Tài liệu A case study on the effectiveness of elsa on learning english pronunciation with first year english language teaching major students at hanoi pedagogical university 2

HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY 2 FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES DO HOANG ANH A CASE STUDY ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF ELSA ON LEARNING ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION WITH FIRST YEAR ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING MAJOR STUDENTS AT HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY 2 (SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT OF THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS OF ENGLISH) SUPERVISOR: DO THI THANH DUNG, M.A HANOI, 2018 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my research supervisors, Mrs. Do Thi Thanh Dung, M.A, without her guidance and whole-hearted instruction in every step throughout the process, this study would have never been accomplished. As a novice researcher, I had made a lot of mistakes in the process of writing the research paper but Mrs. Dung was kind enough to work nights and days to help me completing the study. I would like to give my sincerest thanks to her not only for being my research supervisor but for her support during my whole four years at Hanoi Pedagogical University 2. I would also want to thank my lectures at Faculty of Foreign Languages for helping me and giving me the constructive comments of my thesis, their advices were invaluable to the results of this research. I wish to acknowledge the assistance provided by the students of K43AEnglish Language Teaching at Hanoi Pedagogical University 2, without their participation, I could not be able to conduct this study. Most importantly, I am truly grateful to my beloved family and my friends who were always there to help me get back in track, encourage me and give me power to overcome any challenges in my life. Once again, thank you all for your dedication! i ABSTRACT This study aims to investigate students’ attitudes towards the implementation of ELSA and to examine the effectiveness of ELSA in learning English pronunciation skills on a group of 10 students from K43A – English Language Teaching, Hanoi Pedagogical University 2 (HPU2). The data of this qualitative and quantitative study was collected from four different sources: Survey questionnaire, Interview, ELSA Assessment Test score and the Student Oral Language Observation Matrix (SOLOM) score. From the results of the survey questionnaire and the interview, the researcher concluded that all of the participants had positive attitudes towards the application of ELSA as a supporting tool for self-study, the majority of them wanted to continue using ELSA to improve their pronunciation skills in the future. Based on the results of the pre and post ELSA Assessment Test as well six-week class observation, the implementation ELSA was demonstrated that it was effective in both improving students’ pronunciation skills and boosting their confidence and increasing their speaking fluency. ii STATE OF AUTHORSHIP Title: A Case Study on the Effectiveness of Elsa on Learning English Pronunciation with First Year English Language Teaching Major Students at Hanoi Pedagogical University 2 I certify that no part of this research has been copied from any other person’s work without acknowledgements and the study is originally written by me under the guidance of my supervisor. Date submitted: 9 May, 2018 Student Supervisor Do Hoang Anh Do Thi Thanh Dung, M.A iii LIST OF TABLES Table 1. English Consonant Phoneme Table 2. The schedule of implementing ELSA in 6 weeks Table 3. The SOLOM Assessment Score Table 4. The comparison of ELSA score and SOLOM score from the participants Table 5. The SOLOM Assessment results of Week 1 Table 6. The SOLOM Assessment results of Week 2 Table 7. The SOLOM Assessment results of Week 3 Table 8. The SOLOM Assessment results of Week 4 Table 9. The SOLOM Assessment results of Week 5 Table 10. The comparison of ELSA score and SOLOM score from the participants Table 11. The SOLOM Assessment results of Week 6 iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Features of pronunciation Figure 2. English monothongs Figure 3. The scores of ELSA Pre-Test and ELSA Post-Test Figure 4. The scores of the Pre-SOLOM Pronunciation Score and the Post-SOLOM Pronunciation Score Figure 5. SOLOM Score in Week 1 and SOLOM Score in Week 6 Figure 6. Students’ methods of learning English pronunciation skills Figure 7. Amount of time per week that students spent on learning English pronunciation Figure 8. Student’s difficulties in learning English pronunciation Figure 9. Student’s difficulties in learning English consonants Figure 10. Student’s difficulties in learning English vowels Figure 11. Students’ opinions towards the usefulness of ELSA in pronouncing words Figure 12. Students’ opinions towards the usefulness of ELSA in practicing ending sounds Figure 13. Students’ opinions towards the usefulness of ELSA in speaking in general Figure 14. Sounds that ELSA may not recognize properly Figure 15. Students’ attitude towards the helpfulness of ELSA Figure 16. Students’ biggest improvements in pronunciation after using ELSA Figure 17. Students’ attitudes towards applying ELSA in a real curriculum Figure 18. Students’ opinions on biggest drawbacks of the application of ELSA Figure 19. Students’ recommendations for the implementation of ELSA v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Hanoi Pedagogical University 2: HPU2 Automatic speech recognition: ASR Computer Assisted Language Learning: CALL Computer Assisted Pronunciation Training: CAPT Hidden Markov Model: HMM English Language Speech Assistant: ELSA Student Oral Language Observation Matrix: SOLOM Operating System: OS International Phonetic Alphabet : IPA vi TABLE OF CONTENTS PART 1: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................1 I. RATIONALE OF THE STUDY ...........................................................................1 II. AIMS OF THE STUDY.......................................................................................1 III. RESEARCH QUESTIONS ................................................................................2 IV. THE SCOPE OF THE STUDY..........................................................................2 V. METHODS OF THE STUDY .............................................................................2 VI. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY ...................................................................2 VII. DESIGN OF THE STUDY ...............................................................................3 PART 2: DEVELOPMENT ........................................................................................4 CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................................4 A. Pronunciation .......................................................................................................4 1. Definition of pronunciation ...............................................................................4 1.1. English vowel sounds .....................................................................................5 1.1.1. Monophthongs .........................................................................................5 1.1.2. Diphthongs ...............................................................................................6 1.1.3. Triphthongs ..............................................................................................6 1.2. English consonant sounds ..............................................................................6 1.2.1. English consonants classification................................................................7 1.2.1.1. Voicing ..................................................................................................7 1.2.1.2. Manner of articulation ..........................................................................7 1.2.1.3. Places of articulation .............................................................................8 B. Speech recognition technology and ELSA ..........................................................8 1. Definition of speech recognition .......................................................................8 2. An introduction to ELSA Speak .......................................................................9 3. The use of speech recognition in learning pronunciation ...............................10 CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY .........................................................................12 1. Research method .................................................................................................12 1.1. Case study .....................................................................................................12 1.1.1. Rationales behind the case study ...........................................................12 vii 1.2. Research procedure ..........................................................................................12 1.2.1. Describing background .............................................................................13 1.2.2. Identifying problems .................................................................................13 1.2.3. Vision & objective(s) ................................................................................13 1.2.4. Proposing solutions ...................................................................................14 1.2.5. Implementing case study ...........................................................................15 1.2.6. Results and evaluation ...............................................................................16 2. Data collection instruments ................................................................................16 2.1. Survey questionnaire ....................................................................................16 2.1.1. Reasons for using questionnaire ...............................................................16 2.1.2. Description of survey questionnaire .........................................................16 2.2. Classroom observation .................................................................................18 2.2.1. Reasons for using classroom observation .................................................18 2.2.2. Procedure of classroom observation .........................................................18 2.3. Interviews .....................................................................................................19 2.3.1. Reasons for using interview ......................................................................19 2.3.2. Description of interview ............................................................................19 3. Research setting ..................................................................................................19 3.1. Participants ...................................................................................................20 4. Data analysis description ....................................................................................20 4.1. The ELSA Assessment Test .........................................................................20 4.2. Classroom observation .................................................................................20 4.3. Survey questionnaire ....................................................................................20 4.3.1. The pre-survey questionnaire ................................................................21 4.3.2. The post-survey questionnaire ...............................................................21 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .......................................................22 FINDINGS ..............................................................................................................22 1. The results of using ELSA in learning English pronunciation skills in 6 weeks. .................................................................................................................................22 1.1. Description....................................................................................................22 1.1.1. Week 1 (19/03/2018 – 25/03/2018) .......................................................22 1.1.2. Week 2 (26/03/2018 – 01/04/2018) .......................................................23 viii 1.1.3. Week 3 (02/04/2018 – 08/04/2018) .......................................................24 I.1.4. Week 4 (09/04/2018 – 015/04/2018) .....................................................24 1.1.5. Week 5 (16/04/2018 – 