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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES BUI QUANG THUC AN INVESTIGATION INTO NON EFL FIRST YEAR STUDENTS’ COMMON ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION MISTAKES: A STUDY OF INTONATION AT HUE JUNIOR COLLEGE OF EDUCATION MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, Hue University of Foreign Languages HUE, 2016 CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 RATIONALE Many people think that pronunciation is what makes up an accent It may be that pronunciation is very important for an understandable accent It is intonation that gives the final touch that makes an accent native Intonation is the "music" of a language, and is perhaps the most important element of a good accent Often we hear someone speaking with perfect grammar, and perfect formation of the sounds of English but with a little something that gives them away as not being a native speaker Intonation is very important in expressing meanings and especially in showing our feelings, for example: surprise, anger, disbelief, gratitude When communicating, learners cannot usually show their feeling and pronounce sentences with a correct intonation, either Studying a language requires knowledge of language, skills of language and ability to express language One of the most important elements to transfer speaker’s opinion is intonation which teachers and students at Hue Junior College of Education (HJCOE) may ignore Teachers tend to teach students grammatical points and reading comprehension Listening parts tend to be ignored, especially intonation patterns As a teacher of English, I would like to conduct this research to give awareness to Vietnamese learners of English, especially non English major students at Hue Junior College of Education and to those who not normally perform the intonation patterns in order to help them improve their competence of communicating efficiently with native speakers Therefore, it is essential to carry out an investigation into the pronunciation of English intonation experienced by the students at HJCOE 1.2 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY Such essential features for verbal communication as stress and intonation are those that should be paid attention to learning situations and they should be a learning process in which learners need practice and guidance to master So it is essential for teachers and learners to have an overall understanding of what intonation is, why it is difficult for learners of foreign languages The study is expected to contribute to the present knowledge of intonation patterns concerning cross-linguistic issues in general and problems that non EFL students at HJCOE may encounter in speaking in particular 1.3 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 1.3.1 Aims This study aims to find out difficulties and some common English pronunciation mistakes that non-major students at Hue Junior College of Education may make Moreover, the study also aims to provide the students with practical knowledge to improve their performance of basic intonation patterns 1.3.2 Objectives 1) Investigate HJCOE non-EFL English students’ perception towards the intonation in teaching and learning English 2) Identify the dificulties and mistakes that HJCOE non-EFL English students may encounter when performing basic intonation patterns in their English course 3) Identify the causes of dificulties and mistakes that HJCOE non-EFL English students may encounter when performing the basic intonation patterns with their English course 1.3.3 Research questions 1)What are first-year non-EFL English students’ perception towards intonation in learning and using English in communication? 2) What are the difficulties and common mistakes the first-year non-EFL English students at HJCOE may experience? 3)In what way can these difficulties and common mistakes in performing intonation be overcome by non-EFL English students at HJCOE? 1.4 SCOPE OF STUDY This study focused on such issues of intonation as pitch movement, and intonation unit Especially, intonation mistakes are a priority I would like to approach This study was conducted in HJCOE with the participation of 120 non EFL first year students 1.5 ORGANIZATION OF STUDY Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Literature Review Chapter 3: Research Design and Methodology Chapter 4: Results and Discussion Chapter 5: Conclusion and Implications CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 PRIOR RESEARCH The literature dealing with English intonation started very early In his study of English phonetics and phonology in a practical perspective, Roach (1983) presented intonation in utterances and described the form and functions of intonation in detail Roach (1983) recognizes four types of function: attitudinal, accentual, grammatical, and discourse, though ‘accentual’ function can be integrated