IN INVESTIGATION INTO INTONATION AWARENESS OF TEACHERS AND STUDENTS AT FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AT INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY OF HO CHI MINH CITY

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES - LƢƠNG MINH TÍ N IN INVESTIGATION INTO INTONATION AWARENESS OF TEACHERS AND STUDENTS AT FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AT INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY OF HO CHI MINH CITY ((KHẢO SÁT SỰ QUAN TÂM CỦA GIÁO VIÊN VÀ SINH VIÊN TẠI KHOA NGOẠI NGỮ ̀ TRƢƠNG ĐẠI HỌC CÔNG NGHIỆP THÀNH PHỐ HỒ CHÍ MINH) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Hanoi, 2014 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES - LƢƠNG MINH TÍ N IN INVESTIGATION INTO INTONATION AWARENESS OF TEACHERS AND STUDENTS AT FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AT INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY OF HO CHI MINH CITY (KHẢO SÁT SỰ QUAN TÂM CỦA GIÁO VIÊN VÀ SINH VIÊN TẠI KHOA NGOẠI NGỮ ́ ̀ ̀ TRƢƠNG ĐẠI HỌC CÔNG NGHIỆP THÀ NH PHÔ HÔ CHÍ MINH) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Dr Nguyễn Trƣờng Sa Hanoi, 2014 DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP TITLE: “An investigation into intonation awareness of students and teachers at Faculty of Foreign Languages in Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City.” Name:LƢƠNG MINH TÍN Supervisor’s Name: Dr NGUYỄN TRƢỜNG SA “I certify that this work is entirely my own and has not been accepted as part of a submission to another purpose elsewhere” Signed: i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Every researcher who conducts a study owes a debt to his supervisor, to his counselors, to his respondents, to his friends, and to his supporters; I gratefully acknowledge my deep indebtedness to all of them First and foremost, my sincerest thanks go to my supervisor, Doctor NguyễnTrườngSa, a great lecturer atFaculty of Foreign Languages (FFL), in Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City (IUH) He has spent a lot of time guiding me through how to approach the research and how to conduct it step by step with comprehensive instructions He also spends his valuable and limited time correcting my research and provides me with trustworthy feedback Hopefully, I have applied exactly what he has told me; in case I failed to so it was my fault Secondly, I wish to express my particular thanks to respondents and teachers who have supported me with all their heart The data collection is not without their support ii ABSTRACT The purpose of the research is to look at English teaching and learning at tertiary education in Ho Chi Minh City The university that I chose is Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City The context makes me curious because it is still on its newly-born development During my teaching and practice at this university, I have come to see that a lot of students find it difficult to use English, especially how to speak it One important factor that contributes much to speak English is intonation I have always seen a lot of students use English without intonation But more importantly, what is the cause of this? This research uses three research tools to investigate the case: questionnaire, recording journals, and interview The data have been coded manually with the help of computers The research has revealed truths under the light of scientific research With the results, the research has helped both teachers and learners really improve their teaching and learning English intonation I refer readers to go chapter by chapter to fully comprehend what is behind those results iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration of authorship Acknowledgements i Abstract .ii Table of contents iii List of chart, shape, extract iv List of abbreviations vi Chapter Introduction 1 Reasearch background and problem Context of the research Research objectives Research questions Value of the research Definitions of terms Conclusion and overview of chapter Chapter Literature review The nature of pronunciation 1.1 The definitions 1.2 Tones in intonation of spoken English 1.3 Theoretical and practical importance of intonation 1.4 English intonation acquisitions 1.5 Ways into intonation 11 Review of methodolody 13 Chapter Methodology 15 Introduction 15 The research design 15 Ethical issues 17 The reason for choosing FFL, part of IUH as fieldwork 17 iv Pilot the research tools 18 Chapter Results and discussions 19 Introduction 19 Students with their awareness of intonation 19 Students‟ recording journals 29 Teachers‟ interview 33 Chapter Conclusions 36 Introduction 36 Essences of the research 36 Research strengths and weaknesses 37 Recommendations for future research 38 References 38 Appendixes I Appendix Questionnaire II Appendix Recording journals VI Appendix Interview VII v LIST OF CHART, SHAPE, EXTRACT Chart Respondent‟s academic year 20 Chart English learning important elements 21 Chart Which is more important: stress or intonation? 21 Chart Students‟ frequency of using intonation 22 Chart Intonation challenges 24 Chart Do you practice intonation at home? 24 Chart Using of the internet to help you with learning English intonation 25 Chart How you often practice English intonation? 26 Chart Students‟ self-correction 26 Chart 10 Do you learn intonation from your teachers? 27 Chart 11 Teacher‟s care 28 Chart 12 How you get trained on English intonation? 