Using video recording project to improve pronunciation for non english major students at a university in vietnam

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***** HOÀNG THỊ THU HÀ USING VIDEO RECORDING PROJECT TO IMPROVE PRONUNCIATION FOR NON – ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT A UNIVERSITY IN VIETNAM (Sử dụng hoạt động tự quay video để củng cố việc phát âm tiếng Anh cho sinh viên không chuyên ngữ trường Đại học Việt Nam) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 HANOI - 2017 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***** HOÀNG THỊ THU HÀ USING VIDEO RECORDING PROJECT TO IMPROVE PRONUNCIATION FOR NON – ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT A UNIVERSITY IN VIETNAM (Sử dụng hoạt động tự quay video để củng cố việc phát âm tiếng Anh cho sinh viên không chuyên ngữ trường Đại học Việt Nam) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Ph.D VŨ THỊ THANH NHÃ HANOI - 2017 DECLARATION I hereby certify that this material is entirely my own work I have exercised reasonable care to ensure that the work is original, and does not to the best of my knowledge breach any law of copyright It has not been taken from the work of others save, and to the extent that, such work has been cited and acknowledge within the text of my work Signed:…………………… Hoang Thi Thu Ha Student ID: 15045009 Date: September 2017 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT To complete this graduation thesis, I owe profound indebtedness to many people for their enthusiastic help during the conduct of my research Firstly, I would like to give my sincere thanks to my supervisor Ph.D Vu Thi Thanh Nha for her invaluable support, helpful guidance and considerable encouragement, which plays a very important part in the completion of this paper Secondly, I would like to express my gratitude to the teachers for the valuable lessons as well as to the staff of Post graduate studies faculty for their support until this work came to existence Besides, I would love to send my heartfelt thanks to the teachers as well as third – year students at my university who enthusiastically participated in the data collection process In fact, without their help, I could not complete this thesis Also, I owe a great debt of gratitude to my family and my friends, who have constantly encouraged me during the time I conducted this research Last but not least, I would like to thanks my readers for their interests and comments on this study ii ABSTRACT Pronunciation has long been considered as a very important part of a language learning process Although there have been a lot of famous studies carried out on teaching and learning English pronunciation, very few of them bring the look into the effect of using self - recording technology of students Based on the general theories about pronunciation and how to teach pronunciation to Vietnamese people, this study was specifically concerned with implementing video recording to help students self - study pronunciation, and it also examined the relation between improving the students‟ pronunciation with listening skill This is an action research project conducted in an English course in term for 40 second-year students of K18 at Hong Duc university – academic year 2015-2016 There are five chapters Data were collected by means of tests, classroom observation, informal interview and students‟ documents Two cycles of action research were conducted to compare the changes after the two periods of intervention and implement the supportive actions The findings of the study shows that the foundation theories were completely suitable with teaching pronunciation in this specific situation, when students almost all participated in the project enthusiastically, and the results of pronunciation tests after every intervention were improved considerably However, the pronunciation itself does not contribute to enhance the score above medium level of listening test iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES vii CHAPTER IINTRODUCTION 1 Rationale Aims of the study Research question Research method The scope of the study Significance of the study The organization of the study CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW Pronunciation 1.1 Pronunciation concepts 1.2 Aspects of pronunciation Teaching pronunciation 10 2.1 Teaching pronunciation 10 2.3 Self - evaluation and monitoring 13 Summary 14 CHAPTER IIIRESEARCH METHODOLOGY 15 Overview of the chapter 15 Context of the study 15 Subjects of the study 16 Reasons for using action research 16 Procedures 17 iv Research instruments 18 6.1 Test record 18 6.2 Classroom observation 19 6.3 Interview 20 6.4 Students’ document 20 Data collection 20 7.1 Test recording 20 7.2 Classroom observation 21 7.3 Interview 22 7.4 Students’ document 22 Data analysis 22 Summary 22 CHAPTER IV FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 23 Finding from the pre – tests and the first recording 23 1.1 Students’ results of listening test 23 1.2 Students’ result of pronunciation mini test 25 1.3 Features of students’ pronunciation in the first video - recording 26 1.4 Conclusion 28 The first intervention 28 2.1 Students’ results of 2nd listening test in comparison with results of 1st listening test 28 2.2 Students’ results of 2nd mini pronunciation test in comparison with results of 1st test 30 2.3 Features of students’ pronunciation after the first intervention 30 2.4 Conclusion 33 The next cycle of intervention 34 3.1 Students’ results of 3rd listening test in comparison with results of 2nd and 1st listening test 34 v 3.2 Students’ results of 3rd pronunciation test in comparison with results of 2nd pronunciation test and 1st pronunciation test 35 3.3 Features of students’ pronunciation 35 3.4 Conclusion 39 Results of students in the pretest, 2nd test and 3rd test in comparison 39 4.1 Mini - pronunciation test 39 4.2 Listening test 39 Further finding from teacher‟s observation, informal interview and students‟ documents 40 Conclusion 