Some pratical experiences used to teach word stress rules in english to grade 10 students at ham rong high school

PART I: INTRODUCTION Reason for choosing the topic As far as we know English is widely used all over the world not only in communication but also in many other aspects such as culture, politics, economy, commerce, tourism and so on Along with mother tongue, everybody in the world can use English to communicate with one another It is English that helps people to be closer, more friendly and understandable Therefore, this language is going to become the common language of human English is the international language, so we have to learn how to pronounce each word correctly and have rhythm, intonation from words to speeches, and one of these problems is “The primary stress position of the words” Determining the primary stress position of the words is one of the most difficult parts in pronunciation whereas it always appears both in communication and in exercises, tests as well as the national examinations During the process of teaching at Ham Rong High School, I have found the methods which can help students determine the primary stress position of the words quickly and effectively That is the reason why I want to write my initiative experience on the topic ‘Some practical experiences used to teach word stress rules in English to grade 10 students at Ham Rong High School’ This is considered to be a reference document, thus I would like the colleagues to give comments and ideas to my initiative so that I can make it perfect and used in real teaching Objective of the study This study is aimed to identify present English teaching and learning situation of the grade 10 students at Ham Rong High School And then, some of learning word stress rule experiences and doing word stress exercises are given Methods of the study The major method is used in this study is quantitative one That is all considerations, comments, remarks, assumptions, suggestions and conclusions given in the study are largely based on the data analysis Data collections for analysis in the study come from the following methods: Theoretical study; Teacher interview; Class observation Scope of the study This study only focuses on how to teach word stress rules to the grade 10 students at Ham Rong High School Overview of the study The study includes three main following parts: Part I is the introduction which includes reason for choosing the topic, objectives of the study, methods of the study, scope of the study and overview of the study Part II is the main content referring to the definition of word stress, main types of word stress used often in reference and formal examinations Part III is the implementing solution instructing students on how to organize learning in pairs, groups and how to arrange desks and chairs during English classes, applying some methods to introduce new materials in a lively and attractive way and teaching students how to exercises related to word stress PART IV is the results, findings, conclusion and proposals PART II: MAIN CONTENT What is word stress? In some languages, each syllable in each word is pronounced with the exact same stress English is not one of those languages English has its own rhythm, complete with its own vocal music This means that one part of a certain word is said louder and longer than other parts of the same word It is something that is completely natural for English speakers, but something ESL students can learn from learning the correct way to pronounce new words, practicing their conversational skills, and by learning the rules for using word stress In linguistics, and particularly phonology, stress or accent is the relative emphasis or prominence given to a certain syllable in a word or to a certain word in a phrase or sentence That emphasis is typically caused by such properties as increased loudness and vowel length, full articulation of the vowel, and changes in tone.[1][2] The terms stress and accent are often used synonymously in that context but are sometimes distinguished For example, when emphasis is produced through pitch alone, it is called pitch accent, and when produced through length alone, it is called quantitative accent.[3] When caused by a combination of various intensified properties, it is called stress accent or dynamic accent; English uses what is called variable stress accent Since stress can be realised through a wide range of phonetic properties, such as loudness, vowel length, and pitch (which are also used for other linguistic functions), it is difficult to define stress solely phonetically The stress placed on syllables within words is called word stress Some languages have fixed stress, meaning that the stress on virtually any multi syllable word falls on a particular syllable, such as the penultimate (e.g Polish) or the first (e.g Finnish) Other languages, like English and Russian, have lexical stress, where the position of stress in a word is not predictable in that way but lexically encoded Sometimes more than one level of stress, such as