An application of games and other stimulating activities in teaching pronunciation Áp dụng trò chơi và các hoạt động mang tính khích lệ khác trong việc dạy phá

TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration i Acknowledgement ii Abstract iii Table of contents iv List of charts vi INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale Objectives of the study Scope of the study Methods of the study Design of the study DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Pronunciation 1.1.1 Definition of pronunciation 1.1.2 The importance of pronunciation 1.2 Pronunciation in language teaching 1.2.1 The status of pronunciation in current language teaching 1.2.2 Elements of pronunciation teaching 1.2.3 Current ideas on pronunciation teaching and learning 1.2.4 Teachers‟ roles 10 1.2.5 Learners‟ roles 10 1.3 The use of games and other communicative activities in pronunciation teaching 11 iv CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 13 2.1 Context of the study 13 2.2 Participants of the study 14 2.3 Activities applied in the course 14 2.4 Instruments 18 2.4.1 Diagnostic test 19 2.4.2 Final oral examination 19 2.4.3 Questionnaire 19 2.4.4 Teacher‟s notes 20 CHAPTER 3: DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 21 3.1 Quantitative results 21 3.1.1 Scores in diagnostic test and final oral exam 21 3.1.2 Responses to the questionnaire 22 3.2 Qualitative results - Teacher‟s notes and observations 31 3.2.1 Diagnostic Test Analysis 31 3.2.2 The researcher‟s observations during class time throughout the course 322 3.3 Discussion 34 3.3.1 The effectiveness of games and other stimulating activities 34 3.3.2 Some disadvantages of the use of games and other stimulating activities 35 CONCLUSION 37 Conclusion 37 Implications 38 Limitations of the study and suggestions for further study 39 REFERENCES 40 APPENDICES v LIST OF CHARTS Chart 1: Students‟ scores in diagnostic test and final test Chart 2: The role of pronunciation in language learning Chart 3: The influence of pronunciation on speaking and listening Chart 4: Students‟ evaluation of their own pronunciation Chart 5: Students‟ evaluation of the difficulty of pronunciation Chart 6: Students‟ interest in learning pronunciation Chart 7: Students‟ effort in learning pronunciation Chart 8: Students‟ self-studying time Chart 9: Students‟ evaluation of pronunciation lessons Chart 10: Students‟ evaluation of the effectiveness of pronunciation lessons Chart 11: Students‟ evaluation of class activities Chart 12: Students‟ preference of activities inside class Chart 13: Students‟ preference of activities outside class vi INTRODUCTION Rationale It is undeniable that English has become a language of global communication thanks to its contribution to different fields of our life such as: science, technology, aviation, diplomacy and so on No one can deny that the rapid expansion of information technologies and the spread of globalization have led to an explosion in the demand for English worldwide English is now taught throughout of Vietnam in different levels of education from primary schools to universities because it serves as an international language and as a mean to promote mutual understanding and cooperation between Vietnam and other countries In fact, more and more people desire to know and master English in order to keep them up-to-date with the global development As a result, English is taught not only at schools and universities but also at many foreign language centres, on radio, television and even via the internet However, both teaching and learning of English are still far from being satisfaction One main problem is that most Vietnamese learners are rather good at English writtenly but not orally Many of them have a good command of grammar and vocabulary, which promises very high marks in written tests, but cannot communicate successfully with foreigners The reason lies in the imbalanced development of four language skills In most schools and universities (except those whose major is English), teachers focus too much on reading and writing rather than speaking and listening of which pronunciation is a good foundation Thus, students not often have English competence, especially in oral communication In the present context of teaching and learning English at English Department, HANU, speaking and listening are very important for first year students because they establish a firm base for students‟ further development, especially in interpreting skills In recent years, the department has taken teaching and learning pronunciation into consideration because it is a paramount feature of speaking and listening Being a teacher of English in general, and pronunciation in particular at English Department, HANU, I am well aware of the importance of pronunciation to help my students improve these skills, but like other teachers, I have faced many difficulties in creating motivation so that students are eager to practise in and out of their classes After two years teaching pronunciation separately from speaking to first year students, we have realized that the class time is not enough for our students to have great improvement However, just few students are motivated and spend time self-studying Thus, even though we have tried our best in class, our students still have a lot of problems in pronunciation, which badly affects their speaking and listening skills We have questioned ourselves about how to motivate our students to maximize their time of practising in class and even outside class, which leads to the use of games and other stimulating activities We have tried activities collected from different sources, which seems to bring about great effect However, we just have the feeling but not a specific study on how effective they are Therefore, I have conducted an action research on the application of games and other activities in teaching pronunciation to first year students at English Department, HANU in order to investigate the effectiveness and to help other teachers choose suitable activities for their classes Objectives of the study The study is aimed at:  Finding out their advantages and disadvantages  Helping pronunciation teachers choose suitable activities for their classes Thus, this thesis is to answer two research questions:  How effective is the use of games and some other stimulating activities?  