22/04/2018) .......................................................25 1.1.6. Week 6 (23/04/2018 – 29/04/2018) .......................................................25 1.1.7. The comparison of the Pre and Post ELSA Assessment Test and Pre and Post SOLOM Assessment .........................................................................26 2. Students’ attitude towards using ELSA in learning English pronunciation skills .................................................................................................................................29 2.1 Results from survey questionnaire ................................................................29 2.1.1. Results the pre-survey questionnaire .....................................................29 2.1.1.1. Students’ attitude towards the importance of English pronunciation skills ..............................................................................................................29 2.1.1.2. Students’ interest in English pronunciation skills...........................30 2.1.1.3. Students’ methods of learning English pronunciation skills ..........30 2.1.1.4. The number of hours per week students spent on learning English pronunciation skills .......................................................................................31 2.1.1.5. Student’s difficulties in learning English pronunciation skills.......32 2.1.1.6. Students’ experience in learning English pronunciation with ELSA .......................................................................................................................33 2.1.2. Results from the post-survey questionnaire ..............................................35 2.1.2.1. Students’ opinions towards the usefulness of ELSA in learning English pronunciation ......................................................................................35 2.1.2.2. Students’ opinions towards the implementation of ELSA in learning English pronunciation ......................................................................................37 2.1.2.3. Challenges that students faced in the process of implementing ELSA in learning English pronunciation ....................................................................39 2.2. Results from the interview ...........................................................................40 DISCUSSION .........................................................................................................44 PART 3: CONCLUSION ...........................................................................................45 1. Summary of the study .........................................................................................45 2. Limitations of the study ......................................................................................45 3. Recommendations ...............................................................................................46 3.1. Recommendations for students ........................................................................46 3.2. Recommendations for teachers ........................................................................46 ix 3.3. Recommendations for researchers ...................................................................46 REFERENCES ...........................................................................................................48 APPENDIX A ............................................................................................................50 APPENDIX B .............................................................................................................54 APPENDIX C .............................................................................................................56 APPENDIX D ............................................................................................................58 APPENDIX E .............................................................................................................64 x PART 1: INTRODUCTION I. RATIONALE OF THE STUDY Nowadays, in the increasing development of globalization and industrialization, English has become the second language or even the official language in numerous countries. English is also a primary language of instruction in vital equipment such as computer, mobile phones and the Internet. Under such circumstances, mastering English is not only an advantage but also a requirement, especially for young labor force all over the world. In order to meet the requirement, they need to devote a great amount of time and effort to learn this language. Inevitably, learners have difficulties learning different aspects of English. In terms of vocabulary, it is common that learners gradually lose their interest and get confused as they try really hard to remember new words and their pronunciation but eventually forget and then fail to use them when they need to. The traditional method of learning pronunciation like writing down phonetic transcription or repeating after teachers may make student feel bored and soon forget how to pronounce words properly. Therefore, a more effective way is of necessity, especially which could raise student’s interest. This demand has led to the development of various software in. In the context of Vietnam, English Language Speech Assistant (ELSA), a tool to improve pronunciation, is becoming a popular application. At Hanoi Pedagogical University 2, however, ELSA application is not widely used by students, even English-majored ones while they seem to have difficulties in learning English and in particular pronunciation. With the aim of introducing students in English Language Teaching an effective learning method to enhance their pronunciation in detail, and create a habit of using technology in their study in general, the author has conducted the research: “A Case Study on the Effectiveness of Elsa on Learning English Pronunciation of First Year English Language Teaching Major Students at Hanoi Pedagogical University 2”. II. AIMS OF THE STUDY Ultimately, the researcher aims to introduce ELSA to students and examine its effectiveness in their English pronunciation. Suggestions for better use of the technology are also provided. Besides, the study is hoped to contribute in the variety of the theoretical and practical knowledge in teaching and learning English pronunciation. 