Teaching intonation to preshman majors of the department of english linguistics and literature at the university of social sciences and humanities ho chi minh city

IV ABSTRACT The thesis investigates the perception, comprehension and production of English intonation in terms of tonality, tonicity and tone by Vietnamese freshman majors of the Depar

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS AND LITERATURE

TEACHING INTONATION TO FRESHMAN MAJORS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS AND LITERATURE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES - HO CHI MINH CITY

Submitted to the Department of English Linguistics & Literature

in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in TESOL

By ĐẶNG HOÀI PHƯƠNG

Supervised by NGUYỄN THỊ PHƯƠNG TRANG, PhD

HO CHI MINH CITY, JUNE 2012

I

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY

I certify that this thesis, entitled “Teaching intonation to freshman majors of Department

of English Linguistics and Literature at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities – Ho Chi Minh City” is my own work

This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other institution

Ho Chi Minh City, June 30, 2012

Dang Hoai Phuong

II

RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS

I hereby state that I, ĐẶNG HOÀI PHƯƠNG, being a candidate for the degree of Master

of Arts in TESOL, accept the requirements of the university relating to the retention and use of Master’s Thesis deposited in the University Library

I agree that the original of my Master’s Thesis deposited in the University Library should

be accessible for the purpose of the study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Library for the care, loan and reproduction of theses

Ho Chi Minh City, June 30, 2012

Dang Hoai Phuong

III

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my thesis supervisor, Dr Nguyen Thi Phuong Trang, for her invaluable guidance, devoted support and great patience during the preparation and completion of the thesis Without her devotion, I could not have finished the thesis

I would like to send my special thanks to Dr Nguyen Thi Kieu Thu, Dean of DELL – USSH – my beloved professor as well as respectful senior colleague, for her continuous encouragement and precious advice towards my thesis

I am grateful to Ms Vo Thi Nu Anh for her indispensible consultation which helped

me form initial ideas for the thesis

I also owe the big debt to Pham Ngoc Phuong Trang, Nguyen Xuan Trieu, Tran Trung Nguyen and Tran Thi Quynh Nga, young lecturers at DELL – USSH, who helped me collect unique data for the thesis

Many thanks are also sent to Nguyen Thi Thu, Ho Thi Thuy Kieu and Luong Thien Phuc, who supported me as the role of coordinators to run the process of data collection smoothly and continuously

I would like to show my gratitude to all of my professors for their immense knowledge and dedicated instruction I am also in debt to freshman majors at DELL – USSH who play a very important role in data collection

Last but not least, I am indebted to my family and my husband, who are always beside me and encourage me to complete the thesis

IV

ABSTRACT

The thesis investigates the perception, comprehension and production of English intonation in terms of tonality, tonicity and tone by Vietnamese freshman majors of the Department of English Linguistics and Literature at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities – Ho Chi Minh City (DELL – USSH) The research aims at answering the questions whether they are able to perceive, comprehend and produce English intonation in the situation that they have finished the course of English Pronunciation in the first semester of the 4-year undergraduate program

The thesis is a quantitative descriptive research It employs questionnaires, perception tests, comprehension tests, read-aloud tasks and course-related materials in the data collection process in order to have the general picture of the students’ performance of English intonation 227 students participate in the perception and comprehension tests whereas only 10 are involved in read-aloud tasks Despite the humble number of students

in read-aloud tasks, certain observations can be made about the students’ production of English intonation

The findings show that most of the students are able to perceive English intonation patterns regarding tone unit segmentation, focus placement and tone use However, to some extent, the native language perception and their assumption hinder correct perception of English intonation Furthermore, it is revealed that the students are able to comprehend neutral features of English intonation whereas they still struggle in interpreting the marked ones or those they do not expect or find unusual The students’ production shows the influence of their first language on learning the second language and needs appropriate care to have similar patterns with native speakers Therefore, the research suggests that perception training should be a start for the learning process Besides, English intonation should be taught in a comprehensive and systematic way with the context involvement Visual presentation of intonation is recommended to enhance students’ production Specific recommendations to DELL – USSH, teachers and students are also mentioned Intonation teaching resources are reviewed and recommended

V

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Statement of originality i

Retention and use of the thesis ii

Acknowledgements iii

Abstract iv

Table of contents v

List of tables ix

List of figures x

Abbreviations xi

INTRODUCTION 1

0.1 RATIONALE OF THE RESEARCH 1

0.2 AIM OF THE RESEARCH 4

0.3 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RESEARCH 4

0.4 ORGANIZATION OF THE REMAINDER OF THE RESEARCH 5

CHAPTER 1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY 7

1.1 CURRICULUM OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS AND LITERATURE 7

1.2 COURSE OF ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION 9

1.3 INTONATION CONTENTS IN THE SYLLABUS 12

1.3.1 Intonation contents in the course book English Pronunciation in Use by Hancock (2003) 12

1.3.2 Intonation contents in the course book Ship or Sheep? An intermediate pronunciation course (3rd edition) by Baker (2006) 14

1.4 SUMMARY 18

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 19

2.1 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND TO THE RESEARCH 19

2.1.1 Definition of intonation 19

2.1.2 System of tonality, tonicity and tone 21

2.1.2.1 Tonality 22

VI

2.1.2.2 Tonicity 25

2.1.2.3 Tone 28

2.1.3 Structures of tone units 31

2.1.3.1 Definition of a tone unit 31

2.1.3.2 Internal structure of a tone unit 32

2.1.3.3 Pitch movements with tone units 33

2.1.4 Functions of intonation 38

2.1.5 Vietnamese tones and intonation 39

2.2 PREVIOUS RESEARCH ON TEACHING ENGLISH INTONATION TO SECOND/FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNERS 41

