THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF SCIENCES

DEPARTMENT OF BASIC SCIENCES

NGO THI QUYEN

AN INVESTIGATION INTO USING SONGS TO

TEACH PRONUNCIATION FOR THE FIRST YEAR

STUDENTS AT THE COLLEGE OF SCIENCES, TNU

THAI NGUYEN, APRIL, 2011

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF SCIENCES

DEPARTMENT OF BASIC SCIENCES

NGO THI QUYEN

AN INVESTIGATION INTO USING SONGS TO

TEACH PRONUNCIATION FOR THE FIRST YEAR

STUDENTS AT THE COLLEGE OF SCIENCES, TNU

SUPERVISOR’S NAME : NGUYEN THI TUYET

THAI NGUYEN, APRIL, 2011

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

With the accomplishment of this graduation paper, I want to give my gratitude for many

people who helped, advised and supported me in doing my paper, without their assistance

and guidance I could not finish my final graduation paper.

In the first place, my great appreciation goes to my supervisor Mrs. Nguyen Thi Tuyet,

who directly guided me to do this graduation paper. Her valuable guidance, and detail

comments have helped me to shape my ideas and realize my aims in doing this graduation

thesis.

Next, I would like to give my sincere thanks to other lectures in the Department of Basic

Sciences for their help and guide which help me fulfill this graduation paper.

Besides, I would be also greatful to the English teachers of Department of Basic Sciences

and the first year students in College of Sciences for their cooperation and enthusiasm in

completing my survey questionnaires.

Last but not least, I would like to give my deepest gratitude to my lovely family and all

my friends for their love, support, and encouragement in finishing my graduation paper.

And I want to thank all people who can not be mentioned one by one who helped me in

writing this final people, thanks a lot. Hopefully, success and luck come to them all.

Thai Nguyen, April 2011

The writer

Ngo Thi Quyen

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ABSTRACT

It is undeniable that English has become the most popular foreign language in Vietnam

nowadays. English is the most popular foreign language to be used as a mean of

communication in Vietnam, nevertheless Vietnamese people in general face to many

difficulties when learning English as a second language. Among millions of people

speaking English in Vietnam, there are many people who make mistakes in pronunciation.

Pronunciation plays an important role when leanrning a second language. Right

pronunciation wil make others understand and listen to you, but wrong pronunciation may

cause misunderstanding from others. It can be said that many years ago, when learning

English from the very beginning, Vietnamese learners were taught much about the

grammar or vocabulary, so that they became good at grammar and vocabulary, but not

good at pronunciation. To be honest, in the past, when teaching English, pronunciation was

usually considered not important as grammar. Consequently, pronunciation seemed to be a

weakness of many people. Many Vietnamese speakers feel embarrassed when

communicate with the native foreigners or foreigners, they are difficult to understand what

the foreigners said and also not being understood easily.

Nowadays, English has become a compulsory subject in most Vietnamese schools so

there have been a lot of changes in methods of English teaching and learning.

Consequently, pronuncation is considered as an important aspect to teach for students.

There have been many methods are exploited to teach pronunciation for students. Among

of these, using songs to teach English pronunciation is an useful way to help students learn

English better.

However, in fact the roles of songs have not been fully grasped by most teachers and

students. Some of their drawbacks have prevented teachers from using them more often.

The objective of this study is to investigate whether songs have been exploited to teach

pronunciation for students at the College of Sciences or not, and the attitudes of both

teachers and students at the Collge of Sciences, TNU to using songs in teaching and

learning pronunciation.

In constructing this study, the writer collected data from the classroom action research,

which was carried out through five activities. The activities were begun from selecting

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subjects, preparing the instruments for collecting the data, collecting data, analyzing and

interpreting the data, taking action and find out the teachers and students’ reflection.

The subjects of the study were 215 first year students at the College of Sciences, TNU

and 7 English teachers in the Department of Basic Sciences, College of Sciences, TNU.

This graduation paper has been made more reliable through the results from data

collection of the survey questionnaires and from the inteviews.

Based on this study, it is found that the use of songs in teaching English is effective to

improve the students’ pronunciation and very beneficial for the students in order to

facilitate them in learning English.

Based on this finding, it is suggested that songs in teaching English can be recommended

for the English teachers. To get a wider generalization, research of similar kind should be

done with different subjects.

Errors and mistakes are unavoidable, therefore, comments and criticisms are always

welcomed by the author in order to make this graduation paper better.

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LISTS OF TABLES AND FIGURES

List of tables:

Table 1: Teachers’ opinion about the most difficult aspect of teaching English

Table 2: Teachers’ criticism on the importance of pronunciation

Table 3: The use of songs in some skills

Table 4: Teachers’ point of view about songs can be an effective tool for

teaching pronunciation or not

Table 5: The attitudes and feelings of students towards songs basing on

teachers’ point of view

Table 6: Time when songs are used in the class

Table 7: Students’ opinion of using songs can help they have better pronunciation

Table 8: The frequency of listening to English songs

Table 9: The teachers’ frequency of using songs to teach pronunciation, in students’ point

of view

List of figures:

Figure 1: The material teachers often use to teach pronunciation

Figure 2: The problems when teachers teaching English sounds

Figure 3: Teachers’ exposure in using English songs

Figure 4: The percentage of teachers prefering teaching pronunciation

through songs

Figure 5: Purposes of using songs in teaching English

Figure 6: The frequency of using songs

Figure 7: Teachers’ perception on the effectivenes of using songs in teaching

pronunciation

Figure 8: The advantages of using songs in the lesson

Figure 9: The difficulties in using songs in the class

Figure 10: Time spent in using songs

Figure 11: The students’ ability of speaking English

Figure 12: The aspect of learning English is the most difficult in students’ point of view

Figure 13: The importance of pronunciation in learning a language, in students’ opinion

Figure 14: The students’ preference of listening to English songs

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Figure 15: Students’ preference of having songs in the lessonFigure 16: The purposes of using songs from students’ opinion

Figure 17: Students’ experience in learning English pronunciation through songs

Figure 18: Students’ opinion about advantages of using songs in learning pronunciation

Figure 19: The students’ problems when listening to English songs

Figure 20: The number of songs used in class, in students’ point of view

Figure 21: Students’ opinion about teachers should use songs teach pronunciation or not

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

Acknowledgements..................................................................................................................IAbstract.................................................................................................................................IIList of tables and figures......................................................................................................IIITable of contents..................................................................................................................IV

PART A

INTRODUCTION

I. State of the problem and reasons for choosing the topic....................................................1

II. Aims of the study...........................................................................................................

III. Research questions......................................................................................................

IV. Significance of the study.................................................................................................

V. Scope of the study............................................................................................................

VI. Methods of study........................................................................................................

VII. Design of the study.......................................................................................................

PART B

DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND.........................................................

1.1. Introduction of the chapter........................................................................................1.2. An overview of songs in teaching language..............................................................

1.2.1. Songs as teaching media.........................................................................................

1.2.2. Definition of songs..................................................................................................

1.2.3. Elements of songs...................................................................................................

1.2.4. Types of songs........................................................................................................

1.2.5. The roles of songs in the foreign language classroom............................................

1.2.6. The reasons why songs are useful in teaching pronunciation................................

1.2.7. The drawbacks of using songs................................................................................

1.2.8. Selection of songs...................................................................................................

1.2.9. Procedure in applying the songs.............................................................................

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1.3. Theory of pronunciation............................................................................................

1.3.1. Definition of pronunciation...................................................................................

1.3.2. The importance of teaching pronunciation............................................................

1.3.3. Elements of pronunciation.....................................................................................

1.4. Literature review.......................................................................................................

1.4.1. Students’ pronunciation problems in pronuncing English sounds.........................

1.4.2. General views on pronunciation teaching strategies..............................................

1.5. Songs to improve achievement in pronunciation......................................................

1.6. Summary of the chapter............................................................................................

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY..................................................................................

2.1. Introduction of the chapter.......................................................................................

2.2. Selection of the subjects...........................................................................................

2.3. Data collection instruments......................................................................................

2.3.1. Questionnaires.......................................................................................................

2.4. Procedures of data collection...................................................................................

2.5. Procedures of data analysis......................................................................................

2.6. Summary of the chapter...........................................................................................

CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION............................................................

3.1. Introduction of the chapter.......................................................................................

3.2. Results............................................................................................................................

3.2.1. Data collection and analysis of the findings from the teacher survey......................

3.2.1.1. The opinions of teachers about the difficulty level of pronunciation among other

elements of teaching English...........................................................................................

3.2.1.2. Opinions of teachers at the College of Sciences, TNU about the importance of

pronunciation..........................................................................................................................

3.2.1.3. The material teachers often use to teach pronunciation.............................................

3.2.1.4. The problems when teachers teaching English sounds.............................................

3.2.1.5. The situation of using songs to teach pronunciation..................................................

3.2.1.6. The attitudes of teachers towards using songs to teach pronunciation.......................

3.2.1.7. The purpose of using songs in teaching process........................................................

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3.2.1.8. The frequency of using songs in teaching pronunciation...........................................

3.2.1.9. The effectiveness of using songs in teaching pronunciation.....................................

3.2.1.10. The attitudes and feelings of students towards songs basing on the teachers’

view..

3.2.1.11. The advantages of using songs in the lesson..........................................................

3.2.1.12. The difficulties in using songs in the class..............................................................

3.2.1.13. The time when songs are used in the class and how long it takes.........................

3.2.2. Data collection and analysis of the findings from the student survey.......................

3.2.2.1. The students’ ability of speaking English................................................................

3.2.2.2. The aspect of learning English is the most difficult.................................................

3.2.2.3. The importance of pronunciation in learning a language, in students’ opinion........

3.2.2.4. The attitude of the first year students towards learning pronnciation through songs

3.2.2.5. The situation of learning pronunciation by using songs at the College of Sciences,

TNU.....................................................................................................................................

3.2.2.6. The advantages of using songs in learning pronunciation.........................................

3.2.2.7. The students’ problems when listening to English songs...........................................

3.2.2.8. The number of songs used in the class and students’ opinion about using songs to

teach pronunciaton............................................................................................................

3.4. Discussion....................................................................................................................

PART C

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

I. Summary of the findings.............................................................................................

II. Suggestions for English teachers..................................................................................

III. Limitations of the research.........................................................................................

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PART A

INTRODUCTION

This part presents statement of the problem and also the reasons for choosing the topic. Moreover, it indicates the aims, research questions, significance of the study, scope and method of the study. Finally, it gives the design of the whole study.

