow'ing on pronunciation: (2) students' perceptions of the impact of shadowing on grammar and vocabulary: (3) students' perceptions of the impact of shadowing on fluency The other fifteen items were created by considering their perceptions of the benefits and challenges of the application of shadowing in speaking classes The questionnaire and the interview questions arc translated into Vietnamese in order that the respondents have no trouble comprehending them Comparative descriptive analysis was used to analyze the data.
According to Creswell (2014), mixed methods research is a sort of research that entails collecting both quantitative and qualitative data, merging the two forms of data, and employing different designs that may contain philosophical assumptions and theoretical frameworks The essential focus of this type of investigation is that the combination of two approaches to a research problem is more effective than either approach alone On a broad level, mixed methods research is useful because it has the ability to combine quantitative and qualitative research while minimizing the weaknesses of both If the researcher has access to both quantitative and qualitative data, it can also be a thorough strategy The current study consisted of phrase 1 quantitative design and phase 2 qualitative design Specifically, phase 1 and phase 2 employed experimental design and structured interview respectively.
With regard to phase I the study used quasi-expcrimcntal study with survey design for the experimental group The treatment was applied for the experimental group in quasi- cxpcrimental study (Creswell, 2014) This research design helped examine learners’ perceptions of the impact of shadow ing on speaking skills The survey was designed to investigate the learners’ view after they carried out the shadowing technique Quantitative data from the survey were analyzed to answer research question 1 and research question 2.
With regard to phase 2 qualitative research was necessary to have the full understanding of what the learners perceived when practicing shadowing in speaking class Data were gathered by interview’ng with students who participated in shadowing activities Content analysis was an effective data reduction method when performed correctly The main advantage of this method is that it compresses a large amount of text into a small number of content categories using specific coding rules in a systematic manner Content analysis was used to examine the data in a particular context in light of the meanings that a group attributed to them (Krippendorff, 1989) The research questions influence the choice
26 of a particular content analytical technique There were eight steps of the qualitative content analysis: summarizing, inductive category formation, narrow context analysis, broad context analysis, formal structuring, content structuring, type building content analysis and scaling structuring The term structuring refers to the application of logical categories In addition, content structuring and type building content were mix techniques Therefore, the data may be categorized, organized, and linked to the information from the questionnaire (Mayring, 2015) The qualitative research could capture the picture of the people perception in the natural setting (Ormston Ct al., 2014) Qualitative data from the interview were analyzed to explore and interpret related concepts for both research questions.
Research instruments
Data were collected using a questionnaire and interview questions Then, the researcher examines the learners' perceptions of the impact of shadowing on speaking skills and elicit the students' perceptions of benefits and challenges of practice of shadowing in speaking classes.
An anonymous questionnaire were used to collect information about the perception that students gain about the influence of shadowing on their speaking skills The questionnaire consisted of two parts, which were conducted online to examine learners' perception The first part was aimed to collect general information about the students with five questions The second part asked about the perceptions that student hold on the effective of shadowing to their speaking skills The second part had 30 questions of 5-point Likert scale, ranging from I "strongly disagree" to 5 "strongly agree".
After completing the training sessions with the participation of thirty two learners in this study, the survey questionnaire were applied to collect the data The participants were asked to rate the impact of shadow ing on speaking skills such as pronunciation, vocabulary and grammatical range and interaction communication Based on the data collection, the researcher collected quantitative: data to find out the impact of shadowing on students' speaking skills This method also allowed the author to consider what the students perceived the advantages and difficulties (hat shadowing could bring when they practiced shadowing in their speaking class.
