VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
***************** MAI THỊ HUYỀN STRATEGIES TO ENHANCE THE UNDERSTANDING OF ENGLISH
INTONATION FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMMUNICATIVE
LANGUAGE ABILITY AMONG SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNERS
Những chiến lược tăng cường sự hiểu biết về ngữ điệu tiếng Anh nhằm phát
triển năng lực ngôn ngữ giao tiếp của người học ngôn ngữ hai M.A. MINOR THESIS Field: English Linguistics
Code: 602215 Hanoi - 2012


iv TABLE OF CONTENT

Page
Declaration of authorship
i
Acknowledgements
ii
Abstract
iii
Table of content
iv
List of tables
vii
PART A - INTRODUCTION
1
1.1. Rationale for the study
1
1.2. Aims of the study
2
1.3. Scope of the study
2
1.4. Methods of the study
3
1.4.1. Research questions
3
1.4.2. Research approach
3

1.2.4.3. The second rising tune
12
1.2.4.4. The falling-rising tune
13
1.2.5. Functions of English intonation
14
v 1.2.5.1. The organization of information
14
1.2.5.2. The realization of communicative functions
14
1.2.5.3. The expression of attitude
15
1.2.5.4. Syntactic structure
15
1.2.5.5. Textual structure
16
1.2.5.6. The identification of speech styles
16
1.3. Theories of language learning strategies
17
1.3.1. Definitions
17
1.3.2. Classification of Language Learning Strategies
17
1.3.2.1. Direct Language Learning Strategies
18
1.3.2.2. Indirect Language Learning Strategies

28
2.5. Data analysis
29
CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS
30
3.1. Data analysis
30
3.1.1. Learners’ meta-knowledge of English intonation and the development of their
listening skill
30
3.1.1.1. Learners’ meta-knowledge of English intonation
30
vi 3.1.1.2. Learners’ development of listening skill
33
3.1.2. Strategies used by learners
35
3.1.2.1. Memory strategies
36
3.1.2.2. Cognitive strategies
36
3.1.2.3. Metacognitive strategies
37
3.1.2.4. Compensation strategies
37
3.1.2.5. Social strategies
37
3.1.2.6. Affective strategies
vii LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS

No
Title
Page
Table 3.1
Scores of two groups in the pre-teaching phase meta-linguistic
tests
30
Table 3.2
Statistics of two groups scores in the pre-teaching phase meta-
linguistic tests
31
Table 3.3
Scores of the experimental group‟s in the pre- and post-teaching
phase meta-linguistic tests
31
Table 3.4
Statistics of the experimental group‟ in the pre- and post-
teaching phase meta-linguistic tests
31
Table 3.5
Scores of the control group in the pre-and post-teaching phase
meta-linguistic tests
32

listening comprehension tests
34
Table 3.14
Statistics of the control group in the pre- and post-teaching phase
listening comprehension tests
34
Table 3.15
Scores of two groups in the post-teaching phase listening
35
viii comprehension tests
Table 3.16
Statistics of two groups in the post-teaching phase listening
comprehension tests
35
Chart 3.1
Percentages of learning strategies used by the students
36


component. Intonation exists in every language and is crucial for communication as a
device to indicate the meaning intended and as a tool to indicate the feelings of the
speaker. Intonation plays a very important role in helping other people understand what the
speaker believes to be the important aspects of the communication and thus helps them
follow the structure of the communication. Using English without knowledge of intonation
can create troubles for learners of English in communication. Incorrect intonation can
result in misunderstandings and losing interest among interlocutors or may even cause
unwanted offences. Despite this fact, it seems that teaching and learning intonation has
been paid inadequate attention to. It may be because of some reasons. In the official
textbooks at schools used for teaching English, there are few exercises and there is little
time for pronunciation practice, especially for intonation practice. Intonation is a complex
aspect of pronunciation, so it is not surprising that many teachers do not feel confident
about tackling it in the classroom; whereas, teaching grammar or lexis, they find ways of
making the language accessible to their learners. Besides, most students often end up
learning correct pronunciation of individual words. However they do not always sound as
2 natural as they want to. The problem is most often the use of the wrong intonation of
sentences.
As a teacher of English at Quang Ninh University of Industry, I have experienced
problems in teaching English intonation. The classes are not divided based on the students‟
English proficiency, and the number of students in each class is normally huge. The time
for intonation teaching and learning is limited. Therefore, it is quite difficult to facilitate
teaching and learning in general. Coping with the fact, as a language teacher, I always
think of how to find suitable methods to teach intonation and mediate what teachers should
do to teach intonation effectively and how teachers should make students become
interested in this aspect of pronunciation. For the above reasons, the study entitled:
“Strategies to enhance the understanding of English intonation for the development of
communicative language ability among second language learners” was chosen to carry out.

