Luận văn a study on activities to increase motivation to learn pronunciation for the first year english major students at hanam teachers' training college

Moreover, in my previous courses of teaching pronunciation, | realized that my students seemed not to be highly motivated in learning with activilics in the courscbook From the cuzront

A STUDY ON ACTIVITLES TO INCREASE MOTIVATION TO LEARN

PRONUNCIATION FOR THE FIRST — YEAR ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS

AT HANAM TEACHERS’ TRAINING COLLEGE

(QNGIITTÈN CỬU CAC IIOAT DONG NITAM TANG CUGNG IDUNG TITU TI9c

PHAT AM TIENG ANH CHO SINH VIEN NAM THU NHẬT HE CAO DANG

THING ANLL'TALTRUGNG CAO DANG SU’ PHAM LIA NAM )

M.A Minor Programme ‘Thesis

Field: English Methodology

Code: 60.14.10

HANOT - 2010

TRINH PHƯƠNG LIEN

A STUDY ON ACTIVITIES TO INCREASE MOTIVATION TO LEARN

PRONUNCIATION FOR THE FIRST — YEAR ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS

AT HANAM TEACHERS’ TRAINING COLLEGE

(NGHIEN CUU CÁC HOẠT ĐỘNG NHÄM TĂNG CƯỜNG HỨNG THỦ HỌC

PHAT AM TIẾNG ANH CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT HỆ CAO ĐĂNG

'TIỀNG ANH TAI TRƯỜNG CAO ĐĂNG SƯ PHAM HÀ NAM)

Field: ENGLISIL METIODOLOGY Code: 60.14.10

Supervisor: NGUYEN HUYEN MINH, M.A

1 Rationale of the study

2 Statement of the problem

3 Purpose of the study

4, Research questions

S Method of the study

6 Significance of the study

7 Definition of terms

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 Researches infa pronunciation teaching

1.1.1 Approaches to pronunciation teaching

1.12 Teaching Pronunciation: Segmentals or Suprasegmentals?

1.1.3 Faclars affect pronunciation Icarning and Icaching English

1.2 Rescarches into motivation in teaching and learning

1.2.1 Role of motivation fo students’ leaning

1.2.2 Factors affect sLudents’ motivation

1.2.3 Framework to increase and sustain students’ motivation

1.3 Researches int the ways to motivate students In pronunciation lessons

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

2.1 Context of the study

2.2 Participants of the study

office workers specializing in English for joint-venture companics in the industrial zones in the provinoe, raining some wal: interpreters and translators to work in the Middlc-Fasl countries in Asia, With the above aims, it is required that students nmst have an intelligible pronunciation

However, as a teacher of English at Hanam Teachers’ Training College, I found that students had serious problems with English pronunciation Most of them come from rural arcas of Thanh Tim, Binh Lac, Kim Bang, Ly Nhan, whers there is no cmphasis on learning pronunciation Therefore, it is easy to find that students have so many problems with

pronunciation Moreover, in my previous courses of teaching pronunciation, | realized that my

students seemed not to be highly motivated in learning with activilics in the courscbook

From the cuzront situation of Hanam Teachers’ Training College, | would like to conduct

a tesearch on activities to motivate first-year English major students at Hanam Teachers’

Training Colloge to Ivarn pronunciation

3 Purpose of the study

‘This research is designed to bring a new air into the promunciation class of the first-year English major studenls al Hanam Teachers’ Training College In genzral, the purposes of this study are:

| to seek activities to motivate the first-year English major students at ITanam Teachers’ Training Colloge to barn pronunciation

+ to have empirical evidence of motivating activities on learning pronunciation of the

first-year inglish major students at [anam ‘Teachers’ ‘Training College

2 Statement of the problem

At Hanam Teachers’ Training College, up to now there are four classes major in English, with the aim of training teachers of English for secondary schools in the province, providing office workers specializing in English for joint-venture companics in the industrial zones in the provinoe, raining some wal: interpreters and translators to work in the Middlc-Fasl countries in Asia, With the above aims, it is required that students nmst have an intelligible pronunciation

However, as a teacher of English at Hanam Teachers’ Training College, I found that students had serious problems with English pronunciation Most of them come from rural arcas of Thanh Tim, Binh Lac, Kim Bang, Ly Nhan, whers there is no cmphasis on learning pronunciation Therefore, it is easy to find that students have so many problems with

pronunciation Moreover, in my previous courses of teaching pronunciation, | realized that my

students seemed not to be highly motivated in learning with activilics in the courscbook

From the cuzront situation of Hanam Teachers’ Training College, | would like to conduct

a tesearch on activities to motivate first-year English major students at Hanam Teachers’

Training Colloge to Ivarn pronunciation

3 Purpose of the study

‘This research is designed to bring a new air into the promunciation class of the first-year English major studenls al Hanam Teachers’ Training College In genzral, the purposes of this study are:

| to seek activities to motivate the first-year English major students at ITanam Teachers’ Training Colloge to barn pronunciation

+ to have empirical evidence of motivating activities on learning pronunciation of the

first-year inglish major students at [anam ‘Teachers’ ‘Training College

office workers specializing in English for joint-venture companics in the industrial zones in the provinoe, raining some wal: interpreters and translators to work in the Middlc-Fasl countries in Asia, With the above aims, it is required that students nmst have an intelligible pronunciation

However, as a teacher of English at Hanam Teachers’ Training College, I found that students had serious problems with English pronunciation Most of them come from rural arcas of Thanh Tim, Binh Lac, Kim Bang, Ly Nhan, whers there is no cmphasis on learning pronunciation Therefore, it is easy to find that students have so many problems with

pronunciation Moreover, in my previous courses of teaching pronunciation, | realized that my

students seemed not to be highly motivated in learning with activilics in the courscbook

From the cuzront situation of Hanam Teachers’ Training College, | would like to conduct

a tesearch on activities to motivate first-year English major students at Hanam Teachers’

Training Colloge to Ivarn pronunciation

3 Purpose of the study

‘This research is designed to bring a new air into the promunciation class of the first-year English major studenls al Hanam Teachers’ Training College In genzral, the purposes of this study are:

| to seek activities to motivate the first-year English major students at ITanam Teachers’ Training Colloge to barn pronunciation

