teaching the schwa to first year english majors at nong lam university

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HCM CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS AND LITERATURE HỒ NGỌC TRÂM TEACHING THE SCHWA /Ə/ TO FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS AT NONG LAM UNIVERSITY A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (TESOL) Supervisor: TÔ MINH THANH, Ph.D Ho Chi Minh City – March, 2011 in memory of my late papa and grandma i CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I hereby certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled: TEACHING THE SCHWA /Ə/ TO FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS AT NÔNG LÂM UNIVERSITY in terms of the statement of Requirements for Theses in Master’s Programs issued by Higher Degree Committee Ho Chi Minh City, February 2011 HỒ NGỌC TRÂM ii RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, HỒ NGỌC TRÂM, being the candidate for the degree of Master in TESOL, accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s theses deposited in the Library In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Library for the care, loan or reproduction of the theses Ho Chi Minh City, February 2011 HỒ NGỌC TRÂM iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First and foremost, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to my supervisor, Dr Tô Minh Thanh for her constant valuable guidance, eminently practical advice and word-by-word comments on my writing Without her help, this M.A thesis would still be far from finished My special thanks go to Dr Nguyễn Thị Kiều Thu, without whom this thesis could not have written up Additional thanks go to Mr Võ Duy Minh for his great help and tremendous support throughout my writing Thanks to Hugh, without whom much of what is written in this thesis would never have taken place Thanks to Thùy Trinh, without whom this thesis could hardly be produced Thanks also to FFL teachers for their constant encouragement, to my students from whose problems the very first idea of the thesis emerged I also owe sincere thanks to all my teachers and friends for the knowledge they shared and the precious time they spent with me on my thesis Finally, I am deeply indebted to my family, especially my paternal aunties, for their warm love, unfailing help and support iv ABSTRACT Teaching suprasegmentals currently attracts considerable attention from EFL teachers Several researches into the suprasegmental aspects of the English language especially the stress have been conducted yet the unstress is still disregarded Contrary to the growing tendency, Underhill [1994: 73] emphasizes that “for stress to exist it is necessary that unstressed also exists, and rhythm is created by the relationship between the two For our learners this means that production and practice of stress must go hand-in-hand with production and practice of unstress, since one cannot exist without the other.” Therefore, this thesis is written to raise awareness of the unstress, to highlight the significance of the most common vowel sound in the unstress — the schwa, and to emphasize the role of the schwa in improving learners’ oral skills The study done for this M.A thesis first works on the theory related to the schwa as an aspect of both segmentals and suprasegmentals, its relation to other suprasegmentals and its connection with the oral skills in English The study then investigates the current teaching and learning of the schwa at FFL, the problems the students encounter in case they fail to recognize and produce the schwa at word level and beyond word level, the effects of teaching the schwa on the students’ oral skills, and the change in the students’ attitude towards the roles of learning the schwa through questionnaires and tests It is found that (1) the first-year English majors at FFL-NLU are not explicitly provided with the schwa, (2) the most common problem the students encounter when they fail to recognize and produce the schwa is the wrong placement of stress, (3) there is an improvement in the students’ oral skills after the teaching of the schwa, and (4) there is a positive change in the v students’ attitude towards the roles of learning the schwa after the experimental teaching On grounds of the findings, some recommendations are made to the students, the teachers and the syllabus on teaching and learning the schwa in particular and teaching and learning pronunciation in general in order to improve the students’ oral skills vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page No Certificate of originality i Retention and use of the thesis ii