students’ perspectives on the use of peer feedback in the online english pronunciation class at...
DESCRIPTION
Kim, S., & Yoon, S. (2014, September). Students’ perspectives on the use of peer feedback in the online English pronunciation class at university level. Paper presented at the meeting of KAMALL Annual Conference 2014. Seoul, Korea. [Abstract] Considering that communicating fluently is one of the main goals in ELT (English Language Teaching), teaching and learning pronunciation is becoming increasingly important. However, in pronunciation class, there seems to be lack of practice and interaction due to limitations in class time allotted per session in addition to large number of students per class. One alternative to overcome these difficulties and provide students with ample time and opportunities for exposure, practice, and interaction is using peer feedback. In contrast to teacher feedback, peer feedback allows students to actively participate and take responsibility for their own learning. Therefore, a research on online peer feedback is conducted to investigate the use of peer feedback in online pronunciation classroom. The purposes of this study are: 1) to investigate the perspectives of the university students on the use of peer feedback in the online English pronunciation class; and 2) to examine difficulties and helpfulness of using peer feedback in the online English pronunciation class. In order to address these two issues, this study was carried out in an online pronunciation class in A university for 16 weeks. Seventy one participants at the intermediate level of English proficiency participated in this study. Data for this study included the questionnaires, interview, and reflective learning journals. The major findings of the study are as follows. First, the perspectives on the use of peer feedback in the online English pronunciation class were positive in terms of interest, usefulness, satisfaction, and effectiveness. Second, the perspectives on giving and receiving peer feedback were positive in all areas of usefulness, easiness, interesting, motivating, and improvement. Finally, the participants considered finding problem areas on group members’ recordings to be the most difficult, and comparing their recording to group members was the most helpful aspect of peer feedback for learning English pronunciation. In addition, the becoming aware of incorrect pronunciation through peer feedback was considered to be helpful. There are implications that using peer feedback plays a contributing role in teaching and learning English pronunciation in online. However, several challenges concerning peer feedback are pointed out to cope with. Therefore, this study concludes with suggestions to implement peer feedback effectively in online English pronunciation classes.TRANSCRIPT
Students’ Perspectives on the Use of Peer Feedback in the Online English
Pronunciation Class at University Level
Sang Mi Kim & Seo Young Yoon(Hankuk University of Foreign Studies)
Background of the Study Communicating fluently is one of the main goals in ELT (English
Language Teaching). Teaching and learning pronunciation is becoming increasingly
important.
Lack of practice and interaction, and a large number of students One alternative is using peer feedback.
Purposes of the Study To investigate the perspectives of the university students on the
use of peer feedback in the online English pronunciation class. To examine difficulties and helpfulness of using peer feedback in
the online English pronunciation class.
INTRODUCTION
Techniques of Teaching English Pronunciation Celce-Murcia, Brinton and Snow (2013)− Pronunciation instruction can be categorized into four
parts: listening instruction, contextualized instruction, form-focused instruction and computer-assisted instruction.
Hardison (2004) and Pennington and Ellis (2000)− Computer technology can help L2 learners to learn
prosodic patterns if the computer tasks focus learners’ attention on how prosody works within a piece of discourse.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Teaching and Learning English Pronunciation in Online Environment Yoon and Lee (2009):− investigated the university students’ perspectives on
multimedia and feedback in teaching and learning English pronunciation.
− The majority of students were interested in and satisfied with the use of resources and activities including feedback.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Concept of Peer Feedback Peer feedback is “structuring positive
interdependence” in pursuit of a specific shared goal or output (Slavin, 1990).
Potential of Peer Feedback One of the main advantages of peer feedback is
scholastic achievement (Engwall & Bälter, 2007). Another educational effect the peer feedback has is its
affective domain (Earl, 1986; Katayama, 2007; Topping, 1998; Zhang & Rahimi, 2014).
LITERATURE REVIEW
Research Questions What are the students’ perspectives on the use of peer
feedback in the online English pronunciation class? What are difficulties and helpfulness of using peer
feedback in the online English pronunciation class?
