AN ACTION RESEARCH ON IMPROVING STUDENTS’ PRONUNCIATION THROUGH FOCUSED TASKS FOR THE SECOND YEAR NON ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT ECONOMICS DEPARTMENT OF HAI PHONG UNIVERSITY

In the communicative language teaching approach, tasks are widely used to improve many students’ language skills such as listening, speaking, reading and writing.... In my opinion, focus

NON-NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ VIỆC NÂNG CAO PHÁT ÂM CHO SINH VIÊN THÔNG QUA BÀI TẬP TRỌNG ĐIỂM ĐỐI VỚI SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ HAI KHOA KINH TẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI

HỌC HẢI PHÒNG

M.A MINOR THESIS

Major: English Teaching Methodology

Code: 60.14.10

HANOI – 2012

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT i

ABSTRACT ii

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES iii

PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale……… 1

Statement of the problem……… 2

3 Purposes of the study 3

4 Research questions 4

5 Scope of the study……… 4

6 Research method 4

7 Significance of the study……… ………… 4

8 Design of the study……… 5

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 1 Overview of approaches and methods in pronunciation teaching 6

1.1 Overview of approaches in pronunciation teaching 6

1.2 Overview of methods in pronunciation teaching 7

2 Overview of tasks 8

2.1 Task definition ……… 8

2.2 Task type ……… 10

2.3 Task components……… 12

3 Task-based language teaching … 13

3.1 Definition of task-based language teaching……….….………… 13

3.2 The framework of task-based language teaching……… 15

3.3 Principles for task-based language teaching……….16

4 Related studies …17

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CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY

1 Argument for the use of focused tasks to improve second year students’

English pronunciation 19

2 Rationale for the use of an action research 26

3 Background of the study 29

3.1 Participants………29

3.2 The English and pronunciation program……… 30

4 Instruments 31

5 Intervention 34

6 Research program 34

7 Procedures……… 36

CHAPTER III: FINDINGS 1 Students’ problems in English sound pronunciation 37

1.1 Students’ problems with English vowels 37

1.2 Students’ problems with English consonants 41

1.3 Students’ problems with English sounds in “ed” and “s/es” endings……… 47

2 Possible reasons for the students’ weak pronunciation competence 49

2.1 The teachers’ and students’ awareness of and attitude on English pronunciation and students’ problems in English pronunciation 49

2.2 Students’ ability on English pronunciation 53

2.3 Students’ pronunciation learning at secondary schools and during the previous years of the university 55

2.4 Other reasons……… ……….57

3 Comparison of the students’ pronunciation performance in the pretest and the posttest……… ……… …… 58

4 The students’ participation in other English courses during the time between the pretest and the posttest 61

5 The students’ attitude and their justification of the focused tasks on pronunciation given in the research 61

CHAPTER IV: DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATION

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1 Discussion of research questions 63

2 Pedagogical implication 70

PART C: CONCLUSION 1 Conclusions 74

2 Limitations of the study 75

3 Suggestion for further study 76

REFERENCES 78 APPENDICES I

of the future, to be skillful in English speaking and listening To achieve this, good pronunciation is a factor, which can’t be lack of, because weak English pronunciation results in low effect of English speaking and many difficulties in English listening

However, in my experience as a teacher of English for three years, English pronunciation has not paid enough attention to by many second year non-English majored students at Hai Phong University Many pronunciation errors have been made by the students here This can be recognized in their speaking in every normal English period or their English speaking final tests in previous 2 years or partly in bad results in listening tests recently Thus, dealing with the students’ problem of pronunciation is very necessary and urgent This is the responsibility of the students themselves and their teachers as well As a teacher of Hai Phong University, I have taken much notice of what can be used to improve the students’ English pronunciation

In the communicative language teaching approach, tasks are widely used to improve many students’ language skills such as listening, speaking, reading and writing In my opinion, focused tasks, which have become more and more familiar with both students and teachers nowadays, may be useful to help improve pronunciation because of their advantages to students According to the web Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Communicative tasks have Task-based learning is advantageous to the student because it is more student-centered, allows for more meaningful communication, and often provides for practical extra-linguistic skill building As the tasks are likely to be familiar to the students (eg: visiting the

The need of improving the students’ English pronunciation at Hai Phong University and the advantages of using tasks in language teaching motivated me to

do the research on: “An action research on improving students’ pronunciation through focused tasks for the second-year non-English major students at Economics Department of Haiphong University”

2 Statement of the problem

The detailed current situation of teaching pronunciation at Economic Department, HaiPhong University will be analyzed in the next chapter In this part,

we only look through the major characteristic of the statement of the problem

As a teachers at English Department of Haiphong university, I have realized that Vietnamese students in general and economic students in Haiphong university

in particular have a lot of problems concerning their pronunciation though there have been much innovation in teaching and learning English in their secondary and high schools

Thanks to the reformations in education system at secondary and high schools for the recent years, Vietnamese students now have chances to learn English

in all four skills – reading, listening, speaking and writing – rather than only reading and grammar as it used to be in the past However, a great number of students who even become university students still cannot listen or speak English well For example, most of the students in HaiPhong University failed in listening Toeic test

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in the grading exams at the beginning of school year in 2012 Another example is the fact that, many students having good knowledge of English but their speaking is not understandable in class when they answer teachers’ questions though they can write the answers correctly The main reason for these problems lies in their bad pronunciation

Another fact is that many non English major students graduated from University also have the same problems They cannot listen and speak well in their job I myself met a very young bank teller at a big bank in Hai Phong who was very embarrassed and failed in a conversation with a foreign guest in a simple situation

in his job The guest could not understand his speaking and finally the teller wrote his words on a paper, and the information exchange was carried out on paper It is undeniable that, the failure in communication in this case was not the knowledge but the pronunciation problems In fact, we can meet many similar cases in work environment everywhere, in which the people in non English major fields cannot use English in communication in spite of many years of learning English This means that the pronunciation was not improved during the long time of learning English at secondary, high schools and Universities

From some above examples, it seems to us that students’ pronunciation has not been concerned enough in either schools or universities and pronunciation teaching and learning English pronunciation there still meets many problems leading to the low effectiveness in this work With the wonders about the statement

of the problems, the writer decided to research on it

3 Purposes of the study

This research was designed to improve the students’ pronunciation performance by using focused tasks Generally, it has three purposes:

- To investigate a number of common English pronunciation problems faced by second year non-English majored students at Hai Phong university However, due to the limitation of time, the research only focused on a number of English sounds