+ to have empirical evidence of motivating activities on learning pronunciation of the

first-year inglish major students at [anam ‘Teachers’ ‘Training College

10

5 Method of the study

The method employed in this study is an action research, using a number of instruments

as questionnaire, the students’ journals, teacher’s anecdotal notes, along with diagnostic test, posttest and final oral examination to collect data

6 Significance of the study

Despite the fact that pronunciation plays an important role in learning a foreign language,

so far there have been few researches on the ways to motivate students to study pronunciation

compared to other skills such as speaking, listening, writing and reading The study suggests

motivating activities in teaching pronunciation to facilitate the students’ learning process Therefore, this study contributes to enriching the researches on strategies to promote students

to learn promunciation The results of this study will be of much benefit to both teachers and

students of English

7 Definition of terms

* Motivation

Among many definitions of motivation stands out Gardner’s one (1985)

“Motivation refers to the combination of effort plus desire to achieve the goal of learning the

language plus favorable attitudes towards learning the language” Gardner (1985, p 10)

“Intelligibility may be broadly defined as the extent to which a speaker's message is actually understood by a listener” (Munro & Derwing 1999, p 289)

both fluency and accuracy The approach perhaps has characteristics of bath intuitive-imitative approach and analytical-linguistic approach,

1.1.2 Teaching Pronunciation: Segmentals or Suprasegmentals?

The calegorivation of pronunciation inlo sogments (discrete sounds), anid suprasogments (features that organive slrcams of specch into meaningful units such as stress, rhythm, intonation, linking, assimilation and deletion) is accepted by many researchers (Kelly,

2003; Kenworthy, 1987; Celce-Murcia et al., 1996, Morley, 1999)

The tradition debate rclating to which featwcs of pronunciation - scgments or suprasegments - should be focused on in teaching promnciation has still been hold, A brief Toviow of the debalos between sogmunls and suprascgmonts is presented as following,

Teaching segmental features started with a concentration on phonetic alphabets during

the Reform Movement (Celce-Murcia et al, 1996) Phonetic training was used in order to

help learners establish good speech habils, Minimal pair drills were used extensively to distinguish phonemes in listoning pravtice and oral production (Cclec-Murcia ct al., 1996) However, affer Anderson-Hsich introduced the researches on “Teaching suprasegmentals to

inlcrmational teaching assislants using ficld-specific matorials” (1990) und “Prommeiation factors affecting intelligibility in speakers of English as a foreign language” (1995), the focus

of pronunciation teaching shifted dramatically from segmentals to an emphasis on suprssegmenlals Following Anderson-Hsich, ahundbml rescarchss have investigated ilie extent

to which suprasegmentals contribute to speakers’ intelligibility and its pedagogy Underhill (1994) stressed the necessity of designing syllabuses mainly focusing om major features of

communication - superasegrucnlal featur of speceh for Ioaching English, Mo

poy and Mendelsohn (1992, p 186) suggested “a short-term pronunciation course should focus fizst and foremost on suprasegmentals, as they have the greatest impact on the comprehensibility of

learners’ English” So far a Jol of books for teachers have largely encouraged the Leaching of suprasegments at the production level to improve learners” intelligibility

In spite of the trend focusing on teaching superasegmentals, hesitation has still arisen fiom the trend Because of the close relation between suprascgmental features and the nature

of native accents, which are unlikely for learners to achieve, one question raises is that if

INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale pf the study

In the process of globalization, the ability to communicate in English plays an important role in fostering the development of the whole nation in general and of Phu Ly city - La Nam provinee in particular, In order to comumunicate well in English, onc advantagcous point is to have an intelligible promunciation

Towever, from the first day of my career as a Leacher, I faced a disitlusion to find (hal the first-year English major students at Hanam Teachers’ Training College had serious problems in pronuneiation, They muspronounced many words, paid very little attention to stress, intonation and rhythm ‘Iherefore, it is my desire to improve the situation of the students’ pronunciation I registered to teach the subject “Practical Pronunciation” with the coursebook “Ship or Sheep” by Ann Baker (1997) After the first courses, I was delighted to

witness certain improvements in students’ pronuncialion Towever, il seemed to me thal my

students were not very motivated in the course and their efforts faded quickly after the examination ‘This fact dawned on me that my teaching was not inleresting and motivating enough, From the experience of the previous cour

ro aught, they orily learn what [hoy arc intercstod in

‘The researchers also added that students are unlikely to be very successful at learmmg anything unless they enjoy the process

Reing urged by the situation and motivated by the idea of finding interesting tools ta teach pronunciation in an effective and systematic way, 1 would like to avail myself of this

opportunity to conduct a research on activities to motivate first-year English major students at

Hamar Teachers’ Training College to learn promuneiation

office workers specializing in English for joint-venture companics in the industrial zones in the provinoe, raining some wal: interpreters and translators to work in the Middlc-Fasl countries in Asia, With the above aims, it is required that students nmst have an intelligible pronunciation

However, as a teacher of English at Hanam Teachers’ Training College, I found that students had serious problems with English pronunciation Most of them come from rural arcas of Thanh Tim, Binh Lac, Kim Bang, Ly Nhan, whers there is no cmphasis on learning pronunciation Therefore, it is easy to find that students have so many problems with

pronunciation Moreover, in my previous courses of teaching pronunciation, | realized that my

students seemed not to be highly motivated in learning with activilics in the courscbook

From the cuzront situation of Hanam Teachers’ Training College, | would like to conduct

a tesearch on activities to motivate first-year English major students at Hanam Teachers’

Training Colloge to Ivarn pronunciation

3 Purpose of the study

‘This research is designed to bring a new air into the promunciation class of the first-year English major studenls al Hanam Teachers’ Training College In genzral, the purposes of this study are:

| to seek activities to motivate the first-year English major students at ITanam Teachers’ Training Colloge to barn pronunciation

+ to have empirical evidence of motivating activities on learning pronunciation of the

first-year inglish major students at [anam ‘Teachers’ ‘Training College

11

CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Researches inta pronunciation teaching

