Factors affecting first year medical technology students on using ELL software to improve their pronunciation at a medical and pharmaceutical university in vietnam

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ HẢI YẾN FACTORS AFFECTING FIRST-YEAR MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THỊ HẢI YẾN

FACTORS AFFECTING FIRST-YEAR MEDICAL

TECHNOLOGY STUDENTS ON USING ELL SOFTWARE

TO IMPROVE THEIR PRONUNCIATION AT A MEDICAL AND

PHARMACEUTICAL UNIVERSITY IN VIETNAM

(CÁC YẾU TỐ ẢNH HƯỞNG ĐẾN VIỆC SỬ DỤNG PHẦN MỀM ELL

ĐỂ CẢI THIỆN KHẢ NĂNG PHÁT ÂM CHO SINH VIÊN KỸ THUẬT

Y HỌC NĂM THỨ NHẤT TẠI MỘT TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC Y DƯỢC

Ở VIỆT NAM)

Master thesis

Major: English Language Teaching

Code: 60140111

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THỊ HẢI YẾN

FACTORS AFFECTING FIRST-YEAR MEDICAL

TECHNOLOGY STUDENTS ON USING ELL SOFTWARE

TO IMPROVE THEIR PRONUNCIATION AT A MEDICAL AND

PHARMACEUTICAL UNIVERSITY IN VIETNAM

(CÁC YẾU TỐ ẢNH HƯỞNG ĐẾN VIỆC SỬ DỤNG PHẦN MỀM ELL

ĐỂ CẢI THIỆN KHẢ NĂNG PHÁT ÂM CHO SINH VIÊN KỸ THUẬT

Y HỌC NĂM THỨ NHẤT TẠI MỘT TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC Y DƯỢC

Ở VIỆT NAM)

Master thesis

Major: English Language Teaching

Code: 60140111 Superviser: PhD Hoàng Ngọc Tuệ

DECLARATION

I hereby state that I Nguyen Thi Hai Yen, being an MA candidate of the Faculty of Postgraduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, certify my authorship of the study entitled ―Factors affecting first-year medical

technology students on using ELL software to improve their pronunciation at

a medical and pharmaceutical university in Vietnam.‖

The thesis is the study of my own research and the substance of the thesis has not, wholly or in part, been submitted for a degree to any other universities or institutions

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I would like to express my special thanks to my supervisor PhD Hoang Ngoc Tue for his constant guidance, suggestions, dedication and professionalism through my research

My deep gratitude goes to the lecturers of the Faculty of Postgraduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their thoughtful and fruitful lectures which have inspired me to conduct this study

I am also indebted to the staff and students of the Department of Foreign Languages at Haiphong University of Medicine and Pharmacy for their support and participation in my research

I wish to acknowledge, in particular, my family and my best friends who have encouraged me while I was accomplishing this study

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

ABSTRACT

It is crucial for a language learner to have a good pronunciation of the language CALL accordingly has a great potential to teach and learn pronunciation Through much research has been undertaken on CALL, there exist a gap in investigating factors affecting the use of CALL to improve English pronunciation in a medical and pharmaceutical university when language students face many medical terminologies, especially in Vietnamese context In order to address such a gap, this study examines the use of a software program, students‘ motivation to use the program, the effectiveness

of the program This study seeks to contribute new understandings into using CALL to improve pronunciation and recommendations to use CALL effectively The qualitative data are collected from students‘ learning sheets, classroom observation and students focus group, and content analysis is employed for the interpretation of the data The results showed that the students agreed on a number of factors affecting the effective use of the software such as motivation, lack of training and policy climate

Keywords: CALL, English pronunciation, focus group, learning sheet, classroom observation, content analysis

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGMENT ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENT iv

LIST OF FIGURES vi

LIST OF APPENDICES vi

LIST OF ABBREVIATION vii

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Statement of the problem 1

1.2 Objectives of the study 2

1.3 Methods of the study 3

1.4 The significance of the study 3

1.5 Thesis outline 4

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 Role of pronunciation in language teaching and learning 5

