The effectiveness of otter application in improving english freshmen’s pronunciation at school of foreign languages - Thai nguyen university

TNU Journal of Science and Technology 226(03): 51 - 57 
 51 Email: jst@tnu.edu.vn 
THE EFFECTIVENESS OF OTTER APPLICATION 
IN IMPROVING ENGLISH FRESHMEN’S PRONUNCIATION 
AT SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES - THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY 
Duong Hong Yen
*
, Pham Mai Linh 
TNU - School of Foreign Languages 
ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT 
Received: 01/3/2021 This study was conducted as a quasi-experimental study with the 
purposes of evaluating the effectiveness of Otter application as a tool 
for pronunciation practice in order to improve students’ pronunciation 
in particular and their speaking performance in general; examining how 
it benefits students and should it be recommended for being used 
widely outside of the classroom. The subjects of the study were forty 
students of one English Oral proficiency class at School of Foreign 
Languages, Thai Nguyen University. To collect the data, questionnaire, 
tests and interviews were used. The results suggested that this 
application would make a great contribution to students’ pronunciation 
improvement if it was employed for supplementary practice. It can be 
concluded that the implementation of supplementary practices with 
Otter in learning process has beneficial effects on students’ speaking 
skill, especially in pronunciation. 
Revised: 25/3/2021 
Published: 26/3/2021 
KEYWORDS 
Otter application 
Mobile application 
Teaching speaking 
Teaching pronunciation 
Self-learning 
HIỆU QUẢ CỦA ỨNG DỤNG OTTER TRONG VIỆC NÂNG CAO 
KHẢ NĂNG PHÁT ÂM CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT 
TRƯỜNG NGOẠI NGỮ - ĐẠI HỌC THÁI NGUYÊN 
Dương Hồng Yến*, Phạm Mai Linh 
Trường Ngoại ngữ - ĐH Thái Nguyên 
THÔNG TIN BÀI BÁO TÓM TẮT 
Ngày nhận bài: 01/3/2021 Bài báo này là một nghiên cứu bán thực nghiệm nhằm mục đích đánh 
giá hiệu quả của việc sử dụng ứng dụng Otter làm công cụ thực hành 
để nâng cao khả năng phát âm nói riêng và kỹ năng nói tiếng Anh nói 
chung cho sinh viên; đánh giá những lợi ích của ứng dụng và đưa ra 
kết luận có nên sử dụng ứng dụng này để làm công cụ cho sinh viên 
tự thực hành ngoài lớp học hay không. Đối tượng nghiên cứu là 40 
sinh viên của một lớp khẩu ngữ tại Trường Ngoại ngữ - Đại học Thái 
Nguyên. Để thu thập dữ liệu, nhà nghiên cứu đã sử dụng bảng hỏi, 
bài kiểm tra và phỏng vấn. Kết quả của nghiên cứu cho thấy, việc sử 
dụng ứng dụng này để thực hành các bài tập bổ trợ giúp sinh viên cải 
thiện khả năng phát âm một cách đáng kể. Nghiên cứu kết luận rằng 
việc triển khai các bài tập bổ trợ với ứng dụng Otter trong quá trình 
học tập có tác động tích cực đến kỹ năng nói của sinh viên, đặc biệt 
là về phát âm. 
Ngày hoàn thiện: 25/3/2021 
Ngày đăng: 26/3/2021 
TỪ KHÓA 
Ứng dụng Otter 
Ứng dụng di động 
Dạy kỹ năng nói 
Dạy phát âm 
Tự học 
DOI: https://doi.org/10.34238/tnu-jst.4062 
*
 Corresponding author. Email: yendh@tnu.edu.vn 
TNU Journal of Science and Technology 226(03): 51 - 57 
 52 Email: jst@tnu.edu.vn 
1. Introduction 
It is noticeable that pronunciation is one of the main criteria in most of English speaking test 
rating scales, for example: IELTS speaking test (fluency and coherence, lexical resource, 
grammatical range and accuracy, pronunciation) [1]; VSTEP (grammar, vocabulary, 
pronunciation, fluency, discourse management) [2]; FCE (grammar and vocabulary, discourse 
management, pronunciation, interactive communication) [3]. Therefore, it cannot be denied that 
understandable pronunciation is one of the key requirements for learners’ language proficiency 
and it has certain effect on learners’ speaking performance in general. According to Seidlhofer 
[4], pronunciation plays a significant role in real-life communication as it reflects the speakers’ 
identities and the communities which they belong to. Good pronunciation also helps students get 
better academic achievements. However, Vietnamese students’ pronunciation errors are still an 
issue of concern [5]. Furthermore, a study by Abbas Pourhosein Gilakjani [6] stated that 
pronunciation is an integral part of foreign language learning since it directly affects learners' 
communicative competence as well as performance. Limited pronunciation skills can decrease 
learners’ self-confidence, restrict social interactions, and negatively affect estimations of a 
speaker’s credibility and abilities. This situation can be seen when students rarely actively speak 
English inside classrooms and in daily life due to the fear of making pronunciation mistakes. 
