(SKKN HAY NHẤT) some methods to help students at thach thanh i high school master word stress

THANH HOA EDUCATION AND TRAINING DEPARTMENT THACH THANH I HIGH SCHOOL EXPERIENTIAL INITIATIVE some methods to help students AT thach i HIGH SCHOOL master word stress Author: Vũ Thị Xuân Occupation: Teacher Experiential initiative on: English THANH HOA, YEAR 2021 UAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com N0 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 2 STUDY CONTENT 2.1 2.1.1 What is English stress 2.1.2 Why we need to master stre 2.1.3 How we learn stress 2.2 2.2.1 For the teachers 2.2.2 For the students 2.2.3 For objective factors 2.3 2.3.1 During English lesson 2.3.2 Some rules to master word stre 2.3.2.1 Phonetic stress 2.3.2.2 Word stress with suffix 2.3.2.3 Word stress for compound n pronouns 2.4 3 CONCLUSION, PROPOSALS 3.1 3.2 UAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com INTRODUCTION 1.1 REASONS FOR THE STUDY It’s easy to see just how important English is around the world Therefore, more and more people are dedicating time to studying English as a second language because English is the most commonly spoken language in the world One out of five people can speak or at least understand English Whether we are looking for a job, taking an exam or planning to travel the world, studying English can help us progress in both personally and professionally Phonetics is considered as one of the basic elements of all languages in the world If the pronunciation is correct, all skills such as listening, speaking, reading will become much easier On the contrary, if the pronunciation is wrong or unclear, it will make the listener misunderstand or even not understand the speaker's meaning To support the correct pronunciation of English words, hitting the correct stress will bring success in communication in general and in exams in particular In order for the other person to understand the content of the sentence they want to express, in addition to pronouncing the correct word to avoid misunderstanding, it is also important to use stress for words in a sentence However, the fact that many students pronounce the wrong words and stress incorrectly is still very common due to the lack of grasping the pronunciation and stressing rules or perhaps due to the application of long, rambling rules, hard to remember Having identified the problem, I have tried to search for solutions to help students learn word stress more efficiently Thus, in this writing I would like to share “ Some methods to help students at Thach Thanh I High school master word stress ” with the hope that my colleagues can also considered my teaching strategies as useful suggestions to help their students become more interested and confident in speaking English 1.2 AIMS OF THE STUDY: - Helping students at Thach Thanh I High School know how to pronounce English words correctly 1.3 SCOPE AND OBJECT OF THE STUDY - Scope: Research subjects are students at Thach Thanh I High School, school year 2020-2021 Object: This subject is concerned with ways of teaching word stress in the class 1.4 The study method - Finding out difficulties that students have in English classes - UAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Research methodology through the documents: Book of Applied Informatics, Internet, textbooks 12, teacher books, exercise books and related documents - Observing and drawing out experiences - Research Methodology of actual survey, gathering information and data processing - STUDY CONTENT 2.1 The theoretical rationale of the study 2.1.1 What is English stress? Have you ever heard a very fast saying from a foreigner and did not understand anything? Or you say a sentence that makes the person facing you also not understand? That is because you not know how to grasp word stress in English If you set wrong syllable stress or say words without stress, you will have difficulty in both speaking and listening when communicating in English There will be an accent in each word Stress is a syllable that is pronounced louder and clearer, with more emphasis on other syllables in a word, used to distinguish one word from another When you look up in a dictionary, you will identify word stress by the symbol (‘) before the syllable is stress In English, there are many words written the same but will have different meanings, different types of words if the stress is different Therefore, if you not pronounce the stress correctly, the listener will not understand or misunderstand what you are saying For example, the word desert, if it is a noun stress falls on the first sound / ˈdezərt / and means a dry, barren area of land, if it is a