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TAP CHi KHOA HOC BHSP TPHCM S6 S(74) nam 2015 TEACHING ENGLISH RHYTHM TO FIRST YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS AT TON DUC THANG UNIVERSITY PROBLEMS AND SUGGESTIONS DO ANH THU'''' ABSTRACT Rhythm is of great importan[.]
TAP CHi KHOA HOC BHSP TPHCM S6 S(74) nam 2015 TEACHING ENGLISH RHYTHM TO FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH-MAJORS AT TON DUC THANG UNIVERSITY: PROBLEMS AND SUGGESTIONS DO ANH THU' ABSTRACT Rhythm is of great importance during teaching English in general and pronunciation in particular However, due to Ihe particular characteristics of rhythm, together wilh a couple of affecting factors, teaching English rhythm was supposed lo be faced with a number of hypothetical problems which were considered as Ihe conceptual framework of Ihe study The sludy found out Ihat most of students had (i) no interest and motivation in learning English rhythm, (ii) no bacltground knowledge of English rhythm, (iii) no adequate opportunities lo practice English rhythm outside class, (iv) negative psychological symptoms when practicing English rhythm, (v) spoken English wilh Vietnamese rhythm: and (vi) leaching and learning English rhythm had no or low priority, not enough teaching time and materials Keywords: teaching Englisli, leaming Englisii, English rhythm, English pronunciation TOM TAT Day nhip dieu tiengAnh clio sinh vien ndm nhdt chuyen ngdnh tiengAnh tai Trudng Bgi hoc Ton Bdc Thdng; Cdc vdn dk vd di xu&t Nhip dieu CO vai Iro quan trong viec dgy tiSng Anh ndi chung vd phdt dm noi rieng Tuy nhien vi cdc ddc diem rieng vd mot vdi nhdn to dnh hudng, viec dgy nhip dieu lieng Anh gap phdi mot so vdn de gid dinh, duac diing ldm md hinh nghien cuu Nghien Cliu cho Ihdy (i) hdu het sinh vien khdng cd himg thii vd dong luc Irong viec hoc nhip dieu tieng Anh (ii) khdng co kien thirc ca bdn ve nhip dieu tiing Anh (ii) khong dd ca hoi Ihuc hdnh nhip dieu liing Anh ben ngodi Idp (iv) gdp phdi nhieng Men tuong tdm li lieu cue Ihuc hdnh nhip dieu (y) noi lieng Anh Iheo nhip dieu tiing Viet, (vi) viec dgy vd hoc nhip dieu tieng Anh khung co hodc it duac im lien, khong dU Ihdi gian vd Idi lieu gidng day Tir khoa: viec day tieng Anh, viec hoc tiSng Anh, nhip dieu titog Anh, phat am tiSng Anh 1, Introduction Effective communication in English, an important target for a great number of learners, can be achieved by having good pronunciation [6, p.ll] affirms that if students have problems with pronunciation, they will not get their message across even when correct words are used or that they might be understood in a way that they not MSc, Foreign Trade University Ho Chi Mmh City Campus; Email: 3nhthudo.ftu@gmaHcom 16 TAP CHi KHOA HOC DHSP TPHCM Do Anh Thu mean In order to have good pronunciation, there must be the contribution of two primary factors including segmental aspects (such as vowels, consonants) and suprasegmental aspects (such as stress, intonation, and rhythm), of which the latter has recently been considered to be more important than the former As a feature of suprasegmentals, rhythm holds a high position in producing good pronunciation, a contributing factor to the effectiveness of communication; specifically, it helps learners to develop fluent, natural English, join conversations, develop accurate intonation, avoid bad feelings from the listeners, and increase the intelligibility, according to [1, p.73],[8.p.43],[2,p.82] With such great importance, English rhythm deserves to catch the learners' as well as teachers' eye; however, the reality is quite different It is said that rhythm is one of the most neglected aspects in teaching English as a second language As an illustration, [3] confirms that the understanding of English rhythm is just to some extent dealt with by native teachers or a couple of authentic books; meanwhile, from the production point of view, learners get little or no instruction in speech rhythm and it is almost neglected by teachers, trainers, and designers Back to Vietnam, there has been existing the more or less situation which is involved in different aspects of suprasegmental features such as intonation, sentence stress, rhythm, etc [11, p xvi] concluded that intonation had been one of the most neglected areas not only in classrooms but also in materials purposefully designed for teaching and leaming English in Vietnam in general and University of Transport in particular Focusing too much on individual sounds and spending little time leaming sentence stress were what had happened at Nong Lam university, according to [10], At Ton Due Thang University (TDTU), rhythm is not the main focus of attention during teaching English in general and teaching and leaming pronunciation in particular, which is shown in the syllabus, the coursebook, and partly in students" viewpoints noticed during the time the author of this study has been teaching at TDTU In summary, however necessary English rhythm is in