Students' autonomy in learning English pronunciation skills at Bim Son upper secondary school, Thanh Hoa = Tính tự chủ của học sinh trong việc luyện tập kĩ năng20150227

As one of the first attempts to explore the application of learner autonomy in the context of learning English pronunciation skills at Bim Son High School, this paper seeks to explore th

ABSTRACT

English is now considered to be one of the most popular means of communication

in the world One of the most important goals of learning a foreign language is to communicate while oral communication of human beings bases on sounds Learning good pronunciation is a vital part of learning a new language If people do not pronounce correctly they will have many difficulties in exchanging ideas or sometimes it may lead to the communication breakdown

In fact, up to now, in language teaching and learning at upper-secondary school level, pronunciation is paid less attention compared with vocabulary, grammar and language skills This is because of a number of reasons: First, the textbooks (English 10 -

11 - 12) have few focuses on pronunciation knowledge and practice and therefore, teachers often find that they do not have enough time in class to give proper attention to this aspect of English instructions Second, all important English exams at schools as well as college entrance exams to universities are always in written form, so most teachers and students have little motivation to teach and learn pronunciation As a result, students are often shy and unconfident to speak in English This situation calls for the urgent need of cultivating learner autonomy in their pronunciation learning

The concept of learner autonomy has long been introduced and applied to the process of language learning However, research focusing closely on learner autonomy in pronunciation learning is few and far between This is inappropriate because pronunciation

is central to language learning and learners’ abilities to build, expand and refine their pronunciation on their own outside their classrooms can be the deciding factors in their language learning success In an attempt to investigate this topic, the researcher has

decided to conduct a study on “Students’ Autonomy in Learning English Pronunciation Skills at Bim Son High School, Thanh Hoa”

As one of the first attempts to explore the application of learner autonomy in the context of learning English pronunciation skills at Bim Son High School, this paper seeks

to explore the current techniques utilized by teachers and learners in fostering learner autonomy in pronunciation learning and students’ perceptions about those techniques The paper begins by reviewing the current literature on learner autonomy, pronunciation learning and related studies This is a case study conducted with 6 teachers of English and

160 students, at Bim Son High School, who undertook the triangulated data collection method of interviews, questionnaires and classroom observations The analysis of the collected data demonstrated teachers’ and students’ learning and teaching realities in the process of developing learner autonomy within the learning of pronunciation

The findings analyzed suggest a way of gauging students’ responsibility for their own learning and that learner autonomy, as a life-long mode of learning, can only be achieved with the efforts of both the teachers and the learners

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration……… i

Acknowledgements………ii

List of charts and tables……… iii

Table of contents……… ………iv

Abstract……… …………v

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Statement of the problem and rationale for the research … ………1

2 Aims and objectives of the study……… 1

3 Scope of the study……… ……2

4 Signification of the study……… 2

5 An overview of the rest of the paper……… 2

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW……… ………4

1 Learner autonomy ……… 4

1.1 Definition of learner autonomy ……… 4

1.2 Classifications of learner autonomy………5

1.3 Characteristics of learner autonomy………5

1.4 Roles of learner autonomy……… 6

1.5 Teacher’s roles in learner autonomy……… 7

1.6 Ways to develop autonomy……… 10

2 Pronunciation………12

2.1 Definition of pronunciation……… 12

2.2 The importance of teaching pronunciation ……… 12

2.3 Roles of learner autonomy in teaching and learning pronunciation… 13

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY………15

1 An overview of the situation of teaching and learning English at Bim Son Upper Secondary School……….15

1.1 Current learning and teaching of English at Bim Son Upper Secondary School……… 15

1.2 Participants………16

2 Data collection instruments ……….17

2.1 Questionnaires ……… 17

2.2 Interviews……… 18

2.3 Classroom observation ……….19

3 Data collection procedure……….19

4 Data analysis methods and procedure……… 21

CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND FINDINGS………22

1 The nature of learner autonomy……… 22

1.1 Students’ main goals in learning pronunciation ……… 22

1.2 Students’ behaviours as autonomous learners……… 22

1.3 Affective factors………24

1.4 Attitudes towards tasks and assignments……… 25

2 The factors that affect learner autonomy in learning pronunciation skills ……… ……25

3 Techniques have been utilized by the students for their learning pronunciation autonomously……… 26

3.1 Students’ sources of pronunciation learning ……… 26

3.2 Techniques utilized by the students to learn pronunciation………… 27

PART C: CONCLUSION……… 29

1 Major findings of the research ……….……29

2 Pedagogical implications ……….30

3 Limitations and Suggestions for further studies……… 32

REFERENCES……… ……34

APPENDICE……….………I

Appendix 1: Student Survey Questionnaire………I Appendix 2: Teacher Survey Questionnaire……… XII Appendix 3: Questions for Semi-Structured Student Interview………XIX Appendix 4: Questions for Semi-Structured Teacher Interview………XX Appendix 5: Classroom Observation Sheet……… XXI

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Statement of the problem and rationale for the research

Learner autonomy, a concept promoted by Holec (1981) and others in the context

of European language education, has become a favorite topic for analysis for the last twenty years In fact, the idea of striving to learn the process, not the product, has been noted since the ancient time Over the history, many great thinkers such as Galileo, Rousseau, Dewey, Kilpatrick, Marcel, Jacotot, Payne and Quick have touched upon the importance of autonomy by elaborating their ideas on education in different times (Balcikanli, 2008)

