(Luận văn thạc sĩ) 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 1

LIST OF TABLES
Reasons why students do not like pronunciation activities

19

Table 2

Students' errors in producing sounds

20

Table 3

Students' stress on corrective stressed syllables

21

Table 4

Students' rhythm

21

Table 5

Students' intonation

22

Table 6

Students' linking sounds performance

22

Table 7

Aspects of pronunciation to be taught at Crazy Ones English

24

Center
Table 8

Students' interest in pronunciation lessons

28

Table 9

Students' opinions on effective factors in studying

29

pronunciation
Table 10 Students' opinions on the benefits and degree of changes they

30

have made after using multimedia in learning pronunciation
Table 11 Comparison of students' pronunciation of English sounds in the pre-

30

test and the post-test
Table 12 Students' stress on corrective stressed syllables

31

Table 13 Comparison of students' pronunciation of English rhythm in the pre-

31

test and the post-test
Table 14 Comparison of students' pronunciation of English intonation in the

32

pre-test and the post-test
Table 15 Comparison of students' pronunciation of English linking sounds at
the pre-test and the post-test

iii

33

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

COEC

Crazy Ones English Center

L2

Second Language

iv


TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................... i
ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................. ii
LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................. iii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS................................................................................. iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS ..........................................................................................v
PART A: INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................1
1.

Rationale ............................................................................................................1

2.

Aims of the study ...............................................................................................2

3.

Research question..............................................................................................2

4.

Methods of the study .........................................................................................2

5.

Scope of the Study .............................................................................................2

6.

Significance of the study ...................................................................................3

7.

Organization of the study .................................................................................3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT.....................................................................................5
CHAPTER 1. LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................5
1.1.

Pronunciation Teaching............................................................................5

1.1.1. Definition of pronunciation .......................................................................5
1.1.2. The role of pronunciation in language teaching .......................................5
1.1.3. Aspects of pronunciation in language teaching ........................................5
1.1.4. Approaches in pronunciation teaching .....................................................8
1.2.

Multimedia .................................................................................................9

1.2.1. Definition of Multimedia ...........................................................................9
1.2.2 Multimedia in language learning ...............................................................9
1.2.3 Multimedia in teaching English pronunciation .......................................11
CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY .........................................................................14
2.1. Action research ...............................................................................................14
2.1.1 Definition..................................................................................................14

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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
1. Recapitulation .......................................................................................................36
2. 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

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PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. 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.
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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.
2. 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
3. Research question
This study is supposed to answer these questions:
(1) What do 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?
4. 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.
5. Scope of the Study
This study focuses on using multimedia for teaching pronunciation to Pre-

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Intermediate students in Crazy Ones English Center. All of the efforts to teach
students at other levels and/or at other English centers and institutions with different
techniques are out of the scope of the study.
6. Significance of the study
Pronunciation has often been used to evaluate the cohesion and fluency of
speakers. Whether sitting for an exam assessing speaking skill or participating in a
job interviews, candidates who can speak cohesively and fluently take advantages.
Good pronunciation is important for people who want to improve their speaking
skill. Moreover, they can also understand others more easily and vice versa.
However, to be good at learning pronunciation is very difficult for students.
The research was carried out to find out the applicability of multimedia in teaching
and learning English pronunciation to help students at Crazy Ones English Center
improve their speaking skill and confidence while communicating in English. The
author hopes that the results of the study could contribute for the English center in
teaching and learning English pronunciation. Besides, he also hopes that this study
could be a useful reference for both teachers and students in finding an innovative
way to achieve students‟ progress in English pronunciation field.

7. Organization of the study
This study includes three parts:
Part A: Introduction introduces the rationale for the research, the aims of the
study, research questions, the methods, the scope, the significance and the
organization of the study.
Part B: Development includes three chapters, reports on the main contents of
the study. Chapter 1 reviews necessary theories and studies related to the topic of
the research. Then, chapter 2 shows the methodology of the study. Finally, in
chapter 3, the study has been carried out at the Crazy Ones English Center is
described.

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Part C: Conclusion deals with the recapitulation as well as the limitations and
suggestions for further studies.

4


PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1. LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1.