1.1.1 Approaches to pronunciation teaching

The approaches lo pronunciation leaching have swung in and oul af favor through the years in the hislory Two general approaches to the (caching of pronunciation described by Celee-Murcia et al (1996) have been adopted by many researchers, which are intuitive- imitative approach and analytical-linguistic approach

An intuitive-imitative approach assumes that students will develop acccptable

pronunciation and speaking skills when exposed to the target language through accurate inodels This approach relics heavily upon imitation and repetition, without any expticil information provided by the teacher The early method of promuneiation training called Direct Method, which gained acceptance in the late 1800s and early 1900s, was formed from obscrvations of children allaining their first language In this method, students would fisien

and imitate a modcl of the targct language that was spoken by the teacher (and later by

recordings) (Celce Murcia, Brinton, & Goodwin, 1996) From the late 1960s and the early 1980s, there was # decline in explicit pronunciation teaching with [he invention of the Janguage lab During this time intuitive-imitative approach was more popular in the pronunciation training with ‘lotal Physical Response by Asher’s (1977) and Natural Approach by Krashen and Terrzi's (1983) In Total Physical Response, sludents would begin to speak when they were ready and they were expected to make errors in the initial

stage The main initiat focus of Natural Approach was listening, which gave students the

still adopt this view but it is still needed to further investigate if the method has the

persuasive foundation

An analytic-linguistic approach reeognises the importance of an explicit intervention of

pronunciation pedagogy in language acquisition The approach employs a variety of pedagogical aids inchiding phonemic chart, contrastive exercises and articulatory descriptions

In this approach, students arc given cxplicit information about how to produce the sounds and

thythms of the target language ‘his approach was developed to complement rather than

CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Researches inta pronunciation teaching

1.1.1 Approaches to pronunciation teaching

The approaches lo pronunciation leaching have swung in and oul af favor through the years in the hislory Two general approaches to the (caching of pronunciation described by Celee-Murcia et al (1996) have been adopted by many researchers, which are intuitive- imitative approach and analytical-linguistic approach

An intuitive-imitative approach assumes that students will develop acccptable

pronunciation and speaking skills when exposed to the target language through accurate inodels This approach relics heavily upon imitation and repetition, without any expticil information provided by the teacher The early method of promuneiation training called Direct Method, which gained acceptance in the late 1800s and early 1900s, was formed from obscrvations of children allaining their first language In this method, students would fisien

and imitate a modcl of the targct language that was spoken by the teacher (and later by

recordings) (Celce Murcia, Brinton, & Goodwin, 1996) From the late 1960s and the early 1980s, there was # decline in explicit pronunciation teaching with [he invention of the Janguage lab During this time intuitive-imitative approach was more popular in the pronunciation training with ‘lotal Physical Response by Asher’s (1977) and Natural Approach by Krashen and Terrzi's (1983) In Total Physical Response, sludents would begin to speak when they were ready and they were expected to make errors in the initial

stage The main initiat focus of Natural Approach was listening, which gave students the

still adopt this view but it is still needed to further investigate if the method has the

persuasive foundation

An analytic-linguistic approach reeognises the importance of an explicit intervention of

pronunciation pedagogy in language acquisition The approach employs a variety of pedagogical aids inchiding phonemic chart, contrastive exercises and articulatory descriptions

In this approach, students arc given cxplicit information about how to produce the sounds and

thythms of the target language ‘his approach was developed to complement rather than

11

CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Researches inta pronunciation teaching

1.1.1 Approaches to pronunciation teaching

The approaches lo pronunciation leaching have swung in and oul af favor through the years in the hislory Two general approaches to the (caching of pronunciation described by Celee-Murcia et al (1996) have been adopted by many researchers, which are intuitive- imitative approach and analytical-linguistic approach

An intuitive-imitative approach assumes that students will develop acccptable

pronunciation and speaking skills when exposed to the target language through accurate inodels This approach relics heavily upon imitation and repetition, without any expticil information provided by the teacher The early method of promuneiation training called Direct Method, which gained acceptance in the late 1800s and early 1900s, was formed from obscrvations of children allaining their first language In this method, students would fisien

and imitate a modcl of the targct language that was spoken by the teacher (and later by

recordings) (Celce Murcia, Brinton, & Goodwin, 1996) From the late 1960s and the early 1980s, there was # decline in explicit pronunciation teaching with [he invention of the Janguage lab During this time intuitive-imitative approach was more popular in the pronunciation training with ‘lotal Physical Response by Asher’s (1977) and Natural Approach by Krashen and Terrzi's (1983) In Total Physical Response, sludents would begin to speak when they were ready and they were expected to make errors in the initial

stage The main initiat focus of Natural Approach was listening, which gave students the

still adopt this view but it is still needed to further investigate if the method has the

persuasive foundation

An analytic-linguistic approach reeognises the importance of an explicit intervention of

pronunciation pedagogy in language acquisition The approach employs a variety of pedagogical aids inchiding phonemic chart, contrastive exercises and articulatory descriptions

In this approach, students arc given cxplicit information about how to produce the sounds and

thythms of the target language ‘his approach was developed to complement rather than

provinee in particular, In order to comumunicate well in English, onc advantagcous point is to have an intelligible promunciation

Towever, from the first day of my career as a Leacher, I faced a disitlusion to find (hal the first-year English major students at Hanam Teachers’ Training College had serious problems in pronuneiation, They muspronounced many words, paid very little attention to stress, intonation and rhythm ‘Iherefore, it is my desire to improve the situation of the students’ pronunciation I registered to teach the subject “Practical Pronunciation” with the coursebook “Ship or Sheep” by Ann Baker (1997) After the first courses, I was delighted to

witness certain improvements in students’ pronuncialion Towever, il seemed to me thal my

students were not very motivated in the course and their efforts faded quickly after the examination ‘This fact dawned on me that my teaching was not inleresting and motivating enough, From the experience of the previous cour

ro aught, they orily learn what [hoy arc intercstod in

‘The researchers also added that students are unlikely to be very successful at learmmg anything unless they enjoy the process

Reing urged by the situation and motivated by the idea of finding interesting tools ta teach pronunciation in an effective and systematic way, 1 would like to avail myself of this

opportunity to conduct a research on activities to motivate first-year English major students at

