SKKN some measurements to improve pronunciation in class 4a at lam truong primary school

THANH HOA EDUCATION & TRAINING DEPARTMENT BA THUOC CHAMBER OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING ACTION RESEARCH SOME MEASUREMENTS TO IMPROVE PRONUNCIATION IN CLASS 4A AT LAM TRUONG PRIMARY SCHOOL Performed by: Dao Thi Thu Job title: Teacher Organization: Lam Truong Primary School The aspect of the action research: English THANH HOA, 2021 Table of contents INTRODUCTION -1 1.1 Reason to choose the topic 1.2 Purpose of the action research. -2 1.3 Subjects of the action research. 1.4 The methods of study. 2 CONTENTS -3 2.1 Theorical background. -3 2.2 Current status of the problem before applying action research. -3 2.2.1 To the general situation. 2.2.2 The reality of teaching English pronunciation at Lam Truong primary school. -4 2.2.3 Result and effect of the current reality. 2.3 Some solutions are used to solve the problems: 2.3.1 Solution 1: Teaching process -5 2.3.2 Solution 2: Teaching phonetic through games. -13 2.3.3 Solution 3: Teaching phonetic through “YouTube” channel. -15 2.4 The results of applying new solutions. 17 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS. 18 3.1 Conclusion. 18 3.2 Recommendations. 18 REFERENCES 20 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Reason to choose the topic In the time of global integration, English is an important language It is the key to give us accessment to the development and progress of culture, education, science, technology and many different fields of humanity Therefore, it is a second language, a compulsory subject of many countries around the world According to forecasts of the analysts, by the end of this decade, more than a third of the world's population will be engaged in learning English This global need of learning English has shown that English is extremely important and essential for economic and social development at the national level as well as for individuals in the society From that real requirement, English has been included in the mainstream curriculum of all academic levels in our country The ultimate goal of teaching and learning English is that students can communicate in English The ability to communicate is manifested in two aspects: receiving (listening and reading) and producing (speaking and writing) language However, to reach that ultimate goal, the first element students need to master is pronunciation Phonetics is considered to be one of the basic elements of all languages in the world If the pronunciation is correct, all skills such as listening, speaking, reading will become much easier On the contrary, if the pronunciation is wrong or unclear, it will make the listener misunderstand or even not understand the speaker's meaning Having identified that importance, phonetic teaching and learning has been included in the elementary English program However, the majority of students feels strange and has many difficulties in pronouncing and memorizing learned sounds, while materials for teachers and students are still limited Compared to the English program at high school and secondary level, English for primary school students is still quite new, especially phonetics Although each unit has one period to teach phonetics, the time of 40 minutes is too little and the teaching method is not specific, which explains why the effectiveness of phonetic teaching and learning is not high From the reality of the years I directly taught English at Lam Truong primary school together with the phonetic teaching methods I have learned from training sessions, good teacher classes and teaching sessions, I usually wonder about how to teach my students in a suitable way, help them no longer feel difficult and stress when pronouncing English From the above thought, I have researched and done experiment in class 4A at Lam Truong Primary School and got the desired results Therefore, I boldly give my experience on "Some measurements to improve pronunciation in class 4A at Lam Truong primary school" for my friends and colleagues to refer 1.2 Purpose of the action research The purpose of this action research is to investigate some problems that elementary students often face up in studying pronounciation, the writer find out some solutions to improving phonetics for students in class 4A at Lam Truong primary school and to help students learn phonetics more easily 1.3 Subjects of the action research - Some measurements to improve pronunciation for students in class 4A at Lam Truong primary school - The steps taken in English phonetic lessons 1.4 The methods of study During the study, I used the following methods: - Survey and investigation are applied to investigate the quality of students when they learn pronunciation through class activities and tasks in the textbook - Observation is applied to observe the activities of students during the time they are included in the pronouncing activities - Practice is applied when the teachers organize activities for students to practice pronunciation 3 - Analysis, statistics, synthesis, comparation and assessment are applied to assess the progress of students when they make pronunciation with new methods CONTENTS 2.1 Theorical background Today in Vietnam, learning one or more other foreign languages to use in daily communication as well as in work has become very important, especially English English is used everywhere and every time From children who sell books for tourists can