2.2 Challenges of teaching pronunciation 7

2.3 Benefits of using CALL software in EFL teaching and learning pronunciation 8

2.4 Challenges of using CALL software in EFL teaching and learning pronunciation 12

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY 17

3.1 Context of the study 17

3.2 Description of the software program 18

3.3 Research questions 18

3.4 Research design 19

3.5 Data collection 21

3.5.1 Classroom observation 22

3.5.2 Learning sheet 22

3.5.3 Focus group interview 23

CHAPTER 4 DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 24

4.1 Data analysis 25

4.2 Results 26

4.2.1 Benefits of ELL 26

4.2.2 The challenges of ELL 28

4.2.3 Motivation 29

4.2.4 Necessary improvements 30

4.3 Discussions and recommendations 32

4.3.1 Teacher and student training 32

4.3.2 Motivation for Student Self-Discipline 33

4.3.3 Policy Climate 35

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION 38

5.1 Summary 38

5.2 Limitations of the Study 39

5.3 Suggestions for Further Research 39

REFERENCES 40 APPENDICES I Appendix 1: The congruence of research questions, literature reviews, conceptual framework, data collection methods, data sources, and data analysis I Appendix 2: Student Focus Group Interview IV Appendix 3: Student’s Learning Sheet V Appendix 4: Classroom observation VI

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Benefits and challenges of CALL 16 Figure 2: Crotty‘s (1998) model of research design 19 Figure 3: Data Collection Model 22

LIST OF APPENDICES

Appendix 1: The congruence of research questions, literature reviews,

conceptual framework, data collection methods, data sources, and data

analysis I Appendix 2: Student Focus Group Interview IV Appendix 3: Student‘s Learning Sheet V Appendix 4: Classroom observation VI

LIST OF ABBREVIATION

CALL: Computer Assisted Language Learning

CAPT: Computer Assisted Pronunciation-Teaching CAP: Computer Assisted Pronunciation

EFL: Learning English as a Foreign

ESP: English for Specific Purposes

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

This first chapter consists of five sections It begins with the statement

of the research problem (section 1.1) Section 1.2 provides the objectives of the study and research questions The section 1.3 and 1.4 present the methods

of the study and the significance of the study The last section in this first chapter (section 1.5) presents the thesis outline

1.1 Statement of the problem

In recent decades, due to the impacts of globalization, English is increasingly used as an international language (Jenkins, 1998) Pronunciation

is becoming more and more important for successful communication (Stephens, Silbert, & Hasson, 2010) The use of spoken language to establish successful communication also becomes the general goals of language teaching (Kelly, 2006) This reality has realized a new level-headed discussion about models, objectives and especially, the techniques used for teaching speaking and pronunciation

Much research has dealt with teaching English pronunciation and problems learners confront in English pronunciation and the research proposed that the teaching and learning of English pronunciation take time (Levis & Grant, 2003; Sifakis & Sougari, 2005) As a matter of fact, communication may break down when individuals pronounce erroneously Besides, students with great pronunciation are usually more capable speakers and more fruitful language students than those with poor pronunciation (Kelly, 2006)

Understanding the roles of learning and teaching English pronunciation, the researcher has had great effort to help students pronounce English better, however, the job meets with many difficulties Meanwhile,

students, from a medical and pharmaceutical university, have to deal with a large number of terminologies every lesson Moreover, teaching English pronunciation is not included in the curriculum In order to solve these

problems, the researcher attempt investigate students‘ use of ELL software

program to improve English pronunciation To validate the problem of this study, the researcher did a pilot study of the previous semester class The findings showed that besides it was a great software program and students had great motivation to study at first, they did not see significant improvements in their pronunciation

Learning about applying software to improve pronunciation, the researcher found that the successful software application depends on many factors such as the pedagogical requirements (Murray & Barnes, 1998; Pennington, 1999; Price, 1998; Warschauer & Healey, 1998; Watts, 1997), the age, motivation for learning second or foreign language as well as the amount of feedback and the smooth-run of the systems or of technical failures (Piske, MacKay, & Flege, 2001) and so on

