INTRODUCTION
Rationale
English is crucial in society, significantly impacting education, culture, and science In Vietnam, it is the most important foreign language, particularly following the government's open door policy The demand for verbal communication in English continues to grow Mastering the three key components of language—phonetics, grammar, and vocabulary—is essential for students to enhance their English skills in reading, speaking, writing, and listening.
In linguistics, stress is a crucial component of language rhythm and is vital for achieving a good accent Both word stress and sentence stress enhance students' comprehension of spoken English, particularly at faster speaking rates Many learners find it challenging to sound like native speakers, even if they excel in grammar and sound formation Ultimately, stress serves as the "music" of a language, significantly influencing how meaning is conveyed.
Learning English as a second language presents challenges, with stress being one of the most complex issues There isn't a single "correct" way to stress an English sentence; rather, the emphasis placed on certain words varies based on the context and the specific meaning the speaker intends to communicate.
Vietnamese learners frequently face challenges in mastering English stress, which often leads to difficulties in their spoken conversations To address this issue, a study titled “Using Activities to Help K16 English Students at the Foreign Language Department of Hung Vuong University Overcome English Stress Errors” has been initiated The researcher aims to contribute valuable insights and practical activities that can assist students in improving their understanding and application of English stress in communication.
2 typical classroom activities in correcting some errors in learner‟s speaking and writing.
Previous research
In her 2015 thesis, "Common Pronunciation Errors of Seventh Grade EFL Learners: A Case from Turkey," Besime Aktug examined the prevalent English pronunciation mistakes made by seventh-grade Turkish students Recognizing the limited vocabulary of the students, a tailored rubric aligned with the official curriculum was developed to assess various aspects of non-native pronunciation, including vowels, consonants, and word stress The study employed statistical analysis to identify common errors quantitatively, which were then contrasted with qualitative insights gathered from interviews with five English teachers The findings revealed that seventh-grade students exhibit consistent pronunciation errors, with vowel pronunciation being the most challenging This research aims to provide a thorough overview of the pronunciation abilities of secondary school students.
Petra Jurekova's 2015 thesis, "The Pronunciation of English in Czech, Slovak, and Russian Speakers," aims to identify common and distinct pronunciation errors made by these speakers By highlighting specific mistakes, the research seeks to assist students in recognizing their pronunciation challenges and enhancing their language skills Additionally, the study explores native speakers' perceptions and attitudes towards the non-native English accents of Czech, Slovak, and Russian learners.
In his 2017 study, Iain Kurakarta conducted an error analysis of English vowel pronunciation among first-semester students in the English Education Department at the State Islamic Institute of Surakarta for the academic year 2015-2016 The research aimed to identify and classify the pronunciation errors made by these students, providing valuable insights into their linguistic challenges.
In a study conducted on first-year students of the English Education Department at the Islamic Education and Teaching Training Faculty of the State Islamic Institute of Surakarta, significant errors in English vowel pronunciation were identified The research revealed that the students exhibited three primary types of pronunciation errors: substitution, insertion, and omission.
Pham Thi Cam Chi (2009) conducted a study on the errors made by first-year students at the University of Language and International Studies, VNU, focusing on ending sounds The research identifies common pronunciation mistakes and explores effective strategies to address these issues through communicative teaching methods.
The English department highlights challenges in classifying and synthesizing data related to first-year students' pronunciation errors, specifically their tendency to omit, replace, or add sounds to the ends of words Recognizing these common mistakes, the paper offers recommendations for teaching pronunciation through communicative language teaching (CLT) methods It emphasizes the effectiveness of CLT in enhancing pronunciation skills and suggests engaging activities such as role play, group work, and authentic communication between native and non-native speakers Additionally, it underscores the importance of predicting students' stress errors to help them become more aware of and correct their final sound inaccuracies.
In her 2014 study, Nguyen Thi Hang examines common pronunciation mistakes among first-year English majors at Hai Phong Private University, focusing specifically on ending sound errors By analyzing data from a survey of 38 students in class NA1701, the study aims to raise awareness of these pronunciation issues and offers practical suggestions for improvement The author hopes that this research will serve as a valuable resource for students seeking to enhance their pronunciation skills and overcome their common mistakes.
