Applying shadowing method to improve speaking skills for the second year english máo at hong duc university

The pre-test is conducted to evaluate the reality of students’ speaking level and the post-test is conducted to prove the effectiveness of shadowing technique in improving speaking skill

HONG DUC UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

DECLARATION

I certify that this minor thesis entitled ―Applying Shadowing method to

improve speaking skills for the second-year English majors at Hong Duc University‖ is the study of my own research and the substance of this research has

not been submitted for a degree to any other university or institution

Thanh Hoa, 2021

Le Thi Tinh

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I would like to express my special thanks to my supervisor Ms Trinh Thi Hang for her constant guidance, suggestions, dedication and professionalism through my research

Then, I would like to thank other teachers of Department of Foreign Languages for their useful lessons and materials during 4 years which construct the background of the paper

I am also indebted to the second year English major of Foreign Language Department at Hong Duc University for their support and participation in my research

I would like to thanks the librarians at Hong Duc University who lent me a lot

of materials and provides me with advantageous condition to complete the thesis Last but not least, I wish to express my heart-felt gratitude to my family and

my friends, who always encouraged and supported me in the process of completing the paper

Finally, I would like to thank the readers who have patiently read and given valuable comments on this thesis

Thank you very much!

ABSTRACT

This is an action research project conducted to improve speaking skill for the second-year English majors at Hong Duc University After finding that speaking skill of first-year English majors at Hong Duc University is rather poor, a method is designed to improve their speaking skill for the 50 second-year students of K22 – academic year 2020-2021 The plan involved using Shadowing method to improve pronunciation skill, vocabulary and expression skill, speaking and reflection skill The data was obtained from informal interviews with students, and survey questionnaire as a pretest at the beginning and a posttest at the end of the term The findings showed that the students’ common difficulties lie in pronunciation and expression The intervention took place in one month of the first semester The findings from the posttest, survey questionnaire and informal interview with the students during the project showed that the intervention helps improve speaking skill for second-year English majors at Hong Duc University

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGMENT ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LISTS OF TABLES AND FIGURES vii

LIST OF TABLES vii

LIST OF FIGURES vii

PART I INTRODUCTION 1

1.Rationable 1

2.Aims of the study 2

3 Scope of the study 2

4 Methods of the study 2

5 Design of the study 2

PART II: DEVELOPMENT 4

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

1.1 Definition of speaking skills 4

1.2 Difficulties in learning speaking skill 5

1.3 Techniques to develop speaking 6

1.3.1 Self-talk 6

1.3.2 Retell a story in English 6

1.3.3 Think in English 7

1.3.4 Participate in public speaking events 7

1.3.5 Go to language cafes 7

1.3.6 Using apps 7

1.3.7 Chat with Siri 7

1.4 Definition of shadowing 8

1.5 Types of Shadowing 9

1.6 The importance of shadowing technique in developing speaking skill 11

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 12

2.1 The reality of learning speaking skill at Hong Duc University 12

2.1.1 Context of the study 12

2.1.2 Subject of the study 12

2.1.3 Instruments of the study 12

2.1.4 Procedure 15

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS, FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 19

3.1.Overview 19

3.2 Findings from pre-test 19

3.2.1.Grammar structure 19

3.2.2 Vocabulary 20

3.2.3 Pronunciation 20

3.2.4 Fluency 21

3.2.5 Coherence 22

3.3 Findings from questionnaire 23

3.3.1 Students self-evaluation their speaking abilities 23

3.3.2 Students’ common problems when communicating in English 25

3.3.3 The awareness of students of the shadowing technique 26

3.3.4.Students’ level of frequency encountering shadowing problems when practicing shadowing 27

3.3.5.Students’ self-evaluation their improvement after one-month shadowing 29

3.3.6 Students’ attitudes towards the effects of shadowing technique in practicing speaking 31

3.3.7 Students’ willingness to continue practice with shadowing technique 32 3.4 Findings from post-test 33

3.4.1.Grammar structure: 33

3.4.2 Vocabulary 34

3.4.3.Pronunciation 34

3.4.4.Fluency 35

3.4.5.Coherence 36

3.4.6.The result of general speaking skill 37

PART III: CONCLUSION 39

1.Summary 39

2.Limitations of the study 39

3.Suggestions for further study 40

REFERENCES 41

APPENDICES 45

LISTS OF TABLES AND FIGURES

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1.1: Types of shadowing (Tamai, 2005) 9

