An investigation into Phuong Dong pre-intermediate English students'''' problem of speech incomprehensibility caused by improper tone unit segmenting

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES POSTGRADUATE DEPARTMENT LÊ THỊ PHƢƠNG MAI AN INVESTIGATION INTO PHUONG DONG PREINTERMEDIATE ENGLISH STUDENTS’ PROBLEM OF SPEECH INCOMPREHENSIBILITY CAUSED BY IMPROPER TONE UNIT SEGMENTING Tìm hiểu lối diễn đạt khó hiểu phân chia đoạn phát âm khơng hợp lí sinh viên tiếng Anh trình độ tiền trung cấp trƣờng Đại Học Phƣơng Đông MA Minor Thesis Field: English Methodology Code: 60.14.10 HANOI- 2009 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES POSTGRADUATE DEPARTMENT LÊ THỊ PHƢƠNG MAI AN INVESTIGATION INTO PHUONG DONG PREINTERMEDIATE ENGLISH STUDENTS’ PROBLEM OF SPEECH INCOMPREHENSIBILITY CAUSED BY IMPROPER TONE UNIT SEGMENTING Tìm hiểu lối diễn đạt khó hiểu phân chia đoạn phát âm khơng hợp lí sinh viên tiếng Anh trình độ tiền trung cấp trƣờng Đại Học Phƣơng Đông MA Minor Thesis Field: English Methodology Code: 60.14.10 Supervisor: Nguyễn Bách Thảo, MA TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION………………………………………………………… i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT…………………………………………………………… ii ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………………… iii TABLE OF CONTENTS……………………………………………………………… iv LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES……………………………………….………… vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS…………………………………………… viii PART A: INTRODUCTION….………………………………………… I Rationale…………………………………………………………………… II Aims of the study…………………………………………………………… III Scope of the study…………………………………………………………… IV Methods of the study………………………………………………………… V Design of the study………………………………………………………… PART B: DEVELOPMENT……………………………………………………………4 I LITERATURE REVIEW………………………………………….…… I.1 Definition of tone unit………………………………………… .4 I.1.1 Different terms denoting a tone unit……………………… I.1.2 Concept of tone unit and its phonological components………………… I.1.3 Grammatical and Contextual characteristics of tone unit……………… I.2 Kinds of tone units… ……………………………………………………… I.3 Communicative function of tone units………………………………………11 I.4 Non-native learners’ problems with tone unit segmentation…………… 12 II THE STUDY……………………………………………………………… 14 Chapter 1: Investigating students’ problem of speech incomprehensibility in relation to improper tone unit segmenting…………… 15 CONTEXT OF THE STUDY………………………………… 15 DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURE……………………….……… 15 The subjects………………………… 15 The instruments……………………………………………………….… 16 Oral test…………………………………………………………….… 16 Transcription and peer-evaluation of oral presentations……………… 16 Questionnaires and interviews…………………………… 16 DATA ANALYSIS……………………………………………….……… 17 Identifying the relation between students’ incomprehensible speech and their improper tone unit segmenting………………………………………  17 Findings from oral tests, peer-evaluation and transcripts of students’ conversations and talks…………………………………………… ……17  Seeking Findings from the first part of the questionnaires and interviews … … 19 causes of the students’ problem of improper segmentation………………………… …………………………………… tone unit 22  Findings of teachers’ observation……………………………… …… 22  Findings of the second part of the questionnaires and interviews……… 23 DISCUSSION OF THE DATA………………………………………… 28 Chapter 2: Suggested solutions to the targeted students’ problem of improper tone unit segmentation……………………………………… 2.1 Enhancing teachers’ knowledge and awareness of 31 tone segmenting……………………………………………………………… 31 2.2 2.2.1 Adjusting the teaching and learning procedure………… 31 Improving students’ level of proficiency and self-reliance……………31 unit 2.2.2 Taking advantage of speaking tasks for training tone unit segmentation………………………………………………………… 32 2.2.3 Perceiving native speakers’ ways of segmenting tone unit using tape scripts…………………………………………………………… 2.2.4 Providing students with knowledge of intonational principles of tone units adopting awareness-raising approach………………………… 2.2.5 2.3 33 35 Using peer and group-correction facilitated by visual aids………… 36 Adjusting the teaching curriculum and the materials…………………37 2.3.1 Improving the teaching curriculum……………………………………37 2.3.2 Supplying more materials…………………………………………… 37 PART C: CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………… 39 REFERENCES………………………………………………………………………… I Questionnaire for students…………………………………………………………… V Questionnaire for teachers………………………………………………………… VII Peer-check evaluation sheet………………………………………………………… X LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES Chart 1: Difficulties the audiences had in understanding the speaker Chart 2: Listeners’ misunderstanding partners’ speech by frequency Chart 3: Teachers’ judgment on the audiences’ understanding of speakers’ speech Chart 4: Knowledge of intonation vs pronunciation Chart 5: Places of students’ pauses Chart 6: Formal instruction on tone unit segmentation given previously Chart 7: Effectiveness of teachers’ lessons on tone units Table 1: Possible reasons of incomprehensible speech on the speaker’s part Table 2: Ways students did to make a good speech Table 3: Ways of improving speech’s comprehensibility 2.2.2 Taking advantage of speaking tasks for training