Bui Thi Dieu Linh (2012), A Study on English sentence stress in dialogues In this study, the researcher describes English sentence stress in
This research examines the nuances of sentence stress in various contexts, providing valuable insights for English learners By analyzing the changes in stress patterns, the study aims to enhance students' understanding of English phonetics, particularly in mastering sentence stress The findings will contribute significantly to the field of phonetics education, ultimately supporting learners in their language acquisition journey.
Pham Thi Phuong (2010) conducted a study on common pronunciation errors among grade 10E students at Hung Vuong High School in Phu Tho province The research explores both theoretical and practical aspects of English pronunciation, identifying challenges faced by students in articulating specific sounds It also outlines principles for teaching English phonetics and assesses the current pronunciation skills of the students to pinpoint prevalent errors The study proposes various teaching techniques aimed at enhancing students' pronunciation abilities and validates these methods through experimental teaching This research marks the first exploration of activities designed to help K16 English students at the Foreign Language Department of Hung Vuong University address stress-related pronunciation errors The researcher aims to contribute to the improvement of students' speaking skills through the integration of effective activities.
Aim of the study
The research aims at following goals:
Investigating some stress errors of students at K16 English, Foreign Language Department – Hung Vuong University
Suggesting some activities to help students overcome English stress errors for K16 English students at foreign language department – Hung Vuong university
Research questions
The above aims of the research can be realized by the following research questions:
1 What error(r) in stress do K16 students encounter?
2 What the classroom activities should be used to help students in K16 English overcome stress errors?
Significance of the study
This research aims to identify English stress errors made by first-year English students at Hung Vuong University, providing valuable insights for both students and educators By recognizing their own mistakes, students can adjust their learning strategies to minimize these errors Additionally, the study incorporates specific activities designed to help students overcome stress-related challenges in their language use.
Research methods
This study is carried out employing the main following methods:
Studying the related documents to speaking skill, pronunciation, phonetic & phonology
The researcher aims to conduct an experiment to evaluate the effectiveness of proposed solutions for improving students' pronunciation of stress This study will involve five lesson plans focused on teaching word and sentence stress Over the course of five weeks, a post-test will be administered to assess the outcomes and measure the improvement in students' pronunciation skills.
Content of the study
This part introduces an overall view of the research
This part consists of 4 chapters
This chapter focuses on overview of English pronunciation, stress
In this chapter, the researcher will write about general description of students in K16 English, data collected instruments
Chapter 3: Data Analysis and Discussion
In this chapter, the researcher presents a comprehensive analysis of the participants involved in the study, focusing on the current state of pronunciation and stress learning among first-year students Data collection and analysis reveal valuable insights into their experiences and challenges in mastering these essential language skills.
In this chapter, the researcher will provide some suggested typical classroom activities to get over stress errors in pronunciation English for K16
This concludes the conclusion of the whole study, limitations of the research and provides suggestions for further studies
CONTENT
Theoretical background
In this chapter, the researcher reviews the theoretical background of English pronunciation, stress, errors and learning activities
Pronunciation, as defined by Penny Ur (1996), refers to how a word or language is articulated It encompasses the commonly accepted sound patterns of a word in a specific dialect, often termed "correct pronunciation," as well as the unique way an individual pronounces a word or language.
Words are pronounced by pushing air from the lungs through the throat and vocal cords, then out through the mouth, past the tongue, and between the teeth and lips, with some air also traveling through the nose.
To alter the sounds we produce, we primarily utilize the muscles in our mouth, tongue, and lips to shape our mouth and regulate airflow Mastering these elements leads to clearer pronunciation, enhancing our understandability to others Different languages require the development of distinct mouth muscles, which can make pronouncing foreign languages challenging for speakers However, with consistent practice in foreign language pronunciation, these muscles strengthen, resulting in improved clarity and ease of speaking.
As well as crediting correct vowel and consonant sounds using the muscles of our mouth, tongue and lips, there are other important aspects of pronunciation, including:
Word stress - emphasis on certain syllables in a word
Sentence stress - emphasis on certain words in a sentence
Linking - joining certain words together
Intonation - the rise and fall of our voice as we speak
Peter Roach (1987) emphasizes that stress plays a crucial role in English pronunciation To effectively communicate in English, it is essential to master various stress patterns.