Pronunciation Teaching
1.1.1. Definition of pronunciation
"Pronunciation" is defined as " the way in which a word or language is

pronounced" (Macmillan Dictionary, 2009)
1.1.2. The role of pronunciation in language teaching

From the late 1960s to 1980s, pronunciation teaching was not considered as
much important because it was not admitted as a part of communicative competence
(Pennington & Richards, 1986). In the traditional language teaching, learners
usually learnt speaking and improved pronunciation ability themselves. Although
the communicative language teaching had been finally the cutting edge,
pronunciation instruction were often ignored.
However, later researchers point out the change of view to pronunciation.
From the middle of 1980s, Pronunciation had been put in to its' significance to
communicative language instruction more than just part of linguistic (Grant, 1995;
Pen-nington & Richards, 1986). Morley (1991: 488) claims, "Intel-ligible
pronunciation is an essential component of communicative competence". In another
research, Isaacs (2009:2) emphasizes the importance of pronunciation teaching as
"the prominence in the structural approach to teaching (audiolingualism)".
1.1.3. Aspects of pronunciation in language teaching
When discussing about pronunciation, people often talk about sounds and
rules of making sounds, however pronunciation contains much more than just the
phonemes, they are: stress, intonation, linking, rhythm...
The smallest segments of sounds called phonemes. There are forty-four
phonemes divided into: vowels and consonants.
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Vowels are sounds that are produced when the airstream is voiced and is not
obstructed but is shaped by the tongue and lips.
Consonants are sounds that, when produced, obstruct somehow the airflow.
In addition, teaching pronunciation can become unproductive if teaching
“individual sounds without establishing some basic understanding of the English
system of rhythm and melody” (Gilbert, 2008:30). He builds up the “English
prosody” in order to obtain the L2‟s rhythm then “make it easier for students to
pronounce L2 sounds.” His “Prosody Pyramid" performs “peak”, “stress”, “focus

word”, and “thought group” from top to bottom. He dignify the “thought group”
because it supports the listeners understand the speakers more effortless.
When speaking fast and unconsciously, English people often use linking.
According to BBC Learning English "Linking is a way of joining the pronunciation
of two words so that they are easy to say and flow together smoothly."
Pronouncing sounds individually is different from pronouncing sounds in a
phrase or a sentence. Besides, there are always important or information words
which tend to be in strong form and less important word or structural words which
tend to be in weak form when making utterances. These structural words will be
changed into schwa sounds and are not pronounced clearly. Understanding weak
form and practicing it can help learners improve not only their fluent speaking but
also listening capacity. “Depending on the environments in which they are found,
vowels become schwa in unstressed syllables, phonemes are dropped, phonemes are
added, and phonemes are changed to become more like the phonemes around
them.” (Brown, 2012:3).
Standard pronunciation is continuously in discussing like what kind of
English pronunciation should we teach students. Teachers need to notice leaners
about the standard accent using connected speech. The standard accent here can be
British English or American English because these types of accent can describe the
connected speech the best. Arthur (2001:1) affirmed: "those two „traditional‟
Standard Englishes [i.e. British Standard English, and American Standard English]

6


co-exist with many other Englishes in the UK, the US, and elsewhere as part of a
„world English‟ or with a range of „world Englishes‟ and further Standard
Englishes have begun to assert themselves more potently than before, in for
example Australia (AusSE), Canada (Can SE), and the Philippines (PhilSE)”.
In teaching pronunciation, Wharton & Race (1999:28) insist on the

importance of the correct intonation because “inappropriate intonation may mean
that they „give the wrong message‟ when they speak”
Furthermore, Brown (2012) affirms that “Learning the Phonemes of English
Is Not Enough” and “Learning the phonemes of English is only the first step to
learning clear pronunciation. The phonemes are just the basic units, and if teachers
never show students how the basic units fit together, the students will continue to
sound foreign.” In addition, the solution is to teach connected speech in order to
help ESL/EFL utilize pronunciation smoother in daily speech.
One more thing is that learners need to identify the strong form and weak
form, especially the schwa sound. When they pay more attention to the weak form
they can speak faster, more naturally and understand the conversation more easily.
In daily conversation, the given phonemes can change due to the context
surrounded, the purpose of speakers or the influence of phonemes nearby. The
problem here is that learners cannot realize this phenomenon and as a result, they
cannot understand the utterance correctly. It happens more often in informal or
casual speech in everyday conversation, in particularly in reduction phrase of
American English. For example, native speakers say “gividame” instead of “give it
to me” or “wanna go?” instead of “do you want to go”. “In casual situation, we are
sometimes less careful with pronunciation and grammar” (Mojsin, 2009:115) so
that we have to be more careful with informal spoken English.
Some learners have an erroneous idea that it is a good way of speaking fast
to be a fluent speaker. They even do not know when to pause in a sentence. It is
necessary to notice that speaking fast is not always the fluency but the correct
pauses. Zellner (1994: 46-47) explains that “pauses provide additional time during