I. State of the problem and reasons for choosing the topic

Nowadays English has become an international language of the world. It is a mean of

international communication to help people from different countries communicate and

understand each others easily. Actually, English is used in all fields of our today lives, as

in: communication, commerce and trade, travel, medicine, study, science, etc.

In our country, English is also an important language. It is one of the compulsory subjects

in the curricula of High Schools up to Universities in the whole country. In recent years,

the course of teaching and learning English has gone through many changes, especially

when the communicative approach became a buzzword among people in the fields of

language education. As a result, the English curriculum has been geared more toward

communication because the educators hope that with communicative teaching oriented

syllabus students would be much improved in oral communication. Thus, the English

teaching and learning curriculum in Viet Nam has been reformed in 2004, English

teaching and learning activities combine four skills: listening, speaking, reading, and

writing. These four skills are combined to teach closely in the class to improve learners’

English skills. Although these four skills are all taught in the class, pronunciation seems to

be not easy to teach.

Pronunciation is one of the most important parts when one learns English as a second

language. The fact that bad English pronunciation may confuse people even if you use

advanced English grammar. We can use simple words and simple structures that make

people understand you but we can not use “simple pronunciation”. On the contrary, good

English pronunciation will make people understand you easily and be willing to listen to

you. Thus, when we communicate with other people we should not only have good

vocabulary and grammar but also have good pronunciation. Wong, R. (1987) pointed out

that: “...even when the non-native speakers’ vocabulary and grammar are excellent, if

their pronunciation falls below a certain threshold level, they are unable to communicate

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effectively...”. Therefore, teaching pronunciation plays an important role in teaching a

foreign language, as stated by Harmer (2000: 183) that: “...for all people, being made

aware of pronunciation issue will be of immense benefit not only to their own production

but also to their own understanding of spoken language...”

Besides, Vietnamese learners may cope with many problems when pronouncing English

sounds. There are many reports indicated that: “...up to a certain proficiently standard, the

fault which most severely impairs the communication process in Vietnamese learners is

pronunciation, rather than vocabulary or grammar...” (Best, J. D, 1981). This may be

caused by many factors such as motivation, interest, aptitude, intelligence that come from

learners, or condition and situation of the environment, learning materials, and the

teachers’ ability in handing the English teaching and learning process that come from

outside of learners. As a result, many foreigners have commented that: “...Many

Vietnamese can speak English, but only a few have right English pronunciation so that

they can be understood easily in direct communication with foreigners...” (Hinofitis and

Baily, 1980).

The fact that English learners need a way of teaching that is interseting as well as practical

so that finally they can achieve better pronunciation. Therefore, English teachers should

have effective methods to motivate their students in learning English. In reality, some

recent changes in language teaching have shown that creating English environment or

organizing activities in the classroom have helped learners learn better. Moreover,

boredom and tiredness have been driven away by the interesting activities during the

lesson.

In fact, a lot of specific pronunciation activities and effective teaching methods have been

suggested. One of them is using songs to teach pronunciation for students. Songs can get

students integrated to English because songs can bring students great interest and strong

motivation instead of boredom during the lesson. Songs provide examples of authentic,

memorable, and rhymthmic language. They can be motivating for students keen to

repeatedly listen to and imitate their musical heroes. Moreover, songs can help teachers

design various tasks in a foreign language classroom. It is assumed that they can contribute

many things to improve students’ capabilities. However, until now, songs if ever used in

teaching activities, just aim at creating pleasure and change the class atmosphere after long

and hard practice, not fully exploited to teach pronunciation for students.

Based on the reasons mentioned above, the writer would like to carry out the research on

“An investigation into using songs to teach pronunciation for the first year students at the

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College of Sciences, Thai Nguyen University” with the aims to find out whether songs can

be exploited as an interesting and effective tool to teach pronunciation for first year

students at the College of Sciences, Thai Nguyen University or whether teaching

pronunciation by using songs can improve learners’ ability in English pronunciation or

not?

II. Aims of the study

This thesis is expected to investigate some main issues:

The primary goal is to discover whether songs have been exploited to teaching

pronunciation for the first year students at the College of Sciences, TNU or not.

The second aim is to find out the opinions of both English teachers and the first year

students at the College of Sciences, TNU about using songs in teaching and learning

pronunciation.

In addition, some suggestions for teachers of English in improving the effectiveness of

teaching pronunciation by using songs based on the findings from the study are introduced.

III. Research questions

On this study, the writer would like to find out the answers for these following questions:

1. What are the opinions of the English teachers and the first year students at the College

of Sciences, TNU to using songs in teaching and learning pronunciation?

2. What is the situation of using songs to teach pronunciation for the first year students at

the College of Sciences, TNU?

3. What are the English teachers’ and the first year students’ opinions about advantages

and disadvantages of using songs in teaching and learning pronunciation?

IV. Significance of the study

The results of the study are expected to be able to give the following benefits:

(1) For English teachers: the results of the study are expected to be used as a consideration

in teaching pronunciation for learners. This research is carried out to provide teachers with

some effective techniques to exploit songs in teaching pronunciation.

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(2) For the readers: it is expected that this study will be useful for further research and

enlarge the readers’ knowledge in using songs as media.

V. Scope of the study

Within the limitation of knowledge, time and experience, the writer only focuses on

investigating how to teach English pronunciation by using songs, not any other stimulating

activities to teach pronunciation, just among the English teachers and the first year

students at the College of Sciences, Thai Nguyen University.

VI. Methods of study

In order to collect appropriate data throughout process of carrying out this research, some

suitable methodologies are used:

Firstly, the researcher consults the information from many documents, books and

materials, etc. which provide plenty of information related to the topic, and several

websites and materials from the internet which are relevant to the topic of using songs to

teach pronunciation for students.

Secondly, the study is conducted on the real- life teaching and learning circumstances of

some non-English major classes at the College of Sciences, Thai Nguyen university. The

results taken from the survey questionnares will be of a great help for the writer of the

study to find out basic problems facing ESL students and teachers.

VII. Design of the study

In order that this study is easier to follow, it is organized as follow:

Part A deals with the Introduction. This includes the state of the problem and reasons for

choosing the topic, aims of the study, research questions, significance of the study, scope,

method and design of the study.

Part B is Development which includes three main chapters:

(1) Chapter I is Theoretical background which provides fundamental and theoretical

concepts related to the purpose of the study by discussing an overview of songs in teaching

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language, theory of pronunciation and a literature review that mentions to some related

topics carried by some other authors.

(2) Chapter II is Methodology which describes the methods have been used and the

procedures have been followed when researcher conducted the study.

(3) Chapter III is Results and Discussion which presents the data and procedure of

data analysis.

Part C is the Conclusion of the study that summarizes the main points, revealing the

limitations and suggesting for further studies.

PART B

DEVELOPMENT

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This is the focus of the study which consists of three chapters:

Chapter 1: Theoretical background

Chapter 2: Methodology

Chapter 3: Results and Discussion.

CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

1.1. Introduction of the chapter

This chapter provides fundamental and theoretical concepts related to the purpose of the

study. It includes three main parts: An overview of songs in teaching language, the Theory

of pronunciation, and A literature review that related to this topic.

1.2. An overview of songs in teaching language

1.2.1. Songs as teaching media

Media is derived from the Latin word “medium” that means “between”. The term refers to

anything that links two things together or carries information between a source and

reciever. In general, media is a mean of communication. In teaching, media is also

considered as instructural system of teaching and learning process. Thus, media is also

called teaching aid. It is used to facilitate the teacher to achieve her goal in teaching

process (Hannah. H, 1999)

In fact, songs are very important in every one's life. Today's life is full of work tensions

and people hardly find time to relax. When someone wants to relax and look for a peaceful

life then he may looks and urges to hear a song because it is food for his soul. Music

makes our lifes peace and happiness. Thus, music plays a vital role in our daily life. It is a

way of expressing our feelings and emotions. It is a way to escape life, which gives us

relief in pain and helps us to reduce the stress of the daily routine. It helps us to calm

down, an even excites us in the moment of joy. Moreover, it enriches the mind and gives

us self confidence.

Sometimes we just only listen to a song without realizing that from songs we can also

learn many things such as we can get more new words or we can learn how the words are

pronounced. Thus, songs not only like a magic in daily life but also have magical effects in

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teaching and learning process. Harmer (2000 : 242) stated that: “Music is a powerful

stimulus for students engagement precisely because it speaks directly to our emotions

while still allowing us to use our brain to analysis it and its effect if we so wish. It can

make a satisfactory connection between the world of leisure and the world of learning”.

And according to Harmer, songs are a good resource for English teaching for these

following reasons: First, they are funny and interesting: Songs enable learners to relax in a

learning atmosphere. Songs help to create a soothing and enjoyable environment for

learning. Songs reduce pressure and tension in the class. Therfore, students do not feel

threatened. Second, songs can bridge the gap between teachers and students: songs help to

bring teachers and students closer together. They share the same interest, which is music.

They participate in various academic and social activities together to pursue and promote

music. Teachers who can sing and like to sing with students are normally very popular.

Third, songs are good to introduce suprasegmental phonetics such as stress, rhythm and

intonation. Fourth, songs can be applied to comprehension stages (listening) or production

(singing). Fifth, songs promote mimes and gestures, etc, associated to the meaning. Sixth,

students learn English easily through echoic memory. Seventh, there are appropriate songs

for all levels and ages.

1.2.2. Definition of songs

Before talking about the roles as well as the usefullness of songs, the writer would like to

quote some definitions of songs from the reliable sourses:

(1) Hornby, AS (1995) defines songs as “a short poem or a number of verses set into

music and intened to be sung”

(2) The Encyclopedia of Americana (1998) defines songs as “a short musical work set to o

poetic text, with equal important given to the music and to the words. It may be writen for

one or several voices and is generally performed with instrument accompaniment”.

(3) Jamalus (1988: 5) states that songs can be said as “art work if they are sounded (sung)

with the accompaniment of musical divices”.

(4) Song - “a short musical composition with words, a successful musical must have at

least three good songs” (http://www.Allwords.com/word-song+thrush.html)

From the definitions of songs mentioned above, the writer concludes that song is a kind

of arts work that are intended to be sung either with or without the accompaniment of

musical divices.

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1.2.3. Elements of songs

When one listens to a song, he enjoys not only the melody, harmony, ryhthm but also the

lyrics of the song. That means a song is a combination of many music elements. It will be

helpful for the readers to know something about the various elements of a song.