Hamar Teachers’ Training College to learn promuneiation

INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale pf the study

In the process of globalization, the ability to communicate in English plays an important role in fostering the development of the whole nation in general and of Phu Ly city - La Nam provinee in particular, In order to comumunicate well in English, onc advantagcous point is to have an intelligible promunciation

Towever, from the first day of my career as a Leacher, I faced a disitlusion to find (hal the first-year English major students at Hanam Teachers’ Training College had serious problems in pronuneiation, They muspronounced many words, paid very little attention to stress, intonation and rhythm ‘Iherefore, it is my desire to improve the situation of the students’ pronunciation I registered to teach the subject “Practical Pronunciation” with the coursebook “Ship or Sheep” by Ann Baker (1997) After the first courses, I was delighted to

witness certain improvements in students’ pronuncialion Towever, il seemed to me thal my

students were not very motivated in the course and their efforts faded quickly after the examination ‘This fact dawned on me that my teaching was not inleresting and motivating enough, From the experience of the previous cour

ro aught, they orily learn what [hoy arc intercstod in

‘The researchers also added that students are unlikely to be very successful at learmmg anything unless they enjoy the process

Reing urged by the situation and motivated by the idea of finding interesting tools ta teach pronunciation in an effective and systematic way, 1 would like to avail myself of this

opportunity to conduct a research on activities to motivate first-year English major students at

Hamar Teachers’ Training College to learn promuneiation

phoneticians had groat influcnes on the (saching of pronunciation with their contrilmtion to the development of a system for deseribing and analysing the sound systems of languages Th 1940s and 1950s witnessed a noticeable movement emphasized on explicit instruction of phonetics with Andiolinguism in the United States and the Oral approach in Britain These two methodologics competed with the Direct Mcthod by relying on a recording or the teacher

to model the target language followed by the students’ repetition of that language However, trachers also drew from their knowledges of phonolics and for the first time usod simplificd charts of the IPA and articulatory models in the classroom The audiolinguism relied much on drilling sound contrasts and minimal pairs, with very little attention to intonation and

The 1980s witness

d the significant shi wilh discourse bascd communicative approach with the ultimate goal was communication The communicative approach dealt with tasks that focus on meaning, using activities such as role play, problem solving and games in a relaxed and supportive classroom nvirormnenl By focusing more on active communication, it bas been recognised that pronunciation competence below a cartain threshold caused tutintelligible, even for the most grammatically and lexically advanced students (Ibnofitis & Bailey, 1980) Tochrique uscd to tcach pronunciation included listening and imitating, phonetic training, minimal pairs drilling in context, visual aids, reading aloud, recording the students’ production with more focus on suprasegmental aspects of promuneiation It can be scen that the comnmunicative approach sccms to be a more balance approach, with the focus on

INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale pf the study

In the process of globalization, the ability to communicate in English plays an important role in fostering the development of the whole nation in general and of Phu Ly city - La Nam provinee in particular, In order to comumunicate well in English, onc advantagcous point is to have an intelligible promunciation

Towever, from the first day of my career as a Leacher, I faced a disitlusion to find (hal the first-year English major students at Hanam Teachers’ Training College had serious problems in pronuneiation, They muspronounced many words, paid very little attention to stress, intonation and rhythm ‘Iherefore, it is my desire to improve the situation of the students’ pronunciation I registered to teach the subject “Practical Pronunciation” with the coursebook “Ship or Sheep” by Ann Baker (1997) After the first courses, I was delighted to

witness certain improvements in students’ pronuncialion Towever, il seemed to me thal my

students were not very motivated in the course and their efforts faded quickly after the examination ‘This fact dawned on me that my teaching was not inleresting and motivating enough, From the experience of the previous cour

ro aught, they orily learn what [hoy arc intercstod in

‘The researchers also added that students are unlikely to be very successful at learmmg anything unless they enjoy the process

Reing urged by the situation and motivated by the idea of finding interesting tools ta teach pronunciation in an effective and systematic way, 1 would like to avail myself of this

opportunity to conduct a research on activities to motivate first-year English major students at

Hamar Teachers’ Training College to learn promuneiation

both fluency and accuracy The approach perhaps has characteristics of bath intuitive-imitative approach and analytical-linguistic approach,

1.1.2 Teaching Pronunciation: Segmentals or Suprasegmentals?

The calegorivation of pronunciation inlo sogments (discrete sounds), anid suprasogments (features that organive slrcams of specch into meaningful units such as stress, rhythm, intonation, linking, assimilation and deletion) is accepted by many researchers (Kelly,

2003; Kenworthy, 1987; Celce-Murcia et al., 1996, Morley, 1999)

The tradition debate rclating to which featwcs of pronunciation - scgments or suprasegments - should be focused on in teaching promnciation has still been hold, A brief Toviow of the debalos between sogmunls and suprascgmonts is presented as following,

Teaching segmental features started with a concentration on phonetic alphabets during

the Reform Movement (Celce-Murcia et al, 1996) Phonetic training was used in order to

help learners establish good speech habils, Minimal pair drills were used extensively to distinguish phonemes in listoning pravtice and oral production (Cclec-Murcia ct al., 1996) However, affer Anderson-Hsich introduced the researches on “Teaching suprasegmentals to

inlcrmational teaching assislants using ficld-specific matorials” (1990) und “Prommeiation factors affecting intelligibility in speakers of English as a foreign language” (1995), the focus

of pronunciation teaching shifted dramatically from segmentals to an emphasis on suprssegmenlals Following Anderson-Hsich, ahundbml rescarchss have investigated ilie extent

to which suprasegmentals contribute to speakers’ intelligibility and its pedagogy Underhill (1994) stressed the necessity of designing syllabuses mainly focusing om major features of

communication - superasegrucnlal featur of speceh for Ioaching English, Mo

poy and Mendelsohn (1992, p 186) suggested “a short-term pronunciation course should focus fizst and foremost on suprasegmentals, as they have the greatest impact on the comprehensibility of

learners’ English” So far a Jol of books for teachers have largely encouraged the Leaching of suprasegments at the production level to improve learners” intelligibility

In spite of the trend focusing on teaching superasegmentals, hesitation has still arisen fiom the trend Because of the close relation between suprascgmental features and the nature

of native accents, which are unlikely for learners to achieve, one question raises is that if

