Teacher’s corrective feedback on the pronunciation of English fricatives and affricates by non-English major freshmen at the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES o0o NGUYỄN THANH THỦY TEACHER’S CORRECTIVE FEEDBACK ON THE PRONUNCIATION OF ENGLISH FRICATIVES AND AFFRICATES BY NON-ENGLISH MAJOR FRESHMEN AT THE DIPLOMATIC ACADEMY OF VIETNAM Phản hồi chữa lỗi giáo viên cách phát âm phụ âm xát tắc xát tiếng Anh sinh viên năm thứ không chuyên tiếng Anh Học viện Ngoại giao M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111 Hanoi, 2015 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES o0o NGUYỄN THANH THỦY TEACHER’S CORRECTIVE FEEDBACK ON THE PRONUNCIATION OF ENGLISH FRICATIVES AND AFFRICATES BY NON-ENGLISH MAJOR FRESHMEN AT THE DIPLOMATIC ACADEMY OF VIETNAM Phản hồi chữa lỗi giáo viên cách phát âm phụ âm xát tắc xát tiếng Anh sinh viên năm thứ không chuyên tiếng Anh Học viện Ngoại giao M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111 SUPERVISOR: DR DƯƠNG THỊ NỤ Hanoi, 2015 DECLARATION I, Nguyễn Thanh Thủy, K21, being a candidate for the degree of Master of Arts hereby declare that the MA thesis entitled Teacher’s Explicit Corrective Feedback on the Pronunciation of English Fricatives and Affricates by NonEnglish Major Freshmen at the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam is my original work under the strict guidance of my supervisor No part in the thesis has been copied or reproduced by me from any other person’s work without acknowledgements Furthermore, the thesis has been adjusted according to valuable comments of the examination board Hanoi, April 2nd, 2015 Student Chairman of the Supervisor Examination Board Nguyễn Thanh Thủy Prof Hoàng Văn Vân i Dr Dương Thị Nụ ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This paper would not have been completed had it not been for the beneficial help of many people, to all of whom I am indebted First and foremost, I owe an enormous debt of gratefulness to my supervisor Dr Dương Thị Nụ for her constant support, guidance and insightful comments which were fundamental factors in the completion of the study In addition, sincere thanks are due to the teachers and students in class KT40B at the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam for allowing me to administer the test and questionnaire schedule during their precious class time I also cannot find words to express my gratitude to Ms Julia Williams, Ms Đỗ Hải Hà, Ms Đinh Thị Mai Anh, Ms Nguyễn Thị Huyền Trang, and Ms Nguyễn Thùy Nhung for their invaluable assistance during the experimental period Furthermore, I would like to express my thankfulness to my parents, my friends, and my classmates for their continual encouragement during the time I conducted this research Last but not least, I would like to show appreciation to my readers for their interest and criticism on the thesis ii ABSTRACT 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 The fact remains that they are unlikely to perceive their pronunciation mistakes when speaking Such pronunciation mistakes will be fossilized if they are not corrected by the teacher Of 24 English consonants, the six consonants /s, z, ʃ, ʒ, ʤ , ʧ/ have been identified as the most common pronunciation problems that non-English major freshmen at the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam encounter As a result, the present study aims to help them overcome these problems In order to achieve the aim of the study, a quasi-experimental design was conducted on 36 non-English major freshmen in class KT40B at the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam Besides, after the experimental period, a short questionnaire was distributed to the experimental group to explore their opinions about the use of Teacher’s Explicit Corrective Feedback in English speaking lessons The results of the study indicate that students’ pronunciation of the six English consonants improves significantly when they are provided with Teacher’s Explicit Corrective Feedback Furthermore, the use of this corrective feedback type also receives support from the experimental students Based on the findings, the thesis provides some recommendations for the application of Teacher’s Explicit Corrective Feedback, which would be of great assistance for university students in English speaking lessons iii LISTS OF TABLES List of Tables Table 1: English Consonants Table 2: Similarities and