integrating pronunciation elements into listening lessons for first-year students in backan community college = kết hợp các yếu tố phát âm trong giờ học nghe cho sinh viên năm thứ nhất trường cao đẳng cộng đồng bắc kạn

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
……………… ***………………….






ĐẶNG HOÀNG ÁNH



INTEGRATING PRONUNCIATION ELEMENTS INTO LISTENING
LESSONS FOR FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS IN BACKAN
COMMUNITY COLLEGE.

KẾT HỢP CÁC YẾU TỐ PHÁT ÂM TRONG GIỜ HỌC NGHE CHO SINH VIÊN
NĂM THỨ NHẤT TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG CỘNG ĐỒNG BẮC KAN.

M.A MINOR THESIS


Field: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY
Code: 60-14-10

HÀ NỘI, 2011

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
……………… ***………………….






ĐẶNG HOÀNG ÁNH



INTEGRATING PRONUNCIATION ELEMENTS INTO LISTENING
LESSONS FOR FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS IN BACKAN
COMMUNITY COLLEGE.

KẾT HỢP CÁC YẾU TỐ PHÁT ÂM TRONG GIỜ HỌC NGHE CHO SINH VIÊN
NĂM THỨ NHẤT TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG CỘNG ĐỒNG BẮC KAN.

M.A MINOR THESIS


Field: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY
Code: 60-14-10

Supervisor: Dr. Lê Văn Canh





HÀ NỘI, 2011
v

TABLE OF CONTENT

CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT. Error! Bookmark not defined.
ABSTRACT Error! Bookmark not defined.i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii
PREFACE iError! Bookmark not defined.
TABLE OF CONTENT…………………………………………………………………… …v
LIST OF TABLES. Error! Bookmark not defined.i
LIST OF FIGURES ix
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1
1.1. Rationale to the Study 2
1.2. Objectives of the Study. 2
1.3. Research questions. 2
1.4. The scope of the study. 3
1.5. Organization of the Study. 3
CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 4
2.1. Some main features of pronunciation teaching. 4
2.1.1 The importance of pronunciation and pronunciation teaching. 4
2.1.2 Models of pronunciation 5
2.1.3 Intelligibility 7
2.2. Approaches of the teaching of pronunciation 8

2.2.1 Bottom-up and top-down approach. 8
2.2.2 Intuitive-imitative and Analytic-linguistic approach. 9
vi

2.2.3 Communicative approach. 9
2.2.4 An integrated approach. Error! Bookmark not defined.
2.3. Integrating pronunciation into listening Error! Bookmark not defined.
2.4. Empirical research on the integration of pronunciation into listening. Error! Bookmark
not defined.
CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.1 The context of the study Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.2 Subjects 15
3.3. Instruments 16
3.3.1 The tests. 16
3. 3.2 Questionnaires 16
3.4. Data Collection Procedure 17
3.4.1 Treatment 17
3.4.1 The tests 19
3.4.3 Questionnaires 19
CHAPTER 4 PRESENTATION AND THE ANALYSIS OF RESULTS Error! Bookmark
not defined.
4.1 Results and analysis. Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.1.1 Results from the pretest and six progress tests. Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.1.2 Results from the pretest and post test. 26
4.1.3 Results from the students’ questionnaires. 27
4.2 Discussion Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.2.1 The students’ scores in pronunciation tests. Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.2.2 The questionnaires 34
vii

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION 35
5.1 Major findings. 35
5.2 Limitations of the Study. 36
5.3 Recommendations for Future Research. 36
5.4 Conclusion 37
REFERENCES 38
APPENDIX…………………………………………………………………………………….I





















1

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale to the Study
To many learners, learning English is very difficult because of many differences between it
and Vietnamese. Pronunciation is considered as one of the most difficult one. The approaches
to teaching pronunciation have been changed according to the EFL teaching methodological
changes. However, EFL teachers still face up with many problems in finding ways to teach
pronunciation effectively. In terms of an integrated approach to teaching English, many
researchers have agreed with the views of integrating pronunciation into all the areas of
language work. The study was conducted to seek the answers to which extent the integration
of pronunciation elements into listening lessons affects the improvement of L2 learners’
pronunciation in an English classroom in Vietnam.
2. Objectives of the Study.
The research has two main objectives:
1. To examine the extent to which integrating pronunciation elements into listening
lessons improve L2 learners’ pronunciation.
2. To examine the attitudes of Vietnamese learners of English about the integration of
pronunciation elements into listening lessons.
3. Research questions.
The researcher aims at answering the two research questions:
a. What are the effects of the integration of pronunciation elements into listening
lessons to students’ pronunciation?
b. What are the students’ attitudes toward and perceptions of the integration of
pronunciation elements into listening lessons?
2

4. The scope of the study.
This is an action research with a focused group of 45 students in Backan Community
College.
5. Organization of the Study.
Chapter 1 includes the objectives, the scope, and the significance of the study.Chapter 2

provides a review of the literature on the approaches to pronunciation teaching. Chapter 3
presents the research methodology and the instruments used to collect data. Chapter 4 presents
the results of the study, along with analysis and discussion of the data. Chapter 5 offers a
summary of the findings of the study, conclusions, and suggestions for future research.