Table 3.1 The categories and the items in the questionnaire
Part 2: The impact of shadowing on speaking skills
The impact of shadowing on pronunciation 1-5
The impact of shadow ing on grammar and vocabulary 6-10
The impact of shadowing on fluency 11-15
The benefits of practice of shadowing in speaking classes 16-23
The challenges of practice of shadowing in speaking
A structured interview was designed in order to maintain consistency across interviewers Interview that is structured with a stated categories and questions, and all groups of participants were asked the same questions The students were put into five groups including three groups of six students and two groups of seven students Their responses were summarized in writing by the researcher The interview took place after questionnaire responses were collected to order to clarify these responses and explain more details Each group collaborated to perform a 20-minute session to discuss about the influence of shadowing based on activities that develop their speaking skills Then the author interviewed with one on behalf of each group of students in class to gain more information to know' students' thought toward shadowing in speaking By doing so the researcher could find supporting ideas for the research and response to the research questions.
The interview's questions were primarily split into two categories By explaining their responses to the questionnaire's questions and responding to further inquiries on the topics already covered, learners were asked to describe their perceptions with the
28 shadowing practice in their speaking class in the first phase of the study Their perceptions of the advantages and difficulties when practicing shadowing in speaking were more thoroughly examined in the second phase.
Table 3.2 The categories and the items in the interview
The impact of shadowing on speaking skills 1.2.6.7
The benefits and challenges of practice of shadow'ing in speaking classes 3.4.5
The overall goal of this study was to investigate the perceptions of adult learners of the impact of shadowing on speaking skills In order to address the overall goal of the paper, this study adopted a mixed method design Both quantitative and qualitative methods were employed The research procedures in this study were plan, treatment, feedback, survey, interview and data analysis.
In the plan period, the researcher prepared training instructions and lesson plans for each meeting One 90-minute training session was conducted at the beginning of the course This meeting reviewed the steps of shadowing and discussed how to perforin these steps effectively The shadowing lessons were follow ed by the syllabus of teaching at the university and added some content and structures to explore the effectiveness of shadowing.
The treatment was the application of shadowing in this study as following steps with eight weeks.
In the first step, students were instructed to work in pair-work activity to listen to the CD just once They were required to find 5-7 new' words or expressions in entire sections Follow ing that, students practiced reading aloud w ith a partner.
In the second step, students were asked to practice shadow'ing two times and pay attention to pronunciation twice with the script At the first time, students were advised to concentrate on the pronunciation of the story rather than the substance or content of the story Students attempted to mimic the speech while focusing on correct word stress, ending sounds, and intonation At the second time, students were urged to improve their shadowing abilities by paying attention to the sections where they made mistakes, and they were also encouraged not to replicate in a monotonous manner.
In the third step, students were requested to practice shadowing by concentrating on grammar, vocabulary and meaning once with the script Following that, students were instructed to pay attention to meaning, imagine the story in their minds, and anticipate the contents W'hilc shadowing According to Komatsu (2003) the most important duty is the meaning of the speech, and all communication begins W'ith listening, which is to interpret utterances As a result, students were urged to concentrate on semantic content By striving to predict the content of the speech during the shadow'ing exercise, the students would gradually envision the image of speech elements, which would aid their understanding of speech.
In the fourth step, students participated in one shadowing without the script Students should focus on fluency.
In the fifth step, students collaborated in groups to share their ideas and practice shadowing and get peers' feedback Following the discussion, selected students were requested to shadow and speak for on to two minutes about the supplied text If there was still time, the researcher could ask the students further questions.
In the sixth step, students were advised to establish personal learning objectives So far they have shadowed four times in order to identify areas for improvement or parts that they were unable to follow Rubin and Thompson (1994) indicate that in order to be successful language learners, students first choose what objectives are most important to them and then create realistic goals As a result, students were encouraged to set a personal goal based on their previous performance They were more likely to become acquainted with the speech if they had the opportunity to concentrate on listening extensively and attentively and reproducing it The researcher motivated students to continue shadow ing at home At the end of class, the researcher encouraged students to practice shadowing without
30 an instructor at home On the DVD CD or MP3, the teacher urged students to speak English as fluently as native speakers.