primary stress and secondary stress, may be identified Stress is not necessarily a feature of all languages: some, such as French and Mandarin, are sometimes analyzed as lacking lexical stress entirely The stress placed on words within sentences is called sentence stress or prosodic stress That is one of the three components of prosody, along with rhythm and intonation It includes phrasal stress (the default emphasis of certain words within phrases or clauses), and contrastive stress (used to highlight an item, a word or part of a word, that is given particular focus) What is a syllable? A syllable is a unit of sound that creates meaning in language Consonants join vowels to create syllables A syllable is one unit of sound in English Syllables join consonants and vowels to form words Syllables can have more than one letter; however, a syllable cannot have more than one sound Syllables can have more than one consonant and more than one vowel, as well However, the consonant(s) and vowel(s) that create the syllable cannot make more than one sound Syllables are formed when a vowel pairs with a consonant to create a unit of sound Define syllables: the definition of syllables is a phonological unit consisting of one or more sounds, including a vowel sound To sum up, a syllable is a unit of sound in language It joins vowels with consonants to create meaning and always contain only one vowel sound Word Stress Rules There are two very simple rules about word stress: one word has only one stress One word cannot have two stresses If you hear two stresses, you hear two words Two stresses cannot be one word It is true that there can be a "secondary" stress in some words But a secondary stress is much smaller than the main [primary] stress, and is only used in long words We can only stress vowels, not consonants Here are some more, rather complicated, rules that can help you understand where to put the stress But not rely on them too much, because there are many exceptions It is better to try to "feel" the music of the language and to add the stress naturally Below is t International Phonetic Alphabet + Strong diphthongs are /ai/, /ei/, /ɔi/, /aʊ/, /iə/, /uə/, /eə/ + Week diphthong is /əu/ + Strong vowels are: /ɜ:/, /i:/, /ɔ:/, /a:/, /u:/, /ʌ/, /æ/, /e/, /ɔ/ + Week vowels are: /u/, /i/ but /ə/ is a week vowel called “Schwa” Note: Stress never falls on week vowel called “Schwa” /ə/ Stress rarely falls on week vowels /u/, /i/ Stress rarely falls on week diphthongs /əu/ 3.1 Word stress rule Stress often falls on syllables having strong diphthongs and vowels according to the priority order as following: + Diphthongs: /ai/, /ei/, /ɔi/, /aʊ/, /iə/, /uə/, /eə/ + Strong long vowels: /ɜ:/, /i:/, /ɔ:/, /a:/, /u:/, /ʌ/, /æ/, /e/, /ɔ/ + Strong short vowels: /ʌ/, /æ/, /e/, /ɔ/ Stress rarely falls on week diphthongs /əu/ and week vowels /u/, /i/ Stress never falls on week vowel sound called “Schwa” /ə/ Eg: - appear /əˈpiə/ - remember /riˈmembə/ - computer /kəmˈpju:tə/ 3.2 Word stress rule In two syllable nouns and adjectives, the first syllable is normally stressed Eg: - picture /ˈpiktʃə/ - happy /ˈhæpi/ - student /ˈstju:dənt/ - yellow /ˈjeləu/ 3.3 Word stress rule In two syllable verbs, the second syllable is normally stressed Eg: - divide /diˈvaid/ - explain /iksˈplein/ - repeat /ripˈi:t/ - behave /biˈheiv/ * There are some special cases with two syllable nouns, adjectives to remember because the second syllable is stressed, not the first This is because of the week vowel sound called “Schwa” /ə/, week diphthong /əu/ and week vowel sounds /i/, /u/ Eg: - machine /məˈʃi:n/ - result /riˈzʌlt/ - marine /məˈri:n/ - extreme /ikˈstri:m/ * There are some special cases with two syllable verbs to remember because the first syllable is stressed, not the second This is because of the week vowel sound called “Schwa” /ə/, week diphthong /əu/ and week vowel sounds /i/, /u/ Eg: - borrow /ˈbɔrəu/ - offer /ˈɔfə/ - listen /ˈlisən/ - travel /ˈtrævəl/ 3.4 Word stress rule Generally, when a prefix or suffix to a root word, the position of the stress is not changed Eg: - disappear /disəˈpiə/ - unemployment /ʌnimˈplɔimənt/ 3.5 Word stress rule The following suffixes are normally stressed Ending suffixses - ee - eer - een - ese - esque Examples degree, employee (exception: committee, coffee) engineer, pioneer fourteen, fifteen Vietnamese, Chinese picturesque - ette - oo/oon - self/selves cigarette bamboo, tattoo, balloon myself, themselves 3.6 Word stress rule Stress falls on the syllables standing just in front of the following suffixes Ending suffixses Examples - cion/sion/tion/ tional suspicion, decision, prevention, international - ic/ics/ical economic, economics, historical (exception: politics) - cial/tial/tual artificial, influential, contractual - sive/ative/itive expensive, comparative, competitive - ous/eous/ious disastrous, advantageous, delicious (exception: dangerous) - ance/ence attendance, independence 3.7 Word stress rule Stress falls on the third from the last syllables with the following endings Ending suffixses Examples - ty/phy/gy/sy/ry/cy community, photography, compulsory, agency - ate considerate, , - ite/ute/ude opposite, institute, attitude - ize/ise modernize, compromise Word stress exercises cited from National reference and formal examinations from 2017 to 2021 Example BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐỀ MINH HOA (Đề thi có 04 trang) KỲ THI TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THƠNG QUỐC GIA NĂM 2017 Môn: TIẾNG ANH Thời gian làm bài: 60 phút, không kể thời gian phát đề Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word that differs from the other three in the position of primary stress in each of the following questions Question 3: A offer B canoe C country D standard Question 4: A pollution B computer C currency D allowance Example BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO KỲ THI TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG QUỐC GIA NĂM 2018 ĐỀ THI THAM KHẢO MÔN: TIẾNG ANH Thời gian: 60 phút Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word that differs from the other three in the position of primary stress in each of the following questions Question 1: A legal B diverse C polite Question 2: A interview B compliment C sacrifice D complete D represent Example BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO KỲ THI TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG QUỐC GIA NĂM 2019 ĐỀ THI THAM KHẢO Bài thi: NGOẠI NGỮ; Mơn thi: TIẾNG ANH (Đề thi có 05 trang) Thời gian làm bài: 60 phút, không kể thời gian phát đề Họ, tên thí sinh: Mã đề thi 001 Số báo danh: Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word that differs from the other three in the position of primary stress in each of the following questions Question 3: A inform B explore Question 4: A attitude B manager C prevent C invention D cancel D company Example BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO KỲ THI TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG QUỐC GIA NĂM 2020 ĐỀ THI THAM KHẢO Bài thi: NGOẠI NGỮ; Mơn thi: TIẾNG ANH (Đề thi có 05 trang) Thời gian làm bài: 60 phút, không kể thời gian phát đề Họ, tên thí sinh: Mã đề thi 001 Số báo danh: Mark the lener A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word that differs from the other three in the position of primary stress in each of the following questions QQuestion 3:AA correct BB final QQuestion 4:A A attractive B B average CC heavy CC classical D normal D regular Example BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO KỲ THI TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THƠNG QUỐC GIA NĂM 2017 ĐỀ THI CHÍNH THỨC Bài thi: NGOẠI NGỮ; Mơn thi: TIẾNG ANH (Đề thi có 06 trang) Thời gian làm bài: 60 phút, không kể thời gian phát đề Họ, tên thí sinh: Mã đề thi 405 Số báo danh: Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word that differs from the other three in the position of primary stress in each of the following questions Question A effective B national C popular D difficult Question A reply C future D Singer B answer Example BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐỀ THI CHÍNH THỨC (Đề thi có 06 trang) KỲ THI TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG QUỐC GIA NĂM 2018 Bài thi: NGOẠI NGỮ; Môn thi: TIẾNG ANH Thời gian làm bài: 60 phút, không kể thời gian phát đề Họ, tên thí sinh: Mã đề thi 305 Số báo danh: Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word that differs from the other three in the position of primary stress in each of the following questions Question 9: A sympathy B poverty C equipment D character Question 10: A intend B install D Decide C follow Example BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐỀ THI CHÍNH THỨC (Đề thi có 06 trang) KỲ THI TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG QUỐC GIA NĂM 2019 Bài thi: NGOẠI NGỮ; Môn thi: TIẾNG ANH Thời gian làm bài: 60 phút, khơng kể thời gian phát đề Họ, tên thí sinh: Mã đề thi 401 Số báo danh: Mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word that differs from the other three in the position of primary stress in each of the following questions Question 1: A consist B carry C remove D protect Question 2: A solution B principal C passenger D continent Example 10 BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐỀ THI CHÍNH THỨC KỲ THI TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG QUỐC GIA NĂM 2020 Bài thi: NGOẠI NGỮ; Mơn thi: TIẾNG ANH (Đề thi có 06 trang) Thời gian làm bài: 60 phút, không kể thời gian phát đề Họ, tên thí sinh: Mã đề thi 403 Số báo danh: Mark the letter А, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word that differs from the other three in the position of primary stress in each of the following questions Question 3: A consider B discover C imagine D decorate Question 4: A beauty C album D question B success Example BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐỀ THI CHÍNH THỨC (Đề thi có 06 trang) KỲ THI TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG QUỐC GIA NĂM 2020 Bài thi: NGOẠI NGỮ; Môn thi: TIẾNG ANH Thời gian làm bài: 60 phút, không kể thời gian phát đề Họ, tên thí