The case of Second Year LMD Students at L’arbi Ben M’Hidi ...
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Peoplersquos Democratic Republic of Algeria
Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research
Larbi Ben Mrsquohidi University-Oum El Bouaghi
Faculty of Letters and Languages
Department of English
The Effect of Listening to Audio-Stories on Acquiring Accurate
pronunciation ( Dark [ϯ] and Clear [l]) by EFL learners
The case of Second Year LMD Students at Lrsquoarbi Ben MrsquoHidi
University- English Department
A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the
Degree of Master of Arts in Languages Sciences
By Ms BENACHI Loubna Supervisor Mr BOULEMAIZ Djalel
Examiner Ms ALLIOUCHE Nadjiba
2016-2017
I
Dedication
In the Name of Allah the Most Beneficent the Most Merciful
Every challenging work needs self-efforts as well as guidance of elders especially those
who were very close to our heart
My humble effort I dedicate to my sweet and loving Mother and Father whose affection
Love encouragement and prays of day and night make me able
To get such success and honor
It is with my deepest gratitude and warmest affection that I dictate this thesis to my
supervisor Mr Boulemaiz Djalel who has been a constant source of
Knowledge and inspiration
A special feeling of gratitude to my loving brothers Chichou and Fethi I am really blessed
For Having you by my side may ALLAH protect you
To my soul mate my pretty sister Marwa whose words of encouragement and push for
Tenacity ring in my ears
To all my family especially my grandmothers for being my first teachers
To all my friends especially Sara Sara Imane Khadija Zineb Fatine Lamiss Bessma
Marwa Farouk Djamel Mohamed Amine Mohamed Lazhar
thanks for your support in The hardest moments
II
Acknowledgment
First of all I am deeply grateful to ALLAH Coming from the intense gratification of
My supervisor Mr Boulemaiz Djalel whose contribution has raised the quality of this
thesis He has always supported me and has patiently guided me I am very grateful to his
supervision and I owe him the greatest degree of appreciation
I would to acknowledge and thank Ms Alliouche Nadjiba for her precious time I place
on record my sincere gratitude to Ms Stiti and Ms Guerfi who gave me the opportunity to
conduct my experimental study
I would like to express my sincere thanks to Mr Bouri Mr Fizi and Mr Ayadi I am
really grateful and indebted to them for their experts sincere and valuable guidance and
encouragement extended to me
I take this opportunity to record our sincere thanks to all of the faculty members of
the Department of English at LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi University for their help and
encouragement I also thank my parents for their unceasing encouragement and support
I also place on record my sense of gratitude to one and all who directly or indirectly
have lent their helping hand in this venture
III
Abstract
The present research aims at investigating the usefulness of using audio stories in EFL
classrooms in order to improve learnersrsquo pronunciation It is based on the assumption that
listening to audio stories have a positive effect on improving EFL learnersrsquo pronunciation
with a particular focus on the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] In order to attain the aim of this research
a quasi-experimental study was implemented The experiment took six sessions including a
pre-test period of treatment and a post-test At the start two intact classes of second year
EFL students at LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi English department were selected and they were divided
into an experimental group and a control group each contained 20 students First of all a
pronunciation test was administered to both groups as a pre-test Later the experimental
group received a period of treatment of four sessions in which they were exposed to the
target language through listening to different audio-stories whilst the control group did not
receive the same treatment Afterward a post-test was administered to both groups in order
to investigate the learnersrsquo improvement in pronouncing correctly the dark [ϯ] and clear [l]
After that the learnersrsquo performance on the pre-test and the post-test which was recorded
using the Praat was assessed by the researcher In order to show the development that
learners have shown in both tests a t-test was utilized for determining and comparing both
group means Depending on the results gathered it is proved that being exposed to the target
language as it is produced by the native speakers through listening to audio-stories aids to
improve the learnersrsquo pronunciation in particular and their speaking proficiency in general
Therefore teachers are recommended to use Audio-stories in EFL classrooms in order to
enhance learnersrsquo pronunciation of the target language
Key words listening skills audio-stories pronunciation rime duration
IV
List of Abbreviations
EFL English as a Foreign Language
ESL English as a second Language
FLA Foreign Language Aptitude
Cpre Control Group pre-test
Cpost Control Group Post-test
Epre Experimental Group pre-test
Epost Control Group Post-test
H1 Alternative Hypothesis
H0 Null Hypothesis
V
List of Tables
Table 1 The Experimental and the Control grouprsquo s Scores in the Pre-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphellip41
Table 2 The Mean Score of the Control and the Experimental Group in The Pre-test hellip43
Table 3 Results and Scores Differences of the Control and Experimental Group in the
Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip45
Table 4 The Mean of the Control Group in the Pre-test and Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip46
Table 5 The Mean of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphellip48
Table 6 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Post-test Scores Differenceshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip51
Table 7 The Paired Sample T-test for the Experimental Grouphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip52
Table 8 The Mean of the Control Group and The Experimental Group in the Post-testhellip53
VI
List of Figures
Figure 1 Articulatory Differences in l Velarization helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip31
Figure 2 Experimental Group Procedureshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip36
Figure 3 Control Group Procedureshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip36
Figure 4 Example of the Lateral Dark [ϯ]in the Word ldquoSawmillrdquohelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip37
Figure 5 Example of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoCabalrdquo helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip39
Figure 6 Example of the Clear [l]in the Word ldquolabourrdquohelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip39
Figure 7 The Native Speakerrsquo s Pronunciation of the Clear [l] in the Word ldquolightrdquohelliphellip40
Figure 8 The Native Speakerrsquos Pronunciation of the Dark [ϯ] in the word ldquoballrdquohelliphelliphellip41
Figure 9 The Pre-test Scores of the Control and the Experimental Grouphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip43
Figure 10 The Control Group Studentsrsquo Scores Differences helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip47
Figure 11 The Scores Frequencies of the Experimental Group in The Pre-test and the
Post- testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip49
Figure 12 The Scores Differences of the Experimental Group in the pre-test and the Post-
testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip50
Figure 13 The Scores Frequencies of the Control Group and The Experimental Group in
the Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip54
VII
Content
Introductionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip2
1 Statement of the problem helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip2
2 Aim of the studyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip3
3 Research questionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 3
4 Research hypothesishelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip3
5 Means of the studyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip3
6 Structure of the studyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip4
Chapter One Theoretical background
Section One Listening to Audio Stories
Introductionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip6
11 Definition of Listening Skillhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip6
12 Differences between Listening and Hearing helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip8
13 Reasons of listening helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip8
14 Types of Listeninghelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip9
141 Extensive Listeninghelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip9
142 Intensive Listeninghelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip10
15 Listening Processes helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip10
151 Bottom-up Processhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip10
152 Top down processhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip11
16 Brief History of Audio-Storieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip11
17 Definition of Storytellinghelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip12
18 Definition of Audio-Storieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip13
19 Characteristics of a Good Audio-Storyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip14
110 The Use of Audio-Stories in ESL Classroomshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip15
111 Advantages of Using Audio-Storieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip17
Conclusionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip18
Section two Reflection on Pronunciation
Introductionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip20
11Definition of Speaking Skillhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip20
12Speaking Sub-Competencies Skillshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip22
13 Definition of Pronunciationhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip22
VIII
14Importance of Pronunciationhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip24
15 Factors Affecting Pronunciationhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip25
16151 Internal Factorshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip25
152 External Factorshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip28
Conclusion helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip31
Chapter two Field Work
Introductionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip34
21 Methodologyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip34
211 Research Participantshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip34
212 The Procedurehelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip35
2121 The Research Design helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip36
2122 The Pre-test Phasehelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip36
2123 The Treatment Phasehelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip37
2124 The Control Grouphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip38
2125 The Post-test Phasehelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip38
213 Scoring helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip40
214 Data Analysishelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip40
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (independent
Sample t-test)helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip42
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip44
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group Post-test (Paired
Sample t-test)helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 47
21431 Paired Sample t-test helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip50
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip53
21441 An Independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group
in the Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip55
215 Discussion of the Resultshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip57
216 Pedagogical Implicationshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip57
Conclusionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip58
General Conclusionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip59
Limitation of The Studyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip60
List of Referenceshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip61
Appendices
IX
Reacutesumeacute
ملخص
1
General introduction
Introduction
1 Statement of the Problem
2 Aim of the Study
3 Research Question
4 Research Hypothesis
5 Means of the Study
6 Structure of the Study
2
Introduction
Acquiring comprehensible pronunciation for EFL learners is one of the key supplies
for language proficiency Nowadays mastering the foreign language is the main concern
that most of EFL learners share This high attention raises due to the exposure to the target
language and to the complications that learners may face at whatever time they want to
communicate whether with foreigners or with one another using for instance the English
language Besides listening is not only a matter of innate ability but it is a matter of how to
develop that inborn capacity in order to improve the learnersrsquo pronunciation accuracy
Accordingly audio-stories are used to help developing the learnersrsquo listening skill and to
improve their pronunciation accurateness Furthermore using audio stories in teaching EFL
learners help to evidence that an effective listening process leads to an effective articulation
1 Statement of the Problem
Generally speaking there are various factors that affect learnersrsquo acquisition of the
target language pronunciation The Algerian EFL learners encounter many problems
concerning articulation because EFLESL learners do not have much opportunities to be
exposed to the real language as it is produced by the native speakers in the classroom Since
English is a foreign language learners avoid using it outside the classroom which is resulted
in a bad pronunciation Therefore EFL teachers are required to use audio-stories inside the
classrooms in order to develop studentsrsquo second language and to improve their pronunciation
accuracy
3
2 Aim of the Study
The current study deals with the learnersrsquo pronunciation difficulties of the dark [ϯ]
and the clear [l] It aims at investigating the effect of listening to audio-stories on fostering
the target languagersquos accurate pronunciation of both allophones
3 Research Question
The present study seeks to answer the following question
Does listening to audio-stories help EFL learners to acquire the accurate
pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
4 Research Hypothesis
In order to answer the research question the subsequent hypotheses are framed
H1 The EFL learners will acquire accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the
clear [l] through listening to audio-stories
H0 Listening to audio stories will not help EFL learners to acquire accurate
pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
5 Means of the Research
In order to achieve the objective of our research a quasi-experimental design is
administered to second year LMD students of English Department at LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi
University The selected sample (40 students from 210) consists of two groups the control
group and the experimental group Both groups will be pretested in order to assess their
pronunciation accuracy level The pre-test is a kind of short story and small sentences that
contain the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] which learners have to read After that the Praat will be
used in order to record their voices Later on the experimental group will take the treatment
for four sessions in which they will listen to the audio stories each session will take one
4
hour and a half However the control group will not receive any kind of treatment (they will
be taught in a normal way without listening to audio stories) Furthermore a post-test which
is different from that of the pre-test will be administered to both groups in order to test their
pronunciation development
6 Structure of the Study
The present study is divided into two chapters The first chapter is a theoretical one
and it is composed of two sections The first section is about listening to audio stories in
which we define the process of listening and mention the main differences between listening
and hearing After that we discuss the reasons of listening its types and processes Later
on the second sub-section deals with audio stories At the start we introduce a brief history
about the notion of audio stories and then we introduce stories in general Afterward we
discuss the characteristics of audio stories their use and advantages The second section
deals with the pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] at the beginning we shed light
on the definition of speaking skill and its sub-competencies After that a part of this section
deals with the definition of pronunciation and its importance Besides it introduces factors
that affect pronunciation The second chapter deals with the field work in which it sheds
light on collecting data presenting and analyzing it and at the end interpreting results
5
Section One Listening to Audio Stories
Introduction
11 Definition of Listening Skill
12 Differences between Listening and Hearing
13 Reasons of Listening
14 Types of Listening
141 Extensive Listening
142 Intensive Listening
15 Listening Processes
151 Bottom-up Process
152 Top down Process
16 Brief History of Audio-Stories
17 Definition of Storytelling
18 Definition of Audio-Stories
19 Characteristics of a Good Audio-Story
110 The Use of Audio-Stories in ESL Classrooms
111 Advantages of Using Audio-Stories
Conclusion
6
Introduction
Nowadays there is a great emphasis put on listening skill since it plays a significant
role in teaching and acquiring the foreign language So this high attention raises because of
the difficulties that learners face whenever they want to communicate thatrsquos why many
researchers shed light on Audio Stories as a tool that can help in developing learnersrsquo
listening process as well as improving their speaking skills and precisely their
pronunciation
The main concern of this section is listening to audio stories First of all we shed
light on the first part which is listening process At the start we need to define listening
skills according to different scholars later on we tackle the main differences between
listening and hearing Also reasons of listening its types and processes Then the second
part of this section deals with the audio stories In the beginning we introduce a brief history
of audio stories and later on the definition of stories in general After that we present the
meaning of audio stories in a specific way and its main characteristics Lastly this section
highlights the use and the advantages of audio stories inside EFL classrooms
11 Definition of Listening Skill
ldquoThe most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen Just to
listen Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attentionrdquo (Remen
2011)
Listening is an important skill in learning and acquiring a foreign language Through
this process learners will be able to receive and understand information According to
Downs (2008) ldquothe word of listening is defined as making an effort to hear something to
pay attention or heedrdquo (p 1) In other words Downs (2008) argues that listening is the way
7
learners pay attention to what is being said In her opinion listening is an active process that
includes using a variety of processes which are attending understanding interpreting
responding and remembering Moreover Mendelsohn (1994) demonstrates listening as ldquothe
ability to understand the spoken language of native speakersrdquo (p 64) To be precise
Mendelsohn defines listening as the listenerrsquo s ability to recognize the native speakerrsquo s
speech in terms of accent pitch intonation vocabulary grammar and trying to interpret the
native speakerrsquo s messages
Saricoban (1999) states that listening is onersquos capacity to realise what is being said
and to recognize the intended meaning He sheds light on two important points the first
point concerns understanding the speakerrsquos pronunciation syntax and lexis whereas the
second point deals with grasping the meaning Willis (1981) lists a series of micro-skills of
listening which she calls enabling skills They are
Predicting what people are going to talk about
Guessing at unknown words or phrases without panic
Using onersquo s own knowledge of the subject to help one understand
Identifying relevant points rejecting irrelevant information
Retaining relevant points (note-taking summarizing)
Recognizing discourse markers eg well oh another thing is now finally
etc
Recognizing cohesive devices e g such as and which including linking
words pronouns references etc
Understanding different intonation patterns and uses of stress etc which give
clues to meaning and social setting
8
Understanding inferred information eg speakerrsquo s attitude or intentions
(p134
Furthermore listening is an important source of knowledge It is recognized as the
ability of transforming and interpreting the spoken messages that are received by the ears
from the daily life situations Yet listening is a very hard task It requires the learnersrsquo mental
concentration which is something difficult because the human brain can simply lose attention
That is to say listening skill can save learners from communication breakdowns and
increases their motivation to learn the foreign language and speak fluently but only if they
work harder to develop their own listening skills
12 Differences between Listening and Hearing
Listening and hearing are two different activities Kline (1996) emphasizes the
differences between these two concepts to make an effective listening He states that
ldquohearing is the attachment of meaning to the sound Hearing is passive listening is activerdquo
(p7) In other words active listening is a successful element that affects learnersrsquo verbal and
nonverbal behaviors
Surbhi (2016) states the differences between listening and hearing On the one hand
he defines hearing as the natural capacity that happens unconsciously It aids to identify
sounds via the ears Also hearing is a process that permits receiving sound vibrations and
it is one of the five senses On the other hand Surhbi (2016) defines listening skill as the
process of receiving and interpreting messages it occurs consciously
13 Reasons of Listening
Learners through being exposed to different English accents and in any recorded
materials such as radio TV or tapes they want to understand and realize what is being said
9
(Harmer 1998) According to him listening is a very effective process that helps learners to
get a better pronunciation In other words as much as they are exposed to the real language
as much as they will recognize its features
Also Shen (2010) demonstrates that listening skills help to improve understanding
and aids people to become aware of their listening skills So listening plays a vital role in
language learning and acquisition It is an essential skill that bridges the line between
meaning and messages in order to avoid misunderstanding between individuals
14 Types of listening
Generally speaking the listening skill plays a significant role in teaching EFL
classrooms This process guides EFL learners to an effective communication Therefore the
listening skill can be classified into two different types Extensive listening and intensive
listening
141 Extensive Listening
Extensive listening has to do with the learnerrsquos fluency In other words the learner has
to master vocabulary grammarhellipetc and later on he must combine them together to form
a meaningful conversation So fluency depends on the listenerrsquos ability of understanding
whatever he is exposed to weather in an audio tape a text a songhellipetc
Harmer (1998) states that extensive listening is the way students practice their own
listening outside the classroom Students should enjoy listening to an audio material because
they can understand them without the teacherrsquo s help Also students can depend on CDs and
tapes so that they are going to have another chance to listen to their course books dialogues
that they have already provided to them inside the classroom In addition learners must be
10
stimulated to listen to the English language films with sub-titles because this helps students
to acquire the foreign language
In brief extensive listening according to the Extensive Reading-Central (2012) includes
Listening to massive amounts of text
Text which learners can understand reasonably smoothly
high levels of comprehension
Listening without being constrained by pre-set questions or tasks
Listening at or below onersquo s comfortable fluent listening ability
So extensive listening aims to make learners enjoy developing their listening skills
142 Intensive Listening
In contrast to extensive listening intensive listening aims at developing the learnersrsquo
specific listening skills and more precisely to raise the learnersrsquo attention about the spoken
language Intensive listening occurs weather in classrooms or laboratories It exists mostly
when teachers guide their students and provide them with help concerning listening
problems that they face and try to highlight them (Harmer 2007)
So intensive listening according to the Extensive Reading-central (2012) is
Listening for specific information
Listening for the exact words of a phrase or expression
Listening for details
Listening to mimic a text
11
15 Listening Processes
In listening process addressees process information using two distinct strategies
This is devoted to as bottom-up and top-down
151 Bottom-up Process
Richards (1990) states that ldquobottom-up processing refers the use of incoming data as
a source of information about the meaning of a messagerdquo (p 50) According to him Bottom-
up process deals with the perception of sentence components ie recognizing the meaning
of sounds words sentences clauseshellipetc till reaching the meaning of the whole message
152 Top-down Process
Richards (190) states that ldquoTop-down processing on the other hand refers to the use
of background knowledge in understanding the meaning of a messagerdquo (p 51) In contrast
to Bottom-up process Richards (1990) points out to the Top-down as the process of using
the listenersrsquo previous knowledge to attain meaning as whole not attaining the meaning of
individual words
16 Brief History of Audio-Stories
Eckert (2016) states that ldquoAudio storytelling in the form of radio drama has been
around for almost a centuryrdquo (p 8) That is to say audio stories in the previous decades took
the form of radio drama Radio drama attained extensive admiration within an era of its
original growth in the 1920rsquo s At that time radio drama played a central role for being the
foundation of people entertainment However by the 1950rsquo s people shifted their attention
to the new invention which was the small screen ie the television As a result of the
invention of this new device audio drama no more attracts the spectatorsrsquo attention it lost
its popularity
12
Though in 2010 radio drama came back to stage due to the developments shown in
digital soundtrack and internet spreading According to Eckert (2016) ldquoRadio and audio
storytelling has slowly started gaining popularity again thanks to the different online
platforms brought forth by digitalizationrdquo (p 8)
17 Definition of Storytelling
Today stories are a fundamental part of our societies and cultures Telling and
listening to stories is an ancient tradition and common activity that bonds different olden
civilizations together Also stories are an essential component and an ordinary process that
many people used to do on every occasion It is the art of telling factual or fictional stories
Besides stories bring legacy into life because our ancestors told them and people today
only retell them
Moreover listening to stories enhances the learnersrsquo foreign language It aids them
to improve their speaking skills Pederson (1995) states that ldquoin dealing with stories learners
have an experience with the powerful real language of personal communicationrdquo (p 2)
Additionally Pederson (1995) emphasizes the role of telling stories in preserving heritage
he argues that ldquooral stories are a direct expression of a literary and cultural heritage and
through them that heritage is appreciated understood and kept aliverdquo (1995 p2) In other
words stories bond between the past and the present It is considered to be a vital feature of
humankind Furthermore Schram (1994 as cited in Coulter Michael amp Poynor 2007)
points out
A story is a beautiful means of teaching religion values history traditions and
customs a creative method of introducing characters and places an imaginative way
13
to instill hope and resourceful thinking Stories help us to understand who we are and
show us what legacies to transmit to future generations (p 104-105)
So Schram (1994) highlights the role of stories in bridging the gap between the teaching
process and culture
Likewise Abrahamson (1998) sheds light on the role that storytelling plays in the
learning process He states that telling stories plays a significant role in improving learnersrsquo
understanding Besides Abrahamson argues that stories can afford a suitable context that
the listener can use it as a base to perceive the tellerrsquos point of view Moreover Roney (1996)
demonstrates
In its most basic form storytelling is a process where a person (the teller) using
vocalization narrative structure and mental imagery communications with other
humans (the audience) who also use mental imagery and in turn communicate back
to the teller primarily via body language and facial expression (p 2)
By this definition storytelling is the combination of art procedures and ways of
communication
18 Definition of Audio-Stories
The term audio-story is a combination of two words audio and story By definition
audio is sound within the aural range accessible to humankinds Miller (2011) states that
ldquostories are pieces of art and can serve as a basis of gamesrdquo (p 1) So Audio-story is a very
operative means for teaching EFL learners It aids to make the course persuasive Nowadays
14
audio stories can be used to many reasons and the most important one is the exposure to the
real language of native speakers by EFL learners In addition Rubin (2015) points out
ldquoaudio stories are an engaging form of communication that combines speech and music into
a compelling narrativesrdquo (p 1) That is to say audio stories are the process of telling stories
through sound and sound effects only Furthermore Audio-stories are broadly accredited to
progresses in portable equipment for instance smart phones tablets and multimedia
entertainment systems Thus EFL learners find it easy to listen to those audio stories
19 Characteristics of a Good Audio-Story
According to Seifert (nd) finding good audio-stories that suit the EFL learnersrsquo
needs is something very important and it is a very hard task to do However these are some
of the necessary features that EFL teachers must take into consideration whenever they want
to select a good audio-story for their students
Skill Level
Taking into account the learnersrsquo English level before choosing any audio-story For
instance if the audio-story contains a difficult language learners will lose confidence and
as a result they stop listening to the audio-story So determining the learnersrsquo level is very
important
Student Interest
EFL teachers must find out their studentsrsquo interests and normally each teacher has
an idea about this issue So if the audio-stories do not fit the learnersrsquo needs the EFL
teacherrsquos goal from that audio-story will be lost
15
Audio Length
The length of the audio-story plays a significant role in keeping concentration in the
ESL schoolrooms Listening for much time to the audio storytelling leads to boredom As a
result the learnersrsquo s brains lose attention However teachers can use long audio-stories but
they should know how to put it into parts and use classroom discussions to avoid boredom
So these three characteristics aid to develop EFL learnersrsquo listening skills
110 The Use of Audio-Stories in ESL Classrooms
According to Rock (nd) there are several listening practices that ESLEFL teachers
can provide to their students These are samples of activities that can work hand in hand with
audio-stories
Fill in The Blanks
Here EFL teacher provides his students with a written passage that is taken from an
audio-story but he removes some words Later on the teacher asks his learners to listen to
the audio-story after reading that passage and at the same time fill in the blanks
Mastery Memory
This activity has to do with learnerrsquos memory In this kind of practices teachers
provide learners with an audio-story and ask them for example to write down the main
events of the story but when they finish listening to it Teachers in this activity have to make
sure that students do not write them during the listening of the audio-story So the main goal
of the exercise is to reinforce learnerrsquos memory
16
Order the Events
At the start teachers give their learners a series of events that are chosen from an
audio-story Then the teacher gives them some time to read them After that learners listen
to the audio- storytelling and put those events in a sequential order
Buzz Words
This exercise aims to reach the learnerrsquo s vocabulary In this practice teachers
provide learners with a number of words then they ask them to check their meanings before
Afterward teacher turns the lesson into a game ie EFL learners listen to the audio-story
and whenever they hear a word (the buzz word) from that list they have to raise their hands
or clap them
Multiple Choice
This activity deals with providing learners with a number of questions followed by
three answers these questions can be definitions or name of characterhellip etc Then learners
have to listen to the audio-storytelling and pick the write response After teachers play again
the audio-story to correct their answers
Character Quiz
In this practice EFL learners have to listen to the whole story Then the teacher gives
his class a question sheet that contains a list of character qualities and decision and ask them
to choose the suitable one for the leading role
Plot Quiz
This activity has to do with team competition After listening to the whole audio-
storytelling once or twice the teacher divides his class into two to four groups where the
17
teacher plays the role of the coach Several questions that have a relation to the story will be
quizzed to each team if they get the answer they have a point if they fail to answer correctly
the question moves to the next group
Beginning Middle End
After listening to the audio storytelling the teacher splits the classroom into groups
and each group contains no more than four students Later he asks each group to write the
main events of the beginning the middle and the end of the story Finally they discuss them
together
111 Advantages of Using Audio-Stories
Audio-stories play an essential role in teaching the target language Audio-
storytelling is an impeccable implement for any ESL classrooms First of all audio-stories
afford learners with the exposure to the real language as it is produced by the native speakers
ie a natural voice Furthermore Rodero (2012 as cited in Eckert2016) claimed that
ldquoAudio stories that use sound effects and sound shots enhance the learnerrsquo s attention and
creation of visual images significantly compared to those without themrdquo (p 16) That is to
say using audio-stories in ESL classrooms develops learnersrsquo listening skills and provides
them with an imaginary trip inside their minds Also audio- stories enhance learnersrsquo
pronunciation since the learner is exposed to the natural voice In addition EFL teacher can
use audio storytelling as a guideline to his lecture or the opposite he can use it at the end of
the course as a reward
Moreover the EFL teachers depend on audio-stories in improving learnersrsquo
vocabulary through memorization Learners can enrich their vocabulary whenever they
listen to those stories because each time they learn some new words Besides learners can
18
listen to them outside the schoolrooms because they are portable they can upload them in
their mobiles and listen to them any time anywhere Finally audio stories can raise interest
for those learners who are not attracted to reading
Conclusion
In conclusion listening to audio stories aids EFL learners to improve the target
language pronunciation That is to say students will be exposed to the real language as it is
created by the native speakers Besides using audio stories in ESLEFL classrooms increases
the learnersrsquo interest toward learning the foreign language and also enhances their speaking
skills
19
Section two Reflection on Pronunciation
Introduction
121 Definition of Speaking Skill
122 Speaking Sub-Competencies Skills
123 Definition of Pronunciation
124 Importance of Pronunciation
125 Factors Affecting Pronunciation
1251 Internal Factors
1252 External Factors
Conclusion
20
Introduction
Generally speaking being able to speak the target language fluently and accurately
seems to be very interesting to all EFLESL learners Though students face a lot of troubles
and obstacles when communicating with each other or with native speakers and this is due
to mispronunciation misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the hearer which leads to the
communication breakdowns Furthermore learnersrsquo mispronunciation occurs due to various
factors that affect their oral language and as a consequence it affects their speaking
proficiency
In this section we have dealt with the speaking process and precisely
ldquopronunciationrdquo At the start a slight attention is put upon the definition of speaking skills
and its sub-competencies After that a part of this section is devoted to define pronunciation
and highlight its importance Moreover this section demonstrates some factors that affect
pronunciation which are classified into internal factors and external factors Finally another
point about the English consonant ldquoLrdquo has been raised
121 Definition of Speaking Skill
Mastering the foreign language is the aim of each EFL learner Speaking is one of
the most important language skills it plays a significant role in sharing ideas and thoughts
between individuals Torky (2006) defines speaking as follows ldquoIt is the means through
which learners can communicate with others to achieve certain goals or to express their
opinions intentions hopes and viewpointsrdquo (p 13) Also Ziane (2012) states that ldquoit is the
way by which learners can contribute and be part of oral communicationrdquo (p21) So the
main goal of EFL learners is to be able to speak the target language in order to strengthen
their verbal communication
21
Moreover Chaney (1998) argues that ldquospeaking is the process of building and
sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols in a variety of contextsrdquo
(p 13) From Chaneyrsquo s definition of speaking we deduce that speaking has an important
role in learning the foreign language and improving EFL learnersrsquo communicative skill
However there are some researchers who describe speaking as a hard task They
argue that EFL learners find it so hard to master the foreign language and face a lot of
difficulties even after studying it many years at schools Bueno and Mclaren (2006 as cited
in Alonso 2011) point out
Speaking is one of the most difficult skills language learners have to face In spite of
this it has traditionally been forced into the background while we teachers of
English have spent all our classroom time trying to teach our students how to write
to read and sometimes even to listen in a L2 because grammar has a long written
tradition (p 321)
On the whole the speaking skill is a very important process that EFL learners need to acquire
in order to master and shape the target language
122 Speaking Sub CompetenciesSkills
Torky (2006) claims that learners must be able to express themselves in a given
context in order to be proficient in mastering the foreign language She points out to several
speaking skills or competencies that help to achieve this aim which are
22
Linguistic Competence
Torky (2006) states that learners must be skillful in using pronunciation ie their
pronunciation must be clear In addition students have to use correct grammar and
proper lexis
Discourse Competence
In the beginning learners have to be able to use a well-organized discourse In other
words the discourse must be clear and unified Besides they have to be competent in
handling discussion and cooperating efficiently in order to avoid the communication
breakdowns
Pragmatic Competence
EFL learners have to be proficient in using a variety of functions that are related to
the same context and register
Fluency
Speaking smoothly without any complications and with a suitable degree of speech
speed
123 Definition of Pronunciation
According to Gilakjani (2012) ldquopronunciation is an integral part of foreign language
since it directly affects learnersrsquo communicative competence as well as performancerdquo
(p119) That is to say pronunciation plays a fundamental role in learning and improving the
target language Besides Poposka (2016) argues that pronunciation is the key factor of
language in its universal notion and she claims that pronunciation should be defined in
23
relation to different perspectives Poposka (2016) states some of the various points of view
concerning pronunciation definition which are
- The act or manner of pronouncing uttering of speech
- A way of speaking a word especially a way that is accepted or generally understood
- A graphic representation of the way a word is spoken using phonetic symbols (p
200)
Moreover Dauer (1993 as cited in Ummah 2014) states that ldquopronunciation is the
act of producing the sound of speech including articulation vowel formation accent
inflection and intonation often with reference to the correctness or acceptability of the
speech soundrdquo (p 10) In addition Poposka (2016) states that pronunciation is the vocal
capacity to produce particular sounds weather when communicating with individuals or
when being alone This construction of sounds leads to the appearance of some utterances
that may be expressive or worthless (p 200) Furthermore Adult Migrant English Program
research center (AMP 2002) points out
Pronunciation refers to the production of sounds that we use to make meaning it includes
attention to the particular sounds of language (segments) aspects of speech beyond the
level of the individual sound such as intonation phrasing stress timing rhythm
(suprasegmental aspects) (p1)
In other words AMP research center argues that even if these two aspects suprasegmental
and segmental structures are treated separately it is necessary to know that they work hand
in hand in a given context whenever someone speaks
24
124 Importance of Pronunciation
Madden and Moore (1997) states that ldquoin first language acquisition children learn
pronunciation inductively by absorbing and reproducing the sounds in their environmentrdquo
(p 4) That is to say all human beings in their natural development from childhood to
adulthood learn first of all how to talk before learning how to read or write Also Zhang
(2009) claims that ldquolearning a language means to perform the sounds utterances and the
words properly and correctlyrdquo (p 34-35) So pronunciation is a very essential skill in
learning a second language
Moreover Morley (1998 as cited in Zhang 2009) argues that ldquoit is clear that limited
pronunciation skills will make learners lose their self-confidence and result in negative
influence for learners to estimate their credibility and abilitiesrdquo (p 35) In other words it
does not matter whether learners make mistakes concerning grammar or vocabulary all what
matters is the way they pronounce a given word in order to make a worthy impression on
the learnersrsquo language capacities Zhang (2009) points out
Good pronunciation will make people understand you easily and be willing to listen to
you Contrarily poor English pronunciation may confuse people and lead to an
unpleasant talking and misunderstanding even if you used advanced English grammar
or vocabulary (p 35)
Likewise Backley (n d) argues ldquoif a speaker has a clear pronunciation this has immediate
benefits listeners judge the speakerrsquo s overall language ability much more favorably even
to the point of tolerating grammatical and other errorsrdquo (p 126) Therefore good
25
pronunciation aids to avoid misinterpretation and intelligibility between speakers and
listeners and show the learnersrsquo competencies in mastering their second language
Furthermore good pronunciation affects the learnersrsquo speed of acquiring the target language
In addition learners should use only simple structures with good and correct pronunciation
rather than using complex expressions in order to communicate with others
125 Factors Affecting Pronunciation
Generally speaking there are several factors that affect the learnersrsquo pronunciation
These factors can be classified into internal factors and external factors
1251 Internal Factors
Zhang (2009) states that internal factors can be categorized also into biological
factors individual differences and individual efforts and goal setting
Biological Factors
They are branded into four features age ear perception and aptitude
Learnersrsquo Age
At the start there is a difference between young learners and adult learners
concerning the acquisition of the accurate pronunciation Nonetheless this does not mean
that adult learners cannot get accurate pronunciation as well They have to work much harder
because their brainsrsquo plasticity reduces That is to say age plays a significant part in learning
the target language pronunciation Moreover Zhang (2009) emphasizes the role of the
critical period hypothesis that was proposed by Lenneberg in 1967 which states that there
is a certain age that helps learners to acquire the foreign language pronunciation accurately
26
and after that age the brain loses its flexibility Furthermore (Nation and Newton (2009) as
cited in Zhang 2009) claim that
Usually if the learner began to speak in the second language before the age of six
there will be little or no accent If the learner began to speak between the age of seven
and eleven the learners likely to have a slight accent If the learner began to speak
after age of twelve the learners almost always have an accent (p 78)
This is the reason behind the acceptance of the idea that learners find it so hard to acquire
the foreign language after maturity
Additionally Zhang (2009) states that young learners have bigger chances than the
adult learners in obtaining accurate pronunciation He claims that the brain loses its
flexibility and becomes rigid after puberty (after nine years old) as a result the brainrsquo s
functions will be devoted to the right and left hemispheres which makes it so difficult to
acquire the foreign languagersquo s pronunciation correctly Also Lenneberg (1967 as cited in
Zhang 2009) argues that ldquobefore the age of two the brain has not developed enough but
after puberty it developed too much and it will lose its plasticity and finish the lateralization
of the language functionrdquo (p 39) In other words it becomes so hard to obtain the native-
like pronunciation after the lateralization
Ear Perception
One of the most important factors that affect the learnersrsquo acquisition of the foreign
language is the ldquoear perceptionrdquo Zhang (2009) claims that the hearing abilities differ from
one person to another That is to say there are learners who have a strong hearing capacity
27
they can hear sounds in a very clear way which help them in reproducing the native speakersrsquo
pronunciation smoothly Whereas there is that kind of learners who do not have that ability
However Zhang argues that the ear perception has nothing to do with the learner age He
claims that it is natural that learners may lose some of their capacities whenever they become
older
Aptitude
Generally speaking foreign language aptitude is the personrsquos ability to learn a foreign
or a second language very rapidly and with no troubles (Wen 2011) Also Dornyei and
skehan (2003 as cited in Wen 2011) states ldquooriginally the notion of FLA presumed a
relatively stable talent for learning a foreign language that differs between individualsrdquo (p
590) So EFL learners do not have the same ability to acquire the foreign language
Additionally Carroll (1962 as cited in Wen 2011) states four components of the FLA which
are
lsquophonemic coding abilityrsquo (ie the ability to identify and retain sounds and link them
to phonetic symbols)
Sensitivity towards the grammatical functions that words fulfil in a sentence
The ability to learn inductively (ie to infer and generalize linguistic structures from
language samples) and
The ability to rote learn vocabulary items paired with their associated translations
(p 233)
Hence aptitude has an important role in improving learnersrsquo foreign language
Although Zhang (2009) argues that all individuals have a language aptitude ability but they
28
differ only in the degree of that aptitude capacity Also he claims that we cannot say that
those people who have a sophisticated level of language aptitude will get to the top and
people with an inferior level of language aptitude will go pear-shaped
Individual Differences
Zhang (2009) states that learnersrsquo different personalities affect the way they acquire
the foreign language pronunciation He argues that extroverted learners are more likely to
acquire the target pronunciation rather than introverted learners because extroverted learners
are not afraid of making mistakes which is not the case with the introverted learners who
face always the fear of failure Besides extroverted students are more friendly they tend to
work with others which leads them to practice the target language so they become more
familiar with it which aids to improve their pronunciation very quickly (p 40-41)
Individual Efforts and Goal setting
At the start the main goal of each EFLESL learner is to master the foreign language
in order to communicate with others Zhang (2009) points out ldquowe must always remember
that teaching never causes learning but rather creates the conditions in which learning can
occurrdquo (p 42) Besides he emphasizes that pronunciation is really a very hard task that
learners can acquire in a few days but it is not something impossible that learners cannot
achieve Though as much time learners spend in practicing the target language
pronunciation the better results they will get
1252 External Factors
External factors can be classified into three aspects learnersrsquo native language
exposure to target language and education factors
29
Learnerrsquo s Native Language
Universally the learnersrsquo native language affects their pronunciation of the foreign
language Zhang (2009) states that studentsrsquo mother tongue reflects the way they pronounce
a certain word in the target language and this is due to the differences that are found between
the two languages In other words learners find a lot of complications in articulating some
sounds for the reason that some of those sounds do not occur in their native language (p
43)
Exposure to the Target Language
Zhang (2009) shows that the acquisition of English language pronunciation is related
to the amount of exposure to it as it is produced by the native speakers That is to say this
depends on the learner himself ie on the situation in which the learning process occurs In
other words Zhang argues that it does not matter weather learners live in a native country
or not it is a matter of how much time they listen to the foreign language and how much
time they use it Zhang (2009) states ldquothe more they spend their time for listening and
speaking English the better their English pronunciation will berdquo (p 44) Thus learnerrsquo s
pronunciation accuracy depends on the surrounding environment where the target language
takes place
Educational Factors
At the start the system of education is responsible for studentsrsquo learning process
Worthy educational structure provides a lot of chances for learners to be exposed to the target
language through creating a suitable learning environment Additionally EFLESL
teachersrsquo accent reflects the learnersrsquo pronunciation because learners take teachers as an
30
exemplary in order to improve their pronunciation That is why teachers should work on
their pronunciation initially (Zhang 2009)
The English Consonant Sound ldquoLrdquo
Generally speaking EFL learners face complications in learning the English L sound
Sproat and Fujimura (1993) argue ldquoEnglish l has traditionally been classified into at least
two allophones namely light which occurs initially and dark which occurs syllable finallyrdquo
(p 291) Furthermore Wang (2016) states that the L consonant sound is a lateral phoneme
in English and it has two allophones he points out
One of them is found before vowels as in ldquoladyrdquo or ldquoflyrdquo called clear l and is
pronounced as the alveolar lateral approximant in a neutral position of the body of
the tongue The other variant is called dark l found before consonants or at word-
finally position as in ldquoboldrdquo or ldquotellrdquo Which is as the velarized lateral approximant
with the tongue in a spoon-like shape Its back part is raised which gives the sound
a w-like resonance (p 44)
In other words the clear [l] occurs when the tip of the tongue raises up and touches the soft
palate just behind the front teeth whereas the dark [ϯ] happens when the tip of the tongue
pulls back and the tongue raises to the middle without touching the soft palate to make the
L sound So the difference between these two allophones is the reason behind those troubles
that the learner may face
However Sproat and Fujimura (1993 as cited in Jiahong 2011) explain the
differences between these two allophones by relating them to the rime duration In other
31
words they point out that whenever the l sound occurs in longer rimes it is going to be a
dark [ϯ] and whenever the rime is short the l sound is clear or light
Figure 1
Articulatory Differences in l Velarization
Source Recasens 2012 p369
Conclusion
To end with it is very important to acknowledge that pronunciation is one way that
leads to an effective and a successful communication That is why many researchers shed
light on the investigation of some factors that may influence the EFL learnersrsquo pronunciation
As a result these identifying concepts help foreigners to overcome their difficulties when
they are introduced to the target language
32
Chapter two Field Work
Introduction
21 Methodology
211 Research Participants
212 The Procedure
2121 The Research Design
2122 The Pre-test Phase
2123 The Treatment Phase
2124 The Control Group
2125 The Post-test Phase
213 Scoring
214 Data Analysis
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (independent Sample
t-test)
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group Post-test
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group Post-test (Paired
Sample t-test)
21431 Paired Sample t-test
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-test
33
21441 An Independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the
Post-test
215 Discussion of the Results
216 Pedagogical Implications
Conclusion
34
Introduction
This research attempts to investigate the effect of listening to audio stories on
acquiring accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] by second year LMD students
at the department English -LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi The chosen sample is divided into two
groups the control group and the experimental group At the start participantsrsquo
pronunciation accuracy of the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] (the dependent variable) was measured
through a pretest Later on a period of treatment is taken by the experimental group which
is not the case with the control group After that a post-test is administered to both groups
in which the results are gathered using a software called the ldquopraatrdquo In addition we shed
light on describing the sample taking the place in which the study took place the method
used and at last the data collected
21 Methodology
211 Research Participants
The current study involved two intact classes of second year LMD students from
LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi-English Department The selected sample includes students from
different gender Furthermore we favored to select second year students for several reasons
The first reason was that second year students have practiced working with audio supports
which was not the case with first year students so they will not face problems concerning
listening to audio stories The second reason was that second year learners study oral
expression
At the start the experiment includes a sample of forty learners that have been chosen
from two intact classes of second year LMD students The chosen sample represents 1904
from the entire population which comprises 210 learners Additionally both clusters were
35
divided into a control group and an experimental group twenty students in each group At
the beginning the sample was supposed to be comprised of sixty students in which both the
control and the experimental groups covered thirty students Unfortunately there were a lot
of absences in both groups Also there are some students who have not passed both the
pretest and the posttest and others have not received the treatment at all Therefore the
sample size was reduced from sixty to forty students which can be sufficient to represent
the whole population and to get consistent outcomes
In order to gather consistent data that help to achieve the purpose of our research a
quasi-experimental design was designated The use of the chosen method will provide us
with a wide-ranging representation of the reflection of listening to audio stories on the
acquisition of the accurate pronunciation of the dark [l] and clear [l]
212 The Procedure
To accumulate a reliable data an experiment was conducted over six sessions The
treatment period took four sessions and the remained two sessions for the pretest and the
posttest The pretest took a form different from that of the posttest in order to avoid
familiarity to improve the learnersrsquo development and get consistent information Both
groups have taken the tests but only the experimental group took the treatment Besides the
duration of training concerning the treatment period for the experimental group took 90
minutes ie one hour and a half for each session and it started after getting the
authorization of the teacher of oral expression
36
2121 The Research Design
Figure 2
Experimental Group Procedures
Figure 3
Control Group Procedures
2122 The Pre-test Phase
By the first week of March both the control group and the experimental group have
taken the pretest However before choosing the pretest and in order to avoid any problems
we have checked that the dark [l] and the clear [l] are pronounced the same in both the
American and the British accents using the Oxford Advanced Learnerrsquo s Dictionary At the
outset learners were required to read a passage derived from a short story named ldquoThe last
class-The story of the Alsationrdquo that was written by Alphonse Daudet (2001) and also short
sentences (see Appendix A) After that their voices were recorded using a software known
pre-test
treatment
(listening to audio stories)
post-test
pre-test
No treatment
( being taught without listening
to audio-stories)
post-test
37
as the ldquoPraatrdquo Besides our focus here was raised toward the duration (ie the length of a
syllable) of the dark [l] and the clear [l]
Throughout the pretest EFL learners found themselves unable to pronounce the dark
[ϯ] and clear [l] that are found in some words correctly In other words students in the control
group and the experimental group most of the time pronounce the dark [ϯ] in the same way
they pronounce the clear [l] ie they spend the same duration for pronouncing the two
allophones Also EFL learners from time to time pronounce them differently but in a wrong
way ie they spent a rime duration that it not suitable neither for the light [l] nor for the
dark[ϯ]
Figure4
Example of the Lateral Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoSawmillrdquo
2123 The Treatment Phase
At first both participants have finished the pretest Though the treatment was
approved to the experimental group only the control group did not receive the same
treatment Besides the experimental group received the treatment in four sessions and each
Rime
duration
38
session took one hour and a half (ie 90 minutes) In each session students were asked to
listen to the audio-story in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of both allophones
after that they discussed the story being listened (see Appendix B)
2124 The Control Group
Concerning the control group students were taught the oral expression without any
exposure to any kinds of treatments In contrast to students in the experimental group who
were provided with the audio stories in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of the
both allophones which are the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ]
2125 The Post-test Phase
Fundamentally after finishing the four sessions of training ie the period of
treatment a posttest was administered to both the experimental group and the control group
(see Appendix c) The posttest as we have said before is different from the pretest in order
to avoid familiarity with the same topic and to ensure the learners improvement of the dark
[ϯ] and clear [l] So the posttest is a kind of a passage which was taken from a short story
that is entitled ldquoThe Game of Billiardsrdquo which is written by Alphonse Daudet and some
words to pronounce Furthermore during the posttest we noticed a kind of development in
learnersrsquo pronunciation of the two allophones with students of the experimental group
especially in pronouncing the single words which was not the case with those learners in
the control group
39
Figure 5
Example of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquocabalrdquo
Figure 6
Example of the Clear [l] in the word ldquolabourrdquo
The rime
duration
The rime
duration
40
213 Scoring
After finishing recording the learnersrsquo pronunciation of the phoneme l of both
groups (the control and the experimental group) we have compared them first of all to the
native speakerrsquo s pronunciation and after that we have calculated the rime duration of the
two allophones ie the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] and at last we gave them scores out of six
(6) for each participant
214 Data Analysis
In this sub-section we are going to investigate the EFL learnersrsquo improvement of
pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] Though in order to make sure that EFL
learners have acquired the correct pronunciation of these two allophones we have firstly
investigated the native speakerrsquos pronunciation of the L sound ie the clear [l] and the dark
[ϯ] and we have analyzed the rime duration of two words ldquolightrdquo and ldquoballrdquo as examples
Figure7
The Native Speakerrsquos Pronunciation of the Clear [l] in the Word ldquolightrdquo
Rime
duration
41
Figure8
The Native Speakerrsquo s Pronunciation of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoballrdquo
From these two figures we have noticed that the native speaker has spent 016 s in
pronouncing an ideal clear [l] (see Figure 7) and he has spent 138 s in order to pronounce
a perfect dark [ϯ] (see Figure 8) Thus this analysis of the native speakerrsquo s voice paved the
way to our research in which we based our investigation on it
Table 1
The Experimental and the Control grouprsquo s Scores in the pre-test
Pre-test
Students
Control
group
Experimental
group
Rime
duration
(second)
C E
Rime
duration
42
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (Independent Sample t-
test)
After gathering data for the control and the experimental group and for the purpose
of comparing and contrasting between the two we have calculated the learnersrsquo scores of
pronunciation of the phoneme l and also we have calculated the rime duration of the two
1 1 2 118 127
2 2 25 095 091
3 1 1 116 102
4 25 2 106 091
5 25 25 078 089
6 15 2 078 105
7 2 15 123 091
8 1 1 117 108
9 15 1 119 119
10 15 1 1 115
11 2 15 091 116
12 15 1 12 119
13 2 15 114 1
14 15 1 108 112
15 1 1 131 112
16 2 1 088 08
17 1 1 127 107
18 1 15 107 149
19 15 1 099 115
20 1 15 114 174
Total 31 285 2149 2222
43
allophones (see Table1) Besides the data collected ie the learnersrsquo scores were used in
calculating the means of both groups in the pre-test (the mean is calculated using the SPSS
see Table 2)
Figure 9
The Pre-test Scores of the Control and the Experimental Group
Table 2
The Mean Score of the Control and the Experimental Group in the Pre-test
Test N Mean Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpre 20 15500 51042 11413
Epre 20 14250 51999 11627
44
In order to calculate the Mean () Results we have to use the following formula
=sumx N
N stands for the total numbers of students in one group
sumx stands for the total number of data that was gathered from the pre-test
1 stands for the mean of the Control Group
2 stands for the mean of the Experimental Group
So1= 31 20 =155
2= 285 20 = 142
From ldquoFigure 9rdquo we can notice that 1 is the most frequent score in both the
experimental and the control groups in the pre-test and we can confirm this information
from Table 1 Furthermore when comparing means of both groups we notice (see Table 2)
that there is only a slight difference between the two groups the mean of the control group
is 155 whereas the mean of the experimental group is 142 So we can deduce that the level
of both groups is approximately the same there is no significant difference Moreover the
rime duration of the phoneme l of the experimental group and the control group is to some
extent the same and we can notice this slight difference in Table 1 and precisely in the total
duration of pronouncing the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] by both groups and also in Table 2
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group post-test
In order to confirm if there is any kind of progression in the control grouprsquo s scores
in the post-test concerning the pronunciation of the phoneme l (see Table 3) we have
calculated the mean of the post-test (using the SPSS see Table 4) and compared it with the
mean of the pre-test besides we have calculated the rime duration that has been spent At
45
last we have mentioned the learnersrsquo scores differences between the pre-test and the post-
test to confirm the development (see Figure 10)
Table 3
Results and Scores Differences of the Control and Experimental group in the Post-test
Posttest
Students
Rime
Duration
(Second)
Cpre Cpost Epre Epost
Cpre Cpost Epre Epost
1 1 1 2 4 118 186 127 21
2 2 175 25 5 095 113 091 253
3 1 1 1 45 116 134 102 245
4 25 2 2 35 106 119 091 234
5 25 15 25 55 078 146 089 24
6 15 175 2 5 078 119 105 267
7 2 2 15 45 123 135 091 263
8 1 125 1 5 117 144 108 254
9 15 1 1 425 119 144 119 242
10 15 1 1 55 1 128 115 274
11 2 1 15 45 091 126 116 285
12 1 2 1 5 12 129 119 268
13 2 125 15 55 114 146 1 328
14 15 1 1 55 108 127 112 223
15 1 1 1 5 131 092 112 275
16 2 1 1 475 088 135 08 274
46
17 1 2 1 5 127 094 107 292
18 1 1 15 575 107 096 149 29
19 15 1 1 525 099 114 115 295
20 1 15 15 575 114 132 174 338
Total 31 27 285 9875 2149 2359 2222 535
Diff -4 +7025 +21 +3128
Mean 155 135 142 493
-02 +351
Table 4
The Mean of the control Group in the Pre-test and Post-test
Mean N Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpre 15500 20 51042 11413
Cpost 13500 20 41675 09319
In order to calculate the mean( )result of the control group in the post-test we have to apply
the following formula = sumx N
sum stands for the total number of the data collected in the post-test of the control
group
N refers to the total number of students So = 2720 = 1
47
Figure 10
The Control Group Studentsrsquo Scores Differences
A very insignificant development has been shown in both Figure 7 and Table 3
concerning learners scores in the post-test Besides only Students 681217 and 20 from a
total number of twenty have proved the improvement the mean of the control group has
decreased from 155 in the pre-test to 135 in the post-test ie the mean = -02
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group post-test (Paired Sample
T-test)
In order to identify the scoresrsquo differences between the results of the experimental
group in both the pre-test and the post-test we have calculated the mean of the post-test and
compared it with that of the pre-test to notice if there is any improvement (see Table 3) So
the mean of the post-test is shown in Table 5 below
48
Table 5
The Mean of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and Post-test
Mean N Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Epre 14250 20 51999 11627
Epost 49375 20 59535 13312
From Table 5 we notice that the mean of the experimental group increased from 142 in the
pre-test to 493 in the post-test with a mean difference of 351 ( = +351) and we can
calculate the mean ()of the post-test using the following formula
= sumxN
sum= Stands for the total number of data that was gathered from the post-test in the
Experimental Group
119925 =Stands for the total number of students
So= 9875 20 = 493
From Table 3 we notice that there is a very clear development and difference in
learnersrsquo scores in the post-test which is very different from the pre-test scores (see Figure
12) Moreover we can notice this development from Figure 11 below too It Shows that the
most frequent scores that learners of the experimental group have gained are 45 5 55 and
at last 575(the marks are out of six) that makes a big difference from the scores of the pre-
test in which the most frequent score was 1 In addition to all of this results we can add that
the sum of the rime duration of the post-test differs a lot from that of the pre-test ( = +3128
s)
49
Hence in the light of these results we can say that the period of treatment really
affects in a positive way the learnersrsquo acquisition of the pronunciation of dark [ϯ] and clear
[l] Besides this enhancement was improved in the mean difference between the pre-test and
the post-test of the experimental group Though the comparison of means in the pre-test and
post-test of the experimental group cannot be sufficient in order to make sure that listening
to audio-stories really affects positively the way learners pronounce the Phoneme l
Therefore a paired sample T-test was designed to assess the development of learnersrsquo
acquisition of dark [ϯ] and clear [l] ie to acceptreject the Alternative Hypothesis or to
accept reject the Null Hypothesis (See Table 6 below)
Figure 11
The Scores Frequencies of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and the Post-test
50
Figure 12
The Scores Differences of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and the Post-test
21431 The paired Sample T-test
In order to know if there is any significant difference between the post-test and the
pre-test scores of the same group a t-test is conducted At first the of the experimental
group is calculated through the following formula
= sumdN
refers to the Difference of mean Scores
N Studentsrsquo scores in the Experimental Group
sum refers to the total sum of the Differences Scores
So = 702520= 35125
51
The Standard deviation of the differences
Sd= radic119956120784= radicsum119941120784
119925minus 119941120784
S stands for the Variance
sum119941120784 refers to the square differences of Scores
After calculating
Sdcong 013
The Standard Error of the Mean Difference (SE)
It is calculated using the following formula
SE ()= 119878119889
radic119873cong003
Finally we calculate the t- value that will be compared to the critical P-value at the point
p=005 in order to accept the alternative hypothesis or rejecting it using the following
formula119957120784120782minus120783=
119878119864(119889) = 117
Table 6
Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Post-test Scores differences
Students Pre-test Post-test Difference
1 2 4 2
2 25 5 25
3 1 45 35
4 2 35 15
5 25 55 3
6 2 5 3
52
7 15 45 3
8 1 5 4
9 1 425 325
10 1 55 45
11 15 45 3
12 1 5 4
13 15 55 4
14 1 55 45
15 1 5 4
16 1 475 375
17 1 5 4
18 15 575 425
19 1 525 425
20 15 575 425
Total 285 9875 7025
Table 7
The Paired Sample T-test for the Experimental Group
Paired Sample T-Test
Epre
Scores-
Epost
Scores
Mean Std
deviati-
on
Std-
Error
Mean
95Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
t Df Sig
(2-
tailed)
Lower Upper
-351250 83695 18715 -390421 -312079 -18768 19 000
53
After calculating the mean of the experimental group in both the pre-test and the post-
test (see Table 5) a mean difference of +351 was noticed Therefore in order to prove if
the development that was noticed in the post-test scores as well as the mean occurred
because of the influence of listening to the audio-stories which is the independent variable
or happened only by coincidence
Hence to confirm the Alternative Hypothesis and reject the Null Hypothesis or vice
versa the t-value (117) was calculated in order to be compared with the critical- value at
the point p=005 and at the level of t=19 Besides p-value (0000) is less than 005 which
means that there a real difference between the learnersrsquo scores in the pre-test (before the
period of treatment) and the leanersrsquo scores in the post-test (after the period of treatment)
Consequently we can deduce that the improvement that was achieved by the experimental
group in the post test did not occur by chance actually it occurred because of listening to
audio-stories that has a positive effect on learnersrsquo pronunciation of both the clear [l] and the
dark [ϯ]
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-test
Table 8
The Mean of the Control Group and the Experimental Group in the Post-test
N Mean Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpost 20 13500 41675 09319
Epost 20 49375 59535 13312
54
To calculate the mean () we use the following Formula
= sum119961 N
So 1= sum119961 N
1 refers to the mean of the control group in the post-test
N refers to the total number of students in the control Group
sum119961 stands for the sum of scores of the control group in the post-test
1= 2720 = 135
2 = sum119961 N
2 stands for the mean of the experimental group in the post-test
N refers to the total number of participants in the experimental group
sum119961 Stands for the sum of scores of the experimental group in the post-test
So 2= 987520 = 493
Figure13
The Scores Frequencies of the Control Group and the Experimental Group in the Post-
test
55
From the previous analysis of the mean of both the control and the experimental
group in the pre-test (see Table 3) we have noticed that the level of students in both groups
is almost the same and there is only a slight difference between them Though in the post-
test the scores of the experimental group has increased and as result the mean average has
increased too after the treatment phase for the experimental group (from 142 to 493) but it
decreased for the control group who were taught without being exposed to any kind of
treatment (see Table 8 and Figure 10) Besides we can notice the development also in the
rime duration in studentsrsquo pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] of the experimental
group in the post-test which is not the case with the control group
21441 An independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the post-
test
In order to investigate if there is any significant change between two diverse groups
who have run the same test a t-test is used to show this significance difference In our case
we want to inspect if there is any significant variation between the experimental group and
the control group in the post-test and whether we accept the Alternative Hypothesis or
rejecting the Null Hypothesis So depending on the following steps a t-test was calculated
using the following formula
t= 119883 119888minus 119890
radicpartx2
Nx+
1205971199102
119873119910
partx2 = sum(119883 minus 119890 )N
= 306
1205971199102 =sum(119883 minus 119888 )2119873
= 160
119888 the mean of the control group in the post-test
56
119890 the mean of the experimental group in the post-test
partx2 the variation of the experimental group
1205971199102 the variation of the control group
So t= 493minus 135
radic306
20+
160
20
=745
t-value= 745
Depending on the t-value (745) that was calculated we compare it with the critical p-
value at p=005 therefore we have two options
1- If t-value is greater than the critical p-value (t-valuegtcritical-value) we accept the
alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
2- If t-value is less than the critical-value (t-valueltcritical-value) we accept the null
hypothesis and refuse the alternative hypothesis
we can say that
t-value=745 745 gt005
We accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
p-value= 0000 0000 lt005
We accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
Depending on these results we can say that there is a statistical evidence that the
associated sampling means are significantly different In other words there is a real change
between the experimental group and the control group in the post test at the level of
pronunciation due to the positive influence of the independent variable which is ldquolistening
to the audio-storiesrdquo Therefore students of the experimental group showed a significant
57
progress at the level of pronunciation and precisely the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
pronunciation
215 Discussion of the Results
The current research has investigated the influence of listening to audio-stories on
acquiring accurate pronunciation of both allophones the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] At the
start the pre-test has proved that learners of both groups ie the control and the
experimental group have the same level through calculating their means The control group
scored a mean of 155 while the experimental group scored a mean of 142 and also they
have got near scores concerning the rime duration of the L sound So these estimated scores
helped us to prove and confirm our hypothesis that states the positive effect of listening to
audio-stories on the level of pronunciation accuracy In the post-test students of the
experimental group showed a significant development compared to the control group and
this is due to the period of treatment that occurred in the oral session Besides the mean
score of the experimental group has been raised from 142 to 493 and from a sum of rime
durations of 2222 s to 535 s while the mean score of the control group has been decreased
from 155 to 135 and increased from a sum of rime durations of 2149 s to 2359 s In
addition a t-test was designed to show if there is any statistical significant difference
between the experimental group and the control group in the post-test the results show the
positive influence of the treatment phase on the dependent variable (pronunciation
accuracy)
216 Pedagogical implication
The present research evidenced the positive influence of being exposed to the target
language pronunciation as it is produced by the native speakers through the exposure to the
audio-stories Therefore we can state a set of pedagogical implications
58
The present study shows that the more students get involved in listening practices
the more they will be proficient in the pronunciation of a various English sounds ie
developing their speaking proficiency
Audio-stories help EFL learners improve their pronunciation as well as to develop
their listening skills
Using multimedia devices (audio-stories in our case) in learning classrooms
enhances the learnersrsquo motivation to get involved in the learning process
Audio-stories can be used by EFL teachers in order to make learners attentive and
interested in the lecture being presented
Audio-stories provide learners with the chance to listen again and again to the story
in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of a given word
Conclusion
The present research examined the effect of listening to audio stories on fostering the
target language pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] The native speakerrsquo s
pronunciation of both allophones was analyzed first through analyzing the rime duration in
order to compare it with the EFL learnersrsquo articulation That is to say the analysis is based
on the native speakerrsquo s rime duration In addition a significant development in learnersrsquo
pronunciation of the dark[ϯ]and the clear [l] was proved which lead to accept the alternative
hypothesis that states listening to audio-stories has a positive effect on acquiring accurate
pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] by EFL learners
59
General Conclusion
The present study is based on the investigation of the effectiveness of listening to
audio stories on acquiring accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] by EFL
learners At the beginning we have stated the problem which was that the Algerian EFL
learners in the English department at LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi University face a lot of difficulties
concerning the acquisition of the accurate pronunciation of The phoneme l Subsequently
this dissertation tackled the importance of listening to audio-stories on enhancing EFL
learnersrsquo pronunciation accuracy
Our research was tackled in two main chapters The first chapter divided into two
main sections In the first section we tackled the point of listening to audio stories whereas
the second section discussed the reflection of listening to audio stories on the pronunciation
of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] The second chapter represented the practical part the field
work The analyzed data showed that there is a positive relationship between the independent
variable and the dependent variable That is to say there was a development in the
acquisition of the phoneme l which lead us to accept the alternative hypothesis and reject
the null hypothesis
60
Limitations of the Study
Limited sources ie most of the sources that were available were not relevant to our
study
Time constraints this study needs much more time to conduct a better result
Students absences in the pre-test and the post-test and others did not receive the
treatment at all
The lack of interest in the beginning of the treatment session
61
List of References
Alonso SR (2012) The importance of Teaching Listening and Speaking Skills Diagravectica de Lingua
y la Literatura Facultad de Education
Brown S (2006) Teaching Listening Cambridge Cambridge University press
Coulter C Michael C ampPoynor L (2007) Storytelling as Pedagogy An Unexpected Outcome
of narrative inquiry 104-105
Daudet A (2001) Five Short Stories Copyright copy Bartlebycom Inc
Downs L J (2008) Listening Skills Training ASTD press
Eckert J (2016) Audio Storytelling in Todayrsquos Visual World The necessary Components of a
successful sounds scape for an audio play
Gilakjani A P (2012) A study of Factors Affecting EFL learnersrsquo English Pronunciation Learning
and the Strategy for instruction Lahijani Iran 2(3) 119-128
Hamer J (1998) How to teach English An Introduction to the Practice of English Language
Teaching English Language Teaching Harlow Longman
Hendrickson J (1992) Storytelling for foreign language and linguistics Washington Dc Eric
learning house on language and linguistic [ Eric No E0355-824]
Kline J A (1996) Listening Effectively Air University Press
Madden M and Moore Z (1997) ESL Studentsrsquo Opinions about instruction in Pronunciation
Texas 3(2) 15-32
Mendelson D J (1994) Learning to Listen Dominie Press
Nasreddin K (2010) The Influence of Background Knowledge on Second Language Listening
Comprehension Constantine Constantine University
62
Poposka V p (2016) Pronunciation Proficiency Level Problematic Areas of Tertiary as a Foreign
Language International Journal of Science and Basic and Applied Research
Richards J C (1990) The Language Teaching Matrix Cambridge Cambridge University Pess
Rubin SS (2015) Tools for Creating Audio Stories scholarship University of California
Roney RC (1996) Storytelling in the classroom Some Theoretical Thoughts Wayne State
University Education Detroit Michigan
Sproat R ampFujimura O (1993) Allophonic variation of the English l and its Implication for
phonetic Implementation Academic Press
Torky SA (2006) The Effectiveness of a Task-Based Instruction Program in Developing English
Language Speaking Skills of Secondary Stage Students Collegersquo s girl Ain Shams
University
Ummah A (2014) The Effectiveness of Nursery Rhymes to Facilitate Studentsrsquo of Pronunciation of
the Diphthong Education and Teacher Training Faculty Walisongo State institution for
Islamic Studies
Wang M (2016) Research on the Acoustic Realization of Lateral in Sundanese International
Journal of Engineering Research and Development 12(10) 44-48
Ziane R (2012) The Role of Listening Comprehension in Improving EFL learners Speaking Skill
Biskra University of Biskra
Zhang Q (2009) Affecting Factors of Native-Like Pronunciation A Literature Review Ching-Ang
University 27(2) 33-52
63
Abrahamson CE (1998) Storytelling as a pedagogical tool in high Education 118(3) Retrieved
from
httpwwwquestiacomlibraryjournal1G1-20494609storytelling-as-a-pedagogical-tool-
inhighereducation
AMP Research Center (2012) Retrieved from
Httpwwwncertrmqeduauconference2001indexhtal
Backley P (nd) Improving your English Pronunciation Retrieved from
httptoefluobabyloneduiqpaperspearson-2015-1269610pdf
Chaney (1998) Teaching Speaking Retrieved from
httpitesljorgtechniqueKayi-teaching speakinghtml
English Club (nd) What is listening Retrieved from
httpwwwenglishclubcom
Miller E (2011) Theories of story and storytelling Retrieved from
httpwww-storytellingandvideoconferencingcom167pdf
Pederson E M (1995) Storytelling and the art of listening English teaching forum 33(1)2-5
Retrieved from httpExchangesStategovForumuolsn01p2htm
Remen R N (nd) Listening Skills Retrieved from
httpwwwskillsyouneedcomipslistening-Skills-html
Rock R (nd) 5 Wonderful Websites for Engaging ESL Audio Short Stories Retrieved from
httpwwwFluentucomenglisheducatorsblogeslaudio-short-stories
Seifert S (nd) Follow Along 6 Engaging ESL Audio Stories with worksheet ideas Retrieved from
httpwwwFluentucomenglisheducatorblogeslaudio-stories
Saricoban A (2004) The Teaching of listening The Internet TESL journal
httpitesljorgArticlesSaricobn-listeninghtml
Subhi s (2016) Differences between Hearing and listening Retrieved from
httpkeydifferencescomdifference-between-hearning-and-listeninghtml
64
Shen CD (2010) 3 reasons why listening skills are very important in Todayrsquo s Business World
Retrieved from httpezinearticlescom3-Reasons-why-listening-skills-are-very-important-in-
Todays-Business-worldampid=5436504
the adapted audio-stories that were used in the period of treatment
(httpwwwmanythingsorgvoastories)
Appendix A A pre-test
The Last class- The Story of the Alsatian
I was very late for school that morning and I was terribly afraid of being Scolded
especially as Monsieur Hamel had told us that he should examine us on participles and I
did not know the first thing about them For a moment I thought of saying away from
school and wandering about the fields It was such a warm lovely day I could hear the
blackbirds whistling on the edge of the wood and in the ripper field behind the sawmill
the Prussians going through their drill All that was much more tempting to me than the
rules concerning participles but I had the strength to resist and I ran as fast as I could to
school
Sentences
You old fool they will kill you if you always trouble them
People are awfully lazy in the middle of July
Appendix B A post-test
The Game of Billiards
The marshalrsquo s opponent is a young captain of the staff belted and curled and light-
gloved who is in the first rank of billiard-players and capable of beating all the marshals
on earth but he has the tact to keep a respectful distance behind his chief and devotes his
energies to the task of not winning and at the same time not losing too easily He is what is
called an officer with a future
Read the following words
1 Cabal
2 Labour
3 Shell
Appendix c Treatment period
I Session one (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquothe Secret Gardenrdquo (Chapter One) By Frances Hodgson
Burnett
II Session two (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Secret Gardenrdquo (Chapter two) By Frances Hodgson
Burnett
III Session three (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Lady or the Tigerrdquo by Frank R Stockton
IV Session four (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Lady in Blackrdquo By Eleanor Porter
Reacutesumeacute
La preacutesente eacutetude vise agrave eacutetudier lrsquoarticulation de dark [ϯ] et clear [l] dans les classes de la
langue anglaise afin dameacuteliorer la prononciation des apprenants Lrsquoeacutetude actuelle repose
sur lhypothegravese que leacutecoute des histoires audio a un effet positif sur lameacutelioration de la
prononciation des apprenants EFL avec un accent particulier sur le dark [ϯ] et clear [l] Afin
datteindre lobjectif de cette recherche une eacutetude quasi-expeacuterimentale a eacuteteacute assigneacute en
deux groupe group teacutemoin et group expeacuterimentale Chaque groupe contenait 20 eacutelegraveves
Lexpeacuterience a pris six seacuteances un preacute-test une peacuteriode de traitement (4 seacuteances) et un
posttest En conclusion les reacutesultats obtenus montrent que les eacutetudiants qui sont exposeacute agrave
la langue cible et qui eacutecoutent au locuteur natif agrave lrsquoaide audio pour ameacuteliorer leurs
prononciations ont montreacute qursquoil y a un deacuteveloppement ameacutelioration au niveau de
compeacutetence des apprenants en particulier et en matiegravere de parole en geacuteneacuterale
Les mots cleacutes audio-histoire Compeacutetence drsquoeacutecoute prononciation dureacute de travaille
ملخص
استخدام القصص الصوتية من اجل المساعدة على اكتساب النطق السليم والدقيق تهدف هذه الدراسة الى التعرف على مدى فعالية
الأجنبية حيث تستند الدراسة الحالية على فرضية مفادها ان الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية له تأثير إيجابي على تحسين ةللغ
استغرقت التجربة ست ق المنهج التجريبيمن أجل تحقيق هدف هذه الدراسة تم تطبينطق الطلاب الأجانب للغة الإنجليزية
جلسات قسمت كالاتي أربع حصص معالجة سبقت باختبارات قبلية ولحقت باختبارات بعدية أجريت الدراسة في قسم اللغة
طالبا من طلاب السنة ثانية جامعي قسم الطلبة الى فوجين حيث 40الإنجليزية بجامعة العربي بن مهيدي وقد شملت الدراسة
ى معالجة لمدة أربع حصص من خلال الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية في حين لم يتعرض الفوج الثاني خضع أحد الفوجين ال
الى نفس المعالجة بعد ذلك تم اجراء الاختبارات البعدية واعتمادا على النتائج المتحصل عليها ثبت ان التعرض الى اللغة
جابي على اكتساب النطق الدقيق للغة المستهدفة الا وهي اللغة الأجنبية عن طريق الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية له تأثير إي
الأجنبية
القصص الصوتية النطق مدة الموجات الصوتيةالكلمات المفتاحية المهارة السمعية
I
Dedication
In the Name of Allah the Most Beneficent the Most Merciful
Every challenging work needs self-efforts as well as guidance of elders especially those
who were very close to our heart
My humble effort I dedicate to my sweet and loving Mother and Father whose affection
Love encouragement and prays of day and night make me able
To get such success and honor
It is with my deepest gratitude and warmest affection that I dictate this thesis to my
supervisor Mr Boulemaiz Djalel who has been a constant source of
Knowledge and inspiration
A special feeling of gratitude to my loving brothers Chichou and Fethi I am really blessed
For Having you by my side may ALLAH protect you
To my soul mate my pretty sister Marwa whose words of encouragement and push for
Tenacity ring in my ears
To all my family especially my grandmothers for being my first teachers
To all my friends especially Sara Sara Imane Khadija Zineb Fatine Lamiss Bessma
Marwa Farouk Djamel Mohamed Amine Mohamed Lazhar
thanks for your support in The hardest moments
II
Acknowledgment
First of all I am deeply grateful to ALLAH Coming from the intense gratification of
My supervisor Mr Boulemaiz Djalel whose contribution has raised the quality of this
thesis He has always supported me and has patiently guided me I am very grateful to his
supervision and I owe him the greatest degree of appreciation
I would to acknowledge and thank Ms Alliouche Nadjiba for her precious time I place
on record my sincere gratitude to Ms Stiti and Ms Guerfi who gave me the opportunity to
conduct my experimental study
I would like to express my sincere thanks to Mr Bouri Mr Fizi and Mr Ayadi I am
really grateful and indebted to them for their experts sincere and valuable guidance and
encouragement extended to me
I take this opportunity to record our sincere thanks to all of the faculty members of
the Department of English at LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi University for their help and
encouragement I also thank my parents for their unceasing encouragement and support
I also place on record my sense of gratitude to one and all who directly or indirectly
have lent their helping hand in this venture
III
Abstract
The present research aims at investigating the usefulness of using audio stories in EFL
classrooms in order to improve learnersrsquo pronunciation It is based on the assumption that
listening to audio stories have a positive effect on improving EFL learnersrsquo pronunciation
with a particular focus on the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] In order to attain the aim of this research
a quasi-experimental study was implemented The experiment took six sessions including a
pre-test period of treatment and a post-test At the start two intact classes of second year
EFL students at LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi English department were selected and they were divided
into an experimental group and a control group each contained 20 students First of all a
pronunciation test was administered to both groups as a pre-test Later the experimental
group received a period of treatment of four sessions in which they were exposed to the
target language through listening to different audio-stories whilst the control group did not
receive the same treatment Afterward a post-test was administered to both groups in order
to investigate the learnersrsquo improvement in pronouncing correctly the dark [ϯ] and clear [l]
After that the learnersrsquo performance on the pre-test and the post-test which was recorded
using the Praat was assessed by the researcher In order to show the development that
learners have shown in both tests a t-test was utilized for determining and comparing both
group means Depending on the results gathered it is proved that being exposed to the target
language as it is produced by the native speakers through listening to audio-stories aids to
improve the learnersrsquo pronunciation in particular and their speaking proficiency in general
Therefore teachers are recommended to use Audio-stories in EFL classrooms in order to
enhance learnersrsquo pronunciation of the target language
Key words listening skills audio-stories pronunciation rime duration
IV
List of Abbreviations
EFL English as a Foreign Language
ESL English as a second Language
FLA Foreign Language Aptitude
Cpre Control Group pre-test
Cpost Control Group Post-test
Epre Experimental Group pre-test
Epost Control Group Post-test
H1 Alternative Hypothesis
H0 Null Hypothesis
V
List of Tables
Table 1 The Experimental and the Control grouprsquo s Scores in the Pre-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphellip41
Table 2 The Mean Score of the Control and the Experimental Group in The Pre-test hellip43
Table 3 Results and Scores Differences of the Control and Experimental Group in the
Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip45
Table 4 The Mean of the Control Group in the Pre-test and Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip46
Table 5 The Mean of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphellip48
Table 6 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Post-test Scores Differenceshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip51
Table 7 The Paired Sample T-test for the Experimental Grouphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip52
Table 8 The Mean of the Control Group and The Experimental Group in the Post-testhellip53
VI
List of Figures
Figure 1 Articulatory Differences in l Velarization helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip31
Figure 2 Experimental Group Procedureshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip36
Figure 3 Control Group Procedureshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip36
Figure 4 Example of the Lateral Dark [ϯ]in the Word ldquoSawmillrdquohelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip37
Figure 5 Example of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoCabalrdquo helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip39
Figure 6 Example of the Clear [l]in the Word ldquolabourrdquohelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip39
Figure 7 The Native Speakerrsquo s Pronunciation of the Clear [l] in the Word ldquolightrdquohelliphellip40
Figure 8 The Native Speakerrsquos Pronunciation of the Dark [ϯ] in the word ldquoballrdquohelliphelliphellip41
Figure 9 The Pre-test Scores of the Control and the Experimental Grouphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip43
Figure 10 The Control Group Studentsrsquo Scores Differences helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip47
Figure 11 The Scores Frequencies of the Experimental Group in The Pre-test and the
Post- testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip49
Figure 12 The Scores Differences of the Experimental Group in the pre-test and the Post-
testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip50
Figure 13 The Scores Frequencies of the Control Group and The Experimental Group in
the Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip54
VII
Content
Introductionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip2
1 Statement of the problem helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip2
2 Aim of the studyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip3
3 Research questionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 3
4 Research hypothesishelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip3
5 Means of the studyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip3
6 Structure of the studyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip4
Chapter One Theoretical background
Section One Listening to Audio Stories
Introductionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip6
11 Definition of Listening Skillhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip6
12 Differences between Listening and Hearing helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip8
13 Reasons of listening helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip8
14 Types of Listeninghelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip9
141 Extensive Listeninghelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip9
142 Intensive Listeninghelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip10
15 Listening Processes helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip10
151 Bottom-up Processhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip10
152 Top down processhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip11
16 Brief History of Audio-Storieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip11
17 Definition of Storytellinghelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip12
18 Definition of Audio-Storieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip13
19 Characteristics of a Good Audio-Storyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip14
110 The Use of Audio-Stories in ESL Classroomshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip15
111 Advantages of Using Audio-Storieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip17
Conclusionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip18
Section two Reflection on Pronunciation
Introductionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip20
11Definition of Speaking Skillhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip20
12Speaking Sub-Competencies Skillshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip22
13 Definition of Pronunciationhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip22
VIII
14Importance of Pronunciationhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip24
15 Factors Affecting Pronunciationhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip25
16151 Internal Factorshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip25
152 External Factorshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip28
Conclusion helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip31
Chapter two Field Work
Introductionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip34
21 Methodologyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip34
211 Research Participantshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip34
212 The Procedurehelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip35
2121 The Research Design helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip36
2122 The Pre-test Phasehelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip36
2123 The Treatment Phasehelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip37
2124 The Control Grouphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip38
2125 The Post-test Phasehelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip38
213 Scoring helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip40
214 Data Analysishelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip40
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (independent
Sample t-test)helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip42
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip44
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group Post-test (Paired
Sample t-test)helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 47
21431 Paired Sample t-test helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip50
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip53
21441 An Independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group
in the Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip55
215 Discussion of the Resultshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip57
216 Pedagogical Implicationshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip57
Conclusionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip58
General Conclusionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip59
Limitation of The Studyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip60
List of Referenceshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip61
Appendices
IX
Reacutesumeacute
ملخص
1
General introduction
Introduction
1 Statement of the Problem
2 Aim of the Study
3 Research Question
4 Research Hypothesis
5 Means of the Study
6 Structure of the Study
2
Introduction
Acquiring comprehensible pronunciation for EFL learners is one of the key supplies
for language proficiency Nowadays mastering the foreign language is the main concern
that most of EFL learners share This high attention raises due to the exposure to the target
language and to the complications that learners may face at whatever time they want to
communicate whether with foreigners or with one another using for instance the English
language Besides listening is not only a matter of innate ability but it is a matter of how to
develop that inborn capacity in order to improve the learnersrsquo pronunciation accuracy
Accordingly audio-stories are used to help developing the learnersrsquo listening skill and to
improve their pronunciation accurateness Furthermore using audio stories in teaching EFL
learners help to evidence that an effective listening process leads to an effective articulation
1 Statement of the Problem
Generally speaking there are various factors that affect learnersrsquo acquisition of the
target language pronunciation The Algerian EFL learners encounter many problems
concerning articulation because EFLESL learners do not have much opportunities to be
exposed to the real language as it is produced by the native speakers in the classroom Since
English is a foreign language learners avoid using it outside the classroom which is resulted
in a bad pronunciation Therefore EFL teachers are required to use audio-stories inside the
classrooms in order to develop studentsrsquo second language and to improve their pronunciation
accuracy
3
2 Aim of the Study
The current study deals with the learnersrsquo pronunciation difficulties of the dark [ϯ]
and the clear [l] It aims at investigating the effect of listening to audio-stories on fostering
the target languagersquos accurate pronunciation of both allophones
3 Research Question
The present study seeks to answer the following question
Does listening to audio-stories help EFL learners to acquire the accurate
pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
4 Research Hypothesis
In order to answer the research question the subsequent hypotheses are framed
H1 The EFL learners will acquire accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the
clear [l] through listening to audio-stories
H0 Listening to audio stories will not help EFL learners to acquire accurate
pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
5 Means of the Research
In order to achieve the objective of our research a quasi-experimental design is
administered to second year LMD students of English Department at LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi
University The selected sample (40 students from 210) consists of two groups the control
group and the experimental group Both groups will be pretested in order to assess their
pronunciation accuracy level The pre-test is a kind of short story and small sentences that
contain the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] which learners have to read After that the Praat will be
used in order to record their voices Later on the experimental group will take the treatment
for four sessions in which they will listen to the audio stories each session will take one
4
hour and a half However the control group will not receive any kind of treatment (they will
be taught in a normal way without listening to audio stories) Furthermore a post-test which
is different from that of the pre-test will be administered to both groups in order to test their
pronunciation development
6 Structure of the Study
The present study is divided into two chapters The first chapter is a theoretical one
and it is composed of two sections The first section is about listening to audio stories in
which we define the process of listening and mention the main differences between listening
and hearing After that we discuss the reasons of listening its types and processes Later
on the second sub-section deals with audio stories At the start we introduce a brief history
about the notion of audio stories and then we introduce stories in general Afterward we
discuss the characteristics of audio stories their use and advantages The second section
deals with the pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] at the beginning we shed light
on the definition of speaking skill and its sub-competencies After that a part of this section
deals with the definition of pronunciation and its importance Besides it introduces factors
that affect pronunciation The second chapter deals with the field work in which it sheds
light on collecting data presenting and analyzing it and at the end interpreting results
5
Section One Listening to Audio Stories
Introduction
11 Definition of Listening Skill
12 Differences between Listening and Hearing
13 Reasons of Listening
14 Types of Listening
141 Extensive Listening
142 Intensive Listening
15 Listening Processes
151 Bottom-up Process
152 Top down Process
16 Brief History of Audio-Stories
17 Definition of Storytelling
18 Definition of Audio-Stories
19 Characteristics of a Good Audio-Story
110 The Use of Audio-Stories in ESL Classrooms
111 Advantages of Using Audio-Stories
Conclusion
6
Introduction
Nowadays there is a great emphasis put on listening skill since it plays a significant
role in teaching and acquiring the foreign language So this high attention raises because of
the difficulties that learners face whenever they want to communicate thatrsquos why many
researchers shed light on Audio Stories as a tool that can help in developing learnersrsquo
listening process as well as improving their speaking skills and precisely their
pronunciation
The main concern of this section is listening to audio stories First of all we shed
light on the first part which is listening process At the start we need to define listening
skills according to different scholars later on we tackle the main differences between
listening and hearing Also reasons of listening its types and processes Then the second
part of this section deals with the audio stories In the beginning we introduce a brief history
of audio stories and later on the definition of stories in general After that we present the
meaning of audio stories in a specific way and its main characteristics Lastly this section
highlights the use and the advantages of audio stories inside EFL classrooms
11 Definition of Listening Skill
ldquoThe most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen Just to
listen Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attentionrdquo (Remen
2011)
Listening is an important skill in learning and acquiring a foreign language Through
this process learners will be able to receive and understand information According to
Downs (2008) ldquothe word of listening is defined as making an effort to hear something to
pay attention or heedrdquo (p 1) In other words Downs (2008) argues that listening is the way
7
learners pay attention to what is being said In her opinion listening is an active process that
includes using a variety of processes which are attending understanding interpreting
responding and remembering Moreover Mendelsohn (1994) demonstrates listening as ldquothe
ability to understand the spoken language of native speakersrdquo (p 64) To be precise
Mendelsohn defines listening as the listenerrsquo s ability to recognize the native speakerrsquo s
speech in terms of accent pitch intonation vocabulary grammar and trying to interpret the
native speakerrsquo s messages
Saricoban (1999) states that listening is onersquos capacity to realise what is being said
and to recognize the intended meaning He sheds light on two important points the first
point concerns understanding the speakerrsquos pronunciation syntax and lexis whereas the
second point deals with grasping the meaning Willis (1981) lists a series of micro-skills of
listening which she calls enabling skills They are
Predicting what people are going to talk about
Guessing at unknown words or phrases without panic
Using onersquo s own knowledge of the subject to help one understand
Identifying relevant points rejecting irrelevant information
Retaining relevant points (note-taking summarizing)
Recognizing discourse markers eg well oh another thing is now finally
etc
Recognizing cohesive devices e g such as and which including linking
words pronouns references etc
Understanding different intonation patterns and uses of stress etc which give
clues to meaning and social setting
8
Understanding inferred information eg speakerrsquo s attitude or intentions
(p134
Furthermore listening is an important source of knowledge It is recognized as the
ability of transforming and interpreting the spoken messages that are received by the ears
from the daily life situations Yet listening is a very hard task It requires the learnersrsquo mental
concentration which is something difficult because the human brain can simply lose attention
That is to say listening skill can save learners from communication breakdowns and
increases their motivation to learn the foreign language and speak fluently but only if they
work harder to develop their own listening skills
12 Differences between Listening and Hearing
Listening and hearing are two different activities Kline (1996) emphasizes the
differences between these two concepts to make an effective listening He states that
ldquohearing is the attachment of meaning to the sound Hearing is passive listening is activerdquo
(p7) In other words active listening is a successful element that affects learnersrsquo verbal and
nonverbal behaviors
Surbhi (2016) states the differences between listening and hearing On the one hand
he defines hearing as the natural capacity that happens unconsciously It aids to identify
sounds via the ears Also hearing is a process that permits receiving sound vibrations and
it is one of the five senses On the other hand Surhbi (2016) defines listening skill as the
process of receiving and interpreting messages it occurs consciously
13 Reasons of Listening
Learners through being exposed to different English accents and in any recorded
materials such as radio TV or tapes they want to understand and realize what is being said
9
(Harmer 1998) According to him listening is a very effective process that helps learners to
get a better pronunciation In other words as much as they are exposed to the real language
as much as they will recognize its features
Also Shen (2010) demonstrates that listening skills help to improve understanding
and aids people to become aware of their listening skills So listening plays a vital role in
language learning and acquisition It is an essential skill that bridges the line between
meaning and messages in order to avoid misunderstanding between individuals
14 Types of listening
Generally speaking the listening skill plays a significant role in teaching EFL
classrooms This process guides EFL learners to an effective communication Therefore the
listening skill can be classified into two different types Extensive listening and intensive
listening
141 Extensive Listening
Extensive listening has to do with the learnerrsquos fluency In other words the learner has
to master vocabulary grammarhellipetc and later on he must combine them together to form
a meaningful conversation So fluency depends on the listenerrsquos ability of understanding
whatever he is exposed to weather in an audio tape a text a songhellipetc
Harmer (1998) states that extensive listening is the way students practice their own
listening outside the classroom Students should enjoy listening to an audio material because
they can understand them without the teacherrsquo s help Also students can depend on CDs and
tapes so that they are going to have another chance to listen to their course books dialogues
that they have already provided to them inside the classroom In addition learners must be
10
stimulated to listen to the English language films with sub-titles because this helps students
to acquire the foreign language
In brief extensive listening according to the Extensive Reading-Central (2012) includes
Listening to massive amounts of text
Text which learners can understand reasonably smoothly
high levels of comprehension
Listening without being constrained by pre-set questions or tasks
Listening at or below onersquo s comfortable fluent listening ability
So extensive listening aims to make learners enjoy developing their listening skills
142 Intensive Listening
In contrast to extensive listening intensive listening aims at developing the learnersrsquo
specific listening skills and more precisely to raise the learnersrsquo attention about the spoken
language Intensive listening occurs weather in classrooms or laboratories It exists mostly
when teachers guide their students and provide them with help concerning listening
problems that they face and try to highlight them (Harmer 2007)
So intensive listening according to the Extensive Reading-central (2012) is
Listening for specific information
Listening for the exact words of a phrase or expression
Listening for details
Listening to mimic a text
11
15 Listening Processes
In listening process addressees process information using two distinct strategies
This is devoted to as bottom-up and top-down
151 Bottom-up Process
Richards (1990) states that ldquobottom-up processing refers the use of incoming data as
a source of information about the meaning of a messagerdquo (p 50) According to him Bottom-
up process deals with the perception of sentence components ie recognizing the meaning
of sounds words sentences clauseshellipetc till reaching the meaning of the whole message
152 Top-down Process
Richards (190) states that ldquoTop-down processing on the other hand refers to the use
of background knowledge in understanding the meaning of a messagerdquo (p 51) In contrast
to Bottom-up process Richards (1990) points out to the Top-down as the process of using
the listenersrsquo previous knowledge to attain meaning as whole not attaining the meaning of
individual words
16 Brief History of Audio-Stories
Eckert (2016) states that ldquoAudio storytelling in the form of radio drama has been
around for almost a centuryrdquo (p 8) That is to say audio stories in the previous decades took
the form of radio drama Radio drama attained extensive admiration within an era of its
original growth in the 1920rsquo s At that time radio drama played a central role for being the
foundation of people entertainment However by the 1950rsquo s people shifted their attention
to the new invention which was the small screen ie the television As a result of the
invention of this new device audio drama no more attracts the spectatorsrsquo attention it lost
its popularity
12
Though in 2010 radio drama came back to stage due to the developments shown in
digital soundtrack and internet spreading According to Eckert (2016) ldquoRadio and audio
storytelling has slowly started gaining popularity again thanks to the different online
platforms brought forth by digitalizationrdquo (p 8)
17 Definition of Storytelling
Today stories are a fundamental part of our societies and cultures Telling and
listening to stories is an ancient tradition and common activity that bonds different olden
civilizations together Also stories are an essential component and an ordinary process that
many people used to do on every occasion It is the art of telling factual or fictional stories
Besides stories bring legacy into life because our ancestors told them and people today
only retell them
Moreover listening to stories enhances the learnersrsquo foreign language It aids them
to improve their speaking skills Pederson (1995) states that ldquoin dealing with stories learners
have an experience with the powerful real language of personal communicationrdquo (p 2)
Additionally Pederson (1995) emphasizes the role of telling stories in preserving heritage
he argues that ldquooral stories are a direct expression of a literary and cultural heritage and
through them that heritage is appreciated understood and kept aliverdquo (1995 p2) In other
words stories bond between the past and the present It is considered to be a vital feature of
humankind Furthermore Schram (1994 as cited in Coulter Michael amp Poynor 2007)
points out
A story is a beautiful means of teaching religion values history traditions and
customs a creative method of introducing characters and places an imaginative way
13
to instill hope and resourceful thinking Stories help us to understand who we are and
show us what legacies to transmit to future generations (p 104-105)
So Schram (1994) highlights the role of stories in bridging the gap between the teaching
process and culture
Likewise Abrahamson (1998) sheds light on the role that storytelling plays in the
learning process He states that telling stories plays a significant role in improving learnersrsquo
understanding Besides Abrahamson argues that stories can afford a suitable context that
the listener can use it as a base to perceive the tellerrsquos point of view Moreover Roney (1996)
demonstrates
In its most basic form storytelling is a process where a person (the teller) using
vocalization narrative structure and mental imagery communications with other
humans (the audience) who also use mental imagery and in turn communicate back
to the teller primarily via body language and facial expression (p 2)
By this definition storytelling is the combination of art procedures and ways of
communication
18 Definition of Audio-Stories
The term audio-story is a combination of two words audio and story By definition
audio is sound within the aural range accessible to humankinds Miller (2011) states that
ldquostories are pieces of art and can serve as a basis of gamesrdquo (p 1) So Audio-story is a very
operative means for teaching EFL learners It aids to make the course persuasive Nowadays
14
audio stories can be used to many reasons and the most important one is the exposure to the
real language of native speakers by EFL learners In addition Rubin (2015) points out
ldquoaudio stories are an engaging form of communication that combines speech and music into
a compelling narrativesrdquo (p 1) That is to say audio stories are the process of telling stories
through sound and sound effects only Furthermore Audio-stories are broadly accredited to
progresses in portable equipment for instance smart phones tablets and multimedia
entertainment systems Thus EFL learners find it easy to listen to those audio stories
19 Characteristics of a Good Audio-Story
According to Seifert (nd) finding good audio-stories that suit the EFL learnersrsquo
needs is something very important and it is a very hard task to do However these are some
of the necessary features that EFL teachers must take into consideration whenever they want
to select a good audio-story for their students
Skill Level
Taking into account the learnersrsquo English level before choosing any audio-story For
instance if the audio-story contains a difficult language learners will lose confidence and
as a result they stop listening to the audio-story So determining the learnersrsquo level is very
important
Student Interest
EFL teachers must find out their studentsrsquo interests and normally each teacher has
an idea about this issue So if the audio-stories do not fit the learnersrsquo needs the EFL
teacherrsquos goal from that audio-story will be lost
15
Audio Length
The length of the audio-story plays a significant role in keeping concentration in the
ESL schoolrooms Listening for much time to the audio storytelling leads to boredom As a
result the learnersrsquo s brains lose attention However teachers can use long audio-stories but
they should know how to put it into parts and use classroom discussions to avoid boredom
So these three characteristics aid to develop EFL learnersrsquo listening skills
110 The Use of Audio-Stories in ESL Classrooms
According to Rock (nd) there are several listening practices that ESLEFL teachers
can provide to their students These are samples of activities that can work hand in hand with
audio-stories
Fill in The Blanks
Here EFL teacher provides his students with a written passage that is taken from an
audio-story but he removes some words Later on the teacher asks his learners to listen to
the audio-story after reading that passage and at the same time fill in the blanks
Mastery Memory
This activity has to do with learnerrsquos memory In this kind of practices teachers
provide learners with an audio-story and ask them for example to write down the main
events of the story but when they finish listening to it Teachers in this activity have to make
sure that students do not write them during the listening of the audio-story So the main goal
of the exercise is to reinforce learnerrsquos memory
16
Order the Events
At the start teachers give their learners a series of events that are chosen from an
audio-story Then the teacher gives them some time to read them After that learners listen
to the audio- storytelling and put those events in a sequential order
Buzz Words
This exercise aims to reach the learnerrsquo s vocabulary In this practice teachers
provide learners with a number of words then they ask them to check their meanings before
Afterward teacher turns the lesson into a game ie EFL learners listen to the audio-story
and whenever they hear a word (the buzz word) from that list they have to raise their hands
or clap them
Multiple Choice
This activity deals with providing learners with a number of questions followed by
three answers these questions can be definitions or name of characterhellip etc Then learners
have to listen to the audio-storytelling and pick the write response After teachers play again
the audio-story to correct their answers
Character Quiz
In this practice EFL learners have to listen to the whole story Then the teacher gives
his class a question sheet that contains a list of character qualities and decision and ask them
to choose the suitable one for the leading role
Plot Quiz
This activity has to do with team competition After listening to the whole audio-
storytelling once or twice the teacher divides his class into two to four groups where the
17
teacher plays the role of the coach Several questions that have a relation to the story will be
quizzed to each team if they get the answer they have a point if they fail to answer correctly
the question moves to the next group
Beginning Middle End
After listening to the audio storytelling the teacher splits the classroom into groups
and each group contains no more than four students Later he asks each group to write the
main events of the beginning the middle and the end of the story Finally they discuss them
together
111 Advantages of Using Audio-Stories
Audio-stories play an essential role in teaching the target language Audio-
storytelling is an impeccable implement for any ESL classrooms First of all audio-stories
afford learners with the exposure to the real language as it is produced by the native speakers
ie a natural voice Furthermore Rodero (2012 as cited in Eckert2016) claimed that
ldquoAudio stories that use sound effects and sound shots enhance the learnerrsquo s attention and
creation of visual images significantly compared to those without themrdquo (p 16) That is to
say using audio-stories in ESL classrooms develops learnersrsquo listening skills and provides
them with an imaginary trip inside their minds Also audio- stories enhance learnersrsquo
pronunciation since the learner is exposed to the natural voice In addition EFL teacher can
use audio storytelling as a guideline to his lecture or the opposite he can use it at the end of
the course as a reward
Moreover the EFL teachers depend on audio-stories in improving learnersrsquo
vocabulary through memorization Learners can enrich their vocabulary whenever they
listen to those stories because each time they learn some new words Besides learners can
18
listen to them outside the schoolrooms because they are portable they can upload them in
their mobiles and listen to them any time anywhere Finally audio stories can raise interest
for those learners who are not attracted to reading
Conclusion
In conclusion listening to audio stories aids EFL learners to improve the target
language pronunciation That is to say students will be exposed to the real language as it is
created by the native speakers Besides using audio stories in ESLEFL classrooms increases
the learnersrsquo interest toward learning the foreign language and also enhances their speaking
skills
19
Section two Reflection on Pronunciation
Introduction
121 Definition of Speaking Skill
122 Speaking Sub-Competencies Skills
123 Definition of Pronunciation
124 Importance of Pronunciation
125 Factors Affecting Pronunciation
1251 Internal Factors
1252 External Factors
Conclusion
20
Introduction
Generally speaking being able to speak the target language fluently and accurately
seems to be very interesting to all EFLESL learners Though students face a lot of troubles
and obstacles when communicating with each other or with native speakers and this is due
to mispronunciation misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the hearer which leads to the
communication breakdowns Furthermore learnersrsquo mispronunciation occurs due to various
factors that affect their oral language and as a consequence it affects their speaking
proficiency
In this section we have dealt with the speaking process and precisely
ldquopronunciationrdquo At the start a slight attention is put upon the definition of speaking skills
and its sub-competencies After that a part of this section is devoted to define pronunciation
and highlight its importance Moreover this section demonstrates some factors that affect
pronunciation which are classified into internal factors and external factors Finally another
point about the English consonant ldquoLrdquo has been raised
121 Definition of Speaking Skill
Mastering the foreign language is the aim of each EFL learner Speaking is one of
the most important language skills it plays a significant role in sharing ideas and thoughts
between individuals Torky (2006) defines speaking as follows ldquoIt is the means through
which learners can communicate with others to achieve certain goals or to express their
opinions intentions hopes and viewpointsrdquo (p 13) Also Ziane (2012) states that ldquoit is the
way by which learners can contribute and be part of oral communicationrdquo (p21) So the
main goal of EFL learners is to be able to speak the target language in order to strengthen
their verbal communication
21
Moreover Chaney (1998) argues that ldquospeaking is the process of building and
sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols in a variety of contextsrdquo
(p 13) From Chaneyrsquo s definition of speaking we deduce that speaking has an important
role in learning the foreign language and improving EFL learnersrsquo communicative skill
However there are some researchers who describe speaking as a hard task They
argue that EFL learners find it so hard to master the foreign language and face a lot of
difficulties even after studying it many years at schools Bueno and Mclaren (2006 as cited
in Alonso 2011) point out
Speaking is one of the most difficult skills language learners have to face In spite of
this it has traditionally been forced into the background while we teachers of
English have spent all our classroom time trying to teach our students how to write
to read and sometimes even to listen in a L2 because grammar has a long written
tradition (p 321)
On the whole the speaking skill is a very important process that EFL learners need to acquire
in order to master and shape the target language
122 Speaking Sub CompetenciesSkills
Torky (2006) claims that learners must be able to express themselves in a given
context in order to be proficient in mastering the foreign language She points out to several
speaking skills or competencies that help to achieve this aim which are
22
Linguistic Competence
Torky (2006) states that learners must be skillful in using pronunciation ie their
pronunciation must be clear In addition students have to use correct grammar and
proper lexis
Discourse Competence
In the beginning learners have to be able to use a well-organized discourse In other
words the discourse must be clear and unified Besides they have to be competent in
handling discussion and cooperating efficiently in order to avoid the communication
breakdowns
Pragmatic Competence
EFL learners have to be proficient in using a variety of functions that are related to
the same context and register
Fluency
Speaking smoothly without any complications and with a suitable degree of speech
speed
123 Definition of Pronunciation
According to Gilakjani (2012) ldquopronunciation is an integral part of foreign language
since it directly affects learnersrsquo communicative competence as well as performancerdquo
(p119) That is to say pronunciation plays a fundamental role in learning and improving the
target language Besides Poposka (2016) argues that pronunciation is the key factor of
language in its universal notion and she claims that pronunciation should be defined in
23
relation to different perspectives Poposka (2016) states some of the various points of view
concerning pronunciation definition which are
- The act or manner of pronouncing uttering of speech
- A way of speaking a word especially a way that is accepted or generally understood
- A graphic representation of the way a word is spoken using phonetic symbols (p
200)
Moreover Dauer (1993 as cited in Ummah 2014) states that ldquopronunciation is the
act of producing the sound of speech including articulation vowel formation accent
inflection and intonation often with reference to the correctness or acceptability of the
speech soundrdquo (p 10) In addition Poposka (2016) states that pronunciation is the vocal
capacity to produce particular sounds weather when communicating with individuals or
when being alone This construction of sounds leads to the appearance of some utterances
that may be expressive or worthless (p 200) Furthermore Adult Migrant English Program
research center (AMP 2002) points out
Pronunciation refers to the production of sounds that we use to make meaning it includes
attention to the particular sounds of language (segments) aspects of speech beyond the
level of the individual sound such as intonation phrasing stress timing rhythm
(suprasegmental aspects) (p1)
In other words AMP research center argues that even if these two aspects suprasegmental
and segmental structures are treated separately it is necessary to know that they work hand
in hand in a given context whenever someone speaks
24
124 Importance of Pronunciation
Madden and Moore (1997) states that ldquoin first language acquisition children learn
pronunciation inductively by absorbing and reproducing the sounds in their environmentrdquo
(p 4) That is to say all human beings in their natural development from childhood to
adulthood learn first of all how to talk before learning how to read or write Also Zhang
(2009) claims that ldquolearning a language means to perform the sounds utterances and the
words properly and correctlyrdquo (p 34-35) So pronunciation is a very essential skill in
learning a second language
Moreover Morley (1998 as cited in Zhang 2009) argues that ldquoit is clear that limited
pronunciation skills will make learners lose their self-confidence and result in negative
influence for learners to estimate their credibility and abilitiesrdquo (p 35) In other words it
does not matter whether learners make mistakes concerning grammar or vocabulary all what
matters is the way they pronounce a given word in order to make a worthy impression on
the learnersrsquo language capacities Zhang (2009) points out
Good pronunciation will make people understand you easily and be willing to listen to
you Contrarily poor English pronunciation may confuse people and lead to an
unpleasant talking and misunderstanding even if you used advanced English grammar
or vocabulary (p 35)
Likewise Backley (n d) argues ldquoif a speaker has a clear pronunciation this has immediate
benefits listeners judge the speakerrsquo s overall language ability much more favorably even
to the point of tolerating grammatical and other errorsrdquo (p 126) Therefore good
25
pronunciation aids to avoid misinterpretation and intelligibility between speakers and
listeners and show the learnersrsquo competencies in mastering their second language
Furthermore good pronunciation affects the learnersrsquo speed of acquiring the target language
In addition learners should use only simple structures with good and correct pronunciation
rather than using complex expressions in order to communicate with others
125 Factors Affecting Pronunciation
Generally speaking there are several factors that affect the learnersrsquo pronunciation
These factors can be classified into internal factors and external factors
1251 Internal Factors
Zhang (2009) states that internal factors can be categorized also into biological
factors individual differences and individual efforts and goal setting
Biological Factors
They are branded into four features age ear perception and aptitude
Learnersrsquo Age
At the start there is a difference between young learners and adult learners
concerning the acquisition of the accurate pronunciation Nonetheless this does not mean
that adult learners cannot get accurate pronunciation as well They have to work much harder
because their brainsrsquo plasticity reduces That is to say age plays a significant part in learning
the target language pronunciation Moreover Zhang (2009) emphasizes the role of the
critical period hypothesis that was proposed by Lenneberg in 1967 which states that there
is a certain age that helps learners to acquire the foreign language pronunciation accurately
26
and after that age the brain loses its flexibility Furthermore (Nation and Newton (2009) as
cited in Zhang 2009) claim that
Usually if the learner began to speak in the second language before the age of six
there will be little or no accent If the learner began to speak between the age of seven
and eleven the learners likely to have a slight accent If the learner began to speak
after age of twelve the learners almost always have an accent (p 78)
This is the reason behind the acceptance of the idea that learners find it so hard to acquire
the foreign language after maturity
Additionally Zhang (2009) states that young learners have bigger chances than the
adult learners in obtaining accurate pronunciation He claims that the brain loses its
flexibility and becomes rigid after puberty (after nine years old) as a result the brainrsquo s
functions will be devoted to the right and left hemispheres which makes it so difficult to
acquire the foreign languagersquo s pronunciation correctly Also Lenneberg (1967 as cited in
Zhang 2009) argues that ldquobefore the age of two the brain has not developed enough but
after puberty it developed too much and it will lose its plasticity and finish the lateralization
of the language functionrdquo (p 39) In other words it becomes so hard to obtain the native-
like pronunciation after the lateralization
Ear Perception
One of the most important factors that affect the learnersrsquo acquisition of the foreign
language is the ldquoear perceptionrdquo Zhang (2009) claims that the hearing abilities differ from
one person to another That is to say there are learners who have a strong hearing capacity
27
they can hear sounds in a very clear way which help them in reproducing the native speakersrsquo
pronunciation smoothly Whereas there is that kind of learners who do not have that ability
However Zhang argues that the ear perception has nothing to do with the learner age He
claims that it is natural that learners may lose some of their capacities whenever they become
older
Aptitude
Generally speaking foreign language aptitude is the personrsquos ability to learn a foreign
or a second language very rapidly and with no troubles (Wen 2011) Also Dornyei and
skehan (2003 as cited in Wen 2011) states ldquooriginally the notion of FLA presumed a
relatively stable talent for learning a foreign language that differs between individualsrdquo (p
590) So EFL learners do not have the same ability to acquire the foreign language
Additionally Carroll (1962 as cited in Wen 2011) states four components of the FLA which
are
lsquophonemic coding abilityrsquo (ie the ability to identify and retain sounds and link them
to phonetic symbols)
Sensitivity towards the grammatical functions that words fulfil in a sentence
The ability to learn inductively (ie to infer and generalize linguistic structures from
language samples) and
The ability to rote learn vocabulary items paired with their associated translations
(p 233)
Hence aptitude has an important role in improving learnersrsquo foreign language
Although Zhang (2009) argues that all individuals have a language aptitude ability but they
28
differ only in the degree of that aptitude capacity Also he claims that we cannot say that
those people who have a sophisticated level of language aptitude will get to the top and
people with an inferior level of language aptitude will go pear-shaped
Individual Differences
Zhang (2009) states that learnersrsquo different personalities affect the way they acquire
the foreign language pronunciation He argues that extroverted learners are more likely to
acquire the target pronunciation rather than introverted learners because extroverted learners
are not afraid of making mistakes which is not the case with the introverted learners who
face always the fear of failure Besides extroverted students are more friendly they tend to
work with others which leads them to practice the target language so they become more
familiar with it which aids to improve their pronunciation very quickly (p 40-41)
Individual Efforts and Goal setting
At the start the main goal of each EFLESL learner is to master the foreign language
in order to communicate with others Zhang (2009) points out ldquowe must always remember
that teaching never causes learning but rather creates the conditions in which learning can
occurrdquo (p 42) Besides he emphasizes that pronunciation is really a very hard task that
learners can acquire in a few days but it is not something impossible that learners cannot
achieve Though as much time learners spend in practicing the target language
pronunciation the better results they will get
1252 External Factors
External factors can be classified into three aspects learnersrsquo native language
exposure to target language and education factors
29
Learnerrsquo s Native Language
Universally the learnersrsquo native language affects their pronunciation of the foreign
language Zhang (2009) states that studentsrsquo mother tongue reflects the way they pronounce
a certain word in the target language and this is due to the differences that are found between
the two languages In other words learners find a lot of complications in articulating some
sounds for the reason that some of those sounds do not occur in their native language (p
43)
Exposure to the Target Language
Zhang (2009) shows that the acquisition of English language pronunciation is related
to the amount of exposure to it as it is produced by the native speakers That is to say this
depends on the learner himself ie on the situation in which the learning process occurs In
other words Zhang argues that it does not matter weather learners live in a native country
or not it is a matter of how much time they listen to the foreign language and how much
time they use it Zhang (2009) states ldquothe more they spend their time for listening and
speaking English the better their English pronunciation will berdquo (p 44) Thus learnerrsquo s
pronunciation accuracy depends on the surrounding environment where the target language
takes place
Educational Factors
At the start the system of education is responsible for studentsrsquo learning process
Worthy educational structure provides a lot of chances for learners to be exposed to the target
language through creating a suitable learning environment Additionally EFLESL
teachersrsquo accent reflects the learnersrsquo pronunciation because learners take teachers as an
30
exemplary in order to improve their pronunciation That is why teachers should work on
their pronunciation initially (Zhang 2009)
The English Consonant Sound ldquoLrdquo
Generally speaking EFL learners face complications in learning the English L sound
Sproat and Fujimura (1993) argue ldquoEnglish l has traditionally been classified into at least
two allophones namely light which occurs initially and dark which occurs syllable finallyrdquo
(p 291) Furthermore Wang (2016) states that the L consonant sound is a lateral phoneme
in English and it has two allophones he points out
One of them is found before vowels as in ldquoladyrdquo or ldquoflyrdquo called clear l and is
pronounced as the alveolar lateral approximant in a neutral position of the body of
the tongue The other variant is called dark l found before consonants or at word-
finally position as in ldquoboldrdquo or ldquotellrdquo Which is as the velarized lateral approximant
with the tongue in a spoon-like shape Its back part is raised which gives the sound
a w-like resonance (p 44)
In other words the clear [l] occurs when the tip of the tongue raises up and touches the soft
palate just behind the front teeth whereas the dark [ϯ] happens when the tip of the tongue
pulls back and the tongue raises to the middle without touching the soft palate to make the
L sound So the difference between these two allophones is the reason behind those troubles
that the learner may face
However Sproat and Fujimura (1993 as cited in Jiahong 2011) explain the
differences between these two allophones by relating them to the rime duration In other
31
words they point out that whenever the l sound occurs in longer rimes it is going to be a
dark [ϯ] and whenever the rime is short the l sound is clear or light
Figure 1
Articulatory Differences in l Velarization
Source Recasens 2012 p369
Conclusion
To end with it is very important to acknowledge that pronunciation is one way that
leads to an effective and a successful communication That is why many researchers shed
light on the investigation of some factors that may influence the EFL learnersrsquo pronunciation
As a result these identifying concepts help foreigners to overcome their difficulties when
they are introduced to the target language
32
Chapter two Field Work
Introduction
21 Methodology
211 Research Participants
212 The Procedure
2121 The Research Design
2122 The Pre-test Phase
2123 The Treatment Phase
2124 The Control Group
2125 The Post-test Phase
213 Scoring
214 Data Analysis
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (independent Sample
t-test)
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group Post-test
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group Post-test (Paired
Sample t-test)
21431 Paired Sample t-test
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-test
33
21441 An Independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the
Post-test
215 Discussion of the Results
216 Pedagogical Implications
Conclusion
34
Introduction
This research attempts to investigate the effect of listening to audio stories on
acquiring accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] by second year LMD students
at the department English -LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi The chosen sample is divided into two
groups the control group and the experimental group At the start participantsrsquo
pronunciation accuracy of the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] (the dependent variable) was measured
through a pretest Later on a period of treatment is taken by the experimental group which
is not the case with the control group After that a post-test is administered to both groups
in which the results are gathered using a software called the ldquopraatrdquo In addition we shed
light on describing the sample taking the place in which the study took place the method
used and at last the data collected
21 Methodology
211 Research Participants
The current study involved two intact classes of second year LMD students from
LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi-English Department The selected sample includes students from
different gender Furthermore we favored to select second year students for several reasons
The first reason was that second year students have practiced working with audio supports
which was not the case with first year students so they will not face problems concerning
listening to audio stories The second reason was that second year learners study oral
expression
At the start the experiment includes a sample of forty learners that have been chosen
from two intact classes of second year LMD students The chosen sample represents 1904
from the entire population which comprises 210 learners Additionally both clusters were
35
divided into a control group and an experimental group twenty students in each group At
the beginning the sample was supposed to be comprised of sixty students in which both the
control and the experimental groups covered thirty students Unfortunately there were a lot
of absences in both groups Also there are some students who have not passed both the
pretest and the posttest and others have not received the treatment at all Therefore the
sample size was reduced from sixty to forty students which can be sufficient to represent
the whole population and to get consistent outcomes
In order to gather consistent data that help to achieve the purpose of our research a
quasi-experimental design was designated The use of the chosen method will provide us
with a wide-ranging representation of the reflection of listening to audio stories on the
acquisition of the accurate pronunciation of the dark [l] and clear [l]
212 The Procedure
To accumulate a reliable data an experiment was conducted over six sessions The
treatment period took four sessions and the remained two sessions for the pretest and the
posttest The pretest took a form different from that of the posttest in order to avoid
familiarity to improve the learnersrsquo development and get consistent information Both
groups have taken the tests but only the experimental group took the treatment Besides the
duration of training concerning the treatment period for the experimental group took 90
minutes ie one hour and a half for each session and it started after getting the
authorization of the teacher of oral expression
36
2121 The Research Design
Figure 2
Experimental Group Procedures
Figure 3
Control Group Procedures
2122 The Pre-test Phase
By the first week of March both the control group and the experimental group have
taken the pretest However before choosing the pretest and in order to avoid any problems
we have checked that the dark [l] and the clear [l] are pronounced the same in both the
American and the British accents using the Oxford Advanced Learnerrsquo s Dictionary At the
outset learners were required to read a passage derived from a short story named ldquoThe last
class-The story of the Alsationrdquo that was written by Alphonse Daudet (2001) and also short
sentences (see Appendix A) After that their voices were recorded using a software known
pre-test
treatment
(listening to audio stories)
post-test
pre-test
No treatment
( being taught without listening
to audio-stories)
post-test
37
as the ldquoPraatrdquo Besides our focus here was raised toward the duration (ie the length of a
syllable) of the dark [l] and the clear [l]
Throughout the pretest EFL learners found themselves unable to pronounce the dark
[ϯ] and clear [l] that are found in some words correctly In other words students in the control
group and the experimental group most of the time pronounce the dark [ϯ] in the same way
they pronounce the clear [l] ie they spend the same duration for pronouncing the two
allophones Also EFL learners from time to time pronounce them differently but in a wrong
way ie they spent a rime duration that it not suitable neither for the light [l] nor for the
dark[ϯ]
Figure4
Example of the Lateral Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoSawmillrdquo
2123 The Treatment Phase
At first both participants have finished the pretest Though the treatment was
approved to the experimental group only the control group did not receive the same
treatment Besides the experimental group received the treatment in four sessions and each
Rime
duration
38
session took one hour and a half (ie 90 minutes) In each session students were asked to
listen to the audio-story in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of both allophones
after that they discussed the story being listened (see Appendix B)
2124 The Control Group
Concerning the control group students were taught the oral expression without any
exposure to any kinds of treatments In contrast to students in the experimental group who
were provided with the audio stories in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of the
both allophones which are the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ]
2125 The Post-test Phase
Fundamentally after finishing the four sessions of training ie the period of
treatment a posttest was administered to both the experimental group and the control group
(see Appendix c) The posttest as we have said before is different from the pretest in order
to avoid familiarity with the same topic and to ensure the learners improvement of the dark
[ϯ] and clear [l] So the posttest is a kind of a passage which was taken from a short story
that is entitled ldquoThe Game of Billiardsrdquo which is written by Alphonse Daudet and some
words to pronounce Furthermore during the posttest we noticed a kind of development in
learnersrsquo pronunciation of the two allophones with students of the experimental group
especially in pronouncing the single words which was not the case with those learners in
the control group
39
Figure 5
Example of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquocabalrdquo
Figure 6
Example of the Clear [l] in the word ldquolabourrdquo
The rime
duration
The rime
duration
40
213 Scoring
After finishing recording the learnersrsquo pronunciation of the phoneme l of both
groups (the control and the experimental group) we have compared them first of all to the
native speakerrsquo s pronunciation and after that we have calculated the rime duration of the
two allophones ie the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] and at last we gave them scores out of six
(6) for each participant
214 Data Analysis
In this sub-section we are going to investigate the EFL learnersrsquo improvement of
pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] Though in order to make sure that EFL
learners have acquired the correct pronunciation of these two allophones we have firstly
investigated the native speakerrsquos pronunciation of the L sound ie the clear [l] and the dark
[ϯ] and we have analyzed the rime duration of two words ldquolightrdquo and ldquoballrdquo as examples
Figure7
The Native Speakerrsquos Pronunciation of the Clear [l] in the Word ldquolightrdquo
Rime
duration
41
Figure8
The Native Speakerrsquo s Pronunciation of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoballrdquo
From these two figures we have noticed that the native speaker has spent 016 s in
pronouncing an ideal clear [l] (see Figure 7) and he has spent 138 s in order to pronounce
a perfect dark [ϯ] (see Figure 8) Thus this analysis of the native speakerrsquo s voice paved the
way to our research in which we based our investigation on it
Table 1
The Experimental and the Control grouprsquo s Scores in the pre-test
Pre-test
Students
Control
group
Experimental
group
Rime
duration
(second)
C E
Rime
duration
42
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (Independent Sample t-
test)
After gathering data for the control and the experimental group and for the purpose
of comparing and contrasting between the two we have calculated the learnersrsquo scores of
pronunciation of the phoneme l and also we have calculated the rime duration of the two
1 1 2 118 127
2 2 25 095 091
3 1 1 116 102
4 25 2 106 091
5 25 25 078 089
6 15 2 078 105
7 2 15 123 091
8 1 1 117 108
9 15 1 119 119
10 15 1 1 115
11 2 15 091 116
12 15 1 12 119
13 2 15 114 1
14 15 1 108 112
15 1 1 131 112
16 2 1 088 08
17 1 1 127 107
18 1 15 107 149
19 15 1 099 115
20 1 15 114 174
Total 31 285 2149 2222
43
allophones (see Table1) Besides the data collected ie the learnersrsquo scores were used in
calculating the means of both groups in the pre-test (the mean is calculated using the SPSS
see Table 2)
Figure 9
The Pre-test Scores of the Control and the Experimental Group
Table 2
The Mean Score of the Control and the Experimental Group in the Pre-test
Test N Mean Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpre 20 15500 51042 11413
Epre 20 14250 51999 11627
44
In order to calculate the Mean () Results we have to use the following formula
=sumx N
N stands for the total numbers of students in one group
sumx stands for the total number of data that was gathered from the pre-test
1 stands for the mean of the Control Group
2 stands for the mean of the Experimental Group
So1= 31 20 =155
2= 285 20 = 142
From ldquoFigure 9rdquo we can notice that 1 is the most frequent score in both the
experimental and the control groups in the pre-test and we can confirm this information
from Table 1 Furthermore when comparing means of both groups we notice (see Table 2)
that there is only a slight difference between the two groups the mean of the control group
is 155 whereas the mean of the experimental group is 142 So we can deduce that the level
of both groups is approximately the same there is no significant difference Moreover the
rime duration of the phoneme l of the experimental group and the control group is to some
extent the same and we can notice this slight difference in Table 1 and precisely in the total
duration of pronouncing the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] by both groups and also in Table 2
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group post-test
In order to confirm if there is any kind of progression in the control grouprsquo s scores
in the post-test concerning the pronunciation of the phoneme l (see Table 3) we have
calculated the mean of the post-test (using the SPSS see Table 4) and compared it with the
mean of the pre-test besides we have calculated the rime duration that has been spent At
45
last we have mentioned the learnersrsquo scores differences between the pre-test and the post-
test to confirm the development (see Figure 10)
Table 3
Results and Scores Differences of the Control and Experimental group in the Post-test
Posttest
Students
Rime
Duration
(Second)
Cpre Cpost Epre Epost
Cpre Cpost Epre Epost
1 1 1 2 4 118 186 127 21
2 2 175 25 5 095 113 091 253
3 1 1 1 45 116 134 102 245
4 25 2 2 35 106 119 091 234
5 25 15 25 55 078 146 089 24
6 15 175 2 5 078 119 105 267
7 2 2 15 45 123 135 091 263
8 1 125 1 5 117 144 108 254
9 15 1 1 425 119 144 119 242
10 15 1 1 55 1 128 115 274
11 2 1 15 45 091 126 116 285
12 1 2 1 5 12 129 119 268
13 2 125 15 55 114 146 1 328
14 15 1 1 55 108 127 112 223
15 1 1 1 5 131 092 112 275
16 2 1 1 475 088 135 08 274
46
17 1 2 1 5 127 094 107 292
18 1 1 15 575 107 096 149 29
19 15 1 1 525 099 114 115 295
20 1 15 15 575 114 132 174 338
Total 31 27 285 9875 2149 2359 2222 535
Diff -4 +7025 +21 +3128
Mean 155 135 142 493
-02 +351
Table 4
The Mean of the control Group in the Pre-test and Post-test
Mean N Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpre 15500 20 51042 11413
Cpost 13500 20 41675 09319
In order to calculate the mean( )result of the control group in the post-test we have to apply
the following formula = sumx N
sum stands for the total number of the data collected in the post-test of the control
group
N refers to the total number of students So = 2720 = 1
47
Figure 10
The Control Group Studentsrsquo Scores Differences
A very insignificant development has been shown in both Figure 7 and Table 3
concerning learners scores in the post-test Besides only Students 681217 and 20 from a
total number of twenty have proved the improvement the mean of the control group has
decreased from 155 in the pre-test to 135 in the post-test ie the mean = -02
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group post-test (Paired Sample
T-test)
In order to identify the scoresrsquo differences between the results of the experimental
group in both the pre-test and the post-test we have calculated the mean of the post-test and
compared it with that of the pre-test to notice if there is any improvement (see Table 3) So
the mean of the post-test is shown in Table 5 below
48
Table 5
The Mean of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and Post-test
Mean N Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Epre 14250 20 51999 11627
Epost 49375 20 59535 13312
From Table 5 we notice that the mean of the experimental group increased from 142 in the
pre-test to 493 in the post-test with a mean difference of 351 ( = +351) and we can
calculate the mean ()of the post-test using the following formula
= sumxN
sum= Stands for the total number of data that was gathered from the post-test in the
Experimental Group
119925 =Stands for the total number of students
So= 9875 20 = 493
From Table 3 we notice that there is a very clear development and difference in
learnersrsquo scores in the post-test which is very different from the pre-test scores (see Figure
12) Moreover we can notice this development from Figure 11 below too It Shows that the
most frequent scores that learners of the experimental group have gained are 45 5 55 and
at last 575(the marks are out of six) that makes a big difference from the scores of the pre-
test in which the most frequent score was 1 In addition to all of this results we can add that
the sum of the rime duration of the post-test differs a lot from that of the pre-test ( = +3128
s)
49
Hence in the light of these results we can say that the period of treatment really
affects in a positive way the learnersrsquo acquisition of the pronunciation of dark [ϯ] and clear
[l] Besides this enhancement was improved in the mean difference between the pre-test and
the post-test of the experimental group Though the comparison of means in the pre-test and
post-test of the experimental group cannot be sufficient in order to make sure that listening
to audio-stories really affects positively the way learners pronounce the Phoneme l
Therefore a paired sample T-test was designed to assess the development of learnersrsquo
acquisition of dark [ϯ] and clear [l] ie to acceptreject the Alternative Hypothesis or to
accept reject the Null Hypothesis (See Table 6 below)
Figure 11
The Scores Frequencies of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and the Post-test
50
Figure 12
The Scores Differences of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and the Post-test
21431 The paired Sample T-test
In order to know if there is any significant difference between the post-test and the
pre-test scores of the same group a t-test is conducted At first the of the experimental
group is calculated through the following formula
= sumdN
refers to the Difference of mean Scores
N Studentsrsquo scores in the Experimental Group
sum refers to the total sum of the Differences Scores
So = 702520= 35125
51
The Standard deviation of the differences
Sd= radic119956120784= radicsum119941120784
119925minus 119941120784
S stands for the Variance
sum119941120784 refers to the square differences of Scores
After calculating
Sdcong 013
The Standard Error of the Mean Difference (SE)
It is calculated using the following formula
SE ()= 119878119889
radic119873cong003
Finally we calculate the t- value that will be compared to the critical P-value at the point
p=005 in order to accept the alternative hypothesis or rejecting it using the following
formula119957120784120782minus120783=
119878119864(119889) = 117
Table 6
Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Post-test Scores differences
Students Pre-test Post-test Difference
1 2 4 2
2 25 5 25
3 1 45 35
4 2 35 15
5 25 55 3
6 2 5 3
52
7 15 45 3
8 1 5 4
9 1 425 325
10 1 55 45
11 15 45 3
12 1 5 4
13 15 55 4
14 1 55 45
15 1 5 4
16 1 475 375
17 1 5 4
18 15 575 425
19 1 525 425
20 15 575 425
Total 285 9875 7025
Table 7
The Paired Sample T-test for the Experimental Group
Paired Sample T-Test
Epre
Scores-
Epost
Scores
Mean Std
deviati-
on
Std-
Error
Mean
95Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
t Df Sig
(2-
tailed)
Lower Upper
-351250 83695 18715 -390421 -312079 -18768 19 000
53
After calculating the mean of the experimental group in both the pre-test and the post-
test (see Table 5) a mean difference of +351 was noticed Therefore in order to prove if
the development that was noticed in the post-test scores as well as the mean occurred
because of the influence of listening to the audio-stories which is the independent variable
or happened only by coincidence
Hence to confirm the Alternative Hypothesis and reject the Null Hypothesis or vice
versa the t-value (117) was calculated in order to be compared with the critical- value at
the point p=005 and at the level of t=19 Besides p-value (0000) is less than 005 which
means that there a real difference between the learnersrsquo scores in the pre-test (before the
period of treatment) and the leanersrsquo scores in the post-test (after the period of treatment)
Consequently we can deduce that the improvement that was achieved by the experimental
group in the post test did not occur by chance actually it occurred because of listening to
audio-stories that has a positive effect on learnersrsquo pronunciation of both the clear [l] and the
dark [ϯ]
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-test
Table 8
The Mean of the Control Group and the Experimental Group in the Post-test
N Mean Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpost 20 13500 41675 09319
Epost 20 49375 59535 13312
54
To calculate the mean () we use the following Formula
= sum119961 N
So 1= sum119961 N
1 refers to the mean of the control group in the post-test
N refers to the total number of students in the control Group
sum119961 stands for the sum of scores of the control group in the post-test
1= 2720 = 135
2 = sum119961 N
2 stands for the mean of the experimental group in the post-test
N refers to the total number of participants in the experimental group
sum119961 Stands for the sum of scores of the experimental group in the post-test
So 2= 987520 = 493
Figure13
The Scores Frequencies of the Control Group and the Experimental Group in the Post-
test
55
From the previous analysis of the mean of both the control and the experimental
group in the pre-test (see Table 3) we have noticed that the level of students in both groups
is almost the same and there is only a slight difference between them Though in the post-
test the scores of the experimental group has increased and as result the mean average has
increased too after the treatment phase for the experimental group (from 142 to 493) but it
decreased for the control group who were taught without being exposed to any kind of
treatment (see Table 8 and Figure 10) Besides we can notice the development also in the
rime duration in studentsrsquo pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] of the experimental
group in the post-test which is not the case with the control group
21441 An independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the post-
test
In order to investigate if there is any significant change between two diverse groups
who have run the same test a t-test is used to show this significance difference In our case
we want to inspect if there is any significant variation between the experimental group and
the control group in the post-test and whether we accept the Alternative Hypothesis or
rejecting the Null Hypothesis So depending on the following steps a t-test was calculated
using the following formula
t= 119883 119888minus 119890
radicpartx2
Nx+
1205971199102
119873119910
partx2 = sum(119883 minus 119890 )N
= 306
1205971199102 =sum(119883 minus 119888 )2119873
= 160
119888 the mean of the control group in the post-test
56
119890 the mean of the experimental group in the post-test
partx2 the variation of the experimental group
1205971199102 the variation of the control group
So t= 493minus 135
radic306
20+
160
20
=745
t-value= 745
Depending on the t-value (745) that was calculated we compare it with the critical p-
value at p=005 therefore we have two options
1- If t-value is greater than the critical p-value (t-valuegtcritical-value) we accept the
alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
2- If t-value is less than the critical-value (t-valueltcritical-value) we accept the null
hypothesis and refuse the alternative hypothesis
we can say that
t-value=745 745 gt005
We accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
p-value= 0000 0000 lt005
We accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
Depending on these results we can say that there is a statistical evidence that the
associated sampling means are significantly different In other words there is a real change
between the experimental group and the control group in the post test at the level of
pronunciation due to the positive influence of the independent variable which is ldquolistening
to the audio-storiesrdquo Therefore students of the experimental group showed a significant
57
progress at the level of pronunciation and precisely the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
pronunciation
215 Discussion of the Results
The current research has investigated the influence of listening to audio-stories on
acquiring accurate pronunciation of both allophones the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] At the
start the pre-test has proved that learners of both groups ie the control and the
experimental group have the same level through calculating their means The control group
scored a mean of 155 while the experimental group scored a mean of 142 and also they
have got near scores concerning the rime duration of the L sound So these estimated scores
helped us to prove and confirm our hypothesis that states the positive effect of listening to
audio-stories on the level of pronunciation accuracy In the post-test students of the
experimental group showed a significant development compared to the control group and
this is due to the period of treatment that occurred in the oral session Besides the mean
score of the experimental group has been raised from 142 to 493 and from a sum of rime
durations of 2222 s to 535 s while the mean score of the control group has been decreased
from 155 to 135 and increased from a sum of rime durations of 2149 s to 2359 s In
addition a t-test was designed to show if there is any statistical significant difference
between the experimental group and the control group in the post-test the results show the
positive influence of the treatment phase on the dependent variable (pronunciation
accuracy)
216 Pedagogical implication
The present research evidenced the positive influence of being exposed to the target
language pronunciation as it is produced by the native speakers through the exposure to the
audio-stories Therefore we can state a set of pedagogical implications
58
The present study shows that the more students get involved in listening practices
the more they will be proficient in the pronunciation of a various English sounds ie
developing their speaking proficiency
Audio-stories help EFL learners improve their pronunciation as well as to develop
their listening skills
Using multimedia devices (audio-stories in our case) in learning classrooms
enhances the learnersrsquo motivation to get involved in the learning process
Audio-stories can be used by EFL teachers in order to make learners attentive and
interested in the lecture being presented
Audio-stories provide learners with the chance to listen again and again to the story
in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of a given word
Conclusion
The present research examined the effect of listening to audio stories on fostering the
target language pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] The native speakerrsquo s
pronunciation of both allophones was analyzed first through analyzing the rime duration in
order to compare it with the EFL learnersrsquo articulation That is to say the analysis is based
on the native speakerrsquo s rime duration In addition a significant development in learnersrsquo
pronunciation of the dark[ϯ]and the clear [l] was proved which lead to accept the alternative
hypothesis that states listening to audio-stories has a positive effect on acquiring accurate
pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] by EFL learners
59
General Conclusion
The present study is based on the investigation of the effectiveness of listening to
audio stories on acquiring accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] by EFL
learners At the beginning we have stated the problem which was that the Algerian EFL
learners in the English department at LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi University face a lot of difficulties
concerning the acquisition of the accurate pronunciation of The phoneme l Subsequently
this dissertation tackled the importance of listening to audio-stories on enhancing EFL
learnersrsquo pronunciation accuracy
Our research was tackled in two main chapters The first chapter divided into two
main sections In the first section we tackled the point of listening to audio stories whereas
the second section discussed the reflection of listening to audio stories on the pronunciation
of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] The second chapter represented the practical part the field
work The analyzed data showed that there is a positive relationship between the independent
variable and the dependent variable That is to say there was a development in the
acquisition of the phoneme l which lead us to accept the alternative hypothesis and reject
the null hypothesis
60
Limitations of the Study
Limited sources ie most of the sources that were available were not relevant to our
study
Time constraints this study needs much more time to conduct a better result
Students absences in the pre-test and the post-test and others did not receive the
treatment at all
The lack of interest in the beginning of the treatment session
61
List of References
Alonso SR (2012) The importance of Teaching Listening and Speaking Skills Diagravectica de Lingua
y la Literatura Facultad de Education
Brown S (2006) Teaching Listening Cambridge Cambridge University press
Coulter C Michael C ampPoynor L (2007) Storytelling as Pedagogy An Unexpected Outcome
of narrative inquiry 104-105
Daudet A (2001) Five Short Stories Copyright copy Bartlebycom Inc
Downs L J (2008) Listening Skills Training ASTD press
Eckert J (2016) Audio Storytelling in Todayrsquos Visual World The necessary Components of a
successful sounds scape for an audio play
Gilakjani A P (2012) A study of Factors Affecting EFL learnersrsquo English Pronunciation Learning
and the Strategy for instruction Lahijani Iran 2(3) 119-128
Hamer J (1998) How to teach English An Introduction to the Practice of English Language
Teaching English Language Teaching Harlow Longman
Hendrickson J (1992) Storytelling for foreign language and linguistics Washington Dc Eric
learning house on language and linguistic [ Eric No E0355-824]
Kline J A (1996) Listening Effectively Air University Press
Madden M and Moore Z (1997) ESL Studentsrsquo Opinions about instruction in Pronunciation
Texas 3(2) 15-32
Mendelson D J (1994) Learning to Listen Dominie Press
Nasreddin K (2010) The Influence of Background Knowledge on Second Language Listening
Comprehension Constantine Constantine University
62
Poposka V p (2016) Pronunciation Proficiency Level Problematic Areas of Tertiary as a Foreign
Language International Journal of Science and Basic and Applied Research
Richards J C (1990) The Language Teaching Matrix Cambridge Cambridge University Pess
Rubin SS (2015) Tools for Creating Audio Stories scholarship University of California
Roney RC (1996) Storytelling in the classroom Some Theoretical Thoughts Wayne State
University Education Detroit Michigan
Sproat R ampFujimura O (1993) Allophonic variation of the English l and its Implication for
phonetic Implementation Academic Press
Torky SA (2006) The Effectiveness of a Task-Based Instruction Program in Developing English
Language Speaking Skills of Secondary Stage Students Collegersquo s girl Ain Shams
University
Ummah A (2014) The Effectiveness of Nursery Rhymes to Facilitate Studentsrsquo of Pronunciation of
the Diphthong Education and Teacher Training Faculty Walisongo State institution for
Islamic Studies
Wang M (2016) Research on the Acoustic Realization of Lateral in Sundanese International
Journal of Engineering Research and Development 12(10) 44-48
Ziane R (2012) The Role of Listening Comprehension in Improving EFL learners Speaking Skill
Biskra University of Biskra
Zhang Q (2009) Affecting Factors of Native-Like Pronunciation A Literature Review Ching-Ang
University 27(2) 33-52
63
Abrahamson CE (1998) Storytelling as a pedagogical tool in high Education 118(3) Retrieved
from
httpwwwquestiacomlibraryjournal1G1-20494609storytelling-as-a-pedagogical-tool-
inhighereducation
AMP Research Center (2012) Retrieved from
Httpwwwncertrmqeduauconference2001indexhtal
Backley P (nd) Improving your English Pronunciation Retrieved from
httptoefluobabyloneduiqpaperspearson-2015-1269610pdf
Chaney (1998) Teaching Speaking Retrieved from
httpitesljorgtechniqueKayi-teaching speakinghtml
English Club (nd) What is listening Retrieved from
httpwwwenglishclubcom
Miller E (2011) Theories of story and storytelling Retrieved from
httpwww-storytellingandvideoconferencingcom167pdf
Pederson E M (1995) Storytelling and the art of listening English teaching forum 33(1)2-5
Retrieved from httpExchangesStategovForumuolsn01p2htm
Remen R N (nd) Listening Skills Retrieved from
httpwwwskillsyouneedcomipslistening-Skills-html
Rock R (nd) 5 Wonderful Websites for Engaging ESL Audio Short Stories Retrieved from
httpwwwFluentucomenglisheducatorsblogeslaudio-short-stories
Seifert S (nd) Follow Along 6 Engaging ESL Audio Stories with worksheet ideas Retrieved from
httpwwwFluentucomenglisheducatorblogeslaudio-stories
Saricoban A (2004) The Teaching of listening The Internet TESL journal
httpitesljorgArticlesSaricobn-listeninghtml
Subhi s (2016) Differences between Hearing and listening Retrieved from
httpkeydifferencescomdifference-between-hearning-and-listeninghtml
64
Shen CD (2010) 3 reasons why listening skills are very important in Todayrsquo s Business World
Retrieved from httpezinearticlescom3-Reasons-why-listening-skills-are-very-important-in-
Todays-Business-worldampid=5436504
the adapted audio-stories that were used in the period of treatment
(httpwwwmanythingsorgvoastories)
Appendix A A pre-test
The Last class- The Story of the Alsatian
I was very late for school that morning and I was terribly afraid of being Scolded
especially as Monsieur Hamel had told us that he should examine us on participles and I
did not know the first thing about them For a moment I thought of saying away from
school and wandering about the fields It was such a warm lovely day I could hear the
blackbirds whistling on the edge of the wood and in the ripper field behind the sawmill
the Prussians going through their drill All that was much more tempting to me than the
rules concerning participles but I had the strength to resist and I ran as fast as I could to
school
Sentences
You old fool they will kill you if you always trouble them
People are awfully lazy in the middle of July
Appendix B A post-test
The Game of Billiards
The marshalrsquo s opponent is a young captain of the staff belted and curled and light-
gloved who is in the first rank of billiard-players and capable of beating all the marshals
on earth but he has the tact to keep a respectful distance behind his chief and devotes his
energies to the task of not winning and at the same time not losing too easily He is what is
called an officer with a future
Read the following words
1 Cabal
2 Labour
3 Shell
Appendix c Treatment period
I Session one (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquothe Secret Gardenrdquo (Chapter One) By Frances Hodgson
Burnett
II Session two (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Secret Gardenrdquo (Chapter two) By Frances Hodgson
Burnett
III Session three (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Lady or the Tigerrdquo by Frank R Stockton
IV Session four (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Lady in Blackrdquo By Eleanor Porter
Reacutesumeacute
La preacutesente eacutetude vise agrave eacutetudier lrsquoarticulation de dark [ϯ] et clear [l] dans les classes de la
langue anglaise afin dameacuteliorer la prononciation des apprenants Lrsquoeacutetude actuelle repose
sur lhypothegravese que leacutecoute des histoires audio a un effet positif sur lameacutelioration de la
prononciation des apprenants EFL avec un accent particulier sur le dark [ϯ] et clear [l] Afin
datteindre lobjectif de cette recherche une eacutetude quasi-expeacuterimentale a eacuteteacute assigneacute en
deux groupe group teacutemoin et group expeacuterimentale Chaque groupe contenait 20 eacutelegraveves
Lexpeacuterience a pris six seacuteances un preacute-test une peacuteriode de traitement (4 seacuteances) et un
posttest En conclusion les reacutesultats obtenus montrent que les eacutetudiants qui sont exposeacute agrave
la langue cible et qui eacutecoutent au locuteur natif agrave lrsquoaide audio pour ameacuteliorer leurs
prononciations ont montreacute qursquoil y a un deacuteveloppement ameacutelioration au niveau de
compeacutetence des apprenants en particulier et en matiegravere de parole en geacuteneacuterale
Les mots cleacutes audio-histoire Compeacutetence drsquoeacutecoute prononciation dureacute de travaille
ملخص
استخدام القصص الصوتية من اجل المساعدة على اكتساب النطق السليم والدقيق تهدف هذه الدراسة الى التعرف على مدى فعالية
الأجنبية حيث تستند الدراسة الحالية على فرضية مفادها ان الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية له تأثير إيجابي على تحسين ةللغ
استغرقت التجربة ست ق المنهج التجريبيمن أجل تحقيق هدف هذه الدراسة تم تطبينطق الطلاب الأجانب للغة الإنجليزية
جلسات قسمت كالاتي أربع حصص معالجة سبقت باختبارات قبلية ولحقت باختبارات بعدية أجريت الدراسة في قسم اللغة
طالبا من طلاب السنة ثانية جامعي قسم الطلبة الى فوجين حيث 40الإنجليزية بجامعة العربي بن مهيدي وقد شملت الدراسة
ى معالجة لمدة أربع حصص من خلال الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية في حين لم يتعرض الفوج الثاني خضع أحد الفوجين ال
الى نفس المعالجة بعد ذلك تم اجراء الاختبارات البعدية واعتمادا على النتائج المتحصل عليها ثبت ان التعرض الى اللغة
جابي على اكتساب النطق الدقيق للغة المستهدفة الا وهي اللغة الأجنبية عن طريق الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية له تأثير إي
الأجنبية
القصص الصوتية النطق مدة الموجات الصوتيةالكلمات المفتاحية المهارة السمعية
II
Acknowledgment
First of all I am deeply grateful to ALLAH Coming from the intense gratification of
My supervisor Mr Boulemaiz Djalel whose contribution has raised the quality of this
thesis He has always supported me and has patiently guided me I am very grateful to his
supervision and I owe him the greatest degree of appreciation
I would to acknowledge and thank Ms Alliouche Nadjiba for her precious time I place
on record my sincere gratitude to Ms Stiti and Ms Guerfi who gave me the opportunity to
conduct my experimental study
I would like to express my sincere thanks to Mr Bouri Mr Fizi and Mr Ayadi I am
really grateful and indebted to them for their experts sincere and valuable guidance and
encouragement extended to me
I take this opportunity to record our sincere thanks to all of the faculty members of
the Department of English at LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi University for their help and
encouragement I also thank my parents for their unceasing encouragement and support
I also place on record my sense of gratitude to one and all who directly or indirectly
have lent their helping hand in this venture
III
Abstract
The present research aims at investigating the usefulness of using audio stories in EFL
classrooms in order to improve learnersrsquo pronunciation It is based on the assumption that
listening to audio stories have a positive effect on improving EFL learnersrsquo pronunciation
with a particular focus on the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] In order to attain the aim of this research
a quasi-experimental study was implemented The experiment took six sessions including a
pre-test period of treatment and a post-test At the start two intact classes of second year
EFL students at LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi English department were selected and they were divided
into an experimental group and a control group each contained 20 students First of all a
pronunciation test was administered to both groups as a pre-test Later the experimental
group received a period of treatment of four sessions in which they were exposed to the
target language through listening to different audio-stories whilst the control group did not
receive the same treatment Afterward a post-test was administered to both groups in order
to investigate the learnersrsquo improvement in pronouncing correctly the dark [ϯ] and clear [l]
After that the learnersrsquo performance on the pre-test and the post-test which was recorded
using the Praat was assessed by the researcher In order to show the development that
learners have shown in both tests a t-test was utilized for determining and comparing both
group means Depending on the results gathered it is proved that being exposed to the target
language as it is produced by the native speakers through listening to audio-stories aids to
improve the learnersrsquo pronunciation in particular and their speaking proficiency in general
Therefore teachers are recommended to use Audio-stories in EFL classrooms in order to
enhance learnersrsquo pronunciation of the target language
Key words listening skills audio-stories pronunciation rime duration
IV
List of Abbreviations
EFL English as a Foreign Language
ESL English as a second Language
FLA Foreign Language Aptitude
Cpre Control Group pre-test
Cpost Control Group Post-test
Epre Experimental Group pre-test
Epost Control Group Post-test
H1 Alternative Hypothesis
H0 Null Hypothesis
V
List of Tables
Table 1 The Experimental and the Control grouprsquo s Scores in the Pre-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphellip41
Table 2 The Mean Score of the Control and the Experimental Group in The Pre-test hellip43
Table 3 Results and Scores Differences of the Control and Experimental Group in the
Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip45
Table 4 The Mean of the Control Group in the Pre-test and Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip46
Table 5 The Mean of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphellip48
Table 6 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Post-test Scores Differenceshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip51
Table 7 The Paired Sample T-test for the Experimental Grouphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip52
Table 8 The Mean of the Control Group and The Experimental Group in the Post-testhellip53
VI
List of Figures
Figure 1 Articulatory Differences in l Velarization helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip31
Figure 2 Experimental Group Procedureshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip36
Figure 3 Control Group Procedureshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip36
Figure 4 Example of the Lateral Dark [ϯ]in the Word ldquoSawmillrdquohelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip37
Figure 5 Example of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoCabalrdquo helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip39
Figure 6 Example of the Clear [l]in the Word ldquolabourrdquohelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip39
Figure 7 The Native Speakerrsquo s Pronunciation of the Clear [l] in the Word ldquolightrdquohelliphellip40
Figure 8 The Native Speakerrsquos Pronunciation of the Dark [ϯ] in the word ldquoballrdquohelliphelliphellip41
Figure 9 The Pre-test Scores of the Control and the Experimental Grouphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip43
Figure 10 The Control Group Studentsrsquo Scores Differences helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip47
Figure 11 The Scores Frequencies of the Experimental Group in The Pre-test and the
Post- testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip49
Figure 12 The Scores Differences of the Experimental Group in the pre-test and the Post-
testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip50
Figure 13 The Scores Frequencies of the Control Group and The Experimental Group in
the Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip54
VII
Content
Introductionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip2
1 Statement of the problem helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip2
2 Aim of the studyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip3
3 Research questionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 3
4 Research hypothesishelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip3
5 Means of the studyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip3
6 Structure of the studyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip4
Chapter One Theoretical background
Section One Listening to Audio Stories
Introductionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip6
11 Definition of Listening Skillhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip6
12 Differences between Listening and Hearing helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip8
13 Reasons of listening helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip8
14 Types of Listeninghelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip9
141 Extensive Listeninghelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip9
142 Intensive Listeninghelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip10
15 Listening Processes helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip10
151 Bottom-up Processhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip10
152 Top down processhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip11
16 Brief History of Audio-Storieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip11
17 Definition of Storytellinghelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip12
18 Definition of Audio-Storieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip13
19 Characteristics of a Good Audio-Storyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip14
110 The Use of Audio-Stories in ESL Classroomshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip15
111 Advantages of Using Audio-Storieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip17
Conclusionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip18
Section two Reflection on Pronunciation
Introductionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip20
11Definition of Speaking Skillhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip20
12Speaking Sub-Competencies Skillshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip22
13 Definition of Pronunciationhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip22
VIII
14Importance of Pronunciationhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip24
15 Factors Affecting Pronunciationhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip25
16151 Internal Factorshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip25
152 External Factorshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip28
Conclusion helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip31
Chapter two Field Work
Introductionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip34
21 Methodologyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip34
211 Research Participantshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip34
212 The Procedurehelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip35
2121 The Research Design helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip36
2122 The Pre-test Phasehelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip36
2123 The Treatment Phasehelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip37
2124 The Control Grouphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip38
2125 The Post-test Phasehelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip38
213 Scoring helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip40
214 Data Analysishelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip40
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (independent
Sample t-test)helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip42
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip44
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group Post-test (Paired
Sample t-test)helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 47
21431 Paired Sample t-test helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip50
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip53
21441 An Independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group
in the Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip55
215 Discussion of the Resultshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip57
216 Pedagogical Implicationshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip57
Conclusionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip58
General Conclusionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip59
Limitation of The Studyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip60
List of Referenceshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip61
Appendices
IX
Reacutesumeacute
ملخص
1
General introduction
Introduction
1 Statement of the Problem
2 Aim of the Study
3 Research Question
4 Research Hypothesis
5 Means of the Study
6 Structure of the Study
2
Introduction
Acquiring comprehensible pronunciation for EFL learners is one of the key supplies
for language proficiency Nowadays mastering the foreign language is the main concern
that most of EFL learners share This high attention raises due to the exposure to the target
language and to the complications that learners may face at whatever time they want to
communicate whether with foreigners or with one another using for instance the English
language Besides listening is not only a matter of innate ability but it is a matter of how to
develop that inborn capacity in order to improve the learnersrsquo pronunciation accuracy
Accordingly audio-stories are used to help developing the learnersrsquo listening skill and to
improve their pronunciation accurateness Furthermore using audio stories in teaching EFL
learners help to evidence that an effective listening process leads to an effective articulation
1 Statement of the Problem
Generally speaking there are various factors that affect learnersrsquo acquisition of the
target language pronunciation The Algerian EFL learners encounter many problems
concerning articulation because EFLESL learners do not have much opportunities to be
exposed to the real language as it is produced by the native speakers in the classroom Since
English is a foreign language learners avoid using it outside the classroom which is resulted
in a bad pronunciation Therefore EFL teachers are required to use audio-stories inside the
classrooms in order to develop studentsrsquo second language and to improve their pronunciation
accuracy
3
2 Aim of the Study
The current study deals with the learnersrsquo pronunciation difficulties of the dark [ϯ]
and the clear [l] It aims at investigating the effect of listening to audio-stories on fostering
the target languagersquos accurate pronunciation of both allophones
3 Research Question
The present study seeks to answer the following question
Does listening to audio-stories help EFL learners to acquire the accurate
pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
4 Research Hypothesis
In order to answer the research question the subsequent hypotheses are framed
H1 The EFL learners will acquire accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the
clear [l] through listening to audio-stories
H0 Listening to audio stories will not help EFL learners to acquire accurate
pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
5 Means of the Research
In order to achieve the objective of our research a quasi-experimental design is
administered to second year LMD students of English Department at LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi
University The selected sample (40 students from 210) consists of two groups the control
group and the experimental group Both groups will be pretested in order to assess their
pronunciation accuracy level The pre-test is a kind of short story and small sentences that
contain the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] which learners have to read After that the Praat will be
used in order to record their voices Later on the experimental group will take the treatment
for four sessions in which they will listen to the audio stories each session will take one
4
hour and a half However the control group will not receive any kind of treatment (they will
be taught in a normal way without listening to audio stories) Furthermore a post-test which
is different from that of the pre-test will be administered to both groups in order to test their
pronunciation development
6 Structure of the Study
The present study is divided into two chapters The first chapter is a theoretical one
and it is composed of two sections The first section is about listening to audio stories in
which we define the process of listening and mention the main differences between listening
and hearing After that we discuss the reasons of listening its types and processes Later
on the second sub-section deals with audio stories At the start we introduce a brief history
about the notion of audio stories and then we introduce stories in general Afterward we
discuss the characteristics of audio stories their use and advantages The second section
deals with the pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] at the beginning we shed light
on the definition of speaking skill and its sub-competencies After that a part of this section
deals with the definition of pronunciation and its importance Besides it introduces factors
that affect pronunciation The second chapter deals with the field work in which it sheds
light on collecting data presenting and analyzing it and at the end interpreting results
5
Section One Listening to Audio Stories
Introduction
11 Definition of Listening Skill
12 Differences between Listening and Hearing
13 Reasons of Listening
14 Types of Listening
141 Extensive Listening
142 Intensive Listening
15 Listening Processes
151 Bottom-up Process
152 Top down Process
16 Brief History of Audio-Stories
17 Definition of Storytelling
18 Definition of Audio-Stories
19 Characteristics of a Good Audio-Story
110 The Use of Audio-Stories in ESL Classrooms
111 Advantages of Using Audio-Stories
Conclusion
6
Introduction
Nowadays there is a great emphasis put on listening skill since it plays a significant
role in teaching and acquiring the foreign language So this high attention raises because of
the difficulties that learners face whenever they want to communicate thatrsquos why many
researchers shed light on Audio Stories as a tool that can help in developing learnersrsquo
listening process as well as improving their speaking skills and precisely their
pronunciation
The main concern of this section is listening to audio stories First of all we shed
light on the first part which is listening process At the start we need to define listening
skills according to different scholars later on we tackle the main differences between
listening and hearing Also reasons of listening its types and processes Then the second
part of this section deals with the audio stories In the beginning we introduce a brief history
of audio stories and later on the definition of stories in general After that we present the
meaning of audio stories in a specific way and its main characteristics Lastly this section
highlights the use and the advantages of audio stories inside EFL classrooms
11 Definition of Listening Skill
ldquoThe most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen Just to
listen Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attentionrdquo (Remen
2011)
Listening is an important skill in learning and acquiring a foreign language Through
this process learners will be able to receive and understand information According to
Downs (2008) ldquothe word of listening is defined as making an effort to hear something to
pay attention or heedrdquo (p 1) In other words Downs (2008) argues that listening is the way
7
learners pay attention to what is being said In her opinion listening is an active process that
includes using a variety of processes which are attending understanding interpreting
responding and remembering Moreover Mendelsohn (1994) demonstrates listening as ldquothe
ability to understand the spoken language of native speakersrdquo (p 64) To be precise
Mendelsohn defines listening as the listenerrsquo s ability to recognize the native speakerrsquo s
speech in terms of accent pitch intonation vocabulary grammar and trying to interpret the
native speakerrsquo s messages
Saricoban (1999) states that listening is onersquos capacity to realise what is being said
and to recognize the intended meaning He sheds light on two important points the first
point concerns understanding the speakerrsquos pronunciation syntax and lexis whereas the
second point deals with grasping the meaning Willis (1981) lists a series of micro-skills of
listening which she calls enabling skills They are
Predicting what people are going to talk about
Guessing at unknown words or phrases without panic
Using onersquo s own knowledge of the subject to help one understand
Identifying relevant points rejecting irrelevant information
Retaining relevant points (note-taking summarizing)
Recognizing discourse markers eg well oh another thing is now finally
etc
Recognizing cohesive devices e g such as and which including linking
words pronouns references etc
Understanding different intonation patterns and uses of stress etc which give
clues to meaning and social setting
8
Understanding inferred information eg speakerrsquo s attitude or intentions
(p134
Furthermore listening is an important source of knowledge It is recognized as the
ability of transforming and interpreting the spoken messages that are received by the ears
from the daily life situations Yet listening is a very hard task It requires the learnersrsquo mental
concentration which is something difficult because the human brain can simply lose attention
That is to say listening skill can save learners from communication breakdowns and
increases their motivation to learn the foreign language and speak fluently but only if they
work harder to develop their own listening skills
12 Differences between Listening and Hearing
Listening and hearing are two different activities Kline (1996) emphasizes the
differences between these two concepts to make an effective listening He states that
ldquohearing is the attachment of meaning to the sound Hearing is passive listening is activerdquo
(p7) In other words active listening is a successful element that affects learnersrsquo verbal and
nonverbal behaviors
Surbhi (2016) states the differences between listening and hearing On the one hand
he defines hearing as the natural capacity that happens unconsciously It aids to identify
sounds via the ears Also hearing is a process that permits receiving sound vibrations and
it is one of the five senses On the other hand Surhbi (2016) defines listening skill as the
process of receiving and interpreting messages it occurs consciously
13 Reasons of Listening
Learners through being exposed to different English accents and in any recorded
materials such as radio TV or tapes they want to understand and realize what is being said
9
(Harmer 1998) According to him listening is a very effective process that helps learners to
get a better pronunciation In other words as much as they are exposed to the real language
as much as they will recognize its features
Also Shen (2010) demonstrates that listening skills help to improve understanding
and aids people to become aware of their listening skills So listening plays a vital role in
language learning and acquisition It is an essential skill that bridges the line between
meaning and messages in order to avoid misunderstanding between individuals
14 Types of listening
Generally speaking the listening skill plays a significant role in teaching EFL
classrooms This process guides EFL learners to an effective communication Therefore the
listening skill can be classified into two different types Extensive listening and intensive
listening
141 Extensive Listening
Extensive listening has to do with the learnerrsquos fluency In other words the learner has
to master vocabulary grammarhellipetc and later on he must combine them together to form
a meaningful conversation So fluency depends on the listenerrsquos ability of understanding
whatever he is exposed to weather in an audio tape a text a songhellipetc
Harmer (1998) states that extensive listening is the way students practice their own
listening outside the classroom Students should enjoy listening to an audio material because
they can understand them without the teacherrsquo s help Also students can depend on CDs and
tapes so that they are going to have another chance to listen to their course books dialogues
that they have already provided to them inside the classroom In addition learners must be
10
stimulated to listen to the English language films with sub-titles because this helps students
to acquire the foreign language
In brief extensive listening according to the Extensive Reading-Central (2012) includes
Listening to massive amounts of text
Text which learners can understand reasonably smoothly
high levels of comprehension
Listening without being constrained by pre-set questions or tasks
Listening at or below onersquo s comfortable fluent listening ability
So extensive listening aims to make learners enjoy developing their listening skills
142 Intensive Listening
In contrast to extensive listening intensive listening aims at developing the learnersrsquo
specific listening skills and more precisely to raise the learnersrsquo attention about the spoken
language Intensive listening occurs weather in classrooms or laboratories It exists mostly
when teachers guide their students and provide them with help concerning listening
problems that they face and try to highlight them (Harmer 2007)
So intensive listening according to the Extensive Reading-central (2012) is
Listening for specific information
Listening for the exact words of a phrase or expression
Listening for details
Listening to mimic a text
11
15 Listening Processes
In listening process addressees process information using two distinct strategies
This is devoted to as bottom-up and top-down
151 Bottom-up Process
Richards (1990) states that ldquobottom-up processing refers the use of incoming data as
a source of information about the meaning of a messagerdquo (p 50) According to him Bottom-
up process deals with the perception of sentence components ie recognizing the meaning
of sounds words sentences clauseshellipetc till reaching the meaning of the whole message
152 Top-down Process
Richards (190) states that ldquoTop-down processing on the other hand refers to the use
of background knowledge in understanding the meaning of a messagerdquo (p 51) In contrast
to Bottom-up process Richards (1990) points out to the Top-down as the process of using
the listenersrsquo previous knowledge to attain meaning as whole not attaining the meaning of
individual words
16 Brief History of Audio-Stories
Eckert (2016) states that ldquoAudio storytelling in the form of radio drama has been
around for almost a centuryrdquo (p 8) That is to say audio stories in the previous decades took
the form of radio drama Radio drama attained extensive admiration within an era of its
original growth in the 1920rsquo s At that time radio drama played a central role for being the
foundation of people entertainment However by the 1950rsquo s people shifted their attention
to the new invention which was the small screen ie the television As a result of the
invention of this new device audio drama no more attracts the spectatorsrsquo attention it lost
its popularity
12
Though in 2010 radio drama came back to stage due to the developments shown in
digital soundtrack and internet spreading According to Eckert (2016) ldquoRadio and audio
storytelling has slowly started gaining popularity again thanks to the different online
platforms brought forth by digitalizationrdquo (p 8)
17 Definition of Storytelling
Today stories are a fundamental part of our societies and cultures Telling and
listening to stories is an ancient tradition and common activity that bonds different olden
civilizations together Also stories are an essential component and an ordinary process that
many people used to do on every occasion It is the art of telling factual or fictional stories
Besides stories bring legacy into life because our ancestors told them and people today
only retell them
Moreover listening to stories enhances the learnersrsquo foreign language It aids them
to improve their speaking skills Pederson (1995) states that ldquoin dealing with stories learners
have an experience with the powerful real language of personal communicationrdquo (p 2)
Additionally Pederson (1995) emphasizes the role of telling stories in preserving heritage
he argues that ldquooral stories are a direct expression of a literary and cultural heritage and
through them that heritage is appreciated understood and kept aliverdquo (1995 p2) In other
words stories bond between the past and the present It is considered to be a vital feature of
humankind Furthermore Schram (1994 as cited in Coulter Michael amp Poynor 2007)
points out
A story is a beautiful means of teaching religion values history traditions and
customs a creative method of introducing characters and places an imaginative way
13
to instill hope and resourceful thinking Stories help us to understand who we are and
show us what legacies to transmit to future generations (p 104-105)
So Schram (1994) highlights the role of stories in bridging the gap between the teaching
process and culture
Likewise Abrahamson (1998) sheds light on the role that storytelling plays in the
learning process He states that telling stories plays a significant role in improving learnersrsquo
understanding Besides Abrahamson argues that stories can afford a suitable context that
the listener can use it as a base to perceive the tellerrsquos point of view Moreover Roney (1996)
demonstrates
In its most basic form storytelling is a process where a person (the teller) using
vocalization narrative structure and mental imagery communications with other
humans (the audience) who also use mental imagery and in turn communicate back
to the teller primarily via body language and facial expression (p 2)
By this definition storytelling is the combination of art procedures and ways of
communication
18 Definition of Audio-Stories
The term audio-story is a combination of two words audio and story By definition
audio is sound within the aural range accessible to humankinds Miller (2011) states that
ldquostories are pieces of art and can serve as a basis of gamesrdquo (p 1) So Audio-story is a very
operative means for teaching EFL learners It aids to make the course persuasive Nowadays
14
audio stories can be used to many reasons and the most important one is the exposure to the
real language of native speakers by EFL learners In addition Rubin (2015) points out
ldquoaudio stories are an engaging form of communication that combines speech and music into
a compelling narrativesrdquo (p 1) That is to say audio stories are the process of telling stories
through sound and sound effects only Furthermore Audio-stories are broadly accredited to
progresses in portable equipment for instance smart phones tablets and multimedia
entertainment systems Thus EFL learners find it easy to listen to those audio stories
19 Characteristics of a Good Audio-Story
According to Seifert (nd) finding good audio-stories that suit the EFL learnersrsquo
needs is something very important and it is a very hard task to do However these are some
of the necessary features that EFL teachers must take into consideration whenever they want
to select a good audio-story for their students
Skill Level
Taking into account the learnersrsquo English level before choosing any audio-story For
instance if the audio-story contains a difficult language learners will lose confidence and
as a result they stop listening to the audio-story So determining the learnersrsquo level is very
important
Student Interest
EFL teachers must find out their studentsrsquo interests and normally each teacher has
an idea about this issue So if the audio-stories do not fit the learnersrsquo needs the EFL
teacherrsquos goal from that audio-story will be lost
15
Audio Length
The length of the audio-story plays a significant role in keeping concentration in the
ESL schoolrooms Listening for much time to the audio storytelling leads to boredom As a
result the learnersrsquo s brains lose attention However teachers can use long audio-stories but
they should know how to put it into parts and use classroom discussions to avoid boredom
So these three characteristics aid to develop EFL learnersrsquo listening skills
110 The Use of Audio-Stories in ESL Classrooms
According to Rock (nd) there are several listening practices that ESLEFL teachers
can provide to their students These are samples of activities that can work hand in hand with
audio-stories
Fill in The Blanks
Here EFL teacher provides his students with a written passage that is taken from an
audio-story but he removes some words Later on the teacher asks his learners to listen to
the audio-story after reading that passage and at the same time fill in the blanks
Mastery Memory
This activity has to do with learnerrsquos memory In this kind of practices teachers
provide learners with an audio-story and ask them for example to write down the main
events of the story but when they finish listening to it Teachers in this activity have to make
sure that students do not write them during the listening of the audio-story So the main goal
of the exercise is to reinforce learnerrsquos memory
16
Order the Events
At the start teachers give their learners a series of events that are chosen from an
audio-story Then the teacher gives them some time to read them After that learners listen
to the audio- storytelling and put those events in a sequential order
Buzz Words
This exercise aims to reach the learnerrsquo s vocabulary In this practice teachers
provide learners with a number of words then they ask them to check their meanings before
Afterward teacher turns the lesson into a game ie EFL learners listen to the audio-story
and whenever they hear a word (the buzz word) from that list they have to raise their hands
or clap them
Multiple Choice
This activity deals with providing learners with a number of questions followed by
three answers these questions can be definitions or name of characterhellip etc Then learners
have to listen to the audio-storytelling and pick the write response After teachers play again
the audio-story to correct their answers
Character Quiz
In this practice EFL learners have to listen to the whole story Then the teacher gives
his class a question sheet that contains a list of character qualities and decision and ask them
to choose the suitable one for the leading role
Plot Quiz
This activity has to do with team competition After listening to the whole audio-
storytelling once or twice the teacher divides his class into two to four groups where the
17
teacher plays the role of the coach Several questions that have a relation to the story will be
quizzed to each team if they get the answer they have a point if they fail to answer correctly
the question moves to the next group
Beginning Middle End
After listening to the audio storytelling the teacher splits the classroom into groups
and each group contains no more than four students Later he asks each group to write the
main events of the beginning the middle and the end of the story Finally they discuss them
together
111 Advantages of Using Audio-Stories
Audio-stories play an essential role in teaching the target language Audio-
storytelling is an impeccable implement for any ESL classrooms First of all audio-stories
