A study on using multimedia for teaching pronunciation to pre intermediate students in crazy ones english center

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES POST-GRADUATE FACULTY -o0o - TRIỆU NGỌC TUÂN A STUDY ON USING MULTIMEDIA FOR TEACHING PRONUNCIATION TO PRE-INTERMEDIATE STUDENTS IN CRAZY ONES ENGLISH CENTER NGHIÊN CỨU VIỆC SỬ DỤNG ĐA PHƯƠNG TIỆN TRONG VIỆC GIẢNG DẠY PHÁT ÂM CHO HỌC VIÊN TRÌNH ĐỘ PRE-INTERMEDIATE TẠI TRUNG TÂM ANH NGỮ CRAZY ONES M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 60140111 HANOI – 2015 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES POST-GRADUATE FACULTY -o0o - TRIỆU NGỌC TUÂN A STUDY ON USING MULTIMEDIA FOR TEACHING PRONUNCIATION TO PRE-INTERMEDIATE STUDENTS IN CRAZY ONES ENGLISH CENTER NGHIÊN CỨU VIỆC SỬ DỤNG ĐA PHƯƠNG TIỆN TRONG VIỆC GIẢNG DẠY PHÁT ÂM CHO HỌC VIÊN TRÌNH ĐỘ PRE-INTERMEDIATE TẠI TRUNG TÂM ANH NGỮ CRAZY ONES M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 60140111 Supervisor : TRẦN THỊ THU HIỀN, PhD HANOI - 2015 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Firstly, I would like to express my gratefulness to my supervisor, Dr Trần Thị Thu Hiền, lecturer of Faculty of English, VNU University of Language & International Studies for her enthusiastic instruction, and invaluable supervision throughout my assignment Secondly, I would like to send my thanks to my lecturers and the staff at Post-Graduate Faculty, VNU University of Language & International Studies for all their kind guide and help Thirdly, my thanks also go to all the teachers and the manager of Crazy Ones Center for their willing help and enthusiasm cooperation Finally yet importantly, I would like to give our special thanks to my family who have been interminably encouraging and facilitating me to fulfill this assignment Hà Nội, 2015 Triệu Ngọc Tuân i ABSTRACT This study is an attempt to find out strategies applying multimedia into teaching pronunciation for pre-intermediate students at Crazy Ones English Center (COEC) The author finds out all students believed in the importance of pronunciation in communicating However, they did not satisfy with the pronunciation lessons because of its tedious activities and lack of practicing opportunities Moreover, despite using multimedia in teaching pronunciation, teachers did not prepare well because of their insufficient diversity of multimedia tools and effective activities Based on the findings, a number of implications were given with the hope of promoting the teaching and learning pronunciation at COEC in particular and at other English training centers in general ii Table Reasons wh Table Students' er Table Students' str Table Students' rh Table Students' int Table Students' lin Table Aspects of p Center Table Students' int Table Students' op pronunciatio Table 10 Students' op have made a Table 11 Comparison test and the Table 12 Students' str Table 13 Comparison test and the Table 14 Comparison pre-test and Table 15 Comparison the pre-test iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS COEC Crazy Ones English Center L2 Second Language iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABSTRACT LIST OF TABLES LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS TABLE OF CONTENTS PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale Aims of the study Research question Methods of the study Scope of the Study Significance of the study Organization of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Pronunciation Teaching 1.1.1 Definition of pronunciation 1.1.2 The role of pronunciation in language teaching 1.1.3 Aspects of pronunciation in language teaching 1.1.4 Approaches in pronunciation teaching 1.2 Multimedia 1.2.1 Definition of Multimedia 1.2.2 Multimedia in language learning 1.2.3 Multimedia in teaching English pronunciation CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 2.1 Action research 2.1.1 Definition v 2.1.2 Why action research was chosen for this study? 14 2.2 Context of the study 15 2.2.1 Crazy Ones English Center 15 2.2.2 Participants 15 2.2.3 Multimedia used in Crazy Ones English Center 16 2.3 Instruments 16 CHAPTER 3: THE STUDY 18 3.1 The research stages 18 3.1.1 Identifying the problem 18 3.1.2 Action planning 23 3.1.3 Action taking 25 POST-INTERVENTION STAGE 28 3.1.4 Evaluating 28 3.2 Implications 33 PART C: CONCLUSIONS 36 Recapitulation 36 Limitations and suggestions for further study 37 REFERENCES 39 APPENDICES I Appendix 1: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR THE STUDENTS IN PREINTERVENTION STAGE I Appendix 2: QUESTIONNAIRES FOR STUDENTS IN POST – INTERVENTION STAGE III Appendix 3: SEMI-STRUCTURAL INTERVIEW QUESTIONS VI Appendix 5: PRE-TEST IX Appendix 6: POST-TEST X vi PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale English has been taught in Vietnam for ages; however, teaching speaking skill is still one of the biggest problems to both English teachers and educators Despite the important requirement of English in schooling and working, a huge number of Vietnamese students cannot pronounce English properly This also happens to Pre-intermediate learners at Crazy Ones English Center (COEC) who are confident in their knowledge of grammar and have learnt some basic pronunciation rules