2.3 SUMMARY 51

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 52

3.1 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 52

3.2 RESEARCH DESIGN 53

3.2.1 Participants 55

3.2.1.1 Research subjects 55

3.2.1.2 Native speakers 60

3.2.2 Instruments 61

3.2.2.1 Questionnaires 61

3.2.2.2 Perception tests 61

3.2.2.3 Comprehension tests 62

3.2.2.4 Read-aloud tasks 63

3.2.2.5 Course-related materials 63

3.2.3 Data collection procedures 65

3.2.4 Data analysis procedures 66

3.3 SUMMARY 67

CHAPTER 4 DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS 68

4.1 DATA ANALYSIS 68

4.1.1 Perception test 68

VII

4.1.1.1 Tonality 68

4.1.1.2 Tonicity 69

4.1.1.3 Tone 71

4.1.2 Comprehension test 74

4.1.2.1 Tonality 74

4.1.2.2 Tonicity 78

4.1.2.3 Tone 81

4.1.3 Read-aloud task 84

4.1.3.1 Focus placement 85

4.1.3.2 Tone choice 87

4.1.3.3 Intonation patterns 88

4.1.3.3.1 TS 90

4.1.3.3.2 (PH) + (H) + TS 90

4.1.3.3.3 (PH) + (H) + TS + 1-syllable T 92

4.1.3.3.4 (PH) + (H) + TS + more-than-one-syllable T 95

4.2 DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS 97

4.2.1 Students’ perception of English intonation 97

4.2.2 Students’ comprehension of English intonation 98

4.2.3 Students’ production of English intonation 100

4.2.4 Interrelationship among students’ perception, comprehension and production of English intonation 101

4.3 SUMMARY 103

CHAPTER 5 IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 104

5.1 TEACHING IMPLICATIONS 104

5.2 RECOMMENDATIONS 106

5.2.1 Recommendations to DELL – USSH 106

5.2.2 Recommendations to teachers 107

5.2.3 Recommendations to students 107

5.3 INTONATION TEACHING RESOURCES 107

VIII

5.3.1 Hancock, M (2003) English Pronunciation in Use The United Kingdom:

Cambridge University Press 108

5.3.2 Grant, L (2002) Well said: Pronunciation for clear communication The USA: Cengage Learning 110

5.3.3 Hewins, M (2004) Pronunciation practice activities: A resource book for teaching English pronunciation The United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press ………111

5.2.4 Boersma, P (2001) Praat, a system for doing phonetics by computer Glot International 5:9/10, 341-345 112

5.4 SUMMARY 113

CONCLUSION 114

REFERENCES 117

APPENDICES 122

Appendix 1: Program of English Linguistics and Literature 122

Appendix 2: Syllabus of English Pronunciation course 128

Appendix 3: Questionnaire 132

Appendix 4: Perception test 134

Appendix 5: Comprehension test 136

Appendix 6: Read-aloud task 139

IX

LIST OF TABLE

Chapter 1

Table 1.1: Syllabus of English Pronunciation course 11

Table 1.2: Section C in English Pronunciation in Use by Hancock (2003) 13

Table 1.3: Summary of intonation contents in the course book by Baker (2006) 15

Chapter 2 Table 2.1: Summary of previous studies on teaching English intonation to second/ foreign language learners 48

Chapter 3 Table 3.1: Year of birth 56

Table 3.2: Gender 56

Table 3.3: Places where students went to high school 57

Table 3.4: Age when students started studying English 57

Table 3.5 Information about whether students study English outside class or not 58

Table 3.6: Places where students study outside class 58

Table 3.7: Students’ self-assessment on their pronunciation 59

Table 3.8: Students’ self-assessment on their English sounds 59

Table 3.9: Students’ self-assessment on their intonation 59

Table 3.10: Data for analysis in read-aloud tasks 64

Chapter 4 Table 4.1: Students’ perception of tonality 68

Table 4.2: Students’ performance in Question 2 69

Table 4.3: Students’ perception of tonicity 70

Table 4.4: Students’ perception of tone… 71

Table 4.5: Students’ performance in Questions 7 – 10 72

Table 4.6: Students’ comprehension of tonality 75

X

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 4.1: Students’ perception of tonality 68

Figure 4.2: Students’ perception of tonicity 70

Figure 4.3: Students’ perception of tone 71

Figure 4.4: Students’ comprehension of tonality 74

Figure 4.5: Students’ comprehension of tonicity 78

Figure 4.6: Students’ comprehension of tone 84

Figure 4.7: Students’ focus placement 85

Figure 4.8: Vietnamese students’ tone choice 87

Figure 4.9: Vietnamese students’ pitch variations in different tone unit structures 89 Figure 4.10: “Ah” with the falling tone by a native speaker (left) and a Vietnamese learner (right) 90

Figure 4.11: “Ah” with the rise-fall (left) and fall-rise (right) by Vietnamese learners……….90

Figure 4.12: “I see” (left) and “What’s that” (right) with the falling tone by native speakers 91

Figure 4.13: “I see” (left) and “What’s that” (right) with the falling tone by Vietnamese speakers 91

Figure 4.14: “I see” (left) and “What’s that” (right) by Vietnamese speakers 92

Figure 4.15: “And how was it” (left) and “Where do I get breakfast” (right) with the falling tone by native speakers 93

Figure 4.16: “And how was it” (left) and “Where do I get breakfast” (right) with the falling tone by Vietnamese speakers 93

