Learning english word stress at long binh high school in tien giang problems and solutions

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES - NGUYEN VAN THUY LEARNING ENGLISH WORD STRESS AT LONG BINH HIGH SCHOOL IN TIEN GIANG: PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING HUE, 2013 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES - NGUYEN VAN THUY LEARNING ENGLISH WORD STRESS AT LONG BINH HIGH SCHOOL IN TIEN GIANG: PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 60140111 SUPERVISOR: LE PHAM HOAI HUONG, D.Ed HUE, 2013 2013 STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby acknowledge that this study is mine The data and findings discussed in the thesis are true and have not been published elsewhere Author Nguyen Van Thuy i ABSTRACT This study investigated learning English word stress at Long Binh high school in Tien Giang, its problems and solutions Firstly, it examined the students’ perceptions towards the importance of learning word stress Then, the reality of learning word stress at Long Binh high school was explored In addition, the difficulties students encountered in learning word stress and their methods to improve their ability were scrutinized Participants in this study were 90 students of Grade 11 at Long Binh high school Three instruments including questionnaires, classroom observations and interviews were used to collect data for this study Questionnaires were distributed to students to find out their attitudes towards word stress, their context of learning, and difficulties Classroom observations were conducted to explore the actual learning of word stress in class Lastly, interviews were employed to check the information from questionnaires and observations Both quantitative and qualitative methods were applied to the data analysis The result of this study shows that word stress has not been taken much consideration by both teachers and students at Long Binh high school The majority of students not have any effective ways of learning stress As a result, they face difficulties in learning English stress From the findings of the study, some suggestions and implications were made to help students learn English word stress better ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc Prof Dr Le Pham Hoai Huong for her assistance and support throughout this study I am also indebted to all my lecturers at College of Foreign Languages, Hue University for the precious knowledge they taught to me I also would like to thank my colleagues, the teachers of English at Long Binh high school, and the students who helped me with data collection Last but not least, I am grateful to the authors of the books and articles I used as references in my study iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Statement of authorship i Abstract ii Acknowledgements iii CHAPTER – INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Aims of the study 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Scope of the study 1.5 Significance of the study 1.6 The outline of the study CHAPTER - LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction 2.2 English word stress 2.3 Factors influencing the acquisition of English word stress 10 2.4 Some common patterns of English word stress 12 2.4.1 Disyllabic words 13 2.4.2 Stress on penultimate syllable 14 2.4.3 Stress on ante-penultimate syllable 14 2.4.4 Stress on ultimate syllable 14 2.4.5 Compound words 15 2.5 Differences between Vietnamese and English languages 15 2.6 Teaching and learning English word stress 17 2.6.1 Some tips for introducing word stress in classroom 18 2.6.2 Techniques in teaching word stress 19 2.7 Previous studies 22 iv 2.8 Summary 25 CHAPTER - METHODOLOGY 3.1 Introduction 27 3.2 Research approach 27 3.3 Participants 27 3.4 Data collection tools 28 3.4.1 Questionnaires 28 3.4.2 Classroom observations 28 3.4.3 Interviews 29 3.5 Data analysis 30 3.6 Summary 30 CHAPTER – FINDINGS & DISCUSSION 4.1 Introduction 31 4.2 Students’ perceptions of English word stress 31 4.2.1 Students’ perceptions of the importance of English word stress 31 4.2.2 Students’ perceptions of the role of English word stress in oral communication 32 4.3 Reality of learning English word stress in class 36 4.3.1 Time used in teaching and learning word stress 36 4.3.2 Teachers’ methods of teaching word stress 38 4.3.3 Students’ opinions of their teachers’ methods of teaching word stress 42 4.3.4 Students’ learning