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A STUDY ON HOW TO IMPROVE ENGLISH INTONATION OF VAN TIN
TRANSLATION COMPANY'S EMPLOYEES
ID_Name
Course
Code
Year 2018

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS ...........................................................................................................................2
FIGURES....................................................................................................................................................4
TABLES .....................................................................................................................................................4
1. Rationale for Choosing the Topic.......................................................................................................5
2. Statement of Purpose..........................................................................................................................5
3. Significance of the Report ..................................................................................................................5
4. Methodology.......................................................................................................................................6
5. Organization of the Report .................................................................................................................6
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................7
1.1 Introduction of Van Tin........................................................................................................................7
1.2 Structural Organization of Van Tin......................................................................................................8
1.2.1 Role of Director:............................................................................................................................9
1.2.2 Role of Translation team ...............................................................................................................9
1.2.3 Role of interpretation team..........................................................................................................10
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW..................................................................................................12
2.1 Intonation.......................................................................................................................................12
2.2 Stress...................................................................................................................................................13
2.3 English Tones: ....................................................................................................................................14
2.3.1 The Falling:..................................................................................................................................14
2.3.2 The Rising Tone: .........................................................................................................................15
2.3.3 The Rising – Falling Tone:..........................................................................................................16
2.3.4 The Falling - Rising Tone:...........................................................................................................16
2.4 Vietnamese Intonation........................................................................................................................16
2.5 Vietnamese Tones...............................................................................................................................18
Midlevel tone....................................................................................................................................19
Low-falling tone ...............................................................................................................................19
High-rising tone................................................................................................................................19
Low-falling-rising tone.....................................................................................................................19
2.6 Conceptual Framework.......................................................................................................................20
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY......................................................................................23
3.1 Objectives ...........................................................................................................................................23

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3.2 Research Questions........................................................................................................................23
3.3 Limitation ......................................................................................................................................23
3.4 Literature Review ..........................................................................................................................23
3.5 Research Method ...........................................................................................................................25
2.5.1 Sample Size and Sampling ..........................................................................................................25
2.5.2 Research Procedure .....................................................................................................................25
2.5.3 Description of Questionnaire .................................................................................................27
4. DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS................................................................................................29
4.1 Analysis Results of Range Pitch.........................................................................................................29
4.2 Analysis Results of Tonic-syllable.....................................................................................................30
4.3 Analysis Results of Vietnamese intonation........................................................................................32
5. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS ............................................................................................34
5.1 Conclusion.......................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
5.2 Significance of the study .................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
5.3 Limitation ........................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
5.4 Suggestion for future research............................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
REFERENCE ........................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
APPENDIX .............................................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.

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FIGURES
Figure 1: Van Tin Structural Organization ....................................................................................8
Figure 2: Northern Vietnamese tones uttered by a male speaker in isolation .............................18
Figure 3: Vietnamese tone system ............................................................................................... 20
Figure 4: Research Timeline........................................................................................................26
Figure 5: Findings of Range Pitch ............................................................................................... 30
Figure 6: Findings of Tonic-syllable............................................................................................31
Figure 7: Findings of Vietnamese intonation ..............................................................................33
TABLES
Table 1: Research Procedure .......................................................................................................25
Table 2: Measurements................................................................................................................27
Table 3: Analysis Results of Range Pitch....................................................................................29
Table 4: Analysis Results of Tonic-syllable................................................................................30
Table 5: Analysis Results of MTI Learners.................................................................................32

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1. Rationale for Choosing the Topic
Nowadays, English has more and more become the widely used language in the world of
trade and commerce over the past decade or two. As a result, having an excellent knowledge of
English for business has become crucial for success in any employee’s career. To speak English
well, first of all the learners must improve their intonation first. The right pronunciation of
sounds in the English language is very important. If someone mispronounces many English
sounds his speech will be very difficult to understand. But only a few pronunciation mistakes in
sounds are certainly not enough to cause serious misunderstanding of the essential message
being said. Vietnamese people have many difficulties when pronouncing English, English
pronunciation challenges for native Vietnamese speakers. Vietnamese has three major dialects:
Northern, Central and Southern. Vietnamese is a tonal language: each of its 6 tones changes the
meaning of a word.
Van Tin is very proud of being regarded as a leading provider of translating services in
Hanoi, resulting from our achievement and efforts. Translation for numerous national and
global projects of all sizes is being conducted by Van Tin, however, Van Tin’s Employees also
face intonation problems. To help their staff improve intonation skill, the study: “A Study on
How to Improve English Intonation of Van Tin Translation Company's Employees” need
carrying now. The report would find out factors relating intonation that Van Tin employees
face. Then, there are suggestions to improve their intonation.
2. Statement of Purpose
The study aims to survey intonation factors that affect second language learners in Van
Tin. Based on the findings, the report would present the good ways to improve intonation for
Van Tin employees. Moreover, the report also gives the suggestion for Van Tin employees.
3. Significance of the Report
Intonation or the pitch pattern of your voice is important in spoken English because it
conveys meaning in many ways. Intonation is very important in communication as it gives

