As far as we concerned, determining the primary stress position of the words is one of the most difficult and complex parts in phonetic whereas it always appears both in communication an
Trang 11 INTRODUCTION
1.1 The reason of selecting 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, trade, tourism and so forth Along with mother tongue, everybody in the world can use English to communicate with one another It is English that helps people closer, more friendly, and more understandable Undoubtedly, this language has become the global language of human beings
English is considered the international language; therefore, we have to learn how to pronounce words correctly as well as have rhythm and intonation
to make a beautiful speech It is word stress that can contribute to this As far as
we concerned, determining the primary stress position of the words is one of the most difficult and complex parts in phonetic whereas it always appears both in communication and doing exercises, tests as well as the state examinations During the process of teaching at Trieu Son 3 high school, I have found out the methods which can help students determine the primary stress position of the
words quickly, effectively And I am writing into my experience initiative “THE METHODS HELP THE STUDENTS OF TRIEU SON 3 HIGH SCHOOL DETERMINE THE PRIMARY STRESS POSITION OF THE ENGLISH WORDS QUICKLY, EFFECTIVELY” This is considered to be a reference
document, thus I would like the colleagues to give comments and ideas to my experience initiative so that I can make it perfect and practically used in teaching
1.2 Objectives, tasks, methodology and scope of research
1.2.1 Objectives of research
1.2.1.1 For the students
- Determine the objectives, the requirement and the importance of English
- Understand the methods of determining the primary stress position of the words quickly, effectively when doing exercises, tests and examinations
- Know how to apply the methods of determining the primary stress position of the words to do exercises, tests and examinations about stress and speak English with stress to make the speech more perfect as well
1.2.1.2 For the teacher
- Guides, examines and remarks the students’ study the methods of determining the primary stress position of the words quickly, effectively
- Follows close to the process of teaching English especially when teaching students to do exercises, tests, study for getting GCSE, attend to gifted students examination or entrance examination to university
- Supplies useful knowledge and good experiences for myself in order to improve the quality of teaching
1.2.2 Research tasks
- Understand the students’ state of skill of doing stress exercises
- Studying the skill of doing stress exercises
Trang 2- Apply the topic to teach English in Trieu Son 3 high school.
- Compare, collate the result of implementing the topic
1.2.3 Research methodology
I write this topic based on:
+ The method of studying theory
+ The method of investigating
+ Comparison, collation and summary of the result, effect of the topic
1.2.4 Scope of research
I mainly focus on:
- It is about effective methods to determine the primary stress position of the English words
- The students of class 12E35: The academic year 2020 -2021
- The students of class 12H36: The academic year 2021 -2022
- Trieu son 3 high school
2 CONTENT
2.1 Rationale and reality
2.1.1 Rationale
Marcel Jimmy said about the Importance of Word Stress (in English Language)
on February 4, 2021: “I’ve come across countless students who have a decent understanding of English grammar, writing, and vocabulary However, many of these same students continue to struggle with speaking and have difficulty being understood by native English speakers What is the reason? They have not taken
the time to tackle word stress What exactly is the concept of word stress in
English language, and why is it so important to master? English is not a flat language, but one of stresses and varying intonations Each syllable needs to be
pronounced, but some syllables are stressed or emphasized on more than others, depending on the word Even if one understands that importance of word stress, knowing exactly where to emphasize stress is no easy task.
Why exactly is correct word stress so important when it comes to conversing in
the English language?
• Word stress heavily affects the sounds of the vowels in a word Different word stress can make a word sound completely different.
• Native speakers rely on word stress to identify words Thus, incorrect word stress patterns can lead to miscommunication between non-native speakers and native speakers.
• Knowing the stress pattern of words will help students to learn and remember the correct pronunciation of words
• Knowing correct word stress will help students to improve their listening comprehension skills
Trang 3• Overall, the skill to stress words correctly will help ESL learners more to converse more confidently in English and enjoy it!”
