A proposal of excercises to improve students´ pronunciation in 9th graders from José Martí secondary school in Sagua la Grande

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(1)FACULTY OF SECONDARY TEACHER EDUCATION. DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES. MAJOR PAPER TITLE:. A. PROPOSAL. OF. EXCERCISES. TO. IMPROVE STUDENTS´ PRONUNCIATION IN 9th GRADERS. FROM. JOSÉ. MARTÍ. SECONDARY. SCHOOL IN SAGUA LA GRANDE. Authoress: Dayana Aguila Ruiz Adviser: Msc.Matilde L.Patterson Peña (Full Professor) SANTA CLARA Academic year: 2015-2016 1.

(2) To my baby, for being my light in the darkness. To my Mother, for helping me and supporting me the whole way. To my dear husband, for standing me on the road so far. To my best friends, for being there for me all these years. To my classmates To my adviser, Matilde Patterson Peña and To every teacher of this Foreign Language Department that taught me how the way to be a better teacher and a better person as well.. 2.

(3) Abstract After a long process of research, it was confirmed that students face some pronunciation problems which affect their accuracy when communicating. Thus, the main goal of this paper is to build up a system of exercises to work with students´ pronunciation from group 9.2 at “José Martí” Secondary School.To achieve the objective of this study, it was necessary to use several methods of research.Some empirical methods such as participant observation, pedagogical test, interview to students, teacher`s diary, discussion group and triangulation were used to gather the necessary data about the current situation of the subjects of research, as well as for the constructing process of the proposal.The proposal is the result of a building up process in which the suggestions given by the discussion group and the experiences recorded in the teacher´s diary were taken into account to obtain the final scientific result. It is a system of exercises aimed at enhancing students´ pronunciation.. 3.

(4) Résumée Après un long processus dínvestigation il a été confirmé que les étudiants faire face á beaucoup des problèmes en prononciation. Ces problèmes affectent la communication. Le fin essentiel de cet travail cést dessiner un système déxercices pour améliorer la prononciation dans le groupe de la neuvième année à l‟école des études secondaires „José Martí‟‟ en Sagua la Grande. Pour réussir lóbjectif du travail ont été employé quelques-uns méthodes empiriques comme lóbservation, preuves, enquêtes et le journal du professeur. La propose final cést un résultat du processus de construction, les suggestions du groupe de discussion et les expériences accumulé dans le journal du professeur.. 4.

(5) Index I. Introduction-------------------------------------------------------------------7 Scientific Questions and Tasks----------------------------------------------9 Methods---------------------------------------------------------------------------11 II. Main Part----------------------------------------------------------------------12 2.1. Theoretical and methodological judgments------------------- 12 2.1.1 A brief historical overview--------------------------------------------- 12 2.1.2. The Teaching Learning Process of the Speaking ability------13 2.1. 3The Teaching Learning Process of Pronunciation-------------- 17 2.1.4 Pronunciation in a communicative context-------------------------19 2.2. Needs’ assessment-----------------------------------------------------22. 2.2.1. Characterization of the subjects of research----------------------22 2.2.2. Methods for the Needs‟ Assessment--------------------------------22 2.2.3. Categories------------------------------------------------------------------23 2.2.4 Results of the diagnosis------------------------------------------------23 2.2.5 Regularities-----------------------------------------------------------------26 2.3 Process of building up the proposal of a system of exercises to enhance students´ pronunciation--------------------------------------27 2.4. Evaluation of the proposal--------------------------------------------32 2.5 Proposal of a system of exercises -----------------------------------33 2.6 System of exercises------------------------------------------------------36 III. Conclusions----------------------------------------------------------------40 IV. Recommendations---------------------------------------------------------41 V. Bibliography VI. Annexes 5.

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(7) I. Introduction: The English language is spoken as a first or second language in many parts of the world. It is also the most widely spoken language in several conferences or events in the international arena; among them in the field of commerce, literary and scientific production, the international relations among the countries of the world, and communication. Due to this fact, the English language has such a great presence nowadays. English is the most taught language in the world. As it is the second common language in many countries and it is considered as a strong instrument to keep up with information technologies, the extensive English language training of huge populations has been an official linguistic policy in different nations. There are cultural and personal reasons for learning English as a foreign language. A new language opens up a whole new culture. A foreign language gives access to another culture, and lives take on a new dimension. In that sense, the great German poet, Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1827) said: “Whoever is not acquainted with learning a foreign language knows nothing of his own.” So, it is stated that a foreign language can contribute to a stronger personality and it seems that knowing foreign languages is even an essential quality of a lover. As learning a foreign language develops the tool for dealing with various types of survival challenges, technical skills, and interpersonal exchanges across and among cultures, it has been widely recognized that learning foreign languages brings opportunities, enhances employment potential, helps in personal development, builds friendships, breaks down cultural barriers, and improves understanding among people. It has been pointed out that: “To study another language and culture gives one the powerful key to a successful communication: knowing how, when, and why to say what to whom”. (Suarez, D.J. y Martín, M., 2005) Learning English in Cuba is a must nowadays and learning some more foreign languages is an aim for the near future so as to widen Cuban people‟s culture. 7.

(8) In Cuba, the responsibility of training foreign language teachers is shared by the universities existing all over the country. Nowadays, the foreign language teaching education curriculum guaranties the development of professional competencies and comprises various subjects which provide learners with the required knowledge, skills, and attitudes to accomplish their role. When teaching English in the secondary school level, students should be able to develop communicative skills in order to understand and use the information in English. They also should be able to talk about family, school and life in general, using present past and future tenses. And the most important goal to achieve in this level is the use of the foreign language in different contexts and situations. There are four abilities to be developed in English: listening, reading, writing and speaking, but in secondary school the teaching of English is focused mainly on speaking. The development of speaking with emphasis on pronunciation has been object of study of some researchers. In this university there are previous works: one carried out by Telour Sotoukee who proposed a system of actions to potentiate accuracy in pronunciation in the English language in a major paper in 2012 and the other one carried out by José Luis Jomolca who proposed a system of activities to improve students‟ pronunciation within the teaching-learning process of English in a Major Paper in 2014. The interest in this issue on the part of the authoress is related to some pronunciation problems that have been detected in the group the authoress teaches. This work reflects the present situation with 9th2 graders from José Martí Secondary School in Sagua la Grande, regarding pronunciation. Though these students show interest about learning English, their lack of knowledge and development of skills in the foreign language is high. Through some observations to classes, exchanges with the students and by the administration of a pedagogical test, the authoress found that there are several problems that affect the Teaching Learning Process of English Language, some of them related to pronunciation.. 8.

(9) The target-students show weaknesses when producing initial and final sounds such as /s/ and –ed suffix of regular verbs; and also when pronouncing the sounds that are not common or are pronounced differently in their mother tongue, such as /Λ/,/æ/ ǀθǀ, ǀðǀ, and ǀdʒǀ With the support of an interview some possible causes of these problems have been established: -The lack of communicative exercises to develop pronunciation in the classroom. - Lack of creativity for designing the exercises to develop pronunciation. - Lack of interest on the part of students to improve their pronunciation. In order to deepen into the problem stated before, the researcher established as the scientific problem the following: How to contribute to the enhancement of students‟ pronunciation in English th. in 9 2 group at José Martí Secondary School? Object of research: The Teaching Learning Process of the speaking ability in English in group 9th2 at José Martí Secondary School Field of action: Enhancement of students‟ pronunciation in English in group 9th2 at José Martí Secondary School Objective: To build up a system of exercises to enhance students‟ pronunciation in English in group 9th2 at José Martí Secondary School in Sagua La Grande.. Scientific questions: 1. What is the theoretical background that supports the improvement of pronunciation within the Teaching Learning Process of English as a foreign language? 9.