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information beyond just the basic meaning of the words. It can express the speaker’s attitude or
feeling about something, as well as giving grammatical information. Intonation can turn a happy
comment into a sarcastic one, or turn a statement into a question. Thus, it is more crucial to Van
Tin employees because of their professional jobs.
4. Methodology
This study follows both quantitative and qualitative research methods. According to
Aliaga and Gunderson (2000), Quantitative research is “Explaining phenomena by collecting
numerical data analyzed using mathematically based methods (in particular statistics)”.
Empirical data such as statistics and numbers are collected to analyze for explanation of above
objectives. Qualitative method aims to develop measurement based on previous researches and
papers. Additionally, reports and reliable websites are also used to discuss for this report. The
survey is conducted in Ha Noi to collect questionnaires for statistics analysis.
5. Organization of the Report
There are five chapters in the report including
In chapter 1, the report present introduction of Van Tin consisting of its establishment,
development and structural organization.
In chapter 2, it is literature review chapter. The report presents the concepts of
intonation, stress. Moreover, English intonation and Vietnamese intonation also discuss and
presented for theoretical basis of this report.
In chapter 3, the report shows the method for this study. By the way, reporter also shows
the limitation of the report.
In chapter 4, this is analysis and discussion for findings of this report
In chapter 5, there re conclusion and suggestions to sum up overall of this report.
Moreover, the reporter also advises the good ways to improve intonation skill for Van Tin
employees.

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction of Van Tin
Van Tin is very proud of being regarded as a leading provider of translating services in
Hanoi, resulting from our achievement and efforts.
Translation for numerous national and global projects of all sizes is being conducted by
Van Tin, based on its massive experiences in the field; whereas, those clients, coming for Van
Tin translating services, vary from individuals to entities, organization, businesses or investors
of different sizes, operating sectors and objectives. Hence, it takes Van Tin plenty of efforts to
bring about the translating services at the highest possible standards.
So far, Van Tin has invested in the development of translating numerous languages, and
diversifying various types of services, including: interpretation, notarization, notarized copying,
recording-dubbing, event leasing and DTP services of premium quality.
 In particular, Van Tin’s translators can translate documents in the following areas:
 Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
 Medicine – Pharmacy
 Law – Administration
 Technology – Manufacturing
 Banking – Insurance
 Education – Training
 And Others
Van Tin’s pride lies in the team of highly professional, knowledgeable and experienced
translators, who have been well chosen and trained for a long time. These individuals are
mainly lingual bachelors, lecturers, experts, doctors and masters, graduating from national and
international well-credited universities. Owing to this human resource, Van Tin can provide
translation for a variety of languages in diversified industries and sectors, for instance,
economics, culture, education, science, army and politics.

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As a consequence, Van Tin can guarantee to deliver: up to 99% satisfied service users,
regarding accuracy and quality; 100% refundable fees when the mistakes account for or above
5%; 24/7 availability, including festive holidays or national breaks, a simple, fast and
professional working procedure, only suitable translators with appropriate industry knowledge
used, multi-lingual translation, the most well priced quotations on the market, the prioritization
of clients’ benefits, a strictly controlled, monitored and managed translating and proof reading
process, and express services, if required, i.e. returning the translated documents within a day.
Moreover, Van Tin is confident that we always keep your information and documents at
the highest level of confidentiality, warmly welcome your approach to and arrival at Van Tin,
provide free consulting and advices, response simultaneously to your requests and enquiries,
deliver translated documents to the clients free of delivery charge, and provide each and every
translated document with a long period of warranty.
It is always our honor to contribute to your success; therefore, if you have any documents
to be translated, please do not hesitate to contact us at any time to be consulted and offered with
the best translating services.
1.2 Structural Organization of Van Tin
Translation services of Van Tin are carried out by the team of translators and
interpreters, high skill and qualified translators, language proficiency specialists. Van Tin
translation team has successfully implemented many small and large translation projects for
domestic and foreign partners in various fields ranging from economics, politics, culture and
society to informational technology. information, science, ... Each individual is carefully
selected and trained by Van Tin, committed to providing customers with the most accurate and
professional translation services. In addition, the 24/24 team of enthusiastic consultants is ready
to listen and advise the most suitable language solutions for customers.
Figure 1: Van Tin Structural Organization