According to Jamalus (1988: 7), the elements of songs are devided into two categories:

main elements and expression elements.

The first category is the main elements. It concludes measure (bar), melody, harmony,

rhythm, time signature, and lyrics. Following are the definitions of music’s elements:

Measure (Bar): A segment of time defined as a given number of beats of a given duration.

The word "measure" is heard more frequently in the U.S., while bar is used in other

English-speaking countries.

Melody: The part of a song that can be sung alone so that the song is recognizable; the

"lead". Elements of the melody include:

o Motif: a short group of notes

o Phrase: Two motifs combined

o Sentence or period: Two phrases combined

o Paragraph: A group of sentences

o Sequence: a melodic phrase that is repeated but is transposed

Harmony: The notes that compliment or support the melody line. These may be sung or

played. In music theory, they are described as the vertical structure. If the singers use a

chord progression format, they should base the harmony of the song upon the progression

and only vary a bit.

Rhythm: The pattern of beats to which the words are sung. There are two versions: The

traditional, where every note is played as shown, and the "swing", used in Blues and Jazz,

where, for example, two half-beats go "bomp-bomb" (kind of like heartbeat).

Time Signature: 3/4, 4/4, 6/8, etc. the top number relates to amount of beats in a

measure/bar and the bottom number relates to the value of the notes in the bar. i.e 4/4 =

four Quarter/crochet notes in a bar. 6/8 = six eighth/quaver notes in a bar.

Lyrics: A set of words that make up a song.

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The second category is the expression elements. It is the way that musicians express their

mind and feeling which consists of tempo, dynamic, and voice color. Besides, it is also the

way of singers introduce a song. Each singer sings a song in different ways.

In short, all the elements above are needed when someone creates a song.

1.2.4. Types of songs

Songs can be broadly divided into many different types, depending on the criteria used.

Before introducing some types of songs, we should know that there are many ways of

clarifying types of songs.

According to Laroy (1993:7), there are three main types of songs which are classified in

culture criteria:

(1) Art songs: songs created for performance in their own right, usually

with piano accompaniment, the lyrics are often written by a poet or lyricist and the music

separately by a composer.

(2) Folk songs: songs of often anonymous origin that are transmitted orally.

(3) Popular songs: songs are played on the radio, through all other mass media.

Other common methods of classification are by purpose (sacred vs secular), by style

(dance, ballad, Lied, etc.), or by time of origin (Renaissance, Contemporary, etc.).

With songs used for language teaching, there are three main kinds as followings

(Murphey, 1992):

(1) List songs: Songs in which structures, lexis are repeated again and again.

E.g. “Twinkle, twinkle, a little star”, “Money, money, money”, “We wish you a merry

Christmas”, etc.

(2) Story songs: Songs telling a story.

E.g. “Don’t cry Jony”, “Those were the days”, etc.

(3) Action songs: Songs requiring listeners to do some actions while singing.

E.g. “If you are happy”, etc.

1.2.5. The roles of songs in the foreign language classroom

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The benefits of songs have been well-documented by many researchers. Falioni (1993: 98)

pointed out that : “...practically all grammar points can be found in music text, and the

texts also offer a wide variety of vocabulary, all of which can be utilized to practice the

four communication skills...” . Other authors, Claerr and Grgan (1984: 31) stated that:

“...with some imagination, songs cab be used to teach all aspects of foreign langages...”

In this part, the author is going to discuss some outstanding bebefits of songs to foreign

language learners.

First of all, motivation is one of the things that can be gained by using songs in foreign

language classroom. Most of the methodologists agree that motivation is a crucial factor

in language learning process. Motivation may be defined as: “some kind of internal drive

which pushes someone to do things in order to achieve something” (Harmer 2000: 51), and

Scott Thornbury (2003: 97) added that it is “ a key factor in determining success or failure

in language learning”. When one thinks of music, the first thing in mind is enjoyment. Its

entertaining function is widespread in many human activities, individually and

collectively. Halpern (1999, p1,) stated that "of the many factors that influence learning,

few are as far-reaching - or little understood - as sound and music". The sound of music

brings into the world its magic power to activate the mind when it is dormant, to soothe the

soul when it is in turmoil, and to heal the body when it is hurt. Its magic power is the

reason why children love to play with songs and rhymes even at an early age in life. It is

unthinkable to see human existence without music. In the classroom, music has the ability

to produce greater student motivation. Accoding to Falioli (1993: 104) : “ the addition of

songs to the foreign language classroom as a teaching method may be a way to focus

students’ attention, and produce a more committed learner”.

Songs invite the students to become active in the learning practice. Songs also help

creating more student involvement. When students have fun singing songs in their English

class, they develop improved attitudes toward class. Teachers resort to numerous ways and

means to encourage their students to like learning English. One way which is not

uncommon is the use of songs. Songs provide a non-threatening atmosphere for students

compared to speaking formally in English in the classroom for example. They offer

teachers the much needed change from a routine procedure. They provide valuable

language and cultural input in the classroom. Whatever those reservations may be, the use

of songs in the language classroom is one of the ways to motivate students to learn

English. Students love listening to music outside the language classroom and songs

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become a major source of English for them. Notice how those who are usually quiet

become very talkative when discussing songs. Songs then, have the “power” to capture

students’ attention. In addition, ESL practitioners (Reeve & Williamson, 1987) have

widely acknowledged the role of songs in enhancing learner involvement. Together with

the teachers’ ability to present songs meaningfully in the classroom, we have an inspiring

way of motivating our learners to learn English.

Secondly, songs can help students remember vocabulary, grammatical structures and aid

in comprehending the general meaning. Music and rhythm make it much easier to imitate

and remember language than words which are just “ spoken” (Cakir, 1997: 35).

Practically all grammar points and a wide variety of structures can be found in musical

texts. As Falioni (1993): stated that: “The new structures that may seem isolated or out of

context pattern drills, are seen in a different perspective when they are part of a song”

(p.101). Songs are useful tool to help learners memorize phrase constructions. They are

more easily learned and tend to “stick” longer than straight-out grammatical examples.

Thirdly, using songs can create a pleasant enviroment in learning. Rogers (1999) found

that “...the use of songs creates an atmosphere of interese in the study of English and can

lead from a “teacher-centered” to a “student-centered” class”. Using songs can lift the

atmosphere in the class, or develop a non-threatening classroon atmosphere. There are

many fun and silly songs that make off-beat, interesting changes of pace in the classroom.

Music establishes a positive learning state and energizes learning activities. In the article

“Using ESL Songs”, the author-Lems (2002) expressed: Unlike other recording materials,

“songs are catchy and fun and ESL students will feel happy to hear them many times” till

they can sing along.

Besides, songs related to cultural aspects could be chosen to present to students about

social situations, historical events, geographical descriptions and others. According to Jolly

(1975): “The use of songs gives students the opportunity to acquire a greater

understanding of the culture underlying the target language”. The author of the article

“Using ESL Songs” also cited Cutural Literacy as one of “positive contributions to

language learning songs can make”. He said: “Songs used in English classes can shed light

on interesting musical traditions in countries, but can also teach teens, young adults, and

adults to appreciate other cultures. For adult learners they can be “ a rich mine of

information about human relations, ethic, customs, history, humor, and regional and

cultural differences” ( Lems, 2002).

12

Pronunciation also can be taught to students by using songs. Leith (1979) stated that

“There is probably not a better nor quicker way to teach phonetics than with songs” (as

cited in Nguyen, D. N. H 2007, p.21). The melody, along with lyrics, provides an excellent

opportunity to review pronunciation and enjoy music at the same time. The next part of

this research is going to discuss the reasons why song are useful in teaching pronunciation.

1.2.6. The reasons why songs are useful in teaching pronunciation

The roles of using songs in language classroom are undeniable. However, the value of

songs as teaching tool for pronunciation teaching has not been fully explored by teachers.

Hans (2009) pointed out that: “...through songs, learners have opportunities to listen to

pronunciation in a wide range of varieties of the language. Songs will help learners

become familiar with words stress and intonation, and the rythm with which words are

spoken or sung also helps memorization”.

In teaching pronunciation, songs are valued for its unsefulness because songs usually

have words repeated over and over again in choruses. The repetition of words help

students get familiar with the sounds they hear, therfore, they can pronounce them more

accurately.

While students listen to English songs, they create the need of imitating the singers so

that they can sing along with the singers. As Hannah, H (1999) stated that “...repetition

does not only create familiarity but also leads to understanding, as it gives time for the

penny to drop. What at first may be strange and unfamiliar, repeated exposure becomes

clear and understandable. This is especially important for learning a brand new foreign

language”.

Moreover, English songs are part of authentic matrials, which gives chances for learners

to be exposed to native speakers’ pronunciation. As in Emi. Y (2009), “...learning English

through songs can be effective to assist pronunciation, since students can directtly get the

knowledge on how to pronounce the words from the songs they hear, when students learn

in an enjoyable situation, they can digest the lesson easily”.

1.2.7. The drawbacks of using songs

”Nothing is perfect”. It means that everything has good side and also bad side. Realizing

many advantages of using songs in the language classroom, the author also discovers the

disadvantages of using songs. In this part, the author wants to mention the drawbacks of

13

using songs that teachers may face in the class. First of all, not all the songs have good

grammars and vocabularies. There are alot of songs that have much slang words so that

listeners can not understand them. If the teachers choose a song like that she or he can not

use it to teach the students. Secondly, most English songs have too many words as they are

written for native speakers so the first year students have no hope of being able to sing

along. Next, many popular songs have inappropriate content for the classroom – at least in

many cultures. Onother problem is using songs can disturb neighbouring classes. When

playing songs, the neighbouring classes can hear the sounds and they may be bothered. So

the teachers can not play songs too loud. Besides, when teachers play songs the

studentsjust want to listen to songs, not to work. It is true when the songs are so fantastic

or when the students are too tired. They just want to listen to songs to relax and do not

want to work. One more problem is the words in the songs are spoken too quickly.

Because the singers sing so quickly, even they link the sounds together, or sometimes use

dialects. It is difficult for the listeners to hear the words in the songs.

1.2.8.Selection of songs

Songs represent valuable teaching material. However, not all the songs are appropriate for

teaching purposes. To overcome the disadvantages of using songs in the class, teachers

should choose the suitable songs for the lessons. When the teachers use songs for the

teaching process, she/ he should know what kinds of songs she/ he would bring into the

class. This seems not easy for every teacher.

There are no specific rules of selecting a song but there are several things to take into

consideration when teachers take songs to the class:

Selection: What is the purpose to take that song? To reinforce grammar

points or to improve listening skills, for example.