studying English, which needs much effort to achieve, it is nearly neglected at TDTU with little attention in teaching Before any possible remedies on its improvement can be made, there is a need to seriously investigate into the current status of teaching rhythm, especially problems in teaching this aspect in order to provide a better apprehension and a clear picture of the situation 2, Literature review Understanding English rhythm including how it is defined, what are its characteristics, and what are its roles in communication is a necessity in teaching and leaming process English rhythm is defined as a regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables, in which the stressed syllables take up the same amount of fime no matter how many unstressed ones intervene, according to [1], and [4] It is this characteristic which differentiates English rhythm from Vietnamese one, leading to a hypothetical problem about the interfering of Vietnamese rhythm in teaching and 17 TAP CHi KHOA HOC OHSP TPHCM So 8(74) ndm 2015 leaming English rhythm [7] In addition to its definition and characteristics, the important role of rhythm in communication helps us understand why we need to focus on rhythm, giving the learners a good motive for leaming it However, in case the learners lack this awareness, they may have negative attimde or may be demotivaled, which then becomes a problem in teaching, according to [7] and [5] Generally, understanding rhythm is of great help in finding problematic issue in teaching and leaming English rhythm With basic knowledge of rhythm, teachers and learners may fulfill their roles successfully Teachers are expected to provide authentic sources for learners, help them recognize and produce rhythm pattems without worries, prepare suitable activities, establish priorities, assess learners, and highlight the need for rhythm In the meantime, leamers are supposed to be responsible for their leaming, actively involved in the leaming process Under normal circumstances, teachers and leamers will try their best to accomplish their responsibilities; be that as it may, their missions will be intervened by a number of affecting factors besides two aforementioned ones These affecting factors are said to include prior instruction [4], [10], exposure to target rhythm [4], psychological challenges [9], [I], and institutional variables There may have other factors which have slight or considerable impact on rhythm teaching and leaming; however, to the limit of this paper, the author may not cover all but just the main ones which are related to rhythm itself and teaching and leaming process Figure Synthesis of the issues related to teaching and leaming English rhythm (Source: synthesized by the author) TAP CHl KHOA HOC DHSP TPHCM Do Anh Thu The first hypothetical difficulty in teaching English rhythm is that leamers have negative attitude and no motivation in leaming English [7] Based on the analysis of the learners' roles in the previous part, if leamers have negative feeling toward leaming rhythm, it is hard to improve their rhythm and the teaching then becomes more challenging In addition, when leamers not see the value or the importance of rhythm, they are demotivaled and show no interest in leaming it It is therefore concluded that leamers' attitude and mofivation are two factors which cause problems in teaching English rhythm In addition to learners' attitude and motivation, the amount and type of prior instruction can also trouble teachers in fulfilling their roles [6] It is concluded from the above explanation that lack of instruction or inappropriate instruction since high school will create sort of fixed and systematic errors that current teachers need to deal with As explained in the characteristic of rhythm above, there is much difference between Viemamese and English rhythm, so if they were not instructed rhythm at all, they would get used to Vietnamese one, and gradually it is almost very difficult to change students' habits It may be summarized that no prior instruction about English rhythm is another hypothetical problem in teaching English rhythm Not only attitude and motivation or prior instruction cause challenges in teaching, but having little opportunity to surround leamers themselves with target language input also concerns their teachers in providing authentic sources and environment to practice [6], because students are required to acquire large amounts of comprehensible input before speaking, especially when leaming a different type of rhythmic pattem Therefore, less exposure to target rhythm is also the third hypothetical problem which needs considering Besides above factors, psychological challenges faced by leamers are also a hindrance in teaching English rhythm [II] Due to the unfamiliarity of rhythm, to many speakers, speaking English rhythmically is overwhelming, embarrassing, causes anxiety, puts them in a position of great risk of making mistakes, and makes them fail, lose