Because of their poor pronunciation, they usually feel unconfident when communicating as well as get difficulty in listening and speaking When learning English speaking, continuous practicing pronunciation without success leads to a result that both students and teachers become disheartened and they even tend to reduce training pronunciation at class Students, therefore, think that it is no worth learning and boring of learning pronunciation However, Judy (2008:1) reports in her book that “a teacher can help overcome this psychological barrier and other challenges by thinking of the goal of pronunciation instruction not as helping students to sound like native speakers but as helping them to learn the core elements of spoken English so that they can be easily understood by others.” Therefore, that it is a duty for teachers to find out a more effective way of teaching pronunciation Moreover, in the very recent time, more and more modern technologies, like projectors, computers animation, videos, Powerpoint, Webpages, software are used in teaching Using multimedia which is an alternative method to teach pronunciation could be more effective to help students engage the lesson and dispel the fear of learning sounds in the very traditional way instead The researcher together with his colleagues teaching at Crazy Ones Center have also made a lot of attempts using these updated techniques to help students to learn pronunciation effortless and effectively They have equipped one projector in each class and one laptop for each teacher Although teachers at Crazy Ones Center have been using these techniques at class, there has been no research on teaching pronunciation in this specific place Furthermore, students seem to be negative in learning and they are not engaged in the lesson Therefore, it is a need for the researcher to investigate and provide some feasible and effective ways of teaching pronunciation using multimedia Aims of the study This research aims at using multimedia to motivate pre-intermediate students in learning pronunciation at Crazy Ones English Center According to the aim, the researcher points out some main objectives as bellow: - To investigate the students and teachers' attitude toward pronunciation learning and using multimedia in pronunciation - To apply multimedia in pronunciation learning and assess the impacts of multimedia in helping the students learning pronunciation Research question This study is supposed to answer these questions: (1) What teachers and students at Crazy Ones English Center think about pronunciation learning and using multimedia in pronunciation? (2) What are the effects of using multimedia in helping students at Crazy Ones English Center in learning pronunciation? Methods of the study This study employs both qualitative and quantitative methods To reach the aim of the study, the researcher intends to carry out an action research at Crazy Ones English Center Scope of the Study This study focuses on using multimedia for teaching pronunciation to Pre- learning pronunciation Students felt more exciting when studying at class because of interesting activities using multimedia in the lessons Multimedia also provided effective tools for students to prepare and study pronunciation better at home Futhermore, students got improvement in pronuncing English sounds, stress, rhythm, linking, and intonation Besides, the author comes up with some implications to the application of multimedia in teaching and learning English pronunciation It is important to apply multimedia in order to improve English learning and attitude of students in classroom Also, interaction between teachers and students and students and students can be improved Moreover, students can be autonomic in learning to be well prepared before going to class Besides, Exciting and relaxing learning environment can be made by using multimedia when teaching English at class Additionally, to compare with traditional teaching, multimedia focuses more on "learner-centered" Furthermore, learner-controlled is high considered because students can decide when, how long and where to study and practice learning English However, to apply multimedia effectively, teachers should be aware of recommending students with the information and knowledge from multimedia because they need good guides from teachers to know how and what to learn To so, teachers also need to train themselves to prepare for teaching using multimedia Because new problems can always occur when teaching, good teachers should be ready for researching and finding solutions to improve their teaching practice Limitations and suggestions for further study The study was conducted from a small size of participants and at a particular English center This may lead to the lack of full understanding of pronunciation problems that students face with The study only researched for the pre-intermediate students and at a classroom with sufficient equipment It limits to others levels of students and classroom outside the center 37 The study needs more time to evolve with the most suitable for the specific class Although this multimedia shares advantages as well as challenges in teaching pronunciation, one of the key of principles