At this point, this research attempts to find out the specific factors that

affect the first- year medical technology students on using ELL software and

make suggestions for the effective use of the software The literature review showed that there exists a gap in Vietnamese context to identify benefits and challenges of using CALL to teach and learn English pronunciation In this sense, the researcher would like to conduct the study ―Factors affecting first-

year medical technology students on using ELL software to improve their

pronunciation at a medical and pharmaceutical university in Vietnam‖

1.2 Objectives of the study

Research objectives are the results found by the researcher at the end of the research process, i.e what the researcher will be able to achieve at the end

of the research study In other words, the objectives of a research project summarize what is to be achieved by the study (Clement, 2010) Objectives should be closely related to the statement of the problem In this study, the objectives are to:

- Identify the factors that influence students when they use ELL

software to improve their pronunciation

- Give recommendations in using software to improve students‘ pronunciation more effectively

To achieve these objectives, the researcher observed the class and took notes of the teaching and learning procedures, asked students to write a learning sheet in every lesson, and at the end of the research project, students were divided into four focus group interviews The research project lasted in

15 weeks in the first semester when the students – participants just entered the university The participants were 28 first – year medical technology students

1.3 Methods of the study

This study is conducted as a qualitative approach The reasons for the adoption was that qualitative design allows the researcher to obtain the way

students use ELL software (Merriam, 2002) and the factors influence the students in using ELL software and give the commendations in order to

improve their English pronunciation Qualitative data were collected via a combination of different instruments namely classroom observation, learning sheet and group focus interview Besides, the collected data from the research instruments were analyzed in the light of content analysis (O‘Dwyer, 2004)

1.4 The significance of the study

There has been much research in teaching and learning pronunciation and teaching and learning pronunciation using technology However, there exists a gap in which this study provides an overview about the factors that

influence medical and pharmaceutical students into the application of software to improve pronunciation to fulfil The results of the study are beneficial for both institutions and teachers who are wondering whether to use the software to support their teaching more effectively and students who are

in use of the software to improve their pronunciation

1.5 Thesis outline

This thesis is presented in five chapters This introductory chapter describes the statement of the problem which explains why the researcher proposed this thesis It introduces research objectives, the method of the study and the significance of the study

Chapter two reviews the literature focusing on role of pronunciation and teaching pronunciation, challenges of teaching pronunciation, benefits and challenges of using CALL to improve English pronunciation

Chapter three presents a detailed description of the research methodology This chapter starts with a description of the context of the study, the research design Then, the data collection methods and procedure are outlined

Chapter four reports the data analysis and discussions from the findings Chapter five summarizes all the main ideas expressed throughout the research, contributions and limitations of the study as well as suggests further research

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

In order to answer the research questions and identify necessary research issues, this chapter reviews the literature on the following areas Section 2.1 presents the role of pronunciation in language teaching and learning Challenges of teaching pronunciation are given in section 2.2 Section 2.3 identifies the benefits of CALL in EFL teaching and learning pronunciation Sections 2.4 discusses the challenges of using CALL in EFL

teaching and learning pronunciation

2.1 Role of pronunciation in language teaching and learning

There are some elements that help people be good at a language Pronunciation is one of essential factors It plays an important role in both teaching and learning language (Çakır & Baytar, 2014; Fraser & Perth, 1999; Levis & Grant, 2003; Sifakis & Sougari, 2005)

In learning pronunciation, Sifakis and Sougari (2005) show two reasons

of importance of pronunciation in language learning First, pronunciation contributes to the establishment of their socio-cultural identity Second, it helps make conversation in a certain setting among non-native speakers or between non-native speakers and native speakers possible This will be performed by speakers' use of sounds which are easy to understand and prosodic features together with other aspects about language such as grammar, discourse, and so on Besides, most language teachers agree that

―intelligible pronunciation is vital to successful communication‖ and most students see ―pronunciation as an important part of learning to speak ‖ (Levis & Grant, 2003)

Kelly (2006) adds that it is crucial for a language learner to have a good pronunciation of that language It has an important role in learners‘ speaking ability Learners are good at grammar and vocabulary, but they still fail in

communicating effectively because of their poor pronunciation Kelly also maintains that mispronunciation and misrepresentation of prosodic features make it difficult for listeners to understand and convey the speaker‘s meanings Moreover, Gilakjani (2012) confirms that great pronunciation abilities do not only bring confidence to the speaker but also enhances their listening and understanding A speaker with good pronunciation is also a good listener That is the premise of a successful communication even though their grammar and sentence structures are not really appropriate