word stress 44 4.4 Students’ difficulties in learning word stress 48 4.5 Solutions 50 4.6 Summary 56 CHAPTER – CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS, LIMITATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY 5.1 Overview 57 v 5.2 Conclusions 57 5.3 Implications of the study 59 5.3.1 For teachers 59 5.3.2 For students 59 5.4 Limitations of the study 60 5.5 Suggestions for further study 60 REFERENCES 61 APPENDICES 67 vi Condelli, L & Wrigley H S (1999) Real World Research: Combining Qualitative and Quantitative Research for Adult ESL National Research and Development Centre (NRDC) Second International 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Often  Rarely  Never In which lesson(s) you learn word stress? (*)  Reading  Speaking  istening  Writing  anguage Focus  Vocabulary  Others: ……….…………… How important is it to learn English word stress?  Not very important  Not important  Important  Very important  Neutral What you think about the role of word stress in communication? (*)  Word stress helps listeners understand clearly what they hear  Word stress helps speakers produce a native-like accent  Word stress helps speakers express their emotions  Word stress has no help in oral communication  Others: …………………………………………………………… 67 The wrong use of word stress can lead to misunderstanding in oral communication  Strongly disagree  Disagree  Agree  Strongly agree  Neutral Word stress in English is quite easy to acquire  Strongly disagree  Disagree  Agree  Strongly agree  Neutral How you learn word stress in English? (*)  Write the markers “ ' ” or “  ” on the primary stress  Underline the stressed syllable  Read aloud word stress  Repeat word stress many times  Note down the stress  Mark or highlight the stress when noting down items of vocabulary  Others: ……………………………………………………………… How your teachers of English teach word stress in class? (*)  Ask students to guess based on their comprehension  Ask students to look it up in the dictionary  Provide students word stress when teaching vocabulary  Use audio-visual aids  Others: …………………………………………………………… I think my teachers of English give me good lessons on word stress  Strongly disagree  Disagree  Agree  Strongly agree  Neutral 10 How often your teachers ask you to practice word stress in classroom?  Frequently  Rarely 11 What your teachers when you misplace word stress? (*) 68  Never  Correct immediately and ask to repeat the words  Tap fingers on the table to indicate the placement of stress  Clap their hands to indicate the placement of stress  Mark or underline or highlight the stressed syllable  Use online programs  Others: ………………………………………………………… 12 In my opinion, word stress provided in the textbook Tieng Anh 11…  is easy to remember  is difficult to remember  has many exceptions  Others: …………………………………………………… 13 Which segmental elements are given the main stress, vowels or consonants?  Vowels  Consonants 14 Which part of speech you think it is difficult for you to predict the placement of word stress? (*)  Nouns  Verbs  Adjectives  Adverbs  Others: ……………………………………… 15 What are your difficulties when learning word stress? (*)  It takes time to learn word stress  Besides the common rules for stress placement, there are several exceptions  I am not interested in learning word stress, except meanings of words  Teachers pay no attention to teaching word stress  There are not enough good lessons on word stress in the textbook  I not know how to learn word stress  Others: ………………………………………………… 16 What you when facing difficulties in English word stress? (*)  Guess word stress 69  ook it up in a good dictionary  Ask teachers to provide word stress  Study with my friends  Skip it  Others: ………………………………………………………… 17 How can you improve your word stress? (*)  Sort words into groups according to their word stress and put them in a vocabulary notebook  Wall posters with lists of words following particular patterns and new words added to these lists when they arise  Practise listening activities via mass media (television, internet, videos, CDs)  isten carefully to native speakers and try to develop a feeling for the rhythm of the language  Others: …………………………………………………………… 18 To identify the correct placement of word stress, we must determine the number of syllables in words  Strongly disagree  Disagree  Agree  Strongly agree  Neutral 19 The mother tongue (Vietnamese language) has an influence on the placement of English word stress  Strongly disagree  Disagree  Agree  Strongly agree  Neutral 20 In my opinion, word stress should be taught carefully in classroom  Strongly disagree  Disagree  Agree  Strongly agree  Neutral Thank you very much for your cooperation! 