HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES NGUYEN THI TRA GIANG THE PERCEPTION OF FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS AT HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY TOWARDS THE USE OF THE SHADOWING TECHNIQUE TO IMPROVE SPEAKING SKILLS SUPERVISOR: DO THI HUONG, M A HANOI, 2019 HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES NGUYEN THI TRA GIANG THE PERCEPTION OF FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS AT HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY TOWARDS THE USE OF THE SHADOWING TECHNIQUE TO IMPROVE SPEAKING SKILLS SUPERVISOR DO THI HUONG, M A HANOI, 2019 DECLARATION I certify that this minor thesis entitled “The perception of first-year English majors at Hanoi Pedagogical Univerity towards the effectiveness of shadowing technique as a method of improving speaking skills” is the study of my own research and the substance of this research has not been submitted for a degree to any other university or institution Hanoi, 2019 Nguyen Thi Tra Giang i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my gratitude to all those who have given me great assistance in the completion of my research work In the first place, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my supervisors, M.A Do Thi Huong, and M.A Do Thi Thanh Dung, for their continuous support with insightful discussion, helpful comments, and honest criticisms Without their guidance and help, this thesis would not have been accomplished Secondly, I am greatly indebted to the Faculty of Foreign Language (FFL), Hanoi Pedagogical University (HPU2), for giving me the honor of writing this research I also sincerely thank all the lecturers and staffs of the faculty for their valuable lessons and precious help Moreover, I am thankful to my family and friends from the bottom of my heart I could not go through the hardship to complete this study without their support and encouragement Last but not least, my sincere thanks also go to all the participants for their willingness and honest to join in this study, especially ten students in the focused group for taking part in my project ii ABSTRACT The majority of language learners encounters difficulties when speaking in the target language For the first-year English majors at HPU2, there still have some common problems regarding speaking practice, such as lack of vocabulary, poor pronunciation, etc So, it is essential that different speaking techniques should be taken into consideration to enhance students‟ speaking skills Meanwhile, shadowing is a technique that has been widely used around the world, especially Japan, to practice speaking and listening for many years Many studies have shown that shadowing helps to raise awareness of the target language sounds as well as developing proficiency in speaking mainly in university students (e.g., Hamada, 2011a, 2012; Kato, 2009; Kuramoto & Matsuura, 2002) However, in the context of Vietnam, it is still a new method that only a few colleges have applied it to train students oral abilities Especially in the Faculty of Foreign Languages (FFL) at HPU2, majority of students have not known this method to practice speaking Therefore, it needs investigation As a result, this study was set out to explore firstyear English majors‟ primary speaking problems, and their perspective of the use of shadowing technique and their difficulties when applying it to practice speaking The research utilized questionnaires and interviews to collect data on selfevaluation of two groups, one group conducted of 50 students about their speaking mistakes, and the target group consisted of 10 students, who came from the first group, about the effectiveness of shadowing and the difficulties when applying it As can be seen from the qualitative and quantitative data, the results illustrate that students‟ opinions about the use of shadowing technique in the improvements of speaking abilities are positive It proves that the use of the shadowing technique can improve students‟ speaking abilities Some solutions are also provided in this study to help students have appropriate ways when using shadowing to enhance speaking skills Keywords: shadowing technique, shadowing, first-year English majors, speaking problems iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL: English as a Foreign Language FFL: Faculty of Foreign Languages HPU2: Hanoi Pedagogical University p: page iv LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES LIST OF TABLES Table Categories to evaluate speaking abilities (Pineda, 2017, p15) Table The procedure of the shadowing technique 10 Table Classification of shadowing (cited in Tamai, 2005) 11 Table Murphey‟s types of shadowing (2001) (as cited in Hamada, 2012) 11 Table The level of negativity of factors causing difficulties when