Tài liệu Improving intonation for first year students an action research at international institute of technology and management

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI UNIVERSITY ---------- ***---------- Vu thi huong Improving intonation for first year students An action research at International Institute of Technology and Management SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL SUPERVISOR: Pham Hong Thuy, M.A Hanoi September, 2009 STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I certify that the minor thesis entitled “Improving intonation for first year students - An action research at International Institute of Technology and Management” and submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in TESOL is the result of my work, except where otherwise acknowledged, and that this minor thesis or any part of the same has not been submitted for a higher degree to any other university or institution. The research reported in this thesis was approved by Hanoi University. Signed: Dated: i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I have received great assistance and support from many people to prepare this thesis, without which, this thesis might not have been finished. First of all, I would like to express my great gratitude to my supervisor, Ms. Pham Hong Thuy for giving me the chance to fulfill this thesis paper. Her invaluable guidance, insightful comments and kind support have played a very important role during the course of writing this thesis. Without her precious suggestions and encouragements, this dissertation would never have been written. I am greatly indebted to Ms. Nguyen Thai Ha, Ms. Nguyen Nguyet Minh, Ms. Nguyen Thanh Huyen and all my teachers for their help during my two year time studying at the Department of Post-graduate Studies. I would like to take this opportunity to express my indebtness to Dr. Nguyen Van Dai, Head of Department of Post graduate studies, and the whole staff for invaluable assistance and considerateness. My sincere thanks go to my colleagues and my students at International Institute of Technology and Management for their kind assistance, enthusiastic participation during the time I collected data for the study. Finally, I heart-felt gratitude goes to my parents, my husband and my daughter for their endless love and great encouragement throughout the study. ii ABSTRACT English has been a vehicle for international communication in most aspects of society. The demand for communication in English has been increasing rapidly in many countries generally and in Vietnam particularly. Vietnamese learners, however, normally find it very difficult to understand native English speaking people and speak English with intonation like them. This fact motivates many teachers to find more effective methods to help learners gain more competence with good intonation in speaking English. This study is a collaborative action research investigation to develop intonation and communicative quality for first year students at International Institute of Technology and Management (IITM). This study investigated how intonation training influenced the first year students’ intonation for better communicative quality at IITM. The subjects of the study were two English teachers and 22 students of IITM. It drew upon data collected in an intonation training course and evaluated students’ progress after the treatment in the study. The initial data was collected from the results of a questionnaire for students and the pre-test. The post-test and the follow-up interview were conducted to collect the post data for subsequent quantitative and qualitative analysis on students’ communicative progress. The findings from the study have pointed out that firstly, intonation played a predominant role in English communication. Secondly, in the period of more than two months, students could significantly improve three aspects of intonation in terms of stress, rhythm and tone. And this improvement would have a positive effect on students’ English speaking. Thirdly, the students showed a high awareness of using intonation in their communication and interest in learning intonation. With the findings from the study, the researcher intends that the data will be useful for teachers of English who are interested in teaching intonation. iii Table of Contents STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ............................................................................ i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................... ii ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents ......................................................................................... iv List of abbreviations ................................................................................. vii List of tables and figures..................................................................... viii Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................... 1 1.1. Background to the study and statement of the problem................................ 1 1.2. Aims and objectives of the study .................................................................... 3 1.3. Scope of the study ........................................................................................... 3 1.4. Significance of the study ................................................................................ 4 1.5. Outline of the thesis ........................................................................................ 4 Chapter 2: Literature Review................................................................... 6 2.1. Intonation in language learning ....................................................................... 6 2.1.1. Definition of intonation ................................................................................ 6 2.1.2. Importance of intonation in second language (L2) learning ........................ 7 2.2. Intonation functions .......................................................................................... 9 2.3. Motivated description of Intonation ................................................................ 11 2.3.1. Stress .......................................................................................................... 11 2.3.2. Rhythm....................................................................................................... 