Luận văn a study on the effectiveness of wasp and online audio recorder to develop sentence intonation reproduction by first year non major students at university of sciences thai nguyen university

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, ILANOL UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES Jeo obereeetee eee MAI CONG TRINH ASTUDY ON TIIE EFFECTIVENESS

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, ILANOL UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

Jeo obereeetee eee

MAI CONG TRINH

ASTUDY ON TIIE EFFECTIVENESS OF WASP AND ONLINE

AUDIO RECORDER TO DEVELOP SENTENCE INTONATION

REPRODUCTION BY FIRST-YEAR, NON-MAJOR STUDENTS AT

UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCES — TIIAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY

Nghiên cứu về hiện quả cửa các phẫn mém WASP va Online audio recorder

trong việc nâng cao khả năng bắt chước ngữ điệu câu của sinh viên tiếng Anh

không chuyên năm thứ nhất tại Dại học Khoa học - Dại học Thái Nguyên

MLA MINOR PROGRAMME TILESIS:

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111

Hanoi, 2015

VIETNAM NATIONAT, UNIVERSITY, HANOT UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND ENTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES,

AAS hic sisistoloioloiaok dota:

MAI CÔ

A STUDY ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF WASP AND ONLINE

AUDIO RECORDER TO DEVELOP SENTENCE INTONATION REPRODUCTION BY FIRST-YEAR, NON-MAJOR STUDENTS AT

UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCES — THAL NGUYEN UNIVERSITY

Nghiên cứu về hiệu quả của cae phan mim WASP va Online audio recorder

trong việc nâng cao khả năng bắt chước ngữ điệu câu của sinh viên tiếng Anh

không chuyên năm thứ nhất tai Dai hoc Khoa hye - Dai hee Thai Nguyén

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISIT TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111

SUPERVISOR: ASSOC PROF, VO DAI QUANG, Ph.D

Ilanoi, 2015

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

J, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled:

A study on the effectiveness of WASP and Online axdio recorder to develop sentence intonation reproduction by first-year, non-major students ut University

Lexcept where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used

wilhoul due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis

Hanoi, August 2014

Mai Cong Trinh

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

‘This thesis could not have been completed without the help and support from a number of people

Kirst and foremost, 1 would like to express my sincere gratitude to Assoc Prof Dr

Vo Dai Quang, my supervisor, who has patiently and constantly supported me through the stages of the study, and whose stimulating ideas, expertize, and suggestions have inspired me greatly through my growth as an academic researcher

‘A special word of thanks goes to my colleagues at University of Sciences — TNU who have helped ime in piloting the materials and making constructive and insightful comments as well as suggestions for this paper, and many others, without whose support and encouragement it would never have been possible for me to have this thesis accomplished

Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my family, my wife for the sacrifice they have devoted to the fulfillment of this academic work.

ABSTRACT

‘This study investigates whether first-year, non-major students at University of Seiencos — Thai Nguyen University perceive and reproduce accurate intonation contours of sentences in Huglish after two weeks of training with WASP and Online Audio Recorder focusing on two types af intonation patterns (definite statements, yes/no questions) The study found that the Ieamers improved their correctness in yeproducing the intonation pattems according to the results and analyses of pre-test, post-test and interview The participants also stated that the tools were beneficial,

tileresling to use and helpful for their leanmng The study also motivates future

research in some kinds of aspects related.

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS LI; First Language

1.2: Second Language

ASR: Automatic Speech Recognition

CMS: Course Management System

TNU: Thai Nguyên Universily

LIST OF FIGURES Vigure 1 Preview of an exercise in Moodle

Figure 2 Visual display of the ullsraniee

“My car’s in the car park.” m WASP

Figure 3 Visual display of “Did you have a good time?”

first made by a participant in the training phase

Figure 4 Visual display of “Did you have a good time?” made by a

participant after several attempts in the training phase

vi

32

33

w Objectives of the study

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

Chapter 1: Literature review

1.1 Theorctical Background thai

1.1.1 Itonation theory «co

1.1.2 Technology for Learning

1,1.3 Technology-based intonation Teaching,

Aims of the shuđy in na rree

S0ope OẼ the SEUly c2 ercee

1.2 Review of Previous Studies Related to the Research

2.2.3 Preparing the Materials

© Perception and Reproduction Training

2.2.3.8 Testing and Traiming Applications

* Moodle

* WASP

® Online Audio Recorder

2.3 Procedure for Data Collection

3.4 Data Proecssine and Analysis Heo

Chapter 3: Findings and Discussions -

3.1 What effects does the training with the tools have on participants’

perception, reproduction of definile statements and yes/no questions?