1 III. RESEARCH QUESTIONS To achieve the goals of the study, the researcher focuses on finding answers to these following questions. Question 1: What are the students’ attitudes towards the implementation of ELSA in learning English pronunciation? Question 2: To what extent does ELSA help to improve students’ pronunciation? IV. THE SCOPE OF THE STUDY The study is on the use of ELSA application to learn pronunciation. The population of the study is limited to 10 students of K43A-English Language Teaching Major at Hanoi Pedagogical University 2. V. METHODS OF THE STUDY In this study, the researcher has decided to use the case study approach, along with the following data collecting instruments: Survey questionnaire, classroom observation and interview. VI. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY Conducting this research, the researcher hopes that its results will be beneficial to the following: LEARNERS: The results will provide the students with knowledge on learning English pronunciation skills and also take a different look at learning with technology in general and learning with smartphone’s applications to be specific. The results of the study can be considered as an input for readers who want to expand their knowledge about English pronunciation, with the help of technology, learning can be so much more interesting than before. TEACHERS: The given data of this study will be a reference for not only teachers who are interested in applying technology in teaching English pronunciation skills but also teachers who are finding a new approach to vary their teaching techniques. RESEARCHERS: The results of this research will be beneficial to researchers who are fond of Speech Recognition in general and the effectiveness of Speech Recognition in learning English pronunciation in particular. 2 VII. DESIGN OF THE STUDY This thesis is divided into 3 main parts as follows: PART 1: “INTRODUCTION” gives an overview of rationale, objectives of the study, research questions and the scope of the study, the significance of the study and the design of the study. PART 2: “DEVELOPMENT” consists of three main chapters: Chapter 1: “Literature Review” provides the background knowledge of pronunciation, the background knowledge of speech recognition technology and using of speech recognition technology in learning English pronunciation. Some related researches conducted by former scholars and professionals are also illustrated. Chapter 2: “Methodology” describes in detail the participants, research instruments employed and the procedure of collecting and analyzing the data. Chapter 3: “Findings and discussion” analyzes gathered data by research instrument and further discussion of the data PART 3: CONCLUSION includes three sections: Section 1: Summary of the study reviews the research outcomes and presents a brief description of the study Section 2: Limitations of the study reveals in detail the difficulties in process of conducting this study. Section 3: Recommendations gives suggestions for further study and the researchers who want to conduct studies about ELSA 3 PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW A. Pronunciation 1. Definition of pronunciation Pronunciation plays an important role in improving our skills in English. It becomes one of elements for improving communication skill. Without having enough knowledge about pronunciation, communication will end up in unpleasant situations and make students feel difficult to convey their ideas. There are numerous ways to define pronunciation In Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary, pronunciation means the way in which a word or letter is said, or said correctly, or the way in which a language is spoken. According to Richards, J. C., & Schmidt, R. (2002, p. 429) pronunciation is the way a certain sound or sounds are produced and pronunciation stresses more the way sounds are perceived by the hearer. (Harmer, 2007) states that Pronunciation is the way we make sounds of the language how and where we place the stress, and how we use pitch and intonation to show how we are feeling and what we mean”. The following diagram (Kelly, 2000) illustrates the main features of pronunciation Figure 1. Features of pronunciation (Kelly, How to teach Pronunciation, 2000) 4 As can be seen from the diagram above, pronunciation consists of phonemes and suprasegmental features, the phonemes include two main parts are consonants and vowels while suprasegmental features deals with intonation and stress. Besides, pronunciation is a really broad subjects with various aspects, in the scope of this study, the researcher mainly focuses on two features which are vowels and consonants. 1.1. English vowel sounds Vowels, according to (Roach), “The most common view is that vowels are sounds in which there is no obstruction to the flow of air as it passes from the larynx to the lips”. Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D., and Goodwn, J. (1996) defines vowels as "sounds in which there is continual vibration of the vocal cords and the air stream is allowed to escape from the mouth in an obstructed manner, without any interruption.'" English vowels consists of : Monophthongs/ pure vowels : Single sounds (Long vowels and short vowels), Diphthongs: Two vowels in one syllable and Triphthongs: three vowels pronounced in a single syllable. 1.1.1. Monophthongs English monothongs includes short vowels (æ, e, ʊ, ɒ, ʌ, ɪ, ə) and long vowels (iː, ɜː, ɑː, ɔː, uː), there are 12 different sounds in total and all the monothongs can be classified in terms of: + The length of vowels: Long vowels are longer than short vowels in similar contexts. The symbols consist of one single vowel plus a length mark made of two dots. They are different from short vowels not only in length but also in quality, resulting from differences in tongue shapes and lip positions. + Tongue position and shape (Front – Central – Back): Refers to the horizontal position of the tongue in regard to the front or back of the mouth. + Tongue height: High (Close) – Mid – Low (Open): In concern with the vertical position of the tongue towards palatal area (low or high). + Lips position/ Degree of lip rounding: Refers to position of lips during the progress of produce the vowels. There are two lips position: Rounded and unrounded. 