70 APPENDIX CLASSROOM OBSERVATION SHEET Date: 04/3/2013 Observation no.: Length of this observation: 45 minutes Class: 111 Lesson: Speaking Instructor: Mai Thi Tuyet Van Number of students: 45 Observer: Nguyen Van Thuy Goal: to observe how students learn word stress in classroom Stages tudents’ activities Techniques/ methods of the lesson when students learn word stress Introduction - provides word stress/ asks - listen/ answer students the number of syllables in words and the placement of stress - uses an apostrophe to mark stress Drilling - reads word stress times - listen and repeat in chorus Production - asks 2-3 students to repeat - repeat individually Comments: - Word stress was taught and pratised - Techniques and methods in teaching word stress are rather simple 71 APPENDIX CLASSROOM OBSERVATION SHEET Date: 12/3/2013 Observation no.: Length of this observation: 45 minutes Class: 112 Lesson: Writing Instructor: Tran Thi Tuyet Number of students: 35 Observer: Nguyen Van Thuy Goal: to observe how students learn word stress in classroom Stages tudents’ activities Techniques/ methods of the lesson when students learn word stress Introduction - provides word stress - listen - asks the position of word stress - uses an apostrophe Drilling ( not read vocabulary) Production ( not ask students to repeat) - answer Comments: - Word stress was not taught properly and pratised - Teacher used simple techniques and methods 72 APPENDIX CLASSROOM OBSERVATION SHEET Date: 23/3/2013 Observation no.: Length of this observation: 45 minutes Class: 113 Lesson: Listening Instructor: Pham Thi Thiet Number of students: 35 Observer: Nguyen Van Thuy Goal: to observe how students learn word stress in classroom Stages tudents’ activities Techniques/ methods of the lesson when students learn word stress Introduction - provides word stress/ asks - listen and repeat students the number syllables in words of and placement of stress - uses a small square Drilling - reads word stress times - listen and repeat in chorus Production - asks 2-3 students to repeat - repeat individually Comments: - Word stress was taught and pratised - Techniques and methods in teaching word stress are rather simple 73 APPENDIX CLASSROOM OBSERVATION SHEET Date: 27/3/2013 Observation no.: Length of this observation: 45 minutes Class: 114 Lesson: Reading Instructor: Ho Xuan Tien Number of students: 33 Observer: Nguyen Van Thuy Goal: to observe how students learn word stress in classroom Stages Techniques/ methods tudents’ activities of the lesson when students learn word stress Introduction - provides word stress - listen and repeat - uses a small square Drilling - reads word stress times - listen and repeat in chorus Production - asks 2-3 students to repeat - repeat individually Comments: - Word stress was taught and pratised - Techniques and methods in teaching word stress are rather simple 74 APPENDIX CLASSROOM OBSERVATION SHEET Date: 18/4/2013 Observation no.: Length of this observation: 45 minutes Class: 115 Lesson: Reading Instructor: Dang Thi Huynh Lien Number of students: 34 Observer: Nguyen Van Thuy Goal: to observe how students learn word stress in classroom Stages Techniques/ methods tudents’ activities of the lesson when students learn word stress Introduction - provides word stress - listen and repeat - uses a small square Drilling - reads word stress a few - listen and repeat in chorus times Production ( not ask students to repeat) Comments: - Word stress was not pratised - Techniques and methods in teaching word stress are simple 75 APPENDIX CLASSROOM OBSERVATION SHEET Date: 27/4/2013 Observation no.: Length of this observation: 45 minutes Class: 116 Lesson: Reading Instructor: Nguyen Ngoc My Number of students: 33 Observer: Nguyen Van Thuy Goal: to observe how students learn word stress in classroom Stages Techniques/ methods tudents’ activities of the lesson when students learn word stress Introduction - provides word stress - listen and repeat - uses a small square Drilling - reads word stress times Production ( not ask students to repeat) - listen and repeat in chorus Comments: - Word stress was not practised - Techniques and methods in teaching word stress are rather simple 76