7


which the final output can be planned and programmed. This hypothesis explains
some common observations, such as when a speaker thinks a long time before

providing a very quick, clear, and well-constructed reply. On the other hand, it can
also be observed that sometimes, a speaker begins to reply at once, and then has to
stop or retrace his steps to clarify his message. In this case, the hypothesisproposes
that “speech has raced ahead of cognitive activity” and that the pause reflects the
time needed for the cognitive planning process to catch up.” In another word, we
can understand that speakers have to know how to use rhythm, how to use sentence
stresses and pauses correctly.
1.1.4. Approaches in pronunciation teaching
According to Celce-Murcia, Brinton and Goodwin (1996:2), there have been
two basic approaches in teaching pronunciation through the years: the IntuitiveImitative Approach and the Analytic-Linguistic Approach
The Intuitive-Imitative Approach: This approach uses a model of sounds
for the standard for learners to listen and repeat. Learners can imitate the sounds
from a various type of multimedia such as audio, CD players, videos...
The Analytic-Linguistic Approach: This approach analyzes pronunciation
in the segmental level (using phonetic chart, articulator descriptions ...) to help
learners understand the use of pronunciation. Teacher mainly utilize the AnalyticLinguistic Approaches to add supplement to The Intuitive-Imitative Approaches
Yates (2002:1) suggests that top-down and bottom-up approaches can be
useful in teaching pronunciation with different purpose of teaching.
Bottom-up Approach: Teachers have students listen to individual sounds or
phonemes to decode the meaning of what they hear. They also need to work with
stress, intonation, and rhythm.
Top-down Approach: Teachers have students listen to the overall meaning
of what they hear, use their background knowledge of the topic to create
expectations about what it must all mean.

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The later approach, integrated approach, emphasizes its effective integration
of pronunciation instruction (Levis & Grant, 2003).

Integrated Approach: This approach has been used by many researchers
who need to apply it for teaching difficult sounds (Yong, Lin, Lianxia & Yinying,
2012). The purpose of the 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 drill,
training of pronunciation, visual and kinetic coordination. In summary, it motivates
students to get knowledge and skilled by practicing and solving problems.
1.2. Multimedia
1.2.1. Definition of Multimedia

Due to the development of mordern technology , multimedia provides the
use of multimedia software and internet which are very powerful in communication
today. In gerneral, multimedia is a very popular term in the domain of computers
which refers to the “present text, graphics, video, animation and sound in an
integrated way” (Webopedia, 2006). However, multimedia is not only used in
computer fields but also in so many others. Banerji and Ghosh (2010:2) mention
about multimedia that almost people have thought about its definition so far:
When used as a noun, „multimedia‟ refers to all the technology and devicces for
communication of information. It means the combined use of several forms of
audio and visual media such as text, graphics, audio, animation and video. For
example, when we say „telephone communication technology is evolving into
multimedia such as videophone‟ it is used as noun. When used as an adjective, the
term „multimedia‟ describes presentations involving the use of several media
simultaneously. For example, when we say „a multimedia presentation for the class‟
it is used as an adjective.