- To find possible reasons for the weak English pronunciation ability of the students

- To justify the effect of using focused tasks on the students’ English pronunciation

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4 Research questions

With the above purposes, the research is conducted to answer the following questions:

1 What are the students’ most common problems regarding some English sounds?

2 What are the possible reasons for the students’ weak pronunciation of English?

3 How can focused tasks improve students’ English pronunciation?

5 Scope of the study

The research was conducted on the second year non-English majored students at Economics department of Hai Phong University Regarding its scope, the research was only aimed at justifying the effect of focused tasks on the students’ pronunciation of English sounds Other aspects of English pronunciation would not

be investigated Even though the researcher use speaking tests as an important instrument for the research, only issues concerning the students’ pronunciation of English sounds were taken into consideration

7 Significance of the study

The study can be much beneficial to English teachers, students and researchers

Firstly, English teachers, especially those who have never had enough attention to their students’ English pronunciation and how to improve it, will have some new experiences on this problems and a new look at the methodology of pronunciation teaching- using focused tasks The study hopes to be a sample or suggestion for them to develop focused tasks in pronunciation lessons and other English skill lessons as well Furthermore, the limitation of this research and

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problems during the application of focused tasks in teaching pronunciation will be valuable for English teachers so that they can conduct Task- based English period more smoothly and successfully

Secondly, for students, the new method is expected to bring a lively and interesting environment for their pronunciation lessons in which they can benefit directly Students can experience a new way of learning pronunciation and have more inspiration with pronunciation Besides, they can also get some good experiences for their self- studying to improve their English pronunciation

Finally, for the researchers, the study can provide useful information for further studies of the same topic in the future

Briefly, English teachers, students and researchers can benefit from the results of this research

8 Design of the study

The study consists of three parts:

Part A - Introduction - presents an overview of the study in which the rationale for the research, the research statements, the purposes, the research questions, the scope of the study, the research method, the significance of the study and the design of the study were briefly presented

Part B – Development: Chapter I - Literature review - reviews the background theory relevant to the study, including the definition of focused tasks It also presents a number of researches in which techniques or tasks have been used to help students make improvement in their language study Chapter II - Methodology – is a detailed discussion of the method used in the study including justification for the use of focused tasks and action research It also gives the description of research components such as participants, contexts, research instruments…, as well as research program Chapter III – Findings – shows the findings of the research which express the effectiveness of the study Chapter IV – Discussions and implications – discusses the findings of the research, gives implications

Part C: - Conclusion- presents the conclusions, limitations of the research Besides, this part makes recommendations for further research in the same field

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PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW

1 Overview of approaches and methods in pronunciation teaching

1.1 Overview of approaches in pronunciation teaching

According to Celce-Murcia., et al, (1996, p.2)in Teaching Pronunciation,

there are two general approaches to the teaching of pronunciation in the modem

times, namely intuitive- imitative approach and analytic-linguistic approach

An intuitive-imitative approach depends on “the learners’ ability to listen to

and imitate the rhythms and sounds of the target language without the intervention

of any explicit information.” This means the teaching of pronunciation depends largely on the teacher’s turning on and rewinding a cassette player (or any other instrument), and the main activities in the class are listening and repeating Of course, in order to do this, there must be the supply of authentic materials as well as recording devices to use during the lesson The teacher has no responsibility to explain how sounds are formed or produced Learners do their main task of listening and imitating, and it is expected that they will gradually gain pronunciation competence

An analytic-linguistic approach “utilizes information and tools such as a

phonetic alphabet, articulatory descriptions, charts of the vocal apparatus and other aids to supplement listening, imitation, and production.” In this approach, learners are given explanation as well as training on how to form particular sounds of the target language This approach is actually a further development of the first approach rather than to replace it because is still makes great use of authentic materials, as well as listening and imitating phases during the lessons

Today, the dominant teaching approach has been the Communicative

Approach Under this approach, the main objective of language is communication

Therefore, students are not required to have a native-like pronunciation, but intelligible one This is a kind of “accepted pronunciation”, which means students may make some mistakes provided those mistakes do not affect negatively on the comprehension of the listeners or cause misunderstanding

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1.2 Overview of methods in pronunciation teaching

Regarding methods of language teaching in general and their philosophy of pronunciation teaching in particular, it can be seen clearly that each method puts a different weight on pronunciation, and therefore, treats pronunciation differently, according to Tran (2008)

Some methods, such as Grammar Translation or Reading-based approaches,

give no acknowledge to pronunciation The teacher use learners’ native language to teach grammar or text comprehension Thus, little attention is given to speaking, and almost none to pronunciation

However, most methods give a genuine concern for the teaching of pronunciation The appearance of a method often brings about new approaches towards the teaching of particular issues, most of which are affected by the time they come into being

In Direct Method, which first became popular in the late 1800s and early

1900s, the teacher provides learners with a model for native-like speech This can either be the teacher himself or a recording By listening and then imitating the model excessively, learners gradually develop their pronunciation Some successors

to this method are called naturalistic methods, which mean methods that devote a

period of learning solely to listening before speaking is allowed Linguists following this method believe that when learners are asked to listen without having

to worry about speaking, they are better at recognizing the sounds because they are under less pressure Thus, it is likely that they will be able to produce correct sounds even without receiving explicit pronunciation instruction

Other methods, namely Audiolingualism in the US and the Oral Approach in

Britain during the 1940s and 1950s have another way to treat pronunciation In the class, pronunciation is very important and is taught explicitly from the start The teacher (or a recording) models a sound, or an utterance and students are asked to

repeat it The difference between Audiolingualism and Direct Method lies in the feature that in Audiolingualism class, beside the model, the teacher also takes

advantage of a number of teaching aids such as phonetic description, or the transcription system The most common technique that is used to teach

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pronunciation is the minimal pair drills Learners are asked to distinguish between

two different sounds that might sound similar by listening to the teacher or a tape recorder This listening discrimination is followed by oral practice

During the 1970s, the Silent Way came to public attention In classes

applying this method, accurate pronunciation is a focus from the very beginning The teacher speaks as little as possible, but takes advantage of gestures to indicate what the students should do S/he can do this with the aid of a number of tools such

as a sound-colour chart, the Fidel charts, word charts, and colored rods

Another method that also came into being during the 1970s was the

Community Language Learning (CLL) This is a method which focuses much on the

learners rather than the teacher or teaching curriculum.-A tape recorder is an indispensable tool in this class Students sit round ạ table, and then ask the teacher

to translate any utterances they wish to be able to speak in the target language The teacher then provides students with the phrase they need orally After some time of practicing its pronunciation, when students can produce the whole utterance fluently, it is recorded on the tape After that, the tape is played back and the students are able to compare their pronunciation with the target one provided by the teacher It is the students who decide what particular utterances they would like to

be trained pronunciation The teacher is regarded as a “computer” turning on and off at the students’ request