44 CHAPTER V CONCLUSION 45 Summary 45 Pedagogical implication 45 Limitations of the study 46 Suggestions for further study 47 REFERENCES 48 APPENDIXES I vi LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Figure 1: Feature of pronunciation .6 Figure 2: English vowels Table 1: English consonants Table 2: Students‟ correct pronunciation 26 Table 3: Students‟ stress on correct syllable 27 Table 4: Students‟ intonation of statements, wh-questions, yes – no Questions and suggestions 27 Table 5: Comparison of students‟ correct pronunciation on English sound in the pretest and in the second test 31 Table 6: Comparison of students‟ stress on correct syllable in the pretest and second test 32 Table 7: Comparison of students‟ intonation of statements, wh-questions, yes – no questions and suggestions in the pretest and second test .33 Table 8: Comparison of students‟ correct pronunciation on English sound in the third test, pretest and the second test .36 Table 9: Comparison of students‟ intonation of statements, wh-questions, yes – no questions and suggestions in the pretest and second test 38 Table 10: Results of mini – pronunciation tests 39 Table 11: Results of listening tests 39 Table 12: Behaviors of students in two intervention cycles 41 Table 13: Student‟s documents of self - evaluation sheets 43 Chart 1: Correct answers of Listening Test 24 Chart 2: Number of correct words of Pronunciation mini -test 25 Chart 3: Percentage of correct words of Pronunciation mini -test 25 Chart 4: Results of Listening Test and Listening Test .29 Chart 5: Results of Pronunciation mini -test and Pronunciation mini – test 30 vii Chart 6: Correct answers of Listening Test in comparison with Test and Test 34 Chart 7: Correct answers of Pronunciation Test in comparison with Test and Test 35 viii CHAPTER V CONCLUSION Summary An action research has been conducted in the course English for 40 second – year students of Early Childhood Education Faculty, Hong Duc university So far, the study has answered two questions of how teacher implement video recording to help students self – study and how effective these activities are in improving students‟ pronunciation and listening skill The research involved implementing the activity of self – recording as a homework after teacher instructed pronunciation rules and assessment criteria The components of pronunciation were focused are sounds, stress and intonation Certain exercises including practicing sounds, words, short conversations and listing the words were introduced The instruments of conducting the research are record of pretest, 2nd tests and 3rd test, class observation and students document with informal interviews Researcher first investigated the situation of pronunciation and listening level of students through pretest, and some special features of pronunciation or common mistakes were also discovered when the first video of every learner was analyzed, mostly the mistake when producing first /t/, middle /s/ or final sound There are circles in the study After first weeks, there was a supplemental actions of asking students to record in pair to improve the intonation practice The findings from tests, observation, interviews and students‟ document express that the self - recording improve pronunciation and the confidence when pronouncing greatly but the listening skill was not enhanced only based on this activity It was proved when the highest listening score increased; however, medium score was not improved Pedagogical implication This study can be used as a reference source for English teacher, students and those interested in using new technology for self - study The findings of the study indicate that: 45 Technology could play as a positive factor to motivate the English learning environment of students Even though there is a new action, students will very quickly adapt with it Video self – recording activity is very practical homework which can be applied to improve the confidence and pronunciation proficiency However, it must go well with the careful instruction and research on the common mistakes Teacher could let students evaluate their videos so that they could check their pronunciation again in class During the first time of recording, students, especially non – English major ones often feel embarrassed and not dare to record What the teacher should is to encourage them, let a closed and secured page so that nobody outside the class could see these videos In addition, there must be the bonus marks for those who have good videos But only the pronunciation itself just helps to motivate the highest score of listening to increase, but does not affect on the total results of other general students Limitations of the study Although this research has certain typical contributions to teaching and learning English pronunciation, there are some limitations as follow Firstly, the typical characteristic of action research is situational and not generalized This research is also successful in one non – English major class but may be not applicable for other class in different context Secondly, because the researcher could not control all the variables during the research, the result may be affected by other factors such as time for self – study, 46 the level of test and the effect of other listening or speaking skills Thus, the question of whether video recording could improve pronunciation does not have an absolute answer Lastly, the study was on a small – scale with only 40 students The time of application is only 10 weeks and time for each circle of intervention is only weeks, therefore the changes were not fully analyzed Suggestions for further study The research has opened some suggestions for further study Firstly, it carried out successfully among non- English major students at Hong Duc university, therefore absolutely could be introduced in teaching English major students and even for students at other institutions However, the activity of using video – recording need testing carefully