14 2.3.3. Tone ........................................................................................................... 17 2.4. Summary of the chapter 2................................................................................ 20 Chapter 3: Methodology............................................................................ 21 3.1. Research Questions .......................................................................................... 21 3.2. Description of the participants ........................................................................ 21 3.2.1. Teacher participants ................................................................................... 21 3.2.2. Student participants .................................................................................... 22 3.3. Research methodology: An action research ................................................... 22 3.3.1. Definitions of action research .................................................................... 22 3.3.2. Justification ................................................................................................ 23 3.3.3. Process of action research .......................................................................... 24 3.4. Action research process applied in the study .................................................. 25 3.4.1. Identifying a problem ................................................................................. 25 3.4.2. Collecting data ........................................................................................... 25 iv 3.4.3. Analyzing data ........................................................................................... 25 3.4.4. Planning action ........................................................................................... 25 3.4.5. Implementing the action plan ..................................................................... 26 3.4.6. Collecting post-data ................................................................................... 28 3.4.7. Analyzing post data .................................................................................... 28 3.5. Description of the data collection instruments ............................................... 29 3.5.1. Questionnaire for students ......................................................................... 29 3.5.2. Follow-up interview ................................................................................... 30 3.5.3. Tests ........................................................................................................... 31 3.6. Summary .......................................................................................................... 33 Chapter 4: The Results and discussion .............................................. 34 4.1. Initial data ........................................................................................................ 34 4.1.1. Data drawn from the questionnaire ............................................................ 34 4.1.2. Data drawn from the pre-test...................................................................... 37 4.2. Discovered problems and causes ..................................................................... 40 4.3. Action plan ....................................................................................................... 42 4.3.1. Aim of the action plan ................................................................................ 42 4.3.2. Action plan procedures .............................................................................. 42 4.4. Post data ........................................................................................................... 43 4.4.1. Data drawn from the follow-up interview .................................................. 43 4.4.2. Data drawn from by the post-test ............................................................... 45 4.5. Action Research Evaluation ............................................................................ 49 4.5.1. Comparisons ............................................................................................... 49 4.5.2. Summary .................................................................................................... 53 4.6. Discussion......................................................................................................... 53 Chapter 5: Recommendations and conclusion ............................ 56 5.1. Recommendations ............................................................................................ 56 5.1.1. Major findings ............................................................................................ 56 5.1.2. Implications for the application of intonation training............................... 57 5.1.3. Limitations and suggestions for further research ....................................... 58 5.2. Conclusion........................................................................................................ 59 References........................................................................................................... 61 Appendixes ............................................................................................................ 66 Appendix 1: Questionnaire for students ......................................... 66 Appendix 2: Questionnaire for students (Vietnamese version) .................................................................................................................. 69 Appendix 3: The raw data of questionnaire .................................. 72 v Appendix 4: The pre-test .............................................................................. 74 Appendix 5: Follow- up interview ......................................................... 77 Appendix 6: Follow- up interview (Vietnamese version) ....... 78 Appendix 7: The raw data of Follow- up interview .................. 79 Appendix 8: The post-test ............................................................................ 80 Appendix 9: The raw data of the pre-test and post-test ....... 83 Appendix 10: Result analysis instrument ........................................ 84 Appendix 11: lesson plans............................................................................ 