Integrating pronunciation elements into listening lessons for first year non english major students at hanoi university of industry

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ********* NGUYỄN THỊ HOÀI THU INTEGRATING PRONUNCIATION ELEMENTS INTO LISTENING LESSONS FOR FIRST YEAR NON ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY (KẾT HỢP DẠY CÁC YẾU TỐ NGỮ ÂM TRONG GIỜ HỌC NGHE CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT KHÔNG CHUYÊN TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC CÔNG NGHIỆP HÀ NỘI) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Hanoi, 2015 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ********* NGUYỄN THỊ HOÀI THU INTEGRATING PRONUNCIATION ELEMENTS INTO LISTENING LESSONS FOR FIRST YEAR NON ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY (KẾT HỢP DẠY CÁC YẾU TỐ NGỮ ÂM TRONG GIỜ HỌC NGHE CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT KHÔNG CHUYÊN TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC CÔNG NGHIỆP HÀ NỘI) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Hoàng Thị Xuân Hoa, Ph.D Hanoi, 2015 DECLERATION I declare that this thesis and the work presented in it are my own and have been generated by me as the result of my own original research I confirm that this thesis is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Arts and that this thesis has not previously been submitted for a degree or any other qualification at any other universities or institutions Hanoi, August, 2015 Nguyễn Thị Hoài Thu i ACKNOWLEDMENTS First and foremost, I would like to take this opportunity to express my deep sense of gratitude and indebtedness to my supervisor Hoàng Thị Xuân Hoa, Ph.D for her extraordinary help, valuable advice and outstanding support Secondly, my special thanks go to all the teachers in the faculty of Post Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies for their useful lectures, materials, guidance and enthusiasm during my course I also highly appreciate the cooperation of my students in class CK2.2- K9 at Hanoi University of Industry, without them this thesis would not be at all possible Finally, my grateful thanks and gratitude extend to my family and my friend, who have always encouraged me and supported me to fulfill this study ii ABSTRACT Proper pronunciation makes significant contribution to successful communication Despite its importance, it is often ignored and neglected in EFL classes The study involves an action research on integrating pronunciation elements into listening lessons However, since pronunciation comprises a variety of elements, in this study, the researcher just concentrates on intonation teaching The aim of this study is to investigate how integrating intonation teaching into listening lessons improves students’ intonation and students' attitudes toward the teaching method The participants were 45 first year non English major students at Hanoi University of Industry The treatment was conducted in eight weeks with eight intonation lessons which were integrated in the post-listening stage of the listening lessons The major source of data for the research came from two sets of instruments including tests and questionnaire The results of the study show that after the treatment, students’ intonation significantly improved and the majority of them had positive attitude toward intonation and the teaching method Therefore, it can be said that the intonation teaching integrated with listening lessons helped to improve the students’ intonation iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration i Acknowledgments ii Abstract iii List of abbreviations vi List of tables vi List of figures vi List of charts vi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 RATIONALE OF THE STUDY 1.2 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 1.4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY 1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 1.6 ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 PRONUNCIATION IN TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE 2.1.1 The importance of pronunciation and pronunciation teaching 2.1.2 Pronunciation elements 2.2 INTONATION IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE 2.2.1 Definition of intonation 2.2.2 System of intonation 2.2.3 Tone unit 13 2.2.4 Functions of intonation 14 2.2.5 The importance of intonation 16 2.3 APPROACHES TO TEACH PRONUNCIATION 17 2.3.1 Bottom-up and top-down approaches 17 2.3.2 Intuitive-imitative and analytic-linguistic approaches 17 2.3.3 Integrated approach 18 2.3.4 Integrating teaching intonation into listening 18 2.4 SUMMARY 20 iv CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 