A case study on the effectiveness of elsa on learning english pronunciation with first year english language teaching major students at hanoi pedagogical university 2

HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES DO HOANG ANH A CASE STUDY ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF ELSA ON LEARNING ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION WITH FIRST YEAR ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING MAJOR STUDENTS AT HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY (SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT OF THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS OF ENGLISH) SUPERVISOR: DO THI THANH DUNG, M.A HANOI, 2018 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my research supervisors, Mrs Do Thi Thanh Dung, M.A, without her guidance and whole-hearted instruction in every step throughout the process, this study would have never been accomplished As a novice researcher, I had made a lot of mistakes in the process of writing the research paper but Mrs Dung was kind enough to work nights and days to help me completing the study I would like to give my sincerest thanks to her not only for being my research supervisor but for her support during my whole four years at Hanoi Pedagogical University I would also want to thank my lectures at Faculty of Foreign Languages for helping me and giving me the constructive comments of my thesis, their advices were invaluable to the results of this research I wish to acknowledge the assistance provided by the students of K43AEnglish Language Teaching at Hanoi Pedagogical University 2, without their participation, I could not be able to conduct this study Most importantly, I am truly grateful to my beloved family and my friends who were always there to help me get back in track, encourage me and give me power to overcome any challenges in my life Once again, thank you all for your dedication! i ABSTRACT This study aims to investigate students’ attitudes towards the implementation of ELSA and to examine the effectiveness of ELSA in learning English pronunciation skills on a group of 10 students from K43A – English Language Teaching, Hanoi Pedagogical University (HPU2) The data of this qualitative and quantitative study was collected from four different sources: Survey questionnaire, Interview, ELSA Assessment Test score and the Student Oral Language Observation Matrix (SOLOM) score From the results of the survey questionnaire and the interview, the researcher concluded that all of the participants had positive attitudes towards the application of ELSA as a supporting tool for self-study, the majority of them wanted to continue using ELSA to improve their pronunciation skills in the future Based on the results of the pre and post ELSA Assessment Test as well six-week class observation, the implementation ELSA was demonstrated that it was effective in both improving students’ pronunciation skills and boosting their confidence and increasing their speaking fluency ii STATE OF AUTHORSHIP Title: A Case Study on the Effectiveness of Elsa on Learning English Pronunciation with First Year English Language Teaching Major Students at Hanoi Pedagogical University I certify that no part of this research has been copied from any other person’s work without acknowledgements and the study is originally written by me under the guidance of my supervisor Date submitted: May, 2018 Student Supervisor Do Hoang Anh Do Thi Thanh Dung, M.A iii LIST OF TABLES Table English Consonant Phoneme Table The schedule of implementing ELSA in weeks Table The SOLOM Assessment Score Table The comparison of ELSA score and SOLOM score from the participants Table The SOLOM Assessment results of Week Table The SOLOM Assessment results of Week Table The SOLOM Assessment results of Week Table The SOLOM Assessment results of Week Table The SOLOM Assessment results of Week Table 10 The comparison of ELSA score and SOLOM score from the participants Table 11 The SOLOM Assessment results of Week iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure Features of pronunciation Figure English monothongs Figure The scores of ELSA Pre-Test and ELSA Post-Test Figure The scores of the Pre-SOLOM Pronunciation Score and the Post-SOLOM Pronunciation Score Figure SOLOM Score in Week and SOLOM Score in Week Figure Students’ methods of learning English pronunciation skills Figure Amount of time per week that students spent on learning English pronunciation Figure Student’s difficulties in learning English pronunciation Figure Student’s difficulties in learning English consonants Figure 10 Student’s difficulties in learning English vowels Figure 11 Students’ opinions towards the usefulness of ELSA in pronouncing words Figure 12 Students’ opinions towards the usefulness of ELSA in practicing ending sounds Figure 13 Students’ opinions towards the usefulness of ELSA in speaking in general Figure 14 Sounds that ELSA may not recognize properly Figure 15 Students’ attitude towards the helpfulness of ELSA Figure 16 Students’ biggest improvements in pronunciation after using ELSA Figure 17 Students’ attitudes towards applying ELSA in a real curriculum Figure 18 Students’ opinions on biggest drawbacks