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Download Luận văn An Action Research on the Use of Continuous Feedback to Improve the First Year Students’ English Pronunciation at the English Department, College of Foreign Languages, Vietnam National University, Hanoi
As presented above, pronunciation lesson accounted for 45 minutes per week, during which students were asked to do a certain number of pronunciation exercises in the textbook. In order not to affect the general practice of the whole curriculum, the researcher only made use of twenty five minutes of each pronunciation lesson to focus on the English consonant sounds that she wanted the students to practise. This was done by a number of steps and class activities.
First, as the teacher knew that many students were unable to produce consonant sounds accurately, she felt that it was the first task to Giúp the students know how to pronounce them. That was why she gave the students a thorough introduction of how those sounds were formed by providing adequate input. With the use of two textbooks on pronunciation, which were English Pronunciation in Use and Sheep or Ship, students were guided thoroughly on how to form the English sounds. This was done in about five minutes.
Then, the teacher asked students to do a number of exercises focusing on those sounds individually. After that, the students were then engaged in pair work, in which they took turn to read aloud a number of words consisting the sounds and the other student would be a dictation writer. During the time their practised with each other, the teacher moved around the class and provided feedback to the problems that were reported from the students when they could not figure out which sounds their partners were saying. This was done in about ten minutes.
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A typical action research needs to go from one step to another. Eileen Ferrance (2000) suggested an action research cycle as follows:
Figure 1: Action research cycle
According to her cycle, the first step of an action research is to identify the problem. Then, data must be collected through means of interviews, portfolios, questionnaires, etc. Next, the data is analyzed to find out problems. The fourth step is to design a plan of action that will allow the researcher to make a change and to study that change. After the intervention has been carried out, it is the researcher’s task to evaluate its effects in order to justify whether the intervention worked or not. Then, if it has not been very effectively, the researcher would have to consider another method so as to improve the situation.
Another researcher that has conducted a thorough investigation into action research, Nunan (1992), defines the framework of a research as consisting of seven steps:
Step 1: Initiation (Identify the problem)
Step 2: Preliminary investigation (Collect data through a variety of means)
Step 3: Hypothesis (Develop research questions)
Step 4: Intervention (Devise strategies and innovation to be implemented)
Step 5: Evaluation (Collect data again and analyze it to work out the findings)
Step 6: Dissemination (Report the result by running workshops or issuing a paper)
Step 7: Follow-up (Find alternative methods to solve the same problem)
Action research is conducted widely due to its advantages that cannot be denied. When comparing it with other kinds of research, we can see its advantages more clearly.
Table 2: Differences between Action Research and Formal Research
Topic
Formal research
Action Research
Training needed by researcher
Extensive
On own or with consultation
Goals of research
Knowledge that is generalizable
Knowledge to apply to the local situation
Method of identifying the problem to be studied
Review of previous research
Problems or goals currently faced
Procedure for literature review
Extensive, using primary sources
More cursory, using secondary sources
Sampling approach
Representative sampling
Students or clients with whom they work.
Research design
Rigorous control, long time frame
Looser procedures, change during study; quick time frame; control through triangulation
Measurement procedures
Evaluate and pretest measures
Convenient measures or standardized tests
Data analysis
Statistical tests; qualitative techniques
Focus on practical, not statistical significance; present raw data
Application of results
Emphasis on theoretical significance
Emphasis on practical significance
(
One of the most significant features of an action research is it is very situational, which means it appears to provide specific solutions to specific problems in each context. While other types of researches focus on experimenting or testing a pre-assumed theory or concept, action research aims at “improving the situation”. Therefore, it is very beneficial to the teaching and learning process.
When thinking of choosing an appropriate methodology, the researcher, who is also a teacher, found out that action research is the best choice for the purpose of improving the students’ pronunciation.
First of all, action research means “act upon research”. It is impossible to assume pronunciation problems that students are having without having adequate amount of observation. An action research enables the teacher to have a thorough investigation on the pronunciation problems of students on a daily basis. Thanks to this, the findings would be up to date and mostly reliable. The teacher can have a thorough look and is able to work out a detailed analysis on the students’ performance during the progress of the research. In short, an action research helps the teacher design a detailed program which is most suitable to the class and therefore benefits students to the most. This program will be consulted for building up a more suitable pronunciation course for students who share the same problems as the subjects of the research.
Secondly, in this action research, the data is taken from every student and treated individually. Therefore, the teacher can see students’ progress easily. S/he will be able to get the most up-to-date information and make sensible changes if necessary to the research while applying it to meet the demand of the students. For pronunciation mistakes that persist for a long time, the teacher can spend more time on it by giving more practice time in class, as well as paying more attention when giving feedback to students. Performance of students is collected weekly, and any potential problems can be solved in time.