Stress plays a vital role in English pronunciation, acting as a grammatical device that influences word meaning In spoken English, the function of words is often determined by their stress patterns It's important to note that each English word typically has one dominant syllable, while other syllables are often reduced or less emphasized Mastering the use of stress is essential for effective communication and achieving proficiency in English.
Stress refers to the intensity with which a syllable or word is pronounced, indicating its prominence in speech A syllable is considered stressed when it receives greater breath force during articulation.
Stress, often referred to as the word accent in a sentence, occurs when one syllable of a multi-syllable word is emphasized more than the others This emphasis creates a noticeable distinction in pronunciation, highlighting the importance of stress in spoken language.
In discussing stress, it's important to recognize that it isn't merely a binary state of "stressed" versus "unstressed." According to Roach's study, stress can be categorized into two distinct levels: word stress, also known as lexical stress, and sentence stress, referred to as syntactical stress.
Three levels of word – stress may be identified: a – tonic strong (or primary ) indicated by the sign („) put before the stressed syllable, b- non – tonic strong, and others are unstressed syllable
Primary stress: (tonic/nuclear): is the strongest type of stress It is marked by a small vertical line high up just before the syllable it relates to
Secondary stress, also known as non-tonic stress, is a linguistic feature that is less intense than primary stress but more pronounced than unstressed syllables Typically occurring in words with four or five syllables, secondary stress is indicated in transcription by a low mark Examples of this include the words "photographic" and "economical."
Unstressed: can be regarded as being the absence of any recognizable amount of prominence
Placement of Stress within the Word
English word stress cannot be easily determined based solely on syllable position, unlike languages such as French and Czech Many experts agree that predicting stress is challenging, and it is more effective to consider stress placement as an inherent characteristic of each individual word Peter Roach (1987) emphasizes that understanding stress placement requires analyzing various factors related to the specific word in question.
- Whether the word is morphologically simple, or whether it is complex as a result of containing one or more affixes or of being compound words
- The grammatical category to which the word belongs
- The number of syllables in word
- The phonological structure of those syllables a Single words
According to Roach‟s opinion, The basic rule is that if the second syllable of the verb contains a long vowel or dipthong, or if it ends with more
10 than one consonant, that second syllable stressed, e.g apply, arrive, attract, assist
If the final syllable contains a short vowel and one (or no ) final consonant, the first syllable is stressed, e.g enter, open, envy, equal
In English pronunciation, a final syllable is considered unstressed when it contains the vowel combination "au," as seen in words like "follow" and "borrow." Additionally, many two-syllable verbs that appear to be exceptions to this rule can often be analyzed as morphologically complex, such as "permit," which can be broken down into "per" and "mit." Alternatively, these exceptions could be compiled into a separate list for clarity.
Two-syllable simple adjectives are stressed according to the same rule, e.g: lovely, divide, correct, hollow,
There are also exception, for example, honest, perfect, both of which end with two consonants but are stressed on the first syllable
In English nouns, the stress typically falls on the first syllable when the second syllable contains a short vowel Conversely, if the second syllable does not have a short vowel, the stress shifts to that syllable Additionally, two-syllable words like adverbs and prepositions generally follow the same stress pattern as verbs and adjectives.
In English verbs, when the final syllable has a short vowel and concludes with a single consonant, that syllable is typically unstressed, while the stress falls on the preceding syllable Examples of this pattern include words like "encounter" and "determine."
If the final syllable contains a long vowel or dipthong, or ends with more than one consonant, that final syllable will be stressed,e.g enter‟tain, resu‟rrect
In English pronunciation, nouns follow a specific rule regarding syllable stress If the syllable before the final syllable contains a long vowel or diphthong, or if it ends with multiple consonants, the stress is placed on the middle syllable Examples include words like "mimosa," "potato," "disaster," and "synopsis."
In words where the final syllable features a short vowel and the middle syllable also contains a short vowel ending with no more than one consonant, both the final and middle syllables remain unstressed while the first syllable is stressed Examples of such words include quantity, cinema, emperor, and custody.