Besides, students were advised to use a supportive tool named an online Natural Reader tool at https://www.naturalrcaders.com'online/ to shadow the speaking lesson before they shadow with the audio Natural Reader was a text to speech tool that can turn any written material into spoken words This supportive tool helped learners flexibly adjust the voice speed as needed for their speaking practice Furthermore, students could choose more resources that were relevant to students' lives and interests could help them become more engaged in the classroom Students participated in shadowing activities ill which they could exhibit interest, comprehe ision and ask questions or make remarks Students were taught how to use the available audio-visual resources, as well as resources such as English news channels English movies English TV and radio shows, and other resources for focused speaking practice.
Shadowing feedback was used to encourage students after each lesson Speaking and language acquisition required feedback to indicate to the learner that what was spoken was properly comprehended, requiring speakers and listeners to negotiate meaning This might encourage students to correct and improve formal language skills such as pronunciation and grammar (Goh, 2007) When shadowing, the grading requirements were not set at 100 percent accuracy against the literal text, so only key errors were noted and fixed above the script on their textbooks Students were asked to repeat the week's shadowing topic at least four times before performing their shadowing performance in order 10 obtain their maximum reproduction rate Students could practice their shadowing performances until they are pleased Students were advised to practice the shadowing frequently at home to master the knowledge and reduce their anxiety.
Reliability and Validity of the Instruments
For each category, the Cronbach alpha was calculated to determine internal consistency According to Hair et al (2006) the validity of a measure inside a variable is investigated using reliability analysis II'a measure is reliable, it will produce consistent results under the same circumstances Cronbach's Alpha greater than 0.60 indicates that the scale is reliable When a scale's variation is between 0.70 and 0.80, it has acceptable reliability Nunnally (1994) states if Cronbach's Alpha is greater than 0.95, the scale's variables have very tiny differences It is the measurement redundancy The results of the survey show that the data is normally distributed.
Validity is a critical component of successful research, as claimed by Cohen et al
(201 I) The experts describe multiple types of validity that must be ensured for various research designs Content, construct, cultural and external validity were all considered in the current study.
To attain content validity, the instrument must demonstrate that the domain or objects it is supposed to cover are accurately and completely covered (Carmines & Zeller,
1979) For this purpose, the questionnaire was developed to analyze the key elements of learners' perception of the impact of shadowing on speaking skills which were discussed in the literature All of these things have already been mentioned earlier in this chapter Additionally, the questionnaire items were clustered into sub-scales so that participants could raise their awareness Similarly, they were kept to a manageable quantity to prevent the issue of fatigue, which could have a negative impact on the accuracy of the responses.
Construct validity of data collection instrument refers to how closely it adheres to the theoretical framework in which it is used (Cohen Ct al., 201 1) The main construct under investigation is shadow ing, learners' perception of the impact of shadow ing and speaking skills, which were already covered thoroughly in Chapter 2 The study of underlying theoretical literature and techniques to assessing students' perception of the impact of shadowing on speaking skills and their perceptions of the benefits and challenges of
32 application of shadowing in speaking class in past studies formed the basis for the construction of the questionnaire.
The researcher combined items from earlier studies conducted in similar cultural contexts with new ones that were more suited In addition, the questionnaire was purposefully translated into the participants' mother tongue using culturally suitable Vietnamese counterparts without changing the original content The researcher adapted items from previous studies carried out in similar cultural contexts as well as added new appropriate ones Also, the questionnaire was consciously translated with the use of culturally appropriate Vietnamese equivalents without, of course, modeling the original meaning Zagumny (2001) indicated that each treatment condition's sample size must contain at least 30 participants External validity refers to the sufficient sample size with the participation of 32 students 'I his sample represented the population of HCMC University of Transport.
Data analysis
After collecting the data from questionnaires Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) was used to analyse these questionnaires The first five question items were analyzed to learn some students' background information and the rest of the questions were analyzed for information about the constructs of the related domains Descriptive statistics in the forms of Mean and Standard Deviation were calculated to measure the participants' perceptions of the impact of shadowing on speaking skills and their perceptions of the benefits and challenges of practice of shadowing in speaking classes Additionally, the structured interview was used as a supportive assessment tool The students were asked to clarify the results from the questionnaire The content analysis was applied to learn more about the students' perspectives on shadowing in speaking skills By doing so, the researcher would be able to come up w ith more stud}' ideas and responses to the research questions.