Differences of English Alveolar Fricatives, AlveoPalatal Fricatives and Affricates Table 3: Percentile Rank of the Pre-test Scores of KT40B Students Table 4: Placements of 34 Subjects in Pairs for Random Assignment Table 5: Frequency of the Pre-test Scores Table 6: The Scoring Process in the Experimental Subgroup Table 7: The Scoring Process in the Experimental Subgroup Table 8: Results of the Pre-test and Post-test of Both Groups Table 9: Comparison of the Pre-test Scores of Two Groups Table 9a: Paired-samples Statistics (Pair 1) Table 9b: Paired-samples T-test (Pair 1) Table 10: Comparison of the Gain Scores Made by Two Groups after the Experimental Period Table 10a: Paired-samples Statistics (Pair 2) Table 10b: Paired-samples T-test (Pair 2) Table 11: Comparison of the Post-test Scores of Two Groups Table 11a: Paired-samples Statistics (Pair 3) Table 11b: Pair-samples T-test (Pair 3) Table 12: The Experimental Group’s Opinions about TECF on Their Pronunciation of the Six Consonants /s, z, ʃ, ʒ, ʤ, ʧ/ iv LISTS OF FIGURES AND ABBREVIATIONS Lists of Figures Figure 1: The Process of Providing Pronunciation-Focused TECF on Students’ Output Figure 2: Differences in Gain Scores Obtained by Both groups after the Experiment Figure 3: The Experimental Group’s Opinion about TECF on Their Pronunciation of the Six Consonants /s, z, ʃ, ʒ, ʤ, ʧ/ Lists of Abbreviations DAV: Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam TCF: Teacher’s Corrective Feedback TECF: Teacher’s Explicit Corrective Feedback L2: Second Language FL: Foreign Language S: Student v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT i ABSTRACT ii LISTS OF TABLES iii LISTS OF FIGURES AND ABBREVIATIONS iv PART A: INTRODUCTION I Statement of the Problem and Rationale of the Study II Aim and Objectives of the Study III Research Hypothesis and Research Questions III.1 Research Hypothesis III.2 Research Questions IV Scope of the Study V Methodology VI Significance of the Study VII An Overview of the Rest of the Paper PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW I.1 The Importance of Pronunciation Teaching and Learning I.2 Aspects of Pronunciation I.3 The Aim of Teaching Pronunciation: Intelligibility 10 I.4 General Description of Consonants and English Consonants 12 I.5 English Fricative Consonants 14 I.5.1 Production of English Alveolar Fricatives: /s, z/ 14 I.5.2 Production of English Alveo-palatal Fricatives: /ʃ, ʒ/ 15 I.6 English Affricates: /ʤ, ʧ/ 15 I.7 Previous Studies on Vietnamese Learners’ Pronunciation of the Six English Consonants /s, z, ʃ, ʒ, ʤ, ʧ/ 16 I.8 Teacher’s Corrective Feedback 18 I.8.1 Definition of Teacher’s Corrective Feedback 18 I.8.2 Types of Teacher’s Corrective Feedback 19 I.9 Teacher’s Explicit Corrective Feedback 21 I.10 Theoretical and Empirical Background on TECF 23 I.10.1 Theoretical Background on TECF 23 I.10.2 Empirical Background on TECF 25 I.11 Research Gap 26 CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY 27 II.1 Context of the Study 27 II.2 Study Design 28 II.3 Selection of the Main Subjects for the Study 31 II.4 Assignment of the Subjects to the Experimental and Control Group 32 II.5 Instruments for Data Collection 35 II.6 Instrument for Data Analysis 39 II.7 Treatment to the Experimental Group and Control Group 40 II.8 Integration of Pronunciation Targets into the English speaking lessons 47 CHAPTER III: RESULTS 51 III.1 Comparison of the Pre-test and Post-test Scores 51 III.1.1 Comparison of the Pre-test Scores of Both Groups 52 III.1.2 Comparison of the Gain Scores of Both Groups after the Experiment 53 III.1.3 Comparison of the Post-test Scores of Both Groups 56 III.2 The Experimental Group’s Opinions about TECF on their Pronunciation of the Six English Consonants /s, z, ʃ, ʒ, ʤ, ʧ/ 57 CHAPTER IV: DISCUSSION 61 IV.1 Discussion of Both Groups’ Pronunciation Gain Scores and Post-test Scores after the Experimental Period 61 IV.2 Discussion of the Experimental Group’s Opinions about TECF on Their Pronunciation of the Six English Consonants /s, z, ʃ, ʒ, ʤ, ʧ/ 63 IV.3 Recommendations for the Application of TECF in English Speaking Lessons 65 PART C: CONCLUSION 67 I Conclusion 67 II Limitations of the Study 68 III Recommendations for Further Studies 69 REFERENCES 70 APPENDICES I APPENDIX 1: PRE-TEST II APPENDIX 2: POST-TEST V APPENDIX 3: PICTURE DESCRIPTION ACTIVITY VIII APPENDIX 4: QUESTIONNAIRE (ENGLISH) X APPENDIX 5: QUESTIONNAIRE (VIETNAMESE) XI