(LUẬN văn THẠC sĩ) strategies to enhance the understanding of english intonation for the development of communicative language ability among second language learners

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** MAI THỊ HUYỀN STRATEGIES TO ENHANCE THE UNDERSTAN

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

*****************

MAI THỊ HUYỀN

STRATEGIES TO ENHANCE THE UNDERSTANDING OF ENGLISH INTONATION FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE ABILITY AMONG SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNERS

Những chiến lược tăng cường sự hiểu biết về ngữ điệu tiếng Anh nhằm phát

triển năng lực ngôn ngữ giao tiếp của người học ngôn ngữ hai

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Linguistics

Code: 602215

Hanoi - 2012

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

*****************

MAI THỊ HUYỀN

STRATEGIES TO ENHANCE THE UNDERSTANDING OF ENGLISH INTONATION FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE ABILITY AMONG SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNERS

Những chiến lược tăng cường sự hiểu biết về ngữ điệu tiếng Anh nhằm phát

triển năng lực ngôn ngữ giao tiếp của người học ngôn ngữ hai

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Linguistics

Code: 602215 Supervisor: Dr Huỳnh Anh Tuấn

Hanoi - 2012

1.2.5.1 The organization of information 14

1.4 The relations between the competence of intonation and communicative language ability

19

1.5 Strategies used to enhance the understanding English intonation for the development

of listening skill among second language learners in the study

3.1.1.2 Learners’ development of listening skill 33

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS

phase meta-linguistic tests

31

post-teaching phase meta-linguistic tests

the pre-teaching phase

33

the pre- and post-teaching phase

33

in the pre- and post-teaching phase

34

listening comprehension tests

34

listening comprehension tests

34

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale of the study

Nowadays, English is more and more popular all over the world With the rapid pace of integration and globalization, English has become a golden key to opening the door of many fields such as commerce, communication, science and technology throughout the world That is why people want to learn English for their interests Therefore, to meet the demand of the society, it is very necessary to teach English in schools at all levels When teaching and learning, what teachers and learners desire to master English to reach the highest target is to get well in communication

Apart from extra-linguistic factors, language users‟ competence in such intra-linguistic features as grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation have an effect on their successful communication It is generally assumed that pronunciation is a direct factor participating in conversations between speakers and listeners and difficulties in communicating may be caused by improper pronunciation Thus the growing emphasis on communicative approaches to teaching English has placed higher demands for correct pronunciation When dealing with teaching pronunciation, we have to mention all its components such as sounds (vowels and consonants), intonation and so on, of which intonation is a main component Intonation exists in every language and is crucial for communication as a device to indicate the meaning intended and as a tool to indicate the feelings of the speaker Intonation plays a very important role in helping other people understand what the speaker believes to be the important aspects of the communication and thus helps them follow the structure of the communication Using English without knowledge of intonation can create troubles for learners of English in communication Incorrect intonation can result in misunderstandings and losing interest among interlocutors or may even cause unwanted offences Despite this fact, it seems that teaching and learning intonation has been paid inadequate attention to It may be because of some reasons In the official textbooks at schools used for teaching English, there are few exercises and there is little time for pronunciation practice, especially for intonation practice Intonation is a complex aspect of pronunciation, so it is not surprising that many teachers do not feel confident about tackling it in the classroom; whereas, teaching grammar or lexis, they find ways of making the language accessible to their learners Besides, most students often end up learning correct pronunciation of individual words However they do not always sound as

natural as they want to The problem is most often the use of the wrong intonation of sentences.

As a teacher of English at Quang Ninh University of Industry, I have experienced problems in teaching English intonation The classes are not divided based on the students‟ English proficiency, and the number of students in each class is normally huge The time for intonation teaching and learning is limited Therefore, it is quite difficult to facilitate

think of how to find suitable methods to teach intonation and mediate what teachers should

do to teach intonation effectively and how teachers should make students become interested in this aspect of pronunciation For the above reasons, the study entitled:

“Strategies to enhance the understanding of English intonation for the development of communicative language ability among second language learners” was chosen to carry out

I hope that my work can help learners of English have greater awareness and understanding of intonation to facilitate their speaking and listening

1.2 Aims of the study

This study is carried out in order to:

1.2.1 Help learners of English have a thorough knowledge of English intonation and its uses in daily communication

1.2.2 Make suggestions to help teachers of English give successful lessons on English intonation

1.3 Scope of the study

This study only focuses on some domain as follows:

- Only Southern British intonation

- In the process of analyzing, intonation is mainly shown through descriptions based on given theories

- The study is aimed at the learners of English at pre-intermediate level at Quang Ninh University of Industry to find out how much they know about intonation in English and applying some strategies in teaching and learning English to help the learners get the knowledge of English intonation for the development of listening in particular

1.4 Methods of the study

1.4.1 Research questions

This study is to answer two questions:

1.4.1 Do the strategies suggested in the study help second language learners enhance their understanding of English intonation?

1.4.2 Is knowledge of English intonation helpful for the development of second language learners‟ communicative language ability?

1.4.3 The participants

The participants in my study are 100 first-year students at Quang Ninh University of Industry, divided into two groups: experimental group (50 students) and control group (50 students)

1.4.4 Data collection methods

Two methods of collecting data are applied: tests and questionnaire

There are two kinds of tests administered in the study: meta-linguistic tests and listening comprehension tests

The questionnaire consists of 10 questions to investigate the strategies used by learners when they learn English intonation Questions 1 to 9 are closed questions Question 10 is open ended for learners to give their own opinions about the strategies they used

1.4.5 Data collection procedure

First, the participants of the two groups did a pre-test

Then, after eight lessons on English intonation given to the experimental group, both groups did post-test In addition to the post-test, the experimental group responded to a questionnaire

1.4.6 Data analysis

The data analysis is mainly quantitative Quantitative analysis is based on results of the tests and participants‟ responses to the closed questions of the questionnaire, using SPSS software

In addition, qualitative analysis is also included It is based on question 10 in the questionnaire, which is an open-ended question, and on summaries of the discussions with

my colleagues about their personal teaching experiences

1.5 Organization of the study

The thesis consists of four main parts as follows:

The first part is the introduction which includes the reasons for the study, the aims, the research questions, the scope, the methods and the design of the study

Secondly, the development consists of three chapters Chapter one is the literature review and theoretical background relevant to the purpose of the study Chapter two introduces the methodology of the study Chapter three is where the data and the findings are presented with the implications built upon the basis of the evaluation in the previous chapters

The third part is the conclusion, which provides the review of the study with concluding remarks and suggestions for further studies

Finally, the references list all the authors used for quotations and other issues related to language teaching and learning

1.2 Theories of English intonation

1.2.1 Definitions of intonation

English intonation is mostly defined in relation to its functions in conveying a meaning of some kind in utterances and is viewed as having both a linguistic and a paralinguistic dimension In definitions of intonation, the concept of the pitch of the voice and its related features of tone and tune plays the most important part

Firstly, intonation cannot be defined in separation from utterances in speech because it appears in almost every utterance Intonation is inevitable in speech because we cannot say something without some kind of intonation, even with a monotone

Secondly, when defining intonation, researchers of the field often focus on the pitch of the

voice in utterances Tench (1996:1), for example, refers to intonation as “the rise and fall

of the pitch of the voice in spoken language” and “the linguistic use of pitch in utterances” Tench (1996: 2)

Thirdly, intonation has both a linguistic and a paralinguistic dimension The linguistic dimension concerns the message itself: how many pieces of information there are; what information is new; whether the message is complete or incomplete; whether the speaker is telling you something or asking you, or whether the speaker is turning to a new topic or finishing off an old one Whereas, the paralinguistic dimension concerns the messenger rather than the message: the speaker‟s state of mind, their degree of politeness and their

effort to associate or dissociate from you Here is an example We have an utterance:

- John‟s going out, isn‟t he?

