Problems in teaching intonation to english majors at USSH HCM

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP
I certify that this thesis, entitled “Problems in teaching intonation to English majors at
University of Social Sciences and Humanities” is my own work.
This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any
other situation.
Ho Chi Minh City, September 29, 2012

Hoang Thi Nhat Tam

i


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am truly indebted and thankful to a number of people who helped me to make this
thesis possible.
First and foremost, I would like to show my sincerest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr.
Nguyen Thi Kieu Thu, who has supported me throughout my thesis with her great
patience, knowledge and empathy. Without her, I could not have been able to
understand how far I could reach in doing research. Especially, I always save a
special part in my heart for remembering what she did for me during the time I have
been working at the Faculty.
I owe earnest thankfulness to all my teachers in the course who provided me with
knowledge as well as inspiration in teaching and doing research.
My special thanks also go to Ms. Nguyen Nha Tran for providing me with the
materials that I was unable to access in Vietnam. Especially, she was really patient to
give me precious advice at the beginning of my writing-the-thesis period. In addition,
I would like to send my thanks to Ms. Pham Ngoc Kim Tuyen who nicely listened to
my very first ideas and gave me great advice.
I would like to thank all of the eight teachers who spent their precious time doing my
questionnaire. Especially, they did share with me a lot of wonderful teaching
experiences and I could learn a lot of great things from observing their class which I

could never get from books.
This thesis would not have been possible without the sincere encouragement from my
colleagues, my classmates and the enthusiastic help of the kind librarians in ERC.
Last but not least, I am truly indebt to my beloved family who always stand by me.
Without their love and sacrifice, I could never be today‟s ME.

ii


RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS
I hereby state that I, Hoang Thi Nhat Tam, being the candidate for the degree of
Master of TESOL, accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention
and use of Master‟s Theses deposited in the Library.
In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my thesis deposited in the
Library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance
with the normal conditions established by the library for the care, loan or reproduction
of theses.

Ho Chi Minh City, September 29 2012

Hoang Thi Nhat Tam

iii


TABLE OF CONTENTS
STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ................................................................................ i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................... ii
RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS ................................................................ iii
LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................... viii

LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................... x
ABBREVIATIONS ...................................................................................................... xi
ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................. xii
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................... 1
1.1

Rationale of the research ........................................................................................................ 1

1.2

Background to the study ......................................................................................................... 8

1.3

Aim of the study ................................................................................................................... 10

1.4

Research questions of the study ........................................................................................... 10

1.5

Limitation of the study ......................................................................................................... 11

1.6

Significance of the study ...................................................................................................... 11

1.7

Organization of the study ..................................................................................................... 12

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ...................................................................... 13
2.1 Teachers‟ knowledge of subject matter ...................................................................................... 13
2.2 English intonation....................................................................................................................... 18
2.2.1 Definition of English Intonation .......................................................................................... 18
2.2.2 Functions of English intonation........................................................................................... 19
2.2.3 The significant role of intonation in communication between a native speaker and a nonnative speaker ............................................................................................................................... 21
2.3 Teaching english intonation ....................................................................................................... 30
2.3.1 The necessity of teaching English intonation appropriately to Vietnamese learners .......... 30
2.3.2 Views of priorities in teaching intonation: Segmentals or suprasegmentals or combination
...................................................................................................................................................... 31
2.3.3 Three common approaches to teaching English intonation ................................................. 32
2.3.4 Meanings of tones in English .............................................................................................. 35
2.3.5 Some illustrated practice activities ...................................................................................... 36

iv


2.4 Previous studies on teaching and learning english pronunciation .............................................. 38
2.5 The conceptual framework of the study ..................................................................................... 41

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY ................................................................................ 43
3.1

Research questions of the study ........................................................................................... 43

3.2

Research design .................................................................................................................... 43

3.2.1

Pilot survey ................................................................................................................... 44

3.2.2

Main survey .................................................................................................................. 45