of teacher development that urges teachers to be positive and motivated in teaching is “opportunities and support for creative activity” (Hargreaves and Goodson, 1996: 20-21) Because of the limitations, the author hopes that further study will be conducted to gain better understanding of using multimedia to teach pronunciation to a wider range level of students and at other English centers and institutions In this study, multimedia were only used to teach pronunciation so the author also hopes that further study will be made to apply multimedia into helping students improve English learning in getting knowledge and language skills like vocabulary, listening, speaking, reading and writing 38 REFERENCES Allwright, R L (1984) The Importance of Interaction in Classroom Language Learning Applied Linguistics Banerji, A., & Ghosh, A M (2010).Multimedia technologies New Delhi, India: Tata McGraw Hill BBC Learning English | Pronunciation Tips (n.d.) Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/features/connect ed.shtml Brown, H D (2000).Principles of language learning and teaching (4th ed.) NY: Longman Brown, J D (2012) New ways in teaching connected speech Alexandria, Va: TESOL International Association Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D., & Goodwin, J M (1996) Teaching pronunciation: A reference for teachers of English to speakers of other languages Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Chirag P (2013) International Journal of Advancements in Research &Technology.Use of Multimedia Technology in Teaching and Learning communication skill: An Analysis, 2(4), 116-123 Desair R (2013) International Journal for Research in Education Effectiveness of Computer Multimedia for Developing ?Expressional Skills? in English, 2(6), 1118 Gilbert, J B (2008) Teaching pronunciation: Using the Prosody Pyramid Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press Grant, L (1995) Creating pronunciation-based ESL materials for publication In P Byrd (Ed.), Material writer‟s guide(pp 107-123) Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle Hargreaves, A & Goodson, I (1996) „Teachers' professional lives: aspirations actualities.‟ In: Goodson, I.F and Hargreaves, A Teachers' Professional Lives London: Falmer Press, 1-27 Cited in: Fisher, T., Higgins, C and Loveless, A.M (2006) Teachers Learning with Digital Technologies: a Review of Research and Projects (Futurelab Series: Report 14) London: Futurelab Isaacs, T (2009) Integrating Form and Meaning in L2 Pronunciation Instruction TESL CANADA JOURNAL, 27(1), 1-12 39 Lane, L., & Brown, H D (2010) Tips for teaching pronunciation: A practical approach White Plains, NY: Pearson Longman Levis, J M., & Grant, L (2003) Integrating pronunciation into ESL/EFL classrooms TESOL Journal, 12(2), 13-19 Mayer, R E (2005) The Cambridge handbook of multimedia learning Cambridge, U.K: Cambridge University Press Mojsin, L (2009) Mastering the American accent Hauppauge, N.Y: Barron's Educationalreries Morley, J (1991) The pronunciation component in teaching English to speakers of other languages TESOL QUARTERLY, 25(3), 481-520 Patel, C (2013) Use of Multimedia Technology in Teaching and Learning communication skill International Journal of Advancements in Research & Technology, 2(7), 116-123 Pronunciation definitions and thesaurus | Macmillan Dictionary (2009) Retrieved from http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/pronunciation Race, P., & Wharton, S (2005) 500 Tips for Tesol: (Teaching English to Speakers of other Languages) Taylor & Francis SEG Research (2008) Understanding Multimedia Learning : Integrating multimedia in the K-12 classroom Retrieved from www.brainpop.com, accessed 26.05.2012 Su T L (2008) An Action Research Study in an Institute of Technology in Taiwan Teaching Pronunciation of English Using Computer Assisted Learning Software [Taiwan] Tran HuongQuynh (2009) The experience of pro-SHOW for better pronunciation , 5th VTTN ELT National Conference, Hanoi Pennington, M.C., & Richards, J.C (1986) Pronunciation revisited TESOL Quarterly, 20, 207-225 Plass, J L., & Jones, L C (2005) Multimedia Learning in Second Language Acquisition In R E Mayer (Ed.), The Cambridge handbook of multimedia learning (pp xvi, 663) Cambridge, U.K ; New York: University of Cambridge Por F P & Fong S F (2011) International Journal of Business and Social Sciencedents with Different Psychological Profiles Exploring the Innovative Multimedia Pronunciation Learning Management System on Students with Different Psychological Profile, 2(24), 244-250 40 Zahra M (2001) Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association of Applied Linguistics.Non-Courseware Factors Involved in Using Multimedia in Foreign Language Instruction Zellner, B (1994) Pauses and the Temporal Structure of Speech Fundamentals of speech synthesis and speech recognition, 41-62 Wharton, S., & Race, P (1999) 500 tips for TESOL: Teaching English to speakers of other languages London: Kogan Page (1999) 500 tips for TESOL: Teaching English to speakers of other languages London: Kogan Page What is Multimedia? Webopedia (2006) Retrieved from http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/M/multimedia.html Winter, R and