Using videos to improve 10th graders’ English pronunciation at Nong Cong 1 high school

PART 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale for the study
	In recent time, English, as a language of international communication and lingua franca, has been widely used and spoken worldwide for education, business, communication, and others purposes. Admittedly, English has become a means of international communication and one of the most popular languages in the world. It is used for almost all aspects of human life, such as mass media, business, sports, science and technology, education culture and so on. Therefore, the knowledge and skills of English are highly valued. As a result, some educational institutions in Vietnam have introduced English since the pre-elementary level. Moreover, in high schools, it is one of three core subjects tested in the National Examination.
When speaking a foreign language, pronunciation is of great importance. If you cannot pronounce correctly you are not able to make yourself understood. A language is a tool of communication but bad pronunciation can never be a good tool of communication. Therefore, tremendous misunderstandings are caused by inappropriate pronunciation. This mispronunciation during daily communications is sometimes so significant that we should pay much attention to avoid it. Admittedly, in the real context of teaching and learning English as foreign language in Viet Nam, pronunciation is one of the problems that need tackling. 
As a teacher of English with more than 17 years of experience at Nong Cong 1 high school, I noticed that my students are not motivated and qualified enough to practice pronouncing English confidently, naturally compared with students of other regions nationwide. One reason for this is that they were not exposed to natural speaking environment at their lower secondary school as well as other practical setting to speak English. More importantly, they are not taught or instructed in an appropriate way to English pronunciation. For them, learning English means doing grammar exercise, reading tasks, writing sentences instead of speaking during their English lessons. Despite their considerable knowledge of phonetics, the students fail to use the knowledge to articulate their sentence to communicate in real-life situations. This results in the lack of confidence, demotivation to communicate in spoken form.
For the reasons above, I have decided to carry out the study entitled “Using videos to improve 10th graders’ English pronunciation at Nong Cong 1 high school”. I hope that this study will be helpful method to tackle the teaching of pronunciation in order to help students with their English pronunciation and in turn they would be the best model for their future students as well. 
1.2. Purpose of the study and research question
 The study aims: 
- to examine whether or not the audiovisual (videos) method can improve English pronunciation ability of 10th grade students at my school.
- to identify what students’ perceptions are when videos are used as a teaching learning media in pronunciation practice.
In order to obtain the exact response to the aims, two research questions were raised: 
(1). Does the use of videos help students improve English pronunciation?
 (2). What perceptions do students have about using videos to help them improve	
1.3. Scope of the study
 This study limited itself to focus on improving the 10th graders’ pronunciation at class 10B5 of Nong Cong 1 high school. Forty students involved participation focusing on the effectiveness of using audio visual (videos) to develop high school students’ English pronunciation by improving six final consonants (/s/, /z/, /l/, /ð/, /f/, /v/). The pronunciation standard used is American standard.
1.4. Method of the study
This study using qualitative and quantitative research method aimed to determine whether video can enhance students’ pronunciation or have a positive affect on the ability of students to utilize the phonetics knowledge they have learned to enhance their speaking. The author used data collection instrument to gather information about the students involved, monitor the progress of the students when they are exposed to some common audiovisuals during their lessons and determine the effectiveness of videos in teaching and learning pronunciation based on the students’ reflection and pre-test, post-test result 
The pre-tests were necessary to assess pronunciation competence the students possessed in single utterances as well as in full presentation before the intervention of the strategy and used as a baseline score. The post-tests were used to determine the effectiveness of the strategy used by the students during the experiment process by comparing the pre-test scores to the posttest scores taken at the end of the study to conclude the hypothesis.
PART 2: DEVELOPMENT
Literature Review
2.1.1 Definition of pronunciation
Pronunciation is one of the important aspects in English, especially in oral communication. Every sound, stress pattern, and intonation may convey meaning. The non-native speakers of English who speak English have to be very careful in pronouncing some utterances or he may create misunderstanding. Therefore, having an intelligible pronunciation is necessary rather than having a native-like pronunciation. 