Students who depend on themselves in learning pronunciation are more able to succeed academically and more motivated than those who do not have effective strategies in learning by themselves Holec (1981)

Despite being widely discussed worldwide, learner autonomy remains a fairly novel concept in Vietnam Whether or to what extent learner autonomy is developed and practiced in Vietnamese schools is still open to question

Due to very limited time spent on teaching and learning pronunciation in the classroom, it has become increasingly essential to provide them with useful learning strategies so that they can employ in their self-study time In this case, the success of learning pronunciation depends very much on how effectively and autonomously the students practice pronunciation self-study

For all the reasons above, I have decided to undertake a study on Students’ Autonomy in Learning English Pronunciation Skills at Bim Son Upper Secondary

School, Thanh Hoa

2 Aims and objectives of the study

The study mainly looks at learner autonomy in pronunciation learning at Bim Som Upper Secondary school in Thanh Hoa: the nature of and the factors affecting the learner’s ability to take charge in learning pronunciation skills

From the picture of current issues, the researcher hopes to propose some solutions

to help teacher’s instruction better facilitate students’ autonomy in pronunciation learning

In brief, the study would seek to answer the following questions:

- What is the nature of learner autonomy – the ability to take charge of their own learning English pronunciation skills at Bim Son Upper Secondary School?

- What are the factors that affect the learners’ autonomy?

3 Methods of the study

In order to collect data for this study, a survey questionnaire is delivered to 6 teachers and 160 students at Bim Son Upper Secondary School Some observations and interviews with some teachers and students were also conducted for supplementary information Then, the results obtained from questionnaires and observations were discussed and some useful pronunciation teaching techniques were recommended

4 Signification of the study

This study provides a closer look at learner autonomy in teaching and learning pronunciation skills at upper secondary school, from which constructive suggestions are hoped to be found in order to improve the quality of teaching and learning these skills

5 An overview of the rest of the paper

In this part (Part A Introduction), the researcher has elaborated about:

1 Statement of the problem and rationale for the research

2 Aims and objectives of the study

3 Scope of the study

4 Signification of the study

5 An overview of the rest of the paper

In short, these points justify the contents and structure of the study In addition, they serve as the guidelines for the rest of the paper The rest of the paper includes five chapters as follows:

Part B Development

The development is divided into three chapters:

Chapter 1 – Literature Review – provides the background of the study, including definitions of key concepts, theories, current application and discussions of related study

Chapter 2 – Methodology – describes the participants, data collection instruments

as well as data collection procedures, data analysis methods and data analysis procedures

Chapter 3 – Results and Findings–presents, analyzes and discusses the findings that the researcher found out in order to answer the research questions

Part C Conclusion

The main issues in the paper will be summerized; the pedagogical implications concerning the research topic, the limitations of the research and suggestions for further studies Following this chapter are the References and Appendices

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter addresses a review of the literature related to learner autonomy and pronunciation learning and teaching In each section, the definition or explanation of the

key terms is presented together with the studies worldwide

1 Learner autonomy

1.1 Definition of learner autonomy

The term “learner autonomy” was first introduced formally by Henri Holec in 1981 when he wrote Autonomy and foreign language learning - his contribution to the Council

of Europe’s work in adult education The so-called “father” of learner autonomy, provides

a broad definition which considers learner autonomy “the ability to take charge of one’s own learning” Scharle and Szabo (2000,) turning attention to the aspect of attitudes, seem

to share the same interest with Holec (1981) when they present a persuasive analysis of the interrelationship between autonomy and responsibility According to the authors, autonomy is defined as “the freedom and ability to manage one’s own affairs, which entails the right to make decisions as well” whereas responsibility is understood as “being

in charge of something, but with the implication that one has to deal with the consequences

of one’s own actions.” (Scharle & Szabo, 2000: 4) They argue that autonomy and responsibility are interrelated and both require learners’ active involvement

Benson (2001: 47), however, states that it is preferable to define autonomy as the capacity to take control of one’s own learning, largely because the construct of “control” appears to be more open to investigation than the constructs of “charge” or

“responsibility.” In his definition, he specifies three levels of control that a learner should

take in order to develop his/her learning autonomy: “An adequate description of autonomy

in language learning should at least recognize the importance of three levels at which learner control may be exercised: learning management, cognitive processes and learning content” (Benson, 2001: 50)

I am in favour of Henri Holec’s definition of learner autonomy as learners’ “ability

to take charge of their own learning” This general but concise definition, from the researcher’s view, really touches upon the spirit of autonomy It is obvious from Holec’s

definition that an autonomous learner not only possesses a sense of responsibility for his learning but he/she is also self-conscious of that responsibility

All in all, in second language learning, learner autonomy is a stimulating, multifaceted concept which can be interpreted from different viewpoints Learners’ autonomy encompasses not only their attitudes but also their behaviors It is both a process and a goal in language learning, in education and in living; therefores, to develop learner autonomy, it is important to find a way to help students to be aware of what they have done and further reflect on it so that they could achieve personal awareness, process and situational awareness, and task awareness

