Using minimal pairs to teach english discrete sounds to english non majored students a case study at the university of transport in hcmc

VIETNAMESE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY NATIONAL UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES USING MINIMAL PAIRS TO TEACH ENGLISH DISCRETE SOUNDS TO ENGLISH NON-MAJORED STUDENTS: A CASE STUDY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TRANSPORT IN HCMC A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in TESOL Submitted by LÊ THANH TÚ Supervisor TÔ MINH THANH, Ph.D Ho Chi Minh City, September 2009 DEDICATION to my family, the great teachers, and friends of my life STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby certify that this thesis entitled “USING MINIMAL PAIRS TO TEACH ENGLISH DISCRETE SOUNDS TO ENGLISH NON-MAJORED STUDENTS: A CASE STUDY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TRANSPORT IN HCMC” submitted in terms of the Statements of Requirements for Theses in Master’s Programs issued by the Higher Degree Committee, is my own work This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other institution Ho Chi Minh City, September 2nd, 2009 LÊ THANH TÚ i RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, LÊ THANH TÚ, being the candidate for the degree of Master of Arts in TESOL, accept the requirements of the university relating to the retention and use of Master’s Thesis deposited in the University Library I agree that the original of my Master’s Thesis deposited in the University Library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Library for the care, loan and reproduction for theses Ho Chi Minh City, September 2nd, 2009 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Statement of authority i Retention and use of the thesis ii Table of contents iii List of figures vii List of tables ix List of abbreviations and symbols xi Acknowledgements xii Abstract xiii INTRODUCTION 0.1 Rationale of the study 0.2 Aims of the study 0.3 Significance of the study .3 0.4 Design of the study .3 0.5 Limitation of the study 0.6 Delimitation of the study .5 Chapter LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Basic terms 1.1.1 Minimal pairs 1.1.2 Discrete sounds 1.1.3 Consonant Zero 1.2 Speech sounds .8 1.2.1 Vowels .8 1.2.1.1 Definition 1.2.1.2 Classification 1.2.2 Consonants .10 1.2.2.1 Definition 10 1.2.2.2 Classification .10 1.2.2.2.1 Places of articulation 10 1.2.2.2.2 Manners of articulation .11 1.2.2.2.3 Voicing 14 1.2.3 Diphthongs 15 1.2.4 Phonemes 15 1.2.5 Allophones 16 1.3 Relationship between minimal pairs and pronunciation acquisition 16 1.4 Relevant research and theory 17 1.4.1 Relevant researches 17 1.4.2 Relevant theory of pronunciation teaching 18 1.5 Principles and techniques in pronunciation teaching 20 1.6 Summary 24 Chapter METHODOLOGY 25 iii 2.1 Research questions 25 2.2 Materials and instruments 25 2.2.1 Classroom tasks .25 2.2.2 Audiovisual aids .26 2.2.3 Technological tools 26 2.2.3.1 Teaching tools .26 2.2.3.2 Recording tool .30 2.2.3.3 Analysing tools .30 2.2.4 Pronunciation test 33 2.2.5 Recordings .34 2.2.6 Questionnaires 34 2.2.7 Interviews 35 2.2.8 Observations 35 2.3 Responsive community .35 2.3.1 The student subjects 35 2.3.2 The teacher subjects 36 2.4 Research procedures 36 2.4.1 Getting started 36 2.4.2 Doing the experimental teaching 37 2.4.3 Testing the students’ achievement 37 2.4.4 Collecting data 37 2.4.5 Analysing data 37 2.4.6 Testing the study’s hypotheses 38 2.5 Summary 38 Chapter DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 39 3.1 Results of questionnaires 39 3.1.1 Results of Students’ Questionnaire 39 3.1.2 Results of Students’ Questionnaire 47 3.1.3 Results of Teachers’ Questionnaire 53 3.2 Results of the test scores 62 3.2.1 Results of Diagnostic Test 62 3.2.2 Results of Achievement Test 65 3.3 Results of the students’ recordings 69 3.3.1 Results of Before Recordings 70 3.3.2 Results of After Recordings .72 3.4 Results of the interviews 74 3.4.1 Results of interviews with the teacher subjects 74 3.4.2 Results of interviews with the student subjects 76 3.5 Results of the researcher’s observations 79 3.6 Results of testing the two hypotheses 80 3.6.1 Results of testing the first hypothesis 80 3.6.2 Results of testing the second hypothesis 83 3.7 Summary 