Developing middle school students’ English pronunciation using educational videos in the classroom

Abstract

This study examines the extent to which middle school students improved their pronunciation through the use of educational videos and what their perceptions were about this technique. The study was carried out at a public educational institution in Cuenca – Ecuador. Sixty-five ninth-graders participated: 33 students (15 boys and 18 girls) were part of the intervention group, and 32 students (15 boys and 17 girls) were part of the control group. The study used a mixed-method approach, so both quantitative and qualitative data were collected. The students took a pre- and a post-test based on a reading aloud activity to measure their level of pronunciation. Furthermore, at the end of the study, they were invited to complete a questionnaire with open-ended questions about the use of videos in class. During the ten weeks of the treatment, the intervention group received classes that included the regular use of videos, while the control group received their usual classes with the researcher; no videos were used at all. The final results showed that students’ perceptions in the intervention group regarding the use of videos in the class were mostly positive; they considered videos useful for the improvement of pronunciation because they heard the correct pronunciation and could observe facial movements, which helped to acquire better pronunciation. Further, the statistical analysis of the scores given in the pre- and post-test by both evaluators (researcher and inter-rater) showed that there was an improvement in the students’ pronunciation skills in the intervention group.