afford learners with the exposure to the real language as it is produced by the native speakers
ie a natural voice Furthermore Rodero (2012 as cited in Eckert2016) claimed that
ldquoAudio stories that use sound effects and sound shots enhance the learnerrsquo s attention and
creation of visual images significantly compared to those without themrdquo (p 16) That is to
say using audio-stories in ESL classrooms develops learnersrsquo listening skills and provides
them with an imaginary trip inside their minds Also audio- stories enhance learnersrsquo
pronunciation since the learner is exposed to the natural voice In addition EFL teacher can
use audio storytelling as a guideline to his lecture or the opposite he can use it at the end of
the course as a reward
Moreover the EFL teachers depend on audio-stories in improving learnersrsquo
vocabulary through memorization Learners can enrich their vocabulary whenever they
listen to those stories because each time they learn some new words Besides learners can
18
listen to them outside the schoolrooms because they are portable they can upload them in
their mobiles and listen to them any time anywhere Finally audio stories can raise interest
for those learners who are not attracted to reading
Conclusion
In conclusion listening to audio stories aids EFL learners to improve the target
language pronunciation That is to say students will be exposed to the real language as it is
created by the native speakers Besides using audio stories in ESLEFL classrooms increases
the learnersrsquo interest toward learning the foreign language and also enhances their speaking
skills
19
Section two Reflection on Pronunciation
Introduction
121 Definition of Speaking Skill
122 Speaking Sub-Competencies Skills
123 Definition of Pronunciation
124 Importance of Pronunciation
125 Factors Affecting Pronunciation
1251 Internal Factors
1252 External Factors
Conclusion
20
Introduction
Generally speaking being able to speak the target language fluently and accurately
seems to be very interesting to all EFLESL learners Though students face a lot of troubles
and obstacles when communicating with each other or with native speakers and this is due
to mispronunciation misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the hearer which leads to the
communication breakdowns Furthermore learnersrsquo mispronunciation occurs due to various
factors that affect their oral language and as a consequence it affects their speaking
proficiency
In this section we have dealt with the speaking process and precisely
ldquopronunciationrdquo At the start a slight attention is put upon the definition of speaking skills
and its sub-competencies After that a part of this section is devoted to define pronunciation
and highlight its importance Moreover this section demonstrates some factors that affect
pronunciation which are classified into internal factors and external factors Finally another
point about the English consonant ldquoLrdquo has been raised
121 Definition of Speaking Skill
Mastering the foreign language is the aim of each EFL learner Speaking is one of
the most important language skills it plays a significant role in sharing ideas and thoughts
between individuals Torky (2006) defines speaking as follows ldquoIt is the means through
which learners can communicate with others to achieve certain goals or to express their
opinions intentions hopes and viewpointsrdquo (p 13) Also Ziane (2012) states that ldquoit is the
way by which learners can contribute and be part of oral communicationrdquo (p21) So the
main goal of EFL learners is to be able to speak the target language in order to strengthen
their verbal communication
21
Moreover Chaney (1998) argues that ldquospeaking is the process of building and
sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols in a variety of contextsrdquo
(p 13) From Chaneyrsquo s definition of speaking we deduce that speaking has an important
role in learning the foreign language and improving EFL learnersrsquo communicative skill
However there are some researchers who describe speaking as a hard task They
argue that EFL learners find it so hard to master the foreign language and face a lot of
difficulties even after studying it many years at schools Bueno and Mclaren (2006 as cited
in Alonso 2011) point out
Speaking is one of the most difficult skills language learners have to face In spite of
this it has traditionally been forced into the background while we teachers of
English have spent all our classroom time trying to teach our students how to write
to read and sometimes even to listen in a L2 because grammar has a long written
tradition (p 321)
On the whole the speaking skill is a very important process that EFL learners need to acquire
in order to master and shape the target language
122 Speaking Sub CompetenciesSkills
Torky (2006) claims that learners must be able to express themselves in a given
context in order to be proficient in mastering the foreign language She points out to several
speaking skills or competencies that help to achieve this aim which are
22
Linguistic Competence
Torky (2006) states that learners must be skillful in using pronunciation ie their
pronunciation must be clear In addition students have to use correct grammar and
proper lexis
Discourse Competence
In the beginning learners have to be able to use a well-organized discourse In other
words the discourse must be clear and unified Besides they have to be competent in
handling discussion and cooperating efficiently in order to avoid the communication
breakdowns
Pragmatic Competence
EFL learners have to be proficient in using a variety of functions that are related to
the same context and register
Fluency
Speaking smoothly without any complications and with a suitable degree of speech
speed
123 Definition of Pronunciation
According to Gilakjani (2012) ldquopronunciation is an integral part of foreign language
since it directly affects learnersrsquo communicative competence as well as performancerdquo
(p119) That is to say pronunciation plays a fundamental role in learning and improving the
target language Besides Poposka (2016) argues that pronunciation is the key factor of
language in its universal notion and she claims that pronunciation should be defined in
23
relation to different perspectives Poposka (2016) states some of the various points of view
concerning pronunciation definition which are
- The act or manner of pronouncing uttering of speech
- A way of speaking a word especially a way that is accepted or generally understood
- A graphic representation of the way a word is spoken using phonetic symbols (p
200)
Moreover Dauer (1993 as cited in Ummah 2014) states that ldquopronunciation is the
act of producing the sound of speech including articulation vowel formation accent
inflection and intonation often with reference to the correctness or acceptability of the
speech soundrdquo (p 10) In addition Poposka (2016) states that pronunciation is the vocal
capacity to produce particular sounds weather when communicating with individuals or
when being alone This construction of sounds leads to the appearance of some utterances
that may be expressive or worthless (p 200) Furthermore Adult Migrant English Program
research center (AMP 2002) points out
Pronunciation refers to the production of sounds that we use to make meaning it includes
attention to the particular sounds of language (segments) aspects of speech beyond the
level of the individual sound such as intonation phrasing stress timing rhythm
(suprasegmental aspects) (p1)
In other words AMP research center argues that even if these two aspects suprasegmental
and segmental structures are treated separately it is necessary to know that they work hand
in hand in a given context whenever someone speaks
24
124 Importance of Pronunciation
Madden and Moore (1997) states that ldquoin first language acquisition children learn
pronunciation inductively by absorbing and reproducing the sounds in their environmentrdquo
(p 4) That is to say all human beings in their natural development from childhood to
adulthood learn first of all how to talk before learning how to read or write Also Zhang
(2009) claims that ldquolearning a language means to perform the sounds utterances and the
words properly and correctlyrdquo (p 34-35) So pronunciation is a very essential skill in
learning a second language
Moreover Morley (1998 as cited in Zhang 2009) argues that ldquoit is clear that limited
pronunciation skills will make learners lose their self-confidence and result in negative
influence for learners to estimate their credibility and abilitiesrdquo (p 35) In other words it
does not matter whether learners make mistakes concerning grammar or vocabulary all what
matters is the way they pronounce a given word in order to make a worthy impression on
the learnersrsquo language capacities Zhang (2009) points out
Good pronunciation will make people understand you easily and be willing to listen to
you Contrarily poor English pronunciation may confuse people and lead to an
unpleasant talking and misunderstanding even if you used advanced English grammar
or vocabulary (p 35)
Likewise Backley (n d) argues ldquoif a speaker has a clear pronunciation this has immediate
benefits listeners judge the speakerrsquo s overall language ability much more favorably even
to the point of tolerating grammatical and other errorsrdquo (p 126) Therefore good
25
pronunciation aids to avoid misinterpretation and intelligibility between speakers and
listeners and show the learnersrsquo competencies in mastering their second language
Furthermore good pronunciation affects the learnersrsquo speed of acquiring the target language
In addition learners should use only simple structures with good and correct pronunciation
rather than using complex expressions in order to communicate with others
125 Factors Affecting Pronunciation
Generally speaking there are several factors that affect the learnersrsquo pronunciation
These factors can be classified into internal factors and external factors
1251 Internal Factors
Zhang (2009) states that internal factors can be categorized also into biological
factors individual differences and individual efforts and goal setting
Biological Factors
They are branded into four features age ear perception and aptitude
Learnersrsquo Age
At the start there is a difference between young learners and adult learners
concerning the acquisition of the accurate pronunciation Nonetheless this does not mean
that adult learners cannot get accurate pronunciation as well They have to work much harder
because their brainsrsquo plasticity reduces That is to say age plays a significant part in learning
the target language pronunciation Moreover Zhang (2009) emphasizes the role of the
critical period hypothesis that was proposed by Lenneberg in 1967 which states that there
is a certain age that helps learners to acquire the foreign language pronunciation accurately
26
and after that age the brain loses its flexibility Furthermore (Nation and Newton (2009) as
cited in Zhang 2009) claim that
Usually if the learner began to speak in the second language before the age of six
there will be little or no accent If the learner began to speak between the age of seven
and eleven the learners likely to have a slight accent If the learner began to speak
after age of twelve the learners almost always have an accent (p 78)
This is the reason behind the acceptance of the idea that learners find it so hard to acquire
the foreign language after maturity
Additionally Zhang (2009) states that young learners have bigger chances than the
adult learners in obtaining accurate pronunciation He claims that the brain loses its
flexibility and becomes rigid after puberty (after nine years old) as a result the brainrsquo s
functions will be devoted to the right and left hemispheres which makes it so difficult to
acquire the foreign languagersquo s pronunciation correctly Also Lenneberg (1967 as cited in
Zhang 2009) argues that ldquobefore the age of two the brain has not developed enough but
after puberty it developed too much and it will lose its plasticity and finish the lateralization
of the language functionrdquo (p 39) In other words it becomes so hard to obtain the native-
like pronunciation after the lateralization
Ear Perception
One of the most important factors that affect the learnersrsquo acquisition of the foreign
language is the ldquoear perceptionrdquo Zhang (2009) claims that the hearing abilities differ from
one person to another That is to say there are learners who have a strong hearing capacity
27
they can hear sounds in a very clear way which help them in reproducing the native speakersrsquo
pronunciation smoothly Whereas there is that kind of learners who do not have that ability
However Zhang argues that the ear perception has nothing to do with the learner age He
claims that it is natural that learners may lose some of their capacities whenever they become
older
Aptitude
Generally speaking foreign language aptitude is the personrsquos ability to learn a foreign
or a second language very rapidly and with no troubles (Wen 2011) Also Dornyei and
skehan (2003 as cited in Wen 2011) states ldquooriginally the notion of FLA presumed a
relatively stable talent for learning a foreign language that differs between individualsrdquo (p
590) So EFL learners do not have the same ability to acquire the foreign language
Additionally Carroll (1962 as cited in Wen 2011) states four components of the FLA which
are
lsquophonemic coding abilityrsquo (ie the ability to identify and retain sounds and link them
to phonetic symbols)
Sensitivity towards the grammatical functions that words fulfil in a sentence
The ability to learn inductively (ie to infer and generalize linguistic structures from
language samples) and
The ability to rote learn vocabulary items paired with their associated translations
(p 233)
Hence aptitude has an important role in improving learnersrsquo foreign language
Although Zhang (2009) argues that all individuals have a language aptitude ability but they
28
differ only in the degree of that aptitude capacity Also he claims that we cannot say that
those people who have a sophisticated level of language aptitude will get to the top and
people with an inferior level of language aptitude will go pear-shaped
Individual Differences
Zhang (2009) states that learnersrsquo different personalities affect the way they acquire
the foreign language pronunciation He argues that extroverted learners are more likely to
acquire the target pronunciation rather than introverted learners because extroverted learners
are not afraid of making mistakes which is not the case with the introverted learners who
face always the fear of failure Besides extroverted students are more friendly they tend to
work with others which leads them to practice the target language so they become more
familiar with it which aids to improve their pronunciation very quickly (p 40-41)
Individual Efforts and Goal setting
At the start the main goal of each EFLESL learner is to master the foreign language
in order to communicate with others Zhang (2009) points out ldquowe must always remember
that teaching never causes learning but rather creates the conditions in which learning can
occurrdquo (p 42) Besides he emphasizes that pronunciation is really a very hard task that
learners can acquire in a few days but it is not something impossible that learners cannot
achieve Though as much time learners spend in practicing the target language
pronunciation the better results they will get
1252 External Factors
External factors can be classified into three aspects learnersrsquo native language
exposure to target language and education factors
29
Learnerrsquo s Native Language
Universally the learnersrsquo native language affects their pronunciation of the foreign
language Zhang (2009) states that studentsrsquo mother tongue reflects the way they pronounce
a certain word in the target language and this is due to the differences that are found between
the two languages In other words learners find a lot of complications in articulating some
sounds for the reason that some of those sounds do not occur in their native language (p
43)
Exposure to the Target Language
Zhang (2009) shows that the acquisition of English language pronunciation is related
to the amount of exposure to it as it is produced by the native speakers That is to say this
depends on the learner himself ie on the situation in which the learning process occurs In
other words Zhang argues that it does not matter weather learners live in a native country
or not it is a matter of how much time they listen to the foreign language and how much
time they use it Zhang (2009) states ldquothe more they spend their time for listening and
speaking English the better their English pronunciation will berdquo (p 44) Thus learnerrsquo s
pronunciation accuracy depends on the surrounding environment where the target language
takes place
Educational Factors
At the start the system of education is responsible for studentsrsquo learning process
Worthy educational structure provides a lot of chances for learners to be exposed to the target
language through creating a suitable learning environment Additionally EFLESL
teachersrsquo accent reflects the learnersrsquo pronunciation because learners take teachers as an
30
exemplary in order to improve their pronunciation That is why teachers should work on
their pronunciation initially (Zhang 2009)
The English Consonant Sound ldquoLrdquo
Generally speaking EFL learners face complications in learning the English L sound
Sproat and Fujimura (1993) argue ldquoEnglish l has traditionally been classified into at least
two allophones namely light which occurs initially and dark which occurs syllable finallyrdquo
(p 291) Furthermore Wang (2016) states that the L consonant sound is a lateral phoneme
in English and it has two allophones he points out
One of them is found before vowels as in ldquoladyrdquo or ldquoflyrdquo called clear l and is
pronounced as the alveolar lateral approximant in a neutral position of the body of
the tongue The other variant is called dark l found before consonants or at word-
finally position as in ldquoboldrdquo or ldquotellrdquo Which is as the velarized lateral approximant
with the tongue in a spoon-like shape Its back part is raised which gives the sound
a w-like resonance (p 44)
In other words the clear [l] occurs when the tip of the tongue raises up and touches the soft
palate just behind the front teeth whereas the dark [ϯ] happens when the tip of the tongue
pulls back and the tongue raises to the middle without touching the soft palate to make the
L sound So the difference between these two allophones is the reason behind those troubles
that the learner may face
However Sproat and Fujimura (1993 as cited in Jiahong 2011) explain the
differences between these two allophones by relating them to the rime duration In other
31
words they point out that whenever the l sound occurs in longer rimes it is going to be a
dark [ϯ] and whenever the rime is short the l sound is clear or light
Figure 1
Articulatory Differences in l Velarization
Source Recasens 2012 p369
Conclusion
To end with it is very important to acknowledge that pronunciation is one way that
leads to an effective and a successful communication That is why many researchers shed
light on the investigation of some factors that may influence the EFL learnersrsquo pronunciation
As a result these identifying concepts help foreigners to overcome their difficulties when
they are introduced to the target language
32
Chapter two Field Work
Introduction
21 Methodology
211 Research Participants
212 The Procedure
2121 The Research Design
2122 The Pre-test Phase
2123 The Treatment Phase
2124 The Control Group
2125 The Post-test Phase
213 Scoring
214 Data Analysis
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (independent Sample
t-test)
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group Post-test
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group Post-test (Paired
Sample t-test)
21431 Paired Sample t-test
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-test
33
21441 An Independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the
Post-test
215 Discussion of the Results
216 Pedagogical Implications
Conclusion
34
Introduction
This research attempts to investigate the effect of listening to audio stories on
acquiring accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] by second year LMD students
at the department English -LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi The chosen sample is divided into two
groups the control group and the experimental group At the start participantsrsquo
pronunciation accuracy of the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] (the dependent variable) was measured
through a pretest Later on a period of treatment is taken by the experimental group which
is not the case with the control group After that a post-test is administered to both groups
in which the results are gathered using a software called the ldquopraatrdquo In addition we shed
light on describing the sample taking the place in which the study took place the method
used and at last the data collected
21 Methodology
211 Research Participants
The current study involved two intact classes of second year LMD students from
LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi-English Department The selected sample includes students from
different gender Furthermore we favored to select second year students for several reasons
The first reason was that second year students have practiced working with audio supports
which was not the case with first year students so they will not face problems concerning
listening to audio stories The second reason was that second year learners study oral
expression
At the start the experiment includes a sample of forty learners that have been chosen
from two intact classes of second year LMD students The chosen sample represents 1904
from the entire population which comprises 210 learners Additionally both clusters were
35
divided into a control group and an experimental group twenty students in each group At
the beginning the sample was supposed to be comprised of sixty students in which both the
control and the experimental groups covered thirty students Unfortunately there were a lot
of absences in both groups Also there are some students who have not passed both the
pretest and the posttest and others have not received the treatment at all Therefore the
sample size was reduced from sixty to forty students which can be sufficient to represent
the whole population and to get consistent outcomes
In order to gather consistent data that help to achieve the purpose of our research a
quasi-experimental design was designated The use of the chosen method will provide us
with a wide-ranging representation of the reflection of listening to audio stories on the
acquisition of the accurate pronunciation of the dark [l] and clear [l]
212 The Procedure
To accumulate a reliable data an experiment was conducted over six sessions The
treatment period took four sessions and the remained two sessions for the pretest and the
posttest The pretest took a form different from that of the posttest in order to avoid
familiarity to improve the learnersrsquo development and get consistent information Both
groups have taken the tests but only the experimental group took the treatment Besides the
duration of training concerning the treatment period for the experimental group took 90
minutes ie one hour and a half for each session and it started after getting the
authorization of the teacher of oral expression
36
2121 The Research Design
Figure 2
Experimental Group Procedures
Figure 3
Control Group Procedures
2122 The Pre-test Phase
By the first week of March both the control group and the experimental group have
taken the pretest However before choosing the pretest and in order to avoid any problems
we have checked that the dark [l] and the clear [l] are pronounced the same in both the
American and the British accents using the Oxford Advanced Learnerrsquo s Dictionary At the
outset learners were required to read a passage derived from a short story named ldquoThe last
class-The story of the Alsationrdquo that was written by Alphonse Daudet (2001) and also short
sentences (see Appendix A) After that their voices were recorded using a software known
pre-test
treatment
(listening to audio stories)
post-test
pre-test
No treatment
( being taught without listening
to audio-stories)
post-test
37
as the ldquoPraatrdquo Besides our focus here was raised toward the duration (ie the length of a
syllable) of the dark [l] and the clear [l]
Throughout the pretest EFL learners found themselves unable to pronounce the dark
[ϯ] and clear [l] that are found in some words correctly In other words students in the control
group and the experimental group most of the time pronounce the dark [ϯ] in the same way
they pronounce the clear [l] ie they spend the same duration for pronouncing the two
allophones Also EFL learners from time to time pronounce them differently but in a wrong
way ie they spent a rime duration that it not suitable neither for the light [l] nor for the
dark[ϯ]
Figure4
Example of the Lateral Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoSawmillrdquo
2123 The Treatment Phase
At first both participants have finished the pretest Though the treatment was
approved to the experimental group only the control group did not receive the same
treatment Besides the experimental group received the treatment in four sessions and each
Rime
duration
38
session took one hour and a half (ie 90 minutes) In each session students were asked to
listen to the audio-story in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of both allophones
after that they discussed the story being listened (see Appendix B)
2124 The Control Group
Concerning the control group students were taught the oral expression without any
exposure to any kinds of treatments In contrast to students in the experimental group who
were provided with the audio stories in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of the
both allophones which are the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ]
2125 The Post-test Phase
Fundamentally after finishing the four sessions of training ie the period of
treatment a posttest was administered to both the experimental group and the control group
(see Appendix c) The posttest as we have said before is different from the pretest in order
to avoid familiarity with the same topic and to ensure the learners improvement of the dark
[ϯ] and clear [l] So the posttest is a kind of a passage which was taken from a short story
that is entitled ldquoThe Game of Billiardsrdquo which is written by Alphonse Daudet and some
words to pronounce Furthermore during the posttest we noticed a kind of development in
learnersrsquo pronunciation of the two allophones with students of the experimental group
especially in pronouncing the single words which was not the case with those learners in
the control group
39
Figure 5
Example of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquocabalrdquo
Figure 6
Example of the Clear [l] in the word ldquolabourrdquo
The rime
duration
The rime
duration
40
213 Scoring
After finishing recording the learnersrsquo pronunciation of the phoneme l of both
groups (the control and the experimental group) we have compared them first of all to the
native speakerrsquo s pronunciation and after that we have calculated the rime duration of the
two allophones ie the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] and at last we gave them scores out of six
(6) for each participant
214 Data Analysis
In this sub-section we are going to investigate the EFL learnersrsquo improvement of
pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] Though in order to make sure that EFL
learners have acquired the correct pronunciation of these two allophones we have firstly
investigated the native speakerrsquos pronunciation of the L sound ie the clear [l] and the dark
[ϯ] and we have analyzed the rime duration of two words ldquolightrdquo and ldquoballrdquo as examples
Figure7
The Native Speakerrsquos Pronunciation of the Clear [l] in the Word ldquolightrdquo
Rime
duration
41
Figure8
The Native Speakerrsquo s Pronunciation of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoballrdquo
From these two figures we have noticed that the native speaker has spent 016 s in
pronouncing an ideal clear [l] (see Figure 7) and he has spent 138 s in order to pronounce
a perfect dark [ϯ] (see Figure 8) Thus this analysis of the native speakerrsquo s voice paved the
way to our research in which we based our investigation on it
Table 1
The Experimental and the Control grouprsquo s Scores in the pre-test
Pre-test
Students
Control
group
Experimental
group
Rime
duration
(second)
C E
Rime
duration
42
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (Independent Sample t-
test)
After gathering data for the control and the experimental group and for the purpose
of comparing and contrasting between the two we have calculated the learnersrsquo scores of
pronunciation of the phoneme l and also we have calculated the rime duration of the two
1 1 2 118 127
2 2 25 095 091
3 1 1 116 102
4 25 2 106 091
5 25 25 078 089
6 15 2 078 105
7 2 15 123 091
8 1 1 117 108
9 15 1 119 119
10 15 1 1 115
11 2 15 091 116
12 15 1 12 119
13 2 15 114 1
14 15 1 108 112
15 1 1 131 112
16 2 1 088 08
17 1 1 127 107
18 1 15 107 149
19 15 1 099 115
20 1 15 114 174
Total 31 285 2149 2222
43
allophones (see Table1) Besides the data collected ie the learnersrsquo scores were used in
calculating the means of both groups in the pre-test (the mean is calculated using the SPSS
see Table 2)
Figure 9
The Pre-test Scores of the Control and the Experimental Group
Table 2
The Mean Score of the Control and the Experimental Group in the Pre-test
Test N Mean Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpre 20 15500 51042 11413
Epre 20 14250 51999 11627
44
In order to calculate the Mean () Results we have to use the following formula
=sumx N
N stands for the total numbers of students in one group
sumx stands for the total number of data that was gathered from the pre-test
1 stands for the mean of the Control Group
2 stands for the mean of the Experimental Group
So1= 31 20 =155
2= 285 20 = 142
From ldquoFigure 9rdquo we can notice that 1 is the most frequent score in both the
experimental and the control groups in the pre-test and we can confirm this information
from Table 1 Furthermore when comparing means of both groups we notice (see Table 2)
that there is only a slight difference between the two groups the mean of the control group
is 155 whereas the mean of the experimental group is 142 So we can deduce that the level
of both groups is approximately the same there is no significant difference Moreover the
rime duration of the phoneme l of the experimental group and the control group is to some
extent the same and we can notice this slight difference in Table 1 and precisely in the total
duration of pronouncing the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] by both groups and also in Table 2
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group post-test
In order to confirm if there is any kind of progression in the control grouprsquo s scores
in the post-test concerning the pronunciation of the phoneme l (see Table 3) we have
calculated the mean of the post-test (using the SPSS see Table 4) and compared it with the
mean of the pre-test besides we have calculated the rime duration that has been spent At
45
last we have mentioned the learnersrsquo scores differences between the pre-test and the post-
test to confirm the development (see Figure 10)
Table 3
Results and Scores Differences of the Control and Experimental group in the Post-test
Posttest
Students
Rime
Duration
(Second)
Cpre Cpost Epre Epost
Cpre Cpost Epre Epost
1 1 1 2 4 118 186 127 21
2 2 175 25 5 095 113 091 253
3 1 1 1 45 116 134 102 245
4 25 2 2 35 106 119 091 234
5 25 15 25 55 078 146 089 24
6 15 175 2 5 078 119 105 267
7 2 2 15 45 123 135 091 263
8 1 125 1 5 117 144 108 254
9 15 1 1 425 119 144 119 242
10 15 1 1 55 1 128 115 274
11 2 1 15 45 091 126 116 285
12 1 2 1 5 12 129 119 268
13 2 125 15 55 114 146 1 328
14 15 1 1 55 108 127 112 223
15 1 1 1 5 131 092 112 275
16 2 1 1 475 088 135 08 274
46
17 1 2 1 5 127 094 107 292
18 1 1 15 575 107 096 149 29
19 15 1 1 525 099 114 115 295
20 1 15 15 575 114 132 174 338
Total 31 27 285 9875 2149 2359 2222 535
Diff -4 +7025 +21 +3128
Mean 155 135 142 493
-02 +351
Table 4
The Mean of the control Group in the Pre-test and Post-test
Mean N Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpre 15500 20 51042 11413
Cpost 13500 20 41675 09319
In order to calculate the mean( )result of the control group in the post-test we have to apply
the following formula = sumx N
sum stands for the total number of the data collected in the post-test of the control
group
N refers to the total number of students So = 2720 = 1
47
Figure 10
The Control Group Studentsrsquo Scores Differences
A very insignificant development has been shown in both Figure 7 and Table 3
concerning learners scores in the post-test Besides only Students 681217 and 20 from a
total number of twenty have proved the improvement the mean of the control group has
decreased from 155 in the pre-test to 135 in the post-test ie the mean = -02
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group post-test (Paired Sample
T-test)
In order to identify the scoresrsquo differences between the results of the experimental
group in both the pre-test and the post-test we have calculated the mean of the post-test and
compared it with that of the pre-test to notice if there is any improvement (see Table 3) So
the mean of the post-test is shown in Table 5 below
48
Table 5
The Mean of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and Post-test
Mean N Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Epre 14250 20 51999 11627
Epost 49375 20 59535 13312
From Table 5 we notice that the mean of the experimental group increased from 142 in the
pre-test to 493 in the post-test with a mean difference of 351 ( = +351) and we can
calculate the mean ()of the post-test using the following formula
= sumxN
sum= Stands for the total number of data that was gathered from the post-test in the
Experimental Group
119925 =Stands for the total number of students
So= 9875 20 = 493
From Table 3 we notice that there is a very clear development and difference in
learnersrsquo scores in the post-test which is very different from the pre-test scores (see Figure
12) Moreover we can notice this development from Figure 11 below too It Shows that the
most frequent scores that learners of the experimental group have gained are 45 5 55 and
at last 575(the marks are out of six) that makes a big difference from the scores of the pre-
test in which the most frequent score was 1 In addition to all of this results we can add that
the sum of the rime duration of the post-test differs a lot from that of the pre-test ( = +3128
s)
49
Hence in the light of these results we can say that the period of treatment really
affects in a positive way the learnersrsquo acquisition of the pronunciation of dark [ϯ] and clear
[l] Besides this enhancement was improved in the mean difference between the pre-test and
the post-test of the experimental group Though the comparison of means in the pre-test and
post-test of the experimental group cannot be sufficient in order to make sure that listening
to audio-stories really affects positively the way learners pronounce the Phoneme l
Therefore a paired sample T-test was designed to assess the development of learnersrsquo
acquisition of dark [ϯ] and clear [l] ie to acceptreject the Alternative Hypothesis or to
accept reject the Null Hypothesis (See Table 6 below)
Figure 11
The Scores Frequencies of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and the Post-test
50
Figure 12
The Scores Differences of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and the Post-test
21431 The paired Sample T-test
In order to know if there is any significant difference between the post-test and the
pre-test scores of the same group a t-test is conducted At first the of the experimental
group is calculated through the following formula
= sumdN
refers to the Difference of mean Scores
N Studentsrsquo scores in the Experimental Group
sum refers to the total sum of the Differences Scores
So = 702520= 35125
51
The Standard deviation of the differences
Sd= radic119956120784= radicsum119941120784
119925minus 119941120784
S stands for the Variance
sum119941120784 refers to the square differences of Scores
After calculating
Sdcong 013
The Standard Error of the Mean Difference (SE)
It is calculated using the following formula
SE ()= 119878119889
radic119873cong003
Finally we calculate the t- value that will be compared to the critical P-value at the point
p=005 in order to accept the alternative hypothesis or rejecting it using the following
formula119957120784120782minus120783=
119878119864(119889) = 117
Table 6
Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Post-test Scores differences
Students Pre-test Post-test Difference
1 2 4 2
2 25 5 25
3 1 45 35
4 2 35 15
5 25 55 3
6 2 5 3
52
7 15 45 3
8 1 5 4
9 1 425 325
10 1 55 45
11 15 45 3
12 1 5 4
13 15 55 4
14 1 55 45
15 1 5 4
16 1 475 375
17 1 5 4
18 15 575 425
19 1 525 425
20 15 575 425
Total 285 9875 7025
Table 7
The Paired Sample T-test for the Experimental Group
Paired Sample T-Test
Epre
Scores-
Epost
Scores
Mean Std
deviati-
on
Std-
Error
Mean
95Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
t Df Sig
(2-
tailed)
Lower Upper
-351250 83695 18715 -390421 -312079 -18768 19 000
53
After calculating the mean of the experimental group in both the pre-test and the post-
test (see Table 5) a mean difference of +351 was noticed Therefore in order to prove if
the development that was noticed in the post-test scores as well as the mean occurred
because of the influence of listening to the audio-stories which is the independent variable
or happened only by coincidence
Hence to confirm the Alternative Hypothesis and reject the Null Hypothesis or vice
versa the t-value (117) was calculated in order to be compared with the critical- value at
the point p=005 and at the level of t=19 Besides p-value (0000) is less than 005 which
means that there a real difference between the learnersrsquo scores in the pre-test (before the
period of treatment) and the leanersrsquo scores in the post-test (after the period of treatment)
Consequently we can deduce that the improvement that was achieved by the experimental
group in the post test did not occur by chance actually it occurred because of listening to
audio-stories that has a positive effect on learnersrsquo pronunciation of both the clear [l] and the
dark [ϯ]
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-test
Table 8
The Mean of the Control Group and the Experimental Group in the Post-test
N Mean Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpost 20 13500 41675 09319
Epost 20 49375 59535 13312
54
To calculate the mean () we use the following Formula
= sum119961 N
So 1= sum119961 N
1 refers to the mean of the control group in the post-test
N refers to the total number of students in the control Group
sum119961 stands for the sum of scores of the control group in the post-test
1= 2720 = 135
2 = sum119961 N
2 stands for the mean of the experimental group in the post-test
N refers to the total number of participants in the experimental group
sum119961 Stands for the sum of scores of the experimental group in the post-test
So 2= 987520 = 493
Figure13
The Scores Frequencies of the Control Group and the Experimental Group in the Post-
test
55
From the previous analysis of the mean of both the control and the experimental
group in the pre-test (see Table 3) we have noticed that the level of students in both groups
is almost the same and there is only a slight difference between them Though in the post-
test the scores of the experimental group has increased and as result the mean average has
increased too after the treatment phase for the experimental group (from 142 to 493) but it
decreased for the control group who were taught without being exposed to any kind of
treatment (see Table 8 and Figure 10) Besides we can notice the development also in the
rime duration in studentsrsquo pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] of the experimental
group in the post-test which is not the case with the control group
21441 An independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the post-
test
In order to investigate if there is any significant change between two diverse groups
who have run the same test a t-test is used to show this significance difference In our case
we want to inspect if there is any significant variation between the experimental group and
the control group in the post-test and whether we accept the Alternative Hypothesis or
rejecting the Null Hypothesis So depending on the following steps a t-test was calculated
using the following formula
t= 119883 119888minus 119890
radicpartx2
Nx+
1205971199102
119873119910
partx2 = sum(119883 minus 119890 )N
= 306
1205971199102 =sum(119883 minus 119888 )2119873
= 160
119888 the mean of the control group in the post-test
56
119890 the mean of the experimental group in the post-test
partx2 the variation of the experimental group
1205971199102 the variation of the control group
So t= 493minus 135
radic306
20+
160
20
=745
t-value= 745
Depending on the t-value (745) that was calculated we compare it with the critical p-
value at p=005 therefore we have two options
1- If t-value is greater than the critical p-value (t-valuegtcritical-value) we accept the
alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
2- If t-value is less than the critical-value (t-valueltcritical-value) we accept the null
hypothesis and refuse the alternative hypothesis
we can say that
t-value=745 745 gt005
We accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
p-value= 0000 0000 lt005
We accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
Depending on these results we can say that there is a statistical evidence that the
associated sampling means are significantly different In other words there is a real change
between the experimental group and the control group in the post test at the level of
pronunciation due to the positive influence of the independent variable which is ldquolistening
to the audio-storiesrdquo Therefore students of the experimental group showed a significant
57
progress at the level of pronunciation and precisely the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
pronunciation
215 Discussion of the Results
The current research has investigated the influence of listening to audio-stories on
acquiring accurate pronunciation of both allophones the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] At the
start the pre-test has proved that learners of both groups ie the control and the
experimental group have the same level through calculating their means The control group
scored a mean of 155 while the experimental group scored a mean of 142 and also they
have got near scores concerning the rime duration of the L sound So these estimated scores
helped us to prove and confirm our hypothesis that states the positive effect of listening to
audio-stories on the level of pronunciation accuracy In the post-test students of the
experimental group showed a significant development compared to the control group and
this is due to the period of treatment that occurred in the oral session Besides the mean
score of the experimental group has been raised from 142 to 493 and from a sum of rime
durations of 2222 s to 535 s while the mean score of the control group has been decreased
from 155 to 135 and increased from a sum of rime durations of 2149 s to 2359 s In
addition a t-test was designed to show if there is any statistical significant difference
between the experimental group and the control group in the post-test the results show the
positive influence of the treatment phase on the dependent variable (pronunciation
accuracy)
216 Pedagogical implication
The present research evidenced the positive influence of being exposed to the target
language pronunciation as it is produced by the native speakers through the exposure to the
audio-stories Therefore we can state a set of pedagogical implications
58
The present study shows that the more students get involved in listening practices
the more they will be proficient in the pronunciation of a various English sounds ie
developing their speaking proficiency
Audio-stories help EFL learners improve their pronunciation as well as to develop
their listening skills
Using multimedia devices (audio-stories in our case) in learning classrooms
enhances the learnersrsquo motivation to get involved in the learning process
Audio-stories can be used by EFL teachers in order to make learners attentive and
interested in the lecture being presented
Audio-stories provide learners with the chance to listen again and again to the story
in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of a given word
Conclusion
The present research examined the effect of listening to audio stories on fostering the
target language pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] The native speakerrsquo s
pronunciation of both allophones was analyzed first through analyzing the rime duration in
order to compare it with the EFL learnersrsquo articulation That is to say the analysis is based
on the native speakerrsquo s rime duration In addition a significant development in learnersrsquo
pronunciation of the dark[ϯ]and the clear [l] was proved which lead to accept the alternative
hypothesis that states listening to audio-stories has a positive effect on acquiring accurate
pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] by EFL learners
59
General Conclusion
The present study is based on the investigation of the effectiveness of listening to
audio stories on acquiring accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] by EFL
learners At the beginning we have stated the problem which was that the Algerian EFL
learners in the English department at LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi University face a lot of difficulties
concerning the acquisition of the accurate pronunciation of The phoneme l Subsequently
this dissertation tackled the importance of listening to audio-stories on enhancing EFL
learnersrsquo pronunciation accuracy
Our research was tackled in two main chapters The first chapter divided into two
main sections In the first section we tackled the point of listening to audio stories whereas
the second section discussed the reflection of listening to audio stories on the pronunciation
of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] The second chapter represented the practical part the field
work The analyzed data showed that there is a positive relationship between the independent
variable and the dependent variable That is to say there was a development in the
acquisition of the phoneme l which lead us to accept the alternative hypothesis and reject
the null hypothesis
60
Limitations of the Study
Limited sources ie most of the sources that were available were not relevant to our
study
Time constraints this study needs much more time to conduct a better result
Students absences in the pre-test and the post-test and others did not receive the
treatment at all
The lack of interest in the beginning of the treatment session
61
List of References
Alonso SR (2012) The importance of Teaching Listening and Speaking Skills Diagravectica de Lingua
y la Literatura Facultad de Education
Brown S (2006) Teaching Listening Cambridge Cambridge University press
Coulter C Michael C ampPoynor L (2007) Storytelling as Pedagogy An Unexpected Outcome
of narrative inquiry 104-105
Daudet A (2001) Five Short Stories Copyright copy Bartlebycom Inc
Downs L J (2008) Listening Skills Training ASTD press
Eckert J (2016) Audio Storytelling in Todayrsquos Visual World The necessary Components of a
successful sounds scape for an audio play
Gilakjani A P (2012) A study of Factors Affecting EFL learnersrsquo English Pronunciation Learning
and the Strategy for instruction Lahijani Iran 2(3) 119-128
Hamer J (1998) How to teach English An Introduction to the Practice of English Language
Teaching English Language Teaching Harlow Longman
Hendrickson J (1992) Storytelling for foreign language and linguistics Washington Dc Eric
learning house on language and linguistic [ Eric No E0355-824]
Kline J A (1996) Listening Effectively Air University Press
Madden M and Moore Z (1997) ESL Studentsrsquo Opinions about instruction in Pronunciation
Texas 3(2) 15-32
Mendelson D J (1994) Learning to Listen Dominie Press
Nasreddin K (2010) The Influence of Background Knowledge on Second Language Listening
Comprehension Constantine Constantine University
62
Poposka V p (2016) Pronunciation Proficiency Level Problematic Areas of Tertiary as a Foreign
Language International Journal of Science and Basic and Applied Research
Richards J C (1990) The Language Teaching Matrix Cambridge Cambridge University Pess
Rubin SS (2015) Tools for Creating Audio Stories scholarship University of California
Roney RC (1996) Storytelling in the classroom Some Theoretical Thoughts Wayne State
University Education Detroit Michigan
Sproat R ampFujimura O (1993) Allophonic variation of the English l and its Implication for
phonetic Implementation Academic Press
Torky SA (2006) The Effectiveness of a Task-Based Instruction Program in Developing English
Language Speaking Skills of Secondary Stage Students Collegersquo s girl Ain Shams
University
Ummah A (2014) The Effectiveness of Nursery Rhymes to Facilitate Studentsrsquo of Pronunciation of
the Diphthong Education and Teacher Training Faculty Walisongo State institution for
Islamic Studies
Wang M (2016) Research on the Acoustic Realization of Lateral in Sundanese International
Journal of Engineering Research and Development 12(10) 44-48
Ziane R (2012) The Role of Listening Comprehension in Improving EFL learners Speaking Skill
Biskra University of Biskra
Zhang Q (2009) Affecting Factors of Native-Like Pronunciation A Literature Review Ching-Ang
University 27(2) 33-52
63
Abrahamson CE (1998) Storytelling as a pedagogical tool in high Education 118(3) Retrieved
from
httpwwwquestiacomlibraryjournal1G1-20494609storytelling-as-a-pedagogical-tool-
inhighereducation
AMP Research Center (2012) Retrieved from
Httpwwwncertrmqeduauconference2001indexhtal
Backley P (nd) Improving your English Pronunciation Retrieved from
httptoefluobabyloneduiqpaperspearson-2015-1269610pdf
Chaney (1998) Teaching Speaking Retrieved from
httpitesljorgtechniqueKayi-teaching speakinghtml
English Club (nd) What is listening Retrieved from
httpwwwenglishclubcom
Miller E (2011) Theories of story and storytelling Retrieved from
httpwww-storytellingandvideoconferencingcom167pdf
Pederson E M (1995) Storytelling and the art of listening English teaching forum 33(1)2-5
Retrieved from httpExchangesStategovForumuolsn01p2htm
Remen R N (nd) Listening Skills Retrieved from
httpwwwskillsyouneedcomipslistening-Skills-html
Rock R (nd) 5 Wonderful Websites for Engaging ESL Audio Short Stories Retrieved from
httpwwwFluentucomenglisheducatorsblogeslaudio-short-stories
Seifert S (nd) Follow Along 6 Engaging ESL Audio Stories with worksheet ideas Retrieved from
httpwwwFluentucomenglisheducatorblogeslaudio-stories
Saricoban A (2004) The Teaching of listening The Internet TESL journal
httpitesljorgArticlesSaricobn-listeninghtml
Subhi s (2016) Differences between Hearing and listening Retrieved from
httpkeydifferencescomdifference-between-hearning-and-listeninghtml
64
Shen CD (2010) 3 reasons why listening skills are very important in Todayrsquo s Business World
Retrieved from httpezinearticlescom3-Reasons-why-listening-skills-are-very-important-in-
Todays-Business-worldampid=5436504
the adapted audio-stories that were used in the period of treatment
(httpwwwmanythingsorgvoastories)
Appendix A A pre-test
The Last class- The Story of the Alsatian
I was very late for school that morning and I was terribly afraid of being Scolded
especially as Monsieur Hamel had told us that he should examine us on participles and I
did not know the first thing about them For a moment I thought of saying away from
school and wandering about the fields It was such a warm lovely day I could hear the
blackbirds whistling on the edge of the wood and in the ripper field behind the sawmill
the Prussians going through their drill All that was much more tempting to me than the
rules concerning participles but I had the strength to resist and I ran as fast as I could to
school
Sentences
You old fool they will kill you if you always trouble them
People are awfully lazy in the middle of July
Appendix B A post-test
The Game of Billiards
The marshalrsquo s opponent is a young captain of the staff belted and curled and light-
gloved who is in the first rank of billiard-players and capable of beating all the marshals
on earth but he has the tact to keep a respectful distance behind his chief and devotes his
energies to the task of not winning and at the same time not losing too easily He is what is
called an officer with a future
Read the following words
1 Cabal
2 Labour
3 Shell
Appendix c Treatment period
I Session one (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquothe Secret Gardenrdquo (Chapter One) By Frances Hodgson
Burnett
II Session two (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Secret Gardenrdquo (Chapter two) By Frances Hodgson
Burnett
III Session three (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Lady or the Tigerrdquo by Frank R Stockton
IV Session four (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Lady in Blackrdquo By Eleanor Porter
Reacutesumeacute
La preacutesente eacutetude vise agrave eacutetudier lrsquoarticulation de dark [ϯ] et clear [l] dans les classes de la
langue anglaise afin dameacuteliorer la prononciation des apprenants Lrsquoeacutetude actuelle repose
sur lhypothegravese que leacutecoute des histoires audio a un effet positif sur lameacutelioration de la
prononciation des apprenants EFL avec un accent particulier sur le dark [ϯ] et clear [l] Afin
datteindre lobjectif de cette recherche une eacutetude quasi-expeacuterimentale a eacuteteacute assigneacute en
deux groupe group teacutemoin et group expeacuterimentale Chaque groupe contenait 20 eacutelegraveves
Lexpeacuterience a pris six seacuteances un preacute-test une peacuteriode de traitement (4 seacuteances) et un
posttest En conclusion les reacutesultats obtenus montrent que les eacutetudiants qui sont exposeacute agrave
la langue cible et qui eacutecoutent au locuteur natif agrave lrsquoaide audio pour ameacuteliorer leurs
prononciations ont montreacute qursquoil y a un deacuteveloppement ameacutelioration au niveau de
compeacutetence des apprenants en particulier et en matiegravere de parole en geacuteneacuterale
Les mots cleacutes audio-histoire Compeacutetence drsquoeacutecoute prononciation dureacute de travaille
ملخص
استخدام القصص الصوتية من اجل المساعدة على اكتساب النطق السليم والدقيق تهدف هذه الدراسة الى التعرف على مدى فعالية
الأجنبية حيث تستند الدراسة الحالية على فرضية مفادها ان الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية له تأثير إيجابي على تحسين ةللغ
استغرقت التجربة ست ق المنهج التجريبيمن أجل تحقيق هدف هذه الدراسة تم تطبينطق الطلاب الأجانب للغة الإنجليزية
جلسات قسمت كالاتي أربع حصص معالجة سبقت باختبارات قبلية ولحقت باختبارات بعدية أجريت الدراسة في قسم اللغة
طالبا من طلاب السنة ثانية جامعي قسم الطلبة الى فوجين حيث 40الإنجليزية بجامعة العربي بن مهيدي وقد شملت الدراسة
ى معالجة لمدة أربع حصص من خلال الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية في حين لم يتعرض الفوج الثاني خضع أحد الفوجين ال
الى نفس المعالجة بعد ذلك تم اجراء الاختبارات البعدية واعتمادا على النتائج المتحصل عليها ثبت ان التعرض الى اللغة
جابي على اكتساب النطق الدقيق للغة المستهدفة الا وهي اللغة الأجنبية عن طريق الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية له تأثير إي
الأجنبية
القصص الصوتية النطق مدة الموجات الصوتيةالكلمات المفتاحية المهارة السمعية
III
Abstract
The present research aims at investigating the usefulness of using audio stories in EFL
classrooms in order to improve learnersrsquo pronunciation It is based on the assumption that
listening to audio stories have a positive effect on improving EFL learnersrsquo pronunciation
with a particular focus on the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] In order to attain the aim of this research
a quasi-experimental study was implemented The experiment took six sessions including a
pre-test period of treatment and a post-test At the start two intact classes of second year
EFL students at LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi English department were selected and they were divided
into an experimental group and a control group each contained 20 students First of all a
pronunciation test was administered to both groups as a pre-test Later the experimental
group received a period of treatment of four sessions in which they were exposed to the
target language through listening to different audio-stories whilst the control group did not
receive the same treatment Afterward a post-test was administered to both groups in order
to investigate the learnersrsquo improvement in pronouncing correctly the dark [ϯ] and clear [l]
After that the learnersrsquo performance on the pre-test and the post-test which was recorded
using the Praat was assessed by the researcher In order to show the development that
learners have shown in both tests a t-test was utilized for determining and comparing both
group means Depending on the results gathered it is proved that being exposed to the target
language as it is produced by the native speakers through listening to audio-stories aids to
improve the learnersrsquo pronunciation in particular and their speaking proficiency in general
Therefore teachers are recommended to use Audio-stories in EFL classrooms in order to
enhance learnersrsquo pronunciation of the target language
Key words listening skills audio-stories pronunciation rime duration
IV
List of Abbreviations
EFL English as a Foreign Language
ESL English as a second Language
FLA Foreign Language Aptitude
Cpre Control Group pre-test
Cpost Control Group Post-test
Epre Experimental Group pre-test
Epost Control Group Post-test
H1 Alternative Hypothesis
H0 Null Hypothesis
V
List of Tables
Table 1 The Experimental and the Control grouprsquo s Scores in the Pre-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphellip41
Table 2 The Mean Score of the Control and the Experimental Group in The Pre-test hellip43
Table 3 Results and Scores Differences of the Control and Experimental Group in the
Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip45
Table 4 The Mean of the Control Group in the Pre-test and Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip46
Table 5 The Mean of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphellip48
Table 6 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Post-test Scores Differenceshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip51
Table 7 The Paired Sample T-test for the Experimental Grouphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip52
Table 8 The Mean of the Control Group and The Experimental Group in the Post-testhellip53
VI
List of Figures
Figure 1 Articulatory Differences in l Velarization helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip31
Figure 2 Experimental Group Procedureshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip36
Figure 3 Control Group Procedureshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip36
Figure 4 Example of the Lateral Dark [ϯ]in the Word ldquoSawmillrdquohelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip37
Figure 5 Example of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoCabalrdquo helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip39
Figure 6 Example of the Clear [l]in the Word ldquolabourrdquohelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip39
Figure 7 The Native Speakerrsquo s Pronunciation of the Clear [l] in the Word ldquolightrdquohelliphellip40
Figure 8 The Native Speakerrsquos Pronunciation of the Dark [ϯ] in the word ldquoballrdquohelliphelliphellip41
Figure 9 The Pre-test Scores of the Control and the Experimental Grouphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip43
Figure 10 The Control Group Studentsrsquo Scores Differences helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip47
Figure 11 The Scores Frequencies of the Experimental Group in The Pre-test and the
Post- testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip49
Figure 12 The Scores Differences of the Experimental Group in the pre-test and the Post-
testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip50
Figure 13 The Scores Frequencies of the Control Group and The Experimental Group in
the Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip54
VII
Content
Introductionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip2
1 Statement of the problem helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip2
2 Aim of the studyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip3
3 Research questionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 3
4 Research hypothesishelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip3
5 Means of the studyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip3
6 Structure of the studyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip4
Chapter One Theoretical background
Section One Listening to Audio Stories
Introductionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip6
11 Definition of Listening Skillhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip6
12 Differences between Listening and Hearing helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip8
13 Reasons of listening helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip8
14 Types of Listeninghelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip9
141 Extensive Listeninghelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip9
142 Intensive Listeninghelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip10
15 Listening Processes helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip10
151 Bottom-up Processhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip10
152 Top down processhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip11
16 Brief History of Audio-Storieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip11
17 Definition of Storytellinghelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip12
18 Definition of Audio-Storieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip13
19 Characteristics of a Good Audio-Storyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip14
110 The Use of Audio-Stories in ESL Classroomshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip15
111 Advantages of Using Audio-Storieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip17
Conclusionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip18
Section two Reflection on Pronunciation
Introductionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip20
11Definition of Speaking Skillhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip20
12Speaking Sub-Competencies Skillshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip22
13 Definition of Pronunciationhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip22
VIII
14Importance of Pronunciationhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip24
15 Factors Affecting Pronunciationhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip25
16151 Internal Factorshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip25
152 External Factorshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip28
Conclusion helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip31
Chapter two Field Work
Introductionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip34
21 Methodologyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip34
211 Research Participantshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip34
212 The Procedurehelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip35
2121 The Research Design helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip36
2122 The Pre-test Phasehelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip36
2123 The Treatment Phasehelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip37
2124 The Control Grouphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip38
2125 The Post-test Phasehelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip38
213 Scoring helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip40
214 Data Analysishelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip40
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (independent
Sample t-test)helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip42
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip44
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group Post-test (Paired
Sample t-test)helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 47
21431 Paired Sample t-test helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip50
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip53
21441 An Independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group
in the Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip55
215 Discussion of the Resultshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip57
216 Pedagogical Implicationshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip57
Conclusionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip58
General Conclusionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip59
Limitation of The Studyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip60
List of Referenceshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip61
Appendices
IX
Reacutesumeacute
ملخص
1
General introduction
Introduction
1 Statement of the Problem
2 Aim of the Study
3 Research Question
4 Research Hypothesis
5 Means of the Study
6 Structure of the Study
2
Introduction
Acquiring comprehensible pronunciation for EFL learners is one of the key supplies
for language proficiency Nowadays mastering the foreign language is the main concern
that most of EFL learners share This high attention raises due to the exposure to the target
language and to the complications that learners may face at whatever time they want to
communicate whether with foreigners or with one another using for instance the English
language Besides listening is not only a matter of innate ability but it is a matter of how to
develop that inborn capacity in order to improve the learnersrsquo pronunciation accuracy
Accordingly audio-stories are used to help developing the learnersrsquo listening skill and to
improve their pronunciation accurateness Furthermore using audio stories in teaching EFL
learners help to evidence that an effective listening process leads to an effective articulation
1 Statement of the Problem
Generally speaking there are various factors that affect learnersrsquo acquisition of the
target language pronunciation The Algerian EFL learners encounter many problems
concerning articulation because EFLESL learners do not have much opportunities to be
exposed to the real language as it is produced by the native speakers in the classroom Since
English is a foreign language learners avoid using it outside the classroom which is resulted
in a bad pronunciation Therefore EFL teachers are required to use audio-stories inside the
classrooms in order to develop studentsrsquo second language and to improve their pronunciation
accuracy
3
2 Aim of the Study
The current study deals with the learnersrsquo pronunciation difficulties of the dark [ϯ]
and the clear [l] It aims at investigating the effect of listening to audio-stories on fostering
the target languagersquos accurate pronunciation of both allophones
3 Research Question
The present study seeks to answer the following question
Does listening to audio-stories help EFL learners to acquire the accurate
pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
4 Research Hypothesis
In order to answer the research question the subsequent hypotheses are framed
H1 The EFL learners will acquire accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the
clear [l] through listening to audio-stories
H0 Listening to audio stories will not help EFL learners to acquire accurate
pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
5 Means of the Research
In order to achieve the objective of our research a quasi-experimental design is
administered to second year LMD students of English Department at LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi
University The selected sample (40 students from 210) consists of two groups the control
group and the experimental group Both groups will be pretested in order to assess their
pronunciation accuracy level The pre-test is a kind of short story and small sentences that
contain the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] which learners have to read After that the Praat will be
used in order to record their voices Later on the experimental group will take the treatment
for four sessions in which they will listen to the audio stories each session will take one
4
hour and a half However the control group will not receive any kind of treatment (they will
be taught in a normal way without listening to audio stories) Furthermore a post-test which
is different from that of the pre-test will be administered to both groups in order to test their
pronunciation development
6 Structure of the Study
The present study is divided into two chapters The first chapter is a theoretical one
and it is composed of two sections The first section is about listening to audio stories in
which we define the process of listening and mention the main differences between listening
and hearing After that we discuss the reasons of listening its types and processes Later
on the second sub-section deals with audio stories At the start we introduce a brief history
about the notion of audio stories and then we introduce stories in general Afterward we
discuss the characteristics of audio stories their use and advantages The second section
deals with the pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] at the beginning we shed light
on the definition of speaking skill and its sub-competencies After that a part of this section
deals with the definition of pronunciation and its importance Besides it introduces factors
that affect pronunciation The second chapter deals with the field work in which it sheds
light on collecting data presenting and analyzing it and at the end interpreting results
5
Section One Listening to Audio Stories
Introduction
11 Definition of Listening Skill
12 Differences between Listening and Hearing
13 Reasons of Listening
14 Types of Listening
141 Extensive Listening
142 Intensive Listening
15 Listening Processes
151 Bottom-up Process
152 Top down Process
16 Brief History of Audio-Stories
17 Definition of Storytelling
18 Definition of Audio-Stories
19 Characteristics of a Good Audio-Story
110 The Use of Audio-Stories in ESL Classrooms
111 Advantages of Using Audio-Stories
Conclusion
6
Introduction
Nowadays there is a great emphasis put on listening skill since it plays a significant
role in teaching and acquiring the foreign language So this high attention raises because of
the difficulties that learners face whenever they want to communicate thatrsquos why many
researchers shed light on Audio Stories as a tool that can help in developing learnersrsquo
listening process as well as improving their speaking skills and precisely their
pronunciation
The main concern of this section is listening to audio stories First of all we shed
light on the first part which is listening process At the start we need to define listening
skills according to different scholars later on we tackle the main differences between
listening and hearing Also reasons of listening its types and processes Then the second
part of this section deals with the audio stories In the beginning we introduce a brief history
of audio stories and later on the definition of stories in general After that we present the
meaning of audio stories in a specific way and its main characteristics Lastly this section
highlights the use and the advantages of audio stories inside EFL classrooms
11 Definition of Listening Skill
ldquoThe most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen Just to
listen Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attentionrdquo (Remen
2011)
Listening is an important skill in learning and acquiring a foreign language Through
this process learners will be able to receive and understand information According to
Downs (2008) ldquothe word of listening is defined as making an effort to hear something to
pay attention or heedrdquo (p 1) In other words Downs (2008) argues that listening is the way
7
learners pay attention to what is being said In her opinion listening is an active process that
includes using a variety of processes which are attending understanding interpreting
responding and remembering Moreover Mendelsohn (1994) demonstrates listening as ldquothe
ability to understand the spoken language of native speakersrdquo (p 64) To be precise
Mendelsohn defines listening as the listenerrsquo s ability to recognize the native speakerrsquo s
speech in terms of accent pitch intonation vocabulary grammar and trying to interpret the
native speakerrsquo s messages
Saricoban (1999) states that listening is onersquos capacity to realise what is being said
and to recognize the intended meaning He sheds light on two important points the first
point concerns understanding the speakerrsquos pronunciation syntax and lexis whereas the
second point deals with grasping the meaning Willis (1981) lists a series of micro-skills of
listening which she calls enabling skills They are
Predicting what people are going to talk about
Guessing at unknown words or phrases without panic
Using onersquo s own knowledge of the subject to help one understand
Identifying relevant points rejecting irrelevant information
Retaining relevant points (note-taking summarizing)
Recognizing discourse markers eg well oh another thing is now finally
etc
Recognizing cohesive devices e g such as and which including linking
words pronouns references etc
Understanding different intonation patterns and uses of stress etc which give
clues to meaning and social setting
8
Understanding inferred information eg speakerrsquo s attitude or intentions
(p134
Furthermore listening is an important source of knowledge It is recognized as the
ability of transforming and interpreting the spoken messages that are received by the ears
from the daily life situations Yet listening is a very hard task It requires the learnersrsquo mental
concentration which is something difficult because the human brain can simply lose attention
That is to say listening skill can save learners from communication breakdowns and
increases their motivation to learn the foreign language and speak fluently but only if they
work harder to develop their own listening skills
12 Differences between Listening and Hearing
Listening and hearing are two different activities Kline (1996) emphasizes the
differences between these two concepts to make an effective listening He states that
ldquohearing is the attachment of meaning to the sound Hearing is passive listening is activerdquo
(p7) In other words active listening is a successful element that affects learnersrsquo verbal and
nonverbal behaviors
Surbhi (2016) states the differences between listening and hearing On the one hand
he defines hearing as the natural capacity that happens unconsciously It aids to identify
sounds via the ears Also hearing is a process that permits receiving sound vibrations and
it is one of the five senses On the other hand Surhbi (2016) defines listening skill as the
process of receiving and interpreting messages it occurs consciously
13 Reasons of Listening
Learners through being exposed to different English accents and in any recorded
materials such as radio TV or tapes they want to understand and realize what is being said
9
(Harmer 1998) According to him listening is a very effective process that helps learners to
get a better pronunciation In other words as much as they are exposed to the real language
as much as they will recognize its features
Also Shen (2010) demonstrates that listening skills help to improve understanding
and aids people to become aware of their listening skills So listening plays a vital role in
language learning and acquisition It is an essential skill that bridges the line between
meaning and messages in order to avoid misunderstanding between individuals
14 Types of listening
Generally speaking the listening skill plays a significant role in teaching EFL
classrooms This process guides EFL learners to an effective communication Therefore the
listening skill can be classified into two different types Extensive listening and intensive
listening
141 Extensive Listening
Extensive listening has to do with the learnerrsquos fluency In other words the learner has
to master vocabulary grammarhellipetc and later on he must combine them together to form
a meaningful conversation So fluency depends on the listenerrsquos ability of understanding
whatever he is exposed to weather in an audio tape a text a songhellipetc
Harmer (1998) states that extensive listening is the way students practice their own
listening outside the classroom Students should enjoy listening to an audio material because
they can understand them without the teacherrsquo s help Also students can depend on CDs and
tapes so that they are going to have another chance to listen to their course books dialogues
that they have already provided to them inside the classroom In addition learners must be
10
stimulated to listen to the English language films with sub-titles because this helps students
to acquire the foreign language
In brief extensive listening according to the Extensive Reading-Central (2012) includes
Listening to massive amounts of text
Text which learners can understand reasonably smoothly
high levels of comprehension
Listening without being constrained by pre-set questions or tasks
Listening at or below onersquo s comfortable fluent listening ability
So extensive listening aims to make learners enjoy developing their listening skills
142 Intensive Listening
In contrast to extensive listening intensive listening aims at developing the learnersrsquo
specific listening skills and more precisely to raise the learnersrsquo attention about the spoken
language Intensive listening occurs weather in classrooms or laboratories It exists mostly
when teachers guide their students and provide them with help concerning listening
problems that they face and try to highlight them (Harmer 2007)
So intensive listening according to the Extensive Reading-central (2012) is
Listening for specific information
Listening for the exact words of a phrase or expression
Listening for details
Listening to mimic a text
11
15 Listening Processes
In listening process addressees process information using two distinct strategies
This is devoted to as bottom-up and top-down
151 Bottom-up Process
Richards (1990) states that ldquobottom-up processing refers the use of incoming data as
a source of information about the meaning of a messagerdquo (p 50) According to him Bottom-
up process deals with the perception of sentence components ie recognizing the meaning
of sounds words sentences clauseshellipetc till reaching the meaning of the whole message
152 Top-down Process
Richards (190) states that ldquoTop-down processing on the other hand refers to the use
of background knowledge in understanding the meaning of a messagerdquo (p 51) In contrast
to Bottom-up process Richards (1990) points out to the Top-down as the process of using
the listenersrsquo previous knowledge to attain meaning as whole not attaining the meaning of
individual words
16 Brief History of Audio-Stories
Eckert (2016) states that ldquoAudio storytelling in the form of radio drama has been
around for almost a centuryrdquo (p 8) That is to say audio stories in the previous decades took
the form of radio drama Radio drama attained extensive admiration within an era of its
original growth in the 1920rsquo s At that time radio drama played a central role for being the
foundation of people entertainment However by the 1950rsquo s people shifted their attention
to the new invention which was the small screen ie the television As a result of the
invention of this new device audio drama no more attracts the spectatorsrsquo attention it lost
its popularity
12
Though in 2010 radio drama came back to stage due to the developments shown in
digital soundtrack and internet spreading According to Eckert (2016) ldquoRadio and audio
storytelling has slowly started gaining popularity again thanks to the different online
platforms brought forth by digitalizationrdquo (p 8)
17 Definition of Storytelling
Today stories are a fundamental part of our societies and cultures Telling and
listening to stories is an ancient tradition and common activity that bonds different olden
civilizations together Also stories are an essential component and an ordinary process that
many people used to do on every occasion It is the art of telling factual or fictional stories
Besides stories bring legacy into life because our ancestors told them and people today
only retell them
Moreover listening to stories enhances the learnersrsquo foreign language It aids them
to improve their speaking skills Pederson (1995) states that ldquoin dealing with stories learners
have an experience with the powerful real language of personal communicationrdquo (p 2)
Additionally Pederson (1995) emphasizes the role of telling stories in preserving heritage
he argues that ldquooral stories are a direct expression of a literary and cultural heritage and
through them that heritage is appreciated understood and kept aliverdquo (1995 p2) In other
words stories bond between the past and the present It is considered to be a vital feature of
humankind Furthermore Schram (1994 as cited in Coulter Michael amp Poynor 2007)
points out
A story is a beautiful means of teaching religion values history traditions and
customs a creative method of introducing characters and places an imaginative way
13
to instill hope and resourceful thinking Stories help us to understand who we are and
show us what legacies to transmit to future generations (p 104-105)
So Schram (1994) highlights the role of stories in bridging the gap between the teaching
process and culture
Likewise Abrahamson (1998) sheds light on the role that storytelling plays in the
learning process He states that telling stories plays a significant role in improving learnersrsquo
understanding Besides Abrahamson argues that stories can afford a suitable context that
the listener can use it as a base to perceive the tellerrsquos point of view Moreover Roney (1996)
demonstrates
In its most basic form storytelling is a process where a person (the teller) using
vocalization narrative structure and mental imagery communications with other
humans (the audience) who also use mental imagery and in turn communicate back
to the teller primarily via body language and facial expression (p 2)
By this definition storytelling is the combination of art procedures and ways of
communication
18 Definition of Audio-Stories
The term audio-story is a combination of two words audio and story By definition
audio is sound within the aural range accessible to humankinds Miller (2011) states that
ldquostories are pieces of art and can serve as a basis of gamesrdquo (p 1) So Audio-story is a very
operative means for teaching EFL learners It aids to make the course persuasive Nowadays
14
audio stories can be used to many reasons and the most important one is the exposure to the
real language of native speakers by EFL learners In addition Rubin (2015) points out
ldquoaudio stories are an engaging form of communication that combines speech and music into
a compelling narrativesrdquo (p 1) That is to say audio stories are the process of telling stories
through sound and sound effects only Furthermore Audio-stories are broadly accredited to
progresses in portable equipment for instance smart phones tablets and multimedia
entertainment systems Thus EFL learners find it easy to listen to those audio stories
19 Characteristics of a Good Audio-Story
According to Seifert (nd) finding good audio-stories that suit the EFL learnersrsquo
needs is something very important and it is a very hard task to do However these are some
of the necessary features that EFL teachers must take into consideration whenever they want
to select a good audio-story for their students
Skill Level
Taking into account the learnersrsquo English level before choosing any audio-story For
instance if the audio-story contains a difficult language learners will lose confidence and
as a result they stop listening to the audio-story So determining the learnersrsquo level is very
important
Student Interest
EFL teachers must find out their studentsrsquo interests and normally each teacher has
an idea about this issue So if the audio-stories do not fit the learnersrsquo needs the EFL
teacherrsquos goal from that audio-story will be lost
15
Audio Length
The length of the audio-story plays a significant role in keeping concentration in the
ESL schoolrooms Listening for much time to the audio storytelling leads to boredom As a
result the learnersrsquo s brains lose attention However teachers can use long audio-stories but
they should know how to put it into parts and use classroom discussions to avoid boredom
So these three characteristics aid to develop EFL learnersrsquo listening skills
110 The Use of Audio-Stories in ESL Classrooms
According to Rock (nd) there are several listening practices that ESLEFL teachers
can provide to their students These are samples of activities that can work hand in hand with
audio-stories
Fill in The Blanks
Here EFL teacher provides his students with a written passage that is taken from an
audio-story but he removes some words Later on the teacher asks his learners to listen to
the audio-story after reading that passage and at the same time fill in the blanks
Mastery Memory
This activity has to do with learnerrsquos memory In this kind of practices teachers
provide learners with an audio-story and ask them for example to write down the main
events of the story but when they finish listening to it Teachers in this activity have to make
sure that students do not write them during the listening of the audio-story So the main goal
of the exercise is to reinforce learnerrsquos memory
16
Order the Events
At the start teachers give their learners a series of events that are chosen from an
audio-story Then the teacher gives them some time to read them After that learners listen
to the audio- storytelling and put those events in a sequential order
Buzz Words
This exercise aims to reach the learnerrsquo s vocabulary In this practice teachers
provide learners with a number of words then they ask them to check their meanings before
Afterward teacher turns the lesson into a game ie EFL learners listen to the audio-story
and whenever they hear a word (the buzz word) from that list they have to raise their hands
or clap them
Multiple Choice
This activity deals with providing learners with a number of questions followed by
three answers these questions can be definitions or name of characterhellip etc Then learners
have to listen to the audio-storytelling and pick the write response After teachers play again
the audio-story to correct their answers
Character Quiz
In this practice EFL learners have to listen to the whole story Then the teacher gives
his class a question sheet that contains a list of character qualities and decision and ask them
to choose the suitable one for the leading role
Plot Quiz
This activity has to do with team competition After listening to the whole audio-
storytelling once or twice the teacher divides his class into two to four groups where the
17
teacher plays the role of the coach Several questions that have a relation to the story will be
quizzed to each team if they get the answer they have a point if they fail to answer correctly
the question moves to the next group
Beginning Middle End
After listening to the audio storytelling the teacher splits the classroom into groups
and each group contains no more than four students Later he asks each group to write the
main events of the beginning the middle and the end of the story Finally they discuss them
together
111 Advantages of Using Audio-Stories
Audio-stories play an essential role in teaching the target language Audio-
storytelling is an impeccable implement for any ESL classrooms First of all audio-stories
afford learners with the exposure to the real language as it is produced by the native speakers
ie a natural voice Furthermore Rodero (2012 as cited in Eckert2016) claimed that
ldquoAudio stories that use sound effects and sound shots enhance the learnerrsquo s attention and
creation of visual images significantly compared to those without themrdquo (p 16) That is to
say using audio-stories in ESL classrooms develops learnersrsquo listening skills and provides
them with an imaginary trip inside their minds Also audio- stories enhance learnersrsquo
pronunciation since the learner is exposed to the natural voice In addition EFL teacher can
use audio storytelling as a guideline to his lecture or the opposite he can use it at the end of
the course as a reward
Moreover the EFL teachers depend on audio-stories in improving learnersrsquo
vocabulary through memorization Learners can enrich their vocabulary whenever they
listen to those stories because each time they learn some new words Besides learners can
18
listen to them outside the schoolrooms because they are portable they can upload them in
their mobiles and listen to them any time anywhere Finally audio stories can raise interest
for those learners who are not attracted to reading
Conclusion
In conclusion listening to audio stories aids EFL learners to improve the target
language pronunciation That is to say students will be exposed to the real language as it is
created by the native speakers Besides using audio stories in ESLEFL classrooms increases
the learnersrsquo interest toward learning the foreign language and also enhances their speaking
skills
19
Section two Reflection on Pronunciation
Introduction
121 Definition of Speaking Skill
122 Speaking Sub-Competencies Skills
123 Definition of Pronunciation
124 Importance of Pronunciation
125 Factors Affecting Pronunciation
1251 Internal Factors
1252 External Factors
Conclusion
20
Introduction
Generally speaking being able to speak the target language fluently and accurately
seems to be very interesting to all EFLESL learners Though students face a lot of troubles
and obstacles when communicating with each other or with native speakers and this is due
to mispronunciation misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the hearer which leads to the
communication breakdowns Furthermore learnersrsquo mispronunciation occurs due to various
factors that affect their oral language and as a consequence it affects their speaking
proficiency
In this section we have dealt with the speaking process and precisely
ldquopronunciationrdquo At the start a slight attention is put upon the definition of speaking skills
and its sub-competencies After that a part of this section is devoted to define pronunciation
and highlight its importance Moreover this section demonstrates some factors that affect
pronunciation which are classified into internal factors and external factors Finally another
point about the English consonant ldquoLrdquo has been raised
121 Definition of Speaking Skill
Mastering the foreign language is the aim of each EFL learner Speaking is one of
the most important language skills it plays a significant role in sharing ideas and thoughts
between individuals Torky (2006) defines speaking as follows ldquoIt is the means through
which learners can communicate with others to achieve certain goals or to express their
opinions intentions hopes and viewpointsrdquo (p 13) Also Ziane (2012) states that ldquoit is the
way by which learners can contribute and be part of oral communicationrdquo (p21) So the
main goal of EFL learners is to be able to speak the target language in order to strengthen
their verbal communication
21
Moreover Chaney (1998) argues that ldquospeaking is the process of building and
sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols in a variety of contextsrdquo
(p 13) From Chaneyrsquo s definition of speaking we deduce that speaking has an important
role in learning the foreign language and improving EFL learnersrsquo communicative skill
However there are some researchers who describe speaking as a hard task They
argue that EFL learners find it so hard to master the foreign language and face a lot of
difficulties even after studying it many years at schools Bueno and Mclaren (2006 as cited
in Alonso 2011) point out
Speaking is one of the most difficult skills language learners have to face In spite of
this it has traditionally been forced into the background while we teachers of
English have spent all our classroom time trying to teach our students how to write
to read and sometimes even to listen in a L2 because grammar has a long written
tradition (p 321)
On the whole the speaking skill is a very important process that EFL learners need to acquire
in order to master and shape the target language
122 Speaking Sub CompetenciesSkills
Torky (2006) claims that learners must be able to express themselves in a given
context in order to be proficient in mastering the foreign language She points out to several
speaking skills or competencies that help to achieve this aim which are
22
Linguistic Competence
Torky (2006) states that learners must be skillful in using pronunciation ie their
pronunciation must be clear In addition students have to use correct grammar and
proper lexis
Discourse Competence
In the beginning learners have to be able to use a well-organized discourse In other
words the discourse must be clear and unified Besides they have to be competent in
handling discussion and cooperating efficiently in order to avoid the communication
breakdowns
Pragmatic Competence
EFL learners have to be proficient in using a variety of functions that are related to
the same context and register
Fluency
Speaking smoothly without any complications and with a suitable degree of speech
speed
123 Definition of Pronunciation
According to Gilakjani (2012) ldquopronunciation is an integral part of foreign language
since it directly affects learnersrsquo communicative competence as well as performancerdquo
(p119) That is to say pronunciation plays a fundamental role in learning and improving the
target language Besides Poposka (2016) argues that pronunciation is the key factor of
language in its universal notion and she claims that pronunciation should be defined in
23
relation to different perspectives Poposka (2016) states some of the various points of view
concerning pronunciation definition which are
- The act or manner of pronouncing uttering of speech
- A way of speaking a word especially a way that is accepted or generally understood
- A graphic representation of the way a word is spoken using phonetic symbols (p
200)
Moreover Dauer (1993 as cited in Ummah 2014) states that ldquopronunciation is the
act of producing the sound of speech including articulation vowel formation accent
inflection and intonation often with reference to the correctness or acceptability of the
speech soundrdquo (p 10) In addition Poposka (2016) states that pronunciation is the vocal
capacity to produce particular sounds weather when communicating with individuals or
when being alone This construction of sounds leads to the appearance of some utterances
that may be expressive or worthless (p 200) Furthermore Adult Migrant English Program
research center (AMP 2002) points out
Pronunciation refers to the production of sounds that we use to make meaning it includes
attention to the particular sounds of language (segments) aspects of speech beyond the
level of the individual sound such as intonation phrasing stress timing rhythm
(suprasegmental aspects) (p1)
In other words AMP research center argues that even if these two aspects suprasegmental
and segmental structures are treated separately it is necessary to know that they work hand
in hand in a given context whenever someone speaks
24
124 Importance of Pronunciation
Madden and Moore (1997) states that ldquoin first language acquisition children learn
pronunciation inductively by absorbing and reproducing the sounds in their environmentrdquo
(p 4) That is to say all human beings in their natural development from childhood to
adulthood learn first of all how to talk before learning how to read or write Also Zhang
(2009) claims that ldquolearning a language means to perform the sounds utterances and the
words properly and correctlyrdquo (p 34-35) So pronunciation is a very essential skill in
learning a second language
Moreover Morley (1998 as cited in Zhang 2009) argues that ldquoit is clear that limited
pronunciation skills will make learners lose their self-confidence and result in negative
influence for learners to estimate their credibility and abilitiesrdquo (p 35) In other words it
does not matter whether learners make mistakes concerning grammar or vocabulary all what
matters is the way they pronounce a given word in order to make a worthy impression on
the learnersrsquo language capacities Zhang (2009) points out
Good pronunciation will make people understand you easily and be willing to listen to
you Contrarily poor English pronunciation may confuse people and lead to an
unpleasant talking and misunderstanding even if you used advanced English grammar
or vocabulary (p 35)
Likewise Backley (n d) argues ldquoif a speaker has a clear pronunciation this has immediate
benefits listeners judge the speakerrsquo s overall language ability much more favorably even
to the point of tolerating grammatical and other errorsrdquo (p 126) Therefore good
25
pronunciation aids to avoid misinterpretation and intelligibility between speakers and
listeners and show the learnersrsquo competencies in mastering their second language
Furthermore good pronunciation affects the learnersrsquo speed of acquiring the target language
In addition learners should use only simple structures with good and correct pronunciation
rather than using complex expressions in order to communicate with others
125 Factors Affecting Pronunciation
Generally speaking there are several factors that affect the learnersrsquo pronunciation
These factors can be classified into internal factors and external factors
1251 Internal Factors
Zhang (2009) states that internal factors can be categorized also into biological
factors individual differences and individual efforts and goal setting
Biological Factors
They are branded into four features age ear perception and aptitude
Learnersrsquo Age
At the start there is a difference between young learners and adult learners
concerning the acquisition of the accurate pronunciation Nonetheless this does not mean
that adult learners cannot get accurate pronunciation as well They have to work much harder
because their brainsrsquo plasticity reduces That is to say age plays a significant part in learning
the target language pronunciation Moreover Zhang (2009) emphasizes the role of the
critical period hypothesis that was proposed by Lenneberg in 1967 which states that there
is a certain age that helps learners to acquire the foreign language pronunciation accurately
26
and after that age the brain loses its flexibility Furthermore (Nation and Newton (2009) as
cited in Zhang 2009) claim that
Usually if the learner began to speak in the second language before the age of six
there will be little or no accent If the learner began to speak between the age of seven
and eleven the learners likely to have a slight accent If the learner began to speak
after age of twelve the learners almost always have an accent (p 78)
This is the reason behind the acceptance of the idea that learners find it so hard to acquire
the foreign language after maturity
Additionally Zhang (2009) states that young learners have bigger chances than the
adult learners in obtaining accurate pronunciation He claims that the brain loses its
flexibility and becomes rigid after puberty (after nine years old) as a result the brainrsquo s
functions will be devoted to the right and left hemispheres which makes it so difficult to
acquire the foreign languagersquo s pronunciation correctly Also Lenneberg (1967 as cited in
Zhang 2009) argues that ldquobefore the age of two the brain has not developed enough but
after puberty it developed too much and it will lose its plasticity and finish the lateralization
of the language functionrdquo (p 39) In other words it becomes so hard to obtain the native-
like pronunciation after the lateralization
Ear Perception
One of the most important factors that affect the learnersrsquo acquisition of the foreign
language is the ldquoear perceptionrdquo Zhang (2009) claims that the hearing abilities differ from
one person to another That is to say there are learners who have a strong hearing capacity
27
they can hear sounds in a very clear way which help them in reproducing the native speakersrsquo
pronunciation smoothly Whereas there is that kind of learners who do not have that ability
However Zhang argues that the ear perception has nothing to do with the learner age He
claims that it is natural that learners may lose some of their capacities whenever they become
older
Aptitude
Generally speaking foreign language aptitude is the personrsquos ability to learn a foreign
or a second language very rapidly and with no troubles (Wen 2011) Also Dornyei and
skehan (2003 as cited in Wen 2011) states ldquooriginally the notion of FLA presumed a
relatively stable talent for learning a foreign language that differs between individualsrdquo (p
590) So EFL learners do not have the same ability to acquire the foreign language
Additionally Carroll (1962 as cited in Wen 2011) states four components of the FLA which
are
lsquophonemic coding abilityrsquo (ie the ability to identify and retain sounds and link them
to phonetic symbols)
Sensitivity towards the grammatical functions that words fulfil in a sentence
The ability to learn inductively (ie to infer and generalize linguistic structures from
language samples) and
The ability to rote learn vocabulary items paired with their associated translations
(p 233)
Hence aptitude has an important role in improving learnersrsquo foreign language
Although Zhang (2009) argues that all individuals have a language aptitude ability but they
28
differ only in the degree of that aptitude capacity Also he claims that we cannot say that
those people who have a sophisticated level of language aptitude will get to the top and
people with an inferior level of language aptitude will go pear-shaped
Individual Differences
Zhang (2009) states that learnersrsquo different personalities affect the way they acquire
the foreign language pronunciation He argues that extroverted learners are more likely to
acquire the target pronunciation rather than introverted learners because extroverted learners
are not afraid of making mistakes which is not the case with the introverted learners who
face always the fear of failure Besides extroverted students are more friendly they tend to
work with others which leads them to practice the target language so they become more
familiar with it which aids to improve their pronunciation very quickly (p 40-41)
Individual Efforts and Goal setting
At the start the main goal of each EFLESL learner is to master the foreign language
in order to communicate with others Zhang (2009) points out ldquowe must always remember
that teaching never causes learning but rather creates the conditions in which learning can
occurrdquo (p 42) Besides he emphasizes that pronunciation is really a very hard task that
learners can acquire in a few days but it is not something impossible that learners cannot
achieve Though as much time learners spend in practicing the target language
pronunciation the better results they will get
1252 External Factors
External factors can be classified into three aspects learnersrsquo native language
exposure to target language and education factors
29
Learnerrsquo s Native Language
Universally the learnersrsquo native language affects their pronunciation of the foreign
language Zhang (2009) states that studentsrsquo mother tongue reflects the way they pronounce
a certain word in the target language and this is due to the differences that are found between
the two languages In other words learners find a lot of complications in articulating some
sounds for the reason that some of those sounds do not occur in their native language (p
43)
Exposure to the Target Language
Zhang (2009) shows that the acquisition of English language pronunciation is related
to the amount of exposure to it as it is produced by the native speakers That is to say this
depends on the learner himself ie on the situation in which the learning process occurs In
other words Zhang argues that it does not matter weather learners live in a native country
or not it is a matter of how much time they listen to the foreign language and how much
time they use it Zhang (2009) states ldquothe more they spend their time for listening and
speaking English the better their English pronunciation will berdquo (p 44) Thus learnerrsquo s
pronunciation accuracy depends on the surrounding environment where the target language
takes place
Educational Factors
At the start the system of education is responsible for studentsrsquo learning process
Worthy educational structure provides a lot of chances for learners to be exposed to the target
language through creating a suitable learning environment Additionally EFLESL
teachersrsquo accent reflects the learnersrsquo pronunciation because learners take teachers as an
30
exemplary in order to improve their pronunciation That is why teachers should work on
their pronunciation initially (Zhang 2009)
The English Consonant Sound ldquoLrdquo
Generally speaking EFL learners face complications in learning the English L sound
Sproat and Fujimura (1993) argue ldquoEnglish l has traditionally been classified into at least
two allophones namely light which occurs initially and dark which occurs syllable finallyrdquo
(p 291) Furthermore Wang (2016) states that the L consonant sound is a lateral phoneme
in English and it has two allophones he points out
One of them is found before vowels as in ldquoladyrdquo or ldquoflyrdquo called clear l and is
pronounced as the alveolar lateral approximant in a neutral position of the body of
the tongue The other variant is called dark l found before consonants or at word-
finally position as in ldquoboldrdquo or ldquotellrdquo Which is as the velarized lateral approximant
with the tongue in a spoon-like shape Its back part is raised which gives the sound
a w-like resonance (p 44)
In other words the clear [l] occurs when the tip of the tongue raises up and touches the soft
palate just behind the front teeth whereas the dark [ϯ] happens when the tip of the tongue
pulls back and the tongue raises to the middle without touching the soft palate to make the
L sound So the difference between these two allophones is the reason behind those troubles
that the learner may face
However Sproat and Fujimura (1993 as cited in Jiahong 2011) explain the
differences between these two allophones by relating them to the rime duration In other
31
words they point out that whenever the l sound occurs in longer rimes it is going to be a
dark [ϯ] and whenever the rime is short the l sound is clear or light
Figure 1
Articulatory Differences in l Velarization
Source Recasens 2012 p369
Conclusion
To end with it is very important to acknowledge that pronunciation is one way that
leads to an effective and a successful communication That is why many researchers shed
light on the investigation of some factors that may influence the EFL learnersrsquo pronunciation
As a result these identifying concepts help foreigners to overcome their difficulties when
they are introduced to the target language
32
Chapter two Field Work
Introduction
21 Methodology
211 Research Participants
212 The Procedure
2121 The Research Design
2122 The Pre-test Phase
2123 The Treatment Phase
2124 The Control Group
2125 The Post-test Phase
213 Scoring
214 Data Analysis
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (independent Sample
t-test)
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group Post-test
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group Post-test (Paired
Sample t-test)
21431 Paired Sample t-test
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-test
33
21441 An Independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the
Post-test
215 Discussion of the Results
216 Pedagogical Implications
Conclusion
34
Introduction
This research attempts to investigate the effect of listening to audio stories on
acquiring accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] by second year LMD students
at the department English -LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi The chosen sample is divided into two
groups the control group and the experimental group At the start participantsrsquo
pronunciation accuracy of the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] (the dependent variable) was measured
through a pretest Later on a period of treatment is taken by the experimental group which
is not the case with the control group After that a post-test is administered to both groups
in which the results are gathered using a software called the ldquopraatrdquo In addition we shed
light on describing the sample taking the place in which the study took place the method
used and at last the data collected
21 Methodology
211 Research Participants
The current study involved two intact classes of second year LMD students from
LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi-English Department The selected sample includes students from
different gender Furthermore we favored to select second year students for several reasons
The first reason was that second year students have practiced working with audio supports
which was not the case with first year students so they will not face problems concerning
listening to audio stories The second reason was that second year learners study oral
expression
At the start the experiment includes a sample of forty learners that have been chosen
from two intact classes of second year LMD students The chosen sample represents 1904
from the entire population which comprises 210 learners Additionally both clusters were
35
divided into a control group and an experimental group twenty students in each group At
the beginning the sample was supposed to be comprised of sixty students in which both the
control and the experimental groups covered thirty students Unfortunately there were a lot
of absences in both groups Also there are some students who have not passed both the
pretest and the posttest and others have not received the treatment at all Therefore the
sample size was reduced from sixty to forty students which can be sufficient to represent
the whole population and to get consistent outcomes
In order to gather consistent data that help to achieve the purpose of our research a
quasi-experimental design was designated The use of the chosen method will provide us
with a wide-ranging representation of the reflection of listening to audio stories on the
acquisition of the accurate pronunciation of the dark [l] and clear [l]
212 The Procedure
To accumulate a reliable data an experiment was conducted over six sessions The
treatment period took four sessions and the remained two sessions for the pretest and the
posttest The pretest took a form different from that of the posttest in order to avoid
familiarity to improve the learnersrsquo development and get consistent information Both
groups have taken the tests but only the experimental group took the treatment Besides the
duration of training concerning the treatment period for the experimental group took 90
minutes ie one hour and a half for each session and it started after getting the
authorization of the teacher of oral expression
36
2121 The Research Design
Figure 2
Experimental Group Procedures
Figure 3
Control Group Procedures
2122 The Pre-test Phase
By the first week of March both the control group and the experimental group have
taken the pretest However before choosing the pretest and in order to avoid any problems
we have checked that the dark [l] and the clear [l] are pronounced the same in both the
American and the British accents using the Oxford Advanced Learnerrsquo s Dictionary At the
outset learners were required to read a passage derived from a short story named ldquoThe last
class-The story of the Alsationrdquo that was written by Alphonse Daudet (2001) and also short
sentences (see Appendix A) After that their voices were recorded using a software known
pre-test
treatment
(listening to audio stories)
post-test
pre-test
No treatment
( being taught without listening
to audio-stories)
post-test
37
as the ldquoPraatrdquo Besides our focus here was raised toward the duration (ie the length of a
syllable) of the dark [l] and the clear [l]
Throughout the pretest EFL learners found themselves unable to pronounce the dark
[ϯ] and clear [l] that are found in some words correctly In other words students in the control
group and the experimental group most of the time pronounce the dark [ϯ] in the same way
they pronounce the clear [l] ie they spend the same duration for pronouncing the two
allophones Also EFL learners from time to time pronounce them differently but in a wrong
way ie they spent a rime duration that it not suitable neither for the light [l] nor for the
dark[ϯ]
Figure4
Example of the Lateral Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoSawmillrdquo
2123 The Treatment Phase
At first both participants have finished the pretest Though the treatment was
approved to the experimental group only the control group did not receive the same
treatment Besides the experimental group received the treatment in four sessions and each
Rime
duration
38
session took one hour and a half (ie 90 minutes) In each session students were asked to
listen to the audio-story in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of both allophones
after that they discussed the story being listened (see Appendix B)
2124 The Control Group
Concerning the control group students were taught the oral expression without any
exposure to any kinds of treatments In contrast to students in the experimental group who
were provided with the audio stories in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of the
both allophones which are the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ]
2125 The Post-test Phase
Fundamentally after finishing the four sessions of training ie the period of
treatment a posttest was administered to both the experimental group and the control group
(see Appendix c) The posttest as we have said before is different from the pretest in order
to avoid familiarity with the same topic and to ensure the learners improvement of the dark
[ϯ] and clear [l] So the posttest is a kind of a passage which was taken from a short story
that is entitled ldquoThe Game of Billiardsrdquo which is written by Alphonse Daudet and some
words to pronounce Furthermore during the posttest we noticed a kind of development in
learnersrsquo pronunciation of the two allophones with students of the experimental group
especially in pronouncing the single words which was not the case with those learners in
the control group
39
Figure 5
Example of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquocabalrdquo
Figure 6
Example of the Clear [l] in the word ldquolabourrdquo
The rime
duration
The rime
duration
40
213 Scoring
After finishing recording the learnersrsquo pronunciation of the phoneme l of both
groups (the control and the experimental group) we have compared them first of all to the
native speakerrsquo s pronunciation and after that we have calculated the rime duration of the
two allophones ie the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] and at last we gave them scores out of six
(6) for each participant
214 Data Analysis
In this sub-section we are going to investigate the EFL learnersrsquo improvement of
pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] Though in order to make sure that EFL
learners have acquired the correct pronunciation of these two allophones we have firstly
investigated the native speakerrsquos pronunciation of the L sound ie the clear [l] and the dark
[ϯ] and we have analyzed the rime duration of two words ldquolightrdquo and ldquoballrdquo as examples
Figure7
The Native Speakerrsquos Pronunciation of the Clear [l] in the Word ldquolightrdquo
Rime
duration
41
Figure8
The Native Speakerrsquo s Pronunciation of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoballrdquo
From these two figures we have noticed that the native speaker has spent 016 s in
pronouncing an ideal clear [l] (see Figure 7) and he has spent 138 s in order to pronounce
a perfect dark [ϯ] (see Figure 8) Thus this analysis of the native speakerrsquo s voice paved the
way to our research in which we based our investigation on it
Table 1
The Experimental and the Control grouprsquo s Scores in the pre-test
Pre-test
Students
Control
group
Experimental
group
Rime
duration
(second)
C E
Rime
duration
42
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (Independent Sample t-
test)
After gathering data for the control and the experimental group and for the purpose
of comparing and contrasting between the two we have calculated the learnersrsquo scores of
pronunciation of the phoneme l and also we have calculated the rime duration of the two
1 1 2 118 127
2 2 25 095 091
3 1 1 116 102
4 25 2 106 091
5 25 25 078 089
6 15 2 078 105
7 2 15 123 091
8 1 1 117 108
9 15 1 119 119
10 15 1 1 115
11 2 15 091 116
12 15 1 12 119
13 2 15 114 1
14 15 1 108 112
15 1 1 131 112
16 2 1 088 08
17 1 1 127 107
18 1 15 107 149
19 15 1 099 115
20 1 15 114 174
Total 31 285 2149 2222
43
allophones (see Table1) Besides the data collected ie the learnersrsquo scores were used in
calculating the means of both groups in the pre-test (the mean is calculated using the SPSS
see Table 2)
Figure 9
The Pre-test Scores of the Control and the Experimental Group
Table 2
The Mean Score of the Control and the Experimental Group in the Pre-test
Test N Mean Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpre 20 15500 51042 11413
Epre 20 14250 51999 11627
44
In order to calculate the Mean () Results we have to use the following formula
=sumx N
N stands for the total numbers of students in one group
sumx stands for the total number of data that was gathered from the pre-test
1 stands for the mean of the Control Group
2 stands for the mean of the Experimental Group
So1= 31 20 =155
2= 285 20 = 142
From ldquoFigure 9rdquo we can notice that 1 is the most frequent score in both the
experimental and the control groups in the pre-test and we can confirm this information
from Table 1 Furthermore when comparing means of both groups we notice (see Table 2)
that there is only a slight difference between the two groups the mean of the control group
is 155 whereas the mean of the experimental group is 142 So we can deduce that the level
of both groups is approximately the same there is no significant difference Moreover the
rime duration of the phoneme l of the experimental group and the control group is to some
extent the same and we can notice this slight difference in Table 1 and precisely in the total
duration of pronouncing the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] by both groups and also in Table 2
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group post-test
In order to confirm if there is any kind of progression in the control grouprsquo s scores
in the post-test concerning the pronunciation of the phoneme l (see Table 3) we have
calculated the mean of the post-test (using the SPSS see Table 4) and compared it with the
mean of the pre-test besides we have calculated the rime duration that has been spent At
45
last we have mentioned the learnersrsquo scores differences between the pre-test and the post-
test to confirm the development (see Figure 10)
Table 3
Results and Scores Differences of the Control and Experimental group in the Post-test
Posttest
Students
Rime
Duration
(Second)
Cpre Cpost Epre Epost
Cpre Cpost Epre Epost
1 1 1 2 4 118 186 127 21
2 2 175 25 5 095 113 091 253
3 1 1 1 45 116 134 102 245
4 25 2 2 35 106 119 091 234
5 25 15 25 55 078 146 089 24
6 15 175 2 5 078 119 105 267
7 2 2 15 45 123 135 091 263
8 1 125 1 5 117 144 108 254
9 15 1 1 425 119 144 119 242
10 15 1 1 55 1 128 115 274
11 2 1 15 45 091 126 116 285
12 1 2 1 5 12 129 119 268
13 2 125 15 55 114 146 1 328
14 15 1 1 55 108 127 112 223
15 1 1 1 5 131 092 112 275
16 2 1 1 475 088 135 08 274
46
17 1 2 1 5 127 094 107 292
18 1 1 15 575 107 096 149 29
19 15 1 1 525 099 114 115 295
20 1 15 15 575 114 132 174 338
Total 31 27 285 9875 2149 2359 2222 535
Diff -4 +7025 +21 +3128
Mean 155 135 142 493
-02 +351
Table 4
The Mean of the control Group in the Pre-test and Post-test
Mean N Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpre 15500 20 51042 11413
Cpost 13500 20 41675 09319
In order to calculate the mean( )result of the control group in the post-test we have to apply
the following formula = sumx N
sum stands for the total number of the data collected in the post-test of the control
group
N refers to the total number of students So = 2720 = 1
47
Figure 10
The Control Group Studentsrsquo Scores Differences
A very insignificant development has been shown in both Figure 7 and Table 3
concerning learners scores in the post-test Besides only Students 681217 and 20 from a
total number of twenty have proved the improvement the mean of the control group has
decreased from 155 in the pre-test to 135 in the post-test ie the mean = -02
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group post-test (Paired Sample
T-test)
In order to identify the scoresrsquo differences between the results of the experimental
group in both the pre-test and the post-test we have calculated the mean of the post-test and
compared it with that of the pre-test to notice if there is any improvement (see Table 3) So
the mean of the post-test is shown in Table 5 below
48
Table 5
The Mean of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and Post-test
Mean N Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Epre 14250 20 51999 11627
Epost 49375 20 59535 13312
From Table 5 we notice that the mean of the experimental group increased from 142 in the
pre-test to 493 in the post-test with a mean difference of 351 ( = +351) and we can
calculate the mean ()of the post-test using the following formula
= sumxN
sum= Stands for the total number of data that was gathered from the post-test in the
Experimental Group
119925 =Stands for the total number of students
So= 9875 20 = 493
From Table 3 we notice that there is a very clear development and difference in
learnersrsquo scores in the post-test which is very different from the pre-test scores (see Figure
12) Moreover we can notice this development from Figure 11 below too It Shows that the
most frequent scores that learners of the experimental group have gained are 45 5 55 and
at last 575(the marks are out of six) that makes a big difference from the scores of the pre-
test in which the most frequent score was 1 In addition to all of this results we can add that
the sum of the rime duration of the post-test differs a lot from that of the pre-test ( = +3128
s)
49
Hence in the light of these results we can say that the period of treatment really
affects in a positive way the learnersrsquo acquisition of the pronunciation of dark [ϯ] and clear
[l] Besides this enhancement was improved in the mean difference between the pre-test and
the post-test of the experimental group Though the comparison of means in the pre-test and
post-test of the experimental group cannot be sufficient in order to make sure that listening
to audio-stories really affects positively the way learners pronounce the Phoneme l
Therefore a paired sample T-test was designed to assess the development of learnersrsquo
acquisition of dark [ϯ] and clear [l] ie to acceptreject the Alternative Hypothesis or to
accept reject the Null Hypothesis (See Table 6 below)
Figure 11
The Scores Frequencies of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and the Post-test
50
Figure 12
The Scores Differences of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and the Post-test
21431 The paired Sample T-test
In order to know if there is any significant difference between the post-test and the
pre-test scores of the same group a t-test is conducted At first the of the experimental
group is calculated through the following formula
= sumdN
refers to the Difference of mean Scores
N Studentsrsquo scores in the Experimental Group
sum refers to the total sum of the Differences Scores
So = 702520= 35125
51
The Standard deviation of the differences
Sd= radic119956120784= radicsum119941120784
119925minus 119941120784
S stands for the Variance
sum119941120784 refers to the square differences of Scores
After calculating
Sdcong 013
The Standard Error of the Mean Difference (SE)
It is calculated using the following formula
SE ()= 119878119889
radic119873cong003
Finally we calculate the t- value that will be compared to the critical P-value at the point
p=005 in order to accept the alternative hypothesis or rejecting it using the following
formula119957120784120782minus120783=
119878119864(119889) = 117
Table 6
Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Post-test Scores differences
Students Pre-test Post-test Difference
1 2 4 2
2 25 5 25
3 1 45 35
4 2 35 15
5 25 55 3
6 2 5 3
52
7 15 45 3
8 1 5 4
9 1 425 325
10 1 55 45
11 15 45 3
12 1 5 4
13 15 55 4
14 1 55 45
15 1 5 4
16 1 475 375
17 1 5 4
18 15 575 425
19 1 525 425
20 15 575 425
Total 285 9875 7025
Table 7
The Paired Sample T-test for the Experimental Group
Paired Sample T-Test
Epre
Scores-
Epost
Scores
Mean Std
deviati-
on
Std-
Error
Mean
95Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
t Df Sig
(2-
tailed)
Lower Upper
-351250 83695 18715 -390421 -312079 -18768 19 000
53
After calculating the mean of the experimental group in both the pre-test and the post-
test (see Table 5) a mean difference of +351 was noticed Therefore in order to prove if
the development that was noticed in the post-test scores as well as the mean occurred
because of the influence of listening to the audio-stories which is the independent variable
or happened only by coincidence
Hence to confirm the Alternative Hypothesis and reject the Null Hypothesis or vice
versa the t-value (117) was calculated in order to be compared with the critical- value at
the point p=005 and at the level of t=19 Besides p-value (0000) is less than 005 which
means that there a real difference between the learnersrsquo scores in the pre-test (before the
period of treatment) and the leanersrsquo scores in the post-test (after the period of treatment)
Consequently we can deduce that the improvement that was achieved by the experimental
group in the post test did not occur by chance actually it occurred because of listening to
audio-stories that has a positive effect on learnersrsquo pronunciation of both the clear [l] and the
dark [ϯ]
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-test
Table 8
The Mean of the Control Group and the Experimental Group in the Post-test
N Mean Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpost 20 13500 41675 09319
Epost 20 49375 59535 13312
54
To calculate the mean () we use the following Formula
= sum119961 N
So 1= sum119961 N
1 refers to the mean of the control group in the post-test
N refers to the total number of students in the control Group
sum119961 stands for the sum of scores of the control group in the post-test
1= 2720 = 135
2 = sum119961 N
2 stands for the mean of the experimental group in the post-test
N refers to the total number of participants in the experimental group
sum119961 Stands for the sum of scores of the experimental group in the post-test
So 2= 987520 = 493
Figure13
The Scores Frequencies of the Control Group and the Experimental Group in the Post-
test
55
From the previous analysis of the mean of both the control and the experimental
group in the pre-test (see Table 3) we have noticed that the level of students in both groups
is almost the same and there is only a slight difference between them Though in the post-
test the scores of the experimental group has increased and as result the mean average has
increased too after the treatment phase for the experimental group (from 142 to 493) but it
decreased for the control group who were taught without being exposed to any kind of
treatment (see Table 8 and Figure 10) Besides we can notice the development also in the
rime duration in studentsrsquo pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] of the experimental
group in the post-test which is not the case with the control group
21441 An independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the post-
test
In order to investigate if there is any significant change between two diverse groups
who have run the same test a t-test is used to show this significance difference In our case
we want to inspect if there is any significant variation between the experimental group and
the control group in the post-test and whether we accept the Alternative Hypothesis or
rejecting the Null Hypothesis So depending on the following steps a t-test was calculated
using the following formula
t= 119883 119888minus 119890
radicpartx2
Nx+
1205971199102
119873119910
partx2 = sum(119883 minus 119890 )N
= 306
1205971199102 =sum(119883 minus 119888 )2119873
= 160
119888 the mean of the control group in the post-test
56
119890 the mean of the experimental group in the post-test
partx2 the variation of the experimental group
1205971199102 the variation of the control group
So t= 493minus 135
radic306
20+
160
20
=745
t-value= 745
Depending on the t-value (745) that was calculated we compare it with the critical p-
value at p=005 therefore we have two options
1- If t-value is greater than the critical p-value (t-valuegtcritical-value) we accept the
alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
2- If t-value is less than the critical-value (t-valueltcritical-value) we accept the null
hypothesis and refuse the alternative hypothesis
we can say that
t-value=745 745 gt005
We accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
p-value= 0000 0000 lt005
We accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
Depending on these results we can say that there is a statistical evidence that the
associated sampling means are significantly different In other words there is a real change
between the experimental group and the control group in the post test at the level of
pronunciation due to the positive influence of the independent variable which is ldquolistening
to the audio-storiesrdquo Therefore students of the experimental group showed a significant
57
progress at the level of pronunciation and precisely the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
pronunciation
215 Discussion of the Results
The current research has investigated the influence of listening to audio-stories on
acquiring accurate pronunciation of both allophones the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] At the
start the pre-test has proved that learners of both groups ie the control and the
experimental group have the same level through calculating their means The control group
scored a mean of 155 while the experimental group scored a mean of 142 and also they
have got near scores concerning the rime duration of the L sound So these estimated scores
helped us to prove and confirm our hypothesis that states the positive effect of listening to
audio-stories on the level of pronunciation accuracy In the post-test students of the
experimental group showed a significant development compared to the control group and
this is due to the period of treatment that occurred in the oral session Besides the mean
score of the experimental group has been raised from 142 to 493 and from a sum of rime
durations of 2222 s to 535 s while the mean score of the control group has been decreased
from 155 to 135 and increased from a sum of rime durations of 2149 s to 2359 s In
addition a t-test was designed to show if there is any statistical significant difference
between the experimental group and the control group in the post-test the results show the
positive influence of the treatment phase on the dependent variable (pronunciation
accuracy)
216 Pedagogical implication
The present research evidenced the positive influence of being exposed to the target
language pronunciation as it is produced by the native speakers through the exposure to the
audio-stories Therefore we can state a set of pedagogical implications
58
The present study shows that the more students get involved in listening practices
the more they will be proficient in the pronunciation of a various English sounds ie
developing their speaking proficiency
Audio-stories help EFL learners improve their pronunciation as well as to develop
their listening skills
Using multimedia devices (audio-stories in our case) in learning classrooms
enhances the learnersrsquo motivation to get involved in the learning process
Audio-stories can be used by EFL teachers in order to make learners attentive and
interested in the lecture being presented
Audio-stories provide learners with the chance to listen again and again to the story
in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of a given word
Conclusion
The present research examined the effect of listening to audio stories on fostering the
target language pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] The native speakerrsquo s
pronunciation of both allophones was analyzed first through analyzing the rime duration in
order to compare it with the EFL learnersrsquo articulation That is to say the analysis is based
on the native speakerrsquo s rime duration In addition a significant development in learnersrsquo
pronunciation of the dark[ϯ]and the clear [l] was proved which lead to accept the alternative
hypothesis that states listening to audio-stories has a positive effect on acquiring accurate
pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] by EFL learners
59
General Conclusion
The present study is based on the investigation of the effectiveness of listening to
audio stories on acquiring accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] by EFL
learners At the beginning we have stated the problem which was that the Algerian EFL
learners in the English department at LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi University face a lot of difficulties
concerning the acquisition of the accurate pronunciation of The phoneme l Subsequently
this dissertation tackled the importance of listening to audio-stories on enhancing EFL
learnersrsquo pronunciation accuracy
Our research was tackled in two main chapters The first chapter divided into two
main sections In the first section we tackled the point of listening to audio stories whereas
the second section discussed the reflection of listening to audio stories on the pronunciation
of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] The second chapter represented the practical part the field
work The analyzed data showed that there is a positive relationship between the independent
variable and the dependent variable That is to say there was a development in the
acquisition of the phoneme l which lead us to accept the alternative hypothesis and reject
the null hypothesis
60
Limitations of the Study
Limited sources ie most of the sources that were available were not relevant to our
study
Time constraints this study needs much more time to conduct a better result
Students absences in the pre-test and the post-test and others did not receive the
treatment at all
The lack of interest in the beginning of the treatment session
61
List of References
Alonso SR (2012) The importance of Teaching Listening and Speaking Skills Diagravectica de Lingua
y la Literatura Facultad de Education
Brown S (2006) Teaching Listening Cambridge Cambridge University press
Coulter C Michael C ampPoynor L (2007) Storytelling as Pedagogy An Unexpected Outcome
of narrative inquiry 104-105
Daudet A (2001) Five Short Stories Copyright copy Bartlebycom Inc
Downs L J (2008) Listening Skills Training ASTD press
Eckert J (2016) Audio Storytelling in Todayrsquos Visual World The necessary Components of a
successful sounds scape for an audio play
Gilakjani A P (2012) A study of Factors Affecting EFL learnersrsquo English Pronunciation Learning
and the Strategy for instruction Lahijani Iran 2(3) 119-128
Hamer J (1998) How to teach English An Introduction to the Practice of English Language
Teaching English Language Teaching Harlow Longman
Hendrickson J (1992) Storytelling for foreign language and linguistics Washington Dc Eric
learning house on language and linguistic [ Eric No E0355-824]
Kline J A (1996) Listening Effectively Air University Press
Madden M and Moore Z (1997) ESL Studentsrsquo Opinions about instruction in Pronunciation
Texas 3(2) 15-32
Mendelson D J (1994) Learning to Listen Dominie Press
Nasreddin K (2010) The Influence of Background Knowledge on Second Language Listening
Comprehension Constantine Constantine University
62
Poposka V p (2016) Pronunciation Proficiency Level Problematic Areas of Tertiary as a Foreign
Language International Journal of Science and Basic and Applied Research
Richards J C (1990) The Language Teaching Matrix Cambridge Cambridge University Pess
Rubin SS (2015) Tools for Creating Audio Stories scholarship University of California
Roney RC (1996) Storytelling in the classroom Some Theoretical Thoughts Wayne State
University Education Detroit Michigan
Sproat R ampFujimura O (1993) Allophonic variation of the English l and its Implication for
phonetic Implementation Academic Press
Torky SA (2006) The Effectiveness of a Task-Based Instruction Program in Developing English
Language Speaking Skills of Secondary Stage Students Collegersquo s girl Ain Shams
University
Ummah A (2014) The Effectiveness of Nursery Rhymes to Facilitate Studentsrsquo of Pronunciation of
the Diphthong Education and Teacher Training Faculty Walisongo State institution for
Islamic Studies
Wang M (2016) Research on the Acoustic Realization of Lateral in Sundanese International
Journal of Engineering Research and Development 12(10) 44-48
Ziane R (2012) The Role of Listening Comprehension in Improving EFL learners Speaking Skill
Biskra University of Biskra
Zhang Q (2009) Affecting Factors of Native-Like Pronunciation A Literature Review Ching-Ang
University 27(2) 33-52
63
Abrahamson CE (1998) Storytelling as a pedagogical tool in high Education 118(3) Retrieved
from
httpwwwquestiacomlibraryjournal1G1-20494609storytelling-as-a-pedagogical-tool-
inhighereducation
AMP Research Center (2012) Retrieved from
Httpwwwncertrmqeduauconference2001indexhtal
Backley P (nd) Improving your English Pronunciation Retrieved from
httptoefluobabyloneduiqpaperspearson-2015-1269610pdf
Chaney (1998) Teaching Speaking Retrieved from
httpitesljorgtechniqueKayi-teaching speakinghtml
English Club (nd) What is listening Retrieved from
httpwwwenglishclubcom
Miller E (2011) Theories of story and storytelling Retrieved from
httpwww-storytellingandvideoconferencingcom167pdf
Pederson E M (1995) Storytelling and the art of listening English teaching forum 33(1)2-5
Retrieved from httpExchangesStategovForumuolsn01p2htm
Remen R N (nd) Listening Skills Retrieved from
httpwwwskillsyouneedcomipslistening-Skills-html
Rock R (nd) 5 Wonderful Websites for Engaging ESL Audio Short Stories Retrieved from
httpwwwFluentucomenglisheducatorsblogeslaudio-short-stories
Seifert S (nd) Follow Along 6 Engaging ESL Audio Stories with worksheet ideas Retrieved from
httpwwwFluentucomenglisheducatorblogeslaudio-stories
Saricoban A (2004) The Teaching of listening The Internet TESL journal
httpitesljorgArticlesSaricobn-listeninghtml
Subhi s (2016) Differences between Hearing and listening Retrieved from
httpkeydifferencescomdifference-between-hearning-and-listeninghtml
64
Shen CD (2010) 3 reasons why listening skills are very important in Todayrsquo s Business World
Retrieved from httpezinearticlescom3-Reasons-why-listening-skills-are-very-important-in-
Todays-Business-worldampid=5436504
the adapted audio-stories that were used in the period of treatment
(httpwwwmanythingsorgvoastories)
Appendix A A pre-test
The Last class- The Story of the Alsatian
I was very late for school that morning and I was terribly afraid of being Scolded
especially as Monsieur Hamel had told us that he should examine us on participles and I
did not know the first thing about them For a moment I thought of saying away from
school and wandering about the fields It was such a warm lovely day I could hear the
blackbirds whistling on the edge of the wood and in the ripper field behind the sawmill
the Prussians going through their drill All that was much more tempting to me than the
rules concerning participles but I had the strength to resist and I ran as fast as I could to
school
Sentences
You old fool they will kill you if you always trouble them
People are awfully lazy in the middle of July
Appendix B A post-test
The Game of Billiards
The marshalrsquo s opponent is a young captain of the staff belted and curled and light-
gloved who is in the first rank of billiard-players and capable of beating all the marshals
on earth but he has the tact to keep a respectful distance behind his chief and devotes his
energies to the task of not winning and at the same time not losing too easily He is what is
called an officer with a future
Read the following words
1 Cabal
2 Labour
3 Shell
Appendix c Treatment period
I Session one (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquothe Secret Gardenrdquo (Chapter One) By Frances Hodgson
Burnett
II Session two (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Secret Gardenrdquo (Chapter two) By Frances Hodgson
Burnett
III Session three (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Lady or the Tigerrdquo by Frank R Stockton
IV Session four (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Lady in Blackrdquo By Eleanor Porter
Reacutesumeacute
La preacutesente eacutetude vise agrave eacutetudier lrsquoarticulation de dark [ϯ] et clear [l] dans les classes de la
langue anglaise afin dameacuteliorer la prononciation des apprenants Lrsquoeacutetude actuelle repose
sur lhypothegravese que leacutecoute des histoires audio a un effet positif sur lameacutelioration de la
prononciation des apprenants EFL avec un accent particulier sur le dark [ϯ] et clear [l] Afin
datteindre lobjectif de cette recherche une eacutetude quasi-expeacuterimentale a eacuteteacute assigneacute en
deux groupe group teacutemoin et group expeacuterimentale Chaque groupe contenait 20 eacutelegraveves
Lexpeacuterience a pris six seacuteances un preacute-test une peacuteriode de traitement (4 seacuteances) et un
posttest En conclusion les reacutesultats obtenus montrent que les eacutetudiants qui sont exposeacute agrave
la langue cible et qui eacutecoutent au locuteur natif agrave lrsquoaide audio pour ameacuteliorer leurs
prononciations ont montreacute qursquoil y a un deacuteveloppement ameacutelioration au niveau de
compeacutetence des apprenants en particulier et en matiegravere de parole en geacuteneacuterale
Les mots cleacutes audio-histoire Compeacutetence drsquoeacutecoute prononciation dureacute de travaille
ملخص
استخدام القصص الصوتية من اجل المساعدة على اكتساب النطق السليم والدقيق تهدف هذه الدراسة الى التعرف على مدى فعالية
الأجنبية حيث تستند الدراسة الحالية على فرضية مفادها ان الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية له تأثير إيجابي على تحسين ةللغ
استغرقت التجربة ست ق المنهج التجريبيمن أجل تحقيق هدف هذه الدراسة تم تطبينطق الطلاب الأجانب للغة الإنجليزية
جلسات قسمت كالاتي أربع حصص معالجة سبقت باختبارات قبلية ولحقت باختبارات بعدية أجريت الدراسة في قسم اللغة
طالبا من طلاب السنة ثانية جامعي قسم الطلبة الى فوجين حيث 40الإنجليزية بجامعة العربي بن مهيدي وقد شملت الدراسة
ى معالجة لمدة أربع حصص من خلال الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية في حين لم يتعرض الفوج الثاني خضع أحد الفوجين ال
الى نفس المعالجة بعد ذلك تم اجراء الاختبارات البعدية واعتمادا على النتائج المتحصل عليها ثبت ان التعرض الى اللغة
جابي على اكتساب النطق الدقيق للغة المستهدفة الا وهي اللغة الأجنبية عن طريق الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية له تأثير إي
الأجنبية
القصص الصوتية النطق مدة الموجات الصوتيةالكلمات المفتاحية المهارة السمعية
IV
List of Abbreviations
EFL English as a Foreign Language
ESL English as a second Language
FLA Foreign Language Aptitude
Cpre Control Group pre-test
Cpost Control Group Post-test
Epre Experimental Group pre-test
Epost Control Group Post-test
H1 Alternative Hypothesis
H0 Null Hypothesis
V
List of Tables
Table 1 The Experimental and the Control grouprsquo s Scores in the Pre-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphellip41
Table 2 The Mean Score of the Control and the Experimental Group in The Pre-test hellip43
Table 3 Results and Scores Differences of the Control and Experimental Group in the
Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip45
Table 4 The Mean of the Control Group in the Pre-test and Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip46
Table 5 The Mean of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphellip48
Table 6 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Post-test Scores Differenceshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip51
Table 7 The Paired Sample T-test for the Experimental Grouphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip52
Table 8 The Mean of the Control Group and The Experimental Group in the Post-testhellip53
VI
List of Figures
Figure 1 Articulatory Differences in l Velarization helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip31
Figure 2 Experimental Group Procedureshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip36
Figure 3 Control Group Procedureshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip36
Figure 4 Example of the Lateral Dark [ϯ]in the Word ldquoSawmillrdquohelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip37
Figure 5 Example of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoCabalrdquo helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip39
Figure 6 Example of the Clear [l]in the Word ldquolabourrdquohelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip39
Figure 7 The Native Speakerrsquo s Pronunciation of the Clear [l] in the Word ldquolightrdquohelliphellip40
Figure 8 The Native Speakerrsquos Pronunciation of the Dark [ϯ] in the word ldquoballrdquohelliphelliphellip41
Figure 9 The Pre-test Scores of the Control and the Experimental Grouphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip43
Figure 10 The Control Group Studentsrsquo Scores Differences helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip47
Figure 11 The Scores Frequencies of the Experimental Group in The Pre-test and the
Post- testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip49
Figure 12 The Scores Differences of the Experimental Group in the pre-test and the Post-
testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip50
Figure 13 The Scores Frequencies of the Control Group and The Experimental Group in
the Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip54
VII
Content
Introductionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip2
1 Statement of the problem helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip2
2 Aim of the studyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip3
3 Research questionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 3
4 Research hypothesishelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip3
5 Means of the studyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip3
6 Structure of the studyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip4
Chapter One Theoretical background
Section One Listening to Audio Stories
Introductionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip6
11 Definition of Listening Skillhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip6
12 Differences between Listening and Hearing helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip8
13 Reasons of listening helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip8
14 Types of Listeninghelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip9
141 Extensive Listeninghelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip9
142 Intensive Listeninghelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip10
15 Listening Processes helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip10
151 Bottom-up Processhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip10
152 Top down processhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip11
16 Brief History of Audio-Storieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip11
17 Definition of Storytellinghelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip12
18 Definition of Audio-Storieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip13
19 Characteristics of a Good Audio-Storyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip14
110 The Use of Audio-Stories in ESL Classroomshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip15
111 Advantages of Using Audio-Storieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip17
Conclusionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip18
Section two Reflection on Pronunciation
Introductionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip20
11Definition of Speaking Skillhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip20
12Speaking Sub-Competencies Skillshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip22
13 Definition of Pronunciationhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip22
VIII
14Importance of Pronunciationhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip24
15 Factors Affecting Pronunciationhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip25
16151 Internal Factorshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip25
152 External Factorshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip28
Conclusion helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip31
Chapter two Field Work
Introductionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip34
21 Methodologyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip34
211 Research Participantshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip34
212 The Procedurehelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip35
2121 The Research Design helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip36
2122 The Pre-test Phasehelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip36
2123 The Treatment Phasehelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip37
2124 The Control Grouphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip38
2125 The Post-test Phasehelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip38
213 Scoring helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip40
214 Data Analysishelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip40
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (independent
Sample t-test)helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip42
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip44
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group Post-test (Paired
Sample t-test)helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 47
21431 Paired Sample t-test helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip50
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip53
21441 An Independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group
in the Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip55
215 Discussion of the Resultshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip57
216 Pedagogical Implicationshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip57
Conclusionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip58
General Conclusionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip59
Limitation of The Studyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip60
List of Referenceshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip61
Appendices
IX
Reacutesumeacute
ملخص
1
General introduction
Introduction
1 Statement of the Problem
2 Aim of the Study
3 Research Question
4 Research Hypothesis
5 Means of the Study
6 Structure of the Study
2
Introduction
Acquiring comprehensible pronunciation for EFL learners is one of the key supplies
for language proficiency Nowadays mastering the foreign language is the main concern
that most of EFL learners share This high attention raises due to the exposure to the target
language and to the complications that learners may face at whatever time they want to
communicate whether with foreigners or with one another using for instance the English
language Besides listening is not only a matter of innate ability but it is a matter of how to
develop that inborn capacity in order to improve the learnersrsquo pronunciation accuracy
Accordingly audio-stories are used to help developing the learnersrsquo listening skill and to
improve their pronunciation accurateness Furthermore using audio stories in teaching EFL
learners help to evidence that an effective listening process leads to an effective articulation
1 Statement of the Problem
Generally speaking there are various factors that affect learnersrsquo acquisition of the
target language pronunciation The Algerian EFL learners encounter many problems
concerning articulation because EFLESL learners do not have much opportunities to be
exposed to the real language as it is produced by the native speakers in the classroom Since
English is a foreign language learners avoid using it outside the classroom which is resulted
in a bad pronunciation Therefore EFL teachers are required to use audio-stories inside the
classrooms in order to develop studentsrsquo second language and to improve their pronunciation
accuracy
3
2 Aim of the Study
The current study deals with the learnersrsquo pronunciation difficulties of the dark [ϯ]
and the clear [l] It aims at investigating the effect of listening to audio-stories on fostering
the target languagersquos accurate pronunciation of both allophones
3 Research Question
The present study seeks to answer the following question
Does listening to audio-stories help EFL learners to acquire the accurate
pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
4 Research Hypothesis
In order to answer the research question the subsequent hypotheses are framed
H1 The EFL learners will acquire accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the
clear [l] through listening to audio-stories
H0 Listening to audio stories will not help EFL learners to acquire accurate
pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
5 Means of the Research
In order to achieve the objective of our research a quasi-experimental design is
administered to second year LMD students of English Department at LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi
University The selected sample (40 students from 210) consists of two groups the control
group and the experimental group Both groups will be pretested in order to assess their
pronunciation accuracy level The pre-test is a kind of short story and small sentences that
contain the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] which learners have to read After that the Praat will be
used in order to record their voices Later on the experimental group will take the treatment
for four sessions in which they will listen to the audio stories each session will take one
4
hour and a half However the control group will not receive any kind of treatment (they will
be taught in a normal way without listening to audio stories) Furthermore a post-test which
is different from that of the pre-test will be administered to both groups in order to test their
pronunciation development
6 Structure of the Study
The present study is divided into two chapters The first chapter is a theoretical one
and it is composed of two sections The first section is about listening to audio stories in
which we define the process of listening and mention the main differences between listening
and hearing After that we discuss the reasons of listening its types and processes Later
on the second sub-section deals with audio stories At the start we introduce a brief history
about the notion of audio stories and then we introduce stories in general Afterward we
discuss the characteristics of audio stories their use and advantages The second section
deals with the pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] at the beginning we shed light
on the definition of speaking skill and its sub-competencies After that a part of this section
deals with the definition of pronunciation and its importance Besides it introduces factors
that affect pronunciation The second chapter deals with the field work in which it sheds
light on collecting data presenting and analyzing it and at the end interpreting results
5
Section One Listening to Audio Stories
Introduction
11 Definition of Listening Skill
12 Differences between Listening and Hearing
13 Reasons of Listening
14 Types of Listening
141 Extensive Listening
142 Intensive Listening
15 Listening Processes
151 Bottom-up Process
152 Top down Process
16 Brief History of Audio-Stories
17 Definition of Storytelling
18 Definition of Audio-Stories
19 Characteristics of a Good Audio-Story
110 The Use of Audio-Stories in ESL Classrooms
111 Advantages of Using Audio-Stories
Conclusion
6
Introduction
Nowadays there is a great emphasis put on listening skill since it plays a significant
role in teaching and acquiring the foreign language So this high attention raises because of
the difficulties that learners face whenever they want to communicate thatrsquos why many
researchers shed light on Audio Stories as a tool that can help in developing learnersrsquo
listening process as well as improving their speaking skills and precisely their
pronunciation
The main concern of this section is listening to audio stories First of all we shed
light on the first part which is listening process At the start we need to define listening
skills according to different scholars later on we tackle the main differences between
listening and hearing Also reasons of listening its types and processes Then the second
part of this section deals with the audio stories In the beginning we introduce a brief history
of audio stories and later on the definition of stories in general After that we present the
meaning of audio stories in a specific way and its main characteristics Lastly this section
highlights the use and the advantages of audio stories inside EFL classrooms
11 Definition of Listening Skill
ldquoThe most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen Just to
listen Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attentionrdquo (Remen
2011)
Listening is an important skill in learning and acquiring a foreign language Through
this process learners will be able to receive and understand information According to
Downs (2008) ldquothe word of listening is defined as making an effort to hear something to
pay attention or heedrdquo (p 1) In other words Downs (2008) argues that listening is the way
7
learners pay attention to what is being said In her opinion listening is an active process that
includes using a variety of processes which are attending understanding interpreting
responding and remembering Moreover Mendelsohn (1994) demonstrates listening as ldquothe
ability to understand the spoken language of native speakersrdquo (p 64) To be precise
Mendelsohn defines listening as the listenerrsquo s ability to recognize the native speakerrsquo s
speech in terms of accent pitch intonation vocabulary grammar and trying to interpret the
native speakerrsquo s messages
Saricoban (1999) states that listening is onersquos capacity to realise what is being said
and to recognize the intended meaning He sheds light on two important points the first
point concerns understanding the speakerrsquos pronunciation syntax and lexis whereas the
second point deals with grasping the meaning Willis (1981) lists a series of micro-skills of
listening which she calls enabling skills They are
Predicting what people are going to talk about
Guessing at unknown words or phrases without panic
Using onersquo s own knowledge of the subject to help one understand
Identifying relevant points rejecting irrelevant information
Retaining relevant points (note-taking summarizing)
Recognizing discourse markers eg well oh another thing is now finally
etc
Recognizing cohesive devices e g such as and which including linking
words pronouns references etc
Understanding different intonation patterns and uses of stress etc which give
clues to meaning and social setting
8
Understanding inferred information eg speakerrsquo s attitude or intentions
(p134
Furthermore listening is an important source of knowledge It is recognized as the
ability of transforming and interpreting the spoken messages that are received by the ears
from the daily life situations Yet listening is a very hard task It requires the learnersrsquo mental
concentration which is something difficult because the human brain can simply lose attention
That is to say listening skill can save learners from communication breakdowns and
increases their motivation to learn the foreign language and speak fluently but only if they
work harder to develop their own listening skills
12 Differences between Listening and Hearing
Listening and hearing are two different activities Kline (1996) emphasizes the
differences between these two concepts to make an effective listening He states that
ldquohearing is the attachment of meaning to the sound Hearing is passive listening is activerdquo
(p7) In other words active listening is a successful element that affects learnersrsquo verbal and
nonverbal behaviors
Surbhi (2016) states the differences between listening and hearing On the one hand
he defines hearing as the natural capacity that happens unconsciously It aids to identify
sounds via the ears Also hearing is a process that permits receiving sound vibrations and
it is one of the five senses On the other hand Surhbi (2016) defines listening skill as the
process of receiving and interpreting messages it occurs consciously
13 Reasons of Listening
Learners through being exposed to different English accents and in any recorded
materials such as radio TV or tapes they want to understand and realize what is being said
9
(Harmer 1998) According to him listening is a very effective process that helps learners to
get a better pronunciation In other words as much as they are exposed to the real language
as much as they will recognize its features
Also Shen (2010) demonstrates that listening skills help to improve understanding
and aids people to become aware of their listening skills So listening plays a vital role in
language learning and acquisition It is an essential skill that bridges the line between
meaning and messages in order to avoid misunderstanding between individuals
14 Types of listening
Generally speaking the listening skill plays a significant role in teaching EFL
classrooms This process guides EFL learners to an effective communication Therefore the
listening skill can be classified into two different types Extensive listening and intensive
listening
141 Extensive Listening
Extensive listening has to do with the learnerrsquos fluency In other words the learner has
to master vocabulary grammarhellipetc and later on he must combine them together to form
a meaningful conversation So fluency depends on the listenerrsquos ability of understanding
whatever he is exposed to weather in an audio tape a text a songhellipetc
Harmer (1998) states that extensive listening is the way students practice their own
listening outside the classroom Students should enjoy listening to an audio material because
they can understand them without the teacherrsquo s help Also students can depend on CDs and
tapes so that they are going to have another chance to listen to their course books dialogues
that they have already provided to them inside the classroom In addition learners must be
10
stimulated to listen to the English language films with sub-titles because this helps students
to acquire the foreign language
In brief extensive listening according to the Extensive Reading-Central (2012) includes
Listening to massive amounts of text
Text which learners can understand reasonably smoothly
high levels of comprehension
Listening without being constrained by pre-set questions or tasks
Listening at or below onersquo s comfortable fluent listening ability
So extensive listening aims to make learners enjoy developing their listening skills
142 Intensive Listening
In contrast to extensive listening intensive listening aims at developing the learnersrsquo
specific listening skills and more precisely to raise the learnersrsquo attention about the spoken
language Intensive listening occurs weather in classrooms or laboratories It exists mostly
when teachers guide their students and provide them with help concerning listening
problems that they face and try to highlight them (Harmer 2007)
So intensive listening according to the Extensive Reading-central (2012) is
Listening for specific information
Listening for the exact words of a phrase or expression
Listening for details
Listening to mimic a text
11
15 Listening Processes
In listening process addressees process information using two distinct strategies
This is devoted to as bottom-up and top-down
151 Bottom-up Process
Richards (1990) states that ldquobottom-up processing refers the use of incoming data as
a source of information about the meaning of a messagerdquo (p 50) According to him Bottom-
up process deals with the perception of sentence components ie recognizing the meaning
of sounds words sentences clauseshellipetc till reaching the meaning of the whole message
152 Top-down Process
Richards (190) states that ldquoTop-down processing on the other hand refers to the use
of background knowledge in understanding the meaning of a messagerdquo (p 51) In contrast
to Bottom-up process Richards (1990) points out to the Top-down as the process of using
the listenersrsquo previous knowledge to attain meaning as whole not attaining the meaning of
individual words
16 Brief History of Audio-Stories
Eckert (2016) states that ldquoAudio storytelling in the form of radio drama has been
around for almost a centuryrdquo (p 8) That is to say audio stories in the previous decades took
the form of radio drama Radio drama attained extensive admiration within an era of its
original growth in the 1920rsquo s At that time radio drama played a central role for being the
foundation of people entertainment However by the 1950rsquo s people shifted their attention
to the new invention which was the small screen ie the television As a result of the
invention of this new device audio drama no more attracts the spectatorsrsquo attention it lost
its popularity
12
Though in 2010 radio drama came back to stage due to the developments shown in
digital soundtrack and internet spreading According to Eckert (2016) ldquoRadio and audio
storytelling has slowly started gaining popularity again thanks to the different online
platforms brought forth by digitalizationrdquo (p 8)
17 Definition of Storytelling
Today stories are a fundamental part of our societies and cultures Telling and
listening to stories is an ancient tradition and common activity that bonds different olden
civilizations together Also stories are an essential component and an ordinary process that
many people used to do on every occasion It is the art of telling factual or fictional stories
Besides stories bring legacy into life because our ancestors told them and people today
only retell them
Moreover listening to stories enhances the learnersrsquo foreign language It aids them
to improve their speaking skills Pederson (1995) states that ldquoin dealing with stories learners
have an experience with the powerful real language of personal communicationrdquo (p 2)
Additionally Pederson (1995) emphasizes the role of telling stories in preserving heritage
he argues that ldquooral stories are a direct expression of a literary and cultural heritage and
through them that heritage is appreciated understood and kept aliverdquo (1995 p2) In other
words stories bond between the past and the present It is considered to be a vital feature of
humankind Furthermore Schram (1994 as cited in Coulter Michael amp Poynor 2007)
points out
A story is a beautiful means of teaching religion values history traditions and
customs a creative method of introducing characters and places an imaginative way
13
to instill hope and resourceful thinking Stories help us to understand who we are and
show us what legacies to transmit to future generations (p 104-105)
So Schram (1994) highlights the role of stories in bridging the gap between the teaching
process and culture
Likewise Abrahamson (1998) sheds light on the role that storytelling plays in the
learning process He states that telling stories plays a significant role in improving learnersrsquo
understanding Besides Abrahamson argues that stories can afford a suitable context that
the listener can use it as a base to perceive the tellerrsquos point of view Moreover Roney (1996)
demonstrates
In its most basic form storytelling is a process where a person (the teller) using
vocalization narrative structure and mental imagery communications with other
humans (the audience) who also use mental imagery and in turn communicate back
to the teller primarily via body language and facial expression (p 2)
By this definition storytelling is the combination of art procedures and ways of
communication
18 Definition of Audio-Stories
The term audio-story is a combination of two words audio and story By definition
audio is sound within the aural range accessible to humankinds Miller (2011) states that
ldquostories are pieces of art and can serve as a basis of gamesrdquo (p 1) So Audio-story is a very
operative means for teaching EFL learners It aids to make the course persuasive Nowadays
14
audio stories can be used to many reasons and the most important one is the exposure to the
real language of native speakers by EFL learners In addition Rubin (2015) points out
ldquoaudio stories are an engaging form of communication that combines speech and music into
a compelling narrativesrdquo (p 1) That is to say audio stories are the process of telling stories
through sound and sound effects only Furthermore Audio-stories are broadly accredited to
progresses in portable equipment for instance smart phones tablets and multimedia
entertainment systems Thus EFL learners find it easy to listen to those audio stories
19 Characteristics of a Good Audio-Story
According to Seifert (nd) finding good audio-stories that suit the EFL learnersrsquo
needs is something very important and it is a very hard task to do However these are some
of the necessary features that EFL teachers must take into consideration whenever they want
to select a good audio-story for their students
Skill Level
Taking into account the learnersrsquo English level before choosing any audio-story For
instance if the audio-story contains a difficult language learners will lose confidence and
as a result they stop listening to the audio-story So determining the learnersrsquo level is very
important
Student Interest
EFL teachers must find out their studentsrsquo interests and normally each teacher has
an idea about this issue So if the audio-stories do not fit the learnersrsquo needs the EFL
teacherrsquos goal from that audio-story will be lost
15
Audio Length
The length of the audio-story plays a significant role in keeping concentration in the
ESL schoolrooms Listening for much time to the audio storytelling leads to boredom As a
result the learnersrsquo s brains lose attention However teachers can use long audio-stories but
they should know how to put it into parts and use classroom discussions to avoid boredom
So these three characteristics aid to develop EFL learnersrsquo listening skills
110 The Use of Audio-Stories in ESL Classrooms
According to Rock (nd) there are several listening practices that ESLEFL teachers
can provide to their students These are samples of activities that can work hand in hand with
audio-stories
Fill in The Blanks
Here EFL teacher provides his students with a written passage that is taken from an
audio-story but he removes some words Later on the teacher asks his learners to listen to
the audio-story after reading that passage and at the same time fill in the blanks
Mastery Memory
This activity has to do with learnerrsquos memory In this kind of practices teachers
provide learners with an audio-story and ask them for example to write down the main
events of the story but when they finish listening to it Teachers in this activity have to make
sure that students do not write them during the listening of the audio-story So the main goal
of the exercise is to reinforce learnerrsquos memory
16
Order the Events
At the start teachers give their learners a series of events that are chosen from an
audio-story Then the teacher gives them some time to read them After that learners listen
to the audio- storytelling and put those events in a sequential order
Buzz Words
This exercise aims to reach the learnerrsquo s vocabulary In this practice teachers
provide learners with a number of words then they ask them to check their meanings before
Afterward teacher turns the lesson into a game ie EFL learners listen to the audio-story
and whenever they hear a word (the buzz word) from that list they have to raise their hands
or clap them
Multiple Choice
This activity deals with providing learners with a number of questions followed by
three answers these questions can be definitions or name of characterhellip etc Then learners
have to listen to the audio-storytelling and pick the write response After teachers play again
the audio-story to correct their answers
Character Quiz
In this practice EFL learners have to listen to the whole story Then the teacher gives
his class a question sheet that contains a list of character qualities and decision and ask them
to choose the suitable one for the leading role
Plot Quiz
This activity has to do with team competition After listening to the whole audio-
storytelling once or twice the teacher divides his class into two to four groups where the
17
teacher plays the role of the coach Several questions that have a relation to the story will be
quizzed to each team if they get the answer they have a point if they fail to answer correctly
the question moves to the next group
Beginning Middle End
After listening to the audio storytelling the teacher splits the classroom into groups
and each group contains no more than four students Later he asks each group to write the
main events of the beginning the middle and the end of the story Finally they discuss them
together
111 Advantages of Using Audio-Stories
Audio-stories play an essential role in teaching the target language Audio-
storytelling is an impeccable implement for any ESL classrooms First of all audio-stories
afford learners with the exposure to the real language as it is produced by the native speakers
ie a natural voice Furthermore Rodero (2012 as cited in Eckert2016) claimed that
ldquoAudio stories that use sound effects and sound shots enhance the learnerrsquo s attention and
creation of visual images significantly compared to those without themrdquo (p 16) That is to
say using audio-stories in ESL classrooms develops learnersrsquo listening skills and provides
them with an imaginary trip inside their minds Also audio- stories enhance learnersrsquo
pronunciation since the learner is exposed to the natural voice In addition EFL teacher can
use audio storytelling as a guideline to his lecture or the opposite he can use it at the end of
the course as a reward
Moreover the EFL teachers depend on audio-stories in improving learnersrsquo
vocabulary through memorization Learners can enrich their vocabulary whenever they
listen to those stories because each time they learn some new words Besides learners can
18
listen to them outside the schoolrooms because they are portable they can upload them in
their mobiles and listen to them any time anywhere Finally audio stories can raise interest
for those learners who are not attracted to reading
Conclusion
In conclusion listening to audio stories aids EFL learners to improve the target
language pronunciation That is to say students will be exposed to the real language as it is
created by the native speakers Besides using audio stories in ESLEFL classrooms increases
the learnersrsquo interest toward learning the foreign language and also enhances their speaking
skills
19
Section two Reflection on Pronunciation
Introduction
121 Definition of Speaking Skill
122 Speaking Sub-Competencies Skills
123 Definition of Pronunciation
124 Importance of Pronunciation
125 Factors Affecting Pronunciation
1251 Internal Factors
1252 External Factors
Conclusion
20
Introduction
Generally speaking being able to speak the target language fluently and accurately
seems to be very interesting to all EFLESL learners Though students face a lot of troubles
and obstacles when communicating with each other or with native speakers and this is due
to mispronunciation misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the hearer which leads to the
communication breakdowns Furthermore learnersrsquo mispronunciation occurs due to various
factors that affect their oral language and as a consequence it affects their speaking
proficiency
In this section we have dealt with the speaking process and precisely
ldquopronunciationrdquo At the start a slight attention is put upon the definition of speaking skills
and its sub-competencies After that a part of this section is devoted to define pronunciation
and highlight its importance Moreover this section demonstrates some factors that affect
pronunciation which are classified into internal factors and external factors Finally another
point about the English consonant ldquoLrdquo has been raised
121 Definition of Speaking Skill
Mastering the foreign language is the aim of each EFL learner Speaking is one of
the most important language skills it plays a significant role in sharing ideas and thoughts
between individuals Torky (2006) defines speaking as follows ldquoIt is the means through
which learners can communicate with others to achieve certain goals or to express their
opinions intentions hopes and viewpointsrdquo (p 13) Also Ziane (2012) states that ldquoit is the
way by which learners can contribute and be part of oral communicationrdquo (p21) So the
main goal of EFL learners is to be able to speak the target language in order to strengthen
their verbal communication
21
Moreover Chaney (1998) argues that ldquospeaking is the process of building and
sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols in a variety of contextsrdquo
(p 13) From Chaneyrsquo s definition of speaking we deduce that speaking has an important
role in learning the foreign language and improving EFL learnersrsquo communicative skill
However there are some researchers who describe speaking as a hard task They
argue that EFL learners find it so hard to master the foreign language and face a lot of
difficulties even after studying it many years at schools Bueno and Mclaren (2006 as cited
in Alonso 2011) point out
Speaking is one of the most difficult skills language learners have to face In spite of
this it has traditionally been forced into the background while we teachers of
English have spent all our classroom time trying to teach our students how to write
to read and sometimes even to listen in a L2 because grammar has a long written
tradition (p 321)
On the whole the speaking skill is a very important process that EFL learners need to acquire
in order to master and shape the target language
122 Speaking Sub CompetenciesSkills
Torky (2006) claims that learners must be able to express themselves in a given
context in order to be proficient in mastering the foreign language She points out to several
speaking skills or competencies that help to achieve this aim which are
22
Linguistic Competence
Torky (2006) states that learners must be skillful in using pronunciation ie their
pronunciation must be clear In addition students have to use correct grammar and
proper lexis
Discourse Competence
In the beginning learners have to be able to use a well-organized discourse In other
words the discourse must be clear and unified Besides they have to be competent in
handling discussion and cooperating efficiently in order to avoid the communication
breakdowns
Pragmatic Competence
EFL learners have to be proficient in using a variety of functions that are related to
the same context and register
Fluency
Speaking smoothly without any complications and with a suitable degree of speech
speed
123 Definition of Pronunciation
According to Gilakjani (2012) ldquopronunciation is an integral part of foreign language
since it directly affects learnersrsquo communicative competence as well as performancerdquo
(p119) That is to say pronunciation plays a fundamental role in learning and improving the
target language Besides Poposka (2016) argues that pronunciation is the key factor of
language in its universal notion and she claims that pronunciation should be defined in
23
relation to different perspectives Poposka (2016) states some of the various points of view
concerning pronunciation definition which are
- The act or manner of pronouncing uttering of speech
- A way of speaking a word especially a way that is accepted or generally understood
- A graphic representation of the way a word is spoken using phonetic symbols (p
200)
Moreover Dauer (1993 as cited in Ummah 2014) states that ldquopronunciation is the
act of producing the sound of speech including articulation vowel formation accent
inflection and intonation often with reference to the correctness or acceptability of the
speech soundrdquo (p 10) In addition Poposka (2016) states that pronunciation is the vocal
capacity to produce particular sounds weather when communicating with individuals or
when being alone This construction of sounds leads to the appearance of some utterances
that may be expressive or worthless (p 200) Furthermore Adult Migrant English Program
research center (AMP 2002) points out
Pronunciation refers to the production of sounds that we use to make meaning it includes
attention to the particular sounds of language (segments) aspects of speech beyond the
level of the individual sound such as intonation phrasing stress timing rhythm
(suprasegmental aspects) (p1)
In other words AMP research center argues that even if these two aspects suprasegmental
and segmental structures are treated separately it is necessary to know that they work hand
in hand in a given context whenever someone speaks
24
124 Importance of Pronunciation
Madden and Moore (1997) states that ldquoin first language acquisition children learn
pronunciation inductively by absorbing and reproducing the sounds in their environmentrdquo
(p 4) That is to say all human beings in their natural development from childhood to
adulthood learn first of all how to talk before learning how to read or write Also Zhang
(2009) claims that ldquolearning a language means to perform the sounds utterances and the
words properly and correctlyrdquo (p 34-35) So pronunciation is a very essential skill in
learning a second language
Moreover Morley (1998 as cited in Zhang 2009) argues that ldquoit is clear that limited
pronunciation skills will make learners lose their self-confidence and result in negative
influence for learners to estimate their credibility and abilitiesrdquo (p 35) In other words it
does not matter whether learners make mistakes concerning grammar or vocabulary all what
matters is the way they pronounce a given word in order to make a worthy impression on
the learnersrsquo language capacities Zhang (2009) points out
Good pronunciation will make people understand you easily and be willing to listen to
you Contrarily poor English pronunciation may confuse people and lead to an
unpleasant talking and misunderstanding even if you used advanced English grammar
or vocabulary (p 35)
Likewise Backley (n d) argues ldquoif a speaker has a clear pronunciation this has immediate
benefits listeners judge the speakerrsquo s overall language ability much more favorably even
to the point of tolerating grammatical and other errorsrdquo (p 126) Therefore good
25
pronunciation aids to avoid misinterpretation and intelligibility between speakers and
listeners and show the learnersrsquo competencies in mastering their second language
Furthermore good pronunciation affects the learnersrsquo speed of acquiring the target language
In addition learners should use only simple structures with good and correct pronunciation
rather than using complex expressions in order to communicate with others
125 Factors Affecting Pronunciation
Generally speaking there are several factors that affect the learnersrsquo pronunciation
These factors can be classified into internal factors and external factors
1251 Internal Factors
Zhang (2009) states that internal factors can be categorized also into biological
factors individual differences and individual efforts and goal setting
Biological Factors
They are branded into four features age ear perception and aptitude
Learnersrsquo Age
At the start there is a difference between young learners and adult learners
concerning the acquisition of the accurate pronunciation Nonetheless this does not mean
that adult learners cannot get accurate pronunciation as well They have to work much harder
because their brainsrsquo plasticity reduces That is to say age plays a significant part in learning
the target language pronunciation Moreover Zhang (2009) emphasizes the role of the
critical period hypothesis that was proposed by Lenneberg in 1967 which states that there
is a certain age that helps learners to acquire the foreign language pronunciation accurately
26
and after that age the brain loses its flexibility Furthermore (Nation and Newton (2009) as
cited in Zhang 2009) claim that
Usually if the learner began to speak in the second language before the age of six
there will be little or no accent If the learner began to speak between the age of seven
and eleven the learners likely to have a slight accent If the learner began to speak
after age of twelve the learners almost always have an accent (p 78)
This is the reason behind the acceptance of the idea that learners find it so hard to acquire
the foreign language after maturity
Additionally Zhang (2009) states that young learners have bigger chances than the
adult learners in obtaining accurate pronunciation He claims that the brain loses its
flexibility and becomes rigid after puberty (after nine years old) as a result the brainrsquo s
functions will be devoted to the right and left hemispheres which makes it so difficult to
acquire the foreign languagersquo s pronunciation correctly Also Lenneberg (1967 as cited in
Zhang 2009) argues that ldquobefore the age of two the brain has not developed enough but
after puberty it developed too much and it will lose its plasticity and finish the lateralization
of the language functionrdquo (p 39) In other words it becomes so hard to obtain the native-
like pronunciation after the lateralization
Ear Perception
One of the most important factors that affect the learnersrsquo acquisition of the foreign
language is the ldquoear perceptionrdquo Zhang (2009) claims that the hearing abilities differ from
one person to another That is to say there are learners who have a strong hearing capacity
27
they can hear sounds in a very clear way which help them in reproducing the native speakersrsquo
pronunciation smoothly Whereas there is that kind of learners who do not have that ability
However Zhang argues that the ear perception has nothing to do with the learner age He
claims that it is natural that learners may lose some of their capacities whenever they become
older
Aptitude
Generally speaking foreign language aptitude is the personrsquos ability to learn a foreign
or a second language very rapidly and with no troubles (Wen 2011) Also Dornyei and
skehan (2003 as cited in Wen 2011) states ldquooriginally the notion of FLA presumed a
relatively stable talent for learning a foreign language that differs between individualsrdquo (p
590) So EFL learners do not have the same ability to acquire the foreign language
Additionally Carroll (1962 as cited in Wen 2011) states four components of the FLA which
are
lsquophonemic coding abilityrsquo (ie the ability to identify and retain sounds and link them
to phonetic symbols)
Sensitivity towards the grammatical functions that words fulfil in a sentence
The ability to learn inductively (ie to infer and generalize linguistic structures from
language samples) and
The ability to rote learn vocabulary items paired with their associated translations
(p 233)
Hence aptitude has an important role in improving learnersrsquo foreign language
Although Zhang (2009) argues that all individuals have a language aptitude ability but they
28
differ only in the degree of that aptitude capacity Also he claims that we cannot say that
those people who have a sophisticated level of language aptitude will get to the top and
people with an inferior level of language aptitude will go pear-shaped
Individual Differences
Zhang (2009) states that learnersrsquo different personalities affect the way they acquire
the foreign language pronunciation He argues that extroverted learners are more likely to
acquire the target pronunciation rather than introverted learners because extroverted learners
are not afraid of making mistakes which is not the case with the introverted learners who
face always the fear of failure Besides extroverted students are more friendly they tend to
work with others which leads them to practice the target language so they become more
familiar with it which aids to improve their pronunciation very quickly (p 40-41)
Individual Efforts and Goal setting
At the start the main goal of each EFLESL learner is to master the foreign language
in order to communicate with others Zhang (2009) points out ldquowe must always remember
that teaching never causes learning but rather creates the conditions in which learning can
occurrdquo (p 42) Besides he emphasizes that pronunciation is really a very hard task that
learners can acquire in a few days but it is not something impossible that learners cannot
achieve Though as much time learners spend in practicing the target language
pronunciation the better results they will get
1252 External Factors
External factors can be classified into three aspects learnersrsquo native language
exposure to target language and education factors
29
Learnerrsquo s Native Language
Universally the learnersrsquo native language affects their pronunciation of the foreign
language Zhang (2009) states that studentsrsquo mother tongue reflects the way they pronounce
a certain word in the target language and this is due to the differences that are found between
the two languages In other words learners find a lot of complications in articulating some
sounds for the reason that some of those sounds do not occur in their native language (p
43)
Exposure to the Target Language
Zhang (2009) shows that the acquisition of English language pronunciation is related
to the amount of exposure to it as it is produced by the native speakers That is to say this
depends on the learner himself ie on the situation in which the learning process occurs In
other words Zhang argues that it does not matter weather learners live in a native country
or not it is a matter of how much time they listen to the foreign language and how much
time they use it Zhang (2009) states ldquothe more they spend their time for listening and
speaking English the better their English pronunciation will berdquo (p 44) Thus learnerrsquo s
pronunciation accuracy depends on the surrounding environment where the target language
takes place
Educational Factors
At the start the system of education is responsible for studentsrsquo learning process
Worthy educational structure provides a lot of chances for learners to be exposed to the target
language through creating a suitable learning environment Additionally EFLESL
teachersrsquo accent reflects the learnersrsquo pronunciation because learners take teachers as an
30
exemplary in order to improve their pronunciation That is why teachers should work on
their pronunciation initially (Zhang 2009)
The English Consonant Sound ldquoLrdquo
Generally speaking EFL learners face complications in learning the English L sound
Sproat and Fujimura (1993) argue ldquoEnglish l has traditionally been classified into at least
two allophones namely light which occurs initially and dark which occurs syllable finallyrdquo
(p 291) Furthermore Wang (2016) states that the L consonant sound is a lateral phoneme
in English and it has two allophones he points out
One of them is found before vowels as in ldquoladyrdquo or ldquoflyrdquo called clear l and is
pronounced as the alveolar lateral approximant in a neutral position of the body of
the tongue The other variant is called dark l found before consonants or at word-
finally position as in ldquoboldrdquo or ldquotellrdquo Which is as the velarized lateral approximant
with the tongue in a spoon-like shape Its back part is raised which gives the sound
a w-like resonance (p 44)
In other words the clear [l] occurs when the tip of the tongue raises up and touches the soft
palate just behind the front teeth whereas the dark [ϯ] happens when the tip of the tongue
pulls back and the tongue raises to the middle without touching the soft palate to make the
L sound So the difference between these two allophones is the reason behind those troubles
that the learner may face
However Sproat and Fujimura (1993 as cited in Jiahong 2011) explain the
differences between these two allophones by relating them to the rime duration In other
31
words they point out that whenever the l sound occurs in longer rimes it is going to be a
dark [ϯ] and whenever the rime is short the l sound is clear or light
Figure 1
Articulatory Differences in l Velarization
Source Recasens 2012 p369
Conclusion
To end with it is very important to acknowledge that pronunciation is one way that
leads to an effective and a successful communication That is why many researchers shed
light on the investigation of some factors that may influence the EFL learnersrsquo pronunciation
As a result these identifying concepts help foreigners to overcome their difficulties when
they are introduced to the target language
32
Chapter two Field Work
Introduction
21 Methodology
211 Research Participants
212 The Procedure
2121 The Research Design
2122 The Pre-test Phase
2123 The Treatment Phase
2124 The Control Group
2125 The Post-test Phase
213 Scoring
214 Data Analysis
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (independent Sample
t-test)
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group Post-test
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group Post-test (Paired
Sample t-test)
21431 Paired Sample t-test
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-test
33
21441 An Independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the
Post-test
215 Discussion of the Results
216 Pedagogical Implications
Conclusion
34
Introduction
This research attempts to investigate the effect of listening to audio stories on
acquiring accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] by second year LMD students
at the department English -LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi The chosen sample is divided into two
groups the control group and the experimental group At the start participantsrsquo
pronunciation accuracy of the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] (the dependent variable) was measured
through a pretest Later on a period of treatment is taken by the experimental group which
is not the case with the control group After that a post-test is administered to both groups
in which the results are gathered using a software called the ldquopraatrdquo In addition we shed
light on describing the sample taking the place in which the study took place the method
used and at last the data collected
21 Methodology
211 Research Participants
The current study involved two intact classes of second year LMD students from
LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi-English Department The selected sample includes students from
different gender Furthermore we favored to select second year students for several reasons
The first reason was that second year students have practiced working with audio supports
which was not the case with first year students so they will not face problems concerning
listening to audio stories The second reason was that second year learners study oral
expression
At the start the experiment includes a sample of forty learners that have been chosen
from two intact classes of second year LMD students The chosen sample represents 1904
from the entire population which comprises 210 learners Additionally both clusters were
35
divided into a control group and an experimental group twenty students in each group At
the beginning the sample was supposed to be comprised of sixty students in which both the
control and the experimental groups covered thirty students Unfortunately there were a lot
of absences in both groups Also there are some students who have not passed both the
pretest and the posttest and others have not received the treatment at all Therefore the
sample size was reduced from sixty to forty students which can be sufficient to represent
the whole population and to get consistent outcomes
In order to gather consistent data that help to achieve the purpose of our research a
quasi-experimental design was designated The use of the chosen method will provide us
with a wide-ranging representation of the reflection of listening to audio stories on the
acquisition of the accurate pronunciation of the dark [l] and clear [l]
212 The Procedure
To accumulate a reliable data an experiment was conducted over six sessions The
treatment period took four sessions and the remained two sessions for the pretest and the
posttest The pretest took a form different from that of the posttest in order to avoid
familiarity to improve the learnersrsquo development and get consistent information Both
groups have taken the tests but only the experimental group took the treatment Besides the
duration of training concerning the treatment period for the experimental group took 90
minutes ie one hour and a half for each session and it started after getting the
authorization of the teacher of oral expression
36
2121 The Research Design
Figure 2
Experimental Group Procedures
Figure 3
Control Group Procedures
2122 The Pre-test Phase
By the first week of March both the control group and the experimental group have
taken the pretest However before choosing the pretest and in order to avoid any problems
we have checked that the dark [l] and the clear [l] are pronounced the same in both the
American and the British accents using the Oxford Advanced Learnerrsquo s Dictionary At the
outset learners were required to read a passage derived from a short story named ldquoThe last
class-The story of the Alsationrdquo that was written by Alphonse Daudet (2001) and also short
sentences (see Appendix A) After that their voices were recorded using a software known
pre-test
treatment
(listening to audio stories)
post-test
pre-test
No treatment
( being taught without listening
to audio-stories)
post-test
37
as the ldquoPraatrdquo Besides our focus here was raised toward the duration (ie the length of a
syllable) of the dark [l] and the clear [l]
Throughout the pretest EFL learners found themselves unable to pronounce the dark
[ϯ] and clear [l] that are found in some words correctly In other words students in the control
group and the experimental group most of the time pronounce the dark [ϯ] in the same way
they pronounce the clear [l] ie they spend the same duration for pronouncing the two
allophones Also EFL learners from time to time pronounce them differently but in a wrong
way ie they spent a rime duration that it not suitable neither for the light [l] nor for the
dark[ϯ]
Figure4
Example of the Lateral Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoSawmillrdquo
2123 The Treatment Phase
At first both participants have finished the pretest Though the treatment was
approved to the experimental group only the control group did not receive the same
treatment Besides the experimental group received the treatment in four sessions and each
Rime
duration
38
session took one hour and a half (ie 90 minutes) In each session students were asked to
listen to the audio-story in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of both allophones
after that they discussed the story being listened (see Appendix B)
2124 The Control Group
Concerning the control group students were taught the oral expression without any
exposure to any kinds of treatments In contrast to students in the experimental group who
were provided with the audio stories in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of the
both allophones which are the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ]
2125 The Post-test Phase
Fundamentally after finishing the four sessions of training ie the period of
treatment a posttest was administered to both the experimental group and the control group
(see Appendix c) The posttest as we have said before is different from the pretest in order
to avoid familiarity with the same topic and to ensure the learners improvement of the dark
[ϯ] and clear [l] So the posttest is a kind of a passage which was taken from a short story
that is entitled ldquoThe Game of Billiardsrdquo which is written by Alphonse Daudet and some
words to pronounce Furthermore during the posttest we noticed a kind of development in
learnersrsquo pronunciation of the two allophones with students of the experimental group
especially in pronouncing the single words which was not the case with those learners in
the control group
39
Figure 5
Example of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquocabalrdquo
Figure 6
Example of the Clear [l] in the word ldquolabourrdquo
The rime
duration
The rime
duration
40
213 Scoring
After finishing recording the learnersrsquo pronunciation of the phoneme l of both
groups (the control and the experimental group) we have compared them first of all to the
native speakerrsquo s pronunciation and after that we have calculated the rime duration of the
two allophones ie the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] and at last we gave them scores out of six
(6) for each participant
214 Data Analysis
In this sub-section we are going to investigate the EFL learnersrsquo improvement of
pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] Though in order to make sure that EFL
learners have acquired the correct pronunciation of these two allophones we have firstly
investigated the native speakerrsquos pronunciation of the L sound ie the clear [l] and the dark
[ϯ] and we have analyzed the rime duration of two words ldquolightrdquo and ldquoballrdquo as examples
Figure7
The Native Speakerrsquos Pronunciation of the Clear [l] in the Word ldquolightrdquo
Rime
duration
41
Figure8
The Native Speakerrsquo s Pronunciation of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoballrdquo
From these two figures we have noticed that the native speaker has spent 016 s in
pronouncing an ideal clear [l] (see Figure 7) and he has spent 138 s in order to pronounce
a perfect dark [ϯ] (see Figure 8) Thus this analysis of the native speakerrsquo s voice paved the
way to our research in which we based our investigation on it
Table 1
The Experimental and the Control grouprsquo s Scores in the pre-test
Pre-test
Students
Control
group
Experimental
group
Rime
duration
(second)
C E
Rime
duration
42
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (Independent Sample t-
test)
After gathering data for the control and the experimental group and for the purpose
of comparing and contrasting between the two we have calculated the learnersrsquo scores of
pronunciation of the phoneme l and also we have calculated the rime duration of the two
1 1 2 118 127
2 2 25 095 091
3 1 1 116 102
4 25 2 106 091
5 25 25 078 089
6 15 2 078 105
7 2 15 123 091
8 1 1 117 108
9 15 1 119 119
10 15 1 1 115
11 2 15 091 116
12 15 1 12 119
13 2 15 114 1
14 15 1 108 112
15 1 1 131 112
16 2 1 088 08
17 1 1 127 107
18 1 15 107 149
19 15 1 099 115
20 1 15 114 174
Total 31 285 2149 2222
43
allophones (see Table1) Besides the data collected ie the learnersrsquo scores were used in
calculating the means of both groups in the pre-test (the mean is calculated using the SPSS
see Table 2)
Figure 9
The Pre-test Scores of the Control and the Experimental Group
Table 2
The Mean Score of the Control and the Experimental Group in the Pre-test
Test N Mean Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpre 20 15500 51042 11413
Epre 20 14250 51999 11627
44
In order to calculate the Mean () Results we have to use the following formula
=sumx N
N stands for the total numbers of students in one group
sumx stands for the total number of data that was gathered from the pre-test
1 stands for the mean of the Control Group
2 stands for the mean of the Experimental Group
So1= 31 20 =155
2= 285 20 = 142
From ldquoFigure 9rdquo we can notice that 1 is the most frequent score in both the
experimental and the control groups in the pre-test and we can confirm this information
from Table 1 Furthermore when comparing means of both groups we notice (see Table 2)
that there is only a slight difference between the two groups the mean of the control group
is 155 whereas the mean of the experimental group is 142 So we can deduce that the level
of both groups is approximately the same there is no significant difference Moreover the
rime duration of the phoneme l of the experimental group and the control group is to some
extent the same and we can notice this slight difference in Table 1 and precisely in the total
duration of pronouncing the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] by both groups and also in Table 2
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group post-test
In order to confirm if there is any kind of progression in the control grouprsquo s scores
in the post-test concerning the pronunciation of the phoneme l (see Table 3) we have
calculated the mean of the post-test (using the SPSS see Table 4) and compared it with the
mean of the pre-test besides we have calculated the rime duration that has been spent At
45
last we have mentioned the learnersrsquo scores differences between the pre-test and the post-
test to confirm the development (see Figure 10)
Table 3
Results and Scores Differences of the Control and Experimental group in the Post-test
Posttest
Students
Rime
Duration
(Second)
Cpre Cpost Epre Epost
Cpre Cpost Epre Epost
1 1 1 2 4 118 186 127 21
2 2 175 25 5 095 113 091 253
3 1 1 1 45 116 134 102 245
4 25 2 2 35 106 119 091 234
5 25 15 25 55 078 146 089 24
6 15 175 2 5 078 119 105 267
7 2 2 15 45 123 135 091 263
8 1 125 1 5 117 144 108 254
9 15 1 1 425 119 144 119 242
10 15 1 1 55 1 128 115 274
11 2 1 15 45 091 126 116 285
12 1 2 1 5 12 129 119 268
13 2 125 15 55 114 146 1 328
14 15 1 1 55 108 127 112 223
15 1 1 1 5 131 092 112 275
16 2 1 1 475 088 135 08 274
46
17 1 2 1 5 127 094 107 292
18 1 1 15 575 107 096 149 29
19 15 1 1 525 099 114 115 295
20 1 15 15 575 114 132 174 338
Total 31 27 285 9875 2149 2359 2222 535
Diff -4 +7025 +21 +3128
Mean 155 135 142 493
-02 +351
Table 4
The Mean of the control Group in the Pre-test and Post-test
Mean N Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpre 15500 20 51042 11413
Cpost 13500 20 41675 09319
In order to calculate the mean( )result of the control group in the post-test we have to apply
the following formula = sumx N
sum stands for the total number of the data collected in the post-test of the control
group
N refers to the total number of students So = 2720 = 1
47
Figure 10
The Control Group Studentsrsquo Scores Differences
A very insignificant development has been shown in both Figure 7 and Table 3
concerning learners scores in the post-test Besides only Students 681217 and 20 from a
total number of twenty have proved the improvement the mean of the control group has
decreased from 155 in the pre-test to 135 in the post-test ie the mean = -02
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group post-test (Paired Sample
T-test)
In order to identify the scoresrsquo differences between the results of the experimental
group in both the pre-test and the post-test we have calculated the mean of the post-test and
compared it with that of the pre-test to notice if there is any improvement (see Table 3) So
the mean of the post-test is shown in Table 5 below
48
Table 5
The Mean of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and Post-test
Mean N Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Epre 14250 20 51999 11627
Epost 49375 20 59535 13312
From Table 5 we notice that the mean of the experimental group increased from 142 in the
pre-test to 493 in the post-test with a mean difference of 351 ( = +351) and we can
calculate the mean ()of the post-test using the following formula
= sumxN
sum= Stands for the total number of data that was gathered from the post-test in the
Experimental Group
119925 =Stands for the total number of students
So= 9875 20 = 493
From Table 3 we notice that there is a very clear development and difference in
learnersrsquo scores in the post-test which is very different from the pre-test scores (see Figure
12) Moreover we can notice this development from Figure 11 below too It Shows that the
most frequent scores that learners of the experimental group have gained are 45 5 55 and
at last 575(the marks are out of six) that makes a big difference from the scores of the pre-
test in which the most frequent score was 1 In addition to all of this results we can add that
the sum of the rime duration of the post-test differs a lot from that of the pre-test ( = +3128
s)
49
Hence in the light of these results we can say that the period of treatment really
affects in a positive way the learnersrsquo acquisition of the pronunciation of dark [ϯ] and clear
[l] Besides this enhancement was improved in the mean difference between the pre-test and
the post-test of the experimental group Though the comparison of means in the pre-test and
post-test of the experimental group cannot be sufficient in order to make sure that listening
to audio-stories really affects positively the way learners pronounce the Phoneme l
Therefore a paired sample T-test was designed to assess the development of learnersrsquo
acquisition of dark [ϯ] and clear [l] ie to acceptreject the Alternative Hypothesis or to
accept reject the Null Hypothesis (See Table 6 below)
Figure 11
The Scores Frequencies of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and the Post-test
50
Figure 12
The Scores Differences of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and the Post-test
21431 The paired Sample T-test
In order to know if there is any significant difference between the post-test and the
pre-test scores of the same group a t-test is conducted At first the of the experimental
group is calculated through the following formula
= sumdN
refers to the Difference of mean Scores
N Studentsrsquo scores in the Experimental Group
sum refers to the total sum of the Differences Scores
So = 702520= 35125
51
The Standard deviation of the differences
Sd= radic119956120784= radicsum119941120784
119925minus 119941120784
S stands for the Variance
sum119941120784 refers to the square differences of Scores
After calculating
Sdcong 013
The Standard Error of the Mean Difference (SE)
It is calculated using the following formula
SE ()= 119878119889
radic119873cong003
Finally we calculate the t- value that will be compared to the critical P-value at the point
p=005 in order to accept the alternative hypothesis or rejecting it using the following
formula119957120784120782minus120783=
119878119864(119889) = 117
Table 6
Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Post-test Scores differences
Students Pre-test Post-test Difference
1 2 4 2
2 25 5 25
3 1 45 35
4 2 35 15
5 25 55 3
6 2 5 3
52
7 15 45 3
8 1 5 4
9 1 425 325
10 1 55 45
11 15 45 3
12 1 5 4
13 15 55 4
14 1 55 45
15 1 5 4
16 1 475 375
17 1 5 4
18 15 575 425
19 1 525 425
20 15 575 425
Total 285 9875 7025
Table 7
The Paired Sample T-test for the Experimental Group
Paired Sample T-Test
Epre
Scores-
Epost
Scores
Mean Std
deviati-
on
Std-
Error
Mean
95Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
t Df Sig
(2-
tailed)
Lower Upper
-351250 83695 18715 -390421 -312079 -18768 19 000
53
After calculating the mean of the experimental group in both the pre-test and the post-
test (see Table 5) a mean difference of +351 was noticed Therefore in order to prove if
the development that was noticed in the post-test scores as well as the mean occurred
because of the influence of listening to the audio-stories which is the independent variable
or happened only by coincidence
Hence to confirm the Alternative Hypothesis and reject the Null Hypothesis or vice
versa the t-value (117) was calculated in order to be compared with the critical- value at
the point p=005 and at the level of t=19 Besides p-value (0000) is less than 005 which
means that there a real difference between the learnersrsquo scores in the pre-test (before the
period of treatment) and the leanersrsquo scores in the post-test (after the period of treatment)
Consequently we can deduce that the improvement that was achieved by the experimental
group in the post test did not occur by chance actually it occurred because of listening to
audio-stories that has a positive effect on learnersrsquo pronunciation of both the clear [l] and the
dark [ϯ]
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-test
Table 8
The Mean of the Control Group and the Experimental Group in the Post-test
N Mean Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpost 20 13500 41675 09319
Epost 20 49375 59535 13312
54
To calculate the mean () we use the following Formula
= sum119961 N
So 1= sum119961 N
1 refers to the mean of the control group in the post-test
N refers to the total number of students in the control Group
sum119961 stands for the sum of scores of the control group in the post-test
1= 2720 = 135
2 = sum119961 N
2 stands for the mean of the experimental group in the post-test
N refers to the total number of participants in the experimental group
sum119961 Stands for the sum of scores of the experimental group in the post-test
So 2= 987520 = 493
Figure13
The Scores Frequencies of the Control Group and the Experimental Group in the Post-
test
55
From the previous analysis of the mean of both the control and the experimental
group in the pre-test (see Table 3) we have noticed that the level of students in both groups
is almost the same and there is only a slight difference between them Though in the post-
test the scores of the experimental group has increased and as result the mean average has
increased too after the treatment phase for the experimental group (from 142 to 493) but it
decreased for the control group who were taught without being exposed to any kind of
treatment (see Table 8 and Figure 10) Besides we can notice the development also in the
rime duration in studentsrsquo pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] of the experimental
group in the post-test which is not the case with the control group
21441 An independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the post-
test
In order to investigate if there is any significant change between two diverse groups
who have run the same test a t-test is used to show this significance difference In our case
we want to inspect if there is any significant variation between the experimental group and
the control group in the post-test and whether we accept the Alternative Hypothesis or