(10) 2. What is the current situation in terms of students‟ pronunciation from group 9th2 at José Martí Secondary School? 3. What changes could be introduced in the Teaching Learning Process of pronunciation in the subjects of research? 4. What transformations occur in the subjects of research during the building up process of the proposal? 5. What scientific result emerges from the process of transformation done during the research?. Scientific tasks: 1. Establishment. of. the. theoretical. background. that. supports. the. improvement of pronunciation within the Teaching Learning Process of English as a foreign language. 2. Diagnosis of the current situation in terms of students‟ pronunciation in group 9th2 at José Martí Secondary School. 3. Determination of the changes in the Teaching Learning Process of pronunciation and the transformations that occur in the subjects of research after the building up process of the proposal. 4. Evaluation of the achievement that have been accomplished during the building up process of the proposal in group 9 th2 at José Martí Secondary School. 5. Proposal of the final scientific result emerging from the building up process of the research.. Subjects of research The subjects of research are 30 students from group 9th2 at José Martí Secondary School. It was intentionally selected because it is the group in which the researcher of this paper worked during the practicum period.. 10.

(11) During the research, qualitative and quantitative procedures are employed. To help it carry out, some methods were used with the aim of obtaining the needed information.. From the theoretical level: Historical-logical: it was used to evaluate the antecedents, evolution and tendencies of the problem declared in this study. Analytic - synthetic: it was applied during the study of the problematic situation and the study of different sources containing information about the development of pronunciation in the students and in the selection of the necessary information to understand it. Inductive - deductive: it favored the study of the strengths and weaknesses of the students of the sample in relation to the development of pronunciation as well as the analysis of the data obtained through the empirical instruments administered during the diagnosis. Systemic approach: to explain the integral structure of the elements of the system of exercises designed and the systemic character of the whole process. From the empirical level: Document Analysis Observation Pedagogical Test Interview In-depth interview Discussion group Teacher‟s diary Triangulation From the mathematical level: Percentage Analysis: to process and quantify the data obtained during the research and implementation stages. 11.

(12) II. Main Part 2.1 Theoretical and methodological judgments that back up the enhancement of pronunciation within the teaching learning process of English speaking ability 2.1.1 Brief Historical Overview of the Teaching Learning Process of English pronunciation. Throughout history, the teaching of foreign languages has been determined by the social and economic conditions of the society; thus, different approaches, theories and teaching methods have been used in curricula design and pedagogical practices. Due to its rapid growth as an international language, the teaching of English, within the national system of education, is an answer to the political, economic, social, and cultural significance of foreign languages in contemporary societies. It is to this extent that the subject of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) plays an important role in helping the growing relationships between Cuba and the rest of the world. The subject of English has been the object of multitude changes since the revolutionary triumph, and has been the aim of several researches through the years. As a direct consequence, this subject has been taught under the conceptions of different methodologies and approaches. Within the syllabus of the junior high school, the teaching of EFL has established as its main goal the achievement of an elementary level of communicative competence. By communicative competence, in this scope, is meant the comprehension, production, and management of meaning in the interaction between two or more people, or between a person and a text. Methods like the audio-lingual, audio-visual, chiefly structuralists, were used for many years until the seventies when a communicative approach to language teaching emerged all over the world. Such structuralist methods were closely 12.

(13) related to behaviorism, and therefore made drilling and repetition as central elements of instruction, and considered that emphasis on repetition meant emphasis on accuracy. Some critics of structuralism stated that over-emphasis on repetition and accuracy eventually did not help students achieve communicative competence in the target language. By the end of the 50‟s, Noam Chomsky argued that being linguistically competent meant being able to understand and produce sentences correctly from the syntactic point of view only so that they could really have meaning. Though moving towards a more communicative purpose, this definition lacks reference to the importance of context and sociocultural awareness. Back in the eighties, the teaching of foreign languages turned its trends toward a communicative end, whose goal was to achieve a competent language user letting behind the linguistically idealness, resulting on diverse paradigm shifts. With the beginnings of the millennium, the curricular delineation of the subject of English in the Cuban schools has been nationally improved: the use of television started to be implemented. The traditional structuralism teaching turned into the contextualized communicative perspective of teaching. Regarding the communicative approach, this change has meant the implementation of methodological principles to achieve communicative competence. 2.1.2. The Teaching Learning Process of the speaking ability The Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach includes new ideas, concepts and techniques that improves students‟ learning, and makes the teachers‟ work more effective. It also gathers the strengths of previous methods used in foreign language teaching. CLT is a flexible approach, whose main goal is to attain communicative competence. In order to best understand this, its main goal should be plainly stated. Communicative competence consists of four components, which together suggest a model of communicative competence as a basis for classroom practice. They are: 1. linguistic. 13.

(14) competence, 2. sociolinguistic competence, 3. strategic competence, and 4. discourse competence. (Taken from English Curriculum K – 12). To achieve such level of competence in the students, the CLT approach is somehow determined by some principles that guide the classroom practice. These principles have been defined by specialists such as Keith Morrow and Neil Naiman(1989), and redefined by PhD. Alfredo Camacho(2003). In the present paper, the researcher follows the CLT principles restated by Camacho, for they are contextualized considering the educative needs of Cuban students:  Classes should be active and centered on student´s educative needs, interests and experiences.  Materials, tasks, activities and resources should be chosen on the basis of educative and linguistic criteria, and should be provide for learning and acquisition.  Practice should be carried out through meaningful tasks, which engage students in thinking and activity.  Practice should provide for strategy development.  Students should be engaged in monitoring, self-correction and selfevaluation tasks; they must be as well asked to question and reflect on what they have learned and how they have learned it.  Opportunities should be given to learn content from other areas of the curriculum through the medium of English.  Practice should engage students in cross-cultural comparison.  Classes should foster an atmosphere of co-operation and open communication among students and teacher.. 14.

(15) The Elementary communicative competence of the teaching of English in Secondary School has the main objective of developing communicative skills in order to understand the information in a written. and oral way. The other. objectives are:  Ask and give information about family situations and life, at school and home using present and past tenses.  Talk about the English Language  Show human values and a correct social conduct in the participation. and. interaction. of. the. teaching. of. foreign. languages. Some common activities which are typically used when teaching foreign languages communicatively in Secondary schools are:  Role plays  Information gap activities  Linguistic games  Songs  Questionnaires  Discussions. Oral expression is a two-way process between the speaker and the listener (or listeners) and involves the productive skill of speaking and the receptive skill of understanding. (Byrne D.1989). The authoress assumes that in the process of oral communication the speaker interacts with a listener where both change their roles in the conversation. Oral communication is an activity involving two or more people in whom the participants are both listeners and speakers having to react to what they hear and make their contributions at high speed. That is to say, the speaker may become a listener and the other way around.. 15.