85 vi List of abbreviations B.A Bachelor of Arts CELTA Certificate of English Language Teaching Adults EFL English as a Foreign Language ESP English for special purposes GE General English IITM International Institute of Technology and Management IT Information Technology M.A Master of Arts L2 Second language q Question TESOL Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages VUSTA Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Association % Percent vii List of tables and figures Table 2.1 Characteristics of stressed and unstressed syllables in English Table 3.1 Lessons for 10 weeks Table 4.1 Students’ general opinions on intonation Table 4.2 Students’ opinions on teaching and learning intonation in the class in the previous semester Table 4.3 Results of the pre-test Table 4.4 Results of the pre-test’s section 1 Table 4.5 Results of the pre-test’s section 2 Table 4.6 Results of the pre-test’s section 3 Table 4.7 Results of the pre-test’s section 4 Table 4.8 Students’ opinions of the intonation training course Table 4.9 Results of the post-test Table 4.10 Results of the post-test’s section 1 Table 4.11 Results of the post-test’s section 2 Table 4.12 Results of the post-test’s section 3 Table 4.13 Results of the post-test’s section 4 Table 4.14 Difference between the pre-test and post-test Table 4.15 Mean score of overall class intonation improvement Table 4.16 Detailed pre-test and post-test results of intonation improvement Figure 3.1 Action Research Cycle Figure 4.1 Results of the pre-test Figure 4.2 Results of the post-test Figure 4.3 Difference between the pre-test and post-test’s mean scores Figure 4.4 Mean scores of overall class intonation improvement viii Chapter 1: Introduction This chapter includes five parts. The first part will be the background to the study and statement of the problem followed by the aims and objectives of the study in part 2. The followings are part 3 and 4, which specify the scope and the significance of the thesis respectively. At last, the chapter ends with the outline of the study. 1.1. Background to the study and statement of the problem Nowadays in the trend of modernization and globalization, communicating in English has been getting more attention from learners of English with a deep hope to master this language. Of the four language skills, speaking is generally considered the most important to learn. And among aspects of speaking skill, pronunciation and intonation are of difficulty and importance to learners. Crystal stated that the way we say something can be just as important in conveying a message as the words we use to say it. Intonation choices made by speakers carry linguistic information and the various elements of intonation are considered to perform a variety of functions. In the case of non-native English speakers, how much does intonation contribute to successful communication? Roach suggested that reports of miscommunication are overestimated, and that when nonstandard English creates misunderstanding or causes offence, the root of the problem is found to be intonation (1991: 168). In Vietnam, many English learners usually give much misunderstanding to listeners in English communication and they usually find it difficult to make themselves understood when speaking English. Students at International Institute of Technology and Management also have many obstacles in English communication and one of the severe obstacles is using intonation in speaking English. International Institute of Technology and Management (IITM), which belongs to Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Association (VUSTA), trains technicians of Information Technology (IT). Foreseeing IT students have to use a great deal of English for special purposes and communication, IITM has been trying to build up their students’ English foundation from the earliest days there through an English program. The English program at IITM is a mandatory module and conducted by English Language Department (known as ELD). It can be said to be stressed in the study course. It is 390 periods long including 300 periods of general English (GE) and 90 periods of English for special purposes (ESP). At IITM, English is taught in four terms with Lifelines series by Tom Hutchinson (1997) used as the course books for 1 GE and Infotech by Santiago and Remacha Esteras (2001) as the course book for ESP. In the first two semesters, students learn Lifelines Elementary consisting of fourteen units in 180 periods (90 periods in the first semester and another 90 periods in the second semester). In the third semester, students learn the first seven units of Lifelines Pre – Intermediate in 60 periods and fifteen units of Infortech in 45 periods. Students learn the rest of seven units of Lifelines Pre – Intermediate in 60 periods and the last fifteen units of Infortech in 45 periods in the fourth semester. As indicated, GE is the core point in English teaching and learning at IITM especially in the first two semesters when students study only one book – Lifeline Elementary. Consequently, this would be the best time for teachers of English to help students to build up their language skills especially speaking and listening ones. The English program has been delivered by a team of 8 Vietnamese academic staffs, some of whom have participated in short training courses abroad on account of implementation of cooperation in technology training between IITM and other foreign universities in Australia, Canada and Germany. In training exchange, the institute invites some foreign professors to give lectures to Vietnamese students at IITM. The lectures are delivered in English by foreign professors. As a result, students are required to read learning materials in English for the technology lectures and to exchange their ideas with the professors in English. Besides, after each technology training, opportunities to study overseas come up with students at IITM through an exam of IT and English. Qualified students with an acceptable score will get a scholarship to study in Australia and Germany. It can be understandable that besides good level of ESP, students should have good speaking and listening skills for understanding and being understood in English communication to meet the requirements of scholarship as well as to build up friendly relationship with foreign teachers. These things can be more easily obtained if students can express themselves well and use good intonation to show their appropriate attitude, opinions and feelings in different cases. As mentioned in the above parts, students need to improve general English for better English communication if they hope to obtain the scholarship to