28 Shape How you think intonation is important to you? 22 Shape How you think intonation is difficult to you? 23 Extract Intonation for Wh question 29 Extract Intonation for sentence reading 30 Extract Intonation for correction 31 Extract Intonation for listing 31 Extract Intonation for short presentation 32 Extract Intonation for role playing 32 vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS FFL Faculty of Foreign Languages IUH Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City vii Chapter Introduction Research background and problem The development of English has been so dramatic over the past centuries and centuries beyond that Harmer (2006) called the language lingua franca However, the biggest question that has even been asked by generations and generations is why a lot of students fail to interact effectively at workplace and even at interviews for job opportunities It is long believed that everything is there for reason; the same goes for the situation being discussed Chomsky (1980) ever addressed the terms of competence and performance on discussing learner‟s learning ability These two terms also account for speaking skill learning and acquisition Cook (2003:41) points out that the formal systems of language consist of pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary When linguistic competence is taken into consideration, three above-mentioned areas of language seem to be placed at the center of language teaching and learning However, only knowing the systems is one basic aspect of the invisible picture; another beneficial side of this picture may be hidden in language learners‟ ability to make use of the systems and put it into spoken language acquisition, especially that of speaking skill When English-majored students make their voice heard through their oral performance, we not want to admit this but they normally, in fact, have an obstacle in the path of speaking English with variant pronunciation and sometimes even incorrect intonation patterns It is true that Pronunciation Course has been provided during their early years at tertiary education The course is a collocated combination of phonetic training of sound systems, including minimal pairs (like /p/ and /b/ as in pin and bin), stress (both at word level and sentence level), intonation patterns such as rising tone, falling tone, level tone, fall-rise tone and so on as Baker (1993) and other pronunciation text-book writers have put them onto the table for consideration; for example, Mortimer (1996) and O‟ Connor (1967) In some other discussions, extract reveals the truth that student uses intonation, or she is aware of it, yet she does not apply it precisely Question Can you make a short introduction of yourself in – lines? Extract Intonation for short presentation As we can see from the extract, the student raises and lowers her voice a lot in the short presentation At the beginning of the sentence, she raises her voice At the end of the short presentation, she lowers it It goes very comfortably This extract shows us that the student makes use of intonation patterns Question Play roles in short conversation Once again I put the short conversations here again (I refer readers to Appendices for more information about these two conversations) Conversation A Have you got any postcards? B Postcards? Conversation C Before I read this book, I thought stress was a disaster D Yes Here is what I have found out Extract Conversation role playing The extract shows two conversations role played above The first conversation satisfies our demand as the student raises his voice We can see that the waves have 32 been quite high in comparison to others In the second conversation, the voice lowers at the end of the answer Precisely, intonation falls on the word Yes From those two conversations role-played, we can come to a conclusion that the student takes advantage of using intonation He raises and lowers his voice I refer readers to listen to the extract for evidence All those charts and extracts are about students We had better listen to teachers as a consideration of a same matter from both sides In the next part, we will consider how teachers have thought about stress and how their thinking has shaped their teaching English Teachers’ interview I refer readers to have a look at Appendix Interview for more information about the interviewing questions Teacher This teacher has been teaching pronunciation, reading, and speaking She has switched to teach speaking skill for one year and a half She personally thinks that a good English speaker needs to know how to apply what they have learned into real communication For the part of correction, she often corrects them with stress and pronunciation in general She adds that sometimes she corrects their intonation She uses model from native speakers to let students listen, repeat, and practice She lets them imitate her intonation and learn from her She also supposes that students should learn a lot for improving their intonation For intonation solution, she says that we need to make students aware of intonation and try to create authentic activities for them to have an opportunity to practice it Teacher This teacher is very free and comfortable with my interview To my surprise, he firmly states that intonation is the most important element for a good speaker In comparison with other fields, he thinks intonation even outweighs grammar and vocabulary He often corrects student directly with mistakes including intonation According to him, intonation makes someone speak naturally He often corrects 33 intonation mistakes by writing the sentence on the board and help students to practice in class and at home He even divides students into pairs and groups to practice intonation He believes that when students are shy they fail to use intonation He also suggests using a mirror to practice English and English intonation Teacher She has been teaching speaking skill for years According to her, knowledge and ideas are important Another factor is organization of the oral performances She does not stress the importance of intonation though she more or less supposes that intonation is crucial She also often corrects their organization as part of their correction Correct of intonation comes second She focuses much on fluency also She believes that there are a lot to cover in class