VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES ---------- PHAN THỊ NGỌC ANH ENGLISH INTONATION: ERRORS MADE BY THIRD YEAR STUDENTS AT ENGLISH DEPARTMENT, CHU VAN AN UNIVERSITY MA Combined Programmed Thesis Hanoi, 2012 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES ---------- PHAN THỊ NGỌC ANH ENGLISH INTONATION: ERRORS MADE BY THIRD YEAR STUDENTS AT ENGLISH DEPARTMENT, CHU VAN AN UNIVERSITY (Ngữ Điệu Tiếng Anh: Những Lỗi Thường Gặp Của Sinh Viên Năm Thứ Ba, Khoa Tiếng Anh, Trường Đại Học Chu Văn An) MA Combined Programmed Thesis Field : English Linguistics Code : 60. VÕ ĐẠI QUANG Hanoi, 2012 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS. iii LIST OF TABLES.
viii LIST OF CHARTS. ix ABBREVIATION AND SYMBOLS IN THE STUDY. Rationale of the study. Scope of the study.
Aims and objectives of the study .1 Aims of the study .2 Objectives of the study. Significance of the study. Design of the study.1 Previous works related to the topic of the study .1 Definitions of intonation .2 Systems of intonation .3 Structure of intonation .4 Functions of intonation .12 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.5 Intonation-related errors .1 Nature of tonality .2 Identification of tonality .3 Components of tonality .4 Error and error analysis .1 Definition of error .1 Identification of errors .2 Description of errors .3 Explanation of errors (Tracing errors to their sources) .5 Summary of the chapter .1 The intonation tasks .1 The perception task .2 The production task .2 The academic results .1 The questionnaire items adopted in the present study .40 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.2 Structure of the survey questionnaire .5 Data Collection and Data Analysis Procedure .1 Data obtained via the intonation tasks .2 Data obtained via the academic results .3 Data obtained via the survey questionnaire .7 Summary of the chapter. DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS .1 Research Question 1 – Error Analysis .1 – Error identification and description .1 Errors of joining more than one intonation unit into one unit.1 Errors of joining closely grammatically connected units (Jc).2 Errors of joining short units (Js).2 Errors of splitting one intonation unit into more than one unit .1 Splitting marked tonality at clause boundary without comma (Sbwc) .2 Splitting marked tonality at clause boundary with comma (Sbc).3 Splitting tonality after the stressed in the head (Shs) .4 Splitting tonality after the nucleus (Sn) .5 Splitting tonality after the unstressed in the head (Shu) .6 Splitting tonality in and after the pre-head (Sp) .7 Splitting tonality at unstressed syllables of tail (Stu) .8 Splitting tonality after direct objects (So) .9 Splitting tonality after subjects (Ss) .10 Splitting tonality at the changing point in the dive-Sd 56 3.57 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.2 Ignorance of rule restrictions.3 Incomplete application of rules .2 Research Question 2: Correlation Investigation .1 Perceptive ability and productive ability .1 Better scores in perception task than in production task .2 The smaller number and the less frequency of errors in the perception task than in the production task .3 The fewer number of students making different types of errors in perceptive task than in productive task .2 Language proficiency and tonality competence .1 The bigger number of errors committed by the mid-ability group compared to the higher ability group .2 The bigger number of students in mid-ability group than in high- ability group committed different types of errors .3 Research question 3 – Attitude and Behavior Assessment .1 Students‟ beliefs and attitudes towards learning English intonation .2 Students‟ reactions to their problems .4 Summary of the findings.
Concluding remarks on objective 1. Concluding remarks on objective 2. Concluding remarks on objective 3. Concluding remarks on objective 4.
Concluding remarks on objective 5 .82 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Suggestions for further study. KEYS TO INTONATION TASKS. PHONETIC TRANSCRITION OF INTONATION TASK.
APPROACHES TO TEACH INTONATION. TECHNIQUES TO TEACH INTONATION. PRINCIPLES TO TEACH INTONATION. TEACHERS‟ ROLES IN INTONATION TEACHING.
