Evaluation of Pronunciation Games: Are They Effective in Improving Elementary Students’ Learning of Pronunciation?

Khoo Hooi ShyanUniversity of Nottingham Malaysia Campus

Introduction• Teachers and applied linguists tend to sideline pronunciation

(Jenkins, 2002; Derwing & Munro, 2005)

• Yet pronunciation is integral in shaping young learners’ speaking skills for effective communication (Lenneberg, 1967; Hancock, 1995; Cruttenden, 2008)

• For teachers who integrated pronunciation in their teaching, drilling is the most commonly used technique (Gilakjani & Ahmadi, 2011)

• However, young learners cannot relate to the technique used (Kelly, 2000 Gilbert, 2008)

• Proponents of pronunciation games hailed the approach as “useful”, “informative” and “fun”

The study attempts to:1. evaluate the effectiveness of integrating games in teaching

pronunciation

2. reformulate effective teaching methods of pronunciation to young learners

3. Bring potential improvement to young leaners’ speech acquisition

“ Any lesson plan without pronunciation is incomplete”

(Macdonald et al., 1994; Derwing et al., 1997; Hewings,

2004)

“ Every learner speaks idiosyncratically”

(Cook, 2003)

“ There needs to be an empirically sound study on pronunciation pedagogy”

(Jenkins, 2002; Derwing & Munro, 2005)

Theoretical Framework• Based on the features of pronunciation outlined by Kelly (2000)

Methodology• A action research method is chosen grading of pronunciation exercises (quantitative) classroom observation and audio recording (qualitative)

• Participants: Two classes of 16 students (8 in each group) of ages 8 – 10 years old at beginners’ level

Pilot study: Games will be played with the treatment group

Students are divided into two groups of experimental group and control group

Games of ‘Making Tracks’, ‘Stress Moves’

and ‘Two-vowel Jigsaw’ will be played

The games will be played with the first group of students but not with the second

The sessions will be recorded and observed; exercises will be distributed and graded

The games (treatment) will be taught to the control group

Outline of Research Sessions

Experiment Pronunciation Features1.Pilot study – Bingo Discrimination of sounds - /u:/,

/ǝʊ/, /аʊ/, /аI/, /eI/, /ɜ:/

2. Game session one – Making tracks

Counting syllable – one, two, three

3. Game session two – Stress moves

To identify patterns of word stress

4. Game session three - Two-vowel jigsaw (/i:/, /e/)

Practice for vowel sounds /i:/, /e/

Sample of Materials

Data Analysis

Findings and Discussion:

• Higher score averages achieved by the experimental group, in topics of syllable counting, identification of word stress and distinguishing of vowel sounds /i:/, /e/

• Both groups stumbled on words with longer syllables with control group exhibiting higher frequency

• Partly, it was due to the fact that games provided scaffolding towards acquisition

Implications for English Language Education

• As stressed by Cook (2000), play and children complements each other

• By infusing ‘play’ with teaching, it could offer maximum advantages to young learners’ learning

• Teachers could integrate ‘purposeful’ play in their lesson of pronunciation

• Teachers could offer reactive teaching (error correction), remedial or reactive lesson (dealing with difficult pronunciation issue) and practice lesson (unit of pronunciation practiced in isolation) to improve students’ pronunciation and speech acquisition (Kelly, 2000; Hewings, 2004)

Limitations Encountered• There are several limitations to these findings:

• It can be recommended that a more elaborate research be carried out in future

Inability to observe all responses from students as researcher is the game

master

Student mouthing answers to their friends

during the graded answer sessions

Not all students will be attentive during the

games sessions

Students guessed answers (word stress)

from the louder syllables being pronounced

Thank you