METHODOLOGY
The class K16 English at Foreign Language Department, Hung Vuong University including 28 linguistic and 8 pedagogy major students
Approximately two-thirds of the students come from farming families, which often results in challenging living conditions and limited access to English language education and interaction with native speakers Despite these obstacles, many of these students demonstrate a strong work ethic and a commitment to their studies, driven by their agricultural backgrounds.
In my thesis, I randomly selected 10 students from the K16 English class, consisting of 2 boys and 8 girls, as subjects for my study This group was chosen because all students are part of the foreign language department, making data collection and research more convenient Additionally, they have prior knowledge of stress from their high school education, equipping them to participate in tests and surveys effectively My goal is to enhance my English teaching skills, particularly in pronunciation and stress, and I believe this thesis will enable me to implement diverse activities that facilitate better learning outcomes for high school students in English pronunciation.
To increase validity and reliability of the data collected, I used “tests” and “experimental teaching” in studying
2.2.1.1 Reasons to choose this research method
Tests offer several advantages in the educational process They provide teachers with valuable insights into students' current levels of understanding, guiding future lesson planning Additionally, tests help educators identify specific learning challenges, including pronunciation errors, enabling the development of more effective teaching strategies Furthermore, they inform students about their own progress and areas needing improvement.
Tests play a crucial role in education by helping students recognize their existing knowledge and identify areas for improvement They serve not only as assessment tools for external purposes but also as motivators for students to engage with specific materials Additionally, tests can function as practical exercises that offer valuable review opportunities, fostering a sense of achievement and progress in the learning process.
I decided to choose tests as the essential part in collecting data for my research
The tests were divided into two parts The first part was conducted before the experimental teaching to test students‟ abilities in pronunciation It is included one pre – test
The pre-test aims to identify students' errors in word and sentence stress Exercise 1 features 20 words focusing on syllable stress, including 10 two-syllable words, 10 three-syllable words, 3 verbs, 6 adjectives, 12 nouns, 1 affix, 4 suffixes, and 60 compound words Exercise 2 consists of 10 sentences designed to assess stress patterns.
3 sentences of emphatic stress, 2 sentence of contrastive stress, 35 words in exercise 2 are stressed, 48 words in exercise 2 are unstressed
The post-test was conducted after the experimental teaching to evaluate student progress following the implementation of the proposed techniques Exercise 1 comprised 20 words, including 6 two-syllable words, 13 three-syllable words, 3 verbs, 7 adjectives, 10 nouns, 1 affix, 7 suffixes, and 10 compound words Exercise 2 featured 5 simple sentences, while Exercise 3 included a dialogue with three types of sentences: simple, compound, and complex Both Exercises 2 and 3 incorporated 3 sentences with emphatic stress, 2 sentences with contrastive stress, totaling 48 stressed words and 84 unstressed words.
The selection of test types should align with the material taught and the students' learning levels Objective tests are particularly effective for elementary classes focused on basic recognition skills It's essential to incorporate a variety of test formats to comprehensively assess the syllabus Additionally, when designing assessments, it's crucial to consider students' age, interests, and backgrounds, as these factors influence classroom content and procedures Students should relate to the tests as indicators of their progress and feel equally confident taking them at home and in class.
In order to cover this thesis , the researcher conducted the research into the following steps
The researcher developed a pre-test for 10 K16 English students, consisting of two exercises featuring 20 words and ten sentences To ensure the accuracy of the research results, the pre-test was evaluated by a foreign expert.
Heinrich Cookson, a foreign expert with a degree in English and African Languages from a South African university, has 13 years of teaching experience across South Africa, England, Turkey, and Russia Currently residing in Vietnam for the past two years, he is employed at Shelton in Phu Tho.
Thirdly, the researcher count the numbers of errors in ten pre – tests of ten students
Fourtly, after doing experimental teaching, the researcher carried out the post – test to check usefulness of activities Then, the foreign expert continued assessing the post – test
Conclusion, basing on results of post – test and the comparison between the results of pre – test and post test in order to find out the better effective activities
2.3.1 Desciption of the experimental teaching
Over a five-week period, the researcher conducted an experiment in the K16 English class, focusing on stress pronunciation The study included a series of structured lessons: Lesson 1 addressed two-syllable stress, Lesson 2 covered three-syllable stress, Lesson 3 explored compound words and word-class pairs, Lesson 4 focused on sentence stress, and Lesson 5 provided a revision of the concepts learned.