Lado [7: p.70] has stated that pronunciation is the use of a sound system in speaking and listening. Here, pronunciation is merely treated as the act that happens in speaking and listening. 
Sharing the ideas, Kristina, Diah, et al. [6: p.1] defined that pronunciation is the act or manner of pronouncing words; utterance of speech. In other words, it can also be said that it is a way of speaking a word, especially a way that is accepted or generally understood. In the senses, pronunciation entails the production and reception of sounds of speech and the achievement of the meaning. This second definition gives a briefer pronunciation’s definition. It contains some important keys in pronunciation: act, speaking, production and reception of sound. According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary, pronunciation is a way in which a language or a particular word or sound is spoken. This definition has affirmed that pronunciation is a way of producing something and the product of this act is language or word or sound.
Definition of Consonant
According to Bertil Malmberg [1; p.32], consonants are sounds characterized by a constricting or a complete closing of the air passages. Every consonant may be defined according to its place of articulation and manner of articulation.
In term of Place of Articulation, consonants are classified as Bilabials (/p/, /m/, /b/); Labiodentals (/f/, /v/); Interdental ([ð, θ]); Dentals (/t/, /d/, /n/, /l/); Alveolar (/n/, /t/, /d/, /s/, /z/, Alveo-palatal (/ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/, /j/), Velars (/ɳ/, /k/, /g/); Glottal (/h/)	
Regard to Manner of Articulation, Peter and Susan, [8; p.18] refers Manner of articulation to the way in which the obstruction of the air-stream, which characterizes all consonants, is achieved at the different places of articulation in the mouth. He grouped consonants as Stops, Fricatives, Nasals, Laterals, Trills: r-sound
2.1.3	English Phonetic Symbols
Given the complexity of sound-spelling correspondences in English, it would be difficult to use the Roman alphabet to symbolize English sounds. Some problems would arise when English spelling system is used to represent sound. English Pronunciation has distinctive sound classes. It is divided into two basic groups: segmental and supra-segmental. In the segmental group there are vowels, diphthongs and consonants. In supra-segmental group there are stress and intonation.
Table 1. English Phonetic Symbols
2.1.4.	The objectives of teaching Pronunciation
Teaching pronunciation in a high school is very essential. Teacher should give certain attention in teaching pronunciation and decide the area of sounds that become the basic need for students.
Native-like pronunciation is difficult for most young learners to achieve in a foreign language. The achievement of it requires not only skilled teaching but also a high level of internal motivation of the student. Most young learners are satisfied with reasonably intelligible speech in the second language and this is an acceptable goal for the English Foreign Language teacher. The teacher should give assistance during the regular speaking lesson to students who are having difficulty with particular sounds. The particular sounds that students will find it difficult will differ for different language backgrounds.
Celce- Murcia, et al. [2; p.8] stated that the pronunciation should enable learners to surpass the threshold level so that their pronunciation will not detract from their ability to communicate 
a. Ability
b. Consistency: the pronunciation should be smooth and natural.
c. Intelligibility: The pronunciation should be understandable to the listeners. (Kenworthy [5; p.3])
d. Communicative Efficiency: The pronunciation should help to convey the meaning that is intended by the speaker.
Based on the goals above, the intelligibility is considered the main goal of pronunciation since the idea of pronunciation is to enable the listeners to understand what the speaker says. Kenworthy [5; p.7] states that the main goal of pronunciation for the learners is can be comfortably intelligible. It means that the conversation between the speaker and the listener can be “comfortable”. It’s not the condition where the speaker and the listener speak a native-like pronunciation, but both the speaker and the listener understand each other.
2.1.5. Definition of Audio-visual aids
Linguistics researchers have stated about the definition of audio-visual aids that the audio- visual aids are tools of record to improve speaking skills that are used for several times and more than others. It is where the object picture section and gestures have been systematically used with audio-visual work to elucidate meaning.