What are students‟ attitude towards the use of games and some other stimulating activities? Scope of the study To create motivation for students in pronunciation classes, teachers at English Department, HANU, have applied a lot of games and activities However, the researcher in this study only focuses on and analyzes some typical ones (which will be presented in the following parts) and then suggests some effective activities that teachers can introduce to students so that they have more practice outside class There are 10 first year classes which consist of 250 students who have to take pronunciation as a compulsory subject; however, this action research was carried out in only two classes of which the researcher was in charge Thus, the questionnaire was delivered to only 50 participants Additionally, the study was conducted in only 12 of the total 32 weeks of pronunciation teaching Methods of the study Action research is the method employed in this study To achieve the aims mentioned above, the researcher has used a number of instruments to collect data for analysis which include a questionnaire distributed before the term started and after it ended, teachers‟ observation and notes, an oral diagnostic test, and end-ofterm test Design of the study This minor thesis is composed of three parts Part 1, INTRODUCTION, presents the rationale, aims, scope, methods and design of the study Part 2, DEVELOPMENT, is divided into three chapters Chapter 1, Literature Review, presents relevant concepts to pronunciation and pronunciation teaching Chapter 2, Methodology, involves the information about context, participants and instruments of the study Chapter 3: Data Presentation, Analysis and Discussion, focuses on data analysis to show students‟ point of view towards pronunciation and the effectiveness of different activities Part 3, CONLUSION, summarizes some major findings, provide implications for pronunciation teaching, limitation of the study and suggestions for further research DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Pronunciation 1.1.1 Definition of pronunciation There are various ways to define pronunciation Macmillan Dictionary gives an easy-to-understand definition, that is “the way in which a word or language is pronounced” Similarly, Oxford Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary defines pronunciation as the way in which a language or a particular word or sound is pronounced or the way in which a particular person pronounces the words of a language More specifically, pronunciation can be understood as one of the three explanations given in the http://www.thefreedictionary.com:  The act or manner of pronouncing words; utterance of speech  A way of speaking a word, especially a way that is accepted or generally understood  A graphic representation of the way a word is spoken, using phonetic symbols According to Adult Migrant English Program Research Centre, pronunciation refers to the production of sounds that we use to make meaning It includes attention to the particular sounds of a language (segments), aspects of speech beyond the level of the individual sound, such as intonation, phrasing, stress, timing, rhythm (suprasegmental aspects), how the voice is projected (voice quality) and, in its broadest definition, attention to gestures and expressions that are closely related to the way we speak a language It is obvious that the four sources above not have the same way to define pronunciation but they share a common knowledge that pronunciation is how words or sentences are spoken 1.1.2 The importance of pronunciation Nowadays, no one can deny the significant role of pronunciation in language teaching and learning Pronunciation is one of the most important aspects of language We may be proficient at grammar and have a huge store of vocabulary, but if we pronounce words wrongly, we just will not get understood Wong (1993) argues that the importance of pronunciation is even more distinct when the connection between pronunciation and listening comprehension is considered As listeners expect spoken English to follow certain patterns of rhythm and intonation, speakers need to employ these patterns to communicate effectively If the rhythm and intonation are different, listeners simply can‟t get the meaning Similarly, listeners need to know how speech is organized and what patterns of intonation mean in order to interpret speech accurately Thus, learning about pronunciation develops learners‟ abilities to comprehend spoken English Furthermore, Wong demonstrated that a lack of knowledge of pronunciation could even affect students‟ reading and spelling Varonis and Gass (1982) examined the factors affecting listening comprehension in native speakers of English exposed to foreign or second language accents They concluded that grammar and pronunciation interact to influence overall intelligibility As indicated above, it is surely that pronunciation plays a very important role in communicative competence because successful communication can not take place without correct pronunciation (Celce-Murcia, Briton and Goodwin, 1996) 1.2 Pronunciation in language teaching 1.2.1 The status of pronunciation in current language teaching The status of