3.2.2.2 Participants ....................................................................................................................... 46
3.2.2.3

Instruments ................................................................................................................... 46

3.2.2.4

Data collection procedures ........................................................................................... 53

3.2.2.5

Data analysis procedures .............................................................................................. 55

CHAPTER 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS.......................................................... 56
4.1 Results ........................................................................................................................................ 56
4.1.1 Class observation ................................................................................................................. 56
4.1.2 Questionnaire....................................................................................................................... 59
4.2 Discussions and findings ............................................................................................................ 67
4.2.1 Discussions .......................................................................................................................... 67
4.2.2 Findings ............................................................................................................................... 78
4.2.3 Discussion of findings ......................................................................................................... 80

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION .................................... 83
5.1 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 83
5.2 Recommendations ...................................................................................................................... 84
5.2.1 A dynamic career development program for pronunciation teachers at EF ........................ 87
5.2.2 Summary ............................................................................................................................. 90
5.3 Contributions of the study .......................................................................................................... 91
5.4 Further research .......................................................................................................................... 91

BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................ 93
APPENDIX 1a Program of English Linguistics and Literature ................................ 101
APPENDIX 1b Syllabus of Introduction to English Linguistics ............................... 106
APPENDIX 2 Pronunciation syllabus (in Vietnamese) ............................................ 111

v


APPENDIX 3 How intonation is treated in the two main coursebooks .................... 117
APPENDIX 4 Meanings of tones .............................................................................. 120
APPENDIX 6 Questionnaire ..................................................................................... 131
APPENDIX 7a Class observation checklist 1 ........................................................... 145
APPENDIX 7b Classroom observation checklist 1 ................................................... 146
APPENDIX 7c Classroom observation checklist 1 ................................................... 147
APPENDIX 7d Classroom observation checklist 1 ................................................... 148
APPENDIX 8 Classroom observation checklist 2 ..................................................... 149
APPENDIX 9 Classroom observation checklist 3 ..................................................... 150
APPENDIX 10 Teaching routine ............................................................................... 152
APPENDIX 11a Results from class observation checklist 1 ..................................... 153
APPENDIX 11b Results from class observation checklist 1 ................................... 154
APPENDIX 11c Results from class observation checklist 1 ..................................... 155

APPENDIX 11d Results from class observation checklist 1 ................................... 156
APPENDIX 12 Results from classroom observation checklist 2 .............................. 157
APPENDIX 13 Teaching routine teacher 1 ............................................................... 158
APPENDIX 14 Teaching routine teacher 2 ............................................................... 159
APPENDIX 15 Teaching routine teacher 3 ............................................................... 160
APPENDIX 16 Teaching routine teacher 4 ............................................................... 161
APPENDIX 17 Teaching routine teacher 5 ............................................................... 162
APPENDIX 18 Teaching routine teacher 6 ............................................................... 163
APPENDIX 19 Teaching routine teacher 7 ............................................................... 164
APPENDIX 20 Teaching routine teacher 8 ............................................................... 165
APPENDIX 21 Results from questionnaire teacher 1 ............................................... 166
APPENDIX 22 Results from questionnaire teacher 2 ............................................... 167
APPENDIX 23 Results from questionnaire teacher 3 ............................................... 168
APPENDIX 24 Results from questionnaire teacher 4 ............................................... 169
APPENDIX 25 Results from questionnaire teacher 5 ............................................... 170