esteem, sound foreign or even alien to listeners In general, leamers feel uncomfortable in practice speaking with appropriate rhythm, which negatively affects their improvement in leaming it This is the fourth problem that students may encounter The fifth hypothetical problem in teaching English rhythm is the interference of native language when smdents leam English rhythm [9], First, speaking English with syllable-timed rhythm has become a strong, systematic habit which is very difficult to break Second, because of the influence of syllable-Hmed, they are unable to reduce and run together all unstressed syllables, tend to assign an equal amount of weight, regardless of whether the syllable is stressed or unstressed, stress every word, make stressed vowels too short and unstressed vowels too long Therefore, it can be said that influence of Vietnamese brings about a number of difficulties in teaching English rhythm TAP CHi KHOA HOC BHSP TPHCM So 8(74) ndm 2015 The hypothetically problematic institutional variables in teaching rhythm are involved in the inadequacy of practice condition It is concluded that teachers not have enough time in class to give proper attention to rhythm; consequently, students might not get used to rhythm, especially when they start leaming it at university Also, there is a shortage of rhythm materials for teaching and leaming, which makes the teaching become more problematic In addition, teaching rhythm is not a priority in most English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teaching programs in comparison with other aspects of pronunciation Generally speaking, practice condition is another concem in teaching rhythm The six major hypothetical problems above are used as a guide or the framework in carrying out the research From these problems, some questions are designed in order to know whether there is any difference or similarity between theory and reality, through which the suitable suggestions may be given Methodology The study was mainly a qualitative study, an exploratory one because it aimed to seek an understanding of the nature of a phenomenon in teaching and leaming; specifically, to discover current problems that English teachers at TDTU encounter when teaching rhythm to first-year English majors; and provide some pedagogical suggestions on teaching English rhythm, if possible Although the study was a qualitative one, it also employed quantitative technique in analyzing the data The study was carried out at TDTU fi-om 15*, December, 2011 to January 31th 2012 with the attendance of 112 first-year English-majored students currently studying pronunciation and teachers who had been teaching pronunciation to first year English majors The two major tools of the study were questionnaire and interview which targeted teachers and students at TDTU The study was carried out in a sequential procedure, of which the first step was a preliminary analysis of current teaching and leaming English rhythm at TDTU, from which the study was inspired Next came the review of the related literature served as the conceptual fi-amework which helped the researcher design the research tools The research tools included questionnaire to students, and interview to teachers The collection of data was done from December 15*, 2011 to January 3V\ 2012, which then was analyzed, discussed, and interpreted to find out the problems the subjects had The result will finally be summarized by some major findings, from which several suggestions were based on Major findings The analysis of data collected from the student questionnaire and teachers' interview shows a number of problems that both teachers and leamers at TDTU had in teaching English rhythm These issues stem from different perspectives, namely leamers themselves, language feature, and the practice condition Do Anh Thu TAP CHI KHOA HOC DHSP TPHCM Table Students' attitude in learning English rhythm Question: I like to learn rhythm of English Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Frequency Percent Totally disagree 34 30,4 30,4 30,4 Disagree 43 38,4 38,4 68,8 Average 12 10,7 10,7 79.5 Agree 10 8.9 8,9 88,4 Totally agree 13 11,6 11,6 100.0 112 100,0 100,0 Total The above table shows that a majority of respondents (68,8%) disagreed or completely disagreed that they liked learning English rhythm and only a small number of students (20,5%) were interested in leaming it, which means most TDTU first-year majors had negative attitude towards leaming rhythm, or to put it differently, they were not interested in leaming it Because of this, they found it hard to improve their rhythm and may ignore It when practicing It was their low interest that brought about the problems for teachers since they felt very challenging in asking students focus on what they did not like In addition to negative attitude, smdents also revealed that they had no motivation in leaming rhythm owing to the fact that they were not aware of the importance of rhythm