EXERCISES AND ACTIVITIES FOR PRACTICE. XVIII LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com viii LIST OF TABLES Table 01: Rules of Neutral and Marked Tonality Table 02: Stressed and Unstressed Words Table 03: Structure of Intonation Table 04: Instruments Table 05: Types of intonation units Table 06: Types of errors made in two intonation tasks Table 07: Probable Causes to Tonality Errors Table 08: The Allocation of Marks Table 09: The Difference in the Scores of Intonation Tasks Table 10: Frequency of Errors in Perception and Production Task Table 11: The Allocation of Errors Table 12: Types of Errors Made in Two Tasks Table 13: The Number of Errors Committed by Members of Ability Groups Table 14: The Number of Students Made Errors by Two Ability Groups LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ix LIST OF CHARTS Chart 01: Proportion of joining and splitting errors Chart 02: Proportion of error types Chart 03: Number of students making errors from the most to the least frequent in perception task Chart 04: Number of students making errors from the most to the least frequent in production task Chart 05: The number of students made different types of errors in two groups (According to Mid ability group) Chart 06: The number of students made different types of errors in two groups (According to High ability group) LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com x ABBREVIATION AND SYMBOLS IN THE STUDY - P1: Participant 1, test of twenty participants will be coded from P1 to P20 - M1-M12: twelve members of mid ability group - H1-H8: eight members of high ability group - Jc: Joining closely grammatically connected units - Js: Joining nearby short units - Sbc: Splitting marked tonality consisted of two clauses with a comma in between - Sbwc: Splitting marked tonality consisted of two clauses without a comma in between - Sp: Splitting tone units in and after the pre-head - Shu: Splitting tone units at the place of unstressed syllables in the head - Sn: Splitting tone units after the nucleus - Shs: Splitting tone units at the place of stressed syllables in the head - Ss: Splitting tone units after subjects - So: Splitting tone units after objects - Sd: Splitting tone units in between of the dive - Stu: Splitting tone units in the tail - Tone unit boundary: // or / (for closely connected units) E.: // The bus stopped // we‟d got to the terminus // E.: //Do you really mean to tell me / you haven‟t got a suit since then? // LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Rationale of the study Intonation is a helpful tool to achieve effective communication. Speech without intonation features is no more than a machine output.
Therefore, a proficiency in intonation is a requirement for non-native learners of English. English intonation operates a trio of systems including tonality (the choice of intonation unit), tonicity (the choice of the tonic syllable or the nucleus) and tone (the choice of pitch movement on the nucleus). Each subsystem itself, however, is a fairly complicated phenomenon. It is why when teaching and learning English, both Vietnamese teachers and students pay more attention to grammar, vocabulary, individual sounds; and pay very little attention to intonation.
This prevents learners from comprehending spoken English. Neglect of intonation in the past, nonetheless, is now no excuse for neglect in the present. For students at English Department, Chu Van An University, who will become translators or interpreters of English in the near future, knowledge of English intonation is extremely essential. Especially, those who intend to work as interpreters are obliged to work mostly with spoken English.
If they are not good at intonation, they are unable to interpret meaning implied under what the native speakers say. Likewise, they may cause some misunderstanding due to wrong use of intonation. From the teaching reality, I have realized that my students encounter no few problems in speaking English intonationally. They even find it difficult to identify correct intonation units, more difficult to determine the nucleus among stress syllables in an intonation unit, and much more difficult to put a right pitch movement on the nucleus.
As a result, their speech is either jerky or monotonous or both. Apart from that, I myself have a couple of difficulties with English intonation. I am aware of the importance of English intonation. However, the amount of knowledge gained before my post graduate course is not sufficient for me to feel confident about communicating in English.
Especially, I cannot escape from feeling that my speech is not natural. With a hope that I can make some contributions to solving my own problems and my students‟ difficulties in communicating in English I choose the study on “English Intonation: Errors made by Third Year Students at English Department, Chu Van An University.” LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Scope of the study Intonation is a vast topic in English teaching and learning. Thus, it is too ambitious to cover so many aspects of English intonation in the study.
That is the reason why the area investigated in this thesis is the units of intonation - tonality. Furthermore, second language learners are various and different in the ways of making errors. However, due to limited size and time strain, subjects of the study concentrates on a limited number of 20 third year English majors of Chu Van An University. Aims and objectives of the study 3.1 Aims of the study The ultimate aim of this thesis is, to the possible extent within the findings established, to provide an account of the errors commonly committed by third year students at Chu Van An University and on this basis, to facilitate the mentioned students in improving English intonation unit usage.2 Objectives of the study Detect common errors in relation to English intonation units made by third year English majors of Chu Van An University; Find out the causes of these errors; Investigate the relationship between participants‟ perceptive and productive ability; Identify the correlation between third year students‟ language proficiency and their ability of dividing speech into word groups; Explore learners‟ beliefs and attitudes towards learning English intonation as well as their solutions to the problems they made with English intonation units.
Research Questions The specific objectives of the study can be elaborated into the following groups of research questions: 1. Error analysis LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.1 What are the common errors in dividing speech into tone units at the perception and production stage encountered by third year majors of English Department, Chu Van An University? 1.2 What are factors that lead to errors of English tonality? 2.1 What is the relation between the perceptive and productive capacity for intonation units? 2.2 What is the correlation between the students‟ language proficiency and their ability of speech division into intonation units? 3. Attitude and behavior assessment 3.1What are students‟ beliefs and attitudes towards English intonation learning? 3.2 What do students do to resolve their own difficulties in learning intonation? 5. Significance of the study The study is significant for the following reasons: (1) The study is implemented to investigate students‟ errors when dividing utterances into minor word groups – tonality.
Therefore, it is hereby expected that the study contributes to raising students‟ awareness of perceiving and producing intonation units. (2) It will help teachers to predict the learners‟ difficulties in learning intonation unit and be aware of the problems so that they will have effective methods to deliver their lectures on the issue in a way that it minimizes the tonality errors.