rejecting the Null Hypothesis So depending on the following steps a t-test was calculated
using the following formula
t= 119883 119888minus 119890
radicpartx2
Nx+
1205971199102
119873119910
partx2 = sum(119883 minus 119890 )N
= 306
1205971199102 =sum(119883 minus 119888 )2119873
= 160
119888 the mean of the control group in the post-test
56
119890 the mean of the experimental group in the post-test
partx2 the variation of the experimental group
1205971199102 the variation of the control group
So t= 493minus 135
radic306
20+
160
20
=745
t-value= 745
Depending on the t-value (745) that was calculated we compare it with the critical p-
value at p=005 therefore we have two options
1- If t-value is greater than the critical p-value (t-valuegtcritical-value) we accept the
alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
2- If t-value is less than the critical-value (t-valueltcritical-value) we accept the null
hypothesis and refuse the alternative hypothesis
we can say that
t-value=745 745 gt005
We accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
p-value= 0000 0000 lt005
We accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
Depending on these results we can say that there is a statistical evidence that the
associated sampling means are significantly different In other words there is a real change
between the experimental group and the control group in the post test at the level of
pronunciation due to the positive influence of the independent variable which is ldquolistening
to the audio-storiesrdquo Therefore students of the experimental group showed a significant
57
progress at the level of pronunciation and precisely the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
pronunciation
215 Discussion of the Results
The current research has investigated the influence of listening to audio-stories on
acquiring accurate pronunciation of both allophones the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] At the
start the pre-test has proved that learners of both groups ie the control and the
experimental group have the same level through calculating their means The control group
scored a mean of 155 while the experimental group scored a mean of 142 and also they
have got near scores concerning the rime duration of the L sound So these estimated scores
helped us to prove and confirm our hypothesis that states the positive effect of listening to
audio-stories on the level of pronunciation accuracy In the post-test students of the
experimental group showed a significant development compared to the control group and
this is due to the period of treatment that occurred in the oral session Besides the mean
score of the experimental group has been raised from 142 to 493 and from a sum of rime
durations of 2222 s to 535 s while the mean score of the control group has been decreased
from 155 to 135 and increased from a sum of rime durations of 2149 s to 2359 s In
addition a t-test was designed to show if there is any statistical significant difference
between the experimental group and the control group in the post-test the results show the
positive influence of the treatment phase on the dependent variable (pronunciation
accuracy)
216 Pedagogical implication
The present research evidenced the positive influence of being exposed to the target
language pronunciation as it is produced by the native speakers through the exposure to the
audio-stories Therefore we can state a set of pedagogical implications
58
The present study shows that the more students get involved in listening practices
the more they will be proficient in the pronunciation of a various English sounds ie
developing their speaking proficiency
Audio-stories help EFL learners improve their pronunciation as well as to develop
their listening skills
Using multimedia devices (audio-stories in our case) in learning classrooms
enhances the learnersrsquo motivation to get involved in the learning process
Audio-stories can be used by EFL teachers in order to make learners attentive and
interested in the lecture being presented
Audio-stories provide learners with the chance to listen again and again to the story
in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of a given word
Conclusion
The present research examined the effect of listening to audio stories on fostering the
target language pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] The native speakerrsquo s
pronunciation of both allophones was analyzed first through analyzing the rime duration in
order to compare it with the EFL learnersrsquo articulation That is to say the analysis is based
on the native speakerrsquo s rime duration In addition a significant development in learnersrsquo
pronunciation of the dark[ϯ]and the clear [l] was proved which lead to accept the alternative
hypothesis that states listening to audio-stories has a positive effect on acquiring accurate
pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] by EFL learners
59
General Conclusion
The present study is based on the investigation of the effectiveness of listening to
audio stories on acquiring accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] by EFL
learners At the beginning we have stated the problem which was that the Algerian EFL
learners in the English department at LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi University face a lot of difficulties
concerning the acquisition of the accurate pronunciation of The phoneme l Subsequently
this dissertation tackled the importance of listening to audio-stories on enhancing EFL
learnersrsquo pronunciation accuracy
Our research was tackled in two main chapters The first chapter divided into two
main sections In the first section we tackled the point of listening to audio stories whereas
the second section discussed the reflection of listening to audio stories on the pronunciation
of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] The second chapter represented the practical part the field
work The analyzed data showed that there is a positive relationship between the independent
variable and the dependent variable That is to say there was a development in the
acquisition of the phoneme l which lead us to accept the alternative hypothesis and reject
the null hypothesis
60
Limitations of the Study
Limited sources ie most of the sources that were available were not relevant to our
study
Time constraints this study needs much more time to conduct a better result
Students absences in the pre-test and the post-test and others did not receive the
treatment at all
The lack of interest in the beginning of the treatment session
61
List of References
Alonso SR (2012) The importance of Teaching Listening and Speaking Skills Diagravectica de Lingua
y la Literatura Facultad de Education
Brown S (2006) Teaching Listening Cambridge Cambridge University press
Coulter C Michael C ampPoynor L (2007) Storytelling as Pedagogy An Unexpected Outcome
of narrative inquiry 104-105
Daudet A (2001) Five Short Stories Copyright copy Bartlebycom Inc
Downs L J (2008) Listening Skills Training ASTD press
Eckert J (2016) Audio Storytelling in Todayrsquos Visual World The necessary Components of a
successful sounds scape for an audio play
Gilakjani A P (2012) A study of Factors Affecting EFL learnersrsquo English Pronunciation Learning
and the Strategy for instruction Lahijani Iran 2(3) 119-128
Hamer J (1998) How to teach English An Introduction to the Practice of English Language
Teaching English Language Teaching Harlow Longman
Hendrickson J (1992) Storytelling for foreign language and linguistics Washington Dc Eric
learning house on language and linguistic [ Eric No E0355-824]
Kline J A (1996) Listening Effectively Air University Press
Madden M and Moore Z (1997) ESL Studentsrsquo Opinions about instruction in Pronunciation
Texas 3(2) 15-32
Mendelson D J (1994) Learning to Listen Dominie Press
Nasreddin K (2010) The Influence of Background Knowledge on Second Language Listening
Comprehension Constantine Constantine University
62
Poposka V p (2016) Pronunciation Proficiency Level Problematic Areas of Tertiary as a Foreign
Language International Journal of Science and Basic and Applied Research
Richards J C (1990) The Language Teaching Matrix Cambridge Cambridge University Pess
Rubin SS (2015) Tools for Creating Audio Stories scholarship University of California
Roney RC (1996) Storytelling in the classroom Some Theoretical Thoughts Wayne State
University Education Detroit Michigan
Sproat R ampFujimura O (1993) Allophonic variation of the English l and its Implication for
phonetic Implementation Academic Press
Torky SA (2006) The Effectiveness of a Task-Based Instruction Program in Developing English
Language Speaking Skills of Secondary Stage Students Collegersquo s girl Ain Shams
University
Ummah A (2014) The Effectiveness of Nursery Rhymes to Facilitate Studentsrsquo of Pronunciation of
the Diphthong Education and Teacher Training Faculty Walisongo State institution for
Islamic Studies
Wang M (2016) Research on the Acoustic Realization of Lateral in Sundanese International
Journal of Engineering Research and Development 12(10) 44-48
Ziane R (2012) The Role of Listening Comprehension in Improving EFL learners Speaking Skill
Biskra University of Biskra
Zhang Q (2009) Affecting Factors of Native-Like Pronunciation A Literature Review Ching-Ang
University 27(2) 33-52
63
Abrahamson CE (1998) Storytelling as a pedagogical tool in high Education 118(3) Retrieved
from
httpwwwquestiacomlibraryjournal1G1-20494609storytelling-as-a-pedagogical-tool-
inhighereducation
AMP Research Center (2012) Retrieved from
Httpwwwncertrmqeduauconference2001indexhtal
Backley P (nd) Improving your English Pronunciation Retrieved from
httptoefluobabyloneduiqpaperspearson-2015-1269610pdf
Chaney (1998) Teaching Speaking Retrieved from
httpitesljorgtechniqueKayi-teaching speakinghtml
English Club (nd) What is listening Retrieved from
httpwwwenglishclubcom
Miller E (2011) Theories of story and storytelling Retrieved from
httpwww-storytellingandvideoconferencingcom167pdf
Pederson E M (1995) Storytelling and the art of listening English teaching forum 33(1)2-5
Retrieved from httpExchangesStategovForumuolsn01p2htm
Remen R N (nd) Listening Skills Retrieved from
httpwwwskillsyouneedcomipslistening-Skills-html
Rock R (nd) 5 Wonderful Websites for Engaging ESL Audio Short Stories Retrieved from
httpwwwFluentucomenglisheducatorsblogeslaudio-short-stories
Seifert S (nd) Follow Along 6 Engaging ESL Audio Stories with worksheet ideas Retrieved from
httpwwwFluentucomenglisheducatorblogeslaudio-stories
Saricoban A (2004) The Teaching of listening The Internet TESL journal
httpitesljorgArticlesSaricobn-listeninghtml
Subhi s (2016) Differences between Hearing and listening Retrieved from
httpkeydifferencescomdifference-between-hearning-and-listeninghtml
64
Shen CD (2010) 3 reasons why listening skills are very important in Todayrsquo s Business World
Retrieved from httpezinearticlescom3-Reasons-why-listening-skills-are-very-important-in-
Todays-Business-worldampid=5436504
the adapted audio-stories that were used in the period of treatment
(httpwwwmanythingsorgvoastories)
Appendix A A pre-test
The Last class- The Story of the Alsatian
I was very late for school that morning and I was terribly afraid of being Scolded
especially as Monsieur Hamel had told us that he should examine us on participles and I
did not know the first thing about them For a moment I thought of saying away from
school and wandering about the fields It was such a warm lovely day I could hear the
blackbirds whistling on the edge of the wood and in the ripper field behind the sawmill
the Prussians going through their drill All that was much more tempting to me than the
rules concerning participles but I had the strength to resist and I ran as fast as I could to
school
Sentences
You old fool they will kill you if you always trouble them
People are awfully lazy in the middle of July
Appendix B A post-test
The Game of Billiards
The marshalrsquo s opponent is a young captain of the staff belted and curled and light-
gloved who is in the first rank of billiard-players and capable of beating all the marshals
on earth but he has the tact to keep a respectful distance behind his chief and devotes his
energies to the task of not winning and at the same time not losing too easily He is what is
called an officer with a future
Read the following words
1 Cabal
2 Labour
3 Shell
Appendix c Treatment period
I Session one (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquothe Secret Gardenrdquo (Chapter One) By Frances Hodgson
Burnett
II Session two (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Secret Gardenrdquo (Chapter two) By Frances Hodgson
Burnett
III Session three (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Lady or the Tigerrdquo by Frank R Stockton
IV Session four (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Lady in Blackrdquo By Eleanor Porter
Reacutesumeacute
La preacutesente eacutetude vise agrave eacutetudier lrsquoarticulation de dark [ϯ] et clear [l] dans les classes de la
langue anglaise afin dameacuteliorer la prononciation des apprenants Lrsquoeacutetude actuelle repose
sur lhypothegravese que leacutecoute des histoires audio a un effet positif sur lameacutelioration de la
prononciation des apprenants EFL avec un accent particulier sur le dark [ϯ] et clear [l] Afin
datteindre lobjectif de cette recherche une eacutetude quasi-expeacuterimentale a eacuteteacute assigneacute en
deux groupe group teacutemoin et group expeacuterimentale Chaque groupe contenait 20 eacutelegraveves
Lexpeacuterience a pris six seacuteances un preacute-test une peacuteriode de traitement (4 seacuteances) et un
posttest En conclusion les reacutesultats obtenus montrent que les eacutetudiants qui sont exposeacute agrave
la langue cible et qui eacutecoutent au locuteur natif agrave lrsquoaide audio pour ameacuteliorer leurs
prononciations ont montreacute qursquoil y a un deacuteveloppement ameacutelioration au niveau de
compeacutetence des apprenants en particulier et en matiegravere de parole en geacuteneacuterale
Les mots cleacutes audio-histoire Compeacutetence drsquoeacutecoute prononciation dureacute de travaille
ملخص
استخدام القصص الصوتية من اجل المساعدة على اكتساب النطق السليم والدقيق تهدف هذه الدراسة الى التعرف على مدى فعالية
الأجنبية حيث تستند الدراسة الحالية على فرضية مفادها ان الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية له تأثير إيجابي على تحسين ةللغ
استغرقت التجربة ست ق المنهج التجريبيمن أجل تحقيق هدف هذه الدراسة تم تطبينطق الطلاب الأجانب للغة الإنجليزية
جلسات قسمت كالاتي أربع حصص معالجة سبقت باختبارات قبلية ولحقت باختبارات بعدية أجريت الدراسة في قسم اللغة
طالبا من طلاب السنة ثانية جامعي قسم الطلبة الى فوجين حيث 40الإنجليزية بجامعة العربي بن مهيدي وقد شملت الدراسة
ى معالجة لمدة أربع حصص من خلال الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية في حين لم يتعرض الفوج الثاني خضع أحد الفوجين ال
الى نفس المعالجة بعد ذلك تم اجراء الاختبارات البعدية واعتمادا على النتائج المتحصل عليها ثبت ان التعرض الى اللغة
جابي على اكتساب النطق الدقيق للغة المستهدفة الا وهي اللغة الأجنبية عن طريق الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية له تأثير إي
الأجنبية
القصص الصوتية النطق مدة الموجات الصوتيةالكلمات المفتاحية المهارة السمعية
V
List of Tables
Table 1 The Experimental and the Control grouprsquo s Scores in the Pre-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphellip41
Table 2 The Mean Score of the Control and the Experimental Group in The Pre-test hellip43
Table 3 Results and Scores Differences of the Control and Experimental Group in the
Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip45
Table 4 The Mean of the Control Group in the Pre-test and Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip46
Table 5 The Mean of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphellip48
Table 6 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Post-test Scores Differenceshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip51
Table 7 The Paired Sample T-test for the Experimental Grouphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip52
Table 8 The Mean of the Control Group and The Experimental Group in the Post-testhellip53
VI
List of Figures
Figure 1 Articulatory Differences in l Velarization helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip31
Figure 2 Experimental Group Procedureshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip36
Figure 3 Control Group Procedureshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip36
Figure 4 Example of the Lateral Dark [ϯ]in the Word ldquoSawmillrdquohelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip37
Figure 5 Example of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoCabalrdquo helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip39
Figure 6 Example of the Clear [l]in the Word ldquolabourrdquohelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip39
Figure 7 The Native Speakerrsquo s Pronunciation of the Clear [l] in the Word ldquolightrdquohelliphellip40
Figure 8 The Native Speakerrsquos Pronunciation of the Dark [ϯ] in the word ldquoballrdquohelliphelliphellip41
Figure 9 The Pre-test Scores of the Control and the Experimental Grouphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip43
Figure 10 The Control Group Studentsrsquo Scores Differences helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip47
Figure 11 The Scores Frequencies of the Experimental Group in The Pre-test and the
Post- testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip49
Figure 12 The Scores Differences of the Experimental Group in the pre-test and the Post-
testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip50
Figure 13 The Scores Frequencies of the Control Group and The Experimental Group in
the Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip54
VII
Content
Introductionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip2
1 Statement of the problem helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip2
2 Aim of the studyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip3
3 Research questionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 3
4 Research hypothesishelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip3
5 Means of the studyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip3
6 Structure of the studyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip4
Chapter One Theoretical background
Section One Listening to Audio Stories
Introductionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip6
11 Definition of Listening Skillhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip6
12 Differences between Listening and Hearing helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip8
13 Reasons of listening helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip8
14 Types of Listeninghelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip9
141 Extensive Listeninghelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip9
142 Intensive Listeninghelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip10
15 Listening Processes helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip10
151 Bottom-up Processhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip10
152 Top down processhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip11
16 Brief History of Audio-Storieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip11
17 Definition of Storytellinghelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip12
18 Definition of Audio-Storieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip13
19 Characteristics of a Good Audio-Storyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip14
110 The Use of Audio-Stories in ESL Classroomshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip15
111 Advantages of Using Audio-Storieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip17
Conclusionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip18
Section two Reflection on Pronunciation
Introductionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip20
11Definition of Speaking Skillhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip20
12Speaking Sub-Competencies Skillshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip22
13 Definition of Pronunciationhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip22
VIII
14Importance of Pronunciationhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip24
15 Factors Affecting Pronunciationhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip25
16151 Internal Factorshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip25
152 External Factorshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip28
Conclusion helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip31
Chapter two Field Work
Introductionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip34
21 Methodologyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip34
211 Research Participantshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip34
212 The Procedurehelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip35
2121 The Research Design helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip36
2122 The Pre-test Phasehelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip36
2123 The Treatment Phasehelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip37
2124 The Control Grouphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip38
2125 The Post-test Phasehelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip38
213 Scoring helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip40
214 Data Analysishelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip40
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (independent
Sample t-test)helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip42
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip44
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group Post-test (Paired
Sample t-test)helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 47
21431 Paired Sample t-test helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip50
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip53
21441 An Independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group
in the Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip55
215 Discussion of the Resultshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip57
216 Pedagogical Implicationshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip57
Conclusionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip58
General Conclusionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip59
Limitation of The Studyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip60
List of Referenceshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip61
Appendices
IX
Reacutesumeacute
ملخص
1
General introduction
Introduction
1 Statement of the Problem
2 Aim of the Study
3 Research Question
4 Research Hypothesis
5 Means of the Study
6 Structure of the Study
2
Introduction
Acquiring comprehensible pronunciation for EFL learners is one of the key supplies
for language proficiency Nowadays mastering the foreign language is the main concern
that most of EFL learners share This high attention raises due to the exposure to the target
language and to the complications that learners may face at whatever time they want to
communicate whether with foreigners or with one another using for instance the English
language Besides listening is not only a matter of innate ability but it is a matter of how to
develop that inborn capacity in order to improve the learnersrsquo pronunciation accuracy
Accordingly audio-stories are used to help developing the learnersrsquo listening skill and to
improve their pronunciation accurateness Furthermore using audio stories in teaching EFL
learners help to evidence that an effective listening process leads to an effective articulation
1 Statement of the Problem
Generally speaking there are various factors that affect learnersrsquo acquisition of the
target language pronunciation The Algerian EFL learners encounter many problems
concerning articulation because EFLESL learners do not have much opportunities to be
exposed to the real language as it is produced by the native speakers in the classroom Since
English is a foreign language learners avoid using it outside the classroom which is resulted
in a bad pronunciation Therefore EFL teachers are required to use audio-stories inside the
classrooms in order to develop studentsrsquo second language and to improve their pronunciation
accuracy
3
2 Aim of the Study
The current study deals with the learnersrsquo pronunciation difficulties of the dark [ϯ]
and the clear [l] It aims at investigating the effect of listening to audio-stories on fostering
the target languagersquos accurate pronunciation of both allophones
3 Research Question
The present study seeks to answer the following question
Does listening to audio-stories help EFL learners to acquire the accurate
pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
4 Research Hypothesis
In order to answer the research question the subsequent hypotheses are framed
H1 The EFL learners will acquire accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the
clear [l] through listening to audio-stories
H0 Listening to audio stories will not help EFL learners to acquire accurate
pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
5 Means of the Research
In order to achieve the objective of our research a quasi-experimental design is
administered to second year LMD students of English Department at LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi
University The selected sample (40 students from 210) consists of two groups the control
group and the experimental group Both groups will be pretested in order to assess their
pronunciation accuracy level The pre-test is a kind of short story and small sentences that
contain the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] which learners have to read After that the Praat will be
used in order to record their voices Later on the experimental group will take the treatment
for four sessions in which they will listen to the audio stories each session will take one
4
hour and a half However the control group will not receive any kind of treatment (they will
be taught in a normal way without listening to audio stories) Furthermore a post-test which
is different from that of the pre-test will be administered to both groups in order to test their
pronunciation development
6 Structure of the Study
The present study is divided into two chapters The first chapter is a theoretical one
and it is composed of two sections The first section is about listening to audio stories in
which we define the process of listening and mention the main differences between listening
and hearing After that we discuss the reasons of listening its types and processes Later
on the second sub-section deals with audio stories At the start we introduce a brief history
about the notion of audio stories and then we introduce stories in general Afterward we
discuss the characteristics of audio stories their use and advantages The second section
deals with the pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] at the beginning we shed light
on the definition of speaking skill and its sub-competencies After that a part of this section
deals with the definition of pronunciation and its importance Besides it introduces factors
that affect pronunciation The second chapter deals with the field work in which it sheds
light on collecting data presenting and analyzing it and at the end interpreting results
5
Section One Listening to Audio Stories
Introduction
11 Definition of Listening Skill
12 Differences between Listening and Hearing
13 Reasons of Listening
14 Types of Listening
141 Extensive Listening
142 Intensive Listening
15 Listening Processes
151 Bottom-up Process
152 Top down Process
16 Brief History of Audio-Stories
17 Definition of Storytelling
18 Definition of Audio-Stories
19 Characteristics of a Good Audio-Story
110 The Use of Audio-Stories in ESL Classrooms
111 Advantages of Using Audio-Stories
Conclusion
6
Introduction
Nowadays there is a great emphasis put on listening skill since it plays a significant
role in teaching and acquiring the foreign language So this high attention raises because of
the difficulties that learners face whenever they want to communicate thatrsquos why many
researchers shed light on Audio Stories as a tool that can help in developing learnersrsquo
listening process as well as improving their speaking skills and precisely their
pronunciation
The main concern of this section is listening to audio stories First of all we shed
light on the first part which is listening process At the start we need to define listening
skills according to different scholars later on we tackle the main differences between
listening and hearing Also reasons of listening its types and processes Then the second
part of this section deals with the audio stories In the beginning we introduce a brief history
of audio stories and later on the definition of stories in general After that we present the
meaning of audio stories in a specific way and its main characteristics Lastly this section
highlights the use and the advantages of audio stories inside EFL classrooms
11 Definition of Listening Skill
ldquoThe most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen Just to
listen Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attentionrdquo (Remen
2011)
Listening is an important skill in learning and acquiring a foreign language Through
this process learners will be able to receive and understand information According to
Downs (2008) ldquothe word of listening is defined as making an effort to hear something to
pay attention or heedrdquo (p 1) In other words Downs (2008) argues that listening is the way
7
learners pay attention to what is being said In her opinion listening is an active process that
includes using a variety of processes which are attending understanding interpreting
responding and remembering Moreover Mendelsohn (1994) demonstrates listening as ldquothe
ability to understand the spoken language of native speakersrdquo (p 64) To be precise
Mendelsohn defines listening as the listenerrsquo s ability to recognize the native speakerrsquo s
speech in terms of accent pitch intonation vocabulary grammar and trying to interpret the
native speakerrsquo s messages
Saricoban (1999) states that listening is onersquos capacity to realise what is being said
and to recognize the intended meaning He sheds light on two important points the first
point concerns understanding the speakerrsquos pronunciation syntax and lexis whereas the
second point deals with grasping the meaning Willis (1981) lists a series of micro-skills of
listening which she calls enabling skills They are
Predicting what people are going to talk about
Guessing at unknown words or phrases without panic
Using onersquo s own knowledge of the subject to help one understand
Identifying relevant points rejecting irrelevant information
Retaining relevant points (note-taking summarizing)
Recognizing discourse markers eg well oh another thing is now finally
etc
Recognizing cohesive devices e g such as and which including linking
words pronouns references etc
Understanding different intonation patterns and uses of stress etc which give
clues to meaning and social setting
8
Understanding inferred information eg speakerrsquo s attitude or intentions
(p134
Furthermore listening is an important source of knowledge It is recognized as the
ability of transforming and interpreting the spoken messages that are received by the ears
from the daily life situations Yet listening is a very hard task It requires the learnersrsquo mental
concentration which is something difficult because the human brain can simply lose attention
That is to say listening skill can save learners from communication breakdowns and
increases their motivation to learn the foreign language and speak fluently but only if they
work harder to develop their own listening skills
12 Differences between Listening and Hearing
Listening and hearing are two different activities Kline (1996) emphasizes the
differences between these two concepts to make an effective listening He states that
ldquohearing is the attachment of meaning to the sound Hearing is passive listening is activerdquo
(p7) In other words active listening is a successful element that affects learnersrsquo verbal and
nonverbal behaviors
Surbhi (2016) states the differences between listening and hearing On the one hand
he defines hearing as the natural capacity that happens unconsciously It aids to identify
sounds via the ears Also hearing is a process that permits receiving sound vibrations and
it is one of the five senses On the other hand Surhbi (2016) defines listening skill as the
process of receiving and interpreting messages it occurs consciously
13 Reasons of Listening
Learners through being exposed to different English accents and in any recorded
materials such as radio TV or tapes they want to understand and realize what is being said
9
(Harmer 1998) According to him listening is a very effective process that helps learners to
get a better pronunciation In other words as much as they are exposed to the real language
as much as they will recognize its features
Also Shen (2010) demonstrates that listening skills help to improve understanding
and aids people to become aware of their listening skills So listening plays a vital role in
language learning and acquisition It is an essential skill that bridges the line between
meaning and messages in order to avoid misunderstanding between individuals
14 Types of listening
Generally speaking the listening skill plays a significant role in teaching EFL
classrooms This process guides EFL learners to an effective communication Therefore the
listening skill can be classified into two different types Extensive listening and intensive
listening
141 Extensive Listening
Extensive listening has to do with the learnerrsquos fluency In other words the learner has
to master vocabulary grammarhellipetc and later on he must combine them together to form
a meaningful conversation So fluency depends on the listenerrsquos ability of understanding
whatever he is exposed to weather in an audio tape a text a songhellipetc
Harmer (1998) states that extensive listening is the way students practice their own
listening outside the classroom Students should enjoy listening to an audio material because
they can understand them without the teacherrsquo s help Also students can depend on CDs and
tapes so that they are going to have another chance to listen to their course books dialogues
that they have already provided to them inside the classroom In addition learners must be
10
stimulated to listen to the English language films with sub-titles because this helps students
to acquire the foreign language
In brief extensive listening according to the Extensive Reading-Central (2012) includes
Listening to massive amounts of text
Text which learners can understand reasonably smoothly
high levels of comprehension
Listening without being constrained by pre-set questions or tasks
Listening at or below onersquo s comfortable fluent listening ability
So extensive listening aims to make learners enjoy developing their listening skills
142 Intensive Listening
In contrast to extensive listening intensive listening aims at developing the learnersrsquo
specific listening skills and more precisely to raise the learnersrsquo attention about the spoken
language Intensive listening occurs weather in classrooms or laboratories It exists mostly
when teachers guide their students and provide them with help concerning listening
problems that they face and try to highlight them (Harmer 2007)
So intensive listening according to the Extensive Reading-central (2012) is
Listening for specific information
Listening for the exact words of a phrase or expression
Listening for details
Listening to mimic a text
11
15 Listening Processes
In listening process addressees process information using two distinct strategies
This is devoted to as bottom-up and top-down
151 Bottom-up Process
Richards (1990) states that ldquobottom-up processing refers the use of incoming data as
a source of information about the meaning of a messagerdquo (p 50) According to him Bottom-
up process deals with the perception of sentence components ie recognizing the meaning
of sounds words sentences clauseshellipetc till reaching the meaning of the whole message
152 Top-down Process
Richards (190) states that ldquoTop-down processing on the other hand refers to the use
of background knowledge in understanding the meaning of a messagerdquo (p 51) In contrast
to Bottom-up process Richards (1990) points out to the Top-down as the process of using
the listenersrsquo previous knowledge to attain meaning as whole not attaining the meaning of
individual words
16 Brief History of Audio-Stories
Eckert (2016) states that ldquoAudio storytelling in the form of radio drama has been
around for almost a centuryrdquo (p 8) That is to say audio stories in the previous decades took
the form of radio drama Radio drama attained extensive admiration within an era of its
original growth in the 1920rsquo s At that time radio drama played a central role for being the
foundation of people entertainment However by the 1950rsquo s people shifted their attention
to the new invention which was the small screen ie the television As a result of the
invention of this new device audio drama no more attracts the spectatorsrsquo attention it lost
its popularity
12
Though in 2010 radio drama came back to stage due to the developments shown in
digital soundtrack and internet spreading According to Eckert (2016) ldquoRadio and audio
storytelling has slowly started gaining popularity again thanks to the different online
platforms brought forth by digitalizationrdquo (p 8)
17 Definition of Storytelling
Today stories are a fundamental part of our societies and cultures Telling and
listening to stories is an ancient tradition and common activity that bonds different olden
civilizations together Also stories are an essential component and an ordinary process that
many people used to do on every occasion It is the art of telling factual or fictional stories
Besides stories bring legacy into life because our ancestors told them and people today
only retell them
Moreover listening to stories enhances the learnersrsquo foreign language It aids them
to improve their speaking skills Pederson (1995) states that ldquoin dealing with stories learners
have an experience with the powerful real language of personal communicationrdquo (p 2)
Additionally Pederson (1995) emphasizes the role of telling stories in preserving heritage
he argues that ldquooral stories are a direct expression of a literary and cultural heritage and
through them that heritage is appreciated understood and kept aliverdquo (1995 p2) In other
words stories bond between the past and the present It is considered to be a vital feature of
humankind Furthermore Schram (1994 as cited in Coulter Michael amp Poynor 2007)
points out
A story is a beautiful means of teaching religion values history traditions and
customs a creative method of introducing characters and places an imaginative way
13
to instill hope and resourceful thinking Stories help us to understand who we are and
show us what legacies to transmit to future generations (p 104-105)
So Schram (1994) highlights the role of stories in bridging the gap between the teaching
process and culture
Likewise Abrahamson (1998) sheds light on the role that storytelling plays in the
learning process He states that telling stories plays a significant role in improving learnersrsquo
understanding Besides Abrahamson argues that stories can afford a suitable context that
the listener can use it as a base to perceive the tellerrsquos point of view Moreover Roney (1996)
demonstrates
In its most basic form storytelling is a process where a person (the teller) using
vocalization narrative structure and mental imagery communications with other
humans (the audience) who also use mental imagery and in turn communicate back
to the teller primarily via body language and facial expression (p 2)
By this definition storytelling is the combination of art procedures and ways of
communication
18 Definition of Audio-Stories
The term audio-story is a combination of two words audio and story By definition
audio is sound within the aural range accessible to humankinds Miller (2011) states that
ldquostories are pieces of art and can serve as a basis of gamesrdquo (p 1) So Audio-story is a very
operative means for teaching EFL learners It aids to make the course persuasive Nowadays
14
audio stories can be used to many reasons and the most important one is the exposure to the
real language of native speakers by EFL learners In addition Rubin (2015) points out
ldquoaudio stories are an engaging form of communication that combines speech and music into
a compelling narrativesrdquo (p 1) That is to say audio stories are the process of telling stories
through sound and sound effects only Furthermore Audio-stories are broadly accredited to
progresses in portable equipment for instance smart phones tablets and multimedia
entertainment systems Thus EFL learners find it easy to listen to those audio stories
19 Characteristics of a Good Audio-Story
According to Seifert (nd) finding good audio-stories that suit the EFL learnersrsquo
needs is something very important and it is a very hard task to do However these are some
of the necessary features that EFL teachers must take into consideration whenever they want
to select a good audio-story for their students
Skill Level
Taking into account the learnersrsquo English level before choosing any audio-story For
instance if the audio-story contains a difficult language learners will lose confidence and
as a result they stop listening to the audio-story So determining the learnersrsquo level is very
important
Student Interest
EFL teachers must find out their studentsrsquo interests and normally each teacher has
an idea about this issue So if the audio-stories do not fit the learnersrsquo needs the EFL
teacherrsquos goal from that audio-story will be lost
15
Audio Length
The length of the audio-story plays a significant role in keeping concentration in the
ESL schoolrooms Listening for much time to the audio storytelling leads to boredom As a
result the learnersrsquo s brains lose attention However teachers can use long audio-stories but
they should know how to put it into parts and use classroom discussions to avoid boredom
So these three characteristics aid to develop EFL learnersrsquo listening skills
110 The Use of Audio-Stories in ESL Classrooms
According to Rock (nd) there are several listening practices that ESLEFL teachers
can provide to their students These are samples of activities that can work hand in hand with
audio-stories
Fill in The Blanks
Here EFL teacher provides his students with a written passage that is taken from an
audio-story but he removes some words Later on the teacher asks his learners to listen to
the audio-story after reading that passage and at the same time fill in the blanks
Mastery Memory
This activity has to do with learnerrsquos memory In this kind of practices teachers
provide learners with an audio-story and ask them for example to write down the main
events of the story but when they finish listening to it Teachers in this activity have to make
sure that students do not write them during the listening of the audio-story So the main goal
of the exercise is to reinforce learnerrsquos memory
16
Order the Events
At the start teachers give their learners a series of events that are chosen from an
audio-story Then the teacher gives them some time to read them After that learners listen
to the audio- storytelling and put those events in a sequential order
Buzz Words
This exercise aims to reach the learnerrsquo s vocabulary In this practice teachers
provide learners with a number of words then they ask them to check their meanings before
Afterward teacher turns the lesson into a game ie EFL learners listen to the audio-story
and whenever they hear a word (the buzz word) from that list they have to raise their hands
or clap them
Multiple Choice
This activity deals with providing learners with a number of questions followed by
three answers these questions can be definitions or name of characterhellip etc Then learners
have to listen to the audio-storytelling and pick the write response After teachers play again
the audio-story to correct their answers
Character Quiz
In this practice EFL learners have to listen to the whole story Then the teacher gives
his class a question sheet that contains a list of character qualities and decision and ask them
to choose the suitable one for the leading role
Plot Quiz
This activity has to do with team competition After listening to the whole audio-
storytelling once or twice the teacher divides his class into two to four groups where the
17
teacher plays the role of the coach Several questions that have a relation to the story will be
quizzed to each team if they get the answer they have a point if they fail to answer correctly
the question moves to the next group
Beginning Middle End
After listening to the audio storytelling the teacher splits the classroom into groups
and each group contains no more than four students Later he asks each group to write the
main events of the beginning the middle and the end of the story Finally they discuss them
together
111 Advantages of Using Audio-Stories
Audio-stories play an essential role in teaching the target language Audio-
storytelling is an impeccable implement for any ESL classrooms First of all audio-stories
afford learners with the exposure to the real language as it is produced by the native speakers
ie a natural voice Furthermore Rodero (2012 as cited in Eckert2016) claimed that
ldquoAudio stories that use sound effects and sound shots enhance the learnerrsquo s attention and
creation of visual images significantly compared to those without themrdquo (p 16) That is to
say using audio-stories in ESL classrooms develops learnersrsquo listening skills and provides
them with an imaginary trip inside their minds Also audio- stories enhance learnersrsquo
pronunciation since the learner is exposed to the natural voice In addition EFL teacher can
use audio storytelling as a guideline to his lecture or the opposite he can use it at the end of
the course as a reward
Moreover the EFL teachers depend on audio-stories in improving learnersrsquo
vocabulary through memorization Learners can enrich their vocabulary whenever they
listen to those stories because each time they learn some new words Besides learners can
18
listen to them outside the schoolrooms because they are portable they can upload them in
their mobiles and listen to them any time anywhere Finally audio stories can raise interest
for those learners who are not attracted to reading
Conclusion
In conclusion listening to audio stories aids EFL learners to improve the target
language pronunciation That is to say students will be exposed to the real language as it is
created by the native speakers Besides using audio stories in ESLEFL classrooms increases
the learnersrsquo interest toward learning the foreign language and also enhances their speaking
skills
19
Section two Reflection on Pronunciation
Introduction
121 Definition of Speaking Skill
122 Speaking Sub-Competencies Skills
123 Definition of Pronunciation
124 Importance of Pronunciation
125 Factors Affecting Pronunciation
1251 Internal Factors
1252 External Factors
Conclusion
20
Introduction
Generally speaking being able to speak the target language fluently and accurately
seems to be very interesting to all EFLESL learners Though students face a lot of troubles
and obstacles when communicating with each other or with native speakers and this is due
to mispronunciation misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the hearer which leads to the
communication breakdowns Furthermore learnersrsquo mispronunciation occurs due to various
factors that affect their oral language and as a consequence it affects their speaking
proficiency
In this section we have dealt with the speaking process and precisely
ldquopronunciationrdquo At the start a slight attention is put upon the definition of speaking skills
and its sub-competencies After that a part of this section is devoted to define pronunciation
and highlight its importance Moreover this section demonstrates some factors that affect
pronunciation which are classified into internal factors and external factors Finally another
point about the English consonant ldquoLrdquo has been raised
121 Definition of Speaking Skill
Mastering the foreign language is the aim of each EFL learner Speaking is one of
the most important language skills it plays a significant role in sharing ideas and thoughts
between individuals Torky (2006) defines speaking as follows ldquoIt is the means through
which learners can communicate with others to achieve certain goals or to express their
opinions intentions hopes and viewpointsrdquo (p 13) Also Ziane (2012) states that ldquoit is the
way by which learners can contribute and be part of oral communicationrdquo (p21) So the
main goal of EFL learners is to be able to speak the target language in order to strengthen
their verbal communication
21
Moreover Chaney (1998) argues that ldquospeaking is the process of building and
sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols in a variety of contextsrdquo
(p 13) From Chaneyrsquo s definition of speaking we deduce that speaking has an important
role in learning the foreign language and improving EFL learnersrsquo communicative skill
However there are some researchers who describe speaking as a hard task They
argue that EFL learners find it so hard to master the foreign language and face a lot of
difficulties even after studying it many years at schools Bueno and Mclaren (2006 as cited
in Alonso 2011) point out
Speaking is one of the most difficult skills language learners have to face In spite of
this it has traditionally been forced into the background while we teachers of
English have spent all our classroom time trying to teach our students how to write
to read and sometimes even to listen in a L2 because grammar has a long written
tradition (p 321)
On the whole the speaking skill is a very important process that EFL learners need to acquire
in order to master and shape the target language
122 Speaking Sub CompetenciesSkills
Torky (2006) claims that learners must be able to express themselves in a given
context in order to be proficient in mastering the foreign language She points out to several
speaking skills or competencies that help to achieve this aim which are
22
Linguistic Competence
Torky (2006) states that learners must be skillful in using pronunciation ie their
pronunciation must be clear In addition students have to use correct grammar and
proper lexis
Discourse Competence
In the beginning learners have to be able to use a well-organized discourse In other
words the discourse must be clear and unified Besides they have to be competent in
handling discussion and cooperating efficiently in order to avoid the communication
breakdowns
Pragmatic Competence
EFL learners have to be proficient in using a variety of functions that are related to
the same context and register
Fluency
Speaking smoothly without any complications and with a suitable degree of speech
speed
123 Definition of Pronunciation
According to Gilakjani (2012) ldquopronunciation is an integral part of foreign language
since it directly affects learnersrsquo communicative competence as well as performancerdquo
(p119) That is to say pronunciation plays a fundamental role in learning and improving the
target language Besides Poposka (2016) argues that pronunciation is the key factor of
language in its universal notion and she claims that pronunciation should be defined in
23
relation to different perspectives Poposka (2016) states some of the various points of view
concerning pronunciation definition which are
- The act or manner of pronouncing uttering of speech
- A way of speaking a word especially a way that is accepted or generally understood
- A graphic representation of the way a word is spoken using phonetic symbols (p
200)
Moreover Dauer (1993 as cited in Ummah 2014) states that ldquopronunciation is the
act of producing the sound of speech including articulation vowel formation accent
inflection and intonation often with reference to the correctness or acceptability of the
speech soundrdquo (p 10) In addition Poposka (2016) states that pronunciation is the vocal
capacity to produce particular sounds weather when communicating with individuals or
when being alone This construction of sounds leads to the appearance of some utterances
that may be expressive or worthless (p 200) Furthermore Adult Migrant English Program
research center (AMP 2002) points out
Pronunciation refers to the production of sounds that we use to make meaning it includes
attention to the particular sounds of language (segments) aspects of speech beyond the
level of the individual sound such as intonation phrasing stress timing rhythm
(suprasegmental aspects) (p1)
In other words AMP research center argues that even if these two aspects suprasegmental
and segmental structures are treated separately it is necessary to know that they work hand
in hand in a given context whenever someone speaks
24
124 Importance of Pronunciation
Madden and Moore (1997) states that ldquoin first language acquisition children learn
pronunciation inductively by absorbing and reproducing the sounds in their environmentrdquo
(p 4) That is to say all human beings in their natural development from childhood to
adulthood learn first of all how to talk before learning how to read or write Also Zhang
(2009) claims that ldquolearning a language means to perform the sounds utterances and the
words properly and correctlyrdquo (p 34-35) So pronunciation is a very essential skill in
learning a second language
Moreover Morley (1998 as cited in Zhang 2009) argues that ldquoit is clear that limited
pronunciation skills will make learners lose their self-confidence and result in negative
influence for learners to estimate their credibility and abilitiesrdquo (p 35) In other words it
does not matter whether learners make mistakes concerning grammar or vocabulary all what
matters is the way they pronounce a given word in order to make a worthy impression on
the learnersrsquo language capacities Zhang (2009) points out
Good pronunciation will make people understand you easily and be willing to listen to
you Contrarily poor English pronunciation may confuse people and lead to an
unpleasant talking and misunderstanding even if you used advanced English grammar
or vocabulary (p 35)
Likewise Backley (n d) argues ldquoif a speaker has a clear pronunciation this has immediate
benefits listeners judge the speakerrsquo s overall language ability much more favorably even
to the point of tolerating grammatical and other errorsrdquo (p 126) Therefore good
25
pronunciation aids to avoid misinterpretation and intelligibility between speakers and
listeners and show the learnersrsquo competencies in mastering their second language
Furthermore good pronunciation affects the learnersrsquo speed of acquiring the target language
In addition learners should use only simple structures with good and correct pronunciation
rather than using complex expressions in order to communicate with others
125 Factors Affecting Pronunciation
Generally speaking there are several factors that affect the learnersrsquo pronunciation
These factors can be classified into internal factors and external factors
1251 Internal Factors
Zhang (2009) states that internal factors can be categorized also into biological
factors individual differences and individual efforts and goal setting
Biological Factors
They are branded into four features age ear perception and aptitude
Learnersrsquo Age
At the start there is a difference between young learners and adult learners
concerning the acquisition of the accurate pronunciation Nonetheless this does not mean
that adult learners cannot get accurate pronunciation as well They have to work much harder
because their brainsrsquo plasticity reduces That is to say age plays a significant part in learning
the target language pronunciation Moreover Zhang (2009) emphasizes the role of the
critical period hypothesis that was proposed by Lenneberg in 1967 which states that there
is a certain age that helps learners to acquire the foreign language pronunciation accurately
26
and after that age the brain loses its flexibility Furthermore (Nation and Newton (2009) as
cited in Zhang 2009) claim that
Usually if the learner began to speak in the second language before the age of six
there will be little or no accent If the learner began to speak between the age of seven
and eleven the learners likely to have a slight accent If the learner began to speak
after age of twelve the learners almost always have an accent (p 78)
This is the reason behind the acceptance of the idea that learners find it so hard to acquire
the foreign language after maturity
Additionally Zhang (2009) states that young learners have bigger chances than the
adult learners in obtaining accurate pronunciation He claims that the brain loses its
flexibility and becomes rigid after puberty (after nine years old) as a result the brainrsquo s
functions will be devoted to the right and left hemispheres which makes it so difficult to
acquire the foreign languagersquo s pronunciation correctly Also Lenneberg (1967 as cited in
Zhang 2009) argues that ldquobefore the age of two the brain has not developed enough but
after puberty it developed too much and it will lose its plasticity and finish the lateralization
of the language functionrdquo (p 39) In other words it becomes so hard to obtain the native-
like pronunciation after the lateralization
Ear Perception
One of the most important factors that affect the learnersrsquo acquisition of the foreign
language is the ldquoear perceptionrdquo Zhang (2009) claims that the hearing abilities differ from
one person to another That is to say there are learners who have a strong hearing capacity
27
they can hear sounds in a very clear way which help them in reproducing the native speakersrsquo
pronunciation smoothly Whereas there is that kind of learners who do not have that ability
However Zhang argues that the ear perception has nothing to do with the learner age He
claims that it is natural that learners may lose some of their capacities whenever they become
older
Aptitude
Generally speaking foreign language aptitude is the personrsquos ability to learn a foreign
or a second language very rapidly and with no troubles (Wen 2011) Also Dornyei and
skehan (2003 as cited in Wen 2011) states ldquooriginally the notion of FLA presumed a
relatively stable talent for learning a foreign language that differs between individualsrdquo (p
590) So EFL learners do not have the same ability to acquire the foreign language
Additionally Carroll (1962 as cited in Wen 2011) states four components of the FLA which
are
lsquophonemic coding abilityrsquo (ie the ability to identify and retain sounds and link them
to phonetic symbols)
Sensitivity towards the grammatical functions that words fulfil in a sentence
The ability to learn inductively (ie to infer and generalize linguistic structures from
language samples) and
The ability to rote learn vocabulary items paired with their associated translations
(p 233)
Hence aptitude has an important role in improving learnersrsquo foreign language
Although Zhang (2009) argues that all individuals have a language aptitude ability but they
28
differ only in the degree of that aptitude capacity Also he claims that we cannot say that
those people who have a sophisticated level of language aptitude will get to the top and
people with an inferior level of language aptitude will go pear-shaped
Individual Differences
Zhang (2009) states that learnersrsquo different personalities affect the way they acquire
the foreign language pronunciation He argues that extroverted learners are more likely to
acquire the target pronunciation rather than introverted learners because extroverted learners
are not afraid of making mistakes which is not the case with the introverted learners who
face always the fear of failure Besides extroverted students are more friendly they tend to
work with others which leads them to practice the target language so they become more
familiar with it which aids to improve their pronunciation very quickly (p 40-41)
Individual Efforts and Goal setting
At the start the main goal of each EFLESL learner is to master the foreign language
in order to communicate with others Zhang (2009) points out ldquowe must always remember
that teaching never causes learning but rather creates the conditions in which learning can
occurrdquo (p 42) Besides he emphasizes that pronunciation is really a very hard task that
learners can acquire in a few days but it is not something impossible that learners cannot
achieve Though as much time learners spend in practicing the target language
pronunciation the better results they will get
1252 External Factors
External factors can be classified into three aspects learnersrsquo native language
exposure to target language and education factors
29
Learnerrsquo s Native Language
Universally the learnersrsquo native language affects their pronunciation of the foreign
language Zhang (2009) states that studentsrsquo mother tongue reflects the way they pronounce
a certain word in the target language and this is due to the differences that are found between
the two languages In other words learners find a lot of complications in articulating some
sounds for the reason that some of those sounds do not occur in their native language (p
43)
Exposure to the Target Language
Zhang (2009) shows that the acquisition of English language pronunciation is related
to the amount of exposure to it as it is produced by the native speakers That is to say this
depends on the learner himself ie on the situation in which the learning process occurs In
other words Zhang argues that it does not matter weather learners live in a native country
or not it is a matter of how much time they listen to the foreign language and how much
time they use it Zhang (2009) states ldquothe more they spend their time for listening and
speaking English the better their English pronunciation will berdquo (p 44) Thus learnerrsquo s
pronunciation accuracy depends on the surrounding environment where the target language
takes place
Educational Factors
At the start the system of education is responsible for studentsrsquo learning process
Worthy educational structure provides a lot of chances for learners to be exposed to the target
language through creating a suitable learning environment Additionally EFLESL
teachersrsquo accent reflects the learnersrsquo pronunciation because learners take teachers as an
30
exemplary in order to improve their pronunciation That is why teachers should work on
their pronunciation initially (Zhang 2009)
The English Consonant Sound ldquoLrdquo
Generally speaking EFL learners face complications in learning the English L sound
Sproat and Fujimura (1993) argue ldquoEnglish l has traditionally been classified into at least
two allophones namely light which occurs initially and dark which occurs syllable finallyrdquo
(p 291) Furthermore Wang (2016) states that the L consonant sound is a lateral phoneme
in English and it has two allophones he points out
One of them is found before vowels as in ldquoladyrdquo or ldquoflyrdquo called clear l and is
pronounced as the alveolar lateral approximant in a neutral position of the body of
the tongue The other variant is called dark l found before consonants or at word-
finally position as in ldquoboldrdquo or ldquotellrdquo Which is as the velarized lateral approximant
with the tongue in a spoon-like shape Its back part is raised which gives the sound
a w-like resonance (p 44)
In other words the clear [l] occurs when the tip of the tongue raises up and touches the soft
palate just behind the front teeth whereas the dark [ϯ] happens when the tip of the tongue
pulls back and the tongue raises to the middle without touching the soft palate to make the
L sound So the difference between these two allophones is the reason behind those troubles
that the learner may face
However Sproat and Fujimura (1993 as cited in Jiahong 2011) explain the
differences between these two allophones by relating them to the rime duration In other
31
words they point out that whenever the l sound occurs in longer rimes it is going to be a
dark [ϯ] and whenever the rime is short the l sound is clear or light
Figure 1
Articulatory Differences in l Velarization
Source Recasens 2012 p369
Conclusion
To end with it is very important to acknowledge that pronunciation is one way that
leads to an effective and a successful communication That is why many researchers shed
light on the investigation of some factors that may influence the EFL learnersrsquo pronunciation
As a result these identifying concepts help foreigners to overcome their difficulties when
they are introduced to the target language
32
Chapter two Field Work
Introduction
21 Methodology
211 Research Participants
212 The Procedure
2121 The Research Design
2122 The Pre-test Phase
2123 The Treatment Phase
2124 The Control Group
2125 The Post-test Phase
213 Scoring
214 Data Analysis
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (independent Sample
t-test)
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group Post-test
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group Post-test (Paired
Sample t-test)
21431 Paired Sample t-test
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-test
33
21441 An Independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the
Post-test
215 Discussion of the Results
216 Pedagogical Implications
Conclusion
34
Introduction
This research attempts to investigate the effect of listening to audio stories on
acquiring accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] by second year LMD students
at the department English -LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi The chosen sample is divided into two
groups the control group and the experimental group At the start participantsrsquo
pronunciation accuracy of the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] (the dependent variable) was measured
through a pretest Later on a period of treatment is taken by the experimental group which
is not the case with the control group After that a post-test is administered to both groups
in which the results are gathered using a software called the ldquopraatrdquo In addition we shed
light on describing the sample taking the place in which the study took place the method
used and at last the data collected
21 Methodology
211 Research Participants
The current study involved two intact classes of second year LMD students from
LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi-English Department The selected sample includes students from
different gender Furthermore we favored to select second year students for several reasons
The first reason was that second year students have practiced working with audio supports
which was not the case with first year students so they will not face problems concerning
listening to audio stories The second reason was that second year learners study oral
expression
At the start the experiment includes a sample of forty learners that have been chosen
from two intact classes of second year LMD students The chosen sample represents 1904
from the entire population which comprises 210 learners Additionally both clusters were
35
divided into a control group and an experimental group twenty students in each group At
the beginning the sample was supposed to be comprised of sixty students in which both the
control and the experimental groups covered thirty students Unfortunately there were a lot
of absences in both groups Also there are some students who have not passed both the
pretest and the posttest and others have not received the treatment at all Therefore the
sample size was reduced from sixty to forty students which can be sufficient to represent
the whole population and to get consistent outcomes
In order to gather consistent data that help to achieve the purpose of our research a
quasi-experimental design was designated The use of the chosen method will provide us
with a wide-ranging representation of the reflection of listening to audio stories on the
acquisition of the accurate pronunciation of the dark [l] and clear [l]
212 The Procedure
To accumulate a reliable data an experiment was conducted over six sessions The
treatment period took four sessions and the remained two sessions for the pretest and the
posttest The pretest took a form different from that of the posttest in order to avoid
familiarity to improve the learnersrsquo development and get consistent information Both
groups have taken the tests but only the experimental group took the treatment Besides the
duration of training concerning the treatment period for the experimental group took 90
minutes ie one hour and a half for each session and it started after getting the
authorization of the teacher of oral expression
36
2121 The Research Design
Figure 2
Experimental Group Procedures
Figure 3
Control Group Procedures
2122 The Pre-test Phase
By the first week of March both the control group and the experimental group have
taken the pretest However before choosing the pretest and in order to avoid any problems
we have checked that the dark [l] and the clear [l] are pronounced the same in both the
American and the British accents using the Oxford Advanced Learnerrsquo s Dictionary At the
outset learners were required to read a passage derived from a short story named ldquoThe last
class-The story of the Alsationrdquo that was written by Alphonse Daudet (2001) and also short
sentences (see Appendix A) After that their voices were recorded using a software known
pre-test
treatment
(listening to audio stories)
post-test
pre-test
No treatment
( being taught without listening
to audio-stories)
post-test
37
as the ldquoPraatrdquo Besides our focus here was raised toward the duration (ie the length of a
syllable) of the dark [l] and the clear [l]
Throughout the pretest EFL learners found themselves unable to pronounce the dark
[ϯ] and clear [l] that are found in some words correctly In other words students in the control
group and the experimental group most of the time pronounce the dark [ϯ] in the same way
they pronounce the clear [l] ie they spend the same duration for pronouncing the two
allophones Also EFL learners from time to time pronounce them differently but in a wrong
way ie they spent a rime duration that it not suitable neither for the light [l] nor for the
dark[ϯ]
Figure4
Example of the Lateral Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoSawmillrdquo
2123 The Treatment Phase
At first both participants have finished the pretest Though the treatment was
approved to the experimental group only the control group did not receive the same
treatment Besides the experimental group received the treatment in four sessions and each
Rime
duration
38
session took one hour and a half (ie 90 minutes) In each session students were asked to
listen to the audio-story in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of both allophones
after that they discussed the story being listened (see Appendix B)
2124 The Control Group
Concerning the control group students were taught the oral expression without any
exposure to any kinds of treatments In contrast to students in the experimental group who
were provided with the audio stories in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of the
both allophones which are the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ]
2125 The Post-test Phase
Fundamentally after finishing the four sessions of training ie the period of
treatment a posttest was administered to both the experimental group and the control group
(see Appendix c) The posttest as we have said before is different from the pretest in order
to avoid familiarity with the same topic and to ensure the learners improvement of the dark
[ϯ] and clear [l] So the posttest is a kind of a passage which was taken from a short story
that is entitled ldquoThe Game of Billiardsrdquo which is written by Alphonse Daudet and some
words to pronounce Furthermore during the posttest we noticed a kind of development in
learnersrsquo pronunciation of the two allophones with students of the experimental group
especially in pronouncing the single words which was not the case with those learners in
the control group
39
Figure 5
Example of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquocabalrdquo
Figure 6
Example of the Clear [l] in the word ldquolabourrdquo
The rime
duration
The rime
duration
40
213 Scoring
After finishing recording the learnersrsquo pronunciation of the phoneme l of both
groups (the control and the experimental group) we have compared them first of all to the
native speakerrsquo s pronunciation and after that we have calculated the rime duration of the
two allophones ie the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] and at last we gave them scores out of six
(6) for each participant
214 Data Analysis
In this sub-section we are going to investigate the EFL learnersrsquo improvement of
pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] Though in order to make sure that EFL
learners have acquired the correct pronunciation of these two allophones we have firstly
investigated the native speakerrsquos pronunciation of the L sound ie the clear [l] and the dark
[ϯ] and we have analyzed the rime duration of two words ldquolightrdquo and ldquoballrdquo as examples
Figure7
The Native Speakerrsquos Pronunciation of the Clear [l] in the Word ldquolightrdquo
Rime
duration
41
Figure8
The Native Speakerrsquo s Pronunciation of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoballrdquo
From these two figures we have noticed that the native speaker has spent 016 s in
pronouncing an ideal clear [l] (see Figure 7) and he has spent 138 s in order to pronounce
a perfect dark [ϯ] (see Figure 8) Thus this analysis of the native speakerrsquo s voice paved the
way to our research in which we based our investigation on it
Table 1
The Experimental and the Control grouprsquo s Scores in the pre-test
Pre-test
Students
Control
group
Experimental
group
Rime
duration
(second)
C E
Rime
duration
42
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (Independent Sample t-
test)
After gathering data for the control and the experimental group and for the purpose
of comparing and contrasting between the two we have calculated the learnersrsquo scores of
pronunciation of the phoneme l and also we have calculated the rime duration of the two
1 1 2 118 127
2 2 25 095 091
3 1 1 116 102
4 25 2 106 091
5 25 25 078 089
6 15 2 078 105
7 2 15 123 091
8 1 1 117 108
9 15 1 119 119
10 15 1 1 115
11 2 15 091 116
12 15 1 12 119
13 2 15 114 1
14 15 1 108 112
15 1 1 131 112
16 2 1 088 08
17 1 1 127 107
18 1 15 107 149
19 15 1 099 115
20 1 15 114 174
Total 31 285 2149 2222
43
allophones (see Table1) Besides the data collected ie the learnersrsquo scores were used in
calculating the means of both groups in the pre-test (the mean is calculated using the SPSS
see Table 2)
Figure 9
The Pre-test Scores of the Control and the Experimental Group
Table 2
The Mean Score of the Control and the Experimental Group in the Pre-test
Test N Mean Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpre 20 15500 51042 11413
Epre 20 14250 51999 11627
44
In order to calculate the Mean () Results we have to use the following formula
=sumx N
N stands for the total numbers of students in one group
sumx stands for the total number of data that was gathered from the pre-test
1 stands for the mean of the Control Group
2 stands for the mean of the Experimental Group
So1= 31 20 =155
2= 285 20 = 142
From ldquoFigure 9rdquo we can notice that 1 is the most frequent score in both the
experimental and the control groups in the pre-test and we can confirm this information
from Table 1 Furthermore when comparing means of both groups we notice (see Table 2)
that there is only a slight difference between the two groups the mean of the control group
is 155 whereas the mean of the experimental group is 142 So we can deduce that the level
of both groups is approximately the same there is no significant difference Moreover the
rime duration of the phoneme l of the experimental group and the control group is to some
extent the same and we can notice this slight difference in Table 1 and precisely in the total
duration of pronouncing the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] by both groups and also in Table 2
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group post-test
In order to confirm if there is any kind of progression in the control grouprsquo s scores
in the post-test concerning the pronunciation of the phoneme l (see Table 3) we have
calculated the mean of the post-test (using the SPSS see Table 4) and compared it with the
mean of the pre-test besides we have calculated the rime duration that has been spent At
45
last we have mentioned the learnersrsquo scores differences between the pre-test and the post-
test to confirm the development (see Figure 10)
Table 3
Results and Scores Differences of the Control and Experimental group in the Post-test
Posttest
Students
Rime
Duration
(Second)
Cpre Cpost Epre Epost
Cpre Cpost Epre Epost
1 1 1 2 4 118 186 127 21
2 2 175 25 5 095 113 091 253
3 1 1 1 45 116 134 102 245
4 25 2 2 35 106 119 091 234
5 25 15 25 55 078 146 089 24
6 15 175 2 5 078 119 105 267
7 2 2 15 45 123 135 091 263
8 1 125 1 5 117 144 108 254
9 15 1 1 425 119 144 119 242
10 15 1 1 55 1 128 115 274
11 2 1 15 45 091 126 116 285
12 1 2 1 5 12 129 119 268
13 2 125 15 55 114 146 1 328
14 15 1 1 55 108 127 112 223
15 1 1 1 5 131 092 112 275
16 2 1 1 475 088 135 08 274
46
17 1 2 1 5 127 094 107 292
18 1 1 15 575 107 096 149 29
19 15 1 1 525 099 114 115 295
20 1 15 15 575 114 132 174 338
Total 31 27 285 9875 2149 2359 2222 535
Diff -4 +7025 +21 +3128
Mean 155 135 142 493
-02 +351
Table 4
The Mean of the control Group in the Pre-test and Post-test
Mean N Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpre 15500 20 51042 11413
Cpost 13500 20 41675 09319
In order to calculate the mean( )result of the control group in the post-test we have to apply
the following formula = sumx N
sum stands for the total number of the data collected in the post-test of the control
group
N refers to the total number of students So = 2720 = 1
47
Figure 10
The Control Group Studentsrsquo Scores Differences
A very insignificant development has been shown in both Figure 7 and Table 3
concerning learners scores in the post-test Besides only Students 681217 and 20 from a
total number of twenty have proved the improvement the mean of the control group has
decreased from 155 in the pre-test to 135 in the post-test ie the mean = -02
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group post-test (Paired Sample
T-test)
In order to identify the scoresrsquo differences between the results of the experimental
group in both the pre-test and the post-test we have calculated the mean of the post-test and
compared it with that of the pre-test to notice if there is any improvement (see Table 3) So
the mean of the post-test is shown in Table 5 below
48
Table 5
The Mean of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and Post-test
Mean N Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Epre 14250 20 51999 11627
Epost 49375 20 59535 13312
From Table 5 we notice that the mean of the experimental group increased from 142 in the
pre-test to 493 in the post-test with a mean difference of 351 ( = +351) and we can
calculate the mean ()of the post-test using the following formula
= sumxN
sum= Stands for the total number of data that was gathered from the post-test in the
Experimental Group
119925 =Stands for the total number of students
So= 9875 20 = 493
From Table 3 we notice that there is a very clear development and difference in
learnersrsquo scores in the post-test which is very different from the pre-test scores (see Figure
12) Moreover we can notice this development from Figure 11 below too It Shows that the
most frequent scores that learners of the experimental group have gained are 45 5 55 and
at last 575(the marks are out of six) that makes a big difference from the scores of the pre-
test in which the most frequent score was 1 In addition to all of this results we can add that
the sum of the rime duration of the post-test differs a lot from that of the pre-test ( = +3128
s)
49
Hence in the light of these results we can say that the period of treatment really
affects in a positive way the learnersrsquo acquisition of the pronunciation of dark [ϯ] and clear
[l] Besides this enhancement was improved in the mean difference between the pre-test and
the post-test of the experimental group Though the comparison of means in the pre-test and
post-test of the experimental group cannot be sufficient in order to make sure that listening
to audio-stories really affects positively the way learners pronounce the Phoneme l
Therefore a paired sample T-test was designed to assess the development of learnersrsquo
acquisition of dark [ϯ] and clear [l] ie to acceptreject the Alternative Hypothesis or to
accept reject the Null Hypothesis (See Table 6 below)
Figure 11
The Scores Frequencies of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and the Post-test
50
Figure 12
The Scores Differences of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and the Post-test
21431 The paired Sample T-test
In order to know if there is any significant difference between the post-test and the
pre-test scores of the same group a t-test is conducted At first the of the experimental
group is calculated through the following formula
= sumdN
refers to the Difference of mean Scores
N Studentsrsquo scores in the Experimental Group
sum refers to the total sum of the Differences Scores
So = 702520= 35125
51
The Standard deviation of the differences
Sd= radic119956120784= radicsum119941120784
119925minus 119941120784
S stands for the Variance
sum119941120784 refers to the square differences of Scores
After calculating
Sdcong 013
The Standard Error of the Mean Difference (SE)
It is calculated using the following formula
SE ()= 119878119889
radic119873cong003
Finally we calculate the t- value that will be compared to the critical P-value at the point
p=005 in order to accept the alternative hypothesis or rejecting it using the following
formula119957120784120782minus120783=
119878119864(119889) = 117
Table 6
Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Post-test Scores differences
Students Pre-test Post-test Difference
1 2 4 2
2 25 5 25
3 1 45 35
4 2 35 15
5 25 55 3
6 2 5 3
52
7 15 45 3
8 1 5 4
9 1 425 325
10 1 55 45
11 15 45 3
12 1 5 4
13 15 55 4
14 1 55 45
15 1 5 4
16 1 475 375
17 1 5 4
18 15 575 425
19 1 525 425
20 15 575 425
Total 285 9875 7025
Table 7
The Paired Sample T-test for the Experimental Group
Paired Sample T-Test
Epre
Scores-
Epost
Scores
Mean Std
deviati-
on
Std-
Error
Mean
95Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
t Df Sig
(2-
tailed)
Lower Upper
-351250 83695 18715 -390421 -312079 -18768 19 000
53
After calculating the mean of the experimental group in both the pre-test and the post-
test (see Table 5) a mean difference of +351 was noticed Therefore in order to prove if
the development that was noticed in the post-test scores as well as the mean occurred
because of the influence of listening to the audio-stories which is the independent variable
or happened only by coincidence
Hence to confirm the Alternative Hypothesis and reject the Null Hypothesis or vice
versa the t-value (117) was calculated in order to be compared with the critical- value at
the point p=005 and at the level of t=19 Besides p-value (0000) is less than 005 which
means that there a real difference between the learnersrsquo scores in the pre-test (before the
period of treatment) and the leanersrsquo scores in the post-test (after the period of treatment)
Consequently we can deduce that the improvement that was achieved by the experimental
group in the post test did not occur by chance actually it occurred because of listening to
audio-stories that has a positive effect on learnersrsquo pronunciation of both the clear [l] and the
dark [ϯ]
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-test
Table 8
The Mean of the Control Group and the Experimental Group in the Post-test
N Mean Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpost 20 13500 41675 09319
Epost 20 49375 59535 13312
54
To calculate the mean () we use the following Formula
= sum119961 N
So 1= sum119961 N
1 refers to the mean of the control group in the post-test
N refers to the total number of students in the control Group
sum119961 stands for the sum of scores of the control group in the post-test
1= 2720 = 135
2 = sum119961 N
2 stands for the mean of the experimental group in the post-test
N refers to the total number of participants in the experimental group
sum119961 Stands for the sum of scores of the experimental group in the post-test
So 2= 987520 = 493
Figure13
The Scores Frequencies of the Control Group and the Experimental Group in the Post-
test
55
From the previous analysis of the mean of both the control and the experimental
group in the pre-test (see Table 3) we have noticed that the level of students in both groups
is almost the same and there is only a slight difference between them Though in the post-
test the scores of the experimental group has increased and as result the mean average has
increased too after the treatment phase for the experimental group (from 142 to 493) but it
decreased for the control group who were taught without being exposed to any kind of
treatment (see Table 8 and Figure 10) Besides we can notice the development also in the
rime duration in studentsrsquo pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] of the experimental
group in the post-test which is not the case with the control group
21441 An independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the post-
test
In order to investigate if there is any significant change between two diverse groups
who have run the same test a t-test is used to show this significance difference In our case
we want to inspect if there is any significant variation between the experimental group and
the control group in the post-test and whether we accept the Alternative Hypothesis or
rejecting the Null Hypothesis So depending on the following steps a t-test was calculated
using the following formula
t= 119883 119888minus 119890
radicpartx2
Nx+
1205971199102
119873119910
partx2 = sum(119883 minus 119890 )N
= 306
1205971199102 =sum(119883 minus 119888 )2119873
= 160
119888 the mean of the control group in the post-test
56
119890 the mean of the experimental group in the post-test
partx2 the variation of the experimental group
1205971199102 the variation of the control group
So t= 493minus 135
radic306
20+
160
20
=745
t-value= 745
Depending on the t-value (745) that was calculated we compare it with the critical p-
value at p=005 therefore we have two options
1- If t-value is greater than the critical p-value (t-valuegtcritical-value) we accept the
alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
2- If t-value is less than the critical-value (t-valueltcritical-value) we accept the null
hypothesis and refuse the alternative hypothesis
we can say that
t-value=745 745 gt005
We accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
p-value= 0000 0000 lt005
We accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
Depending on these results we can say that there is a statistical evidence that the
associated sampling means are significantly different In other words there is a real change
between the experimental group and the control group in the post test at the level of
pronunciation due to the positive influence of the independent variable which is ldquolistening
to the audio-storiesrdquo Therefore students of the experimental group showed a significant
57
progress at the level of pronunciation and precisely the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
pronunciation
215 Discussion of the Results
The current research has investigated the influence of listening to audio-stories on
acquiring accurate pronunciation of both allophones the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] At the
start the pre-test has proved that learners of both groups ie the control and the
experimental group have the same level through calculating their means The control group
scored a mean of 155 while the experimental group scored a mean of 142 and also they
have got near scores concerning the rime duration of the L sound So these estimated scores
helped us to prove and confirm our hypothesis that states the positive effect of listening to
audio-stories on the level of pronunciation accuracy In the post-test students of the
experimental group showed a significant development compared to the control group and
this is due to the period of treatment that occurred in the oral session Besides the mean
score of the experimental group has been raised from 142 to 493 and from a sum of rime
durations of 2222 s to 535 s while the mean score of the control group has been decreased
from 155 to 135 and increased from a sum of rime durations of 2149 s to 2359 s In
addition a t-test was designed to show if there is any statistical significant difference
between the experimental group and the control group in the post-test the results show the
positive influence of the treatment phase on the dependent variable (pronunciation
accuracy)
216 Pedagogical implication
The present research evidenced the positive influence of being exposed to the target
language pronunciation as it is produced by the native speakers through the exposure to the
audio-stories Therefore we can state a set of pedagogical implications
58
The present study shows that the more students get involved in listening practices
the more they will be proficient in the pronunciation of a various English sounds ie
developing their speaking proficiency
Audio-stories help EFL learners improve their pronunciation as well as to develop
their listening skills
Using multimedia devices (audio-stories in our case) in learning classrooms
enhances the learnersrsquo motivation to get involved in the learning process
Audio-stories can be used by EFL teachers in order to make learners attentive and
interested in the lecture being presented
Audio-stories provide learners with the chance to listen again and again to the story
in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of a given word
Conclusion
The present research examined the effect of listening to audio stories on fostering the
target language pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] The native speakerrsquo s
pronunciation of both allophones was analyzed first through analyzing the rime duration in
order to compare it with the EFL learnersrsquo articulation That is to say the analysis is based
on the native speakerrsquo s rime duration In addition a significant development in learnersrsquo
pronunciation of the dark[ϯ]and the clear [l] was proved which lead to accept the alternative
hypothesis that states listening to audio-stories has a positive effect on acquiring accurate
pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] by EFL learners
59
General Conclusion
The present study is based on the investigation of the effectiveness of listening to
audio stories on acquiring accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] by EFL
learners At the beginning we have stated the problem which was that the Algerian EFL
learners in the English department at LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi University face a lot of difficulties
concerning the acquisition of the accurate pronunciation of The phoneme l Subsequently
this dissertation tackled the importance of listening to audio-stories on enhancing EFL
learnersrsquo pronunciation accuracy
Our research was tackled in two main chapters The first chapter divided into two
main sections In the first section we tackled the point of listening to audio stories whereas
the second section discussed the reflection of listening to audio stories on the pronunciation
of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] The second chapter represented the practical part the field
work The analyzed data showed that there is a positive relationship between the independent
variable and the dependent variable That is to say there was a development in the
acquisition of the phoneme l which lead us to accept the alternative hypothesis and reject
the null hypothesis
60
Limitations of the Study
Limited sources ie most of the sources that were available were not relevant to our
study
Time constraints this study needs much more time to conduct a better result
Students absences in the pre-test and the post-test and others did not receive the
treatment at all
The lack of interest in the beginning of the treatment session
61
List of References
Alonso SR (2012) The importance of Teaching Listening and Speaking Skills Diagravectica de Lingua
y la Literatura Facultad de Education
Brown S (2006) Teaching Listening Cambridge Cambridge University press
Coulter C Michael C ampPoynor L (2007) Storytelling as Pedagogy An Unexpected Outcome
of narrative inquiry 104-105
Daudet A (2001) Five Short Stories Copyright copy Bartlebycom Inc
Downs L J (2008) Listening Skills Training ASTD press
Eckert J (2016) Audio Storytelling in Todayrsquos Visual World The necessary Components of a
successful sounds scape for an audio play
Gilakjani A P (2012) A study of Factors Affecting EFL learnersrsquo English Pronunciation Learning
and the Strategy for instruction Lahijani Iran 2(3) 119-128
Hamer J (1998) How to teach English An Introduction to the Practice of English Language
Teaching English Language Teaching Harlow Longman
Hendrickson J (1992) Storytelling for foreign language and linguistics Washington Dc Eric
learning house on language and linguistic [ Eric No E0355-824]
Kline J A (1996) Listening Effectively Air University Press
Madden M and Moore Z (1997) ESL Studentsrsquo Opinions about instruction in Pronunciation
Texas 3(2) 15-32
Mendelson D J (1994) Learning to Listen Dominie Press
Nasreddin K (2010) The Influence of Background Knowledge on Second Language Listening
Comprehension Constantine Constantine University
62
Poposka V p (2016) Pronunciation Proficiency Level Problematic Areas of Tertiary as a Foreign
Language International Journal of Science and Basic and Applied Research
Richards J C (1990) The Language Teaching Matrix Cambridge Cambridge University Pess
Rubin SS (2015) Tools for Creating Audio Stories scholarship University of California
Roney RC (1996) Storytelling in the classroom Some Theoretical Thoughts Wayne State
University Education Detroit Michigan
Sproat R ampFujimura O (1993) Allophonic variation of the English l and its Implication for
phonetic Implementation Academic Press
Torky SA (2006) The Effectiveness of a Task-Based Instruction Program in Developing English
Language Speaking Skills of Secondary Stage Students Collegersquo s girl Ain Shams
University
Ummah A (2014) The Effectiveness of Nursery Rhymes to Facilitate Studentsrsquo of Pronunciation of
the Diphthong Education and Teacher Training Faculty Walisongo State institution for
Islamic Studies
Wang M (2016) Research on the Acoustic Realization of Lateral in Sundanese International
Journal of Engineering Research and Development 12(10) 44-48
Ziane R (2012) The Role of Listening Comprehension in Improving EFL learners Speaking Skill
Biskra University of Biskra
Zhang Q (2009) Affecting Factors of Native-Like Pronunciation A Literature Review Ching-Ang
University 27(2) 33-52
63
Abrahamson CE (1998) Storytelling as a pedagogical tool in high Education 118(3) Retrieved
from
httpwwwquestiacomlibraryjournal1G1-20494609storytelling-as-a-pedagogical-tool-
inhighereducation
AMP Research Center (2012) Retrieved from
Httpwwwncertrmqeduauconference2001indexhtal
Backley P (nd) Improving your English Pronunciation Retrieved from
httptoefluobabyloneduiqpaperspearson-2015-1269610pdf
Chaney (1998) Teaching Speaking Retrieved from
httpitesljorgtechniqueKayi-teaching speakinghtml
English Club (nd) What is listening Retrieved from
httpwwwenglishclubcom
Miller E (2011) Theories of story and storytelling Retrieved from
httpwww-storytellingandvideoconferencingcom167pdf
Pederson E M (1995) Storytelling and the art of listening English teaching forum 33(1)2-5
Retrieved from httpExchangesStategovForumuolsn01p2htm
Remen R N (nd) Listening Skills Retrieved from
httpwwwskillsyouneedcomipslistening-Skills-html
Rock R (nd) 5 Wonderful Websites for Engaging ESL Audio Short Stories Retrieved from
httpwwwFluentucomenglisheducatorsblogeslaudio-short-stories
Seifert S (nd) Follow Along 6 Engaging ESL Audio Stories with worksheet ideas Retrieved from
httpwwwFluentucomenglisheducatorblogeslaudio-stories
Saricoban A (2004) The Teaching of listening The Internet TESL journal
httpitesljorgArticlesSaricobn-listeninghtml
Subhi s (2016) Differences between Hearing and listening Retrieved from
httpkeydifferencescomdifference-between-hearning-and-listeninghtml
64
Shen CD (2010) 3 reasons why listening skills are very important in Todayrsquo s Business World
Retrieved from httpezinearticlescom3-Reasons-why-listening-skills-are-very-important-in-
Todays-Business-worldampid=5436504
the adapted audio-stories that were used in the period of treatment
(httpwwwmanythingsorgvoastories)
Appendix A A pre-test
The Last class- The Story of the Alsatian
I was very late for school that morning and I was terribly afraid of being Scolded
especially as Monsieur Hamel had told us that he should examine us on participles and I
did not know the first thing about them For a moment I thought of saying away from
school and wandering about the fields It was such a warm lovely day I could hear the
blackbirds whistling on the edge of the wood and in the ripper field behind the sawmill
the Prussians going through their drill All that was much more tempting to me than the
rules concerning participles but I had the strength to resist and I ran as fast as I could to
school
Sentences
You old fool they will kill you if you always trouble them
People are awfully lazy in the middle of July
Appendix B A post-test
The Game of Billiards
The marshalrsquo s opponent is a young captain of the staff belted and curled and light-
gloved who is in the first rank of billiard-players and capable of beating all the marshals
on earth but he has the tact to keep a respectful distance behind his chief and devotes his
energies to the task of not winning and at the same time not losing too easily He is what is
called an officer with a future
Read the following words
1 Cabal
2 Labour
3 Shell
Appendix c Treatment period
I Session one (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquothe Secret Gardenrdquo (Chapter One) By Frances Hodgson
Burnett
II Session two (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Secret Gardenrdquo (Chapter two) By Frances Hodgson
Burnett
III Session three (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Lady or the Tigerrdquo by Frank R Stockton
IV Session four (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Lady in Blackrdquo By Eleanor Porter
Reacutesumeacute
La preacutesente eacutetude vise agrave eacutetudier lrsquoarticulation de dark [ϯ] et clear [l] dans les classes de la
langue anglaise afin dameacuteliorer la prononciation des apprenants Lrsquoeacutetude actuelle repose
sur lhypothegravese que leacutecoute des histoires audio a un effet positif sur lameacutelioration de la
prononciation des apprenants EFL avec un accent particulier sur le dark [ϯ] et clear [l] Afin
datteindre lobjectif de cette recherche une eacutetude quasi-expeacuterimentale a eacuteteacute assigneacute en
deux groupe group teacutemoin et group expeacuterimentale Chaque groupe contenait 20 eacutelegraveves
Lexpeacuterience a pris six seacuteances un preacute-test une peacuteriode de traitement (4 seacuteances) et un
posttest En conclusion les reacutesultats obtenus montrent que les eacutetudiants qui sont exposeacute agrave
la langue cible et qui eacutecoutent au locuteur natif agrave lrsquoaide audio pour ameacuteliorer leurs
prononciations ont montreacute qursquoil y a un deacuteveloppement ameacutelioration au niveau de
compeacutetence des apprenants en particulier et en matiegravere de parole en geacuteneacuterale
Les mots cleacutes audio-histoire Compeacutetence drsquoeacutecoute prononciation dureacute de travaille
ملخص
استخدام القصص الصوتية من اجل المساعدة على اكتساب النطق السليم والدقيق تهدف هذه الدراسة الى التعرف على مدى فعالية
الأجنبية حيث تستند الدراسة الحالية على فرضية مفادها ان الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية له تأثير إيجابي على تحسين ةللغ
استغرقت التجربة ست ق المنهج التجريبيمن أجل تحقيق هدف هذه الدراسة تم تطبينطق الطلاب الأجانب للغة الإنجليزية
جلسات قسمت كالاتي أربع حصص معالجة سبقت باختبارات قبلية ولحقت باختبارات بعدية أجريت الدراسة في قسم اللغة
طالبا من طلاب السنة ثانية جامعي قسم الطلبة الى فوجين حيث 40الإنجليزية بجامعة العربي بن مهيدي وقد شملت الدراسة
ى معالجة لمدة أربع حصص من خلال الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية في حين لم يتعرض الفوج الثاني خضع أحد الفوجين ال
الى نفس المعالجة بعد ذلك تم اجراء الاختبارات البعدية واعتمادا على النتائج المتحصل عليها ثبت ان التعرض الى اللغة
جابي على اكتساب النطق الدقيق للغة المستهدفة الا وهي اللغة الأجنبية عن طريق الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية له تأثير إي
الأجنبية
القصص الصوتية النطق مدة الموجات الصوتيةالكلمات المفتاحية المهارة السمعية
VI
List of Figures
Figure 1 Articulatory Differences in l Velarization helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip31
Figure 2 Experimental Group Procedureshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip36
Figure 3 Control Group Procedureshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip36
Figure 4 Example of the Lateral Dark [ϯ]in the Word ldquoSawmillrdquohelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip37
Figure 5 Example of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoCabalrdquo helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip39
Figure 6 Example of the Clear [l]in the Word ldquolabourrdquohelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip39
Figure 7 The Native Speakerrsquo s Pronunciation of the Clear [l] in the Word ldquolightrdquohelliphellip40
Figure 8 The Native Speakerrsquos Pronunciation of the Dark [ϯ] in the word ldquoballrdquohelliphelliphellip41
Figure 9 The Pre-test Scores of the Control and the Experimental Grouphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip43
Figure 10 The Control Group Studentsrsquo Scores Differences helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip47
Figure 11 The Scores Frequencies of the Experimental Group in The Pre-test and the
Post- testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip49
Figure 12 The Scores Differences of the Experimental Group in the pre-test and the Post-
testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip50
Figure 13 The Scores Frequencies of the Control Group and The Experimental Group in
the Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip54
VII
Content
Introductionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip2
1 Statement of the problem helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip2
2 Aim of the studyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip3
3 Research questionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 3
4 Research hypothesishelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip3
5 Means of the studyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip3
6 Structure of the studyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip4
Chapter One Theoretical background
Section One Listening to Audio Stories
Introductionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip6
11 Definition of Listening Skillhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip6
12 Differences between Listening and Hearing helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip8
13 Reasons of listening helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip8
14 Types of Listeninghelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip9
141 Extensive Listeninghelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip9
142 Intensive Listeninghelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip10
15 Listening Processes helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip10
151 Bottom-up Processhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip10
152 Top down processhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip11
16 Brief History of Audio-Storieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip11
17 Definition of Storytellinghelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip12
18 Definition of Audio-Storieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip13
19 Characteristics of a Good Audio-Storyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip14
110 The Use of Audio-Stories in ESL Classroomshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip15
111 Advantages of Using Audio-Storieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip17
Conclusionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip18
Section two Reflection on Pronunciation
Introductionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip20
11Definition of Speaking Skillhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip20
12Speaking Sub-Competencies Skillshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip22
13 Definition of Pronunciationhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip22
VIII
14Importance of Pronunciationhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip24
15 Factors Affecting Pronunciationhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip25
16151 Internal Factorshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip25
152 External Factorshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip28
Conclusion helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip31
Chapter two Field Work
Introductionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip34
21 Methodologyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip34
211 Research Participantshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip34
212 The Procedurehelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip35
2121 The Research Design helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip36
2122 The Pre-test Phasehelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip36
2123 The Treatment Phasehelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip37
2124 The Control Grouphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip38
2125 The Post-test Phasehelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip38
213 Scoring helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip40
214 Data Analysishelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip40
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (independent
Sample t-test)helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip42
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip44
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group Post-test (Paired
Sample t-test)helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 47
21431 Paired Sample t-test helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip50
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip53
21441 An Independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group
in the Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip55
215 Discussion of the Resultshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip57
216 Pedagogical Implicationshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip57
Conclusionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip58
General Conclusionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip59
Limitation of The Studyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip60
List of Referenceshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip61
Appendices
IX
Reacutesumeacute
ملخص
1
General introduction
Introduction
1 Statement of the Problem
2 Aim of the Study
3 Research Question
4 Research Hypothesis
5 Means of the Study
6 Structure of the Study
2
Introduction
Acquiring comprehensible pronunciation for EFL learners is one of the key supplies
for language proficiency Nowadays mastering the foreign language is the main concern
that most of EFL learners share This high attention raises due to the exposure to the target
language and to the complications that learners may face at whatever time they want to
communicate whether with foreigners or with one another using for instance the English
language Besides listening is not only a matter of innate ability but it is a matter of how to
develop that inborn capacity in order to improve the learnersrsquo pronunciation accuracy
Accordingly audio-stories are used to help developing the learnersrsquo listening skill and to
improve their pronunciation accurateness Furthermore using audio stories in teaching EFL
learners help to evidence that an effective listening process leads to an effective articulation
1 Statement of the Problem
Generally speaking there are various factors that affect learnersrsquo acquisition of the
target language pronunciation The Algerian EFL learners encounter many problems
concerning articulation because EFLESL learners do not have much opportunities to be
exposed to the real language as it is produced by the native speakers in the classroom Since
English is a foreign language learners avoid using it outside the classroom which is resulted
in a bad pronunciation Therefore EFL teachers are required to use audio-stories inside the
classrooms in order to develop studentsrsquo second language and to improve their pronunciation
accuracy
3
2 Aim of the Study
The current study deals with the learnersrsquo pronunciation difficulties of the dark [ϯ]
and the clear [l] It aims at investigating the effect of listening to audio-stories on fostering
the target languagersquos accurate pronunciation of both allophones
3 Research Question
The present study seeks to answer the following question
Does listening to audio-stories help EFL learners to acquire the accurate
pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
4 Research Hypothesis
In order to answer the research question the subsequent hypotheses are framed
H1 The EFL learners will acquire accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the
clear [l] through listening to audio-stories
H0 Listening to audio stories will not help EFL learners to acquire accurate
pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
5 Means of the Research
In order to achieve the objective of our research a quasi-experimental design is
administered to second year LMD students of English Department at LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi
University The selected sample (40 students from 210) consists of two groups the control
group and the experimental group Both groups will be pretested in order to assess their
pronunciation accuracy level The pre-test is a kind of short story and small sentences that
contain the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] which learners have to read After that the Praat will be
used in order to record their voices Later on the experimental group will take the treatment
for four sessions in which they will listen to the audio stories each session will take one
4
hour and a half However the control group will not receive any kind of treatment (they will
be taught in a normal way without listening to audio stories) Furthermore a post-test which
is different from that of the pre-test will be administered to both groups in order to test their
pronunciation development
6 Structure of the Study
The present study is divided into two chapters The first chapter is a theoretical one
and it is composed of two sections The first section is about listening to audio stories in
which we define the process of listening and mention the main differences between listening
and hearing After that we discuss the reasons of listening its types and processes Later
on the second sub-section deals with audio stories At the start we introduce a brief history
about the notion of audio stories and then we introduce stories in general Afterward we
discuss the characteristics of audio stories their use and advantages The second section
deals with the pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] at the beginning we shed light
on the definition of speaking skill and its sub-competencies After that a part of this section
deals with the definition of pronunciation and its importance Besides it introduces factors
that affect pronunciation The second chapter deals with the field work in which it sheds
light on collecting data presenting and analyzing it and at the end interpreting results
5
Section One Listening to Audio Stories
Introduction
11 Definition of Listening Skill
12 Differences between Listening and Hearing
13 Reasons of Listening
14 Types of Listening
141 Extensive Listening
142 Intensive Listening
15 Listening Processes
151 Bottom-up Process
152 Top down Process
16 Brief History of Audio-Stories
17 Definition of Storytelling
18 Definition of Audio-Stories
19 Characteristics of a Good Audio-Story
110 The Use of Audio-Stories in ESL Classrooms
111 Advantages of Using Audio-Stories
Conclusion
6
Introduction
Nowadays there is a great emphasis put on listening skill since it plays a significant
role in teaching and acquiring the foreign language So this high attention raises because of
the difficulties that learners face whenever they want to communicate thatrsquos why many
researchers shed light on Audio Stories as a tool that can help in developing learnersrsquo
listening process as well as improving their speaking skills and precisely their
pronunciation
The main concern of this section is listening to audio stories First of all we shed
light on the first part which is listening process At the start we need to define listening
skills according to different scholars later on we tackle the main differences between
listening and hearing Also reasons of listening its types and processes Then the second
part of this section deals with the audio stories In the beginning we introduce a brief history
of audio stories and later on the definition of stories in general After that we present the
meaning of audio stories in a specific way and its main characteristics Lastly this section
highlights the use and the advantages of audio stories inside EFL classrooms
11 Definition of Listening Skill
ldquoThe most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen Just to
listen Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attentionrdquo (Remen
2011)
Listening is an important skill in learning and acquiring a foreign language Through
this process learners will be able to receive and understand information According to
Downs (2008) ldquothe word of listening is defined as making an effort to hear something to
pay attention or heedrdquo (p 1) In other words Downs (2008) argues that listening is the way
7
learners pay attention to what is being said In her opinion listening is an active process that
includes using a variety of processes which are attending understanding interpreting
responding and remembering Moreover Mendelsohn (1994) demonstrates listening as ldquothe
ability to understand the spoken language of native speakersrdquo (p 64) To be precise
Mendelsohn defines listening as the listenerrsquo s ability to recognize the native speakerrsquo s
speech in terms of accent pitch intonation vocabulary grammar and trying to interpret the
native speakerrsquo s messages
Saricoban (1999) states that listening is onersquos capacity to realise what is being said
and to recognize the intended meaning He sheds light on two important points the first
point concerns understanding the speakerrsquos pronunciation syntax and lexis whereas the
second point deals with grasping the meaning Willis (1981) lists a series of micro-skills of
listening which she calls enabling skills They are
Predicting what people are going to talk about
Guessing at unknown words or phrases without panic
Using onersquo s own knowledge of the subject to help one understand
Identifying relevant points rejecting irrelevant information
Retaining relevant points (note-taking summarizing)
Recognizing discourse markers eg well oh another thing is now finally
etc
Recognizing cohesive devices e g such as and which including linking
words pronouns references etc
Understanding different intonation patterns and uses of stress etc which give
clues to meaning and social setting
8
Understanding inferred information eg speakerrsquo s attitude or intentions
(p134
Furthermore listening is an important source of knowledge It is recognized as the
ability of transforming and interpreting the spoken messages that are received by the ears
from the daily life situations Yet listening is a very hard task It requires the learnersrsquo mental
concentration which is something difficult because the human brain can simply lose attention
That is to say listening skill can save learners from communication breakdowns and
increases their motivation to learn the foreign language and speak fluently but only if they
work harder to develop their own listening skills
12 Differences between Listening and Hearing
Listening and hearing are two different activities Kline (1996) emphasizes the
differences between these two concepts to make an effective listening He states that
ldquohearing is the attachment of meaning to the sound Hearing is passive listening is activerdquo
(p7) In other words active listening is a successful element that affects learnersrsquo verbal and
nonverbal behaviors
Surbhi (2016) states the differences between listening and hearing On the one hand
he defines hearing as the natural capacity that happens unconsciously It aids to identify
sounds via the ears Also hearing is a process that permits receiving sound vibrations and
it is one of the five senses On the other hand Surhbi (2016) defines listening skill as the
process of receiving and interpreting messages it occurs consciously
13 Reasons of Listening
Learners through being exposed to different English accents and in any recorded
materials such as radio TV or tapes they want to understand and realize what is being said
9
(Harmer 1998) According to him listening is a very effective process that helps learners to
get a better pronunciation In other words as much as they are exposed to the real language
as much as they will recognize its features
Also Shen (2010) demonstrates that listening skills help to improve understanding
and aids people to become aware of their listening skills So listening plays a vital role in
language learning and acquisition It is an essential skill that bridges the line between
meaning and messages in order to avoid misunderstanding between individuals
14 Types of listening
Generally speaking the listening skill plays a significant role in teaching EFL
classrooms This process guides EFL learners to an effective communication Therefore the
listening skill can be classified into two different types Extensive listening and intensive
listening
141 Extensive Listening
Extensive listening has to do with the learnerrsquos fluency In other words the learner has
to master vocabulary grammarhellipetc and later on he must combine them together to form
a meaningful conversation So fluency depends on the listenerrsquos ability of understanding
whatever he is exposed to weather in an audio tape a text a songhellipetc
Harmer (1998) states that extensive listening is the way students practice their own
listening outside the classroom Students should enjoy listening to an audio material because
they can understand them without the teacherrsquo s help Also students can depend on CDs and
tapes so that they are going to have another chance to listen to their course books dialogues
that they have already provided to them inside the classroom In addition learners must be
10
stimulated to listen to the English language films with sub-titles because this helps students
to acquire the foreign language
In brief extensive listening according to the Extensive Reading-Central (2012) includes
Listening to massive amounts of text
Text which learners can understand reasonably smoothly
high levels of comprehension
Listening without being constrained by pre-set questions or tasks
Listening at or below onersquo s comfortable fluent listening ability
So extensive listening aims to make learners enjoy developing their listening skills
142 Intensive Listening
In contrast to extensive listening intensive listening aims at developing the learnersrsquo
specific listening skills and more precisely to raise the learnersrsquo attention about the spoken
language Intensive listening occurs weather in classrooms or laboratories It exists mostly
when teachers guide their students and provide them with help concerning listening
problems that they face and try to highlight them (Harmer 2007)
So intensive listening according to the Extensive Reading-central (2012) is
Listening for specific information
Listening for the exact words of a phrase or expression
Listening for details
Listening to mimic a text
11
15 Listening Processes
In listening process addressees process information using two distinct strategies
This is devoted to as bottom-up and top-down
151 Bottom-up Process
Richards (1990) states that ldquobottom-up processing refers the use of incoming data as
a source of information about the meaning of a messagerdquo (p 50) According to him Bottom-
up process deals with the perception of sentence components ie recognizing the meaning
of sounds words sentences clauseshellipetc till reaching the meaning of the whole message
152 Top-down Process
Richards (190) states that ldquoTop-down processing on the other hand refers to the use
of background knowledge in understanding the meaning of a messagerdquo (p 51) In contrast
to Bottom-up process Richards (1990) points out to the Top-down as the process of using
the listenersrsquo previous knowledge to attain meaning as whole not attaining the meaning of
individual words
16 Brief History of Audio-Stories
Eckert (2016) states that ldquoAudio storytelling in the form of radio drama has been
around for almost a centuryrdquo (p 8) That is to say audio stories in the previous decades took
the form of radio drama Radio drama attained extensive admiration within an era of its
original growth in the 1920rsquo s At that time radio drama played a central role for being the
foundation of people entertainment However by the 1950rsquo s people shifted their attention
to the new invention which was the small screen ie the television As a result of the
invention of this new device audio drama no more attracts the spectatorsrsquo attention it lost
its popularity
12
Though in 2010 radio drama came back to stage due to the developments shown in
digital soundtrack and internet spreading According to Eckert (2016) ldquoRadio and audio
storytelling has slowly started gaining popularity again thanks to the different online
platforms brought forth by digitalizationrdquo (p 8)
17 Definition of Storytelling
Today stories are a fundamental part of our societies and cultures Telling and
listening to stories is an ancient tradition and common activity that bonds different olden
civilizations together Also stories are an essential component and an ordinary process that
many people used to do on every occasion It is the art of telling factual or fictional stories
Besides stories bring legacy into life because our ancestors told them and people today
only retell them
Moreover listening to stories enhances the learnersrsquo foreign language It aids them
to improve their speaking skills Pederson (1995) states that ldquoin dealing with stories learners
have an experience with the powerful real language of personal communicationrdquo (p 2)
Additionally Pederson (1995) emphasizes the role of telling stories in preserving heritage
he argues that ldquooral stories are a direct expression of a literary and cultural heritage and
through them that heritage is appreciated understood and kept aliverdquo (1995 p2) In other
words stories bond between the past and the present It is considered to be a vital feature of
humankind Furthermore Schram (1994 as cited in Coulter Michael amp Poynor 2007)
points out
A story is a beautiful means of teaching religion values history traditions and
customs a creative method of introducing characters and places an imaginative way
13
to instill hope and resourceful thinking Stories help us to understand who we are and
show us what legacies to transmit to future generations (p 104-105)
So Schram (1994) highlights the role of stories in bridging the gap between the teaching
process and culture
Likewise Abrahamson (1998) sheds light on the role that storytelling plays in the
learning process He states that telling stories plays a significant role in improving learnersrsquo
understanding Besides Abrahamson argues that stories can afford a suitable context that
the listener can use it as a base to perceive the tellerrsquos point of view Moreover Roney (1996)
demonstrates
In its most basic form storytelling is a process where a person (the teller) using
vocalization narrative structure and mental imagery communications with other
humans (the audience) who also use mental imagery and in turn communicate back
to the teller primarily via body language and facial expression (p 2)
By this definition storytelling is the combination of art procedures and ways of
communication
18 Definition of Audio-Stories
The term audio-story is a combination of two words audio and story By definition
audio is sound within the aural range accessible to humankinds Miller (2011) states that
ldquostories are pieces of art and can serve as a basis of gamesrdquo (p 1) So Audio-story is a very
operative means for teaching EFL learners It aids to make the course persuasive Nowadays
14
audio stories can be used to many reasons and the most important one is the exposure to the
real language of native speakers by EFL learners In addition Rubin (2015) points out
ldquoaudio stories are an engaging form of communication that combines speech and music into
a compelling narrativesrdquo (p 1) That is to say audio stories are the process of telling stories
through sound and sound effects only Furthermore Audio-stories are broadly accredited to
progresses in portable equipment for instance smart phones tablets and multimedia
entertainment systems Thus EFL learners find it easy to listen to those audio stories
19 Characteristics of a Good Audio-Story
According to Seifert (nd) finding good audio-stories that suit the EFL learnersrsquo
needs is something very important and it is a very hard task to do However these are some
of the necessary features that EFL teachers must take into consideration whenever they want
to select a good audio-story for their students
Skill Level
Taking into account the learnersrsquo English level before choosing any audio-story For
instance if the audio-story contains a difficult language learners will lose confidence and
as a result they stop listening to the audio-story So determining the learnersrsquo level is very
important
Student Interest
EFL teachers must find out their studentsrsquo interests and normally each teacher has
an idea about this issue So if the audio-stories do not fit the learnersrsquo needs the EFL
teacherrsquos goal from that audio-story will be lost
15
Audio Length
The length of the audio-story plays a significant role in keeping concentration in the
ESL schoolrooms Listening for much time to the audio storytelling leads to boredom As a
result the learnersrsquo s brains lose attention However teachers can use long audio-stories but
they should know how to put it into parts and use classroom discussions to avoid boredom
So these three characteristics aid to develop EFL learnersrsquo listening skills
110 The Use of Audio-Stories in ESL Classrooms
According to Rock (nd) there are several listening practices that ESLEFL teachers
can provide to their students These are samples of activities that can work hand in hand with
audio-stories
Fill in The Blanks
Here EFL teacher provides his students with a written passage that is taken from an
audio-story but he removes some words Later on the teacher asks his learners to listen to
the audio-story after reading that passage and at the same time fill in the blanks
Mastery Memory
This activity has to do with learnerrsquos memory In this kind of practices teachers
provide learners with an audio-story and ask them for example to write down the main
events of the story but when they finish listening to it Teachers in this activity have to make
sure that students do not write them during the listening of the audio-story So the main goal
of the exercise is to reinforce learnerrsquos memory
16
Order the Events
At the start teachers give their learners a series of events that are chosen from an
audio-story Then the teacher gives them some time to read them After that learners listen
to the audio- storytelling and put those events in a sequential order
Buzz Words
This exercise aims to reach the learnerrsquo s vocabulary In this practice teachers
provide learners with a number of words then they ask them to check their meanings before
Afterward teacher turns the lesson into a game ie EFL learners listen to the audio-story
and whenever they hear a word (the buzz word) from that list they have to raise their hands
or clap them
Multiple Choice
This activity deals with providing learners with a number of questions followed by
three answers these questions can be definitions or name of characterhellip etc Then learners
have to listen to the audio-storytelling and pick the write response After teachers play again
the audio-story to correct their answers
Character Quiz
In this practice EFL learners have to listen to the whole story Then the teacher gives
his class a question sheet that contains a list of character qualities and decision and ask them
to choose the suitable one for the leading role
Plot Quiz
This activity has to do with team competition After listening to the whole audio-
storytelling once or twice the teacher divides his class into two to four groups where the
17
teacher plays the role of the coach Several questions that have a relation to the story will be
quizzed to each team if they get the answer they have a point if they fail to answer correctly
the question moves to the next group
Beginning Middle End
After listening to the audio storytelling the teacher splits the classroom into groups
and each group contains no more than four students Later he asks each group to write the
main events of the beginning the middle and the end of the story Finally they discuss them
together
111 Advantages of Using Audio-Stories
Audio-stories play an essential role in teaching the target language Audio-
storytelling is an impeccable implement for any ESL classrooms First of all audio-stories
afford learners with the exposure to the real language as it is produced by the native speakers
ie a natural voice Furthermore Rodero (2012 as cited in Eckert2016) claimed that
ldquoAudio stories that use sound effects and sound shots enhance the learnerrsquo s attention and
creation of visual images significantly compared to those without themrdquo (p 16) That is to
say using audio-stories in ESL classrooms develops learnersrsquo listening skills and provides
them with an imaginary trip inside their minds Also audio- stories enhance learnersrsquo
pronunciation since the learner is exposed to the natural voice In addition EFL teacher can
use audio storytelling as a guideline to his lecture or the opposite he can use it at the end of
the course as a reward
Moreover the EFL teachers depend on audio-stories in improving learnersrsquo
vocabulary through memorization Learners can enrich their vocabulary whenever they
listen to those stories because each time they learn some new words Besides learners can
18
listen to them outside the schoolrooms because they are portable they can upload them in
their mobiles and listen to them any time anywhere Finally audio stories can raise interest
for those learners who are not attracted to reading
Conclusion
In conclusion listening to audio stories aids EFL learners to improve the target
language pronunciation That is to say students will be exposed to the real language as it is
created by the native speakers Besides using audio stories in ESLEFL classrooms increases
the learnersrsquo interest toward learning the foreign language and also enhances their speaking
skills
19
Section two Reflection on Pronunciation
Introduction
121 Definition of Speaking Skill
122 Speaking Sub-Competencies Skills
123 Definition of Pronunciation
124 Importance of Pronunciation
125 Factors Affecting Pronunciation
1251 Internal Factors
1252 External Factors
Conclusion
20
Introduction
Generally speaking being able to speak the target language fluently and accurately
seems to be very interesting to all EFLESL learners Though students face a lot of troubles
and obstacles when communicating with each other or with native speakers and this is due
to mispronunciation misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the hearer which leads to the
communication breakdowns Furthermore learnersrsquo mispronunciation occurs due to various
factors that affect their oral language and as a consequence it affects their speaking
proficiency
In this section we have dealt with the speaking process and precisely
ldquopronunciationrdquo At the start a slight attention is put upon the definition of speaking skills
and its sub-competencies After that a part of this section is devoted to define pronunciation
and highlight its importance Moreover this section demonstrates some factors that affect
pronunciation which are classified into internal factors and external factors Finally another
point about the English consonant ldquoLrdquo has been raised
121 Definition of Speaking Skill
Mastering the foreign language is the aim of each EFL learner Speaking is one of
the most important language skills it plays a significant role in sharing ideas and thoughts
between individuals Torky (2006) defines speaking as follows ldquoIt is the means through
which learners can communicate with others to achieve certain goals or to express their
opinions intentions hopes and viewpointsrdquo (p 13) Also Ziane (2012) states that ldquoit is the
way by which learners can contribute and be part of oral communicationrdquo (p21) So the
main goal of EFL learners is to be able to speak the target language in order to strengthen
their verbal communication
21
Moreover Chaney (1998) argues that ldquospeaking is the process of building and
sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols in a variety of contextsrdquo
(p 13) From Chaneyrsquo s definition of speaking we deduce that speaking has an important
role in learning the foreign language and improving EFL learnersrsquo communicative skill
However there are some researchers who describe speaking as a hard task They
argue that EFL learners find it so hard to master the foreign language and face a lot of
difficulties even after studying it many years at schools Bueno and Mclaren (2006 as cited
in Alonso 2011) point out
Speaking is one of the most difficult skills language learners have to face In spite of
this it has traditionally been forced into the background while we teachers of
English have spent all our classroom time trying to teach our students how to write
to read and sometimes even to listen in a L2 because grammar has a long written
tradition (p 321)
On the whole the speaking skill is a very important process that EFL learners need to acquire
in order to master and shape the target language
122 Speaking Sub CompetenciesSkills
Torky (2006) claims that learners must be able to express themselves in a given
context in order to be proficient in mastering the foreign language She points out to several
speaking skills or competencies that help to achieve this aim which are
22
Linguistic Competence
Torky (2006) states that learners must be skillful in using pronunciation ie their
pronunciation must be clear In addition students have to use correct grammar and
proper lexis
Discourse Competence
In the beginning learners have to be able to use a well-organized discourse In other
words the discourse must be clear and unified Besides they have to be competent in
handling discussion and cooperating efficiently in order to avoid the communication
breakdowns
Pragmatic Competence
EFL learners have to be proficient in using a variety of functions that are related to
the same context and register
Fluency
Speaking smoothly without any complications and with a suitable degree of speech
speed
123 Definition of Pronunciation
According to Gilakjani (2012) ldquopronunciation is an integral part of foreign language
since it directly affects learnersrsquo communicative competence as well as performancerdquo
(p119) That is to say pronunciation plays a fundamental role in learning and improving the
target language Besides Poposka (2016) argues that pronunciation is the key factor of
language in its universal notion and she claims that pronunciation should be defined in
23
relation to different perspectives Poposka (2016) states some of the various points of view
concerning pronunciation definition which are
- The act or manner of pronouncing uttering of speech
- A way of speaking a word especially a way that is accepted or generally understood
- A graphic representation of the way a word is spoken using phonetic symbols (p
200)
Moreover Dauer (1993 as cited in Ummah 2014) states that ldquopronunciation is the
act of producing the sound of speech including articulation vowel formation accent
inflection and intonation often with reference to the correctness or acceptability of the
speech soundrdquo (p 10) In addition Poposka (2016) states that pronunciation is the vocal
capacity to produce particular sounds weather when communicating with individuals or
when being alone This construction of sounds leads to the appearance of some utterances
that may be expressive or worthless (p 200) Furthermore Adult Migrant English Program
research center (AMP 2002) points out
Pronunciation refers to the production of sounds that we use to make meaning it includes
attention to the particular sounds of language (segments) aspects of speech beyond the
level of the individual sound such as intonation phrasing stress timing rhythm
(suprasegmental aspects) (p1)
In other words AMP research center argues that even if these two aspects suprasegmental
and segmental structures are treated separately it is necessary to know that they work hand
in hand in a given context whenever someone speaks
24
124 Importance of Pronunciation
Madden and Moore (1997) states that ldquoin first language acquisition children learn
pronunciation inductively by absorbing and reproducing the sounds in their environmentrdquo
(p 4) That is to say all human beings in their natural development from childhood to
adulthood learn first of all how to talk before learning how to read or write Also Zhang
(2009) claims that ldquolearning a language means to perform the sounds utterances and the
words properly and correctlyrdquo (p 34-35) So pronunciation is a very essential skill in
learning a second language
Moreover Morley (1998 as cited in Zhang 2009) argues that ldquoit is clear that limited
pronunciation skills will make learners lose their self-confidence and result in negative
influence for learners to estimate their credibility and abilitiesrdquo (p 35) In other words it
does not matter whether learners make mistakes concerning grammar or vocabulary all what
matters is the way they pronounce a given word in order to make a worthy impression on
the learnersrsquo language capacities Zhang (2009) points out
Good pronunciation will make people understand you easily and be willing to listen to
you Contrarily poor English pronunciation may confuse people and lead to an
unpleasant talking and misunderstanding even if you used advanced English grammar
or vocabulary (p 35)
Likewise Backley (n d) argues ldquoif a speaker has a clear pronunciation this has immediate
benefits listeners judge the speakerrsquo s overall language ability much more favorably even
to the point of tolerating grammatical and other errorsrdquo (p 126) Therefore good
25
pronunciation aids to avoid misinterpretation and intelligibility between speakers and
listeners and show the learnersrsquo competencies in mastering their second language
Furthermore good pronunciation affects the learnersrsquo speed of acquiring the target language
In addition learners should use only simple structures with good and correct pronunciation
rather than using complex expressions in order to communicate with others
125 Factors Affecting Pronunciation
Generally speaking there are several factors that affect the learnersrsquo pronunciation
These factors can be classified into internal factors and external factors
1251 Internal Factors
Zhang (2009) states that internal factors can be categorized also into biological
factors individual differences and individual efforts and goal setting
Biological Factors
They are branded into four features age ear perception and aptitude
Learnersrsquo Age
At the start there is a difference between young learners and adult learners
concerning the acquisition of the accurate pronunciation Nonetheless this does not mean
that adult learners cannot get accurate pronunciation as well They have to work much harder
because their brainsrsquo plasticity reduces That is to say age plays a significant part in learning
the target language pronunciation Moreover Zhang (2009) emphasizes the role of the
critical period hypothesis that was proposed by Lenneberg in 1967 which states that there
is a certain age that helps learners to acquire the foreign language pronunciation accurately
26
and after that age the brain loses its flexibility Furthermore (Nation and Newton (2009) as
cited in Zhang 2009) claim that
Usually if the learner began to speak in the second language before the age of six
there will be little or no accent If the learner began to speak between the age of seven
and eleven the learners likely to have a slight accent If the learner began to speak
after age of twelve the learners almost always have an accent (p 78)
This is the reason behind the acceptance of the idea that learners find it so hard to acquire
the foreign language after maturity
Additionally Zhang (2009) states that young learners have bigger chances than the
adult learners in obtaining accurate pronunciation He claims that the brain loses its
flexibility and becomes rigid after puberty (after nine years old) as a result the brainrsquo s
functions will be devoted to the right and left hemispheres which makes it so difficult to
acquire the foreign languagersquo s pronunciation correctly Also Lenneberg (1967 as cited in
Zhang 2009) argues that ldquobefore the age of two the brain has not developed enough but
after puberty it developed too much and it will lose its plasticity and finish the lateralization
of the language functionrdquo (p 39) In other words it becomes so hard to obtain the native-
like pronunciation after the lateralization
Ear Perception
One of the most important factors that affect the learnersrsquo acquisition of the foreign
language is the ldquoear perceptionrdquo Zhang (2009) claims that the hearing abilities differ from
one person to another That is to say there are learners who have a strong hearing capacity
27
they can hear sounds in a very clear way which help them in reproducing the native speakersrsquo
pronunciation smoothly Whereas there is that kind of learners who do not have that ability
However Zhang argues that the ear perception has nothing to do with the learner age He
claims that it is natural that learners may lose some of their capacities whenever they become
older
Aptitude
Generally speaking foreign language aptitude is the personrsquos ability to learn a foreign
or a second language very rapidly and with no troubles (Wen 2011) Also Dornyei and
skehan (2003 as cited in Wen 2011) states ldquooriginally the notion of FLA presumed a
relatively stable talent for learning a foreign language that differs between individualsrdquo (p
590) So EFL learners do not have the same ability to acquire the foreign language
Additionally Carroll (1962 as cited in Wen 2011) states four components of the FLA which
are
lsquophonemic coding abilityrsquo (ie the ability to identify and retain sounds and link them
to phonetic symbols)
Sensitivity towards the grammatical functions that words fulfil in a sentence
The ability to learn inductively (ie to infer and generalize linguistic structures from
language samples) and
The ability to rote learn vocabulary items paired with their associated translations
(p 233)
Hence aptitude has an important role in improving learnersrsquo foreign language
Although Zhang (2009) argues that all individuals have a language aptitude ability but they
28
differ only in the degree of that aptitude capacity Also he claims that we cannot say that
those people who have a sophisticated level of language aptitude will get to the top and
people with an inferior level of language aptitude will go pear-shaped
Individual Differences
Zhang (2009) states that learnersrsquo different personalities affect the way they acquire
the foreign language pronunciation He argues that extroverted learners are more likely to
acquire the target pronunciation rather than introverted learners because extroverted learners
are not afraid of making mistakes which is not the case with the introverted learners who
face always the fear of failure Besides extroverted students are more friendly they tend to
work with others which leads them to practice the target language so they become more
familiar with it which aids to improve their pronunciation very quickly (p 40-41)
Individual Efforts and Goal setting
At the start the main goal of each EFLESL learner is to master the foreign language
in order to communicate with others Zhang (2009) points out ldquowe must always remember
that teaching never causes learning but rather creates the conditions in which learning can
occurrdquo (p 42) Besides he emphasizes that pronunciation is really a very hard task that
learners can acquire in a few days but it is not something impossible that learners cannot
achieve Though as much time learners spend in practicing the target language
pronunciation the better results they will get
1252 External Factors
External factors can be classified into three aspects learnersrsquo native language
exposure to target language and education factors
29
Learnerrsquo s Native Language
Universally the learnersrsquo native language affects their pronunciation of the foreign
language Zhang (2009) states that studentsrsquo mother tongue reflects the way they pronounce
a certain word in the target language and this is due to the differences that are found between
the two languages In other words learners find a lot of complications in articulating some
sounds for the reason that some of those sounds do not occur in their native language (p
43)
Exposure to the Target Language
Zhang (2009) shows that the acquisition of English language pronunciation is related
to the amount of exposure to it as it is produced by the native speakers That is to say this
depends on the learner himself ie on the situation in which the learning process occurs In
other words Zhang argues that it does not matter weather learners live in a native country
or not it is a matter of how much time they listen to the foreign language and how much
time they use it Zhang (2009) states ldquothe more they spend their time for listening and
speaking English the better their English pronunciation will berdquo (p 44) Thus learnerrsquo s
pronunciation accuracy depends on the surrounding environment where the target language
takes place
Educational Factors
At the start the system of education is responsible for studentsrsquo learning process
Worthy educational structure provides a lot of chances for learners to be exposed to the target
language through creating a suitable learning environment Additionally EFLESL
teachersrsquo accent reflects the learnersrsquo pronunciation because learners take teachers as an
30
exemplary in order to improve their pronunciation That is why teachers should work on
their pronunciation initially (Zhang 2009)
The English Consonant Sound ldquoLrdquo
Generally speaking EFL learners face complications in learning the English L sound
Sproat and Fujimura (1993) argue ldquoEnglish l has traditionally been classified into at least
two allophones namely light which occurs initially and dark which occurs syllable finallyrdquo
(p 291) Furthermore Wang (2016) states that the L consonant sound is a lateral phoneme
in English and it has two allophones he points out
One of them is found before vowels as in ldquoladyrdquo or ldquoflyrdquo called clear l and is
pronounced as the alveolar lateral approximant in a neutral position of the body of
the tongue The other variant is called dark l found before consonants or at word-
finally position as in ldquoboldrdquo or ldquotellrdquo Which is as the velarized lateral approximant
with the tongue in a spoon-like shape Its back part is raised which gives the sound
a w-like resonance (p 44)
In other words the clear [l] occurs when the tip of the tongue raises up and touches the soft
palate just behind the front teeth whereas the dark [ϯ] happens when the tip of the tongue
pulls back and the tongue raises to the middle without touching the soft palate to make the
L sound So the difference between these two allophones is the reason behind those troubles
that the learner may face
However Sproat and Fujimura (1993 as cited in Jiahong 2011) explain the
differences between these two allophones by relating them to the rime duration In other
31
words they point out that whenever the l sound occurs in longer rimes it is going to be a
dark [ϯ] and whenever the rime is short the l sound is clear or light
Figure 1
Articulatory Differences in l Velarization
Source Recasens 2012 p369
Conclusion
To end with it is very important to acknowledge that pronunciation is one way that
leads to an effective and a successful communication That is why many researchers shed
light on the investigation of some factors that may influence the EFL learnersrsquo pronunciation
As a result these identifying concepts help foreigners to overcome their difficulties when
they are introduced to the target language
32
Chapter two Field Work
Introduction
21 Methodology
211 Research Participants
212 The Procedure
2121 The Research Design
2122 The Pre-test Phase
2123 The Treatment Phase
2124 The Control Group
2125 The Post-test Phase
213 Scoring
214 Data Analysis
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (independent Sample
t-test)
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group Post-test
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group Post-test (Paired
Sample t-test)
21431 Paired Sample t-test
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-test
33
21441 An Independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the
Post-test
215 Discussion of the Results
216 Pedagogical Implications
Conclusion
34
Introduction
This research attempts to investigate the effect of listening to audio stories on
acquiring accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] by second year LMD students
at the department English -LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi The chosen sample is divided into two
groups the control group and the experimental group At the start participantsrsquo
pronunciation accuracy of the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] (the dependent variable) was measured
through a pretest Later on a period of treatment is taken by the experimental group which
is not the case with the control group After that a post-test is administered to both groups
in which the results are gathered using a software called the ldquopraatrdquo In addition we shed
light on describing the sample taking the place in which the study took place the method
used and at last the data collected
21 Methodology
211 Research Participants
The current study involved two intact classes of second year LMD students from
LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi-English Department The selected sample includes students from
different gender Furthermore we favored to select second year students for several reasons
The first reason was that second year students have practiced working with audio supports
which was not the case with first year students so they will not face problems concerning
listening to audio stories The second reason was that second year learners study oral
expression
At the start the experiment includes a sample of forty learners that have been chosen
from two intact classes of second year LMD students The chosen sample represents 1904
from the entire population which comprises 210 learners Additionally both clusters were
35
divided into a control group and an experimental group twenty students in each group At
the beginning the sample was supposed to be comprised of sixty students in which both the
control and the experimental groups covered thirty students Unfortunately there were a lot
of absences in both groups Also there are some students who have not passed both the
pretest and the posttest and others have not received the treatment at all Therefore the
sample size was reduced from sixty to forty students which can be sufficient to represent
the whole population and to get consistent outcomes
In order to gather consistent data that help to achieve the purpose of our research a
quasi-experimental design was designated The use of the chosen method will provide us
with a wide-ranging representation of the reflection of listening to audio stories on the
acquisition of the accurate pronunciation of the dark [l] and clear [l]
212 The Procedure
To accumulate a reliable data an experiment was conducted over six sessions The
treatment period took four sessions and the remained two sessions for the pretest and the
posttest The pretest took a form different from that of the posttest in order to avoid
familiarity to improve the learnersrsquo development and get consistent information Both
groups have taken the tests but only the experimental group took the treatment Besides the
duration of training concerning the treatment period for the experimental group took 90
minutes ie one hour and a half for each session and it started after getting the
authorization of the teacher of oral expression
36
2121 The Research Design
Figure 2
Experimental Group Procedures
Figure 3
Control Group Procedures
2122 The Pre-test Phase
By the first week of March both the control group and the experimental group have
taken the pretest However before choosing the pretest and in order to avoid any problems
we have checked that the dark [l] and the clear [l] are pronounced the same in both the
American and the British accents using the Oxford Advanced Learnerrsquo s Dictionary At the
outset learners were required to read a passage derived from a short story named ldquoThe last
class-The story of the Alsationrdquo that was written by Alphonse Daudet (2001) and also short
sentences (see Appendix A) After that their voices were recorded using a software known
pre-test
treatment
(listening to audio stories)
post-test
pre-test
No treatment
( being taught without listening
to audio-stories)
post-test
37
as the ldquoPraatrdquo Besides our focus here was raised toward the duration (ie the length of a
syllable) of the dark [l] and the clear [l]
Throughout the pretest EFL learners found themselves unable to pronounce the dark
[ϯ] and clear [l] that are found in some words correctly In other words students in the control
group and the experimental group most of the time pronounce the dark [ϯ] in the same way
they pronounce the clear [l] ie they spend the same duration for pronouncing the two
allophones Also EFL learners from time to time pronounce them differently but in a wrong
way ie they spent a rime duration that it not suitable neither for the light [l] nor for the
dark[ϯ]
Figure4
Example of the Lateral Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoSawmillrdquo
2123 The Treatment Phase
At first both participants have finished the pretest Though the treatment was
approved to the experimental group only the control group did not receive the same
treatment Besides the experimental group received the treatment in four sessions and each
Rime
duration
38
session took one hour and a half (ie 90 minutes) In each session students were asked to
listen to the audio-story in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of both allophones
after that they discussed the story being listened (see Appendix B)
2124 The Control Group
Concerning the control group students were taught the oral expression without any
exposure to any kinds of treatments In contrast to students in the experimental group who
were provided with the audio stories in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of the
both allophones which are the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ]
2125 The Post-test Phase
Fundamentally after finishing the four sessions of training ie the period of
treatment a posttest was administered to both the experimental group and the control group
(see Appendix c) The posttest as we have said before is different from the pretest in order
to avoid familiarity with the same topic and to ensure the learners improvement of the dark
[ϯ] and clear [l] So the posttest is a kind of a passage which was taken from a short story
that is entitled ldquoThe Game of Billiardsrdquo which is written by Alphonse Daudet and some
words to pronounce Furthermore during the posttest we noticed a kind of development in
learnersrsquo pronunciation of the two allophones with students of the experimental group
especially in pronouncing the single words which was not the case with those learners in
the control group
39
Figure 5
Example of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquocabalrdquo
Figure 6
Example of the Clear [l] in the word ldquolabourrdquo
The rime
duration
The rime
duration
40
213 Scoring
After finishing recording the learnersrsquo pronunciation of the phoneme l of both
groups (the control and the experimental group) we have compared them first of all to the
native speakerrsquo s pronunciation and after that we have calculated the rime duration of the
two allophones ie the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] and at last we gave them scores out of six
(6) for each participant
214 Data Analysis
In this sub-section we are going to investigate the EFL learnersrsquo improvement of
pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] Though in order to make sure that EFL
learners have acquired the correct pronunciation of these two allophones we have firstly
investigated the native speakerrsquos pronunciation of the L sound ie the clear [l] and the dark
[ϯ] and we have analyzed the rime duration of two words ldquolightrdquo and ldquoballrdquo as examples
Figure7
The Native Speakerrsquos Pronunciation of the Clear [l] in the Word ldquolightrdquo
Rime
duration
41
Figure8
The Native Speakerrsquo s Pronunciation of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoballrdquo
From these two figures we have noticed that the native speaker has spent 016 s in
pronouncing an ideal clear [l] (see Figure 7) and he has spent 138 s in order to pronounce
a perfect dark [ϯ] (see Figure 8) Thus this analysis of the native speakerrsquo s voice paved the
way to our research in which we based our investigation on it
Table 1
The Experimental and the Control grouprsquo s Scores in the pre-test
Pre-test
Students
Control
group
Experimental
group
Rime
duration
(second)
C E
Rime
duration
42
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (Independent Sample t-
test)
After gathering data for the control and the experimental group and for the purpose
of comparing and contrasting between the two we have calculated the learnersrsquo scores of
pronunciation of the phoneme l and also we have calculated the rime duration of the two
1 1 2 118 127
2 2 25 095 091
3 1 1 116 102
4 25 2 106 091
5 25 25 078 089
6 15 2 078 105
7 2 15 123 091
8 1 1 117 108
9 15 1 119 119
10 15 1 1 115
11 2 15 091 116
12 15 1 12 119
13 2 15 114 1
14 15 1 108 112
15 1 1 131 112
16 2 1 088 08
17 1 1 127 107
18 1 15 107 149
19 15 1 099 115
20 1 15 114 174
Total 31 285 2149 2222
43
allophones (see Table1) Besides the data collected ie the learnersrsquo scores were used in
calculating the means of both groups in the pre-test (the mean is calculated using the SPSS
see Table 2)
Figure 9
The Pre-test Scores of the Control and the Experimental Group
Table 2
The Mean Score of the Control and the Experimental Group in the Pre-test
Test N Mean Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpre 20 15500 51042 11413
Epre 20 14250 51999 11627
44
In order to calculate the Mean () Results we have to use the following formula
=sumx N
N stands for the total numbers of students in one group
sumx stands for the total number of data that was gathered from the pre-test
1 stands for the mean of the Control Group
2 stands for the mean of the Experimental Group
So1= 31 20 =155
2= 285 20 = 142
From ldquoFigure 9rdquo we can notice that 1 is the most frequent score in both the
experimental and the control groups in the pre-test and we can confirm this information
from Table 1 Furthermore when comparing means of both groups we notice (see Table 2)
that there is only a slight difference between the two groups the mean of the control group
is 155 whereas the mean of the experimental group is 142 So we can deduce that the level
of both groups is approximately the same there is no significant difference Moreover the
rime duration of the phoneme l of the experimental group and the control group is to some
extent the same and we can notice this slight difference in Table 1 and precisely in the total
duration of pronouncing the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] by both groups and also in Table 2
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group post-test
In order to confirm if there is any kind of progression in the control grouprsquo s scores
in the post-test concerning the pronunciation of the phoneme l (see Table 3) we have
calculated the mean of the post-test (using the SPSS see Table 4) and compared it with the
mean of the pre-test besides we have calculated the rime duration that has been spent At
45
last we have mentioned the learnersrsquo scores differences between the pre-test and the post-
test to confirm the development (see Figure 10)
Table 3
Results and Scores Differences of the Control and Experimental group in the Post-test
Posttest
Students
Rime
Duration
(Second)
Cpre Cpost Epre Epost
Cpre Cpost Epre Epost
1 1 1 2 4 118 186 127 21
2 2 175 25 5 095 113 091 253
3 1 1 1 45 116 134 102 245
4 25 2 2 35 106 119 091 234
5 25 15 25 55 078 146 089 24
6 15 175 2 5 078 119 105 267
7 2 2 15 45 123 135 091 263
8 1 125 1 5 117 144 108 254
9 15 1 1 425 119 144 119 242
10 15 1 1 55 1 128 115 274
11 2 1 15 45 091 126 116 285
12 1 2 1 5 12 129 119 268
13 2 125 15 55 114 146 1 328
14 15 1 1 55 108 127 112 223
15 1 1 1 5 131 092 112 275
16 2 1 1 475 088 135 08 274
46
17 1 2 1 5 127 094 107 292
18 1 1 15 575 107 096 149 29
19 15 1 1 525 099 114 115 295
20 1 15 15 575 114 132 174 338
Total 31 27 285 9875 2149 2359 2222 535
Diff -4 +7025 +21 +3128
Mean 155 135 142 493
-02 +351
Table 4
The Mean of the control Group in the Pre-test and Post-test
Mean N Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpre 15500 20 51042 11413
Cpost 13500 20 41675 09319
In order to calculate the mean( )result of the control group in the post-test we have to apply
the following formula = sumx N
sum stands for the total number of the data collected in the post-test of the control
group
N refers to the total number of students So = 2720 = 1
47
Figure 10
The Control Group Studentsrsquo Scores Differences
A very insignificant development has been shown in both Figure 7 and Table 3
concerning learners scores in the post-test Besides only Students 681217 and 20 from a
total number of twenty have proved the improvement the mean of the control group has
decreased from 155 in the pre-test to 135 in the post-test ie the mean = -02
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group post-test (Paired Sample
T-test)
In order to identify the scoresrsquo differences between the results of the experimental
group in both the pre-test and the post-test we have calculated the mean of the post-test and
compared it with that of the pre-test to notice if there is any improvement (see Table 3) So
the mean of the post-test is shown in Table 5 below
48
Table 5
The Mean of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and Post-test
Mean N Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Epre 14250 20 51999 11627
Epost 49375 20 59535 13312
From Table 5 we notice that the mean of the experimental group increased from 142 in the
pre-test to 493 in the post-test with a mean difference of 351 ( = +351) and we can
calculate the mean ()of the post-test using the following formula
= sumxN
sum= Stands for the total number of data that was gathered from the post-test in the
Experimental Group
119925 =Stands for the total number of students
So= 9875 20 = 493
From Table 3 we notice that there is a very clear development and difference in
learnersrsquo scores in the post-test which is very different from the pre-test scores (see Figure
12) Moreover we can notice this development from Figure 11 below too It Shows that the
most frequent scores that learners of the experimental group have gained are 45 5 55 and
at last 575(the marks are out of six) that makes a big difference from the scores of the pre-
test in which the most frequent score was 1 In addition to all of this results we can add that
the sum of the rime duration of the post-test differs a lot from that of the pre-test ( = +3128
s)
49
Hence in the light of these results we can say that the period of treatment really
affects in a positive way the learnersrsquo acquisition of the pronunciation of dark [ϯ] and clear
[l] Besides this enhancement was improved in the mean difference between the pre-test and
the post-test of the experimental group Though the comparison of means in the pre-test and
post-test of the experimental group cannot be sufficient in order to make sure that listening
to audio-stories really affects positively the way learners pronounce the Phoneme l
Therefore a paired sample T-test was designed to assess the development of learnersrsquo
acquisition of dark [ϯ] and clear [l] ie to acceptreject the Alternative Hypothesis or to
accept reject the Null Hypothesis (See Table 6 below)
Figure 11
The Scores Frequencies of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and the Post-test
50
Figure 12
The Scores Differences of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and the Post-test
21431 The paired Sample T-test
In order to know if there is any significant difference between the post-test and the
pre-test scores of the same group a t-test is conducted At first the of the experimental
group is calculated through the following formula
= sumdN
refers to the Difference of mean Scores
N Studentsrsquo scores in the Experimental Group
sum refers to the total sum of the Differences Scores
So = 702520= 35125
51
The Standard deviation of the differences
Sd= radic119956120784= radicsum119941120784
119925minus 119941120784
S stands for the Variance
sum119941120784 refers to the square differences of Scores
After calculating
Sdcong 013
The Standard Error of the Mean Difference (SE)
It is calculated using the following formula
SE ()= 119878119889
radic119873cong003
Finally we calculate the t- value that will be compared to the critical P-value at the point
p=005 in order to accept the alternative hypothesis or rejecting it using the following
formula119957120784120782minus120783=
119878119864(119889) = 117
Table 6
Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Post-test Scores differences
Students Pre-test Post-test Difference
1 2 4 2
2 25 5 25
3 1 45 35
4 2 35 15
5 25 55 3
6 2 5 3
52
7 15 45 3
8 1 5 4
9 1 425 325
10 1 55 45
11 15 45 3
12 1 5 4
13 15 55 4
14 1 55 45
15 1 5 4
16 1 475 375
17 1 5 4
18 15 575 425
19 1 525 425
20 15 575 425
Total 285 9875 7025
Table 7
The Paired Sample T-test for the Experimental Group
Paired Sample T-Test
Epre
Scores-
Epost
Scores
Mean Std
deviati-
on
Std-
Error
Mean
95Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
t Df Sig
(2-
tailed)
Lower Upper
-351250 83695 18715 -390421 -312079 -18768 19 000
53
After calculating the mean of the experimental group in both the pre-test and the post-
test (see Table 5) a mean difference of +351 was noticed Therefore in order to prove if
the development that was noticed in the post-test scores as well as the mean occurred
because of the influence of listening to the audio-stories which is the independent variable
or happened only by coincidence
Hence to confirm the Alternative Hypothesis and reject the Null Hypothesis or vice
versa the t-value (117) was calculated in order to be compared with the critical- value at
the point p=005 and at the level of t=19 Besides p-value (0000) is less than 005 which
means that there a real difference between the learnersrsquo scores in the pre-test (before the
period of treatment) and the leanersrsquo scores in the post-test (after the period of treatment)
Consequently we can deduce that the improvement that was achieved by the experimental
group in the post test did not occur by chance actually it occurred because of listening to
audio-stories that has a positive effect on learnersrsquo pronunciation of both the clear [l] and the
dark [ϯ]
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-test
Table 8
The Mean of the Control Group and the Experimental Group in the Post-test
N Mean Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpost 20 13500 41675 09319
Epost 20 49375 59535 13312
54
To calculate the mean () we use the following Formula
= sum119961 N
So 1= sum119961 N
1 refers to the mean of the control group in the post-test
N refers to the total number of students in the control Group
sum119961 stands for the sum of scores of the control group in the post-test
1= 2720 = 135
2 = sum119961 N
2 stands for the mean of the experimental group in the post-test
N refers to the total number of participants in the experimental group
sum119961 Stands for the sum of scores of the experimental group in the post-test
So 2= 987520 = 493
Figure13
The Scores Frequencies of the Control Group and the Experimental Group in the Post-
test
55
From the previous analysis of the mean of both the control and the experimental
group in the pre-test (see Table 3) we have noticed that the level of students in both groups
is almost the same and there is only a slight difference between them Though in the post-
test the scores of the experimental group has increased and as result the mean average has
increased too after the treatment phase for the experimental group (from 142 to 493) but it
decreased for the control group who were taught without being exposed to any kind of
treatment (see Table 8 and Figure 10) Besides we can notice the development also in the
rime duration in studentsrsquo pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] of the experimental
group in the post-test which is not the case with the control group
21441 An independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the post-
test
In order to investigate if there is any significant change between two diverse groups
who have run the same test a t-test is used to show this significance difference In our case
we want to inspect if there is any significant variation between the experimental group and
the control group in the post-test and whether we accept the Alternative Hypothesis or
rejecting the Null Hypothesis So depending on the following steps a t-test was calculated
using the following formula
t= 119883 119888minus 119890
radicpartx2
Nx+
1205971199102
119873119910
partx2 = sum(119883 minus 119890 )N
= 306
1205971199102 =sum(119883 minus 119888 )2119873
= 160
119888 the mean of the control group in the post-test
56
119890 the mean of the experimental group in the post-test
partx2 the variation of the experimental group
1205971199102 the variation of the control group
So t= 493minus 135
radic306
20+
160
20
=745
t-value= 745
Depending on the t-value (745) that was calculated we compare it with the critical p-
value at p=005 therefore we have two options
1- If t-value is greater than the critical p-value (t-valuegtcritical-value) we accept the
alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
2- If t-value is less than the critical-value (t-valueltcritical-value) we accept the null
hypothesis and refuse the alternative hypothesis
we can say that
t-value=745 745 gt005
We accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
p-value= 0000 0000 lt005
We accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
Depending on these results we can say that there is a statistical evidence that the
associated sampling means are significantly different In other words there is a real change
between the experimental group and the control group in the post test at the level of
pronunciation due to the positive influence of the independent variable which is ldquolistening
to the audio-storiesrdquo Therefore students of the experimental group showed a significant
57
progress at the level of pronunciation and precisely the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
pronunciation
215 Discussion of the Results
The current research has investigated the influence of listening to audio-stories on
acquiring accurate pronunciation of both allophones the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] At the
start the pre-test has proved that learners of both groups ie the control and the
experimental group have the same level through calculating their means The control group
scored a mean of 155 while the experimental group scored a mean of 142 and also they
have got near scores concerning the rime duration of the L sound So these estimated scores
helped us to prove and confirm our hypothesis that states the positive effect of listening to
audio-stories on the level of pronunciation accuracy In the post-test students of the
experimental group showed a significant development compared to the control group and
this is due to the period of treatment that occurred in the oral session Besides the mean
score of the experimental group has been raised from 142 to 493 and from a sum of rime
durations of 2222 s to 535 s while the mean score of the control group has been decreased
from 155 to 135 and increased from a sum of rime durations of 2149 s to 2359 s In
addition a t-test was designed to show if there is any statistical significant difference
between the experimental group and the control group in the post-test the results show the
positive influence of the treatment phase on the dependent variable (pronunciation
accuracy)
216 Pedagogical implication
The present research evidenced the positive influence of being exposed to the target
language pronunciation as it is produced by the native speakers through the exposure to the
audio-stories Therefore we can state a set of pedagogical implications
58
The present study shows that the more students get involved in listening practices
the more they will be proficient in the pronunciation of a various English sounds ie
developing their speaking proficiency
Audio-stories help EFL learners improve their pronunciation as well as to develop
their listening skills
Using multimedia devices (audio-stories in our case) in learning classrooms
enhances the learnersrsquo motivation to get involved in the learning process
Audio-stories can be used by EFL teachers in order to make learners attentive and
interested in the lecture being presented
Audio-stories provide learners with the chance to listen again and again to the story
in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of a given word
Conclusion
The present research examined the effect of listening to audio stories on fostering the
target language pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] The native speakerrsquo s
pronunciation of both allophones was analyzed first through analyzing the rime duration in
order to compare it with the EFL learnersrsquo articulation That is to say the analysis is based
on the native speakerrsquo s rime duration In addition a significant development in learnersrsquo
pronunciation of the dark[ϯ]and the clear [l] was proved which lead to accept the alternative
hypothesis that states listening to audio-stories has a positive effect on acquiring accurate
pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] by EFL learners
59
General Conclusion
The present study is based on the investigation of the effectiveness of listening to
audio stories on acquiring accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] by EFL
learners At the beginning we have stated the problem which was that the Algerian EFL
learners in the English department at LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi University face a lot of difficulties
concerning the acquisition of the accurate pronunciation of The phoneme l Subsequently
this dissertation tackled the importance of listening to audio-stories on enhancing EFL
learnersrsquo pronunciation accuracy
Our research was tackled in two main chapters The first chapter divided into two
main sections In the first section we tackled the point of listening to audio stories whereas
the second section discussed the reflection of listening to audio stories on the pronunciation
of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] The second chapter represented the practical part the field
work The analyzed data showed that there is a positive relationship between the independent
variable and the dependent variable That is to say there was a development in the
acquisition of the phoneme l which lead us to accept the alternative hypothesis and reject
the null hypothesis
60
Limitations of the Study
Limited sources ie most of the sources that were available were not relevant to our
study
Time constraints this study needs much more time to conduct a better result
Students absences in the pre-test and the post-test and others did not receive the
treatment at all
The lack of interest in the beginning of the treatment session
61
List of References
Alonso SR (2012) The importance of Teaching Listening and Speaking Skills Diagravectica de Lingua
y la Literatura Facultad de Education
Brown S (2006) Teaching Listening Cambridge Cambridge University press
Coulter C Michael C ampPoynor L (2007) Storytelling as Pedagogy An Unexpected Outcome
of narrative inquiry 104-105
Daudet A (2001) Five Short Stories Copyright copy Bartlebycom Inc
Downs L J (2008) Listening Skills Training ASTD press
Eckert J (2016) Audio Storytelling in Todayrsquos Visual World The necessary Components of a
successful sounds scape for an audio play
Gilakjani A P (2012) A study of Factors Affecting EFL learnersrsquo English Pronunciation Learning
and the Strategy for instruction Lahijani Iran 2(3) 119-128
Hamer J (1998) How to teach English An Introduction to the Practice of English Language
Teaching English Language Teaching Harlow Longman
Hendrickson J (1992) Storytelling for foreign language and linguistics Washington Dc Eric
learning house on language and linguistic [ Eric No E0355-824]
Kline J A (1996) Listening Effectively Air University Press
Madden M and Moore Z (1997) ESL Studentsrsquo Opinions about instruction in Pronunciation
Texas 3(2) 15-32
Mendelson D J (1994) Learning to Listen Dominie Press
Nasreddin K (2010) The Influence of Background Knowledge on Second Language Listening
Comprehension Constantine Constantine University
62
Poposka V p (2016) Pronunciation Proficiency Level Problematic Areas of Tertiary as a Foreign
Language International Journal of Science and Basic and Applied Research
Richards J C (1990) The Language Teaching Matrix Cambridge Cambridge University Pess
Rubin SS (2015) Tools for Creating Audio Stories scholarship University of California
Roney RC (1996) Storytelling in the classroom Some Theoretical Thoughts Wayne State
University Education Detroit Michigan
Sproat R ampFujimura O (1993) Allophonic variation of the English l and its Implication for
phonetic Implementation Academic Press
Torky SA (2006) The Effectiveness of a Task-Based Instruction Program in Developing English
Language Speaking Skills of Secondary Stage Students Collegersquo s girl Ain Shams
University
Ummah A (2014) The Effectiveness of Nursery Rhymes to Facilitate Studentsrsquo of Pronunciation of
the Diphthong Education and Teacher Training Faculty Walisongo State institution for
Islamic Studies
Wang M (2016) Research on the Acoustic Realization of Lateral in Sundanese International
Journal of Engineering Research and Development 12(10) 44-48
Ziane R (2012) The Role of Listening Comprehension in Improving EFL learners Speaking Skill
Biskra University of Biskra
Zhang Q (2009) Affecting Factors of Native-Like Pronunciation A Literature Review Ching-Ang
University 27(2) 33-52
63
Abrahamson CE (1998) Storytelling as a pedagogical tool in high Education 118(3) Retrieved
from
httpwwwquestiacomlibraryjournal1G1-20494609storytelling-as-a-pedagogical-tool-
inhighereducation
AMP Research Center (2012) Retrieved from
Httpwwwncertrmqeduauconference2001indexhtal
Backley P (nd) Improving your English Pronunciation Retrieved from
httptoefluobabyloneduiqpaperspearson-2015-1269610pdf
Chaney (1998) Teaching Speaking Retrieved from
httpitesljorgtechniqueKayi-teaching speakinghtml
English Club (nd) What is listening Retrieved from
httpwwwenglishclubcom
Miller E (2011) Theories of story and storytelling Retrieved from
httpwww-storytellingandvideoconferencingcom167pdf
Pederson E M (1995) Storytelling and the art of listening English teaching forum 33(1)2-5
Retrieved from httpExchangesStategovForumuolsn01p2htm
Remen R N (nd) Listening Skills Retrieved from
httpwwwskillsyouneedcomipslistening-Skills-html
Rock R (nd) 5 Wonderful Websites for Engaging ESL Audio Short Stories Retrieved from
httpwwwFluentucomenglisheducatorsblogeslaudio-short-stories
Seifert S (nd) Follow Along 6 Engaging ESL Audio Stories with worksheet ideas Retrieved from
httpwwwFluentucomenglisheducatorblogeslaudio-stories
Saricoban A (2004) The Teaching of listening The Internet TESL journal
httpitesljorgArticlesSaricobn-listeninghtml
Subhi s (2016) Differences between Hearing and listening Retrieved from
httpkeydifferencescomdifference-between-hearning-and-listeninghtml
64
Shen CD (2010) 3 reasons why listening skills are very important in Todayrsquo s Business World
Retrieved from httpezinearticlescom3-Reasons-why-listening-skills-are-very-important-in-
Todays-Business-worldampid=5436504
the adapted audio-stories that were used in the period of treatment
(httpwwwmanythingsorgvoastories)
Appendix A A pre-test
The Last class- The Story of the Alsatian
I was very late for school that morning and I was terribly afraid of being Scolded
especially as Monsieur Hamel had told us that he should examine us on participles and I
did not know the first thing about them For a moment I thought of saying away from
school and wandering about the fields It was such a warm lovely day I could hear the
blackbirds whistling on the edge of the wood and in the ripper field behind the sawmill
the Prussians going through their drill All that was much more tempting to me than the
rules concerning participles but I had the strength to resist and I ran as fast as I could to
school
Sentences
You old fool they will kill you if you always trouble them
People are awfully lazy in the middle of July
Appendix B A post-test
The Game of Billiards
The marshalrsquo s opponent is a young captain of the staff belted and curled and light-
gloved who is in the first rank of billiard-players and capable of beating all the marshals
on earth but he has the tact to keep a respectful distance behind his chief and devotes his
energies to the task of not winning and at the same time not losing too easily He is what is
called an officer with a future
Read the following words
1 Cabal
2 Labour
3 Shell
Appendix c Treatment period
I Session one (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquothe Secret Gardenrdquo (Chapter One) By Frances Hodgson
Burnett
II Session two (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Secret Gardenrdquo (Chapter two) By Frances Hodgson
Burnett
III Session three (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Lady or the Tigerrdquo by Frank R Stockton
IV Session four (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Lady in Blackrdquo By Eleanor Porter
Reacutesumeacute
La preacutesente eacutetude vise agrave eacutetudier lrsquoarticulation de dark [ϯ] et clear [l] dans les classes de la
langue anglaise afin dameacuteliorer la prononciation des apprenants Lrsquoeacutetude actuelle repose
sur lhypothegravese que leacutecoute des histoires audio a un effet positif sur lameacutelioration de la
prononciation des apprenants EFL avec un accent particulier sur le dark [ϯ] et clear [l] Afin
datteindre lobjectif de cette recherche une eacutetude quasi-expeacuterimentale a eacuteteacute assigneacute en
deux groupe group teacutemoin et group expeacuterimentale Chaque groupe contenait 20 eacutelegraveves
Lexpeacuterience a pris six seacuteances un preacute-test une peacuteriode de traitement (4 seacuteances) et un
posttest En conclusion les reacutesultats obtenus montrent que les eacutetudiants qui sont exposeacute agrave
la langue cible et qui eacutecoutent au locuteur natif agrave lrsquoaide audio pour ameacuteliorer leurs
prononciations ont montreacute qursquoil y a un deacuteveloppement ameacutelioration au niveau de
compeacutetence des apprenants en particulier et en matiegravere de parole en geacuteneacuterale
Les mots cleacutes audio-histoire Compeacutetence drsquoeacutecoute prononciation dureacute de travaille
ملخص
استخدام القصص الصوتية من اجل المساعدة على اكتساب النطق السليم والدقيق تهدف هذه الدراسة الى التعرف على مدى فعالية
الأجنبية حيث تستند الدراسة الحالية على فرضية مفادها ان الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية له تأثير إيجابي على تحسين ةللغ
استغرقت التجربة ست ق المنهج التجريبيمن أجل تحقيق هدف هذه الدراسة تم تطبينطق الطلاب الأجانب للغة الإنجليزية
جلسات قسمت كالاتي أربع حصص معالجة سبقت باختبارات قبلية ولحقت باختبارات بعدية أجريت الدراسة في قسم اللغة
طالبا من طلاب السنة ثانية جامعي قسم الطلبة الى فوجين حيث 40الإنجليزية بجامعة العربي بن مهيدي وقد شملت الدراسة
ى معالجة لمدة أربع حصص من خلال الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية في حين لم يتعرض الفوج الثاني خضع أحد الفوجين ال
الى نفس المعالجة بعد ذلك تم اجراء الاختبارات البعدية واعتمادا على النتائج المتحصل عليها ثبت ان التعرض الى اللغة
جابي على اكتساب النطق الدقيق للغة المستهدفة الا وهي اللغة الأجنبية عن طريق الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية له تأثير إي
الأجنبية
القصص الصوتية النطق مدة الموجات الصوتيةالكلمات المفتاحية المهارة السمعية
VII
Content
Introductionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip2
1 Statement of the problem helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip2
2 Aim of the studyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip3
3 Research questionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 3
4 Research hypothesishelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip3
5 Means of the studyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip3
6 Structure of the studyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip4
Chapter One Theoretical background
Section One Listening to Audio Stories
Introductionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip6
11 Definition of Listening Skillhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip6
12 Differences between Listening and Hearing helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip8
13 Reasons of listening helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip8
14 Types of Listeninghelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip9
141 Extensive Listeninghelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip9
142 Intensive Listeninghelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip10
15 Listening Processes helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip10
151 Bottom-up Processhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip10
152 Top down processhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip11
16 Brief History of Audio-Storieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip11
17 Definition of Storytellinghelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip12
18 Definition of Audio-Storieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip13
19 Characteristics of a Good Audio-Storyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip14
110 The Use of Audio-Stories in ESL Classroomshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip15
111 Advantages of Using Audio-Storieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip17
Conclusionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip18
Section two Reflection on Pronunciation
Introductionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip20
11Definition of Speaking Skillhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip20
12Speaking Sub-Competencies Skillshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip22
13 Definition of Pronunciationhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip22
VIII
14Importance of Pronunciationhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip24
15 Factors Affecting Pronunciationhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip25
16151 Internal Factorshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip25
152 External Factorshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip28
Conclusion helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip31
Chapter two Field Work
Introductionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip34
21 Methodologyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip34
211 Research Participantshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip34
212 The Procedurehelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip35
2121 The Research Design helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip36
2122 The Pre-test Phasehelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip36
2123 The Treatment Phasehelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip37
2124 The Control Grouphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip38
2125 The Post-test Phasehelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip38
213 Scoring helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip40
214 Data Analysishelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip40
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (independent
Sample t-test)helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip42
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip44
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group Post-test (Paired
Sample t-test)helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 47
21431 Paired Sample t-test helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip50
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip53
21441 An Independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group
in the Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip55
215 Discussion of the Resultshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip57
216 Pedagogical Implicationshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip57
Conclusionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip58
General Conclusionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip59
Limitation of The Studyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip60
List of Referenceshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip61
Appendices
IX
Reacutesumeacute
ملخص
1
General introduction
Introduction
1 Statement of the Problem
2 Aim of the Study
3 Research Question
4 Research Hypothesis
5 Means of the Study
6 Structure of the Study
2
Introduction
Acquiring comprehensible pronunciation for EFL learners is one of the key supplies
for language proficiency Nowadays mastering the foreign language is the main concern
that most of EFL learners share This high attention raises due to the exposure to the target
language and to the complications that learners may face at whatever time they want to
communicate whether with foreigners or with one another using for instance the English
language Besides listening is not only a matter of innate ability but it is a matter of how to
develop that inborn capacity in order to improve the learnersrsquo pronunciation accuracy
Accordingly audio-stories are used to help developing the learnersrsquo listening skill and to
improve their pronunciation accurateness Furthermore using audio stories in teaching EFL
learners help to evidence that an effective listening process leads to an effective articulation
1 Statement of the Problem
Generally speaking there are various factors that affect learnersrsquo acquisition of the
target language pronunciation The Algerian EFL learners encounter many problems
concerning articulation because EFLESL learners do not have much opportunities to be
exposed to the real language as it is produced by the native speakers in the classroom Since
English is a foreign language learners avoid using it outside the classroom which is resulted
in a bad pronunciation Therefore EFL teachers are required to use audio-stories inside the
classrooms in order to develop studentsrsquo second language and to improve their pronunciation
accuracy
3
2 Aim of the Study
The current study deals with the learnersrsquo pronunciation difficulties of the dark [ϯ]
and the clear [l] It aims at investigating the effect of listening to audio-stories on fostering
the target languagersquos accurate pronunciation of both allophones
3 Research Question
The present study seeks to answer the following question
Does listening to audio-stories help EFL learners to acquire the accurate
pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
4 Research Hypothesis
In order to answer the research question the subsequent hypotheses are framed
H1 The EFL learners will acquire accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the
clear [l] through listening to audio-stories
H0 Listening to audio stories will not help EFL learners to acquire accurate
pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
5 Means of the Research
In order to achieve the objective of our research a quasi-experimental design is
administered to second year LMD students of English Department at LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi
University The selected sample (40 students from 210) consists of two groups the control
group and the experimental group Both groups will be pretested in order to assess their
pronunciation accuracy level The pre-test is a kind of short story and small sentences that
contain the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] which learners have to read After that the Praat will be
used in order to record their voices Later on the experimental group will take the treatment
for four sessions in which they will listen to the audio stories each session will take one
4
hour and a half However the control group will not receive any kind of treatment (they will
be taught in a normal way without listening to audio stories) Furthermore a post-test which
is different from that of the pre-test will be administered to both groups in order to test their
pronunciation development
6 Structure of the Study
The present study is divided into two chapters The first chapter is a theoretical one
and it is composed of two sections The first section is about listening to audio stories in
which we define the process of listening and mention the main differences between listening
and hearing After that we discuss the reasons of listening its types and processes Later
on the second sub-section deals with audio stories At the start we introduce a brief history
about the notion of audio stories and then we introduce stories in general Afterward we
discuss the characteristics of audio stories their use and advantages The second section
deals with the pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] at the beginning we shed light
on the definition of speaking skill and its sub-competencies After that a part of this section
deals with the definition of pronunciation and its importance Besides it introduces factors
that affect pronunciation The second chapter deals with the field work in which it sheds
light on collecting data presenting and analyzing it and at the end interpreting results
5
Section One Listening to Audio Stories
Introduction
11 Definition of Listening Skill
12 Differences between Listening and Hearing
13 Reasons of Listening
14 Types of Listening
141 Extensive Listening
142 Intensive Listening
15 Listening Processes
151 Bottom-up Process
152 Top down Process
16 Brief History of Audio-Stories
17 Definition of Storytelling
18 Definition of Audio-Stories
19 Characteristics of a Good Audio-Story
110 The Use of Audio-Stories in ESL Classrooms
111 Advantages of Using Audio-Stories
Conclusion
6
Introduction
Nowadays there is a great emphasis put on listening skill since it plays a significant
role in teaching and acquiring the foreign language So this high attention raises because of
the difficulties that learners face whenever they want to communicate thatrsquos why many
researchers shed light on Audio Stories as a tool that can help in developing learnersrsquo
listening process as well as improving their speaking skills and precisely their
pronunciation
The main concern of this section is listening to audio stories First of all we shed
light on the first part which is listening process At the start we need to define listening
skills according to different scholars later on we tackle the main differences between
listening and hearing Also reasons of listening its types and processes Then the second
part of this section deals with the audio stories In the beginning we introduce a brief history
of audio stories and later on the definition of stories in general After that we present the
meaning of audio stories in a specific way and its main characteristics Lastly this section
highlights the use and the advantages of audio stories inside EFL classrooms
11 Definition of Listening Skill
ldquoThe most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen Just to
listen Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attentionrdquo (Remen
2011)
Listening is an important skill in learning and acquiring a foreign language Through
this process learners will be able to receive and understand information According to
Downs (2008) ldquothe word of listening is defined as making an effort to hear something to
pay attention or heedrdquo (p 1) In other words Downs (2008) argues that listening is the way
7
learners pay attention to what is being said In her opinion listening is an active process that
includes using a variety of processes which are attending understanding interpreting
responding and remembering Moreover Mendelsohn (1994) demonstrates listening as ldquothe
ability to understand the spoken language of native speakersrdquo (p 64) To be precise
Mendelsohn defines listening as the listenerrsquo s ability to recognize the native speakerrsquo s
speech in terms of accent pitch intonation vocabulary grammar and trying to interpret the
native speakerrsquo s messages
Saricoban (1999) states that listening is onersquos capacity to realise what is being said
and to recognize the intended meaning He sheds light on two important points the first
point concerns understanding the speakerrsquos pronunciation syntax and lexis whereas the
second point deals with grasping the meaning Willis (1981) lists a series of micro-skills of
listening which she calls enabling skills They are
Predicting what people are going to talk about
Guessing at unknown words or phrases without panic
Using onersquo s own knowledge of the subject to help one understand
Identifying relevant points rejecting irrelevant information
Retaining relevant points (note-taking summarizing)
Recognizing discourse markers eg well oh another thing is now finally
etc
Recognizing cohesive devices e g such as and which including linking
words pronouns references etc
Understanding different intonation patterns and uses of stress etc which give
clues to meaning and social setting
8
Understanding inferred information eg speakerrsquo s attitude or intentions
(p134
Furthermore listening is an important source of knowledge It is recognized as the
ability of transforming and interpreting the spoken messages that are received by the ears
from the daily life situations Yet listening is a very hard task It requires the learnersrsquo mental
concentration which is something difficult because the human brain can simply lose attention
That is to say listening skill can save learners from communication breakdowns and
increases their motivation to learn the foreign language and speak fluently but only if they
work harder to develop their own listening skills
12 Differences between Listening and Hearing
Listening and hearing are two different activities Kline (1996) emphasizes the
differences between these two concepts to make an effective listening He states that
ldquohearing is the attachment of meaning to the sound Hearing is passive listening is activerdquo
(p7) In other words active listening is a successful element that affects learnersrsquo verbal and
nonverbal behaviors
Surbhi (2016) states the differences between listening and hearing On the one hand
he defines hearing as the natural capacity that happens unconsciously It aids to identify
sounds via the ears Also hearing is a process that permits receiving sound vibrations and
it is one of the five senses On the other hand Surhbi (2016) defines listening skill as the
process of receiving and interpreting messages it occurs consciously
13 Reasons of Listening
Learners through being exposed to different English accents and in any recorded
materials such as radio TV or tapes they want to understand and realize what is being said
9
(Harmer 1998) According to him listening is a very effective process that helps learners to
get a better pronunciation In other words as much as they are exposed to the real language
as much as they will recognize its features
Also Shen (2010) demonstrates that listening skills help to improve understanding
and aids people to become aware of their listening skills So listening plays a vital role in
language learning and acquisition It is an essential skill that bridges the line between
meaning and messages in order to avoid misunderstanding between individuals
14 Types of listening
Generally speaking the listening skill plays a significant role in teaching EFL
classrooms This process guides EFL learners to an effective communication Therefore the
listening skill can be classified into two different types Extensive listening and intensive
listening
141 Extensive Listening
Extensive listening has to do with the learnerrsquos fluency In other words the learner has
to master vocabulary grammarhellipetc and later on he must combine them together to form
a meaningful conversation So fluency depends on the listenerrsquos ability of understanding
whatever he is exposed to weather in an audio tape a text a songhellipetc
Harmer (1998) states that extensive listening is the way students practice their own
listening outside the classroom Students should enjoy listening to an audio material because
they can understand them without the teacherrsquo s help Also students can depend on CDs and
tapes so that they are going to have another chance to listen to their course books dialogues
that they have already provided to them inside the classroom In addition learners must be
10
stimulated to listen to the English language films with sub-titles because this helps students
to acquire the foreign language
In brief extensive listening according to the Extensive Reading-Central (2012) includes
Listening to massive amounts of text
Text which learners can understand reasonably smoothly
high levels of comprehension
Listening without being constrained by pre-set questions or tasks
Listening at or below onersquo s comfortable fluent listening ability
So extensive listening aims to make learners enjoy developing their listening skills
142 Intensive Listening
In contrast to extensive listening intensive listening aims at developing the learnersrsquo
specific listening skills and more precisely to raise the learnersrsquo attention about the spoken
language Intensive listening occurs weather in classrooms or laboratories It exists mostly
when teachers guide their students and provide them with help concerning listening
problems that they face and try to highlight them (Harmer 2007)
So intensive listening according to the Extensive Reading-central (2012) is
Listening for specific information
Listening for the exact words of a phrase or expression
Listening for details
Listening to mimic a text
11
15 Listening Processes
In listening process addressees process information using two distinct strategies
This is devoted to as bottom-up and top-down
151 Bottom-up Process
Richards (1990) states that ldquobottom-up processing refers the use of incoming data as
a source of information about the meaning of a messagerdquo (p 50) According to him Bottom-
up process deals with the perception of sentence components ie recognizing the meaning
of sounds words sentences clauseshellipetc till reaching the meaning of the whole message
152 Top-down Process
Richards (190) states that ldquoTop-down processing on the other hand refers to the use
of background knowledge in understanding the meaning of a messagerdquo (p 51) In contrast
to Bottom-up process Richards (1990) points out to the Top-down as the process of using
the listenersrsquo previous knowledge to attain meaning as whole not attaining the meaning of
individual words
16 Brief History of Audio-Stories
Eckert (2016) states that ldquoAudio storytelling in the form of radio drama has been
around for almost a centuryrdquo (p 8) That is to say audio stories in the previous decades took
the form of radio drama Radio drama attained extensive admiration within an era of its
original growth in the 1920rsquo s At that time radio drama played a central role for being the
foundation of people entertainment However by the 1950rsquo s people shifted their attention
to the new invention which was the small screen ie the television As a result of the
invention of this new device audio drama no more attracts the spectatorsrsquo attention it lost
its popularity
12
Though in 2010 radio drama came back to stage due to the developments shown in
digital soundtrack and internet spreading According to Eckert (2016) ldquoRadio and audio
storytelling has slowly started gaining popularity again thanks to the different online
platforms brought forth by digitalizationrdquo (p 8)
17 Definition of Storytelling
Today stories are a fundamental part of our societies and cultures Telling and
listening to stories is an ancient tradition and common activity that bonds different olden
civilizations together Also stories are an essential component and an ordinary process that
many people used to do on every occasion It is the art of telling factual or fictional stories
Besides stories bring legacy into life because our ancestors told them and people today
only retell them
Moreover listening to stories enhances the learnersrsquo foreign language It aids them
to improve their speaking skills Pederson (1995) states that ldquoin dealing with stories learners
have an experience with the powerful real language of personal communicationrdquo (p 2)
Additionally Pederson (1995) emphasizes the role of telling stories in preserving heritage
he argues that ldquooral stories are a direct expression of a literary and cultural heritage and
through them that heritage is appreciated understood and kept aliverdquo (1995 p2) In other
words stories bond between the past and the present It is considered to be a vital feature of
humankind Furthermore Schram (1994 as cited in Coulter Michael amp Poynor 2007)
points out
A story is a beautiful means of teaching religion values history traditions and
customs a creative method of introducing characters and places an imaginative way
13
to instill hope and resourceful thinking Stories help us to understand who we are and
show us what legacies to transmit to future generations (p 104-105)
So Schram (1994) highlights the role of stories in bridging the gap between the teaching
process and culture
Likewise Abrahamson (1998) sheds light on the role that storytelling plays in the
learning process He states that telling stories plays a significant role in improving learnersrsquo
understanding Besides Abrahamson argues that stories can afford a suitable context that
the listener can use it as a base to perceive the tellerrsquos point of view Moreover Roney (1996)
demonstrates
In its most basic form storytelling is a process where a person (the teller) using
vocalization narrative structure and mental imagery communications with other
humans (the audience) who also use mental imagery and in turn communicate back
to the teller primarily via body language and facial expression (p 2)
By this definition storytelling is the combination of art procedures and ways of
communication
18 Definition of Audio-Stories
The term audio-story is a combination of two words audio and story By definition
audio is sound within the aural range accessible to humankinds Miller (2011) states that
ldquostories are pieces of art and can serve as a basis of gamesrdquo (p 1) So Audio-story is a very
operative means for teaching EFL learners It aids to make the course persuasive Nowadays
14
audio stories can be used to many reasons and the most important one is the exposure to the
real language of native speakers by EFL learners In addition Rubin (2015) points out
ldquoaudio stories are an engaging form of communication that combines speech and music into
a compelling narrativesrdquo (p 1) That is to say audio stories are the process of telling stories
through sound and sound effects only Furthermore Audio-stories are broadly accredited to
progresses in portable equipment for instance smart phones tablets and multimedia
entertainment systems Thus EFL learners find it easy to listen to those audio stories
19 Characteristics of a Good Audio-Story
According to Seifert (nd) finding good audio-stories that suit the EFL learnersrsquo
needs is something very important and it is a very hard task to do However these are some
of the necessary features that EFL teachers must take into consideration whenever they want
to select a good audio-story for their students
Skill Level
Taking into account the learnersrsquo English level before choosing any audio-story For
instance if the audio-story contains a difficult language learners will lose confidence and
as a result they stop listening to the audio-story So determining the learnersrsquo level is very
important
Student Interest
EFL teachers must find out their studentsrsquo interests and normally each teacher has
an idea about this issue So if the audio-stories do not fit the learnersrsquo needs the EFL
teacherrsquos goal from that audio-story will be lost
15
Audio Length
The length of the audio-story plays a significant role in keeping concentration in the
ESL schoolrooms Listening for much time to the audio storytelling leads to boredom As a
result the learnersrsquo s brains lose attention However teachers can use long audio-stories but
they should know how to put it into parts and use classroom discussions to avoid boredom
So these three characteristics aid to develop EFL learnersrsquo listening skills
110 The Use of Audio-Stories in ESL Classrooms
According to Rock (nd) there are several listening practices that ESLEFL teachers
can provide to their students These are samples of activities that can work hand in hand with
audio-stories
Fill in The Blanks
Here EFL teacher provides his students with a written passage that is taken from an
audio-story but he removes some words Later on the teacher asks his learners to listen to
the audio-story after reading that passage and at the same time fill in the blanks
Mastery Memory
This activity has to do with learnerrsquos memory In this kind of practices teachers
provide learners with an audio-story and ask them for example to write down the main
events of the story but when they finish listening to it Teachers in this activity have to make
sure that students do not write them during the listening of the audio-story So the main goal
of the exercise is to reinforce learnerrsquos memory
16
Order the Events
At the start teachers give their learners a series of events that are chosen from an
audio-story Then the teacher gives them some time to read them After that learners listen
to the audio- storytelling and put those events in a sequential order
Buzz Words
This exercise aims to reach the learnerrsquo s vocabulary In this practice teachers
provide learners with a number of words then they ask them to check their meanings before
Afterward teacher turns the lesson into a game ie EFL learners listen to the audio-story
and whenever they hear a word (the buzz word) from that list they have to raise their hands
or clap them
Multiple Choice
This activity deals with providing learners with a number of questions followed by
three answers these questions can be definitions or name of characterhellip etc Then learners
have to listen to the audio-storytelling and pick the write response After teachers play again
the audio-story to correct their answers
Character Quiz
In this practice EFL learners have to listen to the whole story Then the teacher gives
his class a question sheet that contains a list of character qualities and decision and ask them
to choose the suitable one for the leading role
Plot Quiz
This activity has to do with team competition After listening to the whole audio-
storytelling once or twice the teacher divides his class into two to four groups where the
17
teacher plays the role of the coach Several questions that have a relation to the story will be
quizzed to each team if they get the answer they have a point if they fail to answer correctly
the question moves to the next group
Beginning Middle End
After listening to the audio storytelling the teacher splits the classroom into groups
and each group contains no more than four students Later he asks each group to write the
main events of the beginning the middle and the end of the story Finally they discuss them
together
111 Advantages of Using Audio-Stories
Audio-stories play an essential role in teaching the target language Audio-
storytelling is an impeccable implement for any ESL classrooms First of all audio-stories
afford learners with the exposure to the real language as it is produced by the native speakers
ie a natural voice Furthermore Rodero (2012 as cited in Eckert2016) claimed that
ldquoAudio stories that use sound effects and sound shots enhance the learnerrsquo s attention and
creation of visual images significantly compared to those without themrdquo (p 16) That is to
say using audio-stories in ESL classrooms develops learnersrsquo listening skills and provides
them with an imaginary trip inside their minds Also audio- stories enhance learnersrsquo
pronunciation since the learner is exposed to the natural voice In addition EFL teacher can
use audio storytelling as a guideline to his lecture or the opposite he can use it at the end of
the course as a reward
Moreover the EFL teachers depend on audio-stories in improving learnersrsquo
vocabulary through memorization Learners can enrich their vocabulary whenever they
listen to those stories because each time they learn some new words Besides learners can
18
listen to them outside the schoolrooms because they are portable they can upload them in
their mobiles and listen to them any time anywhere Finally audio stories can raise interest
for those learners who are not attracted to reading
Conclusion
In conclusion listening to audio stories aids EFL learners to improve the target
language pronunciation That is to say students will be exposed to the real language as it is