study abroad and to use English in the real life to serve their targets. Of many aspects of English in communication, pronunciation and intonation have been one of the top concerns to many teachers of English at IITM since their students seem not to have any concepts of using correct sounds and appropriate intonation in specific cases in English. It is 2 clearly shown from observation that most students, especially the first year students at IITM are shy and afraid of speaking English communication. If they are forced to speak by teachers in English lessons, their speaking does not seem smooth and sounds monotonous. When they speak one sentence, every word in the sentence is stressed and chopped up. Moreover, they do not have a habit of using intonation patterns in speaking. They use only one intonation pattern which is neither falling nor rising for every kind of sentences. Some foreigners once talking to students at IITM stated that the students’ English speaking appears to be argument. The real unpleasant facts lead to the assumption that the students especially the first year students lack much intonation knowledge and practice. This hinders their language skills and barrier their relationship with foreign teachers through English communication. The researcher’s task here is how to help the first year students at IITM improve their intonation for better communicative quality. With interest in how to help first year students improve their intonation, the researcher determined to modify an intonation training course in the second semester for the first year students in an action research. In this action research, the researcher’s understandable ambition is that she can provide basic intonation training to help the first year students to express their ideas better in speaking English and to have more pleasant conversations in communication. It is also hoped that the study will be able to serve as a reference for teachers of English and useful for those who are hugely fond of teaching pronunciation in general and intonation in particular. 1.2. Aims and objectives of the study The study aims at improving the first year students’ intonation for better communicative quality. To obtain the aim, two objectives are set up. First objective is identifying the students’ problems and their causes. The second one is giving an intonation training course to the students. 1.3. Scope of the study Due to the limit of the researcher’s time, and other conditions, this study can not cover all the aspects that the teachers and students at IITM faced in process of improving the first year students’ intonation. Therefore, the writer can only mention some aspects related to the process. The study limits itself to an examination into the improvement of twenty two first year students’ intonation in class K5A at IITM after a period of ten 3 weeks with an intonation training course. The result of the study is only generalized for the first year students at the target institute. 1.4. Significance of the study It is hoped that the investigation into the effects of modified intonation training in English lessons would help to identify the better way to improve first year students’ intonation and this would also help them overcome the difficulties of expressing their attitude, feel confident, get involved and keep their face in communication. Then the study will provide first year students at IITM with incentive scheme to learn and practice intonation effectively in a short time. I believe that the students at my institute will benefit greatly from this study on account of the hard efforts to investigate the matter and the willingness to change the current situation for the better. With enthusiasm, I also desire to share teaching experience and materials through intonation training with other teachers at universities for perspective English teaching quality. 1.5. Outline of the thesis The study is divided into six main chapters under the headings: Introduction, Literature review, Methodology, Results and Discussion, and Recommendations and Conclusion. Chapter 1, Introduction, provides the background and reasons for the study. In this chapter, the aims and objectives, the scope, the significance, and the outline of the thesis are also presented. Chapter 2, Literature review, consists of three sections. Section 1 presents intonation in language learning. Section 2 mentions intonation’s functions. Section 3 gives a motivated description of intonation introducing intonation components (stress, rhythm, tone). Chapter 3, Methodology, provides readers with the definitions, characteristics, process of the action research. It also aims to present the detailed description of the subjects and the data collection instruments, and the procedure of the study. Chapter 4, Results and discussion, is divided into six sections as follows: initial data, discovered problems and causes, action plan, post data collected during the experimental teaching, evaluation of the action research and discussion on the results collected in the chapter. 4 Chapter 5, Recommendations and conclusion, provides readers with implications taken from major findings of the experiment. Then there will be some recommendations, some limitations of the study and a few suggestions for further study. At the end of the thesis, there will be the final conclusion. 5 Chapter 2: Literature Review In this chapter, the researcher will present three main sections. In the first section, the working definition of intonation will be mentioned. Next, the roles of intonation in language learning will be discussed. Section 2 also aims to present the intonation functions. In the third section, there will be a motivated description of intonation in terms of formal intonation components. 2.1. Intonation in language learning In this section, definition of intonation and roles of intonation in second language learning will be presented. 