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APPENDIX 26 Results from questionnaire teacher 6 .............................................. 170
APPENDIX 27 Results from questionnaire teacher 7 ............................................... 171
APPENDIX 28 Results from questionnaire teacher 8 .............................................. 172
APPENDIX 29 Table 4.15 the number of right and wrong answers the teachers got
from the test part ........................................................................................................ 174
APPENDIX 30 Table 4.16 The number of right answers the teachers got from the test
part by guessing ......................................................................................................... 175

vii

LIST OF TABLES
Chapter 1
Table 1.1 How English intonation is treated in Ship or Sheep
Table 1.2 How English intonation is treated in English Pronunciation in Use
Chapter 2
Table 2.1 Meanings of tones in the 25 cases introduced in the two main coursebooks
Chapter 3
Table 3.1 Study setting
Table 3.2 Total number of class observation meetings
Table 3.3 Class observation plan
Table 3.4 Plan of distributing questionnaire
Table 3.5 How often the teacher taught the intonation patterns introduced in the two
coursebooks?
Table 3.6 How often the teacher taught the intonation patterns introduced in the two
coursebooks?
Table 3.7 How often the teacher taught the intonation patterns introduced in the two
coursebooks?
Table 3.8 How often the teacher taught the intonation patterns introduced in the two
coursebooks?
Table 3.9 How often the teacher explained to his/ her students why they should learn
intonation?
Chapter 4
Table 4.1 How often the teacher taught the intonation patterns introduced in the two
coursebooks?
Table 4.2 How often the teacher taught the intonation patterns introduced in the two
coursebooks?

viii

Table 4.3 How often the teacher taught the intonation patterns introduced in the two
coursebooks?
Table 4.4 How often the teacher taught the intonation patterns introduced in the two
coursebooks?
Table 4.5 How often did the teacher explain to his/ her students why they should learn
intonation?
Table 4.6 How often did the teachers teach the tones introduced in the two
coursebooks in their classroom?
Table 4.7 How often did the teachers explain the reason why their students should
learn English intonation?
Table 4.8 Teachers‟ knowledge of the definition of English intonation
Table 4.9 Teachers‟ belief in the role of intonation in communication
Table 4.10 Teachers‟ explanation about the important role of intonation is in
communication
Table 4.11 Teachers‟ belief in how the four aspects play their roles in intelligibility in
communication
Table 4.12 Amount of time that the teachers spent teaching the five aspects during the
pronunciation course
4.13 Teachers‟ knowledge of three common approaches in teaching English
intonation
Table 4.14 Which approach(es?) did the teachers often use in classroom?
Table 4.15 The number of right and wrong answers the teachers got from the test part
Table 4.16 The number of right answers the teachers got from the test part by
guessing
Table 4.17 Teachers‟ knowledge of tones in the 25 cases in the two textbook
Table 4.18 Teachers‟ knowledge of tones in the 25 cases in the two textbook

ix

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 2.1 Model of teacher knowledge
Figure 5.2a Teacher professional development
Figure 5.2b Dynamic career development program

x


ABBREVIATIONS
EF: Faculty of English Linguistics and Literature
USSH: The University of Social Sciences and Humanities

xi


ABSTRACT
English intonation occupies a fundamental role in intelligibility between interlocutors
in communication. More than that, it could create, maintain and strengthen their
relationships. One key problem arising from the researcher‟s general investigation of
the curriculum, the syllabus, two main course books of the pronunciation course, and
pronunciation teachers at EF was that the teachers seemingly lacked knowledge of
English intonation. Therefore, the thesis aimed at investigating to what extent the
eight teachers of pronunciation courses at the Faculty understood English intonation
by yielding an insight into their knowledge of this prosodic feature.
Four main aspects of English intonation were taken into consideration in the survey
conducted on the eight teachers (four teachers in 2010 and four in 2011): (1) its
definition, (2) fundamental role, (3) the three common approaches to teaching English
intonation, (4) meanings of tones in the 25 cases introduced in the two course books.
The main research instruments were questionnaire and classroom observation.
The findings revealed that the eight teachers lacked knowledge of English intonation

in terms of the four aspects mentioned above, and consequently, intonation was not
properly taught as expected. That provokes an alarm among teachers and
administrators on teacher professional development. Given this matter, both of the
forces should work together to improve the awkward situation. Especially, the
administrators are supposed to support their teachers in terms of providing appropriate
environments for them to learn more about English intonation. Additionally, teachers
should start their self-development, co-operative
development as well.