of the application of ELSA Figure 19 Students’ recommendations for the implementation of ELSA v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Hanoi Pedagogical University 2: HPU2 Automatic speech recognition: ASR Computer Assisted Language Learning: CALL Computer Assisted Pronunciation Training: CAPT Hidden Markov Model: HMM English Language Speech Assistant: ELSA Student Oral Language Observation Matrix: SOLOM Operating System: OS International Phonetic Alphabet : IPA vi TABLE OF CONTENTS PART 1: INTRODUCTION I RATIONALE OF THE STUDY II AIMS OF THE STUDY .1 III RESEARCH QUESTIONS IV THE SCOPE OF THE STUDY V METHODS OF THE STUDY .2 VI SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY VII DESIGN OF THE STUDY .3 PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW A Pronunciation .4 Definition of pronunciation .4 1.1 English vowel sounds .5 1.1.1 Monophthongs 1.1.2 Diphthongs .6 1.1.3 Triphthongs 1.2 English consonant sounds 1.2.1 English consonants classification 1.2.1.1 Voicing 1.2.1.2 Manner of articulation 1.2.1.3 Places of articulation .8 B Speech recognition technology and ELSA Definition of speech recognition .8 An introduction to ELSA Speak .9 The use of speech recognition in learning pronunciation .10 CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY 12 Research method 12 1.1 Case study .12 1.1.1 Rationales behind the case study 12 vii 1.2 Research procedure 12 1.2.1 Describing background .13 1.2.2 Identifying problems 13 1.2.3 Vision & objective(s) 13 1.2.4 Proposing solutions 14 1.2.5 Implementing case study 15 1.2.6 Results and evaluation .16 Data collection instruments 16 2.1 Survey questionnaire 16 2.1.1 Reasons for using questionnaire .16 2.1.2 Description of survey questionnaire 16 2.2 Classroom observation 18 2.2.1 Reasons for using classroom observation 18 2.2.2 Procedure of classroom observation 18 2.3 Interviews .19 2.3.1 Reasons for using interview 19 2.3.2 Description of interview 19 Research setting 19 3.1 Participants 20 Data analysis description 20 4.1 The ELSA Assessment Test 20 4.2 Classroom observation 20 4.3 Survey questionnaire 20 4.3.1 The pre-survey questionnaire 21 4.3.2 The post-survey questionnaire .21 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .22 FINDINGS 22 The results of using ELSA in learning English pronunciation skills in weeks .22 1.1 Description 22 1.1.1 Week (19/03/2018 – 25/03/2018) .22 1.1.2 Week (26/03/2018 – 01/04/2018) .23 viii 1.1.3 Week (02/04/2018 – 08/04/2018) .24 I.1.4 Week (09/04/2018 – 015/04/2018) .24 1.1.5 Week (16/04/2018 – 22/04/2018) .25 1.1.6 Week (23/04/2018 – 29/04/2018) .25 1.1.7 The comparison of the Pre and Post ELSA Assessment Test and Pre and Post SOLOM Assessment 26 Students’ attitude towards using ELSA in learning English pronunciation skills 29 2.1 Results from survey questionnaire 29 2.1.1 Results the pre-survey questionnaire .29 2.1.1.1 Students’ attitude towards the importance of English pronunciation skills 29 2.1.1.2 Students’ interest in English pronunciation skills 30 2.1.1.3 Students’ methods of learning English pronunciation skills 30 2.1.1.4 The number of hours per week students spent on learning English pronunciation skills .31 2.1.1.5 Student’s difficulties in learning English pronunciation skills .32 2.1.1.6 Students’ experience in learning English pronunciation with ELSA .33 2.1.2 Results from the post-survey questionnaire 35 2.1.2.1 Students’ opinions towards the usefulness of ELSA in learning English pronunciation 35 2.1.2.2 Students’ opinions towards the implementation of ELSA in learning English pronunciation 37 2.1.2.3 Challenges that students faced in the process of implementing ELSA in learning English pronunciation 39 2.2 Results from the interview 40 DISCUSSION 44 PART 3: CONCLUSION 45 Summary of the study 45 Limitations of the study 45 Recommendations .46 3.1 Recommendations for students 46 3.2 Recommendations for teachers 46 ix APPENDIX A THE PRE-SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE This survey is designed for my research on examining the effectiveness of using ELSA – a speech recognition application on learning English pronunciation for the first year English Teaching major at Hanoi Pedagogical University Your assistance in completing the survey is highly appreciated You can be confident that the data collected are only for the study purpose Thank you very much for your cooperation! I Personal information (For contact purpose only) Your full name : _ Which is your gender? A Male B Female Which class of K43 - English Language Teaching are you in?  K43A – English Language Teaching  K43B – English Language Teaching How long have you been learning English? (Please write the number down below) _ year(s) Your e-mail address : _ Your phone number (optional) : _ Do you own a smartphone?  Yes  No II Your opinions and experience with English pronunciation skills: In your opinion, how important are pronunciation skills in learning English?  Not important  Quite Important  Important  Very important How much you feel interested in pronunciation skills?  