If we say it with a falling pitch on isn’t he, it will sound as we are sure of the facts On the

contrary, a rising tone on the tag gives us an impression of uncertainty, even of questioning It is noticed that the words are the same in both cases and that the difference

in meaning is solely a matter of pitch variation (Tench, 1996)

In another perspective, intonation is defined in viewing tunes as a distinguishing feature, still in a close relationship with the meaning of some kind it conveys in an utterance In this perspective intonation is “the way of using tunes of a word group to add the speaker‟s feelings at that moment… We can say a word group definitely or hesitantly, we can say it angrily or kindly, we can say it with interest or without interest These differences are largely made by the tune we use: the words do not change their meaning but the tune we use adds something to the words, and what it adds is the speaker‟s feelings at that moment” (O‟Connor, 1980: 108) In O‟Connor‟s definition of intonation, the term “tune” appears, so

it is necessary to make clear the terms “tune” and “tone” which has mentioned by some other authors In English, the term “tone” is a change in pitch which affects meaning and function of utterances in discourse (Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, 1992: 382) In this way “tone” is nearly the same as “tune” Another way of understanding “tone” is that “tone” is height of pitch and change of pitch which is associated with the pronunciation of syllables or words and which affects the meaning of the word It is the use of pitch in language to distinguish lexical or grammatical meaning According to Ky (2006: 33), tone belongs to syllables and has functions of differentiating the meaning of individual words Thus “tone” here means pitch variations of syllables in each separate word In term of this meaning of tone, it is different from tune O‟Connor

said that the tune belongs not to the word but to the group word The voice goes up and down and the different notes of the voice combine to make tunes Ky (2006: 33) also agreed that tune belongs to the utterance and can convey meanings Tune plays an important role in English because it represents the pitch variations in the whole utterance

If an utterance has only one word, the term “tune” and “tone” will be overlapped In summary, O‟Connor also dealt with the pitch variation of the voice; however, in his definition English intonation is associated with the tune

Some other authors such as Roach (1983), Kelly (2000), Every and Ehrlich (1992) also have the same point of view with Tench These writers thought that “the term intonation refers to the way the voice goes up and down in pitch when we are speaking” (Kelly, 2000: 86) or “intonation is often called the melody of language since it refers to the pattern of pitch changes that we use when we speak” (Every and Ehrlich, 1992: 76) Intonation is a fundamental part of the way we express our thoughts and it enables to understand those of others When we listen to someone speaking, we will notice that there are many changes in pitch These pitch changes play an important role in conveying meaning

In my viewpoint, the most comprehensive definition of intonation is shown in the Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics (1992: 190) as follows: “When speaking, people generally raise and lower the pitch of their voice, forming pitch patterns They also give some syllables in their utterances a greater degree of loudness and change their speech rhythm These phenomena are called intonation Intonation does not happen at random but has definite patterns which can be analyzed according to their structure and functions Intonation is used to carry information over and above that which is expressed by the words in the sentence.”

1.2.2 Systems of English intonation

English intonation comprises „three separate, though related, systems: tonality (intonation units), tonicity (the tone syllables) and tone (pitch movements)‟ (Tench, 1996: 73)

Tonality is „the system in intonation that divides spoken discourse into its separate individual intonation units‟ (Tench, 1996: 31) Spoken discourse sometimes consists of only one message or piece of information, only one word, even only on syllable, e.g Yes,

No However, it usually consists of more than one piece of information Each single piece

of intonation is contained in each intonation unit, which also represents the speaker‟s

management of the information, so an utterance may be composed of many intonation units Tench said that intonation units coincide with clauses, and this provides a very valuable starting-point for the description of tonality The clause is the most obvious unit

of grammar to handle a typical piece of information: the subject represents the theme- what the message is about, the predicate represents the rheme- what the message actually is Theoretically, on this basis a single piece of information is handled in the grammar typically by a single clause and in pronunciation by a single intonation unit A clause that consists of one and only one tone group will be regarded as neutral in tonality This kind of tonality is called neutral one However, the management of the information of the whole message depends on the perception and the organisation of information by the speaker, so marked tonality exists In all cases where intonation units do not coincide with whole clauses, marked tonality occurs either when two (or more) clauses fit into a single intonation unit, or when two (or more) intonation units are needed to cover a single clause The tonality division depends on the structure of the clause Thus, it is necessary to know where the intonation unit boundaries lie when we recognise intonation of utterances If an utterance consists of a single intonation unit, there is no problem because it is bounded by silence before and after If an utterance consists of two or more units of intonation with clear pauses which exactly coincide with sentences or clause boundaries, then it is not difficult to see the boundaries of the intonation units In other circumstances, especially in informal spoken speech, it is not easy to identify the boundaries However, there are principles based on certain regular patterns of features of phonetic cues we can use in the identification of the boundaries Firstly, there is a perceivable pitch change at some point following a tonic syllable: either a stepping up after a falling tone, or a stepping down after

a rise; if the pitch of the tonic syllable was level, the either a stepping up or down would signal the start of a new intonation unit Secondly, there is a (very) slight pause or a change

of pace in the flow of syllables, syllables at the end of the unit tend to be relatively slower, but syllables at the beginning of a unit has a tendency to speed up (Tench, 1996)