before applied in system On the other hand, the result show that there was an increase in highest listening score after the intervention when the medium scores were not improved, there can be another research on this changes, or on the relation between pronunciation and the highest score of listening test In summary, this research has created certain changes in the learning style, made the pronunciation become interesting to students and motivate the learning environment So it also had a clear effect on renovating teaching methods at Hong Duc university 47 REFERENCES Avery, P & Ethrlich, S (1992), Teaching American English Pronunciation, 11th edition, New York: Oxford University Press Baker, A & Goldstein, S (1990), Pronunciation pairs: an introductory course for students of English, Cambridge [England] ; New York: Cambridge University Press Bowen, T & Marks, J (1992), The pronunciation book: student - centered activities for pronunciation work, Harlow : Longman Burns, R B (1994) Introduction to Research Methods Melbourne Longman Cheshire Press Grant, L (2014) Prologue to the myths: What teachers need to know In L Grant (Ed.), Pronunciation myths Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1–33 Hancock, M (2003), English pronunciation in use, 3rd edition, New York: Cambridge University Press Hewings, M (2004), Pronunciation Practice Activities, 4th edition, New York: Cambridge University Press Jones, D (1998), The pronunciation of English, New York: Cambridge University Press Kemmis & Mc Taggart (1988) Action Research Universidad Autónoma De Madrid 10 Kenworthy, J (1987), Teaching English Pronunciation, 7th edition, London, New York: Longman 11 Pennington, M C (1996), Phonology in English language teaching: an international approach, London, New York: Cambridge University Press 12 Halsey, A.H (1972) Educational priority EPA Problems and Policies Volume 13 Hancock, M (1995),Pronunciation games,Cambridge: New York: Cambridge University Press 48 14 Hewings, M & Goldstein, S (1998), Pronunciation plus: practice through interaction: North American English, Cambridge, U.K ; New York : Cambridge University Press 15 Kelly, G (2000), How to teach pronunciation, London: Longman 16 Macneil, D (1987), Teaching pronunciation to Vietnamese students Australia : A program support group research 17 Macneil, D Into speech, bilingually : An individual pronunciation course for Vietnamese learner, Adult Migrant Education Services 18 Maurer Smolder, C (2012), Be understood! :a pronunciation resource for every classroom, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 19 Meyers, C M & Holt, S (2001), Pronunciation for success: student workbook, Burnsville, MN : Aspen Productions 20 Nguyen, Quoc Hung (2009), Ky thuat luyen phat am tieng Anh My, NXB Tong Hop Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh 21 O'Connor, J D (1990), Better English pronunciation, 2nd edition, New York: Cambridge University Press 22 Roach, P (1983), English Phonetics and Phonology, New York: Cambridge University Press 23 Tench, P (1981), Pronunciation skills.3rd edition, London: Macmillan Publishers Ltd 24 Trim, J L.M (1975), English pronunciation illustrated, New York: Cambridge University Press 25 Underhill, A (2005), Sound foundations: learning and teaching pronunciation, Oxford : Macmillan 26 Wallace, M.J (1998) Action research for language teachers Cambridge University Press 49 APPENDIXES Appendix 1: Words list sample for recording I Appendix 2: Conversation sample for recording II Appendix 3: Listening test sample III IV V VI Appendix 4: Pronunciation mini - test sample VII Appendix 5: Classroom observation checklist Student’s behaviors Number of students Slowly stand up Do not pay attention to instruction in pronunciation Slowly pronounce Do not raise hand when T calls volunteer Be careful in producing first consonant Be careful in producing final consonant Be careful in producing middle /s/ Pay attention to word stress Pay attention to sentence stress Pay attention to intonation pattern Further notice: ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………… Appendix 6: Open – ended interview question list How often have you practiced pronunciation at secondary school? Do you have any knowledge on English pronunciation? Are you satisfied with the intervention? Does it help you in pronouncing correct sound, word and sentence? What are your suggestions in the next pronunciation lessons? VIII Appendix 7: Students’ paper Date:……… Name: ……………………… My partner is: ……………… Self - Assessment Pronunciation Checklist Listen again to your work and just your pronunciation using the following criteria Criteria You have pronounced the separate sounds correctly You have pronounced the separate words correctly You have pronounced the separate sentences correctly You have correct word stress You have correct sentence stress You have correct intonation Next time you will work more on …………………………………………………… IX Peer Assessment Pronunciation Checklist Listen to your partner’s work and just their pronunciation using the following criteria Criteria Your partner has pronounced the separate sounds correctly Your partner has pronounced the separate words correctly Your partner has pronounced the separate sentences correctly You have correct word stress You have correct sentence stress You have correct intonation Next time your partner need work more on ………………………………… X ... background” Teaching pronunciation 2.1 Teaching pronunciation In the ways of teaching English pronunciation, there are some clear approaches: Tench (1981) suggests that the basic strategy in pronunciation. .. research is the application of fact finding to practical problem solving in a social situation with a view to improving the quality of action within it, involving the collaboration and cooperation... not have many opportunities to access standard English pronunciation Moreover, at the secondary school, they were asked to focus only on grammar and vocabulary to pass the graduate examination