Table 1.2: Types of shadowing (Manseur, 2015) 10

Table 3.1 Students’ level of frequency encountering shadowing difficulties 27

Table 3.2 Students’ self-evaluation their improvement after one-month shadowing 29

Table 3.3 Students’ using various types of sentence 33

Table 3.4 Levels of using incorrect vocabulary 34

Table 3.5 Levels of wrong pronunciation 35

Table 3.6 Students’ level of speaking hesitation 35

Table 3.7 Levels of developing ideas 36

Table 3.8 Levels of using linking words 37

Table 3.9 Students’ general speaking skill 37

LIST OF FIGURES Figure 3.1.Levels of using various types of sentence 19

Figure 3.2 Students’ levels of using incorrectly vocabulary 20

Figure 3.3.Students’ levels of wrong pronunciation 20

Figure 3.4.Students’ levels of speaking hesitation 21

Figure 3.5.Students’ levels of developing ideas 22

Figure 3.6 Students’ levels of using linking words 22

Figure 3.7 Students’ self-evaluation their speaking skill 23

Figure 3.8 Students’ common problems when communicating in English 25

Figure 3.9 The awareness of students of shadowing technique 26

Figure 3.10 Students’ attitudes towards the importance of shadowing technique in practicing speaking 31 Figure 3.11 Students’ willingness to continue practice with shadowing technique 32

PART I INTRODUCTION 1.Rationable

Nowadays, English is considered the global language and used in every field

in our life English is one of the first requirements concerned when we want to apply a job With the development of society, we not only know English but also reach a high level satisfying the high requirements of the job we want to apply for

Speaking is the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols Speaking is a crucial part of foreign language learning and teaching in Viet Nam Today every school is required that the goal of teaching speaking should improve student’s communicative skills

It is widely accepted that one of the main purposes of studying English is to use it for communication Being able to speak English is an important criterion to assess a learner of English However, it is not easy to master speaking skills, there are many problems in learning speaking skill such as: the limited opportunities for students to speak in the class, teachers have not used many speaking activities for students to participate in speaking, the limitation of vocabulary and structure Many people just know how to make a sentence, write a text and understand all the words

on the paper but they can’t apply it in real context It means their speaking skill is not good enough They are not confident when they talk to foreign people although their vocabulary and grammar are good Many people are facing the question is that how to pronoun English correctly and speak it more naturally

Up to now, there are many effective methods of learning foreign languages, but among them there is a new method, which has not been widely popular in Vietnam, called Shadowing Shadowing is considered to be one of the very effective practical methods to improve listening and speaking ability for foreign language learners This method will help new language learners to easily simulate pronunciation, intonation of the language

For the above reasons, the researcher decided to carry out a research on the

title " Applying Shadowing method to improve speaking skills for the second- year

English majors at Hong Duc University " for research I hope that this thesis will

be a useful reference material to help solve some problems related to learning English, especially in speaking skill

2.Aims of the study

My study aims at the following concrete targets:

themselves

3 Scope of the study

Due to time allowance and limited knowledge, in this study I just can focus on the content of the Shadowing method: presenting the current situation of learning speaking skill, giving the process of applying this method in self-practicing of speaking skills from these theoretical bases

4 Methods of the study

To seek answers for the research, the data are analyzed from material collection and were collected from survey questionnaires and interview

First of all, for the theoretical basis, a lot of reference materials on Shadowing are analyzed and synthesized carefully with the due consideration for students’ learning situations

Secondly, the questionnaires and interviews are conducted to the students to collect the most reliable data for the study

Thirdly, the pre-test and post-test are conducted to evaluate the students’ speaking level The pre-test is conducted to evaluate the reality of students’ speaking level and the post-test is conducted to prove the effectiveness of shadowing technique in improving speaking skill after one trial month

5 Design of the study

This paper consists of three parts:

PART I: INTRODUCTION – shows the rationale, aims, scope, methods, and design of the study

PART II: DEVELOPMENT (the main part of the study) is divided into three chapters:

Chapter 1: Literature review – provides an overview on Shadowing, speaking skill

Chapter 2: Methodology – provides context of study, subject, instruments and procedure

Chapter 3: Data analysis, findings, discussion

PART III: CONCLUSION – shows the conclusion, references and suggestion for further study

PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter shows the research review relevant to the study It will elaborate the definition of speaking, difficulties in learning speaking and techniques to improve speaking Moreover, the definition of shadowing, characteristics of shadowing, advantages of shadowing are also presented

1.1 Definition of speaking skills

Speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving and processing information (Brown, 1994; Burns & Joyce, 1997) Its form and meaning are dependent on the context in which it occurs, including the participants themselves, their collective experiences, the physical environment , and the purposes for speaking It is often spontaneous, open-ended , and evolving However, speech is not always unpredictable Language functions (or patterns) that tend to recur in certain discourse situations, can be identified and charted ( Burns & Joyce, 1997)

Based on Nguyen and Nguyen (2001) , speaking is one of the skills that have

to be mastered by students in learning English There are some definitions of speaking skill below, such as; according to Richard ( 2008, 19 states that in speaking we tend to be getting something done, exploring ideas, working out some aspects of the world, or simply being together If the students can speak English fluently that can help them to easy communicate and also explore their idea Speaking English well also helps students to access up-to-date information in fields including science, technology and health and so on According to (Cameron, 2001 :

40, Brown, 2004 : 140) Speaking is a productive skill in the organs of speech

to express meaning which can be directly and empirically observed

According to Ladouse (in Nunan, 1991) speaking is described as the activity

as the ability to express oneself in the situation, or the activity to report acts, or situation in precise words or the ability to converse or to express a sequence of ideas fluently From those explanations, the researcher concludes that speaking is an activity about what we say to what we see, feel and think When we feel something, we want someone can hear us So, in this process we can call it is an interaction

between two sides Moreover, speaking cannot be separated from listening aspect because speaking involves speaker and listener in built communication

1.2 Difficulties in learning speaking skill

Arifin (2007) conducted a study to have a deeper insight into how psychological problems affect the students in the speaking classroom He pointed out that there are two major problems in speaking, which are low-confidence and anxiety Notably, the unconfident students are easily influenced by the feeling that they are ―stupid‖, ―worthless‖ (Afirin, 2007) In relating to anxiety, he also claimed that when a student performed a presentation in front of the class or a group of people, anxiety usually strikes Sharing the same point of view, Ur (1996) defined commonly-encountered problems among English learners as follows:

expressing opinions, and giving comments

dominate in the group

classes, learners find it easier to show off their ideas in their native language

In terms of inhibition, as many researches, fear of making mistakes is considered the main factor is bringing negatively feelings affect students‟ speaking abilities Nakhala (2016) illustrated that shyness is a source of the problem encountered by students during speaking He explained that when one feels shy, his mind goes blank and forget what to say According to Brown and Lee (1994, p269), ―one of the major obstacles learners have to overcome in learning to speak the anxiety generated over the risks of blurting things out that are wrong, stupid, or incomprehensible‖ Secondly, learners feel hard to think of anything to express their ideas because their mind goes blank Rivers (1968) indicated that when being asked about the topic they know very little or have no idea, students tend to keep silent Thirdly, participants in speaking class are distributed unfairly As reported by

Ur (1996), this problem was described as the large numbers of students in the speaking group tended to dominate the group It can be explained that in a group,

there are different kinds of students with specific characteristics and levels Those who are more proactive and talkative will speak more often than quiet students Nguyen and Tran (2015) had the same opinion when it comes to speaking skills – related problems They claimed that hardly did any classroom speaking activities seemingly receive even participation from students

Finally, undoubtedly that the overuse of mother-tongue in speaking class hinders students from improving their speaking abilities Harmer (1991) defined that there are some reasons for such a certain issue First, if the students have to say something unfamiliar with them, they tend to use their language to more naturally express ideas and thoughts Secondly, it is comfortable to speak in mother-tongue language It is also stated in Nguyen and Tran (2015) Moreover, Rababah (2002) also shared the same opinion; he summarized that there are some factors causing difficulties in speaking English, which is related to the learners themselves, the teaching strategies, the curriculum, and the environment