(16) According to Camacho (2003), speaking is the ability to use the language in a fluent way for interactive communicative purposes during the oral communication. It is the use of communicative strategies and the language domain system, expressed in students‟ productive capacity. Speaking a language involves using all the components correctly; making the right sounds, choosing the right words and getting constructions grammatically correct. Pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary tasks will focus on the need for practicing language accuracy. Spoken language may be used for two main purposes: For interaction or social purposes: The emphasis is on creating harmonious interactions and not for communicating any information. E.g. greeting, making casual chats, telling jokes, among others. For. transactional. purposes:. The. emphasis. is. on. communicating. information. It is message oriented. Coherence and accuracy are important to present the information. (Donn Byrne, Teaching Oral English.1989) Specifically, in the Cuban Secondary schools the aim is on interaction; that is, to help students communicate orally about personal information and other basic functions. The goal of teaching speaking is oral fluency; that is, the ability to express oneself intelligibly: reasonably accurately and without too much hesitation. (Garcia S, .2006) The teaching of speaking is carried out during these stages: Presentation stage: In this stage, the teacher‟s task is to introduce the grammar and vocabulary neededfor the new communicative function(s), so students will only show comprehension. Controlled-practice stage: In this stage, the teacher will make the students reproduce the grammar and vocabulary needed for the communicative function (s), and mistakes should be corrected on the spot. 16.

(17) Free Practice stage: In this stage, the students are supposed to produce the communicative function based on real life situations. Mistakes should be corrected at the end. (Adapted from Garcia S, 2010) 2.1. 3The Teaching Learning Process of Pronunciation After having dealt with the ground where part of the research is rooted, a deepening into pronunciation is needed. As stated by Alexander in his introduction to his language learning course, students must be trained adequately in all four basic language skills: understanding, speaking, reading and writing. (L. G Alexander, 1971). That is why; there should be an integration of skills when teaching EFL. However, in the present paper, the emphasis will be placed mainly on the speaking ability and the enhancement of students‟ pronunciation for pedagogical purposes. “Speaking is primarily an oral phenomenon. When we listen to somebody, we listen to his pronunciation, recognize his grammar, vocabulary and style, and we make assumptions as to the purpose the speaker has in mind. On the other hand, when we speak, we produce sounds; organize our utterances grammatically and lexically, and appropriately to the context and the situation in which we are communicating our purposes. Pronunciation teaching deals with two interrelated skills: recognition or understanding of the flow of speech, and production or fluency of the spoken language. These skills rely very little on intellectual mastery of any pronunciation rules. Ultimately, it is only practice in listening and speaking which will give the learner the necessary skills. Therefore, it is important to define this concept.” (Gilbert, Judy B.2008) Pronunciation: “The act or result of producing the sounds of speech, including articulation, stress, and intonation, often with reference to some standard of correctness or acceptability.” (World English Dictionary, 2012) The authoress agrees with the definition given by Judy Gilbert because it is a complete and detailed definition of pronunciation. In addition, it is the most accurate for this research. The authoress agrees that for the teaching of pronunciation, not only the segmental aspects of the language should be 17.

(18) considered, but also areas like stress, rhythm and intonation, although sometimes, depending on students‟ difficulties, one of the two has to be emphasized. Although the focus of this research is on segmentals, pronunciation integrates both aspects in communication. English Learners may have some mistakes in pronunciation which are derived from various sources:  A particular sound may not exist in the mother tongue, so that the learner is not used to. forming it and therefore tends to substitute the nearest. equivalent he or she knows (the substitution of /d/ or /z/ for the English th /θ/ as in think is a typical example). . A sound does exist in the mother tongue, but not as a separate phoneme: that is to say, the learner does not perceive it as a distinct sound that makes a difference to meaning. In Hebrew, for example, both the /i/ and /iː/(ship/sheep) sounds occur but which one is used depends only on where the sound comes in the word or phrase, not what the word means; and if one is substituted for the other, no difference in meaning results. These are called „allophonic variations‟ of a phoneme, or „allophones‟. The result is that the Hebrew-speaking learner is not naturally aware of the difference in English, and may not even hear it. (On the whole, the second of the two problems is the more difficult. A totally new sound is often easily perceived as alien, and once you can hear a sound you are well on the way to being able to pronounce it. But if you cannot hear it then you cannot even attempt to pronounce it and the problem of perception needs to be overcome before any progress can be made.(Penny Ur, 1996). A very important thing when learning English or any other language is to devote time for practicing. Learning English takes time but if there is systematic practice, students will soon improve and be able to pronounce words accurately. The more the sounds are spoken, the more naturally language will come. It is crucial for teachers to have strategies and techniques at hand to use or suggest students to use when working on their own. Different hints for pronunciation practice are 18.

(19) suggested in the bibliography which discusses pronunciation. An example follows: practice pronunciation in front of a mirror. You have to train your mouth to move in new ways in order to make new sounds. Watch your mouth as you speak. You could also watch television, this will show you in which Standard English pronunciation is used. Listening to the radio is another option. The more the sounds and language patterns you hear, the easier they will be to remember. This is the strategy that is usually advised to students when working on their own. (http://www.ehow.com/way) 2.1.4 Pronunciation in a communicative context For many years teachers have used techniques for pronunciation practice with an emphasis on the repetition of the pronunciation item in the search for accuracy. Some of the most common have been: imitation – repetition, back or front chaining, phonetic transcription, simulated transcription, contrasting, minimal pairs, singing, oral reading According to Fraser (1999) Learners benefit greatly from explicit explanation of how pronunciation fits into the overall process of communication. A very simple model of communication, showing a listener trying to interpret a message on the basis of cues in the speakers' speech, is sufficient. This gives learners a framework within which to understand what goes wrong when they are not understood or are misunderstood, and to gain a clear, practical idea of the nature of linguistic contrast - not just a classroom drill with 'thigh' and 'thy', but the living basis of our ability to communicate in real life contexts. Neil Naiman, a specialist who devoted much of his work to teaching pronunciation communicatively has said that “…you do not need an expensive language laboratory to teach pronunciation. It does help if you and some of your students have access to tape recorders, both for recording and monitoring in-class production and for taping outside- of-class natural conversations.” (Naiman, 1989) Healso added that many of the activities to practice pronunciation do not require the use of a language laboratory. The authoress agrees with his idea that one needs an understanding of the sound system of English in order to teach 19.

(20) pronunciation effectively, but one does not need to be an expert phonetician to work with pronunciation in the foreign language class.. Some techniques to work with pronunciation in a more communicative way were suggested by Neil Naiman in a talk delivered in this university in 1989. Matching exercises Another way of practicing a sound contrast such as /b/ and /v/ involves the use of matching exercises. Divide the class into two groups. Group A has a written description of several people. Group B has a picture containing all of the people for which there are descriptions. The object of this activity is to match the written descriptions with the appropriate people. Chain stories Each student receives a phrase containing the sound contrasts being practiced. The first student must embed that phrase in a short story (or string of related sentences) of no longer than four sentences. The task of the other students is to guess the embedded phrase based on the correct pronunciation of the relevant sound or sound contrast. The next student continues the story using the phrase that he or she has received. Rhymalogues In Improving Spoken English, Joan Morley uses „rhymalogues‟ as a way of practicing contractions and reduced expressions in a semi-communicative fashion. For example, students can work in pairs or in groups with one member of the pair asking a question and the other providing a response. Dialogues and role plays Common reduced expressions such as „gonna‟, „wanna‟, „hafta‟, „shoulda‟,and „coulda‟ can be practiced in dialogues and role plays. It is often necessary to 20.