3.1.2 Reproduction

3.1.3 Connection between Perception and Reproduction

3.3, SUMMATY sees ssesscstenseneneee see

2 Limitations of the Study

3, Buagestions for Future Research eo

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale for the Siudy

It cannot be denied that technology nowadays has been developing really fast

All fields of everyday life are covered by computers and Inlemet, which

creates chances for teachers, and researchers to integrate technology in

educational sellings However, most of applications of technology are now

scen under the term “Technology of Education" as Gupta (2010) defined in

her study It means that technology are considered as a medium for teachers to

prepare digitalized lectures, learning matorials, Leaching aids Very few of teachers pay attention to the use of “lechnology in Education” that Gupta

(2010) clarified as the use of technology to improve learning and meet

lcarmers’ needs

From the facts mentioned above, the author decided to investigate if

technology-based tools can improve the students’ reproduction of sentence

intonation Following Kern’s (2006) ideas about the use af technology: “In

the tutor role, computers can provide instruction, feedback, and testing in grammar, vocabulary, wnling, pronuncialion, and other dimensions of

language and culture learning In the tool role, computers provide ready

access to written, audio, and visual materials relevant to the language and

culture being studicd In the medium role, technology provides siles Lar

interpersonal communication, multimedia publication, distance learning,

community parlicipalion, and identity formation” (p 191, 192) This study

focused on the usc of technology as “tutor” and “tool” in casc of the study “ow

the effectiveness of WASP and Online audio recorder to develop sentence

intonation reproduction by first — year, non — major students at University of

Sciences Thai Nguyen University.”

2 Aims of the Study

The study explores the effectiveness of WASP and Online audio recorder to

develop sentence intonation reproduction by {irst — year, non — major studenis

at University of Sciences Thai Nguyen University The major aims of the study are to

*# Make use of tools WASP and Online Audio Recorder lo improve

students’ sentence intonation in terms of perception and reproduction

* Confirm the easiness of the two open-access tools to the learning of intonation and pronunciation im particular, and English learning in

general,

3 Objectives of the Study

The objectives of the study were further elaborated into the research question which can be stated as follows:

What effects does the training with the iools have on participants’ perception,

reproduction of definite statements and yes/no questions?

4 Scope of the Study

It would be too ambitious for this minor thesis to cover all functions of WASP

and Onlme Audio Recorder in learning all intonation patterns ‘hus, the

author chose ta focus on the effectiveness of the two tools in perceiving and

reproducing of iwo types of inlonation pattems which are of! delinite

statements and yes/no questions The study was also conducted within 03

participants who are non-major, firsl-ycar students at University of Sciences —

'PNU

rey

5 Design uf the Study

The study comprises of three parts: Introduction, Development and Conclusion

Part A: Introduction presents the rationale, auns, objectives, scope and

design of the study

Part B: Development consists of 3 chapters

Chapter 1: Literature Review gives the theoretical background to Intonation and intonation teaching as well as reviews the previous studies

related to the research area of the thesis

Chapter 2: Methodology gives the details of governing orientations of

the research and research methods of the study

Chapter 3: Findingy and Discussion deals with the results and discusses the results

Part C: Conclusion summarizes the main poinis presented in the thesis,

proposes the limitations of the rescarch, and makes suggestions for future

research.

PART B: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: Literature Review 1.1 Theoretical Background

1.1.1 Intonation Theory

Intonation has been described as “the rising and falling of the voice to various

pitch levels during the articulation of an utterance” (Celce-Murcia, et al.,

1996, p 184) or, “the pitch pattem in a sentence” (I.adefoged, 2006, p 23)

‘The role of intonation is central to human discourse on the grounds that it is

importanl in conveying meaning Lach native speaker of a language can

comprehend and use intonation to convey his or her message; however, non-

native speakers are sometimes not able to utilize intonation as a part of ways

that suit Lhe planned message According to Verdugo and Trillo (2005), native

speakers impart successfully via naturally selecting the proper prosodic pattems, lexical and context oriented data They do so due to their earlier

lcarning and involvement in a specific conection On the other hand, non-

native speakers may have less encounter, and therefore may have deficient

information of the second language (L2), which implies they utilize wrong intonation pattems within specific cormections Spaai and Hermes (1993)

clarified that language learners regularly superimpose the prosodic (features

of rhythm, stress, and intonation) of their first language (1.1) on the resonances of the language learned ‘I'his is on account of the suprasegmental