into ‘discourse’ 2.2 BASIC CONCEPTS OF INTONATION 2.2.1 What Is Intonantion? When speaking, people generally raise and lower the pitch of their voice, forming pitch patterns They also give some syllables in their utterances a greater degree of loudness and change their speech rhythm These phenomena are called intonation Richard (1985) Briefly, intonation is the variations or changes which take place in the pitch of the voice in connected speech 2.2.2 Pitch This is the degree of highness or lowness of the voice caused by variation in the rate of vibration of the vocal cords When we listen to people speaking, we can hear some sounds or groups of sounds in their speech to be relatively higher or lower than others This relative height of speech sounds as perceived by a listener is called pitch 2.2.3 Pitch Range This is the scale of pitch between its lowest and highest levels In the wide sense, it is understood as the variations in height which are used by a speaker or group of speakers in communication Whether the pitch range used by individuals in a speech community is wide or narrow often depends on social or cultural conventions and may be a convention of a whole speech community 2.2.4 Tone or Pitch Movement In a wide sense, tone is the overall behavior of pitch, i.e., the different changes or movements the pitch can show in a syllable The different tones make the voice go upwards and downwards in a tone group A unit of speech bounded by pauses has movement, of music and rhythm, associated with the pitch of voice Roach (1983) This certain pattern of voice movement is called 'tone' A tone is a certain pattern, not an arbitrary one, because it is meaningful in discourse By means of tones, speakers signal whether to refer, proclaim, agree, disagree, question or hesitate, or indicate completion and continuation of turn-taking, in speech This is the change in pitch which affects the meaning and function of utterances in discourse In English, linguists have distinguished four or five different tones: Tone fall in pitch Tone rise in pitch Tone a slight rise in pitch Tone fall in pitch followed by a rise Tone rise in pitch followed by a fall 2.2.5 Tone Unit and the Components of a Tone Unit Tone unit or tone group is the sentence or part of a sentence/utterance over which a particular pitch pattern extends This is the basic unit of intonation in a language A tone unit is usually divided into several parts The most important part contains the syllable on which a change of pitch begins: the tonic syllable The ways in which linguists have divided the tone unit into its different parts and the terms they have used for these parts are not always the same The simplified diagram below shows the main parts of a tone unit together with different divisions and terms which have been used unstressed syllable Crystal (prehead) onset tonic syllable continuation first where major and stressed pitch movement completion syllable begins of pitch movement head nucleus (tail) 1969 Halliday pretonic tonic 1967, 1970 Brazil et at, 1980 E.g (preclitic tonic segment (enclitic segment That’s a segment) VERY TALL STO ry (adapted from Richard, 1992, p.383) 2.2.6 Tonic Stress and Tonic Syllable An intonation unit almost always has one peak of stress, which is called 'tonic stress', or 'nucleus' In a word, the syllable that receives the tonic stress is called 'tonic syllable' Tonic stress is almost always found in a content word in utterance final position Consider the following, in which the tonic syllable is underlined: She went to Paris 2.2.7.Types of Tones in English a) THE FALLING TONE b) THE HIGH RISING TONE c) THE LOW RISING TONE d) THE FALL - RISE TONE e) The RISE - FALL TONE 2.3 THE NOTATION OF INTONATION IN ENGLISH I follow Gimson and O’Conor model of notation by making use of the dots to show the unstressed and stressed syllables in the prehead and head Also, the tonic syllable which anticipates the pitch movement of the tail can be marked with the biggest dot plus the arrow showing the direction of movements As reference to the model of tone unit, the syllables of the sequence can be assigned the corresponding components as follows: She went to Paris yesterday PH H (body) N T CHAPTER RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY 3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHOD This study is a descriptive research using both qualitative and quantitative information With this approach, the research made use of both methods for collecting qualitative and quantitative data with diagnostic test and questionnaire With the assumptions about the students’ situation of teaching and learning pronunciation in listening and speaking skills with the course book New Cutting Edge the study was designed to seek information to test two hypotheses about the student’s pronunciation 3.2 HYPOTHESES From the assumptions about the typological features of the prosody and the non EFL first