The class: number of students and their ages, the students’ language level,

how much time do you have?

Students’ interests: It is important to ask students about their favourite

songs and singers. With that information you have a picture about the possible

selection of songs. If you want you can make a list of different songs for the

students to select. By doing so, you involves students in their own learning and

motivation. However, students may select rap or heavy metal which is either not

very clear or too fast, or contain too much slang. Frodden (1991: 4 Citing Dommel

14

and Sacker, 1986) addressed this problem of perception of the singers voice. There

are songs which appeal students a lot through their rhythm and music, yet they are

quite difficult to understand. The reason for this may be that the instruments cover

the singer’s voice, the words are spoken too quickly, the language variety is

unfamiliar, there are too much slang or the students just do not know enough

English yet.

Consequently, the teacher should know the students’ interest and try to find out the songs

that suitable for the students, and suitable for the purpose of teaching. If possible try to

select not only a song that deals with love but also a song that deals with social, ecological

and human issues.

For teaching pronunciation, teachers should choose songs that have clear sounds, the

sounds are not sung qickly as well as do not contain slang.

1.2.9. Procedure in applying the songs

To apply songs in the classroom and to achieve teachers’ goal in teaching, the teachers

should plan application sequence of the songs. Here the author suggests two procedures in

applying songs:

- Preparation: This step is quite important because the more careful teachers prepare, the

more effective she perform the songs. Some factors teachers should take into consideration

in this first step are selection of songs, the students’ language level, class activities, time

using and words’ handout of the songs.

- Pre-listening stage: the aim of this stage is to prepare students with everything necessary

for listening the songs. Therefore, in this step teachers should: warm up the class,

introduce the songs, give listening time and also give students listening task.

- While-listening stage: In this stage, learners listen to the songs directly in individuals. So

teachers will play the song on the tape as many times as necessary, show the words of the

song , then ask the students to follow the words. Because the purpose of listening to a song

is to teach English pronunciation for the students so teachers will be the corrector and try

to find out the students’ mistakes and correct for them.

- Post-listening stage: After listening to the song, teachers should give the feedback and

comment on the students’ job.

1.3. Theory of pronunciation

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1.3.1. Definition of pronunciation

Pronunciation has been defined by many authors with different expressions. In this paper the

author would like to quote some definitions from the reliable sources:

Simply defined, pronunciation is “the way in which a language is spoken” ( Oxford Advanced

learners’ Encyclopedic, 1997, p.1164). According to Jones, D, (1998), pronunciation “involves

the production and perception of segmental (sounds), both alone and in the stream of speech,

where they undergo number of modifications and interact with suprasegmental (prosodic)

features, particulary stress and intonation”. Pronunciation is defined as: the act or manner of

pronouncing syllables, words and phrases with regard to the production of sounds and the

placing of stress, intonation, etc, any accepted or standard ways of pronouncing a word, the

transcription in symbols of such a way of pronouncing a word ( www.yourdictionary.com).

As all the definition mentioned above, the writer concludes that pronunciation is:

- The standard way in which a word is made to sound when spoken.

- The way in which a person sounds the words of a language when speaking.

1.3.2. The importance of teaching pronunciation

Communication is the most important component of any human sociaty. In this aspect,

they adapted English as the international language of the world. So, to communicate

properly we need good pronunciation, because pronunciation affects very much on the

understanding of the words’ meanings. If the sound of the word is different it may lead the

listeners to some other meanings, and if this happens, it is obvious that this is not a proper

communication. This is, in fact, confusion. For this reason, it is very nesessary to teach

correct pronunciation. Pronunciation involves far more than individual sounds. Word

stress, sentences stress, intonation, and word linking all influence the sound of spoken

English, not to mention the way we often slur words and phrases together in casual speech.

For example, what are you going to do? becomes Whadda ya gonna do?

English pronunciation involves too many complexities for learners to strive for a complete

elimination of accent, but improving pronunciation will boost self esteem, facilitate

communication, and possibly lead to a better job or aleast more respect in the workplace.

Effective communication is gvery important. So we should choose first to work on

problems that significantly hinder communication and let the rest go initially. We should

remember that students also need to learn strategies for dealing with misunderstandings,

16

since native pronunciation is for most an unrealistic goal. A student’s first language often

interfers with English pronunciation. For example, /p/ is aspirated in English but not in

Vietnamese, so when a Vietnemese learner pronounces ‘pig’ without a puff of the air on

the /p/, English may hear ‘big’ instead. Sometimes, the students will be able to identify

specific problem sounds and sometimes they won’t. It is often difficult for a student to

reach the exact pronunciation by spellings because English phonemes are not much in tha

order in which the spellings are in practice. So only a teacher can move away student from

spelling to phnomic script to learn correct pronunciation. Teaching pronunciation is also

essential because learning the phonemic script involves not just getting to know the

symbols but also making sure you can say the right sound for each one, so the teachers’

help is very important.

1.3.3. Elements of pronunciation

According to Jones, D, (1998), pronunciation involes “the production and perception of

segmental (sounds), both alone and in the stream of speech, where they undergo number of

modifications and interact with suprasegmental (prosodic) features, particulary stress and

intonation. It means that the author will discuss about two kinds of features: segmental features

and suprasegmental features.

1.3.3.1. Segmental features

Segmental features include consonant sounds and vowel sounds. “The classification is based on

the differences in their functions in an utterance and their way of production” (Ramelan,

1985:55)

“Consonants are, or contain, noises that are pronounced with a blockage of some sort of the air

passage” ( As an explaination by Scarcella and Oxford, 1994). The English consonant sounds

consist of twenty-four. Those are: /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /η /, /g/, /f/, /v/, /s/, /z/, /h/, /l/, /θ/, /δ/, َ/m/,

/n/, /r/, /w/, /y/,

English consonants can be classified in different ways:

- Accoding to the place of articualation, they may be dental, bilabial, alveolar, palatal, velar.

- According to the manner of articualation they may be plosive, affricate, fricative, nasal, lateral.

- According to the involvement of vocal cords they may be voiced or voiceless.

Each English consonants has all the features of these classifications, for example:

Consonant Place Manner Voice

/k/ in kick Velar Plosive Voiceless

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/l/ in long Alveolar Lateral Voiced

“Vowels are articulated when a voiced air stream is shaped using the tongue and the lips to

modify the overall shape of the mouth” (Gerald, 2003, p.29). English vowel sounds are divided

into two kinds: long vowels and short vowels. Long vowels include /i:/, /a:/, /u:/, /o:/, /ə:/

while short vowels include /i/, /e/, /u/, /o/, /ə/, /æ/, / /. Besides, there are also vowel clusters

include dipthongs and tripthongs. Dipthongs /ei/, /ai/, /oi/, /oə/, /iə/, /aə/, /uə/, /eə/, /au/, /əu/ and

tripthong /eiə/, /aiə/, /oiə/, /əuə/, /auə/ which are, in fact, the glide from one vowel to another

(dipthong) then to a third (tripthong). They may cause trouble for any learner who is incapable of

gliding from one vowel to another smoothly and properly, causing misunderstanding to the

listener.

1.3.3.2. Suprasegmental features

Suprasegmental features refer to stress, rhythm, intonation and other features that always

accompany the production of segmental. There are three main kinds of suprasegmental features:

The first is stress. “Stress is meant the degree of force or loudness with which a syllable is

pronounced so as to give it prominence” (Ramelan, 1985: 25). In English, there are word stress

and sentence stress. Stress plays an important role in English because different stress will express

different meaning.

The second is rhythm. The literal meaning of rhythm is “ a strong regular repeated pattern

of sounds or movements” ( New Oxford Advance Learners’ Dictionary 7th edition , 2005)

. The two most common rhythm noticed in the languages spoken around the world are :

Syllable – timed Rhythm and Stress - timed Rhythm. In English, rhythm is Stress - timed.

This means that the time between two primary stresses is the same,if there are many words

between the two primary stresses, then these syllables will be pronounced fast, if, on the

other hand, there is only small mumber of syllables between the primary stresses, then

these syllables will be pronounced slowly and more clearly (Syafei, 1988:33). For

example, “ Can you see the man?”, the words see and man take primary stresses.

The third is intonation. Intonation is the change in pitch of a sentence, up and down The

sequence of pitches that produces the 'tone' of an utterance and plays an important part in

conveying the meaning (Ramelan, 1985: 25). For example, the intonational tone of a

question usually features a rising pitch at the end.

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1.4. Literature review

1.4.1.Students’ pronunciation problems in pronuncing English sounds

There are many researches about English pronunciation problems of Vietnamese learners such

as Common pronunciation problems of Vietnamese learners of English (Ha Cam Tam, 2005),

Difficulties for Vietnamese when pronouncing English sounds ( Nguyen Thi Thu Thao, 2007),

and the findings of these also revealed the common mistakes in English pronunciation of

Vietnamese learners. These researches found that there are three main mistakes caused by

Vietnamese learners: Sound omitted, sound confusion, and sound redundancy. Among of these,

sound omitted is the most common mistake that was caused by most learners.

The reason is Vietnamese learners have to face to many difficulties when learning English

as a second language. These difficulties prevent them from reaching the right English

language. Like learners elsewhere in the world, Vietnamese learners encounter great

obstacles in learning English pronunciation because of the two reasons that come from

foreign language:

Firstly, the English sound system has several sounds foreign that do not occur in

Vietnemese sound system.According to the findings of Nguyen Thi Thu Thao’s research

(Nguyen Thi Thu Thao, 2007: “Difficulties for Vietnamese when pronouncing English

final consonants”), there are five consonants that are not familiar to Vietnamese

learners: /s, z, f, d, l/. They often cause Vietnamese learners unavoidable errors when

pronouncing English, even worse when these sounds appear in word-final position. This is

explained why there is a tendency to move the foreign English sounds towards the similar

sounds in Vietnamese among learners. In addition, Vietnamese learners are certainly

confused between voiceless and voiced sounds which happen fairly commonly between /t/

and /d/, /s/ and /z/ while it is clearly that in Vietnamese sounds, we do not have voiced as

well as voiceless sounds.

Secondly, the way English speakers pronounce the ending sounds is completely different

from the Vietnamese speakers that make it more difficult for them to achieve appropriate

English pronunciation. It is true that in English, they pronounce the final sounds but in

Vietnamese we do not pronounce the final sounds. It is quite difficult for Vietnamese

19

learners to pronounce the final sounds. For this reason, omission mistake is very popular

among Vietnamese learners.