Acknowledgement iii Abstract iv Table of contents vi List of tables xiv List of charts xviii List of diagrams and figures xix Abbreviations xx Chapter INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the study 1.1.1 The teaching and learning of pronunciation at FFL 1.1.2 Description of the pronunciation course for the first-year English majors 1.1.2.1 Course design 1.1.2.2 Test format 1.2 Rationale for teaching the schwa 1.3 Statement of purpose 1.4 Research questions 1.5 Methodology 1.6 Significance of the study 1.6.1 Theoretical significance 1.6.2 Practical significance 1.7 Overview of the thesis 1.8 Limitations and delimitations vii Chapter LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Linguistic notions 11 2.1.1 Segmental and suprasegmental aspects of languages 11 2.1.2 Speech sounds 12 2.1.2.1 Consonants 12 2.1.2.2 Vowels 13 2.1.2.3 Classification of vowels 13 Simple vowels 15 Diphthongs 15 Triphthongs 16 2.1.3 The schwa 16 2.1.3.1 The schwa as a segmental feature 16 2.1.3.2 The schwa as an aspect of suprasegmentals 17 2.1.3.2.1 The schwa at word level 17 a) Stressed vs unstressed syllables 17 b) Vowel reduction to the schwa in unstressed syllables 18 c) The schwa as an allophone of other vowel phonemes 19 d) The deletion of the schwa 20  The deletion of the schwa in pre-stress and post-stress position 20  Post-stress schwa deletion 21  Pre-stress schwa deletion 21  The deletion of the schwa to form syllabic consonants 22 e) The epenthesis of the schwa 22  The schwa epenthesis to break up consonant clusters 22  The schwa epenthesis before the dark [ ] 23 2.1.3.2.2 The schwa beyond word level – the relation between the schwa and other suprasegmentals 24 a) The schwa in reduced forms 24  The schwa in the weak forms of function words 24 viii  Content words vs function words 24  The schwa in the weak forms of function words 25  The schwa in reduced phrases 26 b) The schwa in linking 26 c) The schwa and the unstress in a sentence 27  Sentence stress 27  Level of sentence stress 27  The schwa and the unstress in a sentence 28 d) The schwa and rhythm 29  The rhythm unit 29  Stress-timed rhythm vs syllable-timed rhythm 30  The schwa and the English rhythm 31 e) The schwa and intonation 31  English tones 31  The intonation unit 32  The schwa and the English intonation 33 2.1.3.3 The relation between the schwa and oral skills 33 2.1.3.3.1 Oral skills 33 2.1.3.3.2 The relation between listening and speaking skills 34 2.1.3.3.3 Pronunciation as a micro-skill of oral skills 34 2.1.3.3.4 The schwa in English pronunciation 35 2.1.3.3.5 The schwa and listening skills 35 2.1.3.3.6 The schwa and speaking skills 36 2.2 Pedagogical notions 36 2.2.1 Approaches in teaching pronunciation 36 2.2.1.1 The intuitive-imitative approach to teaching pronunciation 37 2.2.1.2 The analytic-linguistic approach to teaching pronunciation 37 2.2.1.3 The communicative approach to teaching pronunciation 38 2.2.2 Techniques in teaching the schwa 39 2.2.2.1 Teaching the schwa as a vowel phoneme 39 2.2.2.1 Teaching the schwa in its relation to other suprasegmentals 40 179 receive stress while others not Also, in content words, there are certain syllables stressed while others not 20’ - T draws Ss’ attention to the schwa in unstressed syllables or function words - To help Ss notice the presence of the schwa - T emphasizes that without the schwa and vowel reduction, all the words will receive the same level of stress resulting in the fact that English does not sound English anymore PRACTICE(*) - T gives Ss some activities to practice in class and at home - To emphasize the importance of the schwa - To provide Ss with more practice on the target points - Ss the activities as required (*) PRACTICE Activity 1: Identify the schwa in the following limerick then practice saying it Pay attention to stressed words and remember to reduced unstressed words/ syllables to the schwa The General, a fascist dictator, Suspected his mum was a traitor Turns out he was right, So one stormy night, He fed her to his alligator! Activity 2: Information gap (Pair work) Ask each other questions to find out 10 differences between the two given pictures, following this model dialogue: A: The lady in my picture is reading a BOOK B The lady in my picture is reading a NEWSpaper A: There is ONE dog in my picture 180 B: There are TWO dogs in my picture Remember to reduced unstressed syllables/ words to the schwa 181 Lesson plan Teacher’s name: Hồ Ngọc Trâm Teaching point: The Schwa and English Rhythm Subject: Pronunciation Time allocated: 30 minutes Class: DH09AVA, DH09AVB (pre-intermediate) Date of teaching: 28/04/2010 A Objectives: Knowledge: Provide Ss with knowledge of rhythm and the function of the schwa in forming rhythm Skills: Enable Ss to identify the schwa in a sentence B Teaching aids: handouts, projector, computer, CD player and blackboard C Procedure: Students’ Time Teacher’s activities Purposes Anticipations activities 2’ LEAD-IN - T shows the phrases on the screen - To warm Ss - Ss read the Ss may and asks Ss to read the four up phrases assign stress phrases: 182 5’ and and and and a and a and a and then a and then a and then a PRESENTATION Stress-timed rhythm vs syllable-timed rhythm - T plays the recordings again and asks Ss - To remind Ss which words are stressed of the prior knowledge - T then plays phrase again and beats along - To compare the four phrases - T then plays phrase again and beats along to all words - Ss look at the slide, listen and answer T’s question - Ss listen and pay attention to T’s beating - T then plays phrase again and beats along - T then plays phrase again and beats along - T asks Ss how many beats they can hear in each phrase - T confirms that the beats they hear correspond to the stressed words and that the stressed words recur at equal intervals of time - T reminds Ss of the notion of content words and adds that question words and negatives are also stressed - To lead Ss - Ss answer to the T’s teaching question point - To present - Ss listen the teaching and take point note - To add more information to their prior knowledge - T then gives examples to illustrate the points - T then plays the recordings and - To confirm what has the beating again been presented - Ss listen and pay attention to T’s beating again 183 - T explains to Ss that the amount of time taken to say one phrase or sentence in English language depends on the number of stressed words, not on the total number of syllables as in Vietnamese - To draw Ss’ - Ss listen attention to and take the difference note between English and Vietnamese language - T leads Ss to the fact that that English language is a stress-timed language and Vietnamese language is a syllable-timed language - To provide Ss with general knowledge of stresstimed and syllabletimed language - To help Ss get familiar with rhythm - T then asks Ss to practice the phrases and beat the stressed words at the same time 3’ The schwa and stressed-timed rhythm - T reads the phrases in the slide with all the words stressed - T explains that if all words are stressed, English language is no longer a stressed-timed language - T explains that stress-timed language has stressed-timed rhythm and syllable-timed language has syllable-timed rhythm - T explains what stressed-timed rhythm and syllable-timed rhythm are - T then explains to Ss that in order to create the stressed-timed rhythm, unstressed words or syllables -To introducethe teachingpoint - To recall Ss’ prior knowledge and provide them with new information - The Ss practice the phrases as required - Ss listen to T’s reading - Ss listen and take note Ss may not beat the stressed words; T may help by playing the recordings and doing the beating again 184 must be reduced to the schwa in order to guarantee that the stressed syllables recur at equal intervals of time 20’ - T then plays the recordings and beat along once again PRACTICE(*) - T gives Ss some activities to practice in class and at home (*) - To illustrate the point - To provide Ss with more practice on the target points - Ss the activities as required PRACTICE: Activity 1: (speaking) The teacher tells that she will present the stressed with red rods and the unstressed with blue rods and gives example Then the students are delivered the rods to the activity The students are asked to raise the red and the blue rods to represent the stressed and unstressed in the phrases following the recording Example: Take her home 185 Take it home Light the fire Take it to John Lighting the fire Take it to Johnson He was light-ing the fire Activity : (pair work) Practice saying and beating the following phrases and sentences The stressed words have been capitalized Try to use the weak forms with the schwa of the function words Practice 1: MICE EAT CHEESE The MICE EAT CHEESE The MICE EAT the CHEESE The MICE will EAT the CHEESE The MICE will have EATen the CHEESE Practice 2: She DOESn’t LIKE to HURry Her FAther CLEANed the BASEment I DIDn’t WANT to LEAVE her He HASn’t Even TRIed it They NEED some NEW paJAmas He We It’s I I WANTed to NEEDed to CALL BEtter to WONder who’s THINK that he’s HELP them HIDE KISS DOing her forGET at TEN it from JOHN -ing her NOW it WRONG Activity : Work individually Practice the following limerick Pay attention to