(21) provide students with models of such dialogues. When possible, these should be done with the students attempting to generate the dialogues and the teachers serving primarily as a resource person.. Shadowing After the oral reading activities above have been practiced extensively, the students can attempt „shadowing‟. This technique requires that students follow the rhythm and intonation contours of natural language samples by producing the language at the same time as the teacher models it. I have found this technique to be both useful and fun for students. Focused activities Other more focused communicative activities involving Suprasegmentals can be developed as well. For example, students can attempt to practice the difference between content and function words and the stress patterns associated with them by completing tasks where they have to send a telegram Monitoring It is crucial that students begin to monitor and correct each other‟s pronunciation. When students are monitoring rhythm, stress, and the production of segments, they must comment on it. This means that they are communicating about pronunciation. The ability to monitor pronunciation is invaluable. It provides students with the opportunities and the strategies to continue their learning beyond the classroom.(Naiman, 1989) For the purpose of this paper, some of these techniques were considered, mainly the ones that relate more to practicing segmentals rather than suprasegmentals. Having pronunciation practice inside and outside the classroom in a more communicative way can help students realize of the importance of attaining more accuracy when using the foreign language. 21.

(22) 2.2 Needs’ Assessment Under the conception of CLT, the educational practice has been improved placing much more emphasis on the learning needs of the target group. During this stage, the researcher administered different methods to collect the necessary information about the students´ weaknesses and strengths regarding their knowledge and abilities in English pronunciation to justify the building up process of a system of exercises to enhance students‟ pronunciation in English language. Thus, the diagnosis was applied to a sample of 30 students from 9 th2 from José Martí Secondary school in Sagua municipality. 2.2.1Characterization of the subjects of research Adolescence is a unique period of growth and development that is filled with energy, excitement and new experiences. Parental and cultural influences affect teenagers‟ development in different ways. During adolescence the body and mind go through many complex changes, some of which are difficult to deal with. Regarding the students from group 9th 2, they have turn out to be highly competitive, they are eager for learning English, though, they do not understand too much about the language. Inside the group there are some subgroups according their preferences and affinity, due to their necessity of communication and being accepted. 2.2.2 Methods for the needs’ assessment As part of the diagnosis, some empirical instruments were used. Among them; document analysis, observation, interview carried out to students, and a pedagogical test. Document analysis: To determine the treatment of pronunciation expressed by the official documents of 9th grade Interview to the students: To know their level of interest towards the subject as well as their opinions on common mistakes on pronunciation.. 22.

(23) Participant Observation: To corroborate the most common mistakes during a speaking lesson, the organization of the classroom they prefer the most (in pairs or groups), and the character of their participation in class: spontaneous or directed or appointed by the teacher. Pedagogical Test: to assess students‟level in pronunciation. Teacher‟s diary: To record what happened during the lessons and the corresponding reflections on the part of the teacher.. Triangulation: To identify theregularities after the assessment process.. 2.2.3Categories: 1. Pronunciation of sounds that do not exist in Spanish such as /Λ/, /æ/ǀθǀ, ǀðǀ, ǀdʒǀ 2. Pronunciation of the sound /s/ in initial and final position. 3. Pronunciation of final sounds mainly the -ed ending in the past of regular verbs. 2.2.4 Results of the diagnosis To determine the level of the students the following classifications were taken into account. High: The students who make a few pronunciation mistakes without affecting communication. Mid:. The students who make some pronunciation mistakes, without affecting. communication. Low: The students that make many pronunciation mistakes which also affect communication. Document Analysis:. 23.

(24) To determine the treatment of pronunciation offered by the official documents of 9th grade: the syllabus, the program and the workbook. The 9th grade syllabus includes educative and instructive objectives. Its goal is to make students practice and use the English language by means of several communicative functions which appear in ten units. There are guidelines for the treatment of pronunciation in the different units going from the work with the pronunciation of vowel sounds and the –ed suffix in the past of the regular verbs to the pronunciation of the /s/ in initial and final position. The student‟s workbook has some exercises to practice some pronunciation items. They are somewhat varied; however, most of them are not communicative. Most of the exercises are designed for developing grammar and writing; the rest are aimed at practicing speaking skill and expanding vocabulary. Its contents are in correspondence with the students‟ ages and interests and they are organized in relation to the communicative functions.  Pronunciation of final sounds mainly the -ed ending in the past of regular verbs The pedagogical test:. The results after the administration of this test proved that the main problems are in six students (20%), who do not pronounce the final sound -ed ending in the regular verbs correctly in words like:worked, listened, and talked. Students tried to pronounce these words the same way they are written. Participant observation: Six of the students(20%), show difficulties when pronouncing the –ed suffix in the past of the regular verbs, they don‟t know if these verb end in ´´t´´ or ´´d´´. Interviews to the students:. 24.

(25) The majority of the students expressed they like English but sometimes they lose their interest because some sounds are difficult to pronounce, as in the case of the sound /ed/ in final position in the past of the regular verbs.  Pronunciation of sounds that do not exist in Spanish such as: /Λ /, /æ/ǀθǀ, ǀðǀ, ǀdʒǀ Participant observation: The students showed problems with the pronunciation of sounds that do not exist in their mother tongue:/Λ/,/æ/ǀθǀ, ǀðǀ, ǀdʒǀand they always tried to write the words as they are pronounced. The students also like to work in pairs and groups when they had to answer questions, most of them raised their hands spontaneously. Ten (33.3%) students were considered High; Fourteen (46.6%) were Medium and six (20%) were low level.. Pedagogical test: Students had problems with the sounds that do not exist in Spanish/Λ/,/æ/ǀθǀ, ǀðǀ, ǀdʒǀ. Eight(26.6%) students showed some difficulties in this indicator and were considered high. Ten 33.3%) Medium, while the rest 12(40%) are low level.. Interviews to the students The majority of students expressed that they have problems when pronouncing those sounds that do not exist in their mother tongue Λ/,/æ/ǀθǀ, ǀðǀ, ǀdʒ. So, 4 students(13.3%) were considered High level, 8(26.6) were Mid- level, and 18students( 60%) were Low level  Pronunciation of the sound /s/ in initial and final position. Interviews to students:. 25.

(26) The students confirmed that the initial and final /s/ in words like students, sport and works are very difficult to pronounce due to the fact that in Spanish there are no words that start with /s/.. Participant observation: The subjects of research showed weaknesses when pronouncing the /s/ in initial and final position, such as the /s/ of the verbs in the third person singular. They also expressed they prefer to work in pairs because it is a way of interacting with each other. Twenty (66.6) students were considered High, eight (26.6) were medium and only 2(6.6) students were low level.. Triangulation:It helped the authoress of this research to establish some regularities. As a result, fifteen students were considered High level, nine students were considered Mid-level, and six students were considered Low Level. 2.2.5 Regularities Through the implementation of the previous instruments the following regularities are considered: Strengths:  The majority of the students like the English language  They work well when organized in pairs and in groups. Weaknesses:  The students show difficulties when pronouncing the sounds that do not exist in their mother tongue/Λ/, /æ/ ǀθǀ, ǀðǀ, ǀtʃǀ and ǀdʒǀ.. 26.