Tonicity is the focal point of intonation It means the choice of the places in an utterances

or part of an utterance where a movement in pitch begins This change of pitch occurs on a syllable which is called the tonic syllable The tonic syllable is the most prominent, or salient, of the stressed syllables in any given intonation unit made by a combination of pitch, volume and length (Tench, 1996) The tonic syllable plays a very important role in

the utterance because if speakers do not reach the tonic syllable in any given intonation unit, then listeners do not have enough clues to decide on the structure and the focus of information in the particular part of the message “The function of the tonic is to form the focus of information: to express what the speaker decides to make the main point or burden

of the message” Halliday (1970:40)) When the tonic is changed, the focus of information

is changed, too Therefore, the tonic syllable is the basis on which listeners can perceive the main information the speaker means

Tone refers to pitch movements Tone has been defined as the contrastive pitch movement

on the tonic syllable There are two types of tone: primary tone, and secondary tone (Tench, 1996) Primary tones are the basic contrastive pitch movements on the tonic, i.e whether the pitch of the voice moves up (rises), or moves down (falls), or combines a movement of down and then up (fall-rises) The primary tones in English comprise the fall, the rise, and the fall-rise They function in the organisation of information and produce contrasts in the communicative function which help to indicate differences between telling and asking, between commanding and requesting, between congratulating and wishing, etc Secondary tones are the finer distinctions of the primary tones, i.e the degree to which the pitch of the voice rises, falls ore combines a fall and a rise-whether there is, for example, a rise to a high pitch or a mid pitch, or a fall from a mid pitch or a high pitch, etc Secondary tones in English function in the expression of attitudes

1.2.3 Structure of English intonation

The intonation of English not only displays system, it also displays structure Each intonation unit has a structure It consists of pre-tonic segment and tonic or nucleus The pre-tonic segment can be divided into the pre-head and the head The head is the part which begins with the first stressed syllable, the pre-head is the unstressed and precedes the head The stressed syllables are traditionally marked by, the tonic or nucleus is marked either in bold or in capitals or by underlining The tonic segment can have the tail which follows the tonic For example (Tench, 1996: 12-14):

Pre-head Head Tonic / Nucleus tail

A „dog is a „man‟s „best „friend

„Dogs are „men‟s „best „friends The tonic (or nucleus) is obligatory, because it is the part of the intonation unit that bears the contrastive pitch movement, the tone and because of its essential prominence The other parts of the unit are optional

1.2.4 Basic tune shapes of English intonation

According to O‟Connor (1980: 109), “The shape of a tune is decided partly by the number

of important words in the group and partly by the exact attitude you wish to express”

„Important words‟ here means the words which carry most of the meaning in a word group

An important word always has a stressed syllable and a change of pitch connected to it Important words are not the same as stressed words Stressed words may not be important words, although important words must be stressed It is not only the normally stressed words which may be felt to be important by the speaker; any word may be important if the situation makes it important Thus, the important words and the number of important words in a group affect the shape of a tune The difference here is due to the speaker‟s attitude when saying the group

There are some basic tune shapes in English (O‟Connor, 1980)

1.2.4.1 The falling tune

The falling tune consists of a fall in the voice from a fairly high to a very low one The fall

is on the stressed syllable or from the stressed syllable to the following one

E.g.: • •

∙ ∙ ∙

* Two *Definitely

In the shortest word-groups, it is necessary to know that:

- On a single syllable the voice falls within the syllable

- On more than one syllable the voice either falls within the stressed syllable or it jumps down from that syllable to the next

- Unstressed syllables at the end are all very low

When there is more than one important word in the group, the last one has the fall but the others are treated differently:

E.g.: • ∙ •

*What was *that?