the stressed words and the rhythm of the whole limerick Remember to reduce the unstressed syllables/ words to the schwa There once was a man from Peru, Who dreamed of eating his shoe, he awoke with a fright, in the middle of the night, and found that his dream had come true! Lesson plan 10 Teacher’s name: Hồ Ngọc Trâm Teaching point: The Schwa and Intonation Subject: Pronunciation Time allocated: 30 minutes Class: Treatment group (pre-intermediate) Date of teaching: 05/05/2010 186 A Objectives: Knowledge: Provide Ss with knowledge of intonation and the relationship between the schwa and intonation Skills: Enable Ss to reduced vowels to schwa and identify the tone in a sentence B Teaching aids: a projector, a computer, a CD player, a blackboard C Procedure: Students’ Time Teacher’s activities Purposes Anticipations activities 1’ LEAD-IN - T shows the phrases on - To lead Ss to - Ss read the Ss may not the screen and asks Ss to the teaching sentences know where read the three sentences: point to assign Are bananas good? intonation My name's George Footballers have to be young, strong and fit PRESENTATION 3’ Intonation - T shows the slide again - To arouse Ss’ - Ss pay attention with the major sentence interest in the to T’s stress capitalized: teaching presentation Are bananas GOOD? point My name's GEORGE Footballers have to be YOUNG, STRONG and FIT - T reminds Ss of stress - To relate the - Ss recall the and major sentence new prior stress information knowledge with Ss’ prior - T then explains that the knowledge - Ss listen to T’s stressed words are - To provide explanation spoken louder and with Ss with new and take note higher pitch information - T explains what pitch and intonation are 3’ - T emphasizes on the fact that pitch changes on major sentence stress Rising intonation - T writes the two questions on the board: Are bananas GOOD? He arrives around - To arouse Ss’ - Ss look at the interest in the screen and teaching as required point 187 NOON, DOESn’t he? - T asks Ss to identify the major sentence stress - T reads the two questions and asks Ss to tell how the pitch changes on the major sentence stress - T then displays the questions on the screen using arrows to show the change of pitch on the major sentence stress: Are bananas GOOD? - To draw Ss’ attention to the relationship between major sentence stress and intonation - Ss listen and as required - Ss look at the screen and pay attention to T’s reading and explanation He arrives around NOON, DOESn’t he? 2’ - T reads the two questions again and confirms that the intonation rises at the words good and does(n’t) - To confirm the information - T explains that yes-no questions have rising intonation - To provide Ss with new information - T asks Ss to practice reading the sentences in pairs - To help Ss get used to - Ss practice in the pairs intonation in yes-no questions - To lead Ss to the new point - Ss listen to T’s explanation and take note - T draws Ss’ attention to the tag question and explains that the tag can have rising intonation in order to ask for information or falling intonation to make conversation Falling intonation - T draws Ss’ attention to the statement in the tag question - To draw Ss’ attention to the teaching - Ss as required 188 point - T reads the statement and asks Ss to tell how the - To arouse Ss’ pitch changes on the major interest in the sentence stress teaching point - T then confirms that the - To provide intonation falls on the Ss with the major sentence stress teaching point - T then read the question - To confirm the teaching once again point - To provide - T adds that wh-questions and imperatives also Ss with more information receive falling intonation T on the then gives examples: teaching What’ your NAME? point Put it on the TAble - Ss listen and take note - Ss listen to T’s reading - Ss listen to T’s explanation and take note - T then draws Ss’ attention to the list of items: You need a pen, a pencil and some paper - T explains that in listing items, the final item will receive falling intonation while others receive rising intonation You need a PEN, a PENcil and some PAper - T then has Ss practice the sentences again 2’ Intonation and the schwa - T draws Ss’ attention to the unstressed words in the above sentences - T presents that stressed - To help Ss get used to falling intonation - Ss practice the sentences again - To provide Ss with essential information - Ss listen and take note on the information - To confirm 189 19’ syllables are spoken with higher pitch while major sentence stress is spoken with the highest pitch the teaching points - T explains that the vowel within a