sinh: Mã đề thi 405 Số báo danh: Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word that differs from the other three in the position of primary stress in each of the following questions Question 1: A beauty B question Question 2: A consider B decorate C success D album C discover D imagine Example 10 11 BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐỀ THI THAM KHẢO (Đề thi có 05 trang) KỲ THI TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG QUỐC GIA NĂM 2021 Bài thi: NGOẠI NGỮ; Môn thi: TIẾNG ANH Thời gian làm bài: 60 phút, khơng kể thời gian phát đề Họ, tên thí sinh: Số báo danh: Mark the letter А, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word that differs from the other three in the position of primary stress in each of the following questions Question 3: A achieve B supply C insist D offer Question 4: A tradition B candidate C industry D customer PART III: IMPLEMENTING SOLUTIONS Real state of teaching and learning word stress at Ham Rong High School During the process of teaching English at Ham Rong High School, having taught students to study in order to get GCSE, take part in advanced student examinations and entrance examinations to universities and colleges, I have realized that most of students are bad at not only knowledge but also the skill of identifying the primary stress position of the words when they exercises, tests and examinations To word stress exercises well requires students to have certain knowledge of word stress rules, and they have to know and remember the main rules of position of the primary stress of words They may learn them by heart and apply these rules to exercises flexibly so that they will get good result Many years ago, when taking the national examinations, students had a lot of difficulties in identifying the main stress of the words in the test At that 12 time only about 45 percent of the students of Ham Rong High School was able to this kind of exercise From this consequence, we can see that if the teachers pay no attention to innovating the methods of teaching and helping students to have the best ways to determine the primary stress position of the words, they cannot understand how to it quickly and effectively To improve above consequence as well as help the students of our school to this kind of this exercise better and more confidently, I have applied some methods mentioned above called the rules of determining the primary stress position of the words quickly, effectively For the teachers Teachers should guide, examine and remark the students to study the methods of determining the primary stress position of the words quickly, and effectively What the teachers should is to follow the process of teaching English especially when teaching students to exercises, tests, study for getting GCSE, attend to advanced students examinations or entrance examinations to university Supply useful knowledge and good experiences for myself in order to improve the quality of teaching For the students In order to get the best marks on the word stress tests and examinations, students have to determine the objectives, the requirement and the importance of learning and understand the methods of determining the primary stress position of the words quickly, effectively when doing exercises, tests and especially GCSE examinations Knowing how to apply the methods of determining the primary stress position of the words to exercise, tests and examinations is as important as speaking English perfectly with accurate stress PART IV: RESULTS, FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND PROPOSALS Results At Ham Rong School I teach English in three classes: 10B1, 10B4, and 10B12 In these classes, 10B1 only learn English to pass National examination for GCSE The other two classes 10B4, 10B12 learn English to pass entrance 13 examination into university In order to notify the importance of mastering some common stress rules applied in doing tests and exams not only at school but also at GCSE examination during my teaching course, on the first term fifteenth minute test I did not teach the common rules of marking the main stress on the words to see what marks they get Students did word stress exercises by remembering the words they have learned or by guessing So the results achieved in the first term were low as can be seen from the table below Number Class 10B1 10B4 10B12 to 10 8/53 10/50 8/46 Marks 6.5 to 7.9 to 6.4 13/53 15/53 13/50 14/50 12/46 15/46 Uder 17/53 13/50 11/46 As can be seen from the table above that when having a little knowledge of stress rules, students find it difficult to stress word exercises correctly The total number of students of all three classes is 149 but only 26 students get marks from to 10, 38 students from 6.5 to 7.9, 44 from t0 6.4 Unfortunately, the number of students getting marks under is quite high with 41 students Seeing that the marks they got were quite low, I taught some common rules used to determine the main stress to help them get better results on stress word tests I have taught 10B1 only some basic