Nghiên cứu về hoạt động dạy phát âm tiếng anh cho học sinh lớp 5 tại một số trường tiểu học ở bắc ninh

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES NGO THI TRANG A Study on Teaching English Pronunciation for the Fifth-grade Students in some Primary Schools in Bac Ninh (Nghiên cứu hoạt động dạy phát âm Tiếng Anh cho học sinh lớp số trường tiểu học Bắc Ninh) Thai Nguyen, July 2019 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES A Study on Teaching English Pronunciation for the Fifth-grade Students in some Primary Schools in Bac Ninh Full Name: Ngo Thi Trang ID: ThSK2TA4.17.016 Class: K2A Supervisor:Prof Dr Hoang Van Van Thai Nguyen, July 2019 Số hóa Trung tâm Học liệu Công nghệ thông tin – ĐHTN http://lrc.tnu.edu.vn DECLARATION This paper is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of English Linguistics at Department of Post Graduate studies – School of Foreign Languages - Thai Nguyen University I certify that this thesis is the result of my own research, and it has not been submitted for any other degrees Thai Nguyen, July 8, 2019 Student’s signature Ngơ Thị Trang Số hóa Trung tâm Học liệu Công nghệ thông tin – ĐHTN http://lrc.tnu.edu.vn ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I am much thankful to all lecturers of Post Graduate Faculty at Thai Nguyen University for giving us useful and precious lectures I would also like to express my sincerest gratitude to Prof Dr Hoang Van Van, my respected supervisor for her precious guidance, critical comments and constructive supervision throughout my research I am also indebted to the field workers who were kind enough to tolerate the painstaking task of collecting the data Then my thanks also sent to my classmates at the Master Course Class who have taken time and trouble to alert me to errors in my thesis and provided me with useful data on which this thesis is based I also wish to send my sincere thanks to the teachers and students at three Primary schools in Bac Ninh city , where I taught in order to gather information for my servey questionnaires Without their help, this study could not have been successful Finally, I would like to express special thanks to my husband and family for their support and encouragement while the study was being carried out For my little experience and knowledge, I would like to receive more useful comments from lectures and others ABSTRACT Số hóa Trung tâm Học liệu Công nghệ thông tin – ĐHTN http://lrc.tnu.edu.vn It is undeniable that English has become one of the most popular foreign languages in Vietnam However, though Vietnamese learners can speak English, not many of them have intelligible English pronunciation, especially young learners Thus, the research is conducted with the aim of investigating current English pronunciation for young learners, in particular, the fifth-grade students in three primary schools in Bac Ninh Province, namely Thi Cau, Dai Phuc and Vo Cuong For the purpose of finding out current English pronunciation for fifth-grade students of such three primary schools, the author delivered questionnaires to 15 teachers, interviewed three Heads of English division and observed 10 English classes taught by 10 teachers of three primary schools After collecting data, the researcher found out that most of the teachers in such primary schools still applied traditional English pronunciation methods during English lessons for fifth-grade students, which made the students not really motivated, interested and active in the lessons Also, most of the teachers dealt with difficulties in stress and intonation when teaching English pronunciation for such students Based on findings and limitations in English pronunciation teaching for fifth-grade students, the author proposed some possible recommendations for teachers, students and administrations of three primary schools with the hope of helping them improve English pronunciation effectiveness in the coming times Số hóa Trung tâm Học liệu Công nghệ thông tin – ĐHTN http://lrc.tnu.edu.vn TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION……………………………………………………………………i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS…………………………………………………… …ii ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………… …iii TABLE OF CONTENTS………………………………………………………… Error! Bookmark not defined.v LIST OF TABLES…………………………………………………………………Error! Bookmark not defined.ii LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………………….Error! Bookmark not defined.iii PART 1: INTRODUCTION .1 Rationale .1 Aims of the study Research question Scope of the study .2 Structure of the research PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Theoretical background 1.1.1 Definitions of pronunciation .4 1.1.2 Approaches to teaching pronunciation 1.1.3 Techniques to teach pronunciation 1.1.4 Elements of teaching pronunciation 1.1.5 The teacher’s roles in teaching pronunciation 10 1.1.6 Definitions of young learners 12 1.1.7 Characteristics of young learners 13 1.2 Previous studies 15 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 18 2.1 Research design 18 2.2 Research participants .19 2.3 Research instruments .21 2.3.1 Questionnaires 21 2.3.2 Interview 22 2.3.3 Classroom observation 23 2.4 Procedure 24 2.4.1 Piloting questionnaires 24 2.4.2 Data collection process 24 2.4.3 Procedure of data analysis .25 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 26 3.1 Introduction 26 3.2 Current pronunciation teaching in some primary schools in Bac Ninh 26 3.2.1 Activities mainly used to enhance student’s pronunciation 26 3.2.2 Teacher’s guidance for students to practice pronunciation at home .28 3.2.3 Teachers’ difficulties in teaching English pronunciation to the students 31 3.3 Discussions 33 3.3.1 Activities used to enhance students’ pronunciation 33 3.3.2 Teacher’s guiding activities for home practice 33 3.3.3 Teacher’s difficulties .35 3.4 Teachers’ suggestions on improving the teaching of English pronunciation 36 PART 3: CONCLUSION 38 Main findings 38 Implications .39 2.1 Implications for the teachers 39 2.2 Implications for the students 40 2.3 Implications for the administrators 41 Limitations and suggestions for further research 41 3.1 Limitations .41 3.2 Suggesstions 42 LIST OF REFERENCES 43 APPENDICES I LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1: The frequency of activities mainly used to enhance student’s pronunciation by teachers .26 Table 3.2: The frequency of the teachers’ guidance for students to practice pronunciation at home .29 Table 3.3: The teachers’ difficulties in teaching English pronunciation to the students 31 assignments in the textbook The teachers should, therefore, organize the appropriate Số hóa Trung tâm Học liệu Công nghệ thông tin – ĐHTN http://lrc.tnu.edu.vn operations that can assist save time for them to have more time for pronunciation exercise In addition, the teachers often guide learners through some operations to practice English pronunciation at home, including watching English video clips, listening to English music, reading the learned phrases, and so on to enhance their pronunciation Many students, however, don't understand how to exercise at home Thus, the teachers should meet with their parents and instruct them to help their chidlren at home The teachers, for instance, can demonstrate some helpful video clips or simple songs to their parents to learn English pronunciation The parents then direct their kids to exercise pronunciation, inspect and teach them frequently at home in order to improve the pronunciation of the student Furthermore, based on many problems encountered by teachers while teaching English pronunciation to their learners, the teachers should engage in the teachers' pronunciation practice and teaching classes to enhance their capacity The teachers should also interact with native speakers in order to learn and follow the right pronunciation Furthermore, the teachers must practice the phrases before they come to the class so that they can be comfortable in their teaching 2.2 Implications for the students Some suggestions can be provided to learners to enhance their pronunciation as follows: First, efficient pronunciation of English is a skill that needs learners to exercise continually In the classroom as well as outside the school, the students should exercise pronunciation a lot In addition, students were able to speak in English with foreigners to enhance their pronunciation Or practicing English with friends is also a great way for learners to learn English pronunciation more confidently In addition, students should attempt to exercise English pronunciation at home in as many ways as possible, such as listening to English songs or dramas, watching English pronunciation teaching video videos, or repeating sample phrases This would assist learners to pronounce the term properly Số hóa Trung tâm Học liệu Cơng nghệ thơng tin – ĐHTN http://lrc.tnu.edu.vn 2.3 Implications for the administrators Teachers and students are the main factors in teaching and learning English pronunciation However, administrators also play a significant role in teaching and learning effectiveness For the administrators, there are some recommendations as follows First, pronunciation