verb, stress falls on the second sound / dɪˈzɜrt / and means neglect According to Peter Roach in "English phonetics and phonology," the stress of a word is pronounced more prominently than the other Stressed sounds have at least four distinct characteristics: - Have a louder volume than the rest of the sound Have a longer length than the other sounds Have a higher pitch than the rest of the sound The vowel of a stressed sound is different from the other vowels in the same word 2.1.2 Why we need to master stress? First, stress distinguishes one word from another when listening to and speaking English, because misplaced stress can cause misunderstanding to different words with different meanings In fact, there are many "half-hearted and funny" UAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com situations that happen just because speaking English has no stress and the listener understands it differently This is extremely dangerous if you use English to communicate with customers, foreign partners Second, stress helps to emphasize and convey important information If you know the word stress well, you can hear and capture information very well even though people "speak fast like the wind" Third, stress creates the natural intonation of the sentence, making the English voice flexible, professional, and in a native-like style Without stress, words become boring, unattractive, reading English as if it were Vietnamese transcription A statement with up and down intonation will certainly appeal to the listener much more than a flat statement, all without emotion 2.1.3 How we learn stress? Like all language knowledge, stress has its own rules Learners can buy books about stress and follow the rules in them With fixed rules, learners only need to memorize and lots of exercises However, the rules have exceptions Learners need to pay more attention to these exceptions In addition, learners can learn stress in many different ways such as: learning in communication, learning while listening to the teacher lectures, learning when listening to programs played in English, or by looking up a dictionary And only regular practice and practice can help people learn successfully on the path of conquering the language 2.2 Status of the study problem 2.2.1 For the teacher: Most teachers understand the importance of word stress, especially for high school students But until now there are many teachers who are fearful and confused of the ways to teach stress They are not confident of when to teach, how much time they should spend on stress and especially how to present them clearly and comprehensibly 2.2.2 For the students: Most students have no concept of stress in English pronunciation Students may know about stress by looking at the Glossary section at the end of the textbook However, many students not watch this part or only pay attention to the meaning of the word without paying attention to the pronunciation or stress of the word 2.2.3 For objective factors UAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com - Difficult to remember and apply The rule of determining stress is already there, but it is a very difficult process to memorize in theory and apply it to the lesson You need to and read a lot to be able to deeply remember the learned rules, thereby forming the ability to reflect and analyze with new words - Difference between Vietnamese and English Vietnamese is a monosyllabic language with built- in tones so you won't need a headache because of defining stress But English is different English is a multisyllable language with complex features of stress and intonation The daily use of Vietnamese has gotten your brain used to simplifying intonation and stress, now you have to memorize a bunch of complex rules Isn't it difficult? - There are rules but there are exceptions In school, after teaching you many rules about stress, teachers always end with the word "but" This "but" makes your knowledge indeterminate, as there are many exceptions beyond the rules These are the problems that urge me to find out the solutions to help students get over the difficulties and hold interest in the foreign language in a flexible and easy way To know exactly about the problem, at the beginning of the school year, I investigated 76 in two classes before applying “ methods to teach word stress” by asking them to the following questionnaire The questionnaire is about the students’ ability of using English stress in grades 12A10 and 12A9 of Thach Thanh I High School with the same level I gave each student a 5question English stress questionnaire and asked them to it within minutes The words on the questionnaire were selected from unit of the 12 