January 2nd, from https://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fpsyc450.wordpress.c om%2F2011%2F12%2F05%2Fthe-likert-scale-advantages-anddisadvantages%2F&h=PAQE6rbfT Lange, C.F (2009) Corrective feedback during communicative activities Retrieved On January 19th, 2014, from http://www.divaportal.org/smash/get/diva2:231776/FULLTEXT01.pdf Levis, J (2005) Changing contexts and shifting paradigms in pronunciation teaching, TESOL Quarterly 39: 367–377 Lyster, R., & Ranta, L (1997) Corrective feedback and learner uptake, Studies in Second Language Acquisition 19: 37-66 Lyster, R (2004) Differential effects of prompts and recasts in form-focused instruction, Studies in Second Language Acquisition 26(3): 399-432 Marianne, Donna, & Janet (1996) Teaching pronunciation: A reference for teachers of English to speakers of other languages Cambridge University Press McDonough, J & McDonough, S (1997) Research methods for English language teachers London: Arnold Moghaddam, M.S., Nasiri, M., Zarea A., & Sepehrinia, S (2012) Teaching pronunciation: The Lost Ring of Chain, Journal of Language Teaching and Research 3(1): 215-219 Morley, J (1991) The pronunciation component in teaching English to speakers of other languages, TESOL Quarterly 25(1): 51-74 Moyer, A (1999) Ultimate Attainment in L2 Phonology: The Critical Factors of Age, Motivation and Instruction, Studies in Second Language Acquisition 21: 81-108 Munn, P & Drever, E (1990) Using questionnaires in small-scale research The Scottish Council for Research in Education Nguyen, T.T (2007) Difficulties for Vietnamese when pronouncing English final 72 consonants Retrieved on June 27th, from http://du.divaportal.org/smash/get/diva2:518290/FULLTEXT01.pdf Nunan, D (1989) Understanding language classrooms London: Prentice-Hall International Roach, P (1991) English Phonetics and Phonology (2nd ed.) Cambridge University Press Rosa, Elena & Leow, Ronald P (2004) Computerized task-based exposure, explicitness, type of feedback, and Spanish L2 development, Modern Language Journal 88(2): 192-216 Schmidt, R (1990) The role of consciousness in second language teaching, Applied Linguistics 11: 129-158 Selinger, H W & Shohamy, E (1989) Second language research methods (p.149) Oxford: Oxford University Press Shooshtari, Z.G., Mehrabi, K., & Mousavinia, S.R (2013) A call for teaching pronunciation in Iranian schools, International Journal of Academic Research in Progressive Education and Development 2(1): 454-465 Slavin, R.E (2007) Sample chapter 2: Randomized experimental designs Retrieved from http://www.pearsonhighered.com/samplechapter/0205439829.pdf Spada, N., & Lightbown, P.M (1993) Instruction and the development of questions in L2 classrooms, Studies in Second Language Acquisition 15: 205-224 Swain, M (1985) Communicative competence: Some roles of comprehensible Input and comprehensible output in its development, in S.Gass & C.Madden (Eds.), Input in second language acquisition Rowley, MA: Newbury House, pp.235-252 Swain, M (1995) Three functions of output in second language learning, in G Cook & B Seidlhofer (Eds.), For H G Widdowson: Principles and practice in the study of language Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp.125-144 Tran, L.A., (2009) Using metacognitive strategy training and peer tutoring to 73 improve oral communication with particular attention to English consonants Retrieved on June 8th, from http://data.ulis.vnu.edu.vn/jspui/handle/123456789/1970 Tran, V.T (2008) Developing grade 10 students’ English vocabulary through the guided extensive reading program: A quasi-experimental study Retrieved from http://data.ulis.vnu.edu.vn/jspui/handle/123456789/1891 White, L., Spada, N., Lightbown, P.M, & Ranta, L (1991) Input enhancement and L2 question formation, Applied Linguistics 12: 416-432 Yates, L (2002) Fact sheet – What is pronunciation? Retrieved January 19th, 2014 from http://www.ameprc.mq.edu.au/docs/fact_sheets/01Pronunciation.pdf 74 APPENDICES APPENDIX 1: PRE-TEST APPENDIX 2: POST-TEST APPENDIX 3: PICTURE DESCRIPTION ACTIVITY APPENDIX 4: QUESTIONNAIRE (ENGLISH) APPENDIX 5: QUESTIONNAIRE (VIETNAMESE) I APPENDIX PRE-TEST Name: …………………………………………… Mark Class: ………… ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION TEST PART A Time allowance: 10 minutes In each question, choose ONE out of four words that have the same sound as the underlined part of the given one passport  always  