89 Chapter SUGGESTED TEACHING STRATEGIES 90 4.1 Getting students to employ correct articulators 90 iv 4.2 Using minimal pairs as a teaching and learning tool 92 4.2.1 Single minimal pairs 92 4.2.2 Integrated minimal pairs 93 4.2.3 Minimal pair phrases 96 4.2.4 Minimal pair sentences 97 4.3 Using minimal pairs as games or classroom activities 98 4.3.1 Matching activities 98 4.3.2 Recognition activities 101 4.3.3 Bingo sheets 104 4.3.4 Tongue twisters 106 4.3.5 Flash cards .107 4.3.6 Conversations .108 4.3.7 Worksheets 109 4.3.8 Information gap 111 4.3.9 Climb King 112 4.4 Getting students to record their own pronunciation 113 4.5 Summary 113 Chapter CONTRIBUTIONS AND TEACHING IMPLICATIONS 114 5.1 Contributions 114 5.2 Teaching implications 115 CONCLUSION 120 BIBLIOGRAPHY 123 APPENDICES 125 Appendix 1A: Students’ Questionnaire 1(Vietnamese Version) 125 Appendix 1B: Students’ Questionnaire (English Version) 126 Appendix 2A: Students’ Questionnaire (Vietnamese Version) 127 Appendix 2B: Students’ Questionnaire (English Version) 128 Appendix 3: Teachers’ Questionnaire (English Version) 129 Appendix 4: Pronunciation Test Paper 131 Appendix 5: Pronunciation Test Answer Sheet .132 Appendix 6: Answer Keys to Pronunciation Test 133 Appendix 7: Pronunciation Test Transcript 134 Appendix 8: Student Recording Paper 135 Appendix 9: Lesson Plans .136 Lesson Plan 137 Lesson Plan 141 Lesson Plan 144 Lesson Plan 147 Lesson Plan 150 Lesson Plan 153 Lesson Plan 156 Lesson Plan 159 Lesson Plan 162 Appendix 10: Check List for Class Observation 165 v Appendix 11: Appendix 12: Appendix 13: Appendix 14: Check List for Teacher’s Self-evaluation 167 Check List for Interview with Teacher Subjects 168 Check List for Interview with Student Subjects .170 CD of Pronunciation Test, Before Recordings, After Recordings, and the video clip “At the Chinese Restaurant” 172 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1: Figure 2.2: Figure 2.3: Figure 2.4: Figure 2.5: Figure 2.6: Figure 2.7: Figure 2.8: Figure 2.9: Figure 2.10: Figure 2.11: Figure 2.12: Figure 2.13: Figure 3.1: Figure 3.2: Figure 3.3: Figure 3.4: Figure 3.5: Figure 3.6: Figure 3.7: Figure 3.8: Figure 3.9: Figure 3.10: Figure 3.11: Figure 3.12: Figure 3.13: Figure 3.14: Figure 3.15: Figure 3.16: Figure 3.17: Figure 3.18: Figure 3.19: Figure 3.20: Figure 3.21: Figure 3.22: Figure 3.23: Figure 3.24: Figure 3.25: Interfaces of ProPower1 and ProPower2 26 List of sounds from Lessons in ProPower1 and ProPower2 26 Side View, Front View and Air Flow Legend as observed in ProPower2 27 Side View Legend as observed in ProPower2 27 Description as observed in ProPower2 28 Suggestion as observed in ProPower2 28 Interfaces of Exercises as observed in ProPower2 29 Interfaces of LYA28 29 Interfaces of video clips for “eat” and “it” as observed in LYA28 30 Interface of All Audio Recorder – Version 2.10 30 Spectrogram of the production of “light” by S36 before ET 31 Spectrogram of the production of “light” by S19 before ET 32 Interface of SPSS 32 Students’ time for learning English 40 Students’ self-evaluation of their pronunciation before ET 40 Students’ awareness of pronunciation before ET 41 Students’ frequency of practising pronunciation before ET 42 Students’ expected use of English in the future 43 Students’ time spent on learning English per day 44 Previous teachers’ pronunciation teaching 45 Students’ problems in pronunciation before ET 46 Students’ opinion on the benefits of minimal pairs 47 Students’ raised awareness of pronunciation after ET 48 Students’ expected frequency of pronunciation practice after ET 48 Students’ interest in learning pronunciation with minimal pairs 49 Students’ opinion on the classroom activities 50 Students’ expected frequency of pronunciation classes 50 Students’ choice of the most difficult sounds to learn 51 Students’ after ET suggestions of how to solve their own problems 52 Teachers’ opinion on the benefits of minimal pairs in pronunciation teaching 53 Teachers’ evaluation of their students’ motivation 54 Teachers’ expected frequency of pronunciation teaching 54 Time spent on designing classroom activities with minimal pairs 55 Teachers’ choice of suitable activities employing minimal pairs 56 Teachers’ opinion on the most difficult sounds to teach 56 Teachers’ opinion on