th grade English textbook when the students have just finished this lesson The questionnaire is as follows: Choose the word whose stress pattern is different from that of the rest A caring A family A garbage A reserved A secondary Here are the results: UAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Sts’ Class num ber 12A9 37 12A10 39 From the above results, it can be seen that only about 30% of students achieve the average or above with knowledge of stress and about 20% of students not correct any questions about stress After the students had finished their answers, I continued to ask some students to pronounce words on the ballot at random As a result, most of the children did not pronounce the word stress correctly, even if they answered all questions on the questionnaire correctly Thus, it can be seen that students' knowledge of stress is relatively weak Even those who understand the theory are weak in practice 2.3 SOLUTIONS 2.3.1 During English lessons Measure 1: When teaching new words I always focus on the stress of words by using the stress mark for new words and ask students to write the whole part in their notebooks When I let students read words, I also pay attention to correct them if they see that they are not reading the stress correctly by re-pronounce the word they read wrong and ask them to read it correctly Measure 2: When using English, I always pay attention to correct accent and intonation to guide and create habits for students to listen correctly In order to this, I always have to practice my speaking skills properly in many ways such as listening and practicing according to tape, using dictionary to look up words I am not sure about, listening to broadcast programs broadcast in English on television or radio Measure 3: This is the measure used in Language focus periods of Unit 3, Unit and Unit Because the time for stress in each Language Focus period is only from 10 to 15 minutes, so there is only enough time for students to listen to tapes and repeat the pronunciation of words Teachers don't have time to explain to students some general rules regarding stress Therefore, students can only grasp the stress of words in the textbook So before every Language Focus periods of these lessons, I ask students to preview the “stress” at home UAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com In class, I proceed to teach stress as follows: - First, I let students listen to the tape time to recognize word stress and then ask students to repeat the tape twice - I check the word stress positions to see if the students have mastered them correctly - Tell students to listen to the part "Practise reading aloud the sentences" and call some students to read it again Measure 4: Before each period, I prepare multiple-choice questions about stress with the requirement “Choose the word whose stress is differently placed from the other words” The words selected in these questions are the words that will be used during that class These two questions can be written in the sub-chart first At the end of each period, I spend from 30 seconds to minute for students to answer the two questions and pronounce these words The questions for each section are listed in the following table Unit A pressure Reading A.problem Unit A before Speaking A.family Unit A together Listening A excited Unit A permit Writing A prepare Unit A party Language Focus A central UAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 14 UAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com A improve B practise C difficult D birthday Unit 14 A epidemic Reading A adopt Unit 14 A.developm Speaking A partner Unit 14 A member Listening A establish Unit 14 A suggestio Writing A different Unit 14 A clothes Language FocusA explode Unit 15 A.involvem Readingt A believe D Unit 15A husband Speaking A.sympatheti d e c i s n n i D.inde t o pende Unit 15 A.African B a v e r a g e C co ll ec ti n g D.firew ood 15 UAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Listening A.produce B.fini sh C typical D.farmwork Unit 15 Writing Unit 15 Langua Focus Unit 16 Reading Unit 16 Speakin Unit 16 A himself Listening A quarter Unit 16 Writing Unit 16 Langua 2.3.2 Some rules to stress words in English T o u n d e r st a n d t h e st r e s s o f a w o r d , w e m u st fi r st u n d e r st a n d wha t a syll able is Eac h wor d is com pos ed of syll able s A syll able is a unit of pro nun ciati on that has one vow el sou nd A wor d mig ht hav e one syll able (l ik e 16 UAN VAN CHAT LUONG downloa d : add luanvan chat@a gmail.co m “an” or “can”) or more, such as “po-lice” (two syllables), “com-pa-ny” (three syllables), “ne-ce-ssa-ry” (four syllables), etc 