INTRODUCCIÓN
The
teaching of English pronunciation with the support of a software or an
application comes to play a role in English learning because technology
provides students a native and a correct demonstration of how they have to
pronounce any word and it builds up fun and relaxation inside the classroom. As
a result, students will be easily involved in the different activities that the
teacher will ask them to do, while they are having fun practicing their
speaking skills.
A
contribution by (Mancerna, 2014) analyzed the impact of self-recordings on the
improvement of English pronunciation skills in eight graders of a private
institution located in Tenjo. This study consisted of ten workshops where
self-recordings, questionnaires and journals were used as the main instruments
to collect data. Moreover, this study used a qualitative approach. Therefore,
regarding the findings of this project, the researcher observed that
self-recordings were an innovative tool to motivate learners to improve their
pronunciation skills.
Furthermore,
the use of self-recordings prompted learners’ interest to self-monitor their
own learning process. Another contribution by (Torres, 2019) aimed at
describing an intervention project designed to provide asynchronous oral
practice opportunities for virtual students. Besides, the strategy was carried
out through the qualitative approach and consisted of performing
self-recordings of different conversations with the basic contents of the
course in the target language to improve the pronunciation and fluency of the
students.
Additionally,
the results showed a significant improvement of the participants’ oral
production as well as a good level of performance in their final exam, since
students showed a great commitment to practicing the conversations several
times before making the recordings, which resulted in greater 2 confidence at
the time of submitting their final exam and a positive opinion about this
pedagogical intervention.
In
a recent study, (Akkara, 2020) emphasized on studying the impact of Mobile
Assisted Language Learning (MALL) in improving three aspects of English
language, which were speaking skills, segmental and supra-segmental features of
pronunciation, and the viability of bringing your own device (BYOD) approach.
Therefore, a mixed method approach was adopted for collecting the data from
twenty-five randomly selected students who underwent training with BYOD. The
results showed a positive effect on the speaking skills and the overall
intelligibility of the participants. As a result, the use of smartphones
resulted in improved learners’ engagement in language learning. In addition,
teachers at the tertiary level could benefit from the study, adopt digital
technologies in L2 teaching and learning and further extend the scope of the
study with their experiences.
(Boyd,
2015) identified the effects of different elicitation methods on the speech of
a single speaker of San Francisco English who was participating in a systematic
set of vocalic sound changes known as the California Vowel Shift. Then this
study employed a quantitative approach. Besides, this study contrasted the data
obtained from classic sociolinguistic interview methods with data from
self-recordings, as well as data from various methods for eliciting spontaneous
speech that are typically used in laboratory settings. Moreover, an analysis of
five sound changes indicated that self-recorded speech often results in
significantly more advanced productions than interview speech, while speech
from laboratory methods is largely comparable to interview speech.
Surprisingly, the differences between read speech and unscripted speech are
minimal.
Finally,
it was concluded that the utility of controlled-but-spontaneous laboratory
elicitation methods, and by strongly recommending the use of self-recording
tools for studies of sound changes in progress.
Another
similar study developed by (Menggo et al. 2019) aimed to analyze the effect of
self-recording videos use in improving students’ academic English speaking
competence and disclose the extent of the impacts of self-recording videos on
students’ affective factors in the learning process. This paper was a
quasi-experimental study with pre-test and post-test designs that was conducted
during September–December 2018. Furthermore, the population of the research was
146 students from five classes who enrolled in an English-speaking course and
two speaking lecturers at the English department of Universitas Katolik
Indonesia Santu Paulus Ruteng, Flores. A total of 66 students at this college
were selected as sample by using the random sampling technique. Additionally,
an English-speaking rubric, questionnaire, and interview were used to collect
data; those data were then analyzed using a software program, namely, the
Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) 16.0 for Windows, which was
followed by qualitative interpretation. Moreover, the data from the
questionnaire deployed numerical calculation of the percentage, while data from
the interview were presented qualitatively, as they relied on respondents’
responses.
On
the other hand, the findings of the study revealed that self-recording videos
have a significant effect on students’ academic English-speaking competence
(mean score result of post-test = 75,81), promotes students’ self-esteem
(94.11%) and motivation (97%), reduces English speaking inhibition (85.29%),
and lessens students’ anxiety (88.23%).