For students, it is also important to have skills of determining the position of word stress, which is one of the core elements to help them not only improve English speaking, listening comprehension skills but also doing stress exercises better, achieve higher marks in the examinations
2.1.2 Reality
During learning process, students at Trieu Son 3 high school have complained that doing exercises, tests, examinations about the stress of the words extremely difficult in general, With the primary stress position of words exercises require students to have certain knowledge, and they have to comprehend and remember the main rules of position of the primary word stress and the steps to do stress multiple choice tasks I have found that when doing this kind of tasks, most of the students of my school get bad result In addition
to this, they speak English flatly without intonation I wonder what the reasons are At the end of the second semester - school year 2020 - 2021, I conducted a small survey with 43 students in classes 12E35 to find out the ways they did the test and why a lot of them got low result, and I got the result:
1 I don’t understand the stress of words at all 70%
2 I only guess the key because I don’t know how to
identify the position of the stress of words
80%
3 I hardly understand even know anything about the rules
to determine the position of the stress of words
75%
4 There are too many new and unfamiliar words 45%
5 I don’t know how to answer questions correctly 73%
6 I try my best to identify the stress of each word
according to the simplest rules to find out the answer
5%
From the above table, we see that the majority of the students are lack of not only knowledge but also the skill of identifying the primary stress position
of the words when they do exercises, tests, examinations about the stress of the words Most of them feel anxious, overwhelmed when facing with the exercises, tests or exams of stress Therefore, this kind of exercise is difficult for good students and far more difficult for average and poor students who only take GCSE examination as well
Furthermore, when doing this kind of exercises, the majority of students, especially weak students often guess the position of stress even choose the key
at random For the better students who desire to get high grade at the GCSE examinations even the gifted students examinations, they have no enough knowledge, skill to do stress exercise confidently and correctly This results in getting bad marks when doing stress multiple choice task
From this consequence, we can see that:
Trang 4If the teachers pay no attention to innovating the method of teaching and helping students have the best way to determine the primary stress of the words, they cannot understand how to do it quickly and correctly To ameliorate above consequence as well as help the students of our school to do this kind of this exercise better, more confidently, have a standard pronunciation I present some methods or called the rules of determining the primary stress position of the words quickly, effectively In this subject I will present three steps to determine the primary stress position of the words with some basic rules that students can understand and remember easier
2.2 Measure implementation
NOTES
- The primary stress of words is marked with a comma (’) in front of or above
the syllable containing stress
- The primary stress of words falls in two or more than two – syllable words and
in syllables containing vowels as a, e, i, o, or, u
The topic “The methods help students to determine the primary stress position of the English words quickly, effectively” is the methods to determine
the primary stress position of English words which appears in exercises, tests, examinations quickly, effectively and have a standard pronunciation Students can do stress do stress multiple choice tasks following three steps:
2.2.1 THE FIRST STEP:
Identify position of the primary stress of words basing on the suffixes called fixed stress.
2.2.1.1 Stress on the suffixes
For the stem words with the following suffixes, stress is on these suffixes:
9 -esque picturesque (a) /piktʃə’resk/
11 eous simultaneous (n) /siml’teinəis/
Trang 517 -press express (v-n-a) /ek’pres/
Exceptions
2.2.1.2 Stress of the word falls on the syllables right before the suffixes below:
8 -ative representative (n-a) /repri’zentətiv/
11 -ience experience (n) /ik’spiəriən/
16 -eous spontaneous (a) /spɒn’teinəs/
20 -ular particular (n-a) /pə’tikjələ(r)/
Exceptions
Trang 6Order Words Pronunciation
1 television (n) /’teliviʒən/
3 lunatic (n-a) /’lu:nətik/
5 Arithmetic (n-a) /ə’ri θmətik/
11 primitive (n-a) /’praimətiv/
2.2.1.3 The words with the following suffixes, stress is on the third syllable counting from the last syllable of the word
2.2.2 THE SECOND STEP:
Identify position of the primary stress of words basing on pronunciation of /ə/ and /i/
2.2.2.1 Primary stress of words hardly falls in the weak syllable /ə/ Therefore,
the main stress of the word falls on the rest syllable (s)
Ex:
6 alone (adj – adv) /ə’ləʊ/
Trang 72.2.2.2 Primary stress of the words rarely falls on the syllable /i/ when
combining with other syllables and the pattern stress of words falls on the rest syllable(s)
3 exchange (v-n) /iks’tʃeindʒ/
10 decrease (v-n) /di’kri:s/
*Primary stress of words only falls on the syllable /i/ when combining with itself /i/ or /ə/
Ex:
2.2.3 THE THIRD STEP:
Identify position of the primary stress of words basing on word forms 2.2.3.1 Stress in two-syllable words.
*Two- syllable words have equal strength
The position of stress depends on the forms of words
VERBS:
In this case, the stress of most verbs is on the second syllable
Ex:
3 upset (v-n) /ʌp’set/
NOUNS, ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS:
Stress is on the first syllable of most nouns, adjectives and adverbs
Trang 85 product (n) /’prɒdʌk/
2.2.3.2 Stress in three-syllable words.
* The rules for verbs
For most three-syllable words, stress is on the last syllable.