advertise their products in English to professionals, translators who are fluent in English However, the question is why so many people learn English for a long time but when communicating with native speakers, they not understand or misunderstand what we are saying The answer is due to incorrect English pronunciation Phonetics in English can be understood including following elements: phonology, stress, rhythm and intonation According to phonetic research, for the most successful communication, it needs to meet four criteria: Good pronunciation, natural speech speed, natural rhythm and natural intonation To meet these four criteria is ambition of all English learners However, this is beyond the capability of the Vietnamese Although we cannot speak English like a native speaker, we can practice speaking in an acceptable way: clear pronunciation means when we pronounce, the listeners can understand and distinguish from other sounds Determining the importance of phonetics in particular and English in general, the Ministry of Education and Training is currently implementing the National Foreign Language Project 2020 (approved by Decision No 1400 / QDTTG of Prime Minister on September 30, 2008) to improve foreign language skills for English teachers in the country 2.2 Current status of the problem before applying action research 2.2.1 To the general situation , I realize that Lam Truong primary school is located in the mountainous area The living condition is low A large number of parents work far from their children and not have time to teach them to study In addition, the number of students in a class is large, so in the teaching process, teachers cannot cover and support students in time Moreover, infrastructure and teaching materials for students and teachers such as dictionaries, books, tapes, radio, projectors,… are not fully invested 2.2.2 The reality of teaching English pronunciation at Lam Truong primary school From the beginning stage of teaching English at Lam Truong primary school, through the test of the first semester, I noticed that the English pronunciation of students in class 4A was too weak, they were afraid of speaking English, not focusing on the phonetic learning process, as well as having difficulties in writing or describing a problem even though it is very simple Most students have no contact with native speakers, so they also have limitations in reacting to English They also have difficulties in pronouncing or distinguishing some similar sounds, especially ending sounds such as /s/ or /z/, /t/ or /d/; /∫/ or /s/, Some students often not pronounce them when they are at the end Moreover, there are some pairs of sound are pronounced similarly Not only students but teachers also can not differentiate when they not carefully notice such as: /i/ or /i:/, /e/ or /æ/, /ð / or /θ /… From the fact, I personally think that it is absolutely necessary to have a method that helps my students learn phonetics faster and easier, so I have studied and created a method of teaching phonetics for my students 2.2.3 Result and effect of the current reality In order to have measurements and methods to teach students how to pronounce well and correct mistakes, I have surveyed the pronunciation ability of students at class 4A from the beginning of the school year and obtained these following results 5 Good Class Not good Incorrect Total pronunciation pronunciation pronunciation Quantity % Quantity % Quantity % 4A 29 6,9 11 37,9 16 55,2 From the table, I can see that the pronunciation capacity is too bad, only two students can pronounce correctly, while others pronounce badly or completely wrongly To improve the situation, I have researched and studied some measurements to improve the pronunciation for my students in class 4A and get the hopeful result 2.3 Some solutions are used to solve the problems: 2.3.1 Solution 1: Teaching process 2.3.1.1 Presentation The teacher shows the way to speak the sound she wants to teach and read aloud Then, explains the movements of mouth, lips, teeth and tongue Example: Teaching sound /ʊ/, teacher hangs a picture of sound /ʊ/ - The teacher faces toward the students and read the sound / ʊ / a few times so that the student can clearly hear and observe the teacher's mouth, lips, teeth, and tongue movements Step 1: Tongue relaxes Place the tip of the tongue behind the incisors of the lower jaw Step 2: Gently lift your tongue up a little Step 3: The lip shape is slightly rounded, bring it to the front Pronounce /ʊ/ naturally Teacher reads a few words that contain the sounds they are learning, and students read along For example: book, put, foot, look … - Teacher writes words on the board 6 - Ask students in whole class to repeat the words on the board and then call each group to repeat Finally the teacher called some students to repeat individually Following the above process, teachers teach other sounds similarly 2.3.1.2 Practice In this section, students should practice pronouncing in order: from isolated words to short phrases to sentences to dialogue The teacher reads the pairs of words and the students listen to identify which sounds the teacher is reading Then, take turns whole class repeating the pairs of words, then repeating in groups and finally repeating individually Example: When teacher teaches two sounds /e/ and / æ / Teacher reads the pairs of words: that/ yes; hat/bed; thanks/pen … Students listen and repeat Students practice reading phrases that contain