1.2 Roles of learner autonomy

Learner autonomy can be regarded as an offspring of learner-centered approach, which is an innovative and effective one in the literature of second language learning The benefits of cultivating autonomy in learners have been disclosed by a variety of researchers and practitioners Learner autonomy can lead to increase in motivation and cooperation as well as responsibilities in their studying process, which means more effective learning (Deci, 1995, p.2) Furthermore, the concept of autonomy is not restricted in school aspect Once students acquire autonomy in learning in the school curriculum, they slip easily into autonomy for other activities outside class In other words, autonomous learners evolve life-long learning and hereby they are capable of authoring the world in which they live

1.3 Characteristics of learner autonomy

Many scholars agree on the hypothesis that learner autonomy entails reflective involvement in planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating learning However, different scholars may contribute additional attributes of learner autonomy to these core features

According to Scharle and Szabo (2000), an autonomous student must have built four blocks, such as: motivation and self-confidence, monitoring and evaluation, learning strategies, and cooperation and group cohesion While motivation and self-confidence refer

to the intrinsic motivation and willingness to take responsibility in learning, cooperation and group cohesion indicates that learners should liaise with each other in the learning process The second and third factors cover the same notion as the core features Monitoring skills emphasize the need to focus on the process of learning rather than the product This step is followed by self-evaluation, which means learners judge their own

works as objectively as they can, acknowledging their level of proficiency, their strong and weak points

1.4 Teacher’s roles in learner autonomy

Autonomous learning must be the characteristic expected to nurture in students with the aids from teachers Teachers take responsibility for managing and consulting during the process It is not leaving students to fend by themselves or sitting students in front of computers and hoping they will learn

First and foremost, teachers become less of a knowledge transmitter and more of a facilitator Relinquishing teacher’s control is parallel with providing sufficient guidance to smooth learners’ way into autonomous learning, and into developing purposefulness and creativity in doing so (Dickinson, 1995) Teachers supervise students in their own learning-preference discovery and create opportunities for their experience

Autonomous learning magnitude necessarily entails difficulties in many aspects, and different students may have problems in different ways To that end, teachers are also the counselors helping students with individual obstacles Both facilitators and counselors provide psychology-social and technical supports, the difference between the two is that while the former mainly works with groups, the latter in one-to-one situations (Voller, 1997) According to Riley (1988), counseling involves a great deal of work such as eliciting information about aims, needs and wishes, helping with planning, suggesting materials and sources, taking part in interaction, offering alternatives, listening and responding, interpreting information, giving feedback on self-assessment, and being positive and supportive, etc

Furthermore, facilitating and counseling learners is not just a matter of pointing them in the right direction - it is also to do with motivation, behaviors, and practical and emotional support Teachers, therefore, should motivate students in acquiring learning independence as well as language skills Beside stimulating factors, autonomy requires a conscious awareness of the learning process, strategies and styles Learner strategies are a key to and “prerequisite” for learner autonomy (Weden, 1998) Learners can take care of their own learning only when he has become more mature and made use of the pertinent strategies Thus, teachers have to expedite learners to know what learning strategy is and how imperative it is in enhancing autonomous learning

To sum up, the teacher’s function should become less dominant, but not less important Instead of absolving themselves of all responsibility teachers, they play more

roles than before as facilitators, counselors, motivators, awareness raisers as well as resources in this development This implies the “reappraisal of teachers and learners’ roles” (Lynch 2001, p 394) Autonomy inevitably involves a change in power relationships and in both teachers’ attitudes

However, this change cannot occur effortlessly It is a process and it should be characterized as “a continuum” (Voller, 1997, p 100) In accordance with this viewpoint, Sharle and Szabo (2000) illustrate a continuum of teacher attitudes ranging from traditional

to learner autonomy attitude and suggest that teachers should move toward the right hand side of the continuum (teacher autonomy attitude) They further denote that this transition should be gradual rather than abrupt and dramatic to allow time for the involved parties to adapt themselves to the new practices It is worth noticing that however difficult and time-consuming the transformation will be, it is the first priority for the teachers to modify themselves first if they expect to change their students’ attitudes

1.5 Ways to develop autonomy

As learner autonomy is so pivotal in second language acquisition, scholars, researchers and teachers have long been searching for methods to magnify this character in learners It is suggested that this transition must be taken through raising awareness, changing attitudes, and transferring roles (Scharle & Szabo, 2000)

The starting stage in cultivating autonomy in learners is raising awareness of pedagogical goals, contents and strategies (Nunan, 1997) This phase functions as an impetus to initiate learning the second language and “opening the learner’s eyes to new ways of thinking about their learning” (Scharle & Szabo, 2000, p 15) It is grounded in the belief that even when teachers provide all the necessary circumstances and input, learning cannot happen if learner is not willing to contribute Thus, teachers must initially present new perspective and new experience to learners and encourage them to think consciously

in their inner learning processes This is a tightly-teacher-controlled stage on the consumption that learner are not yet responsible in their learning

However, only raising students’ awareness cannot guarantee students’ directed learning Once they take on new viewpoints in learning purposes, processes and the nature of language learning, they should accustom these attitudes and strategies introduced in the first phase This can be done by a series of activities in which students

self-“consciously practice learning strategies” which requiring more learner initiative and higher level of responsibility (Scharle & Szabo, 2000, p 50) Additionally, group work and

pair work are encouraged to heighten cooperation, which reduces the dominance of learner-teacher interaction, encourages students to rely on each other and on themselves, and spreads responsibility for the achievement of a task more evenly among students To achieve the openness (allowing more room for learner imitativeness), negotiation activities are often the best options However, it takes time to change someone’s belief and habit, especially when it is the deeply-rooted one Accordingly, repeatability in doing these activities are momentous to shape and consolidate new beliefs and habits