The experimental teaching included 10 periods related to three units that student will learning :
Lesson 1: Period 1+2: Two – syllable word stress
Lesson 2: Period 3+4: Three – syllable word stress
Lesson 3: Period 5+6: Compound word & Word class pair
Activities were using in three units:
Activity 1: Where is my word?
Activity 5: Connect to students through group chat on the face book
In this chapter, the researcher gave the general description of students at K16 English Then, the author metioned about data collection instruments , and teaching experiment
DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
3.1.1 Result from the pre-test:
The researcher developed tests encompassing various exercises focused on common word stress and sentence stress The data collected indicates that a majority of students made numerous errors in stress application The results from the pre-test are illustrated in the following table.
Table 1 Common errors made by K16 English students collected through the pre – test
Types Typical errors Errors Percentage
The article identifies two types of stress: word stress and sentence stress Word stress is characterized by both the level and placement of stress Notably, students frequently struggle with the level of stress in three-syllable words, with errors occurring in 76% of cases.
A significant 33% of students made errors in stressing two-syllable words, with 54% struggling with stress placement based on parts of speech Data from the pre-test indicates that many students are confused about how to apply stress correctly, particularly with single words and complex words, which saw error rates of 54% and 70%, respectively Additionally, compound words had an even higher error rate, registering at 77%.
Sentence stress plays a crucial role in communication, with two key functions: emphatic stress and contrastive stress In a recent study, 60% of students made errors in emphatic stress, while 40% erred in contrastive stress, resulting in an overall error rate of 52% for sentence stress functions Additionally, the placement of stress revealed that 53% of students incorrectly stressed words that should be emphasized, while 52% made errors with unstressed words.
From the result of pre –test, the researcher realized that there are two main errors when the students making errors including word stress and sentence stress
Word stress involves both the level and placement of stress in words Research indicates that students often make errors in stressing two-syllable and three-syllable words Specifically, mistakes occur in primary stress, secondary stress, or unstressed syllables For instance, in two-syllable words like "bookshop," the correct stress is on the first syllable; however, many students incorrectly stress the second syllable ("book'shop") or are unaware of the correct stress placement.
In placement of stress, there are three basic errors including single words, complex words and compound words For example, the single word
“discover” (verb) is stressed in the second syllable instead of stressing in the first (dis‟cover) or third syllable (disco‟ver) which some of students stress
Many students struggle with the correct placement of stress in compound words, such as "guidebook." This confusion often leads to mispronunciation and incorrect stress patterns, highlighting the need for better understanding and instruction in this area.
Sentence stress is a common area where many students make errors, particularly in the placement of emphatic stress Data analysis reveals that a significant 60% of students struggle with this aspect of sentence stress, indicating a need for targeted instruction in this area.
Many students struggle with contrastive stress, with 40% failing to apply it correctly For instance, in the emphatic stress sentence "You must talk so loudly," key words like "must," "talk," and "loudly" should be emphasized, yet some students only stress one or two of these words Similarly, in the contrastive stress example "Do you like this one or that one?" the focus should be on the words "like," "this," and "that," rather than on other words in the sentence.
Approximately 53% of students made errors in word stress, often incorrectly stressing words in sentences like, "It is a long time since I saw you last." Common mistakes included over-stressing words such as "it," "is," "since," and "you," or failing to provide adequate stress on other important words.
In this chapter, the researcher performed a pre-test and analyzed the collected data, focusing on various types of errors The author identified several fundamental mistakes that students commonly made during the assessment.