In teaching pronunciation, the objectives of pronunciation teaching ought not to be procuring native–like pronunciation but should be

―developing functional intelligibility, communicability, increased confidence, the development of speech monitoring abilities and speech modification strategies for use beyond the classroom‖ (Otlowski, 1998).In this sense, Harmer (2003) additionally notices that students who produce

self-"perfect" pronunciation appear to depend particularly on their attitude to how they talk and how well they listen He goes on that various mental issues may influence how "foreign" a person sounds when they talk, thus teachers and students need to consider understandability as the prime objective of pronunciation teaching and learning

In order to make the objectives of teaching pronunciation clear, Murcia, Briton and Goodwin (1996) justified the communicative approach to teaching He proposed that teaching of pronunciation is dire and imperative in light of the fact that the non-native speakers need a certain level of pronunciation and ―If they fall below this threshold level, they will have oral communication problems no matter how excellent and extensive their control

Celce-of English grammar and vocabulary might be‖ Besides, Murphy (1991) found that the vast majority of courses accentuate general oral communication over pronunciation, teachers must look for inventive routes to coordinate

pronunciation under talking - turned classes He also said that pronunciation direction needs to be combined with extensive level of communication activities in which the speakers and listeners participate in a meaningful communication

In conclusion, pronunciation plays a vital role in teaching and learning a foreign language because the proper pronunciation contributes to create successful communication If a speaker uses the right words, the right structures but he mispronounces or pronounces difficultly to hear, he causes misunderstanding, communication interruption or communication breakdown (Kelly, 2006)

2.2 Challenges of teaching pronunciation

Teaching pronunciation has never been an easy task (Ross, 1992) In fact, it faces many challenges (Foote, Holtby, & Derwing, 2012 2012; Miller, 2000) ―Pronunciation can be one of the most difficult parts for a language learner to master, one of the least favorite topics for teacher to address in the classroom‖ (Gilakjani, 2012) The challenges of teaching pronunciation come from several factors: the timetable of teaching pronunciation, the student and the teacher

First, there is normally little or no time distributed to properly teach pronunciation and the greater part of lesson arrangement is dedicated to vocabulary and linguistic use (Baker, 1996) Actually, in any case, the obligation of the instructive framework for English spoken skill advancement

is as much critical as its duty regarding concentrating on the written form of the dialect (Anderson & Pearson, 1984) As Kelly (2006) claims, when arranging a timetable of English lessons, teachers normally disregard to incorporate pronunciation issues and they put most concentration on the organization of grammatical structures and lexical syllabus Educators do not have enough time in their lessons, which would be committed to

pronunciation, and if there is time consideration is typically given to drills which prompt disheartened both teachers and learners (Gilbert, 2008)

Second, students do not pay attention on pronunciation as much as grammar Pronunciation, in correlation with the grammar rules, cannot be just instilled in a student's mind (Laroy, 1995) Besides, psychological factors play a significant part in learning pronunciation since students are not as beyond any doubt about their pronunciation as they are about their insight into sentence structures and lexis The most basic elements of speaking are deeply personal and our sense of community is bound up in the speech rhythms of our first language These psychological challenges are usually insensible but they prevent speakers from improving the intelligibility (Gilbert, 2008).Third, many English language teachers show a tendency to avoid teaching pronunciation because they lack of skills, knowledge and confidence (Brown, 1992; Claire, 1993; Fraser, 2000; Yates, 2001) Furthermore, teachers themselves may feel more unverifiable about pronunciation than about grammar and lexis Jim (2005) stressed that teachers

do not have enough specialized information to help students properly so some teachers still do not pay enough attention to pronunciation

In conclusion, there are three primary reasons (the timetable of teaching pronunciation, the student and the teacher) why pronunciation is ignored in classes They are also the challenges in teaching English pronunciation