year students’ situation at HJCOE, the following hypotheses are generated 1) The learners failure in performing basic intonation patterns may be due to the fact that these patterns in the coursebooks New Cutting Edge are ignored in the process of teaching English 2) The learners incompetence in English intonation patterns may be due to the fact that learners not pay enough attention to the learning process, particularly acquiring and training 3.3 RESEARCH STEPS 1) The first step of this research is to review relevant documents, books, and researches concerning our topic published in Vietnamese, and other languages 2) The second step is to generate hypotheses about the mistakes and problems that HJCOE students may experience in performing English intonation 3) The third step is to collect data from HJCOE students 4) The data analysis is expected to yield information about mistakes and problems that are mentioned in the hypotheses 3.4 SUBJECT SELECTION AND DESCRIPTION The subjects involved in the research were 120 non EFL first-year students at Hue Junior College of Education 3.5 THE SAMPLE The recordings were administered to 20 students The students were chosen with convenience, thus this sampling somewhat failed to maintain the coverage of students of different criteria of evaluation in each levels of learning such as quite native- accepted- unaccepted 3.6 METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION The data was obtained using measurement instruments: survey with questionnaires and diagnostic test 3.7 DATA COLLECTION The data collection was carried out on the subjects described above The questionnaires were delivered to the students at the end of September, 2015 Also in this period of time, the diagnostic test was administered on the ground of the determined research design methodology Figure 3.1 The Polderbit Sound Recorder Figure 3.2 The Polderbit Sound Editor 3.8 DATA ANALYSIS Data analysis was carried out using the procedure of tallying frequencies, recording the results, presenting the data in frequency and percentage distribution tables, and analyzing and interpreting the data in the light of the research objectives Figure 3.3 The visual wave form and pitch contour of the utterance “Where are you from?” made by the native speaker Figure 3.4 The visual wave form and pitch contour of the utterance “Where are you from?” made by Vietnamese learner of English 3.9 VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY How the Vietnamese perform intonation patterns in different situation in real life communication? 100 REFERENCES Sarah, C and Peter, M, New Cutting Edge, Pearson: Longman Halliday M A K (1970), A Course in Spoken English: intonation, Oxford: Oxford University Press Halliday, M A K (1967), Intonation and Grammar in British English, The Hague:Mouton Brazil, D (1994), Pronunciation for Advanced Learners of English, Student’s Book Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Brazil, D (1994), Pronunciation for Advanced Learners of English, Teacher’s Book Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Brazil, D (1995), A Grammar of Speech, Oxford: Oxford University Press Brazil, D (1997), The Communicative Value of Intonation in English Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Brazil, D (1998), Classroom and Spoken Discourse, Birmingham: The University of Birmingham Brown, G and G Yule (1983), Discourse Analysis, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Cauldwell, R and M, Allen (1999), Phonology, Birmingham: The University of Birmingham Crystal, D (1987), The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Crystal, D (1995), The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Gimson, A.C (1992), An introduction to the Pronunciation of English 3rd, 101 Edition, London: Edward Arnold Halliday, M A K (1994), An Introductional to Functional Grammar, London: Edward Arnold Hoàng Mai Xuân (2003), English Intonation in Discourse of Vietnamese Learners of English, Graduation Paper, College of Foreign Languages, Danang University Nguyễn Huy Kỷ (2007), “Ngữ điệu Tiếng Anh người Việt”, Ngôn Ngữ số 219.8.2007 Roach, P (1983), English Phonetics and Phonology: A practical Coursebook, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Roach, P (1991), English Phonetics and Phonology (2nd edu.), Cambridge University Press http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/intonation http://home.hib.no/al/engelsk/seksjon/SOFFMASTER/SOFF_PROJECT_CDR/021-INTONATION.htm http://gepeskonyv.btk.elte.hu/adatok/Anglisztika/43B%E9rces/Tank%F6nyv/C hapter10.pdf http://www.developingteachers.com/articles_tchtraining/int1_jeanette.htm Computer Software Polderbit Sound Recorder and Sound Editor Version 4.0.0.90 http://www.polderbits.com Speech Analyzer 3.0.1 with NET WWW.Sil.org 102 APPENDIX APPENDIX Bảng câu hỏi nhằm mục đích điều tra thực tế việc dạy học Ngữ điệu tiếng Anh sinh viên trường Cao Đẳng Sư Phạm Thừa