Moreover, the difficulties also come from the influence or interference of the mother

tongue. Our first language is Vietnamese that is quite different from English in the ways of

pronouncing. Firstly, Vietnamese is not classified as voiced and voiceless sounds, all the

Vietnamese sounds are pronounced in equal voice. Besides, English has stress, speakers

emphasize on the words that carry stress as nouns, main verbs, etc, Vietnamese, however,

has no stress so that all the words are produced in the same tone. These affect the way of

pronouncing of Vietnamese learners and cause many difficulties when they learning

English.

1.4.2. General views on teaching pronunciation

1.4.2.1. Related studies abroad

Using songs in language teaching and learning is not a new idea. The exploitation of songs

has been widely researched. There is some literature on the usefulness of songs in a

language class as reviewed in the previous part. Besides, the use of songs in teaching

pronunciation can be found in some of the books about techniques to teach pronunciation:

Laroy (2001), in his book named “Pronunciation” published by Oxford English, cited a lot

of activities to teach English sounds including using music. According to Laroy, teachers

can utilize “musical sounds” in pronunciation lessons. In other words, teachers can

“improve the pronunciation of speech sounds through rhythm, singing and movement”

(p.95). He also thought that correcting words and sounds through sining is advisable

because “learners have an opportunity to try again and again without being exposed to the

scrunity of the teacher and the other students all the time” (p.1212).

Silvia, C. B., Eva, E. V., Isabel, S,. (2005) conducted a research on “ Teaching phonetics

throug singing and reciting”. This research presented the results of the investigation into

the role of singing and reciting in the teaching and learning of English phonetics to non-

native speakers.

There is also a relating research named “Teaching English using songs to improve

students’ pronunciation in PG and TK Alam Surya Mentary Kerten” conducted by Emi, Y.

20

(2009) as a Fulfillment for Requirement foe getting Bachelor Degree of Education in

English Department, Indonesia.

Besides, Balbina, E.&Marta. J. S., Brishtish Council Cameroon (2005) suggested some

activities based on songs’ rhytms to fosuc learners on particular sounds in their article

named “Developing pronunciation through songs”

1.4.2.2. Related studies in Vietnam

In Vietnam, although there are alot of researches have been conducted to investigate te

exploitation of songs in language classroom, for example, to teach listening

comprehension, few have been conducted to find out the situation of using songs to teach

pronunciation in general and to teach pronunciation to non-major English students

inparticular. “Using songs in teaching sounds and words at Nguyen Trai high scholl (2008-

2009)” is the related study the researcher of this can find in Vietnam. However, this

research only pointed out problems in teaching pronunciation and has no suggestions to

solve them. Another study is “Using songs to teach English sounds to 11 th form at Nguyen

Gia Thieu high school” (Lai Thanh Tinh)

In conclusion, using songs to teach pronunciation for the students is familiar with foreign

language teachers abroad, it is quite new to Vietnamese teachers.

1.4.3. Songs to improve achievement in pronunciation

Teaching pronunciation is done orally. One very effective thing to teach students’

pronunciation is by having the students train themselves in daily lives through their own

interests. Some students probably prefer to play a game to enrich their vocabulary, other

may sing or listen to English songs or may read poetry to improve their listening ability,

pronunciation and the English fluency. Paul (1996: 7) states that “.....if she is singing or

playing something she really enjoys, and suddenly encounters a word or structure she does

not know, but which she feels she needs in order to sing or play successfully, she will feel

an emotion need to learn. It means that someone will learn something when they need to

learn. No one can force his/ her to learn something if he/ she does not want to learn”.

If the teachers want the students achieve something, they should not teach them formally.

The more the teachers teach, the less the students learn. “By using songs, teachers may

21

keep students emotionally involved in the learning process and keep them interested in

making sense of this fascinating word of English. The aim is for students to feel excited by

getting better at English” (Paul, 1996: 8). So it is better for the teachers to give extensive

listening task to train their pronunciation by listening songs they like. There are two kinds

of listening activities that can be done by the students. Those are extensive listening and

intensive listening. Extensive listening usually takes place outside of the classroom. It can

be done at home or any places that the students want to have listening activities. They can

also choose the way and the material they want. For example, the students may have songs

or English news on the radio as the listening materials. While intensive listening is usually

done in the classrooms, and the teachers usually have the materials and the way of

listening activities for the students. Intensive listening can be done in some ways by using

taped material and life listening. It can be in the form of reading aloud, story telling or

conversation. Both ways are very important to improve the students acquisition of the

language.

Songs as one of listening materials can be applied in both ways. While the students

listening to the music or song, they will learn many things, such as learning grammar and

pronunciation. They could also train themselves for the listening comprehension. When

they are listening they will not realise that they are improving their achievement of the

language. While listening to songs, the students may follow to sing the songs. So they can

train their pronunciation ability unconsciously.

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

2.1. Introduction of the chapter

22

The preceding chapter has reviewed the theoretical basic of the whole study. In this chapter, the

researcher discusses the methodology used to investigate the using of songs to teach

pronunciation for the first year students at the College of Sciences, TNU. The chapter includes

four main parts: the selection of subjects, data collection instrument, procedures of data

collection and procedures of data analysis.

2.2. Selection of the subjects

The subjects of the study are two groups of teachers and students

The first group includes seven English teachers of Department of Basic Sciences, College

of Sciences, TNU. All of these teachers have experienced teaching English for students

from 4 to over 20 years. The teacher survey was carried out in the form of questionnaires

which included 17 questions.

The second group consists of 215 first year students at the College of Sciences, TNU.

They range from 18 to 23 years old, with the majority in their age of 20-21. Female

accounting for 69% outnumbers male which are 31%. All subjects had been studying

English for at least 4 years before entering college.

2.3. Data collection instruments

Instrument is a tool that is used by a researcher when he or she applies certain method to

get the data (Syakur, 1995: 85). In doing research, there are various methods of data

collection: field notes, audio tape recording, pupil diaries, interviews and discussions,

video tape recording, questionnaires, slide/ tape photography, documentary evidence, case

study (Mc Niff, 1992: 76). The instrument exploited in the study were survey

questionnaires.

Questionnaire is one of the most efficient research instruments to collect information as

much as possible in short of time. Moreover, questionnaire is considered to be more

objective and low-cost than other types of research instrument.

Two sets of questionnaire were utilized, one for the first year students and one for

English teachers at the College of Sciences, TNU. They were both combination of close

and open-ended questions, which gave the researcher the chance to take control of the

content as well as get in-depth information.

23

The study used questionnaires of 7 English teachers and 215 first year students from the

College of Sciences, Thai Nguyen University. The questionnaires for teachers consist of

17 questions and the questionnaires for students conclude 15 questions which were

designed by the researcher in order to find out the attitudes of both teachers and students to

using songs in teaching and learning pronunciation.

First of all, the author used questionnaires as the main source for data collection because it

has its own strengths in helping the author to find out satisfactory and sufficient

information. “Questionnaires are any written instruments that present respondents with a

series of questions or statements to which they are to react either by writing out their

answers or selecting from among existing answers” (Brown, J. D. 2001:6)

Besides, this instrument was used because it enables the researcher to collect information

from students easily and quickly.

Moreover, “in a form that lends itself perfectly to the purpose of the study” (Verma &

Mallick, 1999), this instrument allowed the subjects to give suggestive data to test the

researchers’ hypothesis.

Therefore, by using questionnaires we can have more in-depth information on certain

aspects. Hence, any clarification or further inquiry towards a question can be made

convenient.

To be specific, the questionnaire for teachers consists of 17 questions. The first question is

designed to find out how many years these teachers have been teaching English to define

whether they are experienced or not. The next question aims at discovering the opinions of

teachers about the difficulty level of pronunciation among other elements of learning a

language and in comparison with four skills also. The third question helps to find out the

importance of pronunciation in teaching a foreign language according to teacher’s

perception. In the fourth question, teachers were asked about the materials they often

choose to teach pronunciation in class and problems they have when teaching English

sounds. Then, the teachers were asked about their problems when teaching English sounds.

The next seven questions were designed on the purpose of investigate the situation of

using songs to teach English pronunciation to the first year students at the College of

Sciences, TNU. Then, teachers were asked about their opinion that using songs can be an

effective tool for teaching pronunciation or not. The next two questions aim at finding out

the advantages and disadvantages of using songs in teaching pronunciation from the

24

teachers’ points of view. The two last questions aim at finding out when teachers use songs

in their classes and how long they apply songs in the classes.

The questionnaire designed for students consists of 15 questions with the aim at finding

the attitudes of students towards English songs, towards using songs in lessons, and how

songs are actually exploited in their class. The first questions were designed with the same

objective as the first one in teachers’ questionnaire. In the second question, students were

asked about their level of speaking English. Then, the third question aims at discovering

the opinions of students about the difficulty level of pronunciation among other elements

of learning a language and in comparison with four skills also. The next six questions aim

at finding out whether students like English songs or not, how often they listen English

songs and their attitudes towards having songs in lessons. The frequency of using songs in

pronunciation class is studied through the ninth and eleventh question. Then, the students

were asked about using songs can help them improve pronunciation or not. The three next

questions aim at finding the usefulness and problems of listening English songs in learning

pronunciation, in students’ opinions. In the two last questions, students were asked about

the number used in the class and should their teachers use songs in teaching activities, in

their opinions.

The two sets of questionnaire were both designed in English. However, the questions are

not difficult for students to understand. Moreover, the researcher was willing to answer

any questions from students about what they did not understand.

2.4. Procedures of data collection

Data are facts we have about people, situations, events, things, and relationships (Tripp,

1996: 15). Gathering data is the most important thing in doing research. In doing this

study, there are three main stages in the data collection procedure:

2.4.1. Step 1

In the first step, the questionnaire of 17 questions was designed for the teachers and the

questionanire of 18 questions was designed for the first year students. In the questionnaire,

the subjects were asked to check the best answers. Most of the questions were multiple

25

choices, so they could read and check more than one answer. The questions would not

take respondents much time to complete and answer quickly. After the first draft of the

questionnaire was made, it was sent to the supervisor to be commented and edited. At the

end of the first stage, the questionnaire was revised for the second time with the

suggestions and corrections from the supervisor.

2.4.2. Step 2

The completed version of the questionnaire was delivered to all the subjects at the College

of Sciences, TNU. The subjects were not required to write their names so that they are not

identified in the paper. The subjects of this study belonged to two different groups of

teachers and students, and the group of students belonged to 4 different classes, so it took

the researcher a lot of time to collect all the responses.