2.1.1. Definition of intonation Intonation is the melody of speech. In studying intonation we study how the pitch of the voice rises and falls, and how speakers use this pitch variation to convey linguistic and pragmatic meaning. It also involves the study of the rhythm of speech and the study of how the interplay of accented, stressed and unstressed syllables functions as a framework onto which the intonation patterns are attached. If we had no intonation, our speech would be – in the literal sense of the word – monotonous. Either it would all remain on one pitch throughout, or every utterance would employ exactly the same stereotyped tune at all times. But speakers do neither of those things: they make the pitch of their voice rise, fall, jump and swoop, in all sorts of different ways. Even the most boring speaker has access to a considerable repertoire of tone (intonation patterns) – though maybe some speakers are better than others at exploiting this. Lively speakers typically make good use of the wide repertoire of possible intonation patterns that English offers. In linguistics, over the last twenty five years, the study of intonation has enjoyed a solid revival, and great strides have been made in both the theory and measurement of intonation. A cogent overview of what a theory of intonation should contain is provided by‘t Hart et al. (1990): …intonation can be approached from a variety of angles, all of which are equally indispensable if one wishes ultimately to understand how speech melody functions in human communication… Gibert, J (1993) defined intonation is a term often used interchangeably with several other terms, in particular prosody and suprasegmentals. Intonation is often referred to 6 in everyday language as speech melody or sentence melody, terms that focus on pitch variations and modulations. Cruttenden seems to equate intonation specifically with pitch movement (1986: 9) while Coulthard has identified it with prosody in general (1992: 96), which would therefore include pitch movement but also loudness, length, speed, and even voice quality. Pitch, however, is the common thread running through most descriptions. Cruttenden describes pitch as the perceptual correlate of fundamental frequency, which is the continuous variation in the sounds we perceive as a result of the vibration of the vocal cords. Intonation, then, can be narrowly described as the movements or variations in pitch to which we attach familiar labels describing levels (e.g. high/low) and tones (e.g. falling/rising), etc. Cruttenden adds another important component is the phenomenon called prominence, which is the tendency for speakers to makes some syllables more noticeable than others. This is accomplished by pronouncing them louder and longer, by assigning them a different pitch, or by articulating the phonemes (especially the vowel) more distinctly (Roach, 1991: 86). Prominence is also sometimes referred to as emphasis, focus, main stress, nucleus or tonic accent. In general, intonation, which is clearly presented as interplay of stress, rhythm and tone, carries the speaker’s meaning, attitude and feeling. Therefore, for better communicative quality, learners of English should at least have awareness of intonation or its roles in communication. 2.1.2. Importance of intonation in second language (L2) learning The relationship between intonation form and function has been recognized from very early times to show its importance in communication. Pike (1972: 56) states the communicative import of intonation very vividly in the following words: Actually, we often react more violently to the intonational meanings than to the lexical ones; if a man’s tone of voice belies his words, we immediately assume that the intonation more faithfully reflects his true linguistic intentions. Pike (1972: 56) comments further on the communicative importance of intonation in the following words: If one says something insulting, but smiles in face and voice, the utterance may be a great compliment; but if one says something very complimentary, but with an intonation of contempt, the result is an insult. 7 Also commenting on the communicative importance of intonation, Gimson (1980: 264) describes changes in it as ‘the most efficient means of rendering prominent for a listener, those parts of an utterance on which the speaker wishes to concentrate attention’. Pike (1972: 59) warns on the dangers inherent in such ‘definitions of meanings’ of contours, asserting that there is hardly anything like a question or statement intonation contours. That writer narrates his experience further in the following words: Specifically, it was a marked surprise to me to find that there are many different contours which can be used on questions, and that for any contour used on a question, I could usually find the same one used on a statement; likewise, for all – or nearly all – contours used on statements, I found the same ones used on questions (p. 59). O’Conner and Arnold set out to describe all intonation choices as interactively meaningful, asserting that a major function of intonation is to express ‘the speaker’s attitude to the situation in which he is placed’ (1973:2). They describe the significance of the rise-fall in relation to a number of exemplificatory sentences. In (1), B is said to be ‘quietly impressed, perhaps awed’ whereas in (2), B is thought to be expressing a ‘challenging’ or ‘censorious’ attitude: 1 A: Have you heard about Pat? B: Yes! 1. A: Why don’t you like it? B: I do In other examples this very same tone choice is said to convey that the speaker is impressed favorably or unfavorably by something not totally expected, complacent, self- satisfied or smug. Labov and Fanshel imply that a search for systematic relationships is misguided when they suggest that the lack of clarity or discreteness in national signals is not ‘an unfortunate limitation of this channel, but an essential and important aspect of it’ (1977:46). In fact the intonation system of English constitutes the most important and complex part of English prosody. By combining different pitch levels (= unchanging pitch heights) and contours (= sequences of levels, changing pitch shapes) we express a range of intonational meanings: breaking the utterance into chunks, perhaps distinguishing between clause types (such as statement vs. question), focusing on some parts of the utterance and not on others, indicating which part of our message is 8 background information and which is foreground, signaling our attitude to what we are saying. Some of this intonational meaning is shown in writing, through the use of punctuation, but most of it is not. This is why spoken English, as spoken by native speakers, is richer in information content than written English. This is also why some non-native speakers, not being attuned to English intonation and what it means, may fail to catch a substantial part of the overall meaning of something spoken by a native speaker. We often complain, ‘It’s not what you