VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES -*** - LƯƠNG THỊ HOÀI PHƯƠNG A STUDY ON USING PHONICS METHOD IN TEACHING PRONUNCIATION TO THE BEGINNERS OF ENGLISH AT TIENGANH123 ENGLISH CENTER (NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ SỬ DỤNG PHƯƠNG PHÁP GHÉP VẦN TRONG VIỆC DẠY PHÁT ÂM CHO NGƯỜI MỚI BẮT ĐẦU HỌC TIẾNG ANH TẠI TRUNG TÂM TIẾNG ANH 123) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 HA NOI, 2015 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES -*** - LƯƠNG THỊ HOÀI PHƯƠNG A STUDY ON USING PHONICS METHOD IN TEACHING PRONUNCIATION TO THE BEGINNERS OF ENGLISH AT TIENGANH123 ENGLISH CENTER (NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ SỬ DỤNG PHƯƠNG PHÁP GHÉP VẦN TRONG VIỆC DẠY PHÁT ÂM CHO NGƯỜI MỚI BẮT ĐẦU HỌC TIẾNG ANH TẠI TRUNG TÂM TIẾNG ANH 123) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Dr Hà Cẩm Tâm HA NOI, 2015 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com CERTIFICATION OF ORIGINALITY I herby certify that thesis entitles “A study on using Phonics method in teaching pronunciation to the beginners of English at TiengAnh123 English center” is my own study in the fulfillment of the requirement for the Degree of Master of Arts at Faculty of Post- Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi Hanoi, 2015 Luong Thi Hoai Phuong i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to explore whether using phonics to teach pronunciation can help English beginners better at pronunciation It has two foci One is to investigate whether phonics method can help English better in pronunciation or not The other is to identify the situation when the phonics instruction is implemented in the classroom This study employed a qualitative and quantitative approach in which it primarily relied on the use of action research Eighteen students from English123 center participated in the study The findings of the current study revealed that phonics instruction has positive effect on English beginners in leaning pronunciation; however, it is still problematic Even though Phonics could help students pronounce consonant well, most of students feel confused with pronouncing the vowels and diphthongs The reason is that there are too many spelling rules for each sound to remember ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my most sincere gratitude to my respectable supervisor, Dr Ha Cam Tam, for her restless and sympathetic encouragements, valuable advice and patient guidance until the completion of this study My sincere thanks also go to my dear colleagues at Tienganh123 English Center for all their help, support and encouragement when I encountered difficulties I wish to acknowledge my thankfulness to the pronunciation class for their enthusiastic participation in this project Finally, I am deeply indebted to my beloved parents, my siblings and my postgraduate friends for their sacrifice, encouragement and care iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS Certification of originality i Abstract ii Acknowledgement iii Table of contents iv Tables vi Figuresv vii PART A: INTRODUCTION 1.Rationale Research hypothesis 3.Aim of the study 4.Significance of the study 5.Scope of the study 6.Methodology of the study 7.Organization of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Phonetics 1.2 English phonetics 1.3 Phonics 1.3.1 Definitions of phonics 1.3.2 Review of previous studies 10 1.4 Action research 11 1.4.1 Definitions of action research 11 1.4.2 Steps of action research 12 CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY 13 2.1 The setting of the study 13 2.2 Research design 13 2.2.1 Participants 13 iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 2.2.2 Data collection instruments 13 2.2.3 Data collection procedure 15 2.3 Data analysis and discussion 18 2.3.1 Observation 19 2.3.2 Reflection 22 PARTC: CONCLUSION 24 1.Major findings 24 2.Implications 24 3.Limitations of the study 25 4.Suggestion for further studies 25 REFERENCES 26 APPENDICES Appendix A: Pre-test I Appendix B: Test II Appendix C: Test III Appendix D: Test IV Appendix E: Test V Appendix F: Post-test VI Appendix G: Lesson plan sample VII v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLES Tables 1: English consonant sounds……………………………………………….7 Table 2: Comparison of Phonics and Phonetics……………………………………7 Table 3: Comparison of Phonics and Phonetics……………………………………8 Table 4: Examples of spelling rules in phonics instruction ………………………17 Table 5: Examples of list of words without initial consonants……………………18 vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com FIGURES Figures 1: English vowel sounds………………………………………………… Figure 2: Comparison of the mean scores of four regular tests……….