Not interested  Quite Interested  Interested 50  Very interested 10 What is (are) the method(s) that you are currently using to learn pronunciation skills? (You can tick  at multiple answers)  Reading books about pronunciation  Watching videos on the Internet  Listen to music  Talking to native speakers  Others (Please write it/them down below): _ _ _ 11 How many hours per week you spend on practicing/ learning pronunciation skills? _ hour(s) 12 Do you have any difficulties in learning or practicing pronunciation skills?  No, I don’t  Yes, I If you have difficulties in learning pronunciation skills, could you name the problems that you are facing? (You can tick  at multiple answers)  The consonant sounds  Stop (Plosive) (p, t, k, b, d, g)  Fricative (f, v, θ, ð, h, z, s)  Affricate (/tʃ/, /dʒ/)  Nasal (m, n, ɳ)  Approximant (w,r, j)  Lateral (l)  The vowel sounds  Short vowels (æ, e, ʊ, ɒ, ʌ, ɪ, ə) 51  Long vowels (iː, ɜː, ɑː, ɔː, uː)  Diphthongs (ɪə, eə, ʊə, eɪ, aɪ, ɔɪ, əʊ, aʊ)  Triphthongs (eɪə, aɪə, ɔɪə, əuə, auə)  Intonation/ Stress  Accent  Others (Please write it/them down below) _ _ _ III Your experience with ELSA 13 Do you want to learn how to learn pronunciation skills with smartphone application?  Yes  No 14 Have you ever used ELSA (a speech recognition application on smartphone)?  Yes  No If you have not used ELSA before, please answer these questions below Have you ever heard of Speech Recognition technology?  Yes  No Have you ever used any application that recognizes voices or detect errors when you speak?  Yes  No If you have used ELSA before, please answer these questions below How many hours you use ELSA for a week? (Please write the number down below) hour(s) What is (are) the feature(s) of ELSA that you use the most?  Dictionary 52  ELSA Assessment Test  Skills training  Speaking with different topics 53 APPENDIX B POST - SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE This survey is designed for my research on examining the effectiveness of using ELSA – a speech recognition implementation on learning English pronunciation for the first year English Teaching major at Hanoi Pedagogical University Your assistance in completing the survey is highly appreciated You can be confident that the data collected are only for the study purpose Thank you so much for your cooperation! I Your attitudes towards using ELSA to learn English pronunciation On scale from to 5, please choose the number stands for the level of agreement From your experience, how useful think ELSA is in practicing pronouncing words?      From your experience, how useful think ELSA is in practicing ending sounds?      From your experience, how useful think ELSA is in speaking in general?      Please choose the option that stands for the level of agreement The implementation of ELSA made me feel more familiar with using technology in learning pronunciation  Yes  Maybe  No The implementation of ELSA helped me speak English in a more native way  Yes  Maybe  No The implementation of ELSA improved my self-study skills  Yes  Maybe  No I will continue using ELSA to learn English pronunciation  Yes  Maybe  No I will buy the whole product to use the premium services  Yes  Maybe 54  No I will introduce the application of ELSA to my friends  Yes  Maybe  No 10 The implementation of ELSA is more effective than the traditional approach  Yes  Maybe  No II The problems you faced when using ELSA to learn English pronunciation 11 I could not use ELSA when there is no internet connection  Yes  Maybe  No 12 The pronunciation-checking results by the application of ELSA are sometimes incorrect as the microphone sometimes does not work properly  Yes  Maybe  No 13 The application of ELSA sometimes cannot recognize certain vowels, consonants  Yes  Maybe  No Please name some of the vowels/ consonants that ELSA could not recognize properly: _ _ _ 14 Do you have any other problems when using ELSA?  Yes  No If so, please write them down below: _ _ _ 55 APPENDIX C Student Oral Language Observation Matrix Student’s name Grade _ Language observed _ Date A Comprehension Cannot be said to understand even simple conversation Has great difficulty following what is said Can comprehend only “social Understands most of what is said at slowerthan-normal speed with repetitions conversation” spoken slowly and with frequent repetitions Understands nearly everything at normal speech, although occasional Understands everyday conversation and normal classroom discussions repetition may be necessary without difficulty Speech is so halting and Usually hesitant: often forced into Speech in everyday Speech in everyday Speech in everyday fragmentary as to make conversation virtually silence by language limitations conversation and classroom discussion frequently conversation and classroom discussion generally fluent, conversation and classroom discussion fluent and disrupted by the student’s search for the correct manner of expression with occasional lapses while the student searches the correct manner of expression effortless approximating that of a native speaker impossible B Fluency 56 Score E Grammar D Pronunciation C Vocabulary Vocabulary limitations so extreme as to make conversation Misuse of words and very limited vocabulary: comprehension quite difficult virtually impossible Pronunciation problems so severe as to make speech virtually unintelligible Very hard to