- The stressed syllable of the first important word is high and any unstressed syllables following it are on the same pitch

- The stressed syllable of the second important word is a little lower and any unstressed syllables following it are on the same pitch

- The fall starts at the same pitch as the syllable just before it

In groups with more than three important words the stressed syllable of each one is lower than the one before

If there are any unstressed syllables before the stressed syllable of the first important word, these are all said on a rather low pitch:

E.g.: •

∙ ∙

I was *glad Also, any stressed syllable near the beginning which belongs to a word which is not important is said on this same rather low pitch These low syllables at the beginning are not at the lowest possible pitch like the ones at the end, but they must be lower that the high pitch which follows E.g.: • ∙ •

∙ •

He *seems *very *nice We often use the falling tune for statements which are complete and definite, for strong commands, strong exclamations, for short questions used as responses like Did you?, Has she? and for tag questions where the word not occurs in either the statement or the tag question to force the other person to agree with you 1.2.4.2 The first rising tune The first rising tune ends with a rise Both important and unimportant words before the rise are treated exactly as in the falling tune E.g.: • ∙

• ∙ ∙

• ∙ ∙

•

∙

But *is it *true that you‟re *changing your *job? Apart from this the tune is the same as in the falling tune: the unstressed syllable at the beginning is low, and there is a step at the stressed syllable of each important word

The stressed syllable of the last important word is low and that the voice jumps up to the unstressed syllable (each following unstressed syllable is a little higher, the last one of all being on the same fairly high note)

E.g.: • ∙ ∙ ∙

•

•

∙

•

*Have you been at *work to*day, John? The first rising tune is usually used if the statement is intended to be soothing and encouraging, or intended as a question It is used for all Yes-No questions (which are not used as responses), for repetition-questions, for greeting and saying goodbye and for exclamations which refer to something not very interesting or unexpected If we want to show as much interest in the other person as in the subject an, we also use this kind of tune 1.2.4.3 The second rising tune The second rising tune also ends with a rise in the voice, like the first rising tune, but any words and syllables before the rise are low: E.g.:

∙ ∙ • ∙ • ∙ ∙ •

I was *only *trying to *help This rise, as in the first rising tune, either takes place on one syllable or it is spread over several syllables:

∙

∙

E.g.: ∙

∙ ∙ • ∙ • ∙ ∙ •

I was *only *trying to *help him with it

Before the rise any stressed word is felt to be important, even though there is no change of pitch All the syllables before the rise are said on the same low pitch as the beginning of the rise, they must be not higher than this

We normally use the second rising tune if the statement is a grumble, if the exclamation is questioning and when we don‟t want the other person to agree with you, but to give his opinion The second rising tone is also used for the repetition-questions (when we are repeating someone else‟s question or when we want the other person to repeat some

information), for tag questions after commands, for tag questions where neither the

statement nor the tag-question have he word not in them

1.2.4.4 The falling-rising tune

In its shortest form the falling-rising tune consists of a fall from rather high to low and then

a rise to about the middle of the voice:

E.g.: •

*Five

This fall-rise is connected with the stressed syllable of the last important word, like the fall and the rise of the other tunes But it is only completed on one syllable if that syllable is final in the group If there is one or several syllables following, the fall and the rise is separated:

She was *quite *kind

The fall of the fall-rise is always from a fairly high note

This tune can be used if the statement is not completed but leading to a following word group, if the statement is a warning or a correction of what someone else has said, and if the statements has two parts, of which the first is more important than the second (with the fall at the end of the first part and the rise at the end of the second) It can be also used if statements show reservation on the part of the speaker and which might be followed by

but…or by you must admit or I must admit, and if we want the command to sound

pleading, more a request than an order (with the fall on DO or DON‟T if they occur, or on

the main verb if not, and the rise at the end)

The other classifications of tune shape are also given by different authors, so we have high drop, low drop and there are some differences in terms of number of tone (or tune)

shape, but their studies are based on stressed syllables and the pitch movement

1.2.5 Functions of English intonation

According to Tench (1996), English intonation has six major functions

1.2.5.1 The organization of information

Perhaps the most important function of intonation is to present the management of information as the speaker perceives it

The organization of information involves decisions about the division of information into manageable pieces and their “staging” – what comes first, what follows, what precedes, and so on It also involves grading the pieces of information into major and minor and typing them up into coherent sequences The division and staging are handled by tonality, with boundaries of intonation units; and the grading is handled by tone: rises, falls, and fall-rises