Most of them thought that to communicate effectively, it was not necessary to be good at rhythm Together with low interest, their unawareness of the role of rhythm in communication hampered the teachers in instructing them Another problem in teaching and leaming English rhythm was the prior rhythm instruction that students had received before Table Students' learning rhythm prior university Question: did study rhythm prior to university time Frequency Percent Valid Percent Totally disagree 50 44,6 44,6 Cumulative Percent 44,6 Disagree 21 18,8 18,8 63,4 [Average 4,5 4,5 67,9 Agree 22 19,6 19,6 87,5 [Totally agree 14 12,5 12,5 100,0 Total 112 100,0 100,0 So S(74) nam 2015 TAP CHi KHOA HOC DHSP TPHCM 44,6% and 18,8% of respondents totally disagreed and disagreed respectively about if they studied English rhythm at high school, which implies that most of students had no knowledge of rhythm before starting leaming at university on account of the fact that they had not been instracted rhythm This led to the habit of speaking English without rhythm or with inappropriate rhythm It is the teachers who had to deal with this problem and had to change their habit although changuig a habit is not an easy task Table Students' opportunities to listen lo rhythm outside class Question: I have adequate opportunities lo hear English rhythm outside of class Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Totally disagree 33 29,5 29,5 29,5 Disagree 48 42,9 42,9 72,3 No idea 7,1 7,1 79,5 Agree 18 16,1 16,1 95,5 Totally agree 4,5 4,5 100,0 112 100,0 100,0 Total The next problem was the less exposure to English rhythm Most of students admitted that they almost had no opportunities to practice listening or speaking with appropriate rhythm outside their class (72,4% and 71,5% respectively) The interviewees also revealed that their university had no lab, not enough specialized books in the library, and no clubs for students to practice In addition to less exposure to English rhythm, students' psychological challenges in leaming English rhythm brought about problems for not onK- smdents themselves but also their teachers The data analyzed shows that most of the smdents had negative psychological symptoms When speaking English with correct rhythm, they said that they felt embarrassed, worried, or alien to listeners which are said to negatively affect the teaching With these psychological signals, students tended to be unconfident and made no improvement, thereupon the burden was put on teachers-in-charge The above-mentioned problems are those derived fi-om smdents themselves Besides them, the difference between English rhythm and Vietnamese rhythm is also another source of problems in teaching rhythm 22 TAP CHi KHOA HOC DHSP TPHCM Do Anh Thu Table Students' habit of transferring Vietnamese rhythm into English rhythm Question: I have a strong habit of transferring native language rhythm into a new one Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Totally disagree 11 9,8 9,8 9,8 Disagree 12 10,7 10,7 20,5 34.8 Average 16 14,3 14,3 Agree 45 40,2 40,2 75,0 Totally agree 28 25,0 25,0 100,0 Total 112 100,0 100,0 Generally, students had the 'habit of transferring mother-tongue's rhythm into target rhythm, and they usually spoke English with Viemamese rhythm (40,2% agreeing and 25% totally agreeing) Particularly, it was difficult for the majority of students to reduce and run together all unstressed syllables, assign a different amount of weight for stressed and unstressed syllables, not to stress every word, and make unstressed syllable short There existed these problems since students were familiar with Vietnamese rhythm and tended to apply h in learning English one, especially when they were not instmcted the appropriate way to speak English with rhythm Teachers themselves also admitted that their students had these problems It can be said that this became too familiar to be changed Last but not least, the practice condition caused a number of problems in teaching First, there was no or low priority for rhythm in the teaching program (29,5% and 44,6% respectively) albeit how important it is This was considered as a paradox since rhythm is worth receiving more attention and more support Second, a large number of students (80,4%) thought that they did not have enough time to practice English rhythm in clgss since they just had about three periods for it The teacher interviewees also shared the same idea about the too short time spent on teaching rhythm Finally, not having enough leaming and teaching materials were also a concem for related people (with 75,9% agreeing) What is more, the coursebook was not very suitable since it was too simple and lacked necessary activities, and as a consequence, teachers needed to spend a great deal of time m searching, designing their own materials Meanwhile, there were not many sources to find materials to support teachers and students in teaching and leaming English rhythm Suggestions Aforesaid