xii

development and formal


CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 RATIONALE OF THE RESEARCH
Vietnam is a country in transition whose economy has experienced a very strong
growth over the past decade. It is a member of the Association of South East Asian
Nations - ASEAN (1995) and Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation-APEC (1998),
especially the World Trade Organization (WTO) (2007). Being the 150th member of
WTO marked a very important milestone in Vietnam – U.S relation: the long process
of reconciliation and normalization. Over the past 15 years, the U.S has become
Vietnam‟s biggest foreign investor (VBN, 2010; VOV; 2007). American businesses
have heavily invested in a variety of fields such as finance, banking and insurance
services,

hi-tech

industries,

pharmaceutical

chemistry,

energy,

mechanical

engineering, etc. In his remarks at the January 11th 2007 Reception, Ambassador
Nguyen Tam Chien emphasized:
We will see greater and greater trade and investment between our two
countries; growing official contacts between our respective executive and
legislative branches; and rapidly diversifying exchanges among our cultural
and scientific communities, our militaries, and our citizens. Cooperation in
health, education, and social welfare and other humanitarian concerns will be
strengthened and deepened. Bilateral and multilateral cooperation will be
enhanced on a wide range of international issues. (Sự kiện Việt Nam gia nhập
WTO và Quan hệ Việt Nam - Hoa Kỳ Bình Thường Hóa Hoàn Toàn, 2007,
p.1)
Up to now, there have been many US leading business groups navigating to Vietnam
to search for cooperation between the two countries. According to VOV (2007),

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Vietnamese government will create the best conditions for U.S businesses to expand
their investment so that the U.S. would become the number – one foreign investor in
Vietnam. In 2007, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung met with representatives of
nearly 20 U.S. leading business groups including AIG, Citigroup, Bantry Bay,
Ventures-Asia, Conoco Philips, Merriill Lynch and Vietnam Partner at separate

receptions in New York on September 28th. In 2009, another 16 ones visited Vietnam
to look for an effective investment destination. In 2011, 14 other businesses met
companies to find a franchise partners in the Vietnamese market.
This fact means that Vietnamese people are going to communicate in English with
those partners. The relationship does not stop at making friends (trying to skip
mistakes/ errors from their interlocutors so that they are able to be friends), but does
move to a much further stage – working together in the same environment for a long
time. According to Kenworthy (1987) and Wong (1986), the very feature in
pronunciation causing the toughest problems in intelligibility between interlocutors in
communication is intonation. Moreover, many other linguists all agree that intonation
plays an extremely important part in communication (Kelly, 2000; McNerney &
Mendelsohn, 1992; Schmitt, 2002; Wong, 1986; Kenworthy, 1987). Additionally,
According to Wells (2006, p. 1) native speakers do not realize that “intonation can be
erroneous.”
In a sense, the same words spoken out with different tones convey different meanings.
For example, answering yes/no questions, we can use either rising or falling tone;
however, the listener would understand the response in two ways. First, as far as we
are concerned, if “yes” or “no” is produced with a going-down tone, it is
comprehended that the speaker wants to confirm yes or no. Nevertheless, if s/he uses
falling – rising tone to say “yes” or “no” to yes/no questions, her/ his interlocutor
interprets that this person is not sure about her/his answer or still hesitates about
her/his decision. (Celce-Murcia & Olshtain, 2000).

2


Noticeably, if communication frequently happens between these two persons
mentioned in the example above, it leads to a fact that the one producing falling –
rising tone for “yes” or “no” is thought to be too “wishy – washy”. In other words,
misunderstanding, at first, might be minor; nonetheless, if it happens repeatedly, then