EXPERIMENT AND RESULTS
UNIT 1: WORD STRESS Lesson 1: Period 1+2: Two – syllable word stress
- Time: the experimental teaching 1 was conducted at the first week of experimental teaching
- Objectives: By the end of the lesson , the students will be able to:
+ Know the ways to procedure stress in two syllable word correctly
+ Practice the stress in two syllable by some suitable activities and exercise
- Preparation: Teacher prepared teaching aids for the lesson: powerpoint, projector, lesson plan, paper, board
- Game: Slapping board: T divide ten students into 2 groups When teacher call each word in random, students will slap on the word called out as fast possible
- Teacher lead in new lesson
- Teacher teaches some rules to put the stress on two – syllable words
- Teacher gives some questions to check understanding of students
Activity 1: Game One or Two
- Teacher gives a list of words: 1 st syllable called One and 2 nd syllable called Two
- Teacher pronounce the words individually and correct the error themselves, the asks students to work in pairs to practice pronouncing the words and correct the errors if necessary
Activity 2: Listen and circle the word with a differnt stress pattern from others + Extra exercise
- Teacher asks students to practice with two syllables words at home
UNIT 1: WORD STRESS.Lesson2 Period 3+ 4: Three – syllable word stress
- Time: the experimental teaching 2 was conducted at the second week of experimental teaching
- Objective: By the end of the lesson , the students will be able to:
+ Students can know the ways to produce stress in three syllable word correctly
+ Students can practice the stress in three syllable by some suitable activities and exercises
- Preparation: Teacher prepared teaching aids for the lesson: powerpoint, projector, lesson plan, paper, board
- Write down on the board the words:
- Divide ten students into two group will go to stand in front of the board
- Call out the words in random
- Ask Sts to slap on the word called out as fast possible
- Teacher teaches some rules to put the stress on words of three syllables:
- Divides the students into 2 groups
- Deliver each group a list of words (10 words and pyramids, ask them to put the words with the same stressed syllable)
- The fastest group is the winner
- Teacher asks the students to stick their pyramids on the blackboard
- After that, the teacher asks the students to read all the words correctly
- Divides the students into 2 groups
Engage students in a fun competition to create pronunciation pyramids focused on nationalities The teacher introduces the topic, and students race to construct their pyramids, starting with words stressed on the first syllable at the top, followed by words stressed on the second and third syllables below This interactive activity not only enhances pronunciation skills but also fosters teamwork and quick thinking among learners.
- The group with the most correct words will be the winner
- Pellmanism (=pair/memory game) can be played with the word cards
- Teacher can devide the students into 2 groups
- Teacher prepare some word cards (10 cards for each group)
Students take turns flipping face-down cards on the table to find matching pairs based on syllable stress Once they identify a match, they read the corresponding word aloud.
- The student with most cards at the end of game will be winner
- This is easier if all of the words have the same number of syllable
- Which group is fastest to be the winner
Practice pronouncing the word stress:
- Ask Sts to work in pairs to practice pronouncing all the words in the activity
- Go around to help if necessary
- Guide Sts to make suitable stress in each word
- Ask Sts to practice with two syllables words at home
UNIT 1: WORD STRESS Lesson 3 Period 5+6: Compound words & Word- class pair
- Time: the experimental teaching 3 was conducted at the third week of experimental teaching
- Objective: By the end of the lesson , the students will be able to:
+ Students can know the ways to produce stress in compound words & word- class pair correctly
+ Students can practice the stress in compound words & word-class pair by some suitable activities and exercises
- Preparation: Teacher prepared teaching aids for the lesson: powerpoint, projector, lesson plan, paper, board
- Teacher show some pictures on the slide and ask Sts guess the name of each picture:
- Ask students : Can you comment about general features of these words above:
- Lead in: “Today we will learn about compound word stress and word class pair”
- Teacher teaches some rules to put the stress on words of compound word stress and word – class pair:
- T give some some questions to check understanding of students
Activity 1: Teacher deliver the student some pieces of paper in which he/she writes the word and stress pattern
Teacher asked the Sts to match the words and their stress pattern Teach them one example first
Eg: One piece with word “competition”
One piece with the stress pattern “ compe‟tion”
Create a bingo game that highlights the pronunciation differences between nouns and verbs that share the same spelling Use a stress mark to indicate that nouns are stressed on the first syllable while verbs are stressed on the second syllable This engaging activity will help students grasp the contrasting pronunciations effectively.
Practice pronouncing the word stress:
- Ask Sts to work in pairs to practice pronouncing all the words in the activity
- Go around to help if necessary
- Guide Sts to make suitable stress in each word
In Activity 3, identify the compound words in each sentence that have stress on the first part, while also noting those that emphasize the second part Circle any compound words that exhibit stress on the second component as well.