How can learners achieve good pronunciation? This can be done by the appropriate choice or combination of methods and techniques in a way which suits them

2 Overview of tasks

To clarify the topic “improving students’ pronunciation through focused tasks”, it should first make the phrase “focused tasks” clearer The phrases “focused tasks” in this study refers to the tasks which focus on certain problems of the students’ pronunciation and aim at dealing with those problems Therefore,

“focused tasks” means “tasks” in nature Thus, this part will review some issues of tasks

2.1 Task definition

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A review of literature reveals a wide range of definitions of task Firstly, according to Long (1985, p.89), a task is “a piece of work undertaken for oneself or for others, freely or for some reward” Thus, examples of tasks include painting a fence, dressing a child, filling out a form, buying a pair of shoes, making an airline reservation, borrowing a library book, taking a driving test, typing a letter, taking a hotel reservation, writing a cheque, finding a street destination and helping someone

to cross a road In other words, “task” is meant that the hundred and one things people do in everyday life, at work, at play, and in between It can be seen that this

is a non-linguistic definition Actually, as Nunan (1989) comments, it is the sort of characterization which might be offered by a learner, if asked why he is learning the language

Secondly, Richards, Platt and Weber (1985) gave another definition, task is regarded as “an activity or action which is carried out as the result of processing or understanding language” (Richard, Platt and Weber, 1985, p.289) For example, drawing a map while listening to a tape, listening to an instruction and performing a command, may be referred to, as tasks Tasks may or may not involve the production of language The use of a variety of different kinds of tasks in language teaching is said to I make language more communicative since it provides a purpose for a classroom activity which goes beyond the practice of language for its own sake Here, in contrast with Long, the authors offer a pedagogical definition In other words, tasks are defined in terms of classroom undertakings

Finally, according to Breen (1987), is “any structured language learning endeavor which has a particular objective, appropriate content, a specified working procedure, and a range of outcomes for those who undertake the task” (Breen, 1987,

p 23) “Task” therefore assumed to refer to a range of work plans which have the overall purpose of facilitating language learning - from the simple and brief exercise type, to more complex and lengthy activities such as group problem-solving or simulations and decision making

All the authors share a common point of view on tasks which suggest that tasks are concerned with communicative language use In other words, they refer to

pedagogical tasks Whereas, Willis (1996) lists six types of tasks of TBLT in her A

framework for task-based learning, which are: listing, ordering and sorting,

comparing, problem solving, sharing experience and creative tasks From easy to difficult, these six types of tasks all reveal the recognition process of students The tasks in TBLT should be “comparable to real life which might help students accomplish the tasks and show their communicative competence in classroom teaching and real life situations” (Willis, 1996, p 149) Meanwhile, other people can divide tasks according to types of topic, cognitive processes, language skills required or the outcome of the task

According to Nunan (1989), real-world tasks provide learners with chances to

use language in the world beyond the class while pedagogical tasks require students

to do things which unlikely happen in the real life In fact, it is ideal if a teacher can design suitable real-world tasks for his/her lesson However, it is unusual for real-world tasks not to be adapted so that they can be suitable with students’ level, classroom conditions or syllabus For example, a piece of news for high school students might be re-recorded at a lower or played many times until they can catch the information In the real life, this is impossible Therefore, in order to increase learning opportunities in the classroom, Nunan (1989) thinks of the transformation from real-world tasks into pedagogical tasks Nevertheless, the distinction between two types of task is not always clear It is easy to distinguish a real-world task like

“the learner will listen to a weather forecast and decide whether or not to take an

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umbrella and sweater at school” and a pedagogical one like “the leaner will listen to

an aural text and answer true or false questions” However, as Nunan (1989) mentions, there are tasks which are in principle authentic but seem not to happen in the real life (for example, a speaking task for children, “Making a formal introduction”) In the mean time, there are pedagogical tasks having real-life context such as “listening to an aural text and write a sentence restating the gist” Therefore,

it is possible to say that there is no clear criterion to differentiate real-life task and pedagogical task

In the meantime, there are six types of tasks listed by Willis (1996, p.149) which relate to the recognition process of learners:

(1) Listing : Including brainstorming and fact-finding The outcome of this

task is a completed list or draft mind-map Listing tasks help train students’ comprehension and induction ability

(2) Ordering, sorting: Including sequencing, ranking, categorizing and

classifying The outcome of tasks is a set of information ordered and sorted according to specific criteria These types might foster comprehension, logic and

reasoning ability

(3) Comparing: Including matching, finding similarities or differences After

the completion of tasks, students will have the appropriately matched or assembled items, or the identification of similarities and/or differences This type of task could

enhance students’ ability of discretion

(4) Problem-solving: Including analyzing real situation, analyzing

hypothetical situations, reasoning, and decision-making The outcome might be solutions to the problem The tasks can help foster students’ reasoning and decision-making ability

(5) Sharing experience: Including narrating, describing, exploring and

explaining attitudes, opinions, and reactions The outcome usually can be largely social This can help students to share and exchange their knowledge and experience

(6) Creative tasks: Including brainstorming, fact-finding, ordering and

sorting, comparing, problem-solving and many others The outcome might be end

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product which can be appreciated by a wider audience Students can cultivate their comprehensive ability of solving problems with their ability of reasoning, logical and analyzing

In this research, tasks which are designed to use in pronunciation lessons are only pedagogical tasks according to the classification of Nunan (1989)

2.3 Task components

The introduction of task components given by Nunan (1989) will be the focus

of the current research According to him, a task should include six components:

Figure 1 A framework for analyzing communicative tasks

Goals may be “a range of general outcomes (communicative, affective or cognitive) or may directly describe teacher or learner behavior” (Nunan, 1989, p.49) They can be stated clearly in each lesson or not and a task may have a variety

of goals

“Input refers to the data that form the point of departure for the task” (Nunan,

1989, p.53) Input for communicative tasks comes from a number of sources and it

is not easy to count and classify all types of input They may be authentic materials like letters, newspaper, drawings, invoices, menus, etc They may also be provided

by teachers or textbooks and even learners themselves Input with or without authenticity is totally not the big matter because the matter lies in the creation and combination of input materials so that they can provide learners with optimal learning opportunities