2.3 Benefits of using CALL software in EFL teaching and learning

pronunciation

There are two main roles of CALL software: as a learning aid and resource for reference (Barr, 2004) First, CALL software is as a learning aid Barr (2004) states that a computer can be used to improve the learning abilities of students in numerous contexts of study, including language learning Computer software is as a tutor, "adopting the role of the teacher"

and as a tool to produce course materials In addition, the role of innovation in CALL can be thought of in terms of ―the metaphors of tutor, tool, and medium‖ In the ―tutor‖ role, computers can give correction feedback, and tests in grammar, vocabulary, writing, pronunciation and different forms of assessments of language and culture learning In the ―tool‖ part, computers provide prepared access to written, sound, and visual materials pertinent to the language and culture being studied They additionally give reference tools, for example, online dictionaries, language structures and style checkers, and concordances for corpus examination The Internet and databases can fill

in as devices for improving pronunciation In the ―medium‖ role, technology gives sites for interpersonal communication, sight and sound distribution, community participation, and identity formation (Kern, 2006)

Second, CALL software can be a resource for reference in EFL teaching and learning CALL software programs are accessible over the web which can likewise be directly downloaded This gives teachers the chance to get prepared lessons using the appropriate projects with aims and targets of their lessons in some clicks Besides, students are allowed to peruse the web for material or use CALL software to improve their pronunciation

In the era of globalization, applying technology in teaching language has never been more of interest (Bunnell, Yarrington, & Polikoff, 2000 2000; Chou, 2005; Eskenazi & Pelton, 2002; Giuliani, Mich, & Nardon, 2003 2003; Kawai & Tabain, 2000; Sfakianaki et al., 2001; Warnick, 2001) regardless of the significance of its application in teaching pronunciation Computer-assisted pronunciation (CAP) is based on the combinations of innovation for teaching and learning and the segmental and suprasegmental highlights of sound system Rostron and Kinsell (1995) describe it as the use of digitized discourse for improving dialect articulations CAP has been utilized as a part

of teaching pronunciation to accomplish two purposes: diagnosing the

learner's deviation in articulation and helping him/her in correcting any such deviations (Kawai & Hirose, 1997; Machovikov, Stolyarov, Chernov, Sinclair, & Machovikova, 2002 Sinclair, &Machovikova, 2002; Najmi & Bernstein, 1996)

Consequently, it cannot be denied that CALL software in particular and information technology in general plays a positive role in pronunciation learning As such, software is a virtual instructor, a teacher's partner, a guide,

an instrument, a teacher and a learning device which can promote learning in general and learning pronunciation in particular (Beatty, 2013)

There are many studies about the benefits of using CALL and CAPT software Neri, Cucchiarini and Strik (2002) confirmed that CAPT systems seem to meet the requirements of pronunciation training and offer a number

of advantages:

“First, they make it possible to address individual problems Second, they allow students to train as long as they wish and in their own tempo Third, by giving students a chance to train individually, these systems may lead to a reduction of foreign language classroom anxiety and thus indirectly favor learning Finally, they offer the possibility to store student profiles in log-files, so that both the teacher and the student can monitor problems and improvements” (p 3)

Second, CAPT makes the invisible sound become visible and solid graphics show up in front of the foreign language students The students learn how

to articulate the sound by listening, mimicking and repeating, as well as through accepting feedback Therefore, students may get feedback without anguish shame

in front of other students (Bill, as cited in Boyd and Murphy, 2002)

Third, when using CAP software, students can experience an environment of English Boyd and Murphy (2002) has argued that ―one of the

most powerful uses of multimedia is to immerse the user in a learning environment‖ Besides, in the environment of CALL, Liou (2000) designated

"Nowadays, technology has new potentials in multimedia or hypermedia-type courseware where students have considerable freedom to navigate in the environment " Therefore, students can have improved contact with English pronunciation

Fourth, youthful and adult language students are difficult in taking another language They need ―exceptional effort or motivation to progress‖ (Celce-Murcia et al., 1996) Besides, Pennington (1999) brought up that most adult learners will hardly be able to improve their productive and receptive competence of a new sound system without explicit instruction Computer – aided or helped pronunciation with phonological systems can encourage adult and grown-up dialect students' beneficial and open ability in pronunciation of a target dialect Moreover, CAPT ―provide stimuli to auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learners It is known that animation can increase learner interest and motivation, provide metacognitive scaffolding and mental models, and promote visual stimuli to establish connections between the abstract and the concrete‖ (Dooley, Stuessy & Magill, as cited in Boyd & Murphy, 2002, p.37)