The last and simultaneously effort-intensive phase is transferring roles as the result

of a considerable change in classroom management Transferring roles is decisive in that

“For one, learners can only assume responsibility for their learning if they have some control over the learning process For the other, increasing independence may evoke and reinforce responsibility and autonomous attitudes” (Scharle & Szabo, 2000, p 80) Teachers handle over roles that are traditionally held by themselves However, these loosely structured activities do not entail teacher’s freedom of charge It is crucial for the teacher to establish a good relationship providing a harmonious supportive environment, facilitating the process of reorientation and personal discovery (Kelly, 1996, cited in Lee, 1998) Furthermore, peer support in this environment is weightier pushing learners in acquiring “a capacity and willingness to act independently and in cooperation with others,

as a socially responsible person.” (Dam, 1995, p 1, cited in Lee, 1998)

Sharle and Szabo (2000) hold that this three-phase process should be seen as a smooth process where one stage develops into the next The activities they provide in their book should be considered as suggestive ones since “autonomy has to be adapted to different cultural contexts” (Holec, 1981) and accordance with students’ level of autonomy

at different stages

Different classroom cultures may entail different teachers’ responsibilities and students’ roles, which means the borderline between the suggested activities in changing awareness and transferring attitudes are vague In other words, to cultivate learner autonomy, learners should first have the right attitude towards learning and knowledge of strategies in second language learning Secondly, they must involve in the learning process themselves as “language learning depends vitally on language use” (Deci, 1995) Practitioners, researchers have suggested a number of activities for learners’ involvement They have reported on the effectiveness of using motivating activities (Barrett & Daborn, 2001; Kavaliauskiene, 2003; Luchini & Rosello, 2007); portfolios, assignments, projects

and homework (Coombe, 2001; Ali, 2000; Malcolm, 2001; Nakayama, 2000; Kavaliauskiene, 2003), self evaluation and peer assessment, diary and journal keeping on strengthening their responsibility and nourish this activities

In short, there are three phases in culminating learner autonomy, namely raising awareness, changing attitudes and transferring roles The activities in each part should be adapted in line with students’ level of self-direction and educational milieu During the transition, motivation is crucial as learning is usually most efficient and rapid when the learner is motivated and attentive A range of current perspectives has now put motivation

on a different footing, integrating psychological considerations with social conditions The question is how to make students like what is required The answer lies in the students’ investment in studying Even when students like the subject, learning will not happen if they do not invest enough time, money and energy “Required motivation” is now said to

be “more important to acknowledge the diversity of motivations and reorient them in a more holistic and richer framework of SLA” (Zuengler & Miller, 2006) Bony Norton Peirce (1995) used the term ‘investment’ to emphasis on the commitment to target language study students’

Whereas other researchers often focus on one of these three steps to promote students’ learning responsibility (only raising students’ awareness of the matter, or asking students to keep portfolio and assignment, or letting them to self-assess, the researcher decided to take the first and the second stage, bearing in mind the low level of autonomy and little speaking lesson experience of her students as well as the time constraint of the study As there is not enough time and the students are not mature enough to reach the other end of the autonomy continuum, the final stage is left to maybe the next terms

Consequently, the author of this research decided to adopt selective activities in the first two stages suggested by Scharle and Szabo (2000) and her tailored assignment setting for the students to make ensure that they invest adequate time, effort and money in their learning Also, students’ signing a learner contract is used to ascertain their commitment to what they are required to do Like other researchers investigating the realm of learner autonomy, the researcher also uses assignments to boost learner responsibility, but in other forms to suit her own teaching lieu As they have never learn speaking before, they must

be well-equipped by having chances to practice functional language and speaking techniques Thus, the intervention starts first with raising matter awareness and subject

awareness then and regular assignment to implant the independent learning style in the students

1.6 Principles of developing autonomy

The literature on principles of developing autonomy is all concerned with explicit teaching and providing opportunities for learner autonomy to express and develop

Firstly, in order to foster learner autonomy, it is crucial to increase a sense of responsibility A complete analysis of how to build up learner responsibility is presented

by Scharle and Szabo (2000) They identify the building blocks of responsibility and autonomy on the part of learners and teachers The building blocks required of learners include motivation and self-confidence, monitoring and evaluation, learning strategies and finally cooperation and group cohesion Particularly noteworthy is their emphasis on monitoring and evaluation According to Scharle and Szabo (2000: 7), “when we encourage students to focus on the process of their learning rather than the outcome, we help them consciously examine their own contribution to their learning.” This is really the vital step to the development of a responsible attitude Another key point is the teaching of learning strategies, which are regarded as the tools for students to expand their language competence and to undertake their own learning responsibility Students should be shown a variety of available strategies and encouraged to find out which strategies work best for them in certain contexts Meanwhile, certain attitudes are also required of teachers They should be willing to share information with the learners in terms of both short and long term objectives, to take consistent control by clearly establishing expectations towards learners and lastly to delegate tasks and decisions to learners