tone unit segmentation………………………………………………………… 32 2.2.3 Perceiving native speakers’ ways of segmenting tone unit using tape scripts…………………………………………………………… 2.2.4 Providing students with knowledge of intonational principles of tone units adopting awareness-raising approach………………………… 2.2.5 2.3 33 35 Using peer and group-correction facilitated by visual aids………… 36 Adjusting the teaching curriculum and the materials…………………37 2.3.1 Improving the teaching curriculum……………………………………37 2.3.2 Supplying more materials…………………………………………… 37 PART C: CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………… 39 REFERENCES………………………………………………………………………… I Questionnaire for students…………………………………………………………… V Questionnaire for teachers………………………………………………………… VII Peer-check evaluation sheet………………………………………………………… X LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES Chart 1: Difficulties the audiences had in understanding the speaker Chart 2: Listeners’ misunderstanding partners’ speech by frequency Chart 3: Teachers’ judgment on the audiences’ understanding of speakers’ speech Chart 4: Knowledge of intonation vs pronunciation Chart 5: Places of students’ pauses Chart 6: Formal instruction on tone unit segmentation given previously Chart 7: Effectiveness of teachers’ lessons on tone units Table 1: Possible reasons of incomprehensible speech on the speaker’s part Table 2: Ways students did to make a good speech Table 3: Ways of improving speech’s comprehensibility Table 4: Reasons for problems of improper tone unit segmenting Table 5: Reasons for teachers’ failure in teaching tone unit segmentation LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL: English as a foreign language MA Master of Arts PART A: INTRODUCTION I Rationale Nowadays English is so popular that it becomes a prerequisite means of regional and international communication Most of these interactions, which play as a stimulus for global socio-economic relations and knowledge perception, are carried out orally Therefore, spoken English language as well as the comprehensibility of speech is of ultimate importance In deed, as stated by Richards, J.C (2006): “The worldwide demand for English has created an enormous demand for quality language teaching and language teaching materials and resources Learners set themselves demanding goals They want to be able to master English to a high level of accuracy and fluency” However, when mastering English, a lot of learners have difficulty in delivering comprehensible speech because of their problems with tone unit segmenting In spite of the fact that constant effort has been exhorted to renovate methods of teaching and learning English intonation to the non-native, the achieved pedagogical measures are not practical and specific enough to be utilized in all non-native environments This hardship has not only been experienced by Vietnamese learners but also by non-native speakers from other countries such as China, Korea, Singapore, Spain… ( Hewings 1995; Goh 2001, Pickering 2001, Tao 2007) Over decades, researchers on English intonation of the non-native focused on contrastive analysis between native and non-native‟s preference of tone unit boundary, proposed the concepts of tone unit and discussed its role in communication with a light weight on feasible strategies to deal with the matter Despite the fact that various studies on non-native problems of tone unit segmenting are detected, Vietnamese researches about such important issue are hardly found As the case in a number of Vietnam universities, many students of English major at Phuong Dong University have troubles in dividing tone units in conversations, oral presentations, reports and even in reading aloud activity Recently, I have been in charge of two groups of preintermediate students in their second year and I have found that they have great difficulty in tone unit segmentation and often fail to make themselves understood, especially in natural speech Nonetheless, teachers as well as students not realize the fundamental reasons for the situation They generally blame it on learners‟ low level of proficiency As a result, the same circumstance remains with the students in the coming terms when they‟re required to make longer and more eloquent speech Hence, it is time for Vietnamese teachers of English to concern about this significant aspect to work out suitable solutions to the learners‟ problems in tone unit dividing II Aims of the study As a matter of fact, the objective of teaching English in the global era is not all about traditional English grammar Educators now focus much on comprehensibility in social communication In addition, the communicative and discourse function of intonation has been remarkably highlighted (Celce-Murcia 1996; Jenkins 2004; Brazil 1985, 1997; Roach 2000, ext from Tao 2007) Therefore, the segmentation of intonation units, one of crucial factors deciding the meaning of speech, turns out to be quite necessary in learning and teaching English Thus, I determine to investigate into my students‟ problem of improper tone unit segmenting and aim at working out some basic solutions to the problem Hence, this thesis is not only useful to my own Vietnamese students but also to whoever meet the same problems and share similar concern