created by the native speakers Besides using audio stories in ESLEFL classrooms increases
the learnersrsquo interest toward learning the foreign language and also enhances their speaking
skills
19
Section two Reflection on Pronunciation
Introduction
121 Definition of Speaking Skill
122 Speaking Sub-Competencies Skills
123 Definition of Pronunciation
124 Importance of Pronunciation
125 Factors Affecting Pronunciation
1251 Internal Factors
1252 External Factors
Conclusion
20
Introduction
Generally speaking being able to speak the target language fluently and accurately
seems to be very interesting to all EFLESL learners Though students face a lot of troubles
and obstacles when communicating with each other or with native speakers and this is due
to mispronunciation misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the hearer which leads to the
communication breakdowns Furthermore learnersrsquo mispronunciation occurs due to various
factors that affect their oral language and as a consequence it affects their speaking
proficiency
In this section we have dealt with the speaking process and precisely
ldquopronunciationrdquo At the start a slight attention is put upon the definition of speaking skills
and its sub-competencies After that a part of this section is devoted to define pronunciation
and highlight its importance Moreover this section demonstrates some factors that affect
pronunciation which are classified into internal factors and external factors Finally another
point about the English consonant ldquoLrdquo has been raised
121 Definition of Speaking Skill
Mastering the foreign language is the aim of each EFL learner Speaking is one of
the most important language skills it plays a significant role in sharing ideas and thoughts
between individuals Torky (2006) defines speaking as follows ldquoIt is the means through
which learners can communicate with others to achieve certain goals or to express their
opinions intentions hopes and viewpointsrdquo (p 13) Also Ziane (2012) states that ldquoit is the
way by which learners can contribute and be part of oral communicationrdquo (p21) So the
main goal of EFL learners is to be able to speak the target language in order to strengthen
their verbal communication
21
Moreover Chaney (1998) argues that ldquospeaking is the process of building and
sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols in a variety of contextsrdquo
(p 13) From Chaneyrsquo s definition of speaking we deduce that speaking has an important
role in learning the foreign language and improving EFL learnersrsquo communicative skill
However there are some researchers who describe speaking as a hard task They
argue that EFL learners find it so hard to master the foreign language and face a lot of
difficulties even after studying it many years at schools Bueno and Mclaren (2006 as cited
in Alonso 2011) point out
Speaking is one of the most difficult skills language learners have to face In spite of
this it has traditionally been forced into the background while we teachers of
English have spent all our classroom time trying to teach our students how to write
to read and sometimes even to listen in a L2 because grammar has a long written
tradition (p 321)
On the whole the speaking skill is a very important process that EFL learners need to acquire
in order to master and shape the target language
122 Speaking Sub CompetenciesSkills
Torky (2006) claims that learners must be able to express themselves in a given
context in order to be proficient in mastering the foreign language She points out to several
speaking skills or competencies that help to achieve this aim which are
22
Linguistic Competence
Torky (2006) states that learners must be skillful in using pronunciation ie their
pronunciation must be clear In addition students have to use correct grammar and
proper lexis
Discourse Competence
In the beginning learners have to be able to use a well-organized discourse In other
words the discourse must be clear and unified Besides they have to be competent in
handling discussion and cooperating efficiently in order to avoid the communication
breakdowns
Pragmatic Competence
EFL learners have to be proficient in using a variety of functions that are related to
the same context and register
Fluency
Speaking smoothly without any complications and with a suitable degree of speech
speed
123 Definition of Pronunciation
According to Gilakjani (2012) ldquopronunciation is an integral part of foreign language
since it directly affects learnersrsquo communicative competence as well as performancerdquo
(p119) That is to say pronunciation plays a fundamental role in learning and improving the
target language Besides Poposka (2016) argues that pronunciation is the key factor of
language in its universal notion and she claims that pronunciation should be defined in
23
relation to different perspectives Poposka (2016) states some of the various points of view
concerning pronunciation definition which are
- The act or manner of pronouncing uttering of speech
- A way of speaking a word especially a way that is accepted or generally understood
- A graphic representation of the way a word is spoken using phonetic symbols (p
200)
Moreover Dauer (1993 as cited in Ummah 2014) states that ldquopronunciation is the
act of producing the sound of speech including articulation vowel formation accent
inflection and intonation often with reference to the correctness or acceptability of the
speech soundrdquo (p 10) In addition Poposka (2016) states that pronunciation is the vocal
capacity to produce particular sounds weather when communicating with individuals or
when being alone This construction of sounds leads to the appearance of some utterances
that may be expressive or worthless (p 200) Furthermore Adult Migrant English Program
research center (AMP 2002) points out
Pronunciation refers to the production of sounds that we use to make meaning it includes
attention to the particular sounds of language (segments) aspects of speech beyond the
level of the individual sound such as intonation phrasing stress timing rhythm
(suprasegmental aspects) (p1)
In other words AMP research center argues that even if these two aspects suprasegmental
and segmental structures are treated separately it is necessary to know that they work hand
in hand in a given context whenever someone speaks
24
124 Importance of Pronunciation
Madden and Moore (1997) states that ldquoin first language acquisition children learn
pronunciation inductively by absorbing and reproducing the sounds in their environmentrdquo
(p 4) That is to say all human beings in their natural development from childhood to
adulthood learn first of all how to talk before learning how to read or write Also Zhang
(2009) claims that ldquolearning a language means to perform the sounds utterances and the
words properly and correctlyrdquo (p 34-35) So pronunciation is a very essential skill in
learning a second language
Moreover Morley (1998 as cited in Zhang 2009) argues that ldquoit is clear that limited
pronunciation skills will make learners lose their self-confidence and result in negative
influence for learners to estimate their credibility and abilitiesrdquo (p 35) In other words it
does not matter whether learners make mistakes concerning grammar or vocabulary all what
matters is the way they pronounce a given word in order to make a worthy impression on
the learnersrsquo language capacities Zhang (2009) points out
Good pronunciation will make people understand you easily and be willing to listen to
you Contrarily poor English pronunciation may confuse people and lead to an
unpleasant talking and misunderstanding even if you used advanced English grammar
or vocabulary (p 35)
Likewise Backley (n d) argues ldquoif a speaker has a clear pronunciation this has immediate
benefits listeners judge the speakerrsquo s overall language ability much more favorably even
to the point of tolerating grammatical and other errorsrdquo (p 126) Therefore good
25
pronunciation aids to avoid misinterpretation and intelligibility between speakers and
listeners and show the learnersrsquo competencies in mastering their second language
Furthermore good pronunciation affects the learnersrsquo speed of acquiring the target language
In addition learners should use only simple structures with good and correct pronunciation
rather than using complex expressions in order to communicate with others
125 Factors Affecting Pronunciation
Generally speaking there are several factors that affect the learnersrsquo pronunciation
These factors can be classified into internal factors and external factors
1251 Internal Factors
Zhang (2009) states that internal factors can be categorized also into biological
factors individual differences and individual efforts and goal setting
Biological Factors
They are branded into four features age ear perception and aptitude
Learnersrsquo Age
At the start there is a difference between young learners and adult learners
concerning the acquisition of the accurate pronunciation Nonetheless this does not mean
that adult learners cannot get accurate pronunciation as well They have to work much harder
because their brainsrsquo plasticity reduces That is to say age plays a significant part in learning
the target language pronunciation Moreover Zhang (2009) emphasizes the role of the
critical period hypothesis that was proposed by Lenneberg in 1967 which states that there
is a certain age that helps learners to acquire the foreign language pronunciation accurately
26
and after that age the brain loses its flexibility Furthermore (Nation and Newton (2009) as
cited in Zhang 2009) claim that
Usually if the learner began to speak in the second language before the age of six
there will be little or no accent If the learner began to speak between the age of seven
and eleven the learners likely to have a slight accent If the learner began to speak
after age of twelve the learners almost always have an accent (p 78)
This is the reason behind the acceptance of the idea that learners find it so hard to acquire
the foreign language after maturity
Additionally Zhang (2009) states that young learners have bigger chances than the
adult learners in obtaining accurate pronunciation He claims that the brain loses its
flexibility and becomes rigid after puberty (after nine years old) as a result the brainrsquo s
functions will be devoted to the right and left hemispheres which makes it so difficult to
acquire the foreign languagersquo s pronunciation correctly Also Lenneberg (1967 as cited in
Zhang 2009) argues that ldquobefore the age of two the brain has not developed enough but
after puberty it developed too much and it will lose its plasticity and finish the lateralization
of the language functionrdquo (p 39) In other words it becomes so hard to obtain the native-
like pronunciation after the lateralization
Ear Perception
One of the most important factors that affect the learnersrsquo acquisition of the foreign
language is the ldquoear perceptionrdquo Zhang (2009) claims that the hearing abilities differ from
one person to another That is to say there are learners who have a strong hearing capacity
27
they can hear sounds in a very clear way which help them in reproducing the native speakersrsquo
pronunciation smoothly Whereas there is that kind of learners who do not have that ability
However Zhang argues that the ear perception has nothing to do with the learner age He
claims that it is natural that learners may lose some of their capacities whenever they become
older
Aptitude
Generally speaking foreign language aptitude is the personrsquos ability to learn a foreign
or a second language very rapidly and with no troubles (Wen 2011) Also Dornyei and
skehan (2003 as cited in Wen 2011) states ldquooriginally the notion of FLA presumed a
relatively stable talent for learning a foreign language that differs between individualsrdquo (p
590) So EFL learners do not have the same ability to acquire the foreign language
Additionally Carroll (1962 as cited in Wen 2011) states four components of the FLA which
are
lsquophonemic coding abilityrsquo (ie the ability to identify and retain sounds and link them
to phonetic symbols)
Sensitivity towards the grammatical functions that words fulfil in a sentence
The ability to learn inductively (ie to infer and generalize linguistic structures from
language samples) and
The ability to rote learn vocabulary items paired with their associated translations
(p 233)
Hence aptitude has an important role in improving learnersrsquo foreign language
Although Zhang (2009) argues that all individuals have a language aptitude ability but they
28
differ only in the degree of that aptitude capacity Also he claims that we cannot say that
those people who have a sophisticated level of language aptitude will get to the top and
people with an inferior level of language aptitude will go pear-shaped
Individual Differences
Zhang (2009) states that learnersrsquo different personalities affect the way they acquire
the foreign language pronunciation He argues that extroverted learners are more likely to
acquire the target pronunciation rather than introverted learners because extroverted learners
are not afraid of making mistakes which is not the case with the introverted learners who
face always the fear of failure Besides extroverted students are more friendly they tend to
work with others which leads them to practice the target language so they become more
familiar with it which aids to improve their pronunciation very quickly (p 40-41)
Individual Efforts and Goal setting
At the start the main goal of each EFLESL learner is to master the foreign language
in order to communicate with others Zhang (2009) points out ldquowe must always remember
that teaching never causes learning but rather creates the conditions in which learning can
occurrdquo (p 42) Besides he emphasizes that pronunciation is really a very hard task that
learners can acquire in a few days but it is not something impossible that learners cannot
achieve Though as much time learners spend in practicing the target language
pronunciation the better results they will get
1252 External Factors
External factors can be classified into three aspects learnersrsquo native language
exposure to target language and education factors
29
Learnerrsquo s Native Language
Universally the learnersrsquo native language affects their pronunciation of the foreign
language Zhang (2009) states that studentsrsquo mother tongue reflects the way they pronounce
a certain word in the target language and this is due to the differences that are found between
the two languages In other words learners find a lot of complications in articulating some
sounds for the reason that some of those sounds do not occur in their native language (p
43)
Exposure to the Target Language
Zhang (2009) shows that the acquisition of English language pronunciation is related
to the amount of exposure to it as it is produced by the native speakers That is to say this
depends on the learner himself ie on the situation in which the learning process occurs In
other words Zhang argues that it does not matter weather learners live in a native country
or not it is a matter of how much time they listen to the foreign language and how much
time they use it Zhang (2009) states ldquothe more they spend their time for listening and
speaking English the better their English pronunciation will berdquo (p 44) Thus learnerrsquo s
pronunciation accuracy depends on the surrounding environment where the target language
takes place
Educational Factors
At the start the system of education is responsible for studentsrsquo learning process
Worthy educational structure provides a lot of chances for learners to be exposed to the target
language through creating a suitable learning environment Additionally EFLESL
teachersrsquo accent reflects the learnersrsquo pronunciation because learners take teachers as an
30
exemplary in order to improve their pronunciation That is why teachers should work on
their pronunciation initially (Zhang 2009)
The English Consonant Sound ldquoLrdquo
Generally speaking EFL learners face complications in learning the English L sound
Sproat and Fujimura (1993) argue ldquoEnglish l has traditionally been classified into at least
two allophones namely light which occurs initially and dark which occurs syllable finallyrdquo
(p 291) Furthermore Wang (2016) states that the L consonant sound is a lateral phoneme
in English and it has two allophones he points out
One of them is found before vowels as in ldquoladyrdquo or ldquoflyrdquo called clear l and is
pronounced as the alveolar lateral approximant in a neutral position of the body of
the tongue The other variant is called dark l found before consonants or at word-
finally position as in ldquoboldrdquo or ldquotellrdquo Which is as the velarized lateral approximant
with the tongue in a spoon-like shape Its back part is raised which gives the sound
a w-like resonance (p 44)
In other words the clear [l] occurs when the tip of the tongue raises up and touches the soft
palate just behind the front teeth whereas the dark [ϯ] happens when the tip of the tongue
pulls back and the tongue raises to the middle without touching the soft palate to make the
L sound So the difference between these two allophones is the reason behind those troubles
that the learner may face
However Sproat and Fujimura (1993 as cited in Jiahong 2011) explain the
differences between these two allophones by relating them to the rime duration In other
31
words they point out that whenever the l sound occurs in longer rimes it is going to be a
dark [ϯ] and whenever the rime is short the l sound is clear or light
Figure 1
Articulatory Differences in l Velarization
Source Recasens 2012 p369
Conclusion
To end with it is very important to acknowledge that pronunciation is one way that
leads to an effective and a successful communication That is why many researchers shed
light on the investigation of some factors that may influence the EFL learnersrsquo pronunciation
As a result these identifying concepts help foreigners to overcome their difficulties when
they are introduced to the target language
32
Chapter two Field Work
Introduction
21 Methodology
211 Research Participants
212 The Procedure
2121 The Research Design
2122 The Pre-test Phase
2123 The Treatment Phase
2124 The Control Group
2125 The Post-test Phase
213 Scoring
214 Data Analysis
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (independent Sample
t-test)
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group Post-test
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group Post-test (Paired
Sample t-test)
21431 Paired Sample t-test
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-test
33
21441 An Independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the
Post-test
215 Discussion of the Results
216 Pedagogical Implications
Conclusion
34
Introduction
This research attempts to investigate the effect of listening to audio stories on
acquiring accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] by second year LMD students
at the department English -LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi The chosen sample is divided into two
groups the control group and the experimental group At the start participantsrsquo
pronunciation accuracy of the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] (the dependent variable) was measured
through a pretest Later on a period of treatment is taken by the experimental group which
is not the case with the control group After that a post-test is administered to both groups
in which the results are gathered using a software called the ldquopraatrdquo In addition we shed
light on describing the sample taking the place in which the study took place the method
used and at last the data collected
21 Methodology
211 Research Participants
The current study involved two intact classes of second year LMD students from
LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi-English Department The selected sample includes students from
different gender Furthermore we favored to select second year students for several reasons
The first reason was that second year students have practiced working with audio supports
which was not the case with first year students so they will not face problems concerning
listening to audio stories The second reason was that second year learners study oral
expression
At the start the experiment includes a sample of forty learners that have been chosen
from two intact classes of second year LMD students The chosen sample represents 1904
from the entire population which comprises 210 learners Additionally both clusters were
35
divided into a control group and an experimental group twenty students in each group At
the beginning the sample was supposed to be comprised of sixty students in which both the
control and the experimental groups covered thirty students Unfortunately there were a lot
of absences in both groups Also there are some students who have not passed both the
pretest and the posttest and others have not received the treatment at all Therefore the
sample size was reduced from sixty to forty students which can be sufficient to represent
the whole population and to get consistent outcomes
In order to gather consistent data that help to achieve the purpose of our research a
quasi-experimental design was designated The use of the chosen method will provide us
with a wide-ranging representation of the reflection of listening to audio stories on the
acquisition of the accurate pronunciation of the dark [l] and clear [l]
212 The Procedure
To accumulate a reliable data an experiment was conducted over six sessions The
treatment period took four sessions and the remained two sessions for the pretest and the
posttest The pretest took a form different from that of the posttest in order to avoid
familiarity to improve the learnersrsquo development and get consistent information Both
groups have taken the tests but only the experimental group took the treatment Besides the
duration of training concerning the treatment period for the experimental group took 90
minutes ie one hour and a half for each session and it started after getting the
authorization of the teacher of oral expression
36
2121 The Research Design
Figure 2
Experimental Group Procedures
Figure 3
Control Group Procedures
2122 The Pre-test Phase
By the first week of March both the control group and the experimental group have
taken the pretest However before choosing the pretest and in order to avoid any problems
we have checked that the dark [l] and the clear [l] are pronounced the same in both the
American and the British accents using the Oxford Advanced Learnerrsquo s Dictionary At the
outset learners were required to read a passage derived from a short story named ldquoThe last
class-The story of the Alsationrdquo that was written by Alphonse Daudet (2001) and also short
sentences (see Appendix A) After that their voices were recorded using a software known
pre-test
treatment
(listening to audio stories)
post-test
pre-test
No treatment
( being taught without listening
to audio-stories)
post-test
37
as the ldquoPraatrdquo Besides our focus here was raised toward the duration (ie the length of a
syllable) of the dark [l] and the clear [l]
Throughout the pretest EFL learners found themselves unable to pronounce the dark
[ϯ] and clear [l] that are found in some words correctly In other words students in the control
group and the experimental group most of the time pronounce the dark [ϯ] in the same way
they pronounce the clear [l] ie they spend the same duration for pronouncing the two
allophones Also EFL learners from time to time pronounce them differently but in a wrong
way ie they spent a rime duration that it not suitable neither for the light [l] nor for the
dark[ϯ]
Figure4
Example of the Lateral Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoSawmillrdquo
2123 The Treatment Phase
At first both participants have finished the pretest Though the treatment was
approved to the experimental group only the control group did not receive the same
treatment Besides the experimental group received the treatment in four sessions and each
Rime
duration
38
session took one hour and a half (ie 90 minutes) In each session students were asked to
listen to the audio-story in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of both allophones
after that they discussed the story being listened (see Appendix B)
2124 The Control Group
Concerning the control group students were taught the oral expression without any
exposure to any kinds of treatments In contrast to students in the experimental group who
were provided with the audio stories in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of the
both allophones which are the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ]
2125 The Post-test Phase
Fundamentally after finishing the four sessions of training ie the period of
treatment a posttest was administered to both the experimental group and the control group
(see Appendix c) The posttest as we have said before is different from the pretest in order
to avoid familiarity with the same topic and to ensure the learners improvement of the dark
[ϯ] and clear [l] So the posttest is a kind of a passage which was taken from a short story
that is entitled ldquoThe Game of Billiardsrdquo which is written by Alphonse Daudet and some
words to pronounce Furthermore during the posttest we noticed a kind of development in
learnersrsquo pronunciation of the two allophones with students of the experimental group
especially in pronouncing the single words which was not the case with those learners in
the control group
39
Figure 5
Example of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquocabalrdquo
Figure 6
Example of the Clear [l] in the word ldquolabourrdquo
The rime
duration
The rime
duration
40
213 Scoring
After finishing recording the learnersrsquo pronunciation of the phoneme l of both
groups (the control and the experimental group) we have compared them first of all to the
native speakerrsquo s pronunciation and after that we have calculated the rime duration of the
two allophones ie the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] and at last we gave them scores out of six
(6) for each participant
214 Data Analysis
In this sub-section we are going to investigate the EFL learnersrsquo improvement of
pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] Though in order to make sure that EFL
learners have acquired the correct pronunciation of these two allophones we have firstly
investigated the native speakerrsquos pronunciation of the L sound ie the clear [l] and the dark
[ϯ] and we have analyzed the rime duration of two words ldquolightrdquo and ldquoballrdquo as examples
Figure7
The Native Speakerrsquos Pronunciation of the Clear [l] in the Word ldquolightrdquo
Rime
duration
41
Figure8
The Native Speakerrsquo s Pronunciation of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoballrdquo
From these two figures we have noticed that the native speaker has spent 016 s in
pronouncing an ideal clear [l] (see Figure 7) and he has spent 138 s in order to pronounce
a perfect dark [ϯ] (see Figure 8) Thus this analysis of the native speakerrsquo s voice paved the
way to our research in which we based our investigation on it
Table 1
The Experimental and the Control grouprsquo s Scores in the pre-test
Pre-test
Students
Control
group
Experimental
group
Rime
duration
(second)
C E
Rime
duration
42
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (Independent Sample t-
test)
After gathering data for the control and the experimental group and for the purpose
of comparing and contrasting between the two we have calculated the learnersrsquo scores of
pronunciation of the phoneme l and also we have calculated the rime duration of the two
1 1 2 118 127
2 2 25 095 091
3 1 1 116 102
4 25 2 106 091
5 25 25 078 089
6 15 2 078 105
7 2 15 123 091
8 1 1 117 108
9 15 1 119 119
10 15 1 1 115
11 2 15 091 116
12 15 1 12 119
13 2 15 114 1
14 15 1 108 112
15 1 1 131 112
16 2 1 088 08
17 1 1 127 107
18 1 15 107 149
19 15 1 099 115
20 1 15 114 174
Total 31 285 2149 2222
43
allophones (see Table1) Besides the data collected ie the learnersrsquo scores were used in
calculating the means of both groups in the pre-test (the mean is calculated using the SPSS
see Table 2)
Figure 9
The Pre-test Scores of the Control and the Experimental Group
Table 2
The Mean Score of the Control and the Experimental Group in the Pre-test
Test N Mean Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpre 20 15500 51042 11413
Epre 20 14250 51999 11627
44
In order to calculate the Mean () Results we have to use the following formula
=sumx N
N stands for the total numbers of students in one group
sumx stands for the total number of data that was gathered from the pre-test
1 stands for the mean of the Control Group
2 stands for the mean of the Experimental Group
So1= 31 20 =155
2= 285 20 = 142
From ldquoFigure 9rdquo we can notice that 1 is the most frequent score in both the
experimental and the control groups in the pre-test and we can confirm this information
from Table 1 Furthermore when comparing means of both groups we notice (see Table 2)
that there is only a slight difference between the two groups the mean of the control group
is 155 whereas the mean of the experimental group is 142 So we can deduce that the level
of both groups is approximately the same there is no significant difference Moreover the
rime duration of the phoneme l of the experimental group and the control group is to some
extent the same and we can notice this slight difference in Table 1 and precisely in the total
duration of pronouncing the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] by both groups and also in Table 2
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group post-test
In order to confirm if there is any kind of progression in the control grouprsquo s scores
in the post-test concerning the pronunciation of the phoneme l (see Table 3) we have
calculated the mean of the post-test (using the SPSS see Table 4) and compared it with the
mean of the pre-test besides we have calculated the rime duration that has been spent At
45
last we have mentioned the learnersrsquo scores differences between the pre-test and the post-
test to confirm the development (see Figure 10)
Table 3
Results and Scores Differences of the Control and Experimental group in the Post-test
Posttest
Students
Rime
Duration
(Second)
Cpre Cpost Epre Epost
Cpre Cpost Epre Epost
1 1 1 2 4 118 186 127 21
2 2 175 25 5 095 113 091 253
3 1 1 1 45 116 134 102 245
4 25 2 2 35 106 119 091 234
5 25 15 25 55 078 146 089 24
6 15 175 2 5 078 119 105 267
7 2 2 15 45 123 135 091 263
8 1 125 1 5 117 144 108 254
9 15 1 1 425 119 144 119 242
10 15 1 1 55 1 128 115 274
11 2 1 15 45 091 126 116 285
12 1 2 1 5 12 129 119 268
13 2 125 15 55 114 146 1 328
14 15 1 1 55 108 127 112 223
15 1 1 1 5 131 092 112 275
16 2 1 1 475 088 135 08 274
46
17 1 2 1 5 127 094 107 292
18 1 1 15 575 107 096 149 29
19 15 1 1 525 099 114 115 295
20 1 15 15 575 114 132 174 338
Total 31 27 285 9875 2149 2359 2222 535
Diff -4 +7025 +21 +3128
Mean 155 135 142 493
-02 +351
Table 4
The Mean of the control Group in the Pre-test and Post-test
Mean N Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpre 15500 20 51042 11413
Cpost 13500 20 41675 09319
In order to calculate the mean( )result of the control group in the post-test we have to apply
the following formula = sumx N
sum stands for the total number of the data collected in the post-test of the control
group
N refers to the total number of students So = 2720 = 1
47
Figure 10
The Control Group Studentsrsquo Scores Differences
A very insignificant development has been shown in both Figure 7 and Table 3
concerning learners scores in the post-test Besides only Students 681217 and 20 from a
total number of twenty have proved the improvement the mean of the control group has
decreased from 155 in the pre-test to 135 in the post-test ie the mean = -02
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group post-test (Paired Sample
T-test)
In order to identify the scoresrsquo differences between the results of the experimental
group in both the pre-test and the post-test we have calculated the mean of the post-test and
compared it with that of the pre-test to notice if there is any improvement (see Table 3) So
the mean of the post-test is shown in Table 5 below
48
Table 5
The Mean of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and Post-test
Mean N Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Epre 14250 20 51999 11627
Epost 49375 20 59535 13312
From Table 5 we notice that the mean of the experimental group increased from 142 in the
pre-test to 493 in the post-test with a mean difference of 351 ( = +351) and we can
calculate the mean ()of the post-test using the following formula
= sumxN
sum= Stands for the total number of data that was gathered from the post-test in the
Experimental Group
119925 =Stands for the total number of students
So= 9875 20 = 493
From Table 3 we notice that there is a very clear development and difference in
learnersrsquo scores in the post-test which is very different from the pre-test scores (see Figure
12) Moreover we can notice this development from Figure 11 below too It Shows that the
most frequent scores that learners of the experimental group have gained are 45 5 55 and
at last 575(the marks are out of six) that makes a big difference from the scores of the pre-
test in which the most frequent score was 1 In addition to all of this results we can add that
the sum of the rime duration of the post-test differs a lot from that of the pre-test ( = +3128
s)
49
Hence in the light of these results we can say that the period of treatment really
affects in a positive way the learnersrsquo acquisition of the pronunciation of dark [ϯ] and clear
[l] Besides this enhancement was improved in the mean difference between the pre-test and
the post-test of the experimental group Though the comparison of means in the pre-test and
post-test of the experimental group cannot be sufficient in order to make sure that listening
to audio-stories really affects positively the way learners pronounce the Phoneme l
Therefore a paired sample T-test was designed to assess the development of learnersrsquo
acquisition of dark [ϯ] and clear [l] ie to acceptreject the Alternative Hypothesis or to
accept reject the Null Hypothesis (See Table 6 below)
Figure 11
The Scores Frequencies of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and the Post-test
50
Figure 12
The Scores Differences of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and the Post-test
21431 The paired Sample T-test
In order to know if there is any significant difference between the post-test and the
pre-test scores of the same group a t-test is conducted At first the of the experimental
group is calculated through the following formula
= sumdN
refers to the Difference of mean Scores
N Studentsrsquo scores in the Experimental Group
sum refers to the total sum of the Differences Scores
So = 702520= 35125
51
The Standard deviation of the differences
Sd= radic119956120784= radicsum119941120784
119925minus 119941120784
S stands for the Variance
sum119941120784 refers to the square differences of Scores
After calculating
Sdcong 013
The Standard Error of the Mean Difference (SE)
It is calculated using the following formula
SE ()= 119878119889
radic119873cong003
Finally we calculate the t- value that will be compared to the critical P-value at the point
p=005 in order to accept the alternative hypothesis or rejecting it using the following
formula119957120784120782minus120783=
119878119864(119889) = 117
Table 6
Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Post-test Scores differences
Students Pre-test Post-test Difference
1 2 4 2
2 25 5 25
3 1 45 35
4 2 35 15
5 25 55 3
6 2 5 3
52
7 15 45 3
8 1 5 4
9 1 425 325
10 1 55 45
11 15 45 3
12 1 5 4
13 15 55 4
14 1 55 45
15 1 5 4
16 1 475 375
17 1 5 4
18 15 575 425
19 1 525 425
20 15 575 425
Total 285 9875 7025
Table 7
The Paired Sample T-test for the Experimental Group
Paired Sample T-Test
Epre
Scores-
Epost
Scores
Mean Std
deviati-
on
Std-
Error
Mean
95Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
t Df Sig
(2-
tailed)
Lower Upper
-351250 83695 18715 -390421 -312079 -18768 19 000
53
After calculating the mean of the experimental group in both the pre-test and the post-
test (see Table 5) a mean difference of +351 was noticed Therefore in order to prove if
the development that was noticed in the post-test scores as well as the mean occurred
because of the influence of listening to the audio-stories which is the independent variable
or happened only by coincidence
Hence to confirm the Alternative Hypothesis and reject the Null Hypothesis or vice
versa the t-value (117) was calculated in order to be compared with the critical- value at
the point p=005 and at the level of t=19 Besides p-value (0000) is less than 005 which
means that there a real difference between the learnersrsquo scores in the pre-test (before the
period of treatment) and the leanersrsquo scores in the post-test (after the period of treatment)
Consequently we can deduce that the improvement that was achieved by the experimental
group in the post test did not occur by chance actually it occurred because of listening to
audio-stories that has a positive effect on learnersrsquo pronunciation of both the clear [l] and the
dark [ϯ]
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-test
Table 8
The Mean of the Control Group and the Experimental Group in the Post-test
N Mean Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpost 20 13500 41675 09319
Epost 20 49375 59535 13312
54
To calculate the mean () we use the following Formula
= sum119961 N
So 1= sum119961 N
1 refers to the mean of the control group in the post-test
N refers to the total number of students in the control Group
sum119961 stands for the sum of scores of the control group in the post-test
1= 2720 = 135
2 = sum119961 N
2 stands for the mean of the experimental group in the post-test
N refers to the total number of participants in the experimental group
sum119961 Stands for the sum of scores of the experimental group in the post-test
So 2= 987520 = 493
Figure13
The Scores Frequencies of the Control Group and the Experimental Group in the Post-
test
55
From the previous analysis of the mean of both the control and the experimental
group in the pre-test (see Table 3) we have noticed that the level of students in both groups
is almost the same and there is only a slight difference between them Though in the post-
test the scores of the experimental group has increased and as result the mean average has
increased too after the treatment phase for the experimental group (from 142 to 493) but it
decreased for the control group who were taught without being exposed to any kind of
treatment (see Table 8 and Figure 10) Besides we can notice the development also in the
rime duration in studentsrsquo pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] of the experimental
group in the post-test which is not the case with the control group
21441 An independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the post-
test
In order to investigate if there is any significant change between two diverse groups
who have run the same test a t-test is used to show this significance difference In our case
we want to inspect if there is any significant variation between the experimental group and
the control group in the post-test and whether we accept the Alternative Hypothesis or
rejecting the Null Hypothesis So depending on the following steps a t-test was calculated
using the following formula
t= 119883 119888minus 119890
radicpartx2
Nx+
1205971199102
119873119910
partx2 = sum(119883 minus 119890 )N
= 306
1205971199102 =sum(119883 minus 119888 )2119873
= 160
119888 the mean of the control group in the post-test
56
119890 the mean of the experimental group in the post-test
partx2 the variation of the experimental group
1205971199102 the variation of the control group
So t= 493minus 135
radic306
20+
160
20
=745
t-value= 745
Depending on the t-value (745) that was calculated we compare it with the critical p-
value at p=005 therefore we have two options
1- If t-value is greater than the critical p-value (t-valuegtcritical-value) we accept the
alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
2- If t-value is less than the critical-value (t-valueltcritical-value) we accept the null
hypothesis and refuse the alternative hypothesis
we can say that
t-value=745 745 gt005
We accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
p-value= 0000 0000 lt005
We accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
Depending on these results we can say that there is a statistical evidence that the
associated sampling means are significantly different In other words there is a real change
between the experimental group and the control group in the post test at the level of
pronunciation due to the positive influence of the independent variable which is ldquolistening
to the audio-storiesrdquo Therefore students of the experimental group showed a significant
57
progress at the level of pronunciation and precisely the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
pronunciation
215 Discussion of the Results
The current research has investigated the influence of listening to audio-stories on
acquiring accurate pronunciation of both allophones the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] At the
start the pre-test has proved that learners of both groups ie the control and the
experimental group have the same level through calculating their means The control group
scored a mean of 155 while the experimental group scored a mean of 142 and also they
have got near scores concerning the rime duration of the L sound So these estimated scores
helped us to prove and confirm our hypothesis that states the positive effect of listening to
audio-stories on the level of pronunciation accuracy In the post-test students of the
experimental group showed a significant development compared to the control group and
this is due to the period of treatment that occurred in the oral session Besides the mean
score of the experimental group has been raised from 142 to 493 and from a sum of rime
durations of 2222 s to 535 s while the mean score of the control group has been decreased
from 155 to 135 and increased from a sum of rime durations of 2149 s to 2359 s In
addition a t-test was designed to show if there is any statistical significant difference
between the experimental group and the control group in the post-test the results show the
positive influence of the treatment phase on the dependent variable (pronunciation
accuracy)
216 Pedagogical implication
The present research evidenced the positive influence of being exposed to the target
language pronunciation as it is produced by the native speakers through the exposure to the
audio-stories Therefore we can state a set of pedagogical implications
58
The present study shows that the more students get involved in listening practices
the more they will be proficient in the pronunciation of a various English sounds ie
developing their speaking proficiency
Audio-stories help EFL learners improve their pronunciation as well as to develop
their listening skills
Using multimedia devices (audio-stories in our case) in learning classrooms
enhances the learnersrsquo motivation to get involved in the learning process
Audio-stories can be used by EFL teachers in order to make learners attentive and
interested in the lecture being presented
Audio-stories provide learners with the chance to listen again and again to the story
in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of a given word
Conclusion
The present research examined the effect of listening to audio stories on fostering the
target language pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] The native speakerrsquo s
pronunciation of both allophones was analyzed first through analyzing the rime duration in
order to compare it with the EFL learnersrsquo articulation That is to say the analysis is based
on the native speakerrsquo s rime duration In addition a significant development in learnersrsquo
pronunciation of the dark[ϯ]and the clear [l] was proved which lead to accept the alternative
hypothesis that states listening to audio-stories has a positive effect on acquiring accurate
pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] by EFL learners
59
General Conclusion
The present study is based on the investigation of the effectiveness of listening to
audio stories on acquiring accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] by EFL
learners At the beginning we have stated the problem which was that the Algerian EFL
learners in the English department at LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi University face a lot of difficulties
concerning the acquisition of the accurate pronunciation of The phoneme l Subsequently
this dissertation tackled the importance of listening to audio-stories on enhancing EFL
learnersrsquo pronunciation accuracy
Our research was tackled in two main chapters The first chapter divided into two
main sections In the first section we tackled the point of listening to audio stories whereas
the second section discussed the reflection of listening to audio stories on the pronunciation
of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] The second chapter represented the practical part the field
work The analyzed data showed that there is a positive relationship between the independent
variable and the dependent variable That is to say there was a development in the
acquisition of the phoneme l which lead us to accept the alternative hypothesis and reject
the null hypothesis
60
Limitations of the Study
Limited sources ie most of the sources that were available were not relevant to our
study
Time constraints this study needs much more time to conduct a better result
Students absences in the pre-test and the post-test and others did not receive the
treatment at all
The lack of interest in the beginning of the treatment session
61
List of References
Alonso SR (2012) The importance of Teaching Listening and Speaking Skills Diagravectica de Lingua
y la Literatura Facultad de Education
Brown S (2006) Teaching Listening Cambridge Cambridge University press
Coulter C Michael C ampPoynor L (2007) Storytelling as Pedagogy An Unexpected Outcome
of narrative inquiry 104-105
Daudet A (2001) Five Short Stories Copyright copy Bartlebycom Inc
Downs L J (2008) Listening Skills Training ASTD press
Eckert J (2016) Audio Storytelling in Todayrsquos Visual World The necessary Components of a
successful sounds scape for an audio play
Gilakjani A P (2012) A study of Factors Affecting EFL learnersrsquo English Pronunciation Learning
and the Strategy for instruction Lahijani Iran 2(3) 119-128
Hamer J (1998) How to teach English An Introduction to the Practice of English Language
Teaching English Language Teaching Harlow Longman
Hendrickson J (1992) Storytelling for foreign language and linguistics Washington Dc Eric
learning house on language and linguistic [ Eric No E0355-824]
Kline J A (1996) Listening Effectively Air University Press
Madden M and Moore Z (1997) ESL Studentsrsquo Opinions about instruction in Pronunciation
Texas 3(2) 15-32
Mendelson D J (1994) Learning to Listen Dominie Press
Nasreddin K (2010) The Influence of Background Knowledge on Second Language Listening
Comprehension Constantine Constantine University
62
Poposka V p (2016) Pronunciation Proficiency Level Problematic Areas of Tertiary as a Foreign
Language International Journal of Science and Basic and Applied Research
Richards J C (1990) The Language Teaching Matrix Cambridge Cambridge University Pess
Rubin SS (2015) Tools for Creating Audio Stories scholarship University of California
Roney RC (1996) Storytelling in the classroom Some Theoretical Thoughts Wayne State
University Education Detroit Michigan
Sproat R ampFujimura O (1993) Allophonic variation of the English l and its Implication for
phonetic Implementation Academic Press
Torky SA (2006) The Effectiveness of a Task-Based Instruction Program in Developing English
Language Speaking Skills of Secondary Stage Students Collegersquo s girl Ain Shams
University
Ummah A (2014) The Effectiveness of Nursery Rhymes to Facilitate Studentsrsquo of Pronunciation of
the Diphthong Education and Teacher Training Faculty Walisongo State institution for
Islamic Studies
Wang M (2016) Research on the Acoustic Realization of Lateral in Sundanese International
Journal of Engineering Research and Development 12(10) 44-48
Ziane R (2012) The Role of Listening Comprehension in Improving EFL learners Speaking Skill
Biskra University of Biskra
Zhang Q (2009) Affecting Factors of Native-Like Pronunciation A Literature Review Ching-Ang
University 27(2) 33-52
63
Abrahamson CE (1998) Storytelling as a pedagogical tool in high Education 118(3) Retrieved
from
httpwwwquestiacomlibraryjournal1G1-20494609storytelling-as-a-pedagogical-tool-
inhighereducation
AMP Research Center (2012) Retrieved from
Httpwwwncertrmqeduauconference2001indexhtal
Backley P (nd) Improving your English Pronunciation Retrieved from
httptoefluobabyloneduiqpaperspearson-2015-1269610pdf
Chaney (1998) Teaching Speaking Retrieved from
httpitesljorgtechniqueKayi-teaching speakinghtml
English Club (nd) What is listening Retrieved from
httpwwwenglishclubcom
Miller E (2011) Theories of story and storytelling Retrieved from
httpwww-storytellingandvideoconferencingcom167pdf
Pederson E M (1995) Storytelling and the art of listening English teaching forum 33(1)2-5
Retrieved from httpExchangesStategovForumuolsn01p2htm
Remen R N (nd) Listening Skills Retrieved from
httpwwwskillsyouneedcomipslistening-Skills-html
Rock R (nd) 5 Wonderful Websites for Engaging ESL Audio Short Stories Retrieved from
httpwwwFluentucomenglisheducatorsblogeslaudio-short-stories
Seifert S (nd) Follow Along 6 Engaging ESL Audio Stories with worksheet ideas Retrieved from
httpwwwFluentucomenglisheducatorblogeslaudio-stories
Saricoban A (2004) The Teaching of listening The Internet TESL journal
httpitesljorgArticlesSaricobn-listeninghtml
Subhi s (2016) Differences between Hearing and listening Retrieved from
httpkeydifferencescomdifference-between-hearning-and-listeninghtml
64
Shen CD (2010) 3 reasons why listening skills are very important in Todayrsquo s Business World
Retrieved from httpezinearticlescom3-Reasons-why-listening-skills-are-very-important-in-
Todays-Business-worldampid=5436504
the adapted audio-stories that were used in the period of treatment
(httpwwwmanythingsorgvoastories)
Appendix A A pre-test
The Last class- The Story of the Alsatian
I was very late for school that morning and I was terribly afraid of being Scolded
especially as Monsieur Hamel had told us that he should examine us on participles and I
did not know the first thing about them For a moment I thought of saying away from
school and wandering about the fields It was such a warm lovely day I could hear the
blackbirds whistling on the edge of the wood and in the ripper field behind the sawmill
the Prussians going through their drill All that was much more tempting to me than the
rules concerning participles but I had the strength to resist and I ran as fast as I could to
school
Sentences
You old fool they will kill you if you always trouble them
People are awfully lazy in the middle of July
Appendix B A post-test
The Game of Billiards
The marshalrsquo s opponent is a young captain of the staff belted and curled and light-
gloved who is in the first rank of billiard-players and capable of beating all the marshals
on earth but he has the tact to keep a respectful distance behind his chief and devotes his
energies to the task of not winning and at the same time not losing too easily He is what is
called an officer with a future
Read the following words
1 Cabal
2 Labour
3 Shell
Appendix c Treatment period
I Session one (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquothe Secret Gardenrdquo (Chapter One) By Frances Hodgson
Burnett
II Session two (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Secret Gardenrdquo (Chapter two) By Frances Hodgson
Burnett
III Session three (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Lady or the Tigerrdquo by Frank R Stockton
IV Session four (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Lady in Blackrdquo By Eleanor Porter
Reacutesumeacute
La preacutesente eacutetude vise agrave eacutetudier lrsquoarticulation de dark [ϯ] et clear [l] dans les classes de la
langue anglaise afin dameacuteliorer la prononciation des apprenants Lrsquoeacutetude actuelle repose
sur lhypothegravese que leacutecoute des histoires audio a un effet positif sur lameacutelioration de la
prononciation des apprenants EFL avec un accent particulier sur le dark [ϯ] et clear [l] Afin
datteindre lobjectif de cette recherche une eacutetude quasi-expeacuterimentale a eacuteteacute assigneacute en
deux groupe group teacutemoin et group expeacuterimentale Chaque groupe contenait 20 eacutelegraveves
Lexpeacuterience a pris six seacuteances un preacute-test une peacuteriode de traitement (4 seacuteances) et un
posttest En conclusion les reacutesultats obtenus montrent que les eacutetudiants qui sont exposeacute agrave
la langue cible et qui eacutecoutent au locuteur natif agrave lrsquoaide audio pour ameacuteliorer leurs
prononciations ont montreacute qursquoil y a un deacuteveloppement ameacutelioration au niveau de
compeacutetence des apprenants en particulier et en matiegravere de parole en geacuteneacuterale
Les mots cleacutes audio-histoire Compeacutetence drsquoeacutecoute prononciation dureacute de travaille
ملخص
استخدام القصص الصوتية من اجل المساعدة على اكتساب النطق السليم والدقيق تهدف هذه الدراسة الى التعرف على مدى فعالية
الأجنبية حيث تستند الدراسة الحالية على فرضية مفادها ان الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية له تأثير إيجابي على تحسين ةللغ
استغرقت التجربة ست ق المنهج التجريبيمن أجل تحقيق هدف هذه الدراسة تم تطبينطق الطلاب الأجانب للغة الإنجليزية
جلسات قسمت كالاتي أربع حصص معالجة سبقت باختبارات قبلية ولحقت باختبارات بعدية أجريت الدراسة في قسم اللغة
طالبا من طلاب السنة ثانية جامعي قسم الطلبة الى فوجين حيث 40الإنجليزية بجامعة العربي بن مهيدي وقد شملت الدراسة
ى معالجة لمدة أربع حصص من خلال الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية في حين لم يتعرض الفوج الثاني خضع أحد الفوجين ال
الى نفس المعالجة بعد ذلك تم اجراء الاختبارات البعدية واعتمادا على النتائج المتحصل عليها ثبت ان التعرض الى اللغة
جابي على اكتساب النطق الدقيق للغة المستهدفة الا وهي اللغة الأجنبية عن طريق الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية له تأثير إي
الأجنبية
القصص الصوتية النطق مدة الموجات الصوتيةالكلمات المفتاحية المهارة السمعية
VIII
14Importance of Pronunciationhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip24
15 Factors Affecting Pronunciationhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip25
16151 Internal Factorshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip25
152 External Factorshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip28
Conclusion helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip31
Chapter two Field Work
Introductionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip34
21 Methodologyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip34
211 Research Participantshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip34
212 The Procedurehelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip35
2121 The Research Design helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip36
2122 The Pre-test Phasehelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip36
2123 The Treatment Phasehelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip37
2124 The Control Grouphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip38
2125 The Post-test Phasehelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip38
213 Scoring helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip40
214 Data Analysishelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip40
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (independent
Sample t-test)helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip42
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip44
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group Post-test (Paired
Sample t-test)helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 47
21431 Paired Sample t-test helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip50
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip53
21441 An Independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group
in the Post-testhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip55
215 Discussion of the Resultshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip57
216 Pedagogical Implicationshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip57
Conclusionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip58
General Conclusionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip59
Limitation of The Studyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip60
List of Referenceshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip61
Appendices
IX
Reacutesumeacute
ملخص
1
General introduction
Introduction
1 Statement of the Problem
2 Aim of the Study
3 Research Question
4 Research Hypothesis
5 Means of the Study
6 Structure of the Study
2
Introduction
Acquiring comprehensible pronunciation for EFL learners is one of the key supplies
for language proficiency Nowadays mastering the foreign language is the main concern
that most of EFL learners share This high attention raises due to the exposure to the target
language and to the complications that learners may face at whatever time they want to
communicate whether with foreigners or with one another using for instance the English
language Besides listening is not only a matter of innate ability but it is a matter of how to
develop that inborn capacity in order to improve the learnersrsquo pronunciation accuracy
Accordingly audio-stories are used to help developing the learnersrsquo listening skill and to
improve their pronunciation accurateness Furthermore using audio stories in teaching EFL
learners help to evidence that an effective listening process leads to an effective articulation
1 Statement of the Problem
Generally speaking there are various factors that affect learnersrsquo acquisition of the
target language pronunciation The Algerian EFL learners encounter many problems
concerning articulation because EFLESL learners do not have much opportunities to be
exposed to the real language as it is produced by the native speakers in the classroom Since
English is a foreign language learners avoid using it outside the classroom which is resulted
in a bad pronunciation Therefore EFL teachers are required to use audio-stories inside the
classrooms in order to develop studentsrsquo second language and to improve their pronunciation
accuracy
3
2 Aim of the Study
The current study deals with the learnersrsquo pronunciation difficulties of the dark [ϯ]
and the clear [l] It aims at investigating the effect of listening to audio-stories on fostering
the target languagersquos accurate pronunciation of both allophones
3 Research Question
The present study seeks to answer the following question
Does listening to audio-stories help EFL learners to acquire the accurate
pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
4 Research Hypothesis
In order to answer the research question the subsequent hypotheses are framed
H1 The EFL learners will acquire accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the
clear [l] through listening to audio-stories
H0 Listening to audio stories will not help EFL learners to acquire accurate
pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
5 Means of the Research
In order to achieve the objective of our research a quasi-experimental design is
administered to second year LMD students of English Department at LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi
University The selected sample (40 students from 210) consists of two groups the control
group and the experimental group Both groups will be pretested in order to assess their
pronunciation accuracy level The pre-test is a kind of short story and small sentences that
contain the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] which learners have to read After that the Praat will be
used in order to record their voices Later on the experimental group will take the treatment
for four sessions in which they will listen to the audio stories each session will take one
4
hour and a half However the control group will not receive any kind of treatment (they will
be taught in a normal way without listening to audio stories) Furthermore a post-test which
is different from that of the pre-test will be administered to both groups in order to test their
pronunciation development
6 Structure of the Study
The present study is divided into two chapters The first chapter is a theoretical one
and it is composed of two sections The first section is about listening to audio stories in
which we define the process of listening and mention the main differences between listening
and hearing After that we discuss the reasons of listening its types and processes Later
on the second sub-section deals with audio stories At the start we introduce a brief history
about the notion of audio stories and then we introduce stories in general Afterward we
discuss the characteristics of audio stories their use and advantages The second section
deals with the pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] at the beginning we shed light
on the definition of speaking skill and its sub-competencies After that a part of this section
deals with the definition of pronunciation and its importance Besides it introduces factors
that affect pronunciation The second chapter deals with the field work in which it sheds
light on collecting data presenting and analyzing it and at the end interpreting results
5
Section One Listening to Audio Stories
Introduction
11 Definition of Listening Skill
12 Differences between Listening and Hearing
13 Reasons of Listening
14 Types of Listening
141 Extensive Listening
142 Intensive Listening
15 Listening Processes
151 Bottom-up Process
152 Top down Process
16 Brief History of Audio-Stories
17 Definition of Storytelling
18 Definition of Audio-Stories
19 Characteristics of a Good Audio-Story
110 The Use of Audio-Stories in ESL Classrooms
111 Advantages of Using Audio-Stories
Conclusion
6
Introduction
Nowadays there is a great emphasis put on listening skill since it plays a significant
role in teaching and acquiring the foreign language So this high attention raises because of
the difficulties that learners face whenever they want to communicate thatrsquos why many
researchers shed light on Audio Stories as a tool that can help in developing learnersrsquo
listening process as well as improving their speaking skills and precisely their
pronunciation
The main concern of this section is listening to audio stories First of all we shed
light on the first part which is listening process At the start we need to define listening
skills according to different scholars later on we tackle the main differences between
listening and hearing Also reasons of listening its types and processes Then the second
part of this section deals with the audio stories In the beginning we introduce a brief history
of audio stories and later on the definition of stories in general After that we present the
meaning of audio stories in a specific way and its main characteristics Lastly this section
highlights the use and the advantages of audio stories inside EFL classrooms
11 Definition of Listening Skill
ldquoThe most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen Just to
listen Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attentionrdquo (Remen
2011)
Listening is an important skill in learning and acquiring a foreign language Through
this process learners will be able to receive and understand information According to
Downs (2008) ldquothe word of listening is defined as making an effort to hear something to
pay attention or heedrdquo (p 1) In other words Downs (2008) argues that listening is the way
7
learners pay attention to what is being said In her opinion listening is an active process that
includes using a variety of processes which are attending understanding interpreting
responding and remembering Moreover Mendelsohn (1994) demonstrates listening as ldquothe
ability to understand the spoken language of native speakersrdquo (p 64) To be precise
Mendelsohn defines listening as the listenerrsquo s ability to recognize the native speakerrsquo s
speech in terms of accent pitch intonation vocabulary grammar and trying to interpret the
native speakerrsquo s messages
Saricoban (1999) states that listening is onersquos capacity to realise what is being said
and to recognize the intended meaning He sheds light on two important points the first
point concerns understanding the speakerrsquos pronunciation syntax and lexis whereas the
second point deals with grasping the meaning Willis (1981) lists a series of micro-skills of
listening which she calls enabling skills They are
Predicting what people are going to talk about
Guessing at unknown words or phrases without panic
Using onersquo s own knowledge of the subject to help one understand
Identifying relevant points rejecting irrelevant information
Retaining relevant points (note-taking summarizing)
Recognizing discourse markers eg well oh another thing is now finally
etc
Recognizing cohesive devices e g such as and which including linking
words pronouns references etc
Understanding different intonation patterns and uses of stress etc which give
clues to meaning and social setting
8
Understanding inferred information eg speakerrsquo s attitude or intentions
(p134
Furthermore listening is an important source of knowledge It is recognized as the
ability of transforming and interpreting the spoken messages that are received by the ears
from the daily life situations Yet listening is a very hard task It requires the learnersrsquo mental
concentration which is something difficult because the human brain can simply lose attention
That is to say listening skill can save learners from communication breakdowns and
increases their motivation to learn the foreign language and speak fluently but only if they
work harder to develop their own listening skills
12 Differences between Listening and Hearing
Listening and hearing are two different activities Kline (1996) emphasizes the
differences between these two concepts to make an effective listening He states that
ldquohearing is the attachment of meaning to the sound Hearing is passive listening is activerdquo
(p7) In other words active listening is a successful element that affects learnersrsquo verbal and
nonverbal behaviors
Surbhi (2016) states the differences between listening and hearing On the one hand
he defines hearing as the natural capacity that happens unconsciously It aids to identify
sounds via the ears Also hearing is a process that permits receiving sound vibrations and
it is one of the five senses On the other hand Surhbi (2016) defines listening skill as the
process of receiving and interpreting messages it occurs consciously
13 Reasons of Listening
Learners through being exposed to different English accents and in any recorded
materials such as radio TV or tapes they want to understand and realize what is being said
9
(Harmer 1998) According to him listening is a very effective process that helps learners to
get a better pronunciation In other words as much as they are exposed to the real language
as much as they will recognize its features
Also Shen (2010) demonstrates that listening skills help to improve understanding
and aids people to become aware of their listening skills So listening plays a vital role in
language learning and acquisition It is an essential skill that bridges the line between
meaning and messages in order to avoid misunderstanding between individuals
14 Types of listening
Generally speaking the listening skill plays a significant role in teaching EFL
classrooms This process guides EFL learners to an effective communication Therefore the
listening skill can be classified into two different types Extensive listening and intensive
listening
141 Extensive Listening
Extensive listening has to do with the learnerrsquos fluency In other words the learner has
to master vocabulary grammarhellipetc and later on he must combine them together to form
a meaningful conversation So fluency depends on the listenerrsquos ability of understanding
whatever he is exposed to weather in an audio tape a text a songhellipetc
Harmer (1998) states that extensive listening is the way students practice their own
listening outside the classroom Students should enjoy listening to an audio material because
they can understand them without the teacherrsquo s help Also students can depend on CDs and
tapes so that they are going to have another chance to listen to their course books dialogues
that they have already provided to them inside the classroom In addition learners must be
10
stimulated to listen to the English language films with sub-titles because this helps students
to acquire the foreign language
In brief extensive listening according to the Extensive Reading-Central (2012) includes
Listening to massive amounts of text
Text which learners can understand reasonably smoothly
high levels of comprehension
Listening without being constrained by pre-set questions or tasks
Listening at or below onersquo s comfortable fluent listening ability
So extensive listening aims to make learners enjoy developing their listening skills
142 Intensive Listening
In contrast to extensive listening intensive listening aims at developing the learnersrsquo
specific listening skills and more precisely to raise the learnersrsquo attention about the spoken
language Intensive listening occurs weather in classrooms or laboratories It exists mostly
when teachers guide their students and provide them with help concerning listening
problems that they face and try to highlight them (Harmer 2007)
So intensive listening according to the Extensive Reading-central (2012) is
Listening for specific information
Listening for the exact words of a phrase or expression
Listening for details
Listening to mimic a text
11
15 Listening Processes
In listening process addressees process information using two distinct strategies
This is devoted to as bottom-up and top-down
151 Bottom-up Process
Richards (1990) states that ldquobottom-up processing refers the use of incoming data as
a source of information about the meaning of a messagerdquo (p 50) According to him Bottom-
up process deals with the perception of sentence components ie recognizing the meaning
of sounds words sentences clauseshellipetc till reaching the meaning of the whole message
152 Top-down Process
Richards (190) states that ldquoTop-down processing on the other hand refers to the use
of background knowledge in understanding the meaning of a messagerdquo (p 51) In contrast
to Bottom-up process Richards (1990) points out to the Top-down as the process of using
the listenersrsquo previous knowledge to attain meaning as whole not attaining the meaning of
individual words
16 Brief History of Audio-Stories
Eckert (2016) states that ldquoAudio storytelling in the form of radio drama has been
around for almost a centuryrdquo (p 8) That is to say audio stories in the previous decades took
the form of radio drama Radio drama attained extensive admiration within an era of its
original growth in the 1920rsquo s At that time radio drama played a central role for being the
foundation of people entertainment However by the 1950rsquo s people shifted their attention
to the new invention which was the small screen ie the television As a result of the
invention of this new device audio drama no more attracts the spectatorsrsquo attention it lost
its popularity
12
Though in 2010 radio drama came back to stage due to the developments shown in
digital soundtrack and internet spreading According to Eckert (2016) ldquoRadio and audio
storytelling has slowly started gaining popularity again thanks to the different online
platforms brought forth by digitalizationrdquo (p 8)
17 Definition of Storytelling
Today stories are a fundamental part of our societies and cultures Telling and
listening to stories is an ancient tradition and common activity that bonds different olden
civilizations together Also stories are an essential component and an ordinary process that
many people used to do on every occasion It is the art of telling factual or fictional stories
Besides stories bring legacy into life because our ancestors told them and people today
only retell them
Moreover listening to stories enhances the learnersrsquo foreign language It aids them
to improve their speaking skills Pederson (1995) states that ldquoin dealing with stories learners
have an experience with the powerful real language of personal communicationrdquo (p 2)
Additionally Pederson (1995) emphasizes the role of telling stories in preserving heritage
he argues that ldquooral stories are a direct expression of a literary and cultural heritage and
through them that heritage is appreciated understood and kept aliverdquo (1995 p2) In other
words stories bond between the past and the present It is considered to be a vital feature of
humankind Furthermore Schram (1994 as cited in Coulter Michael amp Poynor 2007)
points out
A story is a beautiful means of teaching religion values history traditions and
customs a creative method of introducing characters and places an imaginative way
13
to instill hope and resourceful thinking Stories help us to understand who we are and
show us what legacies to transmit to future generations (p 104-105)
So Schram (1994) highlights the role of stories in bridging the gap between the teaching
process and culture
Likewise Abrahamson (1998) sheds light on the role that storytelling plays in the
learning process He states that telling stories plays a significant role in improving learnersrsquo
understanding Besides Abrahamson argues that stories can afford a suitable context that
the listener can use it as a base to perceive the tellerrsquos point of view Moreover Roney (1996)
demonstrates
In its most basic form storytelling is a process where a person (the teller) using
vocalization narrative structure and mental imagery communications with other
humans (the audience) who also use mental imagery and in turn communicate back
to the teller primarily via body language and facial expression (p 2)
By this definition storytelling is the combination of art procedures and ways of
communication
18 Definition of Audio-Stories
The term audio-story is a combination of two words audio and story By definition
audio is sound within the aural range accessible to humankinds Miller (2011) states that
ldquostories are pieces of art and can serve as a basis of gamesrdquo (p 1) So Audio-story is a very
operative means for teaching EFL learners It aids to make the course persuasive Nowadays
14
audio stories can be used to many reasons and the most important one is the exposure to the
real language of native speakers by EFL learners In addition Rubin (2015) points out
ldquoaudio stories are an engaging form of communication that combines speech and music into
a compelling narrativesrdquo (p 1) That is to say audio stories are the process of telling stories
through sound and sound effects only Furthermore Audio-stories are broadly accredited to
progresses in portable equipment for instance smart phones tablets and multimedia
entertainment systems Thus EFL learners find it easy to listen to those audio stories
19 Characteristics of a Good Audio-Story
According to Seifert (nd) finding good audio-stories that suit the EFL learnersrsquo
needs is something very important and it is a very hard task to do However these are some
of the necessary features that EFL teachers must take into consideration whenever they want
to select a good audio-story for their students
Skill Level
Taking into account the learnersrsquo English level before choosing any audio-story For
instance if the audio-story contains a difficult language learners will lose confidence and
as a result they stop listening to the audio-story So determining the learnersrsquo level is very
important
Student Interest
EFL teachers must find out their studentsrsquo interests and normally each teacher has
an idea about this issue So if the audio-stories do not fit the learnersrsquo needs the EFL
teacherrsquos goal from that audio-story will be lost
15
Audio Length
The length of the audio-story plays a significant role in keeping concentration in the
ESL schoolrooms Listening for much time to the audio storytelling leads to boredom As a
result the learnersrsquo s brains lose attention However teachers can use long audio-stories but
they should know how to put it into parts and use classroom discussions to avoid boredom
So these three characteristics aid to develop EFL learnersrsquo listening skills
110 The Use of Audio-Stories in ESL Classrooms
According to Rock (nd) there are several listening practices that ESLEFL teachers
can provide to their students These are samples of activities that can work hand in hand with
audio-stories
Fill in The Blanks
Here EFL teacher provides his students with a written passage that is taken from an
audio-story but he removes some words Later on the teacher asks his learners to listen to
the audio-story after reading that passage and at the same time fill in the blanks
Mastery Memory
This activity has to do with learnerrsquos memory In this kind of practices teachers
provide learners with an audio-story and ask them for example to write down the main
events of the story but when they finish listening to it Teachers in this activity have to make
sure that students do not write them during the listening of the audio-story So the main goal
of the exercise is to reinforce learnerrsquos memory
16
Order the Events
At the start teachers give their learners a series of events that are chosen from an
audio-story Then the teacher gives them some time to read them After that learners listen
to the audio- storytelling and put those events in a sequential order
Buzz Words
This exercise aims to reach the learnerrsquo s vocabulary In this practice teachers
provide learners with a number of words then they ask them to check their meanings before
Afterward teacher turns the lesson into a game ie EFL learners listen to the audio-story
and whenever they hear a word (the buzz word) from that list they have to raise their hands
or clap them
Multiple Choice
This activity deals with providing learners with a number of questions followed by
three answers these questions can be definitions or name of characterhellip etc Then learners
have to listen to the audio-storytelling and pick the write response After teachers play again
the audio-story to correct their answers
Character Quiz
In this practice EFL learners have to listen to the whole story Then the teacher gives
his class a question sheet that contains a list of character qualities and decision and ask them
to choose the suitable one for the leading role
Plot Quiz
This activity has to do with team competition After listening to the whole audio-
storytelling once or twice the teacher divides his class into two to four groups where the
17
teacher plays the role of the coach Several questions that have a relation to the story will be
quizzed to each team if they get the answer they have a point if they fail to answer correctly
the question moves to the next group
Beginning Middle End
After listening to the audio storytelling the teacher splits the classroom into groups
and each group contains no more than four students Later he asks each group to write the
main events of the beginning the middle and the end of the story Finally they discuss them
together
111 Advantages of Using Audio-Stories
Audio-stories play an essential role in teaching the target language Audio-
storytelling is an impeccable implement for any ESL classrooms First of all audio-stories
afford learners with the exposure to the real language as it is produced by the native speakers
ie a natural voice Furthermore Rodero (2012 as cited in Eckert2016) claimed that
ldquoAudio stories that use sound effects and sound shots enhance the learnerrsquo s attention and
creation of visual images significantly compared to those without themrdquo (p 16) That is to
say using audio-stories in ESL classrooms develops learnersrsquo listening skills and provides
them with an imaginary trip inside their minds Also audio- stories enhance learnersrsquo
pronunciation since the learner is exposed to the natural voice In addition EFL teacher can
use audio storytelling as a guideline to his lecture or the opposite he can use it at the end of
the course as a reward
Moreover the EFL teachers depend on audio-stories in improving learnersrsquo
vocabulary through memorization Learners can enrich their vocabulary whenever they
listen to those stories because each time they learn some new words Besides learners can
18
listen to them outside the schoolrooms because they are portable they can upload them in
their mobiles and listen to them any time anywhere Finally audio stories can raise interest
for those learners who are not attracted to reading
Conclusion
In conclusion listening to audio stories aids EFL learners to improve the target
language pronunciation That is to say students will be exposed to the real language as it is
created by the native speakers Besides using audio stories in ESLEFL classrooms increases
the learnersrsquo interest toward learning the foreign language and also enhances their speaking
skills
19
Section two Reflection on Pronunciation
Introduction
121 Definition of Speaking Skill
122 Speaking Sub-Competencies Skills
123 Definition of Pronunciation
124 Importance of Pronunciation
125 Factors Affecting Pronunciation
1251 Internal Factors
1252 External Factors
Conclusion
20
Introduction
Generally speaking being able to speak the target language fluently and accurately
seems to be very interesting to all EFLESL learners Though students face a lot of troubles
and obstacles when communicating with each other or with native speakers and this is due
to mispronunciation misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the hearer which leads to the
communication breakdowns Furthermore learnersrsquo mispronunciation occurs due to various
factors that affect their oral language and as a consequence it affects their speaking
proficiency
In this section we have dealt with the speaking process and precisely
ldquopronunciationrdquo At the start a slight attention is put upon the definition of speaking skills
and its sub-competencies After that a part of this section is devoted to define pronunciation
and highlight its importance Moreover this section demonstrates some factors that affect
pronunciation which are classified into internal factors and external factors Finally another
point about the English consonant ldquoLrdquo has been raised
121 Definition of Speaking Skill
Mastering the foreign language is the aim of each EFL learner Speaking is one of
the most important language skills it plays a significant role in sharing ideas and thoughts
between individuals Torky (2006) defines speaking as follows ldquoIt is the means through
which learners can communicate with others to achieve certain goals or to express their
opinions intentions hopes and viewpointsrdquo (p 13) Also Ziane (2012) states that ldquoit is the
way by which learners can contribute and be part of oral communicationrdquo (p21) So the
main goal of EFL learners is to be able to speak the target language in order to strengthen
their verbal communication
21
Moreover Chaney (1998) argues that ldquospeaking is the process of building and
sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols in a variety of contextsrdquo
(p 13) From Chaneyrsquo s definition of speaking we deduce that speaking has an important
role in learning the foreign language and improving EFL learnersrsquo communicative skill
However there are some researchers who describe speaking as a hard task They
argue that EFL learners find it so hard to master the foreign language and face a lot of
difficulties even after studying it many years at schools Bueno and Mclaren (2006 as cited
in Alonso 2011) point out
Speaking is one of the most difficult skills language learners have to face In spite of
this it has traditionally been forced into the background while we teachers of
English have spent all our classroom time trying to teach our students how to write
to read and sometimes even to listen in a L2 because grammar has a long written
tradition (p 321)
On the whole the speaking skill is a very important process that EFL learners need to acquire
in order to master and shape the target language
122 Speaking Sub CompetenciesSkills
Torky (2006) claims that learners must be able to express themselves in a given
context in order to be proficient in mastering the foreign language She points out to several
speaking skills or competencies that help to achieve this aim which are
22
Linguistic Competence
Torky (2006) states that learners must be skillful in using pronunciation ie their
pronunciation must be clear In addition students have to use correct grammar and
proper lexis
Discourse Competence
In the beginning learners have to be able to use a well-organized discourse In other
words the discourse must be clear and unified Besides they have to be competent in
handling discussion and cooperating efficiently in order to avoid the communication
breakdowns
Pragmatic Competence
EFL learners have to be proficient in using a variety of functions that are related to
the same context and register
Fluency
Speaking smoothly without any complications and with a suitable degree of speech
speed
123 Definition of Pronunciation
According to Gilakjani (2012) ldquopronunciation is an integral part of foreign language
since it directly affects learnersrsquo communicative competence as well as performancerdquo
(p119) That is to say pronunciation plays a fundamental role in learning and improving the
target language Besides Poposka (2016) argues that pronunciation is the key factor of
language in its universal notion and she claims that pronunciation should be defined in
23
relation to different perspectives Poposka (2016) states some of the various points of view
concerning pronunciation definition which are
- The act or manner of pronouncing uttering of speech
- A way of speaking a word especially a way that is accepted or generally understood
- A graphic representation of the way a word is spoken using phonetic symbols (p
200)
Moreover Dauer (1993 as cited in Ummah 2014) states that ldquopronunciation is the
act of producing the sound of speech including articulation vowel formation accent
inflection and intonation often with reference to the correctness or acceptability of the
speech soundrdquo (p 10) In addition Poposka (2016) states that pronunciation is the vocal
capacity to produce particular sounds weather when communicating with individuals or
when being alone This construction of sounds leads to the appearance of some utterances
that may be expressive or worthless (p 200) Furthermore Adult Migrant English Program
research center (AMP 2002) points out
Pronunciation refers to the production of sounds that we use to make meaning it includes
attention to the particular sounds of language (segments) aspects of speech beyond the
level of the individual sound such as intonation phrasing stress timing rhythm
(suprasegmental aspects) (p1)
In other words AMP research center argues that even if these two aspects suprasegmental
and segmental structures are treated separately it is necessary to know that they work hand
in hand in a given context whenever someone speaks
24
124 Importance of Pronunciation
Madden and Moore (1997) states that ldquoin first language acquisition children learn
pronunciation inductively by absorbing and reproducing the sounds in their environmentrdquo
(p 4) That is to say all human beings in their natural development from childhood to
adulthood learn first of all how to talk before learning how to read or write Also Zhang
(2009) claims that ldquolearning a language means to perform the sounds utterances and the
words properly and correctlyrdquo (p 34-35) So pronunciation is a very essential skill in
learning a second language
Moreover Morley (1998 as cited in Zhang 2009) argues that ldquoit is clear that limited
pronunciation skills will make learners lose their self-confidence and result in negative
influence for learners to estimate their credibility and abilitiesrdquo (p 35) In other words it
does not matter whether learners make mistakes concerning grammar or vocabulary all what
matters is the way they pronounce a given word in order to make a worthy impression on
the learnersrsquo language capacities Zhang (2009) points out
Good pronunciation will make people understand you easily and be willing to listen to
you Contrarily poor English pronunciation may confuse people and lead to an
unpleasant talking and misunderstanding even if you used advanced English grammar
or vocabulary (p 35)
Likewise Backley (n d) argues ldquoif a speaker has a clear pronunciation this has immediate
benefits listeners judge the speakerrsquo s overall language ability much more favorably even
to the point of tolerating grammatical and other errorsrdquo (p 126) Therefore good
25
pronunciation aids to avoid misinterpretation and intelligibility between speakers and
listeners and show the learnersrsquo competencies in mastering their second language
Furthermore good pronunciation affects the learnersrsquo speed of acquiring the target language
In addition learners should use only simple structures with good and correct pronunciation
rather than using complex expressions in order to communicate with others
125 Factors Affecting Pronunciation
Generally speaking there are several factors that affect the learnersrsquo pronunciation
These factors can be classified into internal factors and external factors
1251 Internal Factors
Zhang (2009) states that internal factors can be categorized also into biological
factors individual differences and individual efforts and goal setting
Biological Factors
They are branded into four features age ear perception and aptitude
Learnersrsquo Age
At the start there is a difference between young learners and adult learners
concerning the acquisition of the accurate pronunciation Nonetheless this does not mean
that adult learners cannot get accurate pronunciation as well They have to work much harder
because their brainsrsquo plasticity reduces That is to say age plays a significant part in learning
the target language pronunciation Moreover Zhang (2009) emphasizes the role of the
critical period hypothesis that was proposed by Lenneberg in 1967 which states that there
is a certain age that helps learners to acquire the foreign language pronunciation accurately
26
and after that age the brain loses its flexibility Furthermore (Nation and Newton (2009) as
cited in Zhang 2009) claim that
Usually if the learner began to speak in the second language before the age of six
there will be little or no accent If the learner began to speak between the age of seven
and eleven the learners likely to have a slight accent If the learner began to speak
after age of twelve the learners almost always have an accent (p 78)
This is the reason behind the acceptance of the idea that learners find it so hard to acquire
the foreign language after maturity
Additionally Zhang (2009) states that young learners have bigger chances than the
adult learners in obtaining accurate pronunciation He claims that the brain loses its
flexibility and becomes rigid after puberty (after nine years old) as a result the brainrsquo s
functions will be devoted to the right and left hemispheres which makes it so difficult to
acquire the foreign languagersquo s pronunciation correctly Also Lenneberg (1967 as cited in
Zhang 2009) argues that ldquobefore the age of two the brain has not developed enough but
after puberty it developed too much and it will lose its plasticity and finish the lateralization
of the language functionrdquo (p 39) In other words it becomes so hard to obtain the native-
like pronunciation after the lateralization
Ear Perception
One of the most important factors that affect the learnersrsquo acquisition of the foreign
language is the ldquoear perceptionrdquo Zhang (2009) claims that the hearing abilities differ from
one person to another That is to say there are learners who have a strong hearing capacity
27
they can hear sounds in a very clear way which help them in reproducing the native speakersrsquo
pronunciation smoothly Whereas there is that kind of learners who do not have that ability
However Zhang argues that the ear perception has nothing to do with the learner age He
claims that it is natural that learners may lose some of their capacities whenever they become
older
Aptitude
Generally speaking foreign language aptitude is the personrsquos ability to learn a foreign
or a second language very rapidly and with no troubles (Wen 2011) Also Dornyei and
skehan (2003 as cited in Wen 2011) states ldquooriginally the notion of FLA presumed a
relatively stable talent for learning a foreign language that differs between individualsrdquo (p
590) So EFL learners do not have the same ability to acquire the foreign language
Additionally Carroll (1962 as cited in Wen 2011) states four components of the FLA which
are
lsquophonemic coding abilityrsquo (ie the ability to identify and retain sounds and link them
to phonetic symbols)
Sensitivity towards the grammatical functions that words fulfil in a sentence
The ability to learn inductively (ie to infer and generalize linguistic structures from
language samples) and
The ability to rote learn vocabulary items paired with their associated translations
(p 233)
Hence aptitude has an important role in improving learnersrsquo foreign language
Although Zhang (2009) argues that all individuals have a language aptitude ability but they
28
differ only in the degree of that aptitude capacity Also he claims that we cannot say that
those people who have a sophisticated level of language aptitude will get to the top and
people with an inferior level of language aptitude will go pear-shaped
Individual Differences
Zhang (2009) states that learnersrsquo different personalities affect the way they acquire
the foreign language pronunciation He argues that extroverted learners are more likely to
acquire the target pronunciation rather than introverted learners because extroverted learners
are not afraid of making mistakes which is not the case with the introverted learners who
face always the fear of failure Besides extroverted students are more friendly they tend to
work with others which leads them to practice the target language so they become more
familiar with it which aids to improve their pronunciation very quickly (p 40-41)
Individual Efforts and Goal setting
At the start the main goal of each EFLESL learner is to master the foreign language
in order to communicate with others Zhang (2009) points out ldquowe must always remember
that teaching never causes learning but rather creates the conditions in which learning can
occurrdquo (p 42) Besides he emphasizes that pronunciation is really a very hard task that
learners can acquire in a few days but it is not something impossible that learners cannot
achieve Though as much time learners spend in practicing the target language
pronunciation the better results they will get
1252 External Factors
External factors can be classified into three aspects learnersrsquo native language
exposure to target language and education factors
29
Learnerrsquo s Native Language
Universally the learnersrsquo native language affects their pronunciation of the foreign
language Zhang (2009) states that studentsrsquo mother tongue reflects the way they pronounce
a certain word in the target language and this is due to the differences that are found between
the two languages In other words learners find a lot of complications in articulating some
sounds for the reason that some of those sounds do not occur in their native language (p
43)
Exposure to the Target Language
Zhang (2009) shows that the acquisition of English language pronunciation is related
to the amount of exposure to it as it is produced by the native speakers That is to say this
depends on the learner himself ie on the situation in which the learning process occurs In
other words Zhang argues that it does not matter weather learners live in a native country
or not it is a matter of how much time they listen to the foreign language and how much
time they use it Zhang (2009) states ldquothe more they spend their time for listening and
speaking English the better their English pronunciation will berdquo (p 44) Thus learnerrsquo s
pronunciation accuracy depends on the surrounding environment where the target language
takes place
Educational Factors
At the start the system of education is responsible for studentsrsquo learning process
Worthy educational structure provides a lot of chances for learners to be exposed to the target
language through creating a suitable learning environment Additionally EFLESL
teachersrsquo accent reflects the learnersrsquo pronunciation because learners take teachers as an
30
exemplary in order to improve their pronunciation That is why teachers should work on
their pronunciation initially (Zhang 2009)
The English Consonant Sound ldquoLrdquo
Generally speaking EFL learners face complications in learning the English L sound
Sproat and Fujimura (1993) argue ldquoEnglish l has traditionally been classified into at least
two allophones namely light which occurs initially and dark which occurs syllable finallyrdquo
(p 291) Furthermore Wang (2016) states that the L consonant sound is a lateral phoneme
in English and it has two allophones he points out
One of them is found before vowels as in ldquoladyrdquo or ldquoflyrdquo called clear l and is
pronounced as the alveolar lateral approximant in a neutral position of the body of
the tongue The other variant is called dark l found before consonants or at word-
finally position as in ldquoboldrdquo or ldquotellrdquo Which is as the velarized lateral approximant
with the tongue in a spoon-like shape Its back part is raised which gives the sound
a w-like resonance (p 44)
In other words the clear [l] occurs when the tip of the tongue raises up and touches the soft
palate just behind the front teeth whereas the dark [ϯ] happens when the tip of the tongue
pulls back and the tongue raises to the middle without touching the soft palate to make the
L sound So the difference between these two allophones is the reason behind those troubles
that the learner may face
However Sproat and Fujimura (1993 as cited in Jiahong 2011) explain the
differences between these two allophones by relating them to the rime duration In other
31
words they point out that whenever the l sound occurs in longer rimes it is going to be a
dark [ϯ] and whenever the rime is short the l sound is clear or light
Figure 1
Articulatory Differences in l Velarization
Source Recasens 2012 p369
Conclusion
To end with it is very important to acknowledge that pronunciation is one way that
leads to an effective and a successful communication That is why many researchers shed
light on the investigation of some factors that may influence the EFL learnersrsquo pronunciation
As a result these identifying concepts help foreigners to overcome their difficulties when
they are introduced to the target language
32
Chapter two Field Work
Introduction
21 Methodology
211 Research Participants
212 The Procedure
2121 The Research Design
2122 The Pre-test Phase
2123 The Treatment Phase
2124 The Control Group
2125 The Post-test Phase
213 Scoring
214 Data Analysis
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (independent Sample
t-test)
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group Post-test
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group Post-test (Paired
Sample t-test)
21431 Paired Sample t-test
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-test
33
21441 An Independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the
Post-test
215 Discussion of the Results
216 Pedagogical Implications
Conclusion
34
Introduction
This research attempts to investigate the effect of listening to audio stories on
acquiring accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] by second year LMD students
at the department English -LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi The chosen sample is divided into two
groups the control group and the experimental group At the start participantsrsquo
pronunciation accuracy of the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] (the dependent variable) was measured
through a pretest Later on a period of treatment is taken by the experimental group which
is not the case with the control group After that a post-test is administered to both groups
in which the results are gathered using a software called the ldquopraatrdquo In addition we shed
light on describing the sample taking the place in which the study took place the method
used and at last the data collected
21 Methodology
211 Research Participants
The current study involved two intact classes of second year LMD students from
LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi-English Department The selected sample includes students from
different gender Furthermore we favored to select second year students for several reasons
The first reason was that second year students have practiced working with audio supports
which was not the case with first year students so they will not face problems concerning
listening to audio stories The second reason was that second year learners study oral
expression
At the start the experiment includes a sample of forty learners that have been chosen
from two intact classes of second year LMD students The chosen sample represents 1904
from the entire population which comprises 210 learners Additionally both clusters were
35
divided into a control group and an experimental group twenty students in each group At
the beginning the sample was supposed to be comprised of sixty students in which both the
control and the experimental groups covered thirty students Unfortunately there were a lot
of absences in both groups Also there are some students who have not passed both the
pretest and the posttest and others have not received the treatment at all Therefore the
sample size was reduced from sixty to forty students which can be sufficient to represent
the whole population and to get consistent outcomes
In order to gather consistent data that help to achieve the purpose of our research a
quasi-experimental design was designated The use of the chosen method will provide us
with a wide-ranging representation of the reflection of listening to audio stories on the
acquisition of the accurate pronunciation of the dark [l] and clear [l]
212 The Procedure
To accumulate a reliable data an experiment was conducted over six sessions The
treatment period took four sessions and the remained two sessions for the pretest and the
posttest The pretest took a form different from that of the posttest in order to avoid
familiarity to improve the learnersrsquo development and get consistent information Both
groups have taken the tests but only the experimental group took the treatment Besides the
duration of training concerning the treatment period for the experimental group took 90
minutes ie one hour and a half for each session and it started after getting the
authorization of the teacher of oral expression
36
2121 The Research Design
Figure 2
Experimental Group Procedures
Figure 3
Control Group Procedures
2122 The Pre-test Phase
By the first week of March both the control group and the experimental group have
taken the pretest However before choosing the pretest and in order to avoid any problems
we have checked that the dark [l] and the clear [l] are pronounced the same in both the
American and the British accents using the Oxford Advanced Learnerrsquo s Dictionary At the
outset learners were required to read a passage derived from a short story named ldquoThe last
class-The story of the Alsationrdquo that was written by Alphonse Daudet (2001) and also short
sentences (see Appendix A) After that their voices were recorded using a software known
pre-test
treatment
(listening to audio stories)
post-test
pre-test
No treatment
( being taught without listening
to audio-stories)
post-test
37
as the ldquoPraatrdquo Besides our focus here was raised toward the duration (ie the length of a
syllable) of the dark [l] and the clear [l]
Throughout the pretest EFL learners found themselves unable to pronounce the dark
[ϯ] and clear [l] that are found in some words correctly In other words students in the control
group and the experimental group most of the time pronounce the dark [ϯ] in the same way
they pronounce the clear [l] ie they spend the same duration for pronouncing the two
allophones Also EFL learners from time to time pronounce them differently but in a wrong
way ie they spent a rime duration that it not suitable neither for the light [l] nor for the
dark[ϯ]
Figure4
Example of the Lateral Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoSawmillrdquo
2123 The Treatment Phase
At first both participants have finished the pretest Though the treatment was
approved to the experimental group only the control group did not receive the same
treatment Besides the experimental group received the treatment in four sessions and each
Rime
duration
38
session took one hour and a half (ie 90 minutes) In each session students were asked to
listen to the audio-story in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of both allophones
after that they discussed the story being listened (see Appendix B)
2124 The Control Group
Concerning the control group students were taught the oral expression without any
exposure to any kinds of treatments In contrast to students in the experimental group who
were provided with the audio stories in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of the
both allophones which are the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ]
2125 The Post-test Phase
Fundamentally after finishing the four sessions of training ie the period of
treatment a posttest was administered to both the experimental group and the control group
(see Appendix c) The posttest as we have said before is different from the pretest in order
to avoid familiarity with the same topic and to ensure the learners improvement of the dark
[ϯ] and clear [l] So the posttest is a kind of a passage which was taken from a short story
that is entitled ldquoThe Game of Billiardsrdquo which is written by Alphonse Daudet and some
words to pronounce Furthermore during the posttest we noticed a kind of development in
learnersrsquo pronunciation of the two allophones with students of the experimental group
especially in pronouncing the single words which was not the case with those learners in
the control group
39
Figure 5
Example of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquocabalrdquo
Figure 6
Example of the Clear [l] in the word ldquolabourrdquo
The rime
duration
The rime
duration
40
213 Scoring
After finishing recording the learnersrsquo pronunciation of the phoneme l of both
groups (the control and the experimental group) we have compared them first of all to the
native speakerrsquo s pronunciation and after that we have calculated the rime duration of the
two allophones ie the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] and at last we gave them scores out of six
(6) for each participant
214 Data Analysis
In this sub-section we are going to investigate the EFL learnersrsquo improvement of
pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] Though in order to make sure that EFL
learners have acquired the correct pronunciation of these two allophones we have firstly
investigated the native speakerrsquos pronunciation of the L sound ie the clear [l] and the dark
[ϯ] and we have analyzed the rime duration of two words ldquolightrdquo and ldquoballrdquo as examples
Figure7
The Native Speakerrsquos Pronunciation of the Clear [l] in the Word ldquolightrdquo
Rime
duration
41
Figure8
The Native Speakerrsquo s Pronunciation of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoballrdquo
From these two figures we have noticed that the native speaker has spent 016 s in
pronouncing an ideal clear [l] (see Figure 7) and he has spent 138 s in order to pronounce
a perfect dark [ϯ] (see Figure 8) Thus this analysis of the native speakerrsquo s voice paved the
way to our research in which we based our investigation on it
Table 1
The Experimental and the Control grouprsquo s Scores in the pre-test
Pre-test
Students
Control
group
Experimental
group
Rime
duration
(second)
C E
Rime
duration
42
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (Independent Sample t-
test)
After gathering data for the control and the experimental group and for the purpose
of comparing and contrasting between the two we have calculated the learnersrsquo scores of
pronunciation of the phoneme l and also we have calculated the rime duration of the two
1 1 2 118 127
2 2 25 095 091
3 1 1 116 102
4 25 2 106 091
5 25 25 078 089
6 15 2 078 105
7 2 15 123 091
8 1 1 117 108
9 15 1 119 119
10 15 1 1 115
11 2 15 091 116
12 15 1 12 119
13 2 15 114 1
14 15 1 108 112
15 1 1 131 112
16 2 1 088 08
17 1 1 127 107
18 1 15 107 149
19 15 1 099 115
20 1 15 114 174
Total 31 285 2149 2222
43
allophones (see Table1) Besides the data collected ie the learnersrsquo scores were used in
calculating the means of both groups in the pre-test (the mean is calculated using the SPSS
see Table 2)
Figure 9
The Pre-test Scores of the Control and the Experimental Group
Table 2
The Mean Score of the Control and the Experimental Group in the Pre-test
Test N Mean Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpre 20 15500 51042 11413
Epre 20 14250 51999 11627
44
In order to calculate the Mean () Results we have to use the following formula
=sumx N
N stands for the total numbers of students in one group
sumx stands for the total number of data that was gathered from the pre-test
1 stands for the mean of the Control Group
2 stands for the mean of the Experimental Group
So1= 31 20 =155
2= 285 20 = 142
From ldquoFigure 9rdquo we can notice that 1 is the most frequent score in both the
experimental and the control groups in the pre-test and we can confirm this information
from Table 1 Furthermore when comparing means of both groups we notice (see Table 2)
that there is only a slight difference between the two groups the mean of the control group
is 155 whereas the mean of the experimental group is 142 So we can deduce that the level
of both groups is approximately the same there is no significant difference Moreover the
rime duration of the phoneme l of the experimental group and the control group is to some
extent the same and we can notice this slight difference in Table 1 and precisely in the total
duration of pronouncing the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] by both groups and also in Table 2
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group post-test
In order to confirm if there is any kind of progression in the control grouprsquo s scores
in the post-test concerning the pronunciation of the phoneme l (see Table 3) we have
calculated the mean of the post-test (using the SPSS see Table 4) and compared it with the
mean of the pre-test besides we have calculated the rime duration that has been spent At
45
last we have mentioned the learnersrsquo scores differences between the pre-test and the post-
test to confirm the development (see Figure 10)
Table 3
Results and Scores Differences of the Control and Experimental group in the Post-test
Posttest
Students
Rime
Duration
(Second)
Cpre Cpost Epre Epost
Cpre Cpost Epre Epost
1 1 1 2 4 118 186 127 21
2 2 175 25 5 095 113 091 253
3 1 1 1 45 116 134 102 245
4 25 2 2 35 106 119 091 234
5 25 15 25 55 078 146 089 24
6 15 175 2 5 078 119 105 267
7 2 2 15 45 123 135 091 263
8 1 125 1 5 117 144 108 254
9 15 1 1 425 119 144 119 242
10 15 1 1 55 1 128 115 274
11 2 1 15 45 091 126 116 285
12 1 2 1 5 12 129 119 268
13 2 125 15 55 114 146 1 328
14 15 1 1 55 108 127 112 223
15 1 1 1 5 131 092 112 275
16 2 1 1 475 088 135 08 274
46
17 1 2 1 5 127 094 107 292
18 1 1 15 575 107 096 149 29
19 15 1 1 525 099 114 115 295
20 1 15 15 575 114 132 174 338
Total 31 27 285 9875 2149 2359 2222 535
Diff -4 +7025 +21 +3128
Mean 155 135 142 493
-02 +351
Table 4
The Mean of the control Group in the Pre-test and Post-test
Mean N Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpre 15500 20 51042 11413
Cpost 13500 20 41675 09319
In order to calculate the mean( )result of the control group in the post-test we have to apply
the following formula = sumx N
sum stands for the total number of the data collected in the post-test of the control
group
N refers to the total number of students So = 2720 = 1
47
Figure 10
The Control Group Studentsrsquo Scores Differences
A very insignificant development has been shown in both Figure 7 and Table 3
concerning learners scores in the post-test Besides only Students 681217 and 20 from a
total number of twenty have proved the improvement the mean of the control group has
decreased from 155 in the pre-test to 135 in the post-test ie the mean = -02
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group post-test (Paired Sample
T-test)
In order to identify the scoresrsquo differences between the results of the experimental
group in both the pre-test and the post-test we have calculated the mean of the post-test and
compared it with that of the pre-test to notice if there is any improvement (see Table 3) So
the mean of the post-test is shown in Table 5 below
48
Table 5
The Mean of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and Post-test
Mean N Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Epre 14250 20 51999 11627
Epost 49375 20 59535 13312
From Table 5 we notice that the mean of the experimental group increased from 142 in the
pre-test to 493 in the post-test with a mean difference of 351 ( = +351) and we can
calculate the mean ()of the post-test using the following formula
= sumxN
sum= Stands for the total number of data that was gathered from the post-test in the
Experimental Group
119925 =Stands for the total number of students
So= 9875 20 = 493
From Table 3 we notice that there is a very clear development and difference in
learnersrsquo scores in the post-test which is very different from the pre-test scores (see Figure
12) Moreover we can notice this development from Figure 11 below too It Shows that the
most frequent scores that learners of the experimental group have gained are 45 5 55 and
at last 575(the marks are out of six) that makes a big difference from the scores of the pre-
test in which the most frequent score was 1 In addition to all of this results we can add that
the sum of the rime duration of the post-test differs a lot from that of the pre-test ( = +3128
s)
49
Hence in the light of these results we can say that the period of treatment really
affects in a positive way the learnersrsquo acquisition of the pronunciation of dark [ϯ] and clear
[l] Besides this enhancement was improved in the mean difference between the pre-test and
the post-test of the experimental group Though the comparison of means in the pre-test and
post-test of the experimental group cannot be sufficient in order to make sure that listening
to audio-stories really affects positively the way learners pronounce the Phoneme l
Therefore a paired sample T-test was designed to assess the development of learnersrsquo
acquisition of dark [ϯ] and clear [l] ie to acceptreject the Alternative Hypothesis or to
accept reject the Null Hypothesis (See Table 6 below)
Figure 11
The Scores Frequencies of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and the Post-test
50
Figure 12
The Scores Differences of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and the Post-test
21431 The paired Sample T-test
In order to know if there is any significant difference between the post-test and the
pre-test scores of the same group a t-test is conducted At first the of the experimental
group is calculated through the following formula
= sumdN
refers to the Difference of mean Scores
N Studentsrsquo scores in the Experimental Group
sum refers to the total sum of the Differences Scores
So = 702520= 35125
51
The Standard deviation of the differences
Sd= radic119956120784= radicsum119941120784
119925minus 119941120784
S stands for the Variance
sum119941120784 refers to the square differences of Scores
After calculating
Sdcong 013
The Standard Error of the Mean Difference (SE)
It is calculated using the following formula
SE ()= 119878119889
radic119873cong003
Finally we calculate the t- value that will be compared to the critical P-value at the point
p=005 in order to accept the alternative hypothesis or rejecting it using the following
formula119957120784120782minus120783=
119878119864(119889) = 117
Table 6
Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Post-test Scores differences
Students Pre-test Post-test Difference
1 2 4 2
2 25 5 25
3 1 45 35
4 2 35 15
5 25 55 3
6 2 5 3
52
7 15 45 3
8 1 5 4
9 1 425 325
10 1 55 45
11 15 45 3
12 1 5 4
13 15 55 4
14 1 55 45
15 1 5 4
16 1 475 375
17 1 5 4
18 15 575 425
19 1 525 425
20 15 575 425
Total 285 9875 7025
Table 7
The Paired Sample T-test for the Experimental Group
Paired Sample T-Test
Epre
Scores-
Epost
Scores
Mean Std
deviati-
on
Std-
Error
Mean
95Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
t Df Sig
(2-
tailed)
Lower Upper
-351250 83695 18715 -390421 -312079 -18768 19 000
53
After calculating the mean of the experimental group in both the pre-test and the post-
test (see Table 5) a mean difference of +351 was noticed Therefore in order to prove if
the development that was noticed in the post-test scores as well as the mean occurred
because of the influence of listening to the audio-stories which is the independent variable
or happened only by coincidence
Hence to confirm the Alternative Hypothesis and reject the Null Hypothesis or vice
versa the t-value (117) was calculated in order to be compared with the critical- value at
the point p=005 and at the level of t=19 Besides p-value (0000) is less than 005 which
means that there a real difference between the learnersrsquo scores in the pre-test (before the
period of treatment) and the leanersrsquo scores in the post-test (after the period of treatment)
Consequently we can deduce that the improvement that was achieved by the experimental
group in the post test did not occur by chance actually it occurred because of listening to
audio-stories that has a positive effect on learnersrsquo pronunciation of both the clear [l] and the
dark [ϯ]
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-test
Table 8
The Mean of the Control Group and the Experimental Group in the Post-test
N Mean Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpost 20 13500 41675 09319
Epost 20 49375 59535 13312
54
To calculate the mean () we use the following Formula
= sum119961 N
So 1= sum119961 N
1 refers to the mean of the control group in the post-test
N refers to the total number of students in the control Group
sum119961 stands for the sum of scores of the control group in the post-test
1= 2720 = 135
2 = sum119961 N
2 stands for the mean of the experimental group in the post-test
N refers to the total number of participants in the experimental group
sum119961 Stands for the sum of scores of the experimental group in the post-test
So 2= 987520 = 493
Figure13
The Scores Frequencies of the Control Group and the Experimental Group in the Post-
test
55
From the previous analysis of the mean of both the control and the experimental
group in the pre-test (see Table 3) we have noticed that the level of students in both groups
is almost the same and there is only a slight difference between them Though in the post-
test the scores of the experimental group has increased and as result the mean average has
increased too after the treatment phase for the experimental group (from 142 to 493) but it
decreased for the control group who were taught without being exposed to any kind of
treatment (see Table 8 and Figure 10) Besides we can notice the development also in the
rime duration in studentsrsquo pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] of the experimental
group in the post-test which is not the case with the control group
21441 An independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the post-
test
In order to investigate if there is any significant change between two diverse groups
who have run the same test a t-test is used to show this significance difference In our case
we want to inspect if there is any significant variation between the experimental group and
the control group in the post-test and whether we accept the Alternative Hypothesis or
rejecting the Null Hypothesis So depending on the following steps a t-test was calculated
using the following formula
t= 119883 119888minus 119890
radicpartx2
Nx+
1205971199102
119873119910
partx2 = sum(119883 minus 119890 )N
= 306
1205971199102 =sum(119883 minus 119888 )2119873
= 160
119888 the mean of the control group in the post-test
56
119890 the mean of the experimental group in the post-test
partx2 the variation of the experimental group
1205971199102 the variation of the control group
So t= 493minus 135
radic306
20+
160
20
=745
t-value= 745
Depending on the t-value (745) that was calculated we compare it with the critical p-
value at p=005 therefore we have two options
1- If t-value is greater than the critical p-value (t-valuegtcritical-value) we accept the
alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
2- If t-value is less than the critical-value (t-valueltcritical-value) we accept the null
hypothesis and refuse the alternative hypothesis
we can say that
t-value=745 745 gt005
We accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
p-value= 0000 0000 lt005
We accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
Depending on these results we can say that there is a statistical evidence that the
associated sampling means are significantly different In other words there is a real change
between the experimental group and the control group in the post test at the level of
pronunciation due to the positive influence of the independent variable which is ldquolistening
to the audio-storiesrdquo Therefore students of the experimental group showed a significant
57
progress at the level of pronunciation and precisely the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
pronunciation
215 Discussion of the Results
The current research has investigated the influence of listening to audio-stories on
acquiring accurate pronunciation of both allophones the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] At the
start the pre-test has proved that learners of both groups ie the control and the
experimental group have the same level through calculating their means The control group
scored a mean of 155 while the experimental group scored a mean of 142 and also they
have got near scores concerning the rime duration of the L sound So these estimated scores
helped us to prove and confirm our hypothesis that states the positive effect of listening to
audio-stories on the level of pronunciation accuracy In the post-test students of the
experimental group showed a significant development compared to the control group and
this is due to the period of treatment that occurred in the oral session Besides the mean
score of the experimental group has been raised from 142 to 493 and from a sum of rime
durations of 2222 s to 535 s while the mean score of the control group has been decreased
from 155 to 135 and increased from a sum of rime durations of 2149 s to 2359 s In
addition a t-test was designed to show if there is any statistical significant difference
between the experimental group and the control group in the post-test the results show the
positive influence of the treatment phase on the dependent variable (pronunciation
accuracy)
216 Pedagogical implication
The present research evidenced the positive influence of being exposed to the target
language pronunciation as it is produced by the native speakers through the exposure to the
audio-stories Therefore we can state a set of pedagogical implications
58
The present study shows that the more students get involved in listening practices
the more they will be proficient in the pronunciation of a various English sounds ie
developing their speaking proficiency
Audio-stories help EFL learners improve their pronunciation as well as to develop
their listening skills
Using multimedia devices (audio-stories in our case) in learning classrooms
enhances the learnersrsquo motivation to get involved in the learning process
Audio-stories can be used by EFL teachers in order to make learners attentive and
interested in the lecture being presented
Audio-stories provide learners with the chance to listen again and again to the story
in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of a given word
Conclusion
The present research examined the effect of listening to audio stories on fostering the
target language pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] The native speakerrsquo s
pronunciation of both allophones was analyzed first through analyzing the rime duration in
order to compare it with the EFL learnersrsquo articulation That is to say the analysis is based
on the native speakerrsquo s rime duration In addition a significant development in learnersrsquo
pronunciation of the dark[ϯ]and the clear [l] was proved which lead to accept the alternative
hypothesis that states listening to audio-stories has a positive effect on acquiring accurate
pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] by EFL learners
59
General Conclusion
The present study is based on the investigation of the effectiveness of listening to
audio stories on acquiring accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] by EFL
learners At the beginning we have stated the problem which was that the Algerian EFL
learners in the English department at LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi University face a lot of difficulties
concerning the acquisition of the accurate pronunciation of The phoneme l Subsequently
this dissertation tackled the importance of listening to audio-stories on enhancing EFL
learnersrsquo pronunciation accuracy
Our research was tackled in two main chapters The first chapter divided into two
main sections In the first section we tackled the point of listening to audio stories whereas
the second section discussed the reflection of listening to audio stories on the pronunciation
of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] The second chapter represented the practical part the field
work The analyzed data showed that there is a positive relationship between the independent
variable and the dependent variable That is to say there was a development in the
acquisition of the phoneme l which lead us to accept the alternative hypothesis and reject
the null hypothesis
60
Limitations of the Study
Limited sources ie most of the sources that were available were not relevant to our
study
Time constraints this study needs much more time to conduct a better result
Students absences in the pre-test and the post-test and others did not receive the
treatment at all
The lack of interest in the beginning of the treatment session
61
List of References
Alonso SR (2012) The importance of Teaching Listening and Speaking Skills Diagravectica de Lingua
y la Literatura Facultad de Education
Brown S (2006) Teaching Listening Cambridge Cambridge University press
Coulter C Michael C ampPoynor L (2007) Storytelling as Pedagogy An Unexpected Outcome
of narrative inquiry 104-105
Daudet A (2001) Five Short Stories Copyright copy Bartlebycom Inc
Downs L J (2008) Listening Skills Training ASTD press
Eckert J (2016) Audio Storytelling in Todayrsquos Visual World The necessary Components of a
successful sounds scape for an audio play
Gilakjani A P (2012) A study of Factors Affecting EFL learnersrsquo English Pronunciation Learning
and the Strategy for instruction Lahijani Iran 2(3) 119-128
Hamer J (1998) How to teach English An Introduction to the Practice of English Language
Teaching English Language Teaching Harlow Longman
Hendrickson J (1992) Storytelling for foreign language and linguistics Washington Dc Eric
learning house on language and linguistic [ Eric No E0355-824]
Kline J A (1996) Listening Effectively Air University Press
Madden M and Moore Z (1997) ESL Studentsrsquo Opinions about instruction in Pronunciation
Texas 3(2) 15-32
Mendelson D J (1994) Learning to Listen Dominie Press
Nasreddin K (2010) The Influence of Background Knowledge on Second Language Listening
Comprehension Constantine Constantine University
62
Poposka V p (2016) Pronunciation Proficiency Level Problematic Areas of Tertiary as a Foreign
Language International Journal of Science and Basic and Applied Research
Richards J C (1990) The Language Teaching Matrix Cambridge Cambridge University Pess
Rubin SS (2015) Tools for Creating Audio Stories scholarship University of California
Roney RC (1996) Storytelling in the classroom Some Theoretical Thoughts Wayne State
University Education Detroit Michigan
Sproat R ampFujimura O (1993) Allophonic variation of the English l and its Implication for
phonetic Implementation Academic Press
Torky SA (2006) The Effectiveness of a Task-Based Instruction Program in Developing English
Language Speaking Skills of Secondary Stage Students Collegersquo s girl Ain Shams
University
Ummah A (2014) The Effectiveness of Nursery Rhymes to Facilitate Studentsrsquo of Pronunciation of
the Diphthong Education and Teacher Training Faculty Walisongo State institution for
Islamic Studies
Wang M (2016) Research on the Acoustic Realization of Lateral in Sundanese International
Journal of Engineering Research and Development 12(10) 44-48
Ziane R (2012) The Role of Listening Comprehension in Improving EFL learners Speaking Skill
Biskra University of Biskra
Zhang Q (2009) Affecting Factors of Native-Like Pronunciation A Literature Review Ching-Ang
University 27(2) 33-52
63
Abrahamson CE (1998) Storytelling as a pedagogical tool in high Education 118(3) Retrieved
from
httpwwwquestiacomlibraryjournal1G1-20494609storytelling-as-a-pedagogical-tool-
inhighereducation
AMP Research Center (2012) Retrieved from
Httpwwwncertrmqeduauconference2001indexhtal
Backley P (nd) Improving your English Pronunciation Retrieved from
httptoefluobabyloneduiqpaperspearson-2015-1269610pdf
Chaney (1998) Teaching Speaking Retrieved from
httpitesljorgtechniqueKayi-teaching speakinghtml
English Club (nd) What is listening Retrieved from
httpwwwenglishclubcom
Miller E (2011) Theories of story and storytelling Retrieved from
httpwww-storytellingandvideoconferencingcom167pdf
Pederson E M (1995) Storytelling and the art of listening English teaching forum 33(1)2-5
Retrieved from httpExchangesStategovForumuolsn01p2htm
Remen R N (nd) Listening Skills Retrieved from
httpwwwskillsyouneedcomipslistening-Skills-html
Rock R (nd) 5 Wonderful Websites for Engaging ESL Audio Short Stories Retrieved from
httpwwwFluentucomenglisheducatorsblogeslaudio-short-stories
Seifert S (nd) Follow Along 6 Engaging ESL Audio Stories with worksheet ideas Retrieved from
httpwwwFluentucomenglisheducatorblogeslaudio-stories
Saricoban A (2004) The Teaching of listening The Internet TESL journal
httpitesljorgArticlesSaricobn-listeninghtml
Subhi s (2016) Differences between Hearing and listening Retrieved from
httpkeydifferencescomdifference-between-hearning-and-listeninghtml
64
Shen CD (2010) 3 reasons why listening skills are very important in Todayrsquo s Business World
Retrieved from httpezinearticlescom3-Reasons-why-listening-skills-are-very-important-in-
Todays-Business-worldampid=5436504
the adapted audio-stories that were used in the period of treatment
(httpwwwmanythingsorgvoastories)
Appendix A A pre-test
The Last class- The Story of the Alsatian
I was very late for school that morning and I was terribly afraid of being Scolded
especially as Monsieur Hamel had told us that he should examine us on participles and I
did not know the first thing about them For a moment I thought of saying away from
school and wandering about the fields It was such a warm lovely day I could hear the
blackbirds whistling on the edge of the wood and in the ripper field behind the sawmill
the Prussians going through their drill All that was much more tempting to me than the
rules concerning participles but I had the strength to resist and I ran as fast as I could to
school
Sentences
You old fool they will kill you if you always trouble them
People are awfully lazy in the middle of July
Appendix B A post-test
The Game of Billiards
The marshalrsquo s opponent is a young captain of the staff belted and curled and light-
gloved who is in the first rank of billiard-players and capable of beating all the marshals
on earth but he has the tact to keep a respectful distance behind his chief and devotes his
energies to the task of not winning and at the same time not losing too easily He is what is
called an officer with a future
Read the following words
1 Cabal
2 Labour
3 Shell
Appendix c Treatment period
I Session one (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquothe Secret Gardenrdquo (Chapter One) By Frances Hodgson
Burnett
II Session two (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Secret Gardenrdquo (Chapter two) By Frances Hodgson
Burnett
III Session three (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Lady or the Tigerrdquo by Frank R Stockton
IV Session four (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Lady in Blackrdquo By Eleanor Porter
Reacutesumeacute
La preacutesente eacutetude vise agrave eacutetudier lrsquoarticulation de dark [ϯ] et clear [l] dans les classes de la
langue anglaise afin dameacuteliorer la prononciation des apprenants Lrsquoeacutetude actuelle repose
sur lhypothegravese que leacutecoute des histoires audio a un effet positif sur lameacutelioration de la
prononciation des apprenants EFL avec un accent particulier sur le dark [ϯ] et clear [l] Afin
datteindre lobjectif de cette recherche une eacutetude quasi-expeacuterimentale a eacuteteacute assigneacute en
deux groupe group teacutemoin et group expeacuterimentale Chaque groupe contenait 20 eacutelegraveves
Lexpeacuterience a pris six seacuteances un preacute-test une peacuteriode de traitement (4 seacuteances) et un
posttest En conclusion les reacutesultats obtenus montrent que les eacutetudiants qui sont exposeacute agrave
la langue cible et qui eacutecoutent au locuteur natif agrave lrsquoaide audio pour ameacuteliorer leurs
prononciations ont montreacute qursquoil y a un deacuteveloppement ameacutelioration au niveau de
compeacutetence des apprenants en particulier et en matiegravere de parole en geacuteneacuterale
Les mots cleacutes audio-histoire Compeacutetence drsquoeacutecoute prononciation dureacute de travaille
ملخص
استخدام القصص الصوتية من اجل المساعدة على اكتساب النطق السليم والدقيق تهدف هذه الدراسة الى التعرف على مدى فعالية
الأجنبية حيث تستند الدراسة الحالية على فرضية مفادها ان الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية له تأثير إيجابي على تحسين ةللغ
استغرقت التجربة ست ق المنهج التجريبيمن أجل تحقيق هدف هذه الدراسة تم تطبينطق الطلاب الأجانب للغة الإنجليزية
جلسات قسمت كالاتي أربع حصص معالجة سبقت باختبارات قبلية ولحقت باختبارات بعدية أجريت الدراسة في قسم اللغة
طالبا من طلاب السنة ثانية جامعي قسم الطلبة الى فوجين حيث 40الإنجليزية بجامعة العربي بن مهيدي وقد شملت الدراسة
ى معالجة لمدة أربع حصص من خلال الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية في حين لم يتعرض الفوج الثاني خضع أحد الفوجين ال
الى نفس المعالجة بعد ذلك تم اجراء الاختبارات البعدية واعتمادا على النتائج المتحصل عليها ثبت ان التعرض الى اللغة
جابي على اكتساب النطق الدقيق للغة المستهدفة الا وهي اللغة الأجنبية عن طريق الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية له تأثير إي
الأجنبية
القصص الصوتية النطق مدة الموجات الصوتيةالكلمات المفتاحية المهارة السمعية
IX
Reacutesumeacute
ملخص
1
General introduction
Introduction
1 Statement of the Problem
2 Aim of the Study
3 Research Question
4 Research Hypothesis
5 Means of the Study
6 Structure of the Study
2
Introduction
Acquiring comprehensible pronunciation for EFL learners is one of the key supplies
for language proficiency Nowadays mastering the foreign language is the main concern
that most of EFL learners share This high attention raises due to the exposure to the target
language and to the complications that learners may face at whatever time they want to
communicate whether with foreigners or with one another using for instance the English
language Besides listening is not only a matter of innate ability but it is a matter of how to
develop that inborn capacity in order to improve the learnersrsquo pronunciation accuracy
Accordingly audio-stories are used to help developing the learnersrsquo listening skill and to
improve their pronunciation accurateness Furthermore using audio stories in teaching EFL
learners help to evidence that an effective listening process leads to an effective articulation
1 Statement of the Problem
Generally speaking there are various factors that affect learnersrsquo acquisition of the
target language pronunciation The Algerian EFL learners encounter many problems
concerning articulation because EFLESL learners do not have much opportunities to be
exposed to the real language as it is produced by the native speakers in the classroom Since
English is a foreign language learners avoid using it outside the classroom which is resulted
in a bad pronunciation Therefore EFL teachers are required to use audio-stories inside the
classrooms in order to develop studentsrsquo second language and to improve their pronunciation
accuracy
3
2 Aim of the Study
The current study deals with the learnersrsquo pronunciation difficulties of the dark [ϯ]
and the clear [l] It aims at investigating the effect of listening to audio-stories on fostering
the target languagersquos accurate pronunciation of both allophones
3 Research Question
The present study seeks to answer the following question
Does listening to audio-stories help EFL learners to acquire the accurate
pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
4 Research Hypothesis
In order to answer the research question the subsequent hypotheses are framed
H1 The EFL learners will acquire accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the
clear [l] through listening to audio-stories
H0 Listening to audio stories will not help EFL learners to acquire accurate
pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
5 Means of the Research
In order to achieve the objective of our research a quasi-experimental design is
administered to second year LMD students of English Department at LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi
University The selected sample (40 students from 210) consists of two groups the control
group and the experimental group Both groups will be pretested in order to assess their
pronunciation accuracy level The pre-test is a kind of short story and small sentences that
contain the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] which learners have to read After that the Praat will be
used in order to record their voices Later on the experimental group will take the treatment
for four sessions in which they will listen to the audio stories each session will take one
4
hour and a half However the control group will not receive any kind of treatment (they will
be taught in a normal way without listening to audio stories) Furthermore a post-test which
is different from that of the pre-test will be administered to both groups in order to test their
pronunciation development
6 Structure of the Study
The present study is divided into two chapters The first chapter is a theoretical one
and it is composed of two sections The first section is about listening to audio stories in
which we define the process of listening and mention the main differences between listening
and hearing After that we discuss the reasons of listening its types and processes Later
on the second sub-section deals with audio stories At the start we introduce a brief history
about the notion of audio stories and then we introduce stories in general Afterward we
discuss the characteristics of audio stories their use and advantages The second section
deals with the pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] at the beginning we shed light
on the definition of speaking skill and its sub-competencies After that a part of this section
deals with the definition of pronunciation and its importance Besides it introduces factors
that affect pronunciation The second chapter deals with the field work in which it sheds
light on collecting data presenting and analyzing it and at the end interpreting results
5
Section One Listening to Audio Stories
Introduction
11 Definition of Listening Skill
12 Differences between Listening and Hearing
13 Reasons of Listening
14 Types of Listening
141 Extensive Listening
142 Intensive Listening
15 Listening Processes
151 Bottom-up Process
152 Top down Process
16 Brief History of Audio-Stories
17 Definition of Storytelling
18 Definition of Audio-Stories
19 Characteristics of a Good Audio-Story
110 The Use of Audio-Stories in ESL Classrooms
111 Advantages of Using Audio-Stories
Conclusion
6
Introduction
Nowadays there is a great emphasis put on listening skill since it plays a significant
role in teaching and acquiring the foreign language So this high attention raises because of
the difficulties that learners face whenever they want to communicate thatrsquos why many
researchers shed light on Audio Stories as a tool that can help in developing learnersrsquo
listening process as well as improving their speaking skills and precisely their
pronunciation
The main concern of this section is listening to audio stories First of all we shed
light on the first part which is listening process At the start we need to define listening
skills according to different scholars later on we tackle the main differences between
listening and hearing Also reasons of listening its types and processes Then the second
part of this section deals with the audio stories In the beginning we introduce a brief history
of audio stories and later on the definition of stories in general After that we present the
meaning of audio stories in a specific way and its main characteristics Lastly this section
highlights the use and the advantages of audio stories inside EFL classrooms
11 Definition of Listening Skill
ldquoThe most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen Just to
listen Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attentionrdquo (Remen
2011)
Listening is an important skill in learning and acquiring a foreign language Through
this process learners will be able to receive and understand information According to
Downs (2008) ldquothe word of listening is defined as making an effort to hear something to
pay attention or heedrdquo (p 1) In other words Downs (2008) argues that listening is the way
7
learners pay attention to what is being said In her opinion listening is an active process that
includes using a variety of processes which are attending understanding interpreting
responding and remembering Moreover Mendelsohn (1994) demonstrates listening as ldquothe
ability to understand the spoken language of native speakersrdquo (p 64) To be precise
Mendelsohn defines listening as the listenerrsquo s ability to recognize the native speakerrsquo s
speech in terms of accent pitch intonation vocabulary grammar and trying to interpret the
native speakerrsquo s messages
Saricoban (1999) states that listening is onersquos capacity to realise what is being said
and to recognize the intended meaning He sheds light on two important points the first
point concerns understanding the speakerrsquos pronunciation syntax and lexis whereas the
second point deals with grasping the meaning Willis (1981) lists a series of micro-skills of
listening which she calls enabling skills They are
Predicting what people are going to talk about
Guessing at unknown words or phrases without panic
Using onersquo s own knowledge of the subject to help one understand
Identifying relevant points rejecting irrelevant information
Retaining relevant points (note-taking summarizing)
Recognizing discourse markers eg well oh another thing is now finally
etc
Recognizing cohesive devices e g such as and which including linking
words pronouns references etc
Understanding different intonation patterns and uses of stress etc which give
clues to meaning and social setting
8
Understanding inferred information eg speakerrsquo s attitude or intentions
(p134
Furthermore listening is an important source of knowledge It is recognized as the
ability of transforming and interpreting the spoken messages that are received by the ears
from the daily life situations Yet listening is a very hard task It requires the learnersrsquo mental
concentration which is something difficult because the human brain can simply lose attention
That is to say listening skill can save learners from communication breakdowns and
increases their motivation to learn the foreign language and speak fluently but only if they
work harder to develop their own listening skills
12 Differences between Listening and Hearing
Listening and hearing are two different activities Kline (1996) emphasizes the
differences between these two concepts to make an effective listening He states that
ldquohearing is the attachment of meaning to the sound Hearing is passive listening is activerdquo
(p7) In other words active listening is a successful element that affects learnersrsquo verbal and
nonverbal behaviors
Surbhi (2016) states the differences between listening and hearing On the one hand
he defines hearing as the natural capacity that happens unconsciously It aids to identify
sounds via the ears Also hearing is a process that permits receiving sound vibrations and
it is one of the five senses On the other hand Surhbi (2016) defines listening skill as the
process of receiving and interpreting messages it occurs consciously
13 Reasons of Listening
Learners through being exposed to different English accents and in any recorded
materials such as radio TV or tapes they want to understand and realize what is being said
9
(Harmer 1998) According to him listening is a very effective process that helps learners to
get a better pronunciation In other words as much as they are exposed to the real language
as much as they will recognize its features
Also Shen (2010) demonstrates that listening skills help to improve understanding
and aids people to become aware of their listening skills So listening plays a vital role in
language learning and acquisition It is an essential skill that bridges the line between
meaning and messages in order to avoid misunderstanding between individuals
14 Types of listening
Generally speaking the listening skill plays a significant role in teaching EFL
classrooms This process guides EFL learners to an effective communication Therefore the
listening skill can be classified into two different types Extensive listening and intensive
listening
141 Extensive Listening
Extensive listening has to do with the learnerrsquos fluency In other words the learner has
to master vocabulary grammarhellipetc and later on he must combine them together to form
a meaningful conversation So fluency depends on the listenerrsquos ability of understanding
whatever he is exposed to weather in an audio tape a text a songhellipetc
Harmer (1998) states that extensive listening is the way students practice their own
listening outside the classroom Students should enjoy listening to an audio material because
they can understand them without the teacherrsquo s help Also students can depend on CDs and
tapes so that they are going to have another chance to listen to their course books dialogues
that they have already provided to them inside the classroom In addition learners must be
10
stimulated to listen to the English language films with sub-titles because this helps students
to acquire the foreign language
In brief extensive listening according to the Extensive Reading-Central (2012) includes
Listening to massive amounts of text
Text which learners can understand reasonably smoothly
high levels of comprehension
Listening without being constrained by pre-set questions or tasks
Listening at or below onersquo s comfortable fluent listening ability
So extensive listening aims to make learners enjoy developing their listening skills
142 Intensive Listening
In contrast to extensive listening intensive listening aims at developing the learnersrsquo
specific listening skills and more precisely to raise the learnersrsquo attention about the spoken
language Intensive listening occurs weather in classrooms or laboratories It exists mostly
when teachers guide their students and provide them with help concerning listening
problems that they face and try to highlight them (Harmer 2007)
So intensive listening according to the Extensive Reading-central (2012) is
Listening for specific information
Listening for the exact words of a phrase or expression
Listening for details
Listening to mimic a text
11
15 Listening Processes
In listening process addressees process information using two distinct strategies
This is devoted to as bottom-up and top-down
151 Bottom-up Process
Richards (1990) states that ldquobottom-up processing refers the use of incoming data as
a source of information about the meaning of a messagerdquo (p 50) According to him Bottom-
up process deals with the perception of sentence components ie recognizing the meaning
of sounds words sentences clauseshellipetc till reaching the meaning of the whole message
152 Top-down Process
Richards (190) states that ldquoTop-down processing on the other hand refers to the use
of background knowledge in understanding the meaning of a messagerdquo (p 51) In contrast
to Bottom-up process Richards (1990) points out to the Top-down as the process of using
the listenersrsquo previous knowledge to attain meaning as whole not attaining the meaning of
individual words
16 Brief History of Audio-Stories
Eckert (2016) states that ldquoAudio storytelling in the form of radio drama has been
around for almost a centuryrdquo (p 8) That is to say audio stories in the previous decades took
the form of radio drama Radio drama attained extensive admiration within an era of its
original growth in the 1920rsquo s At that time radio drama played a central role for being the
foundation of people entertainment However by the 1950rsquo s people shifted their attention
to the new invention which was the small screen ie the television As a result of the
invention of this new device audio drama no more attracts the spectatorsrsquo attention it lost
its popularity
12
Though in 2010 radio drama came back to stage due to the developments shown in
digital soundtrack and internet spreading According to Eckert (2016) ldquoRadio and audio
storytelling has slowly started gaining popularity again thanks to the different online
platforms brought forth by digitalizationrdquo (p 8)
17 Definition of Storytelling
Today stories are a fundamental part of our societies and cultures Telling and
listening to stories is an ancient tradition and common activity that bonds different olden
civilizations together Also stories are an essential component and an ordinary process that
many people used to do on every occasion It is the art of telling factual or fictional stories
Besides stories bring legacy into life because our ancestors told them and people today
only retell them
Moreover listening to stories enhances the learnersrsquo foreign language It aids them
to improve their speaking skills Pederson (1995) states that ldquoin dealing with stories learners
have an experience with the powerful real language of personal communicationrdquo (p 2)
Additionally Pederson (1995) emphasizes the role of telling stories in preserving heritage
he argues that ldquooral stories are a direct expression of a literary and cultural heritage and
through them that heritage is appreciated understood and kept aliverdquo (1995 p2) In other
words stories bond between the past and the present It is considered to be a vital feature of
humankind Furthermore Schram (1994 as cited in Coulter Michael amp Poynor 2007)
points out
A story is a beautiful means of teaching religion values history traditions and
customs a creative method of introducing characters and places an imaginative way
13
to instill hope and resourceful thinking Stories help us to understand who we are and
show us what legacies to transmit to future generations (p 104-105)
So Schram (1994) highlights the role of stories in bridging the gap between the teaching
process and culture
Likewise Abrahamson (1998) sheds light on the role that storytelling plays in the
learning process He states that telling stories plays a significant role in improving learnersrsquo
understanding Besides Abrahamson argues that stories can afford a suitable context that
the listener can use it as a base to perceive the tellerrsquos point of view Moreover Roney (1996)
demonstrates
In its most basic form storytelling is a process where a person (the teller) using
vocalization narrative structure and mental imagery communications with other
humans (the audience) who also use mental imagery and in turn communicate back
to the teller primarily via body language and facial expression (p 2)
By this definition storytelling is the combination of art procedures and ways of
communication
18 Definition of Audio-Stories
The term audio-story is a combination of two words audio and story By definition
audio is sound within the aural range accessible to humankinds Miller (2011) states that
ldquostories are pieces of art and can serve as a basis of gamesrdquo (p 1) So Audio-story is a very
operative means for teaching EFL learners It aids to make the course persuasive Nowadays
14
audio stories can be used to many reasons and the most important one is the exposure to the
real language of native speakers by EFL learners In addition Rubin (2015) points out
ldquoaudio stories are an engaging form of communication that combines speech and music into
a compelling narrativesrdquo (p 1) That is to say audio stories are the process of telling stories
through sound and sound effects only Furthermore Audio-stories are broadly accredited to
progresses in portable equipment for instance smart phones tablets and multimedia
entertainment systems Thus EFL learners find it easy to listen to those audio stories
19 Characteristics of a Good Audio-Story
According to Seifert (nd) finding good audio-stories that suit the EFL learnersrsquo
needs is something very important and it is a very hard task to do However these are some
of the necessary features that EFL teachers must take into consideration whenever they want
to select a good audio-story for their students
Skill Level
Taking into account the learnersrsquo English level before choosing any audio-story For
instance if the audio-story contains a difficult language learners will lose confidence and
as a result they stop listening to the audio-story So determining the learnersrsquo level is very
important
Student Interest
EFL teachers must find out their studentsrsquo interests and normally each teacher has
an idea about this issue So if the audio-stories do not fit the learnersrsquo needs the EFL
teacherrsquos goal from that audio-story will be lost
15
Audio Length
The length of the audio-story plays a significant role in keeping concentration in the
ESL schoolrooms Listening for much time to the audio storytelling leads to boredom As a
result the learnersrsquo s brains lose attention However teachers can use long audio-stories but
they should know how to put it into parts and use classroom discussions to avoid boredom
So these three characteristics aid to develop EFL learnersrsquo listening skills
110 The Use of Audio-Stories in ESL Classrooms
According to Rock (nd) there are several listening practices that ESLEFL teachers
can provide to their students These are samples of activities that can work hand in hand with
audio-stories
Fill in The Blanks
Here EFL teacher provides his students with a written passage that is taken from an
audio-story but he removes some words Later on the teacher asks his learners to listen to
the audio-story after reading that passage and at the same time fill in the blanks
Mastery Memory
This activity has to do with learnerrsquos memory In this kind of practices teachers
provide learners with an audio-story and ask them for example to write down the main
events of the story but when they finish listening to it Teachers in this activity have to make
sure that students do not write them during the listening of the audio-story So the main goal
of the exercise is to reinforce learnerrsquos memory
16
Order the Events
At the start teachers give their learners a series of events that are chosen from an
audio-story Then the teacher gives them some time to read them After that learners listen
to the audio- storytelling and put those events in a sequential order
Buzz Words
This exercise aims to reach the learnerrsquo s vocabulary In this practice teachers
provide learners with a number of words then they ask them to check their meanings before
Afterward teacher turns the lesson into a game ie EFL learners listen to the audio-story
and whenever they hear a word (the buzz word) from that list they have to raise their hands
or clap them
Multiple Choice
This activity deals with providing learners with a number of questions followed by
three answers these questions can be definitions or name of characterhellip etc Then learners
have to listen to the audio-storytelling and pick the write response After teachers play again
the audio-story to correct their answers
Character Quiz
In this practice EFL learners have to listen to the whole story Then the teacher gives
his class a question sheet that contains a list of character qualities and decision and ask them
to choose the suitable one for the leading role
Plot Quiz
This activity has to do with team competition After listening to the whole audio-
storytelling once or twice the teacher divides his class into two to four groups where the
17
teacher plays the role of the coach Several questions that have a relation to the story will be
quizzed to each team if they get the answer they have a point if they fail to answer correctly
the question moves to the next group
Beginning Middle End
After listening to the audio storytelling the teacher splits the classroom into groups
and each group contains no more than four students Later he asks each group to write the
main events of the beginning the middle and the end of the story Finally they discuss them
together
111 Advantages of Using Audio-Stories
Audio-stories play an essential role in teaching the target language Audio-
storytelling is an impeccable implement for any ESL classrooms First of all audio-stories
afford learners with the exposure to the real language as it is produced by the native speakers
ie a natural voice Furthermore Rodero (2012 as cited in Eckert2016) claimed that
ldquoAudio stories that use sound effects and sound shots enhance the learnerrsquo s attention and
creation of visual images significantly compared to those without themrdquo (p 16) That is to
say using audio-stories in ESL classrooms develops learnersrsquo listening skills and provides
them with an imaginary trip inside their minds Also audio- stories enhance learnersrsquo
pronunciation since the learner is exposed to the natural voice In addition EFL teacher can
use audio storytelling as a guideline to his lecture or the opposite he can use it at the end of
the course as a reward
Moreover the EFL teachers depend on audio-stories in improving learnersrsquo
vocabulary through memorization Learners can enrich their vocabulary whenever they
listen to those stories because each time they learn some new words Besides learners can
18
listen to them outside the schoolrooms because they are portable they can upload them in
their mobiles and listen to them any time anywhere Finally audio stories can raise interest
for those learners who are not attracted to reading
Conclusion
In conclusion listening to audio stories aids EFL learners to improve the target
language pronunciation That is to say students will be exposed to the real language as it is
created by the native speakers Besides using audio stories in ESLEFL classrooms increases
the learnersrsquo interest toward learning the foreign language and also enhances their speaking
skills
19
Section two Reflection on Pronunciation
Introduction
121 Definition of Speaking Skill
122 Speaking Sub-Competencies Skills
123 Definition of Pronunciation
124 Importance of Pronunciation
125 Factors Affecting Pronunciation
1251 Internal Factors
1252 External Factors
Conclusion
20
Introduction
Generally speaking being able to speak the target language fluently and accurately
seems to be very interesting to all EFLESL learners Though students face a lot of troubles
and obstacles when communicating with each other or with native speakers and this is due
to mispronunciation misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the hearer which leads to the
communication breakdowns Furthermore learnersrsquo mispronunciation occurs due to various
factors that affect their oral language and as a consequence it affects their speaking
proficiency
In this section we have dealt with the speaking process and precisely
ldquopronunciationrdquo At the start a slight attention is put upon the definition of speaking skills
and its sub-competencies After that a part of this section is devoted to define pronunciation
and highlight its importance Moreover this section demonstrates some factors that affect
pronunciation which are classified into internal factors and external factors Finally another
point about the English consonant ldquoLrdquo has been raised
121 Definition of Speaking Skill
Mastering the foreign language is the aim of each EFL learner Speaking is one of
the most important language skills it plays a significant role in sharing ideas and thoughts
between individuals Torky (2006) defines speaking as follows ldquoIt is the means through
which learners can communicate with others to achieve certain goals or to express their
opinions intentions hopes and viewpointsrdquo (p 13) Also Ziane (2012) states that ldquoit is the
way by which learners can contribute and be part of oral communicationrdquo (p21) So the
main goal of EFL learners is to be able to speak the target language in order to strengthen
their verbal communication
21
Moreover Chaney (1998) argues that ldquospeaking is the process of building and
sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols in a variety of contextsrdquo
(p 13) From Chaneyrsquo s definition of speaking we deduce that speaking has an important
role in learning the foreign language and improving EFL learnersrsquo communicative skill
However there are some researchers who describe speaking as a hard task They
argue that EFL learners find it so hard to master the foreign language and face a lot of
difficulties even after studying it many years at schools Bueno and Mclaren (2006 as cited
in Alonso 2011) point out
Speaking is one of the most difficult skills language learners have to face In spite of
this it has traditionally been forced into the background while we teachers of
English have spent all our classroom time trying to teach our students how to write
to read and sometimes even to listen in a L2 because grammar has a long written
tradition (p 321)
On the whole the speaking skill is a very important process that EFL learners need to acquire
in order to master and shape the target language
122 Speaking Sub CompetenciesSkills
Torky (2006) claims that learners must be able to express themselves in a given
context in order to be proficient in mastering the foreign language She points out to several
speaking skills or competencies that help to achieve this aim which are
22
Linguistic Competence
Torky (2006) states that learners must be skillful in using pronunciation ie their
pronunciation must be clear In addition students have to use correct grammar and
proper lexis
Discourse Competence
In the beginning learners have to be able to use a well-organized discourse In other
words the discourse must be clear and unified Besides they have to be competent in
handling discussion and cooperating efficiently in order to avoid the communication
breakdowns
Pragmatic Competence
EFL learners have to be proficient in using a variety of functions that are related to
the same context and register
Fluency
Speaking smoothly without any complications and with a suitable degree of speech
speed
123 Definition of Pronunciation
According to Gilakjani (2012) ldquopronunciation is an integral part of foreign language
since it directly affects learnersrsquo communicative competence as well as performancerdquo
(p119) That is to say pronunciation plays a fundamental role in learning and improving the
target language Besides Poposka (2016) argues that pronunciation is the key factor of
language in its universal notion and she claims that pronunciation should be defined in
23
relation to different perspectives Poposka (2016) states some of the various points of view
concerning pronunciation definition which are
- The act or manner of pronouncing uttering of speech
- A way of speaking a word especially a way that is accepted or generally understood
- A graphic representation of the way a word is spoken using phonetic symbols (p
200)
Moreover Dauer (1993 as cited in Ummah 2014) states that ldquopronunciation is the
act of producing the sound of speech including articulation vowel formation accent
inflection and intonation often with reference to the correctness or acceptability of the
speech soundrdquo (p 10) In addition Poposka (2016) states that pronunciation is the vocal
capacity to produce particular sounds weather when communicating with individuals or
when being alone This construction of sounds leads to the appearance of some utterances
that may be expressive or worthless (p 200) Furthermore Adult Migrant English Program
research center (AMP 2002) points out
Pronunciation refers to the production of sounds that we use to make meaning it includes
attention to the particular sounds of language (segments) aspects of speech beyond the
level of the individual sound such as intonation phrasing stress timing rhythm
(suprasegmental aspects) (p1)
In other words AMP research center argues that even if these two aspects suprasegmental
and segmental structures are treated separately it is necessary to know that they work hand
in hand in a given context whenever someone speaks
24
124 Importance of Pronunciation
Madden and Moore (1997) states that ldquoin first language acquisition children learn
pronunciation inductively by absorbing and reproducing the sounds in their environmentrdquo
(p 4) That is to say all human beings in their natural development from childhood to
adulthood learn first of all how to talk before learning how to read or write Also Zhang
(2009) claims that ldquolearning a language means to perform the sounds utterances and the
words properly and correctlyrdquo (p 34-35) So pronunciation is a very essential skill in
learning a second language
Moreover Morley (1998 as cited in Zhang 2009) argues that ldquoit is clear that limited
pronunciation skills will make learners lose their self-confidence and result in negative
influence for learners to estimate their credibility and abilitiesrdquo (p 35) In other words it
does not matter whether learners make mistakes concerning grammar or vocabulary all what
matters is the way they pronounce a given word in order to make a worthy impression on
the learnersrsquo language capacities Zhang (2009) points out
Good pronunciation will make people understand you easily and be willing to listen to
you Contrarily poor English pronunciation may confuse people and lead to an
unpleasant talking and misunderstanding even if you used advanced English grammar
or vocabulary (p 35)
Likewise Backley (n d) argues ldquoif a speaker has a clear pronunciation this has immediate
benefits listeners judge the speakerrsquo s overall language ability much more favorably even
to the point of tolerating grammatical and other errorsrdquo (p 126) Therefore good
25
pronunciation aids to avoid misinterpretation and intelligibility between speakers and
listeners and show the learnersrsquo competencies in mastering their second language
Furthermore good pronunciation affects the learnersrsquo speed of acquiring the target language
In addition learners should use only simple structures with good and correct pronunciation
rather than using complex expressions in order to communicate with others
125 Factors Affecting Pronunciation
Generally speaking there are several factors that affect the learnersrsquo pronunciation
These factors can be classified into internal factors and external factors
1251 Internal Factors
Zhang (2009) states that internal factors can be categorized also into biological
factors individual differences and individual efforts and goal setting
Biological Factors
They are branded into four features age ear perception and aptitude
Learnersrsquo Age
At the start there is a difference between young learners and adult learners
concerning the acquisition of the accurate pronunciation Nonetheless this does not mean
that adult learners cannot get accurate pronunciation as well They have to work much harder
because their brainsrsquo plasticity reduces That is to say age plays a significant part in learning
the target language pronunciation Moreover Zhang (2009) emphasizes the role of the
critical period hypothesis that was proposed by Lenneberg in 1967 which states that there
is a certain age that helps learners to acquire the foreign language pronunciation accurately
26
and after that age the brain loses its flexibility Furthermore (Nation and Newton (2009) as
cited in Zhang 2009) claim that
Usually if the learner began to speak in the second language before the age of six
there will be little or no accent If the learner began to speak between the age of seven
and eleven the learners likely to have a slight accent If the learner began to speak
after age of twelve the learners almost always have an accent (p 78)
This is the reason behind the acceptance of the idea that learners find it so hard to acquire
the foreign language after maturity
Additionally Zhang (2009) states that young learners have bigger chances than the
adult learners in obtaining accurate pronunciation He claims that the brain loses its
flexibility and becomes rigid after puberty (after nine years old) as a result the brainrsquo s
functions will be devoted to the right and left hemispheres which makes it so difficult to
acquire the foreign languagersquo s pronunciation correctly Also Lenneberg (1967 as cited in
Zhang 2009) argues that ldquobefore the age of two the brain has not developed enough but
after puberty it developed too much and it will lose its plasticity and finish the lateralization
of the language functionrdquo (p 39) In other words it becomes so hard to obtain the native-
like pronunciation after the lateralization
Ear Perception
One of the most important factors that affect the learnersrsquo acquisition of the foreign
language is the ldquoear perceptionrdquo Zhang (2009) claims that the hearing abilities differ from
one person to another That is to say there are learners who have a strong hearing capacity
27
they can hear sounds in a very clear way which help them in reproducing the native speakersrsquo
pronunciation smoothly Whereas there is that kind of learners who do not have that ability
However Zhang argues that the ear perception has nothing to do with the learner age He
claims that it is natural that learners may lose some of their capacities whenever they become
older
Aptitude
Generally speaking foreign language aptitude is the personrsquos ability to learn a foreign
or a second language very rapidly and with no troubles (Wen 2011) Also Dornyei and
skehan (2003 as cited in Wen 2011) states ldquooriginally the notion of FLA presumed a
relatively stable talent for learning a foreign language that differs between individualsrdquo (p
590) So EFL learners do not have the same ability to acquire the foreign language
Additionally Carroll (1962 as cited in Wen 2011) states four components of the FLA which
are
lsquophonemic coding abilityrsquo (ie the ability to identify and retain sounds and link them
to phonetic symbols)
Sensitivity towards the grammatical functions that words fulfil in a sentence
The ability to learn inductively (ie to infer and generalize linguistic structures from
language samples) and
The ability to rote learn vocabulary items paired with their associated translations
(p 233)
Hence aptitude has an important role in improving learnersrsquo foreign language
Although Zhang (2009) argues that all individuals have a language aptitude ability but they
28
differ only in the degree of that aptitude capacity Also he claims that we cannot say that
those people who have a sophisticated level of language aptitude will get to the top and
people with an inferior level of language aptitude will go pear-shaped
Individual Differences
Zhang (2009) states that learnersrsquo different personalities affect the way they acquire
the foreign language pronunciation He argues that extroverted learners are more likely to
acquire the target pronunciation rather than introverted learners because extroverted learners
are not afraid of making mistakes which is not the case with the introverted learners who
face always the fear of failure Besides extroverted students are more friendly they tend to
work with others which leads them to practice the target language so they become more
familiar with it which aids to improve their pronunciation very quickly (p 40-41)
Individual Efforts and Goal setting
At the start the main goal of each EFLESL learner is to master the foreign language
in order to communicate with others Zhang (2009) points out ldquowe must always remember
that teaching never causes learning but rather creates the conditions in which learning can
occurrdquo (p 42) Besides he emphasizes that pronunciation is really a very hard task that
learners can acquire in a few days but it is not something impossible that learners cannot
achieve Though as much time learners spend in practicing the target language
pronunciation the better results they will get
1252 External Factors
External factors can be classified into three aspects learnersrsquo native language
exposure to target language and education factors
29
Learnerrsquo s Native Language
Universally the learnersrsquo native language affects their pronunciation of the foreign
language Zhang (2009) states that studentsrsquo mother tongue reflects the way they pronounce
a certain word in the target language and this is due to the differences that are found between
the two languages In other words learners find a lot of complications in articulating some
sounds for the reason that some of those sounds do not occur in their native language (p
43)
Exposure to the Target Language
Zhang (2009) shows that the acquisition of English language pronunciation is related
to the amount of exposure to it as it is produced by the native speakers That is to say this
depends on the learner himself ie on the situation in which the learning process occurs In
other words Zhang argues that it does not matter weather learners live in a native country
or not it is a matter of how much time they listen to the foreign language and how much
time they use it Zhang (2009) states ldquothe more they spend their time for listening and
speaking English the better their English pronunciation will berdquo (p 44) Thus learnerrsquo s
pronunciation accuracy depends on the surrounding environment where the target language
takes place
Educational Factors
At the start the system of education is responsible for studentsrsquo learning process
Worthy educational structure provides a lot of chances for learners to be exposed to the target
language through creating a suitable learning environment Additionally EFLESL
teachersrsquo accent reflects the learnersrsquo pronunciation because learners take teachers as an
30
exemplary in order to improve their pronunciation That is why teachers should work on
their pronunciation initially (Zhang 2009)
The English Consonant Sound ldquoLrdquo
Generally speaking EFL learners face complications in learning the English L sound
Sproat and Fujimura (1993) argue ldquoEnglish l has traditionally been classified into at least
two allophones namely light which occurs initially and dark which occurs syllable finallyrdquo
(p 291) Furthermore Wang (2016) states that the L consonant sound is a lateral phoneme
in English and it has two allophones he points out
One of them is found before vowels as in ldquoladyrdquo or ldquoflyrdquo called clear l and is
pronounced as the alveolar lateral approximant in a neutral position of the body of
the tongue The other variant is called dark l found before consonants or at word-
finally position as in ldquoboldrdquo or ldquotellrdquo Which is as the velarized lateral approximant
with the tongue in a spoon-like shape Its back part is raised which gives the sound
a w-like resonance (p 44)
In other words the clear [l] occurs when the tip of the tongue raises up and touches the soft
palate just behind the front teeth whereas the dark [ϯ] happens when the tip of the tongue
pulls back and the tongue raises to the middle without touching the soft palate to make the
L sound So the difference between these two allophones is the reason behind those troubles
that the learner may face
However Sproat and Fujimura (1993 as cited in Jiahong 2011) explain the
differences between these two allophones by relating them to the rime duration In other
31
words they point out that whenever the l sound occurs in longer rimes it is going to be a
dark [ϯ] and whenever the rime is short the l sound is clear or light
Figure 1
Articulatory Differences in l Velarization
Source Recasens 2012 p369
Conclusion
To end with it is very important to acknowledge that pronunciation is one way that
leads to an effective and a successful communication That is why many researchers shed
light on the investigation of some factors that may influence the EFL learnersrsquo pronunciation
As a result these identifying concepts help foreigners to overcome their difficulties when
they are introduced to the target language
32
Chapter two Field Work
Introduction
21 Methodology
211 Research Participants
212 The Procedure
2121 The Research Design
2122 The Pre-test Phase
2123 The Treatment Phase
2124 The Control Group
2125 The Post-test Phase
213 Scoring
214 Data Analysis
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (independent Sample
t-test)
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group Post-test
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group Post-test (Paired
Sample t-test)
21431 Paired Sample t-test
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-test
33
21441 An Independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the
Post-test
215 Discussion of the Results
216 Pedagogical Implications
Conclusion
34
Introduction
This research attempts to investigate the effect of listening to audio stories on
acquiring accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] by second year LMD students
at the department English -LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi The chosen sample is divided into two
groups the control group and the experimental group At the start participantsrsquo
pronunciation accuracy of the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] (the dependent variable) was measured
through a pretest Later on a period of treatment is taken by the experimental group which
is not the case with the control group After that a post-test is administered to both groups
in which the results are gathered using a software called the ldquopraatrdquo In addition we shed
light on describing the sample taking the place in which the study took place the method
used and at last the data collected
21 Methodology
211 Research Participants
The current study involved two intact classes of second year LMD students from
LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi-English Department The selected sample includes students from
different gender Furthermore we favored to select second year students for several reasons
The first reason was that second year students have practiced working with audio supports
which was not the case with first year students so they will not face problems concerning
listening to audio stories The second reason was that second year learners study oral
expression
At the start the experiment includes a sample of forty learners that have been chosen
from two intact classes of second year LMD students The chosen sample represents 1904
from the entire population which comprises 210 learners Additionally both clusters were
35
divided into a control group and an experimental group twenty students in each group At
the beginning the sample was supposed to be comprised of sixty students in which both the
control and the experimental groups covered thirty students Unfortunately there were a lot
of absences in both groups Also there are some students who have not passed both the
pretest and the posttest and others have not received the treatment at all Therefore the
sample size was reduced from sixty to forty students which can be sufficient to represent
the whole population and to get consistent outcomes
In order to gather consistent data that help to achieve the purpose of our research a
quasi-experimental design was designated The use of the chosen method will provide us
with a wide-ranging representation of the reflection of listening to audio stories on the
acquisition of the accurate pronunciation of the dark [l] and clear [l]
212 The Procedure
To accumulate a reliable data an experiment was conducted over six sessions The
treatment period took four sessions and the remained two sessions for the pretest and the
posttest The pretest took a form different from that of the posttest in order to avoid
familiarity to improve the learnersrsquo development and get consistent information Both
groups have taken the tests but only the experimental group took the treatment Besides the
duration of training concerning the treatment period for the experimental group took 90
minutes ie one hour and a half for each session and it started after getting the
authorization of the teacher of oral expression
36
2121 The Research Design
Figure 2
Experimental Group Procedures
Figure 3
Control Group Procedures
2122 The Pre-test Phase
By the first week of March both the control group and the experimental group have
taken the pretest However before choosing the pretest and in order to avoid any problems
we have checked that the dark [l] and the clear [l] are pronounced the same in both the
American and the British accents using the Oxford Advanced Learnerrsquo s Dictionary At the
outset learners were required to read a passage derived from a short story named ldquoThe last
class-The story of the Alsationrdquo that was written by Alphonse Daudet (2001) and also short
sentences (see Appendix A) After that their voices were recorded using a software known
pre-test
treatment
(listening to audio stories)
post-test
pre-test
No treatment
( being taught without listening
to audio-stories)
post-test
37
as the ldquoPraatrdquo Besides our focus here was raised toward the duration (ie the length of a
syllable) of the dark [l] and the clear [l]
Throughout the pretest EFL learners found themselves unable to pronounce the dark
[ϯ] and clear [l] that are found in some words correctly In other words students in the control
group and the experimental group most of the time pronounce the dark [ϯ] in the same way
they pronounce the clear [l] ie they spend the same duration for pronouncing the two
allophones Also EFL learners from time to time pronounce them differently but in a wrong
way ie they spent a rime duration that it not suitable neither for the light [l] nor for the
dark[ϯ]
Figure4
Example of the Lateral Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoSawmillrdquo
2123 The Treatment Phase
At first both participants have finished the pretest Though the treatment was
approved to the experimental group only the control group did not receive the same
treatment Besides the experimental group received the treatment in four sessions and each
Rime
duration
38
session took one hour and a half (ie 90 minutes) In each session students were asked to
listen to the audio-story in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of both allophones
after that they discussed the story being listened (see Appendix B)
2124 The Control Group
Concerning the control group students were taught the oral expression without any
exposure to any kinds of treatments In contrast to students in the experimental group who
were provided with the audio stories in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of the
both allophones which are the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ]
2125 The Post-test Phase
Fundamentally after finishing the four sessions of training ie the period of
treatment a posttest was administered to both the experimental group and the control group
(see Appendix c) The posttest as we have said before is different from the pretest in order
to avoid familiarity with the same topic and to ensure the learners improvement of the dark
[ϯ] and clear [l] So the posttest is a kind of a passage which was taken from a short story
that is entitled ldquoThe Game of Billiardsrdquo which is written by Alphonse Daudet and some
words to pronounce Furthermore during the posttest we noticed a kind of development in
learnersrsquo pronunciation of the two allophones with students of the experimental group
especially in pronouncing the single words which was not the case with those learners in
the control group
39
Figure 5
Example of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquocabalrdquo
Figure 6
Example of the Clear [l] in the word ldquolabourrdquo
The rime
duration
The rime
duration
40
213 Scoring
After finishing recording the learnersrsquo pronunciation of the phoneme l of both
groups (the control and the experimental group) we have compared them first of all to the
native speakerrsquo s pronunciation and after that we have calculated the rime duration of the
two allophones ie the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] and at last we gave them scores out of six
(6) for each participant
214 Data Analysis
In this sub-section we are going to investigate the EFL learnersrsquo improvement of
pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] Though in order to make sure that EFL
learners have acquired the correct pronunciation of these two allophones we have firstly
investigated the native speakerrsquos pronunciation of the L sound ie the clear [l] and the dark
[ϯ] and we have analyzed the rime duration of two words ldquolightrdquo and ldquoballrdquo as examples
Figure7
The Native Speakerrsquos Pronunciation of the Clear [l] in the Word ldquolightrdquo
Rime
duration
41
Figure8
The Native Speakerrsquo s Pronunciation of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoballrdquo
From these two figures we have noticed that the native speaker has spent 016 s in
pronouncing an ideal clear [l] (see Figure 7) and he has spent 138 s in order to pronounce
a perfect dark [ϯ] (see Figure 8) Thus this analysis of the native speakerrsquo s voice paved the
way to our research in which we based our investigation on it
Table 1
The Experimental and the Control grouprsquo s Scores in the pre-test
Pre-test
Students
Control
group
Experimental
group
Rime
duration
(second)
C E
Rime
duration
42
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (Independent Sample t-
test)
After gathering data for the control and the experimental group and for the purpose
of comparing and contrasting between the two we have calculated the learnersrsquo scores of
pronunciation of the phoneme l and also we have calculated the rime duration of the two
1 1 2 118 127
2 2 25 095 091
3 1 1 116 102
4 25 2 106 091
5 25 25 078 089
6 15 2 078 105
7 2 15 123 091
8 1 1 117 108
9 15 1 119 119
10 15 1 1 115
11 2 15 091 116
12 15 1 12 119
13 2 15 114 1
14 15 1 108 112
15 1 1 131 112
16 2 1 088 08
17 1 1 127 107
18 1 15 107 149
19 15 1 099 115
20 1 15 114 174
Total 31 285 2149 2222
43
allophones (see Table1) Besides the data collected ie the learnersrsquo scores were used in
calculating the means of both groups in the pre-test (the mean is calculated using the SPSS
see Table 2)
Figure 9
The Pre-test Scores of the Control and the Experimental Group
Table 2
The Mean Score of the Control and the Experimental Group in the Pre-test
Test N Mean Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpre 20 15500 51042 11413
Epre 20 14250 51999 11627
44
In order to calculate the Mean () Results we have to use the following formula
=sumx N
N stands for the total numbers of students in one group
sumx stands for the total number of data that was gathered from the pre-test
1 stands for the mean of the Control Group
2 stands for the mean of the Experimental Group
So1= 31 20 =155
2= 285 20 = 142
From ldquoFigure 9rdquo we can notice that 1 is the most frequent score in both the
experimental and the control groups in the pre-test and we can confirm this information
from Table 1 Furthermore when comparing means of both groups we notice (see Table 2)
that there is only a slight difference between the two groups the mean of the control group
is 155 whereas the mean of the experimental group is 142 So we can deduce that the level
of both groups is approximately the same there is no significant difference Moreover the
rime duration of the phoneme l of the experimental group and the control group is to some
extent the same and we can notice this slight difference in Table 1 and precisely in the total
duration of pronouncing the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] by both groups and also in Table 2
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group post-test
In order to confirm if there is any kind of progression in the control grouprsquo s scores
in the post-test concerning the pronunciation of the phoneme l (see Table 3) we have
calculated the mean of the post-test (using the SPSS see Table 4) and compared it with the
mean of the pre-test besides we have calculated the rime duration that has been spent At
45
last we have mentioned the learnersrsquo scores differences between the pre-test and the post-
test to confirm the development (see Figure 10)
Table 3
Results and Scores Differences of the Control and Experimental group in the Post-test
Posttest
Students
Rime
Duration
(Second)
Cpre Cpost Epre Epost
Cpre Cpost Epre Epost
1 1 1 2 4 118 186 127 21
2 2 175 25 5 095 113 091 253
3 1 1 1 45 116 134 102 245
4 25 2 2 35 106 119 091 234
5 25 15 25 55 078 146 089 24
6 15 175 2 5 078 119 105 267
7 2 2 15 45 123 135 091 263
8 1 125 1 5 117 144 108 254
9 15 1 1 425 119 144 119 242
10 15 1 1 55 1 128 115 274
11 2 1 15 45 091 126 116 285
12 1 2 1 5 12 129 119 268
13 2 125 15 55 114 146 1 328
14 15 1 1 55 108 127 112 223
15 1 1 1 5 131 092 112 275
16 2 1 1 475 088 135 08 274
46
17 1 2 1 5 127 094 107 292
18 1 1 15 575 107 096 149 29
19 15 1 1 525 099 114 115 295
20 1 15 15 575 114 132 174 338
Total 31 27 285 9875 2149 2359 2222 535
Diff -4 +7025 +21 +3128
Mean 155 135 142 493
-02 +351
Table 4
The Mean of the control Group in the Pre-test and Post-test
Mean N Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpre 15500 20 51042 11413
Cpost 13500 20 41675 09319
In order to calculate the mean( )result of the control group in the post-test we have to apply
the following formula = sumx N
sum stands for the total number of the data collected in the post-test of the control
group
N refers to the total number of students So = 2720 = 1
47
Figure 10
The Control Group Studentsrsquo Scores Differences
A very insignificant development has been shown in both Figure 7 and Table 3
concerning learners scores in the post-test Besides only Students 681217 and 20 from a
total number of twenty have proved the improvement the mean of the control group has
decreased from 155 in the pre-test to 135 in the post-test ie the mean = -02
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group post-test (Paired Sample
T-test)
In order to identify the scoresrsquo differences between the results of the experimental
group in both the pre-test and the post-test we have calculated the mean of the post-test and
compared it with that of the pre-test to notice if there is any improvement (see Table 3) So
the mean of the post-test is shown in Table 5 below
48
Table 5
The Mean of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and Post-test
Mean N Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Epre 14250 20 51999 11627
Epost 49375 20 59535 13312
From Table 5 we notice that the mean of the experimental group increased from 142 in the
pre-test to 493 in the post-test with a mean difference of 351 ( = +351) and we can
calculate the mean ()of the post-test using the following formula
= sumxN
sum= Stands for the total number of data that was gathered from the post-test in the
Experimental Group
119925 =Stands for the total number of students
So= 9875 20 = 493
From Table 3 we notice that there is a very clear development and difference in
learnersrsquo scores in the post-test which is very different from the pre-test scores (see Figure
12) Moreover we can notice this development from Figure 11 below too It Shows that the
most frequent scores that learners of the experimental group have gained are 45 5 55 and
at last 575(the marks are out of six) that makes a big difference from the scores of the pre-
test in which the most frequent score was 1 In addition to all of this results we can add that
the sum of the rime duration of the post-test differs a lot from that of the pre-test ( = +3128
s)
49
Hence in the light of these results we can say that the period of treatment really
affects in a positive way the learnersrsquo acquisition of the pronunciation of dark [ϯ] and clear
[l] Besides this enhancement was improved in the mean difference between the pre-test and
the post-test of the experimental group Though the comparison of means in the pre-test and
post-test of the experimental group cannot be sufficient in order to make sure that listening
to audio-stories really affects positively the way learners pronounce the Phoneme l
Therefore a paired sample T-test was designed to assess the development of learnersrsquo
acquisition of dark [ϯ] and clear [l] ie to acceptreject the Alternative Hypothesis or to
accept reject the Null Hypothesis (See Table 6 below)
Figure 11
The Scores Frequencies of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and the Post-test
50
Figure 12
The Scores Differences of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and the Post-test
21431 The paired Sample T-test
In order to know if there is any significant difference between the post-test and the
pre-test scores of the same group a t-test is conducted At first the of the experimental
group is calculated through the following formula
= sumdN
refers to the Difference of mean Scores
N Studentsrsquo scores in the Experimental Group
sum refers to the total sum of the Differences Scores
So = 702520= 35125
51
The Standard deviation of the differences
Sd= radic119956120784= radicsum119941120784
119925minus 119941120784
S stands for the Variance
sum119941120784 refers to the square differences of Scores
After calculating
Sdcong 013
The Standard Error of the Mean Difference (SE)
It is calculated using the following formula
SE ()= 119878119889
radic119873cong003
Finally we calculate the t- value that will be compared to the critical P-value at the point
p=005 in order to accept the alternative hypothesis or rejecting it using the following
formula119957120784120782minus120783=
119878119864(119889) = 117
Table 6
Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Post-test Scores differences
Students Pre-test Post-test Difference
1 2 4 2
2 25 5 25
3 1 45 35
4 2 35 15
5 25 55 3
6 2 5 3
52
7 15 45 3
8 1 5 4
9 1 425 325
10 1 55 45
11 15 45 3
12 1 5 4
13 15 55 4
14 1 55 45
15 1 5 4
16 1 475 375
17 1 5 4
18 15 575 425
19 1 525 425
20 15 575 425
Total 285 9875 7025
Table 7
The Paired Sample T-test for the Experimental Group
Paired Sample T-Test
Epre
Scores-
Epost
Scores
Mean Std
deviati-
on
Std-
Error
Mean
95Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
t Df Sig
(2-
tailed)
Lower Upper
-351250 83695 18715 -390421 -312079 -18768 19 000
53
After calculating the mean of the experimental group in both the pre-test and the post-
test (see Table 5) a mean difference of +351 was noticed Therefore in order to prove if
the development that was noticed in the post-test scores as well as the mean occurred
because of the influence of listening to the audio-stories which is the independent variable
or happened only by coincidence
Hence to confirm the Alternative Hypothesis and reject the Null Hypothesis or vice
versa the t-value (117) was calculated in order to be compared with the critical- value at
the point p=005 and at the level of t=19 Besides p-value (0000) is less than 005 which
means that there a real difference between the learnersrsquo scores in the pre-test (before the
period of treatment) and the leanersrsquo scores in the post-test (after the period of treatment)
Consequently we can deduce that the improvement that was achieved by the experimental
group in the post test did not occur by chance actually it occurred because of listening to
audio-stories that has a positive effect on learnersrsquo pronunciation of both the clear [l] and the
dark [ϯ]
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-test
Table 8
The Mean of the Control Group and the Experimental Group in the Post-test
N Mean Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpost 20 13500 41675 09319
Epost 20 49375 59535 13312
54
To calculate the mean () we use the following Formula
= sum119961 N
So 1= sum119961 N
1 refers to the mean of the control group in the post-test
N refers to the total number of students in the control Group
sum119961 stands for the sum of scores of the control group in the post-test
1= 2720 = 135
2 = sum119961 N
2 stands for the mean of the experimental group in the post-test
N refers to the total number of participants in the experimental group
sum119961 Stands for the sum of scores of the experimental group in the post-test
So 2= 987520 = 493
Figure13
The Scores Frequencies of the Control Group and the Experimental Group in the Post-
test
55
From the previous analysis of the mean of both the control and the experimental
group in the pre-test (see Table 3) we have noticed that the level of students in both groups
is almost the same and there is only a slight difference between them Though in the post-
test the scores of the experimental group has increased and as result the mean average has
increased too after the treatment phase for the experimental group (from 142 to 493) but it
decreased for the control group who were taught without being exposed to any kind of
treatment (see Table 8 and Figure 10) Besides we can notice the development also in the
rime duration in studentsrsquo pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] of the experimental
group in the post-test which is not the case with the control group
21441 An independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the post-
test
In order to investigate if there is any significant change between two diverse groups
who have run the same test a t-test is used to show this significance difference In our case
we want to inspect if there is any significant variation between the experimental group and
the control group in the post-test and whether we accept the Alternative Hypothesis or
rejecting the Null Hypothesis So depending on the following steps a t-test was calculated
using the following formula
t= 119883 119888minus 119890
radicpartx2
Nx+
1205971199102
119873119910
partx2 = sum(119883 minus 119890 )N
= 306
1205971199102 =sum(119883 minus 119888 )2119873
= 160
119888 the mean of the control group in the post-test
56
119890 the mean of the experimental group in the post-test
partx2 the variation of the experimental group
1205971199102 the variation of the control group
So t= 493minus 135
radic306
20+
160
20
=745
t-value= 745
Depending on the t-value (745) that was calculated we compare it with the critical p-
value at p=005 therefore we have two options
1- If t-value is greater than the critical p-value (t-valuegtcritical-value) we accept the
alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
2- If t-value is less than the critical-value (t-valueltcritical-value) we accept the null
hypothesis and refuse the alternative hypothesis
we can say that
t-value=745 745 gt005
We accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
p-value= 0000 0000 lt005
We accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
Depending on these results we can say that there is a statistical evidence that the
associated sampling means are significantly different In other words there is a real change
between the experimental group and the control group in the post test at the level of
pronunciation due to the positive influence of the independent variable which is ldquolistening
to the audio-storiesrdquo Therefore students of the experimental group showed a significant
57
progress at the level of pronunciation and precisely the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
pronunciation
215 Discussion of the Results
The current research has investigated the influence of listening to audio-stories on
acquiring accurate pronunciation of both allophones the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] At the
start the pre-test has proved that learners of both groups ie the control and the
experimental group have the same level through calculating their means The control group
scored a mean of 155 while the experimental group scored a mean of 142 and also they
have got near scores concerning the rime duration of the L sound So these estimated scores
helped us to prove and confirm our hypothesis that states the positive effect of listening to
audio-stories on the level of pronunciation accuracy In the post-test students of the
experimental group showed a significant development compared to the control group and
this is due to the period of treatment that occurred in the oral session Besides the mean
score of the experimental group has been raised from 142 to 493 and from a sum of rime
durations of 2222 s to 535 s while the mean score of the control group has been decreased
from 155 to 135 and increased from a sum of rime durations of 2149 s to 2359 s In
addition a t-test was designed to show if there is any statistical significant difference
between the experimental group and the control group in the post-test the results show the
positive influence of the treatment phase on the dependent variable (pronunciation
accuracy)
216 Pedagogical implication
The present research evidenced the positive influence of being exposed to the target
language pronunciation as it is produced by the native speakers through the exposure to the
audio-stories Therefore we can state a set of pedagogical implications
58
The present study shows that the more students get involved in listening practices
the more they will be proficient in the pronunciation of a various English sounds ie
developing their speaking proficiency
Audio-stories help EFL learners improve their pronunciation as well as to develop
their listening skills
Using multimedia devices (audio-stories in our case) in learning classrooms
enhances the learnersrsquo motivation to get involved in the learning process
Audio-stories can be used by EFL teachers in order to make learners attentive and
interested in the lecture being presented
Audio-stories provide learners with the chance to listen again and again to the story
in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of a given word
Conclusion
The present research examined the effect of listening to audio stories on fostering the
target language pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] The native speakerrsquo s
pronunciation of both allophones was analyzed first through analyzing the rime duration in
order to compare it with the EFL learnersrsquo articulation That is to say the analysis is based
on the native speakerrsquo s rime duration In addition a significant development in learnersrsquo
pronunciation of the dark[ϯ]and the clear [l] was proved which lead to accept the alternative
hypothesis that states listening to audio-stories has a positive effect on acquiring accurate
pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] by EFL learners
59
General Conclusion
The present study is based on the investigation of the effectiveness of listening to
audio stories on acquiring accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] by EFL
learners At the beginning we have stated the problem which was that the Algerian EFL
learners in the English department at LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi University face a lot of difficulties
concerning the acquisition of the accurate pronunciation of The phoneme l Subsequently
this dissertation tackled the importance of listening to audio-stories on enhancing EFL
learnersrsquo pronunciation accuracy
Our research was tackled in two main chapters The first chapter divided into two
main sections In the first section we tackled the point of listening to audio stories whereas
the second section discussed the reflection of listening to audio stories on the pronunciation
of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] The second chapter represented the practical part the field
work The analyzed data showed that there is a positive relationship between the independent
variable and the dependent variable That is to say there was a development in the
acquisition of the phoneme l which lead us to accept the alternative hypothesis and reject
the null hypothesis
60
Limitations of the Study
Limited sources ie most of the sources that were available were not relevant to our
study
Time constraints this study needs much more time to conduct a better result
Students absences in the pre-test and the post-test and others did not receive the
treatment at all
The lack of interest in the beginning of the treatment session
61
List of References
Alonso SR (2012) The importance of Teaching Listening and Speaking Skills Diagravectica de Lingua
y la Literatura Facultad de Education
Brown S (2006) Teaching Listening Cambridge Cambridge University press
Coulter C Michael C ampPoynor L (2007) Storytelling as Pedagogy An Unexpected Outcome
of narrative inquiry 104-105
Daudet A (2001) Five Short Stories Copyright copy Bartlebycom Inc
Downs L J (2008) Listening Skills Training ASTD press
Eckert J (2016) Audio Storytelling in Todayrsquos Visual World The necessary Components of a
successful sounds scape for an audio play
Gilakjani A P (2012) A study of Factors Affecting EFL learnersrsquo English Pronunciation Learning
and the Strategy for instruction Lahijani Iran 2(3) 119-128
Hamer J (1998) How to teach English An Introduction to the Practice of English Language
Teaching English Language Teaching Harlow Longman
Hendrickson J (1992) Storytelling for foreign language and linguistics Washington Dc Eric
learning house on language and linguistic [ Eric No E0355-824]
Kline J A (1996) Listening Effectively Air University Press
Madden M and Moore Z (1997) ESL Studentsrsquo Opinions about instruction in Pronunciation
Texas 3(2) 15-32
Mendelson D J (1994) Learning to Listen Dominie Press
Nasreddin K (2010) The Influence of Background Knowledge on Second Language Listening
Comprehension Constantine Constantine University
62
Poposka V p (2016) Pronunciation Proficiency Level Problematic Areas of Tertiary as a Foreign
Language International Journal of Science and Basic and Applied Research
Richards J C (1990) The Language Teaching Matrix Cambridge Cambridge University Pess
Rubin SS (2015) Tools for Creating Audio Stories scholarship University of California
Roney RC (1996) Storytelling in the classroom Some Theoretical Thoughts Wayne State
University Education Detroit Michigan
Sproat R ampFujimura O (1993) Allophonic variation of the English l and its Implication for
phonetic Implementation Academic Press
Torky SA (2006) The Effectiveness of a Task-Based Instruction Program in Developing English
Language Speaking Skills of Secondary Stage Students Collegersquo s girl Ain Shams
University
Ummah A (2014) The Effectiveness of Nursery Rhymes to Facilitate Studentsrsquo of Pronunciation of
the Diphthong Education and Teacher Training Faculty Walisongo State institution for
Islamic Studies
Wang M (2016) Research on the Acoustic Realization of Lateral in Sundanese International
Journal of Engineering Research and Development 12(10) 44-48
Ziane R (2012) The Role of Listening Comprehension in Improving EFL learners Speaking Skill
Biskra University of Biskra
Zhang Q (2009) Affecting Factors of Native-Like Pronunciation A Literature Review Ching-Ang
University 27(2) 33-52
63
Abrahamson CE (1998) Storytelling as a pedagogical tool in high Education 118(3) Retrieved
from
httpwwwquestiacomlibraryjournal1G1-20494609storytelling-as-a-pedagogical-tool-
inhighereducation
AMP Research Center (2012) Retrieved from
Httpwwwncertrmqeduauconference2001indexhtal
Backley P (nd) Improving your English Pronunciation Retrieved from
httptoefluobabyloneduiqpaperspearson-2015-1269610pdf
Chaney (1998) Teaching Speaking Retrieved from
httpitesljorgtechniqueKayi-teaching speakinghtml
English Club (nd) What is listening Retrieved from
httpwwwenglishclubcom
Miller E (2011) Theories of story and storytelling Retrieved from
httpwww-storytellingandvideoconferencingcom167pdf
Pederson E M (1995) Storytelling and the art of listening English teaching forum 33(1)2-5
Retrieved from httpExchangesStategovForumuolsn01p2htm
Remen R N (nd) Listening Skills Retrieved from
httpwwwskillsyouneedcomipslistening-Skills-html
Rock R (nd) 5 Wonderful Websites for Engaging ESL Audio Short Stories Retrieved from
httpwwwFluentucomenglisheducatorsblogeslaudio-short-stories
Seifert S (nd) Follow Along 6 Engaging ESL Audio Stories with worksheet ideas Retrieved from
httpwwwFluentucomenglisheducatorblogeslaudio-stories
Saricoban A (2004) The Teaching of listening The Internet TESL journal
httpitesljorgArticlesSaricobn-listeninghtml
Subhi s (2016) Differences between Hearing and listening Retrieved from
httpkeydifferencescomdifference-between-hearning-and-listeninghtml
64
Shen CD (2010) 3 reasons why listening skills are very important in Todayrsquo s Business World
Retrieved from httpezinearticlescom3-Reasons-why-listening-skills-are-very-important-in-
Todays-Business-worldampid=5436504
the adapted audio-stories that were used in the period of treatment
(httpwwwmanythingsorgvoastories)
Appendix A A pre-test
The Last class- The Story of the Alsatian
I was very late for school that morning and I was terribly afraid of being Scolded
especially as Monsieur Hamel had told us that he should examine us on participles and I
did not know the first thing about them For a moment I thought of saying away from
school and wandering about the fields It was such a warm lovely day I could hear the
blackbirds whistling on the edge of the wood and in the ripper field behind the sawmill
the Prussians going through their drill All that was much more tempting to me than the
rules concerning participles but I had the strength to resist and I ran as fast as I could to
school
Sentences
You old fool they will kill you if you always trouble them
People are awfully lazy in the middle of July
Appendix B A post-test
The Game of Billiards
The marshalrsquo s opponent is a young captain of the staff belted and curled and light-
gloved who is in the first rank of billiard-players and capable of beating all the marshals
on earth but he has the tact to keep a respectful distance behind his chief and devotes his
energies to the task of not winning and at the same time not losing too easily He is what is
called an officer with a future
Read the following words
1 Cabal
2 Labour
3 Shell
Appendix c Treatment period
I Session one (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquothe Secret Gardenrdquo (Chapter One) By Frances Hodgson
Burnett
II Session two (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Secret Gardenrdquo (Chapter two) By Frances Hodgson
Burnett
III Session three (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Lady or the Tigerrdquo by Frank R Stockton
IV Session four (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Lady in Blackrdquo By Eleanor Porter
Reacutesumeacute
La preacutesente eacutetude vise agrave eacutetudier lrsquoarticulation de dark [ϯ] et clear [l] dans les classes de la
langue anglaise afin dameacuteliorer la prononciation des apprenants Lrsquoeacutetude actuelle repose
sur lhypothegravese que leacutecoute des histoires audio a un effet positif sur lameacutelioration de la
prononciation des apprenants EFL avec un accent particulier sur le dark [ϯ] et clear [l] Afin
datteindre lobjectif de cette recherche une eacutetude quasi-expeacuterimentale a eacuteteacute assigneacute en
deux groupe group teacutemoin et group expeacuterimentale Chaque groupe contenait 20 eacutelegraveves
Lexpeacuterience a pris six seacuteances un preacute-test une peacuteriode de traitement (4 seacuteances) et un
posttest En conclusion les reacutesultats obtenus montrent que les eacutetudiants qui sont exposeacute agrave
la langue cible et qui eacutecoutent au locuteur natif agrave lrsquoaide audio pour ameacuteliorer leurs
prononciations ont montreacute qursquoil y a un deacuteveloppement ameacutelioration au niveau de
compeacutetence des apprenants en particulier et en matiegravere de parole en geacuteneacuterale
Les mots cleacutes audio-histoire Compeacutetence drsquoeacutecoute prononciation dureacute de travaille
ملخص
استخدام القصص الصوتية من اجل المساعدة على اكتساب النطق السليم والدقيق تهدف هذه الدراسة الى التعرف على مدى فعالية
الأجنبية حيث تستند الدراسة الحالية على فرضية مفادها ان الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية له تأثير إيجابي على تحسين ةللغ
استغرقت التجربة ست ق المنهج التجريبيمن أجل تحقيق هدف هذه الدراسة تم تطبينطق الطلاب الأجانب للغة الإنجليزية
جلسات قسمت كالاتي أربع حصص معالجة سبقت باختبارات قبلية ولحقت باختبارات بعدية أجريت الدراسة في قسم اللغة
طالبا من طلاب السنة ثانية جامعي قسم الطلبة الى فوجين حيث 40الإنجليزية بجامعة العربي بن مهيدي وقد شملت الدراسة
ى معالجة لمدة أربع حصص من خلال الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية في حين لم يتعرض الفوج الثاني خضع أحد الفوجين ال
الى نفس المعالجة بعد ذلك تم اجراء الاختبارات البعدية واعتمادا على النتائج المتحصل عليها ثبت ان التعرض الى اللغة
جابي على اكتساب النطق الدقيق للغة المستهدفة الا وهي اللغة الأجنبية عن طريق الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية له تأثير إي
الأجنبية
القصص الصوتية النطق مدة الموجات الصوتيةالكلمات المفتاحية المهارة السمعية
1
General introduction
Introduction
1 Statement of the Problem
2 Aim of the Study
3 Research Question
4 Research Hypothesis
5 Means of the Study
6 Structure of the Study
2
Introduction
Acquiring comprehensible pronunciation for EFL learners is one of the key supplies
for language proficiency Nowadays mastering the foreign language is the main concern
that most of EFL learners share This high attention raises due to the exposure to the target
language and to the complications that learners may face at whatever time they want to
communicate whether with foreigners or with one another using for instance the English
language Besides listening is not only a matter of innate ability but it is a matter of how to
develop that inborn capacity in order to improve the learnersrsquo pronunciation accuracy
Accordingly audio-stories are used to help developing the learnersrsquo listening skill and to
improve their pronunciation accurateness Furthermore using audio stories in teaching EFL
learners help to evidence that an effective listening process leads to an effective articulation
1 Statement of the Problem
Generally speaking there are various factors that affect learnersrsquo acquisition of the
target language pronunciation The Algerian EFL learners encounter many problems
