The problems in learning English intonation of 11th form students at Phan Dinh Phung High school

Vietnam National University, Hanoi University of Languages and International Study Faculty of Post-graduate Studies DƯƠNG LAN HƯƠNG The PROBLEMS IN LEARNING ENGLISH INTONATION OF 11TH FORM STUDENTS at Phan Dinh Phung high school (NHỮNG VẤN ĐỀ TRONG VIỆC HỌC NGỮ ĐIỆU TIẾNG ANH CỦA HỌC SINH LỚP 11 TẠI TRƯỜNG PTTH PHAN ĐÌNH PHÙNG) M.A Minor Programme Thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410 Hanoi, 2010 Vietnam National University, Hanoi University of Languages and International Study Faculty of Post-graduate Studies DƯƠNG LAN HƯƠNG The PROBLEMS IN LEARNING ENGLISH INTONATION OF 11TH FORM STUDENTS at Phan Dinh Phung high school (NHỮNG VẤN ĐỀ TRONG VIỆC HỌC NGỮ ĐIỆU TIẾNG ANH CỦA HỌC SINH LỚP 11 TẠI TRƯỜNG PTTH PHAN ĐÌNH PHÙNG) M.A Minor Programme Thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410 Supervisor: Dr Hà Cẩm Tâm Table of Content Page Certificate of originality i Acknowledgement ii Abstract iii Table of Contents iv List of tables and diagrams vii Part A: Introduction 1 Rationale Aims of the study Scope of the study Research methodology Research question Organization of the study Part B: Development Chapter 1: Literature review 1.1 Definition of intonation 1.2 Pitch 1.3 Stress 1.3.1 Word stress 1.3.2 The nature of stress 1.3.3 Primary stress, secondary stress and unstressed 1.3 Tonic stress 10 1.4 Rhythm iv 1.4.1 The contrast between stressed and unstressed syllables 10 1.4.2 The timing pattern 11 1.4.3 Level of rhythm 11 1.4.3.1 Word rhythm 11 1.4.3.2 Sentence rhythm 12 1.5 Tone unit 13 1.6 Intonation patterns 14 1.6.1 The falling tune- the glide down 14 1.6.2 The first rising tune – the glide up 15 1.6.3 The second rising tune – The take off 16 1.6.4 The falling rising tune – the dive 16 18 Chapter 2: the study 2.1 Research question 18 2.2 Design of the study 18 2.2.1 Participants 18 2.2.2 Data collection instrument 19 2.2.2.1 Listening test 20 2.2.2.2 Practice test 21 2.2.3 Data collection procedures 23 2.2.4 Analytical framework 23 2.3 Data Analysis and discussion 24 2.3.1 Analysis of test results 24 2.3.1.1 Listening test result 24 2.3.1.2 Practice test result 27 31 2.3.2 Discussion and findings 34 Part C: Conclusion 34 Major findings v Implications 35 Limitations 36 Recommendations for further study 37 References 38 Appendices I Appendix 1: Listening and Practice Tests I Appendix 2: Keys to Listening and Practice Test III Appendix 3: Diagrams V vi List of table and diagram Table 1: The glide down usages Table 2: The glide up usages Table 3: The take off usages Table 4: The dive usages Table 5: Results of the listening test Table 6: The students’ performance of utterance “The London train?” Table 7: The result of the two pronunciation test Diagram 1: Spectrogram of model voice analyzing of “The London Train?” Diagram 2: The eighth student’s performance of “The London train?” Diagram 3: The tenth student’s performance of “The London train?” Diagram 4: The sixth student’s performance of “The London train?” Diagram 5: The seventh student’s performance of “The London train?” Diagram 6: The first student’s performance of “The London train?” Diagram 7: The third student’s performance of “The London train?” Diagram 8: The second student’s performance of “The London train?” Diagram 9: The forth student’s performance of “The London train?” Diagram 10: The fifth student’s performance of “The London train?” Diagram 11: The ninth student’s performance of “The London train?” Diagram 12: The spectrogram of model voice of “Did you enjoy your meal? Diagram 13: The Tenth student’s performance of “Did you enjoy your meal?” Chart 1: Correct answers in the listening test vii Part A: Introduction Rationale English is undoubtedly considered a golden key to open the door to such fields as commerce, science and technology throughout the world Therefore, it is necessary to teach this language in educational establishments of all levels One of the most important purposes of learning English is to communicate with other people especially native speakers while communication is mainly based on speaking in which intonation is an important aspect Therefore, how to speak English smoothly and fluently with an accurate intonation is essential to any learners of English including Vietnamese learners By nature, there exist certain differences between English and Vietnamese in terms of pronunciation such as differences in consonants, vowels, stress and so on In conducting this research, the researcher aims to focus on differences between two languages in one aspect of pronunciation called intonation Due to intonation distinction, Vietnamese learners of English find it difficult to master the target language While English is the language of intonation, in which the changes of pitch within an utterance may result in different messages conveyed; Vietnamese is the language of tone in which the change of pitch within a word or syllable leads to different words This difference between two languages will be described more clearly in the next chapter However, during the course of the research‟s study and teaching practice, it is found that little or even no attention is paid to the teaching and learning of pronunciation In addition, among many aspects of pronunciation, intonation is often neglected in English teaching at primary and secondary schools Students are taught about this issue when they are in university or college; so many of them find it difficult to realize and to pronounce an utterance with accurate intonation As a result, their English does not sound native-like Similarly, students always have troubles in listening and understanding native speakers This leads to the fact that a lot of them feel shy and unconfident