With a view to reinforcing these skills and attitudes for learners and teachers, Scharle and Szabo (2000) go on to detail the process of developing responsibility that learners and teachers go through This process is divided into three phases: raising awareness, changing attitudes and transferring roles First, the stage of raising awareness includes highly controlled activities which are intended to present new experiences to learners and to make them conscious of the inner processes of their learning Second, the changing – attitude – stage allows repeatable, less controlled activities through which students practice and reinforce their new roles and habits Finally, the stage of transferring roles contains loosely structured activities that give students considerable freedom It is clear that as learners move from one phase to the next, they are facilitated to exercise greater autonomy and more responsibility

More specifically, Vieria (2003) puts principles in a common framework for learner and teacher development This framework should be highly recommended for its thorough presentation of action principles to promote learner autonomy Besides, it nicely compares autonomous learner development side by side with reflective teacher development However, for the scope of the present study, the researcher will only make use of the principles concerning learners According to Vieria (2003: 226), the action principles to develop learner autonomy include:

Reflection: Developing language / learning awareness

 Developing awareness of language (formal and pragmatic properties; socio-cultural dimension)

 Developing awareness of learning (sense of agency; attitudes, representations, beliefs, preferences and styles; aims and priorities; strategies: cognitive, meta-cognitive, strategic, socio-affective tasks: focus, purpose, rationale, demands; instructional / didactic process: objectives, activities, materials, evaluation, roles)

Experimentation: Experiencing learning strategies

 Discovering and trying out learning strategies (in class and outside class)

 Exploring resource materials (pedagogical and non-pedagogical)

Regulation: Regulating learning experience

 Identifying learning problems or needs

 Setting learning goals

 Planning learning strategies

 Monitoring/evaluating attitudes, representations, beliefs, strategic knowledge and ability

 Assessing learning outcomes and progress

 Evaluating the instructional / didactic process

Negotiation: Co-constructing learning experience

 Working in collaboration

 Taking the initiative, choosing and deciding

The four principles presented above indicate “major learner roles that bring the language learner closer to the learning content and process” (Vieria, 2003: 227) As can be seen, each principle paves the way for a particular realization of autonomy Within the scope of this study, the researcher will exploit the first two principles: reflection and experimentation

2 Pronunciation

2.1 Definition of pronunciation

The notion of "pronunciation" has been defined in different ways by many writers

Ur (1996: 47) defines that "The concept of "pronunciation" may be said to include sounds

of the language or phonology; stress and rhythm; intonation; combination of sounds; linkage of sounds"

Dalton, (1994: 3) describes pronunciation in general term "as the production of significant sound in two senses First, sound is significant because it is used as part of a code of a particular language In this sense we can talk about pronunciation as the production and reception of sounds of speech Second, sound is significant because it is used to achieve meaning in contexts of use Here the code combines with other factors to make communication possible In this sense we can talk about pronunciation with reference to acts of speaking"

In this paper, the author has no intention of pointing out which definition of pronunciation is the most precise but only wishes to find an appropriate definition facilitating the understanding of pronunciation in language study Therefore, the definition

of pronunciation proposed by Ur (1996) is adopted

2.2 Roles of learner autonomy in teaching and learning pronunciation

Among many other factors, learner motivation and autonomy play a vital role in learning in general, and learning a foreign language in particular; learning pronunciation

skills is included

In teaching and learning pronunciation, if teachers play the roles of a “speech coach”, students themselves need to involve in this process as much as possible in order to get good results According to Nguyen Bang and Nguyen Ba Ngoc (2001), students need to satisfy some demands Firstly, they need to perceive the model as exactly as they can Secondly, they need to response as much as and as well as possible to the recognition, the imitation and repetition activities Lastly, beside the help of the teachers, students should

do self-correction of their pronunciation mistakes

2.3 The teacher’s roles and student’s roles in teaching and learning pronunciation

Because of the importance of teaching pronunciation mentioned above, teachers play a key role in teaching and learning pronunciation Many authors share this idea and they all give out the similar roles of teacher's and students' in pronunciation practice

However, in this study, the literature of Kenworthy (1987: 1-2) about the teacher's role was chosen The roles of the teacher and students can be derived in the following parts

2.3.1 The teacher's roles in teaching pronunciation

First and foremost, teachers help students hear and perceive the model as exactly as

possible Students often have a strong tendency to hear the sounds of English in terms of

the sounds of their native language The teacher needs to check that their students are hearing sounds according to the appropriate categories and help them to develop new categories if necessary

Secondly, teachers help students make sounds intelligible Some sounds of English

do not occur in Vietnamese Therefore, the teacher has to give some hints which help them

to produce the new sounds intelligibly

Thirdly, teachers provide students with feedback of their pronunciation Students need to be told how they are doing as sometimes they themselves cannot tell if they have pronounced correctly The teacher must provide them feedback about their performance

Fourthly, teachers design effective activities Because learning pronunciation is very complex, teacher should design or select the suitable and helpful activities for students to practice They might explore which activities will provide the most opportunities for practice However, teachers must also keep in mind that certain activities suit the learning styles and approaches of some students better than others

Fifthly, teachers assess learners’ progress It is difficult for students to assess their own progress so teachers must provide the information about progress It is often a crucial factor in maintaining motivation