(27)  The subjects have problems in the pronunciation of the initial and final /s/ of words.  The students show problems when pronouncing the –ed suffix in the regular verbs in past tense.  The students tend to pronounce the words like they write them.. The Regularities previously stated confirm the problematic situation in the introduction of this paper. This led the authoress to build up a system of exercises to enhance students‟ pronunciation.. 2.3 Process of building up the proposal of a system of exercises to enhance students´ pronunciation. At the beginning of the academic year (2015-2016), it was detected that students from group 9th 2 at “José Martí” Secondary School presented problems related to the speaking ability in English, most of them regarding pronunciation. Consequently, it was suggested in the group discussion to carry out a research aimed at enhancing students‟ pronunciation. An initial proposal of exercises was designed aimed at enhancing the pronunciation in English in group 9th 2.. The exercises were implemented. through units one, two, four, five, six and eight. Primarily, it was composed of eight communicative exercises; five for controlled practice, two for semicontrolled practice and one for free practice. Almost all the exercises were organized in pairs but some required that students worked individually. After having analyzed the building up process of the system of exercises in the group discussion, some suggestions were offered which stated the need to: . Add some flexibility to the exercises according to the necessities of the group.. . Follow a system approach to create the exercises.. 27.

(28) . Consider the importance of context when designing the tasks as well as the instructions to carry out the exercises. This can provide enough information about what students have to do in those exercises.. . Reach authenticity and adapt when necessary depending on students‟ level. . To pay attention to the reactions of the students when implementing the exercises in cases they don´t comprehend instructions or consider the exercises are too easy.. . To analyze the source of pronunciation problems, for e.g. if they are derived from other language components such as spelling or vocabulary.. After the previous analysis the authoress took down notes about what went right and/or wrong during the implementation of the exercises and what could be improved or changed in the proposal.. Exercise2 (Category 1) was implemented in a controlled practice lesson in Unit 4 Hobbies. It was a 15 minute task in which students had to practice the sound / / while writing words for the things on the pictures. The instructions were well formulated and the exercise was not complex, so the students could do it well and finish it on time. The pictures used were very helpful because the students were motivated. However, the more advanced students expressed that the exercise was too easy for them, that they got bored. The main cause of this phenomenon was that the authoress did not take into account students´ diagnosis and differences. Therefore, it was suggested by the group discussion to add a new item for those students who are in a higher level in which they write sentences about their likes and dislikes using the words they wrote. Exercise 3Shopping Interview (Category 1) was implemented in a controlled practice lesson, in Unit 2 Travel time, for a time of 15 minutes. The students had. 28.

(29) to practice the sounds ǀdʒǀ and ǀtʃǀ .The teacher gave them a list of stores and a shopping list. They had to work in pairs and decide where they will buy. The exercise was not easy but the task orientation was well designed and suited student‟s level. They could interact with one another and could see their partners‟ mistakes. They also had fun and showed respect and solidarity to the students that could not accomplish the exercise so well.. The time devoted to the exercise was not enough for the students to finish the task because they did not know so much about the new vocabulary, so it made it more difficult for them.. In order to improve the exercise, it is necessary to work with the unknown words for the students giving them pictures to associate with the words. Also, it is recommended to add more time to do the exercise.. In exercise 6 (Category 1) the students had to practice the sounds /. / while. filling the boxes with words, asking their partners for the missing information. It was implemented in a controlled practice lesson in Unit 8 The Environment. The students liked to do it in pairs and they showed motivation when they asked and answered their partners questions because they wanted to pronounce the words correctly, so they could have their peers understand. They expressed how comfortable they felt when supporting each other in pairs. The techniques used were efficient and helpful and the task orientation was well designed. The exercise followed the communicative language teaching principles and pedagogical foundations. Similar towhat had happened in the second exercise, the time devoted to this one was not enough for the students to finish the task. They did not know all the new vocabulary either, so it was difficult for them to accomplish the aim of the exercise.. 29.

(30) In order to improve this exercise, it was necessary to do a previous preparation in the students taking into account the unknown words that will appear in the exercise. The teacher could use some pictures and the student have to associate them with the words and add more time to it as well.. Exercise 5 (Category 1) was implemented in a semi-controlled lesson in Unit 5 The English Language (Review) in which the students had to practice the sounds / / and / /. The time allotted for the exercise was 10 minutes. The exercise did not work so well. In one hand, the students felt motivated when they had to perform the story. The instructions were well designed and the techniques used were efficient and helpful In the other hand the exercise asked the students to work individually; it was very difficult for them to complete it due to its complexity and to the time allotted to develop it. Taking into account this situation, the teacher could change the way in which students were organized from working individually to work in pairs and add more time for the implementation of the exercise.. Exercise 1 (Category 3) was implemented in a controlled practice lesson in Unit 6 Pastimes, the students had to work individually and recognize the differences in pronunciation in the past of the regular verbs. The instructions were well written and the exercise was not complex, so the students could do it well and finish it on time. The techniques used were efficient and helpful and the task orientation was well designed. The exercise followed the CLT principles and the pedagogical fundamentals. However the students did not know the meaning of some of the verbs.. 30.

(31) Taking into account this situation, the teacher should prepare the students for the exercise by doing some initial preparation with the unknown vocabulary writing the verb on the board and explaining their meanings. Exercise 2 (Category 3) was implemented in a semi-controlled practice lesson in Unit 6 Pastimes, in which the students had to practice the sound –ed ending of regular verbs in simple past. The time for this exercise was 20 minutes. The instructions were well formulated and the exercise was not complex, so the students finished it before the expected time. This provoked a situation of misbehavior in the classroom on the part of some students. Once asked for the reasons, they stated that the exercise was too easy, so they got bored. As a suggestionfrom the group discussion, it was stated that the exercise should be expanded in order to make better use of time. Exercise 3 (Category 3) was implemented in a free practice lesson in Unit 1 Summer vacations. The students had to use the –ed suffix in the past of the regular verbs in a role play. The time allotted for the exercise was 10 minutes. The students were motivated because they had to talk about activities in the past and had to work in pairs. In one way this exercise worked well because it followed the communicative language teaching principles, as well as the pedagogical foundations of task orientation and the use of pair work. The characteristics of the group and the ages of the subjects were taken into account when designing the exercise. However, time was not enough. Some of the pairs could not perform their dialogue. So, ten additional minutes should be added in order to obtain better results. Exercise 2(Category 2) was implemented in a controlled practice lesson, in Unit 6 Pastimes. It was a 10 minute exercisein which students had to work in pairs while pronouncing the sound /s/ in final position. The instructions were well designed and the exercise was easy. The students felt motivated when they had to act it out. However, the students were not able 31.

(32) to finish the task on time. Even, some of the couples could not perform the minidialogue. So, it was suggested in the group discussion to add more time to the exercise. 2.4 Evaluation of the achievements that have been accomplished during the building up process: The building up process of the system of exercises was carried out with the aim of enhancing student‟s pronunciation in English in 9th graders from “José Martí” Secondary School. Before the building up process of the system of exercises the fifteen students (50%) that made a few pronunciation mistakes in which communication was not affected, were considered High level. The nine students (30%) that made some mistakes, in which communication was not affected were considered Mediumlevel and the six students (20%) that made many mistakes in which communication was affected were considered Low level. The pedagogical test of the needs´ assessment proved that the main problems are in six students, which represent the 20% of the subjects, who do not pronounce the final sound -ed ending in the regular verbs correctly; for example in words such as worked, listened, and talked; because the students tried to pronounce them the same way they were written. They also had problems with the sounds that do not exist in Spanish/Λ/,/æ/ǀθǀ, ǀðǀ and ǀdʒǀ Then, eight (26.6%) students showed some difficulties in this indicator and were considered High level, Ten (33.3%) were Mid Level, while the rest twelve (40%) were low level. This can also be seen in the participant observation where the students showed problems with the pronunciation of sounds that do not exist in their mother tongue/Λ/,/æ/ǀθǀ, ǀðǀ, ǀtʃǀ and ǀdʒǀ.These students always tried to write the words as they were pronounced. Ten (33.3%) students were considered High level; fourteen (46.6%) were Mid-level and six (20%) were Low level. After the implementation of the system of the exercises some methods were administered to know students áchievements, regarding pronunciation. 32.