is an significant oral communication factor Therefore, this skill should be enhanced by the administrator As stated, time limitation affects the process and effectiveness of teaching and learning pronunciation Therefore, the time in a class period for both teachers and students should be more than 45 minutes to ensure that activities are carried out Next, activities involving the practice of English pronunciation should include some content, facilities, such as microphones, projectors, toys, etc., so that learners are more interested in pronunciation teaching With stress, intonation, vowel and consonant, etc., they would comprehend the phrases more It makes the pronunciation of the teacher more successful from then on While administrators are not responsible for teaching English pronunciation and events, they can arrange and provide the equipment for better English learning and teaching operations for learners and teachers Finally, some pronunciation contests should be arranged for teachers and students to motivate and enhance the ability to teach and learn pronunciation Limitations and suggestions for further research 3.1 Limitations This study showed the truth of pronunciation teaching and gave suggestions for teacher English pronunciation teaching at some primary schools in Bac Ninh Province However, the research has some shortcomings as follows: the findings of the research were far from ideal due to the time limit and many other subjective and objective factors The amount of participants, however, may be sufficient to provide the accurate responses There was still a small amount of interviews In addition, the author noted ten courses in which some students prepared the lesson operations in advance, while the others did not because they did not have sufficient time in the Số hóa Trung tâm Học liệu Công nghệ thông tin – ĐHTN http://lrc.tnu.edu.vn school Consequently, the findings of class observations may not represent all true circumstances of English pronunciation teaching Finally, owing to the restriction of understanding and academic capacity, the research was not very good Some sections might therefore not be thoroughly and meticulously analyzed 3.2 Suggesstions There are some recommendations for future studies from the above limitations First, this study focused only on the activities that the teachers used to teach English pronunciation for grade at some primary schools in Bac Ninh Province, so the further studies should focus more on the textbooks as the textbooks are the first basis for students to see the words clearly Additionally, further research can be carried out on some other grades, such as reduced grades at other primary schools, so that the study can be more general Furthermore, future research on teachers at many primary schools should be carried out not only in Bac Ninh Province, but also in other provinces of Vietnam Thus, to obtain more credible outcomes, the author will perform more interviews and class observations Furthermore, the strategies used by primary school teachers and students to enhance the pronunciation of English should be considered In addition, a new research can be conducted to analyze the efficacy of teacher feedback on the English pronunciation of the learner Another recommendation is to investigate the effects of guiding students to practice English pronunciation in order to improve the teacher's ability to teach pronunciation Số hóa Trung tâm Học liệu Công nghệ thông tin – ĐHTN http://lrc.tnu.edu.vn REFERENCES Alan, H (2017), ‘8 Great Tips to Learn English Through Songs and Music’, Fluentu Ali, K (2015), Improving English Pronunciation Among Arabic EFL School – Age Student Using Minimal Pairs, Fredonia, New York Anderson, & Lynch (2012), Effective English Learning, London: British Council Apus (2017), What is Mixed Methods Research? Brewster, J., Ellis, G., Girard, D., (2002), The Primary English Teacher’s Guide, London: Penguin Bloomsbury International 2016, How to Improve Your English with Movies, Bolitho, R (1998), Language awareness in the English classroom, English Teaching Professional, 6, – Brumfit (1997), Teaching English For Young Learners, https://cicikprasetia.wordpress.com/2011/08/29/teaching-english-for-younglearners/ Burgess, J., & Spencer, S (2000), “Phonology and pronunciation in integrated language teaching and teacher education”, System, 28, pp 191–215 Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, & Goodwin (1996), Teaching Pronunciation: A Reference for Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Canagarajah, A.S (1999), Resisting linguistic imperialism