findings lay the foundation for the following suggestions First, students should show their interest and high motivation, equip themselves with opportunities to practice, overcome psychological challenges, and apply particular 23 TAP CHi KHOA HOC BHSP TPHCM So 8(74) nam 2015 techniques in leaming English rhythm Second, teachers should help students feel interested in leaming and be aware of the importance of English rhythm, provide more basic knowledge and exercises, offer students opportunities to practice, create a riskfree environment, and use particular techniques to change students' habit of speaking English with Vietnamese rhythm Last but not least, organizing specialized classes on rhythm and other aspects of pronunciation which were not instmcted before university, spending more time on rhythm, and adequately supporting materials for both teachers and leamers are what the administrators are suggested to In addition, a number of particular techniques in leaming rhythm are encouraged to use to help students understand more about the pattem of English rhythm as well as how it is different fi-om Vietnamese one Those include leamers should practice more and more using these techniques such as snapping, clapping, tapping, recitation, mirroring, reverse build-up, nursery rhymes, limericks, and so on Concluding remarks English rhythm, the alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables in which the stressed syllables occur at regular intervals no matter how many unstressed syllables there are between them, has a significant role in communication In spite of having such good points, teaching rhythm is still neglected at TDTU with little focus fi-om syllabus to teachers and students It is said that there are some factors which affect teaching English rhythm including attitude and motivation, prior pronunciation instmction, exposure to target language, psychological challenges, native language, institutional variables Analyzing the data collected fi-om the students' questionnaires and teachers' interviews, the researcher came up with the conclusion that most of students had negative attitude and low motivation in leaming English rhythm, lack of prior rhythm instruction, less exposure to English rhythm, psychological challenges, the influence of Vietnamese, and the poor practice condition Although there is no single panacea for solving these problems, some recommendations are suggested for students, teachers, and administrators In addition, some specific teaching English rhythm strategies are also included in hope of helping leamers practice this aspect of pronunciation REFERENCES Phan Thi Lan Anh (2010), Teaching sentence stress lo first-year English majors al Nong Lam Universily, Unpublished master's thesis University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ho Chi Minh City Nguyen Thi Nguyet Anh (2009), Intonation as a means to better the oral skills of students a, university of Transport in Ho Chi Minh City, Unpublished master's thesis University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ho Chi Minh TAP CHi KHOA HOC DHSP TPHCM Do Anh Thu Avery, P & Ehrlich, S (1995), Teaching American English pronunciation, Oxford University Press, Oxford Bansal, R K & Harrison, J.B (2006), Spoken English, Orient Longman Private Limited, Mumbai Brown, A (I99I), Teaching English pronunciation, Routledge, London Celce-Murcia, M.; Brinton, D M.; & Goodwin, J M (2002), Teaching pronunciation- A reference for teachers of English to speakers of other languages, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Elliot, A R (1995), "Foreign language Phonology: Field independence, attitude, and the success of formal instruction in Spanish pronunciation" The Modern language Journal, 79(iv), 530-542, retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/330005 on February, 17th, 2011 Hewings, M (2007), Pronunciation practice activities- A resource book for teaching English pronunciation, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Kenworthy, J (1992), Teaching English pronunciation, Longman Group UK Limited, Essex 10 Schultz, K (2003), Listening- A framework for teaching across differences Teachers College Press, New York 11 Young {\999), Affect in foreign language and second language learning- A practical guide to creating a low-anxiety classroom atmosphere The McGraw-Hill Companies, New York (Received 16/12/2013; Revised 11/6/2014; Accepted- 24/8/2015) 25 ...TAP CHi KHOA HOC DHSP TPHCM Do Anh Thu mean In order to have good pronunciation, there must be the contribution of two primary... affecting factors are said to include prior instruction [4], [10], exposure to target rhythm [4], psychological challenges [9], [I], and institutional variables There may have other factors which have... teaching and leaming English rhythm (Source: synthesized by the author) TAP CHl KHOA HOC DHSP TPHCM Do Anh Thu The first hypothetical difficulty in teaching English rhythm is that leamers have negative