Figure 4.17: “And how was it” (left) and “Where do I get breakfast” (right) by Vietnamese speakers 94

Figure 4.18: “In the Panorama restaurant” by a Vietnamese speaker 95

Figure 4.19: Pitch variations by native speakers 95

Figure 4.20: Pitch variations by Vietnamese speakers 96

Figure 4.21: Pitch variations by Vietnamese speakers 97

XI

ABBREVIATIONS

DELL : The Department of English Linguistics and Literature

EP : English Pronunciation in Use

INTRODUCTION

This study aims at investigating the perception, comprehension and production of English intonation by Vietnamese learners, particularly freshman majors at the

Humanities, Ho Chi Minh City How the first-year students perceive, comprehend and produce English intonation patterns regarding Halliday’s (1967) trio of tonality, tonicity and tone is explored right after the course of English Pronunciation whose syllabus comprises English intonation in order that appropriate teaching implications can be recommended This introduction presents the rationale, aim and significance of the study as well as the overview of the rest of the thesis

0.1 RATIONALE OF THE RESEARCH

I have been teaching English skills for students majoring in English at the Department

of English Linguistics and Literature – the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ho Chi Minh City for more than 4 years My teaching covers all of four English skills as well as grammar and pronunciation I am specifically interested in helping the students improve their pronunciation in both segmental and supra- segmental aspects through courses of English Pronunciation which are taught in the first semester of the first year Thanks to the observation from my own teaching context, I realize that the students, before the course, may have a wide range of errors from individual sounds to different aspects of speech; however, they, after the course, greatly improve their English sounds as well as link-ups, word stress and rhythm whereas they cannot produce natural speech due to the lack of mastering English intonation This observation insists that intonation plays a crucial role in learners’ communicative competence Wells (2006) emphasizes that native speakers can ignore non-native speakers’ segmental errors, “but they do not make allowances for errors of

1

The name of the Department has been changed into the Faculty of English Linguistics and Literature

2

intonation” (p.2) The lack of appropriate intonation in the learners’ speech is possibly due to the fact that English intonation is not given enough time and attention by both teachers and students although it is included in the syllabus Segmental aspects usually become the focus of teaching, which leads to the situation that supra- segmental ones are ignored Furthermore, there may be the lack of appropriate approach towards intonation teaching Basically speaking, the intonation contents are taught on the base of grammatical approach and in the isolated way with little context involvement Therefore, I would like to do research on students’ perception, comprehension and production of English intonation in order to achieve the comprehensive view of the difficulties or challenges they encounter when learning English intonation and propose appropriate teaching implications to improve their communicative competence

The pursuit of the research involving English intonation was inspired by my own process of learning and teaching English pronunciation First, the courses of Phonetics and Phonology in the curriculum of my Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts programs awaked my strength in linguistics in general and phonology in particular My good performance and the interesting contents in these courses really motivated me to explore the field Second, like most of the Vietnamese learners, my learning process started with reading, writing and grammar; listening, speaking and pronunciation had not been learned until I entered university I have experienced the difficulty of not being understood due to low proficiency in English intonation in spite of my correct production of individual sounds Therefore, I hope that the research can help students shorten the route to be able to express their speech communicatively Third, I really enjoy teaching English pronunciation thanks to the fact that the increasing contact with English phonetics and phonology via different courses help me form invaluable insights in the language itself and discover its phonological rules and constraints Finally, the process of trying different teaching methods really arouses my curiosity and desire to find out the most appropriate approach to teach English intonation to

learners of English, especially Vietnamese students majoring in English at DELL – USSH

Throughout the history, the field of English intonation has gained more and more attention and interest, which is reflected by a wide range of studies on describing its patterns and functions Crystal (1969) mentions that there are two theoretical models

of English intonation The first is within the American framework of “analysis in terms of pitch-levels organized into phonemes or morphemes” The second is within the “British tradition of analysis in terms of functional units within pitch contours” (Crystal, 1969, p.197) Typical studies of the American school are by Pike (1945) and Trager & Smith (1951); those of the British school are O’Connor & Arnold (1960),

Cruttenden (1997) and Wells (2006) also provide the full account of English intonation patterns and functions Although English intonation has been explored in the studies above, it is said that “intonation is only slowly gaining in status as an integral component of pronunciation and overall language competence” (Chun, 2002, p.84) It is true that in comparison with other aspects of speech, intonation attracts the least interest and emphasis Tench (1996) adds that even rhythm receives more focus than intonation “because of its crucial role in poetry” (p 1) Furthermore, few studies are done on the pedagogical side, especially in the context of teaching intonation to the Vietnamese students who major in English In fact, the literature records only one study involving English majors (Ngo & Setter, 2011) and some others involving Vietnamese students of general English (Pham, 2007) or those whose major is not English (Nguyen, 2009 and Lai, 2010) Besides, some other studies involve groups of learners from different language background (Hewings, 1995; Ilčiukienė, 2006; and Verdugo, 2006) Therefore, the current research is expected to contribute to the field

of English intonation both theoretically and pedagogically, especially in the context of teaching intonation to Vietnamese learners majoring in English at DELL – USSH

4

Briefly speaking, the observations from my own teaching context, my personal interest, my teaching and learning experience and the general trend of research in the field are strong motivations for this particular research

0.2 AIM OF THE RESEARCH

This is a quantitative descriptive study The subjects are first-year English majors at DELL – USSH Data collection involves the following instruments: questionnaires, perception tests, comprehension tests, read-aloud tasks and course-related materials The objectives of the research are: (1) to investigate the students’ perception of English intonation, that is, how they distinguish different English intonation patterns

in terms of tonality, tonicity and tone; (2) to explore the students’ comprehension of English intonation; i.e., how they interpret the functions and meanings of speech expressed by different intonation patterns in terms of tonality, tonicity and tone; (3) to examine the students’ production of English intonation patterns or how they produce pitch variations in different tone unit structures; and (4) to recommend appropriate teaching implications

The research aims at answering the following questions:

(1) How do the students perceive different English intonation patterns in terms of tonality, tonicity and tone?

