MỤC LỤC 1 TABLE OF CONTENT Sections Page PART A INTRODUCTION PART B DEVELOPMENT I RATIONALE 1 An overview of phonetics and phonology 2 An overview of English intonation 3 Function of intonation 4 Type[.]
TABLE OF CONTENT Sections Page PART A: INTRODUCTION PART B: DEVELOPMENT I RATIONALE An overview of phonetics and phonology An overview of English intonation Function of intonation Types of English intonation Factors affecting English major’s intonation II SITUATION Difficulties in using correct English intonation that English majors face with Learning environment III SOME SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVE ENGLISH INTONATION For teachers For students For the secondary schools For the education and training department PART C CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION PART D REFERENCE BOOKS PART A: INTRODUCTION Nowadays English is considered to be an international language It plays an important role in integration Therefore, it is very necessary for people to master English, especially to speak English well to help them in their work, their study, and communication In English speaking skill, intonation plays a very important role It helps the speakers express their emotions and attitudes, enables the listeners to recognise the grammatical structures, the new and important information Therefore, intonation makes communication more effective and avoids misunderstandings However, intonation is difficult problems for English learners, especially for secondary students Many of them are still unable to recognize and analyze intonation or use intonation incorrectly Learning to speak English in general and learning how to use English intonation language properly in particular of grade 8’students at Thiệu phú Secondary school still has many problems to consider In English lessons, they not participate enthusiastically They are afraid to talk and meet a lot of difficulties in using the correct intonation to express their thinkings or opinions In addition, in the situations given by teacher, most students are not able to respond quickly and naturally They cannot use proper intonation to control the conversation as intended For the above reasons, I decide to choose the topic “Some tactics to improve students’ intonation in grade at Thiệu Phú secondary school” as my paper with the hope that it can help students get better in using English intonation PART B: DEVELOPMENT I RATIONALE An overview of Phonetics and phonology “Phonetics and phonology” is a general theory about speech sounds and how they are used in language 1.1Phonetics The term phonetics used in connection with such studies comes from Greek and its origins can be traced back to the verb phonein, to speak, in its turn related to phone, sound Phonetics is the study of all the sounds that the human voice is capable of creating Phonetics deals with sounds themselves, how they are made, how they are perceived, and the physics involved Phonetics will be almost unanimously acknowledged to be the linguistic science, which studies speech sounds: the way in which they are produced (uttered, articulated), the way in which they are perceived, their physical characteristics, etc 1.2 Phonology The end of the 18th century witnessed a revival of the interest in the studying of the sounds of various languages and the introduction of the term phonology Phonology is the study of a subset of those sounds that constitute language and meaning Phonology deals with how the speed sounds are organised in the system for each individual language For example, how the sounds can be combined, the relation between them and how they affect each other Different languages operate different distinctions and structure in different ways the more or less common stock of sounds that can be found in various idioms It is precisely this aspect of sounds that is of interest for phonology An overview of English intonation 2.1 Definition of intonation What is intonation? No definition is completely satisfactory In the scope of this paper, I only suggest some of the most acceptable ones According to Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia: “intonation is the variation of pitch when speaking.” According to English phonetics and phonology by Peter Roach “Intonation is the pattern of pitch changes that occur during a phrase or in a complete sentence.” According to Intonation in Context (www.cambridge): Intonation Practice for Upper- intermediate and Advanced Learners of English: Intonation is a feature of the spoken language It consists of the continuous changing of pitch of a speaker’s voice to express meaning Here are two diagrams, which show a same group of words spoken in two different ways The pitch rises and falls in different places Are you well? Are you well? The speaker is able to make the group of words mean what he/she wants it to mean by choosing the right intonation Function of intonation 3.1 The attitudinal function of intonation Intonation enables the speaker to express emotions and attitudes With the same sentence, speaker can say in different ways, which might be labeled “angry, happy, grateful, or bored….” Example: Come here It won’t hurt (encouraging) 3.2 Accentual function Intonation helps to produce the effect of prominence on syllables that need to be perceived as stressed syllables and in particular the placing of tonic stress on a particular syllable mark out the word to which it belongs as the most important in the tone-units Example: I want to buy a yellow hat When the word “hat” is stressed This means the speaker emphasises that he wants to buy a “hat” not a “shirt” But when the stress falls on the word “yellow” The speaker implies that he wants to buy a “yellow” hat, not a “red” one 3.3 The grammatical function The listener is able to recognize the grammatical and syntactic structures of what is being said by using the information contained in the intonation Intonation determines the boundaries between phrases, clauses, and sentences It also helps to indicate whether an utterance is a statement, a question, or a command, to indicate the finality or continuation Example: That is the end of the news (Finality) 3.4 Discourse function Intonation focuses the listener's attention on aspect or subject of the conversation It can signal to the listener what is being taken as "new" information and what is already given Types of English intonation: 4.1 The glide down (falling tune) The glide down is the intonation pattern that consists of a fall at the end, from a high pitch to a low one The glide down is used in complete and definite statements, in wh-questions, which sound business like Example: How you go to school? In yes-no questions when the speaker expect an agreement