2 Statement of the problem

At Hanam Teachers’ Training College, up to now there are four classes major in English, with the aim of training teachers of English for secondary schools in the province, providing office workers specializing in English for joint-venture companics in the industrial zones in the provinoe, raining some wal: interpreters and translators to work in the Middlc-Fasl countries in Asia, With the above aims, it is required that students nmst have an intelligible pronunciation

However, as a teacher of English at Hanam Teachers’ Training College, I found that students had serious problems with English pronunciation Most of them come from rural arcas of Thanh Tim, Binh Lac, Kim Bang, Ly Nhan, whers there is no cmphasis on learning pronunciation Therefore, it is easy to find that students have so many problems with

pronunciation Moreover, in my previous courses of teaching pronunciation, | realized that my

students seemed not to be highly motivated in learning with activilics in the courscbook

From the cuzront situation of Hanam Teachers’ Training College, | would like to conduct

a tesearch on activities to motivate first-year English major students at Hanam Teachers’

Training Colloge to Ivarn pronunciation

3 Purpose of the study

‘This research is designed to bring a new air into the promunciation class of the first-year English major studenls al Hanam Teachers’ Training College In genzral, the purposes of this study are:

| to seek activities to motivate the first-year English major students at ITanam Teachers’ Training Colloge to barn pronunciation

+ to have empirical evidence of motivating activities on learning pronunciation of the

first-year inglish major students at [anam ‘Teachers’ ‘Training College

5 Method of the study

The method employed in this study is an action research, using a number of instruments

as questionnaire, the students’ journals, teacher’s anecdotal notes, along with diagnostic test, posttest and final oral examination to collect data

6 Significance of the study

Despite the fact that pronunciation plays an important role in learning a foreign language,

so far there have been few researches on the ways to motivate students to study pronunciation

compared to other skills such as speaking, listening, writing and reading The study suggests

motivating activities in teaching pronunciation to facilitate the students’ learning process Therefore, this study contributes to enriching the researches on strategies to promote students

to learn promunciation The results of this study will be of much benefit to both teachers and

students of English

7 Definition of terms

* Motivation

Among many definitions of motivation stands out Gardner’s one (1985)

“Motivation refers to the combination of effort plus desire to achieve the goal of learning the

language plus favorable attitudes towards learning the language” Gardner (1985, p 10)

“Intelligibility may be broadly defined as the extent to which a speaker's message is actually understood by a listener” (Munro & Derwing 1999, p 289)

10

5 Method of the study

The method employed in this study is an action research, using a number of instruments

as questionnaire, the students’ journals, teacher’s anecdotal notes, along with diagnostic test, posttest and final oral examination to collect data

6 Significance of the study

Despite the fact that pronunciation plays an important role in learning a foreign language,

so far there have been few researches on the ways to motivate students to study pronunciation

compared to other skills such as speaking, listening, writing and reading The study suggests

motivating activities in teaching pronunciation to facilitate the students’ learning process Therefore, this study contributes to enriching the researches on strategies to promote students

to learn promunciation The results of this study will be of much benefit to both teachers and

students of English

7 Definition of terms

* Motivation

Among many definitions of motivation stands out Gardner’s one (1985)

“Motivation refers to the combination of effort plus desire to achieve the goal of learning the

language plus favorable attitudes towards learning the language” Gardner (1985, p 10)

“Intelligibility may be broadly defined as the extent to which a speaker's message is actually understood by a listener” (Munro & Derwing 1999, p 289)

both fluency and accuracy The approach perhaps has characteristics of bath intuitive-imitative approach and analytical-linguistic approach,

1.1.2 Teaching Pronunciation: Segmentals or Suprasegmentals?

The calegorivation of pronunciation inlo sogments (discrete sounds), anid suprasogments (features that organive slrcams of specch into meaningful units such as stress, rhythm, intonation, linking, assimilation and deletion) is accepted by many researchers (Kelly,

2003; Kenworthy, 1987; Celce-Murcia et al., 1996, Morley, 1999)

The tradition debate rclating to which featwcs of pronunciation - scgments or suprasegments - should be focused on in teaching promnciation has still been hold, A brief Toviow of the debalos between sogmunls and suprascgmonts is presented as following,

Teaching segmental features started with a concentration on phonetic alphabets during

the Reform Movement (Celce-Murcia et al, 1996) Phonetic training was used in order to

help learners establish good speech habils, Minimal pair drills were used extensively to distinguish phonemes in listoning pravtice and oral production (Cclec-Murcia ct al., 1996) However, affer Anderson-Hsich introduced the researches on “Teaching suprasegmentals to

inlcrmational teaching assislants using ficld-specific matorials” (1990) und “Prommeiation factors affecting intelligibility in speakers of English as a foreign language” (1995), the focus

of pronunciation teaching shifted dramatically from segmentals to an emphasis on suprssegmenlals Following Anderson-Hsich, ahundbml rescarchss have investigated ilie extent

to which suprasegmentals contribute to speakers’ intelligibility and its pedagogy Underhill (1994) stressed the necessity of designing syllabuses mainly focusing om major features of

communication - superasegrucnlal featur of speceh for Ioaching English, Mo

poy and Mendelsohn (1992, p 186) suggested “a short-term pronunciation course should focus fizst and foremost on suprasegmentals, as they have the greatest impact on the comprehensibility of

learners’ English” So far a Jol of books for teachers have largely encouraged the Leaching of suprasegments at the production level to improve learners” intelligibility

In spite of the trend focusing on teaching superasegmentals, hesitation has still arisen fiom the trend Because of the close relation between suprascgmental features and the nature

of native accents, which are unlikely for learners to achieve, one question raises is that if

INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale pf the study

In the process of globalization, the ability to communicate in English plays an important role in fostering the development of the whole nation in general and of Phu Ly city - La Nam provinee in particular, In order to comumunicate well in English, onc advantagcous point is to have an intelligible promunciation