2.3.2.1 Phonetic stress Rule 1: Stress is never on the / ə / or the / əʊ / sound For example: - mother / ‘ mʌðə/ : stress falls on the first sound because the 2nd sound contains the / ə / sound - hotel/həʊˈtel/ : stress falls on the 2nd sound because the 1st sound contains the /əʊ/ sound Note: If there are both / ə / and / əʊ / in a word, the stress falls on the part that contains the / əʊ / sound For example: - ago /əˈɡəʊ/: stress falls on the 2nd sound - alone /əˈləʊn/, stress falls on the 2nd sound - open /ˈəʊ.pən/, stress falls on the first sound Rule 2: Stress often falls on a long vowel, a double vowel, or a final sound that ends with more than one consonant For example: - disease/ di’zi:z/ stress falls on the 2nd sound because the 2nd sound contains the long vowel /i:/ - explain / ik’splein/ : stress falls on the 2nd sound because the 2nd contains the double vowel /ei/ Rule 3: if all sounds are short, the stress falls on the first syllable For example: - happy /ˈhæp.i/ : stress falls on the first sound because both /æ/ and /i/ are short sounds - animal/ ‘æniməl/: stress falls on the first sound because /æ/ /i/ and /ə/ are short sounds 2.3.2.2 Word stress with suffix Rule 1: Words with the suffix are - ee, - eer, - ese, - ique, - esque, - ain, - oo, -oon, -ette, - ade, - mental, -nental, the stress will fall on that syllable For example: - lemonade /ˌlem.əˈneɪd/ - Chinese /tʃaɪˈniːz/ - pioneer /ˌpaɪəˈnɪər/ - kangaroo /ˌkæŋ.ɡərˈuː/ - typhoon /taɪˈfuːn/ 17 UAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com - environmental /ɪnˌvaɪ.rənˈmen.təl/,… Rule 2: words with the suffix are - ion, - ic, - ial, - ive, -ible, - ity, - graphy, ious, -eous, - ish, - ian, the stress is going to be on the syllable right before the suffix For example: - decision /dɪˈsɪʒ.ən/ - attraction /əˈtræk.ʃən/, - librarian /laɪˈbreə.ri.ən - economic/ i:kə’nɒmik/ - expensive/ ik’spensiv/ Rule 3: Words with the suffix – y,- ate, -ce,-ise/ize, -ism/izm, the stress falls on the 3rd syllable from the bottom up For example: - Communicate /kəˈmjuː.nɪ.keɪt/ - regulate /ˈreɡ.jə.leɪt/ - classmate /ˈklɑːs.meɪt/ - technology /tekˈnɒl.ə.dʒi/ - emergency /ɪˈmɜː.dʒən.si/ - paradise /ˈpærədaɪs /, - compromise/’kɑmprə,maɪz/… Rule 4: Words with the suffix are - ist, - ly, - al,- age, - ure, -ledge, - ing, - ed, -dom, -some,-ent/ ant, - ment, - ship, - ness, - er / or, - hood, - ing, - en, - ful, - able, - ous, - less, the main stress of the original word does not change Examples: - agreement / əˈɡriːmənt / - meaningless / ˈmiːnɪŋləs / - reliable / rɪˈlaɪəbl / - poisonous / ˈpɔɪzənəs / - happiness / ˈhæpinəs /,… 2.3.2.3 Word stress for compound nouns and reflexive pronouns Rule 1: compound noun: A compound noun is a noun made out of two nouns that form one word In a compound noun, the most stress is on the stressed syllable of the first word Examples: - SEAfood (sea + food) - ICEland (ice + land) - TOOTHpaste (tooth + paste) - FOOTball (foot + ball) - BAsketball (basket + ball) 18 UAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Rule 2: Reflexive pronouns: Reflexive pronouns show that the action affects the person who performs the action The second syllable usually takes the stress Examples: - mySELF themSELVES ourSELVES 2.4 The study effects To evaluate the results of the process of implementing the topic and have a comparison, I have tested the ability to find accents and correct pronunciation at the end of the 2nd term in two classes: grade 12A9 (the grade was implemented with these methods) and class 12A10 (the class was not implemented with these methods) Students worked on a 5-question multiple choice questionnaire in minutes Then, I checked the cards and got some students to read out the words The students being called could be either students who did all five correctly or students who did not get any correct answer An English stress ability test sheet has the following contents: Choose the word whose stress pattern is different from that of the rest A accelerate A important A intonation A stability A petroleum This is result from the interview of the students’ ability in doing stress exercise carried out at the end of the school year 2020-2021 at my school Sts’ Class num ber 12A9 37 12A10 39 The results showed that the students in grade 12A9 did the test much better than 19 UAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com the students in grade 12A10 After a year applying those methods in teaching word stress at Thach Thanh high school, I have got some satisfactory results First of all, students in my class become more confident in English class Secondly, once I give a task and ask them to do, they can it successfully Moreover, during