said, it’s the way that you said it’, meaning that your words when written down appear innocuous – yet when spoken aloud they were offensive or insensitive. The same words in the same grammatical constructions may have different pragmatic effects. This is because they may differ in intonation, and perhaps also in other, paralinguistic, features (e.g. huskiness, breathiness, whisper, nasality, special voice qualities). In the case of non-native English speakers, intonation does contribute to successful communication. Roach suggests that reports of miscommunication are overestimated due to lack of intonation in spoken English. Furthermore, Jenkins, in arguing what is important and peripheral in intonation for nonnative speakers interacting with each other in EFL situations, says that mistakes of prominence or “nuclear stress” are one category of phonological error which can cause breakdowns in communication. (2002: 87). In short, good use of intonation is regarded as a useful tool in conveying the speaker’s meaning and attitude and avoiding misunderstanding in communication, which will easily lead to success of the speaker’s English speaking. 2.2. Intonation functions Native speakers of English exploit intonation patterns in many subtle ways that are not obvious at first sight. If a person speaks English as a second or foreign language, these uses of intonation may have no parallel in his mother language. This can lead to a breakdown in communication when a native speaker is interacting with a non native speaker. In a conversational situation, many non native speakers may fail to understand some or all of the parts the native speaker’s message that is conveyed by intonation patterns. The native speaker, unaware both of his own use of intonation and of the non-native’s failure to pick up on it, wrongly assume that the message has been 9 fully understood. Later, it becomes clear that the message has not been fully understood, and neither participant in the conversation knows why. It may well be the case that English makes more elaborate use of intonation to signal meaning than do most other languages. This is a further reason why it should not be neglected by learners and teachers of English as a foreign language. To improve intonation, learners may first find out the functions on intonation in English language. Following Roach (1991) and Thompson (1995), we can categorize these functions into four groups. • Linguistic form-based: With grammatical function, intonation helps identify grammatical structure in speech, rather as punctuation does in writing. Intonation is used to mark the beginning and end of grammatical units such as clause and sentence (the democratize function). We do this by tonality. We also use intonation to distinguish clause types, such as questions, statement and to disambiguate various grammatically ambiguous structures (the syntactic function). We do this mainly by tone. • Attitudinal or Interpersonal function. The most obvious role of intonation is to express our attitudes and emotions and to show shock or surprise, pleasure or anger, interest or boredom, seriousness or sarcasm, and many others. We do this by tone • Accentual (also called focusing or informational) function. Intonation helps to show what information in an utterance is new and what is already known. We use it to bring some parts of the message into focus, and leave other parts out of focus; to emphasize or highlight some parts and not others. We do this by tonicity and by the placement of other accents. This is one of the most important functions of English intonation, and perhaps the function most readily taught in the EFL classroom. We combine accentuation with the choice of tone to present some longer stretches of the message as constituting the foreground of the picture we paint, while leaving other stretches as background. • Conversation management-related function. Intonation helps to show ability of conversation management of the speaker. He can ask someone to repeat something, or to show strong disagreement or agreement in conversation. The speaker does this with tone. 10 Often two or more of these categories are combined into a single focus, e.g. attitudinal and grammatical (“showing interest and surprise in reply questions”) or accentual, conversation management and interpersonal (“correcting politely”). Being well aware of functions of intonation, the learner may try to use it in communication to effectively address their ideas and meanings to listeners. 2.3. Motivated description of Intonation Intonation proposes a simple and flexible system with a small and finite number of choices, among which are the formal components Brazil identifies. He stated intonation helps speakers show how each of their utterances is related to other utterances and to the discourse as a whole. Moreover, all intonation choices are tied to the context in which they occur. In terms of suprasegmental aspects, stress, rhythm, and tone create the ‘music’ of a language and are as important as the sounds of the language. Stress, rhythm and tone help tell the listener what is important in the sentence and how the speaker feels about it. The following section will present detailed description of stress, rhythm and tone known as formal components of intonation. 2.3.1. Stress In linguistics, stress is the relative emphasis that may be given to certain syllables in a word. The term is also used for similar patterns of phonetic prominence inside syllables. There are word stress and sentence stress. • Word stress in English To understand word stress, it helps to understand syllables. Every word is made from syllables. Each word has one, two, three or more syllables. In English, a syllable has as its center as a vowel, which can be preceded and/or followed by consonants. As normal, one syllable words have word stress with the only syllable of the word. In two syllable words, there is only one stressed syllable which should sound longer and louder than the others. Gilbert (1993) stated that in every word with two syllables, one vowel will be stressed (long and clear). The other vowel is usually schwa. In words with three or more syllables, one vowel will get the main stress, some vowels may get a little stress and some vowels may be reduced (schwa). In English, the length of the stressed syllable is very important. It means stressed syllables are almost always longer than unstressed syllables. Stressed syllables are also 11