students practice with shadowing technique 27 Table Students‟ level of frequency encountering shadowing difficulties 31 Table Students‟ self-evaluation of improvement after one-month practicing shadowing 32 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.1 Students‟ self-evaluation their speaking skills 22 Figure 4.2 Students‟ common problems when communicating in English 23 Figure 4.3 Students‟ awareness of the shadowing technique 25 Figure 4.4 Students‟ attitude towards the effect of the shadowing technique in speaking 26 Figure 4.5 How often students practice the shadowing technique 29 Figure 4.6 Students‟ willingness to continue practice with shadowing technique 34 v TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES v TABLE OF CONTENTS vi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .1 1.1.Overview .1 1.2 Rationale of the study 1.3 Aims of the study 1.4 The research questions 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Organization of the study .3 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Overview 2.2 Speaking skills .4 2.2.1 Definition of speaking 2.2.2 Aspects of speaking skills 2.2.3 Common problems in learning speaking skills 2.3 Shadowing technique 2.3.1 Definition of shadowing technique 2.3.2 Stages of shadowing task 2.3.3 Classification of shadowing .10 2.3.4 The importance of shadowing technique in developing speaking skills 12 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 14 3.1 Overview .14 3.2 Participants 14 3.3 Instruments 15 3.3.1 Questionnaire 15 vi 3.3.1.1 The first questionnaire 16 3.3.1.2 The second questionnaire .16 3.3.2 Interview 16 3.3.2.1 The first interview 17 3.3.2.2 The second interview 17 3.4 Procedure 18 3.4.1 Questionnaire procedure 18 3.4.2 Interview procedure 18 3.4.3 Shadowing procedure 18 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 21 4.1 Overview 21 4.2 The speaking problems encountered by the first-year English majors of HPU2 21 4.2.1 Students self-evaluation their speaking abilities .22 4.2.2 Students‟ common problems when communicating in English 23 4.2.3 The awareness of students of the shadowing technique 25 4.2.4 Level of the frequency of students practice shadowing technique 26 4.3 Students‟ perspectives in the effectiveness of the shadowing technique 27 4.3.1 Students‟ self-evaluation their improvement after one-month shadowing .27 4.3.2 Students‟ attitudes towards the effects of shadowing technique in practicing speaking .29 4.4 Some difficulties faced by students when practicing shadowing technique 30 4.4.1 The level of negativity of factors causing difficulties when students practice shadowing technique 31 4.4.2 Students‟ level of frequency encountering shadowing problems when practicing shadowing 32 4.4.3 Students‟ willingness to continue practice with shadowing technique 34 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 36 5.1 Overview .36 5.2 Conclusion 36 5.3 Limitations of the study .37 vii 5.4 Suggestions for further study .37 REFERENCES 38 APPENDICES 42 APPENDIX 42 APPENDIX 45 APPENDIX 48 APPENDIX 49 viii As can be seen in table and table 7, there are many problems causing difficulties such as the fast speed of speakers, new words, and distraction However, all the participants still overcome these difficulties and effort to apply shadowing technique After their endeavor, they get improved in terms of pronunciation and vocabulary and make better speaking performances They all ready to practice it even when this study is finished This can be said that students‟ positive perspective in the technique may support contribute to the positive consequence of the research 35 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 5.1 Overview This chapter tends to give in brief the summary findings of the research paper, its limitation, and suggestions for further studies 5.2 Conclusion To summarize, this research aimed to find out some common mistakes in speaking skills, the awareness of shadowing technique and several difficulties faced along with the speaking improvement after shadowing of first-year English majors in Hanoi Pedagogical University The research questions are answered by collecting data from the questionnaires and the interviews This small-scale study shows that first year English majors usually met some mistakes when speaking English Three main mistakes are lack of vocabulary, overusing mother-tongue in class, and unconfident to talk After investigation, nearly half of the students are aware of the shadowing technique; however, they hardly use it to practice speaking During one-month try to apply the method, 100 percent of students recognize the effectiveness of shadowing in speaking, such as improving their pronunciation, speaking fluently, and gaining more knowledge Last but not least, all of the participants are