1.3 Techniques to develop speaking

There are various techniques to develop speaking by themselves but due to time allowance and limited knowledge, in this part I just focus on 3 techniques that students can use to develop their speaking skill by themselves:

1.3.1 Self-talk

Talk to yourself in English loudly It can be anything from a suggestion like,

―Shall we go get a glass of water?‖ or a reminder, ―I need to do a load of laundry today.‖ Alternatively, pick up a book and read a couple of pages out loud This exercise might slow down your reading, but it will speed up your speaking skills You can also record yourself, listen to the recording and watch out for any wrong pronunciations If it is possible, ask for feedback from a native speaker

1.3.2 Retell a story in English

Take the challenge a step further by retelling a story You retrace other people’s line of thoughts in your own words I would start with a familiar story from your culture Your translation needs to convey not only the meaning of words but all rhetorical and cultural nuances Alternatively, you can choose different words to retell a simple story in English Start from the basics, reading something

like a fairy tale or a fable Either way will be beneficial to your English communication skills

1.3.3 Think in English

If you already think in English, it takes less time to produce or respond in everyday conversations No translation needed A good way to start rethinking is to keep a diary where you express your daily thoughts in English It does not have to

be perfect, it is more about getting out thoughts in English with less and less effort

1.3.4 Participate in public speaking events

Big universities, theaters and culture societies organize events like open debates, spoken word readings and improvised storytelling gatherings These are places where you can come and mingle with like-minded people and practice speaking English

Many cities are now hosting TED or TEDx talks where you can register to participate and share your innovative ideas Check the events page of your local university to see if there are any available It might be a nerve-racking experience, but it would be great for your English!

1.3.5 Go to language cafes

If public speaking terrifies you (and I know it does for many), you can opt for language cafes Those cafes create a friendly and relaxing atmosphere for people who want to practice and exchange languages You can find language cafes through local universities or the Meetup groups available in your cities

1.3.6 Using apps

Another option is to use an app to talk to native speakers online, in the comfort of your own home Some popular apps are HelloTalk and Tandem Basically, you register for an account, introduce yourself, your native language and your hobbies The app will find you some matches—the people who speak English and want to practice the language you know well All you need to do is to press a few buttons and start talking

1.3.7 Chat with Siri

I find chatting with Siri is a great way to force myself to speak more clearly

As Siri is a machine, you cannot rely on environmental clues and facial gestures to

get your ideas across Your words are the only tool you have to make yourself

understood Thus, you need to speak as clearly and precisely as you could

Another plus point of using Siri is that she is always available (as long as your phone is charged and connected to a WiFi network) Just press the home button and start asking questions

1.4 Definition of shadowing

Shadowing is a language learning technique developed by the American Professor Alexander Arguelles, first in Germany and then in Korea, in learning a foreign language it is a form that you hear and repeat immediately heard text The basis of the method is the sound in the language you are learning This repetition is practiced to shorten the distance between the listening moment and the repeating moment until the practitioner is able to speak at the same time as the listening material While listening, try to repeat what you hear fastest when you hear it

According to Manseur (2015, p18), shadowing can be defined as the imitation of a particular input as it heard in a short period of time as possible He said it is repeating activity of the exact words of an audio track or recorder input of target language Lambert (1992) argued that shadowing is a task we vocalize immediately the auditory such as word by word repetition, parrot style, in the same language

Tamai’s research is regarded as one of the leading studies on shadowing technique and his definition of the shadowing technique was cited in numerous works of researchers He defined shadowing as a listening exercise in which the English learners mimic speech while listening attentively to the incoming information (Tamai, 2002) He believed that shadowing is cognitive and active activities, where the students can listen while trail the heard speech and try to verbalize it It was first cited in the study of Nakanishi & Ueda (2011, p4), as ―an act or task of listening in which the learners track the target speech and repeat it immediately as exactly a possible without looking at a text‖

Based on Jaramillo & Isaza (2016), he described shadowing as a method to train interpreters in Europe and it is widely applied in Japan to improve English skills nowadays Seo & Takeuchi and Nakanishi & Ueda (2011) shared the same

opinion when it comes to the use of shadowing among the simultaneous interpreters They stated that shadowing was originally regarded as a technique for training concurrent interpreters, but it is adapted in language classrooms by high school students and teachers They believed that this practice enables learners to develop their mental resources and memorial abilities