2.4.3. Step 3

In this last step, the answered questionnaires are collected and analyzed by the researcher.

The findings of the study are analyzed according to every question and illustrated in the

charts with the real data from the subjects.

2.5. Procedures of data analysis

The process of data analysis is carried out carefully based on the collected data from the

subjects. The numbers are calculated according to number and then percentage, and

presented in tables to help viewers easily to understand. Through the process of data

analysis, the research questions are answered and the researcher’s hypothesis is confirmed.

Based on categories established, data were then analyzed by using both descriptive

statistics (percentage) and qualitative statistics (answers to open-ended questions in

questionnaires and interviews). Pie charts and graphs were mainly employed to analyze

and compare figures. Moreover, typical quotations from the interviews, the answers to

open-ended questions in the questionnaires, and classroom observations were cited when

necessary. Interpretation and conclusions were drawn after analyzing the data.

2.6. Summary of the chapter

To sum up, this chapter has justified the methodology applied in this research: the

selection of subjects, the data collection instruments, three steps of data collection

26

procedures and lastly, procedures of data analysis. Such clarification of methodology

would help pave the way for the analysis of the collected data in the next chapter.

CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

3.1. Introduction of the chapter

27

In this chapter, data collected from the three collection instruments is analyzed and

interpreted to reveal answers to each research question of the study:

First, the attitudes of the teachers and the students at the College of Sciences, TNU to

using songs in teaching pronunciation.

Second, the situation of using songs to teach pronunciation at the College of Sciences,

TNU.

Next, teachers’ and students’ opinions about advantages and disadvantages of using

songs in teaching pronunciation.

3.2. Results

3.2.1. Data collection and analysis of the findings from the teacher survey

3.2.1.1. The opinions of teachers about the difficulty level of pronunciation among

other elements of teaching English

Question 2 : In your opinion, what aspect of teaching English is the most

difficult?

This question is designed to ask teahers about which aspect of teaching English

they found it as the most difficult to teach. And the result was shown in the

following table:

Aspect of teaching English

Most important

Grammar 0%

Pronunciation 0%

Vocabulary 0%

4 skills: reading, writing, listening, speaking 100%

Table 1: Teachers’ opinion about the most difficult aspect of teaching English

From the table above, we can see that the answers are the same from all the teachers.

Among 4 given answers, the number of teachers who considered 4 skills: reading, writing,

listening, speaking are the most difficult accounts for 100%. None of them considered

grammar or vocabulary or pronunciation as the most important.

28

3.2.1.2. Opinions of teachers at the College of Sciences, TNU about

the importance of pronunciation

Question 3 : In your opinion, how important is pronunciation in

learning a language?

Range of the importance Percentage

Very important 83,3%

Important 16,7%

Not important 0%

Table 2: Teachers’ criticism on the importance of pronunciation

When asked about their opinions on the importance of pronunciation, 83,3% % of

teachers said that pronunciation is very important while only 16,7 % considered it as an

important skill. None of them think that pronunciation is not important at all in language

teaching and learning.

3.2.1.3. The material teachers often use to teach pronunciation

Question 4 : Which material do you often choose to teach English

pronunciation?

This question aims at investiaging the methods and materials that

teachers usually use to teach pronunciation for their students. The result

was shown in the following pie chart:

29

Figure 1 : The material teachers often use to teach

pronunciation

As we see in the pie chat, 57,1% of teachers often use video or tape

recording to teach pronunciation, in fact, this is quite effective way to

teaching English pronunciation. It helps students pronounce English sounds

more accurate and they can immitate as the native speakers’ ways. 28, 6%

of teachers teach pronunciation in the traditional method, it means

teachers read sounds a loud and then their students repeat. This method

seems quite popular in universities, but teach pronunciation by this way

have many disadvantages such as: students can not pronounce the sounds

as the way of native speakers, or even sometimes teachers pronounce the

sound wrong. 14,3% left chose pictures to teach pronunciation.

3.2.1.4. The problems when teachers teaching English sounds

Question 5 : What are your problems when teaching English

sounds? ( Teachers can choose more than 1 answer)

Athough most of the teachers said that 4 skills: listening, speaking,

reading, writing are the most difficult to teach, not pronunciation, but

30

teaching pronunciation is not easy work. This question aims at finding out

the problems when teaching English sounds. The result showed that the

problem is not teachers can not find the suitable materials to teach

pronunciation, but the problem are: the English sounds are different from

Vietnamese sounds and the students feel discouraged when they can not

produce the sounds correctly. These two choices took the equal percentage

of 66,7%.

Figure 2: The problems when teachers teaching English sounds

3.2.1.5. The situation of using songs to teach pronunciation

Question 6 : Have you ever used songs in your teaching process?

31

Figure 3: Teachers’ exposure in using English songs

As can be seen from the pie chart, the percentage of teachers who have

been used English songs in their teaching process is 83,3%. There is 16,7%

of teachers have not used songs in their teaching process. To some extend,

16,7% of teachers may be not aware of the effectiveness of using songs in

teaching process.

3.2.1.6. The attitudes of teachers towards using songs to teach

pronunciation

Question 7 : Do you like teaching English pronunciation through

songs?

32

Figure 4: The percentage of teachers prefering teaching pronunciation

through songs

Firstly, the researcher explored the attitudes of teachers towards English songs, whether

they like or dislike. Surprisingly, all surveyed teachers, 100%, like English songs. The

rate of 100% expressed the reality of teachers’ interest towards teaching

pronunciation through songs. This will give the students a chance to

practice English pronunciation in interesting environment.

3.2.1.7. The purpose of using songs in teaching process

Question 8 : What are your purposes of using songs in your

teaching process?

33

Figure 5: Purposes of using songs in teaching English

The result from question 8 showed that all of the teachers want to use

songs for both learning and relaxing. None of them wanted to use learing

or entertaning perpose separately. This proves that all the teachers use

songs with a clear purpose. They wanted to create a comfortable learning

atmosphere for their students in which learning and relaxing are combined

to reduce the boredom in the class and students’ stress.

Question 9 : Which aspect of English do you want to use songs to

teach most?

From the table, we can see that the choices for the question 9 are quite

different among teachers. The largest purpose in their using songs was for

listening skills, about 50% of teachers. 33,3% used songs to teach

vocabulary and the same percentage used for integrated skills. In

compared with vocabulary and integrated skills, 16,6%of teachers wanted

to use songs to teach pronunciation, the equal percentage wanted to use

for speaking skills. None of the teachers chose songs for teaching writing

and reading skills.

34

Aspect of English Percentage

Listening skills 50%

Speaking skills 16,6%

Writing skills 0%

Reading skills 0%

Integrated skills 33,3%

Grammar 0%

Vocabulary 33,3%

Pronunciation 16,6%

Table 3: The use of songs in some skills

3.2.1.8. The frequency of using songs in teaching pronunciation

Question 10: How often do you use songs?

35

Figure 6: The frequency of using songs

According to the chart, it can be seen that the frequency of using songs in the lessons

varies from teacher to teacher. About 42,8% of teachers sometimes used songs in their

teaching process while 14,3% of them very often used and 28,6% of them often used.

About 14,3% of the teachers rarely used and no one has never used songs in the lessons.

So we can come to a conclusion that all of the teachers at the Collge of Sciences, TNU

have used songs in their lesson, however, the amount of using them is not much.

3.2.1.9. The effectiveness of using songs in teaching pronunciation

Question 11 : What do you think about the use of songs in teaching

pronunciation?

36

Figure 7: Teachers’ perception on the effectivenes of using songs in teaching

pronunciation

For question 11, approximately 66,7% of teachers remarked songs as an effective way to

teach pronunciation. About 33,3% thought that songs are very effective way to teach

pronunciation. No one found songs as an ineffective way and no one kept neutral idea for

this question.

Question 13 : Do you think that songs can be an effective tool for

teaching pronunciation

Teachers’ point of view Percentage

Yes 100%

No 0%

Table 4: Teachers’ point of view about songs can be an effective tool for

teaching pronunciation or not

37

All of teachers, 100%, agreed that using songs can be an effective way to teach

pronunciation. It can be drawn from this result that most teachers have positive attitudes

towards influence of songs in teaching and learning a language in general and teaching and

pronunciation in particular

They stated in the survey : “When students listening to songs, they can

immitate the sounds”. Some said that students can listen to songs and

learn by heart and others said that listening to songs will encourage the

students in the lessons.. None of them said that songs are not an

effective tool for teaching pronunciation. In compared with analysis of

question 11, we can conclude that all of the teachers are aware of the effectivenes of

using songs in teaching pronunciation, although in fact not all of them have used songs in

teaching pronunciation.

3.2.1.10. The attitudes and feelings of students towards songs

basing on the teachers’ view

Question 12 : Do your students like listening to songs?

Students’ feeling Percentage

Yes, very much 100%

Yes, but not much 0%

Not at all 0%

Table 5: The attitudes and feelings of students towards songs basing on

teachers’ point of view

As can be seen from the table, all the teachers realized clearly that their

students like songs or not like at which level. They were all sure that their

students like listening to songs in the lesoos vey much. This proves that

the attitudes of the students towards songs are positive.

3.2.1.11. The advantages of using songs in the lesson

38

Question 14 : In your opinion, what are the advantages of using

songs in the lesson?( Teachers can choose more than 1 answer)

Look at the chart below, we can see that there is a broad and almost

absolute consensus among teachers. 83,3% of teachers agreed that songs

can help students relax during the lesson. The same percentage of

teachers thought that songs can encourage the students to pay attention

to the pronunciation of the words in the songs.

Figure 8: The advantages of using songs in the lesson

66,7% of teachers supported for the benefit of songs in creating a high

motivation towards learning English of the students. About 50% of teachers

agreed that songs can reduce the boredom of students in the class, 33,3%

of teachers said that the bebefit of songs is the rhythm in songs provide

listeners with the repetition of similar sounds.

3.2.1.12. The difficulties in using songs in the class

Question 15 : In your opinion, what difficulties do you cope with

when using songs in teaching pronunciation?

39

The aim of asking question 15 takes an important role in this study.

Finding out the difficulties in applying songs in the class help us to solve

the problem partly. Clearly, based on some suggested difficulties, the

greatest obstacles of using songs in the class was the sounds are not clear

because singers usually link sounds together, holding 66,7%. 33,3% of

teachers agreed that Class time is limited is the difficult when using songs

in teaching pronunciation, 17% of them thought that the difficulty is The

class becomes noisy and out of control. 33,3% left said that mixed-ability

of students caused problem when applying songs. No one chose students

are distracted by the music or teachers can not find the suitable songs for

the lesson in the curriculum.