2.3.2 The student's roles in learning pronunciation

In teaching a foreign language in general, and in teaching pronunciation in particular, whatever the teacher does, the learner's improvement and prospects of change are minimal if the learners take no action and do not try to monitor their own efforts What

all learners are required to do in pronunciation learning is response But it is not as simple

as that Ultimate success in pronunciation will surely depend on learners' attitude and how much attempt the learner puts into In other words, the most decisive factor of improving pronunciation is the learner's willingness to take responsibility for his/her learning process

In addition, students also have some following roles: Firstly, they have to perceive the model as exactly as they can If cannot acquire it, they will not be able to pronounce the

model correctly Students need to respond as much and as well as they can to the recognition, with repetition activities because "practice makes perfect" Finally, students should correction of their pronunciation mistakes

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

This chapter is devoted to presenting the methodology of the current research, including the research design, the participants, the data collection instruments and procedure, and data analysis

In the preceding chapter, the literature on the research topic was reviewed for the theoretical basis of the study In order to lay a practical background for the study, the research was carried out with strictly justified methods of data collection and analysis

The study was carried out in 4 months from May to September of 2011 among 160 students of all grades and 6 teachers teaching English at Bim Son Upper Secondary School

1 An overview of the situation of teaching and learning English at Bim Son Upper Secondary School

1.1 Current learning and teaching of English at Bim Son Upper Secondary School

There are 6 teachers of English at Bim Son Upper Secondary School All the teachers are very eager for knowledge, enthusiastic with teaching, ready to change for the better, willing to apply better ways to fortify their teaching quality and improve the quality

of English teaching and learning

In the light of communicative approaches, Pronunciation is designed in English books for high-school students For each book among English 10, 11 and 12, pronunciation accounts for 10 percent of the designed amount of knowledge More precisely, in English textbook in particular, each unit (among 16 units of the whole book) is made up of by five parts The first four parts are to help learners develop their language skills of Reading, Speaking, Listening, Writing and the last part is Language Focus which consists of Pronunciation and Grammar

By the end of 2006, the 10th form class that I taught at Bim Son Upper secondary school seemed to have a declining performance in English They showed a lack of interest

in speaking lessons and their first-term test results on pronunciation skills were rather low Teaching them for six successive semesters, I realized that they had some problems learning English pronunciation skills

In other words, unfavorable language environment and non-autonomous learning methods have triggered difficulties for the teachers in improving the students’ English proficiency

I decided to investigate the situation with an open talk with the whole class The talk turned out to be a lively discussion in which my students expressed their feelings about learning English Most of them shared the view that learning pronunciation skills was very difficult but really important to them More specifically, lack of pronunciation skills prevents them from improving communicating skills To make the matter worse, only three English periods per week meant that the in-class time for pronunciation learning was inadequate In order to help my students overcome their difficulty in improving their pronunciation skills, I intended to further investigate the situation and then design a remedy plan Considering that the time in class was so restricted, the first thought that came across to my mind then was how to teach my students to learn pronunciation effectively in their self-study time That idea was then further clarified into two tasks First,

I needed to raise my students’ awareness of learner autonomy in learning pronunciation Second, I wanted to teach them some pronunciation-learning strategies that might help them to learn pronunciation effectively on their own To fulfill these tasks, I decided to carry out a survey first to get a whole look at the reality of pronunciation learning in the self-study time and then I will suggest a pronunciation-learning strategy training programme with my students I have been working at Bim Son Upper secondary school for

six years In this case study, I was the practitioner and the researcher at the same time 1.2 Participants

Teachers are considered to play an important part in guiding and monitoring the development of learner autonomy in their students The study, therefore, invited for the participation of six teachers in the foreign language group

The subjects are 160 students at Bim Son Upper Secondary School All of them have learned English since 6th grade (about 12 years old) at least They are chosen at random basing on their order number in the attendance register then the name attached to these numbers were collected Most of them can do written English tasks quite well, but rather badly with spoken language with a lot of mispronounced words They demonstrate very little knowledge about phonetics

The above things can conclude that the subjects of the study are compatible in terms of age, gender and knowledge of both mother tongue and foreign language

2 Data collection instruments

In order to obtain in-depth, rich data and information for investigating the situation and the difficulties that teachers and students have in teaching and learning pronunciation, the study used three methods of data collection: questionnaire (conducted in late June when students generally fulfill their pronunciation lessons in English Textbook), classroom observation (done from June to late August) and informal interview (done from July to

August)

2.1 Questionnaires

Basing on certain knowledge about students’ problems in pronunciation learning, the investigator designed two kinds of questionnaires which include both closed questions (students and teachers only choose one option) and open- ended questions (with more possibilities at their disposal) The purpose of the questionnaire is to find out participants’ attitude towards pronunciation teaching (or learning), realities of pronunciation teaching and learning in their class and difficulties they encounter Besides main part, questionnaires for students and teachers both have a question to find out how long the

participant has taught/ learnt English pronunciation skills

2.1.1 The students’ survey questionnaire

The survey questionnaire for students consists of 7 big questions with 20 extra questions are for participants to choose one option among the given; and leaving comment space for students as they wish basing on their own problems and situation

The first question is to find out how important pronunciation learning is among students The second one is for students to express their attitudes towards pronunciation learning The next five are to investigate the reality of pronunciation teaching and learning

in the students’ opinion about difficulties they have to face in pronunciation learning, some typical pronunciation matters that students often find challenging and the ways they solve pronunciation problems In these questions, if there is any personal pronunciation problem, participants can write down (in English as well as in Vietnamese) With the extra questions, the researcher intends to find out students’ ways of learning pronunciation in detail