Last but not least, by using an action research on the use of continuous feedback to students individually, the researcher gives the student a strong sense of themselves. This is typically different from other types of research in which the teacher treats all the students in one class the same way. In this case, data is carefully collected and analyzed for each student. When feedback is provided individually, each student can receive a thorough care from the researcher. The students’ awareness as well as their gratefulness for the teacher’s effort will serve as a strong motivation to make progress in their pronunciation.
Despite the obvious advantages, the research has some shortcomings compared to other types of research, such as an experimental one. It is sometimes claimed that action research has limited application. This comes from one of its typical characteristic, which is situational. This means the research program may work well in one class but cannot be applied to other classes in different context. If the same research is carried out in another class, the result may not be effective as expected. In other words, action research lacks generalization.
However, the reality is that this action research is very applicable in a wide range of classes. This is explainable by two reasons. Firstly, students at the English Department were sorted in different classes randomly. There were no categories to classify them into different classes, such as basing on their hometowns, or the marks acquired at the entrance university exam. Therefore, each class consists of students coming from many parts all over the country. This also means students who learned in the same high schools may be scattered over a number of classes at the department. Therefore, they may have the same pronunciation problems rooted from the same way of teaching method. In addition, due to random sorting, it can be assumed that there is an equal division of students’ level of English proficiency in different classes. Obviously, there may be the possibility that some classes may have more students whose English is better than others. However, this is the common practice in any language classes. Therefore, it should not be treated as a major cause for the impossibility of generalization.
3.3 Background of the study
3.3.1 Participants
The participants of the research were selected on the basis of cluster sampling. The researcher, who is also a teacher, was in charge of teaching speaking and pronunciation for first year students in group 07.E9, English Department, CFL, VNU during the first semester. Naturally, they became ideal samples for the research.
With the method of cluster sampling, the research ensures the variety of the students’ background, which varies from one to another as the group was chosen by chance. This also enables for a wider range of application to other classes, which, to some extend, shorten the limitation of an action research.
However, as the research was conducted during the first semester of the students’ first year, there were some problems relating to the consistency of the participants. After the first two weeks of the first semester, a competition was held at the English Department to select best students for the Fast-track group. Some students in the experimented group attended the competition, passed and then they moved to that group. Thus, they were not able to attend the research program any more. In turn, after some weeks, some new students became members of the experimented group as a result of the redistribution of th...
Download miễn phí Luận văn An Action Research on the Use of Continuous Feedback to Improve the First Year Students’ English Pronunciation at the English Department, College of Foreign Languages, Vietnam National University, Hanoi
As presented above, pronunciation lesson accounted for 45 minutes per week, during which students were asked to do a certain number of pronunciation exercises in the textbook. In order not to affect the general practice of the whole curriculum, the researcher only made use of twenty five minutes of each pronunciation lesson to focus on the English consonant sounds that she wanted the students to practise. This was done by a number of steps and class activities.
First, as the teacher knew that many students were unable to produce consonant sounds accurately, she felt that it was the first task to Giúp the students know how to pronounce them. That was why she gave the students a thorough introduction of how those sounds were formed by providing adequate input. With the use of two textbooks on pronunciation, which were English Pronunciation in Use and Sheep or Ship, students were guided thoroughly on how to form the English sounds. This was done in about five minutes.
Then, the teacher asked students to do a number of exercises focusing on those sounds individually. After that, the students were then engaged in pair work, in which they took turn to read aloud a number of words consisting the sounds and the other student would be a dictation writer. During the time their practised with each other, the teacher moved around the class and provided feedback to the problems that were reported from the students when they could not figure out which sounds their partners were saying. This was done in about ten minutes.
Để tải bản DOC Đầy Đủ xin Trả lời bài viết này, Mods sẽ gửi Link download cho bạn sớm nhất qua hòm tin nhắn.
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Tóm tắt nội dung:
researchers to gather information about the ways that their particular school operates, how they teach, and how well their students learn. The information is gathered with the goals of gaining insight, developing reflective practice, effecting positive changes in the school environment and on educational practices in generals, and improving student outcomes.” Kemmis and Mc Taggart (1988) identify three characteristics of an action research, which are: “carried out by practitioners”, “collaborative” and “aimed at changing things”.A typical action research needs to go from one step to another. Eileen Ferrance (2000) suggested an action research cycle as follows:
Figure 1: Action research cycle
According to her cycle, the first step of an action research is to identify the problem. Then, data must be collected through means of interviews, portfolios, questionnaires, etc. Next, the data is analyzed to find out problems. The fourth step is to design a plan of action that will allow the researcher to make a change and to study that change. After the intervention has been carried out, it is the researcher’s task to evaluate its effects in order to justify whether the intervention worked or not. Then, if it has not been very effectively, the researcher would have to consider another method so as to improve the situation.