concerning articulation because EFLESL learners do not have much opportunities to be
exposed to the real language as it is produced by the native speakers in the classroom Since
English is a foreign language learners avoid using it outside the classroom which is resulted
in a bad pronunciation Therefore EFL teachers are required to use audio-stories inside the
classrooms in order to develop studentsrsquo second language and to improve their pronunciation
accuracy
3
2 Aim of the Study
The current study deals with the learnersrsquo pronunciation difficulties of the dark [ϯ]
and the clear [l] It aims at investigating the effect of listening to audio-stories on fostering
the target languagersquos accurate pronunciation of both allophones
3 Research Question
The present study seeks to answer the following question
Does listening to audio-stories help EFL learners to acquire the accurate
pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
4 Research Hypothesis
In order to answer the research question the subsequent hypotheses are framed
H1 The EFL learners will acquire accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the
clear [l] through listening to audio-stories
H0 Listening to audio stories will not help EFL learners to acquire accurate
pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
5 Means of the Research
In order to achieve the objective of our research a quasi-experimental design is
administered to second year LMD students of English Department at LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi
University The selected sample (40 students from 210) consists of two groups the control
group and the experimental group Both groups will be pretested in order to assess their
pronunciation accuracy level The pre-test is a kind of short story and small sentences that
contain the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] which learners have to read After that the Praat will be
used in order to record their voices Later on the experimental group will take the treatment
for four sessions in which they will listen to the audio stories each session will take one
4
hour and a half However the control group will not receive any kind of treatment (they will
be taught in a normal way without listening to audio stories) Furthermore a post-test which
is different from that of the pre-test will be administered to both groups in order to test their
pronunciation development
6 Structure of the Study
The present study is divided into two chapters The first chapter is a theoretical one
and it is composed of two sections The first section is about listening to audio stories in
which we define the process of listening and mention the main differences between listening
and hearing After that we discuss the reasons of listening its types and processes Later
on the second sub-section deals with audio stories At the start we introduce a brief history
about the notion of audio stories and then we introduce stories in general Afterward we
discuss the characteristics of audio stories their use and advantages The second section
deals with the pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] at the beginning we shed light
on the definition of speaking skill and its sub-competencies After that a part of this section
deals with the definition of pronunciation and its importance Besides it introduces factors
that affect pronunciation The second chapter deals with the field work in which it sheds
light on collecting data presenting and analyzing it and at the end interpreting results
5
Section One Listening to Audio Stories
Introduction
11 Definition of Listening Skill
12 Differences between Listening and Hearing
13 Reasons of Listening
14 Types of Listening
141 Extensive Listening
142 Intensive Listening
15 Listening Processes
151 Bottom-up Process
152 Top down Process
16 Brief History of Audio-Stories
17 Definition of Storytelling
18 Definition of Audio-Stories
19 Characteristics of a Good Audio-Story
110 The Use of Audio-Stories in ESL Classrooms
111 Advantages of Using Audio-Stories
Conclusion
6
Introduction
Nowadays there is a great emphasis put on listening skill since it plays a significant
role in teaching and acquiring the foreign language So this high attention raises because of
the difficulties that learners face whenever they want to communicate thatrsquos why many
researchers shed light on Audio Stories as a tool that can help in developing learnersrsquo
listening process as well as improving their speaking skills and precisely their
pronunciation
The main concern of this section is listening to audio stories First of all we shed
light on the first part which is listening process At the start we need to define listening
skills according to different scholars later on we tackle the main differences between
listening and hearing Also reasons of listening its types and processes Then the second
part of this section deals with the audio stories In the beginning we introduce a brief history
of audio stories and later on the definition of stories in general After that we present the
meaning of audio stories in a specific way and its main characteristics Lastly this section
highlights the use and the advantages of audio stories inside EFL classrooms
11 Definition of Listening Skill
ldquoThe most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen Just to
listen Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attentionrdquo (Remen
2011)
Listening is an important skill in learning and acquiring a foreign language Through
this process learners will be able to receive and understand information According to
Downs (2008) ldquothe word of listening is defined as making an effort to hear something to
pay attention or heedrdquo (p 1) In other words Downs (2008) argues that listening is the way
7
learners pay attention to what is being said In her opinion listening is an active process that
includes using a variety of processes which are attending understanding interpreting
responding and remembering Moreover Mendelsohn (1994) demonstrates listening as ldquothe
ability to understand the spoken language of native speakersrdquo (p 64) To be precise
Mendelsohn defines listening as the listenerrsquo s ability to recognize the native speakerrsquo s
speech in terms of accent pitch intonation vocabulary grammar and trying to interpret the
native speakerrsquo s messages
Saricoban (1999) states that listening is onersquos capacity to realise what is being said
and to recognize the intended meaning He sheds light on two important points the first
point concerns understanding the speakerrsquos pronunciation syntax and lexis whereas the
second point deals with grasping the meaning Willis (1981) lists a series of micro-skills of
listening which she calls enabling skills They are
Predicting what people are going to talk about
Guessing at unknown words or phrases without panic
Using onersquo s own knowledge of the subject to help one understand
Identifying relevant points rejecting irrelevant information
Retaining relevant points (note-taking summarizing)
Recognizing discourse markers eg well oh another thing is now finally
etc
Recognizing cohesive devices e g such as and which including linking
words pronouns references etc
Understanding different intonation patterns and uses of stress etc which give
clues to meaning and social setting
8
Understanding inferred information eg speakerrsquo s attitude or intentions
(p134
Furthermore listening is an important source of knowledge It is recognized as the
ability of transforming and interpreting the spoken messages that are received by the ears
from the daily life situations Yet listening is a very hard task It requires the learnersrsquo mental
concentration which is something difficult because the human brain can simply lose attention
That is to say listening skill can save learners from communication breakdowns and
increases their motivation to learn the foreign language and speak fluently but only if they
work harder to develop their own listening skills
12 Differences between Listening and Hearing
Listening and hearing are two different activities Kline (1996) emphasizes the
differences between these two concepts to make an effective listening He states that
ldquohearing is the attachment of meaning to the sound Hearing is passive listening is activerdquo
(p7) In other words active listening is a successful element that affects learnersrsquo verbal and
nonverbal behaviors
Surbhi (2016) states the differences between listening and hearing On the one hand
he defines hearing as the natural capacity that happens unconsciously It aids to identify
sounds via the ears Also hearing is a process that permits receiving sound vibrations and
it is one of the five senses On the other hand Surhbi (2016) defines listening skill as the
process of receiving and interpreting messages it occurs consciously
13 Reasons of Listening
Learners through being exposed to different English accents and in any recorded
materials such as radio TV or tapes they want to understand and realize what is being said
9
(Harmer 1998) According to him listening is a very effective process that helps learners to
get a better pronunciation In other words as much as they are exposed to the real language
as much as they will recognize its features
Also Shen (2010) demonstrates that listening skills help to improve understanding
and aids people to become aware of their listening skills So listening plays a vital role in
language learning and acquisition It is an essential skill that bridges the line between
meaning and messages in order to avoid misunderstanding between individuals
14 Types of listening
Generally speaking the listening skill plays a significant role in teaching EFL
classrooms This process guides EFL learners to an effective communication Therefore the
listening skill can be classified into two different types Extensive listening and intensive
listening
141 Extensive Listening
Extensive listening has to do with the learnerrsquos fluency In other words the learner has
to master vocabulary grammarhellipetc and later on he must combine them together to form
a meaningful conversation So fluency depends on the listenerrsquos ability of understanding
whatever he is exposed to weather in an audio tape a text a songhellipetc
Harmer (1998) states that extensive listening is the way students practice their own
listening outside the classroom Students should enjoy listening to an audio material because
they can understand them without the teacherrsquo s help Also students can depend on CDs and
tapes so that they are going to have another chance to listen to their course books dialogues
that they have already provided to them inside the classroom In addition learners must be
10
stimulated to listen to the English language films with sub-titles because this helps students
to acquire the foreign language
In brief extensive listening according to the Extensive Reading-Central (2012) includes
Listening to massive amounts of text
Text which learners can understand reasonably smoothly
high levels of comprehension
Listening without being constrained by pre-set questions or tasks
Listening at or below onersquo s comfortable fluent listening ability
So extensive listening aims to make learners enjoy developing their listening skills
142 Intensive Listening
In contrast to extensive listening intensive listening aims at developing the learnersrsquo
specific listening skills and more precisely to raise the learnersrsquo attention about the spoken
language Intensive listening occurs weather in classrooms or laboratories It exists mostly
when teachers guide their students and provide them with help concerning listening
problems that they face and try to highlight them (Harmer 2007)
So intensive listening according to the Extensive Reading-central (2012) is
Listening for specific information
Listening for the exact words of a phrase or expression
Listening for details
Listening to mimic a text
11
15 Listening Processes
In listening process addressees process information using two distinct strategies
This is devoted to as bottom-up and top-down
151 Bottom-up Process
Richards (1990) states that ldquobottom-up processing refers the use of incoming data as
a source of information about the meaning of a messagerdquo (p 50) According to him Bottom-
up process deals with the perception of sentence components ie recognizing the meaning
of sounds words sentences clauseshellipetc till reaching the meaning of the whole message
152 Top-down Process
Richards (190) states that ldquoTop-down processing on the other hand refers to the use
of background knowledge in understanding the meaning of a messagerdquo (p 51) In contrast
to Bottom-up process Richards (1990) points out to the Top-down as the process of using
the listenersrsquo previous knowledge to attain meaning as whole not attaining the meaning of
individual words
16 Brief History of Audio-Stories
Eckert (2016) states that ldquoAudio storytelling in the form of radio drama has been
around for almost a centuryrdquo (p 8) That is to say audio stories in the previous decades took
the form of radio drama Radio drama attained extensive admiration within an era of its
original growth in the 1920rsquo s At that time radio drama played a central role for being the
foundation of people entertainment However by the 1950rsquo s people shifted their attention
to the new invention which was the small screen ie the television As a result of the
invention of this new device audio drama no more attracts the spectatorsrsquo attention it lost
its popularity
12
Though in 2010 radio drama came back to stage due to the developments shown in
digital soundtrack and internet spreading According to Eckert (2016) ldquoRadio and audio
storytelling has slowly started gaining popularity again thanks to the different online
platforms brought forth by digitalizationrdquo (p 8)
17 Definition of Storytelling
Today stories are a fundamental part of our societies and cultures Telling and
listening to stories is an ancient tradition and common activity that bonds different olden
civilizations together Also stories are an essential component and an ordinary process that
many people used to do on every occasion It is the art of telling factual or fictional stories
Besides stories bring legacy into life because our ancestors told them and people today
only retell them
Moreover listening to stories enhances the learnersrsquo foreign language It aids them
to improve their speaking skills Pederson (1995) states that ldquoin dealing with stories learners
have an experience with the powerful real language of personal communicationrdquo (p 2)
Additionally Pederson (1995) emphasizes the role of telling stories in preserving heritage
he argues that ldquooral stories are a direct expression of a literary and cultural heritage and
through them that heritage is appreciated understood and kept aliverdquo (1995 p2) In other
words stories bond between the past and the present It is considered to be a vital feature of
humankind Furthermore Schram (1994 as cited in Coulter Michael amp Poynor 2007)
points out
A story is a beautiful means of teaching religion values history traditions and
customs a creative method of introducing characters and places an imaginative way
13
to instill hope and resourceful thinking Stories help us to understand who we are and
show us what legacies to transmit to future generations (p 104-105)
So Schram (1994) highlights the role of stories in bridging the gap between the teaching
process and culture
Likewise Abrahamson (1998) sheds light on the role that storytelling plays in the
learning process He states that telling stories plays a significant role in improving learnersrsquo
understanding Besides Abrahamson argues that stories can afford a suitable context that
the listener can use it as a base to perceive the tellerrsquos point of view Moreover Roney (1996)
demonstrates
In its most basic form storytelling is a process where a person (the teller) using
vocalization narrative structure and mental imagery communications with other
humans (the audience) who also use mental imagery and in turn communicate back
to the teller primarily via body language and facial expression (p 2)
By this definition storytelling is the combination of art procedures and ways of
communication
18 Definition of Audio-Stories
The term audio-story is a combination of two words audio and story By definition
audio is sound within the aural range accessible to humankinds Miller (2011) states that
ldquostories are pieces of art and can serve as a basis of gamesrdquo (p 1) So Audio-story is a very
operative means for teaching EFL learners It aids to make the course persuasive Nowadays
14
audio stories can be used to many reasons and the most important one is the exposure to the
real language of native speakers by EFL learners In addition Rubin (2015) points out
ldquoaudio stories are an engaging form of communication that combines speech and music into
a compelling narrativesrdquo (p 1) That is to say audio stories are the process of telling stories
through sound and sound effects only Furthermore Audio-stories are broadly accredited to
progresses in portable equipment for instance smart phones tablets and multimedia
entertainment systems Thus EFL learners find it easy to listen to those audio stories
19 Characteristics of a Good Audio-Story
According to Seifert (nd) finding good audio-stories that suit the EFL learnersrsquo
needs is something very important and it is a very hard task to do However these are some
of the necessary features that EFL teachers must take into consideration whenever they want
to select a good audio-story for their students
Skill Level
Taking into account the learnersrsquo English level before choosing any audio-story For
instance if the audio-story contains a difficult language learners will lose confidence and
as a result they stop listening to the audio-story So determining the learnersrsquo level is very
important
Student Interest
EFL teachers must find out their studentsrsquo interests and normally each teacher has
an idea about this issue So if the audio-stories do not fit the learnersrsquo needs the EFL
teacherrsquos goal from that audio-story will be lost
15
Audio Length
The length of the audio-story plays a significant role in keeping concentration in the
ESL schoolrooms Listening for much time to the audio storytelling leads to boredom As a
result the learnersrsquo s brains lose attention However teachers can use long audio-stories but
they should know how to put it into parts and use classroom discussions to avoid boredom
So these three characteristics aid to develop EFL learnersrsquo listening skills
110 The Use of Audio-Stories in ESL Classrooms
According to Rock (nd) there are several listening practices that ESLEFL teachers
can provide to their students These are samples of activities that can work hand in hand with
audio-stories
Fill in The Blanks
Here EFL teacher provides his students with a written passage that is taken from an
audio-story but he removes some words Later on the teacher asks his learners to listen to
the audio-story after reading that passage and at the same time fill in the blanks
Mastery Memory
This activity has to do with learnerrsquos memory In this kind of practices teachers
provide learners with an audio-story and ask them for example to write down the main
events of the story but when they finish listening to it Teachers in this activity have to make
sure that students do not write them during the listening of the audio-story So the main goal
of the exercise is to reinforce learnerrsquos memory
16
Order the Events
At the start teachers give their learners a series of events that are chosen from an
audio-story Then the teacher gives them some time to read them After that learners listen
to the audio- storytelling and put those events in a sequential order
Buzz Words
This exercise aims to reach the learnerrsquo s vocabulary In this practice teachers
provide learners with a number of words then they ask them to check their meanings before
Afterward teacher turns the lesson into a game ie EFL learners listen to the audio-story
and whenever they hear a word (the buzz word) from that list they have to raise their hands
or clap them
Multiple Choice
This activity deals with providing learners with a number of questions followed by
three answers these questions can be definitions or name of characterhellip etc Then learners
have to listen to the audio-storytelling and pick the write response After teachers play again
the audio-story to correct their answers
Character Quiz
In this practice EFL learners have to listen to the whole story Then the teacher gives
his class a question sheet that contains a list of character qualities and decision and ask them
to choose the suitable one for the leading role
Plot Quiz
This activity has to do with team competition After listening to the whole audio-
storytelling once or twice the teacher divides his class into two to four groups where the
17
teacher plays the role of the coach Several questions that have a relation to the story will be
quizzed to each team if they get the answer they have a point if they fail to answer correctly
the question moves to the next group
Beginning Middle End
After listening to the audio storytelling the teacher splits the classroom into groups
and each group contains no more than four students Later he asks each group to write the
main events of the beginning the middle and the end of the story Finally they discuss them
together
111 Advantages of Using Audio-Stories
Audio-stories play an essential role in teaching the target language Audio-
storytelling is an impeccable implement for any ESL classrooms First of all audio-stories
afford learners with the exposure to the real language as it is produced by the native speakers
ie a natural voice Furthermore Rodero (2012 as cited in Eckert2016) claimed that
ldquoAudio stories that use sound effects and sound shots enhance the learnerrsquo s attention and
creation of visual images significantly compared to those without themrdquo (p 16) That is to
say using audio-stories in ESL classrooms develops learnersrsquo listening skills and provides
them with an imaginary trip inside their minds Also audio- stories enhance learnersrsquo
pronunciation since the learner is exposed to the natural voice In addition EFL teacher can
use audio storytelling as a guideline to his lecture or the opposite he can use it at the end of
the course as a reward
Moreover the EFL teachers depend on audio-stories in improving learnersrsquo
vocabulary through memorization Learners can enrich their vocabulary whenever they
listen to those stories because each time they learn some new words Besides learners can
18
listen to them outside the schoolrooms because they are portable they can upload them in
their mobiles and listen to them any time anywhere Finally audio stories can raise interest
for those learners who are not attracted to reading
Conclusion
In conclusion listening to audio stories aids EFL learners to improve the target
language pronunciation That is to say students will be exposed to the real language as it is
created by the native speakers Besides using audio stories in ESLEFL classrooms increases
the learnersrsquo interest toward learning the foreign language and also enhances their speaking
skills
19
Section two Reflection on Pronunciation
Introduction
121 Definition of Speaking Skill
122 Speaking Sub-Competencies Skills
123 Definition of Pronunciation
124 Importance of Pronunciation
125 Factors Affecting Pronunciation
1251 Internal Factors
1252 External Factors
Conclusion
20
Introduction
Generally speaking being able to speak the target language fluently and accurately
seems to be very interesting to all EFLESL learners Though students face a lot of troubles
and obstacles when communicating with each other or with native speakers and this is due
to mispronunciation misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the hearer which leads to the
communication breakdowns Furthermore learnersrsquo mispronunciation occurs due to various
factors that affect their oral language and as a consequence it affects their speaking
proficiency
In this section we have dealt with the speaking process and precisely
ldquopronunciationrdquo At the start a slight attention is put upon the definition of speaking skills
and its sub-competencies After that a part of this section is devoted to define pronunciation
and highlight its importance Moreover this section demonstrates some factors that affect
pronunciation which are classified into internal factors and external factors Finally another
point about the English consonant ldquoLrdquo has been raised
121 Definition of Speaking Skill
Mastering the foreign language is the aim of each EFL learner Speaking is one of
the most important language skills it plays a significant role in sharing ideas and thoughts
between individuals Torky (2006) defines speaking as follows ldquoIt is the means through
which learners can communicate with others to achieve certain goals or to express their
opinions intentions hopes and viewpointsrdquo (p 13) Also Ziane (2012) states that ldquoit is the
way by which learners can contribute and be part of oral communicationrdquo (p21) So the
main goal of EFL learners is to be able to speak the target language in order to strengthen
their verbal communication
21
Moreover Chaney (1998) argues that ldquospeaking is the process of building and
sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols in a variety of contextsrdquo
(p 13) From Chaneyrsquo s definition of speaking we deduce that speaking has an important
role in learning the foreign language and improving EFL learnersrsquo communicative skill
However there are some researchers who describe speaking as a hard task They
argue that EFL learners find it so hard to master the foreign language and face a lot of
difficulties even after studying it many years at schools Bueno and Mclaren (2006 as cited
in Alonso 2011) point out
Speaking is one of the most difficult skills language learners have to face In spite of
this it has traditionally been forced into the background while we teachers of
English have spent all our classroom time trying to teach our students how to write
to read and sometimes even to listen in a L2 because grammar has a long written
tradition (p 321)
On the whole the speaking skill is a very important process that EFL learners need to acquire
in order to master and shape the target language
122 Speaking Sub CompetenciesSkills
Torky (2006) claims that learners must be able to express themselves in a given
context in order to be proficient in mastering the foreign language She points out to several
speaking skills or competencies that help to achieve this aim which are
22
Linguistic Competence
Torky (2006) states that learners must be skillful in using pronunciation ie their
pronunciation must be clear In addition students have to use correct grammar and
proper lexis
Discourse Competence
In the beginning learners have to be able to use a well-organized discourse In other
words the discourse must be clear and unified Besides they have to be competent in
handling discussion and cooperating efficiently in order to avoid the communication
breakdowns
Pragmatic Competence
EFL learners have to be proficient in using a variety of functions that are related to
the same context and register
Fluency
Speaking smoothly without any complications and with a suitable degree of speech
speed
123 Definition of Pronunciation
According to Gilakjani (2012) ldquopronunciation is an integral part of foreign language
since it directly affects learnersrsquo communicative competence as well as performancerdquo
(p119) That is to say pronunciation plays a fundamental role in learning and improving the
target language Besides Poposka (2016) argues that pronunciation is the key factor of
language in its universal notion and she claims that pronunciation should be defined in
23
relation to different perspectives Poposka (2016) states some of the various points of view
concerning pronunciation definition which are
- The act or manner of pronouncing uttering of speech
- A way of speaking a word especially a way that is accepted or generally understood
- A graphic representation of the way a word is spoken using phonetic symbols (p
200)
Moreover Dauer (1993 as cited in Ummah 2014) states that ldquopronunciation is the
act of producing the sound of speech including articulation vowel formation accent
inflection and intonation often with reference to the correctness or acceptability of the
speech soundrdquo (p 10) In addition Poposka (2016) states that pronunciation is the vocal
capacity to produce particular sounds weather when communicating with individuals or
when being alone This construction of sounds leads to the appearance of some utterances
that may be expressive or worthless (p 200) Furthermore Adult Migrant English Program
research center (AMP 2002) points out
Pronunciation refers to the production of sounds that we use to make meaning it includes
attention to the particular sounds of language (segments) aspects of speech beyond the
level of the individual sound such as intonation phrasing stress timing rhythm
(suprasegmental aspects) (p1)
In other words AMP research center argues that even if these two aspects suprasegmental
and segmental structures are treated separately it is necessary to know that they work hand
in hand in a given context whenever someone speaks
24
124 Importance of Pronunciation
Madden and Moore (1997) states that ldquoin first language acquisition children learn
pronunciation inductively by absorbing and reproducing the sounds in their environmentrdquo
(p 4) That is to say all human beings in their natural development from childhood to
adulthood learn first of all how to talk before learning how to read or write Also Zhang
(2009) claims that ldquolearning a language means to perform the sounds utterances and the
words properly and correctlyrdquo (p 34-35) So pronunciation is a very essential skill in
learning a second language
Moreover Morley (1998 as cited in Zhang 2009) argues that ldquoit is clear that limited
pronunciation skills will make learners lose their self-confidence and result in negative
influence for learners to estimate their credibility and abilitiesrdquo (p 35) In other words it
does not matter whether learners make mistakes concerning grammar or vocabulary all what
matters is the way they pronounce a given word in order to make a worthy impression on
the learnersrsquo language capacities Zhang (2009) points out
Good pronunciation will make people understand you easily and be willing to listen to
you Contrarily poor English pronunciation may confuse people and lead to an
unpleasant talking and misunderstanding even if you used advanced English grammar
or vocabulary (p 35)
Likewise Backley (n d) argues ldquoif a speaker has a clear pronunciation this has immediate
benefits listeners judge the speakerrsquo s overall language ability much more favorably even
to the point of tolerating grammatical and other errorsrdquo (p 126) Therefore good
25
pronunciation aids to avoid misinterpretation and intelligibility between speakers and
listeners and show the learnersrsquo competencies in mastering their second language
Furthermore good pronunciation affects the learnersrsquo speed of acquiring the target language
In addition learners should use only simple structures with good and correct pronunciation
rather than using complex expressions in order to communicate with others
125 Factors Affecting Pronunciation
Generally speaking there are several factors that affect the learnersrsquo pronunciation
These factors can be classified into internal factors and external factors
1251 Internal Factors
Zhang (2009) states that internal factors can be categorized also into biological
factors individual differences and individual efforts and goal setting
Biological Factors
They are branded into four features age ear perception and aptitude
Learnersrsquo Age
At the start there is a difference between young learners and adult learners
concerning the acquisition of the accurate pronunciation Nonetheless this does not mean
that adult learners cannot get accurate pronunciation as well They have to work much harder
because their brainsrsquo plasticity reduces That is to say age plays a significant part in learning
the target language pronunciation Moreover Zhang (2009) emphasizes the role of the
critical period hypothesis that was proposed by Lenneberg in 1967 which states that there
is a certain age that helps learners to acquire the foreign language pronunciation accurately
26
and after that age the brain loses its flexibility Furthermore (Nation and Newton (2009) as
cited in Zhang 2009) claim that
Usually if the learner began to speak in the second language before the age of six
there will be little or no accent If the learner began to speak between the age of seven
and eleven the learners likely to have a slight accent If the learner began to speak
after age of twelve the learners almost always have an accent (p 78)
This is the reason behind the acceptance of the idea that learners find it so hard to acquire
the foreign language after maturity
Additionally Zhang (2009) states that young learners have bigger chances than the
adult learners in obtaining accurate pronunciation He claims that the brain loses its
flexibility and becomes rigid after puberty (after nine years old) as a result the brainrsquo s
functions will be devoted to the right and left hemispheres which makes it so difficult to
acquire the foreign languagersquo s pronunciation correctly Also Lenneberg (1967 as cited in
Zhang 2009) argues that ldquobefore the age of two the brain has not developed enough but
after puberty it developed too much and it will lose its plasticity and finish the lateralization
of the language functionrdquo (p 39) In other words it becomes so hard to obtain the native-
like pronunciation after the lateralization
Ear Perception
One of the most important factors that affect the learnersrsquo acquisition of the foreign
language is the ldquoear perceptionrdquo Zhang (2009) claims that the hearing abilities differ from
one person to another That is to say there are learners who have a strong hearing capacity
27
they can hear sounds in a very clear way which help them in reproducing the native speakersrsquo
pronunciation smoothly Whereas there is that kind of learners who do not have that ability
However Zhang argues that the ear perception has nothing to do with the learner age He
claims that it is natural that learners may lose some of their capacities whenever they become
older
Aptitude
Generally speaking foreign language aptitude is the personrsquos ability to learn a foreign
or a second language very rapidly and with no troubles (Wen 2011) Also Dornyei and
skehan (2003 as cited in Wen 2011) states ldquooriginally the notion of FLA presumed a
relatively stable talent for learning a foreign language that differs between individualsrdquo (p
590) So EFL learners do not have the same ability to acquire the foreign language
Additionally Carroll (1962 as cited in Wen 2011) states four components of the FLA which
are
lsquophonemic coding abilityrsquo (ie the ability to identify and retain sounds and link them
to phonetic symbols)
Sensitivity towards the grammatical functions that words fulfil in a sentence
The ability to learn inductively (ie to infer and generalize linguistic structures from
language samples) and
The ability to rote learn vocabulary items paired with their associated translations
(p 233)
Hence aptitude has an important role in improving learnersrsquo foreign language
Although Zhang (2009) argues that all individuals have a language aptitude ability but they
28
differ only in the degree of that aptitude capacity Also he claims that we cannot say that
those people who have a sophisticated level of language aptitude will get to the top and
people with an inferior level of language aptitude will go pear-shaped
Individual Differences
Zhang (2009) states that learnersrsquo different personalities affect the way they acquire
the foreign language pronunciation He argues that extroverted learners are more likely to
acquire the target pronunciation rather than introverted learners because extroverted learners
are not afraid of making mistakes which is not the case with the introverted learners who
face always the fear of failure Besides extroverted students are more friendly they tend to
work with others which leads them to practice the target language so they become more
familiar with it which aids to improve their pronunciation very quickly (p 40-41)
Individual Efforts and Goal setting
At the start the main goal of each EFLESL learner is to master the foreign language
in order to communicate with others Zhang (2009) points out ldquowe must always remember
that teaching never causes learning but rather creates the conditions in which learning can
occurrdquo (p 42) Besides he emphasizes that pronunciation is really a very hard task that
learners can acquire in a few days but it is not something impossible that learners cannot
achieve Though as much time learners spend in practicing the target language
pronunciation the better results they will get
1252 External Factors
External factors can be classified into three aspects learnersrsquo native language
exposure to target language and education factors
29
Learnerrsquo s Native Language
Universally the learnersrsquo native language affects their pronunciation of the foreign
language Zhang (2009) states that studentsrsquo mother tongue reflects the way they pronounce
a certain word in the target language and this is due to the differences that are found between
the two languages In other words learners find a lot of complications in articulating some
sounds for the reason that some of those sounds do not occur in their native language (p
43)
Exposure to the Target Language
Zhang (2009) shows that the acquisition of English language pronunciation is related
to the amount of exposure to it as it is produced by the native speakers That is to say this
depends on the learner himself ie on the situation in which the learning process occurs In
other words Zhang argues that it does not matter weather learners live in a native country
or not it is a matter of how much time they listen to the foreign language and how much
time they use it Zhang (2009) states ldquothe more they spend their time for listening and
speaking English the better their English pronunciation will berdquo (p 44) Thus learnerrsquo s
pronunciation accuracy depends on the surrounding environment where the target language
takes place
Educational Factors
At the start the system of education is responsible for studentsrsquo learning process
Worthy educational structure provides a lot of chances for learners to be exposed to the target
language through creating a suitable learning environment Additionally EFLESL
teachersrsquo accent reflects the learnersrsquo pronunciation because learners take teachers as an
30
exemplary in order to improve their pronunciation That is why teachers should work on
their pronunciation initially (Zhang 2009)
The English Consonant Sound ldquoLrdquo
Generally speaking EFL learners face complications in learning the English L sound
Sproat and Fujimura (1993) argue ldquoEnglish l has traditionally been classified into at least
two allophones namely light which occurs initially and dark which occurs syllable finallyrdquo
(p 291) Furthermore Wang (2016) states that the L consonant sound is a lateral phoneme
in English and it has two allophones he points out
One of them is found before vowels as in ldquoladyrdquo or ldquoflyrdquo called clear l and is
pronounced as the alveolar lateral approximant in a neutral position of the body of
the tongue The other variant is called dark l found before consonants or at word-
finally position as in ldquoboldrdquo or ldquotellrdquo Which is as the velarized lateral approximant
with the tongue in a spoon-like shape Its back part is raised which gives the sound
a w-like resonance (p 44)
In other words the clear [l] occurs when the tip of the tongue raises up and touches the soft
palate just behind the front teeth whereas the dark [ϯ] happens when the tip of the tongue
pulls back and the tongue raises to the middle without touching the soft palate to make the
L sound So the difference between these two allophones is the reason behind those troubles
that the learner may face
However Sproat and Fujimura (1993 as cited in Jiahong 2011) explain the
differences between these two allophones by relating them to the rime duration In other
31
words they point out that whenever the l sound occurs in longer rimes it is going to be a
dark [ϯ] and whenever the rime is short the l sound is clear or light
Figure 1
Articulatory Differences in l Velarization
Source Recasens 2012 p369
Conclusion
To end with it is very important to acknowledge that pronunciation is one way that
leads to an effective and a successful communication That is why many researchers shed
light on the investigation of some factors that may influence the EFL learnersrsquo pronunciation
As a result these identifying concepts help foreigners to overcome their difficulties when
they are introduced to the target language
32
Chapter two Field Work
Introduction
21 Methodology
211 Research Participants
212 The Procedure
2121 The Research Design
2122 The Pre-test Phase
2123 The Treatment Phase
2124 The Control Group
2125 The Post-test Phase
213 Scoring
214 Data Analysis
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (independent Sample
t-test)
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group Post-test
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group Post-test (Paired
Sample t-test)
21431 Paired Sample t-test
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-test
33
21441 An Independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the
Post-test
215 Discussion of the Results
216 Pedagogical Implications
Conclusion
34
Introduction
This research attempts to investigate the effect of listening to audio stories on
acquiring accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] by second year LMD students
at the department English -LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi The chosen sample is divided into two
groups the control group and the experimental group At the start participantsrsquo
pronunciation accuracy of the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] (the dependent variable) was measured
through a pretest Later on a period of treatment is taken by the experimental group which
is not the case with the control group After that a post-test is administered to both groups
in which the results are gathered using a software called the ldquopraatrdquo In addition we shed
light on describing the sample taking the place in which the study took place the method
used and at last the data collected
21 Methodology
211 Research Participants
The current study involved two intact classes of second year LMD students from
LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi-English Department The selected sample includes students from
different gender Furthermore we favored to select second year students for several reasons
The first reason was that second year students have practiced working with audio supports
which was not the case with first year students so they will not face problems concerning
listening to audio stories The second reason was that second year learners study oral
expression
At the start the experiment includes a sample of forty learners that have been chosen
from two intact classes of second year LMD students The chosen sample represents 1904
from the entire population which comprises 210 learners Additionally both clusters were
35
divided into a control group and an experimental group twenty students in each group At
the beginning the sample was supposed to be comprised of sixty students in which both the
control and the experimental groups covered thirty students Unfortunately there were a lot
of absences in both groups Also there are some students who have not passed both the
pretest and the posttest and others have not received the treatment at all Therefore the
sample size was reduced from sixty to forty students which can be sufficient to represent
the whole population and to get consistent outcomes
In order to gather consistent data that help to achieve the purpose of our research a
quasi-experimental design was designated The use of the chosen method will provide us
with a wide-ranging representation of the reflection of listening to audio stories on the
acquisition of the accurate pronunciation of the dark [l] and clear [l]
212 The Procedure
To accumulate a reliable data an experiment was conducted over six sessions The
treatment period took four sessions and the remained two sessions for the pretest and the
posttest The pretest took a form different from that of the posttest in order to avoid
familiarity to improve the learnersrsquo development and get consistent information Both
groups have taken the tests but only the experimental group took the treatment Besides the
duration of training concerning the treatment period for the experimental group took 90
minutes ie one hour and a half for each session and it started after getting the
authorization of the teacher of oral expression
36
2121 The Research Design
Figure 2
Experimental Group Procedures
Figure 3
Control Group Procedures
2122 The Pre-test Phase
By the first week of March both the control group and the experimental group have
taken the pretest However before choosing the pretest and in order to avoid any problems
we have checked that the dark [l] and the clear [l] are pronounced the same in both the
American and the British accents using the Oxford Advanced Learnerrsquo s Dictionary At the
outset learners were required to read a passage derived from a short story named ldquoThe last
class-The story of the Alsationrdquo that was written by Alphonse Daudet (2001) and also short
sentences (see Appendix A) After that their voices were recorded using a software known
pre-test
treatment
(listening to audio stories)
post-test
pre-test
No treatment
( being taught without listening
to audio-stories)
post-test
37
as the ldquoPraatrdquo Besides our focus here was raised toward the duration (ie the length of a
syllable) of the dark [l] and the clear [l]
Throughout the pretest EFL learners found themselves unable to pronounce the dark
[ϯ] and clear [l] that are found in some words correctly In other words students in the control
group and the experimental group most of the time pronounce the dark [ϯ] in the same way
they pronounce the clear [l] ie they spend the same duration for pronouncing the two
allophones Also EFL learners from time to time pronounce them differently but in a wrong
way ie they spent a rime duration that it not suitable neither for the light [l] nor for the
dark[ϯ]
Figure4
Example of the Lateral Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoSawmillrdquo
2123 The Treatment Phase
At first both participants have finished the pretest Though the treatment was
approved to the experimental group only the control group did not receive the same
treatment Besides the experimental group received the treatment in four sessions and each
Rime
duration
38
session took one hour and a half (ie 90 minutes) In each session students were asked to
listen to the audio-story in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of both allophones
after that they discussed the story being listened (see Appendix B)
2124 The Control Group
Concerning the control group students were taught the oral expression without any
exposure to any kinds of treatments In contrast to students in the experimental group who
were provided with the audio stories in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of the
both allophones which are the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ]
2125 The Post-test Phase
Fundamentally after finishing the four sessions of training ie the period of
treatment a posttest was administered to both the experimental group and the control group
(see Appendix c) The posttest as we have said before is different from the pretest in order
to avoid familiarity with the same topic and to ensure the learners improvement of the dark
[ϯ] and clear [l] So the posttest is a kind of a passage which was taken from a short story
that is entitled ldquoThe Game of Billiardsrdquo which is written by Alphonse Daudet and some
words to pronounce Furthermore during the posttest we noticed a kind of development in
learnersrsquo pronunciation of the two allophones with students of the experimental group
especially in pronouncing the single words which was not the case with those learners in
the control group
39
Figure 5
Example of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquocabalrdquo
Figure 6
Example of the Clear [l] in the word ldquolabourrdquo
The rime
duration
The rime
duration
40
213 Scoring
After finishing recording the learnersrsquo pronunciation of the phoneme l of both
groups (the control and the experimental group) we have compared them first of all to the
native speakerrsquo s pronunciation and after that we have calculated the rime duration of the
two allophones ie the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] and at last we gave them scores out of six
(6) for each participant
214 Data Analysis
In this sub-section we are going to investigate the EFL learnersrsquo improvement of
pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] Though in order to make sure that EFL
learners have acquired the correct pronunciation of these two allophones we have firstly
investigated the native speakerrsquos pronunciation of the L sound ie the clear [l] and the dark
[ϯ] and we have analyzed the rime duration of two words ldquolightrdquo and ldquoballrdquo as examples
Figure7
The Native Speakerrsquos Pronunciation of the Clear [l] in the Word ldquolightrdquo
Rime
duration
41
Figure8
The Native Speakerrsquo s Pronunciation of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoballrdquo
From these two figures we have noticed that the native speaker has spent 016 s in
pronouncing an ideal clear [l] (see Figure 7) and he has spent 138 s in order to pronounce
a perfect dark [ϯ] (see Figure 8) Thus this analysis of the native speakerrsquo s voice paved the
way to our research in which we based our investigation on it
Table 1
The Experimental and the Control grouprsquo s Scores in the pre-test
Pre-test
Students
Control
group
Experimental
group
Rime
duration
(second)
C E
Rime
duration
42
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (Independent Sample t-
test)
After gathering data for the control and the experimental group and for the purpose
of comparing and contrasting between the two we have calculated the learnersrsquo scores of
pronunciation of the phoneme l and also we have calculated the rime duration of the two
1 1 2 118 127
2 2 25 095 091
3 1 1 116 102
4 25 2 106 091
5 25 25 078 089
6 15 2 078 105
7 2 15 123 091
8 1 1 117 108
9 15 1 119 119
10 15 1 1 115
11 2 15 091 116
12 15 1 12 119
13 2 15 114 1
14 15 1 108 112
15 1 1 131 112
16 2 1 088 08
17 1 1 127 107
18 1 15 107 149
19 15 1 099 115
20 1 15 114 174
Total 31 285 2149 2222
43
allophones (see Table1) Besides the data collected ie the learnersrsquo scores were used in
calculating the means of both groups in the pre-test (the mean is calculated using the SPSS
see Table 2)
Figure 9
The Pre-test Scores of the Control and the Experimental Group
Table 2
The Mean Score of the Control and the Experimental Group in the Pre-test
Test N Mean Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpre 20 15500 51042 11413
Epre 20 14250 51999 11627
44
In order to calculate the Mean () Results we have to use the following formula
=sumx N
N stands for the total numbers of students in one group
sumx stands for the total number of data that was gathered from the pre-test
1 stands for the mean of the Control Group
2 stands for the mean of the Experimental Group
So1= 31 20 =155
2= 285 20 = 142
From ldquoFigure 9rdquo we can notice that 1 is the most frequent score in both the
experimental and the control groups in the pre-test and we can confirm this information
from Table 1 Furthermore when comparing means of both groups we notice (see Table 2)
that there is only a slight difference between the two groups the mean of the control group
is 155 whereas the mean of the experimental group is 142 So we can deduce that the level
of both groups is approximately the same there is no significant difference Moreover the
rime duration of the phoneme l of the experimental group and the control group is to some
extent the same and we can notice this slight difference in Table 1 and precisely in the total
duration of pronouncing the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] by both groups and also in Table 2
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group post-test
In order to confirm if there is any kind of progression in the control grouprsquo s scores
in the post-test concerning the pronunciation of the phoneme l (see Table 3) we have
calculated the mean of the post-test (using the SPSS see Table 4) and compared it with the
mean of the pre-test besides we have calculated the rime duration that has been spent At
45
last we have mentioned the learnersrsquo scores differences between the pre-test and the post-
test to confirm the development (see Figure 10)
Table 3
Results and Scores Differences of the Control and Experimental group in the Post-test
Posttest
Students
Rime
Duration
(Second)
Cpre Cpost Epre Epost
Cpre Cpost Epre Epost
1 1 1 2 4 118 186 127 21
2 2 175 25 5 095 113 091 253
3 1 1 1 45 116 134 102 245
4 25 2 2 35 106 119 091 234
5 25 15 25 55 078 146 089 24
6 15 175 2 5 078 119 105 267
7 2 2 15 45 123 135 091 263
8 1 125 1 5 117 144 108 254
9 15 1 1 425 119 144 119 242
10 15 1 1 55 1 128 115 274
11 2 1 15 45 091 126 116 285
12 1 2 1 5 12 129 119 268
13 2 125 15 55 114 146 1 328
14 15 1 1 55 108 127 112 223
15 1 1 1 5 131 092 112 275
16 2 1 1 475 088 135 08 274
46
17 1 2 1 5 127 094 107 292
18 1 1 15 575 107 096 149 29
19 15 1 1 525 099 114 115 295
20 1 15 15 575 114 132 174 338
Total 31 27 285 9875 2149 2359 2222 535
Diff -4 +7025 +21 +3128
Mean 155 135 142 493
-02 +351
Table 4
The Mean of the control Group in the Pre-test and Post-test
Mean N Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpre 15500 20 51042 11413
Cpost 13500 20 41675 09319
In order to calculate the mean( )result of the control group in the post-test we have to apply
the following formula = sumx N
sum stands for the total number of the data collected in the post-test of the control
group
N refers to the total number of students So = 2720 = 1
47
Figure 10
The Control Group Studentsrsquo Scores Differences
A very insignificant development has been shown in both Figure 7 and Table 3
concerning learners scores in the post-test Besides only Students 681217 and 20 from a
total number of twenty have proved the improvement the mean of the control group has
decreased from 155 in the pre-test to 135 in the post-test ie the mean = -02
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group post-test (Paired Sample
T-test)
In order to identify the scoresrsquo differences between the results of the experimental
group in both the pre-test and the post-test we have calculated the mean of the post-test and
compared it with that of the pre-test to notice if there is any improvement (see Table 3) So
the mean of the post-test is shown in Table 5 below
48
Table 5
The Mean of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and Post-test
Mean N Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Epre 14250 20 51999 11627
Epost 49375 20 59535 13312
From Table 5 we notice that the mean of the experimental group increased from 142 in the
pre-test to 493 in the post-test with a mean difference of 351 ( = +351) and we can
calculate the mean ()of the post-test using the following formula
= sumxN
sum= Stands for the total number of data that was gathered from the post-test in the
Experimental Group
119925 =Stands for the total number of students
So= 9875 20 = 493
From Table 3 we notice that there is a very clear development and difference in
learnersrsquo scores in the post-test which is very different from the pre-test scores (see Figure
12) Moreover we can notice this development from Figure 11 below too It Shows that the
most frequent scores that learners of the experimental group have gained are 45 5 55 and
at last 575(the marks are out of six) that makes a big difference from the scores of the pre-
test in which the most frequent score was 1 In addition to all of this results we can add that
the sum of the rime duration of the post-test differs a lot from that of the pre-test ( = +3128
s)
49
Hence in the light of these results we can say that the period of treatment really
affects in a positive way the learnersrsquo acquisition of the pronunciation of dark [ϯ] and clear
[l] Besides this enhancement was improved in the mean difference between the pre-test and
the post-test of the experimental group Though the comparison of means in the pre-test and
post-test of the experimental group cannot be sufficient in order to make sure that listening
to audio-stories really affects positively the way learners pronounce the Phoneme l
Therefore a paired sample T-test was designed to assess the development of learnersrsquo
acquisition of dark [ϯ] and clear [l] ie to acceptreject the Alternative Hypothesis or to
accept reject the Null Hypothesis (See Table 6 below)
Figure 11
The Scores Frequencies of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and the Post-test
50
Figure 12
The Scores Differences of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and the Post-test
21431 The paired Sample T-test
In order to know if there is any significant difference between the post-test and the
pre-test scores of the same group a t-test is conducted At first the of the experimental
group is calculated through the following formula
= sumdN
refers to the Difference of mean Scores
N Studentsrsquo scores in the Experimental Group
sum refers to the total sum of the Differences Scores
So = 702520= 35125
51
The Standard deviation of the differences
Sd= radic119956120784= radicsum119941120784
119925minus 119941120784
S stands for the Variance
sum119941120784 refers to the square differences of Scores
After calculating
Sdcong 013
The Standard Error of the Mean Difference (SE)
It is calculated using the following formula
SE ()= 119878119889
radic119873cong003
Finally we calculate the t- value that will be compared to the critical P-value at the point
p=005 in order to accept the alternative hypothesis or rejecting it using the following
formula119957120784120782minus120783=
119878119864(119889) = 117
Table 6
Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Post-test Scores differences
Students Pre-test Post-test Difference
1 2 4 2
2 25 5 25
3 1 45 35
4 2 35 15
5 25 55 3
6 2 5 3
52
7 15 45 3
8 1 5 4
9 1 425 325
10 1 55 45
11 15 45 3
12 1 5 4
13 15 55 4
14 1 55 45
15 1 5 4
16 1 475 375
17 1 5 4
18 15 575 425
19 1 525 425
20 15 575 425
Total 285 9875 7025
Table 7
The Paired Sample T-test for the Experimental Group
Paired Sample T-Test
Epre
Scores-
Epost
Scores
Mean Std
deviati-
on
Std-
Error
Mean
95Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
t Df Sig
(2-
tailed)
Lower Upper
-351250 83695 18715 -390421 -312079 -18768 19 000
53
After calculating the mean of the experimental group in both the pre-test and the post-
test (see Table 5) a mean difference of +351 was noticed Therefore in order to prove if
the development that was noticed in the post-test scores as well as the mean occurred
because of the influence of listening to the audio-stories which is the independent variable
or happened only by coincidence
Hence to confirm the Alternative Hypothesis and reject the Null Hypothesis or vice
versa the t-value (117) was calculated in order to be compared with the critical- value at
the point p=005 and at the level of t=19 Besides p-value (0000) is less than 005 which
means that there a real difference between the learnersrsquo scores in the pre-test (before the
period of treatment) and the leanersrsquo scores in the post-test (after the period of treatment)
Consequently we can deduce that the improvement that was achieved by the experimental
group in the post test did not occur by chance actually it occurred because of listening to
audio-stories that has a positive effect on learnersrsquo pronunciation of both the clear [l] and the
dark [ϯ]
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-test
Table 8
The Mean of the Control Group and the Experimental Group in the Post-test
N Mean Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpost 20 13500 41675 09319
Epost 20 49375 59535 13312
54
To calculate the mean () we use the following Formula
= sum119961 N
So 1= sum119961 N
1 refers to the mean of the control group in the post-test
N refers to the total number of students in the control Group
sum119961 stands for the sum of scores of the control group in the post-test
1= 2720 = 135
2 = sum119961 N
2 stands for the mean of the experimental group in the post-test
N refers to the total number of participants in the experimental group
sum119961 Stands for the sum of scores of the experimental group in the post-test
So 2= 987520 = 493
Figure13
The Scores Frequencies of the Control Group and the Experimental Group in the Post-
test
55
From the previous analysis of the mean of both the control and the experimental
group in the pre-test (see Table 3) we have noticed that the level of students in both groups
is almost the same and there is only a slight difference between them Though in the post-
test the scores of the experimental group has increased and as result the mean average has
increased too after the treatment phase for the experimental group (from 142 to 493) but it
decreased for the control group who were taught without being exposed to any kind of
treatment (see Table 8 and Figure 10) Besides we can notice the development also in the
rime duration in studentsrsquo pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] of the experimental
group in the post-test which is not the case with the control group
21441 An independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the post-
test
In order to investigate if there is any significant change between two diverse groups
who have run the same test a t-test is used to show this significance difference In our case
we want to inspect if there is any significant variation between the experimental group and
the control group in the post-test and whether we accept the Alternative Hypothesis or
rejecting the Null Hypothesis So depending on the following steps a t-test was calculated
using the following formula
t= 119883 119888minus 119890
radicpartx2
Nx+
1205971199102
119873119910
partx2 = sum(119883 minus 119890 )N
= 306
1205971199102 =sum(119883 minus 119888 )2119873
= 160
119888 the mean of the control group in the post-test
56
119890 the mean of the experimental group in the post-test
partx2 the variation of the experimental group
1205971199102 the variation of the control group
So t= 493minus 135
radic306
20+
160
20
=745
t-value= 745
Depending on the t-value (745) that was calculated we compare it with the critical p-
value at p=005 therefore we have two options
1- If t-value is greater than the critical p-value (t-valuegtcritical-value) we accept the
alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
2- If t-value is less than the critical-value (t-valueltcritical-value) we accept the null
hypothesis and refuse the alternative hypothesis
we can say that
t-value=745 745 gt005
We accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
p-value= 0000 0000 lt005
We accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
Depending on these results we can say that there is a statistical evidence that the
associated sampling means are significantly different In other words there is a real change
between the experimental group and the control group in the post test at the level of
pronunciation due to the positive influence of the independent variable which is ldquolistening
to the audio-storiesrdquo Therefore students of the experimental group showed a significant
57
progress at the level of pronunciation and precisely the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
pronunciation
215 Discussion of the Results
The current research has investigated the influence of listening to audio-stories on
acquiring accurate pronunciation of both allophones the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] At the
start the pre-test has proved that learners of both groups ie the control and the
experimental group have the same level through calculating their means The control group
scored a mean of 155 while the experimental group scored a mean of 142 and also they
have got near scores concerning the rime duration of the L sound So these estimated scores
helped us to prove and confirm our hypothesis that states the positive effect of listening to
audio-stories on the level of pronunciation accuracy In the post-test students of the
experimental group showed a significant development compared to the control group and
this is due to the period of treatment that occurred in the oral session Besides the mean
score of the experimental group has been raised from 142 to 493 and from a sum of rime
durations of 2222 s to 535 s while the mean score of the control group has been decreased
from 155 to 135 and increased from a sum of rime durations of 2149 s to 2359 s In
addition a t-test was designed to show if there is any statistical significant difference
between the experimental group and the control group in the post-test the results show the
positive influence of the treatment phase on the dependent variable (pronunciation
accuracy)
216 Pedagogical implication
The present research evidenced the positive influence of being exposed to the target
language pronunciation as it is produced by the native speakers through the exposure to the
audio-stories Therefore we can state a set of pedagogical implications
58
The present study shows that the more students get involved in listening practices
the more they will be proficient in the pronunciation of a various English sounds ie
developing their speaking proficiency
Audio-stories help EFL learners improve their pronunciation as well as to develop
their listening skills
Using multimedia devices (audio-stories in our case) in learning classrooms
enhances the learnersrsquo motivation to get involved in the learning process
Audio-stories can be used by EFL teachers in order to make learners attentive and
interested in the lecture being presented
Audio-stories provide learners with the chance to listen again and again to the story
in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of a given word
Conclusion
The present research examined the effect of listening to audio stories on fostering the
target language pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] The native speakerrsquo s
pronunciation of both allophones was analyzed first through analyzing the rime duration in
order to compare it with the EFL learnersrsquo articulation That is to say the analysis is based
on the native speakerrsquo s rime duration In addition a significant development in learnersrsquo
pronunciation of the dark[ϯ]and the clear [l] was proved which lead to accept the alternative
hypothesis that states listening to audio-stories has a positive effect on acquiring accurate
pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] by EFL learners
59
General Conclusion
The present study is based on the investigation of the effectiveness of listening to
audio stories on acquiring accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] by EFL
learners At the beginning we have stated the problem which was that the Algerian EFL
learners in the English department at LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi University face a lot of difficulties
concerning the acquisition of the accurate pronunciation of The phoneme l Subsequently
this dissertation tackled the importance of listening to audio-stories on enhancing EFL
learnersrsquo pronunciation accuracy
Our research was tackled in two main chapters The first chapter divided into two
main sections In the first section we tackled the point of listening to audio stories whereas
the second section discussed the reflection of listening to audio stories on the pronunciation
of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] The second chapter represented the practical part the field
work The analyzed data showed that there is a positive relationship between the independent
variable and the dependent variable That is to say there was a development in the
acquisition of the phoneme l which lead us to accept the alternative hypothesis and reject
the null hypothesis
60
Limitations of the Study
Limited sources ie most of the sources that were available were not relevant to our
study
Time constraints this study needs much more time to conduct a better result
Students absences in the pre-test and the post-test and others did not receive the
treatment at all
The lack of interest in the beginning of the treatment session
61
List of References
Alonso SR (2012) The importance of Teaching Listening and Speaking Skills Diagravectica de Lingua
y la Literatura Facultad de Education
Brown S (2006) Teaching Listening Cambridge Cambridge University press
Coulter C Michael C ampPoynor L (2007) Storytelling as Pedagogy An Unexpected Outcome
of narrative inquiry 104-105
Daudet A (2001) Five Short Stories Copyright copy Bartlebycom Inc
Downs L J (2008) Listening Skills Training ASTD press
Eckert J (2016) Audio Storytelling in Todayrsquos Visual World The necessary Components of a
successful sounds scape for an audio play
Gilakjani A P (2012) A study of Factors Affecting EFL learnersrsquo English Pronunciation Learning
and the Strategy for instruction Lahijani Iran 2(3) 119-128
Hamer J (1998) How to teach English An Introduction to the Practice of English Language
Teaching English Language Teaching Harlow Longman
Hendrickson J (1992) Storytelling for foreign language and linguistics Washington Dc Eric
learning house on language and linguistic [ Eric No E0355-824]
Kline J A (1996) Listening Effectively Air University Press
Madden M and Moore Z (1997) ESL Studentsrsquo Opinions about instruction in Pronunciation
Texas 3(2) 15-32
Mendelson D J (1994) Learning to Listen Dominie Press
Nasreddin K (2010) The Influence of Background Knowledge on Second Language Listening
Comprehension Constantine Constantine University
62
Poposka V p (2016) Pronunciation Proficiency Level Problematic Areas of Tertiary as a Foreign
Language International Journal of Science and Basic and Applied Research
Richards J C (1990) The Language Teaching Matrix Cambridge Cambridge University Pess
Rubin SS (2015) Tools for Creating Audio Stories scholarship University of California
Roney RC (1996) Storytelling in the classroom Some Theoretical Thoughts Wayne State
University Education Detroit Michigan
Sproat R ampFujimura O (1993) Allophonic variation of the English l and its Implication for
phonetic Implementation Academic Press
Torky SA (2006) The Effectiveness of a Task-Based Instruction Program in Developing English
Language Speaking Skills of Secondary Stage Students Collegersquo s girl Ain Shams
University
Ummah A (2014) The Effectiveness of Nursery Rhymes to Facilitate Studentsrsquo of Pronunciation of
the Diphthong Education and Teacher Training Faculty Walisongo State institution for
Islamic Studies
Wang M (2016) Research on the Acoustic Realization of Lateral in Sundanese International
Journal of Engineering Research and Development 12(10) 44-48
Ziane R (2012) The Role of Listening Comprehension in Improving EFL learners Speaking Skill
Biskra University of Biskra
Zhang Q (2009) Affecting Factors of Native-Like Pronunciation A Literature Review Ching-Ang
University 27(2) 33-52
63
Abrahamson CE (1998) Storytelling as a pedagogical tool in high Education 118(3) Retrieved
from
httpwwwquestiacomlibraryjournal1G1-20494609storytelling-as-a-pedagogical-tool-
inhighereducation
AMP Research Center (2012) Retrieved from
Httpwwwncertrmqeduauconference2001indexhtal
Backley P (nd) Improving your English Pronunciation Retrieved from
httptoefluobabyloneduiqpaperspearson-2015-1269610pdf
Chaney (1998) Teaching Speaking Retrieved from
httpitesljorgtechniqueKayi-teaching speakinghtml
English Club (nd) What is listening Retrieved from
httpwwwenglishclubcom
Miller E (2011) Theories of story and storytelling Retrieved from
httpwww-storytellingandvideoconferencingcom167pdf
Pederson E M (1995) Storytelling and the art of listening English teaching forum 33(1)2-5
Retrieved from httpExchangesStategovForumuolsn01p2htm
Remen R N (nd) Listening Skills Retrieved from
httpwwwskillsyouneedcomipslistening-Skills-html
Rock R (nd) 5 Wonderful Websites for Engaging ESL Audio Short Stories Retrieved from
httpwwwFluentucomenglisheducatorsblogeslaudio-short-stories
Seifert S (nd) Follow Along 6 Engaging ESL Audio Stories with worksheet ideas Retrieved from
httpwwwFluentucomenglisheducatorblogeslaudio-stories
Saricoban A (2004) The Teaching of listening The Internet TESL journal
httpitesljorgArticlesSaricobn-listeninghtml
Subhi s (2016) Differences between Hearing and listening Retrieved from
httpkeydifferencescomdifference-between-hearning-and-listeninghtml
64
Shen CD (2010) 3 reasons why listening skills are very important in Todayrsquo s Business World
Retrieved from httpezinearticlescom3-Reasons-why-listening-skills-are-very-important-in-
Todays-Business-worldampid=5436504
the adapted audio-stories that were used in the period of treatment
(httpwwwmanythingsorgvoastories)
Appendix A A pre-test
The Last class- The Story of the Alsatian
I was very late for school that morning and I was terribly afraid of being Scolded
especially as Monsieur Hamel had told us that he should examine us on participles and I
did not know the first thing about them For a moment I thought of saying away from
school and wandering about the fields It was such a warm lovely day I could hear the
blackbirds whistling on the edge of the wood and in the ripper field behind the sawmill
the Prussians going through their drill All that was much more tempting to me than the
rules concerning participles but I had the strength to resist and I ran as fast as I could to
school
Sentences
You old fool they will kill you if you always trouble them
People are awfully lazy in the middle of July
Appendix B A post-test
The Game of Billiards
The marshalrsquo s opponent is a young captain of the staff belted and curled and light-
gloved who is in the first rank of billiard-players and capable of beating all the marshals
on earth but he has the tact to keep a respectful distance behind his chief and devotes his
energies to the task of not winning and at the same time not losing too easily He is what is
called an officer with a future
Read the following words
1 Cabal
2 Labour
3 Shell
Appendix c Treatment period
I Session one (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquothe Secret Gardenrdquo (Chapter One) By Frances Hodgson
Burnett
II Session two (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Secret Gardenrdquo (Chapter two) By Frances Hodgson
Burnett
III Session three (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Lady or the Tigerrdquo by Frank R Stockton
IV Session four (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Lady in Blackrdquo By Eleanor Porter
Reacutesumeacute
La preacutesente eacutetude vise agrave eacutetudier lrsquoarticulation de dark [ϯ] et clear [l] dans les classes de la
langue anglaise afin dameacuteliorer la prononciation des apprenants Lrsquoeacutetude actuelle repose
sur lhypothegravese que leacutecoute des histoires audio a un effet positif sur lameacutelioration de la
prononciation des apprenants EFL avec un accent particulier sur le dark [ϯ] et clear [l] Afin
datteindre lobjectif de cette recherche une eacutetude quasi-expeacuterimentale a eacuteteacute assigneacute en
deux groupe group teacutemoin et group expeacuterimentale Chaque groupe contenait 20 eacutelegraveves
Lexpeacuterience a pris six seacuteances un preacute-test une peacuteriode de traitement (4 seacuteances) et un
posttest En conclusion les reacutesultats obtenus montrent que les eacutetudiants qui sont exposeacute agrave
la langue cible et qui eacutecoutent au locuteur natif agrave lrsquoaide audio pour ameacuteliorer leurs
prononciations ont montreacute qursquoil y a un deacuteveloppement ameacutelioration au niveau de
compeacutetence des apprenants en particulier et en matiegravere de parole en geacuteneacuterale
Les mots cleacutes audio-histoire Compeacutetence drsquoeacutecoute prononciation dureacute de travaille
ملخص
استخدام القصص الصوتية من اجل المساعدة على اكتساب النطق السليم والدقيق تهدف هذه الدراسة الى التعرف على مدى فعالية
الأجنبية حيث تستند الدراسة الحالية على فرضية مفادها ان الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية له تأثير إيجابي على تحسين ةللغ
استغرقت التجربة ست ق المنهج التجريبيمن أجل تحقيق هدف هذه الدراسة تم تطبينطق الطلاب الأجانب للغة الإنجليزية
جلسات قسمت كالاتي أربع حصص معالجة سبقت باختبارات قبلية ولحقت باختبارات بعدية أجريت الدراسة في قسم اللغة
طالبا من طلاب السنة ثانية جامعي قسم الطلبة الى فوجين حيث 40الإنجليزية بجامعة العربي بن مهيدي وقد شملت الدراسة
ى معالجة لمدة أربع حصص من خلال الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية في حين لم يتعرض الفوج الثاني خضع أحد الفوجين ال
الى نفس المعالجة بعد ذلك تم اجراء الاختبارات البعدية واعتمادا على النتائج المتحصل عليها ثبت ان التعرض الى اللغة
جابي على اكتساب النطق الدقيق للغة المستهدفة الا وهي اللغة الأجنبية عن طريق الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية له تأثير إي
الأجنبية
القصص الصوتية النطق مدة الموجات الصوتيةالكلمات المفتاحية المهارة السمعية
2
Introduction
Acquiring comprehensible pronunciation for EFL learners is one of the key supplies
for language proficiency Nowadays mastering the foreign language is the main concern
that most of EFL learners share This high attention raises due to the exposure to the target
language and to the complications that learners may face at whatever time they want to
communicate whether with foreigners or with one another using for instance the English
language Besides listening is not only a matter of innate ability but it is a matter of how to
develop that inborn capacity in order to improve the learnersrsquo pronunciation accuracy
Accordingly audio-stories are used to help developing the learnersrsquo listening skill and to
improve their pronunciation accurateness Furthermore using audio stories in teaching EFL
learners help to evidence that an effective listening process leads to an effective articulation
1 Statement of the Problem
Generally speaking there are various factors that affect learnersrsquo acquisition of the
target language pronunciation The Algerian EFL learners encounter many problems
concerning articulation because EFLESL learners do not have much opportunities to be
exposed to the real language as it is produced by the native speakers in the classroom Since
English is a foreign language learners avoid using it outside the classroom which is resulted
in a bad pronunciation Therefore EFL teachers are required to use audio-stories inside the
classrooms in order to develop studentsrsquo second language and to improve their pronunciation
accuracy
3
2 Aim of the Study
The current study deals with the learnersrsquo pronunciation difficulties of the dark [ϯ]
and the clear [l] It aims at investigating the effect of listening to audio-stories on fostering
the target languagersquos accurate pronunciation of both allophones
3 Research Question
The present study seeks to answer the following question
Does listening to audio-stories help EFL learners to acquire the accurate
pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
4 Research Hypothesis
In order to answer the research question the subsequent hypotheses are framed
H1 The EFL learners will acquire accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the
clear [l] through listening to audio-stories
H0 Listening to audio stories will not help EFL learners to acquire accurate
pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
5 Means of the Research
In order to achieve the objective of our research a quasi-experimental design is
administered to second year LMD students of English Department at LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi
University The selected sample (40 students from 210) consists of two groups the control
group and the experimental group Both groups will be pretested in order to assess their
pronunciation accuracy level The pre-test is a kind of short story and small sentences that
contain the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] which learners have to read After that the Praat will be
used in order to record their voices Later on the experimental group will take the treatment
for four sessions in which they will listen to the audio stories each session will take one
4
hour and a half However the control group will not receive any kind of treatment (they will
be taught in a normal way without listening to audio stories) Furthermore a post-test which
is different from that of the pre-test will be administered to both groups in order to test their
pronunciation development
6 Structure of the Study
The present study is divided into two chapters The first chapter is a theoretical one
and it is composed of two sections The first section is about listening to audio stories in
which we define the process of listening and mention the main differences between listening
and hearing After that we discuss the reasons of listening its types and processes Later
on the second sub-section deals with audio stories At the start we introduce a brief history
about the notion of audio stories and then we introduce stories in general Afterward we
discuss the characteristics of audio stories their use and advantages The second section
deals with the pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] at the beginning we shed light
on the definition of speaking skill and its sub-competencies After that a part of this section
deals with the definition of pronunciation and its importance Besides it introduces factors
that affect pronunciation The second chapter deals with the field work in which it sheds
light on collecting data presenting and analyzing it and at the end interpreting results
5
Section One Listening to Audio Stories
Introduction
11 Definition of Listening Skill
12 Differences between Listening and Hearing
13 Reasons of Listening
14 Types of Listening
141 Extensive Listening
142 Intensive Listening
15 Listening Processes
151 Bottom-up Process
152 Top down Process
16 Brief History of Audio-Stories
17 Definition of Storytelling
18 Definition of Audio-Stories
19 Characteristics of a Good Audio-Story
110 The Use of Audio-Stories in ESL Classrooms
111 Advantages of Using Audio-Stories
Conclusion
6
Introduction
Nowadays there is a great emphasis put on listening skill since it plays a significant
role in teaching and acquiring the foreign language So this high attention raises because of
the difficulties that learners face whenever they want to communicate thatrsquos why many
researchers shed light on Audio Stories as a tool that can help in developing learnersrsquo
listening process as well as improving their speaking skills and precisely their
pronunciation
The main concern of this section is listening to audio stories First of all we shed
light on the first part which is listening process At the start we need to define listening
skills according to different scholars later on we tackle the main differences between
listening and hearing Also reasons of listening its types and processes Then the second
part of this section deals with the audio stories In the beginning we introduce a brief history
of audio stories and later on the definition of stories in general After that we present the
meaning of audio stories in a specific way and its main characteristics Lastly this section
highlights the use and the advantages of audio stories inside EFL classrooms
11 Definition of Listening Skill
ldquoThe most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen Just to
listen Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attentionrdquo (Remen
2011)
Listening is an important skill in learning and acquiring a foreign language Through
this process learners will be able to receive and understand information According to
Downs (2008) ldquothe word of listening is defined as making an effort to hear something to
pay attention or heedrdquo (p 1) In other words Downs (2008) argues that listening is the way
7
learners pay attention to what is being said In her opinion listening is an active process that
includes using a variety of processes which are attending understanding interpreting
responding and remembering Moreover Mendelsohn (1994) demonstrates listening as ldquothe
ability to understand the spoken language of native speakersrdquo (p 64) To be precise
Mendelsohn defines listening as the listenerrsquo s ability to recognize the native speakerrsquo s
speech in terms of accent pitch intonation vocabulary grammar and trying to interpret the
native speakerrsquo s messages
Saricoban (1999) states that listening is onersquos capacity to realise what is being said
and to recognize the intended meaning He sheds light on two important points the first
point concerns understanding the speakerrsquos pronunciation syntax and lexis whereas the
second point deals with grasping the meaning Willis (1981) lists a series of micro-skills of
listening which she calls enabling skills They are
Predicting what people are going to talk about
Guessing at unknown words or phrases without panic
Using onersquo s own knowledge of the subject to help one understand
Identifying relevant points rejecting irrelevant information
Retaining relevant points (note-taking summarizing)
Recognizing discourse markers eg well oh another thing is now finally
etc
Recognizing cohesive devices e g such as and which including linking
words pronouns references etc
Understanding different intonation patterns and uses of stress etc which give
clues to meaning and social setting
8
Understanding inferred information eg speakerrsquo s attitude or intentions
(p134
Furthermore listening is an important source of knowledge It is recognized as the
ability of transforming and interpreting the spoken messages that are received by the ears
from the daily life situations Yet listening is a very hard task It requires the learnersrsquo mental
concentration which is something difficult because the human brain can simply lose attention
That is to say listening skill can save learners from communication breakdowns and
increases their motivation to learn the foreign language and speak fluently but only if they
work harder to develop their own listening skills
12 Differences between Listening and Hearing
Listening and hearing are two different activities Kline (1996) emphasizes the
differences between these two concepts to make an effective listening He states that
ldquohearing is the attachment of meaning to the sound Hearing is passive listening is activerdquo
(p7) In other words active listening is a successful element that affects learnersrsquo verbal and
nonverbal behaviors
Surbhi (2016) states the differences between listening and hearing On the one hand
he defines hearing as the natural capacity that happens unconsciously It aids to identify
sounds via the ears Also hearing is a process that permits receiving sound vibrations and
it is one of the five senses On the other hand Surhbi (2016) defines listening skill as the
process of receiving and interpreting messages it occurs consciously
13 Reasons of Listening
Learners through being exposed to different English accents and in any recorded
materials such as radio TV or tapes they want to understand and realize what is being said
9
(Harmer 1998) According to him listening is a very effective process that helps learners to
get a better pronunciation In other words as much as they are exposed to the real language
as much as they will recognize its features
Also Shen (2010) demonstrates that listening skills help to improve understanding
and aids people to become aware of their listening skills So listening plays a vital role in
language learning and acquisition It is an essential skill that bridges the line between
meaning and messages in order to avoid misunderstanding between individuals
14 Types of listening
Generally speaking the listening skill plays a significant role in teaching EFL
classrooms This process guides EFL learners to an effective communication Therefore the
listening skill can be classified into two different types Extensive listening and intensive
listening
141 Extensive Listening
Extensive listening has to do with the learnerrsquos fluency In other words the learner has
to master vocabulary grammarhellipetc and later on he must combine them together to form
a meaningful conversation So fluency depends on the listenerrsquos ability of understanding
whatever he is exposed to weather in an audio tape a text a songhellipetc
Harmer (1998) states that extensive listening is the way students practice their own
listening outside the classroom Students should enjoy listening to an audio material because
they can understand them without the teacherrsquo s help Also students can depend on CDs and
tapes so that they are going to have another chance to listen to their course books dialogues
that they have already provided to them inside the classroom In addition learners must be
10
stimulated to listen to the English language films with sub-titles because this helps students
to acquire the foreign language
In brief extensive listening according to the Extensive Reading-Central (2012) includes
Listening to massive amounts of text
Text which learners can understand reasonably smoothly
high levels of comprehension
Listening without being constrained by pre-set questions or tasks
Listening at or below onersquo s comfortable fluent listening ability
So extensive listening aims to make learners enjoy developing their listening skills
142 Intensive Listening
In contrast to extensive listening intensive listening aims at developing the learnersrsquo
specific listening skills and more precisely to raise the learnersrsquo attention about the spoken
language Intensive listening occurs weather in classrooms or laboratories It exists mostly
when teachers guide their students and provide them with help concerning listening
problems that they face and try to highlight them (Harmer 2007)
So intensive listening according to the Extensive Reading-central (2012) is
Listening for specific information
Listening for the exact words of a phrase or expression
Listening for details
Listening to mimic a text
11
15 Listening Processes
In listening process addressees process information using two distinct strategies
This is devoted to as bottom-up and top-down
151 Bottom-up Process
Richards (1990) states that ldquobottom-up processing refers the use of incoming data as
a source of information about the meaning of a messagerdquo (p 50) According to him Bottom-
up process deals with the perception of sentence components ie recognizing the meaning
of sounds words sentences clauseshellipetc till reaching the meaning of the whole message
152 Top-down Process
Richards (190) states that ldquoTop-down processing on the other hand refers to the use
of background knowledge in understanding the meaning of a messagerdquo (p 51) In contrast
to Bottom-up process Richards (1990) points out to the Top-down as the process of using
the listenersrsquo previous knowledge to attain meaning as whole not attaining the meaning of
individual words
16 Brief History of Audio-Stories
Eckert (2016) states that ldquoAudio storytelling in the form of radio drama has been
around for almost a centuryrdquo (p 8) That is to say audio stories in the previous decades took
the form of radio drama Radio drama attained extensive admiration within an era of its
original growth in the 1920rsquo s At that time radio drama played a central role for being the
foundation of people entertainment However by the 1950rsquo s people shifted their attention
to the new invention which was the small screen ie the television As a result of the
invention of this new device audio drama no more attracts the spectatorsrsquo attention it lost
its popularity
12
Though in 2010 radio drama came back to stage due to the developments shown in
digital soundtrack and internet spreading According to Eckert (2016) ldquoRadio and audio
storytelling has slowly started gaining popularity again thanks to the different online
platforms brought forth by digitalizationrdquo (p 8)
17 Definition of Storytelling
Today stories are a fundamental part of our societies and cultures Telling and
listening to stories is an ancient tradition and common activity that bonds different olden
civilizations together Also stories are an essential component and an ordinary process that
many people used to do on every occasion It is the art of telling factual or fictional stories
Besides stories bring legacy into life because our ancestors told them and people today
only retell them
Moreover listening to stories enhances the learnersrsquo foreign language It aids them
to improve their speaking skills Pederson (1995) states that ldquoin dealing with stories learners
have an experience with the powerful real language of personal communicationrdquo (p 2)
Additionally Pederson (1995) emphasizes the role of telling stories in preserving heritage
he argues that ldquooral stories are a direct expression of a literary and cultural heritage and
through them that heritage is appreciated understood and kept aliverdquo (1995 p2) In other
words stories bond between the past and the present It is considered to be a vital feature of
humankind Furthermore Schram (1994 as cited in Coulter Michael amp Poynor 2007)
points out
A story is a beautiful means of teaching religion values history traditions and
customs a creative method of introducing characters and places an imaginative way
13
to instill hope and resourceful thinking Stories help us to understand who we are and
show us what legacies to transmit to future generations (p 104-105)
So Schram (1994) highlights the role of stories in bridging the gap between the teaching
process and culture
Likewise Abrahamson (1998) sheds light on the role that storytelling plays in the
learning process He states that telling stories plays a significant role in improving learnersrsquo
understanding Besides Abrahamson argues that stories can afford a suitable context that
the listener can use it as a base to perceive the tellerrsquos point of view Moreover Roney (1996)
demonstrates
In its most basic form storytelling is a process where a person (the teller) using
vocalization narrative structure and mental imagery communications with other
humans (the audience) who also use mental imagery and in turn communicate back
to the teller primarily via body language and facial expression (p 2)
By this definition storytelling is the combination of art procedures and ways of
communication
18 Definition of Audio-Stories
The term audio-story is a combination of two words audio and story By definition
audio is sound within the aural range accessible to humankinds Miller (2011) states that
ldquostories are pieces of art and can serve as a basis of gamesrdquo (p 1) So Audio-story is a very
operative means for teaching EFL learners It aids to make the course persuasive Nowadays
14
audio stories can be used to many reasons and the most important one is the exposure to the
real language of native speakers by EFL learners In addition Rubin (2015) points out
ldquoaudio stories are an engaging form of communication that combines speech and music into
a compelling narrativesrdquo (p 1) That is to say audio stories are the process of telling stories
through sound and sound effects only Furthermore Audio-stories are broadly accredited to
progresses in portable equipment for instance smart phones tablets and multimedia
entertainment systems Thus EFL learners find it easy to listen to those audio stories
19 Characteristics of a Good Audio-Story
According to Seifert (nd) finding good audio-stories that suit the EFL learnersrsquo
needs is something very important and it is a very hard task to do However these are some
of the necessary features that EFL teachers must take into consideration whenever they want
to select a good audio-story for their students
Skill Level
Taking into account the learnersrsquo English level before choosing any audio-story For
instance if the audio-story contains a difficult language learners will lose confidence and
as a result they stop listening to the audio-story So determining the learnersrsquo level is very
important
Student Interest
EFL teachers must find out their studentsrsquo interests and normally each teacher has
an idea about this issue So if the audio-stories do not fit the learnersrsquo needs the EFL
teacherrsquos goal from that audio-story will be lost
15
Audio Length
The length of the audio-story plays a significant role in keeping concentration in the
ESL schoolrooms Listening for much time to the audio storytelling leads to boredom As a
result the learnersrsquo s brains lose attention However teachers can use long audio-stories but
they should know how to put it into parts and use classroom discussions to avoid boredom
So these three characteristics aid to develop EFL learnersrsquo listening skills
110 The Use of Audio-Stories in ESL Classrooms
According to Rock (nd) there are several listening practices that ESLEFL teachers
can provide to their students These are samples of activities that can work hand in hand with
audio-stories
Fill in The Blanks
Here EFL teacher provides his students with a written passage that is taken from an
audio-story but he removes some words Later on the teacher asks his learners to listen to
the audio-story after reading that passage and at the same time fill in the blanks
Mastery Memory
This activity has to do with learnerrsquos memory In this kind of practices teachers
provide learners with an audio-story and ask them for example to write down the main
events of the story but when they finish listening to it Teachers in this activity have to make
sure that students do not write them during the listening of the audio-story So the main goal
of the exercise is to reinforce learnerrsquos memory
16
Order the Events
At the start teachers give their learners a series of events that are chosen from an
audio-story Then the teacher gives them some time to read them After that learners listen
to the audio- storytelling and put those events in a sequential order
Buzz Words
This exercise aims to reach the learnerrsquo s vocabulary In this practice teachers
provide learners with a number of words then they ask them to check their meanings before
Afterward teacher turns the lesson into a game ie EFL learners listen to the audio-story
and whenever they hear a word (the buzz word) from that list they have to raise their hands
or clap them
Multiple Choice
This activity deals with providing learners with a number of questions followed by
three answers these questions can be definitions or name of characterhellip etc Then learners
have to listen to the audio-storytelling and pick the write response After teachers play again
the audio-story to correct their answers
Character Quiz
In this practice EFL learners have to listen to the whole story Then the teacher gives
his class a question sheet that contains a list of character qualities and decision and ask them
to choose the suitable one for the leading role
Plot Quiz
This activity has to do with team competition After listening to the whole audio-
storytelling once or twice the teacher divides his class into two to four groups where the
17
teacher plays the role of the coach Several questions that have a relation to the story will be
quizzed to each team if they get the answer they have a point if they fail to answer correctly
the question moves to the next group
Beginning Middle End
After listening to the audio storytelling the teacher splits the classroom into groups
and each group contains no more than four students Later he asks each group to write the
main events of the beginning the middle and the end of the story Finally they discuss them
together
111 Advantages of Using Audio-Stories
Audio-stories play an essential role in teaching the target language Audio-
storytelling is an impeccable implement for any ESL classrooms First of all audio-stories
afford learners with the exposure to the real language as it is produced by the native speakers
ie a natural voice Furthermore Rodero (2012 as cited in Eckert2016) claimed that
ldquoAudio stories that use sound effects and sound shots enhance the learnerrsquo s attention and
creation of visual images significantly compared to those without themrdquo (p 16) That is to
say using audio-stories in ESL classrooms develops learnersrsquo listening skills and provides
them with an imaginary trip inside their minds Also audio- stories enhance learnersrsquo
pronunciation since the learner is exposed to the natural voice In addition EFL teacher can
use audio storytelling as a guideline to his lecture or the opposite he can use it at the end of
the course as a reward
Moreover the EFL teachers depend on audio-stories in improving learnersrsquo
vocabulary through memorization Learners can enrich their vocabulary whenever they
listen to those stories because each time they learn some new words Besides learners can
18
listen to them outside the schoolrooms because they are portable they can upload them in
their mobiles and listen to them any time anywhere Finally audio stories can raise interest
for those learners who are not attracted to reading
Conclusion
In conclusion listening to audio stories aids EFL learners to improve the target
language pronunciation That is to say students will be exposed to the real language as it is
created by the native speakers Besides using audio stories in ESLEFL classrooms increases
the learnersrsquo interest toward learning the foreign language and also enhances their speaking
skills
19
Section two Reflection on Pronunciation
Introduction
121 Definition of Speaking Skill
122 Speaking Sub-Competencies Skills
123 Definition of Pronunciation
124 Importance of Pronunciation
125 Factors Affecting Pronunciation
1251 Internal Factors
1252 External Factors
Conclusion
20
Introduction
Generally speaking being able to speak the target language fluently and accurately
seems to be very interesting to all EFLESL learners Though students face a lot of troubles
and obstacles when communicating with each other or with native speakers and this is due
to mispronunciation misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the hearer which leads to the
communication breakdowns Furthermore learnersrsquo mispronunciation occurs due to various
factors that affect their oral language and as a consequence it affects their speaking
proficiency
In this section we have dealt with the speaking process and precisely
ldquopronunciationrdquo At the start a slight attention is put upon the definition of speaking skills
and its sub-competencies After that a part of this section is devoted to define pronunciation
and highlight its importance Moreover this section demonstrates some factors that affect
pronunciation which are classified into internal factors and external factors Finally another
point about the English consonant ldquoLrdquo has been raised
121 Definition of Speaking Skill
Mastering the foreign language is the aim of each EFL learner Speaking is one of
the most important language skills it plays a significant role in sharing ideas and thoughts
between individuals Torky (2006) defines speaking as follows ldquoIt is the means through
which learners can communicate with others to achieve certain goals or to express their
opinions intentions hopes and viewpointsrdquo (p 13) Also Ziane (2012) states that ldquoit is the
way by which learners can contribute and be part of oral communicationrdquo (p21) So the
main goal of EFL learners is to be able to speak the target language in order to strengthen
their verbal communication
21
Moreover Chaney (1998) argues that ldquospeaking is the process of building and
sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols in a variety of contextsrdquo
(p 13) From Chaneyrsquo s definition of speaking we deduce that speaking has an important
role in learning the foreign language and improving EFL learnersrsquo communicative skill
However there are some researchers who describe speaking as a hard task They
argue that EFL learners find it so hard to master the foreign language and face a lot of
difficulties even after studying it many years at schools Bueno and Mclaren (2006 as cited
in Alonso 2011) point out
Speaking is one of the most difficult skills language learners have to face In spite of
this it has traditionally been forced into the background while we teachers of
English have spent all our classroom time trying to teach our students how to write
to read and sometimes even to listen in a L2 because grammar has a long written
tradition (p 321)
On the whole the speaking skill is a very important process that EFL learners need to acquire
in order to master and shape the target language
122 Speaking Sub CompetenciesSkills
Torky (2006) claims that learners must be able to express themselves in a given
context in order to be proficient in mastering the foreign language She points out to several
speaking skills or competencies that help to achieve this aim which are
22
Linguistic Competence
Torky (2006) states that learners must be skillful in using pronunciation ie their
pronunciation must be clear In addition students have to use correct grammar and
proper lexis
Discourse Competence
In the beginning learners have to be able to use a well-organized discourse In other
words the discourse must be clear and unified Besides they have to be competent in
handling discussion and cooperating efficiently in order to avoid the communication
breakdowns
Pragmatic Competence
EFL learners have to be proficient in using a variety of functions that are related to
the same context and register
Fluency
Speaking smoothly without any complications and with a suitable degree of speech
speed
123 Definition of Pronunciation
According to Gilakjani (2012) ldquopronunciation is an integral part of foreign language
since it directly affects learnersrsquo communicative competence as well as performancerdquo
(p119) That is to say pronunciation plays a fundamental role in learning and improving the
target language Besides Poposka (2016) argues that pronunciation is the key factor of
language in its universal notion and she claims that pronunciation should be defined in
23
relation to different perspectives Poposka (2016) states some of the various points of view
concerning pronunciation definition which are
- The act or manner of pronouncing uttering of speech
- A way of speaking a word especially a way that is accepted or generally understood
- A graphic representation of the way a word is spoken using phonetic symbols (p
200)
Moreover Dauer (1993 as cited in Ummah 2014) states that ldquopronunciation is the
act of producing the sound of speech including articulation vowel formation accent
inflection and intonation often with reference to the correctness or acceptability of the
speech soundrdquo (p 10) In addition Poposka (2016) states that pronunciation is the vocal
capacity to produce particular sounds weather when communicating with individuals or
when being alone This construction of sounds leads to the appearance of some utterances
that may be expressive or worthless (p 200) Furthermore Adult Migrant English Program
research center (AMP 2002) points out
Pronunciation refers to the production of sounds that we use to make meaning it includes
attention to the particular sounds of language (segments) aspects of speech beyond the
level of the individual sound such as intonation phrasing stress timing rhythm
(suprasegmental aspects) (p1)
In other words AMP research center argues that even if these two aspects suprasegmental
and segmental structures are treated separately it is necessary to know that they work hand
in hand in a given context whenever someone speaks
24
124 Importance of Pronunciation
Madden and Moore (1997) states that ldquoin first language acquisition children learn
pronunciation inductively by absorbing and reproducing the sounds in their environmentrdquo
(p 4) That is to say all human beings in their natural development from childhood to
adulthood learn first of all how to talk before learning how to read or write Also Zhang
(2009) claims that ldquolearning a language means to perform the sounds utterances and the
words properly and correctlyrdquo (p 34-35) So pronunciation is a very essential skill in
learning a second language
Moreover Morley (1998 as cited in Zhang 2009) argues that ldquoit is clear that limited
pronunciation skills will make learners lose their self-confidence and result in negative
influence for learners to estimate their credibility and abilitiesrdquo (p 35) In other words it
does not matter whether learners make mistakes concerning grammar or vocabulary all what
matters is the way they pronounce a given word in order to make a worthy impression on
the learnersrsquo language capacities Zhang (2009) points out
Good pronunciation will make people understand you easily and be willing to listen to
you Contrarily poor English pronunciation may confuse people and lead to an
unpleasant talking and misunderstanding even if you used advanced English grammar
or vocabulary (p 35)
Likewise Backley (n d) argues ldquoif a speaker has a clear pronunciation this has immediate
benefits listeners judge the speakerrsquo s overall language ability much more favorably even
to the point of tolerating grammatical and other errorsrdquo (p 126) Therefore good
25
pronunciation aids to avoid misinterpretation and intelligibility between speakers and
listeners and show the learnersrsquo competencies in mastering their second language
Furthermore good pronunciation affects the learnersrsquo speed of acquiring the target language
In addition learners should use only simple structures with good and correct pronunciation
rather than using complex expressions in order to communicate with others
125 Factors Affecting Pronunciation
Generally speaking there are several factors that affect the learnersrsquo pronunciation
These factors can be classified into internal factors and external factors
1251 Internal Factors
Zhang (2009) states that internal factors can be categorized also into biological
factors individual differences and individual efforts and goal setting
Biological Factors
They are branded into four features age ear perception and aptitude
Learnersrsquo Age
At the start there is a difference between young learners and adult learners
concerning the acquisition of the accurate pronunciation Nonetheless this does not mean
that adult learners cannot get accurate pronunciation as well They have to work much harder
because their brainsrsquo plasticity reduces That is to say age plays a significant part in learning
the target language pronunciation Moreover Zhang (2009) emphasizes the role of the
critical period hypothesis that was proposed by Lenneberg in 1967 which states that there
is a certain age that helps learners to acquire the foreign language pronunciation accurately
26
and after that age the brain loses its flexibility Furthermore (Nation and Newton (2009) as
cited in Zhang 2009) claim that
Usually if the learner began to speak in the second language before the age of six
there will be little or no accent If the learner began to speak between the age of seven
and eleven the learners likely to have a slight accent If the learner began to speak
after age of twelve the learners almost always have an accent (p 78)
This is the reason behind the acceptance of the idea that learners find it so hard to acquire
the foreign language after maturity
Additionally Zhang (2009) states that young learners have bigger chances than the
adult learners in obtaining accurate pronunciation He claims that the brain loses its
flexibility and becomes rigid after puberty (after nine years old) as a result the brainrsquo s
functions will be devoted to the right and left hemispheres which makes it so difficult to
acquire the foreign languagersquo s pronunciation correctly Also Lenneberg (1967 as cited in
Zhang 2009) argues that ldquobefore the age of two the brain has not developed enough but
after puberty it developed too much and it will lose its plasticity and finish the lateralization
of the language functionrdquo (p 39) In other words it becomes so hard to obtain the native-
like pronunciation after the lateralization
Ear Perception
One of the most important factors that affect the learnersrsquo acquisition of the foreign
language is the ldquoear perceptionrdquo Zhang (2009) claims that the hearing abilities differ from
one person to another That is to say there are learners who have a strong hearing capacity
27
they can hear sounds in a very clear way which help them in reproducing the native speakersrsquo
pronunciation smoothly Whereas there is that kind of learners who do not have that ability
However Zhang argues that the ear perception has nothing to do with the learner age He
claims that it is natural that learners may lose some of their capacities whenever they become
older
Aptitude
Generally speaking foreign language aptitude is the personrsquos ability to learn a foreign
or a second language very rapidly and with no troubles (Wen 2011) Also Dornyei and
skehan (2003 as cited in Wen 2011) states ldquooriginally the notion of FLA presumed a
relatively stable talent for learning a foreign language that differs between individualsrdquo (p
590) So EFL learners do not have the same ability to acquire the foreign language
Additionally Carroll (1962 as cited in Wen 2011) states four components of the FLA which
are
lsquophonemic coding abilityrsquo (ie the ability to identify and retain sounds and link them
to phonetic symbols)
Sensitivity towards the grammatical functions that words fulfil in a sentence
The ability to learn inductively (ie to infer and generalize linguistic structures from
language samples) and
The ability to rote learn vocabulary items paired with their associated translations
(p 233)
Hence aptitude has an important role in improving learnersrsquo foreign language
Although Zhang (2009) argues that all individuals have a language aptitude ability but they
28
differ only in the degree of that aptitude capacity Also he claims that we cannot say that
those people who have a sophisticated level of language aptitude will get to the top and
people with an inferior level of language aptitude will go pear-shaped
Individual Differences
Zhang (2009) states that learnersrsquo different personalities affect the way they acquire
the foreign language pronunciation He argues that extroverted learners are more likely to
acquire the target pronunciation rather than introverted learners because extroverted learners
are not afraid of making mistakes which is not the case with the introverted learners who
face always the fear of failure Besides extroverted students are more friendly they tend to
work with others which leads them to practice the target language so they become more
familiar with it which aids to improve their pronunciation very quickly (p 40-41)
Individual Efforts and Goal setting
At the start the main goal of each EFLESL learner is to master the foreign language
in order to communicate with others Zhang (2009) points out ldquowe must always remember
that teaching never causes learning but rather creates the conditions in which learning can
occurrdquo (p 42) Besides he emphasizes that pronunciation is really a very hard task that
learners can acquire in a few days but it is not something impossible that learners cannot
achieve Though as much time learners spend in practicing the target language
pronunciation the better results they will get
1252 External Factors
External factors can be classified into three aspects learnersrsquo native language
exposure to target language and education factors
29
Learnerrsquo s Native Language
Universally the learnersrsquo native language affects their pronunciation of the foreign
language Zhang (2009) states that studentsrsquo mother tongue reflects the way they pronounce
a certain word in the target language and this is due to the differences that are found between
the two languages In other words learners find a lot of complications in articulating some
sounds for the reason that some of those sounds do not occur in their native language (p
43)
Exposure to the Target Language
Zhang (2009) shows that the acquisition of English language pronunciation is related
to the amount of exposure to it as it is produced by the native speakers That is to say this
depends on the learner himself ie on the situation in which the learning process occurs In
other words Zhang argues that it does not matter weather learners live in a native country
or not it is a matter of how much time they listen to the foreign language and how much
time they use it Zhang (2009) states ldquothe more they spend their time for listening and
speaking English the better their English pronunciation will berdquo (p 44) Thus learnerrsquo s
pronunciation accuracy depends on the surrounding environment where the target language
takes place
Educational Factors
At the start the system of education is responsible for studentsrsquo learning process
Worthy educational structure provides a lot of chances for learners to be exposed to the target
language through creating a suitable learning environment Additionally EFLESL
teachersrsquo accent reflects the learnersrsquo pronunciation because learners take teachers as an
30
exemplary in order to improve their pronunciation That is why teachers should work on
their pronunciation initially (Zhang 2009)
The English Consonant Sound ldquoLrdquo
Generally speaking EFL learners face complications in learning the English L sound
Sproat and Fujimura (1993) argue ldquoEnglish l has traditionally been classified into at least
two allophones namely light which occurs initially and dark which occurs syllable finallyrdquo
(p 291) Furthermore Wang (2016) states that the L consonant sound is a lateral phoneme
in English and it has two allophones he points out
One of them is found before vowels as in ldquoladyrdquo or ldquoflyrdquo called clear l and is
pronounced as the alveolar lateral approximant in a neutral position of the body of
the tongue The other variant is called dark l found before consonants or at word-
finally position as in ldquoboldrdquo or ldquotellrdquo Which is as the velarized lateral approximant
with the tongue in a spoon-like shape Its back part is raised which gives the sound
a w-like resonance (p 44)
In other words the clear [l] occurs when the tip of the tongue raises up and touches the soft
palate just behind the front teeth whereas the dark [ϯ] happens when the tip of the tongue
pulls back and the tongue raises to the middle without touching the soft palate to make the
L sound So the difference between these two allophones is the reason behind those troubles
that the learner may face
However Sproat and Fujimura (1993 as cited in Jiahong 2011) explain the
differences between these two allophones by relating them to the rime duration In other
31
words they point out that whenever the l sound occurs in longer rimes it is going to be a
dark [ϯ] and whenever the rime is short the l sound is clear or light
Figure 1
Articulatory Differences in l Velarization
Source Recasens 2012 p369
Conclusion
To end with it is very important to acknowledge that pronunciation is one way that
leads to an effective and a successful communication That is why many researchers shed
light on the investigation of some factors that may influence the EFL learnersrsquo pronunciation
As a result these identifying concepts help foreigners to overcome their difficulties when
they are introduced to the target language
32
Chapter two Field Work
Introduction
21 Methodology
211 Research Participants
212 The Procedure
2121 The Research Design
2122 The Pre-test Phase
2123 The Treatment Phase
2124 The Control Group
2125 The Post-test Phase
213 Scoring
214 Data Analysis
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (independent Sample
t-test)
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group Post-test
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group Post-test (Paired
Sample t-test)
21431 Paired Sample t-test
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-test
33
21441 An Independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the
Post-test
215 Discussion of the Results
216 Pedagogical Implications
Conclusion
34
Introduction
This research attempts to investigate the effect of listening to audio stories on
acquiring accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] by second year LMD students
at the department English -LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi The chosen sample is divided into two
groups the control group and the experimental group At the start participantsrsquo
pronunciation accuracy of the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] (the dependent variable) was measured
through a pretest Later on a period of treatment is taken by the experimental group which
is not the case with the control group After that a post-test is administered to both groups
in which the results are gathered using a software called the ldquopraatrdquo In addition we shed
light on describing the sample taking the place in which the study took place the method
used and at last the data collected
21 Methodology
211 Research Participants
The current study involved two intact classes of second year LMD students from
LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi-English Department The selected sample includes students from
different gender Furthermore we favored to select second year students for several reasons
The first reason was that second year students have practiced working with audio supports
which was not the case with first year students so they will not face problems concerning
listening to audio stories The second reason was that second year learners study oral
expression
At the start the experiment includes a sample of forty learners that have been chosen
from two intact classes of second year LMD students The chosen sample represents 1904
from the entire population which comprises 210 learners Additionally both clusters were
35
divided into a control group and an experimental group twenty students in each group At
the beginning the sample was supposed to be comprised of sixty students in which both the
control and the experimental groups covered thirty students Unfortunately there were a lot
of absences in both groups Also there are some students who have not passed both the
pretest and the posttest and others have not received the treatment at all Therefore the
sample size was reduced from sixty to forty students which can be sufficient to represent
the whole population and to get consistent outcomes
In order to gather consistent data that help to achieve the purpose of our research a
quasi-experimental design was designated The use of the chosen method will provide us
with a wide-ranging representation of the reflection of listening to audio stories on the
acquisition of the accurate pronunciation of the dark [l] and clear [l]
212 The Procedure
To accumulate a reliable data an experiment was conducted over six sessions The
treatment period took four sessions and the remained two sessions for the pretest and the
posttest The pretest took a form different from that of the posttest in order to avoid
familiarity to improve the learnersrsquo development and get consistent information Both
groups have taken the tests but only the experimental group took the treatment Besides the
duration of training concerning the treatment period for the experimental group took 90
minutes ie one hour and a half for each session and it started after getting the
authorization of the teacher of oral expression
36
2121 The Research Design
Figure 2
Experimental Group Procedures
Figure 3
Control Group Procedures
2122 The Pre-test Phase
By the first week of March both the control group and the experimental group have
taken the pretest However before choosing the pretest and in order to avoid any problems
we have checked that the dark [l] and the clear [l] are pronounced the same in both the
American and the British accents using the Oxford Advanced Learnerrsquo s Dictionary At the
outset learners were required to read a passage derived from a short story named ldquoThe last
class-The story of the Alsationrdquo that was written by Alphonse Daudet (2001) and also short
sentences (see Appendix A) After that their voices were recorded using a software known
pre-test
treatment
(listening to audio stories)
post-test
pre-test
No treatment
( being taught without listening
to audio-stories)
post-test
37
as the ldquoPraatrdquo Besides our focus here was raised toward the duration (ie the length of a
syllable) of the dark [l] and the clear [l]
Throughout the pretest EFL learners found themselves unable to pronounce the dark
[ϯ] and clear [l] that are found in some words correctly In other words students in the control
group and the experimental group most of the time pronounce the dark [ϯ] in the same way
they pronounce the clear [l] ie they spend the same duration for pronouncing the two
allophones Also EFL learners from time to time pronounce them differently but in a wrong
way ie they spent a rime duration that it not suitable neither for the light [l] nor for the
dark[ϯ]
Figure4
Example of the Lateral Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoSawmillrdquo
2123 The Treatment Phase
At first both participants have finished the pretest Though the treatment was
approved to the experimental group only the control group did not receive the same
treatment Besides the experimental group received the treatment in four sessions and each
Rime
duration
38
session took one hour and a half (ie 90 minutes) In each session students were asked to
listen to the audio-story in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of both allophones
after that they discussed the story being listened (see Appendix B)
2124 The Control Group
Concerning the control group students were taught the oral expression without any
exposure to any kinds of treatments In contrast to students in the experimental group who
were provided with the audio stories in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of the
both allophones which are the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ]
2125 The Post-test Phase
Fundamentally after finishing the four sessions of training ie the period of
treatment a posttest was administered to both the experimental group and the control group
(see Appendix c) The posttest as we have said before is different from the pretest in order
to avoid familiarity with the same topic and to ensure the learners improvement of the dark
[ϯ] and clear [l] So the posttest is a kind of a passage which was taken from a short story
that is entitled ldquoThe Game of Billiardsrdquo which is written by Alphonse Daudet and some
words to pronounce Furthermore during the posttest we noticed a kind of development in
learnersrsquo pronunciation of the two allophones with students of the experimental group
especially in pronouncing the single words which was not the case with those learners in
the control group
39
Figure 5
Example of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquocabalrdquo
Figure 6
Example of the Clear [l] in the word ldquolabourrdquo
The rime
duration
The rime
duration
40
213 Scoring
After finishing recording the learnersrsquo pronunciation of the phoneme l of both
groups (the control and the experimental group) we have compared them first of all to the
native speakerrsquo s pronunciation and after that we have calculated the rime duration of the
two allophones ie the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] and at last we gave them scores out of six
(6) for each participant
214 Data Analysis
In this sub-section we are going to investigate the EFL learnersrsquo improvement of
pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] Though in order to make sure that EFL
learners have acquired the correct pronunciation of these two allophones we have firstly
investigated the native speakerrsquos pronunciation of the L sound ie the clear [l] and the dark
[ϯ] and we have analyzed the rime duration of two words ldquolightrdquo and ldquoballrdquo as examples
Figure7
The Native Speakerrsquos Pronunciation of the Clear [l] in the Word ldquolightrdquo
Rime
duration
41
Figure8
The Native Speakerrsquo s Pronunciation of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoballrdquo
From these two figures we have noticed that the native speaker has spent 016 s in
pronouncing an ideal clear [l] (see Figure 7) and he has spent 138 s in order to pronounce
a perfect dark [ϯ] (see Figure 8) Thus this analysis of the native speakerrsquo s voice paved the
way to our research in which we based our investigation on it
Table 1
The Experimental and the Control grouprsquo s Scores in the pre-test
Pre-test
Students
Control
group
Experimental
group
Rime
duration
(second)
C E
Rime
duration
42
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (Independent Sample t-
test)
After gathering data for the control and the experimental group and for the purpose
of comparing and contrasting between the two we have calculated the learnersrsquo scores of
pronunciation of the phoneme l and also we have calculated the rime duration of the two
1 1 2 118 127
2 2 25 095 091
3 1 1 116 102
4 25 2 106 091
5 25 25 078 089
6 15 2 078 105
7 2 15 123 091
8 1 1 117 108
9 15 1 119 119
10 15 1 1 115
11 2 15 091 116
12 15 1 12 119
13 2 15 114 1
14 15 1 108 112
15 1 1 131 112
16 2 1 088 08
17 1 1 127 107
18 1 15 107 149
19 15 1 099 115
20 1 15 114 174
Total 31 285 2149 2222
43
allophones (see Table1) Besides the data collected ie the learnersrsquo scores were used in
calculating the means of both groups in the pre-test (the mean is calculated using the SPSS
see Table 2)
Figure 9
The Pre-test Scores of the Control and the Experimental Group
Table 2
The Mean Score of the Control and the Experimental Group in the Pre-test
Test N Mean Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpre 20 15500 51042 11413
Epre 20 14250 51999 11627
44
In order to calculate the Mean () Results we have to use the following formula
=sumx N
N stands for the total numbers of students in one group
sumx stands for the total number of data that was gathered from the pre-test
1 stands for the mean of the Control Group
2 stands for the mean of the Experimental Group
So1= 31 20 =155
2= 285 20 = 142
From ldquoFigure 9rdquo we can notice that 1 is the most frequent score in both the
experimental and the control groups in the pre-test and we can confirm this information
from Table 1 Furthermore when comparing means of both groups we notice (see Table 2)
that there is only a slight difference between the two groups the mean of the control group
is 155 whereas the mean of the experimental group is 142 So we can deduce that the level
of both groups is approximately the same there is no significant difference Moreover the
rime duration of the phoneme l of the experimental group and the control group is to some
extent the same and we can notice this slight difference in Table 1 and precisely in the total
duration of pronouncing the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] by both groups and also in Table 2
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group post-test
In order to confirm if there is any kind of progression in the control grouprsquo s scores
in the post-test concerning the pronunciation of the phoneme l (see Table 3) we have
calculated the mean of the post-test (using the SPSS see Table 4) and compared it with the
mean of the pre-test besides we have calculated the rime duration that has been spent At
45
last we have mentioned the learnersrsquo scores differences between the pre-test and the post-
test to confirm the development (see Figure 10)
Table 3
Results and Scores Differences of the Control and Experimental group in the Post-test
Posttest
Students
Rime
Duration
(Second)
Cpre Cpost Epre Epost
Cpre Cpost Epre Epost
1 1 1 2 4 118 186 127 21
2 2 175 25 5 095 113 091 253
3 1 1 1 45 116 134 102 245
4 25 2 2 35 106 119 091 234
5 25 15 25 55 078 146 089 24
6 15 175 2 5 078 119 105 267
7 2 2 15 45 123 135 091 263
8 1 125 1 5 117 144 108 254
9 15 1 1 425 119 144 119 242
10 15 1 1 55 1 128 115 274
11 2 1 15 45 091 126 116 285
12 1 2 1 5 12 129 119 268
13 2 125 15 55 114 146 1 328
14 15 1 1 55 108 127 112 223
15 1 1 1 5 131 092 112 275
16 2 1 1 475 088 135 08 274
46
17 1 2 1 5 127 094 107 292
18 1 1 15 575 107 096 149 29
19 15 1 1 525 099 114 115 295
20 1 15 15 575 114 132 174 338
Total 31 27 285 9875 2149 2359 2222 535
Diff -4 +7025 +21 +3128
Mean 155 135 142 493
-02 +351
Table 4
The Mean of the control Group in the Pre-test and Post-test
Mean N Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpre 15500 20 51042 11413
Cpost 13500 20 41675 09319
In order to calculate the mean( )result of the control group in the post-test we have to apply
the following formula = sumx N
sum stands for the total number of the data collected in the post-test of the control
group
N refers to the total number of students So = 2720 = 1
47
Figure 10
The Control Group Studentsrsquo Scores Differences
A very insignificant development has been shown in both Figure 7 and Table 3
concerning learners scores in the post-test Besides only Students 681217 and 20 from a
total number of twenty have proved the improvement the mean of the control group has
decreased from 155 in the pre-test to 135 in the post-test ie the mean = -02
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group post-test (Paired Sample
T-test)
In order to identify the scoresrsquo differences between the results of the experimental
group in both the pre-test and the post-test we have calculated the mean of the post-test and
compared it with that of the pre-test to notice if there is any improvement (see Table 3) So
the mean of the post-test is shown in Table 5 below
48
Table 5
The Mean of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and Post-test
Mean N Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Epre 14250 20 51999 11627
Epost 49375 20 59535 13312
From Table 5 we notice that the mean of the experimental group increased from 142 in the
pre-test to 493 in the post-test with a mean difference of 351 ( = +351) and we can
calculate the mean ()of the post-test using the following formula
= sumxN
sum= Stands for the total number of data that was gathered from the post-test in the
Experimental Group
119925 =Stands for the total number of students
So= 9875 20 = 493
From Table 3 we notice that there is a very clear development and difference in
learnersrsquo scores in the post-test which is very different from the pre-test scores (see Figure
12) Moreover we can notice this development from Figure 11 below too It Shows that the
most frequent scores that learners of the experimental group have gained are 45 5 55 and
at last 575(the marks are out of six) that makes a big difference from the scores of the pre-
test in which the most frequent score was 1 In addition to all of this results we can add that
the sum of the rime duration of the post-test differs a lot from that of the pre-test ( = +3128
s)
49
Hence in the light of these results we can say that the period of treatment really
affects in a positive way the learnersrsquo acquisition of the pronunciation of dark [ϯ] and clear
[l] Besides this enhancement was improved in the mean difference between the pre-test and
the post-test of the experimental group Though the comparison of means in the pre-test and
post-test of the experimental group cannot be sufficient in order to make sure that listening
to audio-stories really affects positively the way learners pronounce the Phoneme l
Therefore a paired sample T-test was designed to assess the development of learnersrsquo
acquisition of dark [ϯ] and clear [l] ie to acceptreject the Alternative Hypothesis or to
accept reject the Null Hypothesis (See Table 6 below)
Figure 11
The Scores Frequencies of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and the Post-test
50
Figure 12
The Scores Differences of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and the Post-test
21431 The paired Sample T-test
In order to know if there is any significant difference between the post-test and the
pre-test scores of the same group a t-test is conducted At first the of the experimental
group is calculated through the following formula
= sumdN
refers to the Difference of mean Scores
N Studentsrsquo scores in the Experimental Group
sum refers to the total sum of the Differences Scores
So = 702520= 35125
51
The Standard deviation of the differences
Sd= radic119956120784= radicsum119941120784
119925minus 119941120784
S stands for the Variance
sum119941120784 refers to the square differences of Scores
After calculating
Sdcong 013
The Standard Error of the Mean Difference (SE)
It is calculated using the following formula
SE ()= 119878119889
radic119873cong003
Finally we calculate the t- value that will be compared to the critical P-value at the point
p=005 in order to accept the alternative hypothesis or rejecting it using the following
formula119957120784120782minus120783=
119878119864(119889) = 117
Table 6
Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Post-test Scores differences
Students Pre-test Post-test Difference
1 2 4 2
2 25 5 25
3 1 45 35
4 2 35 15
5 25 55 3
6 2 5 3
52
7 15 45 3
8 1 5 4
9 1 425 325
10 1 55 45
11 15 45 3
12 1 5 4
13 15 55 4
14 1 55 45
15 1 5 4
16 1 475 375
17 1 5 4
18 15 575 425
19 1 525 425
20 15 575 425
Total 285 9875 7025
Table 7
The Paired Sample T-test for the Experimental Group
Paired Sample T-Test
Epre
Scores-
Epost
Scores
Mean Std
deviati-
on
Std-
Error
Mean
95Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
t Df Sig
(2-
tailed)
Lower Upper
-351250 83695 18715 -390421 -312079 -18768 19 000
53
After calculating the mean of the experimental group in both the pre-test and the post-
test (see Table 5) a mean difference of +351 was noticed Therefore in order to prove if
the development that was noticed in the post-test scores as well as the mean occurred
because of the influence of listening to the audio-stories which is the independent variable
or happened only by coincidence
Hence to confirm the Alternative Hypothesis and reject the Null Hypothesis or vice
versa the t-value (117) was calculated in order to be compared with the critical- value at
the point p=005 and at the level of t=19 Besides p-value (0000) is less than 005 which
means that there a real difference between the learnersrsquo scores in the pre-test (before the
period of treatment) and the leanersrsquo scores in the post-test (after the period of treatment)
Consequently we can deduce that the improvement that was achieved by the experimental
group in the post test did not occur by chance actually it occurred because of listening to
audio-stories that has a positive effect on learnersrsquo pronunciation of both the clear [l] and the
dark [ϯ]
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-test
Table 8
The Mean of the Control Group and the Experimental Group in the Post-test
N Mean Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpost 20 13500 41675 09319
Epost 20 49375 59535 13312
54
To calculate the mean () we use the following Formula
= sum119961 N
So 1= sum119961 N
1 refers to the mean of the control group in the post-test
N refers to the total number of students in the control Group
sum119961 stands for the sum of scores of the control group in the post-test
1= 2720 = 135
2 = sum119961 N
2 stands for the mean of the experimental group in the post-test
N refers to the total number of participants in the experimental group
sum119961 Stands for the sum of scores of the experimental group in the post-test
So 2= 987520 = 493
Figure13
The Scores Frequencies of the Control Group and the Experimental Group in the Post-
test
55
From the previous analysis of the mean of both the control and the experimental
group in the pre-test (see Table 3) we have noticed that the level of students in both groups
is almost the same and there is only a slight difference between them Though in the post-
test the scores of the experimental group has increased and as result the mean average has
increased too after the treatment phase for the experimental group (from 142 to 493) but it
decreased for the control group who were taught without being exposed to any kind of
treatment (see Table 8 and Figure 10) Besides we can notice the development also in the
rime duration in studentsrsquo pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] of the experimental
group in the post-test which is not the case with the control group
21441 An independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the post-
test
In order to investigate if there is any significant change between two diverse groups
who have run the same test a t-test is used to show this significance difference In our case
we want to inspect if there is any significant variation between the experimental group and
the control group in the post-test and whether we accept the Alternative Hypothesis or
rejecting the Null Hypothesis So depending on the following steps a t-test was calculated
using the following formula
t= 119883 119888minus 119890
radicpartx2
Nx+
1205971199102
119873119910
partx2 = sum(119883 minus 119890 )N
= 306
1205971199102 =sum(119883 minus 119888 )2119873
= 160
119888 the mean of the control group in the post-test
56
119890 the mean of the experimental group in the post-test
partx2 the variation of the experimental group
1205971199102 the variation of the control group
So t= 493minus 135
radic306
20+
160
20
=745
t-value= 745
Depending on the t-value (745) that was calculated we compare it with the critical p-
value at p=005 therefore we have two options
1- If t-value is greater than the critical p-value (t-valuegtcritical-value) we accept the
alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
2- If t-value is less than the critical-value (t-valueltcritical-value) we accept the null
hypothesis and refuse the alternative hypothesis
we can say that
t-value=745 745 gt005
We accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
p-value= 0000 0000 lt005
We accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
Depending on these results we can say that there is a statistical evidence that the
associated sampling means are significantly different In other words there is a real change
between the experimental group and the control group in the post test at the level of
pronunciation due to the positive influence of the independent variable which is ldquolistening
to the audio-storiesrdquo Therefore students of the experimental group showed a significant
57
progress at the level of pronunciation and precisely the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
pronunciation
215 Discussion of the Results
The current research has investigated the influence of listening to audio-stories on
acquiring accurate pronunciation of both allophones the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] At the
start the pre-test has proved that learners of both groups ie the control and the
experimental group have the same level through calculating their means The control group
scored a mean of 155 while the experimental group scored a mean of 142 and also they
have got near scores concerning the rime duration of the L sound So these estimated scores
helped us to prove and confirm our hypothesis that states the positive effect of listening to
audio-stories on the level of pronunciation accuracy In the post-test students of the
experimental group showed a significant development compared to the control group and
this is due to the period of treatment that occurred in the oral session Besides the mean
score of the experimental group has been raised from 142 to 493 and from a sum of rime
durations of 2222 s to 535 s while the mean score of the control group has been decreased
from 155 to 135 and increased from a sum of rime durations of 2149 s to 2359 s In
addition a t-test was designed to show if there is any statistical significant difference
between the experimental group and the control group in the post-test the results show the
positive influence of the treatment phase on the dependent variable (pronunciation
accuracy)
216 Pedagogical implication
The present research evidenced the positive influence of being exposed to the target
language pronunciation as it is produced by the native speakers through the exposure to the
audio-stories Therefore we can state a set of pedagogical implications
58
The present study shows that the more students get involved in listening practices
the more they will be proficient in the pronunciation of a various English sounds ie
developing their speaking proficiency
Audio-stories help EFL learners improve their pronunciation as well as to develop
their listening skills
Using multimedia devices (audio-stories in our case) in learning classrooms
enhances the learnersrsquo motivation to get involved in the learning process
Audio-stories can be used by EFL teachers in order to make learners attentive and
interested in the lecture being presented
Audio-stories provide learners with the chance to listen again and again to the story
in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of a given word
Conclusion
The present research examined the effect of listening to audio stories on fostering the
target language pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] The native speakerrsquo s
pronunciation of both allophones was analyzed first through analyzing the rime duration in
order to compare it with the EFL learnersrsquo articulation That is to say the analysis is based
on the native speakerrsquo s rime duration In addition a significant development in learnersrsquo
pronunciation of the dark[ϯ]and the clear [l] was proved which lead to accept the alternative
hypothesis that states listening to audio-stories has a positive effect on acquiring accurate
pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] by EFL learners
59
General Conclusion
The present study is based on the investigation of the effectiveness of listening to
audio stories on acquiring accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] by EFL
learners At the beginning we have stated the problem which was that the Algerian EFL
learners in the English department at LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi University face a lot of difficulties
concerning the acquisition of the accurate pronunciation of The phoneme l Subsequently
this dissertation tackled the importance of listening to audio-stories on enhancing EFL
learnersrsquo pronunciation accuracy
Our research was tackled in two main chapters The first chapter divided into two
main sections In the first section we tackled the point of listening to audio stories whereas
the second section discussed the reflection of listening to audio stories on the pronunciation
of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] The second chapter represented the practical part the field
work The analyzed data showed that there is a positive relationship between the independent
variable and the dependent variable That is to say there was a development in the
acquisition of the phoneme l which lead us to accept the alternative hypothesis and reject
the null hypothesis
60
Limitations of the Study
Limited sources ie most of the sources that were available were not relevant to our
study
Time constraints this study needs much more time to conduct a better result
Students absences in the pre-test and the post-test and others did not receive the
treatment at all
The lack of interest in the beginning of the treatment session
61
List of References
Alonso SR (2012) The importance of Teaching Listening and Speaking Skills Diagravectica de Lingua
y la Literatura Facultad de Education
Brown S (2006) Teaching Listening Cambridge Cambridge University press
Coulter C Michael C ampPoynor L (2007) Storytelling as Pedagogy An Unexpected Outcome
of narrative inquiry 104-105
Daudet A (2001) Five Short Stories Copyright copy Bartlebycom Inc
Downs L J (2008) Listening Skills Training ASTD press
Eckert J (2016) Audio Storytelling in Todayrsquos Visual World The necessary Components of a
successful sounds scape for an audio play
Gilakjani A P (2012) A study of Factors Affecting EFL learnersrsquo English Pronunciation Learning
and the Strategy for instruction Lahijani Iran 2(3) 119-128
Hamer J (1998) How to teach English An Introduction to the Practice of English Language
Teaching English Language Teaching Harlow Longman
Hendrickson J (1992) Storytelling for foreign language and linguistics Washington Dc Eric
learning house on language and linguistic [ Eric No E0355-824]
Kline J A (1996) Listening Effectively Air University Press
Madden M and Moore Z (1997) ESL Studentsrsquo Opinions about instruction in Pronunciation
Texas 3(2) 15-32
Mendelson D J (1994) Learning to Listen Dominie Press
Nasreddin K (2010) The Influence of Background Knowledge on Second Language Listening
Comprehension Constantine Constantine University
62
Poposka V p (2016) Pronunciation Proficiency Level Problematic Areas of Tertiary as a Foreign
Language International Journal of Science and Basic and Applied Research
Richards J C (1990) The Language Teaching Matrix Cambridge Cambridge University Pess
Rubin SS (2015) Tools for Creating Audio Stories scholarship University of California
Roney RC (1996) Storytelling in the classroom Some Theoretical Thoughts Wayne State
University Education Detroit Michigan
Sproat R ampFujimura O (1993) Allophonic variation of the English l and its Implication for
phonetic Implementation Academic Press
Torky SA (2006) The Effectiveness of a Task-Based Instruction Program in Developing English
Language Speaking Skills of Secondary Stage Students Collegersquo s girl Ain Shams
University
Ummah A (2014) The Effectiveness of Nursery Rhymes to Facilitate Studentsrsquo of Pronunciation of
the Diphthong Education and Teacher Training Faculty Walisongo State institution for
Islamic Studies
Wang M (2016) Research on the Acoustic Realization of Lateral in Sundanese International
Journal of Engineering Research and Development 12(10) 44-48
Ziane R (2012) The Role of Listening Comprehension in Improving EFL learners Speaking Skill
Biskra University of Biskra
Zhang Q (2009) Affecting Factors of Native-Like Pronunciation A Literature Review Ching-Ang
University 27(2) 33-52
63
Abrahamson CE (1998) Storytelling as a pedagogical tool in high Education 118(3) Retrieved
from
httpwwwquestiacomlibraryjournal1G1-20494609storytelling-as-a-pedagogical-tool-
inhighereducation
AMP Research Center (2012) Retrieved from
Httpwwwncertrmqeduauconference2001indexhtal
Backley P (nd) Improving your English Pronunciation Retrieved from
httptoefluobabyloneduiqpaperspearson-2015-1269610pdf
Chaney (1998) Teaching Speaking Retrieved from
httpitesljorgtechniqueKayi-teaching speakinghtml
English Club (nd) What is listening Retrieved from
httpwwwenglishclubcom
Miller E (2011) Theories of story and storytelling Retrieved from
httpwww-storytellingandvideoconferencingcom167pdf
Pederson E M (1995) Storytelling and the art of listening English teaching forum 33(1)2-5
Retrieved from httpExchangesStategovForumuolsn01p2htm
Remen R N (nd) Listening Skills Retrieved from
httpwwwskillsyouneedcomipslistening-Skills-html
Rock R (nd) 5 Wonderful Websites for Engaging ESL Audio Short Stories Retrieved from
httpwwwFluentucomenglisheducatorsblogeslaudio-short-stories
Seifert S (nd) Follow Along 6 Engaging ESL Audio Stories with worksheet ideas Retrieved from
httpwwwFluentucomenglisheducatorblogeslaudio-stories
Saricoban A (2004) The Teaching of listening The Internet TESL journal
httpitesljorgArticlesSaricobn-listeninghtml
Subhi s (2016) Differences between Hearing and listening Retrieved from
httpkeydifferencescomdifference-between-hearning-and-listeninghtml
64
Shen CD (2010) 3 reasons why listening skills are very important in Todayrsquo s Business World
Retrieved from httpezinearticlescom3-Reasons-why-listening-skills-are-very-important-in-
Todays-Business-worldampid=5436504
the adapted audio-stories that were used in the period of treatment
(httpwwwmanythingsorgvoastories)
Appendix A A pre-test
The Last class- The Story of the Alsatian
I was very late for school that morning and I was terribly afraid of being Scolded
especially as Monsieur Hamel had told us that he should examine us on participles and I
did not know the first thing about them For a moment I thought of saying away from
school and wandering about the fields It was such a warm lovely day I could hear the
blackbirds whistling on the edge of the wood and in the ripper field behind the sawmill
the Prussians going through their drill All that was much more tempting to me than the
rules concerning participles but I had the strength to resist and I ran as fast as I could to
school
Sentences
You old fool they will kill you if you always trouble them
People are awfully lazy in the middle of July
Appendix B A post-test
The Game of Billiards
The marshalrsquo s opponent is a young captain of the staff belted and curled and light-
gloved who is in the first rank of billiard-players and capable of beating all the marshals
on earth but he has the tact to keep a respectful distance behind his chief and devotes his
energies to the task of not winning and at the same time not losing too easily He is what is
called an officer with a future
Read the following words
1 Cabal
2 Labour
3 Shell
Appendix c Treatment period
I Session one (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquothe Secret Gardenrdquo (Chapter One) By Frances Hodgson
Burnett
II Session two (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Secret Gardenrdquo (Chapter two) By Frances Hodgson
Burnett
III Session three (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Lady or the Tigerrdquo by Frank R Stockton
IV Session four (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Lady in Blackrdquo By Eleanor Porter
Reacutesumeacute
La preacutesente eacutetude vise agrave eacutetudier lrsquoarticulation de dark [ϯ] et clear [l] dans les classes de la
langue anglaise afin dameacuteliorer la prononciation des apprenants Lrsquoeacutetude actuelle repose
sur lhypothegravese que leacutecoute des histoires audio a un effet positif sur lameacutelioration de la
prononciation des apprenants EFL avec un accent particulier sur le dark [ϯ] et clear [l] Afin
datteindre lobjectif de cette recherche une eacutetude quasi-expeacuterimentale a eacuteteacute assigneacute en
deux groupe group teacutemoin et group expeacuterimentale Chaque groupe contenait 20 eacutelegraveves
Lexpeacuterience a pris six seacuteances un preacute-test une peacuteriode de traitement (4 seacuteances) et un
posttest En conclusion les reacutesultats obtenus montrent que les eacutetudiants qui sont exposeacute agrave
la langue cible et qui eacutecoutent au locuteur natif agrave lrsquoaide audio pour ameacuteliorer leurs
prononciations ont montreacute qursquoil y a un deacuteveloppement ameacutelioration au niveau de
compeacutetence des apprenants en particulier et en matiegravere de parole en geacuteneacuterale
Les mots cleacutes audio-histoire Compeacutetence drsquoeacutecoute prononciation dureacute de travaille
ملخص
استخدام القصص الصوتية من اجل المساعدة على اكتساب النطق السليم والدقيق تهدف هذه الدراسة الى التعرف على مدى فعالية
الأجنبية حيث تستند الدراسة الحالية على فرضية مفادها ان الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية له تأثير إيجابي على تحسين ةللغ
استغرقت التجربة ست ق المنهج التجريبيمن أجل تحقيق هدف هذه الدراسة تم تطبينطق الطلاب الأجانب للغة الإنجليزية
جلسات قسمت كالاتي أربع حصص معالجة سبقت باختبارات قبلية ولحقت باختبارات بعدية أجريت الدراسة في قسم اللغة
طالبا من طلاب السنة ثانية جامعي قسم الطلبة الى فوجين حيث 40الإنجليزية بجامعة العربي بن مهيدي وقد شملت الدراسة
ى معالجة لمدة أربع حصص من خلال الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية في حين لم يتعرض الفوج الثاني خضع أحد الفوجين ال
الى نفس المعالجة بعد ذلك تم اجراء الاختبارات البعدية واعتمادا على النتائج المتحصل عليها ثبت ان التعرض الى اللغة
جابي على اكتساب النطق الدقيق للغة المستهدفة الا وهي اللغة الأجنبية عن طريق الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية له تأثير إي
الأجنبية
القصص الصوتية النطق مدة الموجات الصوتيةالكلمات المفتاحية المهارة السمعية
3
2 Aim of the Study
The current study deals with the learnersrsquo pronunciation difficulties of the dark [ϯ]
and the clear [l] It aims at investigating the effect of listening to audio-stories on fostering
the target languagersquos accurate pronunciation of both allophones
3 Research Question
The present study seeks to answer the following question
Does listening to audio-stories help EFL learners to acquire the accurate
pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
4 Research Hypothesis
In order to answer the research question the subsequent hypotheses are framed
H1 The EFL learners will acquire accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the
clear [l] through listening to audio-stories
H0 Listening to audio stories will not help EFL learners to acquire accurate
pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
5 Means of the Research
In order to achieve the objective of our research a quasi-experimental design is
administered to second year LMD students of English Department at LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi
University The selected sample (40 students from 210) consists of two groups the control
group and the experimental group Both groups will be pretested in order to assess their
pronunciation accuracy level The pre-test is a kind of short story and small sentences that
contain the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] which learners have to read After that the Praat will be
used in order to record their voices Later on the experimental group will take the treatment
for four sessions in which they will listen to the audio stories each session will take one
4
hour and a half However the control group will not receive any kind of treatment (they will
be taught in a normal way without listening to audio stories) Furthermore a post-test which
is different from that of the pre-test will be administered to both groups in order to test their
pronunciation development
6 Structure of the Study
The present study is divided into two chapters The first chapter is a theoretical one
and it is composed of two sections The first section is about listening to audio stories in
which we define the process of listening and mention the main differences between listening
and hearing After that we discuss the reasons of listening its types and processes Later
on the second sub-section deals with audio stories At the start we introduce a brief history
about the notion of audio stories and then we introduce stories in general Afterward we
discuss the characteristics of audio stories their use and advantages The second section
deals with the pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] at the beginning we shed light
on the definition of speaking skill and its sub-competencies After that a part of this section
deals with the definition of pronunciation and its importance Besides it introduces factors
that affect pronunciation The second chapter deals with the field work in which it sheds
light on collecting data presenting and analyzing it and at the end interpreting results
5
Section One Listening to Audio Stories
Introduction
11 Definition of Listening Skill
12 Differences between Listening and Hearing
13 Reasons of Listening
14 Types of Listening
141 Extensive Listening
142 Intensive Listening
15 Listening Processes
151 Bottom-up Process
152 Top down Process
16 Brief History of Audio-Stories
17 Definition of Storytelling
18 Definition of Audio-Stories
19 Characteristics of a Good Audio-Story
110 The Use of Audio-Stories in ESL Classrooms
111 Advantages of Using Audio-Stories
Conclusion
6
Introduction
Nowadays there is a great emphasis put on listening skill since it plays a significant
role in teaching and acquiring the foreign language So this high attention raises because of
the difficulties that learners face whenever they want to communicate thatrsquos why many
researchers shed light on Audio Stories as a tool that can help in developing learnersrsquo
listening process as well as improving their speaking skills and precisely their
pronunciation
The main concern of this section is listening to audio stories First of all we shed
light on the first part which is listening process At the start we need to define listening
skills according to different scholars later on we tackle the main differences between
listening and hearing Also reasons of listening its types and processes Then the second
part of this section deals with the audio stories In the beginning we introduce a brief history
of audio stories and later on the definition of stories in general After that we present the
meaning of audio stories in a specific way and its main characteristics Lastly this section
highlights the use and the advantages of audio stories inside EFL classrooms
11 Definition of Listening Skill
ldquoThe most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen Just to
listen Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attentionrdquo (Remen
2011)
Listening is an important skill in learning and acquiring a foreign language Through
this process learners will be able to receive and understand information According to
Downs (2008) ldquothe word of listening is defined as making an effort to hear something to
pay attention or heedrdquo (p 1) In other words Downs (2008) argues that listening is the way
7
learners pay attention to what is being said In her opinion listening is an active process that
includes using a variety of processes which are attending understanding interpreting
responding and remembering Moreover Mendelsohn (1994) demonstrates listening as ldquothe
ability to understand the spoken language of native speakersrdquo (p 64) To be precise
Mendelsohn defines listening as the listenerrsquo s ability to recognize the native speakerrsquo s
speech in terms of accent pitch intonation vocabulary grammar and trying to interpret the
native speakerrsquo s messages
Saricoban (1999) states that listening is onersquos capacity to realise what is being said
and to recognize the intended meaning He sheds light on two important points the first
point concerns understanding the speakerrsquos pronunciation syntax and lexis whereas the
second point deals with grasping the meaning Willis (1981) lists a series of micro-skills of
listening which she calls enabling skills They are
Predicting what people are going to talk about
Guessing at unknown words or phrases without panic
Using onersquo s own knowledge of the subject to help one understand
Identifying relevant points rejecting irrelevant information
Retaining relevant points (note-taking summarizing)
Recognizing discourse markers eg well oh another thing is now finally
etc
Recognizing cohesive devices e g such as and which including linking
words pronouns references etc
Understanding different intonation patterns and uses of stress etc which give
clues to meaning and social setting
8
Understanding inferred information eg speakerrsquo s attitude or intentions
(p134
Furthermore listening is an important source of knowledge It is recognized as the
ability of transforming and interpreting the spoken messages that are received by the ears
from the daily life situations Yet listening is a very hard task It requires the learnersrsquo mental
concentration which is something difficult because the human brain can simply lose attention
That is to say listening skill can save learners from communication breakdowns and
increases their motivation to learn the foreign language and speak fluently but only if they
work harder to develop their own listening skills
12 Differences between Listening and Hearing
Listening and hearing are two different activities Kline (1996) emphasizes the
differences between these two concepts to make an effective listening He states that
ldquohearing is the attachment of meaning to the sound Hearing is passive listening is activerdquo
(p7) In other words active listening is a successful element that affects learnersrsquo verbal and
nonverbal behaviors
Surbhi (2016) states the differences between listening and hearing On the one hand
he defines hearing as the natural capacity that happens unconsciously It aids to identify
sounds via the ears Also hearing is a process that permits receiving sound vibrations and
it is one of the five senses On the other hand Surhbi (2016) defines listening skill as the
process of receiving and interpreting messages it occurs consciously
13 Reasons of Listening
Learners through being exposed to different English accents and in any recorded
materials such as radio TV or tapes they want to understand and realize what is being said
9
(Harmer 1998) According to him listening is a very effective process that helps learners to
get a better pronunciation In other words as much as they are exposed to the real language
as much as they will recognize its features
Also Shen (2010) demonstrates that listening skills help to improve understanding
and aids people to become aware of their listening skills So listening plays a vital role in
language learning and acquisition It is an essential skill that bridges the line between
meaning and messages in order to avoid misunderstanding between individuals
14 Types of listening
Generally speaking the listening skill plays a significant role in teaching EFL
classrooms This process guides EFL learners to an effective communication Therefore the
listening skill can be classified into two different types Extensive listening and intensive
listening
141 Extensive Listening
Extensive listening has to do with the learnerrsquos fluency In other words the learner has
to master vocabulary grammarhellipetc and later on he must combine them together to form
a meaningful conversation So fluency depends on the listenerrsquos ability of understanding
whatever he is exposed to weather in an audio tape a text a songhellipetc
Harmer (1998) states that extensive listening is the way students practice their own
listening outside the classroom Students should enjoy listening to an audio material because
they can understand them without the teacherrsquo s help Also students can depend on CDs and
tapes so that they are going to have another chance to listen to their course books dialogues
that they have already provided to them inside the classroom In addition learners must be
10
stimulated to listen to the English language films with sub-titles because this helps students
to acquire the foreign language
In brief extensive listening according to the Extensive Reading-Central (2012) includes
Listening to massive amounts of text
Text which learners can understand reasonably smoothly
high levels of comprehension
Listening without being constrained by pre-set questions or tasks
Listening at or below onersquo s comfortable fluent listening ability
So extensive listening aims to make learners enjoy developing their listening skills
142 Intensive Listening
In contrast to extensive listening intensive listening aims at developing the learnersrsquo
specific listening skills and more precisely to raise the learnersrsquo attention about the spoken
language Intensive listening occurs weather in classrooms or laboratories It exists mostly
when teachers guide their students and provide them with help concerning listening
problems that they face and try to highlight them (Harmer 2007)
So intensive listening according to the Extensive Reading-central (2012) is
Listening for specific information
Listening for the exact words of a phrase or expression
Listening for details
Listening to mimic a text
11
15 Listening Processes
In listening process addressees process information using two distinct strategies
This is devoted to as bottom-up and top-down
151 Bottom-up Process
Richards (1990) states that ldquobottom-up processing refers the use of incoming data as
a source of information about the meaning of a messagerdquo (p 50) According to him Bottom-
up process deals with the perception of sentence components ie recognizing the meaning
of sounds words sentences clauseshellipetc till reaching the meaning of the whole message
152 Top-down Process
Richards (190) states that ldquoTop-down processing on the other hand refers to the use
of background knowledge in understanding the meaning of a messagerdquo (p 51) In contrast
to Bottom-up process Richards (1990) points out to the Top-down as the process of using
the listenersrsquo previous knowledge to attain meaning as whole not attaining the meaning of
individual words
16 Brief History of Audio-Stories
Eckert (2016) states that ldquoAudio storytelling in the form of radio drama has been
around for almost a centuryrdquo (p 8) That is to say audio stories in the previous decades took
the form of radio drama Radio drama attained extensive admiration within an era of its
original growth in the 1920rsquo s At that time radio drama played a central role for being the
foundation of people entertainment However by the 1950rsquo s people shifted their attention
to the new invention which was the small screen ie the television As a result of the
invention of this new device audio drama no more attracts the spectatorsrsquo attention it lost
its popularity
12
Though in 2010 radio drama came back to stage due to the developments shown in
digital soundtrack and internet spreading According to Eckert (2016) ldquoRadio and audio
storytelling has slowly started gaining popularity again thanks to the different online
platforms brought forth by digitalizationrdquo (p 8)
17 Definition of Storytelling
Today stories are a fundamental part of our societies and cultures Telling and
listening to stories is an ancient tradition and common activity that bonds different olden
civilizations together Also stories are an essential component and an ordinary process that
many people used to do on every occasion It is the art of telling factual or fictional stories
Besides stories bring legacy into life because our ancestors told them and people today
only retell them
Moreover listening to stories enhances the learnersrsquo foreign language It aids them
to improve their speaking skills Pederson (1995) states that ldquoin dealing with stories learners
have an experience with the powerful real language of personal communicationrdquo (p 2)
Additionally Pederson (1995) emphasizes the role of telling stories in preserving heritage
he argues that ldquooral stories are a direct expression of a literary and cultural heritage and
through them that heritage is appreciated understood and kept aliverdquo (1995 p2) In other
words stories bond between the past and the present It is considered to be a vital feature of
humankind Furthermore Schram (1994 as cited in Coulter Michael amp Poynor 2007)
points out
A story is a beautiful means of teaching religion values history traditions and
customs a creative method of introducing characters and places an imaginative way
13
to instill hope and resourceful thinking Stories help us to understand who we are and
show us what legacies to transmit to future generations (p 104-105)
So Schram (1994) highlights the role of stories in bridging the gap between the teaching
process and culture
Likewise Abrahamson (1998) sheds light on the role that storytelling plays in the
learning process He states that telling stories plays a significant role in improving learnersrsquo
understanding Besides Abrahamson argues that stories can afford a suitable context that
the listener can use it as a base to perceive the tellerrsquos point of view Moreover Roney (1996)
demonstrates
In its most basic form storytelling is a process where a person (the teller) using
vocalization narrative structure and mental imagery communications with other
humans (the audience) who also use mental imagery and in turn communicate back
to the teller primarily via body language and facial expression (p 2)
By this definition storytelling is the combination of art procedures and ways of
communication
18 Definition of Audio-Stories
The term audio-story is a combination of two words audio and story By definition
audio is sound within the aural range accessible to humankinds Miller (2011) states that
ldquostories are pieces of art and can serve as a basis of gamesrdquo (p 1) So Audio-story is a very
operative means for teaching EFL learners It aids to make the course persuasive Nowadays
14
audio stories can be used to many reasons and the most important one is the exposure to the
real language of native speakers by EFL learners In addition Rubin (2015) points out
ldquoaudio stories are an engaging form of communication that combines speech and music into
a compelling narrativesrdquo (p 1) That is to say audio stories are the process of telling stories
through sound and sound effects only Furthermore Audio-stories are broadly accredited to
progresses in portable equipment for instance smart phones tablets and multimedia
entertainment systems Thus EFL learners find it easy to listen to those audio stories
19 Characteristics of a Good Audio-Story
According to Seifert (nd) finding good audio-stories that suit the EFL learnersrsquo
needs is something very important and it is a very hard task to do However these are some
of the necessary features that EFL teachers must take into consideration whenever they want
to select a good audio-story for their students
Skill Level
Taking into account the learnersrsquo English level before choosing any audio-story For
instance if the audio-story contains a difficult language learners will lose confidence and
as a result they stop listening to the audio-story So determining the learnersrsquo level is very
important
Student Interest
EFL teachers must find out their studentsrsquo interests and normally each teacher has
an idea about this issue So if the audio-stories do not fit the learnersrsquo needs the EFL
teacherrsquos goal from that audio-story will be lost
15
Audio Length
The length of the audio-story plays a significant role in keeping concentration in the
ESL schoolrooms Listening for much time to the audio storytelling leads to boredom As a
result the learnersrsquo s brains lose attention However teachers can use long audio-stories but
they should know how to put it into parts and use classroom discussions to avoid boredom
So these three characteristics aid to develop EFL learnersrsquo listening skills
110 The Use of Audio-Stories in ESL Classrooms
According to Rock (nd) there are several listening practices that ESLEFL teachers
can provide to their students These are samples of activities that can work hand in hand with
audio-stories
Fill in The Blanks
Here EFL teacher provides his students with a written passage that is taken from an
audio-story but he removes some words Later on the teacher asks his learners to listen to
the audio-story after reading that passage and at the same time fill in the blanks
Mastery Memory
This activity has to do with learnerrsquos memory In this kind of practices teachers
provide learners with an audio-story and ask them for example to write down the main
events of the story but when they finish listening to it Teachers in this activity have to make
sure that students do not write them during the listening of the audio-story So the main goal
of the exercise is to reinforce learnerrsquos memory
16
Order the Events
At the start teachers give their learners a series of events that are chosen from an
audio-story Then the teacher gives them some time to read them After that learners listen
to the audio- storytelling and put those events in a sequential order
Buzz Words
This exercise aims to reach the learnerrsquo s vocabulary In this practice teachers
provide learners with a number of words then they ask them to check their meanings before
Afterward teacher turns the lesson into a game ie EFL learners listen to the audio-story
and whenever they hear a word (the buzz word) from that list they have to raise their hands
or clap them
Multiple Choice
This activity deals with providing learners with a number of questions followed by
three answers these questions can be definitions or name of characterhellip etc Then learners
have to listen to the audio-storytelling and pick the write response After teachers play again
the audio-story to correct their answers
Character Quiz
In this practice EFL learners have to listen to the whole story Then the teacher gives
his class a question sheet that contains a list of character qualities and decision and ask them
to choose the suitable one for the leading role
Plot Quiz
This activity has to do with team competition After listening to the whole audio-
storytelling once or twice the teacher divides his class into two to four groups where the
17
teacher plays the role of the coach Several questions that have a relation to the story will be
quizzed to each team if they get the answer they have a point if they fail to answer correctly
the question moves to the next group
Beginning Middle End
After listening to the audio storytelling the teacher splits the classroom into groups
and each group contains no more than four students Later he asks each group to write the
main events of the beginning the middle and the end of the story Finally they discuss them
together
111 Advantages of Using Audio-Stories
Audio-stories play an essential role in teaching the target language Audio-
storytelling is an impeccable implement for any ESL classrooms First of all audio-stories
afford learners with the exposure to the real language as it is produced by the native speakers
ie a natural voice Furthermore Rodero (2012 as cited in Eckert2016) claimed that
ldquoAudio stories that use sound effects and sound shots enhance the learnerrsquo s attention and
creation of visual images significantly compared to those without themrdquo (p 16) That is to
say using audio-stories in ESL classrooms develops learnersrsquo listening skills and provides
them with an imaginary trip inside their minds Also audio- stories enhance learnersrsquo
pronunciation since the learner is exposed to the natural voice In addition EFL teacher can
use audio storytelling as a guideline to his lecture or the opposite he can use it at the end of
the course as a reward
Moreover the EFL teachers depend on audio-stories in improving learnersrsquo
vocabulary through memorization Learners can enrich their vocabulary whenever they
listen to those stories because each time they learn some new words Besides learners can
18
listen to them outside the schoolrooms because they are portable they can upload them in
their mobiles and listen to them any time anywhere Finally audio stories can raise interest
for those learners who are not attracted to reading
Conclusion
In conclusion listening to audio stories aids EFL learners to improve the target
language pronunciation That is to say students will be exposed to the real language as it is
created by the native speakers Besides using audio stories in ESLEFL classrooms increases
the learnersrsquo interest toward learning the foreign language and also enhances their speaking
skills
19
Section two Reflection on Pronunciation
Introduction
121 Definition of Speaking Skill
122 Speaking Sub-Competencies Skills
123 Definition of Pronunciation
124 Importance of Pronunciation
125 Factors Affecting Pronunciation
1251 Internal Factors
1252 External Factors
Conclusion
20
Introduction
Generally speaking being able to speak the target language fluently and accurately
seems to be very interesting to all EFLESL learners Though students face a lot of troubles
and obstacles when communicating with each other or with native speakers and this is due
to mispronunciation misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the hearer which leads to the
communication breakdowns Furthermore learnersrsquo mispronunciation occurs due to various
factors that affect their oral language and as a consequence it affects their speaking
proficiency
In this section we have dealt with the speaking process and precisely
ldquopronunciationrdquo At the start a slight attention is put upon the definition of speaking skills
and its sub-competencies After that a part of this section is devoted to define pronunciation
and highlight its importance Moreover this section demonstrates some factors that affect
pronunciation which are classified into internal factors and external factors Finally another
point about the English consonant ldquoLrdquo has been raised
121 Definition of Speaking Skill
Mastering the foreign language is the aim of each EFL learner Speaking is one of
the most important language skills it plays a significant role in sharing ideas and thoughts
between individuals Torky (2006) defines speaking as follows ldquoIt is the means through
which learners can communicate with others to achieve certain goals or to express their
opinions intentions hopes and viewpointsrdquo (p 13) Also Ziane (2012) states that ldquoit is the
way by which learners can contribute and be part of oral communicationrdquo (p21) So the
main goal of EFL learners is to be able to speak the target language in order to strengthen
their verbal communication
21
Moreover Chaney (1998) argues that ldquospeaking is the process of building and
sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols in a variety of contextsrdquo
(p 13) From Chaneyrsquo s definition of speaking we deduce that speaking has an important
role in learning the foreign language and improving EFL learnersrsquo communicative skill
However there are some researchers who describe speaking as a hard task They
argue that EFL learners find it so hard to master the foreign language and face a lot of
difficulties even after studying it many years at schools Bueno and Mclaren (2006 as cited
in Alonso 2011) point out
Speaking is one of the most difficult skills language learners have to face In spite of
this it has traditionally been forced into the background while we teachers of
English have spent all our classroom time trying to teach our students how to write
to read and sometimes even to listen in a L2 because grammar has a long written
tradition (p 321)
On the whole the speaking skill is a very important process that EFL learners need to acquire
in order to master and shape the target language
122 Speaking Sub CompetenciesSkills
Torky (2006) claims that learners must be able to express themselves in a given
context in order to be proficient in mastering the foreign language She points out to several
speaking skills or competencies that help to achieve this aim which are
22
Linguistic Competence
Torky (2006) states that learners must be skillful in using pronunciation ie their
pronunciation must be clear In addition students have to use correct grammar and
proper lexis
Discourse Competence
In the beginning learners have to be able to use a well-organized discourse In other
words the discourse must be clear and unified Besides they have to be competent in
handling discussion and cooperating efficiently in order to avoid the communication
breakdowns
Pragmatic Competence
EFL learners have to be proficient in using a variety of functions that are related to
the same context and register
Fluency
Speaking smoothly without any complications and with a suitable degree of speech
speed
123 Definition of Pronunciation
According to Gilakjani (2012) ldquopronunciation is an integral part of foreign language
since it directly affects learnersrsquo communicative competence as well as performancerdquo
(p119) That is to say pronunciation plays a fundamental role in learning and improving the
target language Besides Poposka (2016) argues that pronunciation is the key factor of
language in its universal notion and she claims that pronunciation should be defined in
23
relation to different perspectives Poposka (2016) states some of the various points of view
concerning pronunciation definition which are
- The act or manner of pronouncing uttering of speech
- A way of speaking a word especially a way that is accepted or generally understood
- A graphic representation of the way a word is spoken using phonetic symbols (p
200)
Moreover Dauer (1993 as cited in Ummah 2014) states that ldquopronunciation is the
act of producing the sound of speech including articulation vowel formation accent
inflection and intonation often with reference to the correctness or acceptability of the
speech soundrdquo (p 10) In addition Poposka (2016) states that pronunciation is the vocal
capacity to produce particular sounds weather when communicating with individuals or
when being alone This construction of sounds leads to the appearance of some utterances
that may be expressive or worthless (p 200) Furthermore Adult Migrant English Program
research center (AMP 2002) points out
Pronunciation refers to the production of sounds that we use to make meaning it includes
attention to the particular sounds of language (segments) aspects of speech beyond the
level of the individual sound such as intonation phrasing stress timing rhythm
(suprasegmental aspects) (p1)
In other words AMP research center argues that even if these two aspects suprasegmental
and segmental structures are treated separately it is necessary to know that they work hand
in hand in a given context whenever someone speaks
24
124 Importance of Pronunciation
Madden and Moore (1997) states that ldquoin first language acquisition children learn
pronunciation inductively by absorbing and reproducing the sounds in their environmentrdquo
(p 4) That is to say all human beings in their natural development from childhood to
adulthood learn first of all how to talk before learning how to read or write Also Zhang
(2009) claims that ldquolearning a language means to perform the sounds utterances and the
words properly and correctlyrdquo (p 34-35) So pronunciation is a very essential skill in
learning a second language
Moreover Morley (1998 as cited in Zhang 2009) argues that ldquoit is clear that limited
pronunciation skills will make learners lose their self-confidence and result in negative
influence for learners to estimate their credibility and abilitiesrdquo (p 35) In other words it
does not matter whether learners make mistakes concerning grammar or vocabulary all what
matters is the way they pronounce a given word in order to make a worthy impression on
the learnersrsquo language capacities Zhang (2009) points out
Good pronunciation will make people understand you easily and be willing to listen to
you Contrarily poor English pronunciation may confuse people and lead to an
unpleasant talking and misunderstanding even if you used advanced English grammar
or vocabulary (p 35)
Likewise Backley (n d) argues ldquoif a speaker has a clear pronunciation this has immediate
benefits listeners judge the speakerrsquo s overall language ability much more favorably even
to the point of tolerating grammatical and other errorsrdquo (p 126) Therefore good
25
pronunciation aids to avoid misinterpretation and intelligibility between speakers and
listeners and show the learnersrsquo competencies in mastering their second language
Furthermore good pronunciation affects the learnersrsquo speed of acquiring the target language
In addition learners should use only simple structures with good and correct pronunciation
rather than using complex expressions in order to communicate with others
125 Factors Affecting Pronunciation
Generally speaking there are several factors that affect the learnersrsquo pronunciation
These factors can be classified into internal factors and external factors
1251 Internal Factors
Zhang (2009) states that internal factors can be categorized also into biological
factors individual differences and individual efforts and goal setting
Biological Factors
They are branded into four features age ear perception and aptitude
Learnersrsquo Age
At the start there is a difference between young learners and adult learners
concerning the acquisition of the accurate pronunciation Nonetheless this does not mean
that adult learners cannot get accurate pronunciation as well They have to work much harder
because their brainsrsquo plasticity reduces That is to say age plays a significant part in learning
the target language pronunciation Moreover Zhang (2009) emphasizes the role of the
critical period hypothesis that was proposed by Lenneberg in 1967 which states that there
is a certain age that helps learners to acquire the foreign language pronunciation accurately
26
and after that age the brain loses its flexibility Furthermore (Nation and Newton (2009) as
cited in Zhang 2009) claim that
Usually if the learner began to speak in the second language before the age of six
there will be little or no accent If the learner began to speak between the age of seven
and eleven the learners likely to have a slight accent If the learner began to speak
after age of twelve the learners almost always have an accent (p 78)
This is the reason behind the acceptance of the idea that learners find it so hard to acquire
the foreign language after maturity
Additionally Zhang (2009) states that young learners have bigger chances than the
adult learners in obtaining accurate pronunciation He claims that the brain loses its
flexibility and becomes rigid after puberty (after nine years old) as a result the brainrsquo s
functions will be devoted to the right and left hemispheres which makes it so difficult to
acquire the foreign languagersquo s pronunciation correctly Also Lenneberg (1967 as cited in
Zhang 2009) argues that ldquobefore the age of two the brain has not developed enough but
after puberty it developed too much and it will lose its plasticity and finish the lateralization
of the language functionrdquo (p 39) In other words it becomes so hard to obtain the native-
like pronunciation after the lateralization
Ear Perception
One of the most important factors that affect the learnersrsquo acquisition of the foreign
language is the ldquoear perceptionrdquo Zhang (2009) claims that the hearing abilities differ from
one person to another That is to say there are learners who have a strong hearing capacity
27
they can hear sounds in a very clear way which help them in reproducing the native speakersrsquo
pronunciation smoothly Whereas there is that kind of learners who do not have that ability
However Zhang argues that the ear perception has nothing to do with the learner age He
claims that it is natural that learners may lose some of their capacities whenever they become
older
Aptitude
Generally speaking foreign language aptitude is the personrsquos ability to learn a foreign
or a second language very rapidly and with no troubles (Wen 2011) Also Dornyei and
skehan (2003 as cited in Wen 2011) states ldquooriginally the notion of FLA presumed a
relatively stable talent for learning a foreign language that differs between individualsrdquo (p
590) So EFL learners do not have the same ability to acquire the foreign language
Additionally Carroll (1962 as cited in Wen 2011) states four components of the FLA which
are
lsquophonemic coding abilityrsquo (ie the ability to identify and retain sounds and link them
to phonetic symbols)
Sensitivity towards the grammatical functions that words fulfil in a sentence
The ability to learn inductively (ie to infer and generalize linguistic structures from
language samples) and
The ability to rote learn vocabulary items paired with their associated translations
(p 233)
Hence aptitude has an important role in improving learnersrsquo foreign language
Although Zhang (2009) argues that all individuals have a language aptitude ability but they
28
differ only in the degree of that aptitude capacity Also he claims that we cannot say that
those people who have a sophisticated level of language aptitude will get to the top and
people with an inferior level of language aptitude will go pear-shaped
Individual Differences
Zhang (2009) states that learnersrsquo different personalities affect the way they acquire
the foreign language pronunciation He argues that extroverted learners are more likely to
acquire the target pronunciation rather than introverted learners because extroverted learners
are not afraid of making mistakes which is not the case with the introverted learners who
face always the fear of failure Besides extroverted students are more friendly they tend to
work with others which leads them to practice the target language so they become more
familiar with it which aids to improve their pronunciation very quickly (p 40-41)
Individual Efforts and Goal setting
At the start the main goal of each EFLESL learner is to master the foreign language
in order to communicate with others Zhang (2009) points out ldquowe must always remember
that teaching never causes learning but rather creates the conditions in which learning can
occurrdquo (p 42) Besides he emphasizes that pronunciation is really a very hard task that
learners can acquire in a few days but it is not something impossible that learners cannot
achieve Though as much time learners spend in practicing the target language
pronunciation the better results they will get
1252 External Factors
External factors can be classified into three aspects learnersrsquo native language
exposure to target language and education factors
29
Learnerrsquo s Native Language
Universally the learnersrsquo native language affects their pronunciation of the foreign
language Zhang (2009) states that studentsrsquo mother tongue reflects the way they pronounce
a certain word in the target language and this is due to the differences that are found between
the two languages In other words learners find a lot of complications in articulating some
sounds for the reason that some of those sounds do not occur in their native language (p
43)
Exposure to the Target Language
Zhang (2009) shows that the acquisition of English language pronunciation is related
to the amount of exposure to it as it is produced by the native speakers That is to say this
depends on the learner himself ie on the situation in which the learning process occurs In
other words Zhang argues that it does not matter weather learners live in a native country
or not it is a matter of how much time they listen to the foreign language and how much
time they use it Zhang (2009) states ldquothe more they spend their time for listening and
speaking English the better their English pronunciation will berdquo (p 44) Thus learnerrsquo s
pronunciation accuracy depends on the surrounding environment where the target language
takes place
Educational Factors
At the start the system of education is responsible for studentsrsquo learning process
Worthy educational structure provides a lot of chances for learners to be exposed to the target
language through creating a suitable learning environment Additionally EFLESL
teachersrsquo accent reflects the learnersrsquo pronunciation because learners take teachers as an
30
exemplary in order to improve their pronunciation That is why teachers should work on
their pronunciation initially (Zhang 2009)
The English Consonant Sound ldquoLrdquo
Generally speaking EFL learners face complications in learning the English L sound
Sproat and Fujimura (1993) argue ldquoEnglish l has traditionally been classified into at least
two allophones namely light which occurs initially and dark which occurs syllable finallyrdquo
(p 291) Furthermore Wang (2016) states that the L consonant sound is a lateral phoneme
in English and it has two allophones he points out
One of them is found before vowels as in ldquoladyrdquo or ldquoflyrdquo called clear l and is
pronounced as the alveolar lateral approximant in a neutral position of the body of
the tongue The other variant is called dark l found before consonants or at word-
finally position as in ldquoboldrdquo or ldquotellrdquo Which is as the velarized lateral approximant
with the tongue in a spoon-like shape Its back part is raised which gives the sound
a w-like resonance (p 44)
In other words the clear [l] occurs when the tip of the tongue raises up and touches the soft
palate just behind the front teeth whereas the dark [ϯ] happens when the tip of the tongue
pulls back and the tongue raises to the middle without touching the soft palate to make the
L sound So the difference between these two allophones is the reason behind those troubles
that the learner may face
However Sproat and Fujimura (1993 as cited in Jiahong 2011) explain the
differences between these two allophones by relating them to the rime duration In other
31
words they point out that whenever the l sound occurs in longer rimes it is going to be a
dark [ϯ] and whenever the rime is short the l sound is clear or light
Figure 1
Articulatory Differences in l Velarization
Source Recasens 2012 p369
Conclusion
To end with it is very important to acknowledge that pronunciation is one way that
leads to an effective and a successful communication That is why many researchers shed
light on the investigation of some factors that may influence the EFL learnersrsquo pronunciation
As a result these identifying concepts help foreigners to overcome their difficulties when
they are introduced to the target language
32
Chapter two Field Work
Introduction
21 Methodology
211 Research Participants
212 The Procedure
2121 The Research Design
2122 The Pre-test Phase
2123 The Treatment Phase
2124 The Control Group
2125 The Post-test Phase
213 Scoring
214 Data Analysis
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (independent Sample
t-test)
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group Post-test
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group Post-test (Paired
Sample t-test)
21431 Paired Sample t-test
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-test
33
21441 An Independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the
Post-test
215 Discussion of the Results
216 Pedagogical Implications
Conclusion
34
Introduction
This research attempts to investigate the effect of listening to audio stories on
acquiring accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] by second year LMD students
at the department English -LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi The chosen sample is divided into two
groups the control group and the experimental group At the start participantsrsquo
pronunciation accuracy of the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] (the dependent variable) was measured
through a pretest Later on a period of treatment is taken by the experimental group which
is not the case with the control group After that a post-test is administered to both groups
in which the results are gathered using a software called the ldquopraatrdquo In addition we shed
light on describing the sample taking the place in which the study took place the method
used and at last the data collected
21 Methodology
211 Research Participants
The current study involved two intact classes of second year LMD students from
LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi-English Department The selected sample includes students from
different gender Furthermore we favored to select second year students for several reasons
The first reason was that second year students have practiced working with audio supports
which was not the case with first year students so they will not face problems concerning
listening to audio stories The second reason was that second year learners study oral
expression
At the start the experiment includes a sample of forty learners that have been chosen
from two intact classes of second year LMD students The chosen sample represents 1904
from the entire population which comprises 210 learners Additionally both clusters were
35
divided into a control group and an experimental group twenty students in each group At
the beginning the sample was supposed to be comprised of sixty students in which both the
control and the experimental groups covered thirty students Unfortunately there were a lot
of absences in both groups Also there are some students who have not passed both the
pretest and the posttest and others have not received the treatment at all Therefore the
sample size was reduced from sixty to forty students which can be sufficient to represent
the whole population and to get consistent outcomes
In order to gather consistent data that help to achieve the purpose of our research a
quasi-experimental design was designated The use of the chosen method will provide us
with a wide-ranging representation of the reflection of listening to audio stories on the
acquisition of the accurate pronunciation of the dark [l] and clear [l]
212 The Procedure
To accumulate a reliable data an experiment was conducted over six sessions The
treatment period took four sessions and the remained two sessions for the pretest and the
posttest The pretest took a form different from that of the posttest in order to avoid
familiarity to improve the learnersrsquo development and get consistent information Both
groups have taken the tests but only the experimental group took the treatment Besides the
duration of training concerning the treatment period for the experimental group took 90
minutes ie one hour and a half for each session and it started after getting the
authorization of the teacher of oral expression
36
2121 The Research Design
Figure 2
Experimental Group Procedures
Figure 3
Control Group Procedures
2122 The Pre-test Phase
By the first week of March both the control group and the experimental group have
taken the pretest However before choosing the pretest and in order to avoid any problems
we have checked that the dark [l] and the clear [l] are pronounced the same in both the
American and the British accents using the Oxford Advanced Learnerrsquo s Dictionary At the
outset learners were required to read a passage derived from a short story named ldquoThe last
class-The story of the Alsationrdquo that was written by Alphonse Daudet (2001) and also short
sentences (see Appendix A) After that their voices were recorded using a software known
pre-test
treatment
(listening to audio stories)
post-test
pre-test
No treatment
( being taught without listening
to audio-stories)
post-test
37
as the ldquoPraatrdquo Besides our focus here was raised toward the duration (ie the length of a
syllable) of the dark [l] and the clear [l]
Throughout the pretest EFL learners found themselves unable to pronounce the dark
[ϯ] and clear [l] that are found in some words correctly In other words students in the control
group and the experimental group most of the time pronounce the dark [ϯ] in the same way
they pronounce the clear [l] ie they spend the same duration for pronouncing the two
allophones Also EFL learners from time to time pronounce them differently but in a wrong
way ie they spent a rime duration that it not suitable neither for the light [l] nor for the
dark[ϯ]
Figure4
Example of the Lateral Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoSawmillrdquo
2123 The Treatment Phase
At first both participants have finished the pretest Though the treatment was
approved to the experimental group only the control group did not receive the same
treatment Besides the experimental group received the treatment in four sessions and each
Rime
duration
38
session took one hour and a half (ie 90 minutes) In each session students were asked to
listen to the audio-story in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of both allophones
after that they discussed the story being listened (see Appendix B)
2124 The Control Group
Concerning the control group students were taught the oral expression without any
exposure to any kinds of treatments In contrast to students in the experimental group who
were provided with the audio stories in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of the
both allophones which are the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ]
2125 The Post-test Phase
Fundamentally after finishing the four sessions of training ie the period of
treatment a posttest was administered to both the experimental group and the control group
(see Appendix c) The posttest as we have said before is different from the pretest in order
to avoid familiarity with the same topic and to ensure the learners improvement of the dark
[ϯ] and clear [l] So the posttest is a kind of a passage which was taken from a short story
that is entitled ldquoThe Game of Billiardsrdquo which is written by Alphonse Daudet and some
words to pronounce Furthermore during the posttest we noticed a kind of development in
learnersrsquo pronunciation of the two allophones with students of the experimental group
especially in pronouncing the single words which was not the case with those learners in
the control group
39
Figure 5
Example of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquocabalrdquo
Figure 6
Example of the Clear [l] in the word ldquolabourrdquo
The rime
duration
The rime
duration
40
213 Scoring
After finishing recording the learnersrsquo pronunciation of the phoneme l of both
groups (the control and the experimental group) we have compared them first of all to the
native speakerrsquo s pronunciation and after that we have calculated the rime duration of the
two allophones ie the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] and at last we gave them scores out of six
(6) for each participant
214 Data Analysis
In this sub-section we are going to investigate the EFL learnersrsquo improvement of
pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] Though in order to make sure that EFL
learners have acquired the correct pronunciation of these two allophones we have firstly
investigated the native speakerrsquos pronunciation of the L sound ie the clear [l] and the dark
[ϯ] and we have analyzed the rime duration of two words ldquolightrdquo and ldquoballrdquo as examples
Figure7
The Native Speakerrsquos Pronunciation of the Clear [l] in the Word ldquolightrdquo
Rime
duration
41
Figure8
The Native Speakerrsquo s Pronunciation of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoballrdquo
From these two figures we have noticed that the native speaker has spent 016 s in
pronouncing an ideal clear [l] (see Figure 7) and he has spent 138 s in order to pronounce
a perfect dark [ϯ] (see Figure 8) Thus this analysis of the native speakerrsquo s voice paved the
way to our research in which we based our investigation on it
Table 1
The Experimental and the Control grouprsquo s Scores in the pre-test
Pre-test
Students
Control
group
Experimental
group
Rime
duration
(second)
C E
Rime
duration
42
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (Independent Sample t-
test)
After gathering data for the control and the experimental group and for the purpose
of comparing and contrasting between the two we have calculated the learnersrsquo scores of
pronunciation of the phoneme l and also we have calculated the rime duration of the two
1 1 2 118 127
2 2 25 095 091
3 1 1 116 102
4 25 2 106 091
5 25 25 078 089
6 15 2 078 105
7 2 15 123 091
8 1 1 117 108
9 15 1 119 119
10 15 1 1 115
11 2 15 091 116
12 15 1 12 119
13 2 15 114 1
14 15 1 108 112
15 1 1 131 112
16 2 1 088 08
17 1 1 127 107
18 1 15 107 149
19 15 1 099 115
20 1 15 114 174
Total 31 285 2149 2222
43
allophones (see Table1) Besides the data collected ie the learnersrsquo scores were used in
calculating the means of both groups in the pre-test (the mean is calculated using the SPSS
see Table 2)
Figure 9
The Pre-test Scores of the Control and the Experimental Group
Table 2
The Mean Score of the Control and the Experimental Group in the Pre-test
Test N Mean Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpre 20 15500 51042 11413
Epre 20 14250 51999 11627
44
In order to calculate the Mean () Results we have to use the following formula
=sumx N
N stands for the total numbers of students in one group
sumx stands for the total number of data that was gathered from the pre-test
1 stands for the mean of the Control Group
2 stands for the mean of the Experimental Group
So1= 31 20 =155
2= 285 20 = 142
From ldquoFigure 9rdquo we can notice that 1 is the most frequent score in both the
experimental and the control groups in the pre-test and we can confirm this information
from Table 1 Furthermore when comparing means of both groups we notice (see Table 2)
that there is only a slight difference between the two groups the mean of the control group
is 155 whereas the mean of the experimental group is 142 So we can deduce that the level
of both groups is approximately the same there is no significant difference Moreover the
rime duration of the phoneme l of the experimental group and the control group is to some
extent the same and we can notice this slight difference in Table 1 and precisely in the total
duration of pronouncing the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] by both groups and also in Table 2
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group post-test
In order to confirm if there is any kind of progression in the control grouprsquo s scores
in the post-test concerning the pronunciation of the phoneme l (see Table 3) we have
calculated the mean of the post-test (using the SPSS see Table 4) and compared it with the
mean of the pre-test besides we have calculated the rime duration that has been spent At
45
last we have mentioned the learnersrsquo scores differences between the pre-test and the post-
test to confirm the development (see Figure 10)
Table 3
Results and Scores Differences of the Control and Experimental group in the Post-test
Posttest
Students
Rime
Duration
(Second)
Cpre Cpost Epre Epost
Cpre Cpost Epre Epost
1 1 1 2 4 118 186 127 21
2 2 175 25 5 095 113 091 253
3 1 1 1 45 116 134 102 245
4 25 2 2 35 106 119 091 234
5 25 15 25 55 078 146 089 24
6 15 175 2 5 078 119 105 267
7 2 2 15 45 123 135 091 263
8 1 125 1 5 117 144 108 254
9 15 1 1 425 119 144 119 242
10 15 1 1 55 1 128 115 274
11 2 1 15 45 091 126 116 285
12 1 2 1 5 12 129 119 268
13 2 125 15 55 114 146 1 328
14 15 1 1 55 108 127 112 223
15 1 1 1 5 131 092 112 275
16 2 1 1 475 088 135 08 274
46
17 1 2 1 5 127 094 107 292
18 1 1 15 575 107 096 149 29
19 15 1 1 525 099 114 115 295
20 1 15 15 575 114 132 174 338
Total 31 27 285 9875 2149 2359 2222 535
Diff -4 +7025 +21 +3128
Mean 155 135 142 493
-02 +351
Table 4
The Mean of the control Group in the Pre-test and Post-test
Mean N Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpre 15500 20 51042 11413
Cpost 13500 20 41675 09319
In order to calculate the mean( )result of the control group in the post-test we have to apply
the following formula = sumx N
sum stands for the total number of the data collected in the post-test of the control
group
N refers to the total number of students So = 2720 = 1
47
Figure 10
The Control Group Studentsrsquo Scores Differences
A very insignificant development has been shown in both Figure 7 and Table 3
concerning learners scores in the post-test Besides only Students 681217 and 20 from a
total number of twenty have proved the improvement the mean of the control group has
decreased from 155 in the pre-test to 135 in the post-test ie the mean = -02
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group post-test (Paired Sample
T-test)
In order to identify the scoresrsquo differences between the results of the experimental
group in both the pre-test and the post-test we have calculated the mean of the post-test and
compared it with that of the pre-test to notice if there is any improvement (see Table 3) So
the mean of the post-test is shown in Table 5 below
48
Table 5
The Mean of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and Post-test
Mean N Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Epre 14250 20 51999 11627
Epost 49375 20 59535 13312
From Table 5 we notice that the mean of the experimental group increased from 142 in the
pre-test to 493 in the post-test with a mean difference of 351 ( = +351) and we can
calculate the mean ()of the post-test using the following formula
= sumxN
sum= Stands for the total number of data that was gathered from the post-test in the
Experimental Group
119925 =Stands for the total number of students
So= 9875 20 = 493
From Table 3 we notice that there is a very clear development and difference in
learnersrsquo scores in the post-test which is very different from the pre-test scores (see Figure
12) Moreover we can notice this development from Figure 11 below too It Shows that the
most frequent scores that learners of the experimental group have gained are 45 5 55 and
at last 575(the marks are out of six) that makes a big difference from the scores of the pre-
test in which the most frequent score was 1 In addition to all of this results we can add that
the sum of the rime duration of the post-test differs a lot from that of the pre-test ( = +3128
s)
49
Hence in the light of these results we can say that the period of treatment really
affects in a positive way the learnersrsquo acquisition of the pronunciation of dark [ϯ] and clear
[l] Besides this enhancement was improved in the mean difference between the pre-test and
the post-test of the experimental group Though the comparison of means in the pre-test and
post-test of the experimental group cannot be sufficient in order to make sure that listening
to audio-stories really affects positively the way learners pronounce the Phoneme l
Therefore a paired sample T-test was designed to assess the development of learnersrsquo
acquisition of dark [ϯ] and clear [l] ie to acceptreject the Alternative Hypothesis or to
accept reject the Null Hypothesis (See Table 6 below)
Figure 11
The Scores Frequencies of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and the Post-test
50
Figure 12
The Scores Differences of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and the Post-test
21431 The paired Sample T-test
In order to know if there is any significant difference between the post-test and the
pre-test scores of the same group a t-test is conducted At first the of the experimental
group is calculated through the following formula
= sumdN
refers to the Difference of mean Scores
N Studentsrsquo scores in the Experimental Group
sum refers to the total sum of the Differences Scores
So = 702520= 35125
51
The Standard deviation of the differences
Sd= radic119956120784= radicsum119941120784
119925minus 119941120784
S stands for the Variance
sum119941120784 refers to the square differences of Scores
After calculating
Sdcong 013
The Standard Error of the Mean Difference (SE)
It is calculated using the following formula
SE ()= 119878119889
radic119873cong003
Finally we calculate the t- value that will be compared to the critical P-value at the point
p=005 in order to accept the alternative hypothesis or rejecting it using the following
formula119957120784120782minus120783=
119878119864(119889) = 117
Table 6
Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Post-test Scores differences
Students Pre-test Post-test Difference
1 2 4 2
2 25 5 25
3 1 45 35
4 2 35 15
5 25 55 3
6 2 5 3
52
7 15 45 3
8 1 5 4
9 1 425 325
10 1 55 45
11 15 45 3
12 1 5 4
13 15 55 4
14 1 55 45
15 1 5 4
16 1 475 375
17 1 5 4
18 15 575 425
19 1 525 425
20 15 575 425
Total 285 9875 7025
Table 7
The Paired Sample T-test for the Experimental Group
Paired Sample T-Test
Epre
Scores-
Epost
Scores
Mean Std
deviati-
on
Std-
Error
Mean
95Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
t Df Sig
(2-
tailed)
Lower Upper
-351250 83695 18715 -390421 -312079 -18768 19 000
53
After calculating the mean of the experimental group in both the pre-test and the post-
test (see Table 5) a mean difference of +351 was noticed Therefore in order to prove if
the development that was noticed in the post-test scores as well as the mean occurred
because of the influence of listening to the audio-stories which is the independent variable
or happened only by coincidence
Hence to confirm the Alternative Hypothesis and reject the Null Hypothesis or vice
versa the t-value (117) was calculated in order to be compared with the critical- value at
the point p=005 and at the level of t=19 Besides p-value (0000) is less than 005 which
means that there a real difference between the learnersrsquo scores in the pre-test (before the
period of treatment) and the leanersrsquo scores in the post-test (after the period of treatment)
Consequently we can deduce that the improvement that was achieved by the experimental