(33) Through a Pedagogical test and a Participant Observation it was observed that the majority of students accomplished the aim of the system of exercise. However six students (20%) continue having mistakes in the pronunciation of those sounds that do not exist in their mother tongue As a result of the transformations, some improvement could be noticed. The exercises created awareness in the subjects of the importance of pronouncing well in English to be well understood. The fact that their needs were taken into consideration made the proposal closer to their reality. Pronunciation cannot be seen as a separate element from the linguistic point of view. It integrates with the rest of the elements when teaching speaking. When the administration and construction of the proposal was taking place, it was evident that in some of the exercises where students felt difficulties, there was a relation with the use of vocabulary. This need emerged when students found it difficult to perform a task because of lack of vocabulary or because of lack of understanding of the meaning of some words. In general the results were positive, but there are still some issues that require attention. 2.5 Proposal of a system ofexercises to enhance students´ pronunciation in ninth graders at José Martí Secondary school. 2.5.1 Objective Taking into account the results of the needs assessment regarding the students‟ pronunciation, the system of exercises was improved. This system gives answer to the objectives of the educational level and the current changes that have been taking place for some time: a teaching-learning process centered on the students‟ needs based on a previous diagnosis. The proposal is aimed at helping students from ninth grade at “José Martí" Secondary Schoolto enhance their pronunciation in English. The proposal consists of 10 exercises, seven for controlled practice, two for semi-controlled practice and one for free practice. There is a relationship among them as every single exercise was prepared to support the contents given in units one, two, 33.

(34) four, five, six and eight according to its distribution in the English syllabus for ninth grade. Almost all the exercises were organized in pairs but some required that students worked individually and/or in groups in which the students need to practice their pronunciation skills in order to be more accurate when speaking. In detail, the proposal covers six of the units existing in the students‟ workbook; all the exercise were chosen from authentic sources and some of them were adapted by the authoress so it may be used as a reference material that teachers can consult when teaching speaking to 9th graders.. 2.5.2 Foundation of the proposal The proposal is based on philosophical, pedagogical and methodological judgments: Philosophical foundations The philosophical foundations of the proposal of the present research are grounded by the Marxist-Leninist philosophy. In its most general characteristics, dialectical materialism studies the nature of human beings and its laws to turn the prior objective laws into method of further knowledge and transformation of reality. The study of the historical antecedents of strategies followed to enhance pronunciation in secondary schools has confirmed that the previous procedures devoted to the teaching of pronunciation have not been effective, so this proposal paves the way for the creation of a positive learning environment that will help ninth grade students to enhance their pronunciation in English. Pedagogical foundations The school offers the requirements for the development of an appropriate teaching learning process of English. The proposal suggests exercises that are contextualized (task orientation) which contribute to a relaxed atmosphere during the lesson as it is developed through pair and group work and therefore cooperative learning. Methodological foundations 34.

(35) The proposal is based on the Communicative approach for the teaching of foreign languages. The authoress assumes the Communicative Language Teaching principles redefined by Alfredo Camacho for the Cuban context:  Classes should be active and centered on student´s educative needs, interests and experiences.  Materials, tasks, activities and resources should be chosen on the basis of educative and linguistic criteria, and should be provide for learning and acquisition.  Practice should be carried out through meaningful tasks, which engage students in thinking and activity.  Practice should provide for strategy development.  Students should be engaged in monitoring, self-correction and selfevaluation tasks; they must be as well asked to question and reflect on what they have learned and how they have learned it.  Opportunities should be given to learn content from other areas of the curriculum through the medium of English.  Practice should engage students in cross-cultural comparison.  Classes should foster an atmosphere of co-operation and open communication among students and teacher. The Elementary communicative competence of the teaching of English in Secondary School is the main objective to be attained in students from this level. Consequently, pedagogically speaking, this study helped to accomplish the role of the school of leading teenagers into academic achievements, reaching social development and cultural transmission; enhancing the development of the students‟ educational level. The proposal follows a systemic approach.. 35.

(36) According to Grijalbo's Dictionary (s.a:874) a system is defined as “an organized whole of things, means, and ideas that contributes to a same goal”. Webster‟s Dictionary (1983:895), on the other hand, defines system as “a regularly interacting or interdependent group of items forming a unified whole”.. The authoress of this major paper favors the concept given by Grijalbo´s Dictionary because it gives a better and simpler description of what a system is. They both concluded that a system is a group of interrelated items that responds to the same goal, which in this case is to improve the students’ pronunciation skills.. 2.6 System of exercises. CATEGORY 1: Sounds that do not exist in Spanish. Exercise # 2 (Adapted from Theoretically-based Practical Recommendation for Improving EFL/ESL students` Pronunciation. Mohammad Maher Jesry) Aim: to recognize and practice the sound /. / in the words for the things in the. pictures. Stage: Controlled Practice Organization: Individually, in pairs Time: 15 minutes Teaching aids: Pictures Procedure: The teacher shows the students some pictures and asks them to write words for the things on the pictures. Then, the teacher has the students practice their pronunciation, and tells them to write some sentences about their likes and dislikes, using the words they wrote. a) Write words for the things on the pictures 36.

(37) /ei/. /ae/. cake. apple. b) Write sentences about your likes and dislikes using these words. Then compare your answers with your partners. How similar or different are the things you like or dislike.. CATEGORY 2: The sound /s/ in initial and final position. Exercise # 1 Aim: To practice the sound /s/ in the endings of the third person singular. Stage: Controlled Practice Organization: Individually and in pairs Time: 15 minutes Teaching aids: Blackboard Procedure: The teacher writes a gapped dialogueon the board for students to fill in the blanks with the third person of the verbs given, after that the students have to read the dialogue for demonstrating how they would pronounce the ending of verbs. They can work in pairs to monitor their pronunciation. The teacher goes around correcting mistakes on the spot. Later she gives a model reading emphasizing on the ending of verbs. Instruction: 37.

(38) Write the third person of the verbs in the following gapped dialogue. Be ready to read it with the correct pronunciation: Elena and Tom are talking about the activities theirsons and daughtersdo every week. Elena: What does your daughter Caroline do on Mondays? Tom: She (watch) ___________ TV in the afternoon, and (love)________ to read adventure books in the evening. What about your son Henry? Elena: He (go) ____________ to the theater every Friday night, and sometimes (dance)____________ in the club in his free time. Does your younger son still sing? Tom: Yes, he does. He__________ (sing) every Saturday at Miley´s restaurant, but he also ( like)__________ practicing sports every afternoon. Elena: My daughter Lena likes sports too. She________ (swim) in the pool every day .. CATEGORY 3: The /ed/ ending of regular verbs in simple past. Exercise #2 (adapted from Pronunciation exercises By Miles Craven) Aim: to produce the –ed ending of regular verbs in simple past in conversations created by themselves. Stage: Semi-controlled Practice Organization: Pair Work Time: 20 minutes Teaching aids: Blackboard Procedure: the teacher writes a list of regular verbs on the board and reads them, then asks the students about their pronunciation. The teacher tells the students to write the verbs in the right column according to their pronunciation. After that the students have to create a dialogue about what they did last vacation using these verbs.. 38.