in speaking English This research is carried out in order to study errors students make with one kind of intonation pattern called the glide up The research is based on the 11th form textbook of English, which are being taught for students in Phan Dinh Phung High School, Hanoi and Lifeline – pre-intermediate, a very popular textbook for Vietnamese learners now Aim of the study This thesis aims to find out common errors of the11th form students in realizing and pronouncing the glide up Basing on those findings from the investigation, implications for teachers of English to help their students overcome their mistakes will be given Scope of the study The theory of English intonation is very complicated with various components and linguistic points of views Within the scope of this research, the focus is put on one kind of intonation pattern – the glide up which is introduced in the textbook for high school learners By this way, the thesis desires to achieve a specific result about how the glide up is realized in students‟ communication Research methodology Data collection methods used in this study include calculating percentage of correct answers in the listening test, recording the students‟ voices in two short dialogues adapted from Lifeline preintermediate textbook Details of methodology applied in the study are discussed in part B, chapter Research question The main purpose of the study is to investigate the students‟ competence in recognizing and producing the glide up intonation pattern To achieve this objective, the study seeks the answers to the following questions: What problems the 11th form students have in using English glide-up? Organization of the study To achieve the aims of the study, this paper is divided into three parts They are INTRODUCTION, DEVELOPMENT and CONCLUSION INTRODUCTION includes the rationale, the aims, the scope, the methods and the organization of the study DEVELOPMENT, the most significant part of the study, consists of two chapters Chapter provides theoretical background knowledge of the studied issue touched upon in the research There are four sub parts in this chapter Firstly, the definition of intonation is presented; secondly, discussion of all other issue related to intonation is followed Thirdly, the basic unit of intonation called the tone unit is discussed Lastly, kinds of intonation patterns are introduced Chapter II covers methodology applied in the study The research question comes first, followed by an introduction to the subjects of the research, the data instruments and the procedures and methodology used for data collection In this chapter, the discussion and interpretation of the collected data is given to find out errors made by the subjects of the research in producing the glide up based on an analysis of their performance in the listening and pronunciation tests CONCLUSION is the summary of major findings of the research, followed by implications and suggestions for teachers of English Limitation of the study and suggestions for further study are also included in the chapter 36 among syllables as the native speaker‟s Or even, most of them made more than one or no interval of stressed elements compared to the model voice Therefore, this fact in the learning of English needs to be studied more in the future to find out effective solutions Above are some findings that are based on data analyzing from the investigation They are also the basic for the researcher to suggest some recommendations for teaching and learning English in the following section Implications The results of the study suggest that it is essential for both teachers and learners of English to be aware of the importance of speaking English in correct intonation As mentioned above, intonation is often neglected in teaching, so one of the first thing need to be implemented is that teachers spend more time for this issue in their lessons Like the other aspects of pronunciation, intonation should be taught regularly every day Therefore, teacher should design some suitable exercises for students to drill For students, they firstly need to be aware of importance of intonation in communication in English Only by having knowledge about this issue and its role in mastering the target language learners pay attention to intonation Additionally, having knowledge about this aspect of pronunciation, students will distinguish difference between two languages and avoid the mother tongue interference Furthermore, it is important for students to have a plan of drilling to improve their spoken English in term of intonation One of the best ways to study English intonation is listening and imitation Thus, self-studying at home is very necessary for learners Additionally, it had better for learner to study from his own errors This means that when students are aware of their mistakes and instructed to correct them, their competence will be advanced more rapidly In order to overcome errors in confusing between kinds of intonation pattern, students should listen regularly to utterances with various intonation patterns to identify difference Lastly, real communication in English is very necessary for every learner to improve his English intonation From the result of the research, it is clear students are able to realize 37 intonation used by native speakers; however, they cannot produce accurate intonation as the same native speakers can This fact indicates that only theory lessons at class are not enough for learners but they need to play role in real communication with other, especially communication with native speakers as much as possible In conclusion, this thesis concentrates on studying errors made by the 11th form students in Phan Dinh Phung High School in Hanoi in recognition and producing glide up intonation pattern As mentioned in the previous chapters, it is the fact that students‟ competence in listening and pronouncing glide up is problematic Thus, from the result of the investigation it is necessary for both teacher and learner to be aware of this situation to improve effectiveness of teaching and learning English The researcher is limited term of scope and number of subjects, this clearly affects to validity of the research‟s result Limitations Within the time and scope of the investigation, the researcher carries the study in one type of intonation pattern called the glide up and applies for the 11th form students by using the textbook Lifelines pre-intermediate Thus, the study cannot cover all the four basic intonation patterns in English Additionally, another limitation of the investigation is that the research cannot be conducted on a large number of subjects Due to these disadvantages, over generalization and subjectivity are unavoidable Recommendation for further study It is highly suggested that a further study be carried out with the other three intonation patterns including glide down, take off and dive, and in a larger context in order to achieve preciseness, effectiveness of the research A further study will be hoped to apply with communicative competence 38 References Bradford, B (1988) Intonation in context Student’s book Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Brazil, D (1997) The communicative value of intonation in English Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Dalton, C & Seiddlhofer, B (1994) Pronunciation – Language Teaching: A scheme for Teacher Education London: Oxford University Press Hancock, M (2001) English Pronunciation in use Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Hutchinson, T (1997) Lifelines Elementary & Pre-intermediate Oxford: Oxford University Press Kenworthy, J (1987) Teaching English Pronunciation London& NewYork: Longman O‟Connor, J.D (1977) Better English pronunciation Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Roarch, P (1990) English phonetics and phonology - A practical course Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Wong, R (1987) Teaching Pronunciation: Focus on English rhythm and intonationLanguage in Education Eagle-wood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice -Hall 10 Tench, P (1996) The intonation system of English Cassell: Wellington House 11 Nguyen Huy Ky (2006) English intonation by the Vietnamese Hanoi: culture and information publish house 12 Chuen-Yn Fan, Chi-Fen Chen, & Hsiang-Pao Lin (1996) Helping Chinese Students to Develop Sensitivity to English Rhythm Department of the Humanities Chia Nan College of Pharmacy & Science Tainan, Taiwan, R.O.C 13 http://www.eltnews.com/features/thinktank/007_st.shtml 14 http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/pron/rhythm.shtml 15 http://members.tripod.com/chiffenchen/papers/paper-2.html Appendix I The listening and practice tests The test is designed for my study on student’s errors in realizing and pronouncing Glide up intonation pattern Your assistance in fulfilling the test is highly appreciated Thank you in advance for your time and your cooperation You have minutes to look through the test below before listening to the tape and choose correct answers Test1 Listen carefully and draw intonation ( ngữ điệu) in each sentence by circling your choice What shall we this evening? A: Go down B: Go up C: Level Why is your jacket on the floor? A: Go down B: Go up C: Level I’m going to see my friend A: Go down B: Go up C: Level Do you want a cup of coffee? A: Go down B: Go up C: Level Is it windy today? A: Go down B: Go up C: Level I suppose you’re right A: Go down B: Go up C: Level Is that a good idea? A: Go down B: Go up C: Level Where would you like to live? A: Go down B: Go up C: Level Test2 Practice these conversations This dialogue is between a customer and a station staff, the customer is wondering about the departure time of the next train and he asks the staff for time I Part I A: Excuse me What time does the next train leave? B: The London train? A: Yes B: Twenty three minutes past two I A: Thank you The dialogue happens at a restaurant, the customer have a meal at the restaurant in the first time The waiter asks the customer to know his real feeling of foods in the restaurant II Part II Waiter: Did you enjoy your meal? Customer: Yes Thank you Thank you very much! II Appendix II Key to the tests The listening test Go down Go down Go down Go up Go up Go down Go up Go down The Practice test Test A: Excuse B: The me What time does the next train leave? London train? A: Yes B: Twenty three minutes past two A: Thank you Test Waiter: Did you enjoy your meal? III Customer: Yes Thank you IV Appendix III Diagram 1: Spectrogram of model voice analyzing of “The London Train?” Diagram 2: The eighth student’s performance of “The London train?” V Diagram 3: The tenth student’s performance of “The London train?” Diagram 4: The sixth student’s performance of “The London train?” Diagram 5: The seventh student’s performance of “The London train?” Diagram 6: The first student’s performance of “The London train?” VI Diagram 7: The third student’s performance of “The London train?” Diagram 8: The second student’s performance of “The London train?” L Diagram 9: The fourth student’s performance of “The London train?” VII Diagram 10: The fifth student’s performance of “The London train?” Diagram 11: The ninth student’s performance of “The London train?” Diagram 12: The spectrogram of model voice of “Did you enjoy your meal? VIII Diagram 13: The Tenth student’s performance of “Did you enjoy your meal?” Diagram 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21,22: The first to nineth student’s performance of “Did you enjoy your meal?” IX X XI XII