Figure 9: The difficulties in using songs in the class

These obstacles prevented teachers from using songs in the class. And

the finding suitable songs are not a big problem for teachers.

3.2.1.13. The time when songs are used in the class and how long

it takes

40

Question 16 : When do you use songs in the class?

Time Percentage

At the beginning of the lesson 16,7%

At the end of the lesson 50%

In the middle of the lesson 16,7%

Table 6: Time when songs are used in the class

The result of question 16 pointed out that the number of teachers used songs at the

beginning of the lesson and in the middle of the lesson are not much,

hoding the same percentage 16,7%. 50% of teachers want to use song at

the end of the lesson.

Question 17 : How long does it take you to apply songs in the class?

Figure 10: Time spent in using songs

41

As we can see, an important issue that teachers had to take into consideration is amount

of time need for applying a song. 16,7% of teacher wanted to use songs in about 5 to 15

minutes. Usually, teachers spent about 10 minutes or 10 to 15 minutes so two these choices

took equal 33,3% of teachers. May be because the class time is limited so no one wanted to

apply songs in about 20 to 25 minutes. Hence, it can be summed up that the amount of

time to apply songs of teachers was different. It depens on the chosen songs and the stable

time of teachers.

3.2.2. Data collection and analysis of the findings from the student survey

3.2.2.1. The students’ ability of speaking English

Question 2 : Your speaking English is at which level?

From the students’ self-criticism about their own abilities of speaking English according

to the chart above, we can see that although on average they have been learning english for

4 to 9 years, the number of students admiting their abilities at normal was largest, with

50%. Less than some percentage was group of students at bad level with 44,4%. There is

2,2% of student said that they are at excellent level and 3,4% is at good level. This fact

showed that although learning English for a quite long time, the first year students at the

Collge of Sciences, TNU have seen not much improvement in pronunciation.

Figure 11: The students’ ability of speaking English

42

This may be due they paid attention too much on grammar, vocabulary and other aspects

of English, not pronunciation. Therefore, to help students improve their pronunciation,

teachers need to find out effective methods in teaching English pronunciation.

3.2.2.2. The aspect of learning English is the most difficult

Question 3 : In your opinion, what aspect of learning English is the most

difficult?

From the chart below, we can see that most of the students at the College of Sciences

found that 4 skills: listening, speaking, reading , writing as the most difficult, holding

60,6%. Only 8,3% of students found vocabulary as the most difficult while 11,7% of

students found grammar as the most difficult. For pronunciation, there is 19,4% considered

it as the most difficlut aspect of English to learn. The result showed that both teachers and

students at the Collge of Sciences found that 4 skills are the most important for them, not

other skills.

F igure 12 : The aspect of learning English is the most difficult in students’ point of view

3.2.2.3. The importance of pronunciation in learning a language, in students’ opinion

Question 4 : In your opinion, how important pronunciation in learning a

language?

43

Figure 13: The importance of pronunciation in learning a language, in students’ opinion

As can be seen in the pie chart, most of the students said that learning pronunciation is

very imporatnt in learning a language. This proves that almost students are aware of the

importance of learning pronunciation. 13,7% of students regarded pronunciation is

important and only 2,9% of students said that it is not important.

3.2.2.4. The attitude of the first year students towards learning pronnciation through

songs

Question 5 : Do you like English songs?

44

Figure 14: The students’ preference of listening to English songs

Song help creating an interesting environment among students and encourage them in

learning. It is the reason why 90,6% of students liked listening to English songs. However,

there is 9,4% of students dislike listening to songs. Some said that they do not like English

songs because when listening to English songs they do not understand anything.

Question 8 : Do you like having songs in the lesson?

This question aimed at asking about students’ preference of having songs in the lesson.

Knowing their likes or dislikes of having songs in the lesson plays an important role in this

study. The result of question 10 was showed in the chart below:

45

Figure 15: Students’ preference of having songs in the lesson

94,9% of students said that they like having songs in the lesson. Not as the author’s

prediction, there is 5,1% of students did not like having songs in the lesson. According to

these group of students, they said that songs are used only for entertainment, not for

studying.

Question 10 : In your opinion, songs help you?

46

Figure 16: The purposes of using songs from students’ opinion

From the chart, we can see that the majority of the students were aware of the value of

songs in their studying. 92,7% of them regarded the benefit of songs as the combination of

relaxing and studying. While 6,2% of them thought that songs help they learning only,

there was still 1,1% of students said that songs help them relaxing only. Anyway, the

combination between, learning and relaxing was the greatest advantage that songs help

students to learn English better.

Question 11 : Do you think that usings songs can help you to have better

pronunciation?

Students’ opinion Percentage

Yes 79,9%

No 20,1%

Table 7: Students’ opinion of using songs can help they have better pronunciation

47

As we can see in the table above, 79,9% of students thought that using songs can help

they have better pronunciation while 20,1% of them thought that using songs can not help

they improve their pronunciation.

3.2.2.5. The situation of learning pronunciation by using songs at the College of

Sciences, TNU

Question 6 : How often do you listen to English songs?

As we can see in the table 8, the largest percentage of students said that they sometimes

listen to English songs, holding 60,8%. 15,9% of students usually listen to English songs

and only 4,2% of students always listen to English songs.

Frequency of listening to

English songs

Percentage

Always 4,2%

Usually 15,9%

Sometimes 60,8%

Rarely 19%

Never 3,7%

Table 8: The frequency of listening to English songs

There was 19% of students said that they rarely listen to English songs. From the result

bove we can conclude that most of the students have ever listened to English songs,

although the number of students have never listened to English songs is not much, only

holding 3,7%. The reason was that they did not like English songs or some said that they

did not understand any thing.

Question 7 : Have you ever been taught English pronunciation by songs?

48

Figure 17: Students’ experience in learning English pronunciation through songs

As the result refered from the question 9, 73,6% of students said that they have never

been taught pronunciation through songs. On the other hand, the rate of students who have

ever been taught pronunciation through songs accounts for 26,4%. The results collected in

the part of the Students’ experience in learning English pronunciation through songs play

an important role in investiagting some next questions.

Question 9 : How often does your teachers of English use songs to teach

pronunciation?

The frequency of using songs to

teach pronunciation

Percentage

Very often 2%

Often 2%

Sometimes 38,6%

Rarely 31,8%

Never 27,4%

Table 9: The teachers’ frequency of using songs to teach pronunciation, in students’ point

of view

49

The result we got from question 9 showed that only 2% of students said that their teachers

very often use songs to teach pronunciation. The same percentage chose Often and the

largest percentage of students chose Sometimes, held 38,6%. 31,8% said that their teachers

rarely using songs to teach pronunciation.27,4% of students left said that their teachers of

English have never used songs to teach pronunciation.

3.2.2.6. The advantages of using songs in learning pronunciation

Question 12: What do you think are the advantages of listening to English songs

in learrning pronunciation?

Figure 18: Students’ opinion about advantages of using songs in learningpronunciation

From the chart above, it can be seen that there is few differences between students’ rating

of advantages of listening to songs in learning pronunciation. At the top is both the number

of students who agree that songs can reduce the bodedom in the class, making up 45,5%.

Around 42,1% of students find that songs can help them to relax during the lesson and

41,6% of them said that songs can encourage them to pay attention to the pronunciation of

the words in the songs. Nearly 25,3% of them think the repetition in songs is an advantage.

50

3.2.2.7. The students’ problems when listening to English songs

Question 13 : What are your problems when listening to songs?

Figure 19: The students’ problems when listening to English songs

As clearly shown in the chart, the idea that songs usually contain sounds that are unclear

because singers link sounds together is agreed by the largest number of students (68%) .

Nearly 38,8% of surveyed students find it difficult for them to follow the speed of almost

songs. The number of students agreeing that accents of singers are not always Standard

English makes up 8,4%.The remaining 14,6% of the students stated that they are distracted

by music.

3.2.2.8. The number of songs used in the class and students’ opinion about using

songs to teach pronunciaton

Question 14 : In your opinion, the number of songs used in the class is?

51

Figure 20: The number of songs used in class, in students’ point of view

From the chart above, most of the students thought that the number of songs are used in

class is too few, making up 78%. However, 17,9% of them thought that it is enough.

Surprisingly, 3,9% students said that the number of songs are used in class is a lot.

Question 15 : In your opinion, should teachers use songs to teach pronunciation?

Figure 21: Students’ opinion about teachers should use songs teach pronunciation or not

52

From the pie chart above, 63,6% of students thought that teachers should use songs to

teach pronunciation. 35% of students wanted teachers sometimes use songs to teach

pronunciation. Only 1,7% of students thought that teachers should not use songs to teach

pronunciation.

3.4. Discussion

Basing on the result we got, this part mainly focuses on the discussion from findings,

stating some advantages and disadvantages of using songs to teach pronunciation for the

first year students at the College of Sciences, TNU.

3.4.1. Some advantages of using songs to teach pronunciation for the first year

students

The analysis of the results help us to have an overview on the practical use of English

songs in learning English , especially pronunciation. In general, the use of songs in

teaching-learninmg process is now very popular. Al most English teachers have ever used

songs in their teaching process. The most important thing here is that whether using songs

to teach pronunciation is enough and effective or not. The advantage is most of the

students like listening to songs and want to have songs in the lessons.

There is a common point of view betwwen English teachers and the first year students at

the Collge of Sciences on the effectiveness of songs in the teaching and learning English.

Most of them appreciate the vital role of songs because of their advantages. The

combination of relaxing and learning is the biggest support to them. It must be admitted

most teachers and students have a positive attitudes towards songs. Many students have a

desire of using songs more and more in class because they want to practice English more

under the teachers’ guidance together with getting of relaxing.

3.4.2. Some difficulties when using songs to teach pronunciation for the first year

students

Some difficulties when using songs are shown clearly from the results. Although the first

year students at the Collge of Sciences, TNU have experienced in learning English for

many years, their ability of speaking of English on average is not so good. This causes

53

difficult for teachers in helping them improve their speaking skills. To help students

learning speaking better, it is necessary for teachers to take into consideration students’

abilities in order to find out suitable methods as well as other support.