Activities are what learners will actually do with the input during the task implementation According to the Bangalore Project (as cited in Nunan, 1989, p.66), there are three principal activity types which are information gap, reasoning

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gap and opinion gap Moreover, activities can be divided into more detailed types such as: questions and answers, dialogues and role-plays, matching activities, communication strategies, pictures and picture stories, puzzles and problems, discussions and decisions (Pattison, 1987)

Roles refer to the part that learners and teachers are expected to play in carrying out learning tasks Different approaches have different roles of learners and teachers In task-based learning and teaching, teachers are believed to perform two main actions: motivating the learners and supporting them to perform task (Branden, 2006) Learners have an active role and they should contribute to the lesson as well as receive new knowledge (Nunan, 1989)

Settings are “the classroom arrangements specified or implied in the task, and

it also requires consideration of whether the task is to be carried out wholly or partly outside the classroom” (Nunan, 1989, p.91) Referring to “settings”, it is necessary

to differentiate between “mode” and “environment”

As introduced by Nunan (1989), “mode” is the way that the learner will take actions in the task It can be an individual or a group basis “Environment” refers to the location of the language learning process

3 Task-based language teaching

3.1 Definition of task-based language teaching

For the past 20 years, task-based language teaching (TBLT) has drawn attention of second language acquisition researchers, curriculum developers, educationalists and teachers worldwide While PPP is considered the methodology used in the weak version of CLT, tasks has a dominant role in strong version of CLT (Ellis, 1999) In another view, task-based teaching is regarded as a particular realization of CLT It is a teaching method in which tasks is the center and the aim

of task-based learning is to make language classroom approximate to the target language environment, develop students’ ability to communicate

Nunan (1999, p 94) defines task-based language teaching as “an approach to the design of language course in which the point of departure is not an ordered list

of linguistic items, but a collection of tasks” In other words, in task-based language teaching, tasks become the center of the course Without emphasizing the

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establishment of a task-based course, Richards and Rogers (2001, p.223) have given

a more basic and simple definition of task-based language teaching as “an approach based on the use of tasks as the core unit of planning and instruction in language teaching” In this definition, tasks are also the focus but they are mentioned in the role of a language teaching device Ellis (2003) clarifies the meaning of TBLT by identifying its aim of engaging learners in authentic language through the completion of tasks to acquire new linguistic knowledge and proceduralize their existing knowledge

However, TBLT is not a definite method that teachers must follow systematically Skehan (1996, p.36) distinguishes task-based approach into two forms - strong and weak ones, “[a] strong form sees tasks as the basic unit of teaching and drives the acquisition process A weak form sees tasks as a vital part of language instruction but as embedded in a more complex pedagogical context” While tasks in the strong form of task-based approach are “communicatively oriented”, in the weak form, they are “structure oriented” Skehan (1996, p.39) notes that the weak form of task-based instruction which facilitates language knowledge and performance “is clearly very close to general communicative language teaching” He affirms the necessity of tasks in the weak form while accepting the focused instruction to precede or follow those tasks Tasks in this form are roughly comparable to the production stage of PPP method

The definition of “the weak form” by Skehan (1996) is likely to similar to what Ellis (2003) calls “task-supported language teaching” in which tasks act “as a means by which learners can activate their existing knowledge of the L2 by developing fluency” (Ellis, 2003, p.30) In task-supported language teaching, focused tasks are defined as “have two aims; one is to stimulate communicative language use as with unfocused tasks, the other is to target the use of a particular, predetermined target feature in meaning-centred communication” (Ellis, 2003, p.65) These tasks are incorporated into traditional language-based approaches to teaching For example, the PPP approach makes use of focused tasks in the final stage of a sequence of learning activities that begins with the presentation of a pre-selected linguistic form followed by controlled practice Learners are made aware of

3.2 The framework of task-based language teaching:

The most popular framework of task-based teaching is designed by Willis (1996) She provides the procedures of task-based language teaching into three stages-(Table 1) and this is also the framework of task-based teaching used in this study

Table 1 Willis 'framework of task-based teaching approach

Pre-task Introduction to topic and tasks

Task-cycle

Task Planning Report

Language focus

Analysis Practice

(Willis, 1996)

At the first stage - Pre-task, teachers play an important role because they will provide necessary background, knowledge and procedure, help students get familiar with the topic and the task

At the second stage, there are three small phases which are task phase, planning phase and report phase In the task phase, students will carry out the task,

in pairs or in groups, while teachers are supervisors and monitors helping students

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complete the task Before coming to the report phase in which learners are required

to present the results of their task phase work to the whole class, they have to be sure that they have had a good preparation by the planning phase In planning phase, students will prepare for the report and rehearse what they will say

The language focus stage includes two small phases: analysis and practice This is the stage in which language knowledge will be revised or taught and activities are designed to help students practice what they have learnt through the task

3.2 Principles for task-based language teaching

Nunan (2007) suggests seven principles for task-based language teaching and they are criteria for the researcher while designing and conducting pronunciation lessons with the use of tasks

Some of the works express the writers’ concern about pronunciation problems especially the learners’ difficulties in pronouncing English sounds It can be confirmed that Avery & Ehtlich (1992) are the two first people mentioning to problems may be faced by Vietnamese learners when studying English: “as the sound systems of English and Vietnamese differ greatly, Vietnamese speakers can have quite severe pronunciation problems” After discussing these problems, tips for teaching are given to help teachers and learners solve the problems and improve their pronunciation

In Vietnam, the study entitled “A modal of teaching English pronunciation for Vietnamese learners” by Nguyen (1999) points out six common difficulties of Vietnamese learners of English They are problems with vowels, consonants, consonant clusters, sound linking, stress and rhythm and intonation Then, he proposes corresponding methods for each problem Besides, many other scholars also take care of the students’ pronunciation problems, for example, Tran (2008) in the study entitled “An action research on the use of continuous feedback to improve the first year students’ English pronunciation at the English Department, College of Foreign Languages, Vietnam National University, Hanoi”

Another issue of how to deal with the learners’ errors that is worth looking into is the question of how error treatment should be given, as well as whether learners’ errors should be corrected at all Spada and Lightbown (1993) conducted

an experimental research to justify the effect of corrective feedback in combination with form-focused instructional materials on ESL learners whose native language was French Despite positive effects observed, there was not enough evidence to come to a conclusion whether error correction alone was effective because in the experiment, it was provided together with intensive form-focused instruction