Towever, from the first day of my career as a Leacher, I faced a disitlusion to find (hal the first-year English major students at Hanam Teachers’ Training College had serious problems in pronuneiation, They muspronounced many words, paid very little attention to stress, intonation and rhythm ‘Iherefore, it is my desire to improve the situation of the students’ pronunciation I registered to teach the subject “Practical Pronunciation” with the coursebook “Ship or Sheep” by Ann Baker (1997) After the first courses, I was delighted to

witness certain improvements in students’ pronuncialion Towever, il seemed to me thal my

students were not very motivated in the course and their efforts faded quickly after the examination ‘This fact dawned on me that my teaching was not inleresting and motivating enough, From the experience of the previous cour

ro aught, they orily learn what [hoy arc intercstod in

‘The researchers also added that students are unlikely to be very successful at learmmg anything unless they enjoy the process

Reing urged by the situation and motivated by the idea of finding interesting tools ta teach pronunciation in an effective and systematic way, 1 would like to avail myself of this

opportunity to conduct a research on activities to motivate first-year English major students at

Hamar Teachers’ Training College to learn promuneiation

2.3.5 The students’ journals

2.3.6 Teacher’s observations and ancedotal notes

CHAPTER 3: DATA PRESENTATION

3.1 Prommeiation orientation and diagnostic test

3.2 The students’ journals

4.1.2.2 Analysis and findings

4.1.3 The students’ journals

4.1.4, Teacher’s observations and anecdotal notes

4.2 Discussion

4.2.1 The Toles of motivating activiliss

4.2.2, Factors influencing the students’ motivation and pertormance

replace the intuitive-imitative approach In the 1890s, Tlenry Sweet, Wilhelm Vietor and Paul Passy the creators and developers of the Intemational Phoustic Alphabet (IPA), led a movement in language teaching that was generally called the Reform Movement These phoneticians had groat influcnes on the (saching of pronunciation with their contrilmtion to the development of a system for deseribing and analysing the sound systems of languages Th 1940s and 1950s witnessed a noticeable movement emphasized on explicit instruction of phonetics with Andiolinguism in the United States and the Oral approach in Britain These two methodologics competed with the Direct Mcthod by relying on a recording or the teacher

to model the target language followed by the students’ repetition of that language However, trachers also drew from their knowledges of phonolics and for the first time usod simplificd charts of the IPA and articulatory models in the classroom The audiolinguism relied much on drilling sound contrasts and minimal pairs, with very little attention to intonation and

The 1980s witness

d the significant shi wilh discourse bascd communicative approach with the ultimate goal was communication The communicative approach dealt with tasks that focus on meaning, using activities such as role play, problem solving and games in a relaxed and supportive classroom nvirormnenl By focusing more on active communication, it bas been recognised that pronunciation competence below a cartain threshold caused tutintelligible, even for the most grammatically and lexically advanced students (Ibnofitis & Bailey, 1980) Tochrique uscd to tcach pronunciation included listening and imitating, phonetic training, minimal pairs drilling in context, visual aids, reading aloud, recording the students’ production with more focus on suprasegmental aspects of promuneiation It can be scen that the comnmunicative approach sccms to be a more balance approach, with the focus on

phoneticians had groat influcnes on the (saching of pronunciation with their contrilmtion to the development of a system for deseribing and analysing the sound systems of languages Th 1940s and 1950s witnessed a noticeable movement emphasized on explicit instruction of phonetics with Andiolinguism in the United States and the Oral approach in Britain These two methodologics competed with the Direct Mcthod by relying on a recording or the teacher

to model the target language followed by the students’ repetition of that language However, trachers also drew from their knowledges of phonolics and for the first time usod simplificd charts of the IPA and articulatory models in the classroom The audiolinguism relied much on drilling sound contrasts and minimal pairs, with very little attention to intonation and

The 1980s witness

d the significant shi wilh discourse bascd communicative approach with the ultimate goal was communication The communicative approach dealt with tasks that focus on meaning, using activities such as role play, problem solving and games in a relaxed and supportive classroom nvirormnenl By focusing more on active communication, it bas been recognised that pronunciation competence below a cartain threshold caused tutintelligible, even for the most grammatically and lexically advanced students (Ibnofitis & Bailey, 1980) Tochrique uscd to tcach pronunciation included listening and imitating, phonetic training, minimal pairs drilling in context, visual aids, reading aloud, recording the students’ production with more focus on suprasegmental aspects of promuneiation It can be scen that the comnmunicative approach sccms to be a more balance approach, with the focus on

11

CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Researches inta pronunciation teaching

1.1.1 Approaches to pronunciation teaching

The approaches lo pronunciation leaching have swung in and oul af favor through the years in the hislory Two general approaches to the (caching of pronunciation described by Celee-Murcia et al (1996) have been adopted by many researchers, which are intuitive- imitative approach and analytical-linguistic approach

An intuitive-imitative approach assumes that students will develop acccptable

pronunciation and speaking skills when exposed to the target language through accurate inodels This approach relics heavily upon imitation and repetition, without any expticil information provided by the teacher The early method of promuneiation training called Direct Method, which gained acceptance in the late 1800s and early 1900s, was formed from obscrvations of children allaining their first language In this method, students would fisien

and imitate a modcl of the targct language that was spoken by the teacher (and later by

recordings) (Celce Murcia, Brinton, & Goodwin, 1996) From the late 1960s and the early 1980s, there was # decline in explicit pronunciation teaching with [he invention of the Janguage lab During this time intuitive-imitative approach was more popular in the pronunciation training with ‘lotal Physical Response by Asher’s (1977) and Natural Approach by Krashen and Terrzi's (1983) In Total Physical Response, sludents would begin to speak when they were ready and they were expected to make errors in the initial

stage The main initiat focus of Natural Approach was listening, which gave students the

still adopt this view but it is still needed to further investigate if the method has the

persuasive foundation

An analytic-linguistic approach reeognises the importance of an explicit intervention of

pronunciation pedagogy in language acquisition The approach employs a variety of pedagogical aids inchiding phonemic chart, contrastive exercises and articulatory descriptions

In this approach, students arc given cxplicit information about how to produce the sounds and

thythms of the target language ‘his approach was developed to complement rather than

provinee in particular, In order to comumunicate well in English, onc advantagcous point is to have an intelligible promunciation