(2) How do the students comprehend different English intonation patterns in terms

of tonality, tonicity and tone?

(3) How do the students produce different English intonation patterns in terms of tonality, tonicity and tone?

0.3 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RESEARCH

The study is done in the context that the field of English intonation needs more research both in the theoretical and pedagogical aspects; therefore, it will be one of the great contributions to the understanding of the nature of English intonation as well

as approaches to teach it Furthermore, it is significant that the research focuses on Vietnamese learners whose native language, Vietnamese, is different from English; pitch variations are recognized as lexical tones over words in Vietnamese whereas they make up intonation patterns over utterances in English Therefore, the research is not only expected to show the view on how freshman majors of English perceive, comprehend and produce English intonation but also may reflect general characteristics of Vietnamese learners in learning English intonation Finally, understanding how Vietnamese learners learn English intonation can also reveal the nature of intonation teaching in the Vietnamese context Therefore, the knowledge of both teaching and learning English intonation in the Vietnamese context is the firm base for appropriate teaching methods which are unique and indispensible in enhancing Vietnamese students’ proficiency of English intonation and then increasing their communicative competence

0.4 ORGANIZATION OF THE REMAINDER OF THE RESEARCH

In addition to the current introduction, which presents the rationale, aim and significance of the study, and the conclusion, the thesis consists of the following chapters:

Chapter 1 provides the background to the study which describes the undergraduate program of English linguistics and literature at DELL – USSH and the course of English Pronunciation The intonation contents are also mentioned in the framework

of the program, the course syllabus and course-related materials, particular in the first semester of the first year of the curriculum

6

Chapter 2 is the literature review which provides the theoretical background of the research and summarizes different studies in the field of teaching English intonation

to second/ foreign language learners

Chapter 3 describes the methodology of the research It includes research questions and research design involving the description of participants, research instruments, data collection and analysis procedure

Chapter 4 is the detailed analysis of the data on the base of the research questions Discussion regarding the findings is also mentioned

Chapter 5 consists of implications and recommendations on the base of the findings and discussion

CHAPTER 1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

This section provides the description the 4-year undergraduate curriculum of English linguistics and literature at DELL – USSH and the course of English Pronunciation The intonation contents are also mentioned

1.1 CURRICULUM OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS AND LITERATURE

The major of English Linguistics and Literature is the study about the English language, British and American culture and literature, the interpreting and translating skills as well as teaching English as a foreign language The 4 – year undergraduate program is divided into three parts

The first which is taught in the first two years focuses on fundamental skills including listening, speaking, reading, writing, grammar and pronunciation These skills are integrated in the two course sets of Language Skills A which involves reading, writing and grammar and Language Skills B which involves listening and speaking Each set has 4 levels such as pre-intermediate, intermediate, upper-intermediate and advanced; each level is the focus of teaching in one semester In addition, the course of English Pronunciation is taught at the very beginning of the curriculum, particularly in the first semester of the first year

The second part, the third year of the program, is the transition between basic language skills and specialized disciplines Such the transition phase consists of two sets of courses The first also focuses on language skills, but the courses like Academic Writing, Advanced Reading, Advanced Listening and Advanced Grammar give the chance for students to practice the skills comprehensively and academically

at the advanced level Students can also review their learning methods and English proficiency in order to be well-prepared for the following stage of specialized disciplines Moreover, in the second semester of the third year, fundamental knowledge of the specialized disciplines is introduced The courses are Presentation

8

Skills, Teaching Methodology, Basic Translation, Introduction to English Linguistics, Introduction to Literature, Introduction to British Culture and Society, and Introduction to American Culture and Society

In the last year of the program, students decide one of the disciplines and are divided into their own disciplines The disciplines are teaching English as a foreign language, interpreting and translating skills and cultural and literary studies Students are offered the courses specialized in each expertise They also have to do the internship which is appropriate for their own discipline

In terms of intonation contents, English intonation is taught explicitly in the course of English Pronunciation, which is going to be described in greater details in Section 1.2 Furthermore, it is implicitly taught in the courses of Language Skills B (Listening and Speaking) Students can subconsciously perceive intonation patterns and functions through conversations and lectures they listen to during the courses; however, they may or may not produce them correctly It is also noted that English intonation is included in the textbooks of Language Skills B courses For example, the research subjects, first-year students, may encounter intonation patterns in the textbook of

Language Skills 1B, Interactions 2 – Listening/ Speaking by Tanka and Baker (2002)

In the first chapter of the textbook, students may learn three intonation patterns on the attitudinal approach; they learn to understand whether speakers are excited, angry or disappointed thanks to the pitch variations in their speech In Chapter 4, intonation patterns of tag questions are introduced; and in Chapter 7, students may learn the functions of statements with rising intonation It is observed that the intonation contents in the textbook are not systematic and sufficient enough for students to improve their communicative English Nevertheless, they may not be taught due to the fact that intonation is not the focus of teaching in the course of listening and speaking skills Later in the third year of the program, the theory of English intonation

is briefly mentioned in the course of Introduction to English Linguistics, which is not enough to make a big change in students’ communicative competence In addition,

students in the disciplines of teaching English as a foreign language and skills of interpreting and translating may choose to study the course of English Phonetics and Phonology in the fourth year They can have a firmer theoretical background in English intonation thanks to this course