pronunciation teaching in different schools of language teaching has varied widely According to Castillo (1990), pronunciation teaching has no role at all in the grammar-translation method, but it is the main focus in the audio-lingual method The audio-lingual view of the pronunciation class was also mirrored in situational language teaching, developed in Britain (Richards and Rodgers, 1986) During the late 1960's and the 1970's questions were asked about the role of pronunciation in the ESL/EFL curriculum, whether the focus of the programmes and the instructional methods were effective or not Pronunciation programmes until then were 'viewed as meaningless non-communicative drill-andexercise gambits' (Morley, 1991) Purcell and Suter (1980) claimed that the teaching of pronunciation was pushed aside in many language programmes and many studies concluded that little relationship exists between teaching pronunciation in the classroom and attained proficiency in pronunciation They also found out that the strongest factors that affect pronunciation seem to have little to with classroom activities' Nowadays, teachers and learners have realized the importance of pronunciation in English teaching and learning, however, it still has not received enough attention In fact, pronunciation tends to be de-emphasized in most English courses because many teachers believe that pronunciation cannot be taught effectively and it is not worth spending time on this field because it should be allowed to develop naturally by students Although Morley (1991) insisted that it is necessary to teach English pronunciation in the ESL or EFL classroom, this important area is still neglected at many universities and colleges around the world According to Michael Wei, in China, there is no place for English phonetics courses in English teaching and learning and a pronunciation course is still only an elective in the universities or colleges According to Lin, Fan and Chen (1995) some teachers in Taiwan might argue that English pronunciation is not important at all, for very few tests would require students to show abilities related to pronunciation or speaking Michael Wei also pointed out that in the U.S., many students and teachers believe that it is useless spending time on pronunciation because it would be difficult, if not impossible for students to hear differences English pronunciation is simply ignored in the curriculum of some universities in Thailand (Wei and Zhou, 2002) In Mexico, pronunciation was described as “the Cinderella of language teaching”; that means an often low level of emphasis was placed on this very important language skill (Dalton, 2002) As mentioned above, pronunciation is still neglected in EFL/ESL classrooms throughout the world including Asia today In reality, this ignorance has been noticed by few teachers of ESL/ EFL who have recently provided valuable empirical articles with model techniques and activities that help to improve pronunciation in and outside class Till now, new ways of teaching pronunciation are still developed and tested, then there is still a need for careful experimentation to determine the effectiveness of methods 1.2.2 Elements of pronunciation teaching Different researchers have different points of view toward what should be taught in pronunciation classes Colin Mortimer (1985) claimed that elements of pronunciation teaching include weak forms, clusters, linking-up, contractions and stress time However, according to Gerald Kelly (2000), teaching pronunciation involves: vowels, consonants, word and sentence stress, intonation, other aspects of connected speech and spelling Jennifer Jenkins (2004) provided more comprehensive elements of pronunciation teaching This researcher stated that depending on the second language in question, pronunciation teaching typically covers any or all of the following: consonant and vowel sounds, changes of these sounds in the stream of connected speech, word stress patterns, rhythm, and intonation, which might be described as the nuts and bolts of pronunciation Consonant and vowel sounds It is obvious that learners of English need to know and pronounce letter sounds correctly because they are the basement for the combination of sounds into words However, students must know that English pronunciation does not match spelling and one of the most confusing aspects of English pronunciation is sound and spelling patterns English has borrowed lots of words from other languages such as ancient Latin, Greek, Eskimo and Farsi, so its sound and spelling correspondences are irregular Thus, phonetic transcription is an indispensable part of pronunciation teaching Word stress patterns Word stress must highly be focused on at the beginning of any pronunciation courses because without correct word stress, speakers of English cannot have understandable pronunciation In every two or more-syllable words, one of the syllables is stressed, which means it is higher, louder and longer than the others This stressed syllable is very important because it helps listeners distinguish the word from others Therefore, listeners often find it hard to understand what the speaker is saying when he or she misuses word stress ... to understand the notion of “importance” 1.2.3 Current ideas on pronunciation teaching and learning Changing outlooks on language learning and teaching have influenced the view of language competence,... of learning 1.3 The use of games and other communicative activities in pronunciation teaching As discussed above, pronunciation is an essential part in language learning and teaching Many people... courses in English teaching and learning and a pronunciation course is still only an elective in the universities or colleges According to Lin, Fan and Chen (1995) some teachers in Taiwan might