and intonation is just a little part Intonation should be concentrated more with higher levels of learners For lower learners, they should learn basic things first Intonation is quite important but not the most important thing Teacher She has been teaching listening skill Although teaching listening, she believes that the most important elements for a good English speaker are voice, fluency, and accuracy She ignores students on correcting their mistakes She lets students be and lets them self-correct She believes that teachers need to give them the feeling of being confident It is necessary for using intonation for teaching speaking For the part of teaching listening, she concentrates on intonation and shows her students that also A word of analysis Four teachers here have given us very beginning look at how they think the role of intonation is in a language classroom For the teacher number 1, we can see that she treats intonation in class fifty-fifty She is also aware of students‟ intonation The proofs for this are that she lets them listen to a native voice and practice accordingly I think this is good and bad It is her intonation that influences students 34 the most Media is there just to support In general, she is somewhat aware of intonation for teaching students For the teacher number 2, it seems to us that he is an intonation teacher He often gives students a lot of chances to practice intonation: activities, intonation for practice at home and in class, correction for intonation I think he is highly aware of students‟ intonation using For teacher number 3, she does not think intonation is important In her opinion, intonation is only for good learners of English Bad and low learners should learn basic things at first I disagree with her Intonation is part of communication And communication is part of learning a language It is this altitude that drives her action and she chooses to teach students basic things excluding intonation For teacher number 4, because she teaches listening, she might not be aware of intonation, however, she is aware of intonation though it is very limited and unidentified As we can see from this interview, teachers are not really aware of teaching intonation and correcting intonation in their mistake correction This leads us to the fact that most of teachers consider intonation part of students‟ learning autonomy They not very much focus on them in the language classroom Until know, we understand why many students fail to use intonation correctly and effectively But this part will be included in the last session of the study, chapter five, the conclusion 35 Chapter Conclusions Introduction In chapter one, we introduced the research question in a particular context, chapter two deals with review of literature, chapter three points out three research tools, chapter four analyses the data and makes it meaningful, and this chapter will put an end to the whole process Essences of the research Below will be answers for the research question Question To what extent teachers take care of intonation correction as part of their error correction and feedback provision in language classrooms? As I can judge from the results and discussions, teachers not take care much of intonation as part of their error correction and feedback provision This could be one of the reasons that leads to students‟ corruption of using English intonation Question 2What is students‟ awareness of intonation as part of their learning English for communicative purpose? Students are not totally aware of English intonation They produce it naturally and with what they have in their mind It appears that they use intonation due to copying not getting fully trained (I refer readers to read chapter for this) Question 3What could be challenges for both the teacher and students in teaching and learning English intonation as a foreign language? Such challenges as lack of an opportunity to really learn intonation patterns and being shy to speak up their mind have been the major issues 36 Research question Does intonation awareness matter to both teachers and students? Intonation partially matters to both teachers and students For students, they can produce the language with or without intonation For one thing, it does not matter to them They can go on with or without intonation For another thing, a small number of them still try to learn to use intonation despite not being professionally trained In fact, the number of students who really want to master intonation is very small For teachers, they think that intonation should come later There are also teachers who go for it, however, this number of teacher is too limited Thus it is hard to make changes Research’s strengths and weaknesses Weaknesses The first limitation is that it covers about only thirty respondents while the number of students at IUH could be thousands However, I have made great efforts in approaching the data and making the survey as valid and reliable as possible The second limitation is that the research has been conducted in a short period of time Therefore, other data have not been collected This reduces validity and reliablity somehow Strengths The research has covered a very new topic of intonation Though intonation has been discussed much previously, but whether teachers and students care intonation when learning English is not much debated and mentioned This is a challenge The research has helped to revealed what students and teachers keep in their mind about teaching and learning English intonation Recommendations for future research I think to continue this research, other researchers can try to reveal in what way intonation connects with stress and if teachers and students not truly care for intonation, they care for stress? 