in English teaching, Oxford: Oxford University Press Carmen, M (2013), Exploring Young Learners’ Foreign Language Learning Awareness, Tandfonline Carolread (2015), Y is for Young Learners, https://carolread.wordpress.com/2011/07/25/y-is-for-young-learners/ Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D & Goodwin, J (1996), Teaching Pronunciation: A Reference for Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Cambridge Số hóa Trung tâm Học liệu Công nghệ thông tin – ĐHTN http://lrc.tnu.edu.vn Chen Dan (2006), How can I improve my student’s pronunciation, Ningxia Teachers University Cambridge English (2017), Learn English through songs, Dalton, & Seidlhofer (1994), Pronunciation, Oxford: Oxford University Press Derwing, T M (2003), “What Do ESL Students Say about Their Accents?”, Canadian Modern Language Review, 59 (4), pp 547-566 Derwing, T M & Rossiter, M J (2002), “ESL learners' perceptions of their pronunciation needs and strategies”, System, 30 (2), pp 155-166 Docent N (2014), Improvement Of English Pronunciation Of Russian Learners In A Russian School With The Estonian Language Immersion, University of Tartu Fangzhi, C (1998) The teaching of pronunciation to Chinese students of English Retrieved from http//exchanges.state.gov/english teaching/forum/ archives/1998/docs/98-36-1g.pd Gardner, R (1985), Social psychology and second language learning: the role of attitude and motivation, London: Edward Arnold Gardner, RC & Lambert, W (1972), Attitudes and motivation in second language learning, MA Rowley, Newbury House, California Gilakjani and Ahmadi (2011), Why is pronunciation so difficult to learn, Vol 4, No.3, pp 81 Gimson, A.C (1989), An introduction to the Pronunciation of English, Sevenoaks, Edward Arnold Guiora, A, Brannon, R & Dull, C (1972), “Empathy and second language learning”, Language learning, Vol 22, No.1, pp 111-130 Harmer, J (2001), The Practice of English Language Teaching, London: Longman Hewings, M (2004), Cambridge Academic English, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Số hóa Trung tâm Học liệu Công nghệ thông tin – ĐHTN http://lrc.tnu.edu.vn Hong Thi Nguyen, Heather F & Wendy W (2014), EFL Teaching and Learning at a Vietnamese University: What Do Teachers Say?, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia Jones, R & Evans, S (1995), Teaching Pronunciation through Voice Quality, ELTJ 49/3 Karahan, F (2007), “Language attitudes of Turkish students towards the English language and its use in Turkish context”, Journal of Arts and Sciences, (May), pp 73-87 Kelly, G., (2000), How to teach pronunciation, Harlow: Longman Kenworthy, J (1992), Teaching English Pronunciation, Longman, pp.30 Mortimer, Colin (1985), Elements of pronunciation: Intensive practice for intermediate & more advanced students, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Morley, J (1991), Trippingly on the tongue: Putting serious speech/pronunciation instruction back in the TESOL equation, ESL Magazine, January/ February, pp 2022 Nordquist (2017), Glossary of Grammatical and Rhetorical Terms, London: Oxford University Press Nixon, C, Tomlinson, M (2005), Primary Pronunciation Box: Pronunciation games and activities for younger learners, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press Pennington, M C (1989), Pronunciation Revisited, TESOL Quarterly 20(2): pp 207225 Phillips (1993), Young learners, Oxford University Press, Oxford Purcell, Edward T., and Richard W Suter (1980), Predictors of pronunciation accuracy: A reexamination, Language Learning 30, pp.271-88 Rogerson, P., & Gilbert, J (1990), Speaking clearly, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Ruthwickham (2016), 10 ESL Activities for Powerful Pronunciation Progress, Số hóa Trung tâm Học liệu Công nghệ thông tin – ĐHTN http://lrc.tnu.edu.vn Saundz (2015), Students’s attitudes towards learning English pronunciation, The Saundz Research Team, http://saundz.