teaching aids for pronunciation teaching 57 Teachers’ sources of minimal pairs for their pronunciation teaching 58 Teachers’ evaluation of their students’ pronunciation improvement 59 vi Figure 3.26: Teachers’ opinion on how accurate their assessment of their students’ pronunciation improvement is 60 Figure 3.27: Teachers’ difficulties in teaching pronunciation to at UT-HCMC 61 Figure 3.28: Teachers’ suggestions for teaching pronunciation to the whole population at UT-HCMC 61 Figure 3.29: Distribution of grade groups in Diagnostic Test 64 Figure 3.30: Distribution of grade groups in Achievement Test 67 Figure 3.31: Distribution of grade groups in the two tests 69 Figure 3.32: Distribution of mistake groups in Before Recordings 71 Figure 3.33: Distribution of mistake groups in the two sets of recordings 74 Figure 3.34: Spectrograms of “light” produced by NS and S19 before ET 81 Figure 3.35: Spectrograms of “my” produced by NS and S42 before ET 81 Figure 3.36: Spectrograms of “play” produced by NS and S29 before ET 81 Figure 3.37: Spectrograms of “thank” by NS and S53 before ET 82 Figure 3.38: Spectrograms of “read”, “rid” by NS and “read” by S31 before ET 82 Figure 3.39: Spectrograms of “to”; “do” by NS and “to” by S35 before ET 82 Figure 3.40: Distribution of mistake groups before and after ET 84 Figure 3.41: Students’ frequency of self-studying English pronunciation before and after ET 85 Figure 3.42: Spectrograms of “light” produced by NS and S19 before and after ET 86 Figure 3.43: Spectrograms of “my” produced by NS and S42 before and after ET 86 Figure 3.44: Spectrograms “play” produced by NS and S29 before and after ET 87 Figure 3.45: Spectrograms of “thank” produced by NS and S53 before and after ET 87 Figure 3.46: Spectrograms of “read” produced by NS and S31before and after ET 88 Figure 3.47: Spectrograms of “to” by NS and S35 before and after ET 88 Figure 4.1: Articulators involved in producing /T/ as observed in ProPower2 90 Figure 4.2: Articulators involved in producing /T/ 91 Figure 4.3: Minimal pairs for /b/ and /p/ 92 Figure 4.4: Minimal pairs for /s/, /z/and /S/ 93 Figure 4.5: Three words forming integrated minimal pairs 94 Figure 4.6: Four words forming integrated minimal pairs 94 Figure 4.7: Five words forming integrated minimal pairs 94 Figure 4.8: Six words forming integrated minimal pairs 95 Figure 4.9: Seven words forming integrated minimal pairs 95 Figure 4.10: Eight words forming integrated minimal pairs 95 Figure 4.11: Two minimal pair phrases with mono-syllabic words 96 Figure 4.12: Three minimal pair phrases with mono-syllabic words (For the case of CZ) 96 Figure 4.13: Two minimal pair phrases with poly-syllabic words 96 Figure 4.14: Three minimal pair phrases with mono-syllabic words 97 Figure 4.15: Four minimal pair phrases with poly-syllabic words 97 Figure 4.16: Minimal pair sentences for /I/ and /i;/ as observed in LYA28 97 Figure 4.17a: Pictures with guided phonemic transcriptions 99 Figure 4.17b: Pictures without any phonemic transcriptions 99 Figure 4.18: Handout for minimal pair matching activity 99 Figure 4.19a: Words with their phonemic transcriptions 100 Figure 4.19b: Words without any phonemic transcriptions 100 Figure 4.20: Minimal pairs for /p/ and /b/ 101 Figure 4.21: Minimal pair phrases for /p/ and /b/ 102 Figure 4.22: Listening discrimination for /p/ as observed in ProPower2 103 vii Minimal pair Bingo sheet for /&/ and /e/ [Celce-Murcia et al, 1996: 118] 104 Minimal pair Bingo sheet for multiple sound contrasts 105 Minimal pair contrasts of final consonants [Celce-Murcia et al, 1996: 76] 107 Worksheets with minimal pair sentences [Celce-Murcia et al, 1996: 117] 110 Information gap exercise to discriminate between /Q/ and /V/ [Celce-Murcia et al, 1996: 121] 111 Figure 4.28: Minimal pair tree to play Climb King for /&/ and /e/ 112 Figure 4.23: Figure 4.24: Figure 4.25: Figure 4.26: Figure 4.27: viii - Count the number of responses for each option - Ask the volunteer to confirm which word he/she has just read to check pan pen bad bed - Ask Ss what makes it difficult to distinguish the words when spoken, then give the answer and lead to the teaching point PRESENTATION The vowel /&/ - Description: Description and Suggestion for /&/in ProPower2 - Practice: Exercise Single Words for the /e/ in