21 3.1 THE CONTEXT OF THE STUDY 21 3.2 SUBJECTS 22 3.3 THE ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT 22 3.3.1 Action research 22 3.3.2 Action research procedure 24 3.4 SUMMARY 27 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 29 4.1 RESULTS FROM THE TESTS 29 4.1.1 Results from the pre-test 29 4.1.2 Results from the pre-test and four progress tests 30 4.1.3 Results from the pre-test and post- tests 32 4.1.4 Discussion of the test results 33 4.2 RESULTS FROM THE STUDENTS’ QUESTIONNAIRE 34 4.2.1 Attitude toward studying English intonation 34 4.2.2 Attitude toward the integrated approach of learning intonation 35 4.2.3 Other opinions 36 4.2.4 DISCUSSION OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE RESULTS 37 4.3 SPECIFY LEARNING 37 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 39 5.1 MAJOR FINDINGS AND IMPLICATIONS 39 5.2 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY 40 5.3 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH 40 5.4 CONCLUSION 40 REFERENCES 41 APPENDICES… I v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL : English as a Foreign Language ESL : English as a Second Language HaUI : Hanoi University of Industry LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Results from the pre-test ……………………………………………… 28 Table 2: Comparison of the scores of the pre-test and progress tests………… 30 Table 3: Comparison of the scores of the pre-test and post-test ……………… 31 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Features of English pronunciation ………………………………… Figure 2: Detailed action research model……………………………………… 23 LIST OF CHARTS Chart 1: Student's mean sores in pre-test and progress tests ………………… 29 Chart 2: Attitude toward studying English intonation ………………………… 33 Chart 3: Attitude toward the integrated approach……………………………… 34 vi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the study English is regarded as the main language of international communication Good communication in English depends considerably on the proper pronunciation In other words, pronunciation is considered the bridge through which the message is delivered; proper and correct pronunciation is the soul of comfortable and successful communication Moreover, good pronunciation is considered to be more essential than perfect knowledge of grammar It is believed that a learner with poor pronunciation is less likely to be understood than a learner who makes many mistakes in grammar When dealing with pronunciation, it is necessary to mention two main features of pronunciation- the segmental and suprasegmental features Segmental features are sets of distinctive sounds of particular language and the suprasemental features are related to intonation; stress and change of sounds in connected speech In this study, the researcher just focuses on intonation since it is an essential part of pronunciation Furthermore, intonation is very important for communication as it helps the addressee interpret the message Intonation choices made by speakers carry linguistic information and the various elements of intonation are seen to perform a variety of functions Despite the significance of pronunciation as well as intonation, it is complained that pronunciation including intonation have often been ignored and received little explicit focus in the ESL classes (Griffiths, 2011; Woolard, 1993) A lot of English teachers seem to feel uncomfortable with intonation and they tend to treat it as a difficult subject: difficult to isolate, difficult to describe, and difficult to formulate rules In the context of Vietnam, pronunciation along with intonation is still neglected or ignored at many universities and colleges It is mostly taught in separated lessons or by traditional approaches such as top-down approach, bottom-up approach, intuitive-imitative approach and analytic-linguistic approach However, with those traditional approaches, the English pronunciation teaching and learning seem to be not as effective as expectation Like many universities in Vietnam, Hanoi University of Industry (HaUI) considers English as a necessary skill beside other professional skills which the students should be welltrained In order to help the students be able to communicate in English, the course syllabus is designed with general objectives to get the learner to be mastered in oral communication The main content of syllabus focuses on improving students’ listening and speaking skill However, as my observation during two years teaching here, the poor pronunciation is the big challenge for students to master those skills Many teachers complain that improper pronunciation leads students in being unconfident in speaking