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/StudentsAttitudes-towards-Learning-English-Pronunciation.pdf Saul M (2018), Questionnaire, Simply Psychology Sis International Research (2016), What is quantitative research? Slattery, M., Willis, J (2001), English for Primary Teachers: A handbook of activities and classroom language, Oxford, Oxford University Press Suter, R W (1976), Predictors of pronunciation accuracy in second language learning, Language Learning, 26, pp 233–253 Tench, P (1984), English Pronunciation, Harlow: Longman Taylor & Francis, Teaching ESL/EFL Reading and Writing, New York: Routledge Yates, L., & Zielinski, B (2009), Give It a Go: Teaching Pronunciation to Adults, Sydney, Australia: AMEPRC Wil (2016), “10 Tips For Perfect English Pronunciation”, Englishlive Số hóa Trung tâm Học liệu Công nghệ thông tin – ĐHTN http://lrc.tnu.edu.vn APPENDICES APPENDIX NO.1 TEACHERS’QUESTIONNAIRE Dear my responders, Thank you very much for your participation in my survey I am completing my research of “A Study on Teaching English Pronunciation for the Fifth-grade Students in some Primary Schools in Bac Ninh” and I would like to get your opinions, experience, which is of great contribution to my study Please complete this questionnaire by putting a cross (X) in the box next to the best response that you choose Thank you for your time and generosity! PART 1: GENERAL INFORMATION How old are you?  22 - 25 31 - 44  26 - 30  ≥ 45 What is your gender?  Male  Female Which school are you teaching at?  Thi Cau  Dai Phuc  Vo Cuong How many years have you been teaching?  1-5 years  6-10 years  11-20 years  Above 20 years Questionnaires: What are current activities employed by the teachers to teach pronunciation to the th grade students at some Primary Schools in bac ninh? What are the teachers’ suggestions for the better use of activities to improve the 5th grade students’ pronunciation? I PART 2: TEACHING ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION TO THE 5TH GRADE STUDENTS Please tick the respective blank as mentioned below 1: Never 2: Rarely 3: Sometimes 4: Often 5: Always Which activities you mainly use to enhance student’s pronunciation? Activities Level Listen and repeat Phonetic training Minimal pairs Games Songs and rhymes Others (please be brief and specific): ………………… ………………… Which activities you use for guiding students to practice pronunciation at home? Activities Level Watching videos Listening to music Repeating learned sentences II Activities Level Others (please be brief and specific): ………………… ………………… What are your difficulties in teaching English pronunciation to your students? Mistakes Level Vowel and consonant Intonation Stress Ending sounds Others (please be brief and specific): ………………… ………………… What are your suggestions for better English pronunciation teaching? (Please be brief and specific) …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………… APPENDIX 2: SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS WITH 03 HEADS OF ENGLISH DIVISION Good morning, Ladies and Gentlemen! My name is Trang Currently I am a teacher at Yen Trung Secondary School Currently, I am studying about “A Study on Teaching English Pronunciation for the Fifth-grade Students in some Primary Schools in Bac Ninh” I am really thankful for your spending time with me today All of your information provided shall be only for my research and study purpose Do you think teaching English pronunciation important for students? Do you usually hold training programs for your teachers to improve teacher’s pronunciation teaching? Do you invite foreign teachers to collaborate with your teachers? If you have, how often is it? What are the benefits of this to the teaching of pronunciation? How often you use activities to enhance students’ pronunciation? How often you guide students to practice pronuncation at home? Can you name your most frequently used activities? How often you face with difficulties during teaching English pronunciation to your students? Do you arrange attendance? Any class observations for checking the quality of English pronunciation teaching and learning? What are your suggestions for better teaching of English pronunciation? APPENDIX 3: CLASSROOM OBSERVATION SHEET Teacher: Class: Peer/Observer: Date & Time: Activities in the class Teacher’s activities Braining storm (5 minutes) Conversation/listening & repeat (10 minutes) Vocabularies (10 minutes) V Student’s activities Practice pronunciation with the exercises in textbook (10 minutes) Teacher’s assessment after lesson (10 minutes) Strengths observed: Suggestions for improvement: Overall impression of teaching effectiveness: VI ... of both teachers and students in some primary schools in Bac Ninh, namely Thi Cau Primary School, Dai Phuc Primary School and Vo Cuong Primary School The research finds out activities often used... teaching English pronunciation for the 5th grade in some primary schools in Bac Ninh , which would go into details of pronunciation teaching methodology at the 5th grade and suggest some other effective... and administrations of three primary schools with the hope of helping them improve English pronunciation effectiveness in the coming times Số hóa Trung tâm Học liệu Công nghệ thông tin – ĐHTN http://lrc.tnu.edu.vn