peculiarities and pattems of the speakers’ L1 are profoundly established

Subsequently, language learners are regularly uninformed of contrasts in

intonation between their first language and a second language, and of how

diverse intonation patterns can influence importance in the second language

Ladd (1980) has shown the problems assuming lhat speakers chouse

intonation contours based on grammar alone He [I.add (1980)] also claimed

that intonation patterns can be seen as in the same way as lexical words

Rolerring to Liberman, (1967, p 141) intonation contours contain “an abstract

context-free element of meaning, which produces specific nuances in specific

contexts” Intonation conlours, therefore, cannol be separatcd [rom their

context without losing some of their meaning However, it is impossible to

teach every nuance but the general and salient rules of intonation

Syntactically-defined contours are salient, and it is can be considered that

syntax is the default delermimng function for intonation, although discourse

functions may overrule it Following the recommendations of Celec-Mureia et

al (1996), the author chose to focus on two syntactically-defined contours

which were intonation contours of definite statements and yes/no questions

Of the two intonation contours, a definite statement tends to have the final

falling intonation and a yes/no question usually has the final rising intonation

This study [ocused only on lhe defaull contours of these two kinds of sentences

In order for language learners to take in these features it is necessary for them

to perceive and reproduce them Examines on the learning of second language

phonology have nol definitively indicated whether L2 spoakers lean to

perceive before they leam to reproduce aspects of L2 phonology, or the other way around For instance, Archibald found that Ilungarian and Polish native

speakers, whose languages have predictable stress patterns, scored better in

the perception of stress for English verbs and nouns than in the reproduction

of the stress (1993, citing in Altmann, 2006) Atmann’s 2006 study uncovered

a quite opposite results with participants who were native speakers of

prediclable-stress-pattem languages Ile (Alumann, 2006) showed thal

participants with a lower performance in the perception of stress for Knglish

words had a very good perfonnance in the reproduction task The studies

above show that the relationship between porceplion and reproduction of

suprasegmientals requires learners to engage im both perception and

reproduction tasks

1.1.2 Technology for Learning

Over the past few decades, technological devices, including computers, have become an indispensable part of our daily lives According to Gupta (2010),

technology today is in the reach of more people because it has become

cheaper Moreover, compared to the past, many more students are very

comfortable using technology in many fields All those changes have

prompted the integration of technology im educational settings Gupta (2010)

made clear on the differences belween two uses of technology: technology of

education and technology in education Technology of cduvalion is

considered to be a medium which helps instructors prepare learning materials such as video Ieclures and digitized loctures However, technology in

education is used to improve learning and meet learners’ needs In terms of language learning, according to Kern (2006), the use of technology can be scen in terms of the metaphors of tutor, tool, and medium:

“In the tutor role, computers can provide instruction, feedback, and

testing in grammiar, vocabulary, writing pronunciation and other dimensions

of language and culture learning In the tool role, computers provide ready

access to written, audio, and visual materials relevant lo the language and

culture being studied In the medium role, technology provides sites for

interpersonal communication, multimedia publication, distance learning,

community participation, and identity formation” ¢p 191, 192)

1.1.3 Technological-based Intonation Teaching

Teachers and rescarchors have raised the worry thal the intonation of a sceond

language is troublesome both to teach and to leam in the language classroom (Park, 2011) However, because of specific attributes of technology-based

instructions, therc is an cxpanding tendency to show and leam second

language intonation through the uses of technology and software In this thesis, the design and possibility of an instrument which uses open-access

devices to cnhancc I.2 Fnglish learners’ perception and reproduction of

English intonation is deseribed

Non-native-like intonation could lead to misunderstandings One famous example was described in Gumperz (1982) that native speakers misinterpreted

non-nalive speakers! intonalion Non-native cafeteria workers from the Indian

used a falling tone on the word “gravy” to ask if customers wanted gravy

(p.173-174) Native speakers perceived the workers to be rude because the native-like intonation should have been a rising tone on “gravy.” A

linguistically inappropriate intonation contour can result in misinterpretation

and even conflict, showing why such teaching intervention applied in this

study is needed

Nowadays, technological deviecs have been used in a large range of any

fields including teaching and learning In the case of English, many teachers

and rescarchors sce thom as lools for communication, teaching and learning

In those terms mentioned, Thome and Smith (2011) have identified at least three potential uses of technology in language learning

to provide access to mput and rehearsal (recording, tutorials, and

drills), to amplify possibilities for personal expression (text and media

processing), lo exlend existing and enable new opportunities for interpersonal communication (synchronous and asynchronous messaging) ” (p.268)

One advantage of using technology is that it can provide “relevant and useful

feedback” (Zhao, 2003, p.21) Thomson (2011) showed that a number of applications available can provide visual feedback to language learners which

is simple for them to interpret, helping learners to develop some specific

aspects of second language pronunciation Moreover, he claimed, visual

displays or feedback showing contours of pilch, relative segmonts and

amplitude of segments, are likely to be very effective for the teaching of suprasegmentals such as, intonation, rhythm and stress