Others stress that in audio visual aids, both the listening (ears) and viewing faculties (eyes) are involved. Such aids include television programs, video films, motion pictures, synchronized audio-slide projectors, computers and computer- assisted instructions and so on. Cartoon films are also a useful medium for developing, and chiseling the skills of the students.
Subathra [10; p.57] emphasizes the best side of audio-visual aids that they made the process of learning has become quite exciting for the students with the audio-visual aids. It helps the students in generating an open mind for learning. At the same time it develops team work among the students as they are required to work in teams for such project-based learning. Within a short period of time these audio-visual aids gained much popularity and have shown their dominance.
2.1.6. Kinds of Audio-Visual Aids
According to Nupur [7; p.3], there are four kinds of audio-visual aids. They are films, television, video and CDs.
Films represent an effective instructional device to cater to the students’ attention and create interest and motivation among them towards effective learning. Educational films may be prepared on any content material or any aspect of knowledge, and behavior.
Television is a versatile medium of transmitting education through different programs. It is an exciting means of communication. Useful instructional programs are being telecasted regularly for the student community on television. A teacher should utilize the TV programs and make them the basis for discussions on relevant occasions.
Video is a viable aid towards effective learning and teaching. Teaching with the help of video is called video-aided instruction. In video-aided instruction, learners’ comprehension is generally tested through a questionnaire and video is clearly an instructional medium that generates a much greater amount of interest and enjoyment than the more traditional printed material.
Nowadays, educational video-cassettes are easily available in the market. Educational CDs can be prepared on any aspect of the subject-matter and curriculum.
2.1.7. The Advantages of Using Audio Visual Aids
According to Nupur [7; p.5], there are so many advantages of using audio visual aids, such as: 
* Best motivators: They are the best motivators. Students work with more interest and zeal. They are more attentive.
 	* Fundamental to verbal instructions: They help to reduce verbalism which is a major weakness of the schools. They convey the same meaning as words mean. They give clear concepts and thus help to bring accuracy in learning.
* Clear images: Clear images are formed when we see, hear, touch, taste and smell as our experiences are direct, concrete and more or less permanent. Learning through the senses becomes the most natural and consequently the easiest.
* Vicarious Experience: Everyone agrees to the fact that the firsthand experience is the best type of educative experience but such an experience cannot always be provided to the pupils so in some situations certain substitutes have to be provided. For this we find a large number of inaccessible objects and phenomenon. In all such cases audio-visual aids provide us the best substitutes.
* Variety: Audio-Visual aids provide variety and provide different tools in the hands of the teacher.
* Freedom: The use of audio-visual aids provides various occasions for the pupil to move about, talk, laugh and comment upon. Under such an atmosphere the students work because they want to work and not because the teacher wants them to work.
2.2. Research context
2.2.1. Setting and participants
This study was conducted in 16 weeks from October 2018 to January 2019 in class 10B5 at Nong Cong 1 high school in rural area of Thanh Hoa province.
Forty 10th graders involved in the study. They mainly came from the countryside. In general, they had learnt English for over 7 years. However, their proficiency is not satisfactory enough, and their learning style is quite passive. In addition, they hardly acquired any effective skills in speaking due to their incompetent pronunciation, especially in real context as a presenter. In their opinion, learning English means getting grammar and structures with common lexical resources. As a result, they were almost beginners in speaking as a high school student. 
2.2.2. The textbook
The reading materials used in the study consisted of selected texts from new English Textbook 10 (learner-centered and communicative approach with theme-based teaching) published by Education Publishing House and Pearson. In the textbook, there are 10 units with diverse topics related to 4 themes: Our lives, Our society, Our environment, Our future. 5 sections were included in one unit namely: Getting started, Language, Skills, Communication and Culture, Looking back and Project in which there are some Looking back and Project lessons are not simple enough that did not require a lot tutoring from the teacher. However, some of the Project required a lot of attention and time to be fulfilled. It is hoped that English teachers will have a better insight look in tutoring students to integrate their knowledge into conducting the Project requirements. Therefore, I found that it matched with the objectives of the learning program and students’ levels of competence. 