Ex:
1 entertain (v) /entə’tein/
2 understand (v) /ʌndə’stænd/
3 introduce (v) /intrə’dju:/
4 recommend (v) /rekə’mend/
- If the last syllable is weak or short, stress is on the second syllable.
Ex:
1 develop (v) / di’veləp/
2 determine (v) /di’tɜ:min/
4 encounter (v) /in’kauntə(r)/
*Rulers for nouns, adjectives, adverbs
+ For most three-syllable nouns, adjectives, adverbs, stress is on the first syllable
Ex:
2 intellect (n) /’intəlekt/
3 government (n) /’gʌvmənt/
+ If the first syllable is a weak, short one, or ended with /əʊ/, the main stress
is on the second syllable
Ex:
Trang 9Order Words Pronunciation
1 computer (n) /kəm’pju:tə/
2 potato (n) /pə’teitəʊ/
3 disaster (n) /di’za:stə/
2.2.3.3 Stress of over three-syllable words.
The words with over three syllables (not belong to definite/fixed stress), stress
is on the third syllable counting from the last syllable of the word.
Ex:
1 philosophy (n) /fi’lɒsəfi/
2 magnificent (a) /mægn’nifiksənt/
3 trigonometry (n) /trigə’nɒmətri/
5 environment (n) /in’vairənmənt/
6 manufacture (n) /mæ’nju:fæktʃə(r)/
Exceptions
Some words have the stress patterns that do not follow the word forms rules.
15 margarine (n) /ma:dʒə’ri:n/
17 opponent (n-a) /ə’pɔunənt/
Trang 1020 tobacco (n) /tə’bækəʊ/
2.2.4 OTHER MATTERS OF STRESS
2.2.4.1 For two- syllable words which have both noun and verb meanings
- Nouns have stress on the first syllable
- Verbs have stress on the second syllable
Ex:
Orde
r
1 contrast /’kɒntra:st/ /kən’tra:st/
2.2.4.2 The primary stress position of compound nouns.
- Most compound nouns have main stress position on the first syllable.
Ex:
6 check-up (n) /’tʃekʌp/
- Compound verbs combined from a verb and a preposition have stress on the second syllable.
Ex
2.2.4.3 Effects of prefixes and suffixes on the position of stress.
- The following prefixes never have stress and position of the main stress of words stays unchanged.
- un, - in, - im, - dis, - mis, - non, - il, - ir, - re, - pre…
Ex:
Dis honest /’ɒnist/ dishonest /dis’ɒnist/
Trang 11Ir rational /’ræʃənəl/ irrational /ir’ræʃənəl/
- The following suffixes neither have stress nor affect position the main stress of words.
-able, -age, -al, -en, -ful, -ing, -ed, -ish, -like, -less, -ly, -ment, -ness, -ous, -fy, -wise, -y…
Ex:
ly dangerous /’deindʒərəs/ dangerously /’deindʒərəsli/ ful beauty /’bju:ti/ beautiful /’bju:tifl/
ing engineer /endʒi’nɪə/ engineering /endʒi’nɪəriŋ/ ment develop /di’veləp/ development /di’veləpmənt/
- The suffixes make a change of the position of stress
- The following suffixes can make a change of the position of stress in original words
al, ary, ity, ion, ic,ial , alism, ian, ious, ity, iar
Ex:
-ian human /’hju:mən/ humanitarian /hju:m æni’teərɪən/ -ity durable /’djurəbl/ durability /djurə’biləti/
-al environment /in’vaiərəmənt/ environmental /invaiərəmæntəl/ -ial president /’prezidənt/ presidential /prezi’denʃl/
-alism
experiment /iks’perimənt/ experimentalis
m
/iksperi’mentəlizəm/ -ion exhibit /ig’zibi/ exhibition /igzi’biʃn/
To have a basic comparison, give out the exact conclusion for the studying process and applying the topic to teach the class 12H36 the academic year 2021 -2022 at Trieu Son 3 high school I implemented to examine and collate the result of the class 12E35 the academic year 2020 -2021 the class 12H36 the academic year 2021 -2022
+ Class 12E35 was not applied the above topic
+ Class 12H36 was applied the above topic
Question: Find the word with the stress pattern different from that of the other three words in each question (Allotted time: 30 minutes)
1 A humid B airmail C discuss D pancake
2 A notice B effect C contest D surface
4 A pollute B severe C tragic D attack
5 A prevent B recent C receive D remote