and confused with listening comprehension For two years working with non-English major students at HaUI, the researcher recognizes that a large number of them mispronounce separated words and words combined in a sentence Other pronounces a sentence with equal stress, flat intonation and no rhythm at all Especially, with the flat intonation, students speak English like reading their script There was almost no emotion, no change in pitch when they are speaking Consequently, it is difficult to understand their expressions and thoughts that go with words In addition, with the limited knowledge of intonation, many students have difficulty in understanding and interpreting speakers’ expression in listening tasks For instance, if a positive sentence is spoken with the rising tone, the speaker has tendency to put a query rather than make a statement However, the students hardly understand clearly speaker’s purpose so they generally give incorrect answer Since pronunciation is the most complicated aspect of language to obtain, most English teachers, especially non-native speakers like at HaUI, feel unconfident in teaching pronunciation Furthermore, because of some reasons such as the shortage of instructions or guidance dealing with pronunciation in textbooks, too few pronunciation exercises as well as the lack of time, teachers at HaUI often ignore pronunciation teaching Therefore, teaching pronunciation by integrating it into other lessons is suggested As Morley (1991:486) stated “the need for the integration of pronunciation with oral communication was soon realized with a shift from specific linguistic competencies to broader communicative competencies as goals for both the teacher and the learner” In this study, 5.2 Limitations of the study The study reveals some effects of intonation teaching integrated into listening lessons on students’ intonation However, it still has some limitations Firstly, in class there may be a lot of factors influencing the subjects of the study which is out of the researcher’s control, for instance the student’s motivation, mood, learning habits and so on Secondly, tests are good however indirect way to examine and evaluate students’ intonation improvement Thirdly, because of the limited time, only intonation, not all pronunciation elements is integrated into listening lessons 5.3 Recommendations for future research Because of the limitations of the study, it would be better for the future research to be conducted in a longer time so as to integrate all pronunciation elements into listening lessons Moreover, in order to measure whether the students can produce conversations with proper intonation or not, the researcher should ask students to make their voice records for better examining students’ intonation improvement Besides tests and questionnaire, interview is also recommended as it is a useful and direct way to evaluate the progress of students’ intonation 5.4 Conclusion To sum up, the study was conducted with the aims at investigating the effects of intonation teaching integrated into listening lessons on students’ intonation The data collected from tests and questionnaires indicates that the teaching approach applied in this study is effective in improving students’ intonation It can be seen from the analysis that the treatment in eight weeks helped students to firstly raise the awareness of intonation, understand intonation’s functions and comprehend proper intonation usage in particular contexts In addition, the results from the questionnaire show that the majority of students had positive attitude toward the integrated lessons and they are better- aware of the intonation significance in communication This study can be used as an interesting reference material for EFL teachers, especially English teachers at HaUI 40 REFERENCES Acton, W (1984) Changing fossilized pronunciation Tesol Quarterly, 18(1), 71-85 Borgia, E T., & Schuler, D (1996) Action research in early childhood education ERIC Clearinghouse Bradford, B (1988) Intonation in Context Cambridge: CUP Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D., & Goodwin, J (1996) Teaching pronunciation: A reference for teachers of English to speakers of other languages New York: Cambridge University Press Chela-Flores, B (2001) Pronunciation and language learning: An integrative approach IRAL-International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 39(2), 85101 Creswell, J W (2005) Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (2nd ed.) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearso Crystal, D (1969) Prosodic Systems and Intonation in English Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Dalton, C & Seidlhofer, B (1994) Pronunciation Oxford: Oxford University Press Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company Dang, H.A (2011) Integrating pronunciation elements into listening lessons for firstyear students in Backan Community College M.A Thesis University of Languages and International studies 10 Dick, B (2002) Action research: action and research, Retrieved December 3rd, 2014 from http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/gcm/ar/arp/aandr.html, 11 Glickman, C.D (1992) The essence of school renewal: the Prose Has Begun, Educational Leadership 49, 24 12 Griffiths, B (2011, August 23) Integrating pronunciation into classroom activities Retrieved January 20th, 2015, from 41 http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/integrating-pronunciation-classroomactivities 13 Harmer, J (2001) The Practice of English Language Teaching London: Longman 14 Hewings, M (2004) Pronunciation Practice Activities New York: Cambridge University Press 15 Higuchi, M (2000) Teaching English Intonation with Discourse Approach Retrieved 21st October, 2014, from http://bambi.u-shizuoka-ken.ac.jp 16 Kelly, G (2000) How to Teach Pronunciation Harlow: Longman 17 Ladefoged, P (1982) A Course in Phonetics New York: Harcourt Jovanovich 18 Ladefoged, P (2006) Chapter 5: English words and sentences In A course in phonetics (pp 107-132) Boston, MA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning 19 Mills, G E (2011) Action research: A guide for the teacher researcher (4th ed.).Boston: Pearson 20 Morley, J (1991) The pronunciation component in teaching English to speakers of other languages TESOL Quarterly, 25, 481-520 21 Muniem, F (2015) How English learners can improve intonation Retrieved 14th May, 2015 from http://www.britishcouncil.org/blog/how-english-learners-can-improveintonation?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=%20bcteachingenglish 22 Murphy, J (1991) Oral communication in TESOL: Integrating speaking, listening, and pronunciation TESOL Quarterly, 25, 51-75 23 O’Brien, R (2001) An overview of the methodological approach of action research, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, João Pessoa 24 O'Connor, J.D., & Arnold, G K (1973) Intonation of Colloquial English London: Longman 25 O'Connor, J D (1980) Better English Pronunciation Cambridge UP: London 42 26 Pennington, M C., & Richards, J C (1986) Pronunciation revisited.TESOL Quarterly, 20 (2), 207-226 27 Pourhosein Gilakjani, A (2012) A study of factors affecting EFL learners' English pronunciation learning and the strategies for instruction International Journal of Humanities and Social Science 3, 119-128 28 Richards, J C., & Schmidt, R W (1992) Longman dictionary of language teaching and applied linguistics Routledge 29 Roach, P (1983) English Phonetics and Phonology: A Practical Coursebook Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 30 Roach, P (2010) Phonetics and Phonology: a practical course Cambridge: Cambridge 31 Soars, L., Soars, J., & Wheeldon, S (2006) New Headway Elementary Student's Book (3rd ed.) Oxford University Press 32 Susman, G I (1983) Action research: a sociotechnical systems perspective Beyond method: Strategies for social research, 95-113 33 Tench, P (2006) Talking Intonation Speak Out, 34, 3-15 34 Watts, P & Huensch, A (2013) Integrated speaking, listening and pronunciation: Are textbooks leading the way? In J Levis & K LeVelle (Eds.) Proceedings of the 4th Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Conference Aug 2012 (pp 265-278) Ames, IA: Iowa State University 35 Woolard, G (1993) “Intonation matters” Modern English Teacher 2/2: 23-4 36 Yates, L (2002, October) What is pronunciation? Retrieved October 1st, 2014 from http://www.ameprc.mq.edu.au/docs/fact_sheets/01Pronunciation.pdf 43 APPENDICES Appendix 1: Pre-test I Match these intonation patterns with sentences: Sentences What would you like for your BIRTHDAY? Intonation pattern a Do you like ANIMAL? b I love EATING in my country c You’ve got a job a LONDON, didn’t YOU? d I like all kinds of fruit- APPLE, ORANGE and BANANA e 1- , 2- , 3- , 4- , 5- II Read conversations and draw arrows tone starting at the TONIC WORD for the rising tone and for the falling Conversation 1: Conversation A: Whose is this TENNIS RACKET? A: Would you like some CHOCOLATE B: It’s MINE CAKE? A: What’s it DOING here? B: NO, thanks, just ORANGE JUICE for B: I’m PLAYING tennis this afternoon me A: But I MADE this cake for you B: Did YOU? I’m SORRY! I DON’T like chocolate cake III Listen and judge speaker’s attitudes Be back by ELEVEN A Request B Command I will be back by TEN A Confirm B Query Come ON A Demand B Coaxing