Northbrook (2013) made a video for sharing his opinion about the shadowing technique He defined it as training for English fluency He stated that shadowing is

a good way to improve learners’ pronunciation, accent, intonation, as well as rhythm because when the mouth is moving, the ears are paying attention simultaneously

In summary, the definition of shadowing technique has varied over time In this study, the researcher agrees with the definition of Manseur (2015) about the shadowing technique as the shadower imitates of all what the speaker said in a short time However, the general trend is for the meaning of the term to continue to evolve with the development of shadowing studies

1.5 Types of Shadowing

A significant number of researcher introduce several types of shadowing According to Kurata (as cited in Manseur, 2015) and Tamai (1997) share the same opinion when suggesting five types of shadowing including : full shadowing, delayed shadowing, phrase shadowing, parallel reading and speed reading Specially regarding full shadowing , the shadower imitates the entire input word by word after understanding the context (Manseur, 2015)

Table 1.1: Types of shadowing (Tamai, 2005)

Full shadowing Tamai defined full shadowing as ―Students have to listen to

the input and then try to repeat the authority as soon as it is heard‖ ( Jaramillo & Isaza, 2016, p15) The listener has to articulate the same sounds at almost the same time while listening to sounds of a text

Delayed shadowing Do the same thing as full shadowing, but shadowing not at the

same time rather after a second

activity, the degree of understanding the text is not important and the teacher has each student measure how long it takes for

an individual to finish reading the text

Phrase shadowing Do shadowing phrase by phrase In this activity, the teacher

has students listen to the target text with CD or a teacher’s

model reading phrase by phrase

According to Manseur (2015), there are three main types of shadowing: complete shadowing, selective shadowing and interactive shadowing

Table 1.2: Types of shadowing (Manseur, 2015)

comments from the listener into the conversation to make

it more natural

Murphey (2001) defined complete shadowing as a process where ―listeners shadow everything speakers say‖ (p129) In other words, it refers to the full imitation of speech While selective shadowing requires the listeners choose only certain words and phrases to imitate, when practicing interactive shadowing, the speaker can add specific questions and comments, thereby building up a more natural conversation (Murphey, 2001)

Hamada (2014) also classified the shadowing technique in terms of the cognitive process of listening As to him, there are two types of shadowing namely bottom-up processing and top-down processing It is noted that bottom-up shadowing requires learners to practice shadowing before knowing the target language while top-down shadowing requires learners acquired knowledge and rehearse the information first

1.6 The importance of shadowing technique in developing speaking skill

Shadowing can be one of the top methods for developing speaking abilities According to Jaramillo & Isaza (2016, p17), ―When learners shadow the audio, they imitate the sounds, stress, pronunciation, and intonation of the audio, it helps to raise awareness on the way they speak‖ Manseur (2015) stated that students could enhance their oral fluency because, with this technique, students can self-correct their pronunciation A research on shadowing technique in English intonation instruction, which was conducted on 14 students, showed that the scored they got in pronunciation, fluency, and intonation when speaking, after experimenting shadowing, is significantly improved (Hseih & Dong, 2013) Regarding Japanese researches, students also evaluated shadowing positively For instance, shadowing helps them to listen to various words and phrases so that they can improve listening comprehension as well as speaking efficiency, or they can use muscles required to pronounce English properly (Horiyama, 2012) He believed that students could improve their listening and speaking skills by practicing shadowing every day

Sumarish (2017) did experimental research on 60 students in each group of two It was proved that shadowing had positive effectiveness in developing students‟ speaking and listening proficiency Sharing the same idea with him, Nguyen (2016, p30) stated that ―if the shadowers can repeat chunks of sounds, a whole sentence or a whole passage while listening, it might help them activate some related knowledge about the context‖

As analyzed, shadowing technique can be of paramount importance for improving students‟ speaking abilities in particular and language learning in general Reviewing the previous researches, the researcher found out if shadowing was the appropriate way to practice speaking abilities The use of it has been noticed all around the world because of its convenience and effectiveness However, shadowing is still quite new in Vietnam; the researcher encountered some difficulties when accessing related information With the hope of finding the appropriate way to help students mastering speaking skills, the study might contribute small efforts to fulfill the picture of current learning speaking methods in Vietnam