qualitative methods of analysis are applied.
Quasi-experimental is adopted because my study lacks random allocation of groups. A
variable involving learners‟ understanding of English intonation and their listening
comprehension is compared between two different groups at the end of the experiment.
1.4.3. The participants
The participants in my study are 100 first-year students at Quang Ninh University of
Industry, divided into two groups: experimental group (50 students) and control group (50
students).
1.4.4. Data collection methods
Two methods of collecting data are applied: tests and questionnaire.
There are two kinds of tests administered in the study: meta-linguistic tests and listening
comprehension tests.
The questionnaire consists of 10 questions to investigate the strategies used by learners
when they learn English intonation. Questions 1 to 9 are closed questions. Question 10 is
open ended for learners to give their own opinions about the strategies they used.
1.4.5. Data collection procedure
First, the participants of the two groups did a pre-test.
4 Then, after eight lessons on English intonation given to the experimental group, both
groups did post-test. In addition to the post-test, the experimental group responded to a
questionnaire.
1.4.6. Data analysis
The data analysis is mainly quantitative. Quantitative analysis is based on results of the
tests and participants‟ responses to the closed questions of the questionnaire, using SPSS
software.
In addition, qualitative analysis is also included It is based on question 10 in the
questionnaire, which is an open-ended question, and on summaries of the discussions with
my colleagues about their personal teaching experiences.

Tench (1996) claims that the main issue in his study is the function of intonation, which he
puts into six categories: the attitudinal function, the communicative function, the
informational function, the syntactic function, the textual function, and the stylistic
function. In Vietnam, research into intonation and the teaching of intonation has been
increasing in recent years in the field of TESOL and applied linguistics. Ky (2006) made a
myriad of clear descriptive demonstrations of intonation made by the English and
Vietnamese in specific situations. Also, awareness of the importance of teaching intonation
with communicative intention can be seen in papers on teaching intonation in different
journals like ELT Journal.
1.2. Theories of English intonation
1.2.1. Definitions of intonation
English intonation is mostly defined in relation to its functions in conveying a meaning of
some kind in utterances and is viewed as having both a linguistic and a paralinguistic
dimension. In definitions of intonation, the concept of the pitch of the voice and its related
features of tone and tune plays the most important part.
Firstly, intonation cannot be defined in separation from utterances in speech because it
appears in almost every utterance. Intonation is inevitable in speech because we cannot say
something without some kind of intonation, even with a monotone.
Secondly, when defining intonation, researchers of the field often focus on the pitch of the
voice in utterances. Tench (1996:1), for example, refers to intonation as “the rise and fall
6 of the pitch of the voice in spoken language” and “the linguistic use of pitch in utterances”
Tench (1996: 2).
Thirdly, intonation has both a linguistic and a paralinguistic dimension. The linguistic
dimension 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. Whereas, the paralinguistic dimension concerns the messenger

agreed that tune belongs to the utterance and can convey meanings. Tune plays an
important role in English because it represents the pitch variations in the whole utterance.
If an utterance has only one word, the term “tune” and “tone” will be overlapped. In
summary, O‟Connor also dealt with the pitch variation of the voice; however, in his
definition English intonation is associated with the tune.
Some other authors such as Roach (1983), Kelly (2000), Every and Ehrlich (1992) also
have the same point of view with Tench. These writers thought that “the term intonation
refers to the way the voice goes up and down in pitch when we are speaking” (Kelly, 2000:
86) or “intonation is often called the melody of language since it refers to the pattern of
pitch changes that we use when we speak” (Every and Ehrlich, 1992: 76). Intonation is a
fundamental part of the way we express our thoughts and it enables to understand those of
others. When we listen to someone speaking, we will notice that there are many changes in
pitch. These pitch changes play an important role in conveying meaning.
In my viewpoint, the most comprehensive definition of intonation is shown in the
Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics (1992: 190) as
follows: “When speaking, people generally raise and lower the pitch of their voice,
forming pitch patterns. They also give some syllables in their utterances a greater degree of
loudness and change their speech rhythm. These phenomena are called intonation.
Intonation does not happen at random but has definite patterns which can be analyzed
according to their structure and functions. Intonation is used to carry information over and
above that which is expressed by the words in the sentence.”
1.2.2. Systems of English intonation
English intonation comprises „three separate, though related, systems: tonality (intonation
units), tonicity (the tone syllables) and tone (pitch movements)‟ (Tench, 1996: 73).
Tonality is „the system in intonation that divides spoken discourse into its separate
individual intonation units‟ (Tench, 1996: 31). Spoken discourse sometimes consists of
only one message or piece of information, only one word, even only on syllable, e.g. Yes,
No. However, it usually consists of more than one piece of information. Each single piece
of intonation is contained in each intonation unit, which also represents the speaker‟s
8