III Scope of the study As stated before, the research mainly concentrates on improper intonation unit segmentation problem, leading to speech incomprehensibility of pre-intermediate English majored students at Phuong Dong University Regarding the markers of tone unit segmenting, the study narrows down to pausing since it is linear and the most popular in the talk of the students IV Methods of the study With regard to the methodology, in the process of data collection, I used some instruments namely oral tests (conversations and reading aloud), questionnaires, interviews, observation of students‟ oral presentations, recording and note-taking Therefore, I mainly used qualitative method for data analysis and this is a survey research along with error analysis as I worked on the issues basing on the findings from questionnaires as well as interviews of six teachers and three groups of students (categorized according to level of proficiency) in two classes of 40 students, combining with the results of the observation, peer-evaluation and transcriptions Finally, from these particular data, I will work out the causes of difficulties and mistakes of Vietnamese students in tone unit segmenting and come up with relevant implications V Design of the study As for the design, the study comprises of three main parts: First, the introduction clarifies the rationale, the aims, the scope, the method and the design of the study Second, the development includes two sections Section I reviews the previous studies on key concepts and theoretical background of tone units, tone unit segmentation of the non-natives and claims two research questions Section II is the study, the first chapter of which presents the results of the survey, observation and transcripts as well as the discussion of the findings The second chapter proposes some basic solutions to the problems caused by teachers should have a clear system of criteria to estimate students‟ performance and establish flexible measures to deal with students‟ mistakes 2.2.5 Using peer and group-correction facilitated by visual aids Error correction has always been a complicated issue in EFL teaching and learning because it is said to reduce students‟ motivation to communicate in English Moreover, untactful error correction, especially uncomfortable comments from teachers may lead to face threatening, which make students feel embarrassed and unconfident Thus, in cases where we cannot avoid correcting students‟ mistakes as they violate important principles, teachers can make students realize and correct their mistakes using peer and group-correction facilitated by visual aids and computers This method is more effective and less imposing Students should be asked to work in multi-level groups where students can help one another complete tasks as well as remove some unexpected errors However, the tasks must ensure that all students get involved in the preparation and performance and the topics must be to students‟ interest and needs Teachers have to explain the way students should work or give comment on partners‟ speeches based on a set of criteria Last but not least, the final check on the effect of such co-operation should also be done by teachers Another good idea for error correction is self-consciousness If students realize their mistakes naturally, they can correct more quickly and automatically As the proverb says “action speaks louder than words” so students should be given chances to find mistakes and solutions to their own problems For example, one of the useful ways is group working with the help of video-tapes or VCDs Students are asked to work in multi-level groups and watch a video of some conversations and presentations Then, students give comments on the tone unit segmenting of these speakers to see what are good points and defective ones After that, the groups discuss and propose their own solutions More vividly, some volunteers can be chosen previously for a role-play, giving speeches containing some common mistakes that often occur in the class Then, the audiences watch and work in groups to give comments and solutions Finally, the teachers have to summarize, highlight what have been covered and point out what should be improved so that all students can remember and take some notes about new knowledge they have experienced By doing this, the process of error correction is interesting, relaxing yet impressive as well 2.3 Adjusting the teaching curriculum and the materials 2.3.1 Improving the teaching curriculum In English department, Phuong Dong University, pronunciation is delivered as an independent course among courses on four macro skills: reading, listening, writing and speaking However, the pedagogical program is not detailed and effective enough concerning the change in the role of intonation in today‟s communicative world In particular, the curriculum focuses most on the minimal pairs and pronunciation Sometimes, it concerns the pitch and strength of syllables in conversations but spares insufficient space for tone unit segmenting though it is very meaningful to students‟ comprehensibility Meanwhile, intonation should be an integral facet in teaching speaking and phonology As a result, the curriculum needs stepping up to include detailed