“they may result in judgments about the attitudes, character, ways of behaving, etc. of
a particular speaker” (Kenworthy, 1987, p.p. 9 - 10). Obviously, the speaker did not
have such a negative attitude, yet his/ her using inappropriate intonation pattern led to
this misinterpretation, resulting in the fact that his/her listener does not like or does
not feel comfortable. In some cases, the wrong use of intonation could offend or hurt
listeners; therefore, they will likely avoid communicating with the speaker. It is the
reason why Wong (1986) ascertains that intonation plays an extremely important part
in “establishment and maintenance of social harmony”.
Clearly, apart from other factors making a good and long – term relationship between
a Vietnamese and an American in the together-working environment, intonation
definitely holds one of the key roles.
However, the fact is that not all university students in Vietnam receive a thorough
study of English intonation. Only those who major in English experience
pronunciation courses in which this very special feature is supposed to be included.
One of the prestigious universities training English majors in Vietnam is the
University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Ho Chi Minh City. After graduation,
these students would contribute a very important part in the workforce: they are
supposed to be equipped with a sound knowledge of English, and be able to write,
read, speak and listen to English well; especially, they may not be worried about
problems caused by the use of wrong or inappropriate intonation patterns in
communication.

3


The researcher worked as a teaching assistant (TA) to the fourth – year students1 of
Faculty of English Linguistics and Literature (EF) for three years. As a TA, she
attended all the classes and made observation on how the class activities were taking
place. During the courses, the students were supposed to make many presentations
and participate in pair/ group discussions. To the researcher‟s surprise, many of these

graduates-to-be spoke English with level/ flat tone or used inappropriate intonation
patterns in communication with their classmates. As mentioned above, it unavoidably
brought about misunderstandings between the interlocutors in this context. For
example, the listeners likely made a judgment that their interlocutor was so impolite,
rude, aggressive, boring, or polite, nice, patience, interesting.

Tracing back to the curriculum of EF, we can see that students at EF are supposed to
enroll in two courses2 in which intonation content was included (Pronunciation course
and Introduction to English Linguistics course). In the first year of the program for
English majors, in Pronunciation course the freshmen are instructed how to accurately
pronounce English sounds, to produce strong forms and weak forms, to put stress in
isolated words and in sentences, to link sounds between words, and to produce speech
with appropriate rhythm and intonation. In the third year, they take Introduction to
English Linguistics course in which intonation is briefly introduced. Obviously, the
students could have time practicing this prosodic feature in the former course much
more than in the latter. According to the syllabus for Pronunciation course (see
Appendix 2 ), intonation receives as the same weight as the segmental aspect (sounds)
1

In the fourth year, students at EF are supposed to decide their specialized disciplines
including (1) teaching English as a foreign language, (2) interpreting and translating
skills, and (3) cultural and literary studies. The researcher used to be a TA to students
specializing at the third.
2

There is another course namely Phonetics and Phonology which is supposed to be
taken by only the students specializing at teaching English as a foreign language.

4

i.e. intonation content mostly appears in units assigned to be taught in every class
meeting. Especially, in week 12, intonation and rhythm are supposed to be
specifically instructed to the students. It means that intonation is also taken into
consideration in the syllabus.
Additionally, given the review of the two textbooks3 chosen as two main coursebooks
in Pronunciation course (see Appendix 3) (which was going to be clearly presented in
background to the study), it can be seen that intonation plays a part as equally
important as other pronunciation aspects, especially sounds – segmental.

Evidently, as for the curriculum, the syllabus of Pronunciation course as well as the
main course books, there have been no problems causing difficulties in teaching
intonation to students because the suprasegmental aspect is taken into account in the
three factors mentioned above.
Filled with wonder about the problem, on December 17th, 18th, 19th, 21st 2009 she had
informal discussions4 with four teachers5 who used to be in charge of pronunciation
classes on the matter. First, they were asked about their teaching in pronunciation
classes. They continuously talked about whatever they would like to share without
3

Baker, A. (2006). Ship or Sheep – An intermediate course (New Edition).
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hancock, M. (2003). English Pronunciation in Use. The United Kingdom:
Cambridge University Press.
4

These teachers said that they were not comfortable when their voice was recorded
during the discussions; therefore, all information provided by the four teachers was
noted on paper only.
5

These four teachers would be the subjects in the study. They had experience in
teaching pronunciation at least one course.