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On the other hand, task-based is not a new approach in teaching methodology and its effectiveness in enhancing students’ communicating ability have been studied by a number of researchers Both researchers and teachers attempt to seek for practicality in every aspect of language teaching and leaming It seems that it is possible to apply task-based teaching in any skill, reading, writing, speaking and listening with various purposes For example, task-based writing activities could be

a good way to improve reading comprehension, which was the finding of Tilfarlioglu and Basaran (2007) in their experimental study

Besides, Đang (2010) did a research on “Using simulation tasks to improve ESP vocabulary for the second year students of Automotive Engineering Technology Department at Sao Do University” The findings show that pronunciation and retention of word meaning are factors preventing students from mastering vocabulary and among various techniques employed by the teachers at SDU; simulation tasks prove its effectiveness in the ESP vocabulary improvement

of the students (http://tainguyenso.vnu.edu.vn/jspui/handle/123456789/39414) Nguyen (2011) also did an action research on “exploring the use of tasks in teaching grammar for grade 10 students in Hanoi” The results of the research indicated that students were more motivated by task-based teaching in grammar lessons than the traditional approach There were some factors of a tasks-based lesson that have created these changes such as real-life goals, group work activities

or useful materials

From the literature review, we can see that despite the fact that tasks plays a vital role in the learning of a second language, there is still not enough persuasive research evidence to justify its effect on the students’ pronunciation performance

As for pronunciation, the effect of tasks has not been adequately exploited This, once again, motivated us to carry out a research on it

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CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY

In this chapter, the detailed description of the research’s methodology will be provided Firstly, the argument for the choice of applying focused tasks to improve students’ pronunciation and the justification for the use of an action research will be presented, and then back ground of the study will be given

1 Argument for the use of focused tasks to improve second year students’ English pronunciation

First and foremost, we would like to justify the reasons for our decision to use focused tasks to help second year students of English improve their pronunciation

1.1 An analysis on factors that can help improve learners’ pronunciation

A vast number of researchers have found out and justified factors that may

affect students’ pronunciation These are briefly summarized in Teaching English

Pronunciation by Kenworthy (1987)

1/ The native language: It is inevitable that learners’ native language has a great

impact on their ability of pronouncing English The “foreign accent” is therefore easy to identify Even in some cases, it is possible to identify what country and what region a speaker comes from based on his/her way of pronouncing English.Furthermore, the native language may cause difficulties, as well as advantages for learners

2/ The age factor: It is often assumed that the younger a person starts learning

foreign languages, the better he is at pronouncing it and therefore, a greater chance

of having a native-like accent Oyama (1976) conducted a research whose results showed that the younger a person was when he started learning English, the more native-like was his accent Nevertheless, Snow and Hoefnagel-Hohle (1975) conducted a research which showed opposite results Therefore, we can come to a conclusion that there is no trusted evidence relating to the relationship between age and a person’s ability to pronounce a new language Even if the age factor is a problem, nothing can be done for the learners It is the learners’ choice when to start learning a foreign language and therefore, virtually impossible for teachers to interfere

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3/Amount of exposure: People who live in the country where the target language is

spoken and is surrounded by an English-speaking environment may have some advantages over some who do not However, it is difficult to measure the exact amount of exposure to English Even if the people use English every day, it is not

an easy task to measure the length of time they use English, and it is even more complicated to decide what kind of English it is It may be business English, or just

informal English in the market Furthermore, exposure is not the only important

factor, but the way people take advantage to listen to and use English is also essential Therefore, there is still no clear evidence that an English-speaking country

is a necessary factor for a foreigner to have good English pronunciation

4/ Phonetic ability: Researches have shown that some people naturally have a

“better ear” for foreign languages than others They may benefit most from exercises such as imitating, drilling, or distinguishing sounds Others may have more problems and find it difficult to be able to realize specific sounds However, this is an innate matter, which means the teacher can do nothing about it All the teacher should do is to provide a variety of exercises so that all learners can benefit

5/Attitude and identity: Results from many studies have shown that learners who

have a positive attitude towards speakers of a foreign language tend to have a more native-like pronunciation This is due to the fact that when people like something, they are more likely to pay more attention to it That brings benefits to learners who are really interested in not only the language but also in the people and the culture

of that language as well In this case, the teacher may increase the learners’ positive attitude towards the foreign language by providing vivid information about that language’s culture, or making use of authentic materials to make the lessons more interesting

6/ Motivation and concern for good pronunciation: It is essential that in order to

learn a language in general, and pronunciation in particular motivation plays a vital role If learners really care much about their pronunciation, they will become more careful with their speaking, and gradually build up good pronunciation competence Moreover, it is the truth that many students have great concern for their pronunciation They always seek for feedback from the teacher on how they speak

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Sometimes, it is the fact that they feel unable to pronounce a word correctly that inhibits them from the desire to speak any more

7/ The teacher’s role: In teaching pronunciation, the teacher is expected to play an

important role in guiding and helping learners According to Kenworthy (1987, p.1), the teacher has to perform the following roles:

* Helping learners hear The teacher has a mission to provide appropriate input of

the target sounds for learners to hear If such a provision is not available, learners are likely to have misconceptions about the target language and perceive the sounds

in a wrong way Thus, they will be unable to produce genuine sounds and

utterances

* Helping learners make sounds' It is true that some English sounds do not exist in

the learners’ mother tongue Some learners may be able to imitate the target sounds

if they are provided models However, for those who lack such ability, it is the teacher’s task to explain the way those difficult sounds are made and provide aid to

help learners produce correct sounds

* Providing feedback: Like any other aspect of teaching, feedback is very important

in the sense that it helps learners know where they are standing, how much they have gained and what they need to improve The teacher must provide necessary and appropriate feedback to learners

* Pointing out -what is going on: In many cases, learners fail to realize what and

how they are speaking It is the teacher’s role to specify the area that learners have

to pay attention to so as not to cause miscomprehension

* Establishing priorities: Native-like pronunciation is not easy to achieve

Therefore, learners need a guide to tell them about what aspects they should master, what aspects they do not have to be “perfect” The level at which learners can feel

satisfied with depends on different situation for different individuals

* Devising activities: Teaching pronunciation is not an easy task Therefore, the

teacher must be able to identify what exercises will benefit learners most, what types of activities will engage the most learners in the class In devising them, however, it should be kept in mind that certain activities are more suitable to some

students than others

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* Assessing progress: This is actually a form of feedback, but more official and has

more weight Learners need to know at what level they are in pronunciation Tests allocated at appropriate times will serve as a strong motivation for students When they look at their marks, they have a clear sense of how much they have gained Judging learners’ pronunciation performance is very complicated However, this

should be done accordingly

From the above analysis of the factors that affect learners’ pronunciation, as well as the teacher’s role in helping learners achieve better pronunciation, a question raised is: “Which factor among them can teaching and training have impact on?” The appropriate answer can be utilized to help students achieved better pronunciation