In the narrow scope of this study, I only focused on using some audiovisuals to help students improve the students’ pronunciation (mainly focus on English consonants) 
2.2.3. The reality of teaching and learning English pronunciation at Nong Cong 1 high school
	As mentioned above, speaking skill (presenting skill) in Project lesson in new Tieng Anh 10 is the last part if the eighth lesson that make up of one unit in the textbook. In order to fulfill their project required in the Textbook, the teacher is obliged to provide students with guidance how to do, what to do with their Project in which targeted Grammar and structure of overall lesson is indispensible. The students in our school, however, have been facing numerous challenges in speaking lesson because of their poor source of phonetics knowledge. They are not confident and competent enough to pronounce long sentence or present their ideas in front of the whole class. Some get tired of speaking out, others speak English with much hesitation. In addition, most of them have difficulty using the obtained phonetics knowledge to produce their utterances. Moreover, Project- based learning is unfamiliar to students from lower secondary schools. They are not experienced enough to work in group and make their lesson outcome confidently. 
	The differences between the number of Vietnamese ending consonants (only 6 consonants appear at the end of words) and English ending consonants (endless list of final consonants and final consonant clusters in English) make it hard for the students to remember and pronounce correctly.
In addition to this, some problems of the teacher related to pronunciation practice should be stated namely lack of knowledge about Pronunciation; lack of motivation to teach Pronunciation; inappropriate techniques of teaching Pronunciation. This has caused pronunciation teaching and learning at my high school to be ignorant.
2.3. Stages of the study
Based on my observation, my school has completely enough facilities. There are 25 classes from 10th grades to 12th grades. Each class consists of 40 students. Besides, there are a headmaster room, a language laboratory (in progress), a science laboratory, a computer laboratory, a library, a counseling room, a health room, and a hall. I conducted study in this school for about three months with the frequency of once a week where five steps were followed: 
Step 1. Identify the problem
In identifying the problems, I had conducted a survey (through questionnaire), pre-test, and post-test in which two instruments were used: 
(1) Questionnaire: The list of questions were delivered in order to know the students’ attitudes to pronunciation, teaching method used by the teacher, and the students’ behavior during teaching-learning process.
(2) Tests: The pre-test was given in order to know the students’ pronunciation ability.
Step 2. Planning the study
General plan will be made before implementing the study. I prepared everything related to the study as follows:
- Making lesson plan and designs the steps in doing the study.
- Preparing teaching aids (slide shows, text-book, etc).
- Preparing pretest and post-tests (to know whether students’ pronunciation ability improves or not).
Step 3. Implementing the study
In implementing the study, I carried out the ready-made plan by using cartoon films in teaching and learning process in order to improve students’ pronunciation ability. 
All the videos in this step were only used in the website “www.youtube.com”
In the first meeting, I explained about the basic concept of vowels and diphthongs using lecturing technique combined with listen and imitate technique. The videos called “Vowels & Diphthongs - English Listening & Pronunciation Practice (Part 1&2)” were used for the first meeting. I showed many parts of the videos as a model to pronounce certain words, then the students pronounced the word altogether. After that, the students tried to pronounce the words individually.
In the second meeting I used the videos “Introduction to Articulatory Phonetics (Consonants)” to teach the students basic knowledge about consonant. In this video, students would focus on how linguists describe consonant sounds, in particular in American English. 
Finally, the last meeting was mainly about the labiodental sounds/f, v/, the interdental sound / ð /, and the alveolar sound /s, z/. The names of the videos used in this meeting were “Labiodental sounds Judith”, “"th" [θ] [ð] consonant sounds- English Pronunciation Lesson”, and “English: How to Pronounce S and Z consonants: American Accent”. 
Picture 1: Stude