Luận Văn The role of sentence stress in enhancing english speaking competence of HPU english majors

Khóa luận tốt nghiệp năm 2012
Đề tài: The role of sentence stress in enhancing english speaking competence of HPU english majors


TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF FIGURES
PART ONE: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale 14
2. Aims of the Study 15
3. Methods of the study . 15
4. Scope of the study . 16
5. Design of the study 16
PART II: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER ONE: THEORY BACKGROUND
1. An overview of stress and sentence stress 17
1.1. Definition of stress . 17
1.2. What is ―an English sentence‖? 17
1.3. What is ―sentence stress‖? 18
1.4. What is ―English speaking competence‖? 19
2. Levels of stress 20
2.1. Primary stress 20
2.2. Secondary stress 20
2.3. Tertiary stress 20
2.4. Quaternary stress 20
3. Sentence stress patterns . 21
4. General rules in sentence stress 22
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5. Sentence stress, rhythm, and intonation 25
5.1. The stress-timed rhythm of English . 26
5.2. Placement of stress in sentences 27
5.3. Some major intonation features . 29
5.3.1. Classification of Stress 30
5.3.1.1.Tonic Stress . 30
5.3.1.2. Emphatic stress 30
5.3.1.3. Contrastive Stress . 31
5.3.1.4. New Information Stress 32
5.3.2. Tune shapes . 32
6. Functions of sentence stress. . 32
7. The relationship between sentence stress and English speaking
competence . . . 33
8. The role of sentence stress in enhancing English speaking competence. . 34
8.1. Final intonation . 36
8.1.1. Rising-falling intonation . 36
8.1.2. Rising intonation . 37
8.2. Non-final intonation . 39
8.2.1. Rising-falling intonation . 39
8.2.2. Continuation rise . 40
8.2.3. Tag question 41
8.3. Speaker attitude 42
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CHAPTER TWO: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
1. Methodology . 43
2. Purpose of the survey questionnaires 43
3. Data analysis based on students‘ survey questionnaires . 43
CHAPTER THREE: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
1. Findings . 49
2. Some possible problems encountered by English majors in enhancing
English speaking competence. 49
2.1. Misunderstanding of meaning caused by wrong placement of stress 49
2.2. Misunderstanding of meaning caused by changes in sentence stress. . 50
2.3. Communication breakdown caused by wrong use of stress 50
3. Some suggested solutions 51
3.1. Be aware of sentence stress 51
3.2. Pay attention to the ways of speaking English . 51
3.3. Keep a detailed knowledge of English grammar 52
3.4. Express speaker‘s attitude to their speaking . 53
3.5. Practice speaking English frequently . 53
PART III: CONCLUSION 54
REFERENCES .55
APPENDIX . . .56


PART ONE: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
In the process of learning, Vietnamese learners tend to pay more attention to
the fluency (how fast they could speak) and to the number of vocabulary (how
many words they could remember), but less attention to the accuracy (how
they could speak a sentence with correct stress and intonation). By that, there
should be some changes in the students‘ awareness in the ways of learning
English professionally.
English is the best way for us to have a great deal of opportunities to reach the
success in life. Why do Vietnamese students make the wrong stress
placement? What can be the cause of those errors? If the answers to these
questions can be found, it is hoped that something could be done to help
students to avoid or correct them. Therefore, to understand and communicate
English effectively the learners should not only pay attention to vocabulary,
grammar but master sentence stress as well. However ―what is sentence
stress?‖ ―How can sentence stress affect communication?‖ For both English
learners in general and HPU English majors in particular, there is little
attention to the importance of sentence stress in communication.
All the above reasons have inspired the writer to choose the title of the
graduation paper ―the role of sentence stres14s in enhancing English speaking
competence of HPU English majors‖.
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2. Aims of the Study
Being aware of the fact that sentence stress is an extremely difficult topic and
merely well-understood by English learners in general and English majors in
particular who put the wrong stress in a sentence.
 Giving the understanding on sentence stress and English speaking
competence.
 Showing the relationship among sentence stress, rhythm and intonation
along with the relationship between sentence stress and speaking
competence.
 Raising English majors‘ awareness of the existence of the sentence
stress and the effective using in enhancing English speaking
competence.
 Identifying the sentence stress placement.
3. Methods of the study
Because of the above aims, the following methods are used in the studying
process:
 Having discussion with supervisors, teachers, friends, etc.
 Reading reference books and documents.
 Survey questionnaires.
 Accessing Internet.
 Selecting typical examples of related authors.
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4. Scope of the study
Stress is an integral part in the sentence and it has pervasive force in meaning
interpretation. Besides, there are so many different material resources and
researches while my person experience is termin ate. Therefore, in my
graduation paper, I just focus on the role of sentence stress, its relationship
with speaking competence in enhancing English speaking.
5. Design of the study
This paper provides a clear organization consisting three main parts that help
an easy exploration and practical benefits gained for readers as well.
Part I is the Introduction, which includes Rationale, Aims, Methods and
Design of the study.
Part II is the Development, which consists of two chapters as following:
Chapter 1: Theoretical background, dealing with definitions of stress,
sentence, speaking competence, features of sentence stress, the relationship
between sentence stress and English speaking competence, the role of
sentence stress in enhancing speaking competence.
Chapter 2: Research methodology.
Chapter 3: Findings and discussion which consists of three parts: findings,
some possible problems in enhancing English speaking competence and some
suggested solutions for improvement after studying sentence stress.
Part III – Conclusion: restates the knowledge mentioned on the role of
sentence stress through three chapters above. A suggestion for further
research on sentence stress is also provided in this part.
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PART II: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER ONE: THEORY BACKGROUND
1. An overview of stress and sentence stress
1.1. Definition of stress
Stress on word syllable is an extra force used when pronounce a particular
word or syllable (Peter Roach, 1990).
Stress is defined as using more muscular energy while articulating the words.
When a word or a syllable in a word is produced louder, lengthier, with higher
pitch or with more quality, it will be perceived as stressed. The prominence
makes some syllables be perceived as stressed.
Stress also can be defined as the relative degree of force or emphasis given to
a particular syllable or word to make it stand out (i.e. be easily noticed) from
other syllables or words in an utterance. If syllables have stress, they are said
to be stressed syllables (or accented syllables). If syllables do not have stress,
they are considered to be unstressed syllables (or unaccented syllables).
1.2. What is “an English sentence”?
There are a number of sentence definitions given by different grammarians:
According to L.G Alexander (1988), a sentence is defined as ―a complete
unit meaning‖.
When we speak, our sentence may be extremely involved or even unfinished,
yet we can still convey our meaning through intonation, stress, facial
expression, etc.