(39) Listen and repeat these words. Do they end in /id/ or /t/? Write each word in the correct column. Then, create a dialogue about what you did last vacation. Try to use as many as possible.. Started, worked, waited, needed, baked /id/ started. /t/ missed. _______. _______. _______. _______. 39.

(40) III. Conclusions: 1. The theoretical and methodological judgments that back up the enhancement of pronunciation within the teaching learning process of English speaking ability were based on the historical antecedents of the teaching learning process of pronunciation in the English language. The communicative language teaching principles to develop the speaking ability give the necessary theory that will support the actions to improve and enhance students‟ pronunciation.. 2. The results of the diagnosis revealed that the main difficulties of group 9th 2 at “José Martí” Secondary School are related to the pronunciation of some sounds that do not exist in their mother tongue/Λ/, /æ/,ǀθǀ, ǀðǀ, ǀdʒǀ; the mispronunciation of initial and final /s/ of words; and the pronunciation of the –ed suffix in the regular verbs in past tense.. 3. During the building up process of the proposal, the need of considering time for carrying out the exercises and including a preparation time for some of them to deal with vocabulary became evident. Some exercises dealing with vocabulary were suggested next time this proposal is implemented 4. The results obtained during the building up process of the proposal were satisfactory. In the subjects, awareness towards the need for better articulation of sounds in order to make them understood was developed as well as an improvement in their pronunciation. 5. The system of exercises can contribute to better students´ pronunciation because it provides enough practice and was redesigned to meet their pronunciation needs.. 40.

(41) IV. Recommendations It is recommended to improve the system of exercises to enhance pronunciation, and validate it. It is also suggested to increase the number of exercises, so that they can cover more units from the ninth grade program.. 41.

(42) V. Bibliography Antich de León, Rosa et al. Metodología de la Enseñanza de Lenguas Extranjeras. La Habana: Editorial Pueblo y Educación. 1986. Brumfit. Teaching English as a Foreign Language. Routledge, 1983 Byrne D. Teaching Oral English.1989. Camacho Delgado, Alfredo Andrés. La enseñanza comunicativa delinglésenlastransformaciones de la secundaria básica: Un modelo curricular para superfeccionamientoenelterritorio. Tesisenopciónal grado de DoctorenCiencias Pedagógicas, I.S.P. “Félix Varela”. 2002 Canale, Michael. From Communicative Competence to Communicative Language Pedagogy. Richards J. and Richards S. Eds. Longman. London, 1983. Canale, M. and Swain, M. Theoretical Basis of Communicative Approaches to Second Language Teaching and Testing. Applied Linguistics, 1980. Celce-Murcia, Marianne et al. Teaching Pronunciation. Cambridge University Press) Craven, Miles.Pronunciationexercises Diccionario Enciclopédico Grijalbo. Editorial Arte, pp. 451. Ed. Grijalbo Mondador. S.A. Barcelona, 1998. Fraser, Helen.ESL PronunciationTeaching: Could it be more effective? ALAA Conference, Perth, 1999. Garcia S. et al .Fundamentals for FL teachers, Pedagogical University “Felix Varela” 2010. Gilb World English Dictionary, 2012ert, Judy B, Teaching Pronunciation. Cambridge University Press.2008. Gower Roger 1983,Teaching Practice. Hancock, Mark.EnglishPronunciation in Use. Cambridge University 42.

(43) Press Harmer, J. How to Teach English, 2010 Hymes, Dell. On Communicative competence. Sociolinguistics. Harmondsworth, England. Penguin Books, 1994 Jesry,Mohammad Maher Theoretically-based Practical Recommendation for Improving EFL/ESL students` Pronunciation. Keith Morrow, K. Principles of Communicative Methodology inCommunication in the Classroom. Longman, 1981. Littlewood, W. Communicative Language Teaching, 1981. Naiman, N. Article. TeachingPronunciationCommunicatively. Communication Journal, INTUR, 1989. PennyUr. A Course in languageTeaching. Cambridge University Press, 1996. Webster's New World Dictionary & Thesaurus Copyright © 2006 by Wiley Publishing, Inc, Cleveland, Ohio (http://www.ehow.com/way). 43.

(44) VI. Annexes ANNEX 1 Analysis of documents. Aim: To determine the treatment of pronunciation offered by the official documents of the target grade. Documents: 9th grade Syllabus. Distribution of contents (Dosificación) Students‟ workbook Indicators: Objectives and contents to be achieved. Exercises to practice pronunciation.. ANNEX 2Participantobservation (needsássessment) Objective: To corroborate the most common mistakes during a speaking lesson, the organization of the classroom they prefer the most (in pairs or groups), and the character of their participation in class: spontaneous or forced Categories: Pronunciation of sounds that do not exist in Spanish. Pronunciation of the sound /s/ in initial and final position.. Observation guide. 44.

(45) What is the students level (High, Mid or Low) regarding pronunciation in English language? What are the students´ common mistakes? How the students like to work? In pairs, in groups or individually? What is thecharacter of the students‟ participation in class: spontaneous or forced?. ANNEX 3 Pedagogical test (Needs´ assessments) Objective: to assess students‟ level of pronunciation. Categories: Pronunciation of final sounds mainly the -ed ending in the past regular verbs Pronunciation of sounds that do not exist in Spanish. Exercise: You were in the park last night and something amazing happened to you sSome of the following words are included in your story. Tell your partner. WORDS: Cynthia, thief, happened, then, truth, mother, thought, yelled, followed. ANNEX 4 I Interview to the students ( NeedsÁssessment) Objective: To get information about the reasons for the students‟ common mistakes in pronunciation. Besides, it was used to know the level of interest in students towards the English subject. 45.

(46) Questions: ¿Te gusta la asignatura de Inglés? ¿ Porqué? ¿De los contenidos estudiados, cuáles te han gustado más? Porqué? ¿Qué te gusta más, escribir o hablar el inglés? Para ti, ¿qué sonidos son más difíciles de pronunciar? ¿ Porqué? ANNEX 5 Participant observation (during the building up process of the proposal) Objective: to assess the building up process through the implementation of a preliminary system of exercises. Categories: Work distribution Time allotted Task orientations Level of complexity of the exercises. Techniques used to practice pronunciation Students‟ motivation Students‟ reactions during the implementation of the exercises.. ANNEX 6 Interview to students (during the building up process of the proposal) Objective: to know students´ opinions about the strengths and weaknesses of the system of exercises during the building up process of the proposal.. 46.

(47) Type: unstructured interview Questions: ¿Te gustó el ejercicio? ¿Qué parte te gustó más? ¿Por qué? ¿Te alcanzó el tiempo para hacerla? ¿Cómo considerarías el ejercicio: fácil, asequible, trabajoso o difícil? ¿Qué cambiarias o añadirías a esta para perfeccionarla?. ANNEX 7 Teacher´ diary Title: Model of a Learning Research Journal The Learning Research Journaloffered in this paper has been used by 4th and 5th year students majoring in Foreign Languages at “Félix Varela Morales” Pedagogical Campus from “Marta Abreu” Central University during the academic year 2015-2016 while building up their scientific outcome as part of their term and major papers respectively. STRUCTURE OF THE LEARNING RESEARCH JOURNAL General information: Student´s name: Majoring in: Year: Name of the School (practicum): Grade you teach: Context Physical context 47.