1.2.2 Multimedia in language learning
In this study, the author would like to apply multimedia in learning
pronunciation so that he focuses on the educational multimedia. Multimedia
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learning, as in SEG‟s definition (2008:1), refers to “the delivering instruction
including visual and auditory information for students to construct knowledge”. In
fact, many researchers show the numerous of benefits of multimedia in teaching. To
emphasize the essentiality of application of Multimedia Technology in English
communication teaching, Chirag (2013: 117) point out seven effects: (i) To sow
students‟ studying arouses; (ii) To improve students‟ oral skill; (iii) To help student
understand and gain knowledge about Western culture; (iv) To get a better cause in
teaching; (v) to set up a better interaction between teachers and students; (vi) To
make a context for language teaching purpose; (vii) To make content of lessons
more flexible.
In terms of cognitive theory of multimedia learning as described by Mayer
(2005: 46-47), it is easier for students to learn from multimedia than words
individual. Earlier, Brown (2000:122) stated that “most successful learners utilize
both visual and auditory input” and he continued to emphasize “slight preferences
one way or the other may distinguish one learner from another, an important factor
for classroom instruction.” That means to the learners with communicative purpose,
teachers should use visual aids with “visual input” and “auditory input” to instruct
them about the lesson.
In his research, Desai (2013:17) finds that “Computer Multimedia” is
suitable in teaching English according to three types of learners “in English
irrespective”; those are “Gender of the students”, “Urban and Rural area”, and
“irrespective of Level of IQ”. He also concludes that “Computer Multimedia” is
better than the “traditional teaching method” in helping students practicing and
learning English because when using this new method “they have the potentiality to
motivate, to reinforce, to inform, to guide, to assist, to enhance retention, etc.”
In recommending the using of Information and communication technologies,
Wharton & Race (1999:62-71) give the full advice in five tips: “Helping learners to
get started with e-mail”; “Setting up computer conferencing ;“Choosing computeraided packages”; “Designing computer-delivered assessment elements”; “Giving

10


learners feedback using e-mail”. They claim that it is very useful for students with
thier self-study and “they can receive a great deal of useful feedback from each
other, in the comfort and privacy of a seat at a computer terminal.” Together with
that, teachers can give feedback to students by email in a very convenient way.
1.2.3 Multimedia in teaching English pronunciation
In the developing of the information technology, students have been more
familiar in using computer for the learning purpose and many educators have found
the extensive of taking its advantages in teaching. Besides, practicing time in oral
skills at class is often limited so that students do not satisfy with the minified time
of drill. Su (2008:102), in his study, finds that pronunciation software helps solving
the problems of time lacking effectively. Some other advantages of using software
in learning that he shows are the students will not face with being “blamed”, “,made
afraid”, or “embarrassed” when learning. However it would be better to be
“complimentary” between the real teachers and the computer. He suggests that
teachers should prepare well to apply pronunciation software; and, otherwise, not
only computers but teachers should give feedback to students‟ mistakes because
they prefer teachers to “indicate their mistakes, and tell them how to correct their
pronunciation”
Learning pronunciation can be boring. Therefore, Por & Fong (2011: 245)
think that using multimedia “makes learning pronunciation effective and a fun
experience”. They, then, believe it will improve students‟ pronunciation ability and
learning motivation. However, to do so, Zahra (2001:256) recommends a good
computer training for students must be done.
Poor pronunciation can lead to the misunderstanding between the speakers
and listeners. This happens with both beginners and advanced learners. Wharton &
Race (1999:29) give a suggestion on how to teach pronunciation to help students

overcome the pronunciation mistakes by using recording tool. They believe that by
this listening to students‟ recording teacher can easily find out their mistakes and
difficulties in order to enhance their speaking ability. Having the same thought that
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recording can helps students in learning pronunciation, Lane & Brown (2010:12)
show that homework is easily taken by “short recordings of either spontaneous
speech or a controlled warm-up exercise followed by a freer speaking task”.
Feedback and instruction can be sent easily by teacher sending email or even “live
or recorded feedback”. They also propose that the feedback can be employed into
“peer feedback Activities” at class.
One of three modes of practice is given in pronunciation teaching by Morley
(1991: 509) is “Imitative Speaking Practice” which contains “self-access audioand/or videotaped materials” for intermediate to advanced students. This mode of
practice concentrates on the fixed pronunciation/accent of the speakers in the videos
and needs “contextualized practice”
Based on the Plass and Jones‟ (2005) model connecting the theories of
second language acquisition and the cognitive theory of multimedia learning,
Quynh (2009: 3) propose another model which enhances the speaking skills in
“face-to-face class”.

It is noticed from her application that this type of her video drill has a
limitation to the level of students. This practice will not suitable for the beginners

12


because they would get a lot of difficulties in understanding the content of the clips
and, most of all, would feel depressive in presenting and imitating the long speech.
It is, of course, beneficial to the intermediate to advanced learners who will be

excited about discovering new information in the clips and expressing themselves in
the “face to face class”.