2.1.2 The teachers’ survey questionnaire

The teachers’ survey questionnaire consists of 15 questions with the hope to indicate the current teaching methods taken by the teachers teaching English for students at

Bim Son Upper Secondary School Among the questions, half of them are one- option, the other half allow the participants to choose more than one answer The first question is to ask whether phonetics and phonology is important in pronunciation teaching or not The next two questions are about the practices of teaching pronunciation for students In the extra question, the researcher tries to investigate students’ attitude towards pronunciation teaching and learning through the eyes of the teachers This is the chance for the participant to talk about the challenges they have to face when teaching pronunciation And

in the last question, techniques to promote learners’ autonomy in improving pronunciation skills that the participant is using are listed, the teachers can tick at as many options as they wish

After collecting all the questionnaire responses from both teachers and students, the researcher has calculated the numbers of responses and the percentages respectively of the questions in each questionnaire The results, then, have been arranged to two main items based on the first two research questions

 Reality of teaching and learning pronunciation at Bim Son Upper Secondary School

 The ways that teachers and students promote autonomy in learning pronunciation skills

2.2 Classroom observation

Apart from two survey questionnaires for teachers and students, classroom observation is also applied in order to clarify and test the validity of information about the current situation of teaching and learning pronunciation, the challenges in teaching and learning have to face up with The observation was carried out before the time the questionnaires were conducted in Language Focus periods of different classes taught by three different teachers Hopefully, the results from the classroom observation will

contribute much to finding out the solutions to the improvement

2.3 Interviews

In order to understand better about the reality of pronunciation teaching and learning and challenges that teachers have to face during pronunciation lessons, the researcher had unconventional talk with some students and teachers The questions in the interview were basically based on those in the questionnaire in order to find out real reasons for their answers as well as to understand more about reality of teaching and

learning pronunciation through points of view that the researcher could not think of when designing the questionnaires Therefore, the data of the informal interview will be shown

as the explanation after analysis of every question in both questionnaires instead of appearing as a separate part in the next chapter of data analysis and discussion

3 Data collection procedure

The procedure of data collection could be put into four phases as follows

Phase 1: Preparation

In this phase, the researcher managed to 1) design the questionnaires, the interview questions and the observation checklist; 2) pilot the questionnaires and the interview questions with three students; 3) make adaptations and finalize the design of data collection instruments and 4) set up schedule for collecting data

Phase 2: Disseminations of questionnaires

In this phase, the researcher contacted 3 teachers Soon after that, the questionnaires were sent to the teachers via email as they suggested In a few days, the completed questionnaires were sent back

Student questionnaires: The questionnaires were handed out to the students at the beginning of the class time The researcher briefly explained the purpose and the terms to the students Confirmation of confidentiality was also made so that the students would be more willing to state their opinions in the questionnaires The students were encouraged to look quickly at the questionnaires and questions for clarification were encouraged to be raised Then the researcher suggested the classes finish the questionnaires in their break time and the monitors collect all the papers After that, the researcher contacted the monitors to get back the questionnaires

Phase 3: Carrying out the interviews

Teacher interviews: At the time of sending the questionnaires to the teachers via

email, the researcher also asked for convenient time to conduct the interviews Shortly before each appointment, the researcher telephoned the teachers to confirm Each interview began with a short informal talk, in which the teachers were reminded of the questionnaires and questions about the research topic were encouraged Then permission was asked to record the interviews During the interviews, questions were asked one at a time and neutrality was kept consistently Whenever unexpected answer came up or new aspects were revealed, extra questions were added accordingly to exploit in-depth information

from the interviewees The interviewees were encouraged to speak out whatever they thought about the subject matter However, reorientation was made when necessary so as

to bring focus onto the investigated areas

Student interviews: Getting personal contacts from the questionnaires, the

researcher asked for the participation of ten students in the interviews The procedures of conducting the student interviews were similar to those of the teacher interviews

Phase 4: Observation

Observation was done when the subjects were speaking English naturally without awareness of being observed in the classroom lasting from my start of teaching the subjects’ class to the start of research After each time of teaching the subjects’ class, I took notes carefully in a notebook immediately At the time of the study, I have been teaching the informants about 20 hours

Thanks to the practicum the researcher asked for permission to observe four classes An observation checklist was completed Besides, further notes were taken and revised Short discussion about the lessons was conducted with the teachers and the students right afterwards to get the immediate general impression and feedbacks Information was refined within the day to get the next observation better structured and informed

4 Data analysis methods and procedure

The collected data was first classified according to the research questions The students’ responses were considered first Teachers’ responses were analyzed in comparison and contrast with the students’ responses Interview responses and classroom observation served to solidify the conclusion

The questionnaires had already been divided into sections from the design stage basing on the research questions Therefore, it was convenient to classify the information gathered Data collected from the questionnaires was then synthesized and illustrated by diagrams or tables according to each research question As for the data collected from the interviews, they were first transcribed The information was then classified to see which area of the research it supports so that the researcher could refer to for more information when necessary

With regards to the observation, notes from each class session were selected and put into comparison with the data collected from other instruments above After analyzing the information from questionnaires and interviews, the researcher referred to observation notes to enable the reliability and validity of the data