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

2.1 The reality of learning speaking skill at Hong Duc University

2.1.1 Context of the study

This project was conducted at Faculty of Foreign Languages of Hong Duc University According to statistics in the opening ceremony at the beginning of the school year 2020-2021, the total number of students of Faculty of Foreign Languages is 540 students with 15 classes in which K20 has 2 classes, K21 has 2 classes, K22 has 3 classes and K23 has 6 classes, K40 has 1 class and K41 has 1 class The faculty has 3 subjects: Language - Culture and Teaching methods; Skills development; English non-major

2.1.2 Subject of the study

The subject of this study is 50 second-year students of K22A In the first semester of the school year 2020-2021, the second-year English majors learned Listening-Speaking Skill 3 The prerequisite for taking part in this course is that students must pass Listening-Speaking Skill 1 and 2 The books are used for this course including Listening Collins and Achievers B2

2.1.3 Instruments of the study

To reach the primary objectives of the study, there are several approaches to collect the information in concerning common mistakes in speaking skills, students’ understanding about shadowing technique, and some difficulties and developments

of the participants who practice with shadowing

2.1.3.1 Questionnaire

The survey questionnaires have been constructed for data collection for this research In order to design them, the author has referred the questionnaire from the study of Manseur (2015) about the role of shadowing technique in speaking skills as

it is suitable with this study’s objectives; furthermore, it also provides detail questions for easily collecting data His questionnaire has been modified to fit with the Vietnamese context, and the aims of this research paper

The questionnaires consists of both open and closed questionnaire containing the title, instructions, questionnaire items, additional information, and a final ―thank

you‖ Notably, open questionnaire asks for students’ opinion and information in their own words Therefore open-ended questions are beneficial to discovery or subjective reactions The closed questionnaire includes multiple choices questions

or direct short answer responses The questionnaires are written in simple English, and translated into Vietnamese so that the participants can understand and avoid misunderstanding of the questions They may enhance the reliability and validity of the gathered data The researcher designs two questionnaires: the first questionnaire investigates the familiar students’ speaking mistakes and the awareness of them of shadowing technique before the experiment; whereas the next one explores their ideas about some improvements and difficulties after one-month practice with shadowing technique

The first questionnaire consists of both open and closed questions These questions include different forms, such as multiple choices, short answer, and the semantic differential The questionnaire comprises of 15 questions that required the participants to give their opinions about their common speaking problems when speaking English, and to what extent they know about shadowing technique In particular, the second question aims to investigate students’ self-evaluation their speaking level Question 3 and 4 focus on identifying students’ general mistakes related speaking skills The next five questions are about students’ methods in practicing speaking skill by themselves Finally, the next five questions are about students’ awareness about shadowing technique All of 50 students have done this

questionnaire (For further information, see Appendix I.)

The second questionnaire primary focuses on students’ perspective about the use of the shadowing technique in speaking practice, and some difficulties they have encountered after a one-month trial It included seven questions The first two questions investigate the improvements which students gained after the trial process and their evaluation of the effect of the shadowing technique The next four questions examine the difficulties of participants when shadowing, and the factors affected shadowing products The last question is to know whether participants continue using it in the future Only the focus group of ten participants have to do

this questionnaire (For further information, see Appendix II)

2.1.3.2 Interview

The interview is defined as a qualitative research method The advantages of interview are its possibilities to gather detail information to provide appropriate data for research questions Besides, in this collecting data method, the researcher has the power to control the process and deals if there are any issues The interviews are implemented in the ten participants of the focus group for further insight into students’ problems and difficulties in practicing speaking as well as their perspective about practicing speaking with the shadowing technique They are interviewed individually with the questions in Vietnamese to avoid vagueness and misunderstanding The central points of the interview are around their general speaking problems, their attitudes towards shadowing technique effects, and their difficulties of shadowing in practicing speaking The participants are interviewed informally, and the interviews are recorded The researcher interviews two times, before and after practicing shadowing The first times explored students’ speaking mistakes and their awareness of the shadowing technique; the following interview investigates students‟ experience after trying using shadowing The interview questions are designed based on the questionnaires to gather more detail data for the study’s objectives