1.2 COURSE OF ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION

The 60 – period course of English Pronunciation is taught in 12 class sessions during

12 weeks in the first semester of the first year Note that each period is 50 minutes long; one class session consists of 5 periods The course is compulsory for all first- year students at DELL – USSH

The aim of the course is to help students: (1) recognize English phonetic symbols in the framework of International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA); (2) pronounce English sounds correctly via tasks of listening and distinguishing consonants and vowels (single vowels and diphthongs); (3) have initial access to supra-segmental aspects like strong and weak forms, stress, linking, rhythm and intonation; and (4) create the firm background of English phonetics and phonology

The contents of the course focus on both segmental and supra-segmental aspects of speech; the former receives greater emphasis whereas the latter is only introduced briefly and fundamentally Segmental aspects involve individual sounds such as English consonants and vowels Supra-segmental aspects involve strong and weak forms, stress, linking, rhythm and intonation Different tasks are designed to help students learn these aspects Minimal pairs, short sentences, conversations are used as both listening and speaking activities to enhance students’ perception and production

of English sounds Besides, students get familiar with individual sounds through transcription exercises Spelling rules are also generalized to increase students’ ability

to recognize and pronounce individual sounds correctly Furthermore, basic rules of supra-segmental aspects are explicitly introduced to students; illustrations involving words, sentences, short dialogues are given in the form of listen-and-repeat tasks

10

Sometimes, simple situations for role plays are assigned to students in order to help them produce natural speech

edition) by Baker (2006) and English Pronunciation in Use by Hancock (2003) The

syllabus is designed on the base of the required textbooks as well as teaching and learning contexts The table below provides the detailed contents of the syllabus

Consonants: /p/ & /b/

Introduction Unit 1: Bye, buy – Introducing letters and sounds (EP)

Unit 3: Back, pack + sound pair (EP) Unit 24 & 25 /p/ & /b/ (Ship & sheep)

2 Consonants: /t/ & /d/

/k/ & /g/

Unit 5: Down town (EP) Unit 9: Gate, Kate (EP) Sound pairs (EP)

Unit 26, 27, 28, 29: /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/ (Ship &

Unit 36, 37, 41, 42: /f/ & /v/; / / & / / (Ship

& Sheep)

4 Consonants: /s/ & /z/

/ / & / / /t / & /d /

Unit 4: Rice, rise (EP) Unit 12: Sheep, jeep, cheap (EP) Sound pairs (EP)

Unit 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35: /s/ & /z/; / / & / /; /t / & /d / (Ship & sheep)

Unit 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49 /m/, /n/, / / & /l/, /r/ (Ship & sheep)

Unit 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 / / & / :/; / / & / / & / / (Ship

Intonation

Section C: Conservation (EP)

The syllabus above illustrates the description of the course contents It is seen that both segmental and supra-segmental aspects are mentioned in the syllabus; the former receives more focus and emphasis whereas the latter is only taught in a few class

intonation are assigned on the final week In addition, Section C in the textbook by Hancock (2003) is assigned to teach intonation in the last five periods of the course, which shows that the explicit intonation teaching is quite limited in the course of English Pronunciation Nevertheless, in all lessons of consonants and vowels,

3

EP stands for English Pronunciation in use by Hancock (2003)

12

intonation is implicitly taught through short sentences or conversations Furthermore, although it is not clearly stated in the syllabus, intonation can be included in the teaching process thanks to the fact that it is presented in some units in the textbook

1.3 INTONATION CONTENTS IN THE SYLLABUS

This section carefully describes the intonation contents in the syllabus They involve not only explicitly-taught intonation contents given in the textbook by Hancock (2003) but also those included in some units of the textbook by Baker (2006)

1.3.1 Intonation contents in the course book English Pronunciation in Use by

Hancock (2003)

According to the syllabus above, intonation is taught in the final class session of the whole course The teaching contents and materials are Section C in the textbook by Hancock (2003) As introduced in the book, this section “is about pronunciation in conversation” (Hancock, 2003, p 7) A more detailed description is also given, as follows:

Section C focuses on pronunciation features which emerge in the context of conversation These include discourse organization, prominence, and tone Note that there is a lot of grey shading in this section, indicating material that is more important for listening than for production It is felt that while productive mastery

of many features of intonation will be beyond the reach of many learners, they may nevertheless benefit from a receptive awareness of them (Hancock, 2003, p.10)

The paragraph above mentions that the book covers all of the three aspects of tonality, tonicity and tone in the intonation teaching It highly appreciates listening activities because of the notion that some intonation features seem to be very difficult for

second language learners to produce in a native-like way; it is beneficiary for them to perceive English intonation via various listening activities

Section C consists of 20 units which are given in the table 1.2

Table 1.2: Section C in English Pronunciation in Use by Hancock (2003)

The contents in Section C for teaching intonation can be divided into 3 parts termed tonality, tonicity and tone Units 41 – 48 introduce word grouping or tonality Units

14

49 – 53 involve prominence placement or tonicity And the rest focus on tone Each unit has two parts and is presented in two pages The first part or the first page presents a lesson of two, three or four sub-parts about a certain topic The second page consists of exercises; each exercise matches with a sub-part and is served as its practice As mentioned in the quoted paragraph, the contents of these units mainly focus on perception, which is reflected by the majority of listening lessons and exercises Therefore, it can be assumed that the students who take the course of English Pronunciation and study this section are able to perceive these aspects of intonation Furthermore, these units do not purely involve perception practice; they give contrasts and contexts in order to help students comprehend intonation patterns