(48) 1.1. School Psychological context 2.1. Psychological characteristics of the students according to their age 2.2. Psychological characteristics present in the students subjects of research 2.3. Psychological characteristics that favor the teaching learning process of the English language Social context: o Problematic situation identified in the subjects of research. o Scientific problem 3.3 Regularities derived from the needs assessment. ANNEX 8 Participant Observation( while implementing the system of exercises) Objective:. to. evaluate. the. students´. transformation. through. the. implementation of the system of exercises. Categories:. Pronunciation of final sounds mainly the -ed ending in the past regular verbs Pronunciation of sounds that do not exist in Spanish Pronunciation of the sound /s/ in initial and final position.. ANNEX 9. Pedagogical test (After the implementation of the system of exercises). 48.

(49) Objective: to measure the students‟ level of pronunciation. Categories: Pronunciation of final sounds mainly the -ed ending in the past regular verbs. Pronunciation of sounds that do not exist in Spanish /Λ/, /æ/ ǀθǀ, ǀðǀ, ǀtʃǀǀdʒǀ Pronunciation of the sound /s/ in initial and final position. Procedures: The teacher gives the students cards with words written on them and asks them to make up a story including those words. They are told that the most interesting stories will be selected Students pair up to tell their stories to one another. The teacher checks in plenary to decide which the class likes best.. CATEGORY 1:Sounds that do not exist in Spanish. Exercise# 1 (Adapted from English Pronunciation in Use. Mark Hancock. Cambridge University Press) Aim: to practice the sound / / Stage: controlled practice Organization: In groups Time: 15 minutes Teaching aids: blackboard Procedure:The teacher writes some sentences on the board giving as a context the fact that some people speak to computers to see what they write. She will explain that the sentences and not written correctly and that they should correct them, and later repeat the sentences.. 49.

(50) Instruction: Think of a computer which people speak into and writes what they say. This computer wrote these sentences down wrongly. Correct them. E.g. the meeting will be at free o`clock. three. 1. A bat will be more relaxing than a shower. 2. The train should go true the tunnel. 3. You shouldn‟t walk on the ice. It‟s to fine. 4. You will have to wear a sick coat next winter. 5. I don‟t know. I haven‟t fought about it. Exercise # 2 (Adapted from Theoretically-based Practical Recommendation for Improving EFL/ESL students` Pronunciation. Mohammad Maher Jesry) Aim: to recognize and practice the sound /. / in the words for the things in. the pictures. Stage: Controlled Practice Organization: Individually, in pairs Time: 15 minutes Teaching aids: Pictures Procedure: The teacher shows the students some pictures and asks them to write words for the things on the pictures. Then, the teacher has the students practice their pronunciation, and tells them to write some sentences about their likes and dislikes, using the words they wrote. c) Write words for the things on the pictures. 50.

(51) /ei/. /ae/. cake. apple. d) Write sentences about your likes and dislikes using these words. Then compare your answers with your partners. How similar or different are the things you like or dislike.. Exercise# 3 Shopping interview (Taken from Teaching Pronunciation by Marianne Celce-Murcia et al. Cambridge University Press) Aim: To practice the pronunciation of the sounds ǀtʃǀ and ǀdʒǀ Stage: Controlled Practice Organization: Pair Work Time: 20 min Teaching aids: Blackboard and pictures. Procedure: The teacher gives the students some pictures as a shopping list and as a list of stores. He works with the new vocabulary in order to make the exercise easier. Students have to work in pairs and ask each other questions about what to purchase and the place where they will do it. Imagine you‟re going shopping for the things on the list. Relate the name of those things whit the pictures and practice their pronunciation. Work in pairs, decide where you will make your purchases, the list of the stores is on the right.. 51.

(52) Potato chips. Joe‟s Liquor Store. A jug of wine. Churchill‟s Bakery. Jelly doughnuts. George‟s Supermarket. Grape juice Jumbo shrimp Cheddar cheese Chewing gum Strawberry jam Tangerines Cherry pie Matches Orange marmalade. 52.

(53) Chicken legs a) Now, ask and answer the following questions: A: What will you buy at _________? B: I will buy ___________. A: Where you will buy the__________? B: I‟ll buy (It/Them) at __________. A: How much/many will you buy? B: I‟ll buy_____________.. Exercise# 4(Adapted from Teaching Pronunciation by Marianne CelceMurcia et al. Cambridge University Press) Aim: To practice the pronunciation of the sounds / / and / story with the words given.. / while creating a. Stage: Semi-controlled Practice Organization: In groups Time: 20 minutes Teaching aids: Blackboard Procedure: The teacher gives the students a list of words and asks them to choose eight of those words in order to make up a story in groups while using those words. Choose eight words from the list below. Then create a story using the words in no particular order. List: thief. father. truth. brother. theory. mother. author. this. think. that. 53.

(54) through. these. thorough. those. Cynthia. then. Theo. there. Matthew. together. Example: Std 1: Last Saturday, my sister Cynthia went on a trip to Boston. Std 2: She wanted to visit my brother Matthew, who lives there. Std 3: She travelled through many small towns. She didn‟t know that it was sofar. Std 4: After she arrived, a thief stole her money and she had to return home. At the end the most creative story should be chosen.. Exercise#5(Taken from Teaching Pronunciation by Marianne CelceMurcia et al. Cambridge University Press) Aim: To practice the pronunciation of the sound / / while filling the boxes. Stage: Controlled Practice Organization: Pair work Time: 20 min Teaching aids: cards, board and pictures. Procedure: The teacher divides the class into pairs and gives them letters A and B. Then she gives cards accordingly for students to complete the charts below as they question each other. The teacher works with the new vocabulary showing the students some pictures to associate them with the unknown words. For homework they should try to make sense out of some of the words by writing two or three sentences. Instruction: Eight of sixteen boxes below are filled in for you and the other eight are empty. Fill the empty boxes by asking your partner for the missing information. In turn your partner will ask you questions about your eight 54.

(55) words. You should ask like: What‟s the word in box C2? After finishing, compare your answers to see if you unde rstand each other. Then practice pronouncing each of the words.. Student A 1 A. 2. bomb. 4. duck. B. not. C D. 3. cup cut. box. got. hut. Student B A B. sock. C. luck. come. stuck. rob. smog. cop. D. nut. CATEGORY 2: The sound /s/ in initial and final position. Exercise # 1 Aim: To practice the sound /s/ in the endings of the third person singular. Stage: Controlled Practice Organization: Individually and in pairs Time: 15 minutes. 55.

(56) Teaching aids: Blackboard Procedure: The teacher writes a gapped dialogueon the board for students to fill in the blanks with the third person of the verbs given, after that the students have to read the dialogue for demonstrating how they would pronounce the ending of verbs. They can work in pairs to monitor their pronunciation. The teacher goes around correcting mistakes on the spot. Later she gives a model reading emphasizing on the ending of verbs. Instruction: Write the third person of the verbs in the following gapped dialogue. Be ready to read it with the correct pronunciation: Elena and Tom are talking about the activities theirsons and daughtersdo every week. Elena: What does your daughter Caroline do on Mondays? Tom: She (watch) ___________ TV in the afternoon, and (love)________ to read adventure books in the evening. What about your son Henry? Elena: He (go) ____________ to the theater every Friday night, and sometimes (dance)____________ in the club in his free time. Does your younger son still sing? Tom: Yes, he does. He__________ (sing) every Saturday at Miley´s restaurant, but he also ( like)__________ practicing sports every afternoon. Elena: My daughter Lena likes sports too. She________ (swim) in the pool every day .. Exercise # 2 Aim: To pronounce the sound /s/ in final position while practicing the communicative function “talking about likes and dislikes” Stage: Controlled Practice. 56.