I agreed with Tran (2008), when we examined the factors again, it is evident

that some factors cannot be changed, such as the age factor, the native language, and the phonetic ability of the students These are the factors that no alternations can be made The teacher also seems unable to increase the amount of exposure for

learners due to the fact that English classes only take place over a certain limit length of time in a day and in a week Moreover, the teacher cannot be sure whether learners have a chance to use it outside the class, as well as whether they want to do

it or not As for learners ’ attitude toward the foreign language, the teacher can

stimulate it by providing more-authentic materials so as to raise learners’ love for it However, this is often done only to some extend due to the fact that some learners may not be interested in such provision In short, these factors are somehow out of the teacher’s control

The other factors can be improved so as to bring the most benefits to

learners Take motivation and concern for good pronunciation for example,

according to Kenworthy (1987), the teacher can do this in three ways Firstly, it is vital that learners are persuaded how importance pronunciation is for good communication Secondly, it must be clearly stated that “native-like” accent is not the pronunciation goal Learners can be satisfied with the ability of pronouncing a language “intelligibly” with communicative efficiency Lastly, the teacher has to show his great concern for learners’ pronunciation and their progress in it

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In the writers’ opinion, among the second type of factors which can be

changed, we should focus on the Teachers’ role because teachers teaching activities

have great influence on the students’ results of learning Among the important roles

mentioned above, the writer emphasized the factor Devising activities Which

means the teacher must be able to identify what exercises will benefit learners most, what types of activities will engage the most learners in the class More importantly, teachers need to find out certain activities which are more suitable to their students than others

Haiphong University

In their two first years, the students at the Economic Department were taught English with the curriculum Market leader (David C & David F & Simon K., 2009) The teachers have met some problems of time and methods of teaching pronunciation

The pronunciation teaching is incorporated into teaching other lessons such

as speaking, listening, reading… and makes up very little time Thus the pronunciation is nearly ignored in the courses or it depends on each teacher’s concerns With the limited time for pronunciation, teaching and concerns for pronunciation are not satisfactory Thus, the students’ pronunciation is not improved during the school years so they have not enough confidence to communicate in English for problems of pronunciation after graduating, according

to some graduated students

Furthermore, the method used in teaching pronunciation in the book is normally the repetition of words This can be seen from the part named Talk Business in which every aspect of pronunciation was taught through repetition only Besides, in class, pronunciation seemed to be taught through repetition of the new words in other parts Repetition is important and necessary in teaching pronunciation, however, to a university student, only repetition is rather boring and not enough challenging for them to have impression on it Thus it is easy for them

to forget the pronunciation of the new words

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Moreover, there are also some practice exercises in written form such as choosing the words pronounced differently or choosing the words pronounced the same as in a given words which were composed by the teachers It is obviously that when students are asked to complete a written pronunciation exercise, they may do

it perfectly well This may come from their knowledge about phonetics and the relationship between spelling and pronunciation However, when students speak, they still mispronounce many sounds Sometimes they even cannot have a proper pronunciation of the words in the exercise that they have done successfully in written form Therefore it is necessary to have a change in methods of teaching pronunciation In the other words, we need different activities in which students can really practice pronunciation in communication contexts

Besides, class size is a big problem There are 50 to 70 students in one class

It is impossible for the teachers pay attention to the pronunciation of every student when students are engaged in speaking activities such as group work and pair work What s/he can actually do is to discover some most typical mistakes and may bring

it before the class after the discussion and asked the whole class repeat to correct the mistakes However, this kind of correction haven’t prove much effectiveness in improving students’ pronunciation in a large class because it does not catch much attention of the students as they supposed it’s the common mistakes so not important for themselves or may not be themselves’ mistakes This situation also requires more effective activities of teaching pronunciation that draw students’ attention and help all the students realized and improve their problems by themselves

Moreover, the different English levels of the students in the classes are other problems The students can take an entrance exam of either group D (Math, Literature, English) or group A (Math, Physics, Chemistry) to become the students

of this department Normally, the numbers of the students from both groups are nearly the same Thus, English levels of the students are very different Generally, the levels of the students who passed the exam of group D much higher than the one

of the students who passed the exam of group A This causes a difficulty in the teachers’ work of improving pronunciation for the whole class with only written

1.3 The need for using focused tasks

Though being mentioned a little in the rational of the study, this part reemphasized the need for using focused tasks to improve the students’ pronunciation

First, from the analysis of factors affecting students’ pronunciation, the

factor Devising activities which can be created by the teachers was emphasized for

its important role in improving students’ pronunciation Among the activities, a task

as an educational activity is defined as “a piece of classroom work which involves learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing or interacting in the target language while their attention is primary focused on meaning rather than form” (Nunan, 1989, p.10) or “activities where the target language is used by the learner for a communicative purposes (goal) in order to achieve an outcome” (Willis, 1996, p.12) According to Long & Norris (2000), task-based teaching is an attempt to get benefits of a focus on meaning while dealing with shortcomings of grammar accuracy through the use of a focus on form Task-based teaching has been used widely in many countries since 1970s (Hinkel & Photos, 2002) because it provides students with freedom of language control and chances to have “genuine communicative interaction” These issues suggested that we need to applying tasks

to improve our students’ pronunciation

Second, with the consideration to the current situation of teaching pronunciation at the Economic Department which inspires a need of new methods, task-based teaching, in which pronunciation is taught communicatively, can become

a good option Firstly, according to Thornbury (1999), task-based teaching seems to

be appropriate with learners grounding in basic English so it is also appropriate with

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the students here in a non-English major class Secondly, task-based teaching works well with mixed ability groups since task achievement does not depend on having a specific level of ability (Thornbury, 1999) This feature of task-based teaching matches the current context of the Economic Department of Haiphong University where English levels of students varies considerably Moreover, with practical effectiveness of communicative tasks in English lesson, task-based teaching is expected to bring significant improvement in pronunciation teaching, especially, students’ pronunciation

On the base of the theories, which were confirmed by the researchers before,

in a combination with the consideration to the current situation, focused tasks were chosen in this study for improving students’ pronunciation