Dealing with these problems, the use of technology for self-practice under the instruction and 
controlment of teachers can be an effective way to help students improve their speaking 
pronunciation. According to Li [7], the integration of app in learning increases students’ 
motivation and learning performance. Sharing the same concern, Haraydi & Aprianoto [8] stated 
that it becomes extremely necessary to provide a technologically-based learning tool, a Mobile 
Assisted Language learning, which lecturers and students can easily access with low cost, which 
possesses simple operation manual, and which fits into the learning needs of digitized students, 
but contains the material needed for the achievement of learning goals. A lot of studies have been 
conducted to review and investigate the impacts of mobile apps and technology resources on 
improving students’ pronunciation. Fouz [9] reviewed some of the most important mobile apps 
available for learning pronunciation. Yolanda Joy CalvoBenzies [10] also reviewed a number of 
existing programs and other materials specifically designed to improve learner pronunciation by 
classifying them into three main categories: tool for tuition, tools for listening, tools for 
recording. PenkhaeWongsuriya [11] showed that leaners can use Google translate application to 
listen to some difficult words and improve their pronunciation accordingly. A number of mobile 
applications were introduced and proved to be ben ... orts in word stress despite some mispronunciations 
6 
Test-taker is intelligible and has acquired a quite clear and natural pronunciation 
Test-taker generally clearly articulates individual sounds 
Test-taker generally places word stress, but does not show efforts with sentence stress 
Test-taker shows few efforts with intonation 
7 
Test-taker is intelligible and has acquired a clear and natural pronunciation 
Test-taker generally clearly articulates individual sounds 
Test-taker generally places word stress and shows efforts with sentence stress despite 
rather low accuracy 
Test-taker shows some efforts with intonation 
8 
Test-taker is intelligible and has acquired a very clear and natural pronunciation 
Test-taker clearly articulates individual sounds 
Test-taker generally places word and sentence stress 
Test-taker shows good efforts with intonation 
9 
Test-taker is intelligible with individual sounds clearly articulated, sentence and word 
stress accurately placed 
Test-taker has appropriate intonation 
Test-taker places sentence stress flexibly and correctly to express different meanings 
10 
Test-taker is intelligible with individual sounds clearly articulated, sentence and word 
stress accurately placed 
Test-taker has appropriate intonation 
Test-taker varies intonation and places sentence stress correctly to express different 
meanings and intended functions 
The study was conducted in the second semester (lasted for 15 weeks) of the students’ first 
school year when they have studied Pronunciation practice in the first semester, which ensures 
that students have already had basic knowledge and exposure to English pronunciation rules and 
features. Firstly, the researcher introduced the application to the students and gave them 
instructions to use it properly and effectively. Then, an audio and its script were given to the 
students on a weekly basis for practice. The total of 15 listening audios and scripts were given to 
the students in 15 weeks of the semester. All of them are from students’ Oral Proficiency 
textbook, which were used for listening practice inside classroom. The students had to read after 
the voice record with the reference of the script while listening to the audio carefully, then they 
will read the script out loud to Otter, which would transfer their voice into words. If there was a 
TNU Journal of Science and Technology 226(03): 51 - 57 
 54 Email: jst@tnu.edu.vn 
mistake, students could pause their recording, deleted the incorrect word and read it again. 
Finally, they were asked to share their most satisfied note on Otter to the researcher. Data for the 
present study were collected by means of a questionnaire, three tests and a set of interview 
questions. The combination of the three approaches ensures careful insight into the research 
because the results of the three techniques can be supportive of each other. There was one 
questionnaire, which comprised 11 both open- ended and close- ended questions. It was applied 
at the beginning of the study to explore the current status of students’ pronunciation practice at 
School of Foreign Languages, Thai Nguyen University. The questionnaire was delivered directly 
to 130 students, whose current course was English Oral Intermediate (EOI); semester 2, group 
N04, N06, N07. The questionnaire was written in English because the participants were English 
major students. However, to be appropriate for the freshmen’s proficiency and achieve the 
maximum effect, the language used was comparatively understandable, concise and relevant. 
Interview is the second main instrument used in the research to gather opinions and suggestions 
of students. A small interview was conducted at the end of the study with the purpose of 
exploring students’ evaluation of Otter, how their pronunciation has improved by practicing with 
the application. Both close-ended and open-ended questions were employed so that the researcher 
could collect the most positive answers as well as deeply discover the thought of respondents. 
Test is the third main instrument to measure the level of students before and after the 
experimental class started. The tests consist of a pre-test conducted in week 1 and two post-tests 
applied in week 7 and week 15. In order to assess students’ pronunciation, the scoring rubric of 
pronunciation adapted from VSTEP speaking rating scale (table 1) was used. 
3. Findings and discussion 
3.1 Findings from the questionnaire 
3.1.1 Students’ awareness of the importance of English pronunciation 
Figure 1. Students’ awareness of the importance of English pronunciation 
The data from Figure 1 indicates that the majority of students are well aware of the 
importance of pronunciation with over 76% and 15% chose that it is “very important” and 
“important” relatively. However, there are still a small number of students (more than 7%) have 
not realized that pronunciation plays an essential role in their language proficiency as they 
considered that it is not very important. 