The first interview has seven questions This interview examines students‟ speaking mistakes and their opinions about the shadowing technique before applying it to practice speaking In particular, question 1 and 2 examine participants‟ problems faced when speaking English Question 1 asks when and where they practice speaking English Question 2 focuses on students’ common issues in speaking Question 3 questions if they had ever tried out any solution to solve their drawbacks The next five questions mention students‟ awareness of the shadowing technique By part, question 4, 5 and 6 invest if they have known about the shadowing technique, and examine whether they have ever practiced with it, and their understanding while trying to use it Finally, question 7 focuses on

participants‟ attitudes towards the use of shadowing technique (For further

information, see Appendix III)

In the second interview, the researcher attends to figure out the experience

that the participants have transferred from shadowing In particular, question 1 asks their speaking improvement after shadowing Question 2 focuses on the suitable level of shadowing given materials with students‟ speaking level Question 3 and 4 examine their difficulties while applying the shadowing technique in practicing Last but not least, question 5 asks if they willing to continue using the shadowing technique as a method to develop their speaking

abilities (For further information, see Appendix IV.)

2.1.3.3 Pre-test and Post-test

The researcher used the English speaking proficiency test used to evaluate the output of English proficiency for major students (according to 6-level foreign language capacity framework of Vietnam) From this pre-test, the researcher can collect information about what students’ weaknesses in speaking and then give a suitable process of shadowing

The test after conducting the experiment is used to get consistent results, the researcher used an additional test of English proficiency for major students From the post-test, the researcher can collect the information about the effectiveness of shadowing technique after one-month trial and students’ opinion about the process

of using shadowing to improve speaking skill

2.1.4.2.Interview procedure

Regarding the second instrument, after finishing the first questionnaire two days, the researcher made an appointment with all the students in the focused group and progressed individual interview The next meeting came after the participants completed their second questionnaire a day Each interview took about 15 to 20 minutes After gathering information, students are thanked again for their support They are guaranteed that their answers would be used only for this research purposes

2.1.4.4 Intervention program

2.1.4.4.1.Participant

Before conducting the experiment, the researcher asked 60 students from K22 of Faculty of Foreign Languages (who participated in the survey and answered the questionnaire about the current situation of speaking skill) to complete the English speaking proficiency test This English speaking proficiency test is designed based on a sample of the speaking test in the level 3 language proficiency test (according to the 6-level language proficiency framework of Vietnam) Based

on the results obtained from the pre- test, 50 students with scores from 5.0 to 10 points / 10 points were selected to participate in the action research

English Because in these videos, the speakers speak slowly, they all have standard American accents and pronunciation, and they use simple vocabulary in their speech Moreover, these videos also spend a short time to finish (about two to three minutes) So, they are suitable for the participants, who are at a low level, to imitate

it more easily The first video called is: “They Say, I Say” The second one is “How

Facebook Can Affect Your Sense of Happiness” And the third one is “A Fountain of Chocolate, a Rush of Joy” The next two videos are taken from TED

Talks and Youtube The fourth practice video, called “Challenge yourself to step

out of the norm”, is taken from TED Talks And the last video is chosen from

Youtube, called “Define your English, create yourself.’’ These two videos are

harder because the researcher believes that the shadowers have improved their shadow abilities after practicing with the three first videos In these two videos, the speakers’ speed is a little bit faster, and the vocabulary they used is more complicated However, the speakers still speak in standard pronunciation, and the time of the videos are controlled in around three to four minutes

Secondly, the students follow the process of the one-month trial shadowing technique is as follows:

Day 1: Watching the first video “ They say, I say” without subtitle for three to

fives times to get familiar with the speaker’s accent, intonation, rhythm, and speed

Day 2: Watching the first video again with subtitle

Day 3: Watching again the first video and read along with the subtitle for three

to five times

Day 4 and day 5: Shadowing when listening to the speaker in the first video

with subtitle for three to five times

Day 6 and day 7: Shadowing when listening to the speaker without subtitle Day 8: Watching the second video “ How Facebook Can Affect Your Sense

of Happiness” without subtitle for three to five times

Day 9: Watching again the second video with subtitle, and read it along for

three to fives times

Day 10: Shadowing when watching the second video with subtitle

Day 11: Shadowing when watching the second video without subtitle

Day 12: Watching the third video “A Fountain of Chocolate, a Rush of Joy”

without subtitle for two to three times, then watching it again with subtitle, and read

it along for three to five times

Day 13: Shadowing when watching the third video with subtitle

Day 14: Shadowing when watching the third video without subtitle

In the next 15 days, the participants repeat the process with a shorter time and tried to shadow completely two more materials