Munn-Giddings, C (2001).A Handbook for Action Research in Health and Social Care London: Routledge Yong, K., Lin, W., Lianxia, S., & Yinying w (2012) An Integrated Approach to the Teaching and Learning of zh Electronic Journal of Foreign Language Teaching,9(2), 215-232 41 APPENDICES Appendix 1: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR THE STUDENTS IN PRE-INTERVENTION STAGE The survey questionnaire is designed for my study on “A study on using multimedia for teaching pronunciation to Pre-Intermediate students in Crazy Ones English Center” Your answers to these following questions will be highly appreciated You can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data The data collected will be used only in the research paper of my post-graduation course So please respond to each statement or question and complete all of them as frankly and accurately as possible Sincerely thank you for your valuable support First of all, please fill in some information about you: Your age: ……………………… How long have you been learning English? ………… years Question 1: Do you think that pronunciation is important in learning English? A Very important B Important C Not so important D Little important E No Question 2: Do you think that learning pronunciation is difficult? A Very difficult B Quite difficult C Difficult D Easy E Very easy Question 3: Do you really enjoy the activities in the pronunciation lessons? If not please answer the next question A Yes I B Not much C No Question 4: Why don’t you enjoy the activities in the pronunciation lessons (you can choose more than one option)? A Too much new words that you not know the pronunciation B The content of the lessons is not interesting C The activities are poor D Do not have motivation to learn E other opinions Question 5: what reasons from teachers make you not enjoy the activities in the pronunciation lessons (you can choose more than one option)? A Teacher‟s pronunciation is not clear enough B Teacher does not give clear examples to clarify the lessons C Teacher gives little chance of practicing for students D Teacher does not provide audio and image to illustrate for the pronunciation lessons E Other opinions (Please specify): The end of the survey questionnaire Thank you very much for your time and co-operation! II Appendix 2: QUESTIONNAIRES FOR STUDENTS IN POST – INTERVENTION STAGE The survey questionnaire is designed for your evaluation about the perception of using multimedia and its impact to students‟ pronunciation learning result Your answers to these following questions will be highly appreciated You can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data The data collected will be used only in the research paper of my post-graduation course So please respond to each statement or question and complete all of them as frankly and accurately as possible Sincerely thank you for your valuable support First of all, please fill in some information about you: Your age: ……………………… How long have you been learning English? ………… Years Question 1: What you think about the activities in the pronunciation lessons using multimedia? A Very interesting B Interesting C Neither interesting nor boring D Boring E Very boring Question 2: How you evaluate your pronunciation result after these lessons using multimedia? A Better B No change C Worse Question 3: In your opinion, what changes that teacher has made are successful (you can choose more than one option)? A Teacher gives good activities to make students excited about studying III B Teacher provides useful multimedia for students to study and prepare well at home C Teacher gives a lot of opportunities for students to practice D Teacher helps students feel more confident in speaking English E Others Question 4: In your opinion, besides the changes from the teacher, what help you to study pronunciation more effectively (you can choose more than one option)? A Class is well equipped for the best learning condition B visual aids are used effectively C Learning environment is exciting D Taking advantages of practicing time effectively E Others Question 5: In your opinion, what good points below does multimedia bring you in learning pronunciation (you can choose more than one option)? A It makes students more enjoyable in learning pronunciation B It helps students learn pronunciation more effectively and confidently C It supports students to study at home and prepare well before going to class D Others Question 6: In your opinion, what changes you have made after using multimedia in learning pronunciation? Changes IV disagree I feel good about going to pronunciation lesson I enjoy pronunciation lessons I am mostly able to pronunciation homework more easily I am motivated to work because of the interesting classroom activities I am able to participate in pronunciation lessons with partners with my confidence I am excited about continue taking pronunciation lessons Others The end of the survey questionnaire Thank you very much for your time and co-operation! V Appendix 3: SEMI-STRUCTURAL INTERVIEW QUESTIONS Question 1: How often you use multimedia in teaching pronunciation? Question 2: What multimedia tools you often use to teach pronunciation? Question 3: What are the