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 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 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 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 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 TABLE OF CONTENTS Certification of originality .i Abstract .ii Acknowledgement .iii Table of contents .iv Tables .vi Figuresv vii PART A: INTRODUCTION 1.Rationale .1 2. Research hypothesis .2 3.Aim of the study .2 4.Significance of the study 5.Scope of the study 6.Methodology of the study .3 7.Organization of the study .3 PART B: DEVELOPMENT .4 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW .4 1.1. Phonetics .4 1.2. English phonetics .5 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 2.2.2. Data collection instruments 13 iv 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 TABLES v 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 FIGURES vi 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 However, the phonics instruction is still problematic. Some students find it difficult in pronouncing long vowels and diphthongs. The first reason for the mispronunciation is that these sounds have complicated spelling rules. Therefore students take time to remember and recognize the sounds that the words contain. The other reason is that there are the same alphabetic letters or spellings standing for the different sound. For example, “ou” stands for the diphthongs or “ear” stands for diphthongs /ɪə/ and /eə/. /əʊ/ and /aʊ/, Hence, students were confused and made mistakes when encountering the words containing these sounds. 2.3.2 Students’ attitude Firstly, in terms of participation, most of students participated in the activities designed by teacher. They were very excited during the time teacher asked them to work in pair or group to practice their pronunciation. The reason is that students gradually got familiar with the teaching and learning method. Hence, they actively joined in class activities. Moreover, teacher designed some activities that could arouse students’ interest. Secondly, regarding students’ motivation, in the first session, most of student showed their shyness. They dare not to pronounce the words or whispered in their mouth when the teacher asked them to practice. However the changes were quickly seen in the next sessions. After phonics instruction, students were more confident to pronounce words based on the spelling rules and the way of pronouncing the sounds they had learnt. PART C: CONCLUSION The major findings, implications, limitations of the study and the suggestions for the future studies were included in this chapter. 1. 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: 23 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. 2. 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 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. 3. 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 24 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. 4. 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. REFERENCES 1. Adams, M.J. (1990). Beginning to read: Thinking and learning about print. Cambridge, MA: MI Press. 2. Armbruster, B.B., & Osborn, J. (2003). Put reading first: The research building blocks for teaching children-kindergarten through grade 3. The National Institute 25 for Literacy. Retrieved August 15, 2009, from http://www.nifl.gov/publications/pdf/PRFbooklet.pdf 3. Belvin, W. (1998). Phonics from A to Z –A practical guide. New York: Scholastic 4. Brown, H.D. (2007). 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Cambridge, Ma: Blackwell. 29 APPENDIX A: ORAL PRONUNCIATION PRE-TEST Read aloud the following words: Clerk Phone Thunder Without theatre Cheat Gray Shoulder Weekend vision Light Kick Picture Autumn artist Join Lunch Heavy Castle German APPENDIX B: ORAL PRONUNCIATION TEST Read aloud the following words: I Church gym machine dentist Cartoon pain Mouth Button weather supper Rose tank doctor thief nearly Smile Full Ticket shyness airport APPENDIX C: ORAL PRONUNCIATION TEST Read aloud the following words: II gate sad Before jacket mushroom zoo gold Thousand Nature Deepen mall Stir Asian Vender notice There Sharpen lighten chilly rocky APPENDIX D: ORAL PRONUNCIATION TEST Read aloud the following words: choose bull joke voice Floor low III spoil Peer dozen Gangster weapon Further punish Trousers Thunder without Asia yellow station Nightmare APPENDIX E: ORAL PRONUNCIATION TEST Read aloud the following words: what job afraid chubby Cowboy kite bowl biscuit Thirsty lion then loud Tuesday traffic Matter IV rose breathe Career Fairy single APPENDIX F: ORAL PRONUNCIATION POST-TEST Read aloud the following words: bang Stair Sunshine Noisy Murder pull check Garden Hunter council Fear lake Zero vowel usual V salt jog training local daily 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 VI - A chart of words containing the spelling rules and examples of the target sounds. III- Procedure Part 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 - Instructs Sts how to make the sounds correctly - introduces the spelling rules of - make the sounds according to the teacher’s instructions the target sounds with the examples - look at the board Written Sounds Examples patterns ai, ay, ae igh, i-e, /eɪ/ rain, day, /aɪ/ cake sight, y, ie kite, dry, oi, oy pie soil, boy /ɔɪ/ VII carefully - 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 of - Gives each group a set of words, asks them sort out the - Make groups of six - Sort out the words and put them into the words containing /eɪ/, corresponding /aɪ/, /ɔɪ/ and then put them categories into the corresponding categories. Set of words /eɪ/ /aɪ/ /ɔɪ/ taste night coin shape behind loyal skateboar silent enjoy VIII d debate divide noisy - Aks Sts to read the words out loud - Correct the mistakes IX - Read the words aloud - Listen and correct [...]... and 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 The main teaching and learning method of English word pronunciation was through direct imitation and practice In contrast to the positive result from phonics instruction, some studies show that teaching. .. 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 closest.” Here under is the chart of classification of English consonant sounds Table 1: English consonant sounds 1.3 Phonics 1.3.1 Definitions of phonics Phonics, conventionally defined as correspondent relationships...PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 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. .. spelling families on the wall or pocket chart Finally, they were call to individually pronounce the words 2.3 Data analysis and discussion According to action research, data analysis is actually in the phase of observation and discussion is in the phase of reflection The sections below will provide the phase of observation and reflection clearly 2.3.1 Observation This part will report the data analysis... that teacher should take consideration into making decision of choosing phonics as a method of teaching pronunciation 3 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 24 be the representative of all English beginners Also the results deprived in this project may... “Consonant sounds are the sounds, in the production of which one articulator moves towards another or two articulators come together obstructing the air stream and the air stream can’t get out freely.” According to Marianne, Donna and Janet (1996:42,43), the consonants system was classified according to place and manner of articulation 6 According to the slide shared by Goodwin (2006), place of articulation... phonics instruction In Viet Nam, the phonetic symbol instruction has been a popular method used in teaching pronunciation Lately, phonics instruction is applied to teach in some schools Hence, in order to assist English teacher in Vietnam, it is necessary to investigate teaching English pronunciation through phonics instruction 1.4 Action research 1.4.1 Definitions of action research Action research... beginning of the pronunciation course in order to check all participants’ English pronunciation performance before the pronunciation instructions The post-test was taken at the end of pronunciation course in order to check students’ English pronunciation performance after the pronunciation instruction Four regular tests were given after two sessions of each week The purposes of four regular tests are... instruction (Chung, 2011; Hsu, 2000; Lin, 2001) Lin (2001) explored the efficacy of phonics in teaching pronunciation to Chinese EFL adult learners Results from the tests revealed that the phonics approach as well as the combination of phonics and the phonetic method was found to have a significant effect in teaching pronunciation to EFL adult learners Furthermore, Hsu (2000) 10 investigated the functions and... that “Action research is teacher-initiated classroom research that seeks to increase the teacher’s understanding of classroom teaching and learning and to bring about improvements in classroom practices” In other words, action research aims to help teachers to improve their teaching and students’ learning in any aspects that they realize in their work Tsui (1993) stated that “Action research is a very . 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 closest.”. the title of the study, this paper investigates the use of phonics instruction in teaching English pronunciation. At the same time, the study only concentrates on English learners at elementary. 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