These items were clustered into three small groups such as 1) Students’ ability (item 2 and item 12); 2) Teachers’ role (item 5, 8, 14, and 18); and 3) Instruction (item 6, 7 and 9). In the following section, I will present the overall mean score of the possible reasons why students mispronounce some typical sounds when reading phonetic transcription in dictionary and the mean scores of each group and some detailed mean scores of each item in every group. The mean scores were gained from Descriptive Statistic Tests.
The possible reasons why students mispronounce some typical sounds when reading phonetic transcription in dictionary
Table 4.4. The overall mean score of the possible reasons why students mispronounce some typical sounds when reading phonetic transcription in dictionary
N = 53 M (SD) Min – Max Possible 3.35 (1.06) 1 – 5 Reasons
From table 4.4., we observe that the minimum score was Min= 1 (Never), the maximum score was Max= 5 (Often) and the mean score M = 3.35 (SD= 1.06) signify that students often mispronounce some typical sounds when reading phonetic transcription in dictionary because of these reasons. Although they are not high as a whole, they vary (Never to Often) depending upon the mean scores of each group and each item in every group. Besides, the result also shows that there are some students who never know these reasons while the rest students often know (from 75% to 90%). For more information about the possible reasons why students mispronounce some typical sounds when reading phonetic transcription in dictionary, more Descriptive Statistic Tests were run, of which results are presented in the following part.
4.4.1. The mean scores of each group and some details mean scores of each item in every group
To gain more insights into the possible reasons why students mispronounce some typical sounds when reading phonetic transcription in dictionary, I ran Descriptive Statistic Tests for each group. Table 4.4.1. presents the results of these descriptive tests.
Table 4.4.1. The mean score of three groups in possible reasons why students mispronounce some typical sounds when reading phonetic transcription in dictionary
Clusters M (SD) Min – Max N = 53
1. Students’ ability 3.74 (.95 ) 2 - 6 2. Teachers’ role 3.34 (1.37) 1 - 6 3. Instruction 2.97 (1.30) 1 - 5
Now, let us look at each group on the basis of table 4.4.1. and of the rating scale of the level of enactments from 1 – indicating “Never” to 6 – indicating “Usually”. In between, 2 indicate “Rarely”, 3 “Seldom”, 4 “Sometimes”, and 5 “Often”.
The mean scores of the possible reasons why students mispronounce some typical sounds when reading phonetic transcription in dictionary such as Students’ ability (group 1), Teachers’ role (group 2), or Instruction (group 3) go from M= 2.97 (indicating
“Rarely”) to M= 3.74 (indicating “Seldom”), which do not reach average level 4 -
“Sometimes” (from 1% to 25%) of the six-point rating scale signify that these activities in each group were not implemented well. The Minimum score (Min= 1) and Maximum score (Max= 6) imply that these activities were never occurred in high school while others were usually occurred in high school.
The mean score of group one Students’ ability (M = 3.74, SD= .95) reach scale 3
“Seldom” (10% - 25%) in the six-point scale. This mean score implies that students’
understanding of phonetic transcriptions was so-so even very poor (only more than 25%).
Besides, as we mention in research instruments (Chapter three), the questionnaire asked about personal details and experience and language learning attitudes and perspectives. In addition, basic information about students and their English language educational background is presented, e.g. major, high school attended, English learning experiences are also mentioned. In fact, the participants were selected sharing the same characteristics such as attending high schools in Mekong Delta and ranging their English level as “so- so” or “poor”. As a consequence, I know that, most of students come from the countryside of some provinces in Mekong Delta such as Soc Trang, Tra Vinh, Ben Tre, etc. In these provinces, students were seldom taught or practiced pronunciation. On the other hand, they do not have environment to practice English pronunciation because they have to study many other subjects, do housework, do as baby-sitter even earn money. The evidence is that most of participants admitted their pronunciation so-so or poor. In summary, these details could confirm the low level of students’ understanding of phonetic transcriptions (a little more than 25%, M = 3.74, SD= .95).
I am now presenting the level of enactments in group 2, Teachers’ role.
Table 4.4.1. shows that Teachers’ role was not presented effectively in schools.
We can see the mean score of this group is M= 3.34, (SD= 1.37) cannot afford to reach level “Sometimes” of the rating scale, indicating that teachers did not perform their role quite well. The Minimum score (Min= 1) and Maximum score (Max= 6) also show that
not every observed teacher did a good job in these facilitating activities in the classroom.
As a result, most of participants reported that high school teachers rarely focused on teaching pronunciation - an important part even the most important part to help students orient their learning (item 14, M= 2.89, SD= 1.51). Moreover, about 10% - 25% high school teachers taught students how to use a dictionary (item 8, M= 3.28, SD= 1.51).
They seldom encouraged or asked students to read phonetic alphabet in dictionary (item 5, M= 3.92, SD= 1.86 and item 14, M= 3.26, SD= 1.72). Table 4.4.1.a presents the results.
Table 4.4.1.a. Descriptive Statistics of teachers’ role
N = 53 M (SD) Min – Max Item 5 3.92 (1.86) 1 - 6 Item 8 3.28 (1.51) 1 - 6 Item 14 2.89 (1.51) 1 - 6 Item 18 3.26 (1.72) 1 – 6
We now move to Instruction.
Back to table 4.4., we can see that the mean score of group 3 (M= 2.97, SD= 1.30).