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The head of Van Tin is Director. He manages three divisions including translation and
interpretation, as well as HR & Administration department.
1.2.1 Role of Director:
The director has exceptional artistic vision and creative skills to manage all staff in Van
Tin. He also has unerring commitment and a deep passion for translation and interpretation
works in the company. He has the right to make decision, as well as delegating and
collaborating with others. The director is a strong and confident administrator who has excellent
communication and interpersonal skills. In addition, he inspires and motivates the translation
and interpretation teams to reach their goal. Moreover, the director remain calm and think
clearly to help staff solve their problems. Thus, he is the key person who is determined to bring
success to Van Tin.
1.2.2 Role of Translation team
Translation is Important Because Not Everyone Speaks English. There’s a reason
demand for translation services is booming. While English has been periodically crowned as

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“the language of global business,” translation and interpreting services remain a vital part of
doing business.
As a translator, the staff converts written material from one or more 'source languages'
into the 'target language', making sure that the translated version conveys the meaning of the
original as clearly as possible. The target language is normally their mother tongue.
The staff can translate a variety of content, including: commercial, educational, legal,
literary, scientific, and technical documents.
The team will need to read through original material and rewrite it in the target language,
ensuring that the meaning of the source text is retained. They can use translation memory
software, such as Wordfast, memoQ, Across, SDL Trados and Transit NXT, to ensure
consistency of translation within documents and help efficiency. They also use specialist
dictionaries, thesauruses and reference books to find the closest equivalents for terminology and
words used, as well as appropriate software for presentation and delivery. Moreover, the team
also liaises with clients to discuss any unclear points, then proofreads and edits final translated
versions.
The team leader is in charge of researching legal, technical and scientific phraseology to
find the correct translation. As well as providing quotations for translation services offered. He
is also the key person that helps consult with experts in specialist areas. In addition the team
leader retains and develops knowledge on specialist areas of translation. At last, he follows
various translation-quality standards to ensure legal and ethical obligations to the customer.
1.2.3 Role of interpretation team
Interpretation divides into three main types: simultaneous, consecutive and liaison.
Simultaneous interpretation occurs while the speaker is still talking and it is usually used in
large conferences. Consecutive interpretation occurs after the speaker has paused, usually
sentence by sentence, and is more suitable for business settings and smaller meetings. Liaison is
usually used for public service, such as in a hospital or legal setting, and the interpreter will
check the listener understands after each sentence.

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The team has responsibilities to attend meetings or conferences as the clients’
requirement. They have to listen carefully to comprehend languages correctly. After that, the
staff makes accurate and succinct reproduction in the specified language. The team can use
technology where appropriate, such as microphones, headphones, telephones, video and the
internet for their works. The work involves a considerable amount of travel and their hours will
be organized to suit their clients.
Interpretation team needs to complete fluency in their working languages and the ability
to instantly comprehend and convert one language into another. They also need a good
understanding of spoken and colloquial language. In liaison and consecutive translation, a good
memory is particularly helpful. Equally, excellent concentration and the ability to think quickly are
essential. Those working in international conferences should have good political and current affairs
awareness. Information technology skills are also beneficial for a good interpreter.

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1Intonation
Intonation is about how we say things, rather than what we say. Without intonation, it's
impossible to understand the expressions and thoughts that go with words. Listen to somebody
speaking without paying attention to the words: the 'melody' you hear is the intonation. It has
the following features:
It's divided into phrases, also known as 'tone-units'.
The pitch moves up and down, within a 'pitch range'. Everybody has their own pitch range.
Languages, too, differ in pitch range. English has particularly wide pitch range.
In each tone unit, the pitch movement (a rise or fall in tone, or a combination of the two) takes place
on the most important syllable known as the 'tonic-syllable'. The tonic-syllable is usually a high-content
word, near the end of the unit.
These patterns of pitch variation are essential to a phrase's meaning. Changing the intonation can
completely change the meaning.
The music of speech is the intonation that is a crucial factor in speaking. The main movement of
intonation begins at the tonic syllable. The movement can be upwards (a rise), downward, a rise with a
fall (a rise-fall), a fall with a rise (a fall-rise) or flat. Moreover, intonation plays a crucial role in spoken
discourse since it signals when speakers have finished the points they wish to tell to people, carry on
with a turn and indicate an agreement or a disagreement. (Harmer, 2007). If a speaker speaks English
with a flat intonation, this may sounds boring and uninteresting. Using wrong intonation can therefore
give offence. For these reasons, it is essential to practice intonation. The two most common intonation
patterns are:
(1) The rising-falling intonation pattern is used with statement, a command, an exclamation and a
question beginning with wh-words. The rising-falling intonation is also called 2-3-1 pattern. The
number refers to pitch levels two, three and one respectively. Pitch level 1 refers to a low pitch,
level 2 refers to a normal pitch, and pitch level 3 refers to a high pitch. The 2-3-1 intonation
looks like this:

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(2) The rising intonation pattern is normally used with yes-no question, and for addressing
and asking for information to be repeated.
2.2 Stress
In linguistics, and particularly phonology, stress or accent is relative emphasis or
prominence given to a certain syllable in a word, or to a certain word in a phrase or sentence.
This