ProPower2 - Practice: Exercise Single Words for /&/ in ProPower2 - Finally, show Ss the demonstration video clips of a minimal pair and a minimal pair sentence containing the two sounds in LYA28 The vowel /e/ - Description: Description and Suggestion /e/ in ProPower2 PART II: PRACTICE 164 Task 1: Listen and repeat these words (Comparative Words for /&/ and /e/as in Pro Power2) Task 4: Each group sends two representatives to come to the front to play the game Climb King Task 2: Do Listening Discrimination for /&/ and /e/as in ProPoewr2 Task 3: One student in the group holds the flash cards of minimal pairs; the others hold the flash cards of the relevant pictures The holder of minimal pairs chooses one word of each pair and then reads aloud The others listen and raise the picture containing the word read The number of the correct pictures is also the point its holder gets for each turn Continue this way until every member of the group has finished all the pairs The student with the highest point is the representative of the group and will win a gift from the teacher PART III: HOMEWORK Review the sounds learned and practise with exercises A27-A29, page 16 in the course book Sheep or Ship Find as many as minimal pairs and minimal pair sentences containing the sounds learned Preparing for the sounds /T/ and /D/ LESSON PLAN Teacher’s name: Lê Thanh Tú Teaching point: /T/ and /D/ Subject: Pronunciation 165 Time allocated: 45 minutes Class: CN07B (Pre-Intermediate) Date of teaching: April 21, 2008 A Objectives: Knowledge and attitude - Help the student subjects (abbreviated to Ss) know how to pronounce the two consonants: /T/ and /D/ - Raise Ss’ awareness of pronunciation and encourage further practice without their teacher (abbreviated to T) Skills: - Enable Ss to pronounce the two consonants accurately - Help Ss to improve their production and recognition B Methods: Communicative Approach C Teaching aids: handouts, computer, flash cards, projector, etc D Reference: Baker, A (2006) Ship or Sheep?: An intermediate pronunciation course 3rd edition Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; ProPower1; ProPower2; LYA28; http://www.shiporsheep.com/; and http://www.englishlearning.com (retrieved on February 26th, 2008) E Procedures: Time Stages 5’ I 3’ II 12’ III 12’ IV 12’ V 1’ VI Teacher’s activities Purposes Students’ activities - Check Ss’ attendance, previous lesson - To make sure everything is right - Do the tasks given by T - Divide Ss into groups of six for the class to get started - Ss sit in groups as instructed Present the situation in which the two - To lead Ss to the teaching point - Experience and brainstorm sounds are supposed to potentially - To raise curiosity about and - Concentrate on the point cause misunderstanding motivation to learn the sounds - Present the articulation of the sounds To provide Ss with the phonetic - Watch, listen, repeat and acquire to be taught and learnt knowledge and the audiovisual the sounds - Let Ss listen to some individual words demonstration of the sounds - Pose questions about the sounds containing the sounds - Have Ss tasks and - Ss have opportunities to practise - Practise as instructed - Go around observing and giving the sounds in a controlled way - Pose questions about the sounds prompt help - T can check Ss’ production or ask T for help - Praise Ss with good production - T gives guidance or correction - Learn from each other - Have Ss tasks and - Continue checking and giving - Work in groups - Check Ss’ performance randomly necessary help or correction - Group representatives perform - Correct common mistakes - Consolidate Ss’ performance before class - Give and collect feedback - Give more encouragement - Correct one another - Assign homework To review the knowledge and - Take notes of what the teacher - Give more guidance if needed promote more self-practice says I = Stabilization, II = Lead-in, III = Presentation, IV = Practice, V = Consolidation, VI = Homework 166 Anticipations Ss may not be well-prepared T calls some Ss in case of no volunteers Ss may have trouble producing the sounds - Ss may make mistakes - T goes around giving help More questions because of the contradiction in opinions Make sure all Ss take notes CONTENT PART I: LEAD-IN AND PRESENTATION LEAD-IN - Draw