willing to continue to use shadowing to practice their speaking skill in the future This research is hoped to provide students the other way to enhance their speaking performances Moreover, the difficulties and the solutions are mentioned in this study to aware students of their speaking problems, so they can figure it out and apply shadowing technique to have appropriate solutions to proficiency English speaking skill Besides, based on the results, teachers can consider their students‟ challenges to provide more solutions to help their learners surpass these difficulties in the learning process Thereby, teachers should deliberate about applying the shadowing technique in class activities In addition, the researcher expects that this study will play a reference role in helping students to find out a suitable self-study method to master their English speaking abilities 36 5.3 Limitations of the study The author realizes that there still have unavoidable limitations in this study Firstly, because of the short time about two months and the small scale of the study with only 30 percent of student‟s population surveyed, these reasons make it hard to conclude that shadowing is a useful technique which can be applied to all students in the faculty And the answers not represent all the freshman‟s opinions about this method Therefore, there should be longitudinal research such as experimental research to affirm the effectiveness of shadowing in students‟ speaking improvement On another hand, the other restriction of this study is that the limitation of research‟s instruments There are only two instruments which were used to collect data Questionnaires and interviews might not give the accuracy responses of students‟ awareness of the shadowing technique as well as their experience while practicing it It is suggested that during the stages of the research, researchers should spend more time to more refections to get more benefits and better results 5.4 Suggestions for further study The research was conducted in the Faculty of Foreign Languages at Hanoi Pedagogical University with the small scale of participants, time limitations, and the restriction of instruments It is suggested that future research should be done in a long period so that the results can be more reliable, and the authors may have a deeper insight of the effectiveness of shadowing technique in students‟ speaking performances Moreover, the size of the study should be enlarged with more participants of the Faculty from freshman to seniors It will help the research findings be more general and objective in the difficulties and the solutions when practicing shadowing 37 REFERENCES Afshar, H.S., & Asakereh, A (2016) Speaking Skills Problems Encountered by Iranian ELF Freshman and Seniors from Their Own and Their English Instructor‟s Perspective Electronic Journal of English Language Teaching, 13(1) Ahmad, S R (2016) Importance of English communication skills International Journal of Applied Research, 2(3), 478-480 Alekxandrzak, M (2011) Problems and challenges in teaching and learning speaking at advanced level Glottodidactica An International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 37, 37-48 Arifin, W L (2017) Psychological Problems and Challenge in EFL Speaking Classroom Register Journal, 10(1), 29-47 Brand, C., & Gotz, S (2011) Fluency versus accuracy in advanced spoken learner language: A multi-method approach International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 16(2), 255-275 Burns, A., & Joyce, H (1997) Focus on Speaking National Centre for English Language Teaching and Research, Macquarie University, 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Question 1: How you self-evaluate your speaking abilities at present? o Elementary o Pre-intermediate o Intermediate o Advance Question 2: How often you experience these following problems when communicating in English? (Put a tick in the box) Problems Inhibitions Specific problems Never Worry about making mistakes, fearful off criticism, or shy Nothing to say Have no idea, or not want to speak Low or Do not have much time uneven Do not have chances to participation practice in class 42 Rarely Sometimes Always Mother- Overuse Vietnamese in tongue use English class Vocabulary Lack adequate and appropriate vocabulary Question 3: Have you ever applied any method to enhance your speaking skills? o Yes o No o If “Yes”: Your methods …………………………………………… Question 4: Have you ever heard about “shadowing” techniques? o Yes o No -If “Yes” go to question 5-6 -If “No” go to question Question 5: How often you practice with shadowing techniques? o Never o Rarely o Sometimes o Usually o Always Question 6: When using shadowing techniques, what can be the problems? (You can choose more than one answer) o Unclear information o Speakers‟ speak too fast o Too many new words o Lack off background knowledge 43 Question 7: Shadowing technique is considered a useful method to improve communicative skills, especially speaking skills Are you willing to try practicing shadowing technique? o Yes o No Thank you for your supports! 