Some methods to help students at thach thanh i high school master word stress

THANH HOA EDUCATION AND TRAINING DEPARTMENT THACH THANH I HIGH SCHOOL EXPERIENTIAL INITIATIVE some methods to help students AT thach thanh i HIGH SCHOOL master word stress Author: Vũ Th

THANH HOA EDUCATION AND TRAINING DEPARTMENT

THACH THANH I HIGH SCHOOL

EXPERIENTIAL INITIATIVE

some methods to help students AT thach thanh i

HIGH SCHOOL master word stress

Author: Vũ Thị Xuân Occupation: Teacher Experiential initiative on: English

THANH HOA, YEAR 2021

INDEX

1.1 Reasons for the study

1.2 Aims of the study

1.3 Scope and object of the study

1.4 Study method

2 2 2 2 2

2.1 Theoretical rationale of the study

2.1.1 What is English stress

2.1.2 Why do we need to master stress

2.1.3 How do we learn stress

2.2 Status of the study problem

2.2.1 For the teachers

2.2.2 For the students

2.2.3 For objective factors

2.3 Solutions

2.3.1 During English lesson

2.3.2 Some rules to master word stress in English

2.3.2.1 Phonetic stress

2.3.2.2 Word stress with suffix

2.3.2.3 Word stress for compound nouns and reflexive

pronouns

2.4 Study effects

3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4

6 6 16 17 17 19 19

3 3 CONCLUSION, PROPOSALS

3.1 Conclusion

3.2 Proposals

20 20 20

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 REASONS FOR THE STUDY

It’s easy to see just how important English is around the world Therefore,more and more people are dedicating time to studying English as a secondlanguage because English is the most commonly spoken language in the world.One out of five people can speak or at least understand English Whether we arelooking for a job, taking an exam or planning to travel the world, studyingEnglish can help us progress in both personally and professionally

Phonetics is considered as one of the basic elements of all languages in theworld If the pronunciation is correct, all skills such as listening, speaking,reading will become much easier On the contrary, if the pronunciation is wrong

or unclear, it will make the listener misunderstand or even not understand thespeaker's meaning

To support the correct pronunciation of English words, hitting the correct stresswill bring success in communication in general and in exams in particular Inorder for the other person to understand the content of the sentence they want toexpress, in addition to pronouncing the correct word to avoid misunderstanding,

it is also important to use stress for words in a sentence However, the fact thatmany students pronounce the wrong words and stress incorrectly is still verycommon due to the lack of grasping the pronunciation and stressing rules orperhaps due to the application of long, rambling rules, hard to remember

Having identified the problem, I have tried to search for solutions to helpstudents learn word stress more efficiently Thus, in this writing I would like to

share “ Some methods to help students at Thach Thanh I High school master word stress ” with the hope that my colleagues can also considered my

teaching strategies as useful suggestions to help their students become moreinterested and confident in speaking English

1.2 AIMS OF THE STUDY:

- Helping students at Thach Thanh I High School know how to pronounceEnglish words correctly

1.3 SCOPE AND OBJECT OF THE STUDY

- Scope: Research subjects are students at Thach Thanh I High School, school

year 2020-2021

- Object: This subject is concerned with ways of teaching word stress in the

class

1.4 The study method

- Finding out difficulties that students have in English classes

- Research methodology through the documents: Book of Applied Informatics,

Internet, textbooks 12, teacher books, exercise books and related documents

- Observing and drawing out experiences

- Research Methodology of actual survey, gathering information and data

processing

2 STUDY CONTENT

2.1 The theoretical rationale of the study

2.1.1 What is English stress?

Have you ever heard a very fast saying from a foreigner and did notunderstand anything? Or do you say a sentence that makes the person facing youalso not understand? That is because you do not know how to grasp word stress

in English If you set wrong syllable stress or say words without stress, you willhave difficulty in both speaking and listening when communicating in English

There will be an accent in each word Stress is a syllable that is pronouncedlouder and clearer, with more emphasis on other syllables in a word, used todistinguish one word from another When you look up in a dictionary, you willidentify word stress by the symbol (‘) before the syllable is stress