Finally,
English speaking practitioners are suggested to select self-recording videos in
boosting students to be a competent English speaker, independent English
learner, and act responsibility.
In
relation to self-recordings, (Lancini 2019) stated that voice recordings are tools
that are often included in the teaching and learning process of the English
language. Besides, learning a second language through self-recordings has been
an essential strategy due to students can correct their mistakes by themselves
even though they are not yet experts in English pronunciation and thus be able
to practice the correct pronunciation by repeating it a lot of times and be
able to improve their oral skills, since thanks to technology, students can
practice their English pronunciation from their homes in different applications
on their cell phones, or web pages.
(Aoki,
2014) pointed out that in the past, voice recordings devices used for language
teaching and learning were cassette tapes, therefore students had to use big or
small recorders to practice and improve their oral production. On the other
hand, nowadays the use of technological devices and tools is easier, such as
applications, websites or cell phones have made it easy to record a video or a
voice note and to save and share it on social networks, institutional platforms
with professors, or with other users. Additionally, it is necessary for students
to be constantly monitored by a teacher during the learning process to ensure
that this skill is well practiced, since the pronunciation of words must be
good and concise.
(Huang
2015) argued that nowadays students can enjoy learning a language through the
use of voice recordings in the classroom or outside of it since through these
tools students can practice and improve their speaking skills (fluency and
pronunciation). Moreover, voice recordings can be beneficial for students,
since through them they can create an environment outside the classroom to
practice and develop the target language by themselves.
In
addition, students can share applications among themselves and socialize them
with the teacher in order to carry out activities adapted to the contents or
topics that they want to practice.
On
the other hand, (Wijayani 2017) claimed that the continuous use of audio and
video recordings helps English learners to analyze their progress in their
language development, likewise, helping them to check and correct their
mistakes in spoken language. So, English learners can practice and then save
their spoken voice notes in a digital form, such as websites or cell phones to
play them and listen to their own performance in practicing English
pronunciation. Additionally, students can check their progress in improving
their speaking skills, and at the same time keep checking where they need to
improve. To sum up, students can be supported by a teacher to request feedback
or help in pronunciation
(Olivo,2016)
stated that write English pronunciation into native language (L1) is a self-recording
strategy that consists of students writing a word in English that is difficult
for them to pronounce in their native language (L1) on a piece of paper, in
this way they only have to read the correct pronunciation of the word and thus
avoid spending a lot of time repeating the pronunciation, for example: swimming
- //suiming//. Additionally, the author mentions that the procedure to apply
this strategy consists of first doing an analysis of the words in which the
students have pronunciation problems. Then the teacher must proceed to write
those words first in the English language, and next to them the writing of the
pronunciation in Spanish, so that the students can read and produce the
pronunciation of these words more easily. Finally, feedback must be given made
about the correct pronunciation of those words in order to help students
correctly produce the pronunciation of each word in which they have problems.
This
research is of vital importance since it is necessary to point out that in the Nueva
Era" Educational Unit the teaching of English plays a very vital role for
all the members of the educational community. In addition, there is a high
number of students with pronunciation difficulties and teachers require to
restate their strategies to help them through the use of self-recordings as a
strategy to enhance students ‘pronunciation together with pedagogical tools.
MATERIALS AND
METHODS
To
develop this research, it was important to use some resources such as computer,
cell phones, markers, board, etc. First of all, in this search, six-year and
seventh-year high school students were between the ages of 7 to 10 years old.
Besides, those levels from “Nueva Era” Educative Unit, were considered as the
experimental group. Moreover, the participants in six-year high school were 16
students (10 males and 6 females), while the participants in seventh-year high
school were 21 students (11 males and 10 females), in total 37 students.
Second,
the development of variables required the search and analysis of different
academic papers, articles, theses, and online books that provided important
information to develop the two variables of this research, and to identify
fundamental information to be able to meet each of the specific objectives of
this research. On the other hand, it also helped to consider different aspects
in order to create the evaluation instruments that were applied to the
students, the web page that was used with the students, and the appropriate
methodology to work with the students in the classroom.