or part of an utterance where a movement in pitch begins. This change of pitch occurs on a
syllable which is called the tonic syllable. The tonic syllable is the most prominent, or
salient, of the stressed syllables in any given intonation unit made by a combination of
pitch, volume and length (Tench, 1996). The tonic syllable plays a very important role in
9 the utterance because if speakers do not reach the tonic syllable in any given intonation
unit, then listeners do not have enough clues to decide on the structure and the focus of
information in the particular part of the message. “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 the message” Halliday (1970:40)). When the tonic is changed, the focus of information
is changed, too. Therefore, the tonic syllable is the basis on which listeners can perceive
the main information the speaker means.
Tone refers to pitch movements. Tone has been defined as the contrastive pitch movement
on the tonic syllable. There are two types of tone: primary tone, and secondary tone
(Tench, 1996). Primary tones are the basic contrastive pitch movements on the tonic, i.e.
whether the pitch of the voice moves up (rises), or moves down (falls), or combines a
movement of down and then up (fall-rises). The primary tones in English comprise the fall,
the rise, and the fall-rise. They function in the organisation of information and produce
contrasts in the communicative function which help to indicate differences between telling
and asking, between commanding and requesting, between congratulating and wishing, etc.
Secondary tones are the finer distinctions of the primary tones, i.e. the degree to which the
pitch of the voice rises, falls ore combines a fall and a rise-whether there is, for example, a
rise to a high pitch or a mid pitch, or a fall from a mid pitch or a high pitch, etc. Secondary
tones in English function in the expression of attitudes.
1.2.3. Structure of English intonation
The intonation of English not only displays system, it also displays structure. Each
intonation unit has a structure. It consists of pre-tonic segment and tonic or nucleus. The
pre-tonic segment can be divided into the pre-head and the head. The head is the part

words, although important words must be stressed. It is not only the normally stressed
words which may be felt to be important by the speaker; any word may be important if the
situation makes it important. Thus, the important words and the number of important
words in a group affect the shape of a tune. The difference here is due to the speaker‟s
attitude when saying the group.
There are some basic tune shapes in English (O‟Connor, 1980)
1.2.4.1. The falling tune
The falling tune consists of a fall in the voice from a fairly high to a very low one. The fall
is on the stressed syllable or from the stressed syllable to the following one.
E.g.: • •
∙ ∙ ∙
* Two *Definitely
In the shortest word-groups, it is necessary to know that:
- On a single syllable the voice falls within the syllable
- On more than one syllable the voice either falls within the stressed syllable or it jumps
down from that syllable to the next.
- Unstressed syllables at the end are all very low.
When there is more than one important word in the group, the last one has the fall
but the others are treated differently:
E.g.: • ∙ •

*What was *that?
11 - The stressed syllable of the first important word is high and any unstressed syllables
following it are on the same pitch
- The stressed syllable of the second important word is a little lower and any unstressed
syllables following it are on the same pitch
- The fall starts at the same pitch as the syllable just before it.
The stressed syllable of the last important word is low and that the voice jumps up to the
unstressed syllable (each following unstressed syllable is a little higher, the last one of all
being on the same fairly high note).

E.g.: • ∙ ∙ ∙
•
•
∙
•
*Have you been at *work to*day, John?
The first rising tune is usually used if the statement is intended to be soothing and
encouraging, or intended as a question. It is used for all Yes-No questions (which are not
used as responses), for repetition-questions, for greeting and saying goodbye and for
exclamations which refer to something not very interesting or unexpected. If we want to
show as much interest in the other person as in the subject an, we also use this kind of tune.
1.2.4.3. The second rising tune
The second rising tune also ends with a rise in the voice, like the first rising tune, but any
words and syllables before the rise are low:
E.g.:
∙ ∙ • ∙ • ∙ ∙ •
I was *only *trying to *help.
This rise, as in the first rising tune, either takes place on one syllable or it is spread over
several syllables:

∙
∙
E.g.: ∙
∙ ∙ • ∙ • ∙ ∙ •

E.g.: •
•
∙ ∙
She was *quite *kind.
The fall of the fall-rise is always from a fairly high note.
This tune can be used if the statement is not completed but leading to a following word
group, if the statement is a warning or a correction of what someone else has said, and if
the statements has two parts, of which the first is more important than the second (with the
fall at the end of the first part and the rise at the end of the second). It can be also used if
statements show reservation on the part of the speaker and which might be followed by
but…or by you must admit or I must admit, and if we want the command to sound
14 pleading, more a request than an order (with the fall on DO or DON‟T if they occur, or on
the main verb if not, and the rise at the end).
The other classifications of tune shape are also given by different authors, so we have high
drop, low drop and there are some differences in terms of number of tone (or tune)
shape, but their studies are based on stressed syllables and the pitch movement.
1.2.5. Functions of English intonation
According to Tench (1996), English intonation has six major functions.
1.2.5.1. The organization of information
Perhaps the most important function of intonation is to present the management of
information as the speaker perceives it.
The organization of information involves decisions about the division of information into
manageable pieces and their “staging” – what comes first, what follows, what precedes,
and so on. It also involves grading the pieces of information into major and minor and
typing them up into coherent sequences. The division and staging are handled by tonality,
with boundaries of intonation units; and the grading is handled by tone: rises, falls, and
fall-rises.

clearly to the observation “Not what they said, but the way they said it”. „The way they
said‟ refers to the mood of the speaker or the attitude shown to the addressee or the
message. A message, a piece of information, can be given politely, grumpily, angrily,
warmly, and so on. For example, if you are angry, you will sound angry and employ
appropriate gestures and words and a range of paralinguistic features; but the sound of
anger will be also expressed in pitch – quite typically in a high pitch. The effect of attitude
is mainly to be found in the extent of a fall or rise and in variations of pitch in the head and
the pre-head. Your preferred intonation will indicate your attitude to the message. The
intonation can indicate a variety of attitudes without a change of wording; in such cases, it
becomes clear that intonation has been solely responsible for the expression of attitude.
1.2.5.4. Syntactic structure
The fourth function relates intonation to the syntax of clauses. In English, there are many
cases where two syntactic patterns can only be distinguished by intonation. For example,
intonation is used for the distinction between defining and non-defining relative clauses, a
transitive and an intransitive use of verb.
E.g.: She washed and brushed her hair. (a)
She washed / and brushed her hair. (b)
16 In (a), hair is deemed to be the direct object complementing both washed and brushed;
thus washed and brushed are transitive. In (b), with an intonation unit boundary
immediately after washed, the word hair is deemed to be the direct object complementing
brushed only. In this case, washed is an intransitive.
This grammatical function may not be common to all languages but English uses
intonation for this purpose.
1.2.5.5. Textual structure
The fifth function of intonation concerns longer structures than single units of intonation
and individual pieces of information. Normally, an intonation unit and a piece of
information do not appear in isolation, but in combination with each other as part of the


1.3. Theories of language learning strategies
1.3.1. Definitions
Language learning strategies are intentional behaviour and thoughts that learners make use
of during learning in order to help them understand, learn or remember new information.
These include focusing on certain aspects of new information, analyzing and organizing
information during learning to increase comprehension, evaluating learning.
According to Nunan (1991:168), “learning strategies are mental processes which learners
employ to learn and use the target language”.
Rubin (1975)‟s definition is as following: “the techniques or devices used by a learner to
acquire knowledge” (43).
For Bialystok (1978), learning strategies are defined as “optimal means for exploiting
available information to improve competence in a second language” (71). The type of
strategy used by the learner depends on the type of knowledge required for a given task.
Bialystok discussed three types of knowledge: explicit linguistic knowledge, implicit
linguistic knowledge, and general knowledge of the world. Strategies introduced explicitly
in a formal setting can contribute to implicit linguistic knowledge and therefore to
students‟ ability to comprehend and produce spontaneous language.
Learning strategies are defined by Oxford (1990) as "operations employed by the learner to
aid the acquisition, storage, retrieval, and use of information". This definition is further
expanded to include "specific actions taken by the learner to make learning easier, faster,
more enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective, and more transferable to new
situations" (Oxford, 8).
18 These days theories and practices of language learning strategies attract more attention
from learners and educators because of the characteristics shown in Oxford (1990)‟s
definition. They motivate learners to be attentive in language learning, and thus, the
language students would tend to use to develop their communicative language ability.