2 Rationale for the use of action research

Teachers in general and teachers of university carry out action research for most of their time Whenever we identify a problem in our class, it is our task to find ways to solve that problem Therefore, action research is inevitably a very common practice

According to Mills (2003, p.4), action research is “any systematic inquiry conducted by teacher researchers to gather information about the ways that their particular school operates, how they teach, and how well their students learn The information is gathered with the goals of gaining insight, developing reflective practice, effecting positive changes in the school environment and on educational practices in generals, and improving student outcomes.” Kemmis and Mc Taggart (1988) identify three characteristics of an action research, which are: “carried out by practitioners”, “collaborative” and “aimed at changing things”

A typical action research needs to go from one step to another Eileen Ferrance (2000) suggested an action research cycle as follows:

According to her cycle, the first step of an action research is to identify the problem Then, data must be collected through means of interviews, portfolios, questionnaires, etc Next, the data is analyzed to find out problems The fourth step

is to design a plan of action that will allow the researcher to make a change and to study that change After the intervention has been carried out, it is the researcher’s

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task to evaluate its effects in order to justify whether the intervention worked or not Then, if it has not been very effectively, the researcher would have to consider another method so as to improve the situation

Another researcher that has conducted a thorough investigation into action research, Nunan (1992), defines the framework of a research as consisting of seven steps:

 Step 1: Initiation (Identify the problem)

 Step 2: Preliminary investigation (Collect data through a variety of means)

 Step 3: Hypothesis (Develop research questions)

 Step 4: Intervention (Devise strategies and innovation to be implemented)

 Step 5: Evaluation (Collect data again and analyze it to work out the findings)

 Step 6: Dissemination (Report the result by running workshops or issuing a paper)

 Step 7: Follow-up (Find alternative methods to solve the same problem)

Action research is conducted widely due to its advantages that cannot be denied

We can see the advantages of an action research more clearly in comparison with other kinds of research as follow:

Table 3: Differences between Action Research and Formal Research

Training needed by

researcher

Extensive On own or with consultation

Goals of research Knowledge that is

review

Extensive, using primary sources

If sources

More cursory, using secondary sources Sampling approach Representative sampling Students or clients with

whom they work

Measurement procedures Evaluate and pretest

measures

Convenient measures or standardized tests standardized tests

significance

Emphasis on practical significance

(http://mypage.iusb.edU/~gmetteta/Classroom_Action_Research.html#Differences) One of the most significant features of an action research is it is very situational, which means it appears to provide specific solutions to specific problems in each context While other types of researches focus on experimenting

or testing a pre-assumed theory or concept, action research aims at “improving the situation” Therefore, it is very beneficial to the teaching and learning process

The characteristics of an action research mentioned in the table are very appropriate with the goals, characteristics and conditions of this research so the researcher chose an action research for the purpose of improving the students’ pronunciation First of all, the goals of action research are to apply knowledge to the local situation which suits with this research’s aims which is applying tasks and task-based teaching approach to improve the students’ pronunciation at Economic department of Haiphong University Moreover, the data analysis of an action research focuses on practical, not statistical significance, the application of its results emphasizes practical significance, problems or goals identified by it are currently faced These characteristics allow the research fulfill its main purpose that

is finding out the practical solutions to deal with the real pronunciation problems faced by the students in the current situation Besides, a quick time frame of an action research is very advantageous for the researcher complete the study in the condition of limited time In sum, for the goals, characteristics and conditions of

of its typical characteristic, which is situational This means the research program may work well in one class but cannot be applied to other classes in different context If the same research is earned out in another class, the result may not be effective as expected In other words, action research lacks generalization

Nevertheless, this action research can be applicable in a wide range of classes for some reasons Firstly, all the students taking part in the research had unsatisfactory marks in English in the previous tests This means that the students’ pronunciation problems can be revealed here most adequately and clearly Thus, it can be useful for many other classes which share the same problems though their problems may be fewer Secondly, the current situation and problems in pronunciation teaching and learning root from the situation of Vietnamese education system so it can be common problems in other places Therefore, application of this research can be a good example for other classes in other places With above characteristics, the research somehow makes good an action research’s shortcomings one of which is lacking generalization

3 Background of the study

3.1 Participants

The participants of the study totally consist of 100 students from Economic Department of Haiphong University and 6 teachers who are teaching English for their department These participants took part in the survey to help the researcher find out the common situation of learning English and the possible reasons for the problems However, the number of the answers collected from the students is 97 Among them, there are 45 male students and 52 female students Most of them have studied English 8 years or more The answers were also collected from 1 male teacher and 5 female teachers All of them have been teaching English for at least 3 years

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The main participants of the action research are 30 among the above students who have an oral final test at the end of the course They are the students from many different Economic classes who had bad marks in the previous exams and have to take the restudying course in a class for the students of K10 For this characteristic and the speaking final test, these students had highest need and motivation in improving their pronunciation In fact, one of them was absent during the research for the heath reason thus the final number is 29 which consists of 19 male students and 10 female students These students were divided into 2 groups basing on the criterion that is which group of sounds they tend to make mistakes more The students who answered they often make mistakes with vowels in the questionnaires will be investigated on their vowel pronunciation Similarly, the others will be investigated on their consonant pronunciation All of them will be taught with the research program and their pronunciation will be compared in each group before and after the research course

All the student participants share the same characteristic that is they are restudying students This means they have the lowest level of English in the department Deciding to choose them for the research, the researcher hoped to find out the most pronunciation problems faced by the students of Economic department, and problems in the pronunciation learning and teaching which help the research have the valid data The researcher hoped that this great variety of data will increase the generalization of the research results, in other words, deal with this shortcoming

of an action research Besides, as mentioned above, these students have the highest need and motivation for improving their pronunciation which is also hoped by the researchers will bring the research more success

3.2 The English and pronunciation program

At this semester, the English program consists of 5 weeks; each week has 4 periods focusing on speaking and pronunciation As the pronunciation is the criterion in the speaking tests and pronunciation teaching is often carried out during other periods, we would like to present the con tent of both English and pronunciation program

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*Objectives

The objectives of the program were stated in the syllabus as follow:

- provide students with basic knowledge of grammar, vocabulary and familiar communication situation in daily life and in the field of international business

- improve the students’ four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing

To achieve these objectives, improving students’ pronunciation is one of the important factors

*Materials

The textbook that is used in the program is Market Leader – Course Book by David C & David F & Simon K (2008), consisting 2 CDs The pronunciation exercises in the book are designed separately focusing on the repetition only For the limited time, this part in the syllabus is not compulsory, it is encouraged part For this reason, many teachers often omitted it