Towever, from the first day of my career as a Leacher, I faced a disitlusion to find (hal the first-year English major students at Hanam Teachers’ Training College had serious problems in pronuneiation, They muspronounced many words, paid very little attention to stress, intonation and rhythm ‘Iherefore, it is my desire to improve the situation of the students’ pronunciation I registered to teach the subject “Practical Pronunciation” with the coursebook “Ship or Sheep” by Ann Baker (1997) After the first courses, I was delighted to

witness certain improvements in students’ pronuncialion Towever, il seemed to me thal my

students were not very motivated in the course and their efforts faded quickly after the examination ‘This fact dawned on me that my teaching was not inleresting and motivating enough, From the experience of the previous cour

ro aught, they orily learn what [hoy arc intercstod in

‘The researchers also added that students are unlikely to be very successful at learmmg anything unless they enjoy the process

Reing urged by the situation and motivated by the idea of finding interesting tools ta teach pronunciation in an effective and systematic way, 1 would like to avail myself of this

opportunity to conduct a research on activities to motivate first-year English major students at

Hamar Teachers’ Training College to learn promuneiation

2 Statement of the problem

At Hanam Teachers’ Training College, up to now there are four classes major in English, with the aim of training teachers of English for secondary schools in the province, providing office workers specializing in English for joint-venture companics in the industrial zones in the provinoe, raining some wal: interpreters and translators to work in the Middlc-Fasl countries in Asia, With the above aims, it is required that students nmst have an intelligible pronunciation

However, as a teacher of English at Hanam Teachers’ Training College, I found that students had serious problems with English pronunciation Most of them come from rural arcas of Thanh Tim, Binh Lac, Kim Bang, Ly Nhan, whers there is no cmphasis on learning pronunciation Therefore, it is easy to find that students have so many problems with

pronunciation Moreover, in my previous courses of teaching pronunciation, | realized that my

students seemed not to be highly motivated in learning with activilics in the courscbook

From the cuzront situation of Hanam Teachers’ Training College, | would like to conduct

a tesearch on activities to motivate first-year English major students at Hanam Teachers’

Training Colloge to Ivarn pronunciation

3 Purpose of the study

‘This research is designed to bring a new air into the promunciation class of the first-year English major studenls al Hanam Teachers’ Training College In genzral, the purposes of this study are:

| to seek activities to motivate the first-year English major students at ITanam Teachers’ Training Colloge to barn pronunciation

+ to have empirical evidence of motivating activities on learning pronunciation of the

first-year inglish major students at [anam ‘Teachers’ ‘Training College

CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Researches inta pronunciation teaching

1.1.1 Approaches to pronunciation teaching

The approaches lo pronunciation leaching have swung in and oul af favor through the years in the hislory Two general approaches to the (caching of pronunciation described by Celee-Murcia et al (1996) have been adopted by many researchers, which are intuitive- imitative approach and analytical-linguistic approach

An intuitive-imitative approach assumes that students will develop acccptable

pronunciation and speaking skills when exposed to the target language through accurate inodels This approach relics heavily upon imitation and repetition, without any expticil information provided by the teacher The early method of promuneiation training called Direct Method, which gained acceptance in the late 1800s and early 1900s, was formed from obscrvations of children allaining their first language In this method, students would fisien

and imitate a modcl of the targct language that was spoken by the teacher (and later by

recordings) (Celce Murcia, Brinton, & Goodwin, 1996) From the late 1960s and the early 1980s, there was # decline in explicit pronunciation teaching with [he invention of the Janguage lab During this time intuitive-imitative approach was more popular in the pronunciation training with ‘lotal Physical Response by Asher’s (1977) and Natural Approach by Krashen and Terrzi's (1983) In Total Physical Response, sludents would begin to speak when they were ready and they were expected to make errors in the initial

stage The main initiat focus of Natural Approach was listening, which gave students the

still adopt this view but it is still needed to further investigate if the method has the

persuasive foundation

An analytic-linguistic approach reeognises the importance of an explicit intervention of

pronunciation pedagogy in language acquisition The approach employs a variety of pedagogical aids inchiding phonemic chart, contrastive exercises and articulatory descriptions

In this approach, students arc given cxplicit information about how to produce the sounds and

thythms of the target language ‘his approach was developed to complement rather than

3.3.2 Post test

2.3.3 Final oral examination

2.3.4, Questionnaire

2.3.5 The students’ journals

2.3.6 Teacher’s observations and ancedotal notes

CHAPTER 3: DATA PRESENTATION

3.1 Prommeiation orientation and diagnostic test

3.2 The students’ journals

4.1.2.2 Analysis and findings

4.1.3 The students’ journals

4.1.4, Teacher’s observations and anecdotal notes

4.2 Discussion

4.2.1 The Toles of motivating activiliss

4.2.2, Factors influencing the students’ motivation and pertormance

office workers specializing in English for joint-venture companics in the industrial zones in the provinoe, raining some wal: interpreters and translators to work in the Middlc-Fasl countries in Asia, With the above aims, it is required that students nmst have an intelligible pronunciation

However, as a teacher of English at Hanam Teachers’ Training College, I found that students had serious problems with English pronunciation Most of them come from rural arcas of Thanh Tim, Binh Lac, Kim Bang, Ly Nhan, whers there is no cmphasis on learning pronunciation Therefore, it is easy to find that students have so many problems with

pronunciation Moreover, in my previous courses of teaching pronunciation, | realized that my

students seemed not to be highly motivated in learning with activilics in the courscbook

From the cuzront situation of Hanam Teachers’ Training College, | would like to conduct

a tesearch on activities to motivate first-year English major students at Hanam Teachers’

Training Colloge to Ivarn pronunciation

3 Purpose of the study

‘This research is designed to bring a new air into the promunciation class of the first-year English major studenls al Hanam Teachers’ Training College In genzral, the purposes of this study are:

| to seek activities to motivate the first-year English major students at ITanam Teachers’ Training Colloge to barn pronunciation

+ to have empirical evidence of motivating activities on learning pronunciation of the

first-year inglish major students at [anam ‘Teachers’ ‘Training College

10

5 Method of the study

The method employed in this study is an action research, using a number of instruments

as questionnaire, the students’ journals, teacher’s anecdotal notes, along with diagnostic test, posttest and final oral examination to collect data