Third,
this research used some technological materials such as ManyCam (ManyCam an
application that allows users to use their virtual webcam with multiple
different video options and applications simultaneously and users can record
their computer screen while using them), WhatsApp, and Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Additionally,
the lesson plan activities developed in each intervention required the use of
classroom teaching aids such as a whiteboard, markers, and laptop.
Finally,
the IBM SPSS Statistics Base software was used to represent the results
obtained during the research
Instruments
To
begin with, the use of a Pre-test and Post-test that were created by the
researcher, and they were validated by experts was important to evaluate
students’ English pronunciation. Besides, it is pivotal to mention that the
pre-test and post-test used in this research were made by the researcher and
they are adaptations made by the author according to the main topic of this
research. On the other hand, a Cambridge standardized exam was taken as a
reference to analyze the aspects that the test should have, all this
considering the level of English of the students and their course. Moreover, a
rubric that was taken from Live Worksheets and validated by experts was
important to evaluate the Pre-test and Post-test. Besides, it is important to
mention that this rubric had two aspects to qualify, which were fluency,
pronunciation, and accent. In addition, it was considered to evaluate fluency
in this rubric since fluency is part of one of the four subskills of speaking.
Finally, pronunciation and accent because pronunciation is one of the variables
of this research and because it is part of the speaking skill.
Procedure
Fourteen
interventions were conducted for this research, the experiment lasted 4 weeks,
with approximately forty minutes per session. In the first and second
interventions, the researcher introduced himself in each course. Additionally,
the research topic and the process to be carried out during the different
interventions were explained to the students. A Pre-test was applied in each
course before the intervention process.
Different
activities were implemented along the fourteen sessions where students
participated actively and with the help of the technological tools, they had to
record their voices and sent to the teacher who gave feedback on their
pronunciation.
In
the thirteenth and fourteenth interventions, the Post-test was taken to the
students, the duration of the post-test was the same as the pre-test,
approximately 3 minutes per student in which before taking the Post-test the
parts of the test and the reading activity and the topics of which that they
have talk do in this test were explained to the students, and doubts that the
students had were clarified.
Experimental
design
This
research was developed through a pre-experimental design. (Hernández et al.2014)
determined that pre-experimental research is done within an established group.
This design is divided into three stages: Pre-test (O1), Treatment (X1), and
post-test (O2). Besides, through the interventions, the researcher handled the
independent variable to analyze the cause-effect in the dependent variable.
Besides, the pre-test and post-test permitted to compare the students’ English
language pronunciation before and after using self-recordings. Therefore,
manipulating the dependent variable, English pronunciation, through the
independent variable, self-recordings allowed to analyze the effectiveness of
using self-recordings to improve English pronunciation.
RESULTS
AND DISCUSSION
The
pre-test and the post-test had two parts which were pivotal to measure
student´s English pronunciation. Therefore, all the questions in both tests
were about practicing verbs pronunciation, sentences pronunciation and the
student’s free opinion by asking questions about such topics as their favorite
animal, their favorite hobby, their favorite sport, etc.
In
addition, the use of a rubric to evaluate students’ pronunciation was taken
from Live Worksheets and validated by experts. Additionally, the rubric has one
main rating scale, which is pronunciation and accent.
|
|
Fluency
|
Pronunciation
and accent
|
|
5
|
Smooth and fluid speech;few to no hesitations; no attemps to
search for words;volume is excellent
|
Pronunciation is excellent; good effort at accent
|
|
4
|
Smooth and fluid speech; few hesitations; a slight search for words;
inaudible word or two
|
Pronunciation is good; good effort at accent
|
|
3
|
Speech is relatively smooth; some hesitation and uneveness
caused by rephrasing and searching for words; volume wavers
|
Pronunciation is good; Some effort at accent, but is definitely
non-native accent
|
|
2
|
Speech is frequently hesitant with some sentences left
uncompleted; volume very soft
|
Pronunciation is ok; no effort towards a native accent
|
|
1
|
Speech is slow, hesitant and strained except for short memorized
phrases; difficult to perceive continuity in speech; inaudible
|
Pronunciation is lacking and hard to understand; no effort
towards a native accent
|
Graphic
1:
Speaking rubric
Furthermore,
the rubric evaluated students’ fluency, pronunciation, and accent out of 10
points. On the other hand, the SPSS software was used to get the different
statistics of this research.