Fifth, in comparison with the real teacher, Hardison (2004) adds four more effects of CAPT Fist, CAPT is enthusiastic Instructors basically cannot, at the same time, provide training and input required for a lot of students Second, CAPT is steady It is always dependable in its introduction

of motivation material and in the sort of feedback given Teachers regularly are not Third, CAPT gives variety, both in the quantities of voices utilized as models and in opportunities for visual feedback, particularly in areas like pitch development At last, CAPT offers the opportunity to meet fluctuated

singular needs more effectively than any educator can It advances student independence in practice pronunciation, a basic factor in success

In summary, there are a lot of benefits of CALL and CAPT in teaching and learning pronunciation They overcome the limitations of the real teacher and improve the effectiveness of learning pronunciation (Hardison, 2004)

2.4 Challenges of using CALL software in EFL teaching and learning pronunciation

Besides the benefits that CALL software brings to language learning and teaching, there are many challenges of using software in EFL teaching and learning pronunciation They relate to students, teachers, institutions

Although a variety of research has been conducted into the

development of computer-assisted foreign language learning systems, little attention has been paid to pronunciation learning and teaching Witt & Young (2014) pointed out the challenges of CAPT:

“it is not possible to process and evaluate any oral response of a student using the standard means of interaction such as keyboard and mouse Additionally, unlike with grammar or vocabulary exercises where there exist clearly defined wrong or right answers, in pronunciation exercises, there exists no clearly right or wrong answer

A large number of different factors contribute to the overall pronunciation quality and these are also difficult to measure Hence, the transition from poor to good pronunciation is a gradual one, and any assessment must also be presented on a graduated scale” (p 26)

Davies (2012) points out another challenge of using CALL software is that students do not recognize the mistakes they make, the assistance tools that much CALL software provides are restricted by the data that the software has nourished into the assistance segment database The use the proper software for the students' level is very important If it is not right for their

level, the activities cannot be kept from turning into the mayhem of improvement (Higgins, 1988) Moreover, ―it appears that CALL systems have insufficient technological capability to recognize and respond to the human voice‖ (Ehsani & Knodt, 1998, as cited in Barr, 2004) Students cannot yet make the conversation or give questions to a computer Besides, computers do not give some essential features of real communicative situations and the sense of collaboration However, that can be found in class with a teacher CALL is not very good at teaching themselves and the software does not run the lesson for the teacher The teacher can adapt and give students advice but the software cannot do that (Higgins, 1988)

However simple a software is, students need to learn how to use it (Higgins, 1988)

Further, the students who use CALL package may complain about

- Inadequate user interfaces and the general lack of user friendliness

- The lack of adaptivity

- The restricted menu of exercises

- The lack of adequate language processing methods (Kumaresan, Balamurugan, & Thirunavukkarasu, 2012)

Nowadays, the application of information technology in teaching and learning is the trend However, the use of software to support teaching and learning also causes some difficulties for the institution A few institutions have not coordinated CALL into the classroom in view of saw issues with innovation, teaching philosophy, classroom conditions, cost and teacher training (Beatty, 2013; Lee, 2001) Among these the primary concern is cost:

"The cost of technology can be a barrier both to getting involved in CALL and maintaining the latest technology.… other problems center around developing new CALL programs, including a lack of funds, expertise and authoring programs‖ (Beatty, 2013)

In spite of the fact that the business software is interesting, teachers or students need to choose legitimate and appropriate software How to pick reasonable software for students is an imperative issue for teachers and universities Lee (2001) stated that: ―With a wide range of commercial software programs available to language teachers, selecting those that best suit the needs of the students has become a challenging task‖

There are some studies on the factors affect the students or teachers in using ICT in general and CALL software in EFL teaching and learning in particular all of which take a different approach

Bingimlas (2009) discussed the barriers that affect the integration of ICT into education in two levels The first level is teacher barriers It consists

of the teacher confidence, teacher competence, resistance to change and negative attitudes The second is school barriers that include of time, effective training, accessibility and technical support

