VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY — HOCHIMINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS AND LITERATURE THE APPLICAFTION OF AUTOMATIC SPEECH RECOGNITION TO STUDENTS’ NEW WORD PRONUNCIATION A thesis submitted to the Faculty of English Linguistics & Literature in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in TESOL By PHAM HUNG THINH Supervised by NGUYEN THUY NGA, Ph. HO CHI MINH CITY, OCTOBER 2021 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Firstly, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my thesis supervisor, Dr. Nguyễn Thúy Nga for her precious guidance, strong support, and helpful criticism and instructive comments on my work. Without her helps and encouragements, this M.A thesis would not have been successfully accomplished.
Next, I do want to say thank you to Assoc. T6 Minh Thanh for her teaching of pronunciation knowledge which directly related to my thesis. I am also grateful to other lecturers of the master programme in TESOL at the Faculty of English Linguistics and Literature of VNUHCM - University of Social Sciences and Humanities for their devoted guidance on my academic journey. Then, I would like to thank Ms.
Ngé Thi Lan Huong — Director of English for New Generation Language Centre in Bien Hoa City and all of the participants who facilitated the process of accomplishing my thesis. Last but not least, I would love to send my thanks to my beloved family, especially my wife, who absolutely believed and encouraged me in completing the programme. STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY Thereby certify that this thesis entitled “THE APPLICAFTION OF AUTOMATIC SPEECH RECOGNITION TO STUDENTS’ NEW WORD PRONUNCIATION” Submitted in terms of Statements of Requirements for Theses in Master’s Programmes issued by the Higher Degree Committee, is my own work. This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other institution.
Ho Chi Minh City, 2021 PHAM HUNG THINH ii RETENTION OF USE I hereby state that I, Pham Hung Thinh, being a candidate for the degree of Master of Arts in TESOL, accept the requirements of the university relating to the retention and use of Master’s Thesis deposited in the University Library. I agree that the original of my Master’s Thesis deposited in the University Library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the library for the care, loan and reproduction for theses. Ho Chi Minh City, 2021 PHAM HUNG THINH iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ii RETENTION OF USE Hi TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS viii LIST OF TABLES ix LIST OF FIGURES x ABSTRACT xi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Background to the .3 Aims of the on ố ốố .4 Research qu€SỂIOTNS. ¿+ 1k1 TH TH TT HT TH TH HH nhiệt 3 1.5 Rationale Of the SfUy.
--- - - - S1kSn1STnH1 HT TH ngư 3 1.6 Scope of the research ố .7 Structure Of the t€S1S.--- cà kh TnH HT HH TH TH TT HT HH nghiệt 5 1. 6 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 7 2.1 Definition Of terms ố ố ố. 7 CN son son ốố ố ố ốố ố. 7 VN 0i vi 0 0ì) ra.
8 iv PP 9o on 8 2.2 The application of technology in language teaching and learning .1 Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL).2 Automatic speech recognition (ASÌR).2 Behavioural 1nf€TfIOTA. -¿-¿- «+ 1S 111 HT TH HT TH TT HH TH Hàn 16 2.4 Young ÌÏ€aTTI€TS .- -ó- «TH TH nh TH TH HT TH TH HH TH HH ch HT 17 2.5 Review OÊ DFeVIOUS S{UCÏI€S. óc TH TH TH TH TH HH Hiệp 18 2. - ¿+ + <1 11T TT TH TT HH TH nhiệt 28 2.7 Summary Of the CÌaDẨ€T.--- - + E121 1121 1 1111 1 H101 TH HH ngàn Hiệp 30 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 31 3.1 Research QU€SEÏOTNS.
- - 1k 1S 1T TH HT TH TH TT TH TH nh ky 31 3. + kh TH TT HT HT TH Tàn HT TT TH TH Hư 31 3.-- óc 11k TH HH TH TH TT TT HH TH TH TH TH TH Hệ 38 chu: .6 Data collection DTOC€(UTC .7 Procedure of data anaÏyS1S. «kh TH TH TT HT HH TH ngư 51 E10 .10 Summary of the chapter. ¿(+ 11111111 TT TT Hà TH TH ngư, 55 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION .1 Research question 1: the effects of ASR (ELSA Speak) on students’ new word Dx0110010P000 08T.
60 1n their pronunc1atiOn Ï€aTH1TE.- ‹- ¿+ 6< 1x 193 E91 1E 11 1 11101 1H nh nưệt 63 V8? on ố ốố ố .2 Behavioural Int€TLIOH. - - óc 111191121191 91 121 vn nh Hà Hàn nh Hà Hàng rry 69 4.3 DiscussIon OÊ T€SUÏfS.- - 6 t1 T HH TT TH TH Tàn Tàn ren 76 5ô cố .5 Summary of the CHaDDT. ¿(6 E1 1 1E E1 1 11111 11101 HT HH nhe 79 CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION 80 5.3 Limitatlons Of te S{UỈY .- «+ 11111 H1 TH HT HH nhiệt 82 5.4 Recommendations for further $fUyy.5 Summary Of the CÌaDẨ€T. ¿(1121 19121 1 1111 1 HT TH HH ngàn HH 83 REFERENCES 84 APPENDICES 90 vi APPENDIX A.----S-- 1k1 HH TH TH HT TH HT TH TH nh HH HH 90 APPENDIX PB .-- ---- 1S S1 91H HH TH HH TT HT TH TH TH HH TT HH 92 APPENDIX CC .-- --- CS S121 91 121121 21 1H TT Hàn TH TH TH HH TH He 94 APPENDIX ÌD.-- - c1 121121 91 0121121 H1 HH TT HT TH TH ng HH 96 APPENDIX E uu.- ¿G5 1S S1 11 H1 121 H1 HT HT TH TH HT TH TH Hệ 102 APPENDIX ï.--- c6 S111 1 91 121121 01T H1 HT HT TH HT TH TT Hệ 107 APPENDIX lH.--- --- 6< S4 S111 91 121121 21T H1 HT TH TT Hàn TH TH 110 APPEENDIX Ì.-- (6 6 + S4 2111 51 11211 1 1 1101 H1 TH TT Hàn TH TH Hệ 113 APPENDIX J} .--- c2 S11 91 121121 21T H1 H1 TH TT Hàn TH Hệ 114 Vii AGB) Al A(O) ASR CALL CAPT CEFR EFL ESL IT IVI L2 MALL TALL TAM TPB TRA LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Attitude towards a Behavior Artificial Intelligence Attitude towards an Object Automatic Speech Recognition Computer Assisted Language Learning Computer Assisted Pronunciation Training Common European Framework of Reference for Languages English as a Foreign Language English as a Second Language Information Technology iFlytek Voice Input Second Language Mobile Assisted Language Learning Technology Assisted Language Learning Technology Acceptance Model Theory of Planned Behavior Theory of Reasoned Action Vili Table 2.