In short, it is assumed that the students have the certain background of English intonation thanks to its presence in the syllabus Also students may have the ability to perceive and comprehend intonation patterns in terms of tonality, tonicity and tone because these contents are explicitly taught in the course However, the fact that only

5 out of 60 periods are served for intonation cannot ensure the mastery of the target knowledge of English intonation

1.3.2 Intonation contents in the course book Ship or Sheep? An intermediate

First, it is necessary to say that intonation contents in the course book in Baker (2006) are not the target of teaching assigned in the syllabus; however, they can be included

in the teaching process because of their presence in some units of the book

The table below summarizes the intonation contents in the book Ship or Sheep? An

assigned units in the syllabus aim at teaching segmental aspects or individual sounds but each of them consists of intonation contents which may be taught to students In fact, it is teachers’ availability of time and willingness which determine whether these intonation contents are presented to students The first column of the table presents

class sessions; the second is for assigned units; and the final one lists intonation contents

49: /m/, /n/, / / & /l/, /r/

Sentence stress Intonation patterns of ‘Mm’

Intonation in WH-questions and statements Intonation in exclamations

Intonation to express unfinished and finished notions

/h/ & /j/ & /w/

Intonation in WH-questions and intonation to express old information/ new information Highlighting a word

Intonation in exclamation

/ / & / :/; / / & / / & / /

Intonation of questions of ‘or’

Intonation in WH-questions and Yes/No questions

Intonation: up or down tags

& / /,

Intonation to express surprises

Table 1.3: Summary of intonation contents in the course book by Baker (2006) According to Halliday (1967), intonation involves three aspects, tonality, tonicity and tone Tonality refers to the process of chunking utterances into intonational phrases or tone units; tonicity is the choice of prominence or the most important information in a tone unit; and tone mentions pitch movements within tone units These three aspects create certain intonation patterns and imply different intonation functions Regarding the three aspects, the intonation contents mentioned above cover only tonicity and tone; therefore, students do not learn the differences in meanings caused by those in tonality Tonicity is mentioned briefly as the most important word in a phrase or sentence Tone consists of rising and falling pitch movements which characterize different functions of intonation Grammatical function includes rising and falling contours in statements, yes/no questions, WH-questions and question tags It also mentions the marking of syntactic structure boundaries, that is, the unfinished and finished part of utterances or the relationship between main and subordinate clause Attitudinal function is reflected by to-show-feelings intonation patterns Discourse function involves the contrast between old and new information Finally, accentual function is expressed by word highlighting It is observed that intonation contents

regarding tone cover almost all intonation functions; however, the rising/ falling contours or pitch variations do not vary in different tone unit structures

Below is the intonation lesson in Unit 1 of the book Ship or Sheep? An intermediate

4 Intonation of questions with ‘or’

Intonation is the voice going up or down

This movement up or down begins on the most important word in a phrase or sentence

In questions with ‘or’ the intonation usually goes down at the end

a Listen and repeat

Would you like veal or beef?

Would you like coffee or tea?

Would you like coffee, tea or milk?

b Role play

Use the menu to practice a conversation in a group of four or five You are in a

restaurant Take turns to be the waiter Ask each other questions, e.g Would you like

… or …? Then one person gives the order to the waiter, who repeats the order to

check it If possible, also practice using other menus If it is an expensive restaurant,

the waiter or waitress can be more formal, saying Good evening before asking for the

coffee OR tea Biscuits

and Cheese Edam

cheese OR Brie

(Baker, 2006, p.5)

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This sample illustrates intonation contents the textbook Ship or Sheep? An

or phrase chunking is not mentioned; tone units are primarily decided Tonicity is implied as “the most important word in a phrase or a sentence” Intonation which should be tone is simply defined “the voice going up or down” It is noted that the concept of intonation defined in the textbook overlaps with that of tone The intonation pattern described in the lesson is for alternative questions or questions with

‘or’ and is characterized to go down at the end, which expresses grammatical function

of intonation Second, three short questions which have simple tone unit structures are used to exemplify the target intonation pattern, and the listen-and-repeat task helps students learn it The role play that customers and waiters or waitresses converse in the food order situation is designed to help students practice the pattern

If the intonation contents above are taught to students, some implications can be withdrawn On the one hand, the students may be exposed to different fundamental patterns and functions of intonation; therefore they can have a certain background of this supra-segmental aspect On the other hand, the presentation of intonation in this textbook is simplistic and context-less, which is not sufficient enough for students to have the good understanding and show the appropriate use in their communication

1.4 SUMMARY

This chapter describes the 4 – year curriculum of English linguistics and literature and the course of English Pronunciation Intonation contents in the syllabus are also described in great details These aspects provide the background to the study The following chapter provides the theoretical background to the study and review previous research related to English intonation teaching

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

The previous chapter provides the background to the study This chapter forms the theoretical background to the research and reviews previous studies on teaching English intonation to second/ foreign language learners