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CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY
2.1. Action research
2.1.1 Definition
Bassey (1998: 93) describes „action research as an enquiry which is carried
out in order to understand, to evaluate and then to change, in order to improve
educational practice‟
Winter and Munn-Giddings‟s (2001: 8) state about action research as a“study
of a social situation carried out by those involved in that situation in order to
improve both their practice and the quality of their understanding‟, captures the
essence of the philosophy underlying the action research approach.”
2.1.2 Why action research was chosen for this study?
Action research provides better practice than theory for teachers to apply into
a specific class or course so that to develop the teaching and learning in a particular
class room, teachers oreducational practitioners should make an antion research. In
another word, it is paticipatory reseach which requires teachers take an impact into
teaching in order to make an positive results. The results are most profitable for the
aim of the environment of the study instead of only observing or analysing. Besides,
each class has its own issue depending on the level of students, what the students
enquire to get, the ages of students, students‟ motivation or the purpose of their
learning. To develop the teaching and learning, teacher needs to make a research to
find out the problems (what is exactly the problem that teachers should care about)
in their classroom then make an action to sovle the issues. Using action research,
teachers could apply the practice into a real classroom continuously in order to
enhance their teaching which sooner or later they have to make.

The author of this study has the purpose of enhancing his own students‟
learning in pronunciation without the ambition of straithening out the issue of the
whole educational system. The study is made to identify what happens at his
classroom in pronunciation course and make a decision on how to improve
professional practices.The authour totally believes that the change of English
14


pronunciation training could assist the students‟ improvement. It concludes
questions to test his idea about teaching practices and systematic approachso as to
grasp more about learning progress.
2.2 Context of the study
2.2.1 Crazy Ones English Center
Crazy Ones, a young English Center in Hanoi, was founded in the early of
2013. Its main duty is to train the communicative skills to young students from
universities in Hanoi (mostly from the ages of 18 to 27). The students at the centers
are students who have learnt English from high school and university but they have
difficulties in communicating in English, especially poor pronunciation. The class at
this center contains a small number of students at about fifteen for each. The
classroom is well equipped with comfortable teaching and learning conveniences
(air conditional, large learning classroom...) multimedia device (computers,
microphone, projector, screen...)
The pronunciation course is nine weeks long. Students study two lessons per
week. Each lesson lasts for two hours. On the first three weeks, students study the
segmental elements, that is vowels and consonants. On the last six weeks, they
study the super-segmental level containing stress, intonation, linking...
2.2.2 Participants
The participants of this study were 30 pre-intermediate students who have
learnt basic pronunciation at Crazy Ones English center for three weeks. They are
from the ages of 18 to 27. They are 23 females and 7 males. There are 3 female

teachers for the survey questionnaires from the ages of 24 to 28 at Crazy Ones
English center. All the teachers and students come from different parts of Vietnam,
but living in Hanoi.
Although all students have learnt the basic pronunciation rules, they have
difficulty in pronouncing fluently, especially at the sentence level. For example,

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they often ignore the stress and intonation when communicating. Most of them have
not learnt pronunciation at school and lack of practicing opportunity.
2.2.3 Multimedia used in Crazy Ones English Center
Although there are good multimedia devices supported, they are used very
little. They just sometimes show Powerpoint on the screen, play the CD or just
organize some games, English songs. Not all the advantages of multimedia are
inserted. Understanding this, leaders and teachers at this center are trying to employ
multimedia into teaching pronunciation more effectively.
2.3 Instruments
*Reflection
The researcher, as a teacher, observed own pronunciation class to discover
students' performance, particularly their learning attitude and English pronunciation,
at Crazy Ones English Center. Reflection was noted down after each lessons in
order to help him to add more data to make conclusion about the students'
pronunciation problems and to see their progress during the research.
*Questionnaires
There were two questionnaires for students (on week 2 and 9). It aimed to
collect students' information and their attitude at learning pronunciation then to
compare the result of the pre-test and the post-test to see their progress
*Semi-structural interview
One semi-structural interview was conducted for teachers on week 2. It was a

collecting data from teachers to find their opinion about the important degree of
multimedia tools to teaching pronunciation and solutions improve students'
performance when using them.
* Pre-test & Post-test

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The researcher conducted a pre-test and a post-test by using audio recording
software (audacity) in order to find out students' pronunciation errors and examine
their improvement after applying multimedia in learning and teaching.
There were two recording tests to evaluate the pronunciation ability of
students. The author also used the data for analyzing the progress of students. The
first test was given to students on the week 2 and the second one was taken on the
week 9. The first recording test is to find out students' pronunciation errors in
pronouncing sounds, stress, rhythm, word linking and intonation. The second on is
to assess the effectiveness of using multimedia in teaching pronunciation.

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