the table below on the board Then, call for a volunteer to the front of the class to read aloud one of the words and the rest of the students have to identify the correct word by saying the number corresponding the word pronounced by the volunteer Go on with another word - Count the number of responses for each option - Ask the volunteer to confirm which word he/she has just read to check thin fin though tow - Ask Ss what makes it difficult to distinguish the words when spoken, then give the answer and lead to the teaching point PRESENTATION The consonant /T/ - Description: Description and Suggestion for /T/ in roPower2 The consonant /D/ - Description: Description and Suggestion for /D/in ProPower2 - Practice: Single Words for /T/ in ProPower2 167 - Finally, show Ss Words the demonstration video clips of a minimal pair and a minimal pair sentence containing the two sounds in LYA28 - Practice: Single for /D/in ProPower2 PART II: PRACTICE Task 1: Comparative Words for /T/ and /D/ as in Pro Power2) Task 4: Each group sends its representative to come to the front to play the game Hear It and Show It T says “ I want to see + a word.” And the players have to show the correct picture referring to the word Then T reads a sentence instead a word And the players have to show the correct picture referring to the sentence Task 2: Do exercise Listening Discrimination for /T/ and /D/ as in ProPoewr2 Task 3: One student in the group holds the flash cards of minimal pairs; the others hold the flash cards of the relevant pictures The holder of minimal pairs chooses one word of each pair and then reads aloud The others listen and raise the picture containing the word read The number of the correct pictures is also the point its holder gets for each turn Continue this way until every member of the group has finished all the pairs The student with the highest point is the representative of the group and will win a gift from the teacher 168 PART III: HOMEWORK Review the sounds learned and practise with exercises D30-31 pages 153-154; D37-40, pages 156-157 in the course book Sheep or Ship Find as many as minimal pairs and minimal pair sentences containing the sounds learned Preparing for the sounds /s/ and /z/ 169 Appendix 10 CHECKLIST FOR CLASS OBSERVATION (For Lesson Plan No: ………… ) Day…………… … Month …………………, 2008 OBSERVATIONS ON STUDENTS’ PERFORMANCE Problems SP S M RC Progress M Stabilization Presentation Practice Consolidation M1 M1 M2 M2 M3 M3 M4 M4 M5 M5 M6 M6 M1 M1 M2 M2 M3 M3 M4 M4 M5 M5 M6 M6 M1 M1 M2 M2 M3 M3 M4 M4 M5 M5 M6 M6 M1 M1 M2 M2 M3 M3 M4 M4 M5 M5 M6 M6 RC M = Mistake Groups, St = Stages, SP = Students’ Performance M1 = Omitting the word-final consonant M2 = Adding the word-final /s/ to English words not ending in /s/ M3 = Adding the schwa /6/ in the middle of a consonant cluster M4 = Mispronouncing strange sounds to Vietnamese people, e.g /T/ and /D/ M5 = Failing to differentiate between long and short vowels M6 = Failing to differentiate between voiced and voiceless consonants 170 OBSERVATIONS ON STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES Stabilization Stages Attitudes Lead-in = Good, Presentation = Normal, Practice Consolidation = Bad OBSERVATIONS ON STUDENTS’ ATTENDANCE No RC CASES OF ABSENCE Reasons S _ S _ S _ S _ S _ S _ S _ S _ S _ S _ = Student numbered _ OTHER OBSERVATIONS Stages Positive Notes Negative Notes Stabilization Presentation Practice Consolidation ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… 171 Appendix 11 CHECK LIST FOR TEACHER’S SELF-EVALUATION (For Lesson Plan No ……….) Day…………… … Month …………………, 2008 TEACHER’S SELF-EVALUATIONS ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… preparation ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… performance ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… preparation ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… performance Consolidation ………………………………………………………… performance Practice ………………………………………………………… preparation Presentation Weak Points performance Stabilization Good Points preparation Stages ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… 172 Appendix 12 CH ECK LIST FOR INTERVIEWS WITH TEACHER SUBJECTS Teacher’s Name : ……………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… Email Address : ……………………………………… …………………………………………………………………… Phone Number : …………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Date of Interview : Day…………… … Month …………………, 2008 IS IS1 IS2 Questions Responses M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 How does your Others: students’ L1 acquisition influence their production and recognition of English discrete sounds? Please give some examples Very good Good Normal Bad Very bad What you Reasons: think about your students’ awareness of English pronunciation and why they have such awareness? CCC AMP AMR AMI To what extent Others: and by what means the suggested teaching strategies improve your students’ awareness of English pronunciation? V much IS = NFR = CCC = AMP = Much Not much Not at all Issue Notes for research Comparative and Contrastive Contexts Awareness of Mispronunciation 173 NFR AMR = Awareness of Misrecognition AMI = Awareness of Misinterpretation IS IS3 IS4 Questions Responses AVD AGM In what way Others: you think the suggested teaching strategies motivate your students to learn English discrete sounds? Lead-in Presentation Practice Consolidation What stage is most motivating to your students? NFR Class size Time Equipment Exam structure What are your Others: explanations for the difficulties you stated in your responses to Teachers’ Questionnaire? AVD = Audiovisual demonstrations AGM = Activities and games with minimal pairs IS Questions Responses BAS FFP BAP HML NFR WAS EAC Others: IS5 What are the benefits of minimal pairs in English Pronunciation teaching and learning? Will you apply the strategies? Yes No BAS = Better acquisition of discrete sounds FFP = Foundation for further progress in other aspects of English pronunciation BAP = Better awareness of Pronunciation HML = High motivation for pronunciation learning WAS = Wide availability in various sources 174 EAC = Ease of application classroom activities THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR ANSWERS AND SUGGESTIONS 175 Appendix 13 CHECK LIST FOR INTERVIEWS WITH STUDENT SUBJECTS Student’s Name : ……………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… Email Address : ……………………………………… …………………………………………………………………… Phone Number : …………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Date of Interview : Day…………… … Month …………………, 2008 IS Questions Responses EF LG LI NFR LM NN TL Others: IS1 Why you pay little attention to practising English pronunciation though you think it is important? Very good Good Normal Bad Very bad Reasons: IS2 What you think about your English pronunciation after years of learning, and why you have such ideas? IS1 IS2 IS3 IS4 = = = = Students’ adequate awareness vs inadequate practice Students’ long exposure to English learning vs poor pronunciation Students’ previous exposure to pronunciation teaching Students’ opinions on the experimental teaching EF = Exam focus LI = Little interest NN = No real needs LG = Lack of guidance LM = Lack of pronunciation materials TL = Time limitation 176 IS Questions AVD Others: LRW Responses TDS NFR LTO ANT IS3 In what way did your school teachers teach you English pronunciation? AR CR HM BP BR Others: IS4 What you think about the pronunciation classes you have just attended? OTHER NOTES AVD LRW TDS LTO ANT = = = = = Audiovisual demonstrations Listen and repeat word by word Teaching English discrete sounds Listen to the transcript only Almost no pronunciation teaching AR = CR = HM = BP = BR = Awareness raise Confidence raise High motivation Better pronunciation Better recognition THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR ANSWERS AND SUGGESTIONS 177 Appendix 14 CD of Pronunciation Test, Before Recordings, After Recordings, and the video clip “At the Chinese Restaurant” 178 ... non- majored students at UT -HCMC in recognizing and producing English discrete sounds? (2) In what way and to what extent minimal pairs facilitate the teaching and learning of English discrete sounds? ... who acquired knowledge of a language has internalised a system of rules that relate sound and meaning.” Minimal pairs are ? ?pairs of words that differ in meaning on the basic of a change in only... Getting students to employ correct articulators 90 iv 4.2 Using minimal pairs as a teaching and learning tool 92 4.2.1 Single minimal pairs 92 4.2.2 Integrated minimal pairs