Fung & Yuen (2012) pointed out the factors that affect the students‘ ICT use include internal factors and external factors The internal factors consist of self-efficacy, learning styles, learning strategies, learning attitude, demographic attributes, life characteristics, need for interaction, past experience, motivation and attitude towards web-based instruction The external factors are access to technical resources, need for Internet connectivity, societal factors (e.g student‘s interactions, student‘s role), learning climate and attributes of the technology These studies were all concerned with the factors that affect the use ICT in EFL teaching and learning in general but there is no study in the factors that affect students in using CALL software to improve their pronunciation

In Vietnam, there is a study about using CALL software to improve students‘ pronunciation but the study investigated in English majors at a university in Vietnam (Trinh, 2015) Besides, Graceffo (2010) pointed out

two factors which adversely affect the Vietnamese learner in learning pronunciation First, students don‘t want to make any mistakes because they could lose face Second, no one wants to stand out or innovate These are just

a few examples of the research that have been completed in this area The literature review motivates the researcher to carry out this study to study factors affecting students on using a software to improve their pronunciation This study seeks to contribute new understandings into Vietnamese context of using CALL to improve pronunciation in general and using CALL to improve pronunciation at vocational institutions in particular

Kawai & Hirose, 1997; Machovikov,

Stolyarov, Chernov, Sinclair, &

Machovikova, 2002 Sinclair,

&Machovikova, 2002; Najmi &

Bernstein, 1996

 Diagnose pronunciation mistakes

 Correct pronunciation mistakes

(Beatty, 2013)  Promote pronunciation learning Bill, as cited in Boyd and Murphy,

2002

 Avoid embarrassment

Boyd and Murphy, (2002)  provide a learning environment Celce-Murcia et al., 1996  Promote motivation

Dooley, Stuessy & Magill, as cited in

Boyd & Murphy, 2002, p.37

 Increase learner interest and motivation

 Provide metacognitive scaffolding and mental models

 Provide visuals to learn

Witt & Young (2014)  Provide unclear mistake diagnosis Higgins, 1988  Need to choose proper software

 Need to consider learner‘s

 Need to interfere with the software

 Need Vietnamese adaptivity

 Need a richer menu of exercises

 Need adequate language processing methods (Beatty, 2013; Lee, 2001)  Exist issues with innovation,

teaching philosophy, classroom conditions, cost and teacher training including a lack of funds, expertise and authoring programs

 Need to pick reasonable software for students

Bingimlas, 2009  Exist teacher barriers

Fung & Yuen, 2012  Exist a need for self-efficacy,

learning styles, learning strategies, learning attitude, demographic attributes, life characteristics

 Exist a need for interaction, past experience, motivation and attitude

 Need to consider technical resources, societal factors

Figure 1: Benefits and challenges of CALL

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY

In this chapter, the way in which research is conducted will be described in detail The researcher describes the context of the study in the first section 3.1 Section 3.2 presents the description of the software program used in this study Research questions are described in detail in section 3.3 that is, description of the software program Section 3.4 presents the subject

of the study Instrumentation (section 3.5) describes data collection processes

3.1 Context of the study

The study was conducted at a medical and pharmaceutical university in Vietnam where the students major in medical and pharmaceutical subjects such as surgery, internal medicine, obstetrics, pediatrics and so forth Therefore, English is only a non-majored subject The participants in this study are 28 first - year medical technology students: two third of them passed A2 CEFR level and one third of them did not passed the exam to reach the level These students are required to complete a three-credit English course per 15-week semester in the first year It is an English-for-specific-purpose course without proper focuses on language skills The course book being used

is English for Nursing and Health Care (Bradley, 2004) This book focuses on

introducing medical terminologies which are usually difficult to pronounce

The use of ELL software is not included in the in-class curriculum The

students are allowed to use the laboratory as an out-class activity to develop and improve their pronunciation with the guidance of their teacher in one hour per week

The research was conducted in the first semester in all 15 sessions In the first 2 sessions, the students were given instructions on how to use the program before using its functions to develop and improve their pronunciation The teacher was present in the lab for the first 5 sessions and

the three last sessions After the students had completed 15 sessions, they were asked to join a focus group interview

3.2 Description of the software program

English Language Learning (ELL) is CD-ROM software which is

installed into computers in the laboratory and focuses on developing students‘ individual pronunciation The functions of the program include recording, tips for articulation, immediate feedback with verbal and visual illustration, multiple options for native speaker models, Vietnamese translation, speed adjustment, rewinding, peer competition and personal performance recorded The lessons are

designed by the teacher based on the book English for Nursing and Health Care

(Bradley, 2004) There are also plenty of topics and a choice of lessons on medicine and pharmacy

The software emphasizes more on pronouncing single words which include phonetic symbols, Vietnamese meaning The students could only use this program in the university laboratory and no anywhere else

3.3 Research questions

The research was guided by the following questions:

1 What benefits and challenges does ELL software offer to first-year

medical technology students at a medical and pharmaceutical university in Vietnam?