She is BEAUTIFUL A Applause B Surprise I WATCH it A Threat B Warning Appendix 2: Progress test I Match these intonation patterns with sentences: Sentences She DIDN’T like you, did SHE? Intonation pattern a She played on the corner near my HOUSE b Did you get any valentine CARDS? c What a SMART KID! d What are you DOING? e 1- , 2- , 3- , 4- , 5- II Read conversations and draw arrows tone starting at the TONIC WORD for the rising tone and for the falling Conversation A: CONGRATULATION! Conversation A: Wake UP, Mummy! Happy MOTHER’s B: Thank you very MUCH! day! A: When’s the BIG day? B: Thank you, DARLING Oh, what beautiful B: PARDON? FLOWERS, and a cup of TEA! A: When’s your WEDDING day? A: And I made you a CARD! LOOK! B: The 26th JUNE Didn’t you get your B: It’s LOVELY What a CLEVER boy! INVITATTION? III Listen and judge speaker’s attitudes Shut the DOOR A Request B Command It was GREAT A Excitement B Statement This is the Leeds TRAIN Would you like some help? II A Statement B Query NO A Friendly/ OK B Unpleasant/ Rude He’s coming TONIGHT A Surprise/ Query B Statement Appendix 3: Progress-test I Match these intonation patterns with sentences: Sentences Intonation pattern I like vegetables- especially CARROTS, PEAS and TOMATOES Would you like a beef STEAK? a No, THANKS I’m ENOUGH c Could I have a kilo of tomato, PLEASE? d YES, of course That’s $ 2.50 e 1- , 2- , 3- , 4- b , 5- II Read conversations and draw arrows tone starting at the TONIC WORD for the rising tone and Conversation Conversation A: Mmm, I love APPLE JUICE Do you A: Can I see the menu, PLEASE? for the falling like IT? B: Here you are And would you like a B: NO, it’s DISGUISTING I love BEER DRINK to START? A: Well, that’s DIFFERENT I love tea- A: YES, a glass of RED wine, PLEASE with lots of milk and SUGAR B: I don’t like tea, just ORANGE JUICE A: REALLY? I love all kind of FRUIT JUICE III Listen and judge speaker’s attitudes III Come home before the MIDNIGHT A Request B Command It’s TERRIBLE A Statement B Query Go AHEAD A Demand B Coaxing Could you give me the recipe? YES A Enthusiasm B Reluctance Don’t THAT A Threat B Warning Appendix 4: Progress test I Match these intonation patterns with sentences: Sentences Intonation pattern Rotterdam is the BUSIEST port in Europe, isn’t IT? a Why you like living in the CITY? b The city life is FASTER, more MODERN, and more EXCITING than country life I’ve got a new SURFBOARD c Have you got any SISTERS? e 1- , 2- , 3- , 4- d , 5- II Read conversations and draw arrows tone starting at the TONIC WORDS for the rising tone and A: So, Andy, tell me why did you leave LONDON? You had a GOOD job B: Yes, but I’ve got a BETTER job here A: And you had NICE flat in London B: Well, I’ve got a NICER flat here It’s a COTTAGE A: REALLY? How many BEDROOM has it got? B: THREE And it’s got a GARDEN IV for the falling A: But the country’s so BORING B: NO, it isn’t Appleton has got a CINEMA, RESTAURANTS, PUB and a NIGHT CLUB A: OK OK Everything is BETTER! Can I come next WEEKEND? B: Of course, you CAN! III Listen and judge speaker’s attitudes Look at YOU! A Surprise B Warn Cafés in London are much WORSE A Confirm B Query Leave me ALONE A Demand B Coaxing He is a LOVELY boy A Applause B Surprise Throw it AWAY! A Advise B Demand Appendix 5: Progress test I Match these intonation patterns with sentences: Sentences Intonation patterns She’s going dancing TONIGHT a Are you all RIGHT? b A simple thing can make you LAUGH or CRY c Venice is very ROMANTIC, isn’t IT? d Which one you WANT? e 1- , 2- , 3- , 4- , 5- II Read conversation and draw arrows tone starting at the TONIC WORDS for the rising tone and A: Can I help YOU? for the falling A: YES, of course The changing rooms are V B: Yes, PLEASE I’m looking for a SHIRT OVER THERE to go with my new JEANS B: I’ll take THIS ONE How much is IT? A: What COLOR are you looking FOR? A: $39.99 How you want to PAY? B: BLUE B: Can I pay by CREDIT CARD? A: What about THIS ONE? Do you like A: Credit card’s FINE Thank you very THIS? MUCH B: Oh, YES Can I try it ON? III Listen and judge speaker’s attitudes Look at that sport CAR! A Query B Command She is MARRIED A Confirm B Query/ Surprise Don’t look at me like THAT A Demand B Threat Lara is STUPID A Criticism B Surprise He misses ME A Query/ Surpise B Statement Appendix 6: Post-test I Match these intonation patterns with sentences: Sentences What ‘s the weather like today? Intonation patterns a It was COLD, CLOUDY and WINDY b Have you been on a gondola YET? c It’s going to RAIN, isn’t IT? d It’s too hot to play TENNIS e 1- , 2- , 3- , 4- , 5- VI II Read conversations and draw arrows tone starting at the TONIC WORDS for the rising tone and for the