problems that you face with when using multimedia to teach pronunciation (you can choose more than one option)? Question 4: Could you suggest some ways of solving the problems when using multimedia to teach pronunciation? VI Appendix 4: INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT Question 1: What multimedia tools, such as Powerpoint, audio, video, software, pictures and images and pronunciation website, you often use to teach pronunciation? T1: I always use audio and Powerpoint during teaching pronunciation Using audio and Powerpoint helps me teach easier Besides, I always use pictures and images I have never used software to teach English T2: I think that audio and exciting videos can be useful so I use them very often I just sometimes use Powerpoint or software to teach T3: Well, multimedia has its big advantage in teaching pronunciation I always use Powerpoint, pictures and images, videos, and audio I also spend sometimes pronunciation software I rarely use pronunciation software for my teaching Question 2: In your opinion, what are the most important multimedia tools, including Powerpoint, audio, video, software, pictures and images and pronunciation website, affect to students’ pronunciation result? T1: When teaching pronunciation it is very important to use audio, video and pronunciation software Because they can listen, to the native sounds watch them speak and practice T2: Audio and video, they are the most important multimedia tools to let them listen and feel the real pronunciation from native speakers T3 I think the most important multimedia tools are audio and videos Then, the less ones Powerpoint, pictures and images Pronunciation software is not as important as the others tools although it contain a lot of drills and exercise because both students and teachers are not familiar to use it The least important tool is pronunciation websites Question 3: What are the problems that you face with when using multimedia to teach pronunciation (you can choose more than one option)? T1: Students pay attention more on the funny picture on Powerpoint than the lesson The biggest problems are students almost keep silent and they are not willing to speak English VII T2: Students cannot practice effectively as what I expect and they not take part in the activities that I have prepared They feel that multimedia was for entertainment more than for learning T3: Although most of students like studying with multimedia, they have low improvement in learning Question 4: Could you suggest some ways of solving the problems when using multimedia to teach pronunciation? T1: I think that we shouldn't put into Powerpoint too many pictures, especially funny pictures when teaching because they would be confused and difficult to focus on the content of the lesson Besides, teachers should find out the reasons of their little attention to your lesson in order to improve better teaching and preparation in the next lesson T2: Teachers should be well-trained in using multimedia Then, they should help students in using multimedia in learning English Besides, teachers can contribute students good material and methods of learning T3: Teacher should create many activities for students to practice and prepare well before class Teachers also ask students to homework and practice more at home to make a good habit of learning VIII Appendix 5: PRE-TEST (READING ALOUD TEST 1) Read aloud the following passage BIRTHDAYS I love birthdays In my house, on my birthday, I always open the presents first Some people open them last, but I want my presents now After I open my presents, I put on some music and we dance I could dance for hours Then someone turns out the lights and everyone starts to sing “Happy birthday”(sing: “Happy birthday to me! Happy birthday to me!”) They bring in this cake, full of candles Well, not too many candles I blow them out and then it‟s time for eating the cake Chocolate is my favorite I love birthdays (Learning to listen 2, p.16) IX Appendix 6: POST-TEST (READING ALOUD TEST 2) Read aloud the following passage BIRTHDAYS I love birthdays In my house, on my birthday, I always open the presents first Some people open them last, but I want my presents now After I open my presents, I put on some music and we dance I could dance for hours Then someone turns out the lights and everyone starts to sing “Happy birthday”(sing: “Happy birthday to me! Happy birthday to me!”) They bring in this cake, full of candles Well, not too many candles I blow them out and then it‟s time for eating the cake Chocolate is my favorite I love birthdays (Learning to listen 2, p.16) X ... training to have better teaching pronunciation using multimedia (2) What are the effects of using multimedia in helping students at Crazy Ones English Center in learning pronunciation? Supprisingly,... teachers' attitude toward pronunciation learning and using multimedia in pronunciation - To apply multimedia in pronunciation learning and assess the impacts of multimedia in helping the students learning... teachers for using this approach can be getting students motivated, engaged, and interested in learning pronunciation This approach contains a combination a good practice of using animation, performance