3

CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1. Some main features of pronunciation teaching.
2.1.1 The importance of pronunciation and pronunciation teaching.
Communication is the most important component of any human society. The role of
pronunciation and pronunciation teaching in second/foreign language learning has been
acknowledged by many researchers. All the researchers have an agreement on the role of the
teaching of pronunciation and encourage teachers to play the role as facilitators in students’
pronunciation learning.
2.1.2 Models of pronunciation
Even the diversity of how English is pronounced is real but what is common to all speakers of
English (the commonality) is much greater. Thus, it is believed that the ultimate target of both

the teaching and the learning of ESL pronunciation would be an intelligible accent. Because
There is no problem in allowing a distance exist between what is presented to the learner
(model) and an acceptable achieved performance by the learner’ ( Brown,1994, p. 40). Thus,
teachers must choose the appropriate materials for pronunciation teaching to help students to
be understood by varieties of listeners.
2.1.3 Intelligibility
It can be seen that teaching pronunciation should aim at an understandable pronunciation
rather than a perfect model. So, the overall aim is for learners to develop spoken English that
will serve their individual needs and allow them to form a positive image of themselves as
speakers of a foreign language.
2.2. Approaches of the teaching of pronunciation
Approaches to the teaching of pronunciation have changed throughout the recent history of
language teaching. The most important change is the movement from an emphasis on the
accurate production of individual speech sound to the concentration more on the broader,
4

communicative aspects of connected speech. There are different approaches of pronunciation
teaching such as bottom-up and top-down approach by Dalton (2003); Intuitive-Imitative and
analytic-linguistic approach by Murcia (1996); Communicative approach or integrated
approach by later researchers.
2.2.1 Bottom-up and top-down approach.
In the book “Teaching pronunciation” Dalton compared the two main approaches to
pronunciation teaching: the bottom-up and top-down approach. In the bottom-up approach,
teachers start with articulations of individual sounds and then focus on intonation. In the top-
down approach, teachers work with patterns of intonation and add individual sounds if
required. Most important, he emphasized that the choice of the approach depends on the
learning purposes and the stages.
2.2.2 Intuitive-imitative and Analytic-linguistic approach.
Celce-Murcia (1996) presents two general approaches to the teaching of pronunciation
including the intuitive- imitative approach and the analytic-linguistic approach. An Intuitive-

Imitative approach is related to the capacity of the learners in listening and imitating the
rhythms and sounds of the language and no explicit information is intervened. The quality of
phonograph records, tape records and language labs in the mid-twentieth century, and more
recently of audio-videocassettes and compact disc are considered to be good models for
learners. The second approach is believed to complement the first approach. Teachers use
information and tools such as alphabet, articulatory descriptions, charts of the vocal apparatus,
contrastive information and other supplementary materials to provide explicit information to
the learners and attention to the sounds and rhythm.
2.2.3 Communicative approach.
The researcher would go along with the views that pronunciation should be integrated into
listening and speaking skills development. And teachers should identify and deal with their
5

learners´ immediate pronunciation needs regarding the aural-oral activities of the language
course.
2.3. Integrating pronunciation into listening
With regard to the integration of pronunciation elements into listening, most researchers deal
with how and why the teaching affects students’ improvement of pronunciation. It can be
concluded that most researchers supported the integration of pronunciation into listening for
the following advantages: the authentic materials for pronunciation practice, the development
of the students’ awareness of elements of connected speech and the contribution to the
noticing process which supports students in pronunciation learning process.
2.4. Empirical research on the integration of pronunciation into listening.
There has been very little research on the integration of pronunciation into listening.
Knowledge of how the approach can be applied in an ESL setting is still limited. No research
has evaluated the use of this approach in an ESL classroom in the context of Vietnam. Thus,
the aim of this study is to fill this major research gap.