2 What are the factors that influence upon their use of ELL software? This study focuses on the students‘ using ELL software, the factors that

affect them in the use of the software The findings suggest recommendations for pedagogical directions on using CALL to develop and improve pronunciation in English non-majored universities in Vietnam

3.4 Research design

Basing on Crotty‘s (1998) model, the research design at that point starts with the epistemology of constructionism, the theoretical perspective of symbolic interactionism, which supports investigation of data, the strategy of qualitative research was utilized to gather data the methods of focus group, observation, learning sheet and content analysis are employed

Figure 2: Crotty‟s (1998) model of research design

In constructionist learning, Flick (2014, p 87) stated: ―Reading and understanding texts becomes active processes of producing reality, which involves not only the author of texts, but also those for whom they are written and who read them‖ In this sense, the production of texts (on a certain subject, an interaction, or an event), the researcher who reads and interprets the data is as involved in the construction of reality as the participants

Mead (1934) and Blumer (1969) developed symbolic interactionism,

which concerns meaning and its understanding through human interaction Crotty (1998, p 75) emphasizes that language is a ―symbolic tool that we humans share and through which we communicate‖ and Patton (2001, p 112) concurs ―People create shared meanings through their interaction, and those meanings become their reality‖ As Foddy (1994, p 20) stated: ―In brief, symbolic interactionists claim that social actors in any social situation are constantly negotiating a shared definition of the situation; taking one another‘s viewpoints into account; and interpreting one another‘s behavior

as they imaginatively construct possible lines of interaction before selecting lines of action for implementation.‖

In addition, according to Merriam (2002, p.19), the qualitative study

is designed to ―uncover or discover the meaning people have constructed about a particular phenomenon The researcher wants to obtain an in-depth understanding of a phenomenon, an individual, a situation They want to know how people do things‖

Observation is a systematic data collection approach to explore the meaning of a setting in a detailed way and study a phenomenon in its natural setting (Kawulich, 2005) It is participant observation that

"combines participation in the lives of the people being studied with maintenance of a professional distance that allows adequate observation and recording of data" (Fetterman, 1998, pp 34-35) When implementing an intervention in a natural setting, observation may be used in conjunction with other quantitative data collection techniques (Harwell, 2011) Non-participant observational data can help researchers evaluate the fidelity of

an intervention across settings and identify when 'stasis' has been achieved The primary approach involves jotting down field notes using a template to guide the researcher‘s observations

Students‘ learning sheets are written by students who take part in this research, in which the research can assess participants self-reports, learning logs on which they recorded their responses and feelings in detail

Focus groups are a data collection method used to collect in-depth data and to explore a topic that does not lend itself to observational techniques (Avineri, 2017) Focus groups can provide access to comparisons that focus group participants make between their experiences This can be very valuable and provide access to consensus/diversity of experiences on a topic (Kohn & Christiaens, 2012)

Considering the purpose of the study and the nature of two research questions, the observational forms, learning sheets and the responses of interviewees are analyzed employing the content analysis techniques To do

so, three stages of data analysis were deployed: data reduction, data display and data interpretation (Miles & Huberman, 1994; O‘Dwyer, 2004) The main objective of the data reduction phase is to detect key themes and patterns in the data gathered In the data display phase, the researcher forms detailed matrices comprising key themes and patterns detected in each dataset (Miles

& Huberman, 1994) so as to visually display the themes emerging when the initial codes are developed (O‘Dwyer, 2004) The data interpretation involves interpreting the reduced data sets stemming from the data reduction and data display stages

3.5 Data collection

Data collection in this study was conducted in the light of A Compendium of Data Collection Approaches in Qualitative Research (Creswell, 2012, p 213):