Another researcher that has conducted a thorough investigation into action research, Nunan (1992), defines the framework of a research as consisting of seven steps:
Step 1: Initiation (Identify the problem)
Step 2: Preliminary investigation (Collect data through a variety of means)
Step 3: Hypothesis (Develop research questions)
Step 4: Intervention (Devise strategies and innovation to be implemented)
Step 5: Evaluation (Collect data again and analyze it to work out the findings)
Step 6: Dissemination (Report the result by running workshops or issuing a paper)
Step 7: Follow-up (Find alternative methods to solve the same problem)
Action research is conducted widely due to its advantages that cannot be denied. When comparing it with other kinds of research, we can see its advantages more clearly.
Table 2: Differences between Action Research and Formal Research
Topic
Formal research
Action Research
Training needed by researcher
Extensive
On own or with consultation
Goals of research
Knowledge that is generalizable
Knowledge to apply to the local situation
Method of identifying the problem to be studied
Review of previous research
Problems or goals currently faced
Procedure for literature review
Extensive, using primary sources
More cursory, using secondary sources
Sampling approach
Representative sampling
Students or clients with whom they work.
Research design
Rigorous control, long time frame
Looser procedures, change during study; quick time frame; control through triangulation
Measurement procedures
Evaluate and pretest measures
Convenient measures or standardized tests
Data analysis
Statistical tests; qualitative techniques
Focus on practical, not statistical significance; present raw data
Application of results
Emphasis on theoretical significance
Emphasis on practical significance
(
One of the most significant features of an action research is it is very situational, which means it appears to provide specific solutions to specific problems in each context. While other types of researches focus on experimenting or testing a pre-assumed theory or concept, action research aims at “improving the situation”. Therefore, it is very beneficial to the teaching and learning process.
When thinking of choosing an appropriate methodology, the researcher, who is also a teacher, found out that action research is the best choice for the purpose of improving the students’ pronunciation.
First of all, action research means “act upon research”. It is impossible to assume pronunciation problems that students are having without having adequate amount of observation. An action research enables the teacher to have a thorough investigation on the pronunciation problems of students on a daily basis. Thanks to this, the findings would be up to date and mostly reliable. The teacher can have a thorough look and is able to work out a detailed analysis on the students’ performance during the progress of the research. In short, an action research helps the teacher design a detailed program which is most suitable to the class and therefore benefits students to the most. This program will be consulted for building up a more suitable pronunciation course for students who share the same problems as the subjects of the research.
Secondly, in this action research, the data is taken from every student and treated individually. Therefore, the teacher can see students’ progress easily. S/he will be able to get the most up-to-date information and make sensible changes if necessary to the research while applying it to meet the demand of the students. For pronunciation mistakes that persist for a long time, the teacher can spend more time on it by giving more practice time in class, as well as paying more attention when giving feedback to students. Performance of students is collected weekly, and any potential problems can be solved in time.
Last but not least, by using an action research on the use of continuous feedback to students individually, the researcher gives the student a strong sense of themselves. This is typically different from other types of research in which the teacher treats all the students in one class the same way. In this case, data is carefully collected and analyzed for each student. When feedback is provided individually, each student can receive a thorough care from the researcher. The students’ awareness as well as their gratefulness for the teacher’s effort will serve as a strong motivation to make progress in their pronunciation.
Despite the obvious advantages, the research has some shortcomings compared to other types of research, such as an experimental one. It is sometimes claimed that action research has limited application. This comes from one of its typical characteristic, which is situational. This means the research program may work well in one class but cannot be applied to other classes in different context. If the same research is carried out in another class, the result may not be effective as expected. In other words, action research lacks generalization.
However, the reality is that this action research is very applicable in a wide range of classes. This is explainable by two reasons. Firstly, students at the English Department were sorted in different classes randomly. There were no categories to classify them into different classes, such as basing on their hometowns, or the marks acquired at the entrance university exam. Therefore, each class consists of students coming from many parts all over the country. This also means students who learned in the same high schools may be scattered over a number of classes at the department. Therefore, they may have the same pronunciation problems rooted from the same way of teaching method. In addition, due to random sorting, it can be assumed that there is an equal division of students’ level of English proficiency in different classes. Obviously, there may be the possibility that some classes may have more students whose English is better than others. However, this is the common practice in any language classes. Therefore, it should not be treated as a major cause for the impossibility of generalization.
3.3 Background of the study
3.3.1 Participants
The participants of the research were selected on the basis of cluster sampling. The researcher, who is also a teacher, was in charge of teaching speaking and pronunciation for first year students in group 07.E9, English Department, CFL, VNU during the first semester. Naturally, they became ideal samples for the research.
With the method of cluster sampling, the research ensures the variety of the students’ background, which varies from one to another as the group was chosen by chance. This also enables for a wider range of application to other classes, which, to some extend, shorten the limitation of an action research.
However, as the research was conducted during the first semester of the students’ first year, there were some problems relating to the consistency of the participants. After the first two weeks of the first semester, a competition was held at the English Department to select best students for the Fast-track group. Some students in the experimented group attended the competition, passed and then they moved to that group. Thus, they were not able to attend the research program any more. In turn, after some weeks, some new students became members of the experimented group as a result of the redistribution of th...