44 APPENDIX THE SECOND QUESTIONNAIRE Question 1: How much have you improved your speaking abilities after one month practicing with shadowing technique? (Please put a tick (√) in the box) Level of agreements Statement content My pronunciation get improved (the stress, intonation, rhythm) I can follow speakers‟ speech rate after practicing shadowing technique I can remember the speakers‟ spoken sentences easily after practicing shadowing I can speak more fluently after practicing shadowing My vocabulary and background knowledge is enlarged Question 2: How useful is shadowing techniques you think to improve your speaking skills? o Not important at all o Rather important o Important o Very important 45 Question 3: What are the difficulties that you have experienced when practicing shadowing technique? How negative are they? Difficulties Very negative Negative Quite negative Not negative at all Unclear pronunciation Lack of background knowledge New words Speaker speaks to fast Question 4: In the field of pronunciation, which of these pronunciation aspects frustrate you from shadowing the speaker? (You can choose more than one answer)  Accent of the speaker  Speed of the speaker  Stress (unstressed sound would be shallowed)  Loss of sound in rapid speech  Linkage of sound in rapid speech  Other 46 Question 5: How often you transfer from these following problems when you practice shadowing? (Put a tick (√) in the box) Frequency Situations Never Rarely Sometimes Usually I miss some sounds, words, phrases I lack concentration I try to understand what the speaker is saying I am distracted by what was said I pronounce some words wrong I tent to use incorrect intonation Question 6: Have you worked out any solutions for your problems above?  Yes  No Question 7: Will you continue practicing speaking with shadowing technique?  Yes  No Thank you for your support! 47 APPENDIX QUESTIONS FOR THE FIRST INTERVIEW A Students’ common speaking problems How often you practice speaking? Where you practice it, at school or at home? What are the factors that prevent you from speaking English inside the classroom? a Have you ever felt fear, unconfident or shy when you speak in front of the class? How? b Have you ever lost your motivation in speaking? Why? c How frequently have you joined in speaking class‟ activities? d Which you mainly use in speaking class, Vietnamese or English? e Do you feel hard to determine a word or phrase to complete your speaking performances? How? Have you ever found any solution to improve your speaking problems? B Students’ awareness of the shadowing technique How you practice speaking outside the classroom? Have you ever heard about the shadowing technique? How you know about it? How often you practice with it? Which skills you practice? What experience have you transferred when practice speaking or listening? 48 APPENDIX QUESTION FOR THE SECOND INTERVIEW C Students’ perspective in shadowing technique How you think the shadowing technique helps improve your speaking skill? Rate from to a How much does the technique help with the pronunciation? b How much does the technique help you with your vocabulary? c How much does the technique help you improving your vocabulary and background knowledge? d How much does the technique help with your speaking fluently and accuracy? Do the given materials suit with your level? What problems did you encounter when practice shadowing? a Did the speaker speak too fast that made you lost the words or sounds? b Were you distracted by what was said? c Your level of concentration was low? d Because of trying to understand the information, you forgot to mimic the speaker? e Have you ever feel hard to mimic pronounce a word? Have you found out any solution to the problems above? Or you have already overcome these? Will you continue practice speaking with shadowing technique? 49 ... consolidation of the two methods qualitative and quantitative, the goals of this chapter is to ascertain how first-year English majors aware of their difficulties in practicing speaking as well as shadowing. .. All the tasks are given on the Facebook group so that all the participants can access the materials easily as well as be proactive in doing the assigned tasks During the process, they are asked.. .HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES NGUYEN THI TRA GIANG THE PERCEPTION OF FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS AT HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY TOWARDS THE USE OF THE SHADOWING TECHNIQUE