………… 22 Figure 3: Comparison between the mean scores of Pre-test and Post-test……… 23 vii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale Pronunciation instruction is important factor in foreign language teaching As sounds play a crucial role in communication, foreign language teachers must attribute proper importance to teaching pronunciation in their classes It is evident that communication is a mutual relationship between the speaker and hearer This means that one must comprehend what he/she hears in the target language and must produce the sounds of the language he/she must trying to learn accurately Unless he has sufficient knowledge of the sounds of the target language, he can neither encode a message to anybody nor decode the message sent by another person by learning the sounds of the target language within his mother tongue Therefore, pronunciation instruction is of great importance for successful oral communication to take place since it is an important ingredient of the communicative competence (Hismanoglu, 2006) Hamers (2007) identifies the importance of pronunciation instruction as “Pronunciation teaching not only makes students aware of different sounds and some features, but can also improve their speaking immeasurably” (p.248) Celce-Murca, Brinton, and Goodwin (1996) claim that none-native speakers of English need to achieve a “threshold level of pronunciation” to be understood and minimize oral communication problems (p.3) Pronunciation needs to be taught and deserves more attention in a language course However, without a systematic syllabus, many students have difficulties in single word pronunciation Even though some students have learned English for years before they enter junior high school, they were unable to read orally and spell out most of the words Very often, when teacher asked them to read words or sentences, they just closed their mouths and kept silence There have been many approaches to teach English pronunciation discussed and elaborated worldwide, and these include whole language, phonetic symbols and computer assisted programs Yet there is no research that has been taken in Vietnam LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART C: CONCLUSION The major findings, implications, limitations of the study and the suggestions for the future studies were included in this chapter Major findings As stated in the first part of the research, the hypothesis is that phonics instruction can help English beginners better at pronunciation Major findings were as follows: Firstly, phonics instruction in some extent has positive effects on students’ pronunciation, however using phonics to teach English pronunciation is still problematic Specifically, students could pronounce consonant sounds well however they still had difficulties in pronouncing vowels and diphthongs The reason is that almost each consonant letter can be presented an English sound It means that the spelling rules for consonants sounds are simple and easy to memorize On the contrary, there are many spelling rules or letter combinations presenting diphthongs or vowels, which makes students confused to remember and pronounce Secondly, students’ English learning attitudes differed significantly after the study At first, the English beginners at TiengAnh 123 English center were poor of English pronunciation performance without confidence in pronunciation With the help of phonics instruction, they all became more confident and active in pronouncing words Implications The present study provided some insights towards the using of the Phonics pronunciation teaching methods to English beginners at TiengAnh 123 English center Based on the results to the study, several implications could be drawn: Firstly, regarding students’ learning attitudes after the phonics instruction, results indicated these participants had positive responses to the teaching method This suggested that phonics instruction could enhance English beginners’ learning attitudes Secondly, regarding students’ pronunciation competence, the results revealed that phonics instruction could help students pronounce consonant sounds well, but they 24 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com still found it hard to pronounce long vowels and diphthongs It suggested that teacher should take consideration into making decision of choosing phonics as a method of teaching pronunciation Limitation of the research There are three limitations in this study First, the study was conducted in an English center with a small number of students Therefore, the participants cannot be the representative of all English beginners Also the results deprived in this project may not be generalized to all English beginners in Vietnam Second, due to restriction of time, the duration of this study was limited with one classes This is to say, the present study was a short-term instruction In other words, if the duration may be longer and the effects of the instruction may lead to more effective learning effects to the participants Thirdly, the study basically bases on observation and results of the test, which might be subjective on the side of the informants, so the reliability of the collected data may not be guaranteed Despite the above mentioned limitations, this study shed some light in effects of phonics instruction in teaching pronunciation to English beginners Suggestions for further studies As a result of the limitations above, I hope that the next researchers who share the same interest in phonics instruction should have a larger scale with more participants and tests In addition, pronunciation mistakes should also be analyzed and discussed more specifically At the same time, the next researcher should also cover using phonics instruction in teaching pronunciation to students at different levels, not only the beginners 25 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com