All the tasks are given on the Facebook group so that all the participants can access the materials easily as well as be proactive in doing the assigned tasks During the process, they are asked to note down their difficulties when practicing; then after one month, they have to fill in the second questionnaire that was designed Thus, so far, this chapter has presented in detail the purposes, the objectives, the subjects, the instruments, and the procedure of collecting data of the whole study

2.1.4.5.Post-test

The researcher gives a topic and ask students to talk about that topic in 2 minutes The answer content of this test is also recorded in audio form and sent to 2 teachers who have scored on the pre-experimental test for evaluation The process is the same as for the pre-experimental test, such as: A instructor directly scores, a teacher listens and transcribes the mistakes students make, according to the criteria: 1) Grammar structure ; 2) Vocabulary ; 3) Pronunciation ; and 4) Fluency and Coherence

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS, FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

3.1.Overview

This chapter will analyze all the collected data from the questionnaires, interview and two test including pre-test and post-test, and discuss to provide the answers for the research questions Furthermore, the discoveries of this research will be discussed entirely to the relevant study so that the detected answers themselves, as well as the causes behind, will be uncovered

3.2 Findings from pre-test

3.2.1.Grammar structure

Figure 3.1.Levels of using various types of sentence

The researcher has synthesized the levels of using various types of sentence through the diverse use of sentences (single, complex, compound) in speaking Significantly, half of the participants (50 percent) use many different types of sentence Undoubtedly, using few different types of sentence is the safe choice for all who are unconfident in their speaking skill

3.2.2 Vocabulary

Figure 3.2 Students’ levels of using incorrectly vocabulary

As the results in Figure 3.2 show that, more than a half of students using incorrectly very much and a lot (60%) In contrast, the rate of students using vocabulary with little and no mistake just nearly a half of students ( 40%) Many students assess that they find it difficult to choose words or determine appropriate words to produce their speech As can be seen, the shadowing technique has been highly recommended as a useful method to expand vocabulary

3.2.3 Pronunciation

It is impossible not to confirm the importance of Pronunciation in Speaking because if you pronounce it incorrectly, obviously the listener will not understand what you say

Figure 3.3.Students’ levels of wrong pronunciation

20%

40%

30%

10%

Students' levels of using incorrect vocabulary

Very much (over 8 words)

A lot (5-8 words)

A little ( 3-4 words) Hardly (1-2 words)

30%

40%

20%

10%

Students' levels of wrong pronunciation

Very much( over 8 times)

A lot (5-8 times)

A little(3-4 times) Hardly (1-2 times)

Figure 3.3 shows that, the percentage of students with many mistakes (making very much mistakes and making a lot of mistakes) is 70% and more than a quarter of students do not make mistakes (with few and almost no mistakes) One obvious mistake is that they often forget the last consonant when speaking English This is also quite understandable because in Vietnamese, we do not pronounce the last consonant As can be seen, the shadowing technique has been highly recommended

as a useful method to practice speaking through many sources

3.2.4 Fluency

To measure fluency, the researcher synthesized the number of times students hesitated when speaking Results are presented in Figure 3.4

Figure 3.4.Students’ levels of speaking hesitation

The proportion of students who hesitated a lot (more than 8 times) is 30% while the proportion of students who hesitated much is 40%.Of course, hesitation too much also causes a great impact on the listener because they feel uncomfortable with communication and sometimes they will be misunderstood what we want to say In contrast, the proportion of students who speak without hesitation (1-2 times)

or just 3-5 times nearly a half of students It is very normal to appear hesitation, nothing is a problem Even people who speak at a higher level, hesitation will appear But their hesitation is purposeful and doesn't affect communication problems

30%

40%

20%

10%

Students' levels of speaking hesitation

Very much (over 8 times)

A lot (5-8 times)

A little (3-5 times) Hardly (1-2 times)