Another important aspect to the organization of information is the decision about what should be made prominent in any piece of information This is usually discussed in terms

of new and given (or old) information

According to the type (or “genre”) of spoken discourse executed fluently or not fluently, decisions must be made by the speaker in every discourse with the respect to the division and staging of information (tonality), the structure of new and given information within each unit (tonicity), and the grading of one piece of information against another (tone)

1.2.5.2 The realization of communicative functions

Intonation is also used to present the speaker‟s purpose in saying something; whether the speaker is telling you something, asking you, ordering you, pleading with you, or just plainly greeting you or thanking you, etc This dimension to talk has commonly been labeled the “communicative function” by the language teaching profession; philosophers and linguists also call this dimension “discourse function”, “speech function”, “speech acts” and “illocution” They all refer to the intended effect that the speaker wishes to

produce on those who are being addressed Whereas the informational function of intonation answers the question “what is being said?”, the communicative or illocutionary function addresses the question “why is it being said?”

General speaking, the fall suggests certainty, “knowing”; the rise suggests uncertainty,

“querying” A falling tone in an intonation unit that contains major information denotes

“speaker-dominance”: the speaker knows and tells, orders, demands, etc On the other hand, a rising tone in an intonation unit denotes “speaker-deference”: the speaker does not know and so asks, does not have authority and so requests, coaxes, etc Thus intonation can distinguish between statements and queries, orders and requests, exclamations and questions, and the like, even when the actual wording remains constant

1.2.5.3 The expression of attitude

This third function is probably the most familiar, and it was certainly considered as the primary function in the older, more traditional, studies of intonation It corresponds most clearly to the observation “Not what they said, but the way they said it” „The way they said‟ refers to the mood of the speaker or the attitude shown to the addressee or the message A message, a piece of information, can be given politely, grumpily, angrily, warmly, and so on For example, if you are angry, you will sound angry and employ appropriate gestures and words and a range of paralinguistic features; but the sound of anger will be also expressed in pitch – quite typically in a high pitch The effect of attitude

is mainly to be found in the extent of a fall or rise and in variations of pitch in the head and the pre-head Your preferred intonation will indicate your attitude to the message The intonation can indicate a variety of attitudes without a change of wording; in such cases, it becomes clear that intonation has been solely responsible for the expression of attitude

1.2.5.4 Syntactic structure

The fourth function relates intonation to the syntax of clauses In English, there are many cases where two syntactic patterns can only be distinguished by intonation For example, intonation is used for the distinction between defining and non-defining relative clauses, a transitive and an intransitive use of verb

E.g.: She washed and brushed her hair (a)

She washed / and brushed her hair (b)

In (a), hair is deemed to be the direct object complementing both washed and brushed; thus washed and brushed are transitive In (b), with an intonation unit boundary immediately after washed, the word hair is deemed to be the direct object complementing brushed only In this case, washed is an intransitive

This grammatical function may not be common to all languages but English uses intonation for this purpose

1.2.5.5 Textual structure

The fifth function of intonation concerns longer structures than single units of intonation and individual pieces of information Normally, an intonation unit and a piece of information do not appear in isolation, but in combination with each other as part of the staging in the management of the message In addition to the grammatical systems of reference and conjunction, intonation is also a factor which binds information together For example, based on intonation you know when one item of news has finished and a new one begins A new item usually starts on a fairly high pitch: the first onset syllable is high and the general pitch level of the whole of that intonation unit is relatively high When that item comes to an end, the general pitch level of its final intonation unit is relatively low, the tone will fall to its lowest pitch and there is often a slackening of pace in the final few

words A noticeable pause signals the end of that item, and then comes the next item

1.2.5.6 The identification of speech styles

The final major function of intonation is its role in the way in which we can identify different speech styles A person engage in a very wide range of differing language events such as dialogues (informal conversations, interviews, debates, interrogatives…) and monologues (news-reading, prayer, story-telling, poetry reading…) We probably differentiate dozens of different styles simply on the basis of the general sound of even just

a few seconds of spoken discourse because they sound different from each other The general sound of a particular language event is known as its prosodic composition Differences in prosodic composition depend on a number of features: degree of formality, number of participants, degree of privacy, degree of semantic preparation, and whether the spoken discourse was scripted or not These features also register in intonation In intonation styles vary in the proportions of falls and rises, relative length of intonation

units and degree of textual structure Thus, it can be seen that intonation is a major identifying factor in the prosodic composition of different genres of spoken discourse