Elementary-*The speaking tests

At the end of the course, speaking tests are given for the students individually The tests consist of three parts:

1 Social situation: students give answers or make questions for some familiar situation

2 Topic: students choose one of 10 topics given in advance to talk about it

3 Free talk: students talk with the interviewers for one or two minutes

The students’ performance was assessed based on four criteria: accuracy, fluency, manner and timing This marking scale showed that pronunciation is

one of the focuses for the students

4 Instruments

In action research, there is a range of observation and non-observation methods commonly used (Burns, 2010) Two major questions underlying these instruments are: what do I need to see? (Observation) and What do I need to know? (Non-observation) In this study, an observation method chosen is self-

observation, Non-observation methods used are interviews, questionnaires, pre-test and post-test With the combination of these instruments, the study hopes to generate valid and reliable data

a researcher will have to discover what he has never consciously noticed before

In this research, observation on the students’ pronunciation performance was carried out during the audio-recording of pre-test and post-test, the process of collecting data from the results of this audio-recording, during every periods of English and applying focused tasks to find out the students’ pronunciation problems

as well as how much progress they made during the research Besides, this instrument helps the researchers to know how the students react with the new method of teaching pronunciation and how the research program is going

* Questionnaire

A questionnaire was conducted at the first week of the research This aimed

at collecting personal information of the students, particularly that related to their studying at secondary schools and their attitude toward learning pronunciation (See appendix) By doing so, the researcher was in the hope of finding possible factors that affect students’ pronunciation The questionnaire, in cooperation with some interviews, which were taken later, could help the researcher identify possible reasons for students’ weak pronunciation

* Informal interview

An informal interview was conducted with individual students at the end of the research so that the researcher could be able to find whether the students take other English courses during the research This helps the researcher to exclude the cases in which the students’ improvement is brought by another course This ensures a valid and reliable data Meanwhile, this instrument enables the researcher

to justify the attitudes and justification of the students to the program of the research

by asking them some informal questions This provides the research a more objective view or justification of the effectiveness of the research

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* Mock speaking tests (Audio recording)

During the research program, the students were asked to attend two mock speaking tests The first test was conducted in the first week, and the second test was delivered in the last week They were designed according to the aim at investigating the students’ pronunciation expressed in individual words and paragraph The two tests were audio recorded and then compared so as to reveal any improvements that students’ made during the progress of the research There are some reasons for the choice of using mock speaking tests

Firstly, students should be familiarized with the speaking tests during the semester because it was used to assess their speaking and pronunciation It was the teacher’s task to inform students about the kind of the speaking test right at the beginning of the semester so as students were well prepared for it

It might be argued that if the mock speaking test was conducted right in the first week of the research program, the students would not have enough familiarity,

as well as preparation, for it Therefore, their results might be affected badly and it was naturally expected to be worse than the second mock test (conducted at the end

of the research program) This might lead to inappropriate conclusions about the effectiveness of the program However, in fact, this was not problematic, because the researcher only focused on the students’ pronunciation of English sounds Other aspects of their speaking skills such as manner or fluency were not taken into consideration Therefore, it would not pose any problems regarding the different time in which the mock speaking tests were distributed

Secondly, the format of the mock speaking tests allowed the researcher to have a thorough look into the students’ pronunciation The tests consisted of two

parts: reading individual words and reading a passage or talk about a topic For the

first part, by providing appropriate words for the students to read, the researcher was able to identify almost every pronunciation mistakes regarding English sounds that the students made For the second part, she could check the students’ pronunciation in their real-life speaking

Last but not least, it was widely acknowledged that motivation had a lot effect on the students’ performance When the mock speaking tests were designed

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and carried out in exactly the same way as they were conducted in the real life, students would be more willing to participate in it They would also try to have a better preparation for it, which, to some extent, may help reduce the negative effect

of fluency over accuracy This helped us gain a more accurate understanding about the students’ pronunciation of single English sounds

5 Intervention

Regarding focused tasks as an important factor to improve students’ pronunciation in English, the researcher would like to make use of it extensively In this research, first and foremost, focused tasks does not only mean the specific strategy that was used but it was also a reflection of what the researcher had found out about the pronunciation problems of the students

Focused tasks were provided by the teacher under four types: Ordering/ sorting, Comparing, Sharing experience and creative tasks (See Appendices)

These tasks were carried out with two main forms of activities: individual and pair work The activities consist of repeating (with the clear guide and modal from Audio CD), discussing, making dialogue, asking and answering, listening and identifying or distinguishing sounds, role-playing and making conversation

After the students’ pronunciation problems were found out, focused tasks, designed from the book Pronunciation tasks by Martin Hewings, were applied to deal with the problems to improve the students’ pronunciation The effectiveness of the focused tasks will be presented in the results of the research in the next chapters

6 Research program

The research was conducted in 5 weeks (there are 4 fifty-minute English periods per week) from June 25th to July 29th, 2012 The focus of the research was

on English vowel and consonant sounds

All the problems were investigated in the first week There were a lot of problems faced by the students from the investigation However, for the limited time, the researcher decided to focus on dealing with three most problematic vowels (/u:/, /æ/ and /ə/ ) and four most problematic consonants(/θ/, /r/, /ʃ/and /tʃ/) by using focused tasks in the following weeks In the last week, a revision period was

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given so as to reinforce what the students had learnt before Then, the post-test and

in formal interviews were carried out to see the results of the research

After identifying which sounds to focus, focused tasks were designed to use

in the class As researcher herself found the book Pronunciation tasks (Martin

Hewings) particularly suitable to the teaching pronunciation for the students, she decided to design the focused tasks used for the research basing on the tasks in this book

The detailed program of the research was presented as follows:

Table 4: An overview of the research program for second year students

Question Question find out the students’ problems on English vowel and consonant sounds

- find out possible reasons for the problems

2 Applying focused tasks on three

most problematic vowels.( /u:/,

/æ/ and /ə/ ) (50’)

- -deal with some vowel pronunciation problems

3 Applying focused tasks on two

of most problematic consonants

(/θ/, /r/) (50’)

- -deal with some consonant

pronunciation problems

4 Applying focused tasks on two

of other most problematic

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7 Procedures

The chronological steps of the study are summarized as follows:

- Study the literature to form the theoretical background for the study;

- Work out the methodological framework of the study;

- Apply the research program on the experimental group;

- Collect all the data for analysis;

- Analyze the data for findings; and

- Yield conclusions, implications and suggestions for further study based on findings