UNIVERSIDAD TÉCNICA DE MANABÍ

A research project about the needing of improving Pronunciation in basic levels of ESL learners

Responsible: Karen Resabala EncaladaSemester from September 2011-February 2012

First of all, let me introduce myself. My name is Karen Resabala, and the institution where I am currently working is Universidad Técnica de Manabí (UTM), in Ecuador. This project consists on teaching a class with a selected group of my students. At that moment, they were in NBU (according to the curriculum), during the semester from September 2011 to February 2012. In addition, they were studying Clinical Psychology in Parallel C. It was a class of 20 students.

The proposed topic is about Pronunciation: Vowel Sounds.

The students are going to take a pop-quiz in order to measure the level of knowledge in this topic, to continue the identification problem of this research.

Introduction

UNIVERSIDAD TÉCNICA DE MANABÍ HUMANISTIC AND SOCIAL SCIENCES FACULTY

CAREER: CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY C DATE: October 14th, 2011 NAME:__________________________________ PRE-BEGINNERS – NBU TEACHER: Karen Resabala, B.A. PRE-TEST I Can you distinguish the difference between these words? Minimal Pairs: What word do you hear? Choose the word you hear making a circle or underlining it. (10 points) 1. chip-------- cheap 2. note not 3. coast cost 4. said sad 5. sit set 6. boat bought 7. bye bay 8. hat hot 9. set sat 10. my me II Can you recognize the sound (phoneme) of each underlined letter(s) in the words below? Write the words in the corresponding box according the phoneme. (10 points)

VOWELS

/æ/ /ɑ/ /ɛ/ /ɔ/ /i:/

pants hot pets small tree

DIPHTHONGS

/aʊ/ /aɪ/ /eɪ/ /oʊ/ /ɔɪ/

house night day road toy

VOWELS:

Hot tree pets small pants

DIPHTHONGS:

Night day toy house road

Signature

Once I gave the Pre-test to the students, I could recognize their weakness in pronunciation. These are the results of the Pre-test.

GOOD5%

AVERAGE45%

POOR50%

PRE-TEST

EXCELLENTVERY GOODGOODAVERAGEPOOR

As one can see, none of them got an excellent or very good result. Only 5% got a good grade, while the 45% got an average grade, and finally the 50% of the class got a poor grade.

Source: Pre-test given to students of NBU Clinical Psychology C of UTM about Pronunciation. Semester from September 2011 to February 2012. Subject: English. Responsible: Karen Resabala, B.A.

Once I gave the test, the research problem emerged.

The research problem is that students do not produce basic sounds properly. Pronunciation is required for a good communication. The causes that produce this are the lack of training on phonemes, and the lack of knowledge about the difference among sounds and its production.

Identification of the Problem

Problem Formulation

“The lack of good pronunciation in Pre-Beginners Level students (NBU) cursing the career of Clinical Psychology Parallel C of Technical University of Manabi, Semester from September 2011to February 2012, impedes them a good communication and their development of listening and speaking skills.”

Problem Formulation:

“The lack of good pronunciation in Pre-Beginners Level students (NBU) cursing the career of Clinical Psychology Parallel C of Technical University of Manabi, Semester from September 2011to February 2012, impedes them a good communication and their development of listening and speaking skills.”

A view of UTM: The bust risen to its founder, Paulo Emilio Macias Sabando, Eng.It is located at the entrance of the University. Portoviejo, Manabi.

This is the place where I work... Humanistic Faculty

My group of students during the Pre-test…

What would it be?

Lights, camera, action…! And the topic for today is about Pronunciation – Vowel Sounds

“This is a very important aspect of English..., believe

me!”

A picture including the camerawoman at the back!

She moved as on the dance floor! :DMy students helped me a lot during this

activity. Although the movement, I am very thankful to them (and to her)!

There are 20 Vowel Sounds in English…

20 Vowel Sound

s in Englis

h seems a lot!

Hard work drawing by myself, but it was rewarding that my students had enough examples to learn!

Thinking and thinking during the Final Test

This time is easier than

the first time!

UNIVERSIDAD TÉCNICA DE MANABÍ HUMANISTIC AND SOCIAL SCIENCES FACULTY

CAREER: CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY C DATE: October 20th, 2011 NAME:________________________________________________________________ PRE-BEGINNERS – NBU TEACHER: Karen Resabala, B.A. FINAL TEST I According to each of the following words, recognize the underlined phoneme and write the word in the corresponding column in the chart. (20 points)

/æ/ /ɑ/ /ɛ/ /ɔ/ /i:/

Black Hot friend talk We Man Clock breakfast walk She

/aʊ/ /aɪ/ /eɪ/ /oʊ/ /ɔɪ/

out I name hello Boy sound my they coat enjoy

Signature

Friend clock She breakfast man

Walk We black hot Talk

Enjoy Coat They I name Out Boy Sound Hello my

Form of the Final Test

EXCELLENT VERY GOOD GOOD AVERAGE POOR0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

PRETESTFINAL TEST

Num

ber

of L

earn

ers

Source: Evaluations given to students of NBU Clinical Psychology C of UTM about Pronunciation. Semester from September 2011 to February 2012. Sub-ject: English. Responsible: Karen Resabala, B.A.

Comparison about the Pretest – Previous Knowledge with the Final Test – Acquired Knowledge.

In brief, it has been showed the lack of knowledge about vowel sounds in English and pronunciation of the students of Clinical Psychology C, NBU Level of UTM, Semester from September 2010 to February 2011. This result is evidenced with the pre-test given to the learners, as you could see in the pie chart.

At the end, students showed a notorious improvement in their pronunciation. Also, they could differentiate sounds and recognize the spoken words. Obviously, it will improve not only their listening and speaking skill, but also their understanding and confidence to communicate.

Conclusion

Made by Karen Resabala

Comments to:

karen_resabala@hotmail.com