The above method and procedures of data analysis were useful in that they helped the researcher obtain comprehensive and rich data From such data, surprising and interesting results were found out and will be presented in the next chapter – RESULTS AND FINDINGS

CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND FINDINGS

1 The nature of learner autonomy

1.1 Students’ attitude toward the importance of learning English pronunciation skills

Table 1: Importance of pronunciation to students

A_ It’s vital in learning English 5%

B_ It’s necessary when speaking only 45%

C_ It’s not as important as grammar and language skills 35%

D_ It’s not important at all 15%

It can be seen from the table that most of the students taking part in the survey were aware of the importance of pronunciation in language learning Up to 85% of the students found it important to learn pronunciation while learning English to some extent

However, as much as 45% of studied students limited the roles of pronunciation learning to their speaking skills This shows a limitation in the students’ perception in the effects that pronunciation learning has on their English learning

1.2 Students’ behaviours as autonomous learners

Table 2: Students’ pronunciation learning time:

important at all

It’s vital in learning English

A When my teacher asks me to 35%

C Sometimes when I like to 15%

D When I meet an interesting pronunciation item 12%

The above table points out the low self-responsibility on learning pronunciation skills A large number of students took charge of their own pronunciation learning only when they were acquired to (80%) Only 26 percent of students learnt English pronunciation when they liked, and 14% spent time practicing pronunciation skills when they have time The results inferred from the study show that most of students do not have high sense of responsibility in learning pronunciation skills

The overall results indicate that the reality of students’ learning pronunciation at Bim Son Upper Secondary School is not positive as expected Although both teachers and students are very optimistic towards teaching and learning pronunciation, students’ active involvement in learning these skills is limited

Table 3: Students’ problems in learning pronunciation

35 45

Sometimes when Ilike to

When I meet aninterestingpronunciation item Never

Whenever I have time

A I do not know which resources are the best to learn pronunciation by

myself

75%

B I do not get extra exercise on pronunciation from my teachers 55%

C I do not know how to check if I pronounce correctly or not 62%

D I do not know how to pronounce a new word 71%

Another remarkable note is that students faced many problems during the process of learning pronunciation The biggest problem comes from the fact that even though there were various kinds of English pronunciation e-books or reference books in every bookstore, students were not confident to choose the suitable source for their self-study time 55 percent of students did not get extra pronunciation exercises from their teacher to promote pronunciation skills in their free time 62% of them did not know how to check if they pronounced correctly or not In reality, they did not have background knowledge on the English phonetics and phonology Most of them did not know how to pronounce a new word From interviewing data, it must be admitted that many students did not know how to use dictionary and transcribe words phonetically Therefore, they cold not do self- correction of their pronunciation mistakes On the whole, students were not provided ways

to improve these skills effectively

The most surprising feature of the table is that it shows a negative trend towards learner autonomy A majority of students generally understand the importance of pronunciation skills and no one had special problems working in groups (According to their teachers’ perceptions) However, they did not try to work with difficult pronunciation items for themselves Furthermore, they all were not very willing to contact teachers for help in pronunciation learning

In short, this part generally explores the actual behaviors of the surveyed students

as autonomous learners Positive results concerning goal setting, group work, willingness

to expand and reflect on the learning process have been revealed However, the problem remains that students felt reluctant to find a better ways for pronunciation learning from their teachers

Summary

In response to research question 1, different characteristics and perceptions of the students regarding learner autonomy in pronunciation learning have been found out, both positively and negatively The results have been thoroughly analyzed and explained with reference to the opinions expressed in the interviews and the observation of the researcher The next part will explore in greater detail the current situation of learner autonomy in pronunciation learning through the techniques that the students employed

1.3 Affective factors

Table 5: Students’ feeling towards pronunciation lessons in class

Students’ feelings when they have pronunciation lessons Students

be shown clearly in the questions dealing with challenges students have to face during pronunciation lessons; however, we can conclude right now that pronunciation teaching needs improvement in order to satisfy students in both groups

1.4 Attitudes towards tasks and assignments

Table 6: Attitudes towards tasks and assignments

Students’ attitudes towards tasks and assignments Students

a_ Get it done soon according to the requirement 65%

The table illustrating the result from the student questionnaire shows that 65% of the students are motivated to finish tasks and assignments related to pronunciation These

positive findings can be interpreted as a result of either extrinsic or intrinsic motivation However, according to the teachers’ responses in the survey supported the idea of extrinsic motivation The teachers reported through their questionnaire that when there is an assignment or a task, their students first show their care for assessment and marks without

a clear indicator for intrinsic

2 The factors that affect learner autonomy in learning pronunciation skills

Table 7: The frequency techniques using in teaching pronunciation skills

Giving useful strategies to encourage students’ independent

learning at home

18%

Do the pronunciation exercises in textbook 86%

It can be seen from the chart that games are rarely used by teachers to motivate students to learn pronunciation Despite of the fact that most of students stated that these motivating

techniques were very useful to their learning, traditional methods such as list of relative

rules, listen and repeat, do the pronunciation exercises in textbook were also popular, although these methods should be gradually limited to move towards more learners’ independence 18% students reported to have been encouraged and introduced ways to learn pronunciation effectively in their free time

In short, the students acknowledged the activities held by their teachers to help them develop learner autonomy in pronunciation learning However time for these

18

86

56

16 0

Do the pronunciation exercises in textbook

Listen and repeat

Use games and activities