asia tefl 2014 presentation: evaluation of pronunciation games
DESCRIPTION
A presentation depicting the evaluation of pronunciation games through action research in two groups of students: experimental and control. The games used were: bingo, making tracks (modified snake and ladder game), stress moves and two-vowel jigsaw. The games were designed to complement students' learning of pronunciation in accordance to syllabus. Materials were sourced from Hancock (2013) - Pronunciation Games by Cambridge University Press.TRANSCRIPT
Evaluation of Pronunciation Games: Are They Effective in Improving Elementary Students’ Learning of Pronunciation?
Khoo Hooi ShyanUniversity of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
Introduction• Teachers and applied linguists tend to sideline pronunciation
(Jenkins, 2002; Derwing & Munro, 2005)
• Yet pronunciation is integral in shaping young learners’ speaking skills for effective communication (Lenneberg, 1967; Hancock, 1995; Cruttenden, 2008)
• For teachers who integrated pronunciation in their teaching, drilling is the most commonly used technique (Gilakjani & Ahmadi, 2011)
• However, young learners cannot relate to the technique used (Kelly, 2000 Gilbert, 2008)
• Proponents of pronunciation games hailed the approach as “useful”, “informative” and “fun”
The study attempts to:1. evaluate the effectiveness of integrating games in teaching
pronunciation
2. reformulate effective teaching methods of pronunciation to young learners
3. Bring potential improvement to young leaners’ speech acquisition
“ Any lesson plan without pronunciation is incomplete”
(Macdonald et al., 1994; Derwing et al., 1997; Hewings,
2004)
“ Every learner speaks idiosyncratically”
(Cook, 2003)
“ There needs to be an empirically sound study on pronunciation pedagogy”
(Jenkins, 2002; Derwing & Munro, 2005)
Theoretical Framework• Based on the features of pronunciation outlined by Kelly (2000)
Methodology• A action research method is chosen grading of pronunciation exercises (quantitative) classroom observation and audio recording (qualitative)
• Participants: Two classes of 16 students (8 in each group) of ages 8 – 10 years old at beginners’ level
Pilot study: Games will be played with the treatment group
Students are divided into two groups of experimental group and control group
Games of ‘Making Tracks’, ‘Stress Moves’
and ‘Two-vowel Jigsaw’ will be played
The games will be played with the first group of students but not with the second
The sessions will be recorded and observed; exercises will be distributed and graded
The games (treatment) will be taught to the control group
Outline of Research Sessions
Experiment Pronunciation Features1.Pilot study – Bingo Discrimination of sounds - /u:/,
/ǝʊ/, /аʊ/, /аI/, /eI/, /ɜ:/
2. Game session one – Making tracks
Counting syllable – one, two, three
3. Game session two – Stress moves
To identify patterns of word stress
4. Game session three - Two-vowel jigsaw (/i:/, /e/)
Practice for vowel sounds /i:/, /e/
Sample of Materials
Data Analysis
Findings and Discussion:
• Higher score averages achieved by the experimental group, in topics of syllable counting, identification of word stress and distinguishing of vowel sounds /i:/, /e/
• Both groups stumbled on words with longer syllables with control group exhibiting higher frequency
• Partly, it was due to the fact that games provided scaffolding towards acquisition
Implications for English Language Education
• As stressed by Cook (2000), play and children complements each other
• By infusing ‘play’ with teaching, it could offer maximum advantages to young learners’ learning
• Teachers could integrate ‘purposeful’ play in their lesson of pronunciation
• Teachers could offer reactive teaching (error correction), remedial or reactive lesson (dealing with difficult pronunciation issue) and practice lesson (unit of pronunciation practiced in isolation) to improve students’ pronunciation and speech acquisition (Kelly, 2000; Hewings, 2004)
Limitations Encountered• There are several limitations to these findings:
• It can be recommended that a more elaborate research be carried out in future
Inability to observe all responses from students as researcher is the game
master
Student mouthing answers to their friends
during the graded answer sessions
Not all students will be attentive during the
games sessions
Students guessed answers (word stress)
from the louder syllables being pronounced
Thank you