6 Significance of the study

Despite the fact that pronunciation plays an important role in learning a foreign language,

so far there have been few researches on the ways to motivate students to study pronunciation

compared to other skills such as speaking, listening, writing and reading The study suggests

motivating activities in teaching pronunciation to facilitate the students’ learning process Therefore, this study contributes to enriching the researches on strategies to promote students

to learn promunciation The results of this study will be of much benefit to both teachers and

students of English

7 Definition of terms

* Motivation

Among many definitions of motivation stands out Gardner’s one (1985)

“Motivation refers to the combination of effort plus desire to achieve the goal of learning the

language plus favorable attitudes towards learning the language” Gardner (1985, p 10)

“Intelligibility may be broadly defined as the extent to which a speaker's message is actually understood by a listener” (Munro & Derwing 1999, p 289)

provinee in particular, In order to comumunicate well in English, onc advantagcous point is to have an intelligible promunciation

Towever, from the first day of my career as a Leacher, I faced a disitlusion to find (hal the first-year English major students at Hanam Teachers’ Training College had serious problems in pronuneiation, They muspronounced many words, paid very little attention to stress, intonation and rhythm ‘Iherefore, it is my desire to improve the situation of the students’ pronunciation I registered to teach the subject “Practical Pronunciation” with the coursebook “Ship or Sheep” by Ann Baker (1997) After the first courses, I was delighted to

witness certain improvements in students’ pronuncialion Towever, il seemed to me thal my

students were not very motivated in the course and their efforts faded quickly after the examination ‘This fact dawned on me that my teaching was not inleresting and motivating enough, From the experience of the previous cour

ro aught, they orily learn what [hoy arc intercstod in

‘The researchers also added that students are unlikely to be very successful at learmmg anything unless they enjoy the process

Reing urged by the situation and motivated by the idea of finding interesting tools ta teach pronunciation in an effective and systematic way, 1 would like to avail myself of this

opportunity to conduct a research on activities to motivate first-year English major students at

Hamar Teachers’ Training College to learn promuneiation

10

5 Method of the study

The method employed in this study is an action research, using a number of instruments

as questionnaire, the students’ journals, teacher’s anecdotal notes, along with diagnostic test, posttest and final oral examination to collect data

6 Significance of the study

Despite the fact that pronunciation plays an important role in learning a foreign language,

so far there have been few researches on the ways to motivate students to study pronunciation

compared to other skills such as speaking, listening, writing and reading The study suggests

motivating activities in teaching pronunciation to facilitate the students’ learning process Therefore, this study contributes to enriching the researches on strategies to promote students

to learn promunciation The results of this study will be of much benefit to both teachers and

students of English

7 Definition of terms

* Motivation

Among many definitions of motivation stands out Gardner’s one (1985)

“Motivation refers to the combination of effort plus desire to achieve the goal of learning the

language plus favorable attitudes towards learning the language” Gardner (1985, p 10)

“Intelligibility may be broadly defined as the extent to which a speaker's message is actually understood by a listener” (Munro & Derwing 1999, p 289)

CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Researches inta pronunciation teaching

1.1.1 Approaches to pronunciation teaching

The approaches lo pronunciation leaching have swung in and oul af favor through the years in the hislory Two general approaches to the (caching of pronunciation described by Celee-Murcia et al (1996) have been adopted by many researchers, which are intuitive- imitative approach and analytical-linguistic approach

An intuitive-imitative approach assumes that students will develop acccptable

pronunciation and speaking skills when exposed to the target language through accurate inodels This approach relics heavily upon imitation and repetition, without any expticil information provided by the teacher The early method of promuneiation training called Direct Method, which gained acceptance in the late 1800s and early 1900s, was formed from obscrvations of children allaining their first language In this method, students would fisien

and imitate a modcl of the targct language that was spoken by the teacher (and later by

recordings) (Celce Murcia, Brinton, & Goodwin, 1996) From the late 1960s and the early 1980s, there was # decline in explicit pronunciation teaching with [he invention of the Janguage lab During this time intuitive-imitative approach was more popular in the pronunciation training with ‘lotal Physical Response by Asher’s (1977) and Natural Approach by Krashen and Terrzi's (1983) In Total Physical Response, sludents would begin to speak when they were ready and they were expected to make errors in the initial

stage The main initiat focus of Natural Approach was listening, which gave students the

still adopt this view but it is still needed to further investigate if the method has the

persuasive foundation

An analytic-linguistic approach reeognises the importance of an explicit intervention of

pronunciation pedagogy in language acquisition The approach employs a variety of pedagogical aids inchiding phonemic chart, contrastive exercises and articulatory descriptions

In this approach, students arc given cxplicit information about how to produce the sounds and

thythms of the target language ‘his approach was developed to complement rather than

replace the intuitive-imitative approach In the 1890s, Tlenry Sweet, Wilhelm Vietor and Paul Passy the creators and developers of the Intemational Phoustic Alphabet (IPA), led a movement in language teaching that was generally called the Reform Movement These phoneticians had groat influcnes on the (saching of pronunciation with their contrilmtion to the development of a system for deseribing and analysing the sound systems of languages Th 1940s and 1950s witnessed a noticeable movement emphasized on explicit instruction of phonetics with Andiolinguism in the United States and the Oral approach in Britain These two methodologics competed with the Direct Mcthod by relying on a recording or the teacher

to model the target language followed by the students’ repetition of that language However, trachers also drew from their knowledges of phonolics and for the first time usod simplificd charts of the IPA and articulatory models in the classroom The audiolinguism relied much on drilling sound contrasts and minimal pairs, with very little attention to intonation and

The 1980s witness

d the significant shi wilh discourse bascd communicative approach with the ultimate goal was communication The communicative approach dealt with tasks that focus on meaning, using activities such as role play, problem solving and games in a relaxed and supportive classroom nvirormnenl By focusing more on active communication, it bas been recognised that pronunciation competence below a cartain threshold caused tutintelligible, even for the most grammatically and lexically advanced students (Ibnofitis & Bailey, 1980) Tochrique uscd to tcach pronunciation included listening and imitating, phonetic training, minimal pairs drilling in context, visual aids, reading aloud, recording the students’ production with more focus on suprasegmental aspects of promuneiation It can be scen that the comnmunicative approach sccms to be a more balance approach, with the focus on