REFERENCES Adams, M.J (1990) Beginning to read: Thinking and learning about print Cambridge, MA: MI Press Armbruster, B.B., & Osborn, J (2003) Put reading first: The research building blocks for teaching children-kindergarten through grade The National Institute for Literacy Retrieved August 15, 2009, from http://www.nifl.gov/publications/pdf/PRFbooklet.pdf Belvin, W (1998) Phonics from A to Z –A practical guide New York: Scholastic Brown, H.D (2007) Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy (3rd ed.) New York: Addison Wesley Longman Carr, Philip (2003) English Phonetics and Phonology: An Introduction Massachusetts, USA; Oxford, UK; Victoria, Australia; Berlin, Germany: Blackwell Publishing Celce-Murcia, M.,Brinton, D.M., & Goowin, J.M (2007) Teaching pronunciation: A reference for teachers of English to speakers of other languages New York: Cambridge University Press Chou, H Y (2010) Effects of phonics, dictionary use and memory strategy instruction on EFL elementary students’ vocabulary performance Unpublished master’s thesis, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, Yunlin, Taiwan Chu, C F (2006) A comparison study of the effectiveness of teaching English phonics and K K phonetic symbols on word pronunciation (Unpublished master’s thesis) National Chengchi Uuniversity, Taipei, Taiwan Deterding, D & Poedjosoedarmo, G (1998) The sounds of English: Phonetics and phonology for English teachers in Southeast Asia Prentice Hall 10 Durkin, D (1993) Teaching them to read (6th ed.) Boston: Allyn and Bacon 26 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 11 Goodwin, J (2001) Teaching pronunciation In M Celce-Murcia Teaching English as a second or foreign language (pp 117-138) Boston: Heinle & Heinle Thomson Learning 12 Groff, P.(1989) Modern phonics instruction Commissioned for the OERI Literacy Project Office of Educational Research and Improvement Retrieved August 12, 2009, from ERIC database (ED 328 900) 13 Heilman, A.M (1985) Phonics in proper perspective (5th ed.) Columbus: Merill 14 Hsieh, Q.S (1994) The basic content and methods of Phonics instruction Caves English Teaching, 2,35-41 15 Hismanoglu, M (2006) Current perspectives on pronunciation learning and teaching Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 2, 101-110 16 Hung, A.M (2004) A study of the effects of phonics instruction on English word pronunciation & memorization of vocational senior high school students in Taiwan .(Unpublished master’s thesis) National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan 17 Hsu, L H (2000) A study on phonics and phonetic symbols in ELT.(Unpublished master’s thesis) National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan 18 Hsu (2003) A study on phonics and phonetics symbols in ELT National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan 19 Huang, S.L (2002) An experimental study of the effects of phonics instruction on the acquisition of phonological awareness of junior high school students in Taiwan 20 Hung, S.K (1998) A comparison of two methods, K.K phonetic symbols and phonics, in teaching English to teach children (Unpublished master thesis) National Kaohsiung Normal University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan 21 Kemmis, S.,& McTAggart, R (1982) The action research planner (2nd ed.) Burwoeod, Victoria: Deakin University Press 27 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 22 Li, C.C (1981) Basic concepts of teaching English pronunciation English Teaching & Learning, 5(4), 14-21 23 Lin, Y.C (2001) The effects of the phonics teaching method with and withoust K.K phonetic symbols in teaching pronunciation ro EFL adults learners 24 Grant, L (2000) Well Said: Pronunciation for clear communication (2nd ed.) Massachusetts: Heinle & Heinle Publishers 25 Heilman, AW (1976) Phonics in Proper Perspective Columbus, Ohio: Charles E Merill Publishing Company 26 Hung, S K (1998) A comparison of two methods, K.K phonetic symbols and phonics, in teaching English to children (Unpublished master’s thesis) National Kaohsiung Normal University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan 27 Lin, Y.C (2001) The effects of the phonics teaching method with and without K.K phonetic symbols in teaching pronunciation to EFL adult learners (Unpublished master’s thesis) National Changhua University of Education, Changhua, Taiwan 28 Liu, P.C (1988) Phonetic symbols and pronunciation teaching English teaching, 12(3), 3-7 29 April McMahon (2002), An Introduction to English Phonology Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press 30 Marianne, Donna and Janet.(1996) Teaching Pronunciation Cambridge University Press 31 Mazurkiewicz, A.J (1976) Teaching About Phonics New York: St Martin’s Press 32 Tseng, L.C (2006) Phonics instruction with graphics Taichung: Morning Star Group 33 Naiman, N (2004) A communicative approach to pronunciation teaching In Averey, P.,& Ehrlich, S., Teaching American English Pronunciation New York: Oxford University Press 28 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 34 Nunan, D (192a) Research methods in language learning Cambridge: Cambridge University Pres 35 Oxford Advance Learner’s Encyclopedic Oxford University Press 36 Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary.(2008) Oxford University Press 37 Roach,P.