Thiên Huế Sinh viên chọn phương án thích hợp cách đánh dấu tick (√) trả lời vào chỗ trống cho sẵn Bạn học tiếng Anh rồi? Kỹ bạn nghĩ quan trọng tiếng Anh? A Nghe B Đọc C Nói D Viết Kỹ giáo viên tập trung dạy nhiều nhất? A Nghe B.Từ vựng C Đọc hiểu D.Phát âm E Cấu trúc ngữ pháp F Kỹ khác Bạn nghĩ vai trị phát âm kỹ nói? A Rất quan trọng B Quan trọng C Không quan trọng D Không quan trọng Bạn có biết tầm quan trọng ngữ điệu bạn muốn diễn đạt ý kiến, cảm xúc buồn vui thái độ bạn đến người khác hay nội dung khơng? A Có B Khơng Bạn có thường xuyên dùng tiếng Anh để giao tiếp không? A Rất thường xuyên B Thường xuyên C Thỉnh thoảng D Khơng Bạn có gặp khó khăn giao tiếp tiếng Anh với bạn bè hay người nước ngồi khơng? A Rất thường xun B Thường xuyên 103 C Thỉnh thoảng D Không Bạn có nghĩ vấn đề Ngữ điệu gây khó khăn cho bạn giao tiếp ngơn ngữ nói khơng? A Có B Khơng C Khơng biết D Có khơng đáng kể Bạn có nghĩ khác Ngôn điệu (trọng âm, nhịp điệu, ngữ điệu, điệu) tiếng Anh tiếng Việt nguyên nhân gây khó khăn khơng? A Rất thường xun B Thường xuyên C Thỉnh thoảng D Không 10 Theo bạn, nguyên nhân khiến bạn gặp khó khăn thực hành Ngữ điệu gì? ( bạn chọn nhiều phương án) A Khơng có đủ thời gian luyện tập B Phương pháp dạy luyện ngữ điệu chưa thích hợp C Thiếu phương tiện dạy học là: máy tính, radio, cassett D Thiếu tài liệu E Có hội luyện tiếng Anh với bạn bè F Có hội nói tiếng Anh với người nước ngồi 11 Khi nói tiếng Anh bạn thường: A Chú trọng tính xác từ vựng ngữ pháp tính lưu lốt với ngữ điệu B Chú trọng tính lưu lốt với ngữ điệu tính xác từ vựng ngữ pháp C Khơng ý đến hai miễn bạn diễn đạt ý kiến bạn cách thoải mái 12 Bạn có ý đến Ngữ điệu giao tiếp không? A Rất thường xuyên B Thường xuyên C Thỉnh thoảng D Không 13 Ở nhà, bạn có thường luyện tập mẫu Ngữ điệu không? A Rất thường xuyên B Thường xuyên 104 C Thỉnh thoảng D Khơng 14 Bạn có dùng tài liệu dạy luyện phát âm tiếng Anh ( kèm CD) để luyện mẫu Ngữ điệu khơng? A Có B Khơng (Nếu Có bạn tiếp tục trả lời câu 15 Nếu Không bạn trả lời câu 16) 15 Bạn liệt kê số tài liệu dạy luyện phát âm tiếng Anh mà bạn sử dụng ( cung cấp tên Tác giả, năm xuất có thể) Bạn có thường xuyên luyện tập mẫu Ngữ điệu với (những) tài liệu kể không? A 30 phút ngày B tiếng ngày C tiếng tuần D tiếng tuần 16 Bạn có dùng phần mềm luyện phát âm tiếng Anh để luyện tập mẫu Ngữ điệu khơng? A Có B Khơng (Nếu Có bạn tiếp tục trả lời câu 18 Nếu Không bạn trả lời câu 19) 17 Bạn liệt kê số phần mềm dạy luyện phát âm tiếng Anh mà bạn sử dụng ( cung cấp tên Tác giả, năm xuất có thể) Bạn có thường xuyên luyện tập mẫu Ngữ điệu với (những) phần mềm kể không? A 30 phút ngày B tiếng ngày C tiếng tuần D tiếng tuần 18 Giáo viên bạn có thường sửa lỗi phát âm mẫu ngữ điệu không? 105 A Rất thường xuyên B Thường xuyên C Thỉnh thoảng D Không 19 Giáo viên thường dùng phương pháp để dạy cho bạn mẫu ngữ điệu? 20 Giáo viên thường dùng phương pháp để sửa lỗi ngữ điệu bạn? CHÂN THÀNH CẢM ƠN SỰ GIÚP ĐỠ VÀ NHỮNG Ý KIẾN ĐÓNG GÓP CỦA CÁC BẠN! 106 APPENDIX QUESTIONNAIRE This questionnaire is just a survey of the current situation of students’ pronunciation of intonation at Hue Junior College of Education Please complete it frankly as you will not be identified in any discussion of the data Please tick the answer that you think the most correct How long have you been learning English? …… Which skill(s) you think is/are the most important in learning English? A Listening B Reading C Speaking D Writing Which following items does your teacher pay more attention to teach? A Listening skill B Vocabulary C Reading comprehension D Intonation E Grammar structure F Others:…………………… What you think about the role of pronunciation in speaking skill? A Very important B Important C Not very important D Not important Do you know the importance of intonation when you want to express your ideas, your feelings such as sadness or happiness or your attitude towards the content and listener? A Yes B No Do you usually use English to communicate? A Very often B Often C Sometimes D Never 107 Do you think that you have problems when speaking English to communicate with foreigners or your friends? A Very often B Often C Sometimes D Never Do you think that problems in pronunciation are causes of difficulties in verbal communication? A Yes B No C Don’t know D Yes, but not much Do you think that the differences in prosody in English and Vietnamese language are one of the causes of your difficulties? A Very often B Often C Sometimes D Never 10 In your opinion, what are the causes of your difficulties in practicing intonation? A Lack of time B Unsuitable teaching methods C Lack of suitable facilities (computer, cassette recorders, learning software) D Lack of materials to practice E Little opportunity to practice English with friends F Little opportunity to speak English with native speakers 11 When you speak English, you A Focus on accuracy rather than fluency B Focus on fluency rather than accuracy C Do not pay