This mean score indicates that the instructors perform their job badly (about 20%). With the Minimum score (Min= 1) and Maximum score (Max= 5), the result shows that instructors did not express their responsibility well in the classroom as well.
Table 4.4.1.b. Descriptive Statistics of Instructions
N = 53 M (SD) Min - Max Item 6 3.28 (1.80) 1 - 6 Item 7 3.28 (1.75) 1 - 6 Item 9 2.36 (1.38) 1 – 6
From Table 4.4.1.b., we can observe that the students were rarely forced to use dictionary when studying pronunciation in high school” (item 9, M= 2.36, SD= 1.38).
Moreover, the statistics revealed that the students were seldom instructed how to read phonetic alphabet in dictionary in high school (item 6) and were trained to recognize and produce English sounds in high school (item 7), which are seen as M= 3.28, SD= 1.80 and M= 3.28, SD= 1.75, respectively.
In short, possible reasons why students have problems in their pronunciation learning include three groups. They are Students’ ability, Teachers’ role, and Instruction.
As a result, students’ understanding of phonetic transcriptions was so-so even very poor (only more than 25%) while Teachers’ role was not presented effectively in schools and instructors did not express their responsibility well in the classroom as well.
In this chapter, three main reports have been made: 1) The level of students’
awareness of using dictionary; 2) The frequency levels of students’ using dictionary to practice pronunciation; and 3) The possible reasons why students have problems in their pronunciation learning. In the next chapter, pedagogical implementations will be suggested on the basis of the discussion of the reported statistic results.
CHAPTER 5
SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION
Chapter four has supplied the study results of the research. In the last chapter, I will present summary and discussion about the findings of researcher. Besides, pedagogical implications, limitations of the study, suggestions for further research are also discussed in this chapter.
First of all, my study has been conducted and reported in the five chapters.
Chapter one has presented the rationale of the research; chapter two discussed the literature; chapter three has described in details how the study was conducted; and finally, chapter five has evaluated and interpreted the implications of the results regarding the writer’s original hypothesis. Concerning direct answers and clarification of how study was conducted and how the researcher had arrived at the results, the appendices are included in the following pages.
Second of all, the purpose of the study was to investigate the level of students’
awareness of using dictionary to practice pronunciation. This study was motivated by the hypotheses that students often have great difficulty with pronunciation including consonant and vowel sounds; students often realize the importance of using dictionary to practice pronunciation; and students use dictionary to practice pronunciation frequently.
The findings in the study suggested that students are often aware of the important role of using dictionary. On the other hand, they sometimes use dictionary to practice pronunciation. Also, they have some difficulties in pronouncing English sounds.
However, comparing the findings of the research with my original hypothesis, the findings of this research do not completely support my hypothesis in some aspect.
Firstly, it was hypothesized in my study that students often mispronounce some typical sounds when reading phonetic transcription in dictionary (Hypothesis 1). The result is that students have lots of difficulties in pronouncing English sounds when they read English words from dictionary as I show them in Appendix 6. Thus, this result embraces the hypothesis. Secondly, I hypothesized that “Students’ awareness of using dictionary to practice pronunciation was high.” (Hypothesis 2). Actually, the mean score of level of students’ awareness was found to be M= 5.05 (SD= .72) implying that the level of
students’ awareness in using dictionary to practice pronunciation is high. Hence, we can conclude that this result fits the hypothesis. However, to frequency level of students’
using dictionary in their learning pronunciation, I found out that students sometimes use dictionary to practice pronunciation (less than 50%) (M= 4.42, SD= .98) while I hypothesized that “Students did not use dictionary to practice pronunciation” (Hypothesis 3). The result does not match the hypothesis. To sum up, it could be concluded that the hypothesis was relatively rationale.
From the findings of my study, I want to propose English students and teachers for several suggestions. Firstly, English students should use dictionary to practice pronunciation frequently because of with regular practice; they can improve their performance and feel confident (Avery & Ehrlich, 1992) while Ur (2002) states no matter how much students learn through lessons, they will need to learn by practice, on their own. Besides, Spada (1997) and Pennington (1994) showed that clear instruction was important to the effectiveness of pronunciation training. Thus, teachers should focus on teaching pronunciation; especially instruct students how to read phonetic transcription from dictionary. Furthermore, teachers should ask students use dictionary in practicing pronunciation inside as well as outside classrooms to overcome pronunciation problems.
As any previous studies, my research has some limitations. Firstly, this is the first time I do the research so my study can hardly avoid some limitations because of lacking of experiences of research. However, a big problem for my research is about related studies because I did not find out any material related to using dictionary in practicing pronunciation. Besides, my study was carried out in a small size of the sample, with only 53 participants, the samples were not representative and the results were not generalized to all English majors. Therefore, the further research could be conducted with larger sizes of the participants in the experimental design. This study will focus on finding out some strategies of using dictionary in practicing pronunciation effectively. Teachers can teach these strategies in the pronunciation class for students to practice their pronunciation in order for them to practice and improve their pronunciation outcome.
The findings of this research mark a significant point in raising awareness for English instructors of asking students to use dictionary in practicing pronunciation. By helping students form a habit of using dictionary in pronouncing pronunciation, we could
help them to be confident in their learning pronunciation; their pronunciation can be improved and students will become good learners.
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