(2000) English Phonetics and Phonology Cambridge University Press 38 Rachael-Anne Knight.(2003) Understanding English Variation, Week University of Surrey – Roehampton 39 Richards, J.C., Platt, J & Platt, H (1998) Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching & Applied Linguistics HongKong: Addison Wesley Longman China Limited 40 Roach, P 2000, English phonetics and phonology: a self-contained, comprehensive pronunciation course, Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University Press 41 Rasinski, T.V., & Padak, N.D (2001) From phonics to fluency effective teaching of decoding and reading fluency in the elementary school New York: Longman 42 Rogers, M.S., Palardy, J.M (1985) Learning Phonics New York: University Press of America 43 Scott, L.B (1982) Developing Phonics Skills: Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing New York: Teachers College Press 44 Shen, X.J (1993) How to use the phonics instruction to teach vocabulary: A sound-based pronunciation teaching method Cave English Teaching, 18-19 45 Stahl, S.A (1992) Saying the “p” word: Nine guidelines for exemplary phonics instruction The Reading Teacher, 45(8), 618-615 46 Stuart, M (1995) Recognizing printed words unlocks the door to reading: How children find the key? In E.Funnell & M.Stuart (Eds.), Learning to read: Psychology in the classroom (pp.30-60) Cambridge, Ma: Blackwell 29 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com APPENDIX A: ORAL PRONUNCIATION PRE-TEST Read aloud the following words: Clerk Cheat Light Join Phone Gray Kick Lunch Thunder Shoulder Picture Heavy Without Weekend Autumn Castle theatre vision artist German I LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com APPENDIX B: ORAL PRONUNCIATION TEST Read aloud the following words: Church pain Rose Smile gym Mouth tank Full machine Button doctor Ticket dentist weather thief shyness Cartoon supper nearly airport II LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com APPENDIX C: ORAL PRONUNCIATION TEST Read aloud the following words: gate zoo mall There sad gold Stir Sharpen Before Thousand Asian lighten jacket Nature Vender chilly mushroom Deepen notice rocky III LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com APPENDIX D: ORAL PRONUNCIATION TEST Read aloud the following words: choose joke Floor spoil bull voice low Peer dozen Further Thunder yellow Gangster punish without station weapon Trousers Asia Nightmare IV LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com APPENDIX E: ORAL PRONUNCIATION TEST Read aloud the following words: what kite then rose job bowl loud breathe afraid biscuit Tuesday Career chubby Thirsty traffic Fairy Cowboy lion Matter single V LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com APPENDIX F: ORAL PRONUNCIATION POST-TEST Read aloud the following words: bang pull Fear salt Stair check lake jog Sunshine Garden Zero training Noisy Hunter vowel local Murder council usual daily VI LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com APPENDIX G: LESSON PLAN SAMPLE Session 7: Diphthongs: /eɪ/, /aɪ/, /ɔɪ/ I- Objectives: Students will be able to recognize and pronounce words containing the sounds /eɪ/, /aɪ/, /ɔɪ/ II- Materials: - A chart of words containing the target sounds - A chart of words containing the spelling rules and examples of the target sounds IIIPart Procedure Teacher’s activities - displays a chart of words Students’ activities - look at the chart and containing the target sounds repeat after the and read them loudly teacher /eɪ/ /aɪ/ /ɔɪ/ play mice soil grace light point daily bye enjoy - make the sounds - Instructs Sts how to make the sounds correctly according to the teacher’s instructions VII LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com - introduces the spelling rules of the target sounds with the - look at the board carefully examples Written Sounds Examples patterns ai, ay, a- /eɪ/ rain, day, e cake igh, i-e, /aɪ/ sight, y, ie kite, dry, pie oi, oy /ɔɪ/ soil, boy - asks Sts to give more example of words - find the example of the target sounds with the corresponding spelling rules Practice - Divide class into three groups - Make groups of six of VIII LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com - Gives each group a set of - Sort out the words words, asks them sort out the and put them into the words containing /eɪ/, /aɪ/, corresponding /ɔɪ/ and then put them into categories the corresponding categories Set of words /eɪ/ /aɪ/ /ɔɪ/ taste night coin shape behind loyal skateboard silent enjoy debate noisy divide - Aks Sts to read the words out - Read the words aloud - Listen and correct loud - Correct the mistakes IX LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ... place of articulation was defined as ? ?the location of the obstruction of the air stream in the articulation of consonants It describes the point at which the articulators actually touch or at their... revealed that English teaching and learning in Vietnam has put much more emphasis on grammar and vocabulary that the way to communicate Thus, a lack of basic ability in accurate pronunciation was... application of phonics and phonetic symbols in English leaning and teaching The result indicated that phonics and phonetic symbols are only two assisting tools and methods in pronunciation teaching