buzz  news  excuse  sugar  cash  sort  lazy  version  realize  general  because  cheese  Mark’s  my teacher’s  Paul’s  crimes  banks  mouths  noise  newspaper  pass  balance  impression  short  surprise  result  business  desert  dozen  January discount  anxious explosion  realize major  recognize Elizabeth’s  Anne’s dreams  laughs choose  peaceful serve  sugar vision  measure 10 large  example II PART B I Read aloud the following words at normal speed promise arrange garage photographs choice college message massage such reduce manage kiss speech touch choose news wash finish teach amaze wish search close crash speech lose fish miss damage church II Read the following aloud at normal speed Asian Television programs: Channel O Film: “Treasure Island” Do-it-yourself: How to measure a new room Variety show: It’s a pleasure This is the smile of a joker The dimples in the cheeks show a good sense of humor and a warm personality This sort of person is often a bit of a rebel – they have little respect for authority We quickly discovered that if you stuck matches into an apple or hard-boiled egg, so that it looked like a porcupine, and casually dropped it out the window it was like a bomb A: Here are three shirts You put them in the machine Close the door and push this button B: It shouldn’t shake like that, should it? A: A washing machine usually shakes, madam!” A: Would you like to choose a chicken? B: Which one is cheaper? A: This one! It’s a delicious chicken B: How much is all that? I haven’t got cash Can I pay by cheque? A: Just outside this village there’s a very dangerous bridge III B: Yes, Peter told me two jeeps crashed on it in January What happened? Can you imagine someone famous with a name like that? He had to change it Marilyn Monroe sounds more glamorous than Norma Jean Baker So how parents make one of the most important decisions in the lives of their children – giving them a name? Some parents choose names because they are fashionable Other parents the opposite and call their children unusual names… However, they are not always very happy with their parents’ choice David Bowie’s son thinks the name Zowie is so embarrassing, so he changes it to Joe -END OF THE TEST - 60 test items are shown as follows: / s/ : sense, choice, dangerous, discovered, shakes, famous, glamorous, parents, thinks, most / z/ : dimples, matches, sounds, decisions, lives, names, Bowie’s, changes, opposite, programs, choose /ʃ/ : fashionable, shakes, washing, machine, should, shirts, push, show, cash, delicious / ʧ/ : change, choice, children, choose, matches, channel, chicken, which, cheque, cheaper / ʤ/ : Joe, joker, imagine, Jean, change, just, village, dangerous, bridge, jeep, January /ʒ/ : unusual, decision, casually, measure, television, treasure, pleasure, Asian IV APPENDIX POST-TEST Name: …………………………………………… Mark Class: ………… ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION TEST PART A Time allowance: 10 minutes In each question, choose ONE out of four words that have the same sound as the underlined part of the given one choose  peaceful  newspaper  pass  noise  anxious  cash  sort  surprise  business  result  realize  version  realize  always  buzz  excuse  recognize  cheese  because  my teacher’s  Mark’s  Paul’s  dozen  January  desert  mouths  laughs  banks  sugar  impression  short discount  sugar vision  measure explosion  lazy passport  news major  general Elizabeth’s  Anne’s large  example dreams  crimes 10 serve  balance V PART B I Read aloud the following words at normal speed wish search close crash speech college message massage such reduce manage kiss speech touch choose promise arrange garage photographs choice lose fish miss damage church news wash finish teach amaze II Read the following aloud at normal speed We quickly discovered that if you stuck matches into an apple or hard-boiled egg, so that it looked like a porcupine, and casually dropped it out the window it was like a bomb Asian Television programs: Channel O Film: “Treasure Island” Do-it-yourself: How to measure a new room Variety show: It’s a pleasure A: Here are three shirts You put them in the machine Close the door and push this button B: It shouldn’t shake like that, should it? A: A washing machine usually shakes, madam!” Can you imagine someone famous with a name like that? He had to change it Marilyn Monroe sounds more glamorous than Norma Jean Baker So how parents make one of the