group in the post test did not occur by chance actually it occurred because of listening to
audio-stories that has a positive effect on learnersrsquo pronunciation of both the clear [l] and the
dark [ϯ]
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-test
Table 8
The Mean of the Control Group and the Experimental Group in the Post-test
N Mean Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpost 20 13500 41675 09319
Epost 20 49375 59535 13312
54
To calculate the mean () we use the following Formula
= sum119961 N
So 1= sum119961 N
1 refers to the mean of the control group in the post-test
N refers to the total number of students in the control Group
sum119961 stands for the sum of scores of the control group in the post-test
1= 2720 = 135
2 = sum119961 N
2 stands for the mean of the experimental group in the post-test
N refers to the total number of participants in the experimental group
sum119961 Stands for the sum of scores of the experimental group in the post-test
So 2= 987520 = 493
Figure13
The Scores Frequencies of the Control Group and the Experimental Group in the Post-
test
55
From the previous analysis of the mean of both the control and the experimental
group in the pre-test (see Table 3) we have noticed that the level of students in both groups
is almost the same and there is only a slight difference between them Though in the post-
test the scores of the experimental group has increased and as result the mean average has
increased too after the treatment phase for the experimental group (from 142 to 493) but it
decreased for the control group who were taught without being exposed to any kind of
treatment (see Table 8 and Figure 10) Besides we can notice the development also in the
rime duration in studentsrsquo pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] of the experimental
group in the post-test which is not the case with the control group
21441 An independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the post-
test
In order to investigate if there is any significant change between two diverse groups
who have run the same test a t-test is used to show this significance difference In our case
we want to inspect if there is any significant variation between the experimental group and
the control group in the post-test and whether we accept the Alternative Hypothesis or
rejecting the Null Hypothesis So depending on the following steps a t-test was calculated
using the following formula
t= 119883 119888minus 119890
radicpartx2
Nx+
1205971199102
119873119910
partx2 = sum(119883 minus 119890 )N
= 306
1205971199102 =sum(119883 minus 119888 )2119873
= 160
119888 the mean of the control group in the post-test
56
119890 the mean of the experimental group in the post-test
partx2 the variation of the experimental group
1205971199102 the variation of the control group
So t= 493minus 135
radic306
20+
160
20
=745
t-value= 745
Depending on the t-value (745) that was calculated we compare it with the critical p-
value at p=005 therefore we have two options
1- If t-value is greater than the critical p-value (t-valuegtcritical-value) we accept the
alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
2- If t-value is less than the critical-value (t-valueltcritical-value) we accept the null
hypothesis and refuse the alternative hypothesis
we can say that
t-value=745 745 gt005
We accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
p-value= 0000 0000 lt005
We accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
Depending on these results we can say that there is a statistical evidence that the
associated sampling means are significantly different In other words there is a real change
between the experimental group and the control group in the post test at the level of
pronunciation due to the positive influence of the independent variable which is ldquolistening
to the audio-storiesrdquo Therefore students of the experimental group showed a significant
57
progress at the level of pronunciation and precisely the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
pronunciation
215 Discussion of the Results
The current research has investigated the influence of listening to audio-stories on
acquiring accurate pronunciation of both allophones the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] At the
start the pre-test has proved that learners of both groups ie the control and the
experimental group have the same level through calculating their means The control group
scored a mean of 155 while the experimental group scored a mean of 142 and also they
have got near scores concerning the rime duration of the L sound So these estimated scores
helped us to prove and confirm our hypothesis that states the positive effect of listening to
audio-stories on the level of pronunciation accuracy In the post-test students of the
experimental group showed a significant development compared to the control group and
this is due to the period of treatment that occurred in the oral session Besides the mean
score of the experimental group has been raised from 142 to 493 and from a sum of rime
durations of 2222 s to 535 s while the mean score of the control group has been decreased
from 155 to 135 and increased from a sum of rime durations of 2149 s to 2359 s In
addition a t-test was designed to show if there is any statistical significant difference
between the experimental group and the control group in the post-test the results show the
positive influence of the treatment phase on the dependent variable (pronunciation
accuracy)
216 Pedagogical implication
The present research evidenced the positive influence of being exposed to the target
language pronunciation as it is produced by the native speakers through the exposure to the
audio-stories Therefore we can state a set of pedagogical implications
58
The present study shows that the more students get involved in listening practices
the more they will be proficient in the pronunciation of a various English sounds ie
developing their speaking proficiency
Audio-stories help EFL learners improve their pronunciation as well as to develop
their listening skills
Using multimedia devices (audio-stories in our case) in learning classrooms
enhances the learnersrsquo motivation to get involved in the learning process
Audio-stories can be used by EFL teachers in order to make learners attentive and
interested in the lecture being presented
Audio-stories provide learners with the chance to listen again and again to the story
in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of a given word
Conclusion
The present research examined the effect of listening to audio stories on fostering the
target language pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] The native speakerrsquo s
pronunciation of both allophones was analyzed first through analyzing the rime duration in
order to compare it with the EFL learnersrsquo articulation That is to say the analysis is based
on the native speakerrsquo s rime duration In addition a significant development in learnersrsquo
pronunciation of the dark[ϯ]and the clear [l] was proved which lead to accept the alternative
hypothesis that states listening to audio-stories has a positive effect on acquiring accurate
pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] by EFL learners
59
General Conclusion
The present study is based on the investigation of the effectiveness of listening to
audio stories on acquiring accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] by EFL
learners At the beginning we have stated the problem which was that the Algerian EFL
learners in the English department at LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi University face a lot of difficulties
concerning the acquisition of the accurate pronunciation of The phoneme l Subsequently
this dissertation tackled the importance of listening to audio-stories on enhancing EFL
learnersrsquo pronunciation accuracy
Our research was tackled in two main chapters The first chapter divided into two
main sections In the first section we tackled the point of listening to audio stories whereas
the second section discussed the reflection of listening to audio stories on the pronunciation
of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] The second chapter represented the practical part the field
work The analyzed data showed that there is a positive relationship between the independent
variable and the dependent variable That is to say there was a development in the
acquisition of the phoneme l which lead us to accept the alternative hypothesis and reject
the null hypothesis
60
Limitations of the Study
Limited sources ie most of the sources that were available were not relevant to our
study
Time constraints this study needs much more time to conduct a better result
Students absences in the pre-test and the post-test and others did not receive the
treatment at all
The lack of interest in the beginning of the treatment session
61
List of References
Alonso SR (2012) The importance of Teaching Listening and Speaking Skills Diagravectica de Lingua
y la Literatura Facultad de Education
Brown S (2006) Teaching Listening Cambridge Cambridge University press
Coulter C Michael C ampPoynor L (2007) Storytelling as Pedagogy An Unexpected Outcome
of narrative inquiry 104-105
Daudet A (2001) Five Short Stories Copyright copy Bartlebycom Inc
Downs L J (2008) Listening Skills Training ASTD press
Eckert J (2016) Audio Storytelling in Todayrsquos Visual World The necessary Components of a
successful sounds scape for an audio play
Gilakjani A P (2012) A study of Factors Affecting EFL learnersrsquo English Pronunciation Learning
and the Strategy for instruction Lahijani Iran 2(3) 119-128
Hamer J (1998) How to teach English An Introduction to the Practice of English Language
Teaching English Language Teaching Harlow Longman
Hendrickson J (1992) Storytelling for foreign language and linguistics Washington Dc Eric
learning house on language and linguistic [ Eric No E0355-824]
Kline J A (1996) Listening Effectively Air University Press
Madden M and Moore Z (1997) ESL Studentsrsquo Opinions about instruction in Pronunciation
Texas 3(2) 15-32
Mendelson D J (1994) Learning to Listen Dominie Press
Nasreddin K (2010) The Influence of Background Knowledge on Second Language Listening
Comprehension Constantine Constantine University
62
Poposka V p (2016) Pronunciation Proficiency Level Problematic Areas of Tertiary as a Foreign
Language International Journal of Science and Basic and Applied Research
Richards J C (1990) The Language Teaching Matrix Cambridge Cambridge University Pess
Rubin SS (2015) Tools for Creating Audio Stories scholarship University of California
Roney RC (1996) Storytelling in the classroom Some Theoretical Thoughts Wayne State
University Education Detroit Michigan
Sproat R ampFujimura O (1993) Allophonic variation of the English l and its Implication for
phonetic Implementation Academic Press
Torky SA (2006) The Effectiveness of a Task-Based Instruction Program in Developing English
Language Speaking Skills of Secondary Stage Students Collegersquo s girl Ain Shams
University
Ummah A (2014) The Effectiveness of Nursery Rhymes to Facilitate Studentsrsquo of Pronunciation of
the Diphthong Education and Teacher Training Faculty Walisongo State institution for
Islamic Studies
Wang M (2016) Research on the Acoustic Realization of Lateral in Sundanese International
Journal of Engineering Research and Development 12(10) 44-48
Ziane R (2012) The Role of Listening Comprehension in Improving EFL learners Speaking Skill
Biskra University of Biskra
Zhang Q (2009) Affecting Factors of Native-Like Pronunciation A Literature Review Ching-Ang
University 27(2) 33-52
63
Abrahamson CE (1998) Storytelling as a pedagogical tool in high Education 118(3) Retrieved
from
httpwwwquestiacomlibraryjournal1G1-20494609storytelling-as-a-pedagogical-tool-
inhighereducation
AMP Research Center (2012) Retrieved from
Httpwwwncertrmqeduauconference2001indexhtal
Backley P (nd) Improving your English Pronunciation Retrieved from
httptoefluobabyloneduiqpaperspearson-2015-1269610pdf
Chaney (1998) Teaching Speaking Retrieved from
httpitesljorgtechniqueKayi-teaching speakinghtml
English Club (nd) What is listening Retrieved from
httpwwwenglishclubcom
Miller E (2011) Theories of story and storytelling Retrieved from
httpwww-storytellingandvideoconferencingcom167pdf
Pederson E M (1995) Storytelling and the art of listening English teaching forum 33(1)2-5
Retrieved from httpExchangesStategovForumuolsn01p2htm
Remen R N (nd) Listening Skills Retrieved from
httpwwwskillsyouneedcomipslistening-Skills-html
Rock R (nd) 5 Wonderful Websites for Engaging ESL Audio Short Stories Retrieved from
httpwwwFluentucomenglisheducatorsblogeslaudio-short-stories
Seifert S (nd) Follow Along 6 Engaging ESL Audio Stories with worksheet ideas Retrieved from
httpwwwFluentucomenglisheducatorblogeslaudio-stories
Saricoban A (2004) The Teaching of listening The Internet TESL journal
httpitesljorgArticlesSaricobn-listeninghtml
Subhi s (2016) Differences between Hearing and listening Retrieved from
httpkeydifferencescomdifference-between-hearning-and-listeninghtml
64
Shen CD (2010) 3 reasons why listening skills are very important in Todayrsquo s Business World
Retrieved from httpezinearticlescom3-Reasons-why-listening-skills-are-very-important-in-
Todays-Business-worldampid=5436504
the adapted audio-stories that were used in the period of treatment
(httpwwwmanythingsorgvoastories)
Appendix A A pre-test
The Last class- The Story of the Alsatian
I was very late for school that morning and I was terribly afraid of being Scolded
especially as Monsieur Hamel had told us that he should examine us on participles and I
did not know the first thing about them For a moment I thought of saying away from
school and wandering about the fields It was such a warm lovely day I could hear the
blackbirds whistling on the edge of the wood and in the ripper field behind the sawmill
the Prussians going through their drill All that was much more tempting to me than the
rules concerning participles but I had the strength to resist and I ran as fast as I could to
school
Sentences
You old fool they will kill you if you always trouble them
People are awfully lazy in the middle of July
Appendix B A post-test
The Game of Billiards
The marshalrsquo s opponent is a young captain of the staff belted and curled and light-
gloved who is in the first rank of billiard-players and capable of beating all the marshals
on earth but he has the tact to keep a respectful distance behind his chief and devotes his
energies to the task of not winning and at the same time not losing too easily He is what is
called an officer with a future
Read the following words
1 Cabal
2 Labour
3 Shell
Appendix c Treatment period
I Session one (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquothe Secret Gardenrdquo (Chapter One) By Frances Hodgson
Burnett
II Session two (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Secret Gardenrdquo (Chapter two) By Frances Hodgson
Burnett
III Session three (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Lady or the Tigerrdquo by Frank R Stockton
IV Session four (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Lady in Blackrdquo By Eleanor Porter
Reacutesumeacute
La preacutesente eacutetude vise agrave eacutetudier lrsquoarticulation de dark [ϯ] et clear [l] dans les classes de la
langue anglaise afin dameacuteliorer la prononciation des apprenants Lrsquoeacutetude actuelle repose
sur lhypothegravese que leacutecoute des histoires audio a un effet positif sur lameacutelioration de la
prononciation des apprenants EFL avec un accent particulier sur le dark [ϯ] et clear [l] Afin
datteindre lobjectif de cette recherche une eacutetude quasi-expeacuterimentale a eacuteteacute assigneacute en
deux groupe group teacutemoin et group expeacuterimentale Chaque groupe contenait 20 eacutelegraveves
Lexpeacuterience a pris six seacuteances un preacute-test une peacuteriode de traitement (4 seacuteances) et un
posttest En conclusion les reacutesultats obtenus montrent que les eacutetudiants qui sont exposeacute agrave
la langue cible et qui eacutecoutent au locuteur natif agrave lrsquoaide audio pour ameacuteliorer leurs
prononciations ont montreacute qursquoil y a un deacuteveloppement ameacutelioration au niveau de
compeacutetence des apprenants en particulier et en matiegravere de parole en geacuteneacuterale
Les mots cleacutes audio-histoire Compeacutetence drsquoeacutecoute prononciation dureacute de travaille
ملخص
استخدام القصص الصوتية من اجل المساعدة على اكتساب النطق السليم والدقيق تهدف هذه الدراسة الى التعرف على مدى فعالية
الأجنبية حيث تستند الدراسة الحالية على فرضية مفادها ان الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية له تأثير إيجابي على تحسين ةللغ
استغرقت التجربة ست ق المنهج التجريبيمن أجل تحقيق هدف هذه الدراسة تم تطبينطق الطلاب الأجانب للغة الإنجليزية
جلسات قسمت كالاتي أربع حصص معالجة سبقت باختبارات قبلية ولحقت باختبارات بعدية أجريت الدراسة في قسم اللغة
طالبا من طلاب السنة ثانية جامعي قسم الطلبة الى فوجين حيث 40الإنجليزية بجامعة العربي بن مهيدي وقد شملت الدراسة
ى معالجة لمدة أربع حصص من خلال الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية في حين لم يتعرض الفوج الثاني خضع أحد الفوجين ال
الى نفس المعالجة بعد ذلك تم اجراء الاختبارات البعدية واعتمادا على النتائج المتحصل عليها ثبت ان التعرض الى اللغة
جابي على اكتساب النطق الدقيق للغة المستهدفة الا وهي اللغة الأجنبية عن طريق الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية له تأثير إي
الأجنبية
القصص الصوتية النطق مدة الموجات الصوتيةالكلمات المفتاحية المهارة السمعية
4
hour and a half However the control group will not receive any kind of treatment (they will
be taught in a normal way without listening to audio stories) Furthermore a post-test which
is different from that of the pre-test will be administered to both groups in order to test their
pronunciation development
6 Structure of the Study
The present study is divided into two chapters The first chapter is a theoretical one
and it is composed of two sections The first section is about listening to audio stories in
which we define the process of listening and mention the main differences between listening
and hearing After that we discuss the reasons of listening its types and processes Later
on the second sub-section deals with audio stories At the start we introduce a brief history
about the notion of audio stories and then we introduce stories in general Afterward we
discuss the characteristics of audio stories their use and advantages The second section
deals with the pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] at the beginning we shed light
on the definition of speaking skill and its sub-competencies After that a part of this section
deals with the definition of pronunciation and its importance Besides it introduces factors
that affect pronunciation The second chapter deals with the field work in which it sheds
light on collecting data presenting and analyzing it and at the end interpreting results
5
Section One Listening to Audio Stories
Introduction
11 Definition of Listening Skill
12 Differences between Listening and Hearing
13 Reasons of Listening
14 Types of Listening
141 Extensive Listening
142 Intensive Listening
15 Listening Processes
151 Bottom-up Process
152 Top down Process
16 Brief History of Audio-Stories
17 Definition of Storytelling
18 Definition of Audio-Stories
19 Characteristics of a Good Audio-Story
110 The Use of Audio-Stories in ESL Classrooms
111 Advantages of Using Audio-Stories
Conclusion
6
Introduction
Nowadays there is a great emphasis put on listening skill since it plays a significant
role in teaching and acquiring the foreign language So this high attention raises because of
the difficulties that learners face whenever they want to communicate thatrsquos why many
researchers shed light on Audio Stories as a tool that can help in developing learnersrsquo
listening process as well as improving their speaking skills and precisely their
pronunciation
The main concern of this section is listening to audio stories First of all we shed
light on the first part which is listening process At the start we need to define listening
skills according to different scholars later on we tackle the main differences between
listening and hearing Also reasons of listening its types and processes Then the second
part of this section deals with the audio stories In the beginning we introduce a brief history
of audio stories and later on the definition of stories in general After that we present the
meaning of audio stories in a specific way and its main characteristics Lastly this section
highlights the use and the advantages of audio stories inside EFL classrooms
11 Definition of Listening Skill
ldquoThe most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen Just to
listen Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attentionrdquo (Remen
2011)
Listening is an important skill in learning and acquiring a foreign language Through
this process learners will be able to receive and understand information According to
Downs (2008) ldquothe word of listening is defined as making an effort to hear something to
pay attention or heedrdquo (p 1) In other words Downs (2008) argues that listening is the way
7
learners pay attention to what is being said In her opinion listening is an active process that
includes using a variety of processes which are attending understanding interpreting
responding and remembering Moreover Mendelsohn (1994) demonstrates listening as ldquothe
ability to understand the spoken language of native speakersrdquo (p 64) To be precise
Mendelsohn defines listening as the listenerrsquo s ability to recognize the native speakerrsquo s
speech in terms of accent pitch intonation vocabulary grammar and trying to interpret the
native speakerrsquo s messages
Saricoban (1999) states that listening is onersquos capacity to realise what is being said
and to recognize the intended meaning He sheds light on two important points the first
point concerns understanding the speakerrsquos pronunciation syntax and lexis whereas the
second point deals with grasping the meaning Willis (1981) lists a series of micro-skills of
listening which she calls enabling skills They are
Predicting what people are going to talk about
Guessing at unknown words or phrases without panic
Using onersquo s own knowledge of the subject to help one understand
Identifying relevant points rejecting irrelevant information
Retaining relevant points (note-taking summarizing)
Recognizing discourse markers eg well oh another thing is now finally
etc
Recognizing cohesive devices e g such as and which including linking
words pronouns references etc
Understanding different intonation patterns and uses of stress etc which give
clues to meaning and social setting
8
Understanding inferred information eg speakerrsquo s attitude or intentions
(p134
Furthermore listening is an important source of knowledge It is recognized as the
ability of transforming and interpreting the spoken messages that are received by the ears
from the daily life situations Yet listening is a very hard task It requires the learnersrsquo mental
concentration which is something difficult because the human brain can simply lose attention
That is to say listening skill can save learners from communication breakdowns and
increases their motivation to learn the foreign language and speak fluently but only if they
work harder to develop their own listening skills
12 Differences between Listening and Hearing
Listening and hearing are two different activities Kline (1996) emphasizes the
differences between these two concepts to make an effective listening He states that
ldquohearing is the attachment of meaning to the sound Hearing is passive listening is activerdquo
(p7) In other words active listening is a successful element that affects learnersrsquo verbal and
nonverbal behaviors
Surbhi (2016) states the differences between listening and hearing On the one hand
he defines hearing as the natural capacity that happens unconsciously It aids to identify
sounds via the ears Also hearing is a process that permits receiving sound vibrations and
it is one of the five senses On the other hand Surhbi (2016) defines listening skill as the
process of receiving and interpreting messages it occurs consciously
13 Reasons of Listening
Learners through being exposed to different English accents and in any recorded
materials such as radio TV or tapes they want to understand and realize what is being said
9
(Harmer 1998) According to him listening is a very effective process that helps learners to
get a better pronunciation In other words as much as they are exposed to the real language
as much as they will recognize its features
Also Shen (2010) demonstrates that listening skills help to improve understanding
and aids people to become aware of their listening skills So listening plays a vital role in
language learning and acquisition It is an essential skill that bridges the line between
meaning and messages in order to avoid misunderstanding between individuals
14 Types of listening
Generally speaking the listening skill plays a significant role in teaching EFL
classrooms This process guides EFL learners to an effective communication Therefore the
listening skill can be classified into two different types Extensive listening and intensive
listening
141 Extensive Listening
Extensive listening has to do with the learnerrsquos fluency In other words the learner has
to master vocabulary grammarhellipetc and later on he must combine them together to form
a meaningful conversation So fluency depends on the listenerrsquos ability of understanding
whatever he is exposed to weather in an audio tape a text a songhellipetc
Harmer (1998) states that extensive listening is the way students practice their own
listening outside the classroom Students should enjoy listening to an audio material because
they can understand them without the teacherrsquo s help Also students can depend on CDs and
tapes so that they are going to have another chance to listen to their course books dialogues
that they have already provided to them inside the classroom In addition learners must be
10
stimulated to listen to the English language films with sub-titles because this helps students
to acquire the foreign language
In brief extensive listening according to the Extensive Reading-Central (2012) includes
Listening to massive amounts of text
Text which learners can understand reasonably smoothly
high levels of comprehension
Listening without being constrained by pre-set questions or tasks
Listening at or below onersquo s comfortable fluent listening ability
So extensive listening aims to make learners enjoy developing their listening skills
142 Intensive Listening
In contrast to extensive listening intensive listening aims at developing the learnersrsquo
specific listening skills and more precisely to raise the learnersrsquo attention about the spoken
language Intensive listening occurs weather in classrooms or laboratories It exists mostly
when teachers guide their students and provide them with help concerning listening
problems that they face and try to highlight them (Harmer 2007)
So intensive listening according to the Extensive Reading-central (2012) is
Listening for specific information
Listening for the exact words of a phrase or expression
Listening for details
Listening to mimic a text
11
15 Listening Processes
In listening process addressees process information using two distinct strategies
This is devoted to as bottom-up and top-down
151 Bottom-up Process
Richards (1990) states that ldquobottom-up processing refers the use of incoming data as
a source of information about the meaning of a messagerdquo (p 50) According to him Bottom-
up process deals with the perception of sentence components ie recognizing the meaning
of sounds words sentences clauseshellipetc till reaching the meaning of the whole message
152 Top-down Process
Richards (190) states that ldquoTop-down processing on the other hand refers to the use
of background knowledge in understanding the meaning of a messagerdquo (p 51) In contrast
to Bottom-up process Richards (1990) points out to the Top-down as the process of using
the listenersrsquo previous knowledge to attain meaning as whole not attaining the meaning of
individual words
16 Brief History of Audio-Stories
Eckert (2016) states that ldquoAudio storytelling in the form of radio drama has been
around for almost a centuryrdquo (p 8) That is to say audio stories in the previous decades took
the form of radio drama Radio drama attained extensive admiration within an era of its
original growth in the 1920rsquo s At that time radio drama played a central role for being the
foundation of people entertainment However by the 1950rsquo s people shifted their attention
to the new invention which was the small screen ie the television As a result of the
invention of this new device audio drama no more attracts the spectatorsrsquo attention it lost
its popularity
12
Though in 2010 radio drama came back to stage due to the developments shown in
digital soundtrack and internet spreading According to Eckert (2016) ldquoRadio and audio
storytelling has slowly started gaining popularity again thanks to the different online
platforms brought forth by digitalizationrdquo (p 8)
17 Definition of Storytelling
Today stories are a fundamental part of our societies and cultures Telling and
listening to stories is an ancient tradition and common activity that bonds different olden
civilizations together Also stories are an essential component and an ordinary process that
many people used to do on every occasion It is the art of telling factual or fictional stories
Besides stories bring legacy into life because our ancestors told them and people today
only retell them
Moreover listening to stories enhances the learnersrsquo foreign language It aids them
to improve their speaking skills Pederson (1995) states that ldquoin dealing with stories learners
have an experience with the powerful real language of personal communicationrdquo (p 2)
Additionally Pederson (1995) emphasizes the role of telling stories in preserving heritage
he argues that ldquooral stories are a direct expression of a literary and cultural heritage and
through them that heritage is appreciated understood and kept aliverdquo (1995 p2) In other
words stories bond between the past and the present It is considered to be a vital feature of
humankind Furthermore Schram (1994 as cited in Coulter Michael amp Poynor 2007)
points out
A story is a beautiful means of teaching religion values history traditions and
customs a creative method of introducing characters and places an imaginative way
13
to instill hope and resourceful thinking Stories help us to understand who we are and
show us what legacies to transmit to future generations (p 104-105)
So Schram (1994) highlights the role of stories in bridging the gap between the teaching
process and culture
Likewise Abrahamson (1998) sheds light on the role that storytelling plays in the
learning process He states that telling stories plays a significant role in improving learnersrsquo
understanding Besides Abrahamson argues that stories can afford a suitable context that
the listener can use it as a base to perceive the tellerrsquos point of view Moreover Roney (1996)
demonstrates
In its most basic form storytelling is a process where a person (the teller) using
vocalization narrative structure and mental imagery communications with other
humans (the audience) who also use mental imagery and in turn communicate back
to the teller primarily via body language and facial expression (p 2)
By this definition storytelling is the combination of art procedures and ways of
communication
18 Definition of Audio-Stories
The term audio-story is a combination of two words audio and story By definition
audio is sound within the aural range accessible to humankinds Miller (2011) states that
ldquostories are pieces of art and can serve as a basis of gamesrdquo (p 1) So Audio-story is a very
operative means for teaching EFL learners It aids to make the course persuasive Nowadays
14
audio stories can be used to many reasons and the most important one is the exposure to the
real language of native speakers by EFL learners In addition Rubin (2015) points out
ldquoaudio stories are an engaging form of communication that combines speech and music into
a compelling narrativesrdquo (p 1) That is to say audio stories are the process of telling stories
through sound and sound effects only Furthermore Audio-stories are broadly accredited to
progresses in portable equipment for instance smart phones tablets and multimedia
entertainment systems Thus EFL learners find it easy to listen to those audio stories
19 Characteristics of a Good Audio-Story
According to Seifert (nd) finding good audio-stories that suit the EFL learnersrsquo
needs is something very important and it is a very hard task to do However these are some
of the necessary features that EFL teachers must take into consideration whenever they want
to select a good audio-story for their students
Skill Level
Taking into account the learnersrsquo English level before choosing any audio-story For
instance if the audio-story contains a difficult language learners will lose confidence and
as a result they stop listening to the audio-story So determining the learnersrsquo level is very
important
Student Interest
EFL teachers must find out their studentsrsquo interests and normally each teacher has
an idea about this issue So if the audio-stories do not fit the learnersrsquo needs the EFL
teacherrsquos goal from that audio-story will be lost
15
Audio Length
The length of the audio-story plays a significant role in keeping concentration in the
ESL schoolrooms Listening for much time to the audio storytelling leads to boredom As a
result the learnersrsquo s brains lose attention However teachers can use long audio-stories but
they should know how to put it into parts and use classroom discussions to avoid boredom
So these three characteristics aid to develop EFL learnersrsquo listening skills
110 The Use of Audio-Stories in ESL Classrooms
According to Rock (nd) there are several listening practices that ESLEFL teachers
can provide to their students These are samples of activities that can work hand in hand with
audio-stories
Fill in The Blanks
Here EFL teacher provides his students with a written passage that is taken from an
audio-story but he removes some words Later on the teacher asks his learners to listen to
the audio-story after reading that passage and at the same time fill in the blanks
Mastery Memory
This activity has to do with learnerrsquos memory In this kind of practices teachers
provide learners with an audio-story and ask them for example to write down the main
events of the story but when they finish listening to it Teachers in this activity have to make
sure that students do not write them during the listening of the audio-story So the main goal
of the exercise is to reinforce learnerrsquos memory
16
Order the Events
At the start teachers give their learners a series of events that are chosen from an
audio-story Then the teacher gives them some time to read them After that learners listen
to the audio- storytelling and put those events in a sequential order
Buzz Words
This exercise aims to reach the learnerrsquo s vocabulary In this practice teachers
provide learners with a number of words then they ask them to check their meanings before
Afterward teacher turns the lesson into a game ie EFL learners listen to the audio-story
and whenever they hear a word (the buzz word) from that list they have to raise their hands
or clap them
Multiple Choice
This activity deals with providing learners with a number of questions followed by
three answers these questions can be definitions or name of characterhellip etc Then learners
have to listen to the audio-storytelling and pick the write response After teachers play again
the audio-story to correct their answers
Character Quiz
In this practice EFL learners have to listen to the whole story Then the teacher gives
his class a question sheet that contains a list of character qualities and decision and ask them
to choose the suitable one for the leading role
Plot Quiz
This activity has to do with team competition After listening to the whole audio-
storytelling once or twice the teacher divides his class into two to four groups where the
17
teacher plays the role of the coach Several questions that have a relation to the story will be
quizzed to each team if they get the answer they have a point if they fail to answer correctly
the question moves to the next group
Beginning Middle End
After listening to the audio storytelling the teacher splits the classroom into groups
and each group contains no more than four students Later he asks each group to write the
main events of the beginning the middle and the end of the story Finally they discuss them
together
111 Advantages of Using Audio-Stories
Audio-stories play an essential role in teaching the target language Audio-
storytelling is an impeccable implement for any ESL classrooms First of all audio-stories
afford learners with the exposure to the real language as it is produced by the native speakers
ie a natural voice Furthermore Rodero (2012 as cited in Eckert2016) claimed that
ldquoAudio stories that use sound effects and sound shots enhance the learnerrsquo s attention and
creation of visual images significantly compared to those without themrdquo (p 16) That is to
say using audio-stories in ESL classrooms develops learnersrsquo listening skills and provides
them with an imaginary trip inside their minds Also audio- stories enhance learnersrsquo
pronunciation since the learner is exposed to the natural voice In addition EFL teacher can
use audio storytelling as a guideline to his lecture or the opposite he can use it at the end of
the course as a reward
Moreover the EFL teachers depend on audio-stories in improving learnersrsquo
vocabulary through memorization Learners can enrich their vocabulary whenever they
listen to those stories because each time they learn some new words Besides learners can
18
listen to them outside the schoolrooms because they are portable they can upload them in
their mobiles and listen to them any time anywhere Finally audio stories can raise interest
for those learners who are not attracted to reading
Conclusion
In conclusion listening to audio stories aids EFL learners to improve the target
language pronunciation That is to say students will be exposed to the real language as it is
created by the native speakers Besides using audio stories in ESLEFL classrooms increases
the learnersrsquo interest toward learning the foreign language and also enhances their speaking
skills
19
Section two Reflection on Pronunciation
Introduction
121 Definition of Speaking Skill
122 Speaking Sub-Competencies Skills
123 Definition of Pronunciation
124 Importance of Pronunciation
125 Factors Affecting Pronunciation
1251 Internal Factors
1252 External Factors
Conclusion
20
Introduction
Generally speaking being able to speak the target language fluently and accurately
seems to be very interesting to all EFLESL learners Though students face a lot of troubles
and obstacles when communicating with each other or with native speakers and this is due
to mispronunciation misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the hearer which leads to the
communication breakdowns Furthermore learnersrsquo mispronunciation occurs due to various
factors that affect their oral language and as a consequence it affects their speaking
proficiency
In this section we have dealt with the speaking process and precisely
ldquopronunciationrdquo At the start a slight attention is put upon the definition of speaking skills
and its sub-competencies After that a part of this section is devoted to define pronunciation
and highlight its importance Moreover this section demonstrates some factors that affect
pronunciation which are classified into internal factors and external factors Finally another
point about the English consonant ldquoLrdquo has been raised
121 Definition of Speaking Skill
Mastering the foreign language is the aim of each EFL learner Speaking is one of
the most important language skills it plays a significant role in sharing ideas and thoughts
between individuals Torky (2006) defines speaking as follows ldquoIt is the means through
which learners can communicate with others to achieve certain goals or to express their
opinions intentions hopes and viewpointsrdquo (p 13) Also Ziane (2012) states that ldquoit is the
way by which learners can contribute and be part of oral communicationrdquo (p21) So the
main goal of EFL learners is to be able to speak the target language in order to strengthen
their verbal communication
21
Moreover Chaney (1998) argues that ldquospeaking is the process of building and
sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols in a variety of contextsrdquo
(p 13) From Chaneyrsquo s definition of speaking we deduce that speaking has an important
role in learning the foreign language and improving EFL learnersrsquo communicative skill
However there are some researchers who describe speaking as a hard task They
argue that EFL learners find it so hard to master the foreign language and face a lot of
difficulties even after studying it many years at schools Bueno and Mclaren (2006 as cited
in Alonso 2011) point out
Speaking is one of the most difficult skills language learners have to face In spite of
this it has traditionally been forced into the background while we teachers of
English have spent all our classroom time trying to teach our students how to write
to read and sometimes even to listen in a L2 because grammar has a long written
tradition (p 321)
On the whole the speaking skill is a very important process that EFL learners need to acquire
in order to master and shape the target language
122 Speaking Sub CompetenciesSkills
Torky (2006) claims that learners must be able to express themselves in a given
context in order to be proficient in mastering the foreign language She points out to several
speaking skills or competencies that help to achieve this aim which are
22
Linguistic Competence
Torky (2006) states that learners must be skillful in using pronunciation ie their
pronunciation must be clear In addition students have to use correct grammar and
proper lexis
Discourse Competence
In the beginning learners have to be able to use a well-organized discourse In other
words the discourse must be clear and unified Besides they have to be competent in
handling discussion and cooperating efficiently in order to avoid the communication
breakdowns
Pragmatic Competence
EFL learners have to be proficient in using a variety of functions that are related to
the same context and register
Fluency
Speaking smoothly without any complications and with a suitable degree of speech
speed
123 Definition of Pronunciation
According to Gilakjani (2012) ldquopronunciation is an integral part of foreign language
since it directly affects learnersrsquo communicative competence as well as performancerdquo
(p119) That is to say pronunciation plays a fundamental role in learning and improving the
target language Besides Poposka (2016) argues that pronunciation is the key factor of
language in its universal notion and she claims that pronunciation should be defined in
23
relation to different perspectives Poposka (2016) states some of the various points of view
concerning pronunciation definition which are
- The act or manner of pronouncing uttering of speech
- A way of speaking a word especially a way that is accepted or generally understood
- A graphic representation of the way a word is spoken using phonetic symbols (p
200)
Moreover Dauer (1993 as cited in Ummah 2014) states that ldquopronunciation is the
act of producing the sound of speech including articulation vowel formation accent
inflection and intonation often with reference to the correctness or acceptability of the
speech soundrdquo (p 10) In addition Poposka (2016) states that pronunciation is the vocal
capacity to produce particular sounds weather when communicating with individuals or
when being alone This construction of sounds leads to the appearance of some utterances
that may be expressive or worthless (p 200) Furthermore Adult Migrant English Program
research center (AMP 2002) points out
Pronunciation refers to the production of sounds that we use to make meaning it includes
attention to the particular sounds of language (segments) aspects of speech beyond the
level of the individual sound such as intonation phrasing stress timing rhythm
(suprasegmental aspects) (p1)
In other words AMP research center argues that even if these two aspects suprasegmental
and segmental structures are treated separately it is necessary to know that they work hand
in hand in a given context whenever someone speaks
24
124 Importance of Pronunciation
Madden and Moore (1997) states that ldquoin first language acquisition children learn
pronunciation inductively by absorbing and reproducing the sounds in their environmentrdquo
(p 4) That is to say all human beings in their natural development from childhood to
adulthood learn first of all how to talk before learning how to read or write Also Zhang
(2009) claims that ldquolearning a language means to perform the sounds utterances and the
words properly and correctlyrdquo (p 34-35) So pronunciation is a very essential skill in
learning a second language
Moreover Morley (1998 as cited in Zhang 2009) argues that ldquoit is clear that limited
pronunciation skills will make learners lose their self-confidence and result in negative
influence for learners to estimate their credibility and abilitiesrdquo (p 35) In other words it
does not matter whether learners make mistakes concerning grammar or vocabulary all what
matters is the way they pronounce a given word in order to make a worthy impression on
the learnersrsquo language capacities Zhang (2009) points out
Good pronunciation will make people understand you easily and be willing to listen to
you Contrarily poor English pronunciation may confuse people and lead to an
unpleasant talking and misunderstanding even if you used advanced English grammar
or vocabulary (p 35)
Likewise Backley (n d) argues ldquoif a speaker has a clear pronunciation this has immediate
benefits listeners judge the speakerrsquo s overall language ability much more favorably even
to the point of tolerating grammatical and other errorsrdquo (p 126) Therefore good
25
pronunciation aids to avoid misinterpretation and intelligibility between speakers and
listeners and show the learnersrsquo competencies in mastering their second language
Furthermore good pronunciation affects the learnersrsquo speed of acquiring the target language
In addition learners should use only simple structures with good and correct pronunciation
rather than using complex expressions in order to communicate with others
125 Factors Affecting Pronunciation
Generally speaking there are several factors that affect the learnersrsquo pronunciation
These factors can be classified into internal factors and external factors
1251 Internal Factors
Zhang (2009) states that internal factors can be categorized also into biological
factors individual differences and individual efforts and goal setting
Biological Factors
They are branded into four features age ear perception and aptitude
Learnersrsquo Age
At the start there is a difference between young learners and adult learners
concerning the acquisition of the accurate pronunciation Nonetheless this does not mean
that adult learners cannot get accurate pronunciation as well They have to work much harder
because their brainsrsquo plasticity reduces That is to say age plays a significant part in learning
the target language pronunciation Moreover Zhang (2009) emphasizes the role of the
critical period hypothesis that was proposed by Lenneberg in 1967 which states that there
is a certain age that helps learners to acquire the foreign language pronunciation accurately
26
and after that age the brain loses its flexibility Furthermore (Nation and Newton (2009) as
cited in Zhang 2009) claim that
Usually if the learner began to speak in the second language before the age of six
there will be little or no accent If the learner began to speak between the age of seven
and eleven the learners likely to have a slight accent If the learner began to speak
after age of twelve the learners almost always have an accent (p 78)
This is the reason behind the acceptance of the idea that learners find it so hard to acquire
the foreign language after maturity
Additionally Zhang (2009) states that young learners have bigger chances than the
adult learners in obtaining accurate pronunciation He claims that the brain loses its
flexibility and becomes rigid after puberty (after nine years old) as a result the brainrsquo s
functions will be devoted to the right and left hemispheres which makes it so difficult to
acquire the foreign languagersquo s pronunciation correctly Also Lenneberg (1967 as cited in
Zhang 2009) argues that ldquobefore the age of two the brain has not developed enough but
after puberty it developed too much and it will lose its plasticity and finish the lateralization
of the language functionrdquo (p 39) In other words it becomes so hard to obtain the native-
like pronunciation after the lateralization
Ear Perception
One of the most important factors that affect the learnersrsquo acquisition of the foreign
language is the ldquoear perceptionrdquo Zhang (2009) claims that the hearing abilities differ from
one person to another That is to say there are learners who have a strong hearing capacity
27
they can hear sounds in a very clear way which help them in reproducing the native speakersrsquo
pronunciation smoothly Whereas there is that kind of learners who do not have that ability
However Zhang argues that the ear perception has nothing to do with the learner age He
claims that it is natural that learners may lose some of their capacities whenever they become
older
Aptitude
Generally speaking foreign language aptitude is the personrsquos ability to learn a foreign
or a second language very rapidly and with no troubles (Wen 2011) Also Dornyei and
skehan (2003 as cited in Wen 2011) states ldquooriginally the notion of FLA presumed a
relatively stable talent for learning a foreign language that differs between individualsrdquo (p
590) So EFL learners do not have the same ability to acquire the foreign language
Additionally Carroll (1962 as cited in Wen 2011) states four components of the FLA which
are
lsquophonemic coding abilityrsquo (ie the ability to identify and retain sounds and link them
to phonetic symbols)
Sensitivity towards the grammatical functions that words fulfil in a sentence
The ability to learn inductively (ie to infer and generalize linguistic structures from
language samples) and
The ability to rote learn vocabulary items paired with their associated translations
(p 233)
Hence aptitude has an important role in improving learnersrsquo foreign language
Although Zhang (2009) argues that all individuals have a language aptitude ability but they
28
differ only in the degree of that aptitude capacity Also he claims that we cannot say that
those people who have a sophisticated level of language aptitude will get to the top and
people with an inferior level of language aptitude will go pear-shaped
Individual Differences
Zhang (2009) states that learnersrsquo different personalities affect the way they acquire
the foreign language pronunciation He argues that extroverted learners are more likely to
acquire the target pronunciation rather than introverted learners because extroverted learners
are not afraid of making mistakes which is not the case with the introverted learners who
face always the fear of failure Besides extroverted students are more friendly they tend to
work with others which leads them to practice the target language so they become more
familiar with it which aids to improve their pronunciation very quickly (p 40-41)
Individual Efforts and Goal setting
At the start the main goal of each EFLESL learner is to master the foreign language
in order to communicate with others Zhang (2009) points out ldquowe must always remember
that teaching never causes learning but rather creates the conditions in which learning can
occurrdquo (p 42) Besides he emphasizes that pronunciation is really a very hard task that
learners can acquire in a few days but it is not something impossible that learners cannot
achieve Though as much time learners spend in practicing the target language
pronunciation the better results they will get
1252 External Factors
External factors can be classified into three aspects learnersrsquo native language
exposure to target language and education factors
29
Learnerrsquo s Native Language
Universally the learnersrsquo native language affects their pronunciation of the foreign
language Zhang (2009) states that studentsrsquo mother tongue reflects the way they pronounce
a certain word in the target language and this is due to the differences that are found between
the two languages In other words learners find a lot of complications in articulating some
sounds for the reason that some of those sounds do not occur in their native language (p
43)
Exposure to the Target Language
Zhang (2009) shows that the acquisition of English language pronunciation is related
to the amount of exposure to it as it is produced by the native speakers That is to say this
depends on the learner himself ie on the situation in which the learning process occurs In
other words Zhang argues that it does not matter weather learners live in a native country
or not it is a matter of how much time they listen to the foreign language and how much
time they use it Zhang (2009) states ldquothe more they spend their time for listening and
speaking English the better their English pronunciation will berdquo (p 44) Thus learnerrsquo s
pronunciation accuracy depends on the surrounding environment where the target language
takes place
Educational Factors
At the start the system of education is responsible for studentsrsquo learning process
Worthy educational structure provides a lot of chances for learners to be exposed to the target
language through creating a suitable learning environment Additionally EFLESL
teachersrsquo accent reflects the learnersrsquo pronunciation because learners take teachers as an
30
exemplary in order to improve their pronunciation That is why teachers should work on
their pronunciation initially (Zhang 2009)
The English Consonant Sound ldquoLrdquo
Generally speaking EFL learners face complications in learning the English L sound
Sproat and Fujimura (1993) argue ldquoEnglish l has traditionally been classified into at least
two allophones namely light which occurs initially and dark which occurs syllable finallyrdquo
(p 291) Furthermore Wang (2016) states that the L consonant sound is a lateral phoneme
in English and it has two allophones he points out
One of them is found before vowels as in ldquoladyrdquo or ldquoflyrdquo called clear l and is
pronounced as the alveolar lateral approximant in a neutral position of the body of
the tongue The other variant is called dark l found before consonants or at word-
finally position as in ldquoboldrdquo or ldquotellrdquo Which is as the velarized lateral approximant
with the tongue in a spoon-like shape Its back part is raised which gives the sound
a w-like resonance (p 44)
In other words the clear [l] occurs when the tip of the tongue raises up and touches the soft
palate just behind the front teeth whereas the dark [ϯ] happens when the tip of the tongue
pulls back and the tongue raises to the middle without touching the soft palate to make the
L sound So the difference between these two allophones is the reason behind those troubles
that the learner may face
However Sproat and Fujimura (1993 as cited in Jiahong 2011) explain the
differences between these two allophones by relating them to the rime duration In other
31
words they point out that whenever the l sound occurs in longer rimes it is going to be a
dark [ϯ] and whenever the rime is short the l sound is clear or light
Figure 1
Articulatory Differences in l Velarization
Source Recasens 2012 p369
Conclusion
To end with it is very important to acknowledge that pronunciation is one way that
leads to an effective and a successful communication That is why many researchers shed
light on the investigation of some factors that may influence the EFL learnersrsquo pronunciation
As a result these identifying concepts help foreigners to overcome their difficulties when
they are introduced to the target language
32
Chapter two Field Work
Introduction
21 Methodology
211 Research Participants
212 The Procedure
2121 The Research Design
2122 The Pre-test Phase
2123 The Treatment Phase
2124 The Control Group
2125 The Post-test Phase
213 Scoring
214 Data Analysis
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (independent Sample
t-test)
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group Post-test
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group Post-test (Paired
Sample t-test)
21431 Paired Sample t-test
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-test
33
21441 An Independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the
Post-test
215 Discussion of the Results
216 Pedagogical Implications
Conclusion
34
Introduction
This research attempts to investigate the effect of listening to audio stories on
acquiring accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] by second year LMD students
at the department English -LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi The chosen sample is divided into two
groups the control group and the experimental group At the start participantsrsquo
pronunciation accuracy of the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] (the dependent variable) was measured
through a pretest Later on a period of treatment is taken by the experimental group which
is not the case with the control group After that a post-test is administered to both groups
in which the results are gathered using a software called the ldquopraatrdquo In addition we shed
light on describing the sample taking the place in which the study took place the method
used and at last the data collected
21 Methodology
211 Research Participants
The current study involved two intact classes of second year LMD students from
LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi-English Department The selected sample includes students from
different gender Furthermore we favored to select second year students for several reasons
The first reason was that second year students have practiced working with audio supports
which was not the case with first year students so they will not face problems concerning
listening to audio stories The second reason was that second year learners study oral
expression
At the start the experiment includes a sample of forty learners that have been chosen
from two intact classes of second year LMD students The chosen sample represents 1904
from the entire population which comprises 210 learners Additionally both clusters were
35
divided into a control group and an experimental group twenty students in each group At
the beginning the sample was supposed to be comprised of sixty students in which both the
control and the experimental groups covered thirty students Unfortunately there were a lot
of absences in both groups Also there are some students who have not passed both the
pretest and the posttest and others have not received the treatment at all Therefore the
sample size was reduced from sixty to forty students which can be sufficient to represent
the whole population and to get consistent outcomes
In order to gather consistent data that help to achieve the purpose of our research a
quasi-experimental design was designated The use of the chosen method will provide us
with a wide-ranging representation of the reflection of listening to audio stories on the
acquisition of the accurate pronunciation of the dark [l] and clear [l]
212 The Procedure
To accumulate a reliable data an experiment was conducted over six sessions The
treatment period took four sessions and the remained two sessions for the pretest and the
posttest The pretest took a form different from that of the posttest in order to avoid
familiarity to improve the learnersrsquo development and get consistent information Both
groups have taken the tests but only the experimental group took the treatment Besides the
duration of training concerning the treatment period for the experimental group took 90
minutes ie one hour and a half for each session and it started after getting the
authorization of the teacher of oral expression
36
2121 The Research Design
Figure 2
Experimental Group Procedures
Figure 3
Control Group Procedures
2122 The Pre-test Phase
By the first week of March both the control group and the experimental group have
taken the pretest However before choosing the pretest and in order to avoid any problems
we have checked that the dark [l] and the clear [l] are pronounced the same in both the
American and the British accents using the Oxford Advanced Learnerrsquo s Dictionary At the
outset learners were required to read a passage derived from a short story named ldquoThe last
class-The story of the Alsationrdquo that was written by Alphonse Daudet (2001) and also short
sentences (see Appendix A) After that their voices were recorded using a software known
pre-test
treatment
(listening to audio stories)
post-test
pre-test
No treatment
( being taught without listening
to audio-stories)
post-test
37
as the ldquoPraatrdquo Besides our focus here was raised toward the duration (ie the length of a
syllable) of the dark [l] and the clear [l]
Throughout the pretest EFL learners found themselves unable to pronounce the dark
[ϯ] and clear [l] that are found in some words correctly In other words students in the control
group and the experimental group most of the time pronounce the dark [ϯ] in the same way
they pronounce the clear [l] ie they spend the same duration for pronouncing the two
allophones Also EFL learners from time to time pronounce them differently but in a wrong
way ie they spent a rime duration that it not suitable neither for the light [l] nor for the
dark[ϯ]
Figure4
Example of the Lateral Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoSawmillrdquo
2123 The Treatment Phase
At first both participants have finished the pretest Though the treatment was
approved to the experimental group only the control group did not receive the same
treatment Besides the experimental group received the treatment in four sessions and each
Rime
duration
38
session took one hour and a half (ie 90 minutes) In each session students were asked to
listen to the audio-story in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of both allophones
after that they discussed the story being listened (see Appendix B)
2124 The Control Group
Concerning the control group students were taught the oral expression without any
exposure to any kinds of treatments In contrast to students in the experimental group who
were provided with the audio stories in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of the
both allophones which are the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ]
2125 The Post-test Phase
Fundamentally after finishing the four sessions of training ie the period of
treatment a posttest was administered to both the experimental group and the control group
(see Appendix c) The posttest as we have said before is different from the pretest in order
to avoid familiarity with the same topic and to ensure the learners improvement of the dark
[ϯ] and clear [l] So the posttest is a kind of a passage which was taken from a short story
that is entitled ldquoThe Game of Billiardsrdquo which is written by Alphonse Daudet and some
words to pronounce Furthermore during the posttest we noticed a kind of development in
learnersrsquo pronunciation of the two allophones with students of the experimental group
especially in pronouncing the single words which was not the case with those learners in
the control group
39
Figure 5
Example of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquocabalrdquo
Figure 6
Example of the Clear [l] in the word ldquolabourrdquo
The rime
duration
The rime
duration
40
213 Scoring
After finishing recording the learnersrsquo pronunciation of the phoneme l of both
groups (the control and the experimental group) we have compared them first of all to the
native speakerrsquo s pronunciation and after that we have calculated the rime duration of the
two allophones ie the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] and at last we gave them scores out of six
(6) for each participant
214 Data Analysis
In this sub-section we are going to investigate the EFL learnersrsquo improvement of
pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] Though in order to make sure that EFL
learners have acquired the correct pronunciation of these two allophones we have firstly
investigated the native speakerrsquos pronunciation of the L sound ie the clear [l] and the dark
[ϯ] and we have analyzed the rime duration of two words ldquolightrdquo and ldquoballrdquo as examples
Figure7
The Native Speakerrsquos Pronunciation of the Clear [l] in the Word ldquolightrdquo
Rime
duration
41
Figure8
The Native Speakerrsquo s Pronunciation of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoballrdquo
From these two figures we have noticed that the native speaker has spent 016 s in
pronouncing an ideal clear [l] (see Figure 7) and he has spent 138 s in order to pronounce
a perfect dark [ϯ] (see Figure 8) Thus this analysis of the native speakerrsquo s voice paved the
way to our research in which we based our investigation on it
Table 1
The Experimental and the Control grouprsquo s Scores in the pre-test
Pre-test
Students
Control
group
Experimental
group
Rime
duration
(second)
C E
Rime
duration
42
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (Independent Sample t-
test)
After gathering data for the control and the experimental group and for the purpose
of comparing and contrasting between the two we have calculated the learnersrsquo scores of
pronunciation of the phoneme l and also we have calculated the rime duration of the two
1 1 2 118 127
2 2 25 095 091
3 1 1 116 102
4 25 2 106 091
5 25 25 078 089
6 15 2 078 105
7 2 15 123 091
8 1 1 117 108
9 15 1 119 119
10 15 1 1 115
11 2 15 091 116
12 15 1 12 119
13 2 15 114 1
14 15 1 108 112
15 1 1 131 112
16 2 1 088 08
17 1 1 127 107
18 1 15 107 149
19 15 1 099 115
20 1 15 114 174
Total 31 285 2149 2222
43
allophones (see Table1) Besides the data collected ie the learnersrsquo scores were used in
calculating the means of both groups in the pre-test (the mean is calculated using the SPSS
see Table 2)
Figure 9
The Pre-test Scores of the Control and the Experimental Group
Table 2
The Mean Score of the Control and the Experimental Group in the Pre-test
Test N Mean Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpre 20 15500 51042 11413
Epre 20 14250 51999 11627
44
In order to calculate the Mean () Results we have to use the following formula
=sumx N
N stands for the total numbers of students in one group
sumx stands for the total number of data that was gathered from the pre-test
1 stands for the mean of the Control Group
2 stands for the mean of the Experimental Group
So1= 31 20 =155
2= 285 20 = 142
From ldquoFigure 9rdquo we can notice that 1 is the most frequent score in both the
experimental and the control groups in the pre-test and we can confirm this information
from Table 1 Furthermore when comparing means of both groups we notice (see Table 2)
that there is only a slight difference between the two groups the mean of the control group
is 155 whereas the mean of the experimental group is 142 So we can deduce that the level
of both groups is approximately the same there is no significant difference Moreover the
rime duration of the phoneme l of the experimental group and the control group is to some
extent the same and we can notice this slight difference in Table 1 and precisely in the total
duration of pronouncing the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] by both groups and also in Table 2
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group post-test
In order to confirm if there is any kind of progression in the control grouprsquo s scores
in the post-test concerning the pronunciation of the phoneme l (see Table 3) we have
calculated the mean of the post-test (using the SPSS see Table 4) and compared it with the
mean of the pre-test besides we have calculated the rime duration that has been spent At
45
last we have mentioned the learnersrsquo scores differences between the pre-test and the post-
test to confirm the development (see Figure 10)
Table 3
Results and Scores Differences of the Control and Experimental group in the Post-test
Posttest
Students
Rime
Duration
(Second)
Cpre Cpost Epre Epost
Cpre Cpost Epre Epost
1 1 1 2 4 118 186 127 21
2 2 175 25 5 095 113 091 253
3 1 1 1 45 116 134 102 245
4 25 2 2 35 106 119 091 234
5 25 15 25 55 078 146 089 24
6 15 175 2 5 078 119 105 267
7 2 2 15 45 123 135 091 263
8 1 125 1 5 117 144 108 254
9 15 1 1 425 119 144 119 242
10 15 1 1 55 1 128 115 274
11 2 1 15 45 091 126 116 285
12 1 2 1 5 12 129 119 268
13 2 125 15 55 114 146 1 328
14 15 1 1 55 108 127 112 223
15 1 1 1 5 131 092 112 275
16 2 1 1 475 088 135 08 274
46
17 1 2 1 5 127 094 107 292
18 1 1 15 575 107 096 149 29
19 15 1 1 525 099 114 115 295
20 1 15 15 575 114 132 174 338
Total 31 27 285 9875 2149 2359 2222 535
Diff -4 +7025 +21 +3128
Mean 155 135 142 493
-02 +351
Table 4
The Mean of the control Group in the Pre-test and Post-test
Mean N Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpre 15500 20 51042 11413
Cpost 13500 20 41675 09319
In order to calculate the mean( )result of the control group in the post-test we have to apply
the following formula = sumx N
sum stands for the total number of the data collected in the post-test of the control
group
N refers to the total number of students So = 2720 = 1
47
Figure 10
The Control Group Studentsrsquo Scores Differences
A very insignificant development has been shown in both Figure 7 and Table 3
concerning learners scores in the post-test Besides only Students 681217 and 20 from a
total number of twenty have proved the improvement the mean of the control group has
decreased from 155 in the pre-test to 135 in the post-test ie the mean = -02
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group post-test (Paired Sample
T-test)
In order to identify the scoresrsquo differences between the results of the experimental
group in both the pre-test and the post-test we have calculated the mean of the post-test and
compared it with that of the pre-test to notice if there is any improvement (see Table 3) So
the mean of the post-test is shown in Table 5 below
48
Table 5
The Mean of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and Post-test
Mean N Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Epre 14250 20 51999 11627
Epost 49375 20 59535 13312
From Table 5 we notice that the mean of the experimental group increased from 142 in the
pre-test to 493 in the post-test with a mean difference of 351 ( = +351) and we can
calculate the mean ()of the post-test using the following formula
= sumxN
sum= Stands for the total number of data that was gathered from the post-test in the
Experimental Group
119925 =Stands for the total number of students
So= 9875 20 = 493
From Table 3 we notice that there is a very clear development and difference in
learnersrsquo scores in the post-test which is very different from the pre-test scores (see Figure
12) Moreover we can notice this development from Figure 11 below too It Shows that the
most frequent scores that learners of the experimental group have gained are 45 5 55 and
at last 575(the marks are out of six) that makes a big difference from the scores of the pre-
test in which the most frequent score was 1 In addition to all of this results we can add that
the sum of the rime duration of the post-test differs a lot from that of the pre-test ( = +3128
s)
49
Hence in the light of these results we can say that the period of treatment really
affects in a positive way the learnersrsquo acquisition of the pronunciation of dark [ϯ] and clear
[l] Besides this enhancement was improved in the mean difference between the pre-test and
the post-test of the experimental group Though the comparison of means in the pre-test and
post-test of the experimental group cannot be sufficient in order to make sure that listening
to audio-stories really affects positively the way learners pronounce the Phoneme l
Therefore a paired sample T-test was designed to assess the development of learnersrsquo
acquisition of dark [ϯ] and clear [l] ie to acceptreject the Alternative Hypothesis or to
accept reject the Null Hypothesis (See Table 6 below)
Figure 11
The Scores Frequencies of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and the Post-test
50
Figure 12
The Scores Differences of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and the Post-test
21431 The paired Sample T-test
In order to know if there is any significant difference between the post-test and the
pre-test scores of the same group a t-test is conducted At first the of the experimental
group is calculated through the following formula
= sumdN
refers to the Difference of mean Scores
N Studentsrsquo scores in the Experimental Group
sum refers to the total sum of the Differences Scores
So = 702520= 35125
51
The Standard deviation of the differences
Sd= radic119956120784= radicsum119941120784
119925minus 119941120784
S stands for the Variance
sum119941120784 refers to the square differences of Scores
After calculating
Sdcong 013
The Standard Error of the Mean Difference (SE)
It is calculated using the following formula
SE ()= 119878119889
radic119873cong003
Finally we calculate the t- value that will be compared to the critical P-value at the point
p=005 in order to accept the alternative hypothesis or rejecting it using the following
formula119957120784120782minus120783=
119878119864(119889) = 117
Table 6
Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Post-test Scores differences
Students Pre-test Post-test Difference
1 2 4 2
2 25 5 25
3 1 45 35
4 2 35 15
5 25 55 3
6 2 5 3
52
7 15 45 3
8 1 5 4
9 1 425 325
10 1 55 45
11 15 45 3
12 1 5 4
13 15 55 4
14 1 55 45
15 1 5 4
16 1 475 375
17 1 5 4
18 15 575 425
19 1 525 425
20 15 575 425
Total 285 9875 7025
Table 7
The Paired Sample T-test for the Experimental Group
Paired Sample T-Test
Epre
Scores-
Epost
Scores
Mean Std
deviati-
on
Std-
Error
Mean
95Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
t Df Sig
(2-
tailed)
Lower Upper
-351250 83695 18715 -390421 -312079 -18768 19 000
53
After calculating the mean of the experimental group in both the pre-test and the post-
test (see Table 5) a mean difference of +351 was noticed Therefore in order to prove if
the development that was noticed in the post-test scores as well as the mean occurred
because of the influence of listening to the audio-stories which is the independent variable
or happened only by coincidence
Hence to confirm the Alternative Hypothesis and reject the Null Hypothesis or vice
versa the t-value (117) was calculated in order to be compared with the critical- value at
the point p=005 and at the level of t=19 Besides p-value (0000) is less than 005 which
means that there a real difference between the learnersrsquo scores in the pre-test (before the
period of treatment) and the leanersrsquo scores in the post-test (after the period of treatment)
Consequently we can deduce that the improvement that was achieved by the experimental
group in the post test did not occur by chance actually it occurred because of listening to
audio-stories that has a positive effect on learnersrsquo pronunciation of both the clear [l] and the
dark [ϯ]
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-test
Table 8
The Mean of the Control Group and the Experimental Group in the Post-test
N Mean Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpost 20 13500 41675 09319
Epost 20 49375 59535 13312
54
To calculate the mean () we use the following Formula
= sum119961 N
So 1= sum119961 N
1 refers to the mean of the control group in the post-test
N refers to the total number of students in the control Group
sum119961 stands for the sum of scores of the control group in the post-test
1= 2720 = 135
2 = sum119961 N
2 stands for the mean of the experimental group in the post-test
N refers to the total number of participants in the experimental group
sum119961 Stands for the sum of scores of the experimental group in the post-test
So 2= 987520 = 493
Figure13
The Scores Frequencies of the Control Group and the Experimental Group in the Post-
test
55
From the previous analysis of the mean of both the control and the experimental
group in the pre-test (see Table 3) we have noticed that the level of students in both groups
is almost the same and there is only a slight difference between them Though in the post-
test the scores of the experimental group has increased and as result the mean average has
increased too after the treatment phase for the experimental group (from 142 to 493) but it
decreased for the control group who were taught without being exposed to any kind of
treatment (see Table 8 and Figure 10) Besides we can notice the development also in the
rime duration in studentsrsquo pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] of the experimental
group in the post-test which is not the case with the control group
21441 An independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the post-
test
In order to investigate if there is any significant change between two diverse groups
who have run the same test a t-test is used to show this significance difference In our case
we want to inspect if there is any significant variation between the experimental group and
the control group in the post-test and whether we accept the Alternative Hypothesis or
rejecting the Null Hypothesis So depending on the following steps a t-test was calculated
using the following formula
t= 119883 119888minus 119890
radicpartx2
Nx+
1205971199102
119873119910
partx2 = sum(119883 minus 119890 )N
= 306
1205971199102 =sum(119883 minus 119888 )2119873
= 160
119888 the mean of the control group in the post-test
56
119890 the mean of the experimental group in the post-test
partx2 the variation of the experimental group
1205971199102 the variation of the control group
So t= 493minus 135
radic306
20+
160
20
=745
t-value= 745
Depending on the t-value (745) that was calculated we compare it with the critical p-
value at p=005 therefore we have two options
1- If t-value is greater than the critical p-value (t-valuegtcritical-value) we accept the
alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
2- If t-value is less than the critical-value (t-valueltcritical-value) we accept the null
hypothesis and refuse the alternative hypothesis
we can say that
t-value=745 745 gt005
We accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
p-value= 0000 0000 lt005
We accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
Depending on these results we can say that there is a statistical evidence that the
associated sampling means are significantly different In other words there is a real change
between the experimental group and the control group in the post test at the level of
pronunciation due to the positive influence of the independent variable which is ldquolistening
to the audio-storiesrdquo Therefore students of the experimental group showed a significant
57
progress at the level of pronunciation and precisely the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
pronunciation
215 Discussion of the Results
The current research has investigated the influence of listening to audio-stories on
acquiring accurate pronunciation of both allophones the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] At the
start the pre-test has proved that learners of both groups ie the control and the
experimental group have the same level through calculating their means The control group
scored a mean of 155 while the experimental group scored a mean of 142 and also they
have got near scores concerning the rime duration of the L sound So these estimated scores
helped us to prove and confirm our hypothesis that states the positive effect of listening to
audio-stories on the level of pronunciation accuracy In the post-test students of the
experimental group showed a significant development compared to the control group and
this is due to the period of treatment that occurred in the oral session Besides the mean
score of the experimental group has been raised from 142 to 493 and from a sum of rime
durations of 2222 s to 535 s while the mean score of the control group has been decreased
from 155 to 135 and increased from a sum of rime durations of 2149 s to 2359 s In
addition a t-test was designed to show if there is any statistical significant difference
between the experimental group and the control group in the post-test the results show the
positive influence of the treatment phase on the dependent variable (pronunciation
accuracy)
216 Pedagogical implication
The present research evidenced the positive influence of being exposed to the target
language pronunciation as it is produced by the native speakers through the exposure to the
audio-stories Therefore we can state a set of pedagogical implications
58
The present study shows that the more students get involved in listening practices
the more they will be proficient in the pronunciation of a various English sounds ie
developing their speaking proficiency
Audio-stories help EFL learners improve their pronunciation as well as to develop
their listening skills
Using multimedia devices (audio-stories in our case) in learning classrooms
enhances the learnersrsquo motivation to get involved in the learning process
Audio-stories can be used by EFL teachers in order to make learners attentive and
interested in the lecture being presented
Audio-stories provide learners with the chance to listen again and again to the story
in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of a given word
Conclusion
The present research examined the effect of listening to audio stories on fostering the
target language pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] The native speakerrsquo s
pronunciation of both allophones was analyzed first through analyzing the rime duration in
order to compare it with the EFL learnersrsquo articulation That is to say the analysis is based
on the native speakerrsquo s rime duration In addition a significant development in learnersrsquo
pronunciation of the dark[ϯ]and the clear [l] was proved which lead to accept the alternative
hypothesis that states listening to audio-stories has a positive effect on acquiring accurate
pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] by EFL learners
59
General Conclusion
The present study is based on the investigation of the effectiveness of listening to
audio stories on acquiring accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] by EFL
learners At the beginning we have stated the problem which was that the Algerian EFL
learners in the English department at LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi University face a lot of difficulties
concerning the acquisition of the accurate pronunciation of The phoneme l Subsequently
this dissertation tackled the importance of listening to audio-stories on enhancing EFL
learnersrsquo pronunciation accuracy
Our research was tackled in two main chapters The first chapter divided into two
main sections In the first section we tackled the point of listening to audio stories whereas
the second section discussed the reflection of listening to audio stories on the pronunciation
of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] The second chapter represented the practical part the field
work The analyzed data showed that there is a positive relationship between the independent
variable and the dependent variable That is to say there was a development in the
acquisition of the phoneme l which lead us to accept the alternative hypothesis and reject
the null hypothesis
60
Limitations of the Study
Limited sources ie most of the sources that were available were not relevant to our
study
Time constraints this study needs much more time to conduct a better result
Students absences in the pre-test and the post-test and others did not receive the
treatment at all
The lack of interest in the beginning of the treatment session
61
List of References
Alonso SR (2012) The importance of Teaching Listening and Speaking Skills Diagravectica de Lingua
y la Literatura Facultad de Education
Brown S (2006) Teaching Listening Cambridge Cambridge University press
Coulter C Michael C ampPoynor L (2007) Storytelling as Pedagogy An Unexpected Outcome
of narrative inquiry 104-105
Daudet A (2001) Five Short Stories Copyright copy Bartlebycom Inc
Downs L J (2008) Listening Skills Training ASTD press
Eckert J (2016) Audio Storytelling in Todayrsquos Visual World The necessary Components of a
successful sounds scape for an audio play
Gilakjani A P (2012) A study of Factors Affecting EFL learnersrsquo English Pronunciation Learning
and the Strategy for instruction Lahijani Iran 2(3) 119-128
Hamer J (1998) How to teach English An Introduction to the Practice of English Language
Teaching English Language Teaching Harlow Longman
Hendrickson J (1992) Storytelling for foreign language and linguistics Washington Dc Eric
learning house on language and linguistic [ Eric No E0355-824]
Kline J A (1996) Listening Effectively Air University Press
Madden M and Moore Z (1997) ESL Studentsrsquo Opinions about instruction in Pronunciation
Texas 3(2) 15-32
Mendelson D J (1994) Learning to Listen Dominie Press
Nasreddin K (2010) The Influence of Background Knowledge on Second Language Listening
Comprehension Constantine Constantine University
62
Poposka V p (2016) Pronunciation Proficiency Level Problematic Areas of Tertiary as a Foreign
Language International Journal of Science and Basic and Applied Research
Richards J C (1990) The Language Teaching Matrix Cambridge Cambridge University Pess
Rubin SS (2015) Tools for Creating Audio Stories scholarship University of California
Roney RC (1996) Storytelling in the classroom Some Theoretical Thoughts Wayne State
University Education Detroit Michigan
Sproat R ampFujimura O (1993) Allophonic variation of the English l and its Implication for
phonetic Implementation Academic Press
Torky SA (2006) The Effectiveness of a Task-Based Instruction Program in Developing English
Language Speaking Skills of Secondary Stage Students Collegersquo s girl Ain Shams
University
Ummah A (2014) The Effectiveness of Nursery Rhymes to Facilitate Studentsrsquo of Pronunciation of
the Diphthong Education and Teacher Training Faculty Walisongo State institution for
Islamic Studies
Wang M (2016) Research on the Acoustic Realization of Lateral in Sundanese International
Journal of Engineering Research and Development 12(10) 44-48
Ziane R (2012) The Role of Listening Comprehension in Improving EFL learners Speaking Skill
Biskra University of Biskra
Zhang Q (2009) Affecting Factors of Native-Like Pronunciation A Literature Review Ching-Ang
University 27(2) 33-52
63
Abrahamson CE (1998) Storytelling as a pedagogical tool in high Education 118(3) Retrieved
from
httpwwwquestiacomlibraryjournal1G1-20494609storytelling-as-a-pedagogical-tool-
inhighereducation
AMP Research Center (2012) Retrieved from
Httpwwwncertrmqeduauconference2001indexhtal
Backley P (nd) Improving your English Pronunciation Retrieved from
httptoefluobabyloneduiqpaperspearson-2015-1269610pdf
Chaney (1998) Teaching Speaking Retrieved from
httpitesljorgtechniqueKayi-teaching speakinghtml
English Club (nd) What is listening Retrieved from
httpwwwenglishclubcom
Miller E (2011) Theories of story and storytelling Retrieved from
httpwww-storytellingandvideoconferencingcom167pdf
Pederson E M (1995) Storytelling and the art of listening English teaching forum 33(1)2-5
Retrieved from httpExchangesStategovForumuolsn01p2htm
Remen R N (nd) Listening Skills Retrieved from
httpwwwskillsyouneedcomipslistening-Skills-html
Rock R (nd) 5 Wonderful Websites for Engaging ESL Audio Short Stories Retrieved from
httpwwwFluentucomenglisheducatorsblogeslaudio-short-stories
Seifert S (nd) Follow Along 6 Engaging ESL Audio Stories with worksheet ideas Retrieved from
httpwwwFluentucomenglisheducatorblogeslaudio-stories
Saricoban A (2004) The Teaching of listening The Internet TESL journal
httpitesljorgArticlesSaricobn-listeninghtml
Subhi s (2016) Differences between Hearing and listening Retrieved from
httpkeydifferencescomdifference-between-hearning-and-listeninghtml
64
Shen CD (2010) 3 reasons why listening skills are very important in Todayrsquo s Business World
Retrieved from httpezinearticlescom3-Reasons-why-listening-skills-are-very-important-in-
Todays-Business-worldampid=5436504
the adapted audio-stories that were used in the period of treatment
(httpwwwmanythingsorgvoastories)
Appendix A A pre-test
The Last class- The Story of the Alsatian
I was very late for school that morning and I was terribly afraid of being Scolded
especially as Monsieur Hamel had told us that he should examine us on participles and I
did not know the first thing about them For a moment I thought of saying away from
school and wandering about the fields It was such a warm lovely day I could hear the
blackbirds whistling on the edge of the wood and in the ripper field behind the sawmill
the Prussians going through their drill All that was much more tempting to me than the
rules concerning participles but I had the strength to resist and I ran as fast as I could to
school
Sentences
You old fool they will kill you if you always trouble them
People are awfully lazy in the middle of July
Appendix B A post-test
The Game of Billiards
The marshalrsquo s opponent is a young captain of the staff belted and curled and light-
gloved who is in the first rank of billiard-players and capable of beating all the marshals
on earth but he has the tact to keep a respectful distance behind his chief and devotes his
energies to the task of not winning and at the same time not losing too easily He is what is
called an officer with a future
Read the following words
1 Cabal
2 Labour
3 Shell
Appendix c Treatment period
I Session one (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquothe Secret Gardenrdquo (Chapter One) By Frances Hodgson
Burnett
II Session two (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Secret Gardenrdquo (Chapter two) By Frances Hodgson
Burnett
III Session three (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Lady or the Tigerrdquo by Frank R Stockton
IV Session four (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Lady in Blackrdquo By Eleanor Porter
Reacutesumeacute
La preacutesente eacutetude vise agrave eacutetudier lrsquoarticulation de dark [ϯ] et clear [l] dans les classes de la
langue anglaise afin dameacuteliorer la prononciation des apprenants Lrsquoeacutetude actuelle repose
sur lhypothegravese que leacutecoute des histoires audio a un effet positif sur lameacutelioration de la
prononciation des apprenants EFL avec un accent particulier sur le dark [ϯ] et clear [l] Afin
datteindre lobjectif de cette recherche une eacutetude quasi-expeacuterimentale a eacuteteacute assigneacute en
deux groupe group teacutemoin et group expeacuterimentale Chaque groupe contenait 20 eacutelegraveves
Lexpeacuterience a pris six seacuteances un preacute-test une peacuteriode de traitement (4 seacuteances) et un
posttest En conclusion les reacutesultats obtenus montrent que les eacutetudiants qui sont exposeacute agrave
la langue cible et qui eacutecoutent au locuteur natif agrave lrsquoaide audio pour ameacuteliorer leurs
prononciations ont montreacute qursquoil y a un deacuteveloppement ameacutelioration au niveau de
compeacutetence des apprenants en particulier et en matiegravere de parole en geacuteneacuterale
Les mots cleacutes audio-histoire Compeacutetence drsquoeacutecoute prononciation dureacute de travaille
ملخص
استخدام القصص الصوتية من اجل المساعدة على اكتساب النطق السليم والدقيق تهدف هذه الدراسة الى التعرف على مدى فعالية
الأجنبية حيث تستند الدراسة الحالية على فرضية مفادها ان الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية له تأثير إيجابي على تحسين ةللغ
استغرقت التجربة ست ق المنهج التجريبيمن أجل تحقيق هدف هذه الدراسة تم تطبينطق الطلاب الأجانب للغة الإنجليزية
جلسات قسمت كالاتي أربع حصص معالجة سبقت باختبارات قبلية ولحقت باختبارات بعدية أجريت الدراسة في قسم اللغة
طالبا من طلاب السنة ثانية جامعي قسم الطلبة الى فوجين حيث 40الإنجليزية بجامعة العربي بن مهيدي وقد شملت الدراسة
ى معالجة لمدة أربع حصص من خلال الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية في حين لم يتعرض الفوج الثاني خضع أحد الفوجين ال
الى نفس المعالجة بعد ذلك تم اجراء الاختبارات البعدية واعتمادا على النتائج المتحصل عليها ثبت ان التعرض الى اللغة
جابي على اكتساب النطق الدقيق للغة المستهدفة الا وهي اللغة الأجنبية عن طريق الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية له تأثير إي
الأجنبية
القصص الصوتية النطق مدة الموجات الصوتيةالكلمات المفتاحية المهارة السمعية
5
Section One Listening to Audio Stories
Introduction
11 Definition of Listening Skill
12 Differences between Listening and Hearing
13 Reasons of Listening
14 Types of Listening
141 Extensive Listening
142 Intensive Listening
15 Listening Processes
151 Bottom-up Process
152 Top down Process
16 Brief History of Audio-Stories
17 Definition of Storytelling
18 Definition of Audio-Stories
19 Characteristics of a Good Audio-Story
110 The Use of Audio-Stories in ESL Classrooms
111 Advantages of Using Audio-Stories
Conclusion
6
Introduction
Nowadays there is a great emphasis put on listening skill since it plays a significant
role in teaching and acquiring the foreign language So this high attention raises because of
the difficulties that learners face whenever they want to communicate thatrsquos why many
researchers shed light on Audio Stories as a tool that can help in developing learnersrsquo
listening process as well as improving their speaking skills and precisely their
pronunciation
The main concern of this section is listening to audio stories First of all we shed
light on the first part which is listening process At the start we need to define listening
skills according to different scholars later on we tackle the main differences between
listening and hearing Also reasons of listening its types and processes Then the second
part of this section deals with the audio stories In the beginning we introduce a brief history
of audio stories and later on the definition of stories in general After that we present the
meaning of audio stories in a specific way and its main characteristics Lastly this section
highlights the use and the advantages of audio stories inside EFL classrooms
11 Definition of Listening Skill
ldquoThe most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen Just to
listen Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attentionrdquo (Remen
2011)
Listening is an important skill in learning and acquiring a foreign language Through
this process learners will be able to receive and understand information According to
Downs (2008) ldquothe word of listening is defined as making an effort to hear something to
pay attention or heedrdquo (p 1) In other words Downs (2008) argues that listening is the way
7
learners pay attention to what is being said In her opinion listening is an active process that
includes using a variety of processes which are attending understanding interpreting
responding and remembering Moreover Mendelsohn (1994) demonstrates listening as ldquothe
ability to understand the spoken language of native speakersrdquo (p 64) To be precise
Mendelsohn defines listening as the listenerrsquo s ability to recognize the native speakerrsquo s
speech in terms of accent pitch intonation vocabulary grammar and trying to interpret the
native speakerrsquo s messages
Saricoban (1999) states that listening is onersquos capacity to realise what is being said
and to recognize the intended meaning He sheds light on two important points the first
point concerns understanding the speakerrsquos pronunciation syntax and lexis whereas the
second point deals with grasping the meaning Willis (1981) lists a series of micro-skills of
listening which she calls enabling skills They are
Predicting what people are going to talk about
Guessing at unknown words or phrases without panic
Using onersquo s own knowledge of the subject to help one understand
Identifying relevant points rejecting irrelevant information
Retaining relevant points (note-taking summarizing)
Recognizing discourse markers eg well oh another thing is now finally
etc
Recognizing cohesive devices e g such as and which including linking
words pronouns references etc
Understanding different intonation patterns and uses of stress etc which give
clues to meaning and social setting
8
Understanding inferred information eg speakerrsquo s attitude or intentions
(p134
Furthermore listening is an important source of knowledge It is recognized as the
ability of transforming and interpreting the spoken messages that are received by the ears
from the daily life situations Yet listening is a very hard task It requires the learnersrsquo mental
concentration which is something difficult because the human brain can simply lose attention
That is to say listening skill can save learners from communication breakdowns and
increases their motivation to learn the foreign language and speak fluently but only if they
work harder to develop their own listening skills
12 Differences between Listening and Hearing
Listening and hearing are two different activities Kline (1996) emphasizes the
differences between these two concepts to make an effective listening He states that
ldquohearing is the attachment of meaning to the sound Hearing is passive listening is activerdquo
(p7) In other words active listening is a successful element that affects learnersrsquo verbal and
nonverbal behaviors
Surbhi (2016) states the differences between listening and hearing On the one hand
he defines hearing as the natural capacity that happens unconsciously It aids to identify
sounds via the ears Also hearing is a process that permits receiving sound vibrations and
it is one of the five senses On the other hand Surhbi (2016) defines listening skill as the
process of receiving and interpreting messages it occurs consciously
13 Reasons of Listening
Learners through being exposed to different English accents and in any recorded
materials such as radio TV or tapes they want to understand and realize what is being said
9
(Harmer 1998) According to him listening is a very effective process that helps learners to
get a better pronunciation In other words as much as they are exposed to the real language
as much as they will recognize its features
Also Shen (2010) demonstrates that listening skills help to improve understanding
and aids people to become aware of their listening skills So listening plays a vital role in
language learning and acquisition It is an essential skill that bridges the line between
meaning and messages in order to avoid misunderstanding between individuals
14 Types of listening
Generally speaking the listening skill plays a significant role in teaching EFL
classrooms This process guides EFL learners to an effective communication Therefore the
listening skill can be classified into two different types Extensive listening and intensive
listening
141 Extensive Listening
Extensive listening has to do with the learnerrsquos fluency In other words the learner has
to master vocabulary grammarhellipetc and later on he must combine them together to form
a meaningful conversation So fluency depends on the listenerrsquos ability of understanding
whatever he is exposed to weather in an audio tape a text a songhellipetc
Harmer (1998) states that extensive listening is the way students practice their own
listening outside the classroom Students should enjoy listening to an audio material because
they can understand them without the teacherrsquo s help Also students can depend on CDs and
tapes so that they are going to have another chance to listen to their course books dialogues
that they have already provided to them inside the classroom In addition learners must be
10
stimulated to listen to the English language films with sub-titles because this helps students
to acquire the foreign language
In brief extensive listening according to the Extensive Reading-Central (2012) includes
Listening to massive amounts of text
Text which learners can understand reasonably smoothly
high levels of comprehension
Listening without being constrained by pre-set questions or tasks
Listening at or below onersquo s comfortable fluent listening ability
So extensive listening aims to make learners enjoy developing their listening skills
142 Intensive Listening
In contrast to extensive listening intensive listening aims at developing the learnersrsquo
specific listening skills and more precisely to raise the learnersrsquo attention about the spoken
language Intensive listening occurs weather in classrooms or laboratories It exists mostly
when teachers guide their students and provide them with help concerning listening
problems that they face and try to highlight them (Harmer 2007)
So intensive listening according to the Extensive Reading-central (2012) is
Listening for specific information
Listening for the exact words of a phrase or expression
Listening for details
Listening to mimic a text
11
15 Listening Processes
In listening process addressees process information using two distinct strategies
This is devoted to as bottom-up and top-down
151 Bottom-up Process
Richards (1990) states that ldquobottom-up processing refers the use of incoming data as
a source of information about the meaning of a messagerdquo (p 50) According to him Bottom-
up process deals with the perception of sentence components ie recognizing the meaning
of sounds words sentences clauseshellipetc till reaching the meaning of the whole message
152 Top-down Process
Richards (190) states that ldquoTop-down processing on the other hand refers to the use
of background knowledge in understanding the meaning of a messagerdquo (p 51) In contrast
to Bottom-up process Richards (1990) points out to the Top-down as the process of using
the listenersrsquo previous knowledge to attain meaning as whole not attaining the meaning of
individual words
16 Brief History of Audio-Stories
Eckert (2016) states that ldquoAudio storytelling in the form of radio drama has been
around for almost a centuryrdquo (p 8) That is to say audio stories in the previous decades took
the form of radio drama Radio drama attained extensive admiration within an era of its
original growth in the 1920rsquo s At that time radio drama played a central role for being the
foundation of people entertainment However by the 1950rsquo s people shifted their attention
to the new invention which was the small screen ie the television As a result of the
invention of this new device audio drama no more attracts the spectatorsrsquo attention it lost
its popularity
12
Though in 2010 radio drama came back to stage due to the developments shown in
digital soundtrack and internet spreading According to Eckert (2016) ldquoRadio and audio
storytelling has slowly started gaining popularity again thanks to the different online
platforms brought forth by digitalizationrdquo (p 8)
17 Definition of Storytelling
Today stories are a fundamental part of our societies and cultures Telling and
listening to stories is an ancient tradition and common activity that bonds different olden
civilizations together Also stories are an essential component and an ordinary process that
many people used to do on every occasion It is the art of telling factual or fictional stories
Besides stories bring legacy into life because our ancestors told them and people today
only retell them
Moreover listening to stories enhances the learnersrsquo foreign language It aids them
to improve their speaking skills Pederson (1995) states that ldquoin dealing with stories learners
have an experience with the powerful real language of personal communicationrdquo (p 2)
Additionally Pederson (1995) emphasizes the role of telling stories in preserving heritage
he argues that ldquooral stories are a direct expression of a literary and cultural heritage and
through them that heritage is appreciated understood and kept aliverdquo (1995 p2) In other
words stories bond between the past and the present It is considered to be a vital feature of
humankind Furthermore Schram (1994 as cited in Coulter Michael amp Poynor 2007)
points out
A story is a beautiful means of teaching religion values history traditions and
customs a creative method of introducing characters and places an imaginative way
13
to instill hope and resourceful thinking Stories help us to understand who we are and
show us what legacies to transmit to future generations (p 104-105)
So Schram (1994) highlights the role of stories in bridging the gap between the teaching
process and culture
Likewise Abrahamson (1998) sheds light on the role that storytelling plays in the
learning process He states that telling stories plays a significant role in improving learnersrsquo
understanding Besides Abrahamson argues that stories can afford a suitable context that
the listener can use it as a base to perceive the tellerrsquos point of view Moreover Roney (1996)
demonstrates
In its most basic form storytelling is a process where a person (the teller) using
vocalization narrative structure and mental imagery communications with other
humans (the audience) who also use mental imagery and in turn communicate back
to the teller primarily via body language and facial expression (p 2)
By this definition storytelling is the combination of art procedures and ways of
communication
18 Definition of Audio-Stories
The term audio-story is a combination of two words audio and story By definition
audio is sound within the aural range accessible to humankinds Miller (2011) states that
ldquostories are pieces of art and can serve as a basis of gamesrdquo (p 1) So Audio-story is a very
operative means for teaching EFL learners It aids to make the course persuasive Nowadays
14
audio stories can be used to many reasons and the most important one is the exposure to the
real language of native speakers by EFL learners In addition Rubin (2015) points out
ldquoaudio stories are an engaging form of communication that combines speech and music into
a compelling narrativesrdquo (p 1) That is to say audio stories are the process of telling stories
through sound and sound effects only Furthermore Audio-stories are broadly accredited to
progresses in portable equipment for instance smart phones tablets and multimedia
entertainment systems Thus EFL learners find it easy to listen to those audio stories
19 Characteristics of a Good Audio-Story
According to Seifert (nd) finding good audio-stories that suit the EFL learnersrsquo
needs is something very important and it is a very hard task to do However these are some
of the necessary features that EFL teachers must take into consideration whenever they want
to select a good audio-story for their students
Skill Level
Taking into account the learnersrsquo English level before choosing any audio-story For
instance if the audio-story contains a difficult language learners will lose confidence and
as a result they stop listening to the audio-story So determining the learnersrsquo level is very
important
Student Interest
EFL teachers must find out their studentsrsquo interests and normally each teacher has
an idea about this issue So if the audio-stories do not fit the learnersrsquo needs the EFL
teacherrsquos goal from that audio-story will be lost
15
Audio Length
The length of the audio-story plays a significant role in keeping concentration in the
ESL schoolrooms Listening for much time to the audio storytelling leads to boredom As a
result the learnersrsquo s brains lose attention However teachers can use long audio-stories but
they should know how to put it into parts and use classroom discussions to avoid boredom
So these three characteristics aid to develop EFL learnersrsquo listening skills
110 The Use of Audio-Stories in ESL Classrooms
According to Rock (nd) there are several listening practices that ESLEFL teachers
can provide to their students These are samples of activities that can work hand in hand with
audio-stories
Fill in The Blanks
Here EFL teacher provides his students with a written passage that is taken from an
audio-story but he removes some words Later on the teacher asks his learners to listen to
the audio-story after reading that passage and at the same time fill in the blanks
Mastery Memory
This activity has to do with learnerrsquos memory In this kind of practices teachers
provide learners with an audio-story and ask them for example to write down the main
events of the story but when they finish listening to it Teachers in this activity have to make
sure that students do not write them during the listening of the audio-story So the main goal
of the exercise is to reinforce learnerrsquos memory
16
Order the Events
At the start teachers give their learners a series of events that are chosen from an
audio-story Then the teacher gives them some time to read them After that learners listen
to the audio- storytelling and put those events in a sequential order
Buzz Words
This exercise aims to reach the learnerrsquo s vocabulary In this practice teachers
provide learners with a number of words then they ask them to check their meanings before
Afterward teacher turns the lesson into a game ie EFL learners listen to the audio-story
and whenever they hear a word (the buzz word) from that list they have to raise their hands
or clap them
Multiple Choice
This activity deals with providing learners with a number of questions followed by
three answers these questions can be definitions or name of characterhellip etc Then learners
have to listen to the audio-storytelling and pick the write response After teachers play again
the audio-story to correct their answers
Character Quiz
In this practice EFL learners have to listen to the whole story Then the teacher gives
his class a question sheet that contains a list of character qualities and decision and ask them
to choose the suitable one for the leading role
Plot Quiz
This activity has to do with team competition After listening to the whole audio-
storytelling once or twice the teacher divides his class into two to four groups where the
17
teacher plays the role of the coach Several questions that have a relation to the story will be
quizzed to each team if they get the answer they have a point if they fail to answer correctly
the question moves to the next group
Beginning Middle End
After listening to the audio storytelling the teacher splits the classroom into groups
and each group contains no more than four students Later he asks each group to write the
main events of the beginning the middle and the end of the story Finally they discuss them
together
111 Advantages of Using Audio-Stories
Audio-stories play an essential role in teaching the target language Audio-
storytelling is an impeccable implement for any ESL classrooms First of all audio-stories
afford learners with the exposure to the real language as it is produced by the native speakers
ie a natural voice Furthermore Rodero (2012 as cited in Eckert2016) claimed that
ldquoAudio stories that use sound effects and sound shots enhance the learnerrsquo s attention and
creation of visual images significantly compared to those without themrdquo (p 16) That is to
say using audio-stories in ESL classrooms develops learnersrsquo listening skills and provides
them with an imaginary trip inside their minds Also audio- stories enhance learnersrsquo
pronunciation since the learner is exposed to the natural voice In addition EFL teacher can
use audio storytelling as a guideline to his lecture or the opposite he can use it at the end of
the course as a reward
Moreover the EFL teachers depend on audio-stories in improving learnersrsquo
vocabulary through memorization Learners can enrich their vocabulary whenever they
listen to those stories because each time they learn some new words Besides learners can
18
listen to them outside the schoolrooms because they are portable they can upload them in
their mobiles and listen to them any time anywhere Finally audio stories can raise interest
for those learners who are not attracted to reading
Conclusion
In conclusion listening to audio stories aids EFL learners to improve the target
language pronunciation That is to say students will be exposed to the real language as it is
created by the native speakers Besides using audio stories in ESLEFL classrooms increases
the learnersrsquo interest toward learning the foreign language and also enhances their speaking
skills
19
Section two Reflection on Pronunciation
Introduction
121 Definition of Speaking Skill
122 Speaking Sub-Competencies Skills
123 Definition of Pronunciation
124 Importance of Pronunciation
125 Factors Affecting Pronunciation
1251 Internal Factors
1252 External Factors
Conclusion
20
Introduction
Generally speaking being able to speak the target language fluently and accurately
seems to be very interesting to all EFLESL learners Though students face a lot of troubles
and obstacles when communicating with each other or with native speakers and this is due
to mispronunciation misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the hearer which leads to the
communication breakdowns Furthermore learnersrsquo mispronunciation occurs due to various
factors that affect their oral language and as a consequence it affects their speaking
proficiency
In this section we have dealt with the speaking process and precisely
ldquopronunciationrdquo At the start a slight attention is put upon the definition of speaking skills
and its sub-competencies After that a part of this section is devoted to define pronunciation
and highlight its importance Moreover this section demonstrates some factors that affect
pronunciation which are classified into internal factors and external factors Finally another
point about the English consonant ldquoLrdquo has been raised
121 Definition of Speaking Skill
Mastering the foreign language is the aim of each EFL learner Speaking is one of
the most important language skills it plays a significant role in sharing ideas and thoughts
between individuals Torky (2006) defines speaking as follows ldquoIt is the means through
which learners can communicate with others to achieve certain goals or to express their
opinions intentions hopes and viewpointsrdquo (p 13) Also Ziane (2012) states that ldquoit is the
way by which learners can contribute and be part of oral communicationrdquo (p21) So the
main goal of EFL learners is to be able to speak the target language in order to strengthen
their verbal communication
21
Moreover Chaney (1998) argues that ldquospeaking is the process of building and
sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols in a variety of contextsrdquo
(p 13) From Chaneyrsquo s definition of speaking we deduce that speaking has an important
role in learning the foreign language and improving EFL learnersrsquo communicative skill
However there are some researchers who describe speaking as a hard task They
argue that EFL learners find it so hard to master the foreign language and face a lot of
difficulties even after studying it many years at schools Bueno and Mclaren (2006 as cited
in Alonso 2011) point out
Speaking is one of the most difficult skills language learners have to face In spite of
this it has traditionally been forced into the background while we teachers of
English have spent all our classroom time trying to teach our students how to write
to read and sometimes even to listen in a L2 because grammar has a long written
tradition (p 321)
On the whole the speaking skill is a very important process that EFL learners need to acquire
in order to master and shape the target language
122 Speaking Sub CompetenciesSkills
Torky (2006) claims that learners must be able to express themselves in a given
context in order to be proficient in mastering the foreign language She points out to several
speaking skills or competencies that help to achieve this aim which are
22
Linguistic Competence
Torky (2006) states that learners must be skillful in using pronunciation ie their
pronunciation must be clear In addition students have to use correct grammar and
proper lexis
Discourse Competence
In the beginning learners have to be able to use a well-organized discourse In other
words the discourse must be clear and unified Besides they have to be competent in
handling discussion and cooperating efficiently in order to avoid the communication
breakdowns
Pragmatic Competence
EFL learners have to be proficient in using a variety of functions that are related to
the same context and register
Fluency
Speaking smoothly without any complications and with a suitable degree of speech
speed
123 Definition of Pronunciation
According to Gilakjani (2012) ldquopronunciation is an integral part of foreign language
since it directly affects learnersrsquo communicative competence as well as performancerdquo
(p119) That is to say pronunciation plays a fundamental role in learning and improving the
target language Besides Poposka (2016) argues that pronunciation is the key factor of
language in its universal notion and she claims that pronunciation should be defined in
23
relation to different perspectives Poposka (2016) states some of the various points of view
concerning pronunciation definition which are
- The act or manner of pronouncing uttering of speech
- A way of speaking a word especially a way that is accepted or generally understood
- A graphic representation of the way a word is spoken using phonetic symbols (p
200)
Moreover Dauer (1993 as cited in Ummah 2014) states that ldquopronunciation is the
act of producing the sound of speech including articulation vowel formation accent
inflection and intonation often with reference to the correctness or acceptability of the
speech soundrdquo (p 10) In addition Poposka (2016) states that pronunciation is the vocal
capacity to produce particular sounds weather when communicating with individuals or
when being alone This construction of sounds leads to the appearance of some utterances
that may be expressive or worthless (p 200) Furthermore Adult Migrant English Program
research center (AMP 2002) points out
Pronunciation refers to the production of sounds that we use to make meaning it includes
attention to the particular sounds of language (segments) aspects of speech beyond the
level of the individual sound such as intonation phrasing stress timing rhythm
(suprasegmental aspects) (p1)
In other words AMP research center argues that even if these two aspects suprasegmental
and segmental structures are treated separately it is necessary to know that they work hand
in hand in a given context whenever someone speaks
24
124 Importance of Pronunciation
Madden and Moore (1997) states that ldquoin first language acquisition children learn
pronunciation inductively by absorbing and reproducing the sounds in their environmentrdquo
(p 4) That is to say all human beings in their natural development from childhood to
adulthood learn first of all how to talk before learning how to read or write Also Zhang
(2009) claims that ldquolearning a language means to perform the sounds utterances and the
words properly and correctlyrdquo (p 34-35) So pronunciation is a very essential skill in
learning a second language
Moreover Morley (1998 as cited in Zhang 2009) argues that ldquoit is clear that limited
pronunciation skills will make learners lose their self-confidence and result in negative
influence for learners to estimate their credibility and abilitiesrdquo (p 35) In other words it
does not matter whether learners make mistakes concerning grammar or vocabulary all what
matters is the way they pronounce a given word in order to make a worthy impression on
the learnersrsquo language capacities Zhang (2009) points out
Good pronunciation will make people understand you easily and be willing to listen to
you Contrarily poor English pronunciation may confuse people and lead to an
unpleasant talking and misunderstanding even if you used advanced English grammar
or vocabulary (p 35)
Likewise Backley (n d) argues ldquoif a speaker has a clear pronunciation this has immediate
benefits listeners judge the speakerrsquo s overall language ability much more favorably even
to the point of tolerating grammatical and other errorsrdquo (p 126) Therefore good
25
pronunciation aids to avoid misinterpretation and intelligibility between speakers and
listeners and show the learnersrsquo competencies in mastering their second language
Furthermore good pronunciation affects the learnersrsquo speed of acquiring the target language
In addition learners should use only simple structures with good and correct pronunciation
rather than using complex expressions in order to communicate with others
125 Factors Affecting Pronunciation
Generally speaking there are several factors that affect the learnersrsquo pronunciation
These factors can be classified into internal factors and external factors
1251 Internal Factors
Zhang (2009) states that internal factors can be categorized also into biological
factors individual differences and individual efforts and goal setting
Biological Factors
They are branded into four features age ear perception and aptitude
Learnersrsquo Age
At the start there is a difference between young learners and adult learners
concerning the acquisition of the accurate pronunciation Nonetheless this does not mean
that adult learners cannot get accurate pronunciation as well They have to work much harder
because their brainsrsquo plasticity reduces That is to say age plays a significant part in learning
the target language pronunciation Moreover Zhang (2009) emphasizes the role of the
critical period hypothesis that was proposed by Lenneberg in 1967 which states that there
is a certain age that helps learners to acquire the foreign language pronunciation accurately
26
and after that age the brain loses its flexibility Furthermore (Nation and Newton (2009) as
cited in Zhang 2009) claim that
Usually if the learner began to speak in the second language before the age of six
there will be little or no accent If the learner began to speak between the age of seven
and eleven the learners likely to have a slight accent If the learner began to speak
after age of twelve the learners almost always have an accent (p 78)
This is the reason behind the acceptance of the idea that learners find it so hard to acquire
the foreign language after maturity
Additionally Zhang (2009) states that young learners have bigger chances than the
adult learners in obtaining accurate pronunciation He claims that the brain loses its
flexibility and becomes rigid after puberty (after nine years old) as a result the brainrsquo s
functions will be devoted to the right and left hemispheres which makes it so difficult to
acquire the foreign languagersquo s pronunciation correctly Also Lenneberg (1967 as cited in
Zhang 2009) argues that ldquobefore the age of two the brain has not developed enough but
after puberty it developed too much and it will lose its plasticity and finish the lateralization
of the language functionrdquo (p 39) In other words it becomes so hard to obtain the native-
like pronunciation after the lateralization
Ear Perception
One of the most important factors that affect the learnersrsquo acquisition of the foreign
language is the ldquoear perceptionrdquo Zhang (2009) claims that the hearing abilities differ from
one person to another That is to say there are learners who have a strong hearing capacity
27
they can hear sounds in a very clear way which help them in reproducing the native speakersrsquo
pronunciation smoothly Whereas there is that kind of learners who do not have that ability
However Zhang argues that the ear perception has nothing to do with the learner age He
claims that it is natural that learners may lose some of their capacities whenever they become
older
Aptitude
Generally speaking foreign language aptitude is the personrsquos ability to learn a foreign
or a second language very rapidly and with no troubles (Wen 2011) Also Dornyei and
skehan (2003 as cited in Wen 2011) states ldquooriginally the notion of FLA presumed a
relatively stable talent for learning a foreign language that differs between individualsrdquo (p
590) So EFL learners do not have the same ability to acquire the foreign language
Additionally Carroll (1962 as cited in Wen 2011) states four components of the FLA which
are
lsquophonemic coding abilityrsquo (ie the ability to identify and retain sounds and link them
to phonetic symbols)
Sensitivity towards the grammatical functions that words fulfil in a sentence
The ability to learn inductively (ie to infer and generalize linguistic structures from
language samples) and
The ability to rote learn vocabulary items paired with their associated translations
(p 233)
Hence aptitude has an important role in improving learnersrsquo foreign language
Although Zhang (2009) argues that all individuals have a language aptitude ability but they
28
differ only in the degree of that aptitude capacity Also he claims that we cannot say that
those people who have a sophisticated level of language aptitude will get to the top and
people with an inferior level of language aptitude will go pear-shaped
Individual Differences
Zhang (2009) states that learnersrsquo different personalities affect the way they acquire
the foreign language pronunciation He argues that extroverted learners are more likely to
acquire the target pronunciation rather than introverted learners because extroverted learners
are not afraid of making mistakes which is not the case with the introverted learners who
face always the fear of failure Besides extroverted students are more friendly they tend to
work with others which leads them to practice the target language so they become more
familiar with it which aids to improve their pronunciation very quickly (p 40-41)
Individual Efforts and Goal setting
At the start the main goal of each EFLESL learner is to master the foreign language
in order to communicate with others Zhang (2009) points out ldquowe must always remember
that teaching never causes learning but rather creates the conditions in which learning can
occurrdquo (p 42) Besides he emphasizes that pronunciation is really a very hard task that
learners can acquire in a few days but it is not something impossible that learners cannot
achieve Though as much time learners spend in practicing the target language
pronunciation the better results they will get
1252 External Factors
External factors can be classified into three aspects learnersrsquo native language
exposure to target language and education factors
29
Learnerrsquo s Native Language
Universally the learnersrsquo native language affects their pronunciation of the foreign
language Zhang (2009) states that studentsrsquo mother tongue reflects the way they pronounce
a certain word in the target language and this is due to the differences that are found between
the two languages In other words learners find a lot of complications in articulating some
sounds for the reason that some of those sounds do not occur in their native language (p
43)
Exposure to the Target Language
Zhang (2009) shows that the acquisition of English language pronunciation is related
to the amount of exposure to it as it is produced by the native speakers That is to say this
depends on the learner himself ie on the situation in which the learning process occurs In
other words Zhang argues that it does not matter weather learners live in a native country
or not it is a matter of how much time they listen to the foreign language and how much
time they use it Zhang (2009) states ldquothe more they spend their time for listening and
speaking English the better their English pronunciation will berdquo (p 44) Thus learnerrsquo s
pronunciation accuracy depends on the surrounding environment where the target language
takes place
Educational Factors
At the start the system of education is responsible for studentsrsquo learning process
Worthy educational structure provides a lot of chances for learners to be exposed to the target
language through creating a suitable learning environment Additionally EFLESL
teachersrsquo accent reflects the learnersrsquo pronunciation because learners take teachers as an
30
exemplary in order to improve their pronunciation That is why teachers should work on
their pronunciation initially (Zhang 2009)
The English Consonant Sound ldquoLrdquo
Generally speaking EFL learners face complications in learning the English L sound
Sproat and Fujimura (1993) argue ldquoEnglish l has traditionally been classified into at least
two allophones namely light which occurs initially and dark which occurs syllable finallyrdquo
(p 291) Furthermore Wang (2016) states that the L consonant sound is a lateral phoneme
in English and it has two allophones he points out
One of them is found before vowels as in ldquoladyrdquo or ldquoflyrdquo called clear l and is
pronounced as the alveolar lateral approximant in a neutral position of the body of
the tongue The other variant is called dark l found before consonants or at word-
finally position as in ldquoboldrdquo or ldquotellrdquo Which is as the velarized lateral approximant
with the tongue in a spoon-like shape Its back part is raised which gives the sound
a w-like resonance (p 44)
In other words the clear [l] occurs when the tip of the tongue raises up and touches the soft
palate just behind the front teeth whereas the dark [ϯ] happens when the tip of the tongue
pulls back and the tongue raises to the middle without touching the soft palate to make the
L sound So the difference between these two allophones is the reason behind those troubles
that the learner may face
However Sproat and Fujimura (1993 as cited in Jiahong 2011) explain the
differences between these two allophones by relating them to the rime duration In other
31
words they point out that whenever the l sound occurs in longer rimes it is going to be a
dark [ϯ] and whenever the rime is short the l sound is clear or light
Figure 1
Articulatory Differences in l Velarization
Source Recasens 2012 p369
Conclusion
To end with it is very important to acknowledge that pronunciation is one way that
leads to an effective and a successful communication That is why many researchers shed
light on the investigation of some factors that may influence the EFL learnersrsquo pronunciation
As a result these identifying concepts help foreigners to overcome their difficulties when
they are introduced to the target language
32
Chapter two Field Work
Introduction
21 Methodology
211 Research Participants
212 The Procedure
2121 The Research Design
2122 The Pre-test Phase
2123 The Treatment Phase
2124 The Control Group
2125 The Post-test Phase
213 Scoring
214 Data Analysis
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (independent Sample
t-test)
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group Post-test
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group Post-test (Paired
Sample t-test)
21431 Paired Sample t-test
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-test
33
21441 An Independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the
Post-test
215 Discussion of the Results
216 Pedagogical Implications
Conclusion
34
Introduction
This research attempts to investigate the effect of listening to audio stories on
acquiring accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] by second year LMD students
at the department English -LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi The chosen sample is divided into two
groups the control group and the experimental group At the start participantsrsquo
pronunciation accuracy of the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] (the dependent variable) was measured
through a pretest Later on a period of treatment is taken by the experimental group which
is not the case with the control group After that a post-test is administered to both groups
in which the results are gathered using a software called the ldquopraatrdquo In addition we shed
light on describing the sample taking the place in which the study took place the method
used and at last the data collected
21 Methodology
211 Research Participants
The current study involved two intact classes of second year LMD students from
LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi-English Department The selected sample includes students from
different gender Furthermore we favored to select second year students for several reasons
The first reason was that second year students have practiced working with audio supports
which was not the case with first year students so they will not face problems concerning
listening to audio stories The second reason was that second year learners study oral
expression
At the start the experiment includes a sample of forty learners that have been chosen
from two intact classes of second year LMD students The chosen sample represents 1904
from the entire population which comprises 210 learners Additionally both clusters were
35
divided into a control group and an experimental group twenty students in each group At
the beginning the sample was supposed to be comprised of sixty students in which both the
control and the experimental groups covered thirty students Unfortunately there were a lot
of absences in both groups Also there are some students who have not passed both the
pretest and the posttest and others have not received the treatment at all Therefore the
sample size was reduced from sixty to forty students which can be sufficient to represent
the whole population and to get consistent outcomes
In order to gather consistent data that help to achieve the purpose of our research a
quasi-experimental design was designated The use of the chosen method will provide us
with a wide-ranging representation of the reflection of listening to audio stories on the
acquisition of the accurate pronunciation of the dark [l] and clear [l]
212 The Procedure
To accumulate a reliable data an experiment was conducted over six sessions The
treatment period took four sessions and the remained two sessions for the pretest and the
posttest The pretest took a form different from that of the posttest in order to avoid
familiarity to improve the learnersrsquo development and get consistent information Both
groups have taken the tests but only the experimental group took the treatment Besides the
duration of training concerning the treatment period for the experimental group took 90
minutes ie one hour and a half for each session and it started after getting the
authorization of the teacher of oral expression
36
2121 The Research Design
Figure 2
Experimental Group Procedures
Figure 3
Control Group Procedures
2122 The Pre-test Phase
By the first week of March both the control group and the experimental group have
taken the pretest However before choosing the pretest and in order to avoid any problems
we have checked that the dark [l] and the clear [l] are pronounced the same in both the
American and the British accents using the Oxford Advanced Learnerrsquo s Dictionary At the
outset learners were required to read a passage derived from a short story named ldquoThe last
class-The story of the Alsationrdquo that was written by Alphonse Daudet (2001) and also short
sentences (see Appendix A) After that their voices were recorded using a software known
pre-test
treatment
(listening to audio stories)
post-test
pre-test
No treatment
( being taught without listening
to audio-stories)
post-test
37
as the ldquoPraatrdquo Besides our focus here was raised toward the duration (ie the length of a
syllable) of the dark [l] and the clear [l]
Throughout the pretest EFL learners found themselves unable to pronounce the dark
[ϯ] and clear [l] that are found in some words correctly In other words students in the control
group and the experimental group most of the time pronounce the dark [ϯ] in the same way
they pronounce the clear [l] ie they spend the same duration for pronouncing the two
allophones Also EFL learners from time to time pronounce them differently but in a wrong
way ie they spent a rime duration that it not suitable neither for the light [l] nor for the
dark[ϯ]
Figure4
Example of the Lateral Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoSawmillrdquo
2123 The Treatment Phase
At first both participants have finished the pretest Though the treatment was
approved to the experimental group only the control group did not receive the same
treatment Besides the experimental group received the treatment in four sessions and each
Rime
duration
38
session took one hour and a half (ie 90 minutes) In each session students were asked to
listen to the audio-story in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of both allophones
after that they discussed the story being listened (see Appendix B)
2124 The Control Group
Concerning the control group students were taught the oral expression without any
exposure to any kinds of treatments In contrast to students in the experimental group who
were provided with the audio stories in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of the
both allophones which are the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ]
2125 The Post-test Phase
Fundamentally after finishing the four sessions of training ie the period of
treatment a posttest was administered to both the experimental group and the control group
(see Appendix c) The posttest as we have said before is different from the pretest in order
to avoid familiarity with the same topic and to ensure the learners improvement of the dark
[ϯ] and clear [l] So the posttest is a kind of a passage which was taken from a short story
that is entitled ldquoThe Game of Billiardsrdquo which is written by Alphonse Daudet and some
words to pronounce Furthermore during the posttest we noticed a kind of development in
learnersrsquo pronunciation of the two allophones with students of the experimental group
especially in pronouncing the single words which was not the case with those learners in
the control group
39
Figure 5
Example of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquocabalrdquo
Figure 6
Example of the Clear [l] in the word ldquolabourrdquo
The rime
duration
The rime
duration
40
213 Scoring
After finishing recording the learnersrsquo pronunciation of the phoneme l of both
groups (the control and the experimental group) we have compared them first of all to the
native speakerrsquo s pronunciation and after that we have calculated the rime duration of the
two allophones ie the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] and at last we gave them scores out of six
(6) for each participant
214 Data Analysis
In this sub-section we are going to investigate the EFL learnersrsquo improvement of
pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] Though in order to make sure that EFL
learners have acquired the correct pronunciation of these two allophones we have firstly
investigated the native speakerrsquos pronunciation of the L sound ie the clear [l] and the dark
[ϯ] and we have analyzed the rime duration of two words ldquolightrdquo and ldquoballrdquo as examples
Figure7
The Native Speakerrsquos Pronunciation of the Clear [l] in the Word ldquolightrdquo
Rime
duration
41
Figure8
The Native Speakerrsquo s Pronunciation of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoballrdquo
From these two figures we have noticed that the native speaker has spent 016 s in
pronouncing an ideal clear [l] (see Figure 7) and he has spent 138 s in order to pronounce
a perfect dark [ϯ] (see Figure 8) Thus this analysis of the native speakerrsquo s voice paved the
way to our research in which we based our investigation on it
Table 1
The Experimental and the Control grouprsquo s Scores in the pre-test
Pre-test
Students
Control
group
Experimental
group
Rime
duration
(second)
C E
Rime
duration
42
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (Independent Sample t-
test)
After gathering data for the control and the experimental group and for the purpose
of comparing and contrasting between the two we have calculated the learnersrsquo scores of
pronunciation of the phoneme l and also we have calculated the rime duration of the two
1 1 2 118 127
2 2 25 095 091
3 1 1 116 102
4 25 2 106 091
5 25 25 078 089
6 15 2 078 105
7 2 15 123 091
8 1 1 117 108
9 15 1 119 119
10 15 1 1 115
11 2 15 091 116
12 15 1 12 119
13 2 15 114 1
14 15 1 108 112
15 1 1 131 112
16 2 1 088 08
17 1 1 127 107
18 1 15 107 149
19 15 1 099 115
20 1 15 114 174
Total 31 285 2149 2222
43
allophones (see Table1) Besides the data collected ie the learnersrsquo scores were used in
calculating the means of both groups in the pre-test (the mean is calculated using the SPSS
see Table 2)
Figure 9
The Pre-test Scores of the Control and the Experimental Group
Table 2
The Mean Score of the Control and the Experimental Group in the Pre-test
Test N Mean Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpre 20 15500 51042 11413
Epre 20 14250 51999 11627
44
In order to calculate the Mean () Results we have to use the following formula
=sumx N
N stands for the total numbers of students in one group
sumx stands for the total number of data that was gathered from the pre-test
1 stands for the mean of the Control Group
2 stands for the mean of the Experimental Group
So1= 31 20 =155
2= 285 20 = 142
From ldquoFigure 9rdquo we can notice that 1 is the most frequent score in both the
experimental and the control groups in the pre-test and we can confirm this information
from Table 1 Furthermore when comparing means of both groups we notice (see Table 2)
that there is only a slight difference between the two groups the mean of the control group
is 155 whereas the mean of the experimental group is 142 So we can deduce that the level
of both groups is approximately the same there is no significant difference Moreover the
rime duration of the phoneme l of the experimental group and the control group is to some
extent the same and we can notice this slight difference in Table 1 and precisely in the total
duration of pronouncing the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] by both groups and also in Table 2
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group post-test
In order to confirm if there is any kind of progression in the control grouprsquo s scores
in the post-test concerning the pronunciation of the phoneme l (see Table 3) we have
calculated the mean of the post-test (using the SPSS see Table 4) and compared it with the
mean of the pre-test besides we have calculated the rime duration that has been spent At
45
last we have mentioned the learnersrsquo scores differences between the pre-test and the post-
test to confirm the development (see Figure 10)
Table 3
Results and Scores Differences of the Control and Experimental group in the Post-test
Posttest
Students
Rime
Duration
(Second)
Cpre Cpost Epre Epost
Cpre Cpost Epre Epost
1 1 1 2 4 118 186 127 21
2 2 175 25 5 095 113 091 253
3 1 1 1 45 116 134 102 245
4 25 2 2 35 106 119 091 234
5 25 15 25 55 078 146 089 24
6 15 175 2 5 078 119 105 267
7 2 2 15 45 123 135 091 263
8 1 125 1 5 117 144 108 254
9 15 1 1 425 119 144 119 242
10 15 1 1 55 1 128 115 274
11 2 1 15 45 091 126 116 285
12 1 2 1 5 12 129 119 268
13 2 125 15 55 114 146 1 328
14 15 1 1 55 108 127 112 223
15 1 1 1 5 131 092 112 275
16 2 1 1 475 088 135 08 274
46
17 1 2 1 5 127 094 107 292
18 1 1 15 575 107 096 149 29
19 15 1 1 525 099 114 115 295
20 1 15 15 575 114 132 174 338
Total 31 27 285 9875 2149 2359 2222 535
Diff -4 +7025 +21 +3128
Mean 155 135 142 493
-02 +351
Table 4
The Mean of the control Group in the Pre-test and Post-test
Mean N Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpre 15500 20 51042 11413
Cpost 13500 20 41675 09319
In order to calculate the mean( )result of the control group in the post-test we have to apply
the following formula = sumx N
sum stands for the total number of the data collected in the post-test of the control
group
N refers to the total number of students So = 2720 = 1
47
Figure 10
The Control Group Studentsrsquo Scores Differences
A very insignificant development has been shown in both Figure 7 and Table 3
concerning learners scores in the post-test Besides only Students 681217 and 20 from a
total number of twenty have proved the improvement the mean of the control group has
decreased from 155 in the pre-test to 135 in the post-test ie the mean = -02
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group post-test (Paired Sample
T-test)
In order to identify the scoresrsquo differences between the results of the experimental
group in both the pre-test and the post-test we have calculated the mean of the post-test and
compared it with that of the pre-test to notice if there is any improvement (see Table 3) So
the mean of the post-test is shown in Table 5 below
48
Table 5
The Mean of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and Post-test
Mean N Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Epre 14250 20 51999 11627
Epost 49375 20 59535 13312
From Table 5 we notice that the mean of the experimental group increased from 142 in the
pre-test to 493 in the post-test with a mean difference of 351 ( = +351) and we can
calculate the mean ()of the post-test using the following formula
= sumxN
sum= Stands for the total number of data that was gathered from the post-test in the
Experimental Group
119925 =Stands for the total number of students
So= 9875 20 = 493
From Table 3 we notice that there is a very clear development and difference in
learnersrsquo scores in the post-test which is very different from the pre-test scores (see Figure
12) Moreover we can notice this development from Figure 11 below too It Shows that the
most frequent scores that learners of the experimental group have gained are 45 5 55 and
at last 575(the marks are out of six) that makes a big difference from the scores of the pre-
test in which the most frequent score was 1 In addition to all of this results we can add that
the sum of the rime duration of the post-test differs a lot from that of the pre-test ( = +3128
s)
49
Hence in the light of these results we can say that the period of treatment really
affects in a positive way the learnersrsquo acquisition of the pronunciation of dark [ϯ] and clear
[l] Besides this enhancement was improved in the mean difference between the pre-test and
the post-test of the experimental group Though the comparison of means in the pre-test and
post-test of the experimental group cannot be sufficient in order to make sure that listening
to audio-stories really affects positively the way learners pronounce the Phoneme l
Therefore a paired sample T-test was designed to assess the development of learnersrsquo
acquisition of dark [ϯ] and clear [l] ie to acceptreject the Alternative Hypothesis or to
accept reject the Null Hypothesis (See Table 6 below)
Figure 11
The Scores Frequencies of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and the Post-test
50
Figure 12
The Scores Differences of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and the Post-test
21431 The paired Sample T-test
In order to know if there is any significant difference between the post-test and the
pre-test scores of the same group a t-test is conducted At first the of the experimental
group is calculated through the following formula
= sumdN
refers to the Difference of mean Scores
N Studentsrsquo scores in the Experimental Group
sum refers to the total sum of the Differences Scores
So = 702520= 35125
51
The Standard deviation of the differences
Sd= radic119956120784= radicsum119941120784
119925minus 119941120784
S stands for the Variance
sum119941120784 refers to the square differences of Scores
After calculating
Sdcong 013
The Standard Error of the Mean Difference (SE)
It is calculated using the following formula
SE ()= 119878119889
radic119873cong003
Finally we calculate the t- value that will be compared to the critical P-value at the point
p=005 in order to accept the alternative hypothesis or rejecting it using the following
formula119957120784120782minus120783=
119878119864(119889) = 117
Table 6
Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Post-test Scores differences
Students Pre-test Post-test Difference
1 2 4 2
2 25 5 25
3 1 45 35
4 2 35 15
5 25 55 3
6 2 5 3
52
7 15 45 3
8 1 5 4
9 1 425 325
10 1 55 45
11 15 45 3
12 1 5 4
13 15 55 4
14 1 55 45
15 1 5 4
16 1 475 375
17 1 5 4
18 15 575 425
19 1 525 425
20 15 575 425
Total 285 9875 7025
Table 7
The Paired Sample T-test for the Experimental Group
Paired Sample T-Test
Epre
Scores-
Epost
Scores
Mean Std
deviati-
on
Std-
Error
Mean
95Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
t Df Sig
(2-
tailed)
Lower Upper
-351250 83695 18715 -390421 -312079 -18768 19 000
53
After calculating the mean of the experimental group in both the pre-test and the post-
test (see Table 5) a mean difference of +351 was noticed Therefore in order to prove if
the development that was noticed in the post-test scores as well as the mean occurred
because of the influence of listening to the audio-stories which is the independent variable
or happened only by coincidence
Hence to confirm the Alternative Hypothesis and reject the Null Hypothesis or vice
versa the t-value (117) was calculated in order to be compared with the critical- value at
the point p=005 and at the level of t=19 Besides p-value (0000) is less than 005 which
means that there a real difference between the learnersrsquo scores in the pre-test (before the
period of treatment) and the leanersrsquo scores in the post-test (after the period of treatment)
Consequently we can deduce that the improvement that was achieved by the experimental
group in the post test did not occur by chance actually it occurred because of listening to
audio-stories that has a positive effect on learnersrsquo pronunciation of both the clear [l] and the
dark [ϯ]
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-test
Table 8
The Mean of the Control Group and the Experimental Group in the Post-test
N Mean Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpost 20 13500 41675 09319
Epost 20 49375 59535 13312
54
To calculate the mean () we use the following Formula
= sum119961 N
So 1= sum119961 N
1 refers to the mean of the control group in the post-test
N refers to the total number of students in the control Group
sum119961 stands for the sum of scores of the control group in the post-test
1= 2720 = 135
2 = sum119961 N
2 stands for the mean of the experimental group in the post-test
N refers to the total number of participants in the experimental group
sum119961 Stands for the sum of scores of the experimental group in the post-test
So 2= 987520 = 493
Figure13
The Scores Frequencies of the Control Group and the Experimental Group in the Post-
test
55
From the previous analysis of the mean of both the control and the experimental
group in the pre-test (see Table 3) we have noticed that the level of students in both groups
is almost the same and there is only a slight difference between them Though in the post-
test the scores of the experimental group has increased and as result the mean average has
increased too after the treatment phase for the experimental group (from 142 to 493) but it
decreased for the control group who were taught without being exposed to any kind of
treatment (see Table 8 and Figure 10) Besides we can notice the development also in the
rime duration in studentsrsquo pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] of the experimental
group in the post-test which is not the case with the control group
21441 An independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the post-
test
In order to investigate if there is any significant change between two diverse groups
who have run the same test a t-test is used to show this significance difference In our case
we want to inspect if there is any significant variation between the experimental group and
the control group in the post-test and whether we accept the Alternative Hypothesis or
rejecting the Null Hypothesis So depending on the following steps a t-test was calculated
using the following formula
t= 119883 119888minus 119890
radicpartx2
Nx+
1205971199102
119873119910
partx2 = sum(119883 minus 119890 )N
= 306
1205971199102 =sum(119883 minus 119888 )2119873
= 160
119888 the mean of the control group in the post-test
56
119890 the mean of the experimental group in the post-test
partx2 the variation of the experimental group
1205971199102 the variation of the control group
So t= 493minus 135
radic306
20+
160
20
=745
t-value= 745
Depending on the t-value (745) that was calculated we compare it with the critical p-
value at p=005 therefore we have two options
1- If t-value is greater than the critical p-value (t-valuegtcritical-value) we accept the
alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
2- If t-value is less than the critical-value (t-valueltcritical-value) we accept the null
hypothesis and refuse the alternative hypothesis
we can say that
t-value=745 745 gt005
We accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
p-value= 0000 0000 lt005
We accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
Depending on these results we can say that there is a statistical evidence that the
associated sampling means are significantly different In other words there is a real change
between the experimental group and the control group in the post test at the level of
pronunciation due to the positive influence of the independent variable which is ldquolistening
to the audio-storiesrdquo Therefore students of the experimental group showed a significant
57
progress at the level of pronunciation and precisely the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
pronunciation
215 Discussion of the Results
The current research has investigated the influence of listening to audio-stories on
acquiring accurate pronunciation of both allophones the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] At the
start the pre-test has proved that learners of both groups ie the control and the
experimental group have the same level through calculating their means The control group
scored a mean of 155 while the experimental group scored a mean of 142 and also they
have got near scores concerning the rime duration of the L sound So these estimated scores
helped us to prove and confirm our hypothesis that states the positive effect of listening to
audio-stories on the level of pronunciation accuracy In the post-test students of the
experimental group showed a significant development compared to the control group and
this is due to the period of treatment that occurred in the oral session Besides the mean
score of the experimental group has been raised from 142 to 493 and from a sum of rime
durations of 2222 s to 535 s while the mean score of the control group has been decreased
from 155 to 135 and increased from a sum of rime durations of 2149 s to 2359 s In
addition a t-test was designed to show if there is any statistical significant difference
between the experimental group and the control group in the post-test the results show the
positive influence of the treatment phase on the dependent variable (pronunciation
accuracy)
216 Pedagogical implication
The present research evidenced the positive influence of being exposed to the target
language pronunciation as it is produced by the native speakers through the exposure to the
audio-stories Therefore we can state a set of pedagogical implications
58
The present study shows that the more students get involved in listening practices
the more they will be proficient in the pronunciation of a various English sounds ie
developing their speaking proficiency
Audio-stories help EFL learners improve their pronunciation as well as to develop
their listening skills
Using multimedia devices (audio-stories in our case) in learning classrooms
enhances the learnersrsquo motivation to get involved in the learning process
Audio-stories can be used by EFL teachers in order to make learners attentive and
interested in the lecture being presented
Audio-stories provide learners with the chance to listen again and again to the story
in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of a given word
Conclusion
The present research examined the effect of listening to audio stories on fostering the
target language pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] The native speakerrsquo s
pronunciation of both allophones was analyzed first through analyzing the rime duration in
order to compare it with the EFL learnersrsquo articulation That is to say the analysis is based
on the native speakerrsquo s rime duration In addition a significant development in learnersrsquo
pronunciation of the dark[ϯ]and the clear [l] was proved which lead to accept the alternative
hypothesis that states listening to audio-stories has a positive effect on acquiring accurate
pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] by EFL learners
59
General Conclusion
The present study is based on the investigation of the effectiveness of listening to
audio stories on acquiring accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] by EFL
learners At the beginning we have stated the problem which was that the Algerian EFL
learners in the English department at LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi University face a lot of difficulties
concerning the acquisition of the accurate pronunciation of The phoneme l Subsequently
this dissertation tackled the importance of listening to audio-stories on enhancing EFL
learnersrsquo pronunciation accuracy
Our research was tackled in two main chapters The first chapter divided into two
main sections In the first section we tackled the point of listening to audio stories whereas
the second section discussed the reflection of listening to audio stories on the pronunciation
of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] The second chapter represented the practical part the field
work The analyzed data showed that there is a positive relationship between the independent
variable and the dependent variable That is to say there was a development in the
acquisition of the phoneme l which lead us to accept the alternative hypothesis and reject
the null hypothesis
60
Limitations of the Study
Limited sources ie most of the sources that were available were not relevant to our
study
Time constraints this study needs much more time to conduct a better result
Students absences in the pre-test and the post-test and others did not receive the
treatment at all
The lack of interest in the beginning of the treatment session
61
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y la Literatura Facultad de Education
Brown S (2006) Teaching Listening Cambridge Cambridge University press
Coulter C Michael C ampPoynor L (2007) Storytelling as Pedagogy An Unexpected Outcome
of narrative inquiry 104-105
Daudet A (2001) Five Short Stories Copyright copy Bartlebycom Inc
Downs L J (2008) Listening Skills Training ASTD press
Eckert J (2016) Audio Storytelling in Todayrsquos Visual World The necessary Components of a
successful sounds scape for an audio play
Gilakjani A P (2012) A study of Factors Affecting EFL learnersrsquo English Pronunciation Learning
and the Strategy for instruction Lahijani Iran 2(3) 119-128
Hamer J (1998) How to teach English An Introduction to the Practice of English Language
Teaching English Language Teaching Harlow Longman
Hendrickson J (1992) Storytelling for foreign language and linguistics Washington Dc Eric
learning house on language and linguistic [ Eric No E0355-824]
Kline J A (1996) Listening Effectively Air University Press
Madden M and Moore Z (1997) ESL Studentsrsquo Opinions about instruction in Pronunciation
Texas 3(2) 15-32
Mendelson D J (1994) Learning to Listen Dominie Press
Nasreddin K (2010) The Influence of Background Knowledge on Second Language Listening
Comprehension Constantine Constantine University
62
Poposka V p (2016) Pronunciation Proficiency Level Problematic Areas of Tertiary as a Foreign
Language International Journal of Science and Basic and Applied Research
Richards J C (1990) The Language Teaching Matrix Cambridge Cambridge University Pess
Rubin SS (2015) Tools for Creating Audio Stories scholarship University of California
Roney RC (1996) Storytelling in the classroom Some Theoretical Thoughts Wayne State
University Education Detroit Michigan
Sproat R ampFujimura O (1993) Allophonic variation of the English l and its Implication for
phonetic Implementation Academic Press
Torky SA (2006) The Effectiveness of a Task-Based Instruction Program in Developing English
Language Speaking Skills of Secondary Stage Students Collegersquo s girl Ain Shams
University
Ummah A (2014) The Effectiveness of Nursery Rhymes to Facilitate Studentsrsquo of Pronunciation of
the Diphthong Education and Teacher Training Faculty Walisongo State institution for
Islamic Studies
Wang M (2016) Research on the Acoustic Realization of Lateral in Sundanese International
Journal of Engineering Research and Development 12(10) 44-48
Ziane R (2012) The Role of Listening Comprehension in Improving EFL learners Speaking Skill
Biskra University of Biskra
Zhang Q (2009) Affecting Factors of Native-Like Pronunciation A Literature Review Ching-Ang
University 27(2) 33-52
63
Abrahamson CE (1998) Storytelling as a pedagogical tool in high Education 118(3) Retrieved
from
httpwwwquestiacomlibraryjournal1G1-20494609storytelling-as-a-pedagogical-tool-
inhighereducation
AMP Research Center (2012) Retrieved from
Httpwwwncertrmqeduauconference2001indexhtal
Backley P (nd) Improving your English Pronunciation Retrieved from
httptoefluobabyloneduiqpaperspearson-2015-1269610pdf
Chaney (1998) Teaching Speaking Retrieved from
httpitesljorgtechniqueKayi-teaching speakinghtml
English Club (nd) What is listening Retrieved from
httpwwwenglishclubcom
Miller E (2011) Theories of story and storytelling Retrieved from
httpwww-storytellingandvideoconferencingcom167pdf
Pederson E M (1995) Storytelling and the art of listening English teaching forum 33(1)2-5
Retrieved from httpExchangesStategovForumuolsn01p2htm
Remen R N (nd) Listening Skills Retrieved from
httpwwwskillsyouneedcomipslistening-Skills-html
Rock R (nd) 5 Wonderful Websites for Engaging ESL Audio Short Stories Retrieved from
httpwwwFluentucomenglisheducatorsblogeslaudio-short-stories
Seifert S (nd) Follow Along 6 Engaging ESL Audio Stories with worksheet ideas Retrieved from
httpwwwFluentucomenglisheducatorblogeslaudio-stories
Saricoban A (2004) The Teaching of listening The Internet TESL journal
httpitesljorgArticlesSaricobn-listeninghtml
Subhi s (2016) Differences between Hearing and listening Retrieved from
httpkeydifferencescomdifference-between-hearning-and-listeninghtml
64
Shen CD (2010) 3 reasons why listening skills are very important in Todayrsquo s Business World
Retrieved from httpezinearticlescom3-Reasons-why-listening-skills-are-very-important-in-
Todays-Business-worldampid=5436504
the adapted audio-stories that were used in the period of treatment
(httpwwwmanythingsorgvoastories)
Appendix A A pre-test
The Last class- The Story of the Alsatian
I was very late for school that morning and I was terribly afraid of being Scolded
especially as Monsieur Hamel had told us that he should examine us on participles and I
did not know the first thing about them For a moment I thought of saying away from
school and wandering about the fields It was such a warm lovely day I could hear the
blackbirds whistling on the edge of the wood and in the ripper field behind the sawmill
the Prussians going through their drill All that was much more tempting to me than the
rules concerning participles but I had the strength to resist and I ran as fast as I could to
school
Sentences
You old fool they will kill you if you always trouble them
People are awfully lazy in the middle of July
Appendix B A post-test
The Game of Billiards
The marshalrsquo s opponent is a young captain of the staff belted and curled and light-
gloved who is in the first rank of billiard-players and capable of beating all the marshals
on earth but he has the tact to keep a respectful distance behind his chief and devotes his
energies to the task of not winning and at the same time not losing too easily He is what is
called an officer with a future
Read the following words
1 Cabal
2 Labour
3 Shell
Appendix c Treatment period
I Session one (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquothe Secret Gardenrdquo (Chapter One) By Frances Hodgson
Burnett
II Session two (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Secret Gardenrdquo (Chapter two) By Frances Hodgson
Burnett
III Session three (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Lady or the Tigerrdquo by Frank R Stockton
IV Session four (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Lady in Blackrdquo By Eleanor Porter
Reacutesumeacute
La preacutesente eacutetude vise agrave eacutetudier lrsquoarticulation de dark [ϯ] et clear [l] dans les classes de la
langue anglaise afin dameacuteliorer la prononciation des apprenants Lrsquoeacutetude actuelle repose
sur lhypothegravese que leacutecoute des histoires audio a un effet positif sur lameacutelioration de la
prononciation des apprenants EFL avec un accent particulier sur le dark [ϯ] et clear [l] Afin
datteindre lobjectif de cette recherche une eacutetude quasi-expeacuterimentale a eacuteteacute assigneacute en
deux groupe group teacutemoin et group expeacuterimentale Chaque groupe contenait 20 eacutelegraveves
Lexpeacuterience a pris six seacuteances un preacute-test une peacuteriode de traitement (4 seacuteances) et un
posttest En conclusion les reacutesultats obtenus montrent que les eacutetudiants qui sont exposeacute agrave
la langue cible et qui eacutecoutent au locuteur natif agrave lrsquoaide audio pour ameacuteliorer leurs
prononciations ont montreacute qursquoil y a un deacuteveloppement ameacutelioration au niveau de
compeacutetence des apprenants en particulier et en matiegravere de parole en geacuteneacuterale
Les mots cleacutes audio-histoire Compeacutetence drsquoeacutecoute prononciation dureacute de travaille
ملخص
استخدام القصص الصوتية من اجل المساعدة على اكتساب النطق السليم والدقيق تهدف هذه الدراسة الى التعرف على مدى فعالية
الأجنبية حيث تستند الدراسة الحالية على فرضية مفادها ان الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية له تأثير إيجابي على تحسين ةللغ
استغرقت التجربة ست ق المنهج التجريبيمن أجل تحقيق هدف هذه الدراسة تم تطبينطق الطلاب الأجانب للغة الإنجليزية
جلسات قسمت كالاتي أربع حصص معالجة سبقت باختبارات قبلية ولحقت باختبارات بعدية أجريت الدراسة في قسم اللغة
طالبا من طلاب السنة ثانية جامعي قسم الطلبة الى فوجين حيث 40الإنجليزية بجامعة العربي بن مهيدي وقد شملت الدراسة
ى معالجة لمدة أربع حصص من خلال الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية في حين لم يتعرض الفوج الثاني خضع أحد الفوجين ال
الى نفس المعالجة بعد ذلك تم اجراء الاختبارات البعدية واعتمادا على النتائج المتحصل عليها ثبت ان التعرض الى اللغة
جابي على اكتساب النطق الدقيق للغة المستهدفة الا وهي اللغة الأجنبية عن طريق الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية له تأثير إي
الأجنبية
القصص الصوتية النطق مدة الموجات الصوتيةالكلمات المفتاحية المهارة السمعية
6
Introduction
Nowadays there is a great emphasis put on listening skill since it plays a significant
role in teaching and acquiring the foreign language So this high attention raises because of
the difficulties that learners face whenever they want to communicate thatrsquos why many
researchers shed light on Audio Stories as a tool that can help in developing learnersrsquo
listening process as well as improving their speaking skills and precisely their
pronunciation
The main concern of this section is listening to audio stories First of all we shed
light on the first part which is listening process At the start we need to define listening
skills according to different scholars later on we tackle the main differences between
listening and hearing Also reasons of listening its types and processes Then the second
part of this section deals with the audio stories In the beginning we introduce a brief history
of audio stories and later on the definition of stories in general After that we present the
meaning of audio stories in a specific way and its main characteristics Lastly this section
highlights the use and the advantages of audio stories inside EFL classrooms
11 Definition of Listening Skill
ldquoThe most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen Just to
listen Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attentionrdquo (Remen
2011)
Listening is an important skill in learning and acquiring a foreign language Through
this process learners will be able to receive and understand information According to
Downs (2008) ldquothe word of listening is defined as making an effort to hear something to
pay attention or heedrdquo (p 1) In other words Downs (2008) argues that listening is the way
7
learners pay attention to what is being said In her opinion listening is an active process that
includes using a variety of processes which are attending understanding interpreting
responding and remembering Moreover Mendelsohn (1994) demonstrates listening as ldquothe
ability to understand the spoken language of native speakersrdquo (p 64) To be precise
Mendelsohn defines listening as the listenerrsquo s ability to recognize the native speakerrsquo s
speech in terms of accent pitch intonation vocabulary grammar and trying to interpret the
native speakerrsquo s messages
Saricoban (1999) states that listening is onersquos capacity to realise what is being said
and to recognize the intended meaning He sheds light on two important points the first
point concerns understanding the speakerrsquos pronunciation syntax and lexis whereas the
second point deals with grasping the meaning Willis (1981) lists a series of micro-skills of
listening which she calls enabling skills They are
Predicting what people are going to talk about
Guessing at unknown words or phrases without panic
Using onersquo s own knowledge of the subject to help one understand
Identifying relevant points rejecting irrelevant information
Retaining relevant points (note-taking summarizing)
Recognizing discourse markers eg well oh another thing is now finally
etc
Recognizing cohesive devices e g such as and which including linking
words pronouns references etc
Understanding different intonation patterns and uses of stress etc which give
clues to meaning and social setting
8
Understanding inferred information eg speakerrsquo s attitude or intentions
(p134
Furthermore listening is an important source of knowledge It is recognized as the
ability of transforming and interpreting the spoken messages that are received by the ears
from the daily life situations Yet listening is a very hard task It requires the learnersrsquo mental
concentration which is something difficult because the human brain can simply lose attention
That is to say listening skill can save learners from communication breakdowns and
increases their motivation to learn the foreign language and speak fluently but only if they
work harder to develop their own listening skills
12 Differences between Listening and Hearing
Listening and hearing are two different activities Kline (1996) emphasizes the
differences between these two concepts to make an effective listening He states that
ldquohearing is the attachment of meaning to the sound Hearing is passive listening is activerdquo
(p7) In other words active listening is a successful element that affects learnersrsquo verbal and
nonverbal behaviors
Surbhi (2016) states the differences between listening and hearing On the one hand
he defines hearing as the natural capacity that happens unconsciously It aids to identify
sounds via the ears Also hearing is a process that permits receiving sound vibrations and
it is one of the five senses On the other hand Surhbi (2016) defines listening skill as the
process of receiving and interpreting messages it occurs consciously
13 Reasons of Listening
Learners through being exposed to different English accents and in any recorded
materials such as radio TV or tapes they want to understand and realize what is being said
9
(Harmer 1998) According to him listening is a very effective process that helps learners to
get a better pronunciation In other words as much as they are exposed to the real language
as much as they will recognize its features
Also Shen (2010) demonstrates that listening skills help to improve understanding
and aids people to become aware of their listening skills So listening plays a vital role in
language learning and acquisition It is an essential skill that bridges the line between
meaning and messages in order to avoid misunderstanding between individuals
14 Types of listening
Generally speaking the listening skill plays a significant role in teaching EFL
classrooms This process guides EFL learners to an effective communication Therefore the
listening skill can be classified into two different types Extensive listening and intensive
listening
141 Extensive Listening
Extensive listening has to do with the learnerrsquos fluency In other words the learner has
to master vocabulary grammarhellipetc and later on he must combine them together to form
a meaningful conversation So fluency depends on the listenerrsquos ability of understanding
whatever he is exposed to weather in an audio tape a text a songhellipetc
Harmer (1998) states that extensive listening is the way students practice their own
listening outside the classroom Students should enjoy listening to an audio material because
they can understand them without the teacherrsquo s help Also students can depend on CDs and
tapes so that they are going to have another chance to listen to their course books dialogues
that they have already provided to them inside the classroom In addition learners must be
10
stimulated to listen to the English language films with sub-titles because this helps students
to acquire the foreign language
In brief extensive listening according to the Extensive Reading-Central (2012) includes
Listening to massive amounts of text
Text which learners can understand reasonably smoothly
high levels of comprehension
Listening without being constrained by pre-set questions or tasks
Listening at or below onersquo s comfortable fluent listening ability
So extensive listening aims to make learners enjoy developing their listening skills
142 Intensive Listening
In contrast to extensive listening intensive listening aims at developing the learnersrsquo
specific listening skills and more precisely to raise the learnersrsquo attention about the spoken
language Intensive listening occurs weather in classrooms or laboratories It exists mostly
when teachers guide their students and provide them with help concerning listening
problems that they face and try to highlight them (Harmer 2007)
So intensive listening according to the Extensive Reading-central (2012) is
Listening for specific information
Listening for the exact words of a phrase or expression
Listening for details
Listening to mimic a text
11
15 Listening Processes
In listening process addressees process information using two distinct strategies
This is devoted to as bottom-up and top-down
151 Bottom-up Process
Richards (1990) states that ldquobottom-up processing refers the use of incoming data as
a source of information about the meaning of a messagerdquo (p 50) According to him Bottom-
up process deals with the perception of sentence components ie recognizing the meaning
of sounds words sentences clauseshellipetc till reaching the meaning of the whole message
152 Top-down Process
Richards (190) states that ldquoTop-down processing on the other hand refers to the use
of background knowledge in understanding the meaning of a messagerdquo (p 51) In contrast
to Bottom-up process Richards (1990) points out to the Top-down as the process of using
the listenersrsquo previous knowledge to attain meaning as whole not attaining the meaning of
individual words
16 Brief History of Audio-Stories
Eckert (2016) states that ldquoAudio storytelling in the form of radio drama has been
around for almost a centuryrdquo (p 8) That is to say audio stories in the previous decades took
the form of radio drama Radio drama attained extensive admiration within an era of its
original growth in the 1920rsquo s At that time radio drama played a central role for being the
foundation of people entertainment However by the 1950rsquo s people shifted their attention
to the new invention which was the small screen ie the television As a result of the
invention of this new device audio drama no more attracts the spectatorsrsquo attention it lost
its popularity
12
Though in 2010 radio drama came back to stage due to the developments shown in
digital soundtrack and internet spreading According to Eckert (2016) ldquoRadio and audio
storytelling has slowly started gaining popularity again thanks to the different online
platforms brought forth by digitalizationrdquo (p 8)
17 Definition of Storytelling
Today stories are a fundamental part of our societies and cultures Telling and
listening to stories is an ancient tradition and common activity that bonds different olden
civilizations together Also stories are an essential component and an ordinary process that
many people used to do on every occasion It is the art of telling factual or fictional stories
Besides stories bring legacy into life because our ancestors told them and people today
only retell them
Moreover listening to stories enhances the learnersrsquo foreign language It aids them
to improve their speaking skills Pederson (1995) states that ldquoin dealing with stories learners
have an experience with the powerful real language of personal communicationrdquo (p 2)
Additionally Pederson (1995) emphasizes the role of telling stories in preserving heritage
he argues that ldquooral stories are a direct expression of a literary and cultural heritage and
through them that heritage is appreciated understood and kept aliverdquo (1995 p2) In other
words stories bond between the past and the present It is considered to be a vital feature of
humankind Furthermore Schram (1994 as cited in Coulter Michael amp Poynor 2007)
points out
A story is a beautiful means of teaching religion values history traditions and
customs a creative method of introducing characters and places an imaginative way
13
to instill hope and resourceful thinking Stories help us to understand who we are and
show us what legacies to transmit to future generations (p 104-105)
So Schram (1994) highlights the role of stories in bridging the gap between the teaching
process and culture
Likewise Abrahamson (1998) sheds light on the role that storytelling plays in the
learning process He states that telling stories plays a significant role in improving learnersrsquo
understanding Besides Abrahamson argues that stories can afford a suitable context that
the listener can use it as a base to perceive the tellerrsquos point of view Moreover Roney (1996)
demonstrates
In its most basic form storytelling is a process where a person (the teller) using
vocalization narrative structure and mental imagery communications with other
humans (the audience) who also use mental imagery and in turn communicate back
to the teller primarily via body language and facial expression (p 2)
By this definition storytelling is the combination of art procedures and ways of
communication
18 Definition of Audio-Stories
The term audio-story is a combination of two words audio and story By definition
audio is sound within the aural range accessible to humankinds Miller (2011) states that
ldquostories are pieces of art and can serve as a basis of gamesrdquo (p 1) So Audio-story is a very
operative means for teaching EFL learners It aids to make the course persuasive Nowadays
14
audio stories can be used to many reasons and the most important one is the exposure to the
real language of native speakers by EFL learners In addition Rubin (2015) points out
ldquoaudio stories are an engaging form of communication that combines speech and music into
a compelling narrativesrdquo (p 1) That is to say audio stories are the process of telling stories
through sound and sound effects only Furthermore Audio-stories are broadly accredited to
progresses in portable equipment for instance smart phones tablets and multimedia
entertainment systems Thus EFL learners find it easy to listen to those audio stories
19 Characteristics of a Good Audio-Story
According to Seifert (nd) finding good audio-stories that suit the EFL learnersrsquo
needs is something very important and it is a very hard task to do However these are some
of the necessary features that EFL teachers must take into consideration whenever they want
to select a good audio-story for their students
Skill Level
Taking into account the learnersrsquo English level before choosing any audio-story For
instance if the audio-story contains a difficult language learners will lose confidence and
as a result they stop listening to the audio-story So determining the learnersrsquo level is very
important
Student Interest
EFL teachers must find out their studentsrsquo interests and normally each teacher has
an idea about this issue So if the audio-stories do not fit the learnersrsquo needs the EFL
teacherrsquos goal from that audio-story will be lost
15
Audio Length
The length of the audio-story plays a significant role in keeping concentration in the
ESL schoolrooms Listening for much time to the audio storytelling leads to boredom As a
result the learnersrsquo s brains lose attention However teachers can use long audio-stories but
they should know how to put it into parts and use classroom discussions to avoid boredom
So these three characteristics aid to develop EFL learnersrsquo listening skills
110 The Use of Audio-Stories in ESL Classrooms
According to Rock (nd) there are several listening practices that ESLEFL teachers
can provide to their students These are samples of activities that can work hand in hand with
audio-stories
Fill in The Blanks
Here EFL teacher provides his students with a written passage that is taken from an
audio-story but he removes some words Later on the teacher asks his learners to listen to
the audio-story after reading that passage and at the same time fill in the blanks
Mastery Memory
This activity has to do with learnerrsquos memory In this kind of practices teachers
provide learners with an audio-story and ask them for example to write down the main
events of the story but when they finish listening to it Teachers in this activity have to make
sure that students do not write them during the listening of the audio-story So the main goal
of the exercise is to reinforce learnerrsquos memory
16
Order the Events
At the start teachers give their learners a series of events that are chosen from an
audio-story Then the teacher gives them some time to read them After that learners listen
to the audio- storytelling and put those events in a sequential order
Buzz Words
This exercise aims to reach the learnerrsquo s vocabulary In this practice teachers
provide learners with a number of words then they ask them to check their meanings before
Afterward teacher turns the lesson into a game ie EFL learners listen to the audio-story
and whenever they hear a word (the buzz word) from that list they have to raise their hands
or clap them
Multiple Choice
This activity deals with providing learners with a number of questions followed by
three answers these questions can be definitions or name of characterhellip etc Then learners
have to listen to the audio-storytelling and pick the write response After teachers play again
the audio-story to correct their answers
Character Quiz
In this practice EFL learners have to listen to the whole story Then the teacher gives
his class a question sheet that contains a list of character qualities and decision and ask them
to choose the suitable one for the leading role
Plot Quiz
This activity has to do with team competition After listening to the whole audio-
storytelling once or twice the teacher divides his class into two to four groups where the
17
teacher plays the role of the coach Several questions that have a relation to the story will be
quizzed to each team if they get the answer they have a point if they fail to answer correctly
the question moves to the next group
Beginning Middle End
After listening to the audio storytelling the teacher splits the classroom into groups
and each group contains no more than four students Later he asks each group to write the
main events of the beginning the middle and the end of the story Finally they discuss them
together
111 Advantages of Using Audio-Stories
Audio-stories play an essential role in teaching the target language Audio-
storytelling is an impeccable implement for any ESL classrooms First of all audio-stories
afford learners with the exposure to the real language as it is produced by the native speakers
ie a natural voice Furthermore Rodero (2012 as cited in Eckert2016) claimed that
ldquoAudio stories that use sound effects and sound shots enhance the learnerrsquo s attention and
creation of visual images significantly compared to those without themrdquo (p 16) That is to
say using audio-stories in ESL classrooms develops learnersrsquo listening skills and provides
them with an imaginary trip inside their minds Also audio- stories enhance learnersrsquo
pronunciation since the learner is exposed to the natural voice In addition EFL teacher can
use audio storytelling as a guideline to his lecture or the opposite he can use it at the end of
the course as a reward
Moreover the EFL teachers depend on audio-stories in improving learnersrsquo
vocabulary through memorization Learners can enrich their vocabulary whenever they
listen to those stories because each time they learn some new words Besides learners can
18
listen to them outside the schoolrooms because they are portable they can upload them in
their mobiles and listen to them any time anywhere Finally audio stories can raise interest
for those learners who are not attracted to reading
Conclusion
In conclusion listening to audio stories aids EFL learners to improve the target
language pronunciation That is to say students will be exposed to the real language as it is
created by the native speakers Besides using audio stories in ESLEFL classrooms increases
the learnersrsquo interest toward learning the foreign language and also enhances their speaking
skills
19
Section two Reflection on Pronunciation
Introduction
121 Definition of Speaking Skill
122 Speaking Sub-Competencies Skills
123 Definition of Pronunciation
124 Importance of Pronunciation
125 Factors Affecting Pronunciation
1251 Internal Factors
1252 External Factors
Conclusion
20
Introduction
Generally speaking being able to speak the target language fluently and accurately
seems to be very interesting to all EFLESL learners Though students face a lot of troubles
and obstacles when communicating with each other or with native speakers and this is due
to mispronunciation misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the hearer which leads to the
communication breakdowns Furthermore learnersrsquo mispronunciation occurs due to various
factors that affect their oral language and as a consequence it affects their speaking
proficiency
In this section we have dealt with the speaking process and precisely
ldquopronunciationrdquo At the start a slight attention is put upon the definition of speaking skills
and its sub-competencies After that a part of this section is devoted to define pronunciation
and highlight its importance Moreover this section demonstrates some factors that affect
pronunciation which are classified into internal factors and external factors Finally another
point about the English consonant ldquoLrdquo has been raised
121 Definition of Speaking Skill
Mastering the foreign language is the aim of each EFL learner Speaking is one of
the most important language skills it plays a significant role in sharing ideas and thoughts
between individuals Torky (2006) defines speaking as follows ldquoIt is the means through
which learners can communicate with others to achieve certain goals or to express their
opinions intentions hopes and viewpointsrdquo (p 13) Also Ziane (2012) states that ldquoit is the
way by which learners can contribute and be part of oral communicationrdquo (p21) So the
main goal of EFL learners is to be able to speak the target language in order to strengthen
their verbal communication
21
Moreover Chaney (1998) argues that ldquospeaking is the process of building and
sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols in a variety of contextsrdquo
(p 13) From Chaneyrsquo s definition of speaking we deduce that speaking has an important
role in learning the foreign language and improving EFL learnersrsquo communicative skill
However there are some researchers who describe speaking as a hard task They
argue that EFL learners find it so hard to master the foreign language and face a lot of
difficulties even after studying it many years at schools Bueno and Mclaren (2006 as cited
in Alonso 2011) point out
Speaking is one of the most difficult skills language learners have to face In spite of
this it has traditionally been forced into the background while we teachers of
English have spent all our classroom time trying to teach our students how to write
to read and sometimes even to listen in a L2 because grammar has a long written
tradition (p 321)
On the whole the speaking skill is a very important process that EFL learners need to acquire
in order to master and shape the target language
122 Speaking Sub CompetenciesSkills
Torky (2006) claims that learners must be able to express themselves in a given
context in order to be proficient in mastering the foreign language She points out to several
speaking skills or competencies that help to achieve this aim which are
22
Linguistic Competence
Torky (2006) states that learners must be skillful in using pronunciation ie their
pronunciation must be clear In addition students have to use correct grammar and
proper lexis
Discourse Competence
In the beginning learners have to be able to use a well-organized discourse In other
words the discourse must be clear and unified Besides they have to be competent in
handling discussion and cooperating efficiently in order to avoid the communication
breakdowns
Pragmatic Competence
EFL learners have to be proficient in using a variety of functions that are related to
the same context and register
Fluency
Speaking smoothly without any complications and with a suitable degree of speech
speed
123 Definition of Pronunciation
According to Gilakjani (2012) ldquopronunciation is an integral part of foreign language
since it directly affects learnersrsquo communicative competence as well as performancerdquo
(p119) That is to say pronunciation plays a fundamental role in learning and improving the
target language Besides Poposka (2016) argues that pronunciation is the key factor of
language in its universal notion and she claims that pronunciation should be defined in
23
relation to different perspectives Poposka (2016) states some of the various points of view
concerning pronunciation definition which are
- The act or manner of pronouncing uttering of speech
- A way of speaking a word especially a way that is accepted or generally understood
- A graphic representation of the way a word is spoken using phonetic symbols (p
200)
Moreover Dauer (1993 as cited in Ummah 2014) states that ldquopronunciation is the
act of producing the sound of speech including articulation vowel formation accent
inflection and intonation often with reference to the correctness or acceptability of the
speech soundrdquo (p 10) In addition Poposka (2016) states that pronunciation is the vocal
capacity to produce particular sounds weather when communicating with individuals or
when being alone This construction of sounds leads to the appearance of some utterances
that may be expressive or worthless (p 200) Furthermore Adult Migrant English Program
research center (AMP 2002) points out
Pronunciation refers to the production of sounds that we use to make meaning it includes
attention to the particular sounds of language (segments) aspects of speech beyond the
level of the individual sound such as intonation phrasing stress timing rhythm
(suprasegmental aspects) (p1)
In other words AMP research center argues that even if these two aspects suprasegmental
and segmental structures are treated separately it is necessary to know that they work hand
in hand in a given context whenever someone speaks
24
124 Importance of Pronunciation
Madden and Moore (1997) states that ldquoin first language acquisition children learn
pronunciation inductively by absorbing and reproducing the sounds in their environmentrdquo
(p 4) That is to say all human beings in their natural development from childhood to
adulthood learn first of all how to talk before learning how to read or write Also Zhang
(2009) claims that ldquolearning a language means to perform the sounds utterances and the
words properly and correctlyrdquo (p 34-35) So pronunciation is a very essential skill in
learning a second language
Moreover Morley (1998 as cited in Zhang 2009) argues that ldquoit is clear that limited
pronunciation skills will make learners lose their self-confidence and result in negative
influence for learners to estimate their credibility and abilitiesrdquo (p 35) In other words it
does not matter whether learners make mistakes concerning grammar or vocabulary all what
matters is the way they pronounce a given word in order to make a worthy impression on
the learnersrsquo language capacities Zhang (2009) points out
Good pronunciation will make people understand you easily and be willing to listen to
you Contrarily poor English pronunciation may confuse people and lead to an
unpleasant talking and misunderstanding even if you used advanced English grammar
or vocabulary (p 35)
Likewise Backley (n d) argues ldquoif a speaker has a clear pronunciation this has immediate
benefits listeners judge the speakerrsquo s overall language ability much more favorably even
to the point of tolerating grammatical and other errorsrdquo (p 126) Therefore good
25
pronunciation aids to avoid misinterpretation and intelligibility between speakers and
listeners and show the learnersrsquo competencies in mastering their second language
Furthermore good pronunciation affects the learnersrsquo speed of acquiring the target language
In addition learners should use only simple structures with good and correct pronunciation
rather than using complex expressions in order to communicate with others
125 Factors Affecting Pronunciation
Generally speaking there are several factors that affect the learnersrsquo pronunciation
These factors can be classified into internal factors and external factors
1251 Internal Factors
Zhang (2009) states that internal factors can be categorized also into biological
factors individual differences and individual efforts and goal setting
Biological Factors
They are branded into four features age ear perception and aptitude
Learnersrsquo Age
At the start there is a difference between young learners and adult learners
concerning the acquisition of the accurate pronunciation Nonetheless this does not mean
that adult learners cannot get accurate pronunciation as well They have to work much harder
because their brainsrsquo plasticity reduces That is to say age plays a significant part in learning
the target language pronunciation Moreover Zhang (2009) emphasizes the role of the
critical period hypothesis that was proposed by Lenneberg in 1967 which states that there
is a certain age that helps learners to acquire the foreign language pronunciation accurately
26
and after that age the brain loses its flexibility Furthermore (Nation and Newton (2009) as
cited in Zhang 2009) claim that
Usually if the learner began to speak in the second language before the age of six
there will be little or no accent If the learner began to speak between the age of seven
and eleven the learners likely to have a slight accent If the learner began to speak
after age of twelve the learners almost always have an accent (p 78)
This is the reason behind the acceptance of the idea that learners find it so hard to acquire
the foreign language after maturity
Additionally Zhang (2009) states that young learners have bigger chances than the
adult learners in obtaining accurate pronunciation He claims that the brain loses its
flexibility and becomes rigid after puberty (after nine years old) as a result the brainrsquo s
functions will be devoted to the right and left hemispheres which makes it so difficult to
acquire the foreign languagersquo s pronunciation correctly Also Lenneberg (1967 as cited in
Zhang 2009) argues that ldquobefore the age of two the brain has not developed enough but
after puberty it developed too much and it will lose its plasticity and finish the lateralization
of the language functionrdquo (p 39) In other words it becomes so hard to obtain the native-
like pronunciation after the lateralization
Ear Perception
One of the most important factors that affect the learnersrsquo acquisition of the foreign
language is the ldquoear perceptionrdquo Zhang (2009) claims that the hearing abilities differ from
one person to another That is to say there are learners who have a strong hearing capacity
27
they can hear sounds in a very clear way which help them in reproducing the native speakersrsquo
pronunciation smoothly Whereas there is that kind of learners who do not have that ability
However Zhang argues that the ear perception has nothing to do with the learner age He
claims that it is natural that learners may lose some of their capacities whenever they become
older
Aptitude
Generally speaking foreign language aptitude is the personrsquos ability to learn a foreign
or a second language very rapidly and with no troubles (Wen 2011) Also Dornyei and
skehan (2003 as cited in Wen 2011) states ldquooriginally the notion of FLA presumed a
relatively stable talent for learning a foreign language that differs between individualsrdquo (p
590) So EFL learners do not have the same ability to acquire the foreign language
Additionally Carroll (1962 as cited in Wen 2011) states four components of the FLA which
are
lsquophonemic coding abilityrsquo (ie the ability to identify and retain sounds and link them
to phonetic symbols)
Sensitivity towards the grammatical functions that words fulfil in a sentence
The ability to learn inductively (ie to infer and generalize linguistic structures from
language samples) and
The ability to rote learn vocabulary items paired with their associated translations
(p 233)
Hence aptitude has an important role in improving learnersrsquo foreign language
Although Zhang (2009) argues that all individuals have a language aptitude ability but they
28
differ only in the degree of that aptitude capacity Also he claims that we cannot say that
those people who have a sophisticated level of language aptitude will get to the top and
people with an inferior level of language aptitude will go pear-shaped
Individual Differences
Zhang (2009) states that learnersrsquo different personalities affect the way they acquire
the foreign language pronunciation He argues that extroverted learners are more likely to
acquire the target pronunciation rather than introverted learners because extroverted learners
are not afraid of making mistakes which is not the case with the introverted learners who
face always the fear of failure Besides extroverted students are more friendly they tend to
work with others which leads them to practice the target language so they become more
familiar with it which aids to improve their pronunciation very quickly (p 40-41)
Individual Efforts and Goal setting
At the start the main goal of each EFLESL learner is to master the foreign language
in order to communicate with others Zhang (2009) points out ldquowe must always remember
that teaching never causes learning but rather creates the conditions in which learning can
occurrdquo (p 42) Besides he emphasizes that pronunciation is really a very hard task that
learners can acquire in a few days but it is not something impossible that learners cannot
achieve Though as much time learners spend in practicing the target language
pronunciation the better results they will get
1252 External Factors
External factors can be classified into three aspects learnersrsquo native language
exposure to target language and education factors
29
Learnerrsquo s Native Language
Universally the learnersrsquo native language affects their pronunciation of the foreign
language Zhang (2009) states that studentsrsquo mother tongue reflects the way they pronounce
a certain word in the target language and this is due to the differences that are found between
the two languages In other words learners find a lot of complications in articulating some
sounds for the reason that some of those sounds do not occur in their native language (p
43)
Exposure to the Target Language
Zhang (2009) shows that the acquisition of English language pronunciation is related
to the amount of exposure to it as it is produced by the native speakers That is to say this
depends on the learner himself ie on the situation in which the learning process occurs In
other words Zhang argues that it does not matter weather learners live in a native country
or not it is a matter of how much time they listen to the foreign language and how much
time they use it Zhang (2009) states ldquothe more they spend their time for listening and
speaking English the better their English pronunciation will berdquo (p 44) Thus learnerrsquo s
pronunciation accuracy depends on the surrounding environment where the target language
takes place
Educational Factors
At the start the system of education is responsible for studentsrsquo learning process
Worthy educational structure provides a lot of chances for learners to be exposed to the target
language through creating a suitable learning environment Additionally EFLESL
teachersrsquo accent reflects the learnersrsquo pronunciation because learners take teachers as an
30
exemplary in order to improve their pronunciation That is why teachers should work on
their pronunciation initially (Zhang 2009)
The English Consonant Sound ldquoLrdquo
Generally speaking EFL learners face complications in learning the English L sound
Sproat and Fujimura (1993) argue ldquoEnglish l has traditionally been classified into at least
two allophones namely light which occurs initially and dark which occurs syllable finallyrdquo
(p 291) Furthermore Wang (2016) states that the L consonant sound is a lateral phoneme
in English and it has two allophones he points out
One of them is found before vowels as in ldquoladyrdquo or ldquoflyrdquo called clear l and is
pronounced as the alveolar lateral approximant in a neutral position of the body of
the tongue The other variant is called dark l found before consonants or at word-
finally position as in ldquoboldrdquo or ldquotellrdquo Which is as the velarized lateral approximant
with the tongue in a spoon-like shape Its back part is raised which gives the sound
a w-like resonance (p 44)
In other words the clear [l] occurs when the tip of the tongue raises up and touches the soft
palate just behind the front teeth whereas the dark [ϯ] happens when the tip of the tongue
pulls back and the tongue raises to the middle without touching the soft palate to make the
L sound So the difference between these two allophones is the reason behind those troubles
that the learner may face
However Sproat and Fujimura (1993 as cited in Jiahong 2011) explain the
differences between these two allophones by relating them to the rime duration In other
31
words they point out that whenever the l sound occurs in longer rimes it is going to be a
dark [ϯ] and whenever the rime is short the l sound is clear or light
Figure 1
Articulatory Differences in l Velarization
Source Recasens 2012 p369
Conclusion
To end with it is very important to acknowledge that pronunciation is one way that
leads to an effective and a successful communication That is why many researchers shed
light on the investigation of some factors that may influence the EFL learnersrsquo pronunciation
As a result these identifying concepts help foreigners to overcome their difficulties when
they are introduced to the target language
32
Chapter two Field Work
Introduction
21 Methodology
211 Research Participants
212 The Procedure
2121 The Research Design
2122 The Pre-test Phase
2123 The Treatment Phase
2124 The Control Group
2125 The Post-test Phase
213 Scoring
214 Data Analysis
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (independent Sample
t-test)
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group Post-test
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group Post-test (Paired
Sample t-test)
21431 Paired Sample t-test
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-test
33
21441 An Independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the
Post-test
215 Discussion of the Results
216 Pedagogical Implications
Conclusion
34
Introduction
This research attempts to investigate the effect of listening to audio stories on
acquiring accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] by second year LMD students
at the department English -LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi The chosen sample is divided into two
groups the control group and the experimental group At the start participantsrsquo
pronunciation accuracy of the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] (the dependent variable) was measured
through a pretest Later on a period of treatment is taken by the experimental group which
is not the case with the control group After that a post-test is administered to both groups
in which the results are gathered using a software called the ldquopraatrdquo In addition we shed
light on describing the sample taking the place in which the study took place the method
used and at last the data collected
21 Methodology
211 Research Participants
The current study involved two intact classes of second year LMD students from
LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi-English Department The selected sample includes students from
different gender Furthermore we favored to select second year students for several reasons
The first reason was that second year students have practiced working with audio supports
which was not the case with first year students so they will not face problems concerning
listening to audio stories The second reason was that second year learners study oral
expression
At the start the experiment includes a sample of forty learners that have been chosen
from two intact classes of second year LMD students The chosen sample represents 1904
from the entire population which comprises 210 learners Additionally both clusters were
35
divided into a control group and an experimental group twenty students in each group At
the beginning the sample was supposed to be comprised of sixty students in which both the
control and the experimental groups covered thirty students Unfortunately there were a lot
of absences in both groups Also there are some students who have not passed both the
pretest and the posttest and others have not received the treatment at all Therefore the
sample size was reduced from sixty to forty students which can be sufficient to represent
the whole population and to get consistent outcomes
In order to gather consistent data that help to achieve the purpose of our research a
quasi-experimental design was designated The use of the chosen method will provide us
with a wide-ranging representation of the reflection of listening to audio stories on the
acquisition of the accurate pronunciation of the dark [l] and clear [l]
212 The Procedure
To accumulate a reliable data an experiment was conducted over six sessions The
treatment period took four sessions and the remained two sessions for the pretest and the
posttest The pretest took a form different from that of the posttest in order to avoid
familiarity to improve the learnersrsquo development and get consistent information Both
groups have taken the tests but only the experimental group took the treatment Besides the
duration of training concerning the treatment period for the experimental group took 90
minutes ie one hour and a half for each session and it started after getting the
authorization of the teacher of oral expression
36
2121 The Research Design
Figure 2
Experimental Group Procedures
Figure 3
Control Group Procedures
2122 The Pre-test Phase
By the first week of March both the control group and the experimental group have
taken the pretest However before choosing the pretest and in order to avoid any problems
we have checked that the dark [l] and the clear [l] are pronounced the same in both the
American and the British accents using the Oxford Advanced Learnerrsquo s Dictionary At the
outset learners were required to read a passage derived from a short story named ldquoThe last
class-The story of the Alsationrdquo that was written by Alphonse Daudet (2001) and also short
sentences (see Appendix A) After that their voices were recorded using a software known
pre-test
treatment
(listening to audio stories)
post-test
pre-test
No treatment
( being taught without listening
to audio-stories)
post-test
37
as the ldquoPraatrdquo Besides our focus here was raised toward the duration (ie the length of a
syllable) of the dark [l] and the clear [l]
Throughout the pretest EFL learners found themselves unable to pronounce the dark
[ϯ] and clear [l] that are found in some words correctly In other words students in the control
group and the experimental group most of the time pronounce the dark [ϯ] in the same way
they pronounce the clear [l] ie they spend the same duration for pronouncing the two
allophones Also EFL learners from time to time pronounce them differently but in a wrong
way ie they spent a rime duration that it not suitable neither for the light [l] nor for the
dark[ϯ]
Figure4
Example of the Lateral Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoSawmillrdquo
2123 The Treatment Phase
At first both participants have finished the pretest Though the treatment was
approved to the experimental group only the control group did not receive the same
treatment Besides the experimental group received the treatment in four sessions and each
Rime
duration
38
session took one hour and a half (ie 90 minutes) In each session students were asked to
listen to the audio-story in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of both allophones
after that they discussed the story being listened (see Appendix B)
2124 The Control Group
Concerning the control group students were taught the oral expression without any
exposure to any kinds of treatments In contrast to students in the experimental group who
were provided with the audio stories in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of the
both allophones which are the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ]
2125 The Post-test Phase
Fundamentally after finishing the four sessions of training ie the period of
treatment a posttest was administered to both the experimental group and the control group
(see Appendix c) The posttest as we have said before is different from the pretest in order
to avoid familiarity with the same topic and to ensure the learners improvement of the dark
[ϯ] and clear [l] So the posttest is a kind of a passage which was taken from a short story
that is entitled ldquoThe Game of Billiardsrdquo which is written by Alphonse Daudet and some
words to pronounce Furthermore during the posttest we noticed a kind of development in
learnersrsquo pronunciation of the two allophones with students of the experimental group
especially in pronouncing the single words which was not the case with those learners in
the control group
39
Figure 5
Example of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquocabalrdquo
Figure 6
Example of the Clear [l] in the word ldquolabourrdquo
The rime
duration
The rime
duration
40
213 Scoring
After finishing recording the learnersrsquo pronunciation of the phoneme l of both
groups (the control and the experimental group) we have compared them first of all to the
native speakerrsquo s pronunciation and after that we have calculated the rime duration of the
two allophones ie the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] and at last we gave them scores out of six
(6) for each participant
214 Data Analysis
In this sub-section we are going to investigate the EFL learnersrsquo improvement of
pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] Though in order to make sure that EFL
learners have acquired the correct pronunciation of these two allophones we have firstly
investigated the native speakerrsquos pronunciation of the L sound ie the clear [l] and the dark
[ϯ] and we have analyzed the rime duration of two words ldquolightrdquo and ldquoballrdquo as examples
Figure7
The Native Speakerrsquos Pronunciation of the Clear [l] in the Word ldquolightrdquo
Rime
duration
41
Figure8
The Native Speakerrsquo s Pronunciation of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoballrdquo
From these two figures we have noticed that the native speaker has spent 016 s in
pronouncing an ideal clear [l] (see Figure 7) and he has spent 138 s in order to pronounce
a perfect dark [ϯ] (see Figure 8) Thus this analysis of the native speakerrsquo s voice paved the
way to our research in which we based our investigation on it
Table 1
The Experimental and the Control grouprsquo s Scores in the pre-test
Pre-test
Students
Control
group
Experimental
group
Rime
duration
(second)
C E
Rime
duration
42
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (Independent Sample t-
test)
After gathering data for the control and the experimental group and for the purpose
of comparing and contrasting between the two we have calculated the learnersrsquo scores of
pronunciation of the phoneme l and also we have calculated the rime duration of the two
1 1 2 118 127
2 2 25 095 091
3 1 1 116 102
4 25 2 106 091
5 25 25 078 089
6 15 2 078 105
7 2 15 123 091
8 1 1 117 108
9 15 1 119 119
10 15 1 1 115
11 2 15 091 116
12 15 1 12 119
13 2 15 114 1
14 15 1 108 112
15 1 1 131 112
16 2 1 088 08
17 1 1 127 107
18 1 15 107 149
19 15 1 099 115
20 1 15 114 174
Total 31 285 2149 2222
43
allophones (see Table1) Besides the data collected ie the learnersrsquo scores were used in
calculating the means of both groups in the pre-test (the mean is calculated using the SPSS
see Table 2)
Figure 9
The Pre-test Scores of the Control and the Experimental Group
Table 2
The Mean Score of the Control and the Experimental Group in the Pre-test
Test N Mean Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpre 20 15500 51042 11413
Epre 20 14250 51999 11627
44
In order to calculate the Mean () Results we have to use the following formula
=sumx N
N stands for the total numbers of students in one group
sumx stands for the total number of data that was gathered from the pre-test
1 stands for the mean of the Control Group
2 stands for the mean of the Experimental Group
So1= 31 20 =155
2= 285 20 = 142
From ldquoFigure 9rdquo we can notice that 1 is the most frequent score in both the
experimental and the control groups in the pre-test and we can confirm this information
from Table 1 Furthermore when comparing means of both groups we notice (see Table 2)
that there is only a slight difference between the two groups the mean of the control group
is 155 whereas the mean of the experimental group is 142 So we can deduce that the level
of both groups is approximately the same there is no significant difference Moreover the
rime duration of the phoneme l of the experimental group and the control group is to some
extent the same and we can notice this slight difference in Table 1 and precisely in the total
duration of pronouncing the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] by both groups and also in Table 2
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group post-test
In order to confirm if there is any kind of progression in the control grouprsquo s scores
in the post-test concerning the pronunciation of the phoneme l (see Table 3) we have
calculated the mean of the post-test (using the SPSS see Table 4) and compared it with the
mean of the pre-test besides we have calculated the rime duration that has been spent At