The most difficult for students when listening to English songs is they can not hear clearly

because singers usually link sounds together. Besides, students can not follow the speed of

almost songs is a also disadvantage when they learning pronunciation through songs. In

addition, using songs in class consisting of too many students is one of the difficulty for

the teachers. It becomes more difficult to choose the suitable songs for their students

because of students’ differences about inrerest, level, experience, etc.

54

PART C: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

In this chapter, the writer will draw some conclusions about the research that has been reported

on the previous chapters and give some suggestions as the contribution to support the teaching-

learning process and also give the limitation of the study.

I. Summary of the findings

To sum up, this study investigated the situation of using songs to teach pronunciation for

the first year students at the College of Sciences, TNU. From the data collection

instruments, namely questionnaires, the analysis and discussions of findings achieved the

following results:

Firstly, it is necessary to make pronunciation lessons more enjoyable and easier for

students to memorize. Because a large number of teachers and students find pronunciation

difficult, it is recommended that teachers should design more interesting tasks and create

pleasant atmosphere in order to avoid frustration and tensions for students. To arouse

passion for learning is essential but difficult. So, what is an effective way to reduce

boredom and encourage students to learn pronunciation?

Secondly, the use of songs in the teaching-learning process have some benefits for the

students. The students not only learn about how the words pronounced but also master

English vocabulary. Moreover, most of the student are interested in learning pronunciation

by using songs. It seems that they feel more relax during the lesson.

Finally, using songs may be an effective way to teach pronunciation, but some problems

still exist as follows: One is a need to equip teachers with specific kind of background in

phonetics and its application in communicative approaches. Another is how to design tasks

and activities basing on authentic materials. This depends on the ability of the teachers and

their enthusiasms in teaching career because looking for suitable materials and designing

tasks both interesting and effective may take a lot of time and is quite difficult. Moreover,

in a 45- minute class of language focus, it is hard to have enough time to teach both

pronunciation and grammar as regulated in the curriculum. To find a helpful song is really

a problem to some teachers who cannot apply information technology or do not have

facilities for it. Finally, to teachers who do not have a good voice and sense of music.

55

Although songs can be played by tapes or discs, etc. it is better for teachers to motivate

students by singing as a model or simply by singing together with them. If teachers sing

with wrong rhythm, they may lose confidence or be laughed at by their students.

II. Suggestions for English teachers

It is better for English teachers to use songs on their teaching - learning process since songs have

a very big benefit for the students. Songs can be implemented when teachers want to teach

vocabulary, grammar, or pronunciation. It is known that most of the students like songs, so it can

be used as one of the ways to get the students’ participation in teaching - learning process.

III. Limitations of the research

As a self-criticism, the researcher had made the best efforts to accomplish the research.

However, because of the limitation of time, scope as well as knowledge, the findings of

this research are therefore very limited to certain degree. The method of this study is only

based on the data collection through questionnaires and class observation, and if it has

chance to develop in the future it should be carried out by interviewing so that the results

would be more interesting and convincing. Furthermore, the investigation focused only on

the first year students who are studying in College of Sciences, Thai Nguyen University. In

addition, if time allowed, interviews and class observation should have been selected to

collect data in a larger scope. In short, these limitations should be taken into consideration

when further are conducted in the future. In this paper, the scope of study is limited only in

the College of Science, TNU. The research is restricted to only a small number of objects

and the researcher can only look at the situation of using songs to teach English

pronunciation for the first year students. Hence, the results cannot be generalized to all

colleges. Hopefully, this research brings some insight into one of strategies to teach

pronunciation.

56

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to promote engaged learning in the adult education classroom, Project INTER-ALT

(Interactively Advancing Literacy).

34, Scarcella, R.C., & Oxford, R.L. .1994. The Tapestry of Language Learning: The

Individual in the Communicative Classroom. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.

35, Scott Thornbury, 2003. (p.p 97). Discourse analysis for language teachers. New York:

Oxford University Press.

36, Silvia, C. B., Eva, E. V., Isabel, S. 2005. Teaching phonetics through singing and

reciting. Financed by the Madrid regional Government (ref. no. 06/HSE/0123/2004).

37, Syafei, A. 1988. English pronunciation: Theory and Practice. Jakarta: Depdikbud,

Dirjen dikti.

38, Syakur, 1995. Effective tools for Teaching English. China: Oxford University Press.

39, The Encyclopedia of Americana, 1998. Retrieved from

http://www.encyclopediacenter.com/Encyclopedia-Americana-1998-p/americana2011.htm

40, Tripp, D. 1996. SCOPE: Supporting Work Place Learning Education Department of

Western Australia. Eaglewood.

41, Verma, G. K. & Mallick, K. (1990). “Researching Education: Perspectives and

Techniques”. Falmer Press.

42, Wong, R. 1987. Teaching pronunciation: focus on English rhythm and itonation.

Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Regents.

Wesite visisted:

http://www.Allwords.com/word-song+thrush.html

59

http://www.yourdictionary.com

APPENDIX 1

QUESTIONNAIRES FOR THE FIRST YEAR STUDENTS

I am conducting the graduation thesis on “An investigation into using songs to teach

English pronunciation for the first year students at College of Sciences, TNU” which aims

at investigating the reality of exploiting songs to teaching pronunciation. I would be

grateful if you could spend some of your precious time completing this questionnaire.

Please read the questions carefully and tick on the answer you agree most for each

question. It is assured that your personal opinions will be kept secret under all

circumstances. Thank for your cooperation!

SURVEY QUESTIONS

- You are:............... (male/female)

- Your age:.............

1. How many years have you been learning English?

..................................................................................................................................................

2. Your speaking English is at which level?

a, excellent

b, good

c, normal

d, bad

3. In your opinion, what aspect of learning English is the most difficult?

a, pronunciation

b, grammar

c, vocabulary

d, 4 skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing

4. In your opinion, how important pronunciation is in learning a language?

a, very important

b, important

60

c, unimportant

5. Do you like English songs?

a, yes

b, no

6. How often do you listen to English songs?

a, always

b, usually

c, sometimes

d, rarely

e, never

7. Have you ever been taught English pronunciation by songs?

a, yes

b, no

8. Do you like having songs in the lesson?

a, yes

b, no

9. How often does your teacher of English use songs to teach pronunciation?

a, very often

b, often

c, sometimes

d, rarely

e, never

10. In your opinion, songs help you:

a, relax

b, study

c, relax and study

11. Do you think that using songs can help you to have better pronunciation?

- yes, in what way?...................................................................................................................

- no, why?.................................................................................................................................

12. What do you think are the advantages of listening to English songs in learning

pronunciation? You can choose more than one answer.

a. Songs can reduce the boredom in the class

b. Songs can help you to relax during the lesson

61

c. Songs can encourage you to pay attention to the pronunciation of the words in the songs

d. The rhythm in songs provide listeners with repetition of similar sounds

e. Others, please specify…………………………………………………..............................

13. What are your problems when listening to songs?

a, You are distracted by music

b, You can not follow the speed of almost songs

c, The accents of singers are not always of standard English

d, You can not hear clearly because singers usually link sounds together

14. In your opinion, the number of songs used in the class is:

a, a lot

b, enough

c, too few

15. In your opinion, should teachers use songs to teach pronunciation?

a, yes

b, no

c, sometimes

Thank you for your cooperation!

62

APPENDIX 2

QUESTIONNAIRES FOR TEACHERS

I am conducting the graduation thesis on “An investigation into using songs to teach

English pronunciation for the first year students at College of Sciences, TNU” which aims

at investigating the reality of exploiting songs to teaching pronunciation. I would be

grateful if you could spend some of your precious time completing this questionnaire.

Please read the questions carefully and tick on the answer you agree most for each

question. It is assured that your personal opinions will be kept secret under all

circumstances. Thank for your cooperation!

SURVEY QUESTIONS

- You are: ................(male/female)

- Your age: ........................

1. How long have you been teaching English?

.................................................................................................................................................

2. In your opinion, what aspect of teaching Enlish is the most difficult?

a, grammar

b, pronunciation

c, vocabulary

d, 4 skills: reading, writing, listening, speaking

3. In your opinion, how important is pronunciation in learning a language?

a, very important

b, important

c, not important

4. Which material do you often choose to teach English pronunciation?

a, Live speech (Teacher reads sounds aloud and students repeat)

b, Video or tape recordings

63

c, Others, please specify..........................................................................................................

4. What are your problems when teaching English sounds? (You can choose more than one

answer)

a. The English sounds are different from Vietnamese sounds

b. Students feel discouraged when they cannot produce the sounds correctly

c. You cannot find suitable materials to teach pronunciation

d. Other, please specify………………………………………………………

5. Have you ever used songs in your teaching process?

a, yes

b, no

6. Do you like teaching English pronunciation through songs?

a, yes

b, no

7. What are your purposes of using songs in your teaching process?

a, to relax

b, to learn

c, to relax and to learn

8. Which aspect of English do you want to use songs to teach most?

a, listening skills

b, speaking skills

c, writing skills

d, reading skills

e, integrated skills

f, grammar

g, voacabulary

h, pronunciation

9. How often do you use songs?

a, very often

b, often

c, sometimes

d, rarely

e, never

10. What do you think about the use of songs in teaching pronunciation?

a, very effective

64

b, effective

c, ineffective

d, neutral

11. Do your students like listening to songs?

a, yes, very much

b, yes, but not much

c, no, not at all

12. Do you think that using songs can be an effective tool for teaching pronunciation?

-Yes, in what way?...................................................................................................................

-No, why?.................................................................................................................................

13. In your opinion, what are the advantages of using songs in your lesson? (you can

choose more than 1 answer):

a, Songs can reduce the boredom of students in the class

b, Songs can help students relax during lesson

c, Songs can create high motivation towards learning English of students

d, Songs can encourage students to pay attention to the pronunciation of the words in the

songs

e, The rhythm in songs provide listeners with repetition of similar sounds

f, Others, please specify..........................................................................................................

14. In your opinion, what difficulties do you cope with when using songs in teaching

pronunciation? (you can choose more than 1 answer):

a, The class becomes noisy and out of control

b, Class time is limited

c, Students are distracted by the music

d, The sounds are not clear because singers usually link sounds together

e, You can not find suitable songs for the lesson in the curiculum

f, Mixed-ability of students

g, Others, please specify.......................................................................................................

15. When do you use songs in your class:

a, At the beginning of the lesson

b, At the end of the lesson

c, In the middle of the lesson

17. How long does it take you to apply songs in the class?

a, About 5 to 10 minutes

65

b, About 10 minutes

c, About 10 to 15 minutes

d, About 20 to 25 minutes

Thank you for your cooperation!