Participants 71 Korean university students majoring in non-English
related fields (18 freshmen, 19 sophomores, 17 juniors, and 17 seniors)
Three focused groups consisting of five students
METHOD
Procedures From March to June in 2014
METHOD
Procedures From March to June in 2014
METHOD
METHODWeek Contents Data Collection Instruments
Week 1 Orientation
Week 2 Unit 1: Introduction to English Pronunciation
Classroom observationReflective learning journals
Week 3 Unit 2: The Sound System of English
Week 4Unit 3: IntonationUnits 22 & 23: Letters, Numbers, Dates & Addresses / Descriptive & Set Phrases
Week 5Unit 4: Word ConnectionUnit 5: ReductionUnits 24 & 25: Meaningless Utterances with Meanings / Filler Utterances
Week 6
Unit 6: Introduction to ConsonantsUnit 7: Consonant TUnit 26: Thought GroupsUnits 27: Emphasis
Week 7 Unit 8 & 9: Consonant L / Consonant RUnits 27 & 28: Emphasis / Added Details
Week 8Unit 10: Consonant THUnit 29: Contrasting / AlternativeUnits 30 & 31: Question intonation / Tag Question Intonation
Week 9 Midterm: offline written examReflective Learning Journals Due
Week 10Unit 11: Consonants F/VUnit 12: Consonants P/BUnit 32: Listening Well
Week 11Unit 13: Consonants /s/ & /z/Unit 14: Consonants /ʃ & /ʒ/Unit 33: Continuing a Story
Week 12 Units 15: Other ConsonantsUnits 16 & 17: Introduction to Vowel / Vowel Schwa
Week 13 Unit 18: Vowel aeUnits 34 & 35: Quoting Others
Week 14 Unit 19: Vowel aUnit 36: Depending on the Context
Week 15 Units 20 & 21: Vowels I/i & U/u
Week 16 Final Exam: offline written exam & online voice recordingReflective Learning Journals Due
QuestionnaireSemi-structured interview
Data Analysis• The data collected from the study were analyzed through
qualitative and quantitative data analysis.
What are the students’ perspectives on the use of peer feedback in the online English pronunciation class?
Data from interviews and reflective learning journals were first transcribed into texts and the transcriptions were translated into English. (triangulated by the data from questionnaire)
What are difficulties and helpfulness of using peer feedback in the online English pronunciation class?
Data from interviews and questionnaire were analyzed. The data from the questionnaire were analyzed using statistics such as means and percentages.
METHOD
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
1. Students’ Perspectives on the Use of Peer Feedback in the On-line English Pronunciation Class
− General perspectives on the use of peer feedback
Very FairyNot
particu-larly
Not at all Total
Interest 15.2 69.7 13.6 1.5 100
Usefulness 30.8 56.9 12.3 0 100
Satisfaction 18.2 66.7 15.2 0 100
Effectiveness 24.6 66.2 7.7 1.5 100
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
1. Students’ Perspectives on the Use of Peer Feedback in the On-line English Pronunciation Class
− General perspectives on the use of peer feedback
Very FairyNot
particu-larly
Not at all Total
Interest 15.2 69.7 13.6 1.5 100
Usefulness 30.8 56.9 12.3 0 100
Satisfaction 18.2 66.7 15.2 0 100
Effectiveness 24.6 66.2 7.7 1.5 100
Han: Half of the semester has already passed. I thought that I spent meaningless school life, but it was my first time to study hard, practice, and attend the lectures without being absent. … The lecture using peer feedback made me motivated to study English pronunciation. I was very interested in this lecture which was helpful to me a lot. … I could recognize that using peer feedback was beneficial through the score of TOEIC speaking which I took recently. But I won’t neglect my studying English pronunciation.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
1. Students’ Perspectives on the Use of Peer Feedback in the On-line English Pronunciation Class
− Perspectives on giving and receiving peer feedback
Usefulness Easiness Interest Motivation Improve-ment
Giving 2.17 1.51 1.77 1.95 1.89
Receiv-ing 2.22 1.95 1.88 2.28 2.19
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
1. Students’ Perspectives on the Use of Peer Feedback in the On-line English Pronunciation Class
− Perspectives on giving and receiving peer feedback
Usefulness Easiness Interest Motivation Improve-ment
Giving 2.17 1.51 1.77 1.95 1.89
Receiv-ing 2.22 1.95 1.88 2.28 2.19
Even though peer feedback activity was interesting, I felt overwhelmed by pressure and responsibilities for giving peer feedback since I should give correct comments. To give correct feedback, I tried to compare recordings with audio CDs by listening to them many times. Consequently, it helped me to develop the ability to listen to recordings carefully and reflect my following recordings.