76,92% 
15,38% 
7,69% 
Very important
Important
Not very important
TNU Journal of Science and Technology 226(03): 51 - 57 
 55 Email: jst@tnu.edu.vn 
3.1.2 Students’ frequency of practicing pronunciation 
In order to develop any language skills, regular practice holds the main key to success. 
However, only about more than 18% of the students spend time practicing their pronunciation 
frequently at home. The proportion of students who do not practice frequently is comparatively 
high. Especially, more than 20% of them rarely or never practice at all. 
3.1.3 Students’ learning tools 
As entering the university, almost all students are equipped with high-tech devices such as 
laptop, smartphone, Ipad, and so on, to help them in the study process. Among these devices, 
laptop is the most popular one. It is also the device that enables students to use a lot of services 
with the most convenience. Besides, some students make use of both laptop and smartphone or 
Ipad as these later tools provide them with more mobile usage. 
3.1.4 Problems encountered by students while practicing pronunciation 
When it comes to the difficulties that students have while they practice pronunciation, all the 
participants claim that they often find themselves in troubles when choosing suitable materials 
for pronunciation practice and checking whether their pronunciation is correct. 
3.2 Findings from the tests: pre-test and post-tests 
Figure 2. The test scores of the experimental group 
As shown in Figure 2, the pre-test results of the experimental group were extremely low. 32 
out of 40 students scored under 5 point, 14 of whom scored under 3. The number of students 
getting 5 to 7.9 points was very small, accounting for just 20% of the total. In addition, none of 
those students got from 8 to 10 points. It can be said that the pronunciation skill of freshmen was 
alarmingly weak. Results from post-test 1 indicated that although the average marks of the whole 
group were still low when there was no good mark (from 8 to 10 point) and the majority of 
students' scores was under 5 points, a better improvement could be seen. The number of students 
0
5
10
15
20
25
From 0 to 2.9
point
From 3 to 4.9
point
From 5 to 7.9
point
From 8 to 10
point
N
u
m
b
e
r 
o
f 
st
u
d
e
n
ts
 in
 t
h
e
 t
o
ta
l o
f 
4
0
Students' test scores (10 scale) 
Pre-test
Post-test 1
Post-test 2
TNU Journal of Science and Technology 226(03): 51 - 57 
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scored under 3 point decreased significantly from 14 to 5 students while there was an increase in 
the number of students scored from 5 to 7.9 (4 students, which equal to 10%). This provided the 
evidence that the application of Otter might be effective. To be more convincible, post- test 2 was 
undertaken after post-test 1 eight weeks. The test results also pointed out the progress of students 
in the experimental group after a few weeks. More than a half of the students scored above 5 
points, in which there were three students got good marks (from 8 to 10). Comparing to the pre-
test's score, this figure experienced a tremendous rise of 42.5 %. Besides, the number of students 
scored below 3 dropped to 2 students, which in comparison to the pre-test's score decreased by 
30%. In brief, by comparing the result of the pre-test and the post-test 2, it was clear that a huge 
progress in the pronunciation skill of students was achieved. 
3.3 Findings from the interview 
Together with the test scores, the results from the interview contribute to ensure the utility and 
objectiveness of the application evaluation. The objects of the interview were 10 students 
randomly selected within the group. From the responses of the respondents, all of them 
considered Otter as a good tool to practice pronunciation as well as their speaking skill. The use 
of Otter received the optimistic responses and appreciations from the respondents. Otter was 
convinced to be one of the valuable and useful applications for practicing extensive listening. 
3.4. Discussion 
To sum up, the results of the research, reported by the questionnaire, the test scores, and the 
interview, fully answer the two research questions. The questionnaire, pre-test and post- tests and 
the interview employed to reach the conclusion, are in an interactive relationship. The findings of 
the questionnaire offer a solid foundation orienting for the discovery of appropriate application 
used in the experiment. The test results directly reflect the significant improvement of 
participants during 15 weeks involved in the experimental group. In addition, the interview 
contributes to confirm the positive effect of the Otter application by investigating participants’ 
opinions toward the application used. The results of the interview support the conclusion that 
students could benefit a lot from the Otter employment. 
4. Conclusion 
In conclusion, Otter is proved to have a great impact on students’ pronunciation in different 
ways. This application would make a great contribution to students’ pronunciation skills as well 
as speaking skills development if it is employed for supplementary practice. It is hoped that this 
research will stimulate consideration of employing Otter both inside and outside of the classroom 
to better support students in foreign language learning process. The findings of the study imply 
that teachers and educators should motivate students to take use of the advantages of technology 
both inside and outside classroom. According to Hammer [13], teachers should pay attention to 
foster students learning motivation from which their love for learning could be developed, 
accordingly they will feel more enjoyable instead of considering it a compulsory and tiring task. 
Therefore, recommending and offering students new sources with the advantages of 
technological support in order to reduce the unnecessary problems they may have in the learning 
process is one of the ways to bring more inspiration, motivation and encouragement to students. 
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