Ask Sts to practice with compound words and word class pair at home
UNIT 1: SENTENCE STRESS Lesson 1: Period 7+8: Sentence stress
- Time: the experimental teaching 4 was conducted at the fourth week of experimental teaching
+ Students can know the ways to produce stress in sentence stress
+ Students can practice the stress in simple sentence stress by some suitable activities and exercises
- Preparation: Teacher prepared teaching aids for the lesson: powerpoint, projector, lesson plan, paper, board
- Teacher show some pictures on the slide and ask Sts guess the name of each picture:
- Ask Sts : Can you comment about general features of these words above:
- Lead in: “Today we will learn about compound word stress and word class pair”
- Teacher teaches some rules to put the stress on words of sentence
- Teacher asks students to check understanding
Activity 1: For each of the six questions choose the one correct answer
The letters capitals represent the stressed words
Activity 2 : Tick () the stress partern of each the words in bold in the following sentences
Activity 3: Read aloud and mark the stress of these sentence:
Ask Sts to practice with sentence stress at home
- Time: the experimental teaching 5 was conducted at the second week of experimental teaching
Students can enhance their understanding of word and sentence stress rules through targeted review By engaging in various activities and exercises, they can practice stress patterns in two-syllable and three-syllable words, as well as in compound and class pair words This focused practice will help improve their overall pronunciation and fluency.
Preparation: Teacher prepared teaching aids for the lesson: powerpoint, projector, lesson plan, paper, board
- T review all the rule of word stress and sentence stress by asking Sts some questions:
1 What are the rule of the word stress?
2 What are the rules of the sentence stress?
Activity 1: First , Second or Third
- Speak a list words to Sts, having them say or write whether the stress is on the first or second or third syllable
Activity 2: Pick out the word that has the stress pattern different from that of the other words
Activity 3: Read aloud and mark the stress in the following dialogue:
- Using group chat on facebook to connect 10 Sts in the class
- Ask Sts to record their voice then send record file in the group chat
- Another Sts and teacher can comment and give some advice for each Sts
4.2 Results of the experimental teaching
To assess students' progress in pronunciation and the effectiveness of the proposed techniques in addressing stress errors, the researcher conducted a second test focused on general knowledge after five experimental teaching sessions The results are detailed in the following table.
Table 2: Result from the tests before and after the experimental teaching
Types Typical errors Pre test Post test
The analysis of word stress reveals a significant improvement among students, with errors in two-syllable words dropping from 54% in the pre-test to 43% in the post-test In three-syllable words, the error rate decreased dramatically from 76% to 35% Additionally, the occurrence of single word stress errors fell by 45% in the post-test, down from 54% in the pre-test Errors in complex and compound words also showed a decline, with complex word errors decreasing from 70% to 40% and compound word errors reducing from 77% to 36%.
In a post-test analysis, the percentage of students' errors related to sentence stress decreased to 10%, showing significant improvement compared to the pre-test results Additionally, errors in the placement of stress on stressed words dropped to 44%, while errors in unstressed words fell to 38%, indicating a notable enhancement in students' understanding of sentence stress.
In a study conducted over five weeks, the researcher implemented experimental teaching methods to enhance pronunciation stress in a K16 English class comprising ten students The curriculum included targeted activities across ten sessions, focusing on various aspects of stress: Lesson 1 addressed two-syllable stress, Lesson 2 explored three-syllable stress, Lesson 3 examined compound words and word-class pairs, and Lesson 4 concentrated on sentence stress.
The researcher implemented five engaging activities across three units, including "Where is my word?", "Word Stress Pellmanism", "Pronunciation Pyramids", and "Pronunciation Bingo" Additionally, the researcher utilized a Facebook group chat to foster connections among students.
In a study involving five lesson plans, the researcher found that the Pronunciation Pyramid activity was the most effective in addressing stress-related errors in pronunciation Additionally, Pronunciation Bingo also contributed to students' progress in recognizing and correcting these errors Overall, the evaluation highlighted the effectiveness of both the Pronunciation Pyramid and Pronunciation Bingo as key activities for improving pronunciation skills.
In this chapter, the author presents the experiment and results of a post-test, revealing two effective activities in the assessment section that assist K16 English students at the Foreign Language Department of Hung Vuong University in overcoming stress-related errors in English.