Finally,
it was vital to apply a t-test to see the main differences between the pretest
and the post-test used in the two different levels.
|
Pretest
|
Postest
|
Difference
|
|
Valid
|
Frequency
|
Valid
|
Frequency
|
|
3,0
|
2
|
5,0
|
5
|
2,0
|
|
4,0
|
6
|
6,0
|
7
|
2,0
|
|
5,0
|
8
|
6,5
|
1
|
1,5
|
|
6,0
|
7
|
7,0
|
9
|
1,0
|
|
6,5
|
2
|
7,5
|
3
|
1,0
|
|
7,0
|
3
|
8,0
|
7
|
1,0
|
|
8,0
|
6
|
8,5
|
2
|
0,5
|
|
8,5
|
2
|
9,0
|
2
|
0,5
|
|
9,0
|
1
|
9,1
|
1
|
0,1
|
|
:5,94
Total
|
37
|
:6,97
|
37
|
1,03
|
Table
1:
Pre-test and Post-tests results
|
Average
results
|
Pretest
|
Post-test
|
Difference
|
|
Total
|
5,946
|
6,973
|
1,03
|
Table
2:
Summary of Results average, Pre-test Post-test and Difference
Tables
1 and 2 represent the results of the average between the Pre-test and the
Post-test and its difference. Therefore, in the Pre-test, the average is 6, 3 out
of 10 points. On the other hand, in the Post–test the average is 7, 4. There is
a difference of 0, 8 between the pretest results and the post-tests results.
Finally, the results show that using self-recordings in class helped to improve
English pronunciation.
After
the research process of implementing self-recordings to improve the English
pronunciation, the Pre-test and Post-test results show an improvement in the
English pronunciation in sixth and seventh-year high school students at
"Nueva Era" Educational Unit.
Consequently,
by using self-recordings inside and outside the class students become
autonomous learners. Following that, students improved their speaking
competencies and self-confidence by practicing on their own. Finally, it means
that teaching and practicing self-recordings help to improve students' speaking
skills (Menggo et al., 2019).
CONCLUSIONS
Using
self-recordings in the classroom has helped to improve the English language
pronunciation in students at “Nueva Era” Educational Unit. Additionally,
students could self-correct their mistakes in pronunciation by hearing their
own audios when they were practicing it, thus being an easy source of feedback
for them. Moreover, the researcher had the chance to listen to the students’
audios and become aware of the mistakes and difficulties of students, thus
giving them feedback to improve and correct them.
Students
used two strategies that made easier for them to enhance their pronunciation
skills when using self-recordings. The first strategy is writing the
pronunciation in their native language, through this strategy, students felt
that it was easier for them to produce the correct pronunciation of a word that
they did not know, since they only had to read the sheet in which they had
transcribed the pronunciation in Spanish.
On
the other hand, the second strategy is self-assessment, this is because
students while they were doing self-recording tasks, students used to repeat up
to two or three times the audio in which they produced the pronunciation of the
words and compared it with the pronunciation of Google Translator or other
translator webpages to notice their mistakes.
After
the whole process of the investigation, it was determined that self-recordings
contributed in a good manner to the development of the English language
pronunciation due to the use of technology in the classrooms, since nowadays
the influence of using technology to practice pronunciation helped students to
enjoy the process and make it easier to practice and improve their speaking
skills while they were producing self-recordings, since the teacher share a
very useful web page in which students practice their pronunciation.
AUTHORS
CONTRIBUTION
All
the authors contributed with the different parts of the paper. Marco worked in
the data processing, Cristina’s contribution was with her bibliographic
research, Veronica helped with her knowledge on the use of the SPSS software
and Edgar gave the final revision and the abstract writing.
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Z., Elliott, Z., Fruehwald, J., Hall-Lew, L., & Lawrence, D. (2015, April).
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H. (2015). Computer Assisted Language Learning. Taylor and Francis Online.
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S. (2019). The use of android and ios voice tools to develop English for
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