and systematic operating program which offers better condition for students to make intelligible English speech 2.3.2 Supplying more materials The materials for teaching pronunciation and intonation in English faculty are not various and updated enough „Ship or Sheep‟ is quite useful but more books and documents should be provided for teachers and students in order to upgrade students‟ intonation knowledge and raise their interest Materials can be detected from Internet or other sources There are also some good books about tone units included in the reference list of this paper In fact, it is not easy to compose a new teaching program and to select good materials so it may take some time for the teaching staff, with reference to the management board of the University, to research and work out the best ways to teach English intonation What the author is trying to is to raise teachers‟, students‟ and managers‟ awareness of the current problems of discourse intonation and proposing a long-term direction to improve such situation yet this study cannot offer a particular suggestion to this problem PART C: CONCLUSION In summary, the findings of the research have shown that most of the pre-intermediate students in the two groups had difficulty in making intelligible speech, partly, due to students‟ failure in segmenting the discourse into appropriate tone units The underlying causes were students‟ low level of proficiency, students‟ and teachers‟ lack of intonational input and their unawareness of the problems The insufficiency of the materials was also the obstacle of the intonation teaching-learning process Hence, based on the communicative perspective as well as the study findings, the author recommends some suggestions to solve the above problems To begin with, teachers must improve their own knowledge so that they can have enough ability and confidence in instructing and assisting students Then developing students‟ general English level is inevitable in enhancing their tone unit segmentation for more comprehensible speech Better English competence also means more independence, confidence and activeness in learning and promoting tone unit acquisition Next, from the data analysis and grounding materials, the author has proposed some effective techniques of teaching tone unit segmenting to pre-intermediate students in Phuong Dong University These techniques include adopting task-based approach in teaching tone units in speaking lessons, taking advantage of available tape scripts which are authentic and convenient to teach tone units Once students have listened to the tape scripts many times, they can perceive the intonation items more easily Another important point is to adopt awareness-raising approach by designing impressive and emphasizing lessons, together with self- monitoring projects which stimulate students to take part in the teaching-learning process In addition, the research also takes a heated issue of error-correction into consideration and proposes that peer and group evaluation is an effective tool which might be more natural and less face-threatening to students Finally, needless to say, besides adjusting teaching and learning process, improving the teaching curriculum and materials is considerably necessary Thus, in order to deal with the matter, the assistance from the University managers is valuable to teachers and students in our English faculty In conclusion, the researcher has found out that there is a close relation between the difficulties of pre-intermediate students in tone unit segmentation and speech incomprehensibility and the findings have pointed out that it is time the teachers and students should be aware of such problems to improve EFL learners‟ oral communication Hence, this study is both useful to Phuong Dong students and other pre-intermediate students who encounter similar obstacles The author‟s most contribution, in this study, is raising the awareness of teachers and students about the importance of tone unit and the necessity to take action right at the pre-intermediate level to avoid long-term consequences Because of the limitation of time, ability and scope of the study, the researcher only focuses on pauses-the markers most commonly found in non-native communication The objective of the study concerns with the students‟ incomprehensible speech caused by improper tone unit segmenting without much consideration for other reasons In addition, the suggested solutions to the problems are not workable for all students in different learning environment so the users need to further adapting and improving for specific teaching-learning context Besides, the author‟s view is dominated by active and independent learning so she does not pay much attention to passiveness and chaos of students, which might occur in some EFL classes As a result, in order to be more successful in this area of tone unit segmenting, other researchers should go further into other markers such as tone unit segmenting by final syllable lengthening, initial rush or pitch reset….Additionally, these further studies should adopt more objective views and cover a wider range of subjects with various levels of English proficiency, characteristics and learning-teaching circumstances REFERENCES Alharbi, Lafi M.