2.1 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND TO THE RESEARCH

2.1.1 Definition of intonation

Hirst (1977) defines the term intonation or intonative features as “everything which,

in an acoustic signal, does not serve to establish a phonematic transcription of that signal (does not in other words serve the phonological component to establish the phonematic features), but which does, directly or indirectly serve as an input to the semantic component in order to establish the semantic features of the message” (p.8) Such the definition is interpreted that the message transmitted comprehensibly from the speaker to the listener contains two sets of phonematic and non-phonematic features The phonematic features include segmental aspects of speech, consonants and vowels, which are the fundamental components of higher speech units Individual sounds make up words; words can function as lexical or grammatical components; the combination of words make up syntactic structures; and these lexical and syntactic units form the semantic aspect of the message On the other hand, the semantic component of the message is formed by non-phonematic features, that is, intonative features In Hirst’s definition, intonative features are non-phonematic features which contribute directly or indirectly to the semantic aspect of a message Briefly speaking, intonation is a prosodic feature of speech and plays a crucial role in expressing linguistic meanings

Furthermore, “intonation is the linguistic use of pitch in utterances” (Tench, 1996, p 2) First of all, pitch is one of the three prosodic features including length, loudness

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and pitch which are frequently used in speech analysis and is “most centrally involved

in intonation” It is defined that “pitch concerns the varying height of the pitch of the voice over one syllable or over a number of successive syllables” (Cruttenden, 1997,

p 2) In turns, the pitch of the voice is affected by three factors such as the tension of the vocal folds, the flow of air out of the lungs and different types of phonation (Ladefoged, 2011, p 254) Among these three factors, the rate of vibration of the vocal folds is the most important element and causes the pitch variations in speech Regarding the acoustic measurement, pitch is perceived as the fundamental frequency

or “the number of times that the vocal cords completely open and close in one second” (Cruttenden, 1997, p 3) Second, regarding the linguistic use, intonation

“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” (Tench, 1996, p 2) These linguistic aspects explore the accentual, grammatical and discourse functions of intonation and are distinguished from paralinguistic aspects which involve the speakers’ feelings or attitudes and, to some extent, are universal or exist in nearly all languages Third, it is essential to mention the pitch variations in utterances in the definition of intonation The characteristic that pitch movements occur in words and change their lexical meanings is a typical feature of tone languages Intonation does not change the lexical meanings of words; it conveys different linguistic interpretations of utterances

Tench (1996) mentions the other three points to “prevent possible confusion” (p 4) in the interpretation of intonation First, it is noticeable that lexical tones, pitch variations which cause lexical change of words, are different from intonation patterns

or pitch variations of one-syllable utterances One syllable with different lexical tones forms different words with different meanings For example, in Vietnamese, the

syllable [ba] can be perceived lexically differently as ba ‘father’, bà ‘grandmother’,

bả ‘(pronoun) that woman’, bạ ‘any’, bá ‘aunt/ uncle’, and bã ‘waste’ thanks to the

use of the six contrastive tones On the other hand, pitch change of the word yes does

not change its lexical meaning; instead, the falling pitch implies the definiteness and completeness or the rising pitch refers the questioning or incompleteness Second, intonation is perceived within utterances, not sentences A sentence can be an utterance; it can be divided into smaller utterances; or two short sentences can make

up one utterance In fact, fast speakers produce fewer pauses in speech whereas slow speakers do more, which means that the formation of intonation units depends on speakers’ speed of speech Third, it is noted that all languages have intonation or “use pitch variations for intonation purposes” (Tench, 1996, p 6) This observation implies that appropriate considerations should be given in the situation that speakers of a tone language study an intonation language For example, the acquisition of English intonation by Vietnamese learners can be affected by Vietnamese intonation patterns However, if the characteristics of Vietnamese intonation do not receive appropriate considerations, this effect may be ignored, which leads to the incomprehensive understanding of the acquisition process

2.1.2 System of tonality, tonicity and tone

The system of tonality, tonicity and tone is proposed by Halliday (1967) It is chosen

to be the theoretical approach to English intonation in the current research thanks to its comprehensive value Tench (1996) briefly reviews the development of research

on the theoretical aspects of intonation Intonation has been under investigation since the eighteenth century; the analysis of tape recordings in 1950s and 1960s provides “a new dimension to intonational research” (Tench, 1996, p 7); and then intonation descriptions are in greater details thanks to the fact that Crystal (1969) and Halliday (1967) analyze long stretches of speech Furthermore, Halliday (1967) is evaluated to

“present a more linguistic orientation and emphasize the phonological nature of intonation” as well as “draw attention to the informational role of intonation” which has been overlooked by other previous studies (Tench, 1996, p 7)

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Halliday (1967) proposes:

It can be seen, therefore, that in any utterance in English three distinct meaningful choices, or sets of choices, are made which can be, and usually are, subsumed under the single heading of “intonation” These are: first, the distribution into tone groups – the number and location of the tone group boundaries; second, the placing of the tonic syllable (in “double tonic” tone groups, the two tonic syllables) – the location, in each tone group, of the pretonic and tonic sections; third, the choice of primary and secondary tone I propose to call these three systems “tonality”, “tonicity” and “tone” (p 18)

Particularly speaking, tonality is defined as a process of segmenting or chunking utterances into intonational phrases or tone units, which depends on the way the speaker organizes information structures Tonicity mentions the prominence or focus

of information in an intonational phrase And tone is perceived as contrastive pitch variations within tone units In fact, English intonation patterns are formed on the base of the three processes: tone unit formation, focus placement and tone choice The following sections describe the three aspects of intonation in greater details Note that Halliday (1967) proposes the system of tonality, tonicity and tone; and later Tench (1996) provides a full account of English intonation on the base of this system Therefore, the theoretical background of each aspect of the trio is from both Halliday (1967) and Tench (1996)