falling A: Can I have your ticket, PLEASE? B: YES, of course A: Thank YOU How many SUICASE have you GOT? B: Just ONE A: And have you got much LUGGAGE? B: Just this BAG A: That’s FINE B: Oh…can I have a seat next to the WINDOW? A: YES, that’s OK Here’s your BOARDING PASS Have a night FLIGHT! III Listen and judge speaker’s attitudes Be back by ELEVEN A Request B Command It’s raining AGAIN A Confirm B Query Go ON A Demand B Coaxing It’s a lovely DAY A Exclamation B Surprise/ Query WATCH your HEAD A Threat B Warning Appendix 7: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE This questionnaire is designed for the research “Integrating pronunciation elements into listening lessons for first year Non English major students at Hanoi University of Industry” Your assistance in fulfilling the following questions is highly appreciated Moreover, your cooperation will make contribution for the intonation teaching and learning improvement Thank you so much for your cooperation! VII Nguyen Thi Hoai Thu Complete the following questionnaire, checking the box which the best describes how you agree or disagree with each statement 1= strongly agree (SA) 4= disagree (D) 2= agree (A) 3= neither disagree or agree (N) 5= strongly disagree (SD) Part 1: Attitude toward intonation learning: Read each statement concerning how you feel about intonation learning Please circle the number that the best describes the degree of your agreement with each statement I think SA A N D SD Learning English intonation is necessary The textbook and classroom activities are sufficient to improve intonation Studying intonation is helpful for improving the communicative competence Part 2: Attitude toward the learning approach which integrated teaching intonation into listening lessons Read each statement concerning how you feel about intonation learning Please circle the number that best describes the degree of your agreement with each statement I think The teaching of intonation by integrating it into listening lessons helps to improve my intonation I enjoy the listening lessons integrated with intonation teaching VIII SA A N D SD 5 Learning intonation by integrating it into listening lessons distracts my attention from learning listening Part 3: Other opinions: Please specify the reasons why you enjoy the listening lessons integrated with intonation teaching ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… What would you like to change to have better intonation lessons? ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… IX Appendix 8: The syllabus for the intonation teaching in weeks Week Unit Lessons Unit 8: A date to How did you two Statements of retelling a story remember meet? Question tags Unit 8: A date to Special occasions Yes-no questions remember Intonation patterns Unit 9: Food you like! Exclamatory sentences Food and drink Statements with “I like…” & “ I don’t like…” Unit 9: Food you like! My favorite and Requests with “Would you like ?” national food and responses Requests with “Can/ Could I…?” and responses Unit 10: Bigger and Country life better Unit 10: Bigger and “have got” Andy’s cottage better Unit 11: Looking good Statements with comparisons and Wh- questions and narration of a journey Who’s at the Statements of description of people party? Unit 11: Looking good In a clothes shop Yes-no questions, wh-questions and responses in a clothes shop X Appendix 9: A sample lesson plan Tape: A: Whose are these football boots? B: They’re John’s He’s playing football later Firstly, the teacher asked students to focus on the sentence “Whose are these football boots?” Then, the teacher played the recording and asked students to mark the tonic syllables by underline them and intonation patterns by using arrows Next, the teacher asked students to give their answers and confirmed the right ones For example: Tape: Whose are these football boots? Teacher: What syllables/words did speaker emphasize? (Expected answer: football boots) How is her voice? (Expected answer: falling) Why did they say it like that? (Expected answer: Because it’s a wh-question) Teacher explained more: “questions that begin with wh-question are generally pronounced with a falling tone.” Students are asked to repeat models as accurately and fluently as possible They practiced the models chorally and then individually After that, teacher called some students to present what they had practiced Teacher provided some similar sentences and asked students to say them with appropriate intonation, for example: “What is your favorite writer?” Teacher listened and examined how they could apply what they had learnt in new sentences or conversations XI [...]