Ethical considerations
Being aware of ethical considerations is critical in excellent educational research practice According to Cohen Ct al (201 I), researchers pursuing the truth must keep in mind that their acts must not endanger their subjects' rights and dignity Before conducting this study, researcher obtained the permission of the head of English department of English Center to apply the shadowing to teach speaking in the current class as well as perform the survey and interview later In this study, all participants were advised that taking part in the survey was purely voluntary and would have no influence on their learning The participants were aware that their personal information would be kept fully confidential and that their responses to the questionnaire would be used purely for research purposes Because Vietnamese students were often concerned about being right or wrong, the researcher emphasized that no question had a correct or incorrect answer All of these issues were incorporated into the questionnaire's greeting section rather than being stated on a separate consent form This was not only convenient during the social distance period, but it was also fitting in the context of Vietnam, where consent documents were rarely used due to their nature.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
Findings from the questionnaire
4.1.1 Participants’ background information and their experience of shadowing
The study summarizes the frequency of responses of 30 questionnaire items of the first part of the survey A total of 32 fresh Vietnamese students of 1ICMC University of Transport had not known about the shadowing before they entered the university There were 8 females and 24 male students among the participants The participants in the survey were young adults, and most of them were the age of 19.
Table 4.1: Background information about the participants in the survey
All of the subscales were assessed for reliability in turn, giving the instrument a foundation and allowing the results to be used in later analyses To sec if any of the items in each subscale should be removed in order to increase the reliability level of that subscale, an internal consistency test with Cronbach's alpha utilizing scale if an Hem deleted was employed to reestablish a regular distribution.
Table 4.2 Cronbach’s alpha of the benefits of shadowing scale (8 items)
Scale Mean if Item Deleted
Scale Variance if Item Deleted
Cronbach's Alpha if Item Deleted
16 1 think my listening comprehension skill became better after practicing shadowing.
17 1 think my oral reading skill became more fluently after practicing shadowing.
18 1 think 1 could anticipate the content better after practicing shadowing week after week.
19 1 think my content word input was improved after practicing shadowing week after week.
20 1 think my word memory became better after practicing shadowing week after week.
36 shadowing week after week improved my confidence in speaking situations.
21.1 think shadowing was practicing physical feeling of how to speak
22 1 think practicing shadowing week after week lessened my anxiety in speaking situations.
Looking at Table 4.2, the benefits of shadowing scale, although the alpha was adequate (^.818), item 18 has a Corrected Item-Total Correlation of only 154 As a result, it was removed and then replace with a new 7-itcm scale of the alpha 841 as shown at Table 4.3.
Table 4.3 Cronbach’s alpha of the benefits of shadowing scale (7 items)
Scale Mean if Item Deleted
Scale Variance if Item Deleted
Cron bach's Alpha if Item Deleted 16.1 think my listening comprehension skill became better after practicing shadowing.
17.1 think my oral reading skill became more fluently after practicing shadowing.
19 1 think my content word input was improved after practicing shadowing week after week.
20.1 think my word memory became better after practicing shadowing week after week.
21.1 think shadowing was practicing physical feeling of how to speak
22 I think practicing shadowing week after week lessened my anxiety in speaking situations.
23 I think practicing shadowing week after week improved my confidence in speaking situations.
Table 4.3 shows that the benefits of shadowing have acceptable alpha (a - 841) All items have Corrected Item-Total Correlation from 456 to 721 so all observed variables have a Corrected Item-Total Correlation of larger than 3.
Table 4.4 Number of items and internal consistency of tbe sub-scales
Subscale No of items Cronbach’s Alpha
The impact of shadowing on pronunciation 5 745
The impact of shadowing on grammar and 5 752 vocabulary
The impact of shadowing on fluency 5 749
The benefits of practice of shadowing in speaking classes
The challenges of practice of shadowing in speaking classes
Table 4.4 showed the final internal consistency of the study Cronbach's alpha values were showed in detail 0.75