2.1.2.1 Tonality

“Tonality is the system in intonation that divides spoken discourse into its separate individual intonation units” (Tench, 1996, p 31) In fact, a piece of speech can be spoken with different intonation units; each contains one piece of information The process of segmenting speech into separate word groups depends on speakers’ speech management and organization It is the speakers who decide how speech is organized

Halliday (1967) mentions the two types of tonality: neutral tonality and marked tonality Neutral tonality refers to the alignment between the boundaries of an intonation unit and those of a clause, i.e a clause is an intonation unit The two marked possibilities of tonality are “the tone group is more than one clause and that the tone group is less than one clause” (p 20) The example (1) illustrates neutral tonality whereas (2) and (3) the two types of marked tonality

(1) A dog is a man’s best friend

(2) I am going to town ǀ this morning

(3) He did I saw it

It is interpreted that (1) contains one piece of information in which “a dog” is a theme and “is a man’s best friend” presents the rheme In (2), “this morning” is an additional piece of information added after the first one In (3), the main piece of information is

in the second clause, so the first one is spoken in fast speech, which implies the given information

Tench (1996) describes different structures which involve the element of tonality First, in a listing utterance which contains different items in a list, each item is spoken

in an intonation unit This is a possibility of marked tonality in which a clause consists

of more than one tone units

(4) He could speak English ǀ French ǀ and German

Second, it is observed that marked theme has its own intonation unit Marked theme is described to precede the subject and become the theme As in (5) and (6), ‘this morning” and “last night” are the themes of the two utterances and have their own tone groups

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(6) Last night ǀ you came in too late

Third, adjuncts which add the meaning to the whole utterance are spoken with a separate tone group

(8) Miss Smith ǀ can you help me?

Fourth, tags also have their own intonation units

(9) John’s going out ǀ isn’t he?

(10) That was a bit early, wasn’t it?

Fifth, tonality contrasts in grammar are also exemplified in the following structures The contrast in defining and non-defining clauses brings the difference to the interpretation of the nouns before them

(11) a My brother who lives in Nairobi ǀ …

b My brother ǀ who lives in Nairobi ǀ …

The non-defining clause forms its own tone unit and functions as an extra piece of information to the referent whereas the defining one does not (11a) can be interpreted that the speaker has more than one brother and wants to mention the one living in Nairobi while (11b) implies that the speaker has only one brother and adds the information about where he lives Furthermore, the similar observation is found in the structure of apposition

(12) a Tom Jones ǀ the singer ǀ comes from South Wales

(12a) means that there is only one Tom Jones whereas (12b) implies that there are different men named Tom Jones and “the singer” is used to define the referent The segmentation of tone units also helps to distinguish the syntactic structures of verb phrases, negative domain and clause complements

(13) a He left me to get on with the job

b He left me ǀ to get on with the job

The presence or absence of a pause between the two verb phrases causes the difference in meanings (13a) and (13b) may be different in the person who gets on with the job

(14) a He didn’t come ǀ because I told him

b He didn’t come because I told him

In (14a) the second clause is the additional information while in (14b) it carries the major piece of information

(15) a She washed and brushed her hair

In (15a) “hair” is the direct object of the two verbs whereas in (15b) it is that of the second verb

2.1.2.2 Tonicity

Tonicity is the process of focus placement or prominence assignment within an intonation unit The focus or prominence in a tone unit is perceived with the highest pitch, carries the major pitch change, and is called a tonic syllable Tench (1996) cites Halliday’s explanation that “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

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the message” (p 55) He also adds “the units of intonation represent the speaker’s management of the organization of information: one unit of intonation represents one unit of information […] the tonic represents the focus of each unit of information” (p.55) Furthermore, Halliday (1967) characterizes both neutral tonicity and marked tonicity whose distinction depends on the place of the tonic syllable in the tone unit Regarding neutral tonicity, the tonic syllable is the last stressed syllable in a tone unit

or “the tonic falls on the last element of grammatical structure that contains a lexical item” (Halliday, 1967, p 22)

(16) I very often meet him in the square

(17) did they ever get a hundred percent

(18) how long do these changes take

(19) they grade them

(20) that’s why it’s so awful to have to get rid of it

Tench (1996) mentions the two types of neutral tonicity such as broad focus and narrow focus; he argues that “neutral tonicity indicates broad focus where all information in the unit is new, but it may also indicate narrow focus if that which is new information is found at the end of the unit” (p 68)

In terms of marked tonicity, there are two forms including “a lexical element that is not final” and “a final element that is not lexical” (Halliday, 1967, p 23) It is observed that marked tonicity expresses contrasts

(21) It’s not what I think ǀ but what yo u

(24) Remember ǀ I said

if

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Marked tonicity is also found in clauses containing intransitive verbs of motion or happening which do not contribute significantly to the meaning of the utterance

(25) The doctor’s coming

(26) An accident has happened

(27) A question was raised

(28) Discussions took place

Tench (1996) describes another point related to tonicity: tonicity by default In this notion, the focus of the first utterance in the conversation is repeated in the second one although it becomes the given information The first type is termed “echo” which

“is an identical wording of a part of, or the whole of, a previous utterance, usually for the sake of expressing disbelief or surprise, or checking against mishearing” (Tench,

1996, p 68)

(29) A: I’d love to attend the next one

B: You’d love to attend the next one!?

(30) A: Is this your handbag?

B: Pardon?

A: Is this your handbag?

The second type is called “insists” The second speaker “insists” that the presupposition made by the first speaker is not true

(31) A: Why have you invited the Robinsons?

B But I haven’t invited them!

(32) A: Has John read Slaughterhouse Five?