stressed syllable is pronounced fully while the vowel in an unstressed syllable is reduced to the schwa - To provide Ss with new information - T explains that the schwa is very important in that it helps to chain words together to create the rhythm of the language and to help put the highest pitch on the major sentence stress and thus create the intonation of the whole sentence PRACTICE(*) - T gives Ss some activities to practice - To provide Ss with more practice on the target points - Ss the activities as required 190 (*) PRACTICE: Activity 1: Listen to the following tag questions From the intonation, decide if the speaker is asking a real question (rising intonation) or just “making conversation” (falling intonation) Asking question Making conversation Asking question Making conversation Asking question Making conversation Asking question Making conversation Asking question Making conversation Asking question Making conversation Activity 2: Listen and practice the intonation of these alternative questions Reduce unstressed syllables/ words to the schwa Is the customer’s name James or Jameson? Does he live in Daisy Way or Daisy Lane? Is the problem about magazines or newspapers? He didn’t get any newspapers one day Was it Wednesday or Thursday? Does he have The Daily Telegraph or The Times? Activity 3: (pair work) Work with your partner and take turns to interview to complete the following information: Name: Nickname: Hometown: Address: Hobbies: Others: 191 Lesson plan 11 Teacher’s name: Hồ Ngọc Trâm Teaching point: Extra Activities on the Schwa Subject: Pronunciation Time allocated: 30 minutes Class: Treatment group (pre-intermediate) Date of teaching: 12/05/2010 A Objectives: - Provide Ss with practice in identifying the schwa - Provide Ss with practice in producing the schwa beyond word level B Teaching aids: a projector, a computer, a CD player, a blackboard C Procedure: Students’ Time Teacher’s activities Purposes activities 2’ LEAD-IN - T divides Ss into pairs - To prepare Ss - Ss stay in pairs and explains what they for the and listen to the should in the practice: activities T’s explanation  Each pair will come into the room at a time  There are poems  For poem 1, one student in the pair will pick out the schwas in the poem within 10 seconds  The other student will read the poem, pay attention to the schwa in the unstressed syllables  For poem 2, their roles are reversed 28’ PRESENTATION - T calls each pair into the - To provide Ss - Ss look at the room and show the first with a chance screen poem on the screen: to look at the There once was a lady from poem Niger, Anticipations 192 Who went for a ride on a tiger They came back from the ride With the lady inside, And a smile on the face of the tiger - T asks the first student in the pair to identify the schwas - To the activity - T then asks the second student to read the poem - The first S in the pair identifies the schwas - The second student in the pair reads the poem - T shows the second poem on the screen: There was an old man from Darjeeling, who got on a bus bound for Ealing It said on the door, "Do not spit on the floor" So he carefully spat on the ceiling - T asks Ss to change their roles - To assure that all - Ss change their Ss in the class roles have a chance to show what they have learned and how well they understand the teaching points - T then counts the number of the schwas found in each poem and marks Ss’ pronunciation basing on their pronunciation of the schwas in the poems - To pick out the winners - T ends the activity - To end the activity - To make it clear to Ss the distribution of the schwa - T asks all Ss to come into the classroom, take a seat and provides them with the answers - Ss come into the classroom, take a seat and take note of the answers 193 - T plays the recordings of the two poems and asks Ss to repeat the poems - To provide Ss with a chance to practice the poems again - T announces the winners - The winners are awarded - To encourage and inspire Ss - Ss repeat the poems ... recognize the schwa? What problems first- year English majors at NLU encounter if they fail to produce the schwa? What benefits does the teaching of the schwa bring to the students? How does the students’... background to the study, (2) states the rationale for teaching the schwa to first- year English majors at NLU, (3) sets the aim of the study, (4) frames the research questions, (5) asserts the methodology... of pronunciation at FFL 2 1.1.2 Description of the pronunciation course for the first- year English majors The Pronunciation course at FFL focuses on providing the first- year English majors with