45
last we have mentioned the learnersrsquo scores differences between the pre-test and the post-
test to confirm the development (see Figure 10)
Table 3
Results and Scores Differences of the Control and Experimental group in the Post-test
Posttest
Students
Rime
Duration
(Second)
Cpre Cpost Epre Epost
Cpre Cpost Epre Epost
1 1 1 2 4 118 186 127 21
2 2 175 25 5 095 113 091 253
3 1 1 1 45 116 134 102 245
4 25 2 2 35 106 119 091 234
5 25 15 25 55 078 146 089 24
6 15 175 2 5 078 119 105 267
7 2 2 15 45 123 135 091 263
8 1 125 1 5 117 144 108 254
9 15 1 1 425 119 144 119 242
10 15 1 1 55 1 128 115 274
11 2 1 15 45 091 126 116 285
12 1 2 1 5 12 129 119 268
13 2 125 15 55 114 146 1 328
14 15 1 1 55 108 127 112 223
15 1 1 1 5 131 092 112 275
16 2 1 1 475 088 135 08 274
46
17 1 2 1 5 127 094 107 292
18 1 1 15 575 107 096 149 29
19 15 1 1 525 099 114 115 295
20 1 15 15 575 114 132 174 338
Total 31 27 285 9875 2149 2359 2222 535
Diff -4 +7025 +21 +3128
Mean 155 135 142 493
-02 +351
Table 4
The Mean of the control Group in the Pre-test and Post-test
Mean N Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpre 15500 20 51042 11413
Cpost 13500 20 41675 09319
In order to calculate the mean( )result of the control group in the post-test we have to apply
the following formula = sumx N
sum stands for the total number of the data collected in the post-test of the control
group
N refers to the total number of students So = 2720 = 1
47
Figure 10
The Control Group Studentsrsquo Scores Differences
A very insignificant development has been shown in both Figure 7 and Table 3
concerning learners scores in the post-test Besides only Students 681217 and 20 from a
total number of twenty have proved the improvement the mean of the control group has
decreased from 155 in the pre-test to 135 in the post-test ie the mean = -02
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group post-test (Paired Sample
T-test)
In order to identify the scoresrsquo differences between the results of the experimental
group in both the pre-test and the post-test we have calculated the mean of the post-test and
compared it with that of the pre-test to notice if there is any improvement (see Table 3) So
the mean of the post-test is shown in Table 5 below
48
Table 5
The Mean of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and Post-test
Mean N Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Epre 14250 20 51999 11627
Epost 49375 20 59535 13312
From Table 5 we notice that the mean of the experimental group increased from 142 in the
pre-test to 493 in the post-test with a mean difference of 351 ( = +351) and we can
calculate the mean ()of the post-test using the following formula
= sumxN
sum= Stands for the total number of data that was gathered from the post-test in the
Experimental Group
119925 =Stands for the total number of students
So= 9875 20 = 493
From Table 3 we notice that there is a very clear development and difference in
learnersrsquo scores in the post-test which is very different from the pre-test scores (see Figure
12) Moreover we can notice this development from Figure 11 below too It Shows that the
most frequent scores that learners of the experimental group have gained are 45 5 55 and
at last 575(the marks are out of six) that makes a big difference from the scores of the pre-
test in which the most frequent score was 1 In addition to all of this results we can add that
the sum of the rime duration of the post-test differs a lot from that of the pre-test ( = +3128
s)
49
Hence in the light of these results we can say that the period of treatment really
affects in a positive way the learnersrsquo acquisition of the pronunciation of dark [ϯ] and clear
[l] Besides this enhancement was improved in the mean difference between the pre-test and
the post-test of the experimental group Though the comparison of means in the pre-test and
post-test of the experimental group cannot be sufficient in order to make sure that listening
to audio-stories really affects positively the way learners pronounce the Phoneme l
Therefore a paired sample T-test was designed to assess the development of learnersrsquo
acquisition of dark [ϯ] and clear [l] ie to acceptreject the Alternative Hypothesis or to
accept reject the Null Hypothesis (See Table 6 below)
Figure 11
The Scores Frequencies of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and the Post-test
50
Figure 12
The Scores Differences of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and the Post-test
21431 The paired Sample T-test
In order to know if there is any significant difference between the post-test and the
pre-test scores of the same group a t-test is conducted At first the of the experimental
group is calculated through the following formula
= sumdN
refers to the Difference of mean Scores
N Studentsrsquo scores in the Experimental Group
sum refers to the total sum of the Differences Scores
So = 702520= 35125
51
The Standard deviation of the differences
Sd= radic119956120784= radicsum119941120784
119925minus 119941120784
S stands for the Variance
sum119941120784 refers to the square differences of Scores
After calculating
Sdcong 013
The Standard Error of the Mean Difference (SE)
It is calculated using the following formula
SE ()= 119878119889
radic119873cong003
Finally we calculate the t- value that will be compared to the critical P-value at the point
p=005 in order to accept the alternative hypothesis or rejecting it using the following
formula119957120784120782minus120783=
119878119864(119889) = 117
Table 6
Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Post-test Scores differences
Students Pre-test Post-test Difference
1 2 4 2
2 25 5 25
3 1 45 35
4 2 35 15
5 25 55 3
6 2 5 3
52
7 15 45 3
8 1 5 4
9 1 425 325
10 1 55 45
11 15 45 3
12 1 5 4
13 15 55 4
14 1 55 45
15 1 5 4
16 1 475 375
17 1 5 4
18 15 575 425
19 1 525 425
20 15 575 425
Total 285 9875 7025
Table 7
The Paired Sample T-test for the Experimental Group
Paired Sample T-Test
Epre
Scores-
Epost
Scores
Mean Std
deviati-
on
Std-
Error
Mean
95Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
t Df Sig
(2-
tailed)
Lower Upper
-351250 83695 18715 -390421 -312079 -18768 19 000
53
After calculating the mean of the experimental group in both the pre-test and the post-
test (see Table 5) a mean difference of +351 was noticed Therefore in order to prove if
the development that was noticed in the post-test scores as well as the mean occurred
because of the influence of listening to the audio-stories which is the independent variable
or happened only by coincidence
Hence to confirm the Alternative Hypothesis and reject the Null Hypothesis or vice
versa the t-value (117) was calculated in order to be compared with the critical- value at
the point p=005 and at the level of t=19 Besides p-value (0000) is less than 005 which
means that there a real difference between the learnersrsquo scores in the pre-test (before the
period of treatment) and the leanersrsquo scores in the post-test (after the period of treatment)
Consequently we can deduce that the improvement that was achieved by the experimental
group in the post test did not occur by chance actually it occurred because of listening to
audio-stories that has a positive effect on learnersrsquo pronunciation of both the clear [l] and the
dark [ϯ]
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-test
Table 8
The Mean of the Control Group and the Experimental Group in the Post-test
N Mean Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpost 20 13500 41675 09319
Epost 20 49375 59535 13312
54
To calculate the mean () we use the following Formula
= sum119961 N
So 1= sum119961 N
1 refers to the mean of the control group in the post-test
N refers to the total number of students in the control Group
sum119961 stands for the sum of scores of the control group in the post-test
1= 2720 = 135
2 = sum119961 N
2 stands for the mean of the experimental group in the post-test
N refers to the total number of participants in the experimental group
sum119961 Stands for the sum of scores of the experimental group in the post-test
So 2= 987520 = 493
Figure13
The Scores Frequencies of the Control Group and the Experimental Group in the Post-
test
55
From the previous analysis of the mean of both the control and the experimental
group in the pre-test (see Table 3) we have noticed that the level of students in both groups
is almost the same and there is only a slight difference between them Though in the post-
test the scores of the experimental group has increased and as result the mean average has
increased too after the treatment phase for the experimental group (from 142 to 493) but it
decreased for the control group who were taught without being exposed to any kind of
treatment (see Table 8 and Figure 10) Besides we can notice the development also in the
rime duration in studentsrsquo pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] of the experimental
group in the post-test which is not the case with the control group
21441 An independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the post-
test
In order to investigate if there is any significant change between two diverse groups
who have run the same test a t-test is used to show this significance difference In our case
we want to inspect if there is any significant variation between the experimental group and
the control group in the post-test and whether we accept the Alternative Hypothesis or
rejecting the Null Hypothesis So depending on the following steps a t-test was calculated
using the following formula
t= 119883 119888minus 119890
radicpartx2
Nx+
1205971199102
119873119910
partx2 = sum(119883 minus 119890 )N
= 306
1205971199102 =sum(119883 minus 119888 )2119873
= 160
119888 the mean of the control group in the post-test
56
119890 the mean of the experimental group in the post-test
partx2 the variation of the experimental group
1205971199102 the variation of the control group
So t= 493minus 135
radic306
20+
160
20
=745
t-value= 745
Depending on the t-value (745) that was calculated we compare it with the critical p-
value at p=005 therefore we have two options
1- If t-value is greater than the critical p-value (t-valuegtcritical-value) we accept the
alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
2- If t-value is less than the critical-value (t-valueltcritical-value) we accept the null
hypothesis and refuse the alternative hypothesis
we can say that
t-value=745 745 gt005
We accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
p-value= 0000 0000 lt005
We accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
Depending on these results we can say that there is a statistical evidence that the
associated sampling means are significantly different In other words there is a real change
between the experimental group and the control group in the post test at the level of
pronunciation due to the positive influence of the independent variable which is ldquolistening
to the audio-storiesrdquo Therefore students of the experimental group showed a significant
57
progress at the level of pronunciation and precisely the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
pronunciation
215 Discussion of the Results
The current research has investigated the influence of listening to audio-stories on
acquiring accurate pronunciation of both allophones the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] At the
start the pre-test has proved that learners of both groups ie the control and the
experimental group have the same level through calculating their means The control group
scored a mean of 155 while the experimental group scored a mean of 142 and also they
have got near scores concerning the rime duration of the L sound So these estimated scores
helped us to prove and confirm our hypothesis that states the positive effect of listening to
audio-stories on the level of pronunciation accuracy In the post-test students of the
experimental group showed a significant development compared to the control group and
this is due to the period of treatment that occurred in the oral session Besides the mean
score of the experimental group has been raised from 142 to 493 and from a sum of rime
durations of 2222 s to 535 s while the mean score of the control group has been decreased
from 155 to 135 and increased from a sum of rime durations of 2149 s to 2359 s In
addition a t-test was designed to show if there is any statistical significant difference
between the experimental group and the control group in the post-test the results show the
positive influence of the treatment phase on the dependent variable (pronunciation
accuracy)
216 Pedagogical implication
The present research evidenced the positive influence of being exposed to the target
language pronunciation as it is produced by the native speakers through the exposure to the
audio-stories Therefore we can state a set of pedagogical implications
58
The present study shows that the more students get involved in listening practices
the more they will be proficient in the pronunciation of a various English sounds ie
developing their speaking proficiency
Audio-stories help EFL learners improve their pronunciation as well as to develop
their listening skills
Using multimedia devices (audio-stories in our case) in learning classrooms
enhances the learnersrsquo motivation to get involved in the learning process
Audio-stories can be used by EFL teachers in order to make learners attentive and
interested in the lecture being presented
Audio-stories provide learners with the chance to listen again and again to the story
in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of a given word
Conclusion
The present research examined the effect of listening to audio stories on fostering the
target language pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] The native speakerrsquo s
pronunciation of both allophones was analyzed first through analyzing the rime duration in
order to compare it with the EFL learnersrsquo articulation That is to say the analysis is based
on the native speakerrsquo s rime duration In addition a significant development in learnersrsquo
pronunciation of the dark[ϯ]and the clear [l] was proved which lead to accept the alternative
hypothesis that states listening to audio-stories has a positive effect on acquiring accurate
pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] by EFL learners
59
General Conclusion
The present study is based on the investigation of the effectiveness of listening to
audio stories on acquiring accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] by EFL
learners At the beginning we have stated the problem which was that the Algerian EFL
learners in the English department at LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi University face a lot of difficulties
concerning the acquisition of the accurate pronunciation of The phoneme l Subsequently
this dissertation tackled the importance of listening to audio-stories on enhancing EFL
learnersrsquo pronunciation accuracy
Our research was tackled in two main chapters The first chapter divided into two
main sections In the first section we tackled the point of listening to audio stories whereas
the second section discussed the reflection of listening to audio stories on the pronunciation
of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] The second chapter represented the practical part the field
work The analyzed data showed that there is a positive relationship between the independent
variable and the dependent variable That is to say there was a development in the
acquisition of the phoneme l which lead us to accept the alternative hypothesis and reject
the null hypothesis
60
Limitations of the Study
Limited sources ie most of the sources that were available were not relevant to our
study
Time constraints this study needs much more time to conduct a better result
Students absences in the pre-test and the post-test and others did not receive the
treatment at all
The lack of interest in the beginning of the treatment session
61
List of References
Alonso SR (2012) The importance of Teaching Listening and Speaking Skills Diagravectica de Lingua
y la Literatura Facultad de Education
Brown S (2006) Teaching Listening Cambridge Cambridge University press
Coulter C Michael C ampPoynor L (2007) Storytelling as Pedagogy An Unexpected Outcome
of narrative inquiry 104-105
Daudet A (2001) Five Short Stories Copyright copy Bartlebycom Inc
Downs L J (2008) Listening Skills Training ASTD press
Eckert J (2016) Audio Storytelling in Todayrsquos Visual World The necessary Components of a
successful sounds scape for an audio play
Gilakjani A P (2012) A study of Factors Affecting EFL learnersrsquo English Pronunciation Learning
and the Strategy for instruction Lahijani Iran 2(3) 119-128
Hamer J (1998) How to teach English An Introduction to the Practice of English Language
Teaching English Language Teaching Harlow Longman
Hendrickson J (1992) Storytelling for foreign language and linguistics Washington Dc Eric
learning house on language and linguistic [ Eric No E0355-824]
Kline J A (1996) Listening Effectively Air University Press
Madden M and Moore Z (1997) ESL Studentsrsquo Opinions about instruction in Pronunciation
Texas 3(2) 15-32
Mendelson D J (1994) Learning to Listen Dominie Press
Nasreddin K (2010) The Influence of Background Knowledge on Second Language Listening
Comprehension Constantine Constantine University
62
Poposka V p (2016) Pronunciation Proficiency Level Problematic Areas of Tertiary as a Foreign
Language International Journal of Science and Basic and Applied Research
Richards J C (1990) The Language Teaching Matrix Cambridge Cambridge University Pess
Rubin SS (2015) Tools for Creating Audio Stories scholarship University of California
Roney RC (1996) Storytelling in the classroom Some Theoretical Thoughts Wayne State
University Education Detroit Michigan
Sproat R ampFujimura O (1993) Allophonic variation of the English l and its Implication for
phonetic Implementation Academic Press
Torky SA (2006) The Effectiveness of a Task-Based Instruction Program in Developing English
Language Speaking Skills of Secondary Stage Students Collegersquo s girl Ain Shams
University
Ummah A (2014) The Effectiveness of Nursery Rhymes to Facilitate Studentsrsquo of Pronunciation of
the Diphthong Education and Teacher Training Faculty Walisongo State institution for
Islamic Studies
Wang M (2016) Research on the Acoustic Realization of Lateral in Sundanese International
Journal of Engineering Research and Development 12(10) 44-48
Ziane R (2012) The Role of Listening Comprehension in Improving EFL learners Speaking Skill
Biskra University of Biskra
Zhang Q (2009) Affecting Factors of Native-Like Pronunciation A Literature Review Ching-Ang
University 27(2) 33-52
63
Abrahamson CE (1998) Storytelling as a pedagogical tool in high Education 118(3) Retrieved
from
httpwwwquestiacomlibraryjournal1G1-20494609storytelling-as-a-pedagogical-tool-
inhighereducation
AMP Research Center (2012) Retrieved from
Httpwwwncertrmqeduauconference2001indexhtal
Backley P (nd) Improving your English Pronunciation Retrieved from
httptoefluobabyloneduiqpaperspearson-2015-1269610pdf
Chaney (1998) Teaching Speaking Retrieved from
httpitesljorgtechniqueKayi-teaching speakinghtml
English Club (nd) What is listening Retrieved from
httpwwwenglishclubcom
Miller E (2011) Theories of story and storytelling Retrieved from
httpwww-storytellingandvideoconferencingcom167pdf
Pederson E M (1995) Storytelling and the art of listening English teaching forum 33(1)2-5
Retrieved from httpExchangesStategovForumuolsn01p2htm
Remen R N (nd) Listening Skills Retrieved from
httpwwwskillsyouneedcomipslistening-Skills-html
Rock R (nd) 5 Wonderful Websites for Engaging ESL Audio Short Stories Retrieved from
httpwwwFluentucomenglisheducatorsblogeslaudio-short-stories
Seifert S (nd) Follow Along 6 Engaging ESL Audio Stories with worksheet ideas Retrieved from
httpwwwFluentucomenglisheducatorblogeslaudio-stories
Saricoban A (2004) The Teaching of listening The Internet TESL journal
httpitesljorgArticlesSaricobn-listeninghtml
Subhi s (2016) Differences between Hearing and listening Retrieved from
httpkeydifferencescomdifference-between-hearning-and-listeninghtml
64
Shen CD (2010) 3 reasons why listening skills are very important in Todayrsquo s Business World
Retrieved from httpezinearticlescom3-Reasons-why-listening-skills-are-very-important-in-
Todays-Business-worldampid=5436504
the adapted audio-stories that were used in the period of treatment
(httpwwwmanythingsorgvoastories)
Appendix A A pre-test
The Last class- The Story of the Alsatian
I was very late for school that morning and I was terribly afraid of being Scolded
especially as Monsieur Hamel had told us that he should examine us on participles and I
did not know the first thing about them For a moment I thought of saying away from
school and wandering about the fields It was such a warm lovely day I could hear the
blackbirds whistling on the edge of the wood and in the ripper field behind the sawmill
the Prussians going through their drill All that was much more tempting to me than the
rules concerning participles but I had the strength to resist and I ran as fast as I could to
school
Sentences
You old fool they will kill you if you always trouble them
People are awfully lazy in the middle of July
Appendix B A post-test
The Game of Billiards
The marshalrsquo s opponent is a young captain of the staff belted and curled and light-
gloved who is in the first rank of billiard-players and capable of beating all the marshals
on earth but he has the tact to keep a respectful distance behind his chief and devotes his
energies to the task of not winning and at the same time not losing too easily He is what is
called an officer with a future
Read the following words
1 Cabal
2 Labour
3 Shell
Appendix c Treatment period
I Session one (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquothe Secret Gardenrdquo (Chapter One) By Frances Hodgson
Burnett
II Session two (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Secret Gardenrdquo (Chapter two) By Frances Hodgson
Burnett
III Session three (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Lady or the Tigerrdquo by Frank R Stockton
IV Session four (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Lady in Blackrdquo By Eleanor Porter
Reacutesumeacute
La preacutesente eacutetude vise agrave eacutetudier lrsquoarticulation de dark [ϯ] et clear [l] dans les classes de la
langue anglaise afin dameacuteliorer la prononciation des apprenants Lrsquoeacutetude actuelle repose
sur lhypothegravese que leacutecoute des histoires audio a un effet positif sur lameacutelioration de la
prononciation des apprenants EFL avec un accent particulier sur le dark [ϯ] et clear [l] Afin
datteindre lobjectif de cette recherche une eacutetude quasi-expeacuterimentale a eacuteteacute assigneacute en
deux groupe group teacutemoin et group expeacuterimentale Chaque groupe contenait 20 eacutelegraveves
Lexpeacuterience a pris six seacuteances un preacute-test une peacuteriode de traitement (4 seacuteances) et un
posttest En conclusion les reacutesultats obtenus montrent que les eacutetudiants qui sont exposeacute agrave
la langue cible et qui eacutecoutent au locuteur natif agrave lrsquoaide audio pour ameacuteliorer leurs
prononciations ont montreacute qursquoil y a un deacuteveloppement ameacutelioration au niveau de
compeacutetence des apprenants en particulier et en matiegravere de parole en geacuteneacuterale
Les mots cleacutes audio-histoire Compeacutetence drsquoeacutecoute prononciation dureacute de travaille
ملخص
استخدام القصص الصوتية من اجل المساعدة على اكتساب النطق السليم والدقيق تهدف هذه الدراسة الى التعرف على مدى فعالية
الأجنبية حيث تستند الدراسة الحالية على فرضية مفادها ان الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية له تأثير إيجابي على تحسين ةللغ
استغرقت التجربة ست ق المنهج التجريبيمن أجل تحقيق هدف هذه الدراسة تم تطبينطق الطلاب الأجانب للغة الإنجليزية
جلسات قسمت كالاتي أربع حصص معالجة سبقت باختبارات قبلية ولحقت باختبارات بعدية أجريت الدراسة في قسم اللغة
طالبا من طلاب السنة ثانية جامعي قسم الطلبة الى فوجين حيث 40الإنجليزية بجامعة العربي بن مهيدي وقد شملت الدراسة
ى معالجة لمدة أربع حصص من خلال الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية في حين لم يتعرض الفوج الثاني خضع أحد الفوجين ال
الى نفس المعالجة بعد ذلك تم اجراء الاختبارات البعدية واعتمادا على النتائج المتحصل عليها ثبت ان التعرض الى اللغة
جابي على اكتساب النطق الدقيق للغة المستهدفة الا وهي اللغة الأجنبية عن طريق الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية له تأثير إي
الأجنبية
القصص الصوتية النطق مدة الموجات الصوتيةالكلمات المفتاحية المهارة السمعية
7
learners pay attention to what is being said In her opinion listening is an active process that
includes using a variety of processes which are attending understanding interpreting
responding and remembering Moreover Mendelsohn (1994) demonstrates listening as ldquothe
ability to understand the spoken language of native speakersrdquo (p 64) To be precise
Mendelsohn defines listening as the listenerrsquo s ability to recognize the native speakerrsquo s
speech in terms of accent pitch intonation vocabulary grammar and trying to interpret the
native speakerrsquo s messages
Saricoban (1999) states that listening is onersquos capacity to realise what is being said
and to recognize the intended meaning He sheds light on two important points the first
point concerns understanding the speakerrsquos pronunciation syntax and lexis whereas the
second point deals with grasping the meaning Willis (1981) lists a series of micro-skills of
listening which she calls enabling skills They are
Predicting what people are going to talk about
Guessing at unknown words or phrases without panic
Using onersquo s own knowledge of the subject to help one understand
Identifying relevant points rejecting irrelevant information
Retaining relevant points (note-taking summarizing)
Recognizing discourse markers eg well oh another thing is now finally
etc
Recognizing cohesive devices e g such as and which including linking
words pronouns references etc
Understanding different intonation patterns and uses of stress etc which give
clues to meaning and social setting
8
Understanding inferred information eg speakerrsquo s attitude or intentions
(p134
Furthermore listening is an important source of knowledge It is recognized as the
ability of transforming and interpreting the spoken messages that are received by the ears
from the daily life situations Yet listening is a very hard task It requires the learnersrsquo mental
concentration which is something difficult because the human brain can simply lose attention
That is to say listening skill can save learners from communication breakdowns and
increases their motivation to learn the foreign language and speak fluently but only if they
work harder to develop their own listening skills
12 Differences between Listening and Hearing
Listening and hearing are two different activities Kline (1996) emphasizes the
differences between these two concepts to make an effective listening He states that
ldquohearing is the attachment of meaning to the sound Hearing is passive listening is activerdquo
(p7) In other words active listening is a successful element that affects learnersrsquo verbal and
nonverbal behaviors
Surbhi (2016) states the differences between listening and hearing On the one hand
he defines hearing as the natural capacity that happens unconsciously It aids to identify
sounds via the ears Also hearing is a process that permits receiving sound vibrations and
it is one of the five senses On the other hand Surhbi (2016) defines listening skill as the
process of receiving and interpreting messages it occurs consciously
13 Reasons of Listening
Learners through being exposed to different English accents and in any recorded
materials such as radio TV or tapes they want to understand and realize what is being said
9
(Harmer 1998) According to him listening is a very effective process that helps learners to
get a better pronunciation In other words as much as they are exposed to the real language
as much as they will recognize its features
Also Shen (2010) demonstrates that listening skills help to improve understanding
and aids people to become aware of their listening skills So listening plays a vital role in
language learning and acquisition It is an essential skill that bridges the line between
meaning and messages in order to avoid misunderstanding between individuals
14 Types of listening
Generally speaking the listening skill plays a significant role in teaching EFL
classrooms This process guides EFL learners to an effective communication Therefore the
listening skill can be classified into two different types Extensive listening and intensive
listening
141 Extensive Listening
Extensive listening has to do with the learnerrsquos fluency In other words the learner has
to master vocabulary grammarhellipetc and later on he must combine them together to form
a meaningful conversation So fluency depends on the listenerrsquos ability of understanding
whatever he is exposed to weather in an audio tape a text a songhellipetc
Harmer (1998) states that extensive listening is the way students practice their own
listening outside the classroom Students should enjoy listening to an audio material because
they can understand them without the teacherrsquo s help Also students can depend on CDs and
tapes so that they are going to have another chance to listen to their course books dialogues
that they have already provided to them inside the classroom In addition learners must be
10
stimulated to listen to the English language films with sub-titles because this helps students
to acquire the foreign language
In brief extensive listening according to the Extensive Reading-Central (2012) includes
Listening to massive amounts of text
Text which learners can understand reasonably smoothly
high levels of comprehension
Listening without being constrained by pre-set questions or tasks
Listening at or below onersquo s comfortable fluent listening ability
So extensive listening aims to make learners enjoy developing their listening skills
142 Intensive Listening
In contrast to extensive listening intensive listening aims at developing the learnersrsquo
specific listening skills and more precisely to raise the learnersrsquo attention about the spoken
language Intensive listening occurs weather in classrooms or laboratories It exists mostly
when teachers guide their students and provide them with help concerning listening
problems that they face and try to highlight them (Harmer 2007)
So intensive listening according to the Extensive Reading-central (2012) is
Listening for specific information
Listening for the exact words of a phrase or expression
Listening for details
Listening to mimic a text
11
15 Listening Processes
In listening process addressees process information using two distinct strategies
This is devoted to as bottom-up and top-down
151 Bottom-up Process
Richards (1990) states that ldquobottom-up processing refers the use of incoming data as
a source of information about the meaning of a messagerdquo (p 50) According to him Bottom-
up process deals with the perception of sentence components ie recognizing the meaning
of sounds words sentences clauseshellipetc till reaching the meaning of the whole message
152 Top-down Process
Richards (190) states that ldquoTop-down processing on the other hand refers to the use
of background knowledge in understanding the meaning of a messagerdquo (p 51) In contrast
to Bottom-up process Richards (1990) points out to the Top-down as the process of using
the listenersrsquo previous knowledge to attain meaning as whole not attaining the meaning of
individual words
16 Brief History of Audio-Stories
Eckert (2016) states that ldquoAudio storytelling in the form of radio drama has been
around for almost a centuryrdquo (p 8) That is to say audio stories in the previous decades took
the form of radio drama Radio drama attained extensive admiration within an era of its
original growth in the 1920rsquo s At that time radio drama played a central role for being the
foundation of people entertainment However by the 1950rsquo s people shifted their attention
to the new invention which was the small screen ie the television As a result of the
invention of this new device audio drama no more attracts the spectatorsrsquo attention it lost
its popularity
12
Though in 2010 radio drama came back to stage due to the developments shown in
digital soundtrack and internet spreading According to Eckert (2016) ldquoRadio and audio
storytelling has slowly started gaining popularity again thanks to the different online
platforms brought forth by digitalizationrdquo (p 8)
17 Definition of Storytelling
Today stories are a fundamental part of our societies and cultures Telling and
listening to stories is an ancient tradition and common activity that bonds different olden
civilizations together Also stories are an essential component and an ordinary process that
many people used to do on every occasion It is the art of telling factual or fictional stories
Besides stories bring legacy into life because our ancestors told them and people today
only retell them
Moreover listening to stories enhances the learnersrsquo foreign language It aids them
to improve their speaking skills Pederson (1995) states that ldquoin dealing with stories learners
have an experience with the powerful real language of personal communicationrdquo (p 2)
Additionally Pederson (1995) emphasizes the role of telling stories in preserving heritage
he argues that ldquooral stories are a direct expression of a literary and cultural heritage and
through them that heritage is appreciated understood and kept aliverdquo (1995 p2) In other
words stories bond between the past and the present It is considered to be a vital feature of
humankind Furthermore Schram (1994 as cited in Coulter Michael amp Poynor 2007)
points out
A story is a beautiful means of teaching religion values history traditions and
customs a creative method of introducing characters and places an imaginative way
13
to instill hope and resourceful thinking Stories help us to understand who we are and
show us what legacies to transmit to future generations (p 104-105)
So Schram (1994) highlights the role of stories in bridging the gap between the teaching
process and culture
Likewise Abrahamson (1998) sheds light on the role that storytelling plays in the
learning process He states that telling stories plays a significant role in improving learnersrsquo
understanding Besides Abrahamson argues that stories can afford a suitable context that
the listener can use it as a base to perceive the tellerrsquos point of view Moreover Roney (1996)
demonstrates
In its most basic form storytelling is a process where a person (the teller) using
vocalization narrative structure and mental imagery communications with other
humans (the audience) who also use mental imagery and in turn communicate back
to the teller primarily via body language and facial expression (p 2)
By this definition storytelling is the combination of art procedures and ways of
communication
18 Definition of Audio-Stories
The term audio-story is a combination of two words audio and story By definition
audio is sound within the aural range accessible to humankinds Miller (2011) states that
ldquostories are pieces of art and can serve as a basis of gamesrdquo (p 1) So Audio-story is a very
operative means for teaching EFL learners It aids to make the course persuasive Nowadays
14
audio stories can be used to many reasons and the most important one is the exposure to the
real language of native speakers by EFL learners In addition Rubin (2015) points out
ldquoaudio stories are an engaging form of communication that combines speech and music into
a compelling narrativesrdquo (p 1) That is to say audio stories are the process of telling stories
through sound and sound effects only Furthermore Audio-stories are broadly accredited to
progresses in portable equipment for instance smart phones tablets and multimedia
entertainment systems Thus EFL learners find it easy to listen to those audio stories
19 Characteristics of a Good Audio-Story
According to Seifert (nd) finding good audio-stories that suit the EFL learnersrsquo
needs is something very important and it is a very hard task to do However these are some
of the necessary features that EFL teachers must take into consideration whenever they want
to select a good audio-story for their students
Skill Level
Taking into account the learnersrsquo English level before choosing any audio-story For
instance if the audio-story contains a difficult language learners will lose confidence and
as a result they stop listening to the audio-story So determining the learnersrsquo level is very
important
Student Interest
EFL teachers must find out their studentsrsquo interests and normally each teacher has
an idea about this issue So if the audio-stories do not fit the learnersrsquo needs the EFL
teacherrsquos goal from that audio-story will be lost
15
Audio Length
The length of the audio-story plays a significant role in keeping concentration in the
ESL schoolrooms Listening for much time to the audio storytelling leads to boredom As a
result the learnersrsquo s brains lose attention However teachers can use long audio-stories but
they should know how to put it into parts and use classroom discussions to avoid boredom
So these three characteristics aid to develop EFL learnersrsquo listening skills
110 The Use of Audio-Stories in ESL Classrooms
According to Rock (nd) there are several listening practices that ESLEFL teachers
can provide to their students These are samples of activities that can work hand in hand with
audio-stories
Fill in The Blanks
Here EFL teacher provides his students with a written passage that is taken from an
audio-story but he removes some words Later on the teacher asks his learners to listen to
the audio-story after reading that passage and at the same time fill in the blanks
Mastery Memory
This activity has to do with learnerrsquos memory In this kind of practices teachers
provide learners with an audio-story and ask them for example to write down the main
events of the story but when they finish listening to it Teachers in this activity have to make
sure that students do not write them during the listening of the audio-story So the main goal
of the exercise is to reinforce learnerrsquos memory
16
Order the Events
At the start teachers give their learners a series of events that are chosen from an
audio-story Then the teacher gives them some time to read them After that learners listen
to the audio- storytelling and put those events in a sequential order
Buzz Words
This exercise aims to reach the learnerrsquo s vocabulary In this practice teachers
provide learners with a number of words then they ask them to check their meanings before
Afterward teacher turns the lesson into a game ie EFL learners listen to the audio-story
and whenever they hear a word (the buzz word) from that list they have to raise their hands
or clap them
Multiple Choice
This activity deals with providing learners with a number of questions followed by
three answers these questions can be definitions or name of characterhellip etc Then learners
have to listen to the audio-storytelling and pick the write response After teachers play again
the audio-story to correct their answers
Character Quiz
In this practice EFL learners have to listen to the whole story Then the teacher gives
his class a question sheet that contains a list of character qualities and decision and ask them
to choose the suitable one for the leading role
Plot Quiz
This activity has to do with team competition After listening to the whole audio-
storytelling once or twice the teacher divides his class into two to four groups where the
17
teacher plays the role of the coach Several questions that have a relation to the story will be
quizzed to each team if they get the answer they have a point if they fail to answer correctly
the question moves to the next group
Beginning Middle End
After listening to the audio storytelling the teacher splits the classroom into groups
and each group contains no more than four students Later he asks each group to write the
main events of the beginning the middle and the end of the story Finally they discuss them
together
111 Advantages of Using Audio-Stories
Audio-stories play an essential role in teaching the target language Audio-
storytelling is an impeccable implement for any ESL classrooms First of all audio-stories
afford learners with the exposure to the real language as it is produced by the native speakers
ie a natural voice Furthermore Rodero (2012 as cited in Eckert2016) claimed that
ldquoAudio stories that use sound effects and sound shots enhance the learnerrsquo s attention and
creation of visual images significantly compared to those without themrdquo (p 16) That is to
say using audio-stories in ESL classrooms develops learnersrsquo listening skills and provides
them with an imaginary trip inside their minds Also audio- stories enhance learnersrsquo
pronunciation since the learner is exposed to the natural voice In addition EFL teacher can
use audio storytelling as a guideline to his lecture or the opposite he can use it at the end of
the course as a reward
Moreover the EFL teachers depend on audio-stories in improving learnersrsquo
vocabulary through memorization Learners can enrich their vocabulary whenever they
listen to those stories because each time they learn some new words Besides learners can
18
listen to them outside the schoolrooms because they are portable they can upload them in
their mobiles and listen to them any time anywhere Finally audio stories can raise interest
for those learners who are not attracted to reading
Conclusion
In conclusion listening to audio stories aids EFL learners to improve the target
language pronunciation That is to say students will be exposed to the real language as it is
created by the native speakers Besides using audio stories in ESLEFL classrooms increases
the learnersrsquo interest toward learning the foreign language and also enhances their speaking
skills
19
Section two Reflection on Pronunciation
Introduction
121 Definition of Speaking Skill
122 Speaking Sub-Competencies Skills
123 Definition of Pronunciation
124 Importance of Pronunciation
125 Factors Affecting Pronunciation
1251 Internal Factors
1252 External Factors
Conclusion
20
Introduction
Generally speaking being able to speak the target language fluently and accurately
seems to be very interesting to all EFLESL learners Though students face a lot of troubles
and obstacles when communicating with each other or with native speakers and this is due
to mispronunciation misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the hearer which leads to the
communication breakdowns Furthermore learnersrsquo mispronunciation occurs due to various
factors that affect their oral language and as a consequence it affects their speaking
proficiency
In this section we have dealt with the speaking process and precisely
ldquopronunciationrdquo At the start a slight attention is put upon the definition of speaking skills
and its sub-competencies After that a part of this section is devoted to define pronunciation
and highlight its importance Moreover this section demonstrates some factors that affect
pronunciation which are classified into internal factors and external factors Finally another
point about the English consonant ldquoLrdquo has been raised
121 Definition of Speaking Skill
Mastering the foreign language is the aim of each EFL learner Speaking is one of
the most important language skills it plays a significant role in sharing ideas and thoughts
between individuals Torky (2006) defines speaking as follows ldquoIt is the means through
which learners can communicate with others to achieve certain goals or to express their
opinions intentions hopes and viewpointsrdquo (p 13) Also Ziane (2012) states that ldquoit is the
way by which learners can contribute and be part of oral communicationrdquo (p21) So the
main goal of EFL learners is to be able to speak the target language in order to strengthen
their verbal communication
21
Moreover Chaney (1998) argues that ldquospeaking is the process of building and
sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols in a variety of contextsrdquo
(p 13) From Chaneyrsquo s definition of speaking we deduce that speaking has an important
role in learning the foreign language and improving EFL learnersrsquo communicative skill
However there are some researchers who describe speaking as a hard task They
argue that EFL learners find it so hard to master the foreign language and face a lot of
difficulties even after studying it many years at schools Bueno and Mclaren (2006 as cited
in Alonso 2011) point out
Speaking is one of the most difficult skills language learners have to face In spite of
this it has traditionally been forced into the background while we teachers of
English have spent all our classroom time trying to teach our students how to write
to read and sometimes even to listen in a L2 because grammar has a long written
tradition (p 321)
On the whole the speaking skill is a very important process that EFL learners need to acquire
in order to master and shape the target language
122 Speaking Sub CompetenciesSkills
Torky (2006) claims that learners must be able to express themselves in a given
context in order to be proficient in mastering the foreign language She points out to several
speaking skills or competencies that help to achieve this aim which are
22
Linguistic Competence
Torky (2006) states that learners must be skillful in using pronunciation ie their
pronunciation must be clear In addition students have to use correct grammar and
proper lexis
Discourse Competence
In the beginning learners have to be able to use a well-organized discourse In other
words the discourse must be clear and unified Besides they have to be competent in
handling discussion and cooperating efficiently in order to avoid the communication
breakdowns
Pragmatic Competence
EFL learners have to be proficient in using a variety of functions that are related to
the same context and register
Fluency
Speaking smoothly without any complications and with a suitable degree of speech
speed
123 Definition of Pronunciation
According to Gilakjani (2012) ldquopronunciation is an integral part of foreign language
since it directly affects learnersrsquo communicative competence as well as performancerdquo
(p119) That is to say pronunciation plays a fundamental role in learning and improving the
target language Besides Poposka (2016) argues that pronunciation is the key factor of
language in its universal notion and she claims that pronunciation should be defined in
23
relation to different perspectives Poposka (2016) states some of the various points of view
concerning pronunciation definition which are
- The act or manner of pronouncing uttering of speech
- A way of speaking a word especially a way that is accepted or generally understood
- A graphic representation of the way a word is spoken using phonetic symbols (p
200)
Moreover Dauer (1993 as cited in Ummah 2014) states that ldquopronunciation is the
act of producing the sound of speech including articulation vowel formation accent
inflection and intonation often with reference to the correctness or acceptability of the
speech soundrdquo (p 10) In addition Poposka (2016) states that pronunciation is the vocal
capacity to produce particular sounds weather when communicating with individuals or
when being alone This construction of sounds leads to the appearance of some utterances
that may be expressive or worthless (p 200) Furthermore Adult Migrant English Program
research center (AMP 2002) points out
Pronunciation refers to the production of sounds that we use to make meaning it includes
attention to the particular sounds of language (segments) aspects of speech beyond the
level of the individual sound such as intonation phrasing stress timing rhythm
(suprasegmental aspects) (p1)
In other words AMP research center argues that even if these two aspects suprasegmental
and segmental structures are treated separately it is necessary to know that they work hand
in hand in a given context whenever someone speaks
24
124 Importance of Pronunciation
Madden and Moore (1997) states that ldquoin first language acquisition children learn
pronunciation inductively by absorbing and reproducing the sounds in their environmentrdquo
(p 4) That is to say all human beings in their natural development from childhood to
adulthood learn first of all how to talk before learning how to read or write Also Zhang
(2009) claims that ldquolearning a language means to perform the sounds utterances and the
words properly and correctlyrdquo (p 34-35) So pronunciation is a very essential skill in
learning a second language
Moreover Morley (1998 as cited in Zhang 2009) argues that ldquoit is clear that limited
pronunciation skills will make learners lose their self-confidence and result in negative
influence for learners to estimate their credibility and abilitiesrdquo (p 35) In other words it
does not matter whether learners make mistakes concerning grammar or vocabulary all what
matters is the way they pronounce a given word in order to make a worthy impression on
the learnersrsquo language capacities Zhang (2009) points out
Good pronunciation will make people understand you easily and be willing to listen to
you Contrarily poor English pronunciation may confuse people and lead to an
unpleasant talking and misunderstanding even if you used advanced English grammar
or vocabulary (p 35)
Likewise Backley (n d) argues ldquoif a speaker has a clear pronunciation this has immediate
benefits listeners judge the speakerrsquo s overall language ability much more favorably even
to the point of tolerating grammatical and other errorsrdquo (p 126) Therefore good
25
pronunciation aids to avoid misinterpretation and intelligibility between speakers and
listeners and show the learnersrsquo competencies in mastering their second language
Furthermore good pronunciation affects the learnersrsquo speed of acquiring the target language
In addition learners should use only simple structures with good and correct pronunciation
rather than using complex expressions in order to communicate with others
125 Factors Affecting Pronunciation
Generally speaking there are several factors that affect the learnersrsquo pronunciation
These factors can be classified into internal factors and external factors
1251 Internal Factors
Zhang (2009) states that internal factors can be categorized also into biological
factors individual differences and individual efforts and goal setting
Biological Factors
They are branded into four features age ear perception and aptitude
Learnersrsquo Age
At the start there is a difference between young learners and adult learners
concerning the acquisition of the accurate pronunciation Nonetheless this does not mean
that adult learners cannot get accurate pronunciation as well They have to work much harder
because their brainsrsquo plasticity reduces That is to say age plays a significant part in learning
the target language pronunciation Moreover Zhang (2009) emphasizes the role of the
critical period hypothesis that was proposed by Lenneberg in 1967 which states that there
is a certain age that helps learners to acquire the foreign language pronunciation accurately
26
and after that age the brain loses its flexibility Furthermore (Nation and Newton (2009) as
cited in Zhang 2009) claim that
Usually if the learner began to speak in the second language before the age of six
there will be little or no accent If the learner began to speak between the age of seven
and eleven the learners likely to have a slight accent If the learner began to speak
after age of twelve the learners almost always have an accent (p 78)
This is the reason behind the acceptance of the idea that learners find it so hard to acquire
the foreign language after maturity
Additionally Zhang (2009) states that young learners have bigger chances than the
adult learners in obtaining accurate pronunciation He claims that the brain loses its
flexibility and becomes rigid after puberty (after nine years old) as a result the brainrsquo s
functions will be devoted to the right and left hemispheres which makes it so difficult to
acquire the foreign languagersquo s pronunciation correctly Also Lenneberg (1967 as cited in
Zhang 2009) argues that ldquobefore the age of two the brain has not developed enough but
after puberty it developed too much and it will lose its plasticity and finish the lateralization
of the language functionrdquo (p 39) In other words it becomes so hard to obtain the native-
like pronunciation after the lateralization
Ear Perception
One of the most important factors that affect the learnersrsquo acquisition of the foreign
language is the ldquoear perceptionrdquo Zhang (2009) claims that the hearing abilities differ from
one person to another That is to say there are learners who have a strong hearing capacity
27
they can hear sounds in a very clear way which help them in reproducing the native speakersrsquo
pronunciation smoothly Whereas there is that kind of learners who do not have that ability
However Zhang argues that the ear perception has nothing to do with the learner age He
claims that it is natural that learners may lose some of their capacities whenever they become
older
Aptitude
Generally speaking foreign language aptitude is the personrsquos ability to learn a foreign
or a second language very rapidly and with no troubles (Wen 2011) Also Dornyei and
skehan (2003 as cited in Wen 2011) states ldquooriginally the notion of FLA presumed a
relatively stable talent for learning a foreign language that differs between individualsrdquo (p
590) So EFL learners do not have the same ability to acquire the foreign language
Additionally Carroll (1962 as cited in Wen 2011) states four components of the FLA which
are
lsquophonemic coding abilityrsquo (ie the ability to identify and retain sounds and link them
to phonetic symbols)
Sensitivity towards the grammatical functions that words fulfil in a sentence
The ability to learn inductively (ie to infer and generalize linguistic structures from
language samples) and
The ability to rote learn vocabulary items paired with their associated translations
(p 233)
Hence aptitude has an important role in improving learnersrsquo foreign language
Although Zhang (2009) argues that all individuals have a language aptitude ability but they
28
differ only in the degree of that aptitude capacity Also he claims that we cannot say that
those people who have a sophisticated level of language aptitude will get to the top and
people with an inferior level of language aptitude will go pear-shaped
Individual Differences
Zhang (2009) states that learnersrsquo different personalities affect the way they acquire
the foreign language pronunciation He argues that extroverted learners are more likely to
acquire the target pronunciation rather than introverted learners because extroverted learners
are not afraid of making mistakes which is not the case with the introverted learners who
face always the fear of failure Besides extroverted students are more friendly they tend to
work with others which leads them to practice the target language so they become more
familiar with it which aids to improve their pronunciation very quickly (p 40-41)
Individual Efforts and Goal setting
At the start the main goal of each EFLESL learner is to master the foreign language
in order to communicate with others Zhang (2009) points out ldquowe must always remember
that teaching never causes learning but rather creates the conditions in which learning can
occurrdquo (p 42) Besides he emphasizes that pronunciation is really a very hard task that
learners can acquire in a few days but it is not something impossible that learners cannot
achieve Though as much time learners spend in practicing the target language
pronunciation the better results they will get
1252 External Factors
External factors can be classified into three aspects learnersrsquo native language
exposure to target language and education factors
29
Learnerrsquo s Native Language
Universally the learnersrsquo native language affects their pronunciation of the foreign
language Zhang (2009) states that studentsrsquo mother tongue reflects the way they pronounce
a certain word in the target language and this is due to the differences that are found between
the two languages In other words learners find a lot of complications in articulating some
sounds for the reason that some of those sounds do not occur in their native language (p
43)
Exposure to the Target Language
Zhang (2009) shows that the acquisition of English language pronunciation is related
to the amount of exposure to it as it is produced by the native speakers That is to say this
depends on the learner himself ie on the situation in which the learning process occurs In
other words Zhang argues that it does not matter weather learners live in a native country
or not it is a matter of how much time they listen to the foreign language and how much
time they use it Zhang (2009) states ldquothe more they spend their time for listening and
speaking English the better their English pronunciation will berdquo (p 44) Thus learnerrsquo s
pronunciation accuracy depends on the surrounding environment where the target language
takes place
Educational Factors
At the start the system of education is responsible for studentsrsquo learning process
Worthy educational structure provides a lot of chances for learners to be exposed to the target
language through creating a suitable learning environment Additionally EFLESL
teachersrsquo accent reflects the learnersrsquo pronunciation because learners take teachers as an
30
exemplary in order to improve their pronunciation That is why teachers should work on
their pronunciation initially (Zhang 2009)
The English Consonant Sound ldquoLrdquo
Generally speaking EFL learners face complications in learning the English L sound
Sproat and Fujimura (1993) argue ldquoEnglish l has traditionally been classified into at least
two allophones namely light which occurs initially and dark which occurs syllable finallyrdquo
(p 291) Furthermore Wang (2016) states that the L consonant sound is a lateral phoneme
in English and it has two allophones he points out
One of them is found before vowels as in ldquoladyrdquo or ldquoflyrdquo called clear l and is
pronounced as the alveolar lateral approximant in a neutral position of the body of
the tongue The other variant is called dark l found before consonants or at word-
finally position as in ldquoboldrdquo or ldquotellrdquo Which is as the velarized lateral approximant
with the tongue in a spoon-like shape Its back part is raised which gives the sound
a w-like resonance (p 44)
In other words the clear [l] occurs when the tip of the tongue raises up and touches the soft
palate just behind the front teeth whereas the dark [ϯ] happens when the tip of the tongue
pulls back and the tongue raises to the middle without touching the soft palate to make the
L sound So the difference between these two allophones is the reason behind those troubles
that the learner may face
However Sproat and Fujimura (1993 as cited in Jiahong 2011) explain the
differences between these two allophones by relating them to the rime duration In other
31
words they point out that whenever the l sound occurs in longer rimes it is going to be a
dark [ϯ] and whenever the rime is short the l sound is clear or light
Figure 1
Articulatory Differences in l Velarization
Source Recasens 2012 p369
Conclusion
To end with it is very important to acknowledge that pronunciation is one way that
leads to an effective and a successful communication That is why many researchers shed
light on the investigation of some factors that may influence the EFL learnersrsquo pronunciation
As a result these identifying concepts help foreigners to overcome their difficulties when
they are introduced to the target language
32
Chapter two Field Work
Introduction
21 Methodology
211 Research Participants
212 The Procedure
2121 The Research Design
2122 The Pre-test Phase
2123 The Treatment Phase
2124 The Control Group
2125 The Post-test Phase
213 Scoring
214 Data Analysis
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (independent Sample
t-test)
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group Post-test
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group Post-test (Paired
Sample t-test)
21431 Paired Sample t-test
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-test
33
21441 An Independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the
Post-test
215 Discussion of the Results
216 Pedagogical Implications
Conclusion
34
Introduction
This research attempts to investigate the effect of listening to audio stories on
acquiring accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] by second year LMD students
at the department English -LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi The chosen sample is divided into two
groups the control group and the experimental group At the start participantsrsquo
pronunciation accuracy of the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] (the dependent variable) was measured
through a pretest Later on a period of treatment is taken by the experimental group which
is not the case with the control group After that a post-test is administered to both groups
in which the results are gathered using a software called the ldquopraatrdquo In addition we shed
light on describing the sample taking the place in which the study took place the method
used and at last the data collected
21 Methodology
211 Research Participants
The current study involved two intact classes of second year LMD students from
LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi-English Department The selected sample includes students from
different gender Furthermore we favored to select second year students for several reasons
The first reason was that second year students have practiced working with audio supports
which was not the case with first year students so they will not face problems concerning
listening to audio stories The second reason was that second year learners study oral
expression
At the start the experiment includes a sample of forty learners that have been chosen
from two intact classes of second year LMD students The chosen sample represents 1904
from the entire population which comprises 210 learners Additionally both clusters were
35
divided into a control group and an experimental group twenty students in each group At
the beginning the sample was supposed to be comprised of sixty students in which both the
control and the experimental groups covered thirty students Unfortunately there were a lot
of absences in both groups Also there are some students who have not passed both the
pretest and the posttest and others have not received the treatment at all Therefore the
sample size was reduced from sixty to forty students which can be sufficient to represent
the whole population and to get consistent outcomes
In order to gather consistent data that help to achieve the purpose of our research a
quasi-experimental design was designated The use of the chosen method will provide us
with a wide-ranging representation of the reflection of listening to audio stories on the
acquisition of the accurate pronunciation of the dark [l] and clear [l]
212 The Procedure
To accumulate a reliable data an experiment was conducted over six sessions The
treatment period took four sessions and the remained two sessions for the pretest and the
posttest The pretest took a form different from that of the posttest in order to avoid
familiarity to improve the learnersrsquo development and get consistent information Both
groups have taken the tests but only the experimental group took the treatment Besides the
duration of training concerning the treatment period for the experimental group took 90
minutes ie one hour and a half for each session and it started after getting the
authorization of the teacher of oral expression
36
2121 The Research Design
Figure 2
Experimental Group Procedures
Figure 3
Control Group Procedures
2122 The Pre-test Phase
By the first week of March both the control group and the experimental group have
taken the pretest However before choosing the pretest and in order to avoid any problems
we have checked that the dark [l] and the clear [l] are pronounced the same in both the
American and the British accents using the Oxford Advanced Learnerrsquo s Dictionary At the
outset learners were required to read a passage derived from a short story named ldquoThe last
class-The story of the Alsationrdquo that was written by Alphonse Daudet (2001) and also short
sentences (see Appendix A) After that their voices were recorded using a software known
pre-test
treatment
(listening to audio stories)
post-test
pre-test
No treatment
( being taught without listening
to audio-stories)
post-test
37
as the ldquoPraatrdquo Besides our focus here was raised toward the duration (ie the length of a
syllable) of the dark [l] and the clear [l]
Throughout the pretest EFL learners found themselves unable to pronounce the dark
[ϯ] and clear [l] that are found in some words correctly In other words students in the control
group and the experimental group most of the time pronounce the dark [ϯ] in the same way
they pronounce the clear [l] ie they spend the same duration for pronouncing the two
allophones Also EFL learners from time to time pronounce them differently but in a wrong
way ie they spent a rime duration that it not suitable neither for the light [l] nor for the
dark[ϯ]
Figure4
Example of the Lateral Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoSawmillrdquo
2123 The Treatment Phase
At first both participants have finished the pretest Though the treatment was
approved to the experimental group only the control group did not receive the same
treatment Besides the experimental group received the treatment in four sessions and each
Rime
duration
38
session took one hour and a half (ie 90 minutes) In each session students were asked to
listen to the audio-story in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of both allophones
after that they discussed the story being listened (see Appendix B)
2124 The Control Group
Concerning the control group students were taught the oral expression without any
exposure to any kinds of treatments In contrast to students in the experimental group who
were provided with the audio stories in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of the
both allophones which are the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ]
2125 The Post-test Phase
Fundamentally after finishing the four sessions of training ie the period of
treatment a posttest was administered to both the experimental group and the control group
(see Appendix c) The posttest as we have said before is different from the pretest in order
to avoid familiarity with the same topic and to ensure the learners improvement of the dark
[ϯ] and clear [l] So the posttest is a kind of a passage which was taken from a short story
that is entitled ldquoThe Game of Billiardsrdquo which is written by Alphonse Daudet and some
words to pronounce Furthermore during the posttest we noticed a kind of development in
learnersrsquo pronunciation of the two allophones with students of the experimental group
especially in pronouncing the single words which was not the case with those learners in
the control group
39
Figure 5
Example of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquocabalrdquo
Figure 6
Example of the Clear [l] in the word ldquolabourrdquo
The rime
duration
The rime
duration
40
213 Scoring
After finishing recording the learnersrsquo pronunciation of the phoneme l of both
groups (the control and the experimental group) we have compared them first of all to the
native speakerrsquo s pronunciation and after that we have calculated the rime duration of the
two allophones ie the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] and at last we gave them scores out of six
(6) for each participant
214 Data Analysis
In this sub-section we are going to investigate the EFL learnersrsquo improvement of
pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] Though in order to make sure that EFL
learners have acquired the correct pronunciation of these two allophones we have firstly
investigated the native speakerrsquos pronunciation of the L sound ie the clear [l] and the dark
[ϯ] and we have analyzed the rime duration of two words ldquolightrdquo and ldquoballrdquo as examples
Figure7
The Native Speakerrsquos Pronunciation of the Clear [l] in the Word ldquolightrdquo
Rime
duration
41
Figure8
The Native Speakerrsquo s Pronunciation of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoballrdquo
From these two figures we have noticed that the native speaker has spent 016 s in
pronouncing an ideal clear [l] (see Figure 7) and he has spent 138 s in order to pronounce
a perfect dark [ϯ] (see Figure 8) Thus this analysis of the native speakerrsquo s voice paved the
way to our research in which we based our investigation on it
Table 1
The Experimental and the Control grouprsquo s Scores in the pre-test
Pre-test
Students
Control
group
Experimental
group
Rime
duration
(second)
C E
Rime
duration
42
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (Independent Sample t-
test)
After gathering data for the control and the experimental group and for the purpose
of comparing and contrasting between the two we have calculated the learnersrsquo scores of
pronunciation of the phoneme l and also we have calculated the rime duration of the two
1 1 2 118 127
2 2 25 095 091
3 1 1 116 102
4 25 2 106 091
5 25 25 078 089
6 15 2 078 105
7 2 15 123 091
8 1 1 117 108
9 15 1 119 119
10 15 1 1 115
11 2 15 091 116
12 15 1 12 119
13 2 15 114 1
14 15 1 108 112
15 1 1 131 112
16 2 1 088 08
17 1 1 127 107
18 1 15 107 149
19 15 1 099 115
20 1 15 114 174
Total 31 285 2149 2222
43
allophones (see Table1) Besides the data collected ie the learnersrsquo scores were used in
calculating the means of both groups in the pre-test (the mean is calculated using the SPSS
see Table 2)
Figure 9
The Pre-test Scores of the Control and the Experimental Group
Table 2
The Mean Score of the Control and the Experimental Group in the Pre-test
Test N Mean Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpre 20 15500 51042 11413
Epre 20 14250 51999 11627
44
In order to calculate the Mean () Results we have to use the following formula
=sumx N
N stands for the total numbers of students in one group
sumx stands for the total number of data that was gathered from the pre-test
1 stands for the mean of the Control Group
2 stands for the mean of the Experimental Group
So1= 31 20 =155
2= 285 20 = 142
From ldquoFigure 9rdquo we can notice that 1 is the most frequent score in both the
experimental and the control groups in the pre-test and we can confirm this information
from Table 1 Furthermore when comparing means of both groups we notice (see Table 2)
that there is only a slight difference between the two groups the mean of the control group
is 155 whereas the mean of the experimental group is 142 So we can deduce that the level
of both groups is approximately the same there is no significant difference Moreover the
rime duration of the phoneme l of the experimental group and the control group is to some
extent the same and we can notice this slight difference in Table 1 and precisely in the total
duration of pronouncing the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] by both groups and also in Table 2
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group post-test
In order to confirm if there is any kind of progression in the control grouprsquo s scores
in the post-test concerning the pronunciation of the phoneme l (see Table 3) we have
calculated the mean of the post-test (using the SPSS see Table 4) and compared it with the
mean of the pre-test besides we have calculated the rime duration that has been spent At
45
last we have mentioned the learnersrsquo scores differences between the pre-test and the post-
test to confirm the development (see Figure 10)
Table 3
Results and Scores Differences of the Control and Experimental group in the Post-test
Posttest
Students
Rime
Duration
(Second)
Cpre Cpost Epre Epost
Cpre Cpost Epre Epost
1 1 1 2 4 118 186 127 21
2 2 175 25 5 095 113 091 253
3 1 1 1 45 116 134 102 245
4 25 2 2 35 106 119 091 234
5 25 15 25 55 078 146 089 24
6 15 175 2 5 078 119 105 267
7 2 2 15 45 123 135 091 263
8 1 125 1 5 117 144 108 254
9 15 1 1 425 119 144 119 242
10 15 1 1 55 1 128 115 274
11 2 1 15 45 091 126 116 285
12 1 2 1 5 12 129 119 268
13 2 125 15 55 114 146 1 328
14 15 1 1 55 108 127 112 223
15 1 1 1 5 131 092 112 275
16 2 1 1 475 088 135 08 274
46
17 1 2 1 5 127 094 107 292
18 1 1 15 575 107 096 149 29
19 15 1 1 525 099 114 115 295
20 1 15 15 575 114 132 174 338
Total 31 27 285 9875 2149 2359 2222 535
Diff -4 +7025 +21 +3128
Mean 155 135 142 493
-02 +351
Table 4
The Mean of the control Group in the Pre-test and Post-test
Mean N Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpre 15500 20 51042 11413
Cpost 13500 20 41675 09319
In order to calculate the mean( )result of the control group in the post-test we have to apply
the following formula = sumx N
sum stands for the total number of the data collected in the post-test of the control
group
N refers to the total number of students So = 2720 = 1
47
Figure 10
The Control Group Studentsrsquo Scores Differences
A very insignificant development has been shown in both Figure 7 and Table 3
concerning learners scores in the post-test Besides only Students 681217 and 20 from a
total number of twenty have proved the improvement the mean of the control group has
decreased from 155 in the pre-test to 135 in the post-test ie the mean = -02
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group post-test (Paired Sample
T-test)
In order to identify the scoresrsquo differences between the results of the experimental
group in both the pre-test and the post-test we have calculated the mean of the post-test and
compared it with that of the pre-test to notice if there is any improvement (see Table 3) So
the mean of the post-test is shown in Table 5 below
48
Table 5
The Mean of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and Post-test
Mean N Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Epre 14250 20 51999 11627
Epost 49375 20 59535 13312
From Table 5 we notice that the mean of the experimental group increased from 142 in the
pre-test to 493 in the post-test with a mean difference of 351 ( = +351) and we can
calculate the mean ()of the post-test using the following formula
= sumxN
sum= Stands for the total number of data that was gathered from the post-test in the
Experimental Group
119925 =Stands for the total number of students
So= 9875 20 = 493
From Table 3 we notice that there is a very clear development and difference in
learnersrsquo scores in the post-test which is very different from the pre-test scores (see Figure
12) Moreover we can notice this development from Figure 11 below too It Shows that the
most frequent scores that learners of the experimental group have gained are 45 5 55 and
at last 575(the marks are out of six) that makes a big difference from the scores of the pre-
test in which the most frequent score was 1 In addition to all of this results we can add that
the sum of the rime duration of the post-test differs a lot from that of the pre-test ( = +3128
s)
49
Hence in the light of these results we can say that the period of treatment really
affects in a positive way the learnersrsquo acquisition of the pronunciation of dark [ϯ] and clear
[l] Besides this enhancement was improved in the mean difference between the pre-test and
the post-test of the experimental group Though the comparison of means in the pre-test and
post-test of the experimental group cannot be sufficient in order to make sure that listening
to audio-stories really affects positively the way learners pronounce the Phoneme l
Therefore a paired sample T-test was designed to assess the development of learnersrsquo
acquisition of dark [ϯ] and clear [l] ie to acceptreject the Alternative Hypothesis or to
accept reject the Null Hypothesis (See Table 6 below)
Figure 11
The Scores Frequencies of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and the Post-test
50
Figure 12
The Scores Differences of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and the Post-test
21431 The paired Sample T-test
In order to know if there is any significant difference between the post-test and the
pre-test scores of the same group a t-test is conducted At first the of the experimental
group is calculated through the following formula
= sumdN
refers to the Difference of mean Scores
N Studentsrsquo scores in the Experimental Group
sum refers to the total sum of the Differences Scores
So = 702520= 35125
51
The Standard deviation of the differences
Sd= radic119956120784= radicsum119941120784
119925minus 119941120784
S stands for the Variance
sum119941120784 refers to the square differences of Scores
After calculating
Sdcong 013
The Standard Error of the Mean Difference (SE)
It is calculated using the following formula
SE ()= 119878119889
radic119873cong003
Finally we calculate the t- value that will be compared to the critical P-value at the point
p=005 in order to accept the alternative hypothesis or rejecting it using the following
formula119957120784120782minus120783=
119878119864(119889) = 117
Table 6
Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Post-test Scores differences
Students Pre-test Post-test Difference
1 2 4 2
2 25 5 25
3 1 45 35
4 2 35 15
5 25 55 3
6 2 5 3
52
7 15 45 3
8 1 5 4
9 1 425 325
10 1 55 45
11 15 45 3
12 1 5 4
13 15 55 4
14 1 55 45
15 1 5 4
16 1 475 375
17 1 5 4
18 15 575 425
19 1 525 425
20 15 575 425
Total 285 9875 7025
Table 7
The Paired Sample T-test for the Experimental Group
Paired Sample T-Test
Epre
Scores-
Epost
Scores
Mean Std
deviati-
on
Std-
Error
Mean
95Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
t Df Sig
(2-
tailed)
Lower Upper
-351250 83695 18715 -390421 -312079 -18768 19 000
53
After calculating the mean of the experimental group in both the pre-test and the post-
test (see Table 5) a mean difference of +351 was noticed Therefore in order to prove if
the development that was noticed in the post-test scores as well as the mean occurred
because of the influence of listening to the audio-stories which is the independent variable
or happened only by coincidence
Hence to confirm the Alternative Hypothesis and reject the Null Hypothesis or vice
versa the t-value (117) was calculated in order to be compared with the critical- value at
the point p=005 and at the level of t=19 Besides p-value (0000) is less than 005 which
means that there a real difference between the learnersrsquo scores in the pre-test (before the
period of treatment) and the leanersrsquo scores in the post-test (after the period of treatment)
Consequently we can deduce that the improvement that was achieved by the experimental
group in the post test did not occur by chance actually it occurred because of listening to
audio-stories that has a positive effect on learnersrsquo pronunciation of both the clear [l] and the
dark [ϯ]
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-test
Table 8
The Mean of the Control Group and the Experimental Group in the Post-test
N Mean Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpost 20 13500 41675 09319
Epost 20 49375 59535 13312
54
To calculate the mean () we use the following Formula
= sum119961 N
So 1= sum119961 N
1 refers to the mean of the control group in the post-test
N refers to the total number of students in the control Group
sum119961 stands for the sum of scores of the control group in the post-test
1= 2720 = 135
2 = sum119961 N
2 stands for the mean of the experimental group in the post-test
N refers to the total number of participants in the experimental group
sum119961 Stands for the sum of scores of the experimental group in the post-test
So 2= 987520 = 493
Figure13
The Scores Frequencies of the Control Group and the Experimental Group in the Post-
test
55
From the previous analysis of the mean of both the control and the experimental
group in the pre-test (see Table 3) we have noticed that the level of students in both groups
is almost the same and there is only a slight difference between them Though in the post-
test the scores of the experimental group has increased and as result the mean average has
increased too after the treatment phase for the experimental group (from 142 to 493) but it
decreased for the control group who were taught without being exposed to any kind of
treatment (see Table 8 and Figure 10) Besides we can notice the development also in the
rime duration in studentsrsquo pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] of the experimental
group in the post-test which is not the case with the control group
21441 An independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the post-
test
In order to investigate if there is any significant change between two diverse groups
who have run the same test a t-test is used to show this significance difference In our case
we want to inspect if there is any significant variation between the experimental group and
the control group in the post-test and whether we accept the Alternative Hypothesis or
rejecting the Null Hypothesis So depending on the following steps a t-test was calculated
using the following formula
t= 119883 119888minus 119890
radicpartx2
Nx+
1205971199102
119873119910
partx2 = sum(119883 minus 119890 )N
= 306
1205971199102 =sum(119883 minus 119888 )2119873
= 160
119888 the mean of the control group in the post-test
56
119890 the mean of the experimental group in the post-test
partx2 the variation of the experimental group
1205971199102 the variation of the control group
So t= 493minus 135
radic306
20+
160
20
=745
t-value= 745
Depending on the t-value (745) that was calculated we compare it with the critical p-
value at p=005 therefore we have two options
1- If t-value is greater than the critical p-value (t-valuegtcritical-value) we accept the
alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
2- If t-value is less than the critical-value (t-valueltcritical-value) we accept the null
hypothesis and refuse the alternative hypothesis
we can say that
t-value=745 745 gt005
We accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
p-value= 0000 0000 lt005
We accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
Depending on these results we can say that there is a statistical evidence that the
associated sampling means are significantly different In other words there is a real change
between the experimental group and the control group in the post test at the level of
pronunciation due to the positive influence of the independent variable which is ldquolistening
to the audio-storiesrdquo Therefore students of the experimental group showed a significant
57
progress at the level of pronunciation and precisely the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
pronunciation
215 Discussion of the Results
The current research has investigated the influence of listening to audio-stories on
acquiring accurate pronunciation of both allophones the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] At the
start the pre-test has proved that learners of both groups ie the control and the
experimental group have the same level through calculating their means The control group
scored a mean of 155 while the experimental group scored a mean of 142 and also they
have got near scores concerning the rime duration of the L sound So these estimated scores
helped us to prove and confirm our hypothesis that states the positive effect of listening to
audio-stories on the level of pronunciation accuracy In the post-test students of the
experimental group showed a significant development compared to the control group and
this is due to the period of treatment that occurred in the oral session Besides the mean
score of the experimental group has been raised from 142 to 493 and from a sum of rime
durations of 2222 s to 535 s while the mean score of the control group has been decreased
from 155 to 135 and increased from a sum of rime durations of 2149 s to 2359 s In
addition a t-test was designed to show if there is any statistical significant difference
between the experimental group and the control group in the post-test the results show the
positive influence of the treatment phase on the dependent variable (pronunciation
accuracy)
216 Pedagogical implication
The present research evidenced the positive influence of being exposed to the target
language pronunciation as it is produced by the native speakers through the exposure to the
audio-stories Therefore we can state a set of pedagogical implications
58
The present study shows that the more students get involved in listening practices
the more they will be proficient in the pronunciation of a various English sounds ie
developing their speaking proficiency
Audio-stories help EFL learners improve their pronunciation as well as to develop
their listening skills
Using multimedia devices (audio-stories in our case) in learning classrooms
enhances the learnersrsquo motivation to get involved in the learning process
Audio-stories can be used by EFL teachers in order to make learners attentive and
interested in the lecture being presented
Audio-stories provide learners with the chance to listen again and again to the story
in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of a given word
Conclusion
The present research examined the effect of listening to audio stories on fostering the
target language pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] The native speakerrsquo s
pronunciation of both allophones was analyzed first through analyzing the rime duration in
order to compare it with the EFL learnersrsquo articulation That is to say the analysis is based
on the native speakerrsquo s rime duration In addition a significant development in learnersrsquo
pronunciation of the dark[ϯ]and the clear [l] was proved which lead to accept the alternative
hypothesis that states listening to audio-stories has a positive effect on acquiring accurate
pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] by EFL learners
59
General Conclusion
The present study is based on the investigation of the effectiveness of listening to
audio stories on acquiring accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] by EFL
learners At the beginning we have stated the problem which was that the Algerian EFL
learners in the English department at LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi University face a lot of difficulties
concerning the acquisition of the accurate pronunciation of The phoneme l Subsequently
this dissertation tackled the importance of listening to audio-stories on enhancing EFL
learnersrsquo pronunciation accuracy
Our research was tackled in two main chapters The first chapter divided into two
main sections In the first section we tackled the point of listening to audio stories whereas
the second section discussed the reflection of listening to audio stories on the pronunciation
of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] The second chapter represented the practical part the field
work The analyzed data showed that there is a positive relationship between the independent
variable and the dependent variable That is to say there was a development in the
acquisition of the phoneme l which lead us to accept the alternative hypothesis and reject
the null hypothesis
60
Limitations of the Study
Limited sources ie most of the sources that were available were not relevant to our
study
Time constraints this study needs much more time to conduct a better result
Students absences in the pre-test and the post-test and others did not receive the
treatment at all
The lack of interest in the beginning of the treatment session
61
List of References
Alonso SR (2012) The importance of Teaching Listening and Speaking Skills Diagravectica de Lingua
y la Literatura Facultad de Education
Brown S (2006) Teaching Listening Cambridge Cambridge University press
Coulter C Michael C ampPoynor L (2007) Storytelling as Pedagogy An Unexpected Outcome
of narrative inquiry 104-105
Daudet A (2001) Five Short Stories Copyright copy Bartlebycom Inc
Downs L J (2008) Listening Skills Training ASTD press
Eckert J (2016) Audio Storytelling in Todayrsquos Visual World The necessary Components of a
successful sounds scape for an audio play
Gilakjani A P (2012) A study of Factors Affecting EFL learnersrsquo English Pronunciation Learning
and the Strategy for instruction Lahijani Iran 2(3) 119-128
Hamer J (1998) How to teach English An Introduction to the Practice of English Language
Teaching English Language Teaching Harlow Longman
Hendrickson J (1992) Storytelling for foreign language and linguistics Washington Dc Eric
learning house on language and linguistic [ Eric No E0355-824]
Kline J A (1996) Listening Effectively Air University Press
Madden M and Moore Z (1997) ESL Studentsrsquo Opinions about instruction in Pronunciation
Texas 3(2) 15-32
Mendelson D J (1994) Learning to Listen Dominie Press
Nasreddin K (2010) The Influence of Background Knowledge on Second Language Listening
Comprehension Constantine Constantine University
62
Poposka V p (2016) Pronunciation Proficiency Level Problematic Areas of Tertiary as a Foreign
Language International Journal of Science and Basic and Applied Research
Richards J C (1990) The Language Teaching Matrix Cambridge Cambridge University Pess
Rubin SS (2015) Tools for Creating Audio Stories scholarship University of California
Roney RC (1996) Storytelling in the classroom Some Theoretical Thoughts Wayne State
University Education Detroit Michigan
Sproat R ampFujimura O (1993) Allophonic variation of the English l and its Implication for
phonetic Implementation Academic Press
Torky SA (2006) The Effectiveness of a Task-Based Instruction Program in Developing English
Language Speaking Skills of Secondary Stage Students Collegersquo s girl Ain Shams
University
Ummah A (2014) The Effectiveness of Nursery Rhymes to Facilitate Studentsrsquo of Pronunciation of
the Diphthong Education and Teacher Training Faculty Walisongo State institution for
Islamic Studies
Wang M (2016) Research on the Acoustic Realization of Lateral in Sundanese International
Journal of Engineering Research and Development 12(10) 44-48
Ziane R (2012) The Role of Listening Comprehension in Improving EFL learners Speaking Skill
Biskra University of Biskra
Zhang Q (2009) Affecting Factors of Native-Like Pronunciation A Literature Review Ching-Ang
University 27(2) 33-52
63
Abrahamson CE (1998) Storytelling as a pedagogical tool in high Education 118(3) Retrieved
from
httpwwwquestiacomlibraryjournal1G1-20494609storytelling-as-a-pedagogical-tool-
inhighereducation
AMP Research Center (2012) Retrieved from
Httpwwwncertrmqeduauconference2001indexhtal
Backley P (nd) Improving your English Pronunciation Retrieved from
httptoefluobabyloneduiqpaperspearson-2015-1269610pdf
Chaney (1998) Teaching Speaking Retrieved from
httpitesljorgtechniqueKayi-teaching speakinghtml
English Club (nd) What is listening Retrieved from
httpwwwenglishclubcom
Miller E (2011) Theories of story and storytelling Retrieved from
httpwww-storytellingandvideoconferencingcom167pdf
Pederson E M (1995) Storytelling and the art of listening English teaching forum 33(1)2-5
Retrieved from httpExchangesStategovForumuolsn01p2htm
Remen R N (nd) Listening Skills Retrieved from
httpwwwskillsyouneedcomipslistening-Skills-html
Rock R (nd) 5 Wonderful Websites for Engaging ESL Audio Short Stories Retrieved from
httpwwwFluentucomenglisheducatorsblogeslaudio-short-stories
Seifert S (nd) Follow Along 6 Engaging ESL Audio Stories with worksheet ideas Retrieved from
httpwwwFluentucomenglisheducatorblogeslaudio-stories
Saricoban A (2004) The Teaching of listening The Internet TESL journal
httpitesljorgArticlesSaricobn-listeninghtml
Subhi s (2016) Differences between Hearing and listening Retrieved from
httpkeydifferencescomdifference-between-hearning-and-listeninghtml
64
Shen CD (2010) 3 reasons why listening skills are very important in Todayrsquo s Business World
Retrieved from httpezinearticlescom3-Reasons-why-listening-skills-are-very-important-in-
Todays-Business-worldampid=5436504
the adapted audio-stories that were used in the period of treatment
(httpwwwmanythingsorgvoastories)
Appendix A A pre-test
The Last class- The Story of the Alsatian
I was very late for school that morning and I was terribly afraid of being Scolded
especially as Monsieur Hamel had told us that he should examine us on participles and I
did not know the first thing about them For a moment I thought of saying away from
school and wandering about the fields It was such a warm lovely day I could hear the
blackbirds whistling on the edge of the wood and in the ripper field behind the sawmill
the Prussians going through their drill All that was much more tempting to me than the
rules concerning participles but I had the strength to resist and I ran as fast as I could to
school
Sentences
You old fool they will kill you if you always trouble them
People are awfully lazy in the middle of July
Appendix B A post-test
The Game of Billiards
The marshalrsquo s opponent is a young captain of the staff belted and curled and light-
gloved who is in the first rank of billiard-players and capable of beating all the marshals
on earth but he has the tact to keep a respectful distance behind his chief and devotes his
energies to the task of not winning and at the same time not losing too easily He is what is
called an officer with a future
Read the following words
1 Cabal
2 Labour
3 Shell
Appendix c Treatment period
I Session one (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquothe Secret Gardenrdquo (Chapter One) By Frances Hodgson
Burnett
II Session two (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Secret Gardenrdquo (Chapter two) By Frances Hodgson
Burnett
III Session three (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Lady or the Tigerrdquo by Frank R Stockton
IV Session four (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Lady in Blackrdquo By Eleanor Porter
Reacutesumeacute
La preacutesente eacutetude vise agrave eacutetudier lrsquoarticulation de dark [ϯ] et clear [l] dans les classes de la
langue anglaise afin dameacuteliorer la prononciation des apprenants Lrsquoeacutetude actuelle repose
sur lhypothegravese que leacutecoute des histoires audio a un effet positif sur lameacutelioration de la
prononciation des apprenants EFL avec un accent particulier sur le dark [ϯ] et clear [l] Afin
datteindre lobjectif de cette recherche une eacutetude quasi-expeacuterimentale a eacuteteacute assigneacute en
deux groupe group teacutemoin et group expeacuterimentale Chaque groupe contenait 20 eacutelegraveves
Lexpeacuterience a pris six seacuteances un preacute-test une peacuteriode de traitement (4 seacuteances) et un
posttest En conclusion les reacutesultats obtenus montrent que les eacutetudiants qui sont exposeacute agrave
la langue cible et qui eacutecoutent au locuteur natif agrave lrsquoaide audio pour ameacuteliorer leurs
prononciations ont montreacute qursquoil y a un deacuteveloppement ameacutelioration au niveau de
compeacutetence des apprenants en particulier et en matiegravere de parole en geacuteneacuterale
Les mots cleacutes audio-histoire Compeacutetence drsquoeacutecoute prononciation dureacute de travaille
ملخص
استخدام القصص الصوتية من اجل المساعدة على اكتساب النطق السليم والدقيق تهدف هذه الدراسة الى التعرف على مدى فعالية
الأجنبية حيث تستند الدراسة الحالية على فرضية مفادها ان الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية له تأثير إيجابي على تحسين ةللغ
استغرقت التجربة ست ق المنهج التجريبيمن أجل تحقيق هدف هذه الدراسة تم تطبينطق الطلاب الأجانب للغة الإنجليزية
جلسات قسمت كالاتي أربع حصص معالجة سبقت باختبارات قبلية ولحقت باختبارات بعدية أجريت الدراسة في قسم اللغة
طالبا من طلاب السنة ثانية جامعي قسم الطلبة الى فوجين حيث 40الإنجليزية بجامعة العربي بن مهيدي وقد شملت الدراسة
ى معالجة لمدة أربع حصص من خلال الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية في حين لم يتعرض الفوج الثاني خضع أحد الفوجين ال
الى نفس المعالجة بعد ذلك تم اجراء الاختبارات البعدية واعتمادا على النتائج المتحصل عليها ثبت ان التعرض الى اللغة
جابي على اكتساب النطق الدقيق للغة المستهدفة الا وهي اللغة الأجنبية عن طريق الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية له تأثير إي
الأجنبية
القصص الصوتية النطق مدة الموجات الصوتيةالكلمات المفتاحية المهارة السمعية
8
Understanding inferred information eg speakerrsquo s attitude or intentions
(p134
Furthermore listening is an important source of knowledge It is recognized as the
ability of transforming and interpreting the spoken messages that are received by the ears
from the daily life situations Yet listening is a very hard task It requires the learnersrsquo mental
concentration which is something difficult because the human brain can simply lose attention
That is to say listening skill can save learners from communication breakdowns and
increases their motivation to learn the foreign language and speak fluently but only if they
work harder to develop their own listening skills
12 Differences between Listening and Hearing
Listening and hearing are two different activities Kline (1996) emphasizes the
differences between these two concepts to make an effective listening He states that
ldquohearing is the attachment of meaning to the sound Hearing is passive listening is activerdquo
(p7) In other words active listening is a successful element that affects learnersrsquo verbal and
nonverbal behaviors
Surbhi (2016) states the differences between listening and hearing On the one hand
he defines hearing as the natural capacity that happens unconsciously It aids to identify
sounds via the ears Also hearing is a process that permits receiving sound vibrations and
it is one of the five senses On the other hand Surhbi (2016) defines listening skill as the
process of receiving and interpreting messages it occurs consciously
13 Reasons of Listening
Learners through being exposed to different English accents and in any recorded
materials such as radio TV or tapes they want to understand and realize what is being said
9
(Harmer 1998) According to him listening is a very effective process that helps learners to
get a better pronunciation In other words as much as they are exposed to the real language
as much as they will recognize its features
Also Shen (2010) demonstrates that listening skills help to improve understanding
and aids people to become aware of their listening skills So listening plays a vital role in
language learning and acquisition It is an essential skill that bridges the line between
meaning and messages in order to avoid misunderstanding between individuals
14 Types of listening
Generally speaking the listening skill plays a significant role in teaching EFL
classrooms This process guides EFL learners to an effective communication Therefore the
listening skill can be classified into two different types Extensive listening and intensive
listening
141 Extensive Listening
Extensive listening has to do with the learnerrsquos fluency In other words the learner has
to master vocabulary grammarhellipetc and later on he must combine them together to form
a meaningful conversation So fluency depends on the listenerrsquos ability of understanding
whatever he is exposed to weather in an audio tape a text a songhellipetc
Harmer (1998) states that extensive listening is the way students practice their own
listening outside the classroom Students should enjoy listening to an audio material because
they can understand them without the teacherrsquo s help Also students can depend on CDs and
tapes so that they are going to have another chance to listen to their course books dialogues
that they have already provided to them inside the classroom In addition learners must be
10
stimulated to listen to the English language films with sub-titles because this helps students
to acquire the foreign language
In brief extensive listening according to the Extensive Reading-Central (2012) includes
Listening to massive amounts of text
Text which learners can understand reasonably smoothly
high levels of comprehension
Listening without being constrained by pre-set questions or tasks
Listening at or below onersquo s comfortable fluent listening ability
So extensive listening aims to make learners enjoy developing their listening skills
142 Intensive Listening
In contrast to extensive listening intensive listening aims at developing the learnersrsquo
specific listening skills and more precisely to raise the learnersrsquo attention about the spoken
language Intensive listening occurs weather in classrooms or laboratories It exists mostly
when teachers guide their students and provide them with help concerning listening
problems that they face and try to highlight them (Harmer 2007)
So intensive listening according to the Extensive Reading-central (2012) is
Listening for specific information
Listening for the exact words of a phrase or expression
Listening for details
Listening to mimic a text
11
15 Listening Processes
In listening process addressees process information using two distinct strategies
This is devoted to as bottom-up and top-down
151 Bottom-up Process
Richards (1990) states that ldquobottom-up processing refers the use of incoming data as
a source of information about the meaning of a messagerdquo (p 50) According to him Bottom-
up process deals with the perception of sentence components ie recognizing the meaning
of sounds words sentences clauseshellipetc till reaching the meaning of the whole message
152 Top-down Process
Richards (190) states that ldquoTop-down processing on the other hand refers to the use
of background knowledge in understanding the meaning of a messagerdquo (p 51) In contrast
to Bottom-up process Richards (1990) points out to the Top-down as the process of using
the listenersrsquo previous knowledge to attain meaning as whole not attaining the meaning of
individual words
16 Brief History of Audio-Stories
Eckert (2016) states that ldquoAudio storytelling in the form of radio drama has been
around for almost a centuryrdquo (p 8) That is to say audio stories in the previous decades took
the form of radio drama Radio drama attained extensive admiration within an era of its
original growth in the 1920rsquo s At that time radio drama played a central role for being the
foundation of people entertainment However by the 1950rsquo s people shifted their attention
to the new invention which was the small screen ie the television As a result of the
invention of this new device audio drama no more attracts the spectatorsrsquo attention it lost
its popularity
12
Though in 2010 radio drama came back to stage due to the developments shown in
digital soundtrack and internet spreading According to Eckert (2016) ldquoRadio and audio
storytelling has slowly started gaining popularity again thanks to the different online
platforms brought forth by digitalizationrdquo (p 8)
17 Definition of Storytelling
Today stories are a fundamental part of our societies and cultures Telling and
listening to stories is an ancient tradition and common activity that bonds different olden
civilizations together Also stories are an essential component and an ordinary process that
many people used to do on every occasion It is the art of telling factual or fictional stories
Besides stories bring legacy into life because our ancestors told them and people today
only retell them
Moreover listening to stories enhances the learnersrsquo foreign language It aids them
to improve their speaking skills Pederson (1995) states that ldquoin dealing with stories learners
have an experience with the powerful real language of personal communicationrdquo (p 2)
Additionally Pederson (1995) emphasizes the role of telling stories in preserving heritage
he argues that ldquooral stories are a direct expression of a literary and cultural heritage and
through them that heritage is appreciated understood and kept aliverdquo (1995 p2) In other
words stories bond between the past and the present It is considered to be a vital feature of
humankind Furthermore Schram (1994 as cited in Coulter Michael amp Poynor 2007)
points out
A story is a beautiful means of teaching religion values history traditions and
customs a creative method of introducing characters and places an imaginative way
13
to instill hope and resourceful thinking Stories help us to understand who we are and
show us what legacies to transmit to future generations (p 104-105)
So Schram (1994) highlights the role of stories in bridging the gap between the teaching
process and culture
Likewise Abrahamson (1998) sheds light on the role that storytelling plays in the
learning process He states that telling stories plays a significant role in improving learnersrsquo
understanding Besides Abrahamson argues that stories can afford a suitable context that
the listener can use it as a base to perceive the tellerrsquos point of view Moreover Roney (1996)
demonstrates
In its most basic form storytelling is a process where a person (the teller) using
vocalization narrative structure and mental imagery communications with other
humans (the audience) who also use mental imagery and in turn communicate back
to the teller primarily via body language and facial expression (p 2)
By this definition storytelling is the combination of art procedures and ways of
communication
18 Definition of Audio-Stories
The term audio-story is a combination of two words audio and story By definition
audio is sound within the aural range accessible to humankinds Miller (2011) states that
ldquostories are pieces of art and can serve as a basis of gamesrdquo (p 1) So Audio-story is a very
operative means for teaching EFL learners It aids to make the course persuasive Nowadays
14
audio stories can be used to many reasons and the most important one is the exposure to the
real language of native speakers by EFL learners In addition Rubin (2015) points out
ldquoaudio stories are an engaging form of communication that combines speech and music into
a compelling narrativesrdquo (p 1) That is to say audio stories are the process of telling stories
through sound and sound effects only Furthermore Audio-stories are broadly accredited to
progresses in portable equipment for instance smart phones tablets and multimedia
entertainment systems Thus EFL learners find it easy to listen to those audio stories
19 Characteristics of a Good Audio-Story
According to Seifert (nd) finding good audio-stories that suit the EFL learnersrsquo
needs is something very important and it is a very hard task to do However these are some
of the necessary features that EFL teachers must take into consideration whenever they want
to select a good audio-story for their students
Skill Level
Taking into account the learnersrsquo English level before choosing any audio-story For
instance if the audio-story contains a difficult language learners will lose confidence and
as a result they stop listening to the audio-story So determining the learnersrsquo level is very
important
Student Interest
EFL teachers must find out their studentsrsquo interests and normally each teacher has
an idea about this issue So if the audio-stories do not fit the learnersrsquo needs the EFL
teacherrsquos goal from that audio-story will be lost
15
Audio Length
The length of the audio-story plays a significant role in keeping concentration in the
ESL schoolrooms Listening for much time to the audio storytelling leads to boredom As a
result the learnersrsquo s brains lose attention However teachers can use long audio-stories but
they should know how to put it into parts and use classroom discussions to avoid boredom
So these three characteristics aid to develop EFL learnersrsquo listening skills
110 The Use of Audio-Stories in ESL Classrooms
According to Rock (nd) there are several listening practices that ESLEFL teachers
can provide to their students These are samples of activities that can work hand in hand with
audio-stories
Fill in The Blanks
Here EFL teacher provides his students with a written passage that is taken from an
audio-story but he removes some words Later on the teacher asks his learners to listen to
the audio-story after reading that passage and at the same time fill in the blanks
Mastery Memory
This activity has to do with learnerrsquos memory In this kind of practices teachers
provide learners with an audio-story and ask them for example to write down the main
events of the story but when they finish listening to it Teachers in this activity have to make
sure that students do not write them during the listening of the audio-story So the main goal
of the exercise is to reinforce learnerrsquos memory
16
Order the Events
At the start teachers give their learners a series of events that are chosen from an
audio-story Then the teacher gives them some time to read them After that learners listen
to the audio- storytelling and put those events in a sequential order
Buzz Words
This exercise aims to reach the learnerrsquo s vocabulary In this practice teachers
provide learners with a number of words then they ask them to check their meanings before
Afterward teacher turns the lesson into a game ie EFL learners listen to the audio-story
and whenever they hear a word (the buzz word) from that list they have to raise their hands
or clap them
Multiple Choice
This activity deals with providing learners with a number of questions followed by
three answers these questions can be definitions or name of characterhellip etc Then learners
have to listen to the audio-storytelling and pick the write response After teachers play again
the audio-story to correct their answers
Character Quiz
In this practice EFL learners have to listen to the whole story Then the teacher gives
his class a question sheet that contains a list of character qualities and decision and ask them
to choose the suitable one for the leading role
Plot Quiz
This activity has to do with team competition After listening to the whole audio-
storytelling once or twice the teacher divides his class into two to four groups where the
17
teacher plays the role of the coach Several questions that have a relation to the story will be
quizzed to each team if they get the answer they have a point if they fail to answer correctly
the question moves to the next group
Beginning Middle End
After listening to the audio storytelling the teacher splits the classroom into groups
and each group contains no more than four students Later he asks each group to write the
main events of the beginning the middle and the end of the story Finally they discuss them
together
111 Advantages of Using Audio-Stories
Audio-stories play an essential role in teaching the target language Audio-
storytelling is an impeccable implement for any ESL classrooms First of all audio-stories
afford learners with the exposure to the real language as it is produced by the native speakers
ie a natural voice Furthermore Rodero (2012 as cited in Eckert2016) claimed that
ldquoAudio stories that use sound effects and sound shots enhance the learnerrsquo s attention and
creation of visual images significantly compared to those without themrdquo (p 16) That is to
say using audio-stories in ESL classrooms develops learnersrsquo listening skills and provides
them with an imaginary trip inside their minds Also audio- stories enhance learnersrsquo
pronunciation since the learner is exposed to the natural voice In addition EFL teacher can
use audio storytelling as a guideline to his lecture or the opposite he can use it at the end of
the course as a reward
Moreover the EFL teachers depend on audio-stories in improving learnersrsquo
vocabulary through memorization Learners can enrich their vocabulary whenever they
listen to those stories because each time they learn some new words Besides learners can
18
listen to them outside the schoolrooms because they are portable they can upload them in
their mobiles and listen to them any time anywhere Finally audio stories can raise interest
for those learners who are not attracted to reading
Conclusion
In conclusion listening to audio stories aids EFL learners to improve the target
language pronunciation That is to say students will be exposed to the real language as it is
created by the native speakers Besides using audio stories in ESLEFL classrooms increases
the learnersrsquo interest toward learning the foreign language and also enhances their speaking
skills
19
Section two Reflection on Pronunciation
Introduction
121 Definition of Speaking Skill
122 Speaking Sub-Competencies Skills
123 Definition of Pronunciation
124 Importance of Pronunciation
125 Factors Affecting Pronunciation
1251 Internal Factors
1252 External Factors
Conclusion
20
Introduction
Generally speaking being able to speak the target language fluently and accurately
seems to be very interesting to all EFLESL learners Though students face a lot of troubles
and obstacles when communicating with each other or with native speakers and this is due
to mispronunciation misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the hearer which leads to the
communication breakdowns Furthermore learnersrsquo mispronunciation occurs due to various
factors that affect their oral language and as a consequence it affects their speaking
proficiency
In this section we have dealt with the speaking process and precisely
ldquopronunciationrdquo At the start a slight attention is put upon the definition of speaking skills
and its sub-competencies After that a part of this section is devoted to define pronunciation
and highlight its importance Moreover this section demonstrates some factors that affect
pronunciation which are classified into internal factors and external factors Finally another
point about the English consonant ldquoLrdquo has been raised
121 Definition of Speaking Skill
Mastering the foreign language is the aim of each EFL learner Speaking is one of
the most important language skills it plays a significant role in sharing ideas and thoughts
between individuals Torky (2006) defines speaking as follows ldquoIt is the means through
which learners can communicate with others to achieve certain goals or to express their
opinions intentions hopes and viewpointsrdquo (p 13) Also Ziane (2012) states that ldquoit is the
way by which learners can contribute and be part of oral communicationrdquo (p21) So the
main goal of EFL learners is to be able to speak the target language in order to strengthen
their verbal communication
21
Moreover Chaney (1998) argues that ldquospeaking is the process of building and
sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols in a variety of contextsrdquo
(p 13) From Chaneyrsquo s definition of speaking we deduce that speaking has an important
role in learning the foreign language and improving EFL learnersrsquo communicative skill
However there are some researchers who describe speaking as a hard task They
argue that EFL learners find it so hard to master the foreign language and face a lot of
difficulties even after studying it many years at schools Bueno and Mclaren (2006 as cited
in Alonso 2011) point out
Speaking is one of the most difficult skills language learners have to face In spite of
this it has traditionally been forced into the background while we teachers of
English have spent all our classroom time trying to teach our students how to write
to read and sometimes even to listen in a L2 because grammar has a long written
tradition (p 321)
On the whole the speaking skill is a very important process that EFL learners need to acquire
in order to master and shape the target language
122 Speaking Sub CompetenciesSkills
Torky (2006) claims that learners must be able to express themselves in a given
context in order to be proficient in mastering the foreign language She points out to several
speaking skills or competencies that help to achieve this aim which are
22
Linguistic Competence
Torky (2006) states that learners must be skillful in using pronunciation ie their
pronunciation must be clear In addition students have to use correct grammar and
proper lexis
Discourse Competence
In the beginning learners have to be able to use a well-organized discourse In other
words the discourse must be clear and unified Besides they have to be competent in
handling discussion and cooperating efficiently in order to avoid the communication
breakdowns
Pragmatic Competence
EFL learners have to be proficient in using a variety of functions that are related to
the same context and register
Fluency
Speaking smoothly without any complications and with a suitable degree of speech
speed
123 Definition of Pronunciation
According to Gilakjani (2012) ldquopronunciation is an integral part of foreign language
since it directly affects learnersrsquo communicative competence as well as performancerdquo
(p119) That is to say pronunciation plays a fundamental role in learning and improving the
target language Besides Poposka (2016) argues that pronunciation is the key factor of
language in its universal notion and she claims that pronunciation should be defined in
23
relation to different perspectives Poposka (2016) states some of the various points of view
concerning pronunciation definition which are
- The act or manner of pronouncing uttering of speech
- A way of speaking a word especially a way that is accepted or generally understood
- A graphic representation of the way a word is spoken using phonetic symbols (p
200)
Moreover Dauer (1993 as cited in Ummah 2014) states that ldquopronunciation is the
act of producing the sound of speech including articulation vowel formation accent
inflection and intonation often with reference to the correctness or acceptability of the
speech soundrdquo (p 10) In addition Poposka (2016) states that pronunciation is the vocal
capacity to produce particular sounds weather when communicating with individuals or
when being alone This construction of sounds leads to the appearance of some utterances
that may be expressive or worthless (p 200) Furthermore Adult Migrant English Program
research center (AMP 2002) points out
Pronunciation refers to the production of sounds that we use to make meaning it includes
attention to the particular sounds of language (segments) aspects of speech beyond the
level of the individual sound such as intonation phrasing stress timing rhythm
(suprasegmental aspects) (p1)
In other words AMP research center argues that even if these two aspects suprasegmental
and segmental structures are treated separately it is necessary to know that they work hand
in hand in a given context whenever someone speaks
24
124 Importance of Pronunciation
Madden and Moore (1997) states that ldquoin first language acquisition children learn
pronunciation inductively by absorbing and reproducing the sounds in their environmentrdquo
(p 4) That is to say all human beings in their natural development from childhood to
adulthood learn first of all how to talk before learning how to read or write Also Zhang
(2009) claims that ldquolearning a language means to perform the sounds utterances and the
words properly and correctlyrdquo (p 34-35) So pronunciation is a very essential skill in
learning a second language
Moreover Morley (1998 as cited in Zhang 2009) argues that ldquoit is clear that limited
pronunciation skills will make learners lose their self-confidence and result in negative
influence for learners to estimate their credibility and abilitiesrdquo (p 35) In other words it
does not matter whether learners make mistakes concerning grammar or vocabulary all what
matters is the way they pronounce a given word in order to make a worthy impression on
the learnersrsquo language capacities Zhang (2009) points out
Good pronunciation will make people understand you easily and be willing to listen to
you Contrarily poor English pronunciation may confuse people and lead to an
unpleasant talking and misunderstanding even if you used advanced English grammar
or vocabulary (p 35)
Likewise Backley (n d) argues ldquoif a speaker has a clear pronunciation this has immediate
benefits listeners judge the speakerrsquo s overall language ability much more favorably even
to the point of tolerating grammatical and other errorsrdquo (p 126) Therefore good
25
pronunciation aids to avoid misinterpretation and intelligibility between speakers and
listeners and show the learnersrsquo competencies in mastering their second language
Furthermore good pronunciation affects the learnersrsquo speed of acquiring the target language
In addition learners should use only simple structures with good and correct pronunciation
rather than using complex expressions in order to communicate with others
125 Factors Affecting Pronunciation
Generally speaking there are several factors that affect the learnersrsquo pronunciation
These factors can be classified into internal factors and external factors
1251 Internal Factors
Zhang (2009) states that internal factors can be categorized also into biological
factors individual differences and individual efforts and goal setting
Biological Factors
They are branded into four features age ear perception and aptitude
Learnersrsquo Age
At the start there is a difference between young learners and adult learners
concerning the acquisition of the accurate pronunciation Nonetheless this does not mean
that adult learners cannot get accurate pronunciation as well They have to work much harder
because their brainsrsquo plasticity reduces That is to say age plays a significant part in learning
the target language pronunciation Moreover Zhang (2009) emphasizes the role of the
critical period hypothesis that was proposed by Lenneberg in 1967 which states that there
is a certain age that helps learners to acquire the foreign language pronunciation accurately
26
and after that age the brain loses its flexibility Furthermore (Nation and Newton (2009) as
cited in Zhang 2009) claim that
Usually if the learner began to speak in the second language before the age of six
there will be little or no accent If the learner began to speak between the age of seven
and eleven the learners likely to have a slight accent If the learner began to speak
after age of twelve the learners almost always have an accent (p 78)
This is the reason behind the acceptance of the idea that learners find it so hard to acquire
the foreign language after maturity
Additionally Zhang (2009) states that young learners have bigger chances than the
adult learners in obtaining accurate pronunciation He claims that the brain loses its
flexibility and becomes rigid after puberty (after nine years old) as a result the brainrsquo s
functions will be devoted to the right and left hemispheres which makes it so difficult to
acquire the foreign languagersquo s pronunciation correctly Also Lenneberg (1967 as cited in
Zhang 2009) argues that ldquobefore the age of two the brain has not developed enough but
after puberty it developed too much and it will lose its plasticity and finish the lateralization
of the language functionrdquo (p 39) In other words it becomes so hard to obtain the native-
like pronunciation after the lateralization
Ear Perception
One of the most important factors that affect the learnersrsquo acquisition of the foreign
language is the ldquoear perceptionrdquo Zhang (2009) claims that the hearing abilities differ from
one person to another That is to say there are learners who have a strong hearing capacity
27
they can hear sounds in a very clear way which help them in reproducing the native speakersrsquo
pronunciation smoothly Whereas there is that kind of learners who do not have that ability
However Zhang argues that the ear perception has nothing to do with the learner age He
claims that it is natural that learners may lose some of their capacities whenever they become
older
Aptitude
Generally speaking foreign language aptitude is the personrsquos ability to learn a foreign
or a second language very rapidly and with no troubles (Wen 2011) Also Dornyei and
skehan (2003 as cited in Wen 2011) states ldquooriginally the notion of FLA presumed a
relatively stable talent for learning a foreign language that differs between individualsrdquo (p
590) So EFL learners do not have the same ability to acquire the foreign language
Additionally Carroll (1962 as cited in Wen 2011) states four components of the FLA which
are
lsquophonemic coding abilityrsquo (ie the ability to identify and retain sounds and link them
to phonetic symbols)
Sensitivity towards the grammatical functions that words fulfil in a sentence
The ability to learn inductively (ie to infer and generalize linguistic structures from
language samples) and
The ability to rote learn vocabulary items paired with their associated translations
(p 233)
Hence aptitude has an important role in improving learnersrsquo foreign language
Although Zhang (2009) argues that all individuals have a language aptitude ability but they
28
differ only in the degree of that aptitude capacity Also he claims that we cannot say that
those people who have a sophisticated level of language aptitude will get to the top and
people with an inferior level of language aptitude will go pear-shaped
Individual Differences
Zhang (2009) states that learnersrsquo different personalities affect the way they acquire
the foreign language pronunciation He argues that extroverted learners are more likely to
acquire the target pronunciation rather than introverted learners because extroverted learners
are not afraid of making mistakes which is not the case with the introverted learners who
face always the fear of failure Besides extroverted students are more friendly they tend to
work with others which leads them to practice the target language so they become more
familiar with it which aids to improve their pronunciation very quickly (p 40-41)
Individual Efforts and Goal setting
At the start the main goal of each EFLESL learner is to master the foreign language
in order to communicate with others Zhang (2009) points out ldquowe must always remember
that teaching never causes learning but rather creates the conditions in which learning can
occurrdquo (p 42) Besides he emphasizes that pronunciation is really a very hard task that
learners can acquire in a few days but it is not something impossible that learners cannot
achieve Though as much time learners spend in practicing the target language
pronunciation the better results they will get
1252 External Factors
External factors can be classified into three aspects learnersrsquo native language
exposure to target language and education factors
29
Learnerrsquo s Native Language
Universally the learnersrsquo native language affects their pronunciation of the foreign
language Zhang (2009) states that studentsrsquo mother tongue reflects the way they pronounce
a certain word in the target language and this is due to the differences that are found between
the two languages In other words learners find a lot of complications in articulating some
sounds for the reason that some of those sounds do not occur in their native language (p
43)
Exposure to the Target Language
Zhang (2009) shows that the acquisition of English language pronunciation is related
to the amount of exposure to it as it is produced by the native speakers That is to say this
depends on the learner himself ie on the situation in which the learning process occurs In
other words Zhang argues that it does not matter weather learners live in a native country
or not it is a matter of how much time they listen to the foreign language and how much
time they use it Zhang (2009) states ldquothe more they spend their time for listening and
speaking English the better their English pronunciation will berdquo (p 44) Thus learnerrsquo s
pronunciation accuracy depends on the surrounding environment where the target language
takes place
Educational Factors
At the start the system of education is responsible for studentsrsquo learning process
Worthy educational structure provides a lot of chances for learners to be exposed to the target
language through creating a suitable learning environment Additionally EFLESL
teachersrsquo accent reflects the learnersrsquo pronunciation because learners take teachers as an
30
exemplary in order to improve their pronunciation That is why teachers should work on
their pronunciation initially (Zhang 2009)
The English Consonant Sound ldquoLrdquo
Generally speaking EFL learners face complications in learning the English L sound
Sproat and Fujimura (1993) argue ldquoEnglish l has traditionally been classified into at least
two allophones namely light which occurs initially and dark which occurs syllable finallyrdquo
(p 291) Furthermore Wang (2016) states that the L consonant sound is a lateral phoneme
in English and it has two allophones he points out
One of them is found before vowels as in ldquoladyrdquo or ldquoflyrdquo called clear l and is
pronounced as the alveolar lateral approximant in a neutral position of the body of
the tongue The other variant is called dark l found before consonants or at word-
finally position as in ldquoboldrdquo or ldquotellrdquo Which is as the velarized lateral approximant
with the tongue in a spoon-like shape Its back part is raised which gives the sound
a w-like resonance (p 44)
In other words the clear [l] occurs when the tip of the tongue raises up and touches the soft
palate just behind the front teeth whereas the dark [ϯ] happens when the tip of the tongue
pulls back and the tongue raises to the middle without touching the soft palate to make the
L sound So the difference between these two allophones is the reason behind those troubles
that the learner may face
However Sproat and Fujimura (1993 as cited in Jiahong 2011) explain the
differences between these two allophones by relating them to the rime duration In other
31
words they point out that whenever the l sound occurs in longer rimes it is going to be a
dark [ϯ] and whenever the rime is short the l sound is clear or light
Figure 1
Articulatory Differences in l Velarization
Source Recasens 2012 p369
Conclusion
To end with it is very important to acknowledge that pronunciation is one way that
leads to an effective and a successful communication That is why many researchers shed
light on the investigation of some factors that may influence the EFL learnersrsquo pronunciation
As a result these identifying concepts help foreigners to overcome their difficulties when
they are introduced to the target language
32
Chapter two Field Work
Introduction
21 Methodology
211 Research Participants
212 The Procedure
2121 The Research Design
2122 The Pre-test Phase
2123 The Treatment Phase
2124 The Control Group
2125 The Post-test Phase
213 Scoring
214 Data Analysis
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (independent Sample
t-test)
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group Post-test
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group Post-test (Paired
Sample t-test)
21431 Paired Sample t-test
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-test
33
21441 An Independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the
Post-test
215 Discussion of the Results
216 Pedagogical Implications
Conclusion
34
Introduction
This research attempts to investigate the effect of listening to audio stories on
acquiring accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] by second year LMD students
at the department English -LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi The chosen sample is divided into two
groups the control group and the experimental group At the start participantsrsquo
pronunciation accuracy of the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] (the dependent variable) was measured
through a pretest Later on a period of treatment is taken by the experimental group which
is not the case with the control group After that a post-test is administered to both groups
in which the results are gathered using a software called the ldquopraatrdquo In addition we shed
light on describing the sample taking the place in which the study took place the method
used and at last the data collected
21 Methodology
211 Research Participants
The current study involved two intact classes of second year LMD students from
LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi-English Department The selected sample includes students from
different gender Furthermore we favored to select second year students for several reasons
The first reason was that second year students have practiced working with audio supports
which was not the case with first year students so they will not face problems concerning
listening to audio stories The second reason was that second year learners study oral
expression
At the start the experiment includes a sample of forty learners that have been chosen
from two intact classes of second year LMD students The chosen sample represents 1904
from the entire population which comprises 210 learners Additionally both clusters were
35
divided into a control group and an experimental group twenty students in each group At
the beginning the sample was supposed to be comprised of sixty students in which both the
control and the experimental groups covered thirty students Unfortunately there were a lot
of absences in both groups Also there are some students who have not passed both the
pretest and the posttest and others have not received the treatment at all Therefore the
sample size was reduced from sixty to forty students which can be sufficient to represent
the whole population and to get consistent outcomes
In order to gather consistent data that help to achieve the purpose of our research a
quasi-experimental design was designated The use of the chosen method will provide us
with a wide-ranging representation of the reflection of listening to audio stories on the
acquisition of the accurate pronunciation of the dark [l] and clear [l]
212 The Procedure
To accumulate a reliable data an experiment was conducted over six sessions The
treatment period took four sessions and the remained two sessions for the pretest and the
posttest The pretest took a form different from that of the posttest in order to avoid
familiarity to improve the learnersrsquo development and get consistent information Both
groups have taken the tests but only the experimental group took the treatment Besides the
duration of training concerning the treatment period for the experimental group took 90
minutes ie one hour and a half for each session and it started after getting the
authorization of the teacher of oral expression
36
2121 The Research Design
Figure 2
Experimental Group Procedures
Figure 3
Control Group Procedures
2122 The Pre-test Phase
By the first week of March both the control group and the experimental group have
taken the pretest However before choosing the pretest and in order to avoid any problems
we have checked that the dark [l] and the clear [l] are pronounced the same in both the
American and the British accents using the Oxford Advanced Learnerrsquo s Dictionary At the
outset learners were required to read a passage derived from a short story named ldquoThe last
class-The story of the Alsationrdquo that was written by Alphonse Daudet (2001) and also short
sentences (see Appendix A) After that their voices were recorded using a software known
pre-test
treatment
(listening to audio stories)
post-test
pre-test
No treatment
( being taught without listening
to audio-stories)
post-test
37
as the ldquoPraatrdquo Besides our focus here was raised toward the duration (ie the length of a
syllable) of the dark [l] and the clear [l]
Throughout the pretest EFL learners found themselves unable to pronounce the dark
[ϯ] and clear [l] that are found in some words correctly In other words students in the control
group and the experimental group most of the time pronounce the dark [ϯ] in the same way
they pronounce the clear [l] ie they spend the same duration for pronouncing the two
allophones Also EFL learners from time to time pronounce them differently but in a wrong
way ie they spent a rime duration that it not suitable neither for the light [l] nor for the
dark[ϯ]
Figure4
Example of the Lateral Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoSawmillrdquo
2123 The Treatment Phase
At first both participants have finished the pretest Though the treatment was
approved to the experimental group only the control group did not receive the same
treatment Besides the experimental group received the treatment in four sessions and each
Rime
duration
38
session took one hour and a half (ie 90 minutes) In each session students were asked to
listen to the audio-story in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of both allophones
after that they discussed the story being listened (see Appendix B)
2124 The Control Group
Concerning the control group students were taught the oral expression without any
exposure to any kinds of treatments In contrast to students in the experimental group who
were provided with the audio stories in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of the
both allophones which are the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ]
2125 The Post-test Phase
Fundamentally after finishing the four sessions of training ie the period of
treatment a posttest was administered to both the experimental group and the control group
(see Appendix c) The posttest as we have said before is different from the pretest in order
to avoid familiarity with the same topic and to ensure the learners improvement of the dark
[ϯ] and clear [l] So the posttest is a kind of a passage which was taken from a short story
that is entitled ldquoThe Game of Billiardsrdquo which is written by Alphonse Daudet and some
words to pronounce Furthermore during the posttest we noticed a kind of development in
learnersrsquo pronunciation of the two allophones with students of the experimental group
especially in pronouncing the single words which was not the case with those learners in
the control group
39
Figure 5
Example of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquocabalrdquo
Figure 6
Example of the Clear [l] in the word ldquolabourrdquo
The rime
duration
The rime
duration
40
213 Scoring
After finishing recording the learnersrsquo pronunciation of the phoneme l of both
groups (the control and the experimental group) we have compared them first of all to the
native speakerrsquo s pronunciation and after that we have calculated the rime duration of the
two allophones ie the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] and at last we gave them scores out of six
(6) for each participant
214 Data Analysis
In this sub-section we are going to investigate the EFL learnersrsquo improvement of
pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] Though in order to make sure that EFL
learners have acquired the correct pronunciation of these two allophones we have firstly
investigated the native speakerrsquos pronunciation of the L sound ie the clear [l] and the dark
[ϯ] and we have analyzed the rime duration of two words ldquolightrdquo and ldquoballrdquo as examples
Figure7
The Native Speakerrsquos Pronunciation of the Clear [l] in the Word ldquolightrdquo
Rime
duration
41
Figure8
The Native Speakerrsquo s Pronunciation of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoballrdquo
From these two figures we have noticed that the native speaker has spent 016 s in
pronouncing an ideal clear [l] (see Figure 7) and he has spent 138 s in order to pronounce
a perfect dark [ϯ] (see Figure 8) Thus this analysis of the native speakerrsquo s voice paved the
way to our research in which we based our investigation on it
Table 1
The Experimental and the Control grouprsquo s Scores in the pre-test
Pre-test
Students
Control
group
Experimental
group
Rime
duration
(second)
C E
Rime
duration
42
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (Independent Sample t-
test)
After gathering data for the control and the experimental group and for the purpose
of comparing and contrasting between the two we have calculated the learnersrsquo scores of
pronunciation of the phoneme l and also we have calculated the rime duration of the two
1 1 2 118 127
2 2 25 095 091
3 1 1 116 102
4 25 2 106 091
5 25 25 078 089
6 15 2 078 105
7 2 15 123 091
8 1 1 117 108
9 15 1 119 119
10 15 1 1 115
11 2 15 091 116
12 15 1 12 119
13 2 15 114 1
14 15 1 108 112
15 1 1 131 112
16 2 1 088 08
17 1 1 127 107
18 1 15 107 149
19 15 1 099 115
20 1 15 114 174
Total 31 285 2149 2222
43
allophones (see Table1) Besides the data collected ie the learnersrsquo scores were used in
calculating the means of both groups in the pre-test (the mean is calculated using the SPSS
see Table 2)
Figure 9
The Pre-test Scores of the Control and the Experimental Group
Table 2
The Mean Score of the Control and the Experimental Group in the Pre-test
Test N Mean Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpre 20 15500 51042 11413
Epre 20 14250 51999 11627
44
In order to calculate the Mean () Results we have to use the following formula
=sumx N
N stands for the total numbers of students in one group
sumx stands for the total number of data that was gathered from the pre-test
1 stands for the mean of the Control Group
2 stands for the mean of the Experimental Group
So1= 31 20 =155
2= 285 20 = 142
From ldquoFigure 9rdquo we can notice that 1 is the most frequent score in both the
experimental and the control groups in the pre-test and we can confirm this information
from Table 1 Furthermore when comparing means of both groups we notice (see Table 2)
that there is only a slight difference between the two groups the mean of the control group
is 155 whereas the mean of the experimental group is 142 So we can deduce that the level
of both groups is approximately the same there is no significant difference Moreover the
rime duration of the phoneme l of the experimental group and the control group is to some
extent the same and we can notice this slight difference in Table 1 and precisely in the total
duration of pronouncing the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] by both groups and also in Table 2
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group post-test
In order to confirm if there is any kind of progression in the control grouprsquo s scores
in the post-test concerning the pronunciation of the phoneme l (see Table 3) we have
calculated the mean of the post-test (using the SPSS see Table 4) and compared it with the
mean of the pre-test besides we have calculated the rime duration that has been spent At
45
last we have mentioned the learnersrsquo scores differences between the pre-test and the post-
test to confirm the development (see Figure 10)
Table 3
Results and Scores Differences of the Control and Experimental group in the Post-test
Posttest
Students
Rime
Duration
(Second)
Cpre Cpost Epre Epost
Cpre Cpost Epre Epost
1 1 1 2 4 118 186 127 21
2 2 175 25 5 095 113 091 253
3 1 1 1 45 116 134 102 245
4 25 2 2 35 106 119 091 234
5 25 15 25 55 078 146 089 24
6 15 175 2 5 078 119 105 267
7 2 2 15 45 123 135 091 263
8 1 125 1 5 117 144 108 254
9 15 1 1 425 119 144 119 242
10 15 1 1 55 1 128 115 274
11 2 1 15 45 091 126 116 285
12 1 2 1 5 12 129 119 268
13 2 125 15 55 114 146 1 328
14 15 1 1 55 108 127 112 223
15 1 1 1 5 131 092 112 275
16 2 1 1 475 088 135 08 274
46
17 1 2 1 5 127 094 107 292
18 1 1 15 575 107 096 149 29
19 15 1 1 525 099 114 115 295
20 1 15 15 575 114 132 174 338
Total 31 27 285 9875 2149 2359 2222 535
Diff -4 +7025 +21 +3128
Mean 155 135 142 493
-02 +351
Table 4
The Mean of the control Group in the Pre-test and Post-test
Mean N Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpre 15500 20 51042 11413
Cpost 13500 20 41675 09319
In order to calculate the mean( )result of the control group in the post-test we have to apply
the following formula = sumx N
sum stands for the total number of the data collected in the post-test of the control
group
N refers to the total number of students So = 2720 = 1
47
Figure 10
The Control Group Studentsrsquo Scores Differences
A very insignificant development has been shown in both Figure 7 and Table 3
concerning learners scores in the post-test Besides only Students 681217 and 20 from a
total number of twenty have proved the improvement the mean of the control group has
decreased from 155 in the pre-test to 135 in the post-test ie the mean = -02
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group post-test (Paired Sample
T-test)
In order to identify the scoresrsquo differences between the results of the experimental
group in both the pre-test and the post-test we have calculated the mean of the post-test and
compared it with that of the pre-test to notice if there is any improvement (see Table 3) So
the mean of the post-test is shown in Table 5 below
48
Table 5
The Mean of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and Post-test
Mean N Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Epre 14250 20 51999 11627
Epost 49375 20 59535 13312
From Table 5 we notice that the mean of the experimental group increased from 142 in the
pre-test to 493 in the post-test with a mean difference of 351 ( = +351) and we can
calculate the mean ()of the post-test using the following formula
= sumxN
sum= Stands for the total number of data that was gathered from the post-test in the
Experimental Group
119925 =Stands for the total number of students
So= 9875 20 = 493
From Table 3 we notice that there is a very clear development and difference in
learnersrsquo scores in the post-test which is very different from the pre-test scores (see Figure
12) Moreover we can notice this development from Figure 11 below too It Shows that the
most frequent scores that learners of the experimental group have gained are 45 5 55 and
at last 575(the marks are out of six) that makes a big difference from the scores of the pre-
test in which the most frequent score was 1 In addition to all of this results we can add that
the sum of the rime duration of the post-test differs a lot from that of the pre-test ( = +3128
s)
49
Hence in the light of these results we can say that the period of treatment really
affects in a positive way the learnersrsquo acquisition of the pronunciation of dark [ϯ] and clear
[l] Besides this enhancement was improved in the mean difference between the pre-test and
the post-test of the experimental group Though the comparison of means in the pre-test and
post-test of the experimental group cannot be sufficient in order to make sure that listening
to audio-stories really affects positively the way learners pronounce the Phoneme l
Therefore a paired sample T-test was designed to assess the development of learnersrsquo
acquisition of dark [ϯ] and clear [l] ie to acceptreject the Alternative Hypothesis or to
accept reject the Null Hypothesis (See Table 6 below)
Figure 11
The Scores Frequencies of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and the Post-test
50
Figure 12
The Scores Differences of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and the Post-test
21431 The paired Sample T-test
In order to know if there is any significant difference between the post-test and the
pre-test scores of the same group a t-test is conducted At first the of the experimental
group is calculated through the following formula
= sumdN
refers to the Difference of mean Scores
N Studentsrsquo scores in the Experimental Group
sum refers to the total sum of the Differences Scores
So = 702520= 35125
51
The Standard deviation of the differences
Sd= radic119956120784= radicsum119941120784
119925minus 119941120784
S stands for the Variance
sum119941120784 refers to the square differences of Scores
After calculating
Sdcong 013
The Standard Error of the Mean Difference (SE)
It is calculated using the following formula
SE ()= 119878119889
radic119873cong003
Finally we calculate the t- value that will be compared to the critical P-value at the point
p=005 in order to accept the alternative hypothesis or rejecting it using the following
formula119957120784120782minus120783=
119878119864(119889) = 117
Table 6
Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Post-test Scores differences
Students Pre-test Post-test Difference
1 2 4 2
2 25 5 25
3 1 45 35
4 2 35 15
5 25 55 3
6 2 5 3
52
7 15 45 3
8 1 5 4
9 1 425 325
10 1 55 45
11 15 45 3
12 1 5 4
13 15 55 4
14 1 55 45
15 1 5 4
16 1 475 375
17 1 5 4
18 15 575 425
19 1 525 425
20 15 575 425
Total 285 9875 7025
Table 7
The Paired Sample T-test for the Experimental Group
Paired Sample T-Test
Epre
Scores-
Epost
Scores
Mean Std
deviati-
on
Std-
Error
Mean
95Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
t Df Sig
(2-
tailed)
Lower Upper
-351250 83695 18715 -390421 -312079 -18768 19 000
53
After calculating the mean of the experimental group in both the pre-test and the post-
test (see Table 5) a mean difference of +351 was noticed Therefore in order to prove if
the development that was noticed in the post-test scores as well as the mean occurred
because of the influence of listening to the audio-stories which is the independent variable
or happened only by coincidence
Hence to confirm the Alternative Hypothesis and reject the Null Hypothesis or vice
versa the t-value (117) was calculated in order to be compared with the critical- value at
the point p=005 and at the level of t=19 Besides p-value (0000) is less than 005 which
means that there a real difference between the learnersrsquo scores in the pre-test (before the
period of treatment) and the leanersrsquo scores in the post-test (after the period of treatment)
Consequently we can deduce that the improvement that was achieved by the experimental
group in the post test did not occur by chance actually it occurred because of listening to
audio-stories that has a positive effect on learnersrsquo pronunciation of both the clear [l] and the
dark [ϯ]
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-test
Table 8
The Mean of the Control Group and the Experimental Group in the Post-test
N Mean Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpost 20 13500 41675 09319
Epost 20 49375 59535 13312
54
To calculate the mean () we use the following Formula
= sum119961 N
So 1= sum119961 N
1 refers to the mean of the control group in the post-test
N refers to the total number of students in the control Group
sum119961 stands for the sum of scores of the control group in the post-test
1= 2720 = 135
2 = sum119961 N
2 stands for the mean of the experimental group in the post-test
N refers to the total number of participants in the experimental group
sum119961 Stands for the sum of scores of the experimental group in the post-test
So 2= 987520 = 493
Figure13
The Scores Frequencies of the Control Group and the Experimental Group in the Post-
test
55
From the previous analysis of the mean of both the control and the experimental
group in the pre-test (see Table 3) we have noticed that the level of students in both groups
is almost the same and there is only a slight difference between them Though in the post-
test the scores of the experimental group has increased and as result the mean average has
increased too after the treatment phase for the experimental group (from 142 to 493) but it
decreased for the control group who were taught without being exposed to any kind of
treatment (see Table 8 and Figure 10) Besides we can notice the development also in the
rime duration in studentsrsquo pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] of the experimental
group in the post-test which is not the case with the control group
21441 An independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the post-
test
In order to investigate if there is any significant change between two diverse groups
who have run the same test a t-test is used to show this significance difference In our case
we want to inspect if there is any significant variation between the experimental group and
the control group in the post-test and whether we accept the Alternative Hypothesis or
rejecting the Null Hypothesis So depending on the following steps a t-test was calculated
using the following formula
t= 119883 119888minus 119890
radicpartx2
Nx+
1205971199102
119873119910
partx2 = sum(119883 minus 119890 )N
= 306
1205971199102 =sum(119883 minus 119888 )2119873
= 160
119888 the mean of the control group in the post-test
56
119890 the mean of the experimental group in the post-test
partx2 the variation of the experimental group
1205971199102 the variation of the control group
So t= 493minus 135
radic306
20+
160
20
=745
t-value= 745
Depending on the t-value (745) that was calculated we compare it with the critical p-
value at p=005 therefore we have two options
1- If t-value is greater than the critical p-value (t-valuegtcritical-value) we accept the
alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
2- If t-value is less than the critical-value (t-valueltcritical-value) we accept the null
hypothesis and refuse the alternative hypothesis
we can say that
t-value=745 745 gt005
We accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
p-value= 0000 0000 lt005
We accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
Depending on these results we can say that there is a statistical evidence that the
associated sampling means are significantly different In other words there is a real change
between the experimental group and the control group in the post test at the level of
pronunciation due to the positive influence of the independent variable which is ldquolistening
to the audio-storiesrdquo Therefore students of the experimental group showed a significant
57
progress at the level of pronunciation and precisely the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
pronunciation
215 Discussion of the Results
The current research has investigated the influence of listening to audio-stories on
acquiring accurate pronunciation of both allophones the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] At the
start the pre-test has proved that learners of both groups ie the control and the
experimental group have the same level through calculating their means The control group
scored a mean of 155 while the experimental group scored a mean of 142 and also they
have got near scores concerning the rime duration of the L sound So these estimated scores
helped us to prove and confirm our hypothesis that states the positive effect of listening to
audio-stories on the level of pronunciation accuracy In the post-test students of the
experimental group showed a significant development compared to the control group and
this is due to the period of treatment that occurred in the oral session Besides the mean
score of the experimental group has been raised from 142 to 493 and from a sum of rime
durations of 2222 s to 535 s while the mean score of the control group has been decreased
from 155 to 135 and increased from a sum of rime durations of 2149 s to 2359 s In
addition a t-test was designed to show if there is any statistical significant difference
between the experimental group and the control group in the post-test the results show the
positive influence of the treatment phase on the dependent variable (pronunciation
accuracy)
216 Pedagogical implication
The present research evidenced the positive influence of being exposed to the target
language pronunciation as it is produced by the native speakers through the exposure to the
audio-stories Therefore we can state a set of pedagogical implications
58
The present study shows that the more students get involved in listening practices
the more they will be proficient in the pronunciation of a various English sounds ie
developing their speaking proficiency
Audio-stories help EFL learners improve their pronunciation as well as to develop
their listening skills
Using multimedia devices (audio-stories in our case) in learning classrooms
enhances the learnersrsquo motivation to get involved in the learning process
Audio-stories can be used by EFL teachers in order to make learners attentive and
interested in the lecture being presented
Audio-stories provide learners with the chance to listen again and again to the story
in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of a given word
Conclusion
The present research examined the effect of listening to audio stories on fostering the
target language pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] The native speakerrsquo s
pronunciation of both allophones was analyzed first through analyzing the rime duration in
order to compare it with the EFL learnersrsquo articulation That is to say the analysis is based
on the native speakerrsquo s rime duration In addition a significant development in learnersrsquo
pronunciation of the dark[ϯ]and the clear [l] was proved which lead to accept the alternative
hypothesis that states listening to audio-stories has a positive effect on acquiring accurate
pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] by EFL learners
59
General Conclusion
The present study is based on the investigation of the effectiveness of listening to
audio stories on acquiring accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] by EFL
learners At the beginning we have stated the problem which was that the Algerian EFL
learners in the English department at LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi University face a lot of difficulties
concerning the acquisition of the accurate pronunciation of The phoneme l Subsequently
this dissertation tackled the importance of listening to audio-stories on enhancing EFL
learnersrsquo pronunciation accuracy
Our research was tackled in two main chapters The first chapter divided into two
main sections In the first section we tackled the point of listening to audio stories whereas
the second section discussed the reflection of listening to audio stories on the pronunciation
of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] The second chapter represented the practical part the field
work The analyzed data showed that there is a positive relationship between the independent
variable and the dependent variable That is to say there was a development in the
acquisition of the phoneme l which lead us to accept the alternative hypothesis and reject
the null hypothesis
60
Limitations of the Study
Limited sources ie most of the sources that were available were not relevant to our
study
Time constraints this study needs much more time to conduct a better result
Students absences in the pre-test and the post-test and others did not receive the
treatment at all
The lack of interest in the beginning of the treatment session
61
List of References
Alonso SR (2012) The importance of Teaching Listening and Speaking Skills Diagravectica de Lingua
y la Literatura Facultad de Education
Brown S (2006) Teaching Listening Cambridge Cambridge University press
Coulter C Michael C ampPoynor L (2007) Storytelling as Pedagogy An Unexpected Outcome
of narrative inquiry 104-105
Daudet A (2001) Five Short Stories Copyright copy Bartlebycom Inc
Downs L J (2008) Listening Skills Training ASTD press
Eckert J (2016) Audio Storytelling in Todayrsquos Visual World The necessary Components of a
successful sounds scape for an audio play
Gilakjani A P (2012) A study of Factors Affecting EFL learnersrsquo English Pronunciation Learning
and the Strategy for instruction Lahijani Iran 2(3) 119-128
Hamer J (1998) How to teach English An Introduction to the Practice of English Language
Teaching English Language Teaching Harlow Longman
Hendrickson J (1992) Storytelling for foreign language and linguistics Washington Dc Eric
learning house on language and linguistic [ Eric No E0355-824]
Kline J A (1996) Listening Effectively Air University Press
Madden M and Moore Z (1997) ESL Studentsrsquo Opinions about instruction in Pronunciation
Texas 3(2) 15-32
Mendelson D J (1994) Learning to Listen Dominie Press
Nasreddin K (2010) The Influence of Background Knowledge on Second Language Listening
Comprehension Constantine Constantine University
62
Poposka V p (2016) Pronunciation Proficiency Level Problematic Areas of Tertiary as a Foreign
Language International Journal of Science and Basic and Applied Research
Richards J C (1990) The Language Teaching Matrix Cambridge Cambridge University Pess
Rubin SS (2015) Tools for Creating Audio Stories scholarship University of California
Roney RC (1996) Storytelling in the classroom Some Theoretical Thoughts Wayne State
University Education Detroit Michigan
Sproat R ampFujimura O (1993) Allophonic variation of the English l and its Implication for
phonetic Implementation Academic Press
Torky SA (2006) The Effectiveness of a Task-Based Instruction Program in Developing English
Language Speaking Skills of Secondary Stage Students Collegersquo s girl Ain Shams
University
Ummah A (2014) The Effectiveness of Nursery Rhymes to Facilitate Studentsrsquo of Pronunciation of
the Diphthong Education and Teacher Training Faculty Walisongo State institution for
Islamic Studies
Wang M (2016) Research on the Acoustic Realization of Lateral in Sundanese International
Journal of Engineering Research and Development 12(10) 44-48
Ziane R (2012) The Role of Listening Comprehension in Improving EFL learners Speaking Skill
Biskra University of Biskra
Zhang Q (2009) Affecting Factors of Native-Like Pronunciation A Literature Review Ching-Ang
University 27(2) 33-52
63
Abrahamson CE (1998) Storytelling as a pedagogical tool in high Education 118(3) Retrieved
from
httpwwwquestiacomlibraryjournal1G1-20494609storytelling-as-a-pedagogical-tool-
inhighereducation
AMP Research Center (2012) Retrieved from
Httpwwwncertrmqeduauconference2001indexhtal
Backley P (nd) Improving your English Pronunciation Retrieved from
httptoefluobabyloneduiqpaperspearson-2015-1269610pdf
Chaney (1998) Teaching Speaking Retrieved from
httpitesljorgtechniqueKayi-teaching speakinghtml
English Club (nd) What is listening Retrieved from
httpwwwenglishclubcom
Miller E (2011) Theories of story and storytelling Retrieved from
httpwww-storytellingandvideoconferencingcom167pdf
Pederson E M (1995) Storytelling and the art of listening English teaching forum 33(1)2-5
Retrieved from httpExchangesStategovForumuolsn01p2htm
Remen R N (nd) Listening Skills Retrieved from
httpwwwskillsyouneedcomipslistening-Skills-html
Rock R (nd) 5 Wonderful Websites for Engaging ESL Audio Short Stories Retrieved from
httpwwwFluentucomenglisheducatorsblogeslaudio-short-stories
Seifert S (nd) Follow Along 6 Engaging ESL Audio Stories with worksheet ideas Retrieved from
httpwwwFluentucomenglisheducatorblogeslaudio-stories
Saricoban A (2004) The Teaching of listening The Internet TESL journal
httpitesljorgArticlesSaricobn-listeninghtml
Subhi s (2016) Differences between Hearing and listening Retrieved from
httpkeydifferencescomdifference-between-hearning-and-listeninghtml
64
Shen CD (2010) 3 reasons why listening skills are very important in Todayrsquo s Business World
Retrieved from httpezinearticlescom3-Reasons-why-listening-skills-are-very-important-in-
Todays-Business-worldampid=5436504
the adapted audio-stories that were used in the period of treatment
(httpwwwmanythingsorgvoastories)
Appendix A A pre-test
The Last class- The Story of the Alsatian
I was very late for school that morning and I was terribly afraid of being Scolded
especially as Monsieur Hamel had told us that he should examine us on participles and I
did not know the first thing about them For a moment I thought of saying away from
school and wandering about the fields It was such a warm lovely day I could hear the
blackbirds whistling on the edge of the wood and in the ripper field behind the sawmill
the Prussians going through their drill All that was much more tempting to me than the
rules concerning participles but I had the strength to resist and I ran as fast as I could to
school
Sentences
You old fool they will kill you if you always trouble them
People are awfully lazy in the middle of July
Appendix B A post-test
The Game of Billiards
The marshalrsquo s opponent is a young captain of the staff belted and curled and light-
gloved who is in the first rank of billiard-players and capable of beating all the marshals
on earth but he has the tact to keep a respectful distance behind his chief and devotes his
energies to the task of not winning and at the same time not losing too easily He is what is
called an officer with a future
Read the following words
1 Cabal
2 Labour
3 Shell
Appendix c Treatment period
I Session one (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquothe Secret Gardenrdquo (Chapter One) By Frances Hodgson
Burnett
II Session two (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Secret Gardenrdquo (Chapter two) By Frances Hodgson
Burnett
III Session three (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Lady or the Tigerrdquo by Frank R Stockton
IV Session four (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Lady in Blackrdquo By Eleanor Porter
Reacutesumeacute
La preacutesente eacutetude vise agrave eacutetudier lrsquoarticulation de dark [ϯ] et clear [l] dans les classes de la
langue anglaise afin dameacuteliorer la prononciation des apprenants Lrsquoeacutetude actuelle repose
sur lhypothegravese que leacutecoute des histoires audio a un effet positif sur lameacutelioration de la
prononciation des apprenants EFL avec un accent particulier sur le dark [ϯ] et clear [l] Afin
datteindre lobjectif de cette recherche une eacutetude quasi-expeacuterimentale a eacuteteacute assigneacute en
deux groupe group teacutemoin et group expeacuterimentale Chaque groupe contenait 20 eacutelegraveves
Lexpeacuterience a pris six seacuteances un preacute-test une peacuteriode de traitement (4 seacuteances) et un
posttest En conclusion les reacutesultats obtenus montrent que les eacutetudiants qui sont exposeacute agrave
la langue cible et qui eacutecoutent au locuteur natif agrave lrsquoaide audio pour ameacuteliorer leurs
prononciations ont montreacute qursquoil y a un deacuteveloppement ameacutelioration au niveau de
compeacutetence des apprenants en particulier et en matiegravere de parole en geacuteneacuterale
Les mots cleacutes audio-histoire Compeacutetence drsquoeacutecoute prononciation dureacute de travaille
ملخص
استخدام القصص الصوتية من اجل المساعدة على اكتساب النطق السليم والدقيق تهدف هذه الدراسة الى التعرف على مدى فعالية
الأجنبية حيث تستند الدراسة الحالية على فرضية مفادها ان الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية له تأثير إيجابي على تحسين ةللغ
استغرقت التجربة ست ق المنهج التجريبيمن أجل تحقيق هدف هذه الدراسة تم تطبينطق الطلاب الأجانب للغة الإنجليزية
جلسات قسمت كالاتي أربع حصص معالجة سبقت باختبارات قبلية ولحقت باختبارات بعدية أجريت الدراسة في قسم اللغة
طالبا من طلاب السنة ثانية جامعي قسم الطلبة الى فوجين حيث 40الإنجليزية بجامعة العربي بن مهيدي وقد شملت الدراسة
ى معالجة لمدة أربع حصص من خلال الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية في حين لم يتعرض الفوج الثاني خضع أحد الفوجين ال
الى نفس المعالجة بعد ذلك تم اجراء الاختبارات البعدية واعتمادا على النتائج المتحصل عليها ثبت ان التعرض الى اللغة
جابي على اكتساب النطق الدقيق للغة المستهدفة الا وهي اللغة الأجنبية عن طريق الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية له تأثير إي
الأجنبية
القصص الصوتية النطق مدة الموجات الصوتيةالكلمات المفتاحية المهارة السمعية
9
(Harmer 1998) According to him listening is a very effective process that helps learners to
get a better pronunciation In other words as much as they are exposed to the real language
as much as they will recognize its features
Also Shen (2010) demonstrates that listening skills help to improve understanding
and aids people to become aware of their listening skills So listening plays a vital role in
language learning and acquisition It is an essential skill that bridges the line between
meaning and messages in order to avoid misunderstanding between individuals
14 Types of listening
Generally speaking the listening skill plays a significant role in teaching EFL
classrooms This process guides EFL learners to an effective communication Therefore the
listening skill can be classified into two different types Extensive listening and intensive
listening
141 Extensive Listening
Extensive listening has to do with the learnerrsquos fluency In other words the learner has
to master vocabulary grammarhellipetc and later on he must combine them together to form
a meaningful conversation So fluency depends on the listenerrsquos ability of understanding
whatever he is exposed to weather in an audio tape a text a songhellipetc
Harmer (1998) states that extensive listening is the way students practice their own
listening outside the classroom Students should enjoy listening to an audio material because
they can understand them without the teacherrsquo s help Also students can depend on CDs and
tapes so that they are going to have another chance to listen to their course books dialogues
that they have already provided to them inside the classroom In addition learners must be
10
stimulated to listen to the English language films with sub-titles because this helps students
to acquire the foreign language
In brief extensive listening according to the Extensive Reading-Central (2012) includes
Listening to massive amounts of text
Text which learners can understand reasonably smoothly
high levels of comprehension
Listening without being constrained by pre-set questions or tasks
Listening at or below onersquo s comfortable fluent listening ability
So extensive listening aims to make learners enjoy developing their listening skills
142 Intensive Listening
In contrast to extensive listening intensive listening aims at developing the learnersrsquo
specific listening skills and more precisely to raise the learnersrsquo attention about the spoken
language Intensive listening occurs weather in classrooms or laboratories It exists mostly
when teachers guide their students and provide them with help concerning listening
problems that they face and try to highlight them (Harmer 2007)
So intensive listening according to the Extensive Reading-central (2012) is
Listening for specific information
Listening for the exact words of a phrase or expression
Listening for details
Listening to mimic a text
11
15 Listening Processes
In listening process addressees process information using two distinct strategies
This is devoted to as bottom-up and top-down
151 Bottom-up Process
Richards (1990) states that ldquobottom-up processing refers the use of incoming data as
a source of information about the meaning of a messagerdquo (p 50) According to him Bottom-
up process deals with the perception of sentence components ie recognizing the meaning
of sounds words sentences clauseshellipetc till reaching the meaning of the whole message
152 Top-down Process
Richards (190) states that ldquoTop-down processing on the other hand refers to the use
of background knowledge in understanding the meaning of a messagerdquo (p 51) In contrast
to Bottom-up process Richards (1990) points out to the Top-down as the process of using
the listenersrsquo previous knowledge to attain meaning as whole not attaining the meaning of
individual words
16 Brief History of Audio-Stories
Eckert (2016) states that ldquoAudio storytelling in the form of radio drama has been
around for almost a centuryrdquo (p 8) That is to say audio stories in the previous decades took
the form of radio drama Radio drama attained extensive admiration within an era of its
original growth in the 1920rsquo s At that time radio drama played a central role for being the
foundation of people entertainment However by the 1950rsquo s people shifted their attention
to the new invention which was the small screen ie the television As a result of the
invention of this new device audio drama no more attracts the spectatorsrsquo attention it lost
its popularity
12
Though in 2010 radio drama came back to stage due to the developments shown in
digital soundtrack and internet spreading According to Eckert (2016) ldquoRadio and audio
storytelling has slowly started gaining popularity again thanks to the different online
platforms brought forth by digitalizationrdquo (p 8)
17 Definition of Storytelling
Today stories are a fundamental part of our societies and cultures Telling and
listening to stories is an ancient tradition and common activity that bonds different olden
civilizations together Also stories are an essential component and an ordinary process that
many people used to do on every occasion It is the art of telling factual or fictional stories
Besides stories bring legacy into life because our ancestors told them and people today
only retell them
Moreover listening to stories enhances the learnersrsquo foreign language It aids them
to improve their speaking skills Pederson (1995) states that ldquoin dealing with stories learners
have an experience with the powerful real language of personal communicationrdquo (p 2)
Additionally Pederson (1995) emphasizes the role of telling stories in preserving heritage
he argues that ldquooral stories are a direct expression of a literary and cultural heritage and
through them that heritage is appreciated understood and kept aliverdquo (1995 p2) In other
words stories bond between the past and the present It is considered to be a vital feature of
humankind Furthermore Schram (1994 as cited in Coulter Michael amp Poynor 2007)
points out
A story is a beautiful means of teaching religion values history traditions and
customs a creative method of introducing characters and places an imaginative way
13
to instill hope and resourceful thinking Stories help us to understand who we are and
show us what legacies to transmit to future generations (p 104-105)
So Schram (1994) highlights the role of stories in bridging the gap between the teaching
process and culture
Likewise Abrahamson (1998) sheds light on the role that storytelling plays in the
learning process He states that telling stories plays a significant role in improving learnersrsquo
understanding Besides Abrahamson argues that stories can afford a suitable context that
the listener can use it as a base to perceive the tellerrsquos point of view Moreover Roney (1996)
demonstrates
In its most basic form storytelling is a process where a person (the teller) using
vocalization narrative structure and mental imagery communications with other
humans (the audience) who also use mental imagery and in turn communicate back
to the teller primarily via body language and facial expression (p 2)
By this definition storytelling is the combination of art procedures and ways of
communication
18 Definition of Audio-Stories
The term audio-story is a combination of two words audio and story By definition
audio is sound within the aural range accessible to humankinds Miller (2011) states that
ldquostories are pieces of art and can serve as a basis of gamesrdquo (p 1) So Audio-story is a very
operative means for teaching EFL learners It aids to make the course persuasive Nowadays
14
audio stories can be used to many reasons and the most important one is the exposure to the
real language of native speakers by EFL learners In addition Rubin (2015) points out
ldquoaudio stories are an engaging form of communication that combines speech and music into
a compelling narrativesrdquo (p 1) That is to say audio stories are the process of telling stories
through sound and sound effects only Furthermore Audio-stories are broadly accredited to
progresses in portable equipment for instance smart phones tablets and multimedia
entertainment systems Thus EFL learners find it easy to listen to those audio stories
19 Characteristics of a Good Audio-Story
According to Seifert (nd) finding good audio-stories that suit the EFL learnersrsquo
needs is something very important and it is a very hard task to do However these are some
of the necessary features that EFL teachers must take into consideration whenever they want
to select a good audio-story for their students
Skill Level
Taking into account the learnersrsquo English level before choosing any audio-story For
instance if the audio-story contains a difficult language learners will lose confidence and
as a result they stop listening to the audio-story So determining the learnersrsquo level is very
important
Student Interest
EFL teachers must find out their studentsrsquo interests and normally each teacher has
an idea about this issue So if the audio-stories do not fit the learnersrsquo needs the EFL
teacherrsquos goal from that audio-story will be lost
15
Audio Length
The length of the audio-story plays a significant role in keeping concentration in the
ESL schoolrooms Listening for much time to the audio storytelling leads to boredom As a
result the learnersrsquo s brains lose attention However teachers can use long audio-stories but
they should know how to put it into parts and use classroom discussions to avoid boredom
So these three characteristics aid to develop EFL learnersrsquo listening skills
110 The Use of Audio-Stories in ESL Classrooms
According to Rock (nd) there are several listening practices that ESLEFL teachers
can provide to their students These are samples of activities that can work hand in hand with
audio-stories
Fill in The Blanks
Here EFL teacher provides his students with a written passage that is taken from an
audio-story but he removes some words Later on the teacher asks his learners to listen to
the audio-story after reading that passage and at the same time fill in the blanks
Mastery Memory
This activity has to do with learnerrsquos memory In this kind of practices teachers
provide learners with an audio-story and ask them for example to write down the main
events of the story but when they finish listening to it Teachers in this activity have to make
sure that students do not write them during the listening of the audio-story So the main goal
of the exercise is to reinforce learnerrsquos memory
16
Order the Events
At the start teachers give their learners a series of events that are chosen from an
audio-story Then the teacher gives them some time to read them After that learners listen
to the audio- storytelling and put those events in a sequential order
Buzz Words
This exercise aims to reach the learnerrsquo s vocabulary In this practice teachers
provide learners with a number of words then they ask them to check their meanings before
Afterward teacher turns the lesson into a game ie EFL learners listen to the audio-story
and whenever they hear a word (the buzz word) from that list they have to raise their hands
or clap them
Multiple Choice
This activity deals with providing learners with a number of questions followed by
three answers these questions can be definitions or name of characterhellip etc Then learners
have to listen to the audio-storytelling and pick the write response After teachers play again
the audio-story to correct their answers
Character Quiz
In this practice EFL learners have to listen to the whole story Then the teacher gives
his class a question sheet that contains a list of character qualities and decision and ask them
to choose the suitable one for the leading role
Plot Quiz
This activity has to do with team competition After listening to the whole audio-
storytelling once or twice the teacher divides his class into two to four groups where the
17
teacher plays the role of the coach Several questions that have a relation to the story will be
quizzed to each team if they get the answer they have a point if they fail to answer correctly
the question moves to the next group
Beginning Middle End
After listening to the audio storytelling the teacher splits the classroom into groups
and each group contains no more than four students Later he asks each group to write the
main events of the beginning the middle and the end of the story Finally they discuss them
together
111 Advantages of Using Audio-Stories
Audio-stories play an essential role in teaching the target language Audio-
storytelling is an impeccable implement for any ESL classrooms First of all audio-stories
afford learners with the exposure to the real language as it is produced by the native speakers
ie a natural voice Furthermore Rodero (2012 as cited in Eckert2016) claimed that
ldquoAudio stories that use sound effects and sound shots enhance the learnerrsquo s attention and
creation of visual images significantly compared to those without themrdquo (p 16) That is to
say using audio-stories in ESL classrooms develops learnersrsquo listening skills and provides
them with an imaginary trip inside their minds Also audio- stories enhance learnersrsquo
pronunciation since the learner is exposed to the natural voice In addition EFL teacher can
use audio storytelling as a guideline to his lecture or the opposite he can use it at the end of
the course as a reward
Moreover the EFL teachers depend on audio-stories in improving learnersrsquo
vocabulary through memorization Learners can enrich their vocabulary whenever they
listen to those stories because each time they learn some new words Besides learners can
18
listen to them outside the schoolrooms because they are portable they can upload them in
their mobiles and listen to them any time anywhere Finally audio stories can raise interest
for those learners who are not attracted to reading
Conclusion
In conclusion listening to audio stories aids EFL learners to improve the target
language pronunciation That is to say students will be exposed to the real language as it is
created by the native speakers Besides using audio stories in ESLEFL classrooms increases
the learnersrsquo interest toward learning the foreign language and also enhances their speaking
skills
19
Section two Reflection on Pronunciation
Introduction
121 Definition of Speaking Skill
122 Speaking Sub-Competencies Skills
123 Definition of Pronunciation
124 Importance of Pronunciation
125 Factors Affecting Pronunciation
1251 Internal Factors
1252 External Factors
Conclusion
20
Introduction
Generally speaking being able to speak the target language fluently and accurately
seems to be very interesting to all EFLESL learners Though students face a lot of troubles
and obstacles when communicating with each other or with native speakers and this is due
to mispronunciation misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the hearer which leads to the
communication breakdowns Furthermore learnersrsquo mispronunciation occurs due to various
factors that affect their oral language and as a consequence it affects their speaking
proficiency
In this section we have dealt with the speaking process and precisely
ldquopronunciationrdquo At the start a slight attention is put upon the definition of speaking skills
and its sub-competencies After that a part of this section is devoted to define pronunciation
and highlight its importance Moreover this section demonstrates some factors that affect
pronunciation which are classified into internal factors and external factors Finally another
point about the English consonant ldquoLrdquo has been raised
121 Definition of Speaking Skill
Mastering the foreign language is the aim of each EFL learner Speaking is one of
the most important language skills it plays a significant role in sharing ideas and thoughts
between individuals Torky (2006) defines speaking as follows ldquoIt is the means through
which learners can communicate with others to achieve certain goals or to express their
opinions intentions hopes and viewpointsrdquo (p 13) Also Ziane (2012) states that ldquoit is the
way by which learners can contribute and be part of oral communicationrdquo (p21) So the
main goal of EFL learners is to be able to speak the target language in order to strengthen
their verbal communication
21
Moreover Chaney (1998) argues that ldquospeaking is the process of building and
sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols in a variety of contextsrdquo
(p 13) From Chaneyrsquo s definition of speaking we deduce that speaking has an important
role in learning the foreign language and improving EFL learnersrsquo communicative skill
However there are some researchers who describe speaking as a hard task They
argue that EFL learners find it so hard to master the foreign language and face a lot of
difficulties even after studying it many years at schools Bueno and Mclaren (2006 as cited
in Alonso 2011) point out
Speaking is one of the most difficult skills language learners have to face In spite of
this it has traditionally been forced into the background while we teachers of
English have spent all our classroom time trying to teach our students how to write
to read and sometimes even to listen in a L2 because grammar has a long written
tradition (p 321)
On the whole the speaking skill is a very important process that EFL learners need to acquire
in order to master and shape the target language
122 Speaking Sub CompetenciesSkills
Torky (2006) claims that learners must be able to express themselves in a given
context in order to be proficient in mastering the foreign language She points out to several
speaking skills or competencies that help to achieve this aim which are
22
Linguistic Competence
Torky (2006) states that learners must be skillful in using pronunciation ie their
pronunciation must be clear In addition students have to use correct grammar and
proper lexis
Discourse Competence
In the beginning learners have to be able to use a well-organized discourse In other
words the discourse must be clear and unified Besides they have to be competent in
handling discussion and cooperating efficiently in order to avoid the communication
breakdowns
Pragmatic Competence
EFL learners have to be proficient in using a variety of functions that are related to
the same context and register
Fluency
Speaking smoothly without any complications and with a suitable degree of speech
speed
123 Definition of Pronunciation
According to Gilakjani (2012) ldquopronunciation is an integral part of foreign language
since it directly affects learnersrsquo communicative competence as well as performancerdquo
(p119) That is to say pronunciation plays a fundamental role in learning and improving the
target language Besides Poposka (2016) argues that pronunciation is the key factor of
language in its universal notion and she claims that pronunciation should be defined in
23
relation to different perspectives Poposka (2016) states some of the various points of view
concerning pronunciation definition which are
- The act or manner of pronouncing uttering of speech
- A way of speaking a word especially a way that is accepted or generally understood
- A graphic representation of the way a word is spoken using phonetic symbols (p
200)
Moreover Dauer (1993 as cited in Ummah 2014) states that ldquopronunciation is the
act of producing the sound of speech including articulation vowel formation accent
inflection and intonation often with reference to the correctness or acceptability of the
speech soundrdquo (p 10) In addition Poposka (2016) states that pronunciation is the vocal
capacity to produce particular sounds weather when communicating with individuals or
when being alone This construction of sounds leads to the appearance of some utterances
that may be expressive or worthless (p 200) Furthermore Adult Migrant English Program
research center (AMP 2002) points out
Pronunciation refers to the production of sounds that we use to make meaning it includes
attention to the particular sounds of language (segments) aspects of speech beyond the
level of the individual sound such as intonation phrasing stress timing rhythm
(suprasegmental aspects) (p1)
In other words AMP research center argues that even if these two aspects suprasegmental
and segmental structures are treated separately it is necessary to know that they work hand
in hand in a given context whenever someone speaks
24
124 Importance of Pronunciation
Madden and Moore (1997) states that ldquoin first language acquisition children learn
pronunciation inductively by absorbing and reproducing the sounds in their environmentrdquo
(p 4) That is to say all human beings in their natural development from childhood to
adulthood learn first of all how to talk before learning how to read or write Also Zhang
(2009) claims that ldquolearning a language means to perform the sounds utterances and the
words properly and correctlyrdquo (p 34-35) So pronunciation is a very essential skill in
learning a second language
Moreover Morley (1998 as cited in Zhang 2009) argues that ldquoit is clear that limited
pronunciation skills will make learners lose their self-confidence and result in negative
influence for learners to estimate their credibility and abilitiesrdquo (p 35) In other words it
does not matter whether learners make mistakes concerning grammar or vocabulary all what
matters is the way they pronounce a given word in order to make a worthy impression on
the learnersrsquo language capacities Zhang (2009) points out
Good pronunciation will make people understand you easily and be willing to listen to
you Contrarily poor English pronunciation may confuse people and lead to an
unpleasant talking and misunderstanding even if you used advanced English grammar
or vocabulary (p 35)
Likewise Backley (n d) argues ldquoif a speaker has a clear pronunciation this has immediate
benefits listeners judge the speakerrsquo s overall language ability much more favorably even
to the point of tolerating grammatical and other errorsrdquo (p 126) Therefore good
25
pronunciation aids to avoid misinterpretation and intelligibility between speakers and
listeners and show the learnersrsquo competencies in mastering their second language
Furthermore good pronunciation affects the learnersrsquo speed of acquiring the target language
In addition learners should use only simple structures with good and correct pronunciation
rather than using complex expressions in order to communicate with others
125 Factors Affecting Pronunciation
Generally speaking there are several factors that affect the learnersrsquo pronunciation
These factors can be classified into internal factors and external factors
1251 Internal Factors
Zhang (2009) states that internal factors can be categorized also into biological
factors individual differences and individual efforts and goal setting
Biological Factors
They are branded into four features age ear perception and aptitude
Learnersrsquo Age
At the start there is a difference between young learners and adult learners
concerning the acquisition of the accurate pronunciation Nonetheless this does not mean
that adult learners cannot get accurate pronunciation as well They have to work much harder
because their brainsrsquo plasticity reduces That is to say age plays a significant part in learning
the target language pronunciation Moreover Zhang (2009) emphasizes the role of the
critical period hypothesis that was proposed by Lenneberg in 1967 which states that there
is a certain age that helps learners to acquire the foreign language pronunciation accurately
26
and after that age the brain loses its flexibility Furthermore (Nation and Newton (2009) as
cited in Zhang 2009) claim that
Usually if the learner began to speak in the second language before the age of six
there will be little or no accent If the learner began to speak between the age of seven
and eleven the learners likely to have a slight accent If the learner began to speak
after age of twelve the learners almost always have an accent (p 78)
This is the reason behind the acceptance of the idea that learners find it so hard to acquire
the foreign language after maturity
Additionally Zhang (2009) states that young learners have bigger chances than the
adult learners in obtaining accurate pronunciation He claims that the brain loses its
flexibility and becomes rigid after puberty (after nine years old) as a result the brainrsquo s
functions will be devoted to the right and left hemispheres which makes it so difficult to
acquire the foreign languagersquo s pronunciation correctly Also Lenneberg (1967 as cited in
Zhang 2009) argues that ldquobefore the age of two the brain has not developed enough but
after puberty it developed too much and it will lose its plasticity and finish the lateralization
of the language functionrdquo (p 39) In other words it becomes so hard to obtain the native-
like pronunciation after the lateralization
Ear Perception
One of the most important factors that affect the learnersrsquo acquisition of the foreign
language is the ldquoear perceptionrdquo Zhang (2009) claims that the hearing abilities differ from
one person to another That is to say there are learners who have a strong hearing capacity
27
they can hear sounds in a very clear way which help them in reproducing the native speakersrsquo
pronunciation smoothly Whereas there is that kind of learners who do not have that ability
However Zhang argues that the ear perception has nothing to do with the learner age He
claims that it is natural that learners may lose some of their capacities whenever they become
older
Aptitude
Generally speaking foreign language aptitude is the personrsquos ability to learn a foreign
or a second language very rapidly and with no troubles (Wen 2011) Also Dornyei and
skehan (2003 as cited in Wen 2011) states ldquooriginally the notion of FLA presumed a
relatively stable talent for learning a foreign language that differs between individualsrdquo (p
590) So EFL learners do not have the same ability to acquire the foreign language
Additionally Carroll (1962 as cited in Wen 2011) states four components of the FLA which
are
lsquophonemic coding abilityrsquo (ie the ability to identify and retain sounds and link them
to phonetic symbols)
Sensitivity towards the grammatical functions that words fulfil in a sentence
The ability to learn inductively (ie to infer and generalize linguistic structures from
language samples) and
The ability to rote learn vocabulary items paired with their associated translations
(p 233)
Hence aptitude has an important role in improving learnersrsquo foreign language
Although Zhang (2009) argues that all individuals have a language aptitude ability but they
28
differ only in the degree of that aptitude capacity Also he claims that we cannot say that
those people who have a sophisticated level of language aptitude will get to the top and
people with an inferior level of language aptitude will go pear-shaped
Individual Differences
Zhang (2009) states that learnersrsquo different personalities affect the way they acquire
the foreign language pronunciation He argues that extroverted learners are more likely to
acquire the target pronunciation rather than introverted learners because extroverted learners
are not afraid of making mistakes which is not the case with the introverted learners who
face always the fear of failure Besides extroverted students are more friendly they tend to
work with others which leads them to practice the target language so they become more
familiar with it which aids to improve their pronunciation very quickly (p 40-41)
Individual Efforts and Goal setting
At the start the main goal of each EFLESL learner is to master the foreign language
in order to communicate with others Zhang (2009) points out ldquowe must always remember
that teaching never causes learning but rather creates the conditions in which learning can
occurrdquo (p 42) Besides he emphasizes that pronunciation is really a very hard task that
learners can acquire in a few days but it is not something impossible that learners cannot
achieve Though as much time learners spend in practicing the target language
pronunciation the better results they will get
1252 External Factors
External factors can be classified into three aspects learnersrsquo native language
exposure to target language and education factors
29
Learnerrsquo s Native Language
Universally the learnersrsquo native language affects their pronunciation of the foreign
language Zhang (2009) states that studentsrsquo mother tongue reflects the way they pronounce
a certain word in the target language and this is due to the differences that are found between
the two languages In other words learners find a lot of complications in articulating some
sounds for the reason that some of those sounds do not occur in their native language (p
43)
Exposure to the Target Language
Zhang (2009) shows that the acquisition of English language pronunciation is related
to the amount of exposure to it as it is produced by the native speakers That is to say this
depends on the learner himself ie on the situation in which the learning process occurs In
other words Zhang argues that it does not matter weather learners live in a native country
or not it is a matter of how much time they listen to the foreign language and how much
time they use it Zhang (2009) states ldquothe more they spend their time for listening and
speaking English the better their English pronunciation will berdquo (p 44) Thus learnerrsquo s
pronunciation accuracy depends on the surrounding environment where the target language
takes place
Educational Factors
At the start the system of education is responsible for studentsrsquo learning process
Worthy educational structure provides a lot of chances for learners to be exposed to the target
language through creating a suitable learning environment Additionally EFLESL
teachersrsquo accent reflects the learnersrsquo pronunciation because learners take teachers as an
30
exemplary in order to improve their pronunciation That is why teachers should work on
their pronunciation initially (Zhang 2009)
The English Consonant Sound ldquoLrdquo
Generally speaking EFL learners face complications in learning the English L sound
Sproat and Fujimura (1993) argue ldquoEnglish l has traditionally been classified into at least
two allophones namely light which occurs initially and dark which occurs syllable finallyrdquo
(p 291) Furthermore Wang (2016) states that the L consonant sound is a lateral phoneme
in English and it has two allophones he points out
One of them is found before vowels as in ldquoladyrdquo or ldquoflyrdquo called clear l and is
pronounced as the alveolar lateral approximant in a neutral position of the body of
the tongue The other variant is called dark l found before consonants or at word-
finally position as in ldquoboldrdquo or ldquotellrdquo Which is as the velarized lateral approximant
with the tongue in a spoon-like shape Its back part is raised which gives the sound
a w-like resonance (p 44)
In other words the clear [l] occurs when the tip of the tongue raises up and touches the soft
palate just behind the front teeth whereas the dark [ϯ] happens when the tip of the tongue
pulls back and the tongue raises to the middle without touching the soft palate to make the
L sound So the difference between these two allophones is the reason behind those troubles
that the learner may face
However Sproat and Fujimura (1993 as cited in Jiahong 2011) explain the
differences between these two allophones by relating them to the rime duration In other
31
words they point out that whenever the l sound occurs in longer rimes it is going to be a
dark [ϯ] and whenever the rime is short the l sound is clear or light
Figure 1
Articulatory Differences in l Velarization
Source Recasens 2012 p369
Conclusion
To end with it is very important to acknowledge that pronunciation is one way that
leads to an effective and a successful communication That is why many researchers shed
light on the investigation of some factors that may influence the EFL learnersrsquo pronunciation
As a result these identifying concepts help foreigners to overcome their difficulties when
they are introduced to the target language
32
Chapter two Field Work
Introduction
21 Methodology
211 Research Participants
212 The Procedure
2121 The Research Design
2122 The Pre-test Phase
2123 The Treatment Phase
2124 The Control Group
2125 The Post-test Phase
213 Scoring
214 Data Analysis
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (independent Sample
t-test)
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group Post-test
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group Post-test (Paired
Sample t-test)
21431 Paired Sample t-test
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-test
33
21441 An Independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the
Post-test
215 Discussion of the Results
216 Pedagogical Implications
Conclusion
34
Introduction
This research attempts to investigate the effect of listening to audio stories on
acquiring accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] by second year LMD students
at the department English -LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi The chosen sample is divided into two
groups the control group and the experimental group At the start participantsrsquo
pronunciation accuracy of the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] (the dependent variable) was measured
through a pretest Later on a period of treatment is taken by the experimental group which
is not the case with the control group After that a post-test is administered to both groups
in which the results are gathered using a software called the ldquopraatrdquo In addition we shed
light on describing the sample taking the place in which the study took place the method
used and at last the data collected
21 Methodology
211 Research Participants
The current study involved two intact classes of second year LMD students from
LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi-English Department The selected sample includes students from
different gender Furthermore we favored to select second year students for several reasons
The first reason was that second year students have practiced working with audio supports
which was not the case with first year students so they will not face problems concerning
listening to audio stories The second reason was that second year learners study oral
expression
At the start the experiment includes a sample of forty learners that have been chosen
from two intact classes of second year LMD students The chosen sample represents 1904
from the entire population which comprises 210 learners Additionally both clusters were
35
divided into a control group and an experimental group twenty students in each group At
the beginning the sample was supposed to be comprised of sixty students in which both the
control and the experimental groups covered thirty students Unfortunately there were a lot
of absences in both groups Also there are some students who have not passed both the
pretest and the posttest and others have not received the treatment at all Therefore the
sample size was reduced from sixty to forty students which can be sufficient to represent
the whole population and to get consistent outcomes
In order to gather consistent data that help to achieve the purpose of our research a
quasi-experimental design was designated The use of the chosen method will provide us
with a wide-ranging representation of the reflection of listening to audio stories on the
acquisition of the accurate pronunciation of the dark [l] and clear [l]
212 The Procedure
To accumulate a reliable data an experiment was conducted over six sessions The
treatment period took four sessions and the remained two sessions for the pretest and the
posttest The pretest took a form different from that of the posttest in order to avoid
familiarity to improve the learnersrsquo development and get consistent information Both
groups have taken the tests but only the experimental group took the treatment Besides the
duration of training concerning the treatment period for the experimental group took 90
minutes ie one hour and a half for each session and it started after getting the
authorization of the teacher of oral expression
36
2121 The Research Design
Figure 2
Experimental Group Procedures
Figure 3
Control Group Procedures
2122 The Pre-test Phase
By the first week of March both the control group and the experimental group have
taken the pretest However before choosing the pretest and in order to avoid any problems
we have checked that the dark [l] and the clear [l] are pronounced the same in both the
American and the British accents using the Oxford Advanced Learnerrsquo s Dictionary At the
outset learners were required to read a passage derived from a short story named ldquoThe last
class-The story of the Alsationrdquo that was written by Alphonse Daudet (2001) and also short
sentences (see Appendix A) After that their voices were recorded using a software known
pre-test
treatment
(listening to audio stories)
post-test
pre-test
No treatment
( being taught without listening
to audio-stories)
post-test
37
as the ldquoPraatrdquo Besides our focus here was raised toward the duration (ie the length of a
syllable) of the dark [l] and the clear [l]
Throughout the pretest EFL learners found themselves unable to pronounce the dark
[ϯ] and clear [l] that are found in some words correctly In other words students in the control
group and the experimental group most of the time pronounce the dark [ϯ] in the same way
they pronounce the clear [l] ie they spend the same duration for pronouncing the two
allophones Also EFL learners from time to time pronounce them differently but in a wrong
way ie they spent a rime duration that it not suitable neither for the light [l] nor for the
dark[ϯ]
Figure4
Example of the Lateral Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoSawmillrdquo
2123 The Treatment Phase
At first both participants have finished the pretest Though the treatment was
approved to the experimental group only the control group did not receive the same
treatment Besides the experimental group received the treatment in four sessions and each
Rime
duration
38
session took one hour and a half (ie 90 minutes) In each session students were asked to
listen to the audio-story in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of both allophones
after that they discussed the story being listened (see Appendix B)
2124 The Control Group
Concerning the control group students were taught the oral expression without any
exposure to any kinds of treatments In contrast to students in the experimental group who
were provided with the audio stories in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of the
both allophones which are the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ]
2125 The Post-test Phase
Fundamentally after finishing the four sessions of training ie the period of
treatment a posttest was administered to both the experimental group and the control group
(see Appendix c) The posttest as we have said before is different from the pretest in order
to avoid familiarity with the same topic and to ensure the learners improvement of the dark
[ϯ] and clear [l] So the posttest is a kind of a passage which was taken from a short story
that is entitled ldquoThe Game of Billiardsrdquo which is written by Alphonse Daudet and some
words to pronounce Furthermore during the posttest we noticed a kind of development in
learnersrsquo pronunciation of the two allophones with students of the experimental group
especially in pronouncing the single words which was not the case with those learners in
the control group
39
Figure 5
Example of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquocabalrdquo
Figure 6
Example of the Clear [l] in the word ldquolabourrdquo
The rime
duration
The rime
duration
40
213 Scoring
After finishing recording the learnersrsquo pronunciation of the phoneme l of both
groups (the control and the experimental group) we have compared them first of all to the
native speakerrsquo s pronunciation and after that we have calculated the rime duration of the
two allophones ie the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] and at last we gave them scores out of six
(6) for each participant
214 Data Analysis
In this sub-section we are going to investigate the EFL learnersrsquo improvement of
pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] Though in order to make sure that EFL
learners have acquired the correct pronunciation of these two allophones we have firstly
investigated the native speakerrsquos pronunciation of the L sound ie the clear [l] and the dark
[ϯ] and we have analyzed the rime duration of two words ldquolightrdquo and ldquoballrdquo as examples
Figure7
The Native Speakerrsquos Pronunciation of the Clear [l] in the Word ldquolightrdquo
Rime
duration
41
Figure8
The Native Speakerrsquo s Pronunciation of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoballrdquo
From these two figures we have noticed that the native speaker has spent 016 s in
pronouncing an ideal clear [l] (see Figure 7) and he has spent 138 s in order to pronounce
a perfect dark [ϯ] (see Figure 8) Thus this analysis of the native speakerrsquo s voice paved the
way to our research in which we based our investigation on it
Table 1
The Experimental and the Control grouprsquo s Scores in the pre-test
Pre-test
Students
Control
group
Experimental
group
Rime
duration
(second)
C E
Rime
duration
42
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (Independent Sample t-
test)
After gathering data for the control and the experimental group and for the purpose
of comparing and contrasting between the two we have calculated the learnersrsquo scores of
pronunciation of the phoneme l and also we have calculated the rime duration of the two
1 1 2 118 127
2 2 25 095 091
3 1 1 116 102
4 25 2 106 091
5 25 25 078 089
6 15 2 078 105
7 2 15 123 091
8 1 1 117 108
9 15 1 119 119
10 15 1 1 115
11 2 15 091 116
12 15 1 12 119
13 2 15 114 1
14 15 1 108 112
15 1 1 131 112
16 2 1 088 08
17 1 1 127 107
18 1 15 107 149
19 15 1 099 115
20 1 15 114 174
Total 31 285 2149 2222
43
allophones (see Table1) Besides the data collected ie the learnersrsquo scores were used in
calculating the means of both groups in the pre-test (the mean is calculated using the SPSS
see Table 2)
Figure 9
The Pre-test Scores of the Control and the Experimental Group
Table 2
The Mean Score of the Control and the Experimental Group in the Pre-test
Test N Mean Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpre 20 15500 51042 11413
Epre 20 14250 51999 11627
44
In order to calculate the Mean () Results we have to use the following formula
=sumx N
N stands for the total numbers of students in one group
sumx stands for the total number of data that was gathered from the pre-test
1 stands for the mean of the Control Group
2 stands for the mean of the Experimental Group
So1= 31 20 =155
2= 285 20 = 142
From ldquoFigure 9rdquo we can notice that 1 is the most frequent score in both the
experimental and the control groups in the pre-test and we can confirm this information
from Table 1 Furthermore when comparing means of both groups we notice (see Table 2)
that there is only a slight difference between the two groups the mean of the control group
is 155 whereas the mean of the experimental group is 142 So we can deduce that the level
of both groups is approximately the same there is no significant difference Moreover the
rime duration of the phoneme l of the experimental group and the control group is to some
extent the same and we can notice this slight difference in Table 1 and precisely in the total
duration of pronouncing the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] by both groups and also in Table 2
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group post-test
In order to confirm if there is any kind of progression in the control grouprsquo s scores
in the post-test concerning the pronunciation of the phoneme l (see Table 3) we have
calculated the mean of the post-test (using the SPSS see Table 4) and compared it with the
mean of the pre-test besides we have calculated the rime duration that has been spent At
45
last we have mentioned the learnersrsquo scores differences between the pre-test and the post-
test to confirm the development (see Figure 10)
Table 3
Results and Scores Differences of the Control and Experimental group in the Post-test
Posttest
Students
Rime
Duration
(Second)
Cpre Cpost Epre Epost
Cpre Cpost Epre Epost
1 1 1 2 4 118 186 127 21
2 2 175 25 5 095 113 091 253
3 1 1 1 45 116 134 102 245
4 25 2 2 35 106 119 091 234
5 25 15 25 55 078 146 089 24
6 15 175 2 5 078 119 105 267
7 2 2 15 45 123 135 091 263
8 1 125 1 5 117 144 108 254
9 15 1 1 425 119 144 119 242
10 15 1 1 55 1 128 115 274
11 2 1 15 45 091 126 116 285
12 1 2 1 5 12 129 119 268
13 2 125 15 55 114 146 1 328
14 15 1 1 55 108 127 112 223
15 1 1 1 5 131 092 112 275
16 2 1 1 475 088 135 08 274
46
17 1 2 1 5 127 094 107 292
18 1 1 15 575 107 096 149 29
19 15 1 1 525 099 114 115 295
20 1 15 15 575 114 132 174 338
Total 31 27 285 9875 2149 2359 2222 535
Diff -4 +7025 +21 +3128
Mean 155 135 142 493
-02 +351
Table 4
The Mean of the control Group in the Pre-test and Post-test
Mean N Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpre 15500 20 51042 11413
Cpost 13500 20 41675 09319
In order to calculate the mean( )result of the control group in the post-test we have to apply
the following formula = sumx N
sum stands for the total number of the data collected in the post-test of the control
group
N refers to the total number of students So = 2720 = 1
47
Figure 10
The Control Group Studentsrsquo Scores Differences
A very insignificant development has been shown in both Figure 7 and Table 3
concerning learners scores in the post-test Besides only Students 681217 and 20 from a
total number of twenty have proved the improvement the mean of the control group has
decreased from 155 in the pre-test to 135 in the post-test ie the mean = -02
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group post-test (Paired Sample
T-test)
In order to identify the scoresrsquo differences between the results of the experimental
group in both the pre-test and the post-test we have calculated the mean of the post-test and
compared it with that of the pre-test to notice if there is any improvement (see Table 3) So
the mean of the post-test is shown in Table 5 below
48
Table 5
The Mean of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and Post-test
Mean N Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Epre 14250 20 51999 11627
Epost 49375 20 59535 13312
From Table 5 we notice that the mean of the experimental group increased from 142 in the
pre-test to 493 in the post-test with a mean difference of 351 ( = +351) and we can
calculate the mean ()of the post-test using the following formula
= sumxN
sum= Stands for the total number of data that was gathered from the post-test in the
Experimental Group
119925 =Stands for the total number of students
So= 9875 20 = 493
From Table 3 we notice that there is a very clear development and difference in
learnersrsquo scores in the post-test which is very different from the pre-test scores (see Figure
12) Moreover we can notice this development from Figure 11 below too It Shows that the
most frequent scores that learners of the experimental group have gained are 45 5 55 and
at last 575(the marks are out of six) that makes a big difference from the scores of the pre-
test in which the most frequent score was 1 In addition to all of this results we can add that
the sum of the rime duration of the post-test differs a lot from that of the pre-test ( = +3128
s)
49
Hence in the light of these results we can say that the period of treatment really
affects in a positive way the learnersrsquo acquisition of the pronunciation of dark [ϯ] and clear
[l] Besides this enhancement was improved in the mean difference between the pre-test and
the post-test of the experimental group Though the comparison of means in the pre-test and
post-test of the experimental group cannot be sufficient in order to make sure that listening
to audio-stories really affects positively the way learners pronounce the Phoneme l
Therefore a paired sample T-test was designed to assess the development of learnersrsquo
acquisition of dark [ϯ] and clear [l] ie to acceptreject the Alternative Hypothesis or to
accept reject the Null Hypothesis (See Table 6 below)
Figure 11
The Scores Frequencies of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and the Post-test
50
Figure 12
The Scores Differences of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and the Post-test
21431 The paired Sample T-test
In order to know if there is any significant difference between the post-test and the
pre-test scores of the same group a t-test is conducted At first the of the experimental
group is calculated through the following formula
= sumdN
refers to the Difference of mean Scores
N Studentsrsquo scores in the Experimental Group
sum refers to the total sum of the Differences Scores
So = 702520= 35125
51
The Standard deviation of the differences
Sd= radic119956120784= radicsum119941120784
119925minus 119941120784
S stands for the Variance
sum119941120784 refers to the square differences of Scores
After calculating
Sdcong 013
The Standard Error of the Mean Difference (SE)
It is calculated using the following formula
SE ()= 119878119889
radic119873cong003