1.2 Review of Previous Studies Related to the Research

It is clear that using technology in language learning is not the same as using

technology elfeclively in language learning In this part, lhe author will lock

at previous studies on using technology for language learning and the ways in

which technology has been used effectively to help language learners with a

challenging aspect of English: perceiving and reproducing mtonation pattems

In many language classrooms, there is nol enough time for learners Lo praclice their oral reproduction and communication Technology can be used to

provide opportunities for oral reproduction In a study by Holland, Kaplan

and Sabo! (1999), students’ reproduction and produetion of Arabic ullcrances

improved as a result of an interactive Microworld application with automatic

speech recognition (ASR)

Hirata (2010) concluded in his study that English learners of Japanese, who

used the CSL-Pitch Program to look at pitch and duration of speech, could

perceive and produce Japanese words correctly using appropriale pitch and

durational contrasts

A study by Anderson-Hsich (1992) showed that with the help of a pragram

called Visi-Pitch, participants could easily reproduce the targeted

suprascgmentals

In another study, Iardison (2004) made it clear that leamers who received

training in intonation with visual display improved their reproduction and

production at the suprasegmental level Despite the participants were not

provided with cxplicil instructions, they still produced a significant progress

Taniguchi and Abberton (1999) revealed in their study that a group of

Japancse learners of English improved their reproduction of English

intonation and the naturalness in English intonation after being exposed to intcraclive visual feedback

According to de Bol (1983), participants can easily make decisions based on

whal they sco in audiovisual feedback, depending on how similar the imitated

contours are to the originals The participants’ imitation is visualized through

a picture which motivales them Lo cither repeal an imilation or iy a new one

To summarize the abave, technology has played a successful role to implicitly

train non-native speakers to perceive, reproduc and produce particular

features of intonation However, the above studies used the tools that required

specialized knowledge of intonation systems and instrumental phonetics.

These tools were generally expensive and not available to the public So, in

this study the author explore the use of accessible and user-friendly

technological tools in providing audio-visual feedback to help learners

improve their perception and reproduction of English intonation with a

particular focus on definite statements and yes/no questions ‘Ihe study was

inspired by Moussalli (2013) whose study proved the leamers’ enhancement

of perception and production of tag questions after working with the two

tools

1.3 Summary

To the author’s knowledge, there are a limited number of studies on the use of

technology to help non-native speakers, especially Vietnamese leamers of

English, to perceive and reproduce sentence inlunation Therefore, this study

were decided to concentrate on open-access tools which incorporates

compuler-based audia-visual feedback One was delivered through the

activity module lor Moodle: Online Audio Recording, and the other was

through the application WASP It is to help non-major first year students in University of Sciences — TNU improve their perception and reproduction of

falling and rising in definite statements and yes/no questions

Chapter 2: Methodology

2.1 Research-governing Orientations

2.1.1 Research Question

‘The researcher adopted action research approach in order to find answers to

the research question

What effects does the training with the tools have on participants’ perception,

reproduction of definite statements and yes/no questions?

IL is because aclion research is benclicial in arca of teaching practice thal need

to be explored In the context of the present study, it is to employ the

computer-based tools to improve participants’ perception and reproduction of

sentence intonation and find out how effective these tools are

Three participants were chosen randomly from an intensive Knglish class for

first year students at University of Sciences TNU The students in the class

are better at English than the average They had been tested and qualiticd to

study with the aim for the outcomes of B1 — CEFR General information for

the three participants who partivipaled in the study is summarized in Table 1 (Hach participant was assigned with a code-name in the study.)

2.2, Research Methods

2.2.1 Methods

Action research applied in this thesis follows MacIsaac’s (1983) simple model

which includes four steps

«Plan — described in Instruments/ Materials and Preparing the

Materials

* Act—described in Procedure for Data Collection

© Observe — described in Data Processing and Analysis

® Reflcet — deseribed in Findings and Discussiuns; Conclusion

Within the research, the authors employed some of the techniques which are listed as follows

* Launching questionnaire at the beginning of the study to collect

participants’ background information

« Implementing pre-test, training and post-test to collect the data The

study underwent three phases: a familiarization and pre-test phase, a

training phase, and a post-test phase ‘lable 2 shows the tasks and time periods for each phase

« Analyzing the data collected and discuss the scores

* Conducting an interview to get the participants’ performance and

opinions

Table 2 Summary of Study Design

TÔ mănntes/30 mimules Twied a wook aver 2 weeks 2 weeks aller end of Time period

« Listen and selecl final mlonation

contours:5 sentences including definite statements and yes/no

questions) wilh up or down final

questions)

Same tasks 4s pre-

jest, similar matenals