LIST OF TABLES Frequency of Common Problematic Final Sounds.---- ---«-s<+ 25 Summary of Previous SfU1€S§.- -- ¿+ 11kg gi, 26 General View on Pretest and PPOSL€S(. s5 St sekserrrrrrree 40 Format of a Pretest/POSẨ€SÍ.- SG ng HT ng ng gen 40 Comparison between the two (Questionnalres. ¿55+ s«c+xcxcscsee 49 Interpretation Scale of Cohen”s Kappa.--- «5 + S*skerrserrske 53 Result of Perception of Starters ClaSs. -¿-¿- + Sa SxS ri, 57 Result of Perception of Movers ClaS§.-¿-¿- «ca Sxs ri, 59 Result of Inter-Rater Reliability in Cohen”s Kappa.
- ----‹- 61 Result of Production of Starters Class (main cÌaS$).- --- --++-s++s+++ 62 Result of Production of Movers Class (point of reference class). 63 Summary of the Results of Research Question Ì .-------- 64 Result of Question 2 in the Questionnaire for two Classes. 66 1X LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2. EFinal Version of Technology Acceptance Model.
Common Problematic Final Sounds. Conceptual Framework of the Research. Model of Research [Design .---- «6 + + ST gi, 34 Figure 3.2 Cyclical AR model based on Kemmis and McTaggart.------- 35 ABSTRACT While teaching English at a foreign language centre in Bien Hoa city, the researcher realized that many students have difficulties pronouncing new words by themselves despite having been instructed face-to-face. The recognition was also shared by Celce- Murcia, Brinton, and Goodwin (1996) in which students are dependent on their teacher to learn new sounds.
Therefore, the researcher decided to conduct research on the issue. It was an action research which employed mixed methods design on 15 participants of two classes covering two main points: How ASR (ELSA Speak) affects students’ new word pronunciation and what attitudes students show towards the use of ASR (ELSA Speak) in their new word pronunciation. The main focus of the research was on four final alveolar sounds (/t/, /d/, /s/, /z/). It was found that the technology helped participants improved their pronunciation of the four target final sounds although the improvement was generally not significant enough in terms of statistics.
Another finding was that participants showed positive attitudes on the use of the technology in their pronunciation learning. In addition, suggestions, limitations of the research, and recommendations for further studies were also mentioned. xi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION This chapter introduced the background to the study, the statement of the problem, the aims of the study, the research questions, the rationale, and the scope of the study to provide readers with general information about the research.1 Background to the study The English language has been an important part of everyday life not only in the world but also in Vietnam, especially in such an integrating world like it is nowadays. It has become more and more popular at school, at work, on the internet, etc.
As a result, the demand to learn English has been growing up and up. Therefore, more and more people are trying to learn English, at home, at school, at language centres, etc. However, during the process of learning English, many Vietnamese learners find it difficult to learn the language, especially in pronunciation. Avery and Ehrlich (1995) explain that the difficulties in pronunciation may come from the differences between the sound systems of the 2 languages: the number of syllables in a word, the existence of consonants clusters, and the number of consonants.
They also point out some errors that Vietnamese learners usually make when pronouncing English including final sounds.2 Statement of the problem The issue of students’ pronunciation could also be seen in the researcher’s classroom. During the researcher’s teaching of a young learner class of English in a language centre in Bien Hoa city, there has been an issue noticed. It is that students depend too much on the teacher’s pronunciation when they learn new words in the lessons. The teacher pronounces new words several times for them to repeat.
However, after a while, their pronunciation becomes different from the modeling of the teacher, especially the final consonant sounds. Although there are some hard-working students who do try to pronounce the words, it seems hard for them to do it well. Because of the limited time of the lessons, the researcher cannot always spend time to help them with their new word pronunciation. Moreover, students have little chance to get feedback from others on their pronunciation which makes them worried about the fact that whether their pronunciation is accurate or not.
This issue may lead to language anxiety.565) describes language anxiety as “the worry and usually negative emotional reaction aroused when learning or using an L2”. High language anxiety is likely to have a negative impact on learners’ performance in learning L2 as well as lead to avoidance of interaction. This issue may make it more difficult for students to pronounce new words in English. In this case, teachers need to find out ways to teach pronunciation for their students, adapt methods to fit students and their needs, and help them practice effectively to overcome any problems they might have (Celce-Murcia et al, 1996).
Therefore, the researcher believed that something should be done to help them practice pronouncing new words along with the support from the researcher.