... to integrate pronunciation elements into listening lessons because the conversations in listening tasks can be good models for students to imitate For the reasons above, it is necessary to do an action research on: Integrating pronunciation elements into listening lessons for first year Non English major students at Hanoi University of Industry However, as pronunciation comprises a lot of elements, ... of the two following questions: - To what extent does integrating intonation teaching into listening lessons improve students intonation? - What are the student’s attitudes toward integrating intonation teaching into listening lesson? 3 1.4 Scope of the study This is an action research with a focused group of 45 first year Non English major students at Hanoi University of Industry There are a great... research just concentrates on teaching intonation with the hope that students can improve their intonation for communicative purpose 1.2 Aims and objectives of the study The research is conducted with the aims at: - Improving students intonation by integrating intonation teaching into listening lessons - Investigating students attitudes toward integrating intonation teaching into listening lessons Besides... what intonation is and how to use it Thus, teaching them with the primary knowledge of intonation is necessary Fortunately, many students are aware of the importance of English for their future job They regard English as essential communicative means and pay much attention to this subject It means that they are quite motivated in learning English for communication Speaking English with proper intonation... adequate solution is found 3.3.2 Action research procedure 3.3.2.1 Identifying the problem As a teacher of English at HaUI for 2 years, the researcher recognizes that communicative competence of first year non- English major students is very poor Most of them are fear of listening and unconfident in speaking One of the main causes of this issue is learners’ improper pronunciation A large number of students, ... context of the study The study was conducted at a class of 45 first- years technology -major students at HaUI whose English competence is of mixed levels The classroom is equipped with multimedia facilities such as projector, loudspeaker and microphone The English course for nonEnglish major first year students last for 90 sections including 32 sections for theory, 55 for practice and 3 for examination... Industry There are a great number of pronunciation elements; however, this study just focuses on intonation The researcher integrates teaching intonation into listening lessons with the aim at improving students intonation 1.5 Significance of the study Firstly, the study is conducted with the hope to help the students who participated in this project improve their English intonation Secondly, this research... systems of English intonation namely tone, tonicity, and tonality Furthermore, it can be seen from the definition that English intonation has its own structure and functions The discussion of system, structure, and function of English intonation will be made in the following parts of the research 2.2.2 System of intonation English intonation comprises “three separated, though related, systems: tonality (intonation... approach several decades ago Most of them took advantages of this approach to integrate pronunciation into listening and speaking skills development 2.3.4 Integrating teaching intonation into listening As mentioned above, many researchers have shown their concerns about teaching intonation by integrating it into listening lessons Some studies and articles related to this integrated approach will be reviewed... reference material for EFL teachers, especially English teachers at HaUI about the ways how to integrate intonation teaching into listening lessons Lastly, the research may make contribution to the overall literature picture of teaching intonation integrated into listening lessons in Vietnamese context 1.6 Organization of the study The thesis is instructed in five chapters Chapter 1 includes rationale, ... improve intonation, the majority of students agreed that the teaching of intonation by integrating it into listening lessons was useful for their intonation improvement In addition, the intonation... integrating intonation teaching into listening lessons - Investigating students attitudes toward integrating intonation teaching into listening lessons Besides the main aim at finding out how integrating. .. year Non English major students at Hanoi University of Industry However, as pronunciation comprises a lot of elements, the research just concentrates on teaching intonation with the hope that