(2004), Grammaticality of Intonation: A Case Study of Tonality and Clause Structure, Journal of King Saud University Arts 16( 2) 2004/1424, Kuwait University, 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Questionnaire (students) This survey questionnaire is designed for the study on “AN INVESTIGATION INTO PHUONG DONG PREINTERMEDIATE ENGLISH STUDENTS’ PROBLEM OF SPEECH INCOMPREHENSIBILITY CAUSED BY IMPROPER TONE UNIT SEGMENTING” Your assistance in responding to the following questions is highly appreciated You can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data In completing these questions, please choose the answer by circling the letter next to your choice or expressing your ideas in the blanks Thank you very much in advance From the feedback and your own observation, your audiences have difficulties in understanding your speech? A Yes B No C I have no idea How often you misunderstand your partner’s speech? A Usually B Occasionally C Once or twice D Hardly E Never Why? 3.Do you think that a reasonable way of saying a sequence of words is different from pronouncing each individual word? A Yes, very clearly B Yes, but vaguely C No, have no idea D Other, please specify…………………………………………… What did you to make a good speech? A Did rehearsal many times B Learnt by heart C Adjusted your speed, pitch and pause properly Where you often pause during your speech? A Anywhere you like without pondering B Anywhere your breath can reach C Before a punctuation D After a meaningful phrase E After a clause F After two or three words G Other, please specify………………………………………… (You can choose more than one option) Were you taught about intonation unit in your first semester? A Yes B No What are you going to to improve your speech’s comprehensibility? A Listen to native speakers B Practice speaking C Learn more about where to pause, rise or down the voice to be understood D Other, please specify……………………………………………… (You can choose more than one option) Do you expect to learn more about ways of grouping words to make more comprehensible speech? A Yes B No Thank you very much for your co-operation! Questionnaire (Teachers) This survey questionnaire is designed for the study on “AN INVESTIGATION INTO PHUONG DONG PREINTERMEDIATE ENGLISH STUDENTS’ PROBLEM OF SPEECH INCOMPREHENSIBILITY CAUSED BY IMPROPER TONE UNIT SEGMENTING” Your assistance in responding to the following questions is highly appreciated You can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data In completing these questions, please choose the answer by circling the letter next to your choice or expressing your ideas in the blanks Thank you very much in advance What you dissatisfy most with your students’ speech? A The content B The visual aids C The eye contact and body language D The comprehensibility E The fluency F Other, please specify………………………………………… From your observation, how much you think that the audiences understand the speaker’s speech? A All B Most C Some D A little E Almost none F Other, please specify…………………………………………… Do you think that the students’ speech was difficult for the audiences to comprehend? If yes, why? A They pause so many times B They speak too fast with few pauses C They use many technical terms D They not really understand what they intend to speak E They often read from the paper or slides with little explanation F They not deliberately divide words into meaningful groups G Other…………………………………………………… (You can choose more than one option) If no, why not? ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… Do you think that the students have problems with tone units? A Yes B No If yes, why? A Their low level of proficiency B Lack of practice C Unawareness of basic phonological principles D Carelessness E Other, please specify…………………………………………………… (You can choose more than one option) Have you provided students with knowledge of intonation unit? A Yes B No If yes, was your lesson successful? A Yes B No C Not really Did you have any difficulty when teaching intonation and tone units for students? Yes No If yes, please list out your difficulties ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… What should we to help our students to improve their speech comprehensibility? A Expose them to native conversations and speech B Improve students level of proficiency C Give them more chances to practice D Enhance their knowledge about tone unit segmentation E Other, please specify…………………………………………………… (You can choose more than one option) Thank you very much for your co-operation! PEERCHECK EVALUATION OF PRESENTATION Presenter’s name:…………………………………ID number……………………… Date of Presentation……………………… Marker…………………………………… CRITERIA MARK COMMENT Content & Structure Topic was new & interesting Topic was stated clearly in introduction, body & conclusion Introduction hooked listeners & gave frame of the talk The information & arguments were comprehensible to follow The conclusion was persuasive & strong Performance Clear pronunciation & techniques with the voice (the use of pause and pitch) Vivid Body Language & eye contact Illustrative visual aids Maintained audience attention Question handling 10 Responsive & intelligent answers TOTAL MARK Note: Marking range is 10 for every criterion The total mark is Z/100