Finally we calculate the t- value that will be compared to the critical P-value at the point
p=005 in order to accept the alternative hypothesis or rejecting it using the following
formula119957120784120782minus120783=
119878119864(119889) = 117
Table 6
Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Post-test Scores differences
Students Pre-test Post-test Difference
1 2 4 2
2 25 5 25
3 1 45 35
4 2 35 15
5 25 55 3
6 2 5 3
52
7 15 45 3
8 1 5 4
9 1 425 325
10 1 55 45
11 15 45 3
12 1 5 4
13 15 55 4
14 1 55 45
15 1 5 4
16 1 475 375
17 1 5 4
18 15 575 425
19 1 525 425
20 15 575 425
Total 285 9875 7025
Table 7
The Paired Sample T-test for the Experimental Group
Paired Sample T-Test
Epre
Scores-
Epost
Scores
Mean Std
deviati-
on
Std-
Error
Mean
95Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
t Df Sig
(2-
tailed)
Lower Upper
-351250 83695 18715 -390421 -312079 -18768 19 000
53
After calculating the mean of the experimental group in both the pre-test and the post-
test (see Table 5) a mean difference of +351 was noticed Therefore in order to prove if
the development that was noticed in the post-test scores as well as the mean occurred
because of the influence of listening to the audio-stories which is the independent variable
or happened only by coincidence
Hence to confirm the Alternative Hypothesis and reject the Null Hypothesis or vice
versa the t-value (117) was calculated in order to be compared with the critical- value at
the point p=005 and at the level of t=19 Besides p-value (0000) is less than 005 which
means that there a real difference between the learnersrsquo scores in the pre-test (before the
period of treatment) and the leanersrsquo scores in the post-test (after the period of treatment)
Consequently we can deduce that the improvement that was achieved by the experimental
group in the post test did not occur by chance actually it occurred because of listening to
audio-stories that has a positive effect on learnersrsquo pronunciation of both the clear [l] and the
dark [ϯ]
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-test
Table 8
The Mean of the Control Group and the Experimental Group in the Post-test
N Mean Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpost 20 13500 41675 09319
Epost 20 49375 59535 13312
54
To calculate the mean () we use the following Formula
= sum119961 N
So 1= sum119961 N
1 refers to the mean of the control group in the post-test
N refers to the total number of students in the control Group
sum119961 stands for the sum of scores of the control group in the post-test
1= 2720 = 135
2 = sum119961 N
2 stands for the mean of the experimental group in the post-test
N refers to the total number of participants in the experimental group
sum119961 Stands for the sum of scores of the experimental group in the post-test
So 2= 987520 = 493
Figure13
The Scores Frequencies of the Control Group and the Experimental Group in the Post-
test
55
From the previous analysis of the mean of both the control and the experimental
group in the pre-test (see Table 3) we have noticed that the level of students in both groups
is almost the same and there is only a slight difference between them Though in the post-
test the scores of the experimental group has increased and as result the mean average has
increased too after the treatment phase for the experimental group (from 142 to 493) but it
decreased for the control group who were taught without being exposed to any kind of
treatment (see Table 8 and Figure 10) Besides we can notice the development also in the
rime duration in studentsrsquo pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] of the experimental
group in the post-test which is not the case with the control group
21441 An independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the post-
test
In order to investigate if there is any significant change between two diverse groups
who have run the same test a t-test is used to show this significance difference In our case
we want to inspect if there is any significant variation between the experimental group and
the control group in the post-test and whether we accept the Alternative Hypothesis or
rejecting the Null Hypothesis So depending on the following steps a t-test was calculated
using the following formula
t= 119883 119888minus 119890
radicpartx2
Nx+
1205971199102
119873119910
partx2 = sum(119883 minus 119890 )N
= 306
1205971199102 =sum(119883 minus 119888 )2119873
= 160
119888 the mean of the control group in the post-test
56
119890 the mean of the experimental group in the post-test
partx2 the variation of the experimental group
1205971199102 the variation of the control group
So t= 493minus 135
radic306
20+
160
20
=745
t-value= 745
Depending on the t-value (745) that was calculated we compare it with the critical p-
value at p=005 therefore we have two options
1- If t-value is greater than the critical p-value (t-valuegtcritical-value) we accept the
alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
2- If t-value is less than the critical-value (t-valueltcritical-value) we accept the null
hypothesis and refuse the alternative hypothesis
we can say that
t-value=745 745 gt005
We accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
p-value= 0000 0000 lt005
We accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
Depending on these results we can say that there is a statistical evidence that the
associated sampling means are significantly different In other words there is a real change
between the experimental group and the control group in the post test at the level of
pronunciation due to the positive influence of the independent variable which is ldquolistening
to the audio-storiesrdquo Therefore students of the experimental group showed a significant
57
progress at the level of pronunciation and precisely the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
pronunciation
215 Discussion of the Results
The current research has investigated the influence of listening to audio-stories on
acquiring accurate pronunciation of both allophones the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] At the
start the pre-test has proved that learners of both groups ie the control and the
experimental group have the same level through calculating their means The control group
scored a mean of 155 while the experimental group scored a mean of 142 and also they
have got near scores concerning the rime duration of the L sound So these estimated scores
helped us to prove and confirm our hypothesis that states the positive effect of listening to
audio-stories on the level of pronunciation accuracy In the post-test students of the
experimental group showed a significant development compared to the control group and
this is due to the period of treatment that occurred in the oral session Besides the mean
score of the experimental group has been raised from 142 to 493 and from a sum of rime
durations of 2222 s to 535 s while the mean score of the control group has been decreased
from 155 to 135 and increased from a sum of rime durations of 2149 s to 2359 s In
addition a t-test was designed to show if there is any statistical significant difference
between the experimental group and the control group in the post-test the results show the
positive influence of the treatment phase on the dependent variable (pronunciation
accuracy)
216 Pedagogical implication
The present research evidenced the positive influence of being exposed to the target
language pronunciation as it is produced by the native speakers through the exposure to the
audio-stories Therefore we can state a set of pedagogical implications
58
The present study shows that the more students get involved in listening practices
the more they will be proficient in the pronunciation of a various English sounds ie
developing their speaking proficiency
Audio-stories help EFL learners improve their pronunciation as well as to develop
their listening skills
Using multimedia devices (audio-stories in our case) in learning classrooms
enhances the learnersrsquo motivation to get involved in the learning process
Audio-stories can be used by EFL teachers in order to make learners attentive and
interested in the lecture being presented
Audio-stories provide learners with the chance to listen again and again to the story
in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of a given word
Conclusion
The present research examined the effect of listening to audio stories on fostering the
target language pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] The native speakerrsquo s
pronunciation of both allophones was analyzed first through analyzing the rime duration in
order to compare it with the EFL learnersrsquo articulation That is to say the analysis is based
on the native speakerrsquo s rime duration In addition a significant development in learnersrsquo
pronunciation of the dark[ϯ]and the clear [l] was proved which lead to accept the alternative
hypothesis that states listening to audio-stories has a positive effect on acquiring accurate
pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] by EFL learners
59
General Conclusion
The present study is based on the investigation of the effectiveness of listening to
audio stories on acquiring accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] by EFL
learners At the beginning we have stated the problem which was that the Algerian EFL
learners in the English department at LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi University face a lot of difficulties
concerning the acquisition of the accurate pronunciation of The phoneme l Subsequently
this dissertation tackled the importance of listening to audio-stories on enhancing EFL
learnersrsquo pronunciation accuracy
Our research was tackled in two main chapters The first chapter divided into two
main sections In the first section we tackled the point of listening to audio stories whereas
the second section discussed the reflection of listening to audio stories on the pronunciation
of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] The second chapter represented the practical part the field
work The analyzed data showed that there is a positive relationship between the independent
variable and the dependent variable That is to say there was a development in the
acquisition of the phoneme l which lead us to accept the alternative hypothesis and reject
the null hypothesis
60
Limitations of the Study
Limited sources ie most of the sources that were available were not relevant to our
study
Time constraints this study needs much more time to conduct a better result
Students absences in the pre-test and the post-test and others did not receive the
treatment at all
The lack of interest in the beginning of the treatment session
61
List of References
Alonso SR (2012) The importance of Teaching Listening and Speaking Skills Diagravectica de Lingua
y la Literatura Facultad de Education
Brown S (2006) Teaching Listening Cambridge Cambridge University press
Coulter C Michael C ampPoynor L (2007) Storytelling as Pedagogy An Unexpected Outcome
of narrative inquiry 104-105
Daudet A (2001) Five Short Stories Copyright copy Bartlebycom Inc
Downs L J (2008) Listening Skills Training ASTD press
Eckert J (2016) Audio Storytelling in Todayrsquos Visual World The necessary Components of a
successful sounds scape for an audio play
Gilakjani A P (2012) A study of Factors Affecting EFL learnersrsquo English Pronunciation Learning
and the Strategy for instruction Lahijani Iran 2(3) 119-128
Hamer J (1998) How to teach English An Introduction to the Practice of English Language
Teaching English Language Teaching Harlow Longman
Hendrickson J (1992) Storytelling for foreign language and linguistics Washington Dc Eric
learning house on language and linguistic [ Eric No E0355-824]
Kline J A (1996) Listening Effectively Air University Press
Madden M and Moore Z (1997) ESL Studentsrsquo Opinions about instruction in Pronunciation
Texas 3(2) 15-32
Mendelson D J (1994) Learning to Listen Dominie Press
Nasreddin K (2010) The Influence of Background Knowledge on Second Language Listening
Comprehension Constantine Constantine University
62
Poposka V p (2016) Pronunciation Proficiency Level Problematic Areas of Tertiary as a Foreign
Language International Journal of Science and Basic and Applied Research
Richards J C (1990) The Language Teaching Matrix Cambridge Cambridge University Pess
Rubin SS (2015) Tools for Creating Audio Stories scholarship University of California
Roney RC (1996) Storytelling in the classroom Some Theoretical Thoughts Wayne State
University Education Detroit Michigan
Sproat R ampFujimura O (1993) Allophonic variation of the English l and its Implication for
phonetic Implementation Academic Press
Torky SA (2006) The Effectiveness of a Task-Based Instruction Program in Developing English
Language Speaking Skills of Secondary Stage Students Collegersquo s girl Ain Shams
University
Ummah A (2014) The Effectiveness of Nursery Rhymes to Facilitate Studentsrsquo of Pronunciation of
the Diphthong Education and Teacher Training Faculty Walisongo State institution for
Islamic Studies
Wang M (2016) Research on the Acoustic Realization of Lateral in Sundanese International
Journal of Engineering Research and Development 12(10) 44-48
Ziane R (2012) The Role of Listening Comprehension in Improving EFL learners Speaking Skill
Biskra University of Biskra
Zhang Q (2009) Affecting Factors of Native-Like Pronunciation A Literature Review Ching-Ang
University 27(2) 33-52
63
Abrahamson CE (1998) Storytelling as a pedagogical tool in high Education 118(3) Retrieved
from
httpwwwquestiacomlibraryjournal1G1-20494609storytelling-as-a-pedagogical-tool-
inhighereducation
AMP Research Center (2012) Retrieved from
Httpwwwncertrmqeduauconference2001indexhtal
Backley P (nd) Improving your English Pronunciation Retrieved from
httptoefluobabyloneduiqpaperspearson-2015-1269610pdf
Chaney (1998) Teaching Speaking Retrieved from
httpitesljorgtechniqueKayi-teaching speakinghtml
English Club (nd) What is listening Retrieved from
httpwwwenglishclubcom
Miller E (2011) Theories of story and storytelling Retrieved from
httpwww-storytellingandvideoconferencingcom167pdf
Pederson E M (1995) Storytelling and the art of listening English teaching forum 33(1)2-5
Retrieved from httpExchangesStategovForumuolsn01p2htm
Remen R N (nd) Listening Skills Retrieved from
httpwwwskillsyouneedcomipslistening-Skills-html
Rock R (nd) 5 Wonderful Websites for Engaging ESL Audio Short Stories Retrieved from
httpwwwFluentucomenglisheducatorsblogeslaudio-short-stories
Seifert S (nd) Follow Along 6 Engaging ESL Audio Stories with worksheet ideas Retrieved from
httpwwwFluentucomenglisheducatorblogeslaudio-stories
Saricoban A (2004) The Teaching of listening The Internet TESL journal
httpitesljorgArticlesSaricobn-listeninghtml
Subhi s (2016) Differences between Hearing and listening Retrieved from
httpkeydifferencescomdifference-between-hearning-and-listeninghtml
64
Shen CD (2010) 3 reasons why listening skills are very important in Todayrsquo s Business World
Retrieved from httpezinearticlescom3-Reasons-why-listening-skills-are-very-important-in-
Todays-Business-worldampid=5436504
the adapted audio-stories that were used in the period of treatment
(httpwwwmanythingsorgvoastories)
Appendix A A pre-test
The Last class- The Story of the Alsatian
I was very late for school that morning and I was terribly afraid of being Scolded
especially as Monsieur Hamel had told us that he should examine us on participles and I
did not know the first thing about them For a moment I thought of saying away from
school and wandering about the fields It was such a warm lovely day I could hear the
blackbirds whistling on the edge of the wood and in the ripper field behind the sawmill
the Prussians going through their drill All that was much more tempting to me than the
rules concerning participles but I had the strength to resist and I ran as fast as I could to
school
Sentences
You old fool they will kill you if you always trouble them
People are awfully lazy in the middle of July
Appendix B A post-test
The Game of Billiards
The marshalrsquo s opponent is a young captain of the staff belted and curled and light-
gloved who is in the first rank of billiard-players and capable of beating all the marshals
on earth but he has the tact to keep a respectful distance behind his chief and devotes his
energies to the task of not winning and at the same time not losing too easily He is what is
called an officer with a future
Read the following words
1 Cabal
2 Labour
3 Shell
Appendix c Treatment period
I Session one (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquothe Secret Gardenrdquo (Chapter One) By Frances Hodgson
Burnett
II Session two (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Secret Gardenrdquo (Chapter two) By Frances Hodgson
Burnett
III Session three (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Lady or the Tigerrdquo by Frank R Stockton
IV Session four (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Lady in Blackrdquo By Eleanor Porter
Reacutesumeacute
La preacutesente eacutetude vise agrave eacutetudier lrsquoarticulation de dark [ϯ] et clear [l] dans les classes de la
langue anglaise afin dameacuteliorer la prononciation des apprenants Lrsquoeacutetude actuelle repose
sur lhypothegravese que leacutecoute des histoires audio a un effet positif sur lameacutelioration de la
prononciation des apprenants EFL avec un accent particulier sur le dark [ϯ] et clear [l] Afin
datteindre lobjectif de cette recherche une eacutetude quasi-expeacuterimentale a eacuteteacute assigneacute en
deux groupe group teacutemoin et group expeacuterimentale Chaque groupe contenait 20 eacutelegraveves
Lexpeacuterience a pris six seacuteances un preacute-test une peacuteriode de traitement (4 seacuteances) et un
posttest En conclusion les reacutesultats obtenus montrent que les eacutetudiants qui sont exposeacute agrave
la langue cible et qui eacutecoutent au locuteur natif agrave lrsquoaide audio pour ameacuteliorer leurs
prononciations ont montreacute qursquoil y a un deacuteveloppement ameacutelioration au niveau de
compeacutetence des apprenants en particulier et en matiegravere de parole en geacuteneacuterale
Les mots cleacutes audio-histoire Compeacutetence drsquoeacutecoute prononciation dureacute de travaille
ملخص
استخدام القصص الصوتية من اجل المساعدة على اكتساب النطق السليم والدقيق تهدف هذه الدراسة الى التعرف على مدى فعالية
الأجنبية حيث تستند الدراسة الحالية على فرضية مفادها ان الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية له تأثير إيجابي على تحسين ةللغ
استغرقت التجربة ست ق المنهج التجريبيمن أجل تحقيق هدف هذه الدراسة تم تطبينطق الطلاب الأجانب للغة الإنجليزية
جلسات قسمت كالاتي أربع حصص معالجة سبقت باختبارات قبلية ولحقت باختبارات بعدية أجريت الدراسة في قسم اللغة
طالبا من طلاب السنة ثانية جامعي قسم الطلبة الى فوجين حيث 40الإنجليزية بجامعة العربي بن مهيدي وقد شملت الدراسة
ى معالجة لمدة أربع حصص من خلال الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية في حين لم يتعرض الفوج الثاني خضع أحد الفوجين ال
الى نفس المعالجة بعد ذلك تم اجراء الاختبارات البعدية واعتمادا على النتائج المتحصل عليها ثبت ان التعرض الى اللغة
جابي على اكتساب النطق الدقيق للغة المستهدفة الا وهي اللغة الأجنبية عن طريق الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية له تأثير إي
الأجنبية
القصص الصوتية النطق مدة الموجات الصوتيةالكلمات المفتاحية المهارة السمعية
10
stimulated to listen to the English language films with sub-titles because this helps students
to acquire the foreign language
In brief extensive listening according to the Extensive Reading-Central (2012) includes
Listening to massive amounts of text
Text which learners can understand reasonably smoothly
high levels of comprehension
Listening without being constrained by pre-set questions or tasks
Listening at or below onersquo s comfortable fluent listening ability
So extensive listening aims to make learners enjoy developing their listening skills
142 Intensive Listening
In contrast to extensive listening intensive listening aims at developing the learnersrsquo
specific listening skills and more precisely to raise the learnersrsquo attention about the spoken
language Intensive listening occurs weather in classrooms or laboratories It exists mostly
when teachers guide their students and provide them with help concerning listening
problems that they face and try to highlight them (Harmer 2007)
So intensive listening according to the Extensive Reading-central (2012) is
Listening for specific information
Listening for the exact words of a phrase or expression
Listening for details
Listening to mimic a text
11
15 Listening Processes
In listening process addressees process information using two distinct strategies
This is devoted to as bottom-up and top-down
151 Bottom-up Process
Richards (1990) states that ldquobottom-up processing refers the use of incoming data as
a source of information about the meaning of a messagerdquo (p 50) According to him Bottom-
up process deals with the perception of sentence components ie recognizing the meaning
of sounds words sentences clauseshellipetc till reaching the meaning of the whole message
152 Top-down Process
Richards (190) states that ldquoTop-down processing on the other hand refers to the use
of background knowledge in understanding the meaning of a messagerdquo (p 51) In contrast
to Bottom-up process Richards (1990) points out to the Top-down as the process of using
the listenersrsquo previous knowledge to attain meaning as whole not attaining the meaning of
individual words
16 Brief History of Audio-Stories
Eckert (2016) states that ldquoAudio storytelling in the form of radio drama has been
around for almost a centuryrdquo (p 8) That is to say audio stories in the previous decades took
the form of radio drama Radio drama attained extensive admiration within an era of its
original growth in the 1920rsquo s At that time radio drama played a central role for being the
foundation of people entertainment However by the 1950rsquo s people shifted their attention
to the new invention which was the small screen ie the television As a result of the
invention of this new device audio drama no more attracts the spectatorsrsquo attention it lost
its popularity
12
Though in 2010 radio drama came back to stage due to the developments shown in
digital soundtrack and internet spreading According to Eckert (2016) ldquoRadio and audio
storytelling has slowly started gaining popularity again thanks to the different online
platforms brought forth by digitalizationrdquo (p 8)
17 Definition of Storytelling
Today stories are a fundamental part of our societies and cultures Telling and
listening to stories is an ancient tradition and common activity that bonds different olden
civilizations together Also stories are an essential component and an ordinary process that
many people used to do on every occasion It is the art of telling factual or fictional stories
Besides stories bring legacy into life because our ancestors told them and people today
only retell them
Moreover listening to stories enhances the learnersrsquo foreign language It aids them
to improve their speaking skills Pederson (1995) states that ldquoin dealing with stories learners
have an experience with the powerful real language of personal communicationrdquo (p 2)
Additionally Pederson (1995) emphasizes the role of telling stories in preserving heritage
he argues that ldquooral stories are a direct expression of a literary and cultural heritage and
through them that heritage is appreciated understood and kept aliverdquo (1995 p2) In other
words stories bond between the past and the present It is considered to be a vital feature of
humankind Furthermore Schram (1994 as cited in Coulter Michael amp Poynor 2007)
points out
A story is a beautiful means of teaching religion values history traditions and
customs a creative method of introducing characters and places an imaginative way
13
to instill hope and resourceful thinking Stories help us to understand who we are and
show us what legacies to transmit to future generations (p 104-105)
So Schram (1994) highlights the role of stories in bridging the gap between the teaching
process and culture
Likewise Abrahamson (1998) sheds light on the role that storytelling plays in the
learning process He states that telling stories plays a significant role in improving learnersrsquo
understanding Besides Abrahamson argues that stories can afford a suitable context that
the listener can use it as a base to perceive the tellerrsquos point of view Moreover Roney (1996)
demonstrates
In its most basic form storytelling is a process where a person (the teller) using
vocalization narrative structure and mental imagery communications with other
humans (the audience) who also use mental imagery and in turn communicate back
to the teller primarily via body language and facial expression (p 2)
By this definition storytelling is the combination of art procedures and ways of
communication
18 Definition of Audio-Stories
The term audio-story is a combination of two words audio and story By definition
audio is sound within the aural range accessible to humankinds Miller (2011) states that
ldquostories are pieces of art and can serve as a basis of gamesrdquo (p 1) So Audio-story is a very
operative means for teaching EFL learners It aids to make the course persuasive Nowadays
14
audio stories can be used to many reasons and the most important one is the exposure to the
real language of native speakers by EFL learners In addition Rubin (2015) points out
ldquoaudio stories are an engaging form of communication that combines speech and music into
a compelling narrativesrdquo (p 1) That is to say audio stories are the process of telling stories
through sound and sound effects only Furthermore Audio-stories are broadly accredited to
progresses in portable equipment for instance smart phones tablets and multimedia
entertainment systems Thus EFL learners find it easy to listen to those audio stories
19 Characteristics of a Good Audio-Story
According to Seifert (nd) finding good audio-stories that suit the EFL learnersrsquo
needs is something very important and it is a very hard task to do However these are some
of the necessary features that EFL teachers must take into consideration whenever they want
to select a good audio-story for their students
Skill Level
Taking into account the learnersrsquo English level before choosing any audio-story For
instance if the audio-story contains a difficult language learners will lose confidence and
as a result they stop listening to the audio-story So determining the learnersrsquo level is very
important
Student Interest
EFL teachers must find out their studentsrsquo interests and normally each teacher has
an idea about this issue So if the audio-stories do not fit the learnersrsquo needs the EFL
teacherrsquos goal from that audio-story will be lost
15
Audio Length
The length of the audio-story plays a significant role in keeping concentration in the
ESL schoolrooms Listening for much time to the audio storytelling leads to boredom As a
result the learnersrsquo s brains lose attention However teachers can use long audio-stories but
they should know how to put it into parts and use classroom discussions to avoid boredom
So these three characteristics aid to develop EFL learnersrsquo listening skills
110 The Use of Audio-Stories in ESL Classrooms
According to Rock (nd) there are several listening practices that ESLEFL teachers
can provide to their students These are samples of activities that can work hand in hand with
audio-stories
Fill in The Blanks
Here EFL teacher provides his students with a written passage that is taken from an
audio-story but he removes some words Later on the teacher asks his learners to listen to
the audio-story after reading that passage and at the same time fill in the blanks
Mastery Memory
This activity has to do with learnerrsquos memory In this kind of practices teachers
provide learners with an audio-story and ask them for example to write down the main
events of the story but when they finish listening to it Teachers in this activity have to make
sure that students do not write them during the listening of the audio-story So the main goal
of the exercise is to reinforce learnerrsquos memory
16
Order the Events
At the start teachers give their learners a series of events that are chosen from an
audio-story Then the teacher gives them some time to read them After that learners listen
to the audio- storytelling and put those events in a sequential order
Buzz Words
This exercise aims to reach the learnerrsquo s vocabulary In this practice teachers
provide learners with a number of words then they ask them to check their meanings before
Afterward teacher turns the lesson into a game ie EFL learners listen to the audio-story
and whenever they hear a word (the buzz word) from that list they have to raise their hands
or clap them
Multiple Choice
This activity deals with providing learners with a number of questions followed by
three answers these questions can be definitions or name of characterhellip etc Then learners
have to listen to the audio-storytelling and pick the write response After teachers play again
the audio-story to correct their answers
Character Quiz
In this practice EFL learners have to listen to the whole story Then the teacher gives
his class a question sheet that contains a list of character qualities and decision and ask them
to choose the suitable one for the leading role
Plot Quiz
This activity has to do with team competition After listening to the whole audio-
storytelling once or twice the teacher divides his class into two to four groups where the
17
teacher plays the role of the coach Several questions that have a relation to the story will be
quizzed to each team if they get the answer they have a point if they fail to answer correctly
the question moves to the next group
Beginning Middle End
After listening to the audio storytelling the teacher splits the classroom into groups
and each group contains no more than four students Later he asks each group to write the
main events of the beginning the middle and the end of the story Finally they discuss them
together
111 Advantages of Using Audio-Stories
Audio-stories play an essential role in teaching the target language Audio-
storytelling is an impeccable implement for any ESL classrooms First of all audio-stories
afford learners with the exposure to the real language as it is produced by the native speakers
ie a natural voice Furthermore Rodero (2012 as cited in Eckert2016) claimed that
ldquoAudio stories that use sound effects and sound shots enhance the learnerrsquo s attention and
creation of visual images significantly compared to those without themrdquo (p 16) That is to
say using audio-stories in ESL classrooms develops learnersrsquo listening skills and provides
them with an imaginary trip inside their minds Also audio- stories enhance learnersrsquo
pronunciation since the learner is exposed to the natural voice In addition EFL teacher can
use audio storytelling as a guideline to his lecture or the opposite he can use it at the end of
the course as a reward
Moreover the EFL teachers depend on audio-stories in improving learnersrsquo
vocabulary through memorization Learners can enrich their vocabulary whenever they
listen to those stories because each time they learn some new words Besides learners can
18
listen to them outside the schoolrooms because they are portable they can upload them in
their mobiles and listen to them any time anywhere Finally audio stories can raise interest
for those learners who are not attracted to reading
Conclusion
In conclusion listening to audio stories aids EFL learners to improve the target
language pronunciation That is to say students will be exposed to the real language as it is
created by the native speakers Besides using audio stories in ESLEFL classrooms increases
the learnersrsquo interest toward learning the foreign language and also enhances their speaking
skills
19
Section two Reflection on Pronunciation
Introduction
121 Definition of Speaking Skill
122 Speaking Sub-Competencies Skills
123 Definition of Pronunciation
124 Importance of Pronunciation
125 Factors Affecting Pronunciation
1251 Internal Factors
1252 External Factors
Conclusion
20
Introduction
Generally speaking being able to speak the target language fluently and accurately
seems to be very interesting to all EFLESL learners Though students face a lot of troubles
and obstacles when communicating with each other or with native speakers and this is due
to mispronunciation misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the hearer which leads to the
communication breakdowns Furthermore learnersrsquo mispronunciation occurs due to various
factors that affect their oral language and as a consequence it affects their speaking
proficiency
In this section we have dealt with the speaking process and precisely
ldquopronunciationrdquo At the start a slight attention is put upon the definition of speaking skills
and its sub-competencies After that a part of this section is devoted to define pronunciation
and highlight its importance Moreover this section demonstrates some factors that affect
pronunciation which are classified into internal factors and external factors Finally another
point about the English consonant ldquoLrdquo has been raised
121 Definition of Speaking Skill
Mastering the foreign language is the aim of each EFL learner Speaking is one of
the most important language skills it plays a significant role in sharing ideas and thoughts
between individuals Torky (2006) defines speaking as follows ldquoIt is the means through
which learners can communicate with others to achieve certain goals or to express their
opinions intentions hopes and viewpointsrdquo (p 13) Also Ziane (2012) states that ldquoit is the
way by which learners can contribute and be part of oral communicationrdquo (p21) So the
main goal of EFL learners is to be able to speak the target language in order to strengthen
their verbal communication
21
Moreover Chaney (1998) argues that ldquospeaking is the process of building and
sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols in a variety of contextsrdquo
(p 13) From Chaneyrsquo s definition of speaking we deduce that speaking has an important
role in learning the foreign language and improving EFL learnersrsquo communicative skill
However there are some researchers who describe speaking as a hard task They
argue that EFL learners find it so hard to master the foreign language and face a lot of
difficulties even after studying it many years at schools Bueno and Mclaren (2006 as cited
in Alonso 2011) point out
Speaking is one of the most difficult skills language learners have to face In spite of
this it has traditionally been forced into the background while we teachers of
English have spent all our classroom time trying to teach our students how to write
to read and sometimes even to listen in a L2 because grammar has a long written
tradition (p 321)
On the whole the speaking skill is a very important process that EFL learners need to acquire
in order to master and shape the target language
122 Speaking Sub CompetenciesSkills
Torky (2006) claims that learners must be able to express themselves in a given
context in order to be proficient in mastering the foreign language She points out to several
speaking skills or competencies that help to achieve this aim which are
22
Linguistic Competence
Torky (2006) states that learners must be skillful in using pronunciation ie their
pronunciation must be clear In addition students have to use correct grammar and
proper lexis
Discourse Competence
In the beginning learners have to be able to use a well-organized discourse In other
words the discourse must be clear and unified Besides they have to be competent in
handling discussion and cooperating efficiently in order to avoid the communication
breakdowns
Pragmatic Competence
EFL learners have to be proficient in using a variety of functions that are related to
the same context and register
Fluency
Speaking smoothly without any complications and with a suitable degree of speech
speed
123 Definition of Pronunciation
According to Gilakjani (2012) ldquopronunciation is an integral part of foreign language
since it directly affects learnersrsquo communicative competence as well as performancerdquo
(p119) That is to say pronunciation plays a fundamental role in learning and improving the
target language Besides Poposka (2016) argues that pronunciation is the key factor of
language in its universal notion and she claims that pronunciation should be defined in
23
relation to different perspectives Poposka (2016) states some of the various points of view
concerning pronunciation definition which are
- The act or manner of pronouncing uttering of speech
- A way of speaking a word especially a way that is accepted or generally understood
- A graphic representation of the way a word is spoken using phonetic symbols (p
200)
Moreover Dauer (1993 as cited in Ummah 2014) states that ldquopronunciation is the
act of producing the sound of speech including articulation vowel formation accent
inflection and intonation often with reference to the correctness or acceptability of the
speech soundrdquo (p 10) In addition Poposka (2016) states that pronunciation is the vocal
capacity to produce particular sounds weather when communicating with individuals or
when being alone This construction of sounds leads to the appearance of some utterances
that may be expressive or worthless (p 200) Furthermore Adult Migrant English Program
research center (AMP 2002) points out
Pronunciation refers to the production of sounds that we use to make meaning it includes
attention to the particular sounds of language (segments) aspects of speech beyond the
level of the individual sound such as intonation phrasing stress timing rhythm
(suprasegmental aspects) (p1)
In other words AMP research center argues that even if these two aspects suprasegmental
and segmental structures are treated separately it is necessary to know that they work hand
in hand in a given context whenever someone speaks
24
124 Importance of Pronunciation
Madden and Moore (1997) states that ldquoin first language acquisition children learn
pronunciation inductively by absorbing and reproducing the sounds in their environmentrdquo
(p 4) That is to say all human beings in their natural development from childhood to
adulthood learn first of all how to talk before learning how to read or write Also Zhang
(2009) claims that ldquolearning a language means to perform the sounds utterances and the
words properly and correctlyrdquo (p 34-35) So pronunciation is a very essential skill in
learning a second language
Moreover Morley (1998 as cited in Zhang 2009) argues that ldquoit is clear that limited
pronunciation skills will make learners lose their self-confidence and result in negative
influence for learners to estimate their credibility and abilitiesrdquo (p 35) In other words it
does not matter whether learners make mistakes concerning grammar or vocabulary all what
matters is the way they pronounce a given word in order to make a worthy impression on
the learnersrsquo language capacities Zhang (2009) points out
Good pronunciation will make people understand you easily and be willing to listen to
you Contrarily poor English pronunciation may confuse people and lead to an
unpleasant talking and misunderstanding even if you used advanced English grammar
or vocabulary (p 35)
Likewise Backley (n d) argues ldquoif a speaker has a clear pronunciation this has immediate
benefits listeners judge the speakerrsquo s overall language ability much more favorably even
to the point of tolerating grammatical and other errorsrdquo (p 126) Therefore good
25
pronunciation aids to avoid misinterpretation and intelligibility between speakers and
listeners and show the learnersrsquo competencies in mastering their second language
Furthermore good pronunciation affects the learnersrsquo speed of acquiring the target language
In addition learners should use only simple structures with good and correct pronunciation
rather than using complex expressions in order to communicate with others
125 Factors Affecting Pronunciation
Generally speaking there are several factors that affect the learnersrsquo pronunciation
These factors can be classified into internal factors and external factors
1251 Internal Factors
Zhang (2009) states that internal factors can be categorized also into biological
factors individual differences and individual efforts and goal setting
Biological Factors
They are branded into four features age ear perception and aptitude
Learnersrsquo Age
At the start there is a difference between young learners and adult learners
concerning the acquisition of the accurate pronunciation Nonetheless this does not mean
that adult learners cannot get accurate pronunciation as well They have to work much harder
because their brainsrsquo plasticity reduces That is to say age plays a significant part in learning
the target language pronunciation Moreover Zhang (2009) emphasizes the role of the
critical period hypothesis that was proposed by Lenneberg in 1967 which states that there
is a certain age that helps learners to acquire the foreign language pronunciation accurately
26
and after that age the brain loses its flexibility Furthermore (Nation and Newton (2009) as
cited in Zhang 2009) claim that
Usually if the learner began to speak in the second language before the age of six
there will be little or no accent If the learner began to speak between the age of seven
and eleven the learners likely to have a slight accent If the learner began to speak
after age of twelve the learners almost always have an accent (p 78)
This is the reason behind the acceptance of the idea that learners find it so hard to acquire
the foreign language after maturity
Additionally Zhang (2009) states that young learners have bigger chances than the
adult learners in obtaining accurate pronunciation He claims that the brain loses its
flexibility and becomes rigid after puberty (after nine years old) as a result the brainrsquo s
functions will be devoted to the right and left hemispheres which makes it so difficult to
acquire the foreign languagersquo s pronunciation correctly Also Lenneberg (1967 as cited in
Zhang 2009) argues that ldquobefore the age of two the brain has not developed enough but
after puberty it developed too much and it will lose its plasticity and finish the lateralization
of the language functionrdquo (p 39) In other words it becomes so hard to obtain the native-
like pronunciation after the lateralization
Ear Perception
One of the most important factors that affect the learnersrsquo acquisition of the foreign
language is the ldquoear perceptionrdquo Zhang (2009) claims that the hearing abilities differ from
one person to another That is to say there are learners who have a strong hearing capacity
27
they can hear sounds in a very clear way which help them in reproducing the native speakersrsquo
pronunciation smoothly Whereas there is that kind of learners who do not have that ability
However Zhang argues that the ear perception has nothing to do with the learner age He
claims that it is natural that learners may lose some of their capacities whenever they become
older
Aptitude
Generally speaking foreign language aptitude is the personrsquos ability to learn a foreign
or a second language very rapidly and with no troubles (Wen 2011) Also Dornyei and
skehan (2003 as cited in Wen 2011) states ldquooriginally the notion of FLA presumed a
relatively stable talent for learning a foreign language that differs between individualsrdquo (p
590) So EFL learners do not have the same ability to acquire the foreign language
Additionally Carroll (1962 as cited in Wen 2011) states four components of the FLA which
are
lsquophonemic coding abilityrsquo (ie the ability to identify and retain sounds and link them
to phonetic symbols)
Sensitivity towards the grammatical functions that words fulfil in a sentence
The ability to learn inductively (ie to infer and generalize linguistic structures from
language samples) and
The ability to rote learn vocabulary items paired with their associated translations
(p 233)
Hence aptitude has an important role in improving learnersrsquo foreign language
Although Zhang (2009) argues that all individuals have a language aptitude ability but they
28
differ only in the degree of that aptitude capacity Also he claims that we cannot say that
those people who have a sophisticated level of language aptitude will get to the top and
people with an inferior level of language aptitude will go pear-shaped
Individual Differences
Zhang (2009) states that learnersrsquo different personalities affect the way they acquire
the foreign language pronunciation He argues that extroverted learners are more likely to
acquire the target pronunciation rather than introverted learners because extroverted learners
are not afraid of making mistakes which is not the case with the introverted learners who
face always the fear of failure Besides extroverted students are more friendly they tend to
work with others which leads them to practice the target language so they become more
familiar with it which aids to improve their pronunciation very quickly (p 40-41)
Individual Efforts and Goal setting
At the start the main goal of each EFLESL learner is to master the foreign language
in order to communicate with others Zhang (2009) points out ldquowe must always remember
that teaching never causes learning but rather creates the conditions in which learning can
occurrdquo (p 42) Besides he emphasizes that pronunciation is really a very hard task that
learners can acquire in a few days but it is not something impossible that learners cannot
achieve Though as much time learners spend in practicing the target language
pronunciation the better results they will get
1252 External Factors
External factors can be classified into three aspects learnersrsquo native language
exposure to target language and education factors
29
Learnerrsquo s Native Language
Universally the learnersrsquo native language affects their pronunciation of the foreign
language Zhang (2009) states that studentsrsquo mother tongue reflects the way they pronounce
a certain word in the target language and this is due to the differences that are found between
the two languages In other words learners find a lot of complications in articulating some
sounds for the reason that some of those sounds do not occur in their native language (p
43)
Exposure to the Target Language
Zhang (2009) shows that the acquisition of English language pronunciation is related
to the amount of exposure to it as it is produced by the native speakers That is to say this
depends on the learner himself ie on the situation in which the learning process occurs In
other words Zhang argues that it does not matter weather learners live in a native country
or not it is a matter of how much time they listen to the foreign language and how much
time they use it Zhang (2009) states ldquothe more they spend their time for listening and
speaking English the better their English pronunciation will berdquo (p 44) Thus learnerrsquo s
pronunciation accuracy depends on the surrounding environment where the target language
takes place
Educational Factors
At the start the system of education is responsible for studentsrsquo learning process
Worthy educational structure provides a lot of chances for learners to be exposed to the target
language through creating a suitable learning environment Additionally EFLESL
teachersrsquo accent reflects the learnersrsquo pronunciation because learners take teachers as an
30
exemplary in order to improve their pronunciation That is why teachers should work on
their pronunciation initially (Zhang 2009)
The English Consonant Sound ldquoLrdquo
Generally speaking EFL learners face complications in learning the English L sound
Sproat and Fujimura (1993) argue ldquoEnglish l has traditionally been classified into at least
two allophones namely light which occurs initially and dark which occurs syllable finallyrdquo
(p 291) Furthermore Wang (2016) states that the L consonant sound is a lateral phoneme
in English and it has two allophones he points out
One of them is found before vowels as in ldquoladyrdquo or ldquoflyrdquo called clear l and is
pronounced as the alveolar lateral approximant in a neutral position of the body of
the tongue The other variant is called dark l found before consonants or at word-
finally position as in ldquoboldrdquo or ldquotellrdquo Which is as the velarized lateral approximant
with the tongue in a spoon-like shape Its back part is raised which gives the sound
a w-like resonance (p 44)
In other words the clear [l] occurs when the tip of the tongue raises up and touches the soft
palate just behind the front teeth whereas the dark [ϯ] happens when the tip of the tongue
pulls back and the tongue raises to the middle without touching the soft palate to make the
L sound So the difference between these two allophones is the reason behind those troubles
that the learner may face
However Sproat and Fujimura (1993 as cited in Jiahong 2011) explain the
differences between these two allophones by relating them to the rime duration In other
31
words they point out that whenever the l sound occurs in longer rimes it is going to be a
dark [ϯ] and whenever the rime is short the l sound is clear or light
Figure 1
Articulatory Differences in l Velarization
Source Recasens 2012 p369
Conclusion
To end with it is very important to acknowledge that pronunciation is one way that
leads to an effective and a successful communication That is why many researchers shed
light on the investigation of some factors that may influence the EFL learnersrsquo pronunciation
As a result these identifying concepts help foreigners to overcome their difficulties when
they are introduced to the target language
32
Chapter two Field Work
Introduction
21 Methodology
211 Research Participants
212 The Procedure
2121 The Research Design
2122 The Pre-test Phase
2123 The Treatment Phase
2124 The Control Group
2125 The Post-test Phase
213 Scoring
214 Data Analysis
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (independent Sample
t-test)
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group Post-test
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group Post-test (Paired
Sample t-test)
21431 Paired Sample t-test
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-test
33
21441 An Independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the
Post-test
215 Discussion of the Results
216 Pedagogical Implications
Conclusion
34
Introduction
This research attempts to investigate the effect of listening to audio stories on
acquiring accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] by second year LMD students
at the department English -LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi The chosen sample is divided into two
groups the control group and the experimental group At the start participantsrsquo
pronunciation accuracy of the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] (the dependent variable) was measured
through a pretest Later on a period of treatment is taken by the experimental group which
is not the case with the control group After that a post-test is administered to both groups
in which the results are gathered using a software called the ldquopraatrdquo In addition we shed
light on describing the sample taking the place in which the study took place the method
used and at last the data collected
21 Methodology
211 Research Participants
The current study involved two intact classes of second year LMD students from
LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi-English Department The selected sample includes students from
different gender Furthermore we favored to select second year students for several reasons
The first reason was that second year students have practiced working with audio supports
which was not the case with first year students so they will not face problems concerning
listening to audio stories The second reason was that second year learners study oral
expression
At the start the experiment includes a sample of forty learners that have been chosen
from two intact classes of second year LMD students The chosen sample represents 1904
from the entire population which comprises 210 learners Additionally both clusters were
35
divided into a control group and an experimental group twenty students in each group At
the beginning the sample was supposed to be comprised of sixty students in which both the
control and the experimental groups covered thirty students Unfortunately there were a lot
of absences in both groups Also there are some students who have not passed both the
pretest and the posttest and others have not received the treatment at all Therefore the
sample size was reduced from sixty to forty students which can be sufficient to represent
the whole population and to get consistent outcomes
In order to gather consistent data that help to achieve the purpose of our research a
quasi-experimental design was designated The use of the chosen method will provide us
with a wide-ranging representation of the reflection of listening to audio stories on the
acquisition of the accurate pronunciation of the dark [l] and clear [l]
212 The Procedure
To accumulate a reliable data an experiment was conducted over six sessions The
treatment period took four sessions and the remained two sessions for the pretest and the
posttest The pretest took a form different from that of the posttest in order to avoid
familiarity to improve the learnersrsquo development and get consistent information Both
groups have taken the tests but only the experimental group took the treatment Besides the
duration of training concerning the treatment period for the experimental group took 90
minutes ie one hour and a half for each session and it started after getting the
authorization of the teacher of oral expression
36
2121 The Research Design
Figure 2
Experimental Group Procedures
Figure 3
Control Group Procedures
2122 The Pre-test Phase
By the first week of March both the control group and the experimental group have
taken the pretest However before choosing the pretest and in order to avoid any problems
we have checked that the dark [l] and the clear [l] are pronounced the same in both the
American and the British accents using the Oxford Advanced Learnerrsquo s Dictionary At the
outset learners were required to read a passage derived from a short story named ldquoThe last
class-The story of the Alsationrdquo that was written by Alphonse Daudet (2001) and also short
sentences (see Appendix A) After that their voices were recorded using a software known
pre-test
treatment
(listening to audio stories)
post-test
pre-test
No treatment
( being taught without listening
to audio-stories)
post-test
37
as the ldquoPraatrdquo Besides our focus here was raised toward the duration (ie the length of a
syllable) of the dark [l] and the clear [l]
Throughout the pretest EFL learners found themselves unable to pronounce the dark
[ϯ] and clear [l] that are found in some words correctly In other words students in the control
group and the experimental group most of the time pronounce the dark [ϯ] in the same way
they pronounce the clear [l] ie they spend the same duration for pronouncing the two
allophones Also EFL learners from time to time pronounce them differently but in a wrong
way ie they spent a rime duration that it not suitable neither for the light [l] nor for the
dark[ϯ]
Figure4
Example of the Lateral Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoSawmillrdquo
2123 The Treatment Phase
At first both participants have finished the pretest Though the treatment was
approved to the experimental group only the control group did not receive the same
treatment Besides the experimental group received the treatment in four sessions and each
Rime
duration
38
session took one hour and a half (ie 90 minutes) In each session students were asked to
listen to the audio-story in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of both allophones
after that they discussed the story being listened (see Appendix B)
2124 The Control Group
Concerning the control group students were taught the oral expression without any
exposure to any kinds of treatments In contrast to students in the experimental group who
were provided with the audio stories in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of the
both allophones which are the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ]
2125 The Post-test Phase
Fundamentally after finishing the four sessions of training ie the period of
treatment a posttest was administered to both the experimental group and the control group
(see Appendix c) The posttest as we have said before is different from the pretest in order
to avoid familiarity with the same topic and to ensure the learners improvement of the dark
[ϯ] and clear [l] So the posttest is a kind of a passage which was taken from a short story
that is entitled ldquoThe Game of Billiardsrdquo which is written by Alphonse Daudet and some
words to pronounce Furthermore during the posttest we noticed a kind of development in
learnersrsquo pronunciation of the two allophones with students of the experimental group
especially in pronouncing the single words which was not the case with those learners in
the control group
39
Figure 5
Example of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquocabalrdquo
Figure 6
Example of the Clear [l] in the word ldquolabourrdquo
The rime
duration
The rime
duration
40
213 Scoring
After finishing recording the learnersrsquo pronunciation of the phoneme l of both
groups (the control and the experimental group) we have compared them first of all to the
native speakerrsquo s pronunciation and after that we have calculated the rime duration of the
two allophones ie the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] and at last we gave them scores out of six
(6) for each participant
214 Data Analysis
In this sub-section we are going to investigate the EFL learnersrsquo improvement of
pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] Though in order to make sure that EFL
learners have acquired the correct pronunciation of these two allophones we have firstly
investigated the native speakerrsquos pronunciation of the L sound ie the clear [l] and the dark
[ϯ] and we have analyzed the rime duration of two words ldquolightrdquo and ldquoballrdquo as examples
Figure7
The Native Speakerrsquos Pronunciation of the Clear [l] in the Word ldquolightrdquo
Rime
duration
41
Figure8
The Native Speakerrsquo s Pronunciation of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoballrdquo
From these two figures we have noticed that the native speaker has spent 016 s in
pronouncing an ideal clear [l] (see Figure 7) and he has spent 138 s in order to pronounce
a perfect dark [ϯ] (see Figure 8) Thus this analysis of the native speakerrsquo s voice paved the
way to our research in which we based our investigation on it
Table 1
The Experimental and the Control grouprsquo s Scores in the pre-test
Pre-test
Students
Control
group
Experimental
group
Rime
duration
(second)
C E
Rime
duration
42
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (Independent Sample t-
test)
After gathering data for the control and the experimental group and for the purpose
of comparing and contrasting between the two we have calculated the learnersrsquo scores of
pronunciation of the phoneme l and also we have calculated the rime duration of the two
1 1 2 118 127
2 2 25 095 091
3 1 1 116 102
4 25 2 106 091
5 25 25 078 089
6 15 2 078 105
7 2 15 123 091
8 1 1 117 108
9 15 1 119 119
10 15 1 1 115
11 2 15 091 116
12 15 1 12 119
13 2 15 114 1
14 15 1 108 112
15 1 1 131 112
16 2 1 088 08
17 1 1 127 107
18 1 15 107 149
19 15 1 099 115
20 1 15 114 174
Total 31 285 2149 2222
43
allophones (see Table1) Besides the data collected ie the learnersrsquo scores were used in
calculating the means of both groups in the pre-test (the mean is calculated using the SPSS
see Table 2)
Figure 9
The Pre-test Scores of the Control and the Experimental Group
Table 2
The Mean Score of the Control and the Experimental Group in the Pre-test
Test N Mean Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpre 20 15500 51042 11413
Epre 20 14250 51999 11627
44
In order to calculate the Mean () Results we have to use the following formula
=sumx N
N stands for the total numbers of students in one group
sumx stands for the total number of data that was gathered from the pre-test
1 stands for the mean of the Control Group
2 stands for the mean of the Experimental Group
So1= 31 20 =155
2= 285 20 = 142
From ldquoFigure 9rdquo we can notice that 1 is the most frequent score in both the
experimental and the control groups in the pre-test and we can confirm this information
from Table 1 Furthermore when comparing means of both groups we notice (see Table 2)
that there is only a slight difference between the two groups the mean of the control group
is 155 whereas the mean of the experimental group is 142 So we can deduce that the level
of both groups is approximately the same there is no significant difference Moreover the
rime duration of the phoneme l of the experimental group and the control group is to some
extent the same and we can notice this slight difference in Table 1 and precisely in the total
duration of pronouncing the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] by both groups and also in Table 2
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group post-test
In order to confirm if there is any kind of progression in the control grouprsquo s scores
in the post-test concerning the pronunciation of the phoneme l (see Table 3) we have
calculated the mean of the post-test (using the SPSS see Table 4) and compared it with the
mean of the pre-test besides we have calculated the rime duration that has been spent At
45
last we have mentioned the learnersrsquo scores differences between the pre-test and the post-
test to confirm the development (see Figure 10)
Table 3
Results and Scores Differences of the Control and Experimental group in the Post-test
Posttest
Students
Rime
Duration
(Second)
Cpre Cpost Epre Epost
Cpre Cpost Epre Epost
1 1 1 2 4 118 186 127 21
2 2 175 25 5 095 113 091 253
3 1 1 1 45 116 134 102 245
4 25 2 2 35 106 119 091 234
5 25 15 25 55 078 146 089 24
6 15 175 2 5 078 119 105 267
7 2 2 15 45 123 135 091 263
8 1 125 1 5 117 144 108 254
9 15 1 1 425 119 144 119 242
10 15 1 1 55 1 128 115 274
11 2 1 15 45 091 126 116 285
12 1 2 1 5 12 129 119 268
13 2 125 15 55 114 146 1 328
14 15 1 1 55 108 127 112 223
15 1 1 1 5 131 092 112 275
16 2 1 1 475 088 135 08 274
46
17 1 2 1 5 127 094 107 292
18 1 1 15 575 107 096 149 29
19 15 1 1 525 099 114 115 295
20 1 15 15 575 114 132 174 338
Total 31 27 285 9875 2149 2359 2222 535
Diff -4 +7025 +21 +3128
Mean 155 135 142 493
-02 +351
Table 4
The Mean of the control Group in the Pre-test and Post-test
Mean N Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpre 15500 20 51042 11413
Cpost 13500 20 41675 09319
In order to calculate the mean( )result of the control group in the post-test we have to apply
the following formula = sumx N
sum stands for the total number of the data collected in the post-test of the control
group
N refers to the total number of students So = 2720 = 1
47
Figure 10
The Control Group Studentsrsquo Scores Differences
A very insignificant development has been shown in both Figure 7 and Table 3
concerning learners scores in the post-test Besides only Students 681217 and 20 from a
total number of twenty have proved the improvement the mean of the control group has
decreased from 155 in the pre-test to 135 in the post-test ie the mean = -02
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group post-test (Paired Sample
T-test)
In order to identify the scoresrsquo differences between the results of the experimental
group in both the pre-test and the post-test we have calculated the mean of the post-test and
compared it with that of the pre-test to notice if there is any improvement (see Table 3) So
the mean of the post-test is shown in Table 5 below
48
Table 5
The Mean of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and Post-test
Mean N Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Epre 14250 20 51999 11627
Epost 49375 20 59535 13312
From Table 5 we notice that the mean of the experimental group increased from 142 in the
pre-test to 493 in the post-test with a mean difference of 351 ( = +351) and we can
calculate the mean ()of the post-test using the following formula
= sumxN
sum= Stands for the total number of data that was gathered from the post-test in the
Experimental Group
119925 =Stands for the total number of students
So= 9875 20 = 493
From Table 3 we notice that there is a very clear development and difference in
learnersrsquo scores in the post-test which is very different from the pre-test scores (see Figure
12) Moreover we can notice this development from Figure 11 below too It Shows that the
most frequent scores that learners of the experimental group have gained are 45 5 55 and
at last 575(the marks are out of six) that makes a big difference from the scores of the pre-
test in which the most frequent score was 1 In addition to all of this results we can add that
the sum of the rime duration of the post-test differs a lot from that of the pre-test ( = +3128
s)
49
Hence in the light of these results we can say that the period of treatment really
affects in a positive way the learnersrsquo acquisition of the pronunciation of dark [ϯ] and clear
[l] Besides this enhancement was improved in the mean difference between the pre-test and
the post-test of the experimental group Though the comparison of means in the pre-test and
post-test of the experimental group cannot be sufficient in order to make sure that listening
to audio-stories really affects positively the way learners pronounce the Phoneme l
Therefore a paired sample T-test was designed to assess the development of learnersrsquo
acquisition of dark [ϯ] and clear [l] ie to acceptreject the Alternative Hypothesis or to
accept reject the Null Hypothesis (See Table 6 below)
Figure 11
The Scores Frequencies of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and the Post-test
50
Figure 12
The Scores Differences of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and the Post-test
21431 The paired Sample T-test
In order to know if there is any significant difference between the post-test and the
pre-test scores of the same group a t-test is conducted At first the of the experimental
group is calculated through the following formula
= sumdN
refers to the Difference of mean Scores
N Studentsrsquo scores in the Experimental Group
sum refers to the total sum of the Differences Scores
So = 702520= 35125
51
The Standard deviation of the differences
Sd= radic119956120784= radicsum119941120784
119925minus 119941120784
S stands for the Variance
sum119941120784 refers to the square differences of Scores
After calculating
Sdcong 013
The Standard Error of the Mean Difference (SE)
It is calculated using the following formula
SE ()= 119878119889
radic119873cong003
Finally we calculate the t- value that will be compared to the critical P-value at the point
p=005 in order to accept the alternative hypothesis or rejecting it using the following
formula119957120784120782minus120783=
119878119864(119889) = 117
Table 6
Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Post-test Scores differences
Students Pre-test Post-test Difference
1 2 4 2
2 25 5 25
3 1 45 35
4 2 35 15
5 25 55 3
6 2 5 3
52
7 15 45 3
8 1 5 4
9 1 425 325
10 1 55 45
11 15 45 3
12 1 5 4
13 15 55 4
14 1 55 45
15 1 5 4
16 1 475 375
17 1 5 4
18 15 575 425
19 1 525 425
20 15 575 425
Total 285 9875 7025
Table 7
The Paired Sample T-test for the Experimental Group
Paired Sample T-Test
Epre
Scores-
Epost
Scores
Mean Std
deviati-
on
Std-
Error
Mean
95Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
t Df Sig
(2-
tailed)
Lower Upper
-351250 83695 18715 -390421 -312079 -18768 19 000
53
After calculating the mean of the experimental group in both the pre-test and the post-
test (see Table 5) a mean difference of +351 was noticed Therefore in order to prove if
the development that was noticed in the post-test scores as well as the mean occurred
because of the influence of listening to the audio-stories which is the independent variable
or happened only by coincidence
Hence to confirm the Alternative Hypothesis and reject the Null Hypothesis or vice
versa the t-value (117) was calculated in order to be compared with the critical- value at
the point p=005 and at the level of t=19 Besides p-value (0000) is less than 005 which
means that there a real difference between the learnersrsquo scores in the pre-test (before the
period of treatment) and the leanersrsquo scores in the post-test (after the period of treatment)
Consequently we can deduce that the improvement that was achieved by the experimental
group in the post test did not occur by chance actually it occurred because of listening to
audio-stories that has a positive effect on learnersrsquo pronunciation of both the clear [l] and the
dark [ϯ]
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-test
Table 8
The Mean of the Control Group and the Experimental Group in the Post-test
N Mean Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpost 20 13500 41675 09319
Epost 20 49375 59535 13312
54
To calculate the mean () we use the following Formula
= sum119961 N
So 1= sum119961 N
1 refers to the mean of the control group in the post-test
N refers to the total number of students in the control Group
sum119961 stands for the sum of scores of the control group in the post-test
1= 2720 = 135
2 = sum119961 N
2 stands for the mean of the experimental group in the post-test
N refers to the total number of participants in the experimental group
sum119961 Stands for the sum of scores of the experimental group in the post-test
So 2= 987520 = 493
Figure13
The Scores Frequencies of the Control Group and the Experimental Group in the Post-
test
55
From the previous analysis of the mean of both the control and the experimental
group in the pre-test (see Table 3) we have noticed that the level of students in both groups
is almost the same and there is only a slight difference between them Though in the post-
test the scores of the experimental group has increased and as result the mean average has
increased too after the treatment phase for the experimental group (from 142 to 493) but it
decreased for the control group who were taught without being exposed to any kind of
treatment (see Table 8 and Figure 10) Besides we can notice the development also in the
rime duration in studentsrsquo pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] of the experimental
group in the post-test which is not the case with the control group
21441 An independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the post-
test
In order to investigate if there is any significant change between two diverse groups
who have run the same test a t-test is used to show this significance difference In our case
we want to inspect if there is any significant variation between the experimental group and
the control group in the post-test and whether we accept the Alternative Hypothesis or
rejecting the Null Hypothesis So depending on the following steps a t-test was calculated
using the following formula
t= 119883 119888minus 119890
radicpartx2
Nx+
1205971199102
119873119910
partx2 = sum(119883 minus 119890 )N
= 306
1205971199102 =sum(119883 minus 119888 )2119873
= 160
119888 the mean of the control group in the post-test
56
119890 the mean of the experimental group in the post-test
partx2 the variation of the experimental group
1205971199102 the variation of the control group
So t= 493minus 135
radic306
20+
160
20
=745
t-value= 745
Depending on the t-value (745) that was calculated we compare it with the critical p-
value at p=005 therefore we have two options
1- If t-value is greater than the critical p-value (t-valuegtcritical-value) we accept the
alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
2- If t-value is less than the critical-value (t-valueltcritical-value) we accept the null
hypothesis and refuse the alternative hypothesis
we can say that
t-value=745 745 gt005
We accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
p-value= 0000 0000 lt005
We accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
Depending on these results we can say that there is a statistical evidence that the
associated sampling means are significantly different In other words there is a real change
between the experimental group and the control group in the post test at the level of
pronunciation due to the positive influence of the independent variable which is ldquolistening
to the audio-storiesrdquo Therefore students of the experimental group showed a significant
57
progress at the level of pronunciation and precisely the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
pronunciation
215 Discussion of the Results
The current research has investigated the influence of listening to audio-stories on
acquiring accurate pronunciation of both allophones the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] At the
start the pre-test has proved that learners of both groups ie the control and the
experimental group have the same level through calculating their means The control group
scored a mean of 155 while the experimental group scored a mean of 142 and also they
have got near scores concerning the rime duration of the L sound So these estimated scores
helped us to prove and confirm our hypothesis that states the positive effect of listening to
audio-stories on the level of pronunciation accuracy In the post-test students of the
experimental group showed a significant development compared to the control group and
this is due to the period of treatment that occurred in the oral session Besides the mean
score of the experimental group has been raised from 142 to 493 and from a sum of rime
durations of 2222 s to 535 s while the mean score of the control group has been decreased
from 155 to 135 and increased from a sum of rime durations of 2149 s to 2359 s In
addition a t-test was designed to show if there is any statistical significant difference
between the experimental group and the control group in the post-test the results show the
positive influence of the treatment phase on the dependent variable (pronunciation
accuracy)
216 Pedagogical implication
The present research evidenced the positive influence of being exposed to the target
language pronunciation as it is produced by the native speakers through the exposure to the
audio-stories Therefore we can state a set of pedagogical implications
58
The present study shows that the more students get involved in listening practices
the more they will be proficient in the pronunciation of a various English sounds ie
developing their speaking proficiency
Audio-stories help EFL learners improve their pronunciation as well as to develop
their listening skills
Using multimedia devices (audio-stories in our case) in learning classrooms
enhances the learnersrsquo motivation to get involved in the learning process
Audio-stories can be used by EFL teachers in order to make learners attentive and
interested in the lecture being presented
Audio-stories provide learners with the chance to listen again and again to the story
in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of a given word
Conclusion
The present research examined the effect of listening to audio stories on fostering the
target language pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] The native speakerrsquo s
pronunciation of both allophones was analyzed first through analyzing the rime duration in
order to compare it with the EFL learnersrsquo articulation That is to say the analysis is based
on the native speakerrsquo s rime duration In addition a significant development in learnersrsquo
pronunciation of the dark[ϯ]and the clear [l] was proved which lead to accept the alternative
hypothesis that states listening to audio-stories has a positive effect on acquiring accurate
pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] by EFL learners
59
General Conclusion
The present study is based on the investigation of the effectiveness of listening to
audio stories on acquiring accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] by EFL
learners At the beginning we have stated the problem which was that the Algerian EFL
learners in the English department at LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi University face a lot of difficulties
concerning the acquisition of the accurate pronunciation of The phoneme l Subsequently
this dissertation tackled the importance of listening to audio-stories on enhancing EFL
learnersrsquo pronunciation accuracy
Our research was tackled in two main chapters The first chapter divided into two
main sections In the first section we tackled the point of listening to audio stories whereas
the second section discussed the reflection of listening to audio stories on the pronunciation
of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] The second chapter represented the practical part the field
work The analyzed data showed that there is a positive relationship between the independent
variable and the dependent variable That is to say there was a development in the
acquisition of the phoneme l which lead us to accept the alternative hypothesis and reject
the null hypothesis
60
Limitations of the Study
Limited sources ie most of the sources that were available were not relevant to our
study
Time constraints this study needs much more time to conduct a better result
Students absences in the pre-test and the post-test and others did not receive the
treatment at all
The lack of interest in the beginning of the treatment session
61
List of References
Alonso SR (2012) The importance of Teaching Listening and Speaking Skills Diagravectica de Lingua
y la Literatura Facultad de Education
Brown S (2006) Teaching Listening Cambridge Cambridge University press
Coulter C Michael C ampPoynor L (2007) Storytelling as Pedagogy An Unexpected Outcome
of narrative inquiry 104-105
Daudet A (2001) Five Short Stories Copyright copy Bartlebycom Inc
Downs L J (2008) Listening Skills Training ASTD press
Eckert J (2016) Audio Storytelling in Todayrsquos Visual World The necessary Components of a
successful sounds scape for an audio play
Gilakjani A P (2012) A study of Factors Affecting EFL learnersrsquo English Pronunciation Learning
and the Strategy for instruction Lahijani Iran 2(3) 119-128
Hamer J (1998) How to teach English An Introduction to the Practice of English Language
Teaching English Language Teaching Harlow Longman
Hendrickson J (1992) Storytelling for foreign language and linguistics Washington Dc Eric
learning house on language and linguistic [ Eric No E0355-824]
Kline J A (1996) Listening Effectively Air University Press
Madden M and Moore Z (1997) ESL Studentsrsquo Opinions about instruction in Pronunciation
Texas 3(2) 15-32
Mendelson D J (1994) Learning to Listen Dominie Press
Nasreddin K (2010) The Influence of Background Knowledge on Second Language Listening
Comprehension Constantine Constantine University
62
Poposka V p (2016) Pronunciation Proficiency Level Problematic Areas of Tertiary as a Foreign
Language International Journal of Science and Basic and Applied Research
Richards J C (1990) The Language Teaching Matrix Cambridge Cambridge University Pess
Rubin SS (2015) Tools for Creating Audio Stories scholarship University of California
Roney RC (1996) Storytelling in the classroom Some Theoretical Thoughts Wayne State
University Education Detroit Michigan
Sproat R ampFujimura O (1993) Allophonic variation of the English l and its Implication for
phonetic Implementation Academic Press
Torky SA (2006) The Effectiveness of a Task-Based Instruction Program in Developing English
Language Speaking Skills of Secondary Stage Students Collegersquo s girl Ain Shams
University
Ummah A (2014) The Effectiveness of Nursery Rhymes to Facilitate Studentsrsquo of Pronunciation of
the Diphthong Education and Teacher Training Faculty Walisongo State institution for
Islamic Studies
Wang M (2016) Research on the Acoustic Realization of Lateral in Sundanese International
Journal of Engineering Research and Development 12(10) 44-48
Ziane R (2012) The Role of Listening Comprehension in Improving EFL learners Speaking Skill
Biskra University of Biskra
Zhang Q (2009) Affecting Factors of Native-Like Pronunciation A Literature Review Ching-Ang
University 27(2) 33-52
63
Abrahamson CE (1998) Storytelling as a pedagogical tool in high Education 118(3) Retrieved
from
httpwwwquestiacomlibraryjournal1G1-20494609storytelling-as-a-pedagogical-tool-
inhighereducation
AMP Research Center (2012) Retrieved from
Httpwwwncertrmqeduauconference2001indexhtal
Backley P (nd) Improving your English Pronunciation Retrieved from
httptoefluobabyloneduiqpaperspearson-2015-1269610pdf
Chaney (1998) Teaching Speaking Retrieved from
httpitesljorgtechniqueKayi-teaching speakinghtml
English Club (nd) What is listening Retrieved from
httpwwwenglishclubcom
Miller E (2011) Theories of story and storytelling Retrieved from
httpwww-storytellingandvideoconferencingcom167pdf
Pederson E M (1995) Storytelling and the art of listening English teaching forum 33(1)2-5
Retrieved from httpExchangesStategovForumuolsn01p2htm
Remen R N (nd) Listening Skills Retrieved from
httpwwwskillsyouneedcomipslistening-Skills-html
Rock R (nd) 5 Wonderful Websites for Engaging ESL Audio Short Stories Retrieved from
httpwwwFluentucomenglisheducatorsblogeslaudio-short-stories
Seifert S (nd) Follow Along 6 Engaging ESL Audio Stories with worksheet ideas Retrieved from
httpwwwFluentucomenglisheducatorblogeslaudio-stories
Saricoban A (2004) The Teaching of listening The Internet TESL journal
httpitesljorgArticlesSaricobn-listeninghtml
Subhi s (2016) Differences between Hearing and listening Retrieved from
httpkeydifferencescomdifference-between-hearning-and-listeninghtml
64
Shen CD (2010) 3 reasons why listening skills are very important in Todayrsquo s Business World
Retrieved from httpezinearticlescom3-Reasons-why-listening-skills-are-very-important-in-
Todays-Business-worldampid=5436504
the adapted audio-stories that were used in the period of treatment
(httpwwwmanythingsorgvoastories)
Appendix A A pre-test
The Last class- The Story of the Alsatian
I was very late for school that morning and I was terribly afraid of being Scolded
especially as Monsieur Hamel had told us that he should examine us on participles and I
did not know the first thing about them For a moment I thought of saying away from
school and wandering about the fields It was such a warm lovely day I could hear the
blackbirds whistling on the edge of the wood and in the ripper field behind the sawmill
the Prussians going through their drill All that was much more tempting to me than the
rules concerning participles but I had the strength to resist and I ran as fast as I could to
school
Sentences
You old fool they will kill you if you always trouble them
People are awfully lazy in the middle of July
Appendix B A post-test
The Game of Billiards
The marshalrsquo s opponent is a young captain of the staff belted and curled and light-
gloved who is in the first rank of billiard-players and capable of beating all the marshals
on earth but he has the tact to keep a respectful distance behind his chief and devotes his
energies to the task of not winning and at the same time not losing too easily He is what is
called an officer with a future
Read the following words
1 Cabal
2 Labour
3 Shell
Appendix c Treatment period
I Session one (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquothe Secret Gardenrdquo (Chapter One) By Frances Hodgson
Burnett
II Session two (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Secret Gardenrdquo (Chapter two) By Frances Hodgson
Burnett
III Session three (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Lady or the Tigerrdquo by Frank R Stockton
IV Session four (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Lady in Blackrdquo By Eleanor Porter
Reacutesumeacute
La preacutesente eacutetude vise agrave eacutetudier lrsquoarticulation de dark [ϯ] et clear [l] dans les classes de la
langue anglaise afin dameacuteliorer la prononciation des apprenants Lrsquoeacutetude actuelle repose
sur lhypothegravese que leacutecoute des histoires audio a un effet positif sur lameacutelioration de la
prononciation des apprenants EFL avec un accent particulier sur le dark [ϯ] et clear [l] Afin
datteindre lobjectif de cette recherche une eacutetude quasi-expeacuterimentale a eacuteteacute assigneacute en
deux groupe group teacutemoin et group expeacuterimentale Chaque groupe contenait 20 eacutelegraveves
Lexpeacuterience a pris six seacuteances un preacute-test une peacuteriode de traitement (4 seacuteances) et un
posttest En conclusion les reacutesultats obtenus montrent que les eacutetudiants qui sont exposeacute agrave
la langue cible et qui eacutecoutent au locuteur natif agrave lrsquoaide audio pour ameacuteliorer leurs
prononciations ont montreacute qursquoil y a un deacuteveloppement ameacutelioration au niveau de
compeacutetence des apprenants en particulier et en matiegravere de parole en geacuteneacuterale
Les mots cleacutes audio-histoire Compeacutetence drsquoeacutecoute prononciation dureacute de travaille
ملخص
استخدام القصص الصوتية من اجل المساعدة على اكتساب النطق السليم والدقيق تهدف هذه الدراسة الى التعرف على مدى فعالية
الأجنبية حيث تستند الدراسة الحالية على فرضية مفادها ان الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية له تأثير إيجابي على تحسين ةللغ
استغرقت التجربة ست ق المنهج التجريبيمن أجل تحقيق هدف هذه الدراسة تم تطبينطق الطلاب الأجانب للغة الإنجليزية
جلسات قسمت كالاتي أربع حصص معالجة سبقت باختبارات قبلية ولحقت باختبارات بعدية أجريت الدراسة في قسم اللغة
طالبا من طلاب السنة ثانية جامعي قسم الطلبة الى فوجين حيث 40الإنجليزية بجامعة العربي بن مهيدي وقد شملت الدراسة
ى معالجة لمدة أربع حصص من خلال الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية في حين لم يتعرض الفوج الثاني خضع أحد الفوجين ال
الى نفس المعالجة بعد ذلك تم اجراء الاختبارات البعدية واعتمادا على النتائج المتحصل عليها ثبت ان التعرض الى اللغة
جابي على اكتساب النطق الدقيق للغة المستهدفة الا وهي اللغة الأجنبية عن طريق الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية له تأثير إي
الأجنبية
القصص الصوتية النطق مدة الموجات الصوتيةالكلمات المفتاحية المهارة السمعية
11
15 Listening Processes
In listening process addressees process information using two distinct strategies
This is devoted to as bottom-up and top-down
151 Bottom-up Process
Richards (1990) states that ldquobottom-up processing refers the use of incoming data as
a source of information about the meaning of a messagerdquo (p 50) According to him Bottom-
up process deals with the perception of sentence components ie recognizing the meaning
of sounds words sentences clauseshellipetc till reaching the meaning of the whole message
152 Top-down Process
Richards (190) states that ldquoTop-down processing on the other hand refers to the use
of background knowledge in understanding the meaning of a messagerdquo (p 51) In contrast
to Bottom-up process Richards (1990) points out to the Top-down as the process of using
the listenersrsquo previous knowledge to attain meaning as whole not attaining the meaning of
individual words
16 Brief History of Audio-Stories
Eckert (2016) states that ldquoAudio storytelling in the form of radio drama has been
around for almost a centuryrdquo (p 8) That is to say audio stories in the previous decades took
the form of radio drama Radio drama attained extensive admiration within an era of its
original growth in the 1920rsquo s At that time radio drama played a central role for being the
foundation of people entertainment However by the 1950rsquo s people shifted their attention
to the new invention which was the small screen ie the television As a result of the
invention of this new device audio drama no more attracts the spectatorsrsquo attention it lost
its popularity
12
Though in 2010 radio drama came back to stage due to the developments shown in
digital soundtrack and internet spreading According to Eckert (2016) ldquoRadio and audio
storytelling has slowly started gaining popularity again thanks to the different online
platforms brought forth by digitalizationrdquo (p 8)
17 Definition of Storytelling
Today stories are a fundamental part of our societies and cultures Telling and
listening to stories is an ancient tradition and common activity that bonds different olden
civilizations together Also stories are an essential component and an ordinary process that
many people used to do on every occasion It is the art of telling factual or fictional stories
Besides stories bring legacy into life because our ancestors told them and people today
only retell them
Moreover listening to stories enhances the learnersrsquo foreign language It aids them
to improve their speaking skills Pederson (1995) states that ldquoin dealing with stories learners
have an experience with the powerful real language of personal communicationrdquo (p 2)
Additionally Pederson (1995) emphasizes the role of telling stories in preserving heritage
he argues that ldquooral stories are a direct expression of a literary and cultural heritage and
through them that heritage is appreciated understood and kept aliverdquo (1995 p2) In other
words stories bond between the past and the present It is considered to be a vital feature of
humankind Furthermore Schram (1994 as cited in Coulter Michael amp Poynor 2007)
points out
A story is a beautiful means of teaching religion values history traditions and
customs a creative method of introducing characters and places an imaginative way
13
to instill hope and resourceful thinking Stories help us to understand who we are and
show us what legacies to transmit to future generations (p 104-105)
So Schram (1994) highlights the role of stories in bridging the gap between the teaching
process and culture
Likewise Abrahamson (1998) sheds light on the role that storytelling plays in the
learning process He states that telling stories plays a significant role in improving learnersrsquo
understanding Besides Abrahamson argues that stories can afford a suitable context that
the listener can use it as a base to perceive the tellerrsquos point of view Moreover Roney (1996)
demonstrates
In its most basic form storytelling is a process where a person (the teller) using
vocalization narrative structure and mental imagery communications with other
humans (the audience) who also use mental imagery and in turn communicate back
to the teller primarily via body language and facial expression (p 2)
By this definition storytelling is the combination of art procedures and ways of
communication
18 Definition of Audio-Stories
The term audio-story is a combination of two words audio and story By definition
audio is sound within the aural range accessible to humankinds Miller (2011) states that
ldquostories are pieces of art and can serve as a basis of gamesrdquo (p 1) So Audio-story is a very
operative means for teaching EFL learners It aids to make the course persuasive Nowadays
14
audio stories can be used to many reasons and the most important one is the exposure to the
real language of native speakers by EFL learners In addition Rubin (2015) points out
ldquoaudio stories are an engaging form of communication that combines speech and music into
a compelling narrativesrdquo (p 1) That is to say audio stories are the process of telling stories
through sound and sound effects only Furthermore Audio-stories are broadly accredited to
progresses in portable equipment for instance smart phones tablets and multimedia
entertainment systems Thus EFL learners find it easy to listen to those audio stories
19 Characteristics of a Good Audio-Story
According to Seifert (nd) finding good audio-stories that suit the EFL learnersrsquo
needs is something very important and it is a very hard task to do However these are some
of the necessary features that EFL teachers must take into consideration whenever they want
to select a good audio-story for their students
Skill Level
Taking into account the learnersrsquo English level before choosing any audio-story For
instance if the audio-story contains a difficult language learners will lose confidence and
as a result they stop listening to the audio-story So determining the learnersrsquo level is very
important
Student Interest
EFL teachers must find out their studentsrsquo interests and normally each teacher has
an idea about this issue So if the audio-stories do not fit the learnersrsquo needs the EFL
teacherrsquos goal from that audio-story will be lost
15
Audio Length
The length of the audio-story plays a significant role in keeping concentration in the
ESL schoolrooms Listening for much time to the audio storytelling leads to boredom As a
result the learnersrsquo s brains lose attention However teachers can use long audio-stories but
they should know how to put it into parts and use classroom discussions to avoid boredom
So these three characteristics aid to develop EFL learnersrsquo listening skills
110 The Use of Audio-Stories in ESL Classrooms
According to Rock (nd) there are several listening practices that ESLEFL teachers
can provide to their students These are samples of activities that can work hand in hand with
audio-stories
Fill in The Blanks
Here EFL teacher provides his students with a written passage that is taken from an
audio-story but he removes some words Later on the teacher asks his learners to listen to
the audio-story after reading that passage and at the same time fill in the blanks
Mastery Memory
This activity has to do with learnerrsquos memory In this kind of practices teachers
provide learners with an audio-story and ask them for example to write down the main
events of the story but when they finish listening to it Teachers in this activity have to make
sure that students do not write them during the listening of the audio-story So the main goal
of the exercise is to reinforce learnerrsquos memory
16
Order the Events
At the start teachers give their learners a series of events that are chosen from an
audio-story Then the teacher gives them some time to read them After that learners listen
to the audio- storytelling and put those events in a sequential order
Buzz Words
This exercise aims to reach the learnerrsquo s vocabulary In this practice teachers
provide learners with a number of words then they ask them to check their meanings before
Afterward teacher turns the lesson into a game ie EFL learners listen to the audio-story
and whenever they hear a word (the buzz word) from that list they have to raise their hands
or clap them
Multiple Choice
This activity deals with providing learners with a number of questions followed by
three answers these questions can be definitions or name of characterhellip etc Then learners
have to listen to the audio-storytelling and pick the write response After teachers play again
the audio-story to correct their answers
Character Quiz
In this practice EFL learners have to listen to the whole story Then the teacher gives
his class a question sheet that contains a list of character qualities and decision and ask them
to choose the suitable one for the leading role
Plot Quiz
This activity has to do with team competition After listening to the whole audio-
storytelling once or twice the teacher divides his class into two to four groups where the
17
teacher plays the role of the coach Several questions that have a relation to the story will be
quizzed to each team if they get the answer they have a point if they fail to answer correctly
the question moves to the next group
Beginning Middle End
After listening to the audio storytelling the teacher splits the classroom into groups
and each group contains no more than four students Later he asks each group to write the
main events of the beginning the middle and the end of the story Finally they discuss them
together
111 Advantages of Using Audio-Stories
Audio-stories play an essential role in teaching the target language Audio-
storytelling is an impeccable implement for any ESL classrooms First of all audio-stories
afford learners with the exposure to the real language as it is produced by the native speakers
ie a natural voice Furthermore Rodero (2012 as cited in Eckert2016) claimed that
ldquoAudio stories that use sound effects and sound shots enhance the learnerrsquo s attention and
creation of visual images significantly compared to those without themrdquo (p 16) That is to
say using audio-stories in ESL classrooms develops learnersrsquo listening skills and provides
them with an imaginary trip inside their minds Also audio- stories enhance learnersrsquo
pronunciation since the learner is exposed to the natural voice In addition EFL teacher can
use audio storytelling as a guideline to his lecture or the opposite he can use it at the end of
the course as a reward
Moreover the EFL teachers depend on audio-stories in improving learnersrsquo
vocabulary through memorization Learners can enrich their vocabulary whenever they
listen to those stories because each time they learn some new words Besides learners can
18
listen to them outside the schoolrooms because they are portable they can upload them in
their mobiles and listen to them any time anywhere Finally audio stories can raise interest
for those learners who are not attracted to reading
Conclusion
In conclusion listening to audio stories aids EFL learners to improve the target
language pronunciation That is to say students will be exposed to the real language as it is
created by the native speakers Besides using audio stories in ESLEFL classrooms increases
the learnersrsquo interest toward learning the foreign language and also enhances their speaking
skills
19
Section two Reflection on Pronunciation
Introduction
121 Definition of Speaking Skill
122 Speaking Sub-Competencies Skills
123 Definition of Pronunciation
124 Importance of Pronunciation
125 Factors Affecting Pronunciation
1251 Internal Factors
1252 External Factors
Conclusion
20
Introduction
Generally speaking being able to speak the target language fluently and accurately
seems to be very interesting to all EFLESL learners Though students face a lot of troubles
and obstacles when communicating with each other or with native speakers and this is due
to mispronunciation misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the hearer which leads to the
communication breakdowns Furthermore learnersrsquo mispronunciation occurs due to various
factors that affect their oral language and as a consequence it affects their speaking
proficiency
In this section we have dealt with the speaking process and precisely
ldquopronunciationrdquo At the start a slight attention is put upon the definition of speaking skills
and its sub-competencies After that a part of this section is devoted to define pronunciation
and highlight its importance Moreover this section demonstrates some factors that affect
pronunciation which are classified into internal factors and external factors Finally another
point about the English consonant ldquoLrdquo has been raised
121 Definition of Speaking Skill
Mastering the foreign language is the aim of each EFL learner Speaking is one of
the most important language skills it plays a significant role in sharing ideas and thoughts
between individuals Torky (2006) defines speaking as follows ldquoIt is the means through
which learners can communicate with others to achieve certain goals or to express their
opinions intentions hopes and viewpointsrdquo (p 13) Also Ziane (2012) states that ldquoit is the
way by which learners can contribute and be part of oral communicationrdquo (p21) So the
main goal of EFL learners is to be able to speak the target language in order to strengthen
their verbal communication
21
Moreover Chaney (1998) argues that ldquospeaking is the process of building and
sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols in a variety of contextsrdquo
(p 13) From Chaneyrsquo s definition of speaking we deduce that speaking has an important
role in learning the foreign language and improving EFL learnersrsquo communicative skill
However there are some researchers who describe speaking as a hard task They
argue that EFL learners find it so hard to master the foreign language and face a lot of
difficulties even after studying it many years at schools Bueno and Mclaren (2006 as cited
in Alonso 2011) point out
Speaking is one of the most difficult skills language learners have to face In spite of
this it has traditionally been forced into the background while we teachers of
English have spent all our classroom time trying to teach our students how to write
to read and sometimes even to listen in a L2 because grammar has a long written
tradition (p 321)
On the whole the speaking skill is a very important process that EFL learners need to acquire
in order to master and shape the target language
122 Speaking Sub CompetenciesSkills
Torky (2006) claims that learners must be able to express themselves in a given
context in order to be proficient in mastering the foreign language She points out to several
speaking skills or competencies that help to achieve this aim which are
22
Linguistic Competence
Torky (2006) states that learners must be skillful in using pronunciation ie their
pronunciation must be clear In addition students have to use correct grammar and
proper lexis
Discourse Competence
In the beginning learners have to be able to use a well-organized discourse In other
words the discourse must be clear and unified Besides they have to be competent in
handling discussion and cooperating efficiently in order to avoid the communication
breakdowns
Pragmatic Competence
EFL learners have to be proficient in using a variety of functions that are related to
the same context and register
Fluency
Speaking smoothly without any complications and with a suitable degree of speech
speed
123 Definition of Pronunciation
According to Gilakjani (2012) ldquopronunciation is an integral part of foreign language
since it directly affects learnersrsquo communicative competence as well as performancerdquo
(p119) That is to say pronunciation plays a fundamental role in learning and improving the
target language Besides Poposka (2016) argues that pronunciation is the key factor of
language in its universal notion and she claims that pronunciation should be defined in
23
relation to different perspectives Poposka (2016) states some of the various points of view
concerning pronunciation definition which are
- The act or manner of pronouncing uttering of speech
- A way of speaking a word especially a way that is accepted or generally understood
- A graphic representation of the way a word is spoken using phonetic symbols (p
200)
Moreover Dauer (1993 as cited in Ummah 2014) states that ldquopronunciation is the
act of producing the sound of speech including articulation vowel formation accent
inflection and intonation often with reference to the correctness or acceptability of the
speech soundrdquo (p 10) In addition Poposka (2016) states that pronunciation is the vocal
capacity to produce particular sounds weather when communicating with individuals or
when being alone This construction of sounds leads to the appearance of some utterances
that may be expressive or worthless (p 200) Furthermore Adult Migrant English Program
research center (AMP 2002) points out
Pronunciation refers to the production of sounds that we use to make meaning it includes
attention to the particular sounds of language (segments) aspects of speech beyond the
level of the individual sound such as intonation phrasing stress timing rhythm
(suprasegmental aspects) (p1)
In other words AMP research center argues that even if these two aspects suprasegmental
and segmental structures are treated separately it is necessary to know that they work hand
in hand in a given context whenever someone speaks
24
124 Importance of Pronunciation
Madden and Moore (1997) states that ldquoin first language acquisition children learn
pronunciation inductively by absorbing and reproducing the sounds in their environmentrdquo
(p 4) That is to say all human beings in their natural development from childhood to
adulthood learn first of all how to talk before learning how to read or write Also Zhang
(2009) claims that ldquolearning a language means to perform the sounds utterances and the
words properly and correctlyrdquo (p 34-35) So pronunciation is a very essential skill in
learning a second language
Moreover Morley (1998 as cited in Zhang 2009) argues that ldquoit is clear that limited
pronunciation skills will make learners lose their self-confidence and result in negative
influence for learners to estimate their credibility and abilitiesrdquo (p 35) In other words it
does not matter whether learners make mistakes concerning grammar or vocabulary all what
matters is the way they pronounce a given word in order to make a worthy impression on
the learnersrsquo language capacities Zhang (2009) points out
Good pronunciation will make people understand you easily and be willing to listen to
you Contrarily poor English pronunciation may confuse people and lead to an
unpleasant talking and misunderstanding even if you used advanced English grammar
or vocabulary (p 35)
Likewise Backley (n d) argues ldquoif a speaker has a clear pronunciation this has immediate
benefits listeners judge the speakerrsquo s overall language ability much more favorably even
to the point of tolerating grammatical and other errorsrdquo (p 126) Therefore good
25
pronunciation aids to avoid misinterpretation and intelligibility between speakers and
listeners and show the learnersrsquo competencies in mastering their second language
Furthermore good pronunciation affects the learnersrsquo speed of acquiring the target language
In addition learners should use only simple structures with good and correct pronunciation
rather than using complex expressions in order to communicate with others
125 Factors Affecting Pronunciation
Generally speaking there are several factors that affect the learnersrsquo pronunciation
These factors can be classified into internal factors and external factors
1251 Internal Factors
Zhang (2009) states that internal factors can be categorized also into biological
factors individual differences and individual efforts and goal setting
Biological Factors
They are branded into four features age ear perception and aptitude
Learnersrsquo Age
At the start there is a difference between young learners and adult learners
concerning the acquisition of the accurate pronunciation Nonetheless this does not mean
that adult learners cannot get accurate pronunciation as well They have to work much harder
because their brainsrsquo plasticity reduces That is to say age plays a significant part in learning
the target language pronunciation Moreover Zhang (2009) emphasizes the role of the
critical period hypothesis that was proposed by Lenneberg in 1967 which states that there
is a certain age that helps learners to acquire the foreign language pronunciation accurately
26
and after that age the brain loses its flexibility Furthermore (Nation and Newton (2009) as
cited in Zhang 2009) claim that
Usually if the learner began to speak in the second language before the age of six
there will be little or no accent If the learner began to speak between the age of seven
and eleven the learners likely to have a slight accent If the learner began to speak
after age of twelve the learners almost always have an accent (p 78)
This is the reason behind the acceptance of the idea that learners find it so hard to acquire
the foreign language after maturity
Additionally Zhang (2009) states that young learners have bigger chances than the
adult learners in obtaining accurate pronunciation He claims that the brain loses its
flexibility and becomes rigid after puberty (after nine years old) as a result the brainrsquo s
functions will be devoted to the right and left hemispheres which makes it so difficult to
acquire the foreign languagersquo s pronunciation correctly Also Lenneberg (1967 as cited in
Zhang 2009) argues that ldquobefore the age of two the brain has not developed enough but
after puberty it developed too much and it will lose its plasticity and finish the lateralization
of the language functionrdquo (p 39) In other words it becomes so hard to obtain the native-
like pronunciation after the lateralization
Ear Perception
One of the most important factors that affect the learnersrsquo acquisition of the foreign
language is the ldquoear perceptionrdquo Zhang (2009) claims that the hearing abilities differ from
one person to another That is to say there are learners who have a strong hearing capacity
27
they can hear sounds in a very clear way which help them in reproducing the native speakersrsquo
pronunciation smoothly Whereas there is that kind of learners who do not have that ability
However Zhang argues that the ear perception has nothing to do with the learner age He
claims that it is natural that learners may lose some of their capacities whenever they become
older
Aptitude
Generally speaking foreign language aptitude is the personrsquos ability to learn a foreign
or a second language very rapidly and with no troubles (Wen 2011) Also Dornyei and
skehan (2003 as cited in Wen 2011) states ldquooriginally the notion of FLA presumed a
relatively stable talent for learning a foreign language that differs between individualsrdquo (p
590) So EFL learners do not have the same ability to acquire the foreign language
Additionally Carroll (1962 as cited in Wen 2011) states four components of the FLA which
are
lsquophonemic coding abilityrsquo (ie the ability to identify and retain sounds and link them
to phonetic symbols)
Sensitivity towards the grammatical functions that words fulfil in a sentence
The ability to learn inductively (ie to infer and generalize linguistic structures from
language samples) and
The ability to rote learn vocabulary items paired with their associated translations
(p 233)
Hence aptitude has an important role in improving learnersrsquo foreign language
Although Zhang (2009) argues that all individuals have a language aptitude ability but they
28
differ only in the degree of that aptitude capacity Also he claims that we cannot say that
those people who have a sophisticated level of language aptitude will get to the top and
people with an inferior level of language aptitude will go pear-shaped
Individual Differences
Zhang (2009) states that learnersrsquo different personalities affect the way they acquire
the foreign language pronunciation He argues that extroverted learners are more likely to
acquire the target pronunciation rather than introverted learners because extroverted learners
are not afraid of making mistakes which is not the case with the introverted learners who
face always the fear of failure Besides extroverted students are more friendly they tend to
work with others which leads them to practice the target language so they become more
familiar with it which aids to improve their pronunciation very quickly (p 40-41)
Individual Efforts and Goal setting
At the start the main goal of each EFLESL learner is to master the foreign language
in order to communicate with others Zhang (2009) points out ldquowe must always remember
that teaching never causes learning but rather creates the conditions in which learning can
occurrdquo (p 42) Besides he emphasizes that pronunciation is really a very hard task that
learners can acquire in a few days but it is not something impossible that learners cannot
achieve Though as much time learners spend in practicing the target language
pronunciation the better results they will get
1252 External Factors
External factors can be classified into three aspects learnersrsquo native language
exposure to target language and education factors
29
Learnerrsquo s Native Language
Universally the learnersrsquo native language affects their pronunciation of the foreign
language Zhang (2009) states that studentsrsquo mother tongue reflects the way they pronounce
a certain word in the target language and this is due to the differences that are found between
the two languages In other words learners find a lot of complications in articulating some
sounds for the reason that some of those sounds do not occur in their native language (p
43)
Exposure to the Target Language
Zhang (2009) shows that the acquisition of English language pronunciation is related
to the amount of exposure to it as it is produced by the native speakers That is to say this
depends on the learner himself ie on the situation in which the learning process occurs In
other words Zhang argues that it does not matter weather learners live in a native country
or not it is a matter of how much time they listen to the foreign language and how much
time they use it Zhang (2009) states ldquothe more they spend their time for listening and
speaking English the better their English pronunciation will berdquo (p 44) Thus learnerrsquo s
pronunciation accuracy depends on the surrounding environment where the target language
takes place
Educational Factors
At the start the system of education is responsible for studentsrsquo learning process
Worthy educational structure provides a lot of chances for learners to be exposed to the target
language through creating a suitable learning environment Additionally EFLESL
teachersrsquo accent reflects the learnersrsquo pronunciation because learners take teachers as an
30
exemplary in order to improve their pronunciation That is why teachers should work on
their pronunciation initially (Zhang 2009)
The English Consonant Sound ldquoLrdquo
Generally speaking EFL learners face complications in learning the English L sound
Sproat and Fujimura (1993) argue ldquoEnglish l has traditionally been classified into at least
two allophones namely light which occurs initially and dark which occurs syllable finallyrdquo
(p 291) Furthermore Wang (2016) states that the L consonant sound is a lateral phoneme
in English and it has two allophones he points out
One of them is found before vowels as in ldquoladyrdquo or ldquoflyrdquo called clear l and is
pronounced as the alveolar lateral approximant in a neutral position of the body of
the tongue The other variant is called dark l found before consonants or at word-
finally position as in ldquoboldrdquo or ldquotellrdquo Which is as the velarized lateral approximant
with the tongue in a spoon-like shape Its back part is raised which gives the sound
a w-like resonance (p 44)
In other words the clear [l] occurs when the tip of the tongue raises up and touches the soft
palate just behind the front teeth whereas the dark [ϯ] happens when the tip of the tongue
pulls back and the tongue raises to the middle without touching the soft palate to make the
L sound So the difference between these two allophones is the reason behind those troubles
that the learner may face
However Sproat and Fujimura (1993 as cited in Jiahong 2011) explain the
differences between these two allophones by relating them to the rime duration In other
31
words they point out that whenever the l sound occurs in longer rimes it is going to be a
dark [ϯ] and whenever the rime is short the l sound is clear or light
Figure 1
Articulatory Differences in l Velarization
Source Recasens 2012 p369
Conclusion
To end with it is very important to acknowledge that pronunciation is one way that
leads to an effective and a successful communication That is why many researchers shed
light on the investigation of some factors that may influence the EFL learnersrsquo pronunciation
As a result these identifying concepts help foreigners to overcome their difficulties when
they are introduced to the target language
32
Chapter two Field Work
Introduction
21 Methodology
211 Research Participants
212 The Procedure
2121 The Research Design
2122 The Pre-test Phase
2123 The Treatment Phase
2124 The Control Group
2125 The Post-test Phase
213 Scoring
214 Data Analysis
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (independent Sample
t-test)
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group Post-test
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group Post-test (Paired
Sample t-test)
21431 Paired Sample t-test
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-test
33
21441 An Independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the
Post-test
215 Discussion of the Results
216 Pedagogical Implications
Conclusion
34
Introduction
This research attempts to investigate the effect of listening to audio stories on
acquiring accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] by second year LMD students
at the department English -LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi The chosen sample is divided into two
groups the control group and the experimental group At the start participantsrsquo
pronunciation accuracy of the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] (the dependent variable) was measured
through a pretest Later on a period of treatment is taken by the experimental group which
is not the case with the control group After that a post-test is administered to both groups
in which the results are gathered using a software called the ldquopraatrdquo In addition we shed
light on describing the sample taking the place in which the study took place the method
used and at last the data collected
21 Methodology
211 Research Participants
The current study involved two intact classes of second year LMD students from
LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi-English Department The selected sample includes students from
different gender Furthermore we favored to select second year students for several reasons
The first reason was that second year students have practiced working with audio supports
which was not the case with first year students so they will not face problems concerning
listening to audio stories The second reason was that second year learners study oral
expression
At the start the experiment includes a sample of forty learners that have been chosen
from two intact classes of second year LMD students The chosen sample represents 1904
from the entire population which comprises 210 learners Additionally both clusters were
35
divided into a control group and an experimental group twenty students in each group At
the beginning the sample was supposed to be comprised of sixty students in which both the
control and the experimental groups covered thirty students Unfortunately there were a lot
of absences in both groups Also there are some students who have not passed both the
pretest and the posttest and others have not received the treatment at all Therefore the
sample size was reduced from sixty to forty students which can be sufficient to represent
the whole population and to get consistent outcomes
In order to gather consistent data that help to achieve the purpose of our research a
quasi-experimental design was designated The use of the chosen method will provide us
with a wide-ranging representation of the reflection of listening to audio stories on the
acquisition of the accurate pronunciation of the dark [l] and clear [l]
212 The Procedure
To accumulate a reliable data an experiment was conducted over six sessions The
treatment period took four sessions and the remained two sessions for the pretest and the
posttest The pretest took a form different from that of the posttest in order to avoid
familiarity to improve the learnersrsquo development and get consistent information Both
groups have taken the tests but only the experimental group took the treatment Besides the
duration of training concerning the treatment period for the experimental group took 90
minutes ie one hour and a half for each session and it started after getting the
authorization of the teacher of oral expression
36
2121 The Research Design
Figure 2
Experimental Group Procedures
Figure 3
Control Group Procedures
2122 The Pre-test Phase
By the first week of March both the control group and the experimental group have
taken the pretest However before choosing the pretest and in order to avoid any problems
we have checked that the dark [l] and the clear [l] are pronounced the same in both the
American and the British accents using the Oxford Advanced Learnerrsquo s Dictionary At the
outset learners were required to read a passage derived from a short story named ldquoThe last
class-The story of the Alsationrdquo that was written by Alphonse Daudet (2001) and also short
sentences (see Appendix A) After that their voices were recorded using a software known
pre-test
treatment
(listening to audio stories)
post-test
pre-test
No treatment
( being taught without listening
to audio-stories)
post-test
37
as the ldquoPraatrdquo Besides our focus here was raised toward the duration (ie the length of a
syllable) of the dark [l] and the clear [l]
Throughout the pretest EFL learners found themselves unable to pronounce the dark
[ϯ] and clear [l] that are found in some words correctly In other words students in the control
group and the experimental group most of the time pronounce the dark [ϯ] in the same way
they pronounce the clear [l] ie they spend the same duration for pronouncing the two
allophones Also EFL learners from time to time pronounce them differently but in a wrong
way ie they spent a rime duration that it not suitable neither for the light [l] nor for the
dark[ϯ]
Figure4
Example of the Lateral Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoSawmillrdquo
2123 The Treatment Phase
At first both participants have finished the pretest Though the treatment was
approved to the experimental group only the control group did not receive the same
treatment Besides the experimental group received the treatment in four sessions and each
Rime
duration
38
session took one hour and a half (ie 90 minutes) In each session students were asked to
listen to the audio-story in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of both allophones
after that they discussed the story being listened (see Appendix B)
2124 The Control Group
Concerning the control group students were taught the oral expression without any
exposure to any kinds of treatments In contrast to students in the experimental group who
were provided with the audio stories in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of the
both allophones which are the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ]
2125 The Post-test Phase
Fundamentally after finishing the four sessions of training ie the period of
treatment a posttest was administered to both the experimental group and the control group
(see Appendix c) The posttest as we have said before is different from the pretest in order
to avoid familiarity with the same topic and to ensure the learners improvement of the dark
[ϯ] and clear [l] So the posttest is a kind of a passage which was taken from a short story
that is entitled ldquoThe Game of Billiardsrdquo which is written by Alphonse Daudet and some
words to pronounce Furthermore during the posttest we noticed a kind of development in
learnersrsquo pronunciation of the two allophones with students of the experimental group
especially in pronouncing the single words which was not the case with those learners in
the control group
39
Figure 5
Example of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquocabalrdquo
Figure 6
Example of the Clear [l] in the word ldquolabourrdquo
The rime
duration
The rime
duration
40
213 Scoring
After finishing recording the learnersrsquo pronunciation of the phoneme l of both
groups (the control and the experimental group) we have compared them first of all to the
native speakerrsquo s pronunciation and after that we have calculated the rime duration of the
two allophones ie the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] and at last we gave them scores out of six
(6) for each participant
214 Data Analysis
In this sub-section we are going to investigate the EFL learnersrsquo improvement of
pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] Though in order to make sure that EFL
learners have acquired the correct pronunciation of these two allophones we have firstly
investigated the native speakerrsquos pronunciation of the L sound ie the clear [l] and the dark
[ϯ] and we have analyzed the rime duration of two words ldquolightrdquo and ldquoballrdquo as examples
Figure7
The Native Speakerrsquos Pronunciation of the Clear [l] in the Word ldquolightrdquo
Rime
duration
41
Figure8
The Native Speakerrsquo s Pronunciation of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoballrdquo
From these two figures we have noticed that the native speaker has spent 016 s in
pronouncing an ideal clear [l] (see Figure 7) and he has spent 138 s in order to pronounce
a perfect dark [ϯ] (see Figure 8) Thus this analysis of the native speakerrsquo s voice paved the
way to our research in which we based our investigation on it
Table 1
The Experimental and the Control grouprsquo s Scores in the pre-test
Pre-test
Students
Control
group
Experimental
group
Rime
duration
(second)
C E
Rime
duration
42
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (Independent Sample t-
test)
After gathering data for the control and the experimental group and for the purpose
of comparing and contrasting between the two we have calculated the learnersrsquo scores of
pronunciation of the phoneme l and also we have calculated the rime duration of the two
1 1 2 118 127
2 2 25 095 091
3 1 1 116 102
4 25 2 106 091
5 25 25 078 089
6 15 2 078 105
7 2 15 123 091
8 1 1 117 108
9 15 1 119 119
10 15 1 1 115
11 2 15 091 116
12 15 1 12 119
13 2 15 114 1
14 15 1 108 112
15 1 1 131 112
16 2 1 088 08
17 1 1 127 107
18 1 15 107 149
19 15 1 099 115
20 1 15 114 174
Total 31 285 2149 2222
43
allophones (see Table1) Besides the data collected ie the learnersrsquo scores were used in
calculating the means of both groups in the pre-test (the mean is calculated using the SPSS
see Table 2)
Figure 9
The Pre-test Scores of the Control and the Experimental Group
Table 2
The Mean Score of the Control and the Experimental Group in the Pre-test
Test N Mean Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpre 20 15500 51042 11413
Epre 20 14250 51999 11627
44
In order to calculate the Mean () Results we have to use the following formula
=sumx N
N stands for the total numbers of students in one group
sumx stands for the total number of data that was gathered from the pre-test
1 stands for the mean of the Control Group
2 stands for the mean of the Experimental Group
So1= 31 20 =155
2= 285 20 = 142
From ldquoFigure 9rdquo we can notice that 1 is the most frequent score in both the
experimental and the control groups in the pre-test and we can confirm this information
from Table 1 Furthermore when comparing means of both groups we notice (see Table 2)
that there is only a slight difference between the two groups the mean of the control group
is 155 whereas the mean of the experimental group is 142 So we can deduce that the level
of both groups is approximately the same there is no significant difference Moreover the
rime duration of the phoneme l of the experimental group and the control group is to some
extent the same and we can notice this slight difference in Table 1 and precisely in the total
duration of pronouncing the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] by both groups and also in Table 2
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group post-test
In order to confirm if there is any kind of progression in the control grouprsquo s scores
in the post-test concerning the pronunciation of the phoneme l (see Table 3) we have
calculated the mean of the post-test (using the SPSS see Table 4) and compared it with the
mean of the pre-test besides we have calculated the rime duration that has been spent At
45
last we have mentioned the learnersrsquo scores differences between the pre-test and the post-
test to confirm the development (see Figure 10)
Table 3
Results and Scores Differences of the Control and Experimental group in the Post-test
Posttest
Students
Rime
Duration
(Second)
Cpre Cpost Epre Epost
Cpre Cpost Epre Epost
1 1 1 2 4 118 186 127 21
2 2 175 25 5 095 113 091 253
3 1 1 1 45 116 134 102 245
4 25 2 2 35 106 119 091 234
5 25 15 25 55 078 146 089 24
6 15 175 2 5 078 119 105 267
7 2 2 15 45 123 135 091 263
8 1 125 1 5 117 144 108 254
9 15 1 1 425 119 144 119 242
10 15 1 1 55 1 128 115 274
11 2 1 15 45 091 126 116 285
12 1 2 1 5 12 129 119 268
13 2 125 15 55 114 146 1 328
14 15 1 1 55 108 127 112 223
15 1 1 1 5 131 092 112 275
16 2 1 1 475 088 135 08 274
46
17 1 2 1 5 127 094 107 292
18 1 1 15 575 107 096 149 29
19 15 1 1 525 099 114 115 295
20 1 15 15 575 114 132 174 338
Total 31 27 285 9875 2149 2359 2222 535
Diff -4 +7025 +21 +3128
Mean 155 135 142 493
-02 +351
Table 4
The Mean of the control Group in the Pre-test and Post-test
Mean N Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpre 15500 20 51042 11413
Cpost 13500 20 41675 09319
In order to calculate the mean( )result of the control group in the post-test we have to apply
the following formula = sumx N
sum stands for the total number of the data collected in the post-test of the control
group
N refers to the total number of students So = 2720 = 1
47
Figure 10
The Control Group Studentsrsquo Scores Differences
A very insignificant development has been shown in both Figure 7 and Table 3
concerning learners scores in the post-test Besides only Students 681217 and 20 from a
total number of twenty have proved the improvement the mean of the control group has
decreased from 155 in the pre-test to 135 in the post-test ie the mean = -02
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group post-test (Paired Sample
T-test)
In order to identify the scoresrsquo differences between the results of the experimental
group in both the pre-test and the post-test we have calculated the mean of the post-test and
compared it with that of the pre-test to notice if there is any improvement (see Table 3) So
the mean of the post-test is shown in Table 5 below
48
Table 5
The Mean of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and Post-test
Mean N Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Epre 14250 20 51999 11627
Epost 49375 20 59535 13312
From Table 5 we notice that the mean of the experimental group increased from 142 in the
pre-test to 493 in the post-test with a mean difference of 351 ( = +351) and we can
calculate the mean ()of the post-test using the following formula
= sumxN
sum= Stands for the total number of data that was gathered from the post-test in the
Experimental Group
119925 =Stands for the total number of students
So= 9875 20 = 493
From Table 3 we notice that there is a very clear development and difference in
learnersrsquo scores in the post-test which is very different from the pre-test scores (see Figure
12) Moreover we can notice this development from Figure 11 below too It Shows that the
most frequent scores that learners of the experimental group have gained are 45 5 55 and
at last 575(the marks are out of six) that makes a big difference from the scores of the pre-
test in which the most frequent score was 1 In addition to all of this results we can add that
the sum of the rime duration of the post-test differs a lot from that of the pre-test ( = +3128
s)
49
Hence in the light of these results we can say that the period of treatment really
affects in a positive way the learnersrsquo acquisition of the pronunciation of dark [ϯ] and clear
[l] Besides this enhancement was improved in the mean difference between the pre-test and
the post-test of the experimental group Though the comparison of means in the pre-test and
post-test of the experimental group cannot be sufficient in order to make sure that listening
to audio-stories really affects positively the way learners pronounce the Phoneme l
Therefore a paired sample T-test was designed to assess the development of learnersrsquo
acquisition of dark [ϯ] and clear [l] ie to acceptreject the Alternative Hypothesis or to
accept reject the Null Hypothesis (See Table 6 below)
Figure 11
The Scores Frequencies of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and the Post-test
50
Figure 12
The Scores Differences of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and the Post-test
21431 The paired Sample T-test
In order to know if there is any significant difference between the post-test and the
pre-test scores of the same group a t-test is conducted At first the of the experimental
group is calculated through the following formula
= sumdN
refers to the Difference of mean Scores
N Studentsrsquo scores in the Experimental Group
sum refers to the total sum of the Differences Scores
So = 702520= 35125
51
The Standard deviation of the differences
Sd= radic119956120784= radicsum119941120784
119925minus 119941120784
S stands for the Variance
sum119941120784 refers to the square differences of Scores
After calculating
Sdcong 013
The Standard Error of the Mean Difference (SE)
It is calculated using the following formula
SE ()= 119878119889
radic119873cong003
Finally we calculate the t- value that will be compared to the critical P-value at the point
p=005 in order to accept the alternative hypothesis or rejecting it using the following
formula119957120784120782minus120783=
119878119864(119889) = 117
Table 6
Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Post-test Scores differences
Students Pre-test Post-test Difference
1 2 4 2
2 25 5 25
3 1 45 35
4 2 35 15
5 25 55 3
6 2 5 3
52
7 15 45 3
8 1 5 4
9 1 425 325
10 1 55 45
11 15 45 3
12 1 5 4
13 15 55 4
14 1 55 45
15 1 5 4
16 1 475 375
17 1 5 4
18 15 575 425
19 1 525 425
20 15 575 425
Total 285 9875 7025
Table 7
The Paired Sample T-test for the Experimental Group
Paired Sample T-Test
Epre
Scores-
Epost
Scores
Mean Std
deviati-
on
Std-
Error
Mean
95Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
t Df Sig
(2-
tailed)
Lower Upper
-351250 83695 18715 -390421 -312079 -18768 19 000
53
After calculating the mean of the experimental group in both the pre-test and the post-
test (see Table 5) a mean difference of +351 was noticed Therefore in order to prove if
the development that was noticed in the post-test scores as well as the mean occurred
because of the influence of listening to the audio-stories which is the independent variable
or happened only by coincidence
Hence to confirm the Alternative Hypothesis and reject the Null Hypothesis or vice
versa the t-value (117) was calculated in order to be compared with the critical- value at
the point p=005 and at the level of t=19 Besides p-value (0000) is less than 005 which
means that there a real difference between the learnersrsquo scores in the pre-test (before the
period of treatment) and the leanersrsquo scores in the post-test (after the period of treatment)
Consequently we can deduce that the improvement that was achieved by the experimental
group in the post test did not occur by chance actually it occurred because of listening to
audio-stories that has a positive effect on learnersrsquo pronunciation of both the clear [l] and the
dark [ϯ]
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-test
Table 8
The Mean of the Control Group and the Experimental Group in the Post-test
N Mean Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpost 20 13500 41675 09319
Epost 20 49375 59535 13312
54
To calculate the mean () we use the following Formula
= sum119961 N
So 1= sum119961 N
1 refers to the mean of the control group in the post-test
N refers to the total number of students in the control Group
sum119961 stands for the sum of scores of the control group in the post-test
1= 2720 = 135
2 = sum119961 N
2 stands for the mean of the experimental group in the post-test
N refers to the total number of participants in the experimental group
sum119961 Stands for the sum of scores of the experimental group in the post-test
So 2= 987520 = 493
Figure13
The Scores Frequencies of the Control Group and the Experimental Group in the Post-
test
55
From the previous analysis of the mean of both the control and the experimental
group in the pre-test (see Table 3) we have noticed that the level of students in both groups
is almost the same and there is only a slight difference between them Though in the post-
test the scores of the experimental group has increased and as result the mean average has
increased too after the treatment phase for the experimental group (from 142 to 493) but it
decreased for the control group who were taught without being exposed to any kind of
treatment (see Table 8 and Figure 10) Besides we can notice the development also in the
rime duration in studentsrsquo pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] of the experimental
group in the post-test which is not the case with the control group
21441 An independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the post-
test
In order to investigate if there is any significant change between two diverse groups
who have run the same test a t-test is used to show this significance difference In our case
we want to inspect if there is any significant variation between the experimental group and
the control group in the post-test and whether we accept the Alternative Hypothesis or
rejecting the Null Hypothesis So depending on the following steps a t-test was calculated
using the following formula
t= 119883 119888minus 119890
radicpartx2
Nx+
1205971199102
119873119910
partx2 = sum(119883 minus 119890 )N
= 306
1205971199102 =sum(119883 minus 119888 )2119873
= 160
119888 the mean of the control group in the post-test
56
119890 the mean of the experimental group in the post-test
partx2 the variation of the experimental group
1205971199102 the variation of the control group
So t= 493minus 135
radic306
20+
160
20
=745
t-value= 745
Depending on the t-value (745) that was calculated we compare it with the critical p-
value at p=005 therefore we have two options
1- If t-value is greater than the critical p-value (t-valuegtcritical-value) we accept the
alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
2- If t-value is less than the critical-value (t-valueltcritical-value) we accept the null
hypothesis and refuse the alternative hypothesis
we can say that
t-value=745 745 gt005
We accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
p-value= 0000 0000 lt005
We accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
Depending on these results we can say that there is a statistical evidence that the
associated sampling means are significantly different In other words there is a real change
between the experimental group and the control group in the post test at the level of
pronunciation due to the positive influence of the independent variable which is ldquolistening
to the audio-storiesrdquo Therefore students of the experimental group showed a significant
57
progress at the level of pronunciation and precisely the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
pronunciation
215 Discussion of the Results
The current research has investigated the influence of listening to audio-stories on
acquiring accurate pronunciation of both allophones the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] At the
start the pre-test has proved that learners of both groups ie the control and the
experimental group have the same level through calculating their means The control group
scored a mean of 155 while the experimental group scored a mean of 142 and also they
have got near scores concerning the rime duration of the L sound So these estimated scores
helped us to prove and confirm our hypothesis that states the positive effect of listening to
audio-stories on the level of pronunciation accuracy In the post-test students of the
experimental group showed a significant development compared to the control group and
this is due to the period of treatment that occurred in the oral session Besides the mean
score of the experimental group has been raised from 142 to 493 and from a sum of rime
durations of 2222 s to 535 s while the mean score of the control group has been decreased
from 155 to 135 and increased from a sum of rime durations of 2149 s to 2359 s In
addition a t-test was designed to show if there is any statistical significant difference
between the experimental group and the control group in the post-test the results show the
positive influence of the treatment phase on the dependent variable (pronunciation
accuracy)
216 Pedagogical implication
The present research evidenced the positive influence of being exposed to the target
language pronunciation as it is produced by the native speakers through the exposure to the
audio-stories Therefore we can state a set of pedagogical implications
58
The present study shows that the more students get involved in listening practices
the more they will be proficient in the pronunciation of a various English sounds ie
developing their speaking proficiency
Audio-stories help EFL learners improve their pronunciation as well as to develop
their listening skills
Using multimedia devices (audio-stories in our case) in learning classrooms
enhances the learnersrsquo motivation to get involved in the learning process
Audio-stories can be used by EFL teachers in order to make learners attentive and
interested in the lecture being presented
Audio-stories provide learners with the chance to listen again and again to the story
in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of a given word
Conclusion
The present research examined the effect of listening to audio stories on fostering the
target language pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] The native speakerrsquo s
pronunciation of both allophones was analyzed first through analyzing the rime duration in
order to compare it with the EFL learnersrsquo articulation That is to say the analysis is based
on the native speakerrsquo s rime duration In addition a significant development in learnersrsquo
pronunciation of the dark[ϯ]and the clear [l] was proved which lead to accept the alternative
hypothesis that states listening to audio-stories has a positive effect on acquiring accurate
pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] by EFL learners
59
General Conclusion
The present study is based on the investigation of the effectiveness of listening to
audio stories on acquiring accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] by EFL
learners At the beginning we have stated the problem which was that the Algerian EFL
learners in the English department at LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi University face a lot of difficulties
concerning the acquisition of the accurate pronunciation of The phoneme l Subsequently
this dissertation tackled the importance of listening to audio-stories on enhancing EFL
learnersrsquo pronunciation accuracy
Our research was tackled in two main chapters The first chapter divided into two
main sections In the first section we tackled the point of listening to audio stories whereas
the second section discussed the reflection of listening to audio stories on the pronunciation
of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] The second chapter represented the practical part the field
work The analyzed data showed that there is a positive relationship between the independent
variable and the dependent variable That is to say there was a development in the
acquisition of the phoneme l which lead us to accept the alternative hypothesis and reject
the null hypothesis
60
Limitations of the Study
Limited sources ie most of the sources that were available were not relevant to our
study
Time constraints this study needs much more time to conduct a better result
Students absences in the pre-test and the post-test and others did not receive the
treatment at all
The lack of interest in the beginning of the treatment session
61
List of References
Alonso SR (2012) The importance of Teaching Listening and Speaking Skills Diagravectica de Lingua
y la Literatura Facultad de Education
Brown S (2006) Teaching Listening Cambridge Cambridge University press
Coulter C Michael C ampPoynor L (2007) Storytelling as Pedagogy An Unexpected Outcome
of narrative inquiry 104-105
Daudet A (2001) Five Short Stories Copyright copy Bartlebycom Inc
Downs L J (2008) Listening Skills Training ASTD press
Eckert J (2016) Audio Storytelling in Todayrsquos Visual World The necessary Components of a
successful sounds scape for an audio play
Gilakjani A P (2012) A study of Factors Affecting EFL learnersrsquo English Pronunciation Learning
and the Strategy for instruction Lahijani Iran 2(3) 119-128
Hamer J (1998) How to teach English An Introduction to the Practice of English Language
Teaching English Language Teaching Harlow Longman
Hendrickson J (1992) Storytelling for foreign language and linguistics Washington Dc Eric
learning house on language and linguistic [ Eric No E0355-824]
Kline J A (1996) Listening Effectively Air University Press
Madden M and Moore Z (1997) ESL Studentsrsquo Opinions about instruction in Pronunciation
Texas 3(2) 15-32
Mendelson D J (1994) Learning to Listen Dominie Press
Nasreddin K (2010) The Influence of Background Knowledge on Second Language Listening
Comprehension Constantine Constantine University
62
Poposka V p (2016) Pronunciation Proficiency Level Problematic Areas of Tertiary as a Foreign
Language International Journal of Science and Basic and Applied Research
Richards J C (1990) The Language Teaching Matrix Cambridge Cambridge University Pess
Rubin SS (2015) Tools for Creating Audio Stories scholarship University of California
Roney RC (1996) Storytelling in the classroom Some Theoretical Thoughts Wayne State
University Education Detroit Michigan
Sproat R ampFujimura O (1993) Allophonic variation of the English l and its Implication for
phonetic Implementation Academic Press
Torky SA (2006) The Effectiveness of a Task-Based Instruction Program in Developing English
Language Speaking Skills of Secondary Stage Students Collegersquo s girl Ain Shams
University
Ummah A (2014) The Effectiveness of Nursery Rhymes to Facilitate Studentsrsquo of Pronunciation of
the Diphthong Education and Teacher Training Faculty Walisongo State institution for
Islamic Studies
Wang M (2016) Research on the Acoustic Realization of Lateral in Sundanese International
Journal of Engineering Research and Development 12(10) 44-48
Ziane R (2012) The Role of Listening Comprehension in Improving EFL learners Speaking Skill
Biskra University of Biskra
Zhang Q (2009) Affecting Factors of Native-Like Pronunciation A Literature Review Ching-Ang
University 27(2) 33-52
63
Abrahamson CE (1998) Storytelling as a pedagogical tool in high Education 118(3) Retrieved
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httpwwwquestiacomlibraryjournal1G1-20494609storytelling-as-a-pedagogical-tool-
inhighereducation
AMP Research Center (2012) Retrieved from
Httpwwwncertrmqeduauconference2001indexhtal
Backley P (nd) Improving your English Pronunciation Retrieved from
httptoefluobabyloneduiqpaperspearson-2015-1269610pdf
Chaney (1998) Teaching Speaking Retrieved from
httpitesljorgtechniqueKayi-teaching speakinghtml
English Club (nd) What is listening Retrieved from
httpwwwenglishclubcom
Miller E (2011) Theories of story and storytelling Retrieved from
httpwww-storytellingandvideoconferencingcom167pdf
Pederson E M (1995) Storytelling and the art of listening English teaching forum 33(1)2-5
Retrieved from httpExchangesStategovForumuolsn01p2htm
Remen R N (nd) Listening Skills Retrieved from
httpwwwskillsyouneedcomipslistening-Skills-html
Rock R (nd) 5 Wonderful Websites for Engaging ESL Audio Short Stories Retrieved from
httpwwwFluentucomenglisheducatorsblogeslaudio-short-stories
Seifert S (nd) Follow Along 6 Engaging ESL Audio Stories with worksheet ideas Retrieved from
httpwwwFluentucomenglisheducatorblogeslaudio-stories
Saricoban A (2004) The Teaching of listening The Internet TESL journal
httpitesljorgArticlesSaricobn-listeninghtml
Subhi s (2016) Differences between Hearing and listening Retrieved from
httpkeydifferencescomdifference-between-hearning-and-listeninghtml
64
Shen CD (2010) 3 reasons why listening skills are very important in Todayrsquo s Business World
Retrieved from httpezinearticlescom3-Reasons-why-listening-skills-are-very-important-in-
Todays-Business-worldampid=5436504
the adapted audio-stories that were used in the period of treatment
(httpwwwmanythingsorgvoastories)
Appendix A A pre-test
The Last class- The Story of the Alsatian
I was very late for school that morning and I was terribly afraid of being Scolded
especially as Monsieur Hamel had told us that he should examine us on participles and I
did not know the first thing about them For a moment I thought of saying away from
school and wandering about the fields It was such a warm lovely day I could hear the
blackbirds whistling on the edge of the wood and in the ripper field behind the sawmill
the Prussians going through their drill All that was much more tempting to me than the
rules concerning participles but I had the strength to resist and I ran as fast as I could to
school
Sentences
You old fool they will kill you if you always trouble them
People are awfully lazy in the middle of July
Appendix B A post-test
The Game of Billiards
The marshalrsquo s opponent is a young captain of the staff belted and curled and light-
gloved who is in the first rank of billiard-players and capable of beating all the marshals
on earth but he has the tact to keep a respectful distance behind his chief and devotes his
energies to the task of not winning and at the same time not losing too easily He is what is
called an officer with a future
Read the following words
1 Cabal
2 Labour
3 Shell
Appendix c Treatment period
I Session one (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquothe Secret Gardenrdquo (Chapter One) By Frances Hodgson
Burnett
II Session two (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Secret Gardenrdquo (Chapter two) By Frances Hodgson
Burnett
III Session three (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Lady or the Tigerrdquo by Frank R Stockton
IV Session four (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Lady in Blackrdquo By Eleanor Porter
Reacutesumeacute
La preacutesente eacutetude vise agrave eacutetudier lrsquoarticulation de dark [ϯ] et clear [l] dans les classes de la
langue anglaise afin dameacuteliorer la prononciation des apprenants Lrsquoeacutetude actuelle repose
sur lhypothegravese que leacutecoute des histoires audio a un effet positif sur lameacutelioration de la
prononciation des apprenants EFL avec un accent particulier sur le dark [ϯ] et clear [l] Afin
datteindre lobjectif de cette recherche une eacutetude quasi-expeacuterimentale a eacuteteacute assigneacute en
deux groupe group teacutemoin et group expeacuterimentale Chaque groupe contenait 20 eacutelegraveves
Lexpeacuterience a pris six seacuteances un preacute-test une peacuteriode de traitement (4 seacuteances) et un
posttest En conclusion les reacutesultats obtenus montrent que les eacutetudiants qui sont exposeacute agrave
la langue cible et qui eacutecoutent au locuteur natif agrave lrsquoaide audio pour ameacuteliorer leurs
prononciations ont montreacute qursquoil y a un deacuteveloppement ameacutelioration au niveau de
compeacutetence des apprenants en particulier et en matiegravere de parole en geacuteneacuterale
Les mots cleacutes audio-histoire Compeacutetence drsquoeacutecoute prononciation dureacute de travaille
ملخص
استخدام القصص الصوتية من اجل المساعدة على اكتساب النطق السليم والدقيق تهدف هذه الدراسة الى التعرف على مدى فعالية
الأجنبية حيث تستند الدراسة الحالية على فرضية مفادها ان الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية له تأثير إيجابي على تحسين ةللغ
استغرقت التجربة ست ق المنهج التجريبيمن أجل تحقيق هدف هذه الدراسة تم تطبينطق الطلاب الأجانب للغة الإنجليزية
جلسات قسمت كالاتي أربع حصص معالجة سبقت باختبارات قبلية ولحقت باختبارات بعدية أجريت الدراسة في قسم اللغة
طالبا من طلاب السنة ثانية جامعي قسم الطلبة الى فوجين حيث 40الإنجليزية بجامعة العربي بن مهيدي وقد شملت الدراسة
ى معالجة لمدة أربع حصص من خلال الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية في حين لم يتعرض الفوج الثاني خضع أحد الفوجين ال
الى نفس المعالجة بعد ذلك تم اجراء الاختبارات البعدية واعتمادا على النتائج المتحصل عليها ثبت ان التعرض الى اللغة
جابي على اكتساب النطق الدقيق للغة المستهدفة الا وهي اللغة الأجنبية عن طريق الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية له تأثير إي
الأجنبية
القصص الصوتية النطق مدة الموجات الصوتيةالكلمات المفتاحية المهارة السمعية
12
Though in 2010 radio drama came back to stage due to the developments shown in
digital soundtrack and internet spreading According to Eckert (2016) ldquoRadio and audio
storytelling has slowly started gaining popularity again thanks to the different online
platforms brought forth by digitalizationrdquo (p 8)
17 Definition of Storytelling
Today stories are a fundamental part of our societies and cultures Telling and
listening to stories is an ancient tradition and common activity that bonds different olden
civilizations together Also stories are an essential component and an ordinary process that
many people used to do on every occasion It is the art of telling factual or fictional stories
Besides stories bring legacy into life because our ancestors told them and people today
only retell them
Moreover listening to stories enhances the learnersrsquo foreign language It aids them
to improve their speaking skills Pederson (1995) states that ldquoin dealing with stories learners
have an experience with the powerful real language of personal communicationrdquo (p 2)
Additionally Pederson (1995) emphasizes the role of telling stories in preserving heritage
he argues that ldquooral stories are a direct expression of a literary and cultural heritage and
through them that heritage is appreciated understood and kept aliverdquo (1995 p2) In other
words stories bond between the past and the present It is considered to be a vital feature of
humankind Furthermore Schram (1994 as cited in Coulter Michael amp Poynor 2007)
points out
A story is a beautiful means of teaching religion values history traditions and
customs a creative method of introducing characters and places an imaginative way
13
to instill hope and resourceful thinking Stories help us to understand who we are and
show us what legacies to transmit to future generations (p 104-105)
So Schram (1994) highlights the role of stories in bridging the gap between the teaching
process and culture
Likewise Abrahamson (1998) sheds light on the role that storytelling plays in the
learning process He states that telling stories plays a significant role in improving learnersrsquo
understanding Besides Abrahamson argues that stories can afford a suitable context that
the listener can use it as a base to perceive the tellerrsquos point of view Moreover Roney (1996)
demonstrates
In its most basic form storytelling is a process where a person (the teller) using
vocalization narrative structure and mental imagery communications with other
humans (the audience) who also use mental imagery and in turn communicate back
to the teller primarily via body language and facial expression (p 2)
By this definition storytelling is the combination of art procedures and ways of
communication
18 Definition of Audio-Stories
The term audio-story is a combination of two words audio and story By definition
audio is sound within the aural range accessible to humankinds Miller (2011) states that
ldquostories are pieces of art and can serve as a basis of gamesrdquo (p 1) So Audio-story is a very
operative means for teaching EFL learners It aids to make the course persuasive Nowadays
14
audio stories can be used to many reasons and the most important one is the exposure to the
real language of native speakers by EFL learners In addition Rubin (2015) points out
ldquoaudio stories are an engaging form of communication that combines speech and music into
a compelling narrativesrdquo (p 1) That is to say audio stories are the process of telling stories
through sound and sound effects only Furthermore Audio-stories are broadly accredited to
progresses in portable equipment for instance smart phones tablets and multimedia
entertainment systems Thus EFL learners find it easy to listen to those audio stories
19 Characteristics of a Good Audio-Story
According to Seifert (nd) finding good audio-stories that suit the EFL learnersrsquo
needs is something very important and it is a very hard task to do However these are some
of the necessary features that EFL teachers must take into consideration whenever they want
to select a good audio-story for their students
Skill Level
Taking into account the learnersrsquo English level before choosing any audio-story For
instance if the audio-story contains a difficult language learners will lose confidence and
as a result they stop listening to the audio-story So determining the learnersrsquo level is very
important
Student Interest
EFL teachers must find out their studentsrsquo interests and normally each teacher has
an idea about this issue So if the audio-stories do not fit the learnersrsquo needs the EFL
teacherrsquos goal from that audio-story will be lost
15
Audio Length
The length of the audio-story plays a significant role in keeping concentration in the
ESL schoolrooms Listening for much time to the audio storytelling leads to boredom As a
result the learnersrsquo s brains lose attention However teachers can use long audio-stories but
they should know how to put it into parts and use classroom discussions to avoid boredom
So these three characteristics aid to develop EFL learnersrsquo listening skills
110 The Use of Audio-Stories in ESL Classrooms
According to Rock (nd) there are several listening practices that ESLEFL teachers
can provide to their students These are samples of activities that can work hand in hand with
audio-stories
Fill in The Blanks
Here EFL teacher provides his students with a written passage that is taken from an
audio-story but he removes some words Later on the teacher asks his learners to listen to
the audio-story after reading that passage and at the same time fill in the blanks
Mastery Memory
This activity has to do with learnerrsquos memory In this kind of practices teachers
provide learners with an audio-story and ask them for example to write down the main
events of the story but when they finish listening to it Teachers in this activity have to make
sure that students do not write them during the listening of the audio-story So the main goal
of the exercise is to reinforce learnerrsquos memory
16
Order the Events
At the start teachers give their learners a series of events that are chosen from an
audio-story Then the teacher gives them some time to read them After that learners listen
to the audio- storytelling and put those events in a sequential order
Buzz Words
This exercise aims to reach the learnerrsquo s vocabulary In this practice teachers
provide learners with a number of words then they ask them to check their meanings before
Afterward teacher turns the lesson into a game ie EFL learners listen to the audio-story
and whenever they hear a word (the buzz word) from that list they have to raise their hands
or clap them
Multiple Choice
This activity deals with providing learners with a number of questions followed by
three answers these questions can be definitions or name of characterhellip etc Then learners
have to listen to the audio-storytelling and pick the write response After teachers play again
the audio-story to correct their answers
Character Quiz
In this practice EFL learners have to listen to the whole story Then the teacher gives
his class a question sheet that contains a list of character qualities and decision and ask them
to choose the suitable one for the leading role
Plot Quiz
This activity has to do with team competition After listening to the whole audio-
storytelling once or twice the teacher divides his class into two to four groups where the
17
teacher plays the role of the coach Several questions that have a relation to the story will be
quizzed to each team if they get the answer they have a point if they fail to answer correctly
the question moves to the next group
Beginning Middle End
After listening to the audio storytelling the teacher splits the classroom into groups
and each group contains no more than four students Later he asks each group to write the
main events of the beginning the middle and the end of the story Finally they discuss them
together
111 Advantages of Using Audio-Stories
Audio-stories play an essential role in teaching the target language Audio-
storytelling is an impeccable implement for any ESL classrooms First of all audio-stories
afford learners with the exposure to the real language as it is produced by the native speakers
ie a natural voice Furthermore Rodero (2012 as cited in Eckert2016) claimed that
ldquoAudio stories that use sound effects and sound shots enhance the learnerrsquo s attention and
creation of visual images significantly compared to those without themrdquo (p 16) That is to
say using audio-stories in ESL classrooms develops learnersrsquo listening skills and provides
them with an imaginary trip inside their minds Also audio- stories enhance learnersrsquo
pronunciation since the learner is exposed to the natural voice In addition EFL teacher can
use audio storytelling as a guideline to his lecture or the opposite he can use it at the end of
the course as a reward
Moreover the EFL teachers depend on audio-stories in improving learnersrsquo
vocabulary through memorization Learners can enrich their vocabulary whenever they
listen to those stories because each time they learn some new words Besides learners can
18
listen to them outside the schoolrooms because they are portable they can upload them in
their mobiles and listen to them any time anywhere Finally audio stories can raise interest
for those learners who are not attracted to reading
Conclusion
In conclusion listening to audio stories aids EFL learners to improve the target
language pronunciation That is to say students will be exposed to the real language as it is
created by the native speakers Besides using audio stories in ESLEFL classrooms increases
the learnersrsquo interest toward learning the foreign language and also enhances their speaking
skills
19
Section two Reflection on Pronunciation
Introduction
121 Definition of Speaking Skill
122 Speaking Sub-Competencies Skills
123 Definition of Pronunciation
124 Importance of Pronunciation
125 Factors Affecting Pronunciation
1251 Internal Factors
1252 External Factors
Conclusion
20
Introduction
Generally speaking being able to speak the target language fluently and accurately
seems to be very interesting to all EFLESL learners Though students face a lot of troubles
and obstacles when communicating with each other or with native speakers and this is due
to mispronunciation misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the hearer which leads to the
communication breakdowns Furthermore learnersrsquo mispronunciation occurs due to various
factors that affect their oral language and as a consequence it affects their speaking
proficiency
In this section we have dealt with the speaking process and precisely
ldquopronunciationrdquo At the start a slight attention is put upon the definition of speaking skills
and its sub-competencies After that a part of this section is devoted to define pronunciation
and highlight its importance Moreover this section demonstrates some factors that affect
pronunciation which are classified into internal factors and external factors Finally another
point about the English consonant ldquoLrdquo has been raised
121 Definition of Speaking Skill
Mastering the foreign language is the aim of each EFL learner Speaking is one of
the most important language skills it plays a significant role in sharing ideas and thoughts
between individuals Torky (2006) defines speaking as follows ldquoIt is the means through
which learners can communicate with others to achieve certain goals or to express their
opinions intentions hopes and viewpointsrdquo (p 13) Also Ziane (2012) states that ldquoit is the
way by which learners can contribute and be part of oral communicationrdquo (p21) So the
main goal of EFL learners is to be able to speak the target language in order to strengthen
their verbal communication
21
Moreover Chaney (1998) argues that ldquospeaking is the process of building and
sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols in a variety of contextsrdquo
(p 13) From Chaneyrsquo s definition of speaking we deduce that speaking has an important
role in learning the foreign language and improving EFL learnersrsquo communicative skill
However there are some researchers who describe speaking as a hard task They
argue that EFL learners find it so hard to master the foreign language and face a lot of
difficulties even after studying it many years at schools Bueno and Mclaren (2006 as cited
in Alonso 2011) point out
Speaking is one of the most difficult skills language learners have to face In spite of
this it has traditionally been forced into the background while we teachers of
English have spent all our classroom time trying to teach our students how to write
to read and sometimes even to listen in a L2 because grammar has a long written
tradition (p 321)
On the whole the speaking skill is a very important process that EFL learners need to acquire
in order to master and shape the target language
122 Speaking Sub CompetenciesSkills
Torky (2006) claims that learners must be able to express themselves in a given
context in order to be proficient in mastering the foreign language She points out to several
speaking skills or competencies that help to achieve this aim which are
22
Linguistic Competence
Torky (2006) states that learners must be skillful in using pronunciation ie their
pronunciation must be clear In addition students have to use correct grammar and
proper lexis
Discourse Competence
In the beginning learners have to be able to use a well-organized discourse In other
words the discourse must be clear and unified Besides they have to be competent in
handling discussion and cooperating efficiently in order to avoid the communication
breakdowns
Pragmatic Competence
EFL learners have to be proficient in using a variety of functions that are related to
the same context and register
Fluency
Speaking smoothly without any complications and with a suitable degree of speech
speed
123 Definition of Pronunciation
According to Gilakjani (2012) ldquopronunciation is an integral part of foreign language
since it directly affects learnersrsquo communicative competence as well as performancerdquo
(p119) That is to say pronunciation plays a fundamental role in learning and improving the
target language Besides Poposka (2016) argues that pronunciation is the key factor of
language in its universal notion and she claims that pronunciation should be defined in
23
relation to different perspectives Poposka (2016) states some of the various points of view
concerning pronunciation definition which are
- The act or manner of pronouncing uttering of speech
- A way of speaking a word especially a way that is accepted or generally understood
- A graphic representation of the way a word is spoken using phonetic symbols (p
200)
Moreover Dauer (1993 as cited in Ummah 2014) states that ldquopronunciation is the
act of producing the sound of speech including articulation vowel formation accent
inflection and intonation often with reference to the correctness or acceptability of the
speech soundrdquo (p 10) In addition Poposka (2016) states that pronunciation is the vocal
capacity to produce particular sounds weather when communicating with individuals or
when being alone This construction of sounds leads to the appearance of some utterances
that may be expressive or worthless (p 200) Furthermore Adult Migrant English Program
research center (AMP 2002) points out
Pronunciation refers to the production of sounds that we use to make meaning it includes
attention to the particular sounds of language (segments) aspects of speech beyond the
level of the individual sound such as intonation phrasing stress timing rhythm
(suprasegmental aspects) (p1)
In other words AMP research center argues that even if these two aspects suprasegmental
and segmental structures are treated separately it is necessary to know that they work hand
in hand in a given context whenever someone speaks
24
124 Importance of Pronunciation
Madden and Moore (1997) states that ldquoin first language acquisition children learn
pronunciation inductively by absorbing and reproducing the sounds in their environmentrdquo
(p 4) That is to say all human beings in their natural development from childhood to
adulthood learn first of all how to talk before learning how to read or write Also Zhang
(2009) claims that ldquolearning a language means to perform the sounds utterances and the
words properly and correctlyrdquo (p 34-35) So pronunciation is a very essential skill in
learning a second language
Moreover Morley (1998 as cited in Zhang 2009) argues that ldquoit is clear that limited
pronunciation skills will make learners lose their self-confidence and result in negative
influence for learners to estimate their credibility and abilitiesrdquo (p 35) In other words it
does not matter whether learners make mistakes concerning grammar or vocabulary all what
matters is the way they pronounce a given word in order to make a worthy impression on
the learnersrsquo language capacities Zhang (2009) points out
Good pronunciation will make people understand you easily and be willing to listen to
you Contrarily poor English pronunciation may confuse people and lead to an
unpleasant talking and misunderstanding even if you used advanced English grammar
or vocabulary (p 35)
Likewise Backley (n d) argues ldquoif a speaker has a clear pronunciation this has immediate
benefits listeners judge the speakerrsquo s overall language ability much more favorably even
to the point of tolerating grammatical and other errorsrdquo (p 126) Therefore good
25
pronunciation aids to avoid misinterpretation and intelligibility between speakers and
listeners and show the learnersrsquo competencies in mastering their second language
Furthermore good pronunciation affects the learnersrsquo speed of acquiring the target language
In addition learners should use only simple structures with good and correct pronunciation
rather than using complex expressions in order to communicate with others
125 Factors Affecting Pronunciation
Generally speaking there are several factors that affect the learnersrsquo pronunciation
These factors can be classified into internal factors and external factors
1251 Internal Factors
Zhang (2009) states that internal factors can be categorized also into biological
factors individual differences and individual efforts and goal setting
Biological Factors
They are branded into four features age ear perception and aptitude
Learnersrsquo Age
At the start there is a difference between young learners and adult learners
concerning the acquisition of the accurate pronunciation Nonetheless this does not mean
that adult learners cannot get accurate pronunciation as well They have to work much harder
because their brainsrsquo plasticity reduces That is to say age plays a significant part in learning
the target language pronunciation Moreover Zhang (2009) emphasizes the role of the
critical period hypothesis that was proposed by Lenneberg in 1967 which states that there
is a certain age that helps learners to acquire the foreign language pronunciation accurately
26
and after that age the brain loses its flexibility Furthermore (Nation and Newton (2009) as
cited in Zhang 2009) claim that
Usually if the learner began to speak in the second language before the age of six
there will be little or no accent If the learner began to speak between the age of seven
and eleven the learners likely to have a slight accent If the learner began to speak
after age of twelve the learners almost always have an accent (p 78)
This is the reason behind the acceptance of the idea that learners find it so hard to acquire
the foreign language after maturity
Additionally Zhang (2009) states that young learners have bigger chances than the
adult learners in obtaining accurate pronunciation He claims that the brain loses its
flexibility and becomes rigid after puberty (after nine years old) as a result the brainrsquo s
functions will be devoted to the right and left hemispheres which makes it so difficult to
acquire the foreign languagersquo s pronunciation correctly Also Lenneberg (1967 as cited in
Zhang 2009) argues that ldquobefore the age of two the brain has not developed enough but
after puberty it developed too much and it will lose its plasticity and finish the lateralization
of the language functionrdquo (p 39) In other words it becomes so hard to obtain the native-
like pronunciation after the lateralization
Ear Perception
One of the most important factors that affect the learnersrsquo acquisition of the foreign
language is the ldquoear perceptionrdquo Zhang (2009) claims that the hearing abilities differ from
one person to another That is to say there are learners who have a strong hearing capacity
27
they can hear sounds in a very clear way which help them in reproducing the native speakersrsquo
pronunciation smoothly Whereas there is that kind of learners who do not have that ability
However Zhang argues that the ear perception has nothing to do with the learner age He
claims that it is natural that learners may lose some of their capacities whenever they become
older
Aptitude
Generally speaking foreign language aptitude is the personrsquos ability to learn a foreign
or a second language very rapidly and with no troubles (Wen 2011) Also Dornyei and
skehan (2003 as cited in Wen 2011) states ldquooriginally the notion of FLA presumed a
relatively stable talent for learning a foreign language that differs between individualsrdquo (p
590) So EFL learners do not have the same ability to acquire the foreign language
Additionally Carroll (1962 as cited in Wen 2011) states four components of the FLA which
are
lsquophonemic coding abilityrsquo (ie the ability to identify and retain sounds and link them
to phonetic symbols)
Sensitivity towards the grammatical functions that words fulfil in a sentence
The ability to learn inductively (ie to infer and generalize linguistic structures from
language samples) and
The ability to rote learn vocabulary items paired with their associated translations
(p 233)
Hence aptitude has an important role in improving learnersrsquo foreign language
Although Zhang (2009) argues that all individuals have a language aptitude ability but they
28
differ only in the degree of that aptitude capacity Also he claims that we cannot say that
those people who have a sophisticated level of language aptitude will get to the top and
people with an inferior level of language aptitude will go pear-shaped
Individual Differences
Zhang (2009) states that learnersrsquo different personalities affect the way they acquire
the foreign language pronunciation He argues that extroverted learners are more likely to
acquire the target pronunciation rather than introverted learners because extroverted learners
are not afraid of making mistakes which is not the case with the introverted learners who
face always the fear of failure Besides extroverted students are more friendly they tend to
work with others which leads them to practice the target language so they become more
familiar with it which aids to improve their pronunciation very quickly (p 40-41)
Individual Efforts and Goal setting
At the start the main goal of each EFLESL learner is to master the foreign language
in order to communicate with others Zhang (2009) points out ldquowe must always remember
that teaching never causes learning but rather creates the conditions in which learning can
occurrdquo (p 42) Besides he emphasizes that pronunciation is really a very hard task that
learners can acquire in a few days but it is not something impossible that learners cannot
achieve Though as much time learners spend in practicing the target language
pronunciation the better results they will get
1252 External Factors
External factors can be classified into three aspects learnersrsquo native language
exposure to target language and education factors
29
Learnerrsquo s Native Language
Universally the learnersrsquo native language affects their pronunciation of the foreign
language Zhang (2009) states that studentsrsquo mother tongue reflects the way they pronounce
a certain word in the target language and this is due to the differences that are found between
the two languages In other words learners find a lot of complications in articulating some
sounds for the reason that some of those sounds do not occur in their native language (p
43)
Exposure to the Target Language
Zhang (2009) shows that the acquisition of English language pronunciation is related
to the amount of exposure to it as it is produced by the native speakers That is to say this
depends on the learner himself ie on the situation in which the learning process occurs In
other words Zhang argues that it does not matter weather learners live in a native country
or not it is a matter of how much time they listen to the foreign language and how much
time they use it Zhang (2009) states ldquothe more they spend their time for listening and
speaking English the better their English pronunciation will berdquo (p 44) Thus learnerrsquo s
pronunciation accuracy depends on the surrounding environment where the target language
takes place
Educational Factors
At the start the system of education is responsible for studentsrsquo learning process
Worthy educational structure provides a lot of chances for learners to be exposed to the target
language through creating a suitable learning environment Additionally EFLESL
teachersrsquo accent reflects the learnersrsquo pronunciation because learners take teachers as an
30
exemplary in order to improve their pronunciation That is why teachers should work on
their pronunciation initially (Zhang 2009)
The English Consonant Sound ldquoLrdquo
Generally speaking EFL learners face complications in learning the English L sound
Sproat and Fujimura (1993) argue ldquoEnglish l has traditionally been classified into at least
two allophones namely light which occurs initially and dark which occurs syllable finallyrdquo
(p 291) Furthermore Wang (2016) states that the L consonant sound is a lateral phoneme
in English and it has two allophones he points out
One of them is found before vowels as in ldquoladyrdquo or ldquoflyrdquo called clear l and is
pronounced as the alveolar lateral approximant in a neutral position of the body of
the tongue The other variant is called dark l found before consonants or at word-
finally position as in ldquoboldrdquo or ldquotellrdquo Which is as the velarized lateral approximant
with the tongue in a spoon-like shape Its back part is raised which gives the sound
a w-like resonance (p 44)
In other words the clear [l] occurs when the tip of the tongue raises up and touches the soft
palate just behind the front teeth whereas the dark [ϯ] happens when the tip of the tongue
pulls back and the tongue raises to the middle without touching the soft palate to make the
L sound So the difference between these two allophones is the reason behind those troubles
that the learner may face
However Sproat and Fujimura (1993 as cited in Jiahong 2011) explain the
differences between these two allophones by relating them to the rime duration In other
31
words they point out that whenever the l sound occurs in longer rimes it is going to be a
dark [ϯ] and whenever the rime is short the l sound is clear or light
Figure 1
Articulatory Differences in l Velarization
Source Recasens 2012 p369
Conclusion
To end with it is very important to acknowledge that pronunciation is one way that
leads to an effective and a successful communication That is why many researchers shed
light on the investigation of some factors that may influence the EFL learnersrsquo pronunciation
As a result these identifying concepts help foreigners to overcome their difficulties when
they are introduced to the target language
32
Chapter two Field Work
Introduction
21 Methodology
211 Research Participants
212 The Procedure
2121 The Research Design
2122 The Pre-test Phase
2123 The Treatment Phase
2124 The Control Group
2125 The Post-test Phase
213 Scoring
214 Data Analysis
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (independent Sample
t-test)
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group Post-test
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group Post-test (Paired
Sample t-test)
21431 Paired Sample t-test
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-test
33
21441 An Independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the
Post-test
215 Discussion of the Results
216 Pedagogical Implications
Conclusion
34
Introduction
This research attempts to investigate the effect of listening to audio stories on
acquiring accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] by second year LMD students
at the department English -LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi The chosen sample is divided into two
groups the control group and the experimental group At the start participantsrsquo
pronunciation accuracy of the dark [ϯ] and clear [l] (the dependent variable) was measured
through a pretest Later on a period of treatment is taken by the experimental group which
is not the case with the control group After that a post-test is administered to both groups
in which the results are gathered using a software called the ldquopraatrdquo In addition we shed
light on describing the sample taking the place in which the study took place the method
used and at last the data collected
21 Methodology
211 Research Participants
The current study involved two intact classes of second year LMD students from
LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi-English Department The selected sample includes students from
different gender Furthermore we favored to select second year students for several reasons
The first reason was that second year students have practiced working with audio supports
which was not the case with first year students so they will not face problems concerning
listening to audio stories The second reason was that second year learners study oral
expression
At the start the experiment includes a sample of forty learners that have been chosen
from two intact classes of second year LMD students The chosen sample represents 1904
from the entire population which comprises 210 learners Additionally both clusters were
35
divided into a control group and an experimental group twenty students in each group At
the beginning the sample was supposed to be comprised of sixty students in which both the
control and the experimental groups covered thirty students Unfortunately there were a lot
of absences in both groups Also there are some students who have not passed both the
pretest and the posttest and others have not received the treatment at all Therefore the
sample size was reduced from sixty to forty students which can be sufficient to represent
the whole population and to get consistent outcomes
In order to gather consistent data that help to achieve the purpose of our research a
quasi-experimental design was designated The use of the chosen method will provide us
with a wide-ranging representation of the reflection of listening to audio stories on the
acquisition of the accurate pronunciation of the dark [l] and clear [l]
212 The Procedure
To accumulate a reliable data an experiment was conducted over six sessions The
treatment period took four sessions and the remained two sessions for the pretest and the
posttest The pretest took a form different from that of the posttest in order to avoid
familiarity to improve the learnersrsquo development and get consistent information Both
groups have taken the tests but only the experimental group took the treatment Besides the
duration of training concerning the treatment period for the experimental group took 90
minutes ie one hour and a half for each session and it started after getting the
authorization of the teacher of oral expression
36
2121 The Research Design
Figure 2
Experimental Group Procedures
Figure 3
Control Group Procedures
2122 The Pre-test Phase
By the first week of March both the control group and the experimental group have
taken the pretest However before choosing the pretest and in order to avoid any problems
we have checked that the dark [l] and the clear [l] are pronounced the same in both the
American and the British accents using the Oxford Advanced Learnerrsquo s Dictionary At the
outset learners were required to read a passage derived from a short story named ldquoThe last
class-The story of the Alsationrdquo that was written by Alphonse Daudet (2001) and also short
sentences (see Appendix A) After that their voices were recorded using a software known
pre-test
treatment
(listening to audio stories)
post-test
pre-test
No treatment
( being taught without listening
to audio-stories)
post-test
37
as the ldquoPraatrdquo Besides our focus here was raised toward the duration (ie the length of a
syllable) of the dark [l] and the clear [l]
Throughout the pretest EFL learners found themselves unable to pronounce the dark
[ϯ] and clear [l] that are found in some words correctly In other words students in the control
group and the experimental group most of the time pronounce the dark [ϯ] in the same way
they pronounce the clear [l] ie they spend the same duration for pronouncing the two
allophones Also EFL learners from time to time pronounce them differently but in a wrong
way ie they spent a rime duration that it not suitable neither for the light [l] nor for the
dark[ϯ]
Figure4
Example of the Lateral Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoSawmillrdquo
2123 The Treatment Phase
At first both participants have finished the pretest Though the treatment was
approved to the experimental group only the control group did not receive the same
treatment Besides the experimental group received the treatment in four sessions and each
Rime
duration
38
session took one hour and a half (ie 90 minutes) In each session students were asked to
listen to the audio-story in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of both allophones
after that they discussed the story being listened (see Appendix B)
2124 The Control Group
Concerning the control group students were taught the oral expression without any
exposure to any kinds of treatments In contrast to students in the experimental group who
were provided with the audio stories in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of the
both allophones which are the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ]
2125 The Post-test Phase
Fundamentally after finishing the four sessions of training ie the period of
treatment a posttest was administered to both the experimental group and the control group
(see Appendix c) The posttest as we have said before is different from the pretest in order
to avoid familiarity with the same topic and to ensure the learners improvement of the dark
[ϯ] and clear [l] So the posttest is a kind of a passage which was taken from a short story
that is entitled ldquoThe Game of Billiardsrdquo which is written by Alphonse Daudet and some
words to pronounce Furthermore during the posttest we noticed a kind of development in
learnersrsquo pronunciation of the two allophones with students of the experimental group
especially in pronouncing the single words which was not the case with those learners in
the control group
39
Figure 5
Example of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquocabalrdquo
Figure 6
Example of the Clear [l] in the word ldquolabourrdquo
The rime
duration
The rime
duration
40
213 Scoring
After finishing recording the learnersrsquo pronunciation of the phoneme l of both
groups (the control and the experimental group) we have compared them first of all to the
native speakerrsquo s pronunciation and after that we have calculated the rime duration of the
two allophones ie the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] and at last we gave them scores out of six
(6) for each participant
214 Data Analysis
In this sub-section we are going to investigate the EFL learnersrsquo improvement of
pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] Though in order to make sure that EFL
learners have acquired the correct pronunciation of these two allophones we have firstly
investigated the native speakerrsquos pronunciation of the L sound ie the clear [l] and the dark
[ϯ] and we have analyzed the rime duration of two words ldquolightrdquo and ldquoballrdquo as examples
Figure7
The Native Speakerrsquos Pronunciation of the Clear [l] in the Word ldquolightrdquo
Rime
duration
41
Figure8
The Native Speakerrsquo s Pronunciation of the Dark [ϯ] in the Word ldquoballrdquo
From these two figures we have noticed that the native speaker has spent 016 s in
pronouncing an ideal clear [l] (see Figure 7) and he has spent 138 s in order to pronounce
a perfect dark [ϯ] (see Figure 8) Thus this analysis of the native speakerrsquo s voice paved the
way to our research in which we based our investigation on it
Table 1
The Experimental and the Control grouprsquo s Scores in the pre-test
Pre-test
Students
Control
group
Experimental
group
Rime
duration
(second)
C E
Rime
duration
42
2141 The Pre-test Control Group Vs Experimental Group (Independent Sample t-
test)
After gathering data for the control and the experimental group and for the purpose
of comparing and contrasting between the two we have calculated the learnersrsquo scores of
pronunciation of the phoneme l and also we have calculated the rime duration of the two
1 1 2 118 127
2 2 25 095 091
3 1 1 116 102
4 25 2 106 091
5 25 25 078 089
6 15 2 078 105
7 2 15 123 091
8 1 1 117 108
9 15 1 119 119
10 15 1 1 115
11 2 15 091 116
12 15 1 12 119
13 2 15 114 1
14 15 1 108 112
15 1 1 131 112
16 2 1 088 08
17 1 1 127 107
18 1 15 107 149
19 15 1 099 115
20 1 15 114 174
Total 31 285 2149 2222
43
allophones (see Table1) Besides the data collected ie the learnersrsquo scores were used in
calculating the means of both groups in the pre-test (the mean is calculated using the SPSS
see Table 2)
Figure 9
The Pre-test Scores of the Control and the Experimental Group
Table 2
The Mean Score of the Control and the Experimental Group in the Pre-test
Test N Mean Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpre 20 15500 51042 11413
Epre 20 14250 51999 11627
44
In order to calculate the Mean () Results we have to use the following formula
=sumx N
N stands for the total numbers of students in one group
sumx stands for the total number of data that was gathered from the pre-test
1 stands for the mean of the Control Group
2 stands for the mean of the Experimental Group
So1= 31 20 =155
2= 285 20 = 142
From ldquoFigure 9rdquo we can notice that 1 is the most frequent score in both the
experimental and the control groups in the pre-test and we can confirm this information
from Table 1 Furthermore when comparing means of both groups we notice (see Table 2)
that there is only a slight difference between the two groups the mean of the control group
is 155 whereas the mean of the experimental group is 142 So we can deduce that the level
of both groups is approximately the same there is no significant difference Moreover the
rime duration of the phoneme l of the experimental group and the control group is to some
extent the same and we can notice this slight difference in Table 1 and precisely in the total
duration of pronouncing the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] by both groups and also in Table 2
2142 Control Group Pre-test Vs Control Group post-test
In order to confirm if there is any kind of progression in the control grouprsquo s scores
in the post-test concerning the pronunciation of the phoneme l (see Table 3) we have
calculated the mean of the post-test (using the SPSS see Table 4) and compared it with the
mean of the pre-test besides we have calculated the rime duration that has been spent At
45
last we have mentioned the learnersrsquo scores differences between the pre-test and the post-
test to confirm the development (see Figure 10)
Table 3
Results and Scores Differences of the Control and Experimental group in the Post-test
Posttest
Students
Rime
Duration
(Second)
Cpre Cpost Epre Epost
Cpre Cpost Epre Epost
1 1 1 2 4 118 186 127 21
2 2 175 25 5 095 113 091 253
3 1 1 1 45 116 134 102 245
4 25 2 2 35 106 119 091 234
5 25 15 25 55 078 146 089 24
6 15 175 2 5 078 119 105 267
7 2 2 15 45 123 135 091 263
8 1 125 1 5 117 144 108 254
9 15 1 1 425 119 144 119 242
10 15 1 1 55 1 128 115 274
11 2 1 15 45 091 126 116 285
12 1 2 1 5 12 129 119 268
13 2 125 15 55 114 146 1 328
14 15 1 1 55 108 127 112 223
15 1 1 1 5 131 092 112 275
16 2 1 1 475 088 135 08 274
46
17 1 2 1 5 127 094 107 292
18 1 1 15 575 107 096 149 29
19 15 1 1 525 099 114 115 295
20 1 15 15 575 114 132 174 338
Total 31 27 285 9875 2149 2359 2222 535
Diff -4 +7025 +21 +3128
Mean 155 135 142 493
-02 +351
Table 4
The Mean of the control Group in the Pre-test and Post-test
Mean N Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpre 15500 20 51042 11413
Cpost 13500 20 41675 09319
In order to calculate the mean( )result of the control group in the post-test we have to apply
the following formula = sumx N
sum stands for the total number of the data collected in the post-test of the control
group
N refers to the total number of students So = 2720 = 1
47
Figure 10
The Control Group Studentsrsquo Scores Differences
A very insignificant development has been shown in both Figure 7 and Table 3
concerning learners scores in the post-test Besides only Students 681217 and 20 from a
total number of twenty have proved the improvement the mean of the control group has
decreased from 155 in the pre-test to 135 in the post-test ie the mean = -02
2143 Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Experimental Group post-test (Paired Sample
T-test)
In order to identify the scoresrsquo differences between the results of the experimental
group in both the pre-test and the post-test we have calculated the mean of the post-test and
compared it with that of the pre-test to notice if there is any improvement (see Table 3) So
the mean of the post-test is shown in Table 5 below
48
Table 5
The Mean of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and Post-test
Mean N Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Epre 14250 20 51999 11627
Epost 49375 20 59535 13312
From Table 5 we notice that the mean of the experimental group increased from 142 in the
pre-test to 493 in the post-test with a mean difference of 351 ( = +351) and we can
calculate the mean ()of the post-test using the following formula
= sumxN
sum= Stands for the total number of data that was gathered from the post-test in the
Experimental Group
119925 =Stands for the total number of students
So= 9875 20 = 493
From Table 3 we notice that there is a very clear development and difference in
learnersrsquo scores in the post-test which is very different from the pre-test scores (see Figure
12) Moreover we can notice this development from Figure 11 below too It Shows that the
most frequent scores that learners of the experimental group have gained are 45 5 55 and
at last 575(the marks are out of six) that makes a big difference from the scores of the pre-
test in which the most frequent score was 1 In addition to all of this results we can add that
the sum of the rime duration of the post-test differs a lot from that of the pre-test ( = +3128
s)
49
Hence in the light of these results we can say that the period of treatment really
affects in a positive way the learnersrsquo acquisition of the pronunciation of dark [ϯ] and clear
[l] Besides this enhancement was improved in the mean difference between the pre-test and
the post-test of the experimental group Though the comparison of means in the pre-test and
post-test of the experimental group cannot be sufficient in order to make sure that listening
to audio-stories really affects positively the way learners pronounce the Phoneme l
Therefore a paired sample T-test was designed to assess the development of learnersrsquo
acquisition of dark [ϯ] and clear [l] ie to acceptreject the Alternative Hypothesis or to
accept reject the Null Hypothesis (See Table 6 below)
Figure 11
The Scores Frequencies of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and the Post-test
50
Figure 12
The Scores Differences of the Experimental Group in the Pre-test and the Post-test
21431 The paired Sample T-test
In order to know if there is any significant difference between the post-test and the
pre-test scores of the same group a t-test is conducted At first the of the experimental
group is calculated through the following formula
= sumdN
refers to the Difference of mean Scores
N Studentsrsquo scores in the Experimental Group
sum refers to the total sum of the Differences Scores
So = 702520= 35125
51
The Standard deviation of the differences
Sd= radic119956120784= radicsum119941120784
119925minus 119941120784
S stands for the Variance
sum119941120784 refers to the square differences of Scores
After calculating
Sdcong 013
The Standard Error of the Mean Difference (SE)
It is calculated using the following formula
SE ()= 119878119889
radic119873cong003
Finally we calculate the t- value that will be compared to the critical P-value at the point
p=005 in order to accept the alternative hypothesis or rejecting it using the following
formula119957120784120782minus120783=
119878119864(119889) = 117
Table 6
Experimental Group Pre-test Vs Post-test Scores differences
Students Pre-test Post-test Difference
1 2 4 2
2 25 5 25
3 1 45 35
4 2 35 15
5 25 55 3
6 2 5 3
52
7 15 45 3
8 1 5 4
9 1 425 325
10 1 55 45
11 15 45 3
12 1 5 4
13 15 55 4
14 1 55 45
15 1 5 4
16 1 475 375
17 1 5 4
18 15 575 425
19 1 525 425
20 15 575 425
Total 285 9875 7025
Table 7
The Paired Sample T-test for the Experimental Group
Paired Sample T-Test
Epre
Scores-
Epost
Scores
Mean Std
deviati-
on
Std-
Error
Mean
95Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
t Df Sig
(2-
tailed)
Lower Upper
-351250 83695 18715 -390421 -312079 -18768 19 000
53
After calculating the mean of the experimental group in both the pre-test and the post-
test (see Table 5) a mean difference of +351 was noticed Therefore in order to prove if
the development that was noticed in the post-test scores as well as the mean occurred
because of the influence of listening to the audio-stories which is the independent variable
or happened only by coincidence
Hence to confirm the Alternative Hypothesis and reject the Null Hypothesis or vice
versa the t-value (117) was calculated in order to be compared with the critical- value at
the point p=005 and at the level of t=19 Besides p-value (0000) is less than 005 which
means that there a real difference between the learnersrsquo scores in the pre-test (before the
period of treatment) and the leanersrsquo scores in the post-test (after the period of treatment)
Consequently we can deduce that the improvement that was achieved by the experimental
group in the post test did not occur by chance actually it occurred because of listening to
audio-stories that has a positive effect on learnersrsquo pronunciation of both the clear [l] and the
dark [ϯ]
2144 Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the Post-test
Table 8
The Mean of the Control Group and the Experimental Group in the Post-test
N Mean Std
Deviation
Std Error
Mean
Cpost 20 13500 41675 09319
Epost 20 49375 59535 13312
54
To calculate the mean () we use the following Formula
= sum119961 N
So 1= sum119961 N
1 refers to the mean of the control group in the post-test
N refers to the total number of students in the control Group
sum119961 stands for the sum of scores of the control group in the post-test
1= 2720 = 135
2 = sum119961 N
2 stands for the mean of the experimental group in the post-test
N refers to the total number of participants in the experimental group
sum119961 Stands for the sum of scores of the experimental group in the post-test
So 2= 987520 = 493
Figure13
The Scores Frequencies of the Control Group and the Experimental Group in the Post-
test
55
From the previous analysis of the mean of both the control and the experimental
group in the pre-test (see Table 3) we have noticed that the level of students in both groups
is almost the same and there is only a slight difference between them Though in the post-
test the scores of the experimental group has increased and as result the mean average has
increased too after the treatment phase for the experimental group (from 142 to 493) but it
decreased for the control group who were taught without being exposed to any kind of
treatment (see Table 8 and Figure 10) Besides we can notice the development also in the
rime duration in studentsrsquo pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] of the experimental
group in the post-test which is not the case with the control group
21441 An independent t-test Experimental Group Vs Control Group in the post-
test
In order to investigate if there is any significant change between two diverse groups
who have run the same test a t-test is used to show this significance difference In our case
we want to inspect if there is any significant variation between the experimental group and
the control group in the post-test and whether we accept the Alternative Hypothesis or
rejecting the Null Hypothesis So depending on the following steps a t-test was calculated
using the following formula
t= 119883 119888minus 119890
radicpartx2
Nx+
1205971199102
119873119910
partx2 = sum(119883 minus 119890 )N
= 306
1205971199102 =sum(119883 minus 119888 )2119873
= 160
119888 the mean of the control group in the post-test
56
119890 the mean of the experimental group in the post-test
partx2 the variation of the experimental group
1205971199102 the variation of the control group
So t= 493minus 135
radic306
20+
160
20
=745
t-value= 745
Depending on the t-value (745) that was calculated we compare it with the critical p-
value at p=005 therefore we have two options
1- If t-value is greater than the critical p-value (t-valuegtcritical-value) we accept the
alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
2- If t-value is less than the critical-value (t-valueltcritical-value) we accept the null
hypothesis and refuse the alternative hypothesis
we can say that
t-value=745 745 gt005
We accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
p-value= 0000 0000 lt005
We accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis
Depending on these results we can say that there is a statistical evidence that the
associated sampling means are significantly different In other words there is a real change
between the experimental group and the control group in the post test at the level of
pronunciation due to the positive influence of the independent variable which is ldquolistening
to the audio-storiesrdquo Therefore students of the experimental group showed a significant
57
progress at the level of pronunciation and precisely the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l]
pronunciation
215 Discussion of the Results
The current research has investigated the influence of listening to audio-stories on
acquiring accurate pronunciation of both allophones the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] At the
start the pre-test has proved that learners of both groups ie the control and the
experimental group have the same level through calculating their means The control group
scored a mean of 155 while the experimental group scored a mean of 142 and also they
have got near scores concerning the rime duration of the L sound So these estimated scores
helped us to prove and confirm our hypothesis that states the positive effect of listening to
audio-stories on the level of pronunciation accuracy In the post-test students of the
experimental group showed a significant development compared to the control group and
this is due to the period of treatment that occurred in the oral session Besides the mean
score of the experimental group has been raised from 142 to 493 and from a sum of rime
durations of 2222 s to 535 s while the mean score of the control group has been decreased
from 155 to 135 and increased from a sum of rime durations of 2149 s to 2359 s In
addition a t-test was designed to show if there is any statistical significant difference
between the experimental group and the control group in the post-test the results show the
positive influence of the treatment phase on the dependent variable (pronunciation
accuracy)
216 Pedagogical implication
The present research evidenced the positive influence of being exposed to the target
language pronunciation as it is produced by the native speakers through the exposure to the
audio-stories Therefore we can state a set of pedagogical implications
58
The present study shows that the more students get involved in listening practices
the more they will be proficient in the pronunciation of a various English sounds ie
developing their speaking proficiency
Audio-stories help EFL learners improve their pronunciation as well as to develop
their listening skills
Using multimedia devices (audio-stories in our case) in learning classrooms
enhances the learnersrsquo motivation to get involved in the learning process
Audio-stories can be used by EFL teachers in order to make learners attentive and
interested in the lecture being presented
Audio-stories provide learners with the chance to listen again and again to the story
in order to acquire the accurate pronunciation of a given word
Conclusion
The present research examined the effect of listening to audio stories on fostering the
target language pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] The native speakerrsquo s
pronunciation of both allophones was analyzed first through analyzing the rime duration in
order to compare it with the EFL learnersrsquo articulation That is to say the analysis is based
on the native speakerrsquo s rime duration In addition a significant development in learnersrsquo
pronunciation of the dark[ϯ]and the clear [l] was proved which lead to accept the alternative
hypothesis that states listening to audio-stories has a positive effect on acquiring accurate
pronunciation of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] by EFL learners
59
General Conclusion
The present study is based on the investigation of the effectiveness of listening to
audio stories on acquiring accurate pronunciation of the dark [ϯ] and the clear [l] by EFL
learners At the beginning we have stated the problem which was that the Algerian EFL
learners in the English department at LrsquoArbi Ben Mrsquohidi University face a lot of difficulties
concerning the acquisition of the accurate pronunciation of The phoneme l Subsequently
this dissertation tackled the importance of listening to audio-stories on enhancing EFL
learnersrsquo pronunciation accuracy
Our research was tackled in two main chapters The first chapter divided into two
main sections In the first section we tackled the point of listening to audio stories whereas
the second section discussed the reflection of listening to audio stories on the pronunciation
of the clear [l] and the dark [ϯ] The second chapter represented the practical part the field
work The analyzed data showed that there is a positive relationship between the independent
variable and the dependent variable That is to say there was a development in the
acquisition of the phoneme l which lead us to accept the alternative hypothesis and reject
the null hypothesis
60
Limitations of the Study
Limited sources ie most of the sources that were available were not relevant to our
study
Time constraints this study needs much more time to conduct a better result
Students absences in the pre-test and the post-test and others did not receive the
treatment at all
The lack of interest in the beginning of the treatment session
61
List of References
Alonso SR (2012) The importance of Teaching Listening and Speaking Skills Diagravectica de Lingua
y la Literatura Facultad de Education
Brown S (2006) Teaching Listening Cambridge Cambridge University press
Coulter C Michael C ampPoynor L (2007) Storytelling as Pedagogy An Unexpected Outcome
of narrative inquiry 104-105
Daudet A (2001) Five Short Stories Copyright copy Bartlebycom Inc
Downs L J (2008) Listening Skills Training ASTD press
Eckert J (2016) Audio Storytelling in Todayrsquos Visual World The necessary Components of a
successful sounds scape for an audio play
Gilakjani A P (2012) A study of Factors Affecting EFL learnersrsquo English Pronunciation Learning
and the Strategy for instruction Lahijani Iran 2(3) 119-128
Hamer J (1998) How to teach English An Introduction to the Practice of English Language
Teaching English Language Teaching Harlow Longman
Hendrickson J (1992) Storytelling for foreign language and linguistics Washington Dc Eric
learning house on language and linguistic [ Eric No E0355-824]
Kline J A (1996) Listening Effectively Air University Press
Madden M and Moore Z (1997) ESL Studentsrsquo Opinions about instruction in Pronunciation
Texas 3(2) 15-32
Mendelson D J (1994) Learning to Listen Dominie Press
Nasreddin K (2010) The Influence of Background Knowledge on Second Language Listening
Comprehension Constantine Constantine University
62
Poposka V p (2016) Pronunciation Proficiency Level Problematic Areas of Tertiary as a Foreign
Language International Journal of Science and Basic and Applied Research
Richards J C (1990) The Language Teaching Matrix Cambridge Cambridge University Pess
Rubin SS (2015) Tools for Creating Audio Stories scholarship University of California
Roney RC (1996) Storytelling in the classroom Some Theoretical Thoughts Wayne State
University Education Detroit Michigan
Sproat R ampFujimura O (1993) Allophonic variation of the English l and its Implication for
phonetic Implementation Academic Press
Torky SA (2006) The Effectiveness of a Task-Based Instruction Program in Developing English
Language Speaking Skills of Secondary Stage Students Collegersquo s girl Ain Shams
University
Ummah A (2014) The Effectiveness of Nursery Rhymes to Facilitate Studentsrsquo of Pronunciation of
the Diphthong Education and Teacher Training Faculty Walisongo State institution for
Islamic Studies
Wang M (2016) Research on the Acoustic Realization of Lateral in Sundanese International
Journal of Engineering Research and Development 12(10) 44-48
Ziane R (2012) The Role of Listening Comprehension in Improving EFL learners Speaking Skill
Biskra University of Biskra
Zhang Q (2009) Affecting Factors of Native-Like Pronunciation A Literature Review Ching-Ang
University 27(2) 33-52
63
Abrahamson CE (1998) Storytelling as a pedagogical tool in high Education 118(3) Retrieved
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httpwwwquestiacomlibraryjournal1G1-20494609storytelling-as-a-pedagogical-tool-
inhighereducation
AMP Research Center (2012) Retrieved from
Httpwwwncertrmqeduauconference2001indexhtal
Backley P (nd) Improving your English Pronunciation Retrieved from
httptoefluobabyloneduiqpaperspearson-2015-1269610pdf
Chaney (1998) Teaching Speaking Retrieved from
httpitesljorgtechniqueKayi-teaching speakinghtml
English Club (nd) What is listening Retrieved from
httpwwwenglishclubcom
Miller E (2011) Theories of story and storytelling Retrieved from
httpwww-storytellingandvideoconferencingcom167pdf
Pederson E M (1995) Storytelling and the art of listening English teaching forum 33(1)2-5
Retrieved from httpExchangesStategovForumuolsn01p2htm
Remen R N (nd) Listening Skills Retrieved from
httpwwwskillsyouneedcomipslistening-Skills-html
Rock R (nd) 5 Wonderful Websites for Engaging ESL Audio Short Stories Retrieved from
httpwwwFluentucomenglisheducatorsblogeslaudio-short-stories
Seifert S (nd) Follow Along 6 Engaging ESL Audio Stories with worksheet ideas Retrieved from
httpwwwFluentucomenglisheducatorblogeslaudio-stories
Saricoban A (2004) The Teaching of listening The Internet TESL journal
httpitesljorgArticlesSaricobn-listeninghtml
Subhi s (2016) Differences between Hearing and listening Retrieved from
httpkeydifferencescomdifference-between-hearning-and-listeninghtml
64
Shen CD (2010) 3 reasons why listening skills are very important in Todayrsquo s Business World
Retrieved from httpezinearticlescom3-Reasons-why-listening-skills-are-very-important-in-
Todays-Business-worldampid=5436504
the adapted audio-stories that were used in the period of treatment
(httpwwwmanythingsorgvoastories)
Appendix A A pre-test
The Last class- The Story of the Alsatian
I was very late for school that morning and I was terribly afraid of being Scolded
especially as Monsieur Hamel had told us that he should examine us on participles and I
did not know the first thing about them For a moment I thought of saying away from
school and wandering about the fields It was such a warm lovely day I could hear the
blackbirds whistling on the edge of the wood and in the ripper field behind the sawmill
the Prussians going through their drill All that was much more tempting to me than the
rules concerning participles but I had the strength to resist and I ran as fast as I could to
school
Sentences
You old fool they will kill you if you always trouble them
People are awfully lazy in the middle of July
Appendix B A post-test
The Game of Billiards
The marshalrsquo s opponent is a young captain of the staff belted and curled and light-
gloved who is in the first rank of billiard-players and capable of beating all the marshals
on earth but he has the tact to keep a respectful distance behind his chief and devotes his
energies to the task of not winning and at the same time not losing too easily He is what is
called an officer with a future
Read the following words
1 Cabal
2 Labour
3 Shell
Appendix c Treatment period
I Session one (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquothe Secret Gardenrdquo (Chapter One) By Frances Hodgson
Burnett
II Session two (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Secret Gardenrdquo (Chapter two) By Frances Hodgson
Burnett
III Session three (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Lady or the Tigerrdquo by Frank R Stockton
IV Session four (90 minutes)
Listening to ldquoThe Lady in Blackrdquo By Eleanor Porter
Reacutesumeacute
La preacutesente eacutetude vise agrave eacutetudier lrsquoarticulation de dark [ϯ] et clear [l] dans les classes de la
langue anglaise afin dameacuteliorer la prononciation des apprenants Lrsquoeacutetude actuelle repose
sur lhypothegravese que leacutecoute des histoires audio a un effet positif sur lameacutelioration de la
prononciation des apprenants EFL avec un accent particulier sur le dark [ϯ] et clear [l] Afin
datteindre lobjectif de cette recherche une eacutetude quasi-expeacuterimentale a eacuteteacute assigneacute en
deux groupe group teacutemoin et group expeacuterimentale Chaque groupe contenait 20 eacutelegraveves
Lexpeacuterience a pris six seacuteances un preacute-test une peacuteriode de traitement (4 seacuteances) et un
posttest En conclusion les reacutesultats obtenus montrent que les eacutetudiants qui sont exposeacute agrave
la langue cible et qui eacutecoutent au locuteur natif agrave lrsquoaide audio pour ameacuteliorer leurs
prononciations ont montreacute qursquoil y a un deacuteveloppement ameacutelioration au niveau de
compeacutetence des apprenants en particulier et en matiegravere de parole en geacuteneacuterale
Les mots cleacutes audio-histoire Compeacutetence drsquoeacutecoute prononciation dureacute de travaille
ملخص
استخدام القصص الصوتية من اجل المساعدة على اكتساب النطق السليم والدقيق تهدف هذه الدراسة الى التعرف على مدى فعالية
الأجنبية حيث تستند الدراسة الحالية على فرضية مفادها ان الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية له تأثير إيجابي على تحسين ةللغ
استغرقت التجربة ست ق المنهج التجريبيمن أجل تحقيق هدف هذه الدراسة تم تطبينطق الطلاب الأجانب للغة الإنجليزية
جلسات قسمت كالاتي أربع حصص معالجة سبقت باختبارات قبلية ولحقت باختبارات بعدية أجريت الدراسة في قسم اللغة
طالبا من طلاب السنة ثانية جامعي قسم الطلبة الى فوجين حيث 40الإنجليزية بجامعة العربي بن مهيدي وقد شملت الدراسة
ى معالجة لمدة أربع حصص من خلال الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية في حين لم يتعرض الفوج الثاني خضع أحد الفوجين ال
الى نفس المعالجة بعد ذلك تم اجراء الاختبارات البعدية واعتمادا على النتائج المتحصل عليها ثبت ان التعرض الى اللغة
جابي على اكتساب النطق الدقيق للغة المستهدفة الا وهي اللغة الأجنبية عن طريق الاستماع الى القصص الصوتية له تأثير إي
الأجنبية
القصص الصوتية النطق مدة الموجات الصوتيةالكلمات المفتاحية المهارة السمعية
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