the sounds they are learning Example: Who’s that? Yes, it is Fine, thanks Students practice reading sentences (with many words containing the sound they are learning) Example: Is that Tony? Yes, it is I’m fine, thanks That’s a hat Students see, listen and repeat according to the teacher or follow a short conversation in which there are many words containing the sounds they are learning These conversations are usually already in the textbook Students re-practice the conversation in pairs (after reading it proficiently, if there is time, they can add a few words containing the current sound to the conversation but those words must involve the content of the lesson) During the practice, the teacher monitors and promptly corrects if the student makes a mistake 2.3.1.3 Production Teachers provide students with games or activities to reinforce knowledge Some games are simple but effective and easy to Such as: - Silent Sounds: Example: when teaching two sounds /e/ and /æ/, Teacher writes on the board: The teacher faces toward the students, pronouncing but not out loud Students observe the teacher's mouth movements (tongue, lips, teeth ) and guess what sound the teacher is saying and point to that sound on the board The teacher then divides the students into groups of to to play as above - Bingo: This is a simple game but very enjoyable for students There are many ways to conduct this game Here I give an example: When teaching the sound / i: / and / i /, the teacher asks the students to draw a table with 12 -> 14 boxes, students select and fill in all the boxes, but the numbers are from 13 to 99 for all boxes The teacher (or a student in the class) reads the numbers one by one, the students listen and observe if the audible number is on their board, cross out the number The first listener and cross all of their boxes say aloud: Bingo The teacher checks for accuracy and declares the winner - Same or Different: Teacher writes international transcription on the board (example: /i/) Teacher says a series of sounds that are similar to the sounds on the board (/i:/, /e/, /æ/) Students listen and tell whether the sounds above are the same or different from the sounds on the board - One or Two (or three): Teacher writes on the board two (or three) international transcription (for example: /i/, /i:/, /e/ then read the words one by one: fifteen / fifty / bit / beat / eat / it / man / men) Students listen and say "one" (1), "two" (2) or "three" (3) - Correct or incorrect: Teacher writes one word or a series of words on the board and pronounces some of the words correctly and some of the words incorrectly Students listen and say “correct” or “incorrect” 8 - Word Elicitation: Teacher writes the international phonetic on the board and asks the students to list the word containing that sound in the first, the word has sound in the middle, and the word has sound in the end - Minimal Pairs: Write international phonetics on the board and let students freely list pairs of words that are close to match Example: /i/ /i:/ Fifty Fifteen It Eat Bin Bean ill Eel …… - Missing words: Teacher reads a sentence or a short phrase with a blank word Students listen and guess a word to fill in the blanks, as long as the word contains the sound they are learning For example: Practicing sound /3:/ a A boy and a ……………… (girl) b First, second and ……… (third) c A pigeon is a kind of …… (bird) - Sentences Construction: Teacher writes on the board two groups of words that contain the sounds they are learning and asks students to make sentences that use at least two of the words in the two groups Example: Practice sounds / θ / and /ð / (Grade English textbook, semester 2, Education Publishing House of Vietnam) Group 1: Thanks /thin /thick /think /thumb Group 2: this /that /the /mother /brother - Picture identification: The teacher draws or hangs a picture with two things on the board For example, when teaching two sounds /i:/ and /i/ the teacher hangs two pictures of ship and sheep 9 Then the teacher says: “point to the ship” or “point to the sheep”, students listen and follow Teacher points to the words ship and sheep to give the students the correct pronunciation Then the teacher rubs out the word and points to the picture and gives students the correct pronunciation Note: For double sounds, the teaching method is similar, but the teacher should divide it into two mono-syllables for students to practice Then combine the two mono sounds into a double sound For example: when teaching sound /br/: brick From: /b/- bid, big, bill To: /r/ ring, rich, rid To: /br/ brick, bring, bridge 2.3.1.4 Sample lesson English grade Unit 14: What does he look like? Lesson (Period 45) I Objective: By the end of this lesson, students will be able to pronounce sounds / θ / and / ð / II Teaching methods: - Communicative approach - Techniques: Games; Ask and answer; Work in pairs/ groups; Discuss III Resources: Tape, students’ book, pictures,… IV Procedure: * Warm up Sing the song: “Finger family song” 10 * Presentation - Teacher says “thin”, student listen quietly - Teacher faces toward students and read sound / θ / two or three times for students to see teacher’s mouth when she is pronouncing that sound - Teacher read aloud the words including sound / θ / such as: thin/ thick/ thanks, think Students listen and repeat - Teacher writes these words on the board - Teacher hangs the picture describing / θ / and explain how to speak it -> The tip of the tongue is placed