understand because of pronunciation problems Must frequently repeat to be understood Student frequently uses the wrong words: conversation Student occasionally uses inappropriate terms and/or Use of vocabulary and idioms are approximately that of a native somewhat limited because of inadequate vocabulary must rephrase ideas because of lexical inadequacies speaker Pronunciation problems necessitate concentration on the part of the listener: occasionally Always intelligible though one is conscious of a definite accent and occasional inappropriate Pronunciation and intonation approximate that of a native speaker may be misunderstood intonation Errors in grammar and word order so severe as to Grammar and word order errors make comprehension Makes frequent errors of grammar and word order Occasionally makes grammatical and/or word Grammatical usage and word order approximate make speech virtually unintelligible difficult Must often rephrase/be restricted to basic patterns which occasionally obscure meaning errors which not obscure meaning that of a native speaker Based on your observation of the student, indicate with an “X” across the square in each category which best describes the student’s abilities The SOLOM should only be administered by persons who themselves score at level or above in the language being assessed Students scoring at level in all categories can be said to have no proficiency in the language 57 APPENDIX D SAMPLE OF PARTICIPANT’S GUIDING BOOK ( THE FIRST WEEK OF WEEK IN TOTAL) 58 59 60 61 PRACTICING SHEET WEEK – SESSION (LESSON 1, 2, 3) I Single words: Please open ELSA, choose Dictionary and start practicing these words, you need to get 80 – 85 /100 to meet the requirements of this session  / ʌ / and /ɑ:/: Sun Glove Young Car Charm Fool 4.Flute  / ʊ / and /u:/: Could Book Fruit  / e / and /æ/: Member Bare Map 4.Fan Dance II Sentences: Please open ELSA, choose Dictionary and start practicing these sentences, you need to get 70 – 75 /100 to meet the requirements of this session Please take screen captures and send them to the researcher via Facebook, E-mail or Edmodo The young man comes to get the book He was a fool to use his bare hands You could have used a map Please turn on the fan Only member can come in 62 APPENDIX E GUIDING QUESTIONS FOR GROUP INTERVIEW Do you think the application of ELSA is helpful to you in learning English pronunciation? Why yes/ why not? What are your biggest improvements in pronunciation after using ELSA? Do you think that we can apply ELSA to a real teaching curriculum somedays? What are the biggest drawbacks of the application of ELSA? How did you overcome it? What are your recommendations for other students who may want to use ELSA in learning pronunciation? 64 SAMPLE TRANSCRIPTION FROM GROUP INTERVIEW (PARTICIPANT 1) Abbreviations: Interviewer – I; Participant: P I: Good afternoon, please have a seat, how are you today? P: Great, how are you? I: I’m feeling good today Shall we start? P: Yes, absolutely I: Do you think the application of ELSA is helpful to you in learning English pronunciation? Why yes/ why not? P: I think ELSA is helpful to me in learning pronunciation because the more I practice with ELSA, the more I know about the process of pronouncing English words I: Nice, thank you, I myself think so, too So… What are your biggest improvements in pronunciation after using ELSA? P: I think it must be the ending sounds, ELSA forced me to pronounce them, or else I could not get 75 out 100 or above like you asked for, repeating that process many times, I felt more and more familiar with the ending sounds I: Isn’t that great, right? Do you think that we can apply ELSA to a real teaching curriculum somedays? P: Maybe, with a detailed plan and suitable method, definitely I: I hope we can that someday And… What are the biggest drawbacks of the application of ELSA? How did you overcome it? P: The microphone, the microphone was the biggest problem, I could not make myself heard like a thousand times I had to borrow my friend’s phone to the weekly session sometimes Oh, even when I borrowed my friend’s phone, ELSA sometimes could not recognize some sounds I: I can see that And the last question, what are your recommendations for other students who may want to use ELSA in learning pronunciation? P: I think the free version is more than enough to learn with, the premium service looks nice but I think I not really need it, but with students who want to have the whole experience of ELSA, it is worth buying I: You and I, we have so much in common, you know that? Anyway, thank you for time, good luck with the coming exams 65 ... ii STATE OF AUTHORSHIP Title: A Case Study on the Effectiveness of Elsa on Learning English Pronunciation with First Year English Language Teaching Major Students at Hanoi Pedagogical University. .. on the use of ELSA application to learn pronunciation The population of the study is limited to 10 students of K4 3A- English Language Teaching Major at Hanoi Pedagogical University V METHODS OF. .. illustrates the main features of pronunciation Figure Features of pronunciation (Kelly, How to teach Pronunciation, 20 00) As can be seen from the diagram above, pronunciation consists of phonemes and