5


any interruption. All of them spent much time on discussing how they taught
individual sounds during the course. For instance, they shared (1) how they instructed
the students to pronounce sounds correctly, (2) the activities for students to practice
their pronunciation including games and quizzes, (3) common difficulties the students
encountered, and (4) their solution. Then, after they stopped their sharing, some
questions on how to teach suprasegemental aspects in their classroom were asked.
They started to talk about rhythm and a little bit about intonation. They revealed that
they spent much time on teaching segmentals first and that if there was some time left
in each class meeting, they would introduce some information about rhythm and
intonation. Lastly, they were specifically asked how their teaching intonation was in
their classrooms. Again, they said that they did not spend much time on it. Especially,
two of them admitted that they actually did not know much about intonation and how
to teach this feature. The other agreed with the fact that intonation was important in
speaking English; nonetheless, s/he did believe that as communicating in English with
good sounds and without much intonation, speakers could obtain success in
communication. Meanwhile, the last teacher seemed to be really confident of her
knowledge of intonation. S/he said that it was not hard to learn and teach because it
related to attitudes of a speaker, and that she just encouraged them to produce
intonation according to their attitudes and moods at the time of speaking. For
instance, if a student is bored, s/he will speak with a boring tone.
The teachers seemingly lacked knowledge of English intonation because given the
teachers‟ sharing two things should be taken into account. First, according to Shulman
(1986) teachers are supposed to both have knowledge of concepts, principles, theories

and facts on the subject matter and acquire new knowledge in their field. Otherwise, it
could bring about serious problems in teaching. Second, according to O‟Connor
(1986), different languages have different intonations i.e. non-native speakers of

6


English should not impose the intonation of their mother tongue on English, which
could cause serious misunderstanding in communication.
Moreover, among Master theses conducted at the Faculty, there has been no study on
problems in teaching intonation in English-based environment. Of course, there are so
many factors affecting the success of teaching; nevertheless, no one, in this teaching
and learning context, has ever deeply and solely studied on the very important
element providing learners with knowledge, guiding them to practice and putting the
knowledge to use – it is teachers. According to Allen and Valette (1972), among
many factors making a language course successful, the most significant one is
teachers. Research shows that a quality teacher is the greatest determinants of student
achievement.
According to the researcher‟s observation of the fourth – year students‟ production of
intonation in their real speaking environment, they spoke English with level/ flat tone
and used inappropriate intonation patterns despite its significant role in
communication. However, it is obvious that they were taught English intonation in the
two courses (Pronunciation and Introduction to English Linguistics).Moreover, there
has, generally speaking, been no problems with the curriculum, syllabus and the
content of the two course book at EF in terms of how intonation is treated. However,
tracing back to the source who provided their students with knowledge and instructed
them to practice, their sharing about teaching pronunciation in the informal discussion
seemingly revealed the fact that they lacked knowledge of English intonation.
According to Shulman (1986), teachers‟ lack of knowledge of subject matter they are
teaching could bring about serious problems. Furthermore, there has been no research

on teachers‟ knowledge of subject matter in the context of teaching and learning at
EF. All mentioned above captured the researcher‟s curiosity and strongly motivated
her to have an understanding of this problem through yielding an insight into the
teachers‟ knowledge of English intonation at the Faculty.

7


1.2 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
The study was launched at the Faculty of English Linguistics and Literature (EF) at
University of Social Sciences and Humanities (USSH). Pronunciation course is placed
at the very beginning of the curriculum of EF i.e. the students are taught
pronunciation at the very first semester of the first year.

250 students are usually divided into seven classes (A, B, C, D, E, F, G). Therefore,
every year there are also seven pronunciation classes. However, the number of
teachers in charge of these classes is varied. One teacher could teach more than one
class. Especially, the teachers in charge of pronunciation classes can be different
every year because they can choose the subject(s) they are interested in teaching.