Yeon (Group 2)
Seok: I’m quite satisfied with the recording and feedback for this week. I still have many things to be improved but I could practice English pronunciation through this course and receiving feedback helped me to correct my errors and to be improved a lot.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
2. Difficulties and Helpfulness of Using Peer Feedback in the Online English Pronunciation Class
− Difficulties of using peer feedback
Count %
Commenting on group members’ weakness 19 15.8
Finding problem areas on group members’ recordings 40 33.3
Giving feedback with easy words 22 18.3
Worrying about whether my feedback on groupmembers’ recordings would be helpful or not 37 30.8
Giving feedback before the set deadline 2 1.7
Total 120 100
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
2. Difficulties and Helpfulness of Using Peer Feedback in the Online English Pronunciation Class
− Difficulties of using peer feedback
Count %
Commenting on group members’ weakness 19 15.8
Finding problem areas on group members’ recordings 40 33.3
Giving feedback with easy words 22 18.3
Worrying about whether my feedback on groupmembers’ recordings would be helpful or not 37 30.8
Giving feedback before the set deadline 2 1.7
Total 120 100
The hardest thing when I gave peer feedback was to find pronunciation errors on my group members. It may be because I am poor at listening and speaking in English. So giving peer feedback to a voice recording which has no errors from my point of view was really difficult. For example, Lee, one of my group members, was the most outstanding student whose pronunciation was impeccable. She rarely made errors and I thought she had lived in an English speaking country.
Dong (Group 1)What I was concerned the most in giving feedback was to give correct feedback since I didn’t want to disturb my group members by giving incorrect comments. In addition, I also worried that I might give so trivial feedback which peers would not even care for.
Da (Group 2)
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
2. Difficulties and Helpfulness of Using Peer Feedback in the Online English Pronunciation Class
− Helpfulness of giving peer feedback
Count %
Reminding pronunciation features previously learned
23 19.7
Checking comments from other group members 23 19.7
Studying again pronunciation features to give feed-back 20 17.1
Comparing my recording to group members 34 29.1
Reflecting my following recordings by reflecting what Icommented to group members
17 14.5
Total 117 100
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
2. Difficulties and Helpfulness of Using Peer Feedback in the Online English Pronunciation Class
− Helpfulness of receiving peer feedback
Count %
Comments on what I was not aware of incorrect pronunciation
52 44.8
Comments on my voice recording with detailed analysis 24 20.7
Comments with easy examples on incorrect pronunciation 15 12.9
Comments with articulatory instruction 17 14.7
Compliment comments 8 6.9
Total 116 100
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
2. Difficulties and Helpfulness of Using Peer Feedback in the Online English Pronunciation Class
− Helpfulness of receiving peer feedback
Count %
Comments on what I was not aware of incorrect pronunciation
52 44.8
Comments on my voice recording with detailed analysis 24 20.7
Comments with easy examples on incorrect pronunciation 15 12.9
Comments with articulatory instruction 17 14.7
Compliment comments 8 6.9
Total 116 100
Da: I found my pronunciation errors of which I wasn’t aware through peer feedback. In fact, I have received the comments two or more times that my pronunciation sounds unnatural because I tend to roll pronunciation excessively. I think I really have a tendency to do that.
CONCLUSIONS
Proper training on using peer feedback should be given to learners in order to improve the quality of peer feedback.
Reminding learners of peer feedback they gave and received is needed in order to reflect feedback on their English pronunciation.
Reorganizing the groups could help students to actively use quality peer feedback in that they can be aware of new group members.
& A
Q & A