5 Figure 2. English monothongs (Based on the Diagram of Cardinal Vowels (Jones, 1962)) 1.1.2. Diphthongs A diphthong is a glide from one vowel to another vowel, and the whole glide acts like one of the long simple vowels. In terms of length, diphthongs are similar to long vowels. The most vital thing to remember about all the diphthongs is that the first part is much longer and stronger than the second part. Therefore, the second part is shorter and quieter. There are 8 dipthongs in total: ɪə, eə, ʊə, eɪ, aɪ, ɔɪ, əʊ, aʊ. Diphthongs can be classified into two types: Centering (ending in /ə/) and Closing (ending in /ɪ/ and ending in /ʊ/). 1.1.3. Triphthongs A triphthong is a glide from one vowel to another vowel and then to the third, all of these vowels are produced rapidly without interruption. There are five triphthongs in English. They are composed of the five closing diphthongs with /ə/ added at the end: eɪə, aɪə, ɔɪə, əuə, auə. 1.2. English consonant sounds Kell (2000, pp. 47-53) states that “Consonant is formed by interrupting, restricting or diverting the airflow in a variety of ways”. Consonants are classified according to: + Voicing + The manner of articulation + The place of articulation + The force of articulation 6 Table 1. English Consonant Phoneme 1.2.1. English consonants classification 1.2.1.1. Voicing + Voiced consonants: The consonants which are produced when the vocal cords are vibrating. + Voiceless consonants: The consonants which are produced when the vocal cords are not vibrating. 1.2.1.2. Manner of articulation Refers to the nature of the obstruction + Stop (Plosive): A total closure of the articulators involved in order that the airstream is not able to escape through the mouth: / p, t, k, b, d, g /. + Fricative: The close approximation of two articulators in order that the airstream is partially obstructed and turbulent airflow is produced: / f, v, Ɵ, ð, h, z, s/. + Affricate: The combination of a plosive sound and a fricative sound: /tʃ/ /dʒ/. + Nasal: Similar to plosives, except that there is a full closure in the mouth, but as the velum is lowered the air can escape through the nasal cavity. [m], [n], [Ƞ]. 7 + Approximant: An articulation in which one articulator is close to another, but without the vocal tract being narrowed to such an extent that a turbulent airstream is produced /w,r, j/. Lateral: Obstruction of the airstream at a point along the center of the oral tract, with incomplete closure between one or both sides of the tongue and the roof of the mouth. /l/. 1.2.1.3. Places of articulation + Bilabial: Made with the two lips (/p/, /b/, /w/, /m/). + Labiodental: The lower lip articulates with the upper teeth (/f/, /v/). + Dental: The tongue tip articulates with the upper teeth (/Ɵ/, /ð/) + Alveolar: The tongue tip articulates with the alveolar ridge (/t, d, n, l, s, z/). + Palato-Alveolar: The tongue tip and the back of alveolar ridge (/tʃ/ /dʒ/, /r/) + Palatal: The front of the tongue and the hard palate (/j/). + Velar: The back of the tongue and soft palate (/k, g, Ƞ/). + Glottal: The sounds produced when the air passes through the glottis as it is narrowed: [h] B. Speech recognition technology and ELSA 1. Definition of speech recognition ASR (Automatic speech recognition) falls within the area of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) (Levy, 1997). CALL system has become very popular in recent years due to its advance in speech recognition that allow students to get understood better by computer, CALL offers student extra learning time and a stress-free learning environment, which mainly because CALL is often used in selft – study methods. ASR is a cutting edge technology that allows a computer or even a hand-held PDA (Myers, 2000) to identify words that are read aloud or spoken into any soundrecording device. ASR technology has been widely used for business dictation or special needs accessibility, its market presence for language learning has increased dramatically in recent years (Aist, 1999). With the integration of ASR technology, these systems, which can be referred to as CAPT (Computer Assisted Pronunciation Training) systems. The computer 8 understands the student’s speech and reacts spontaneously, thus making the learning process more realistic and engaging, the CAPT systems can also give feedback on the quality of the student’s speech. Early CAPT systems used the template-based recognition systems which perform pattern matching and most of these programs do not give any feedback, these systems can only give a simple comparison between students’ speech sound waves and the templated ones. Later then, ASR programs adopted the Hidden Markov Model (HMM) algorithms. That is, a speech recognizer based on HMM computes how close the phonemes of a spoken input are to a corresponding model, based on probability theory. High likelihood represents good pronunciation; low likelihood represents poor pronunciation (Larocca, S. T., Moagan J. J., & Bellinger S. M, 1991, pp. 295-310). The most recent methods that today ASR software use is Artificial Intelligence (AI) which is the latest trend in the Industrial Revolution 4.0, by using AI, the programs can learn every time they are used, the AI systems are programmed to adapt and develop by itself, this is the key solution to the individualism of all users. 2. An introduction to ELSA Speak ELSA stands for English Language Speech Assistant, ELSA is an AI-powered program that allow users to practice and improve their pronunciation by a set of lessons and exercises that are evaluated on ELSA’s server. ELSA was first released for testing in 2015 and then in 2016, ELSA was debuted during SXSW (a component of the South by Southwest® (SXSW®) family of conferences and festivals)., the program won the SXSWEdu launch competition. Until now, ELSA parent company has released two version of the application, which are on Google Android (A mobile phone operating system by Google LLC) and Apple IOS (A mobile phone operating system by Apple Inc.). In 2017, ELSA reached 2 million users from over 100 countries, more than 100 million practices, 81% of ELSA users are reported to feel more confident after they start using ELSA (ELSA Speak Blog, 2017), ELSA corp was also mentioned by Forbes magazine in the list of 4 companies that are using AI to transform the world. ELSA is free to download from both Google Play (The official application store for the Android operating system) and App Store (The official application store for the IOS operating system), ELSA offers users four different features which are: 9