attention to both accuracy and fluency, provided that you can express your ideas with comfortableness and convenience 108 12 Do you pay attention to Intonation when communicating? A Very often B Often C Sometimes D Never 13 Do you practice Intonation patterns at home? A Very often B Often C Sometimes D Never 14 Do you use English Pronunciation Practice Books (with disks or tapes) to practice Intonation patterns? A Yes B No If the answer is yes, please go on to answer question 15, 16; if no, please go to question 17 15 Can you list the name of the books you have used to practice your pronunciation with the intonation patterns? (Please provide the name of the author, year of edition if you can) ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… 16 How often you practice Intonation patterns with the books mentioned? A 30 minutes a day B hour a day C One hour a week D Two hours a week 17 Do you use computer software about English Pronunciation to practice Intonation patterns? A Yes B No 109 If the answer is yes, please go on to answer question 18, 19; if no, please go to question 20 18 Can you list the name of the computer software you have used to practice your pronunciation with the intonation patterns? (Please provide the name of the author, year of edition if you can) ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… 19 How often you practice Intonation patterns with the computer software mentioned? A 30 minutes a day B hour a day C One hour a week D Two hours a week 20 Do your teachers often correct your pronunciation mistakes of the sounds? A Very often B Often C Sometimes D Never 21 What methods your teachers usually to teach you these pronunciation items? 22 What methods your teachers usually to correct your pronunciation mistakes? ……………………………………………………………………………… … …………………………………………………………………………… THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION! 110 APPENDIX Write down (rising) or (falling) and read aloud 01 I saw a big dog in the garden ( 02 What did you eat last night? ( 03 When I got to the station ( 04 Take your time ( ) ) ), the rain had gone ) 05 Do you like oranges? ( ) 06 He’s coming soon, isn’t he? ( 07 What a lovely morning! ( 08 She speaks Japanese ( ) (a certain question) ) ), Chinese ( ), English ( ) and French ( 09 “I ate some steaks last night.”- “What did you say?( 10 Would you like tea ( ) or coffee ( 111 )? )” ) APPENDIX Part DIAGNOSTIC TEST FOR SOUND PRODUCTION Section1: Please say these sentences loudly 01 Is there a post office near here? (Yes/No questions usually have rising Intonation) 02 Does he speak English well? 03 Could you tell me when we get there? (polite request) 04 He’s just arrived at New Delhi Airport (a complete statement usually have falling intonation) 05 I’d like a room, please 06 He learned to drive when he was eighteen.(a statement with when phrase) 07 Now, you are 31, aren’t you? (statement with ‘tag question’ implying ‘I’m not very sure’) 08 Now, you are 31, aren’t you? ( implying ‘I’m fairly sure’) 09 You are a student? (statement intended as a question) 10 Where you work? (WH- questions usually have falling intonation) 11 Where were you on January 12th? 12 I’d like some potatoes, some peas, and a salad, please.(a list thing) 13 I’d like a room, please 14 A single room or a double room sir? (alternative statement intended as a question) 15 I was born in a small country village.- It was too quiet (the speaker complains about his village) 112 Section 2: Please choose the correct intonations a (rising) or b (falling) 01 Good morning?(An exciting greeting) a b 02 Do you live here? (Yes/No question) a b 03 What an awful party!(exclamation) a b 04 She lives in London.(statement)a a b 05 She isn’t cold, is she?(the speaker is certain of his/her information) a b 06 She isn’t cold, is she?(the speaker is not certain of his/her information) a b a b 07 Come in (strong command) 08 He’s always on time (but today ) (an incomplete statement implying But) a b a b 09 Smile at Steve (Imperative form) 10 Look into her eyes a b (Imperative form) 11 This is a present for you (a complete statement) a b 12 A Are you a foreigner? a b (Yes/No question) B pardon a b A Are you a foreigner? (a repeated question) a b 13 With or without a private bathroom? (alternative question) a b 14 You’re right? (statement intended as a question) 113 a b Part DIAGNOSTIC TEST FOR SOUND PERCEPTION Listen to the response Does the speaker’s intonation rise () or fall () at the end? Conversation A: Can I help you? B: Yes, I’m looking for John Yardley A: John Yardley? Sorry, I didn’t know anyone here called John Yardley B: That’s strange He’s the computer manager I’ve arranged an appointment A: I think you’ve made a mistake The computer manager is Jennifer Young B: Oh, this is the office of Youth and Computer, isn’t it? A: No This is the General Workers Union … Youth and Computer is next door 114
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