In a shorter classification, Roach (1983) gives four major functions of intonation: the attitudinal function, the accentual function, the grammatical function, and the discourse function Though these functions of English intonation are sorted out separately, they have

a closely reciprocal relation and play an important role to help people to have successful communication

1.3 Theories of language learning strategies

1.3.1 Definitions

Language learning strategies are intentional behaviour and thoughts that learners make use

of during learning in order to help them understand, learn or remember new information These include focusing on certain aspects of new information, analyzing and organizing information during learning to increase comprehension, evaluating learning

According to Nunan (1991:168), “learning strategies are mental processes which learners employ to learn and use the target language”

Rubin (1975)‟s definition is as following: “the techniques or devices used by a learner to acquire knowledge” (43)

For Bialystok (1978), learning strategies are defined as “optimal means for exploiting available information to improve competence in a second language” (71) The type of strategy used by the learner depends on the type of knowledge required for a given task Bialystok discussed three types of knowledge: explicit linguistic knowledge, implicit linguistic knowledge, and general knowledge of the world Strategies introduced explicitly

in a formal setting can contribute to implicit linguistic knowledge and therefore to students‟ ability to comprehend and produce spontaneous language

Learning strategies are defined by Oxford (1990) as "operations employed by the learner to aid the acquisition, storage, retrieval, and use of information" This definition is further expanded to include "specific actions taken by the learner to make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective, and more transferable to new situations" (Oxford, 8)

These days theories and practices of language learning strategies attract more attention from learners and educators because of the characteristics shown in Oxford (1990)‟s definition They motivate learners to be attentive in language learning, and thus, the language students would tend to use to develop their communicative language ability

1.3.2 Classification of Language Learning Strategies

Language learning strategies, according to Oxford (1990), are divided into two main classes: direct and indirect

1.3.2.1 Direct Language Learning Strategies

The strategies used directly in dealing with a new language are called direct strategies They are beneficial to learners because they help store and recover information These strategies help them to produce language even when there is a gap in knowledge They also help to understand and use the new language They all require mental processing of the language but in different ways and with different purposes The three groups that belong to the direct strategies are memory, cognitive, and compensation

1.3.2.2 Indirect Language Learning Strategies

Indirect language learning strategies work together with the direct strategies They help learner regulate the learning process These strategies support and manage language learning without direct engagement and therefore called indirect strategies The three groups belonging to this category are metacognitive, affective, and social strategies

In a nutshell, although the language learning strategies above are mostly applied to language skills, they are also used to help learners master English intonation The reason is that enhancing intonation for English learning learners results in improving learners‟ communicative language ability; therefore, intonation is usually is taught in

communication

1.3.3 Characteristics of Language Learning Strategies

According to Oxford (1990), it can be said that Language Learning Strategies have the following characteristics

a/ In foreign language learning, language learning strategies are oriented towards communicative efficiency They help learners actively take part in realistic interaction using meaningful, contextualized language

b/ Language learning strategies allow learners to become more self-directed It is important for learners to be self-directed because in their everyday life activities they have to use language outside the classroom without help from teachers Facing new situations in authentic communication, the language learners have to decide what to do, which skill to

be used

c/ Language learning strategies expand the role of the teachers Learners need less teachers‟ help because they become more self-directed As a result, teachers have functions such as a controller, assessor, prompter, participant, diagnostician and source

d/ Language learning strategies are problem-oriented They are used because learners have

to solve learning problem

e/ Language learning strategies are specific actions taken by learners but not always observable For example, note taking, planning for a language task, self-evaluating are visible However, it is impossible to see the process of making mental association in learners‟ mind

f/ Most language learning strategies are often conscious and intentional Nonetheless, the level of consciousness depends on stages of learning At first, a language learning strategies is fully conscious Then, after a series of practice and use, it usually becomes automatic like any other skills or behaviours

g/ Language learning strategies can be taught All researchers agree that learning strategies are human actions According to modern psychology, actions, to some extent, can be trained

h/ Strategy choices are influenced by plenty of factors such as the learners‟ awareness, stages of learning, task requirements, teacher expectations, age, gender, motivation, and learning purposes