In English, there are many words written the same but will have differentmeanings, different types of words if the stress is different Therefore, if you donot pronounce the stress correctly, the listener will not understand ormisunderstand what you are saying For example, the word desert, if it is a nounstress falls on the first sound / ˈdezərt / and means a dry, barren area of land, if

it is a verb, stress falls on the second sound / dɪˈzɜrt / and means neglect

According to Peter Roach in "English phonetics and phonology," the stress of a word is pronounced more prominently than the other Stressed sounds have at least four distinct characteristics:

- Have a louder volume than the rest of the sound

- Have a longer length than the other sounds

- Have a higher pitch than the rest of the sound

- The vowel of a stressed sound is different from the other vowels in the same word

2.1.2 Why do we need to master stress?

First, stress distinguishes one word from another when listening to and speakingEnglish, because misplaced stress can cause misunderstanding to different wordswith different meanings In fact, there are many "half-hearted and funny"

situations that happen just because speaking English has no stress and thelistener understands it differently This is extremely dangerous if you useEnglish to communicate with customers, foreign partners.

Second, stress helps to emphasize and convey important information If youknow the word stress well, you can hear and capture information very well eventhough people "speak fast like the wind"

Third, stress creates the natural intonation of the sentence, making the Englishvoice flexible, professional, and in a native-like style Without stress, wordsbecome boring, unattractive, reading English as if it were Vietnamesetranscription A statement with up and down intonation will certainly appeal tothe listener much more than a flat statement, all without emotion

2.1.3 How do we learn stress?

Like all language knowledge, stress has its own rules Learners can buybooks about stress and follow the rules in them With fixed rules, learners onlyneed to memorize and do lots of exercises However, the rules have exceptions.Learners need to pay more attention to these exceptions

In addition, learners can learn stress in many different ways such as: learning incommunication, learning while listening to the teacher lectures, learning whenlistening to programs played in English, or by looking up a dictionary And onlyregular practice and practice can help people learn successfully on the path ofconquering the language

2.2 Status of the study problem

2.2.1 For the teacher:

Most teachers understand the importance of word stress, especially for highschool students But until now there are many teachers who are fearful andconfused of the ways to teach stress They are not confident of when to teach,how much time they should spend on stress and especially how to present themclearly and comprehensibly

2.2.2 For the students:

Most students have no concept of stress in English pronunciation Studentsmay know about stress by looking at the Glossary section at the end of thetextbook However, many students do not watch this part or only pay attention tothe meaning of the word without paying attention to the pronunciation or stress

of the word

2.2.3 For objective factors

- Difficult to remember and apply

The rule of determining stress is already there, but it is a very difficult process tomemorize in theory and apply it to the lesson You need to do and read a lot to

be able to deeply remember the learned rules, thereby forming the ability toreflect and analyze with new words

- Difference between Vietnamese and English

Vietnamese is a monosyllabic language with built-in tones so you won't need aheadache because of defining stress But English is different English is a multi-syllable language with complex features of stress and intonation The daily use

of Vietnamese has gotten your brain used to simplifying intonation and stress,now you have to memorize a bunch of complex rules Isn't it difficult?

- There are rules but there are exceptions

In school, after teaching you many rules about stress, teachers always end withthe word "but" This "but" makes your knowledge indeterminate, as there aremany exceptions beyond the rules

These are the problems that urge me to find out the solutions to help students getover the difficulties and hold interest in the foreign language in a flexible andeasy way To know exactly about the problem, at the beginning of the schoolyear, I investigated 76 in two classes before applying “ methods to teach wordstress” by asking them to do the following questionnaire The questionnaire isabout the students’ ability of using English stress in grades 12A10 and 12A9 ofThach Thanh I High School with the same level I gave each student a 5-question English stress questionnaire and asked them to do it within 7 minutes.The words on the questionnaire were selected from unit 1 of the 12th gradeEnglish textbook when the students have just finished this lesson

The questionnaire is as follows:

Choose the word whose stress pattern is different from that of the rest.