most important decisions in the lives of their children – giving them a name? Some parents choose names because they are fashionable Other parents the opposite and call their children unusual names… However, they are not always very happy with their parents’ choice David Bowie’s son thinks the name Zowie is so embarrassing, so he changes it to Joe VI A: Would you like to choose a chicken? B: Which one is cheaper? A: This one! It’s a delicious chicken B: How much is all that? I haven’t got cash Can I pay by cheque? A: Just outside this village there’s a very dangerous bridge B: Yes, Peter told me two jeeps crashed on it in January What happened? This is the smile of a joker The dimples in the cheeks show a good sense of humor and a warm personality This sort of person is often a bit of a rebel – they have little respect for authority -END OF THE TEST - VII APPENDIX PICTURE DESCRIPTION ACTIVITY (For the experimental subgroup 1) Describe the following pictures, using at least 10 words in the box rain cats and dogs scorching chilly misty dangerous destruction damage cause houses transport devastating sweep buildings destroy destructive eruption rock pieces layers of lava enormous result in flooded streets extremely serious cloud of debris and dust dense fog flights freezing vehicles hot temperature frost road conditions crisp snow hard unbroken sunshine weather forecast thunderstorms overcast climate change Degree Celsius sandstorm sleet APPENDIX QUESTIONNAIRE (ENGLISH) This questionnaire is designed to collect information for the study on the impact of Teacher’s Explicit Corrective Feedback on students’ pronunciation The obtained result will be of great importance to my study, which aims at working out an effective corrective feedback technique to improve students’ pronunciation in English speaking lessons Your assistance in completing the following items is highly appreciated You can be certain that this is only for the research purpose and that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data For each of the following statements, tick the column that you think the most suitable Items TECF helped me notice my pronunciation mistakes in terms of the six consonants /s, z, ʃ, ʒ, Agree ʤ, ʧ/ Thanks to TECF, I could correct my pronunciation mistakes on my own TECF helped me reduce the pronunciation mistakes regarding the six consonants /s, z, ʃ, ʒ, ʤ, ʧ/ Despite interrupting communication, TECF was by no means a nuisance because I could be aware of my improvements in the pronunciation of the six consonants /s, z, ʃ, ʒ, ʤ, ʧ/ I found the use of TECF time-consuming because I did not make much progress in the pronunciation of the aforementioned sounds If I made a lot of pronunciation mistakes, TECF would intimidate my confidence in speaking If TECF is frequently maintained, my pronunciation of the six consonants /s, z, ʃ, ʒ, ʤ, ʧ/ will be improved Thank you very much for your cooperation! X Disagree No idea APPENDIX QUESTIONNAIRE (VIETNAMESE) Bảng câu hỏi xây dựng nhằm mục đích thu thập thơng tin cho việc nghiên cứu tác động phản hồi chữa lỗi rõ ràng giáo viên lên việc phát âm học sinh Các kết thu cần thiết cho nghiên cứu – nghiên cứu nhằm tìm phương pháp phản hồi chữa lỗi hiệu để cải thiện phát âm học sinh học nói tiếng Anh Sự giúp đỡ hồn thành bảng câu hỏi bạn cần thiết để hoàn thành nghiên cứu Xin đảm bảo với bạn mục đích bảng câu học mục đích nghiên cứu bạn khơng bị nêu tên việc thảo luận liệu Đối với câu đây, xin điền vào cột mà bạn cảm thấy phù hợp Đồng Các câu hỏi ý Phản hồi chữa lỗi rõ ràng giáo viên giúp nhận cách phát âm sai liên quan đến sáu phụ âm /s, z, ʃ, ʒ, ʤ, ʧ/ Nhờ có tính rõ ràng phản hồi chữa lỗi giáo viên, tơi tự sửa lại cách phát âm sai Phản hồi chữa lỗi rõ ràng giáo viên giúp giảm bớt lỗi phát âm sai phát âm sáu phụ âm /s, z, ʃ, ʒ, ʤ, ʧ/ Dù làm gián đoạn việc giao tiếp, phản hồi chữa lỗi rõ ràng giáo viên khơng hồn tồn điều phiền tối tơi nhận thấy tiến cách phát âm sáu phụ âm /s, z, ʃ, ʒ, ʤ, ʧ/ XI Không Không đồng ý biết Tôi thấy việc sử dụng phương pháp giáo viên đưa phản hồi chữa lỗi rõ ràng tốn thời gian chẳng nhận tiến cách phát âm sáu phụ âm kể Nếu mắc nhiều lỗi phát âm sai, việc giáo viên đưa phản hồi chữa lỗi rõ ràng ảnh hưởng đến tự tin tơi nói Nếu phản hồi chữa lỗi rõ ràng giáo viên sử dụng thường xuyên, việc phát âm sáu phụ âm /s, z, ʃ, ʒ, ʤ, ʧ/ cải thiện Rất cảm ơn hợp tác bạn! 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