1.4 The relations between the competence of intonation and communicative language ability

According to Bachman (1990), communicative language ability can be described as consisting of both knowledge, or competence, and the capacity for implementing, or executing that competence in appropriate, contextualized communicative language use It refers to a language user's grammatical knowledge of syntax, morphology, phonology, and the like, as well as social knowledge about how and when to use utterances appropriately

Bachman proposed that communicative language ability include three components: language competence, strategic competence, and psycho-physiological mechanisms Language competence comprises a set of specific knowledge components that are utilized

in communication via language Strategic competence characterizes the mental capacity for implementing the components of language competence in contextualized communicative language use Thus it provides the means for relating language competencies to features of the context of situation in which language use takes place and to the language user‟s knowledge structures (socio-cultural knowledge, “real-world” knowledge) to interpret, express and negotiate meaning

STRATEGIC COMPETENCE

PSYCHO-PHYSIOLOGICAL MECHANISMS

KNOWLEDGE OF STRUCTURES

Knowledge of the world

CONTEXT OF SITUATION

LANGUAGE COMPETENCE

Knowledge of language

Figure 4.1.: Components of communicative language ability in communicative language use (Bachman, 1990: 85)

Psycho-physiological mechanisms refer to the neurological and psychological processes involved in the actual execution of language as a physical phenomenon (sound, light) The interactions of the components of communicative language ability with the language use context and language user‟s knowledge structures are illustrated in Figure 4.1

Language competence can be classified into two types: organizational competence and pragmatic competence Each of these consists of several categories Organizational competence comprises those abilities involved in controlling the formal structure of language for producing or recognizing grammatically correct sentences, comprehending their propositional content, and ordering them to form texts These abilities are of two types: grammatical and textual

LANGUAGE COMPETENCE

ORGANIZATIONAL COMPETENCE PRAGMATIC COMPETENCE

GRAMMAR TEXTUAL ILLOCUTIONARY SOCIOLINGUISTIC COMPETENCE COMPETENCE COMPETENCE COMPETENCE

Voc Morph Synt Phon./ Cohes Rhet Ideat Manip Heur Imag Sensit Sensit Sensit Cultural

Graph Org Functs Functs Functs Functs to Dial to Reg to Nat Refs &

or Variety Figs of Speech

Figure 4.2.: Components of language competence (Bachman, 1990: 87)

Grammatical competence includes those competencies involved in language usage These consist of a number of relatively independent competencies such as the knowledge of vocabulary, morphology, syntax, and phonology/ graphology These govern the choice of words to express specific significations, their forms, their arrangement in utterances to express propositions, and their physical realizations, either as sounds or as written symbols

The “tree” diagram above represents the hierarchical relationships among the components

of language competence In the diagram, the components appear as if they are separate and independent of each other However, in language use these components all interact with each other and with features of the language use situation

In the diagram, phonology is a part of the grammatical competence This means that intonation is also a component of language competence The speaker‟s knowledge of intonation plays an important role to have a successful communication It is due to that the speaker‟s communicative language ability will be improved Indeed, intonation is fundamental to communication because communicative competence is the ability not only

to formulate grammatically correct sentences, but also to signal interactional strategies, such as interrupting, asking for clarification, taking the floor, changing the subject, concluding an argument, or constraining a hearer to reply Clearly, intonation is a very powerful tool for negotiating meaning and achieving discourse coherence Intonation functions to express whether a speaker is ready and willing to relinquish the floor, to signal that a response is desired, unnecessary, or unwanted, and differentiate “normal” information flow from contrastive or expressive intentions Therefore, it can be said that competencies involved in communicative language ability can be facilitated by the appropriate use of intonational signals

In communicative approaches to language teaching, language is viewed as a collaborative social process rather than as a product of grammatical and lexical rules This focus on the non-grammatical aspects of language competence is also reflected in the proficiency movement due to the knowledge of the rules of language use, including sociolinguistic, illocutionary, and contextual competence, in addition to grammatical competence In this case, intonation is especially considered because of its characteristic of what is actually