3 A garbage B mischievous C daughter D member

4 A reserved B importance C photograph D decide

5 A secondary B attempt C biologist D obedient

Here are the results:

4 correct answers

3 correct answers

2 correct answers

1 correct answer

0 correct answer

2.3 SOLUTIONS

2.3.1 During English lessons

Measure 1: When teaching new words I always focus on the stress of

words by using the stress mark for new words and ask students to write thewhole part in their notebooks When I let students read words, I also payattention to correct them if they see that they are not reading the stress correctly

by re-pronounce the word they read wrong and ask them to read it correctly

Measure 2: When using English, I always pay attention to correct accent

and intonation to guide and create habits for students to listen correctly In order

to do this, I always have to practice my speaking skills properly in many wayssuch as listening and practicing according to tape, using dictionary to look upwords I am not sure about, listening to broadcast programs broadcast in English

on television or radio

Measure 3: This is the measure used in Language focus periods of Unit 3,

Unit 4 and Unit 5 Because the time for stress in each Language Focus period isonly from 10 to 15 minutes, so there is only enough time for students to listen totapes and repeat the pronunciation of words Teachers don't have time to explain

to students some general rules regarding stress Therefore, students can onlygrasp the stress of words in the textbook So before every Language Focusperiods of these lessons, I ask students to preview the “stress” at home

In class, I proceed to teach stress as follows:

- First, I let students listen to the tape 1 time to recognize word stress and thenask students to repeat the tape twice

- I check the word stress positions to see if the students have mastered themcorrectly

- Tell students to listen to the part "Practise reading aloud the sentences" and callsome students to read it again

Measure 4: Before each period, I prepare 2 multiple-choice questions

about stress with the requirement “Choose the word whose stress is differentlyplaced from the other words” The words selected in these 2 questions are thewords that will be used during that class These two questions can be written inthe sub-chart first At the end of each period, I spend from 30 seconds to 1minute for students to answer the two questions and pronounce these words

The questions for each section are listed in the following table

Speaking A before B decision C important D personal

A.family B secret C person D member

Unit 1

Listening A together B dinner C leftover D children

A excited B often C crowded D rarely

Unit 1

Writing

A permit B different C.grandfather D idea

A prepare B allow C finish D discuss

Unit 1

Language

Focus

A party B listen C enjoy D married

A central B expensive C.interesting D.anywhere

Unit 2

Reading

A traditional B.contractual C marriage D.difference

A maintain B physical C majority D reject

Unit 2

Speaking A generation B happy C public D grocery

A country B holiday C precede D income

Unit 2

Listening

A banquet B ceremony C exchange D altar

A envelope B attend C ancestor D schedule

Unit 2

Writing

A.conical B picture C symbol D.Vietnamese

A culture B attractive C protect D material

Unit 2

Language Focus

A police B.decide C arrest D.neighbour

A several B grateful C.photography D thousand

A beautiful B perfect C today D terrible

A colour B dancer C really D.American

Unit 3

Listening

A consider B installed C attack D.regulation

A marvellous B argument C really D.maximum

Unit 3

Writing

A depend B observe C Abruptly D.necessary

A action B apology C common D difficult

Unit 3

Language Focus

A company B successful C because D discuss

A explain B marketing C office D visit

Unit 4

Reading

A.compulsory A.September C January D.curriculum

A system B.environment C.goverment D February

A methodical B teacher C actually D carefully

A behave B always C listen D struggle

Unit 4

Writing

A early B upper C formal D academic

A follow B suggestion C system D.writing

Unit 4

Language Focus

A algebra B chemistry C physical D.computing

A typical B normally C surprise D medicine

Unit 5

Reading

A roommate B campus C graduate D engineer

A colleges B challenge C inflation D library

A fascinating B.customer C.irrigation D.waiter

A pilot B.construct C.condition D.computer

B.domestic C.subsidy D eliminateA.measure B.inflation C.stagnant D.foreign

Unit 7

Speaking

A.technique B.policies

C.encoura

ge D.efficiently A.salary B.scholarship

B.technology C.disappear D.invention

Unit 8

Listening

A.incredible

B.eradicated C.fatal D eternal A.mushroo

m

B.expectancy

C.curable D.general

Unit 8

Language Focus

A across B butcher C cancer D famous

A opposite B business C among D contract

A comprise B enormous C acacia D colony

Unit 9

Speaking

A season

B.expedition

A.information B.composition C tableland D elevation

A feature B exist C winter D summer

Unit 9

Language Focus

A correct B umbrella C raincoat D money

A sentences B begin C.remember D.excitement

Unit 10

Reading

A extinction B destroy C habitat D depend

A effort B species C.temperature D.destruction

A mother B peaceful C picture D repeat

A hunter B baby C attain D sociable