behind the top front teeth The friction occurs between the tip of the tongue and the top front teeth Subtle friction may also occur between the top of the front of the tongue and the tooth ridge The lips are kept relaxed during the production of / θ / sound - Students repeat the words on the board chorally, then teacher asks them to repeat in group or individually - Do the same above process with sound /ð/ Teacher says “this”, student listen quietly - Teacher faces toward students and read sound /ð/ two or three times for students to see teacher’s mouth when she is pronouncing that sound - Teacher reads aloud the words including sound /ð/ such as: that/ mother/ father/ brother Students listen and repeat - Teacher writes these words on the board - Teacher hangs the picture describing /ð/ and explains how to speak it 11 - Teacher uses pictures to show students the different mouth movements when the / θ / and / ð / sounds are produced Then, instruct the students to check for the difference between these two sounds - To check if you pronounce correctly, place your hand in front of your face and pronounce / θ / Since / θ / is voiceless, there will be a bit of air on the palm - Do the same process as above with sound /ð/, you will not feel slight air on the palm of your hand - Divide the students into groups, repeat and practice making the sounds / θ / and /ð/ * Practice: Teacher speaks thin / this / thanks / mother / thick / father / thumb / brother / thirteen / that/ in jumbled order, students listen to identify / θ / hay /ð/ and repeat chorally, then repeat in turn randomly - Students repeat and practice reading the sentences: This is my mother/ That is my father/ The book is thin - The teacher plays the tape for the students to listen to Students look at the textbook (page 28; part 2), listen and tick the correct answer and then repeat along the tape Students practice reading in pairs, teacher corrects mistakes for students if any My brother is thin My sister is three Their books are on the table Their books are thick Production Some games can be applied for this activity Bingo: Teacher divides the class into groups of three A team member reads out the numbers in the following boxes in any order The rest of the members choose one of boards A, B or C, listen and cross out the numbers they hear The first 12 person who hears correctly and crosses all the numbers in his / her box says aloud: Bingo 90 13 20 30 16 14 80 18 “One or two” game: Teacher divides the class into groups of three or five /θ/ /ð/ One student reads a word that contains one of the two sounds (thin / mother / thick…), and the others say one or two Instead of saying that, students can use their fingers, if column 1, raise finger, if column 2, raise fingers Then take turns to other students to speak so that all group members can talk and hear While students practice, the teacher walks around the classroom to help students if necessary * Consolidation - Have the students to chant “This is my family” in the text book - Teacher plays the tape for the students to chant along - Students clap their hands to make the rhythm 2.3.2 Solution 2: Teaching phonetic through games Games play important role in motivating students to learn pronunciation Some games can be applied to teach phonetic as below: - Silent sounds: The teacher faces toward the student, pronouncing the two sounds /f/ and /∫/ without voice Students observe the teacher's mouth movements (tongue, lips, teeth ) and guess what sound the teacher is saying and point to that sound on the board The teacher then divides the students into groups of two or three to play as above - Correct or incorrect: To teach two sounds /f/ and /∫/, teacher writes a word or series of words such as: fish / beef / dish / leaf / sugar / five / she / fan / 13 push / sure / coffee / funny on the board and pronounces some correctly and some wrongly Students listen and say “correct” or “incorrect” Once the students are familiar with the rules of the game, the teacher divides the class into groups of or to play as above - Odd One Out: Put similar words into groups of three with two similar sounds and one different sound For example: - meat, teach, sit (for vowels) - sandals, shoes, short (for consonants) Teachers have three ways to handle this game: Ask the students individually to read through the word groups and pick which words have different sounds (Or) Devide the class into two teams, in two lines, and ask the person whose turn it is to choose the odd word as you read them out loud (Or) Make the question part of another game like Tic Tac Toe The team or individual whose turn it is to place an X or an O must first pick the odd one out They proceed with their turn if they choose the right word If they can’t identify the odd word, then they lose their turn - Four in a Row: Divide the class into groups of three to four students Print out this Four in a Row worksheet and cut it up into separate cards In groups, students must work together to arrange the words into sets of four words that sound the same The first team to complete all of the sets wins 14 - Minimal Pair Slap: - Choose sets of minimal pairs and write down each word on a separate card/piece of paper - Divide the class into two teams and have each team line up in front of a desk; the first students in line must have their hands behind their backs - Present two cards: forty and fourteen Say one of the words out loud: fourteen - Students must slap the