37 REFERENCES Allen V M., 1971.Teaching Intonation, from Theory to Practice, from Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc (TESOL), TESOL Quarterly Baker, A 1993 Ship or Sheep Cambridge University Press Brazil, D 1994 Pronunciation for Advanced Learners of English Cambridge University Press Carter, R and Nunan, D 2001 The Cambridge Guide to Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages Cambridge University Press Chomsky, N 1980 Rules and representations Oxford: Blackwell Chun D M, 1988.The Neglect Role of Intonation in Communicative Competence and Proficiency, from article The Modern Language Journal, Vol 72, No (Autumn, 1988), pp.295-303 Cohen, L., L Manion, K Morrison 2000 Research Methods in Education 5th edition Routledge Falmer, Taylor & Fracis Group Cook, G 2003 Applied linguistics Oxford University Press Corder, S P., 1967 The significance of learners‟ errors International Review of Applied Linguistics, 5, 161 – 170 Halliday M A K., 1967 Language as a social semiotic London: Arnold Harmer, J 2007 The practice of English language teaching and learning 4th edition Pearson Longman Hedge, T 2000 Teaching and Learning in the Language Classroom Oxford University Press Kumaravadivelu, B., 2006 Understand language teaching Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers Mortimer, C 1996 Elements of pronunciation Cambridge University Press Nguyen, T S., 2012 The relationship between Vietnamese EFL students’ beliefs and learning preferences and native English-speaking teachers’ belief and teaching practices University of Leicester 38 Nunan, D 1999 Second language teaching and learning Heinle and Heinle Publishers O‟ Connor, J D 1967 Better pronunciation Cambridge University Press Padget, D 1998 Qualitative methods in social work research: challenges and rewards Sage publication Richards, J C and Renandya, W A 2002 Methodology in Language Teaching Cambridge University Press Roach, P 2002 English Phonetics and Phonolgy Cambride University Press Skehan, P 1989 Individual Differences in Second Language Teaching London: Edward Arnold Thrush A E., Baldwin R., Blass L., 2007 Interactions 1,2 The McGraw Hill Company Thrush A E., Baldwin R., Blass L., 2007 Mosaic 1,2 The McGraw Hill Company Taglicht, J 2008 Intonation and the assessment of information Cambridge University Press Wong, R., 1987 Learner variables and prepronunciation considerations in teaching pronunciation In J Moley (Ed.), Current perspectives on pronunciation (pp.13 – 28) Washington, DC: TESOL 39 APPENDIXES Questionnaire Recording journal Interview I APPENDIX QUESTIONNAIRE What school year are you at the moment? a First-year b Second-year c Third-year d Last-year What you think is the most important element for learning Speaking skill? a Vocabulary b Grammar c Pronunciation d.Your ideas: In terms of pronunciation, what you think is the most important element? a Stress (word stress and sentence stress) b Intonation (go up and down when you speak) c.Your ideas: _ How you think intonation important when speaking English? mostimportant leastimportant Do you use intonation when speaking English? a Never b Seldom c Sometimes d Often II e Always f.Your ideas: Do you think intonation is easy or difficult to use when speaking English? difficult easy What could give you difficulties when using intonation? a I am unfamiliar with intonation b I want to use it but not know how d I not like it e I not know why I have to use it f I use it quite easily g.Your ideas: Do you practice intonation at home? a Seldom b Often c Everyday d I don‟t know how e.Your ideas: Do you use the Internet to help yourself learning English intonation? a Hardly ever b Sometimes c Regularly III d Everyday e.Your ideas: _ 10 How you often practice English intonation? a Copy English intonation from a particular speaker b Listen and repeat English intonation c Record my voice practicing English intonation and correct d.Yourideas: 11 Do you correct yourself when you speak English with intonation? a I not know how to correct my intonation b I never correct myself c I sometimes correct myself d I correct my intonation a lot 12 Do you learn English intonation from your teachers? a Never b Seldom c Sometimes d A lot 13 Do your teachers care your intonation when correcting you? a Never b Seldom c Sometimes d A lot 14 How you get trained on English intonation? a I learn it by myself IV b I learn it from my teachers c I learn it automatically d I never get trained on it V APPENDIX RECORDING JOURNALS What‟s your name? My name is _ Can you read the following sentence in your daily voice? It was a present for a friend abroad If I say something wrong, please correct me, okay? Today is Monday One and one make three Can you list three things you often buy when you go shopping? Can you make a short introduction of yourself in – lines? Can we play role in these short conversations? AHave you got any post cards? BPostcards? E Before I read this book, I thought stress was a disaster F Yes VI APPENDIX INTERVIEW What skills have you been teaching? How long have you been teaching English Speaking skill? What you think is the most important elements for a good English speaker? What kind of correction you provide your students when speaking English? What role does intonation play in becoming a good English speaker? How your treat intonation in English classrooms? Do you try to help your students with intonation? How? What you think prevent students from using intonation when speaking English? VII ... fall-rise intonation pattern on the incorrect information 30 and falling intonation pattern on the correct information Let we see how far the students have gone in this intonation pattern Extract Intonation. .. TITLE: “An investigation into intonation awareness of students and teachers at Faculty of Foreign Languages in Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City. ” Name:LƢƠNG MINH TÍN Supervisor’s Name:...VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES - LƢƠNG MINH TÍ N IN INVESTIGATION INTO INTONATION AWARENESS OF TEACHERS