The pronunciation course aims at instructing English majors to accurately pronounce
English sounds, to produce strong forms and weak forms, to put stress in isolated
words and in sentences, to link sounds between words, and to produce speech with
appropriate rhythm and intonation. In addition, the course proposes to improve the
students‟ speaking and listening skill, and also provides with a basic phonological
knowledge. This course consists of 60 periods. The students are supposed to attend
one five – period class meeting each week in 12 weeks. (see Appendix 2)

Two text books are considered to be core materials during the pronunciation course:
Ship or Sheep6 and Pronunciation in Use7. The following part presents how intonation

6

Baker, A. (2006). Ship or Sheep – An intermediate course (New Edition).
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
7

Hancock, M. (2003). English Pronunciation in Use. The United Kingdom:
Cambridge University Press.

8


is treated in the whole pronunciation system (compared with other aspects) of the two
books.

50 units in the first textbook, Ship or Sheep, consists of two sections: Section A
(vowels) and Section B (consonants). In every lesson, after instructing learners the
target sound, Baker (2006) inserted explicitly teaching word stress, sentence stress,
then intonation in dialogues to learners. Given word stress and sentence stress, Baker
used two symbols – small and big circles – to draw learners‟ as well as teachers‟
attention to the necessity of teaching and learning them. In addition, not only is
intonation deliberately put in a separate part to teach, it is also explained clearly and
briefly how to use intonation patterns. Baker (2006) helps, moreover, learners easily
understand intonation by symbols of rising and falling arrows.
Next, there are 60 units including four sections (A, B, C and D) in Pronunciation in
Use. Section A looks at individual sounds. Section B is about joining sounds to make
words and sentences. Section C focuses on pronunciation in conversations (discourse
organization, prominence and tone). Section D contains other reference parts
(introduction to phonemic symbols, pronunciation test, and guide for speakers for

specific languages, sound pairs, sentence stress phrasebook, and glossary). However,
the order recommended in the textbook to follow is that teachers/ learners start with a
unit in Section A, then a unit in Section B, then a unit in Section C, then another unit
from Section A, and so on.
Specifically, as for how intonation is treated in the two main course books (see
Appendix 3) it can be seen that intonation plays a part as equally important as other
pronunciation aspects, especially sounds – segmental. The first book explicitly merges
intonation with other aspects in all units. Especially, basic intonation patterns are
repeatedly taught in the units, which is to help learners easily approach and remember
the tones for long. The second one devotes a whole big section (C) on the

9


suprasegmental feature – intonation. More noticeably, this aspect is suggested to be
taught in combination with sounds during the course. Regarding approaches to
teaching intonation, the two course books combine three common approaches
(grammatical approach, attitudinal approach, discourse approach) together i.e.
meanings of tones are presented and explained according to the approaches in a very
simple way.
1.3 AIM OF THE STUDY
The topic of the thesis is about “Problems in teaching English intonation to English
majors at University of Social Sciences and Humanities”; however, there are,
certainly, many factors causing difficulties in teaching this suprasegmental feature to
students such as curriculum, syllabus, textbooks, and teachers. However, it can be
seen that there has been no problem with the first three aspects because intonation is
definitely given a clear focus in them; meanwhile, owing to the informal discussion
with the four teachers, the lack of knowledge of English intonation was seemingly a
key problem in teaching intonation to English majors at EF.
According Shulman (1986), teachers‟ lack of knowledge of subject matter is

undoubtedly one of the greatest problems in teaching. Therefore, in the scope of this
study, the researcher focused on investigating to what extent the teachers of
pronunciation courses at the Faculty understood English intonation by yielding an
insight into their knowledge of this prosodic pronunciation feature.
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS OF THE STUDY
“Those who can, do. Those who understand, teach.” (Shulman, 1986, p.14)
In a sense, a teacher is supposed to have an understanding of the subject s/he is
teaching. Therefore, to achieve the aim established above, the research was guided by
the following research question:

10


To what extent do the eight teachers of pronunciation courses at EF understand
English intonation?
1.5 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
First, in terms of the numbers of subjects participating in the study, the researcher
could not enlarge it because of the very objective reason: there were only eight
teachers in charge of 14 pronunciation classes in 2010 and 2011. However, the study
aimed at having an insight into the eight teachers‟ knowledge of English intonation. In
a sense, each teacher‟s knowledge of this prosodic feature was sharply and critically
looked at.
Second, intonation is a feature necessary to be taken into great consideration in not
only pronunciation course but also other speaking and listening courses since it is the
very factor determining the comprehensibility in interlocutors during communication.
However, this study was limited to only pronunciation course. Especially, the
researcher stopped at checking their knowledge of meanings of tones in the 25 cases.
One of the very important factors determining effective teaching is how well teachers
could produce intonation in their speech. A teacher could know very well approaches
to teaching intonation and meanings of tones; nonetheless, we could not be sure that

s/he could really possess right and good intonation in their voice. Additionally, apart
from teachers‟ knowledge of the subject matter, a lot of sources causing problems in
teaching intonation deserve to be taken into consideration such as learners, facilities,
etc. Lastly, this study focused on having an insight into only one category of teachers‟
knowledge; the other three (general pedagogical knowledge, pedagogical content
knowledge, knowledge of context) are suggested to be under investigation.
1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
There has been no research on having an insight into teachers‟ knowledge of subject
matter in general and of English intonation in particular at the Faculty. Though
several studies at the Faculty indirectly mentioned this sensitive issue, none of them

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has gone into this matter deeply. The study did put the very first step on investigating
to what extent the pronunciation teachers at the Faculty had knowledge of English
intonation. The study is hopefully to reveal some insights into the teachers‟
knowledge of this suprasegmental aspect.

1.7 ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY
Chapter 1 provides an introduction to the study by stating its rationale, study context,
aim, research question, significance, and organization.
Chapter 2 is the literature review, presenting theoretical background, previous studies
in this teaching and learning context and the conceptual framework.
Chapter 3 describes the methodology of the study including research questions, and
research design.
Chapter 4 provides a presentation of (1) the data collected from questionnaires and
class observation, (2) discussion of data, (3) findings in relation to the aim of the
study, (4) a discussion of findings.
Chapter 5 presents (1) conclusion, (2) recommendations, (3) contributions of the

study and (4) further research.

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CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter consists of four main parts: (1) teachers‟ knowledge of subject matter,
(2) theories on English intonation, (3) previous studies, (4) conceptual framework for
the study. The first section shapes the direction of the study: as presented in the
previous chapter, among many factors affecting success of teaching, teachers‟
knowledge is considered to be the most important one; therefore, in this thesis, the
researcher just would like to yield an insight into teachers‟ knowledge of subject
matter. The next part presents theories on the subject matter – English intonation
including its definition, fundamental role in communication, the three common
approaches in teaching English intonation, and the meanings of tones. Thirdly,
previous studies on pronunciation launched at the Faculty are reviewed. Lastly, the
conceptual framework of the study is clearly established.
2.1 TEACHERS’ KNOWLEDGE OF SUBJECT MATTER
With respect to “teachers”, there are many aspects to discover such as technical
knowledge, pedagogical skills, interpersonal skills, personal qualities (Brown, 2001,
p.430). Harmer (2007) devotes a whole chapter to discuss teachers. Many aspects
should be looked at including teachers‟ personality, adaptability, roles, and rapport
between the teacher and the class (as a result of recognizing students, listening to
students, and respecting students, and treating all students equally), and teachers‟
preparation, record keeping and reliability, and teachers‟ skill (managing classes,
matching tasks and groups, providing variety in lessons and offer student clear
learning outcomes), and teachers‟ knowledge of language system, materials and
resources, classroom equipment and the latest developments in the field.
According to Johnson (1999), teachers‟ knowledge consists of a combination of
experiential and professional knowledge, i.e. it comes from the inside out. First, the

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