6

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY
This chapter presents the context of the study, the subjects of the study, the procedure of data
collection.
3.1 The context of the study
Backan Community College is a local public college located in the North of Vietnam. The
number of students in each class remains about 45-70 students. The classroom for English
lessons is not equipped with multimedia facilities. The teachers only used cassette players for
listening lessons.
3.2 Subjects
The subjects of this study were originally 45 first-year students in Backan College of
Community They were on average 20 years old. All were in Department of Education of
Backan Community College.
3.3. Instruments
Two research tools were used in this study: the tests( pre-test, post-test and progress tests) and
the questionnaires.
3.3.1 The pronunciation tests.
There are three kind of test including the pre-test, post-test and progress test. The tests were
designed by the researcher. The pre-test was administrated to measure the students’ ability of
pronunciation performance before the intervention. The post-test was designed with the
selected words and sentences from the pronunciation practice during twelve weeks in order to
measure the students’ ability of pronunciation performance after the intervention. The six
progress tests contained the words and sentences from the ones practiced during two previous

weeks. (Week 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12)
7

3. 3.2 Questionnaires
The questionnaires were administrated to get more information about their attitudes of the
treatment and their perception of its effects on their improvement of pronunciation. The
questionnaire includes three main parts.
3.4. Data Collection Procedure
3.4.1 Treatment
The treatment was a series of 24 pronunciation practice lessons. The aim of the treatments is
to raise the awareness of students in the two pronunciation elements consisting of stress and
intonation.
3.4.2 The tests.
The pretest was administrated to the students at the second week of the second semester. The
teacher collected the pretest for the score analysis. After 12 weeks of treatment, the post test
was given to check the extent to which the students improve their ability in producing stress
and intonation.During the 12 weeks of treatment, there were six tests which aim at exploring
how the scores changed after 12 weeks. The tests were administrated after every two week
(Week 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12).
3.4.3 Questionnaires
The questionnaires were delivered to the students after the intervention. The researcher
collected the data for further analysis.
8



CHAPTER 4 PRESENTATION AND THE ANALYSIS OF RESULTS
The scores of the pre-test, the post-test and six progress tests were analyzed by calculating
mean and standard deviation with the help of the SPSS program.
4.1 Results and analysis.

The researcher presented the results from the pronunciation tests (the pretest, six progress tests
and the post test)and compared the scores to find the differences of the scores to prove the
improvement of the students. Results from the students’ questionnaires were used to explore
the attitudes of the students toward the intervention.
4.2 Discussion
4.2.1 The students’ scores in pronunciation tests.
It can be concluded that the scores of the students changed after the intervention. From the
results in the pre-test and the post-test, there were great changes in the students’ scores.
Moreover, the scores of students changed after each progress tests. After every two weeks, it
can be seen that the difference of students’ scores seemed to be gradually greater. In
conclusion, the scores of the students in 12 weeks of intervention were proved statistically to
increase gradually as being compared with their scores before the intervention. It can be seen
that the improvement of students’ performance in pronunciation was caused by the
intervention in which the pronunciation elements were integrated into listening lessons.
4.2.3 The questionnaires
The positive responses to questions about the importance of pronunciation learning in general
and the studying of stress and intonation in particular showed that students mostly realize their
importance. In addition, analysis of students’ questionnaires revealed positive attitudes
towards the integration of pronunciation elements into listening lessons. Moreover, some
9

problems during the lessons such as the difficult words and fast speed of activities need to be
improved to meet the requirements of the learning process as given by the students’
questionnaires.
CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION
5.1 Major findings.
The most important conclusion that can be drawn from the above results is that the integration
of stress and intonation partly helped the students to progress in pronunciation learning in
terms of test scores.It must be remembered that the effects of the teaching were variable in
term of different levels of students. It must be noted that the scores of low-level students

increased much more than the ones of medium and high-level students. However, the
questionnaires data revealed that the students enjoyed learning pronunciation elements with
this new technique. All the students found the teaching was useful and fun, and considered it a
new way of learning English pronunciation.
5.2 Limitations of the Study.
Firstly, several students were absent for one or more of the pronunciation practice exercises.
This reduced the small size of the experiments and therefore reduced the possibility of the
results statistically significant. Secondly, the intervention was conducted in a short time (12
weeks), which limited the ability to clarify how the intervention affects the students’
pronunciation in longer time. In addition, there is a limitation in the study design with only
one group. It would be better if the author could examine the intervention in both an
experimental and a control group to find out the differences.
5. 3 Recommendations for Future Research.
For these above limitations of the study, the author would like to recommend future research
in with larger numbers of participants and the design of a control group to compare the results
of the intervention.It would have been preferable to conduct future research longer in order to
investigate the improvement of students’ pronunciation with a long time of the
10

intervention.The results of the test are mainly based on the recognition ability of the students
not the production of stress and intonation.
5.4 Conclusion.
The results in general revealed that the teaching is truly effective in helping students improve
the intelligible stress and intonation. The results from the students’ questionnaire also proved
that students are eager with the teaching and felt that their pronunciation ability of stress and
intonation are better after twelve weeks of practice. Much more study is needed so that we can
understand better how the integration of pronunciation elements affects the improvement of
students’ performance. In short, the study examined how the integration of the pronunciation
elements into listening lessons affect students’ pronunciation in a Vietnamese classroom. The
author suggests the technique as a possibility for teaching stress and intonation in

pronunciation lessons.