right card - The one who slaps it first must use the word in a sentence to get a point for the team 2.3.3 Solution 3: Teaching phonetic through “YouTube” channel YouTube is an useful platform for learning English especially for kids who learn way more easily with visual aids like videos During the lesson, I usually use some YouTube videos to motivate students’ learning For example: In Unit 13, lesson 3, English Teacher needs to teach /f/ and /∫/ sound I use “Turtle diary channel” to help students see clearly how to put tongue, lips or teeth Link to this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqxcv-k2gYA 15 Do the same with sound /∫/ Furthermore, “Lucy Max” channel is another good choice to teach pronunciation In Unit 14, lesson 3, English Teacher needs to teach two sound /θ/ and /ð/ Then I use “Lucy Max” channel to show them how to put tongue, lips or teeth Link to this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIF2ZeOGIS 16 2.4 The results of applying new solutions After a year of using these solutions, I have found that my students’ pronunciation has been improved Before there were some of students afraid of making pronunciation but now they are more confident and excited in games and activities in English class Additionally, they are aware of pronouncing English correctly After having a survey of pronunciation ability, I have obtained these following result Good Class Not good Incorrect Total pronunciation pronunciation pronunciation Quantity % Quantity % Quantity % 4A 29 18 62 31 Compared to the beginning of the school year, the rate of students with good pronunciation increases 55,1%, The rate of students with not good pronunciation decreases 6,9% while the rate of students with incorrect pronunciation deeply decreases 48,2 % Besides, the study on phonetic teaching methods for students has contributed to improve my pedagogical skills and abilities as well as contribute to the innovation of phonetic teaching methods in particular and English subjects in general In the condition of mountainous area, the lack of teaching facilities, the opportunity to interact with native speakers is little; the initial success I obtained is a very happy thing for me This method can be applied to phonetic lessons in grade 3, 4, However, each lesson has different contents; teachers need to apply it wisely and creatively CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 3.1 Conclusion From the fact, we see that the development of English phonetics for elementary students is not simple It requires teachers to have a creative teaching method that is easy to understand Teaching pronunciation is not simply teaching phonology, but also teaching stress, rhythm and intonation In the coming time, I will continue to learn from documents, friends and colleagues as well as from practical experience to have methods to teach 17 pronunciation that is suitable for my students, at the same time perfecting my phonetic teaching methods 3.2 Recommendations * To Ba Thuoc Chamber of Education and Training: - It is necessary to have more exchanging idea activities for English teacher to help them enrich their experiences in teaching English in general and teaching pronunciation in particular - Seminars to introduce the topic to all colleagues should be organized for discussion to have positive phonetic teaching methods for elementary students * To Lam Truong primary school leaders: - English Club should be held monthly or quarterly so that students have more chance to improve their speaking skill as well as their pronunciation capability - Equipments for teaching English such as dictionaries, books, newspapers, tapes, pictures, flashcards and projectors should be well furnished This is my experience of improving pronunciation at class 4A I am looking forwards to receiving faithful comments from colleagues to help my theme become more successful I would like to put my ideal of having functional rooms for teaching foreign language I sincerely thanks! Ba Thuoc, May 17 th 2021 I hereby undertake this is my own action research, not copy from others I promise to take all responsibilities if ever CERTIFIED BY PRINCIPAL WRITER Trinh Cong Dinh Dao Thi Thu 18 REFERENCES English Teaching Methodology Nguyen Thi Vân Lam, M.A, Ngo Đinh Phuong, Ph.D, 2007 English textbook 3, 4, Education Publishing House of Vietnam Ship or Sheep? An intermediate pronunciation course/ Third edition, Ann Baker How to Teach Pronunciation, Gerald Kelly, Pearson Longman, 2000 Tips for Teaching Pronunciation: A Practical Approach, Linda Lane, Pearson Longman, 2010 English Phonology and Pronunciation Teaching, Pamela Rogerson-Revell, Continuum International Publishing Group, 2011 Website: http://www.englishclub.com/pronunciation/index.htm http://www.fonetiks.org/shiporsheep/ http://violet.vn http://.tienganh123.com http://youtube.com/watch 19 ... experiment in class 4A at Lam Truong Primary School and got the desired results Therefore, I boldly give my experience on "Some measurements to improve pronunciation in class 4A at Lam Truong primary school" ... projectors,… are not fully invested 2.2.2 The reality of teaching English pronunciation at Lam Truong primary school From the beginning stage of teaching English at Lam Truong primary school, ... the pronunciation ability of students at class 4A from the beginning of the school year and obtained these following results 5 Good Class Not good Incorrect Total pronunciation pronunciation pronunciation