the speaking lesson, students can help each other to correct their mistakes in pronunciation, intonation or grammar Lastly, most of my students have become more interested in learning English and of course their ability to use English in communication has been improved step by step CONCLUSION AND 3.1 CONCLUSION PROPOSALS In conclusion, I found my teaching effective My students made much progress in learning In terms of content: the topic has focused on research and implementation associated with one of the current innovation requirements, which is the renewal of content, subject teaching methods and testing and evaluation methods These innovations are consistent with industry innovation and meet the demands of practical learning and studying to take the exam In terms of meaning: the successful implementation of the topic has created a new direction in the teaching of foreign languages in general and in teaching stress in particular Those are the principles in teaching and learning foreign languages: learning must be linked to practice, learning must be practiced regularly and learning must be associated with play to be effective In terms of efficiency: The process of implementing the topic shows that the topic has obtained quite high results Teachers can it quite easily, without much effort and time This topic can be applied to perform with many different types of students and at different schools 3.2 PROPOSALS Although the high school English curriculum and textbooks have been elaborated and met the needs of innovation, some topics are still difficult and not close to the lives of students, especially for students in the rural and mountainous areas Students in those regions not have many opportunities and means to practice listening skills in general and practice stress in particular Therefore, the Ministry of Education and Training needs to develop program contents and compile textbooks to be more suitable and practical to the level of students in different regions And it is necessary to equip schools with adequate facilities and means of teaching foreign languages such as subject classrooms, cassette radio, tapes, discs, projectors, recorders, Despite my trying a lot, the content of this research is only my personal experience of teaching Therefore, there must be some mistakes that I 20 UAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com myself still cannot find out I am so thankful to receive more contributive ideas to make it more improvable I hope that the study will make contribution to the better situation of teaching and learning English XÁC NHẬN CỦA THỦ TRƯỞNG ĐƠN VỊ Thanh Hóa, ngày 15 tháng 05 năm 2021 I assure that this is my own work Vũ Thị Xuân 21 UAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com REFERENCES “Practical handbook of language teaching, (by David Cross)”, Prentice Hall Press (November 1, 1992) “A course in language teaching- Practical and Theory”, (by Penny Ur), Cambridge University Press (2012-04-12) Book English 12 - Vietnam Education Publishing House, 2008 Pronounce it perfectly in English – Barron’s educational series, INC “ 25 chuyên đề ngữ pháp tiếng anh trọng tâm – Tập 1” – Nhà xuất Đại học sư phạm http://www.violet.vn 22 UAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DANH MỤC SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM ĐÃ ĐƯỢC HỘI ĐỒNG SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM NGÀNH GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO HUYỆN, TỈNH VÀ CÁC CẤP CAO HƠN XẾP LOẠI TỪ C TRỞ LÊN Họ tên tác giả: Vũ Thị Xuân Chức vụ: Giáo Viên Đơn vị công tác: Trường THPT Thạch Thành I TT Tên đề tài SKKN Đề tài: “Một số thủ thuật Đề tài: “ Helping students to tập để thực hành, kiểm tra củng cố từ vựng Tiếng Anh” identify and pronounce the sounds /i:/ and /I/” Đề tài: “Arousing students’ interest in learning English through pair work and group work at Thach Thanh I high school” 23 UAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 24 UAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 25 UAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ... students learn word stress more efficiently Thus, in this writing I would like to share “ Some methods to help students at Thach Thanh I High school master word stress ” with the hope that my colleagues... luanvanchat@agma il.com Unit Listening A proportion A.appointmen t Unit Writing Unit Language Focus Unit Reading Unit Speaking Unit Listening Unit Writing Unit Language Focus Unit A.dis B.do solve... English is a multisyllable language with complex features of stress and intonation The daily use of Vietnamese has gotten your brain used to simplifying intonation and stress, now you have to