knowledge of determining word stress on words with two, three and four syllables in English because this class learn English to pass GCSE examination As for 10B4 and 10B12, apart from basic knowledge, they are taught advance knowledge of determining word stress on words with two, three and four syllables in English because these classes use marks on English to enter universities It is undeniable that with different objects of students, the requirement of knowledge is also different With students studying not very well and badly, or students learning English to pass GCSE exam, I only teach them how to use some common stress word rules, which are included in the textbook But with students studying English quite well or excellently to pass entrance 14 examination to enter university which requires broad knowledge of English, I have taught them some irregular stress word rules After teaching stress word rules to students in three classes I have obtained the following results when they have tests or exams: Number Class 10B1 10B4 10B12 to 10 15/53 20/50 17/46 Marks 6.5 to 7.9 to 6.4 25/53 11/53 22/50 8/50 21/46 8/46 Uder 2/53 0/50 0/46 It can be seen from the table that in each class, the number of the students receiving good marks on the English stress word tests is increasing amazingly As for 10B1 students who not use English to pass the entrance examination to enter university, they only learn how to use the basic forms of stress word rules, the number of students receiving marks to 10 on stress word test increases from to 15 students per total 43 students whereas 10B4 has the biggest number of students getting good marks (20 per 50 students) The most important thing is that when teaching them how to use both basic and advanced word stress rules, students will avoid mistakes doing stress word exercises (poor marks: 10B1: students, 10B4: student, 10B12: student) Findings In our real life we sometimes use word stress to express our thought, feeling, or ideas in our conversation Word stress plays a very important part in forming a term exam or a GCSE exam For example: These words appear from Unit to Unit 16 of English 10  Verbs: fasten, alternate, announce, harrow, persuade, insert, characterize, engrave, flourish, memorialize………  Adjectives: typical, ambitious, humane, disabled, photogenic, romantic, powerful, solemn, professional, unusual………  Nouns: profession, semester, background, permission, destination, cartoon, documentary, atmosphere, shortage, herbicide, vessel, merchant………… Conclusion 15 English - Course helps us to increasingly integrate into the modern world The language proficiency at a basic level in secondary schools will help high school students to learn better and can get a good job after graduation Compared with previous years, the situation of English teaching has much positive, paying special attention to training for students four skills: Listening - speaking – reading - writing and the teaching of grammar also indispensable, not be underestimated So teachers are always positive, proactive innovative teaching methods, explore, creative ways of organizing teaching to suit each student subjects and teaching conditions in the locality But there are still many aspects need to discuss further measures to be feasible on the basis of theoretical as well as practical experience of teaching to better, more effective The content that I presented above is just my own experience, so it will definitely has flaw But for the purpose of improving the quality of education, I hope this subject can contribute some useful teaching experience I hope to receive many valuable comments from friends and colleagues Proposals - Schools and classroom should have adequate investment in infrastructure and teaching facilities to meet the increasing requirements in the education towards innovation today - Teachers must prepare carefully for their lesson by mastering the content, the focus of the lesson knowledge They must be scientific editors of exercises on PowerPoint - Students must promote positive elevation in the study They voluntarily participate in practice, and are not afraid of making mistakes The preparation of the lesson at home of the students is also essential - Parents must really be interested in learning English of their children 16 XÁC NHẬN CỦA THỦ Thanh Hóa, ngày 12 tháng năm 2021 TRƯỞNG ĐƠN VỊ Tôi xin cam đoan SKKN viết, khơng chép nội dung người khác (Ký ghi rõ họ tên) Phạm Thị Ngọc Yến 17 18 ... word stress at Ham Rong High School During the process of teaching English at Ham Rong High School, having taught students to study in order to get GCSE, take part in advanced student examinations... examination into university In order to notify the importance of mastering some common stress rules applied in doing tests and exams not only at school but also at GCSE examination during my teaching... learning the rules for using word stress In linguistics, and particularly phonology, stress or accent is the relative emphasis or prominence given to a certain syllable in a word or to a certain word