Integrating pronunciation elements into listening lessons for first year students in backan community college

v TABLE OF CONTENT CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT Error! Bookmark not defined ABSTRACT .Error! Bookmark not defined.i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii PREFACE iError! Bookmark not defined TABLE OF CONTENT…………………………………………………………………… …v LIST OF TABLES .Error! Bookmark not defined.i LIST OF FIGURES ix CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale to the Study 1.2 Objectives of the Study 1.3 Research questions 1.4 The scope of the study 1.5 Organization of the Study CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 2.1 Some main features of pronunciation teaching 2.1.1 The importance of pronunciation and pronunciation teaching 2.1.2 Models of pronunciation 2.1.3 Intelligibility 2.2 Approaches of the teaching of pronunciation 2.2.1 Bottom-up and top-down approach 2.2.2 Intuitive-imitative and Analytic-linguistic approach 2.2.3 Communicative approach vi 2.2.4 An integrated approach Error! Bookmark not defined 2.3 Integrating pronunciation into listening Error! Bookmark not defined 2.4 Empirical research on the integration of pronunciation into listening Error! Bookmark not defined CHAPTER METHODOLOGY Error! Bookmark not defined 3.1 The context of the study Error! Bookmark not defined 3.2 Subjects 15 3.3 Instruments 16 3.3.1 The tests 16 3.2 Questionnaires 16 3.4 Data Collection Procedure 17 3.4.1 Treatment 17 3.4.1 The tests 19 3.4.3 Questionnaires 19 CHAPTER PRESENTATION AND THE ANALYSIS OF RESULTS Error! Bookmark not defined 4.1 Results and analysis Error! Bookmark not defined 4.1.1 Results from the pretest and six progress tests Error! Bookmark not defined 4.1.2 Results from the pretest and post test 26 4.1.3 Results from the students’ questionnaires 27 4.2 Discussion Error! Bookmark not defined 4.2.1 The students’ scores in pronunciation tests Error! Bookmark not defined 4.2.2 The questionnaires 34 CHAPTER CONCLUSION 35 5.1 Major findings 35 vii 5.2 Limitations of the Study 36 5.3 Recommendations for Future Research 36 5.4 Conclusion 37 REFERENCES 38 APPENDIX…………………………………………………………………………………….I viii LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1 Comparison of the scores in the pre-test and week-2 progress test Table 1.2 Comparison of the scores in the pre-test and week-4 progress test Table 1.3 Comparison of the scores in the pre-test and week- progress test Table 1.4 Comparison of the scores in the pre-test and week- progress test Table 1.5 Comparison of the scores in the pre-test and week- 10 progress test Table 1.6 Comparison of the scores in the pre-test and week-12 progress test Table 1.7 Comparison of the scores in the pre-test and post test Table 1.8 Comparison of students’ scores during 12 weeks ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1 Students’ opinions toward English pronunciation study Figure 2.2 Students’ opinions toward classroom pronunciation activities Figure 2.3 Students’ opinions toward studying stress and intonation Figure 2.4 Students’ opinions toward the usefulness of integrating stress and intonation into listening lesson is useful Figure 2.5 Students’ likeness of integrating stress and intonation into listening lessons Figure 2.6 Students’ opinions about the appropriation of lesson design CHAPTER INTRODUCTION Rationale to the Study To many learners, learning English is very difficult because of many differences between it and Vietnamese Pronunciation is considered as one of the most difficult one It is the biggest challenge because a word pronounced incorrectly may lead to misunderstandings of listeners These sometimes bring unexpected effects or even break communication The approaches to teaching pronunciation have been changed according to the EFL teaching methodological changes However, EFL teachers still face up with many problems in finding ways to teach pronunciation effectively In terms of an integrated approach to teaching English, many researchers have agreed with the views of integrating pronunciation into all the areas of language work However, teachers mostly are confused about how to apply this approach in their classroom Levis and Grant (2003) have pointed out Approaches favoring the integration of pronunciation into oral communication have been espoused for more than 10 years, but teachers have received little clear direction about how to accomplish this.( Levis and Grant(2003:1) Teachers in Vietnamese schools and universities have applied different approaches and techniques in teaching pronunciation However, the teaching and learning process still gained not much progress In Backan Community College, the teaching of English pronunciation still faces up with many difficulties With the aims of finding new ways for pronunciation teaching, the researcher would like to find out whether an integrated approach can be used in this context In order to investigate how an integrated approach of pronunciation teaching can be applied to help students improve their pronunciation, the researcher decided to an action search on the teaching of stress and intonation entitled: “Integrating pronunciation elements into listening lessons for first- year students in Backan College of Community” The study was conducted to seek the answers to which extent the integration of pronunciation elements into listening lessons affects the improvement of L2 learners‟ pronunciation in an English classroom in Vietnam It was expected that the findings of this research present to ESL teachers, especially Vietnamese ESL teachers, a set of general ideas about this approach Then on the basis of these findings, some recommendations for English teaching pedagogy will be given Objectives of the Study This study investigates the extent to which the integration of pronunciation elements improves students‟ English pronunciation Specifically, the research has two main objectives: To examine the extent to which integrating pronunciation elements into listening lessons improve L2 learners’ pronunciation To examine the attitudes of Vietnamese learners of English about the integration of pronunciation elements into listening lessons Research questions The researcher aims at answering the two research questions: a What are the effects of the integration of pronunciation elements into listening lessons to students’ pronunciation? b What are the students’ attitudes toward and perceptions of the integration of pronunciation elements into listening lessons? The scope of the study This is an action research with a focused group of 45 students in Backan Community College This study was aimed exploring how the integration of pronunciation elements into listening lessons affect students‟ performance in pronunciation Organization of the Study The thesis is structured in five chapters Chapter introduces the study It includes the objectives, the scope, and the significance of the study Chapter provides a review of the literature on the approaches to pronunciation teaching with a focus on an integrated approach to pronunciation teaching, i.e., integrating pronunciation into listening lessons Chapter presents the research methodology and the instruments used to collect data Chapter presents the results of the study, along with analysis and discussion of the data Chapter offers a summary of the findings of the study, conclusions, and suggestions for future research CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE Many researchers have pointed out the educational benefits of an integrated approach to second and/or foreign language teaching A number of studies have examined the possibilities and advantages of integrating pronunciation integrating pronunciation into other language activities However, relatively few studies on integrating pronunciation elements into listening have been documented in the ELT literature In this chapter, the author will first define some important terms of teaching pronunciation and then review some studies on the integration of pronunciation into listening in different contexts so that their findings may be revealed in relation with the findings of the present context 2.1 Some main features of pronunciation teaching 2.1.1 The importance of pronunciation and pronunciation teaching Communication is the most important component of any human society To communicate properly, we need intelligible pronunciation because pronunciation affects very much on the understanding of the meanings of the words Mispronunciation or unintelligible pronunciation is likely to lead to misunderstandings and even communication breakdown The role of pronunciation and pronunciation teaching in second/foreign language learning has been acknowledged by many researchers According to Morley (1998), the limitation of a learners‟ pronunciation may lead to the lack of self- confidence and reducing social interactions and affecting badly their credibility and ability Celce-Murcia (1996) states that There is a threshold level of pronunciation in English for non-native speakers of English; if they fall below this threshold level, they will have oral communication problems no matter how excellent and extensive their control of English grammar and vocabulary might be (p7) She goes on to argue that the focus on language communication leads to “the urgency to the teaching of pronunciation” Hewings (2004) argues that an understandable pronunciation plays an important role to the students‟ communication skills and therefore pronunciation teaching should be integrated into other areas of language work Generally speaking, there is no need in turning learners sounding like native speakers but teachers need to get them to be capable of being understood by a variety of listeners It is believed that teaching the right pronunciation of English to the learners is very important, so that they may communicate exactly what and how they want to communicate Pronunciation is one of the most difficult areas for learners, as well as for teachers but their intelligibility can be greatly improved by effective pronunciation teaching Goodwin (2001) claims that “the teaching of pronunciation is so crucial to our students.”(p17) According to Pennington(1989), teachers who are trained formally in pronunciation and teaching suprasegmentals in communicative language program can create a difference of learners‟ pronunciation Harmer (2001) also argues that pronunciation teaching not only helps students to be aware of different sounds and sound features but also improve their speaking immeasurably Subsequently, he claims concentrating on sounds, showing where they are made in mouth, making students aware of where words should be stressed- all these things give them extra information about spoken English and help them achieve the goal of improved comprehension and intelligibility (p183) In short, all the researchers have an agreement on the role of the teaching of pronunciation and encourage teachers to play the role as facilitators in students‟ pronunciation learning 2.1.2 Models of pronunciation The choice of a pronunciation model for L2 learners has become an important issue among teachers and educators concerned with teaching English They have tried to answer the question to what extent models of pronunciation should be explored to teach pronunciation II 17 expensive 18 Argentina 19 computer 20 understand Part 2: Mark the sentence stress in these following sentences What does she on Sunday? Because it’s interesting Can I have an orange juice? I’m from Italy, from Rome I’m afraid Mr Smith isn’t in his office at the moment Part 3: Draw the rise and the fall of the intonation in these sentences Don’t worry I’ll bring it back together Is there a post office near here? It’s my sister wedding How can I help you? I have a beautiful flat III Appendix Post - test of stress and intonation Student’s name:……………Age:…………… Year of learning English:………… Task 1: Mark the word stress and put them into three columns Ex: department- Department No Words tomorrow announcement Fantastic Afternoon Weekend Carefully Wonderful Umbrella Language 10 Remember 11 Beautiful 12 Exercise 13 Children 14 Customer 15 Together 16 Exciting 17 Cigarette First-syllable stress Second- syllable stress Third-syllable stress IV 18 America 19 translate 20 believe Part 2: Mark the sentence stress in these following sentences What does she on Sunday? Because it’s interesting Can I have an orange juice? I’m from Italy, from Rome I’m afraid Mr Smith isn’t in his office at the moment Part 3: Draw the rise and the fall of the intonation in these sentences Don’t worry I’ll bring it back together Is there a post office near here? It’s my sister wedding How can I help you? I have a beautiful flat V Appendix Example of a treatment Task 1: After listening to tapescript T9.8( P120) you will have minutes to mark the stress of ten words in the text and put them into three columns carrot delicious please fizzy coffee sugar recipe anybody Category dessert 10 dishwasher First-syllable Second-syllable Third-syllable Stress stress stress After listening Total score Task 2: After listening to tapescript T9.8 (p120) Mark the sentence stress in these following sentences in the column A A Score They’re delicious Do you want fizzy or still? I’m glad you like it How would you like your coffee? We have a dishwasher Task 3: Draw the rise and the fall of the intonation in these sentences in the column A and redo it in Column B with teacher’s help to check your answers: A Score They’re delicious VI Do you want fizzy or still? I’m glad you like it How would you like your coffee? We have a dishwasher VII Appendix Example of a progress test Student’s name:……………Age:………… Year of learning English:………… Task 1: Mark the word stress and put them into three columns Ex: department- Department No Words mountain people elephant wonderful boyfriend Happen carefully Language yesterday 10 invent 11 tennis 12 weather 13 winter 14 Europe 15 together 16 departure 17 cigarette First-syllable stress Second- syllable stress Third-syllable stress VIII 18 color 19 pretty 20 fortunately Task 2: Mark the sentence stress in these following sentences It’s a love day! What shall we do? Let’s play tennis! Oh no! It’s too hot to play tennis I think it’s going to be warmer Does he play the guitar? Task 3: Draw the rise and the fall of the intonation in these sentences It’s a love day! What shall we do? Let’s play tennis! Oh no! It’s too hot to play tennis I think it’s going to be warmer Does he play the guitar? IX Appendix SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE Fill out the following questionnaire, checking the box which bests describe whether you agree or disagree with each statement This is for a study on pronunciation teaching in BCC, please answer as honestly as you can Please refer to the below box in order to know the level of agreement that each number represents 1= Strongly Disagree(SD) 2= Disagree( D 3= Neither disagree or agree( N) 4= Agree( A) 5= Strongly Agree( SA) Part I: Attitudes toward pronunciation learning Read each statement concerning how you feel about pronunciation learning Please circle the number that best describe the degree of your agreement with each statement I think SD To learn English pronunciation is D N A SA 5 necessary The classroom activities sufficient to improve your pronunciation To study stress and intonation is helpful Part II: Attitudes toward the learning approach which integrates stress and intonation into listening lessons Read each statement concerning how you feel about pronunciation learning Please circle the number that best describe the degree of your agreement with each statement I think SD D N A SA X The teaching of pronunciation by 5 integrating it elements into listening lesson is useful I like the teaching of stress and intonation by integrating its elements into listening lessons The number of items for each practicing pronunciation lesson is appropriate Part III: Other opinions Please specify the reason why you like the teaching of stress and intonation by integrating its elements into listening lessons _ _ What you think about the classroom atmosphere in the listening lessons in which pronunciation elements are integrated? _ _ What would you like to change in the pronunciation practice exercises? _ _ _ ... action search on the teaching of stress and intonation entitled: ? ?Integrating pronunciation elements into listening lessons for first- year students in Backan College of Community? ?? The study was... think SD D N A SA X The teaching of pronunciation by 5 integrating it elements into listening lesson is useful I like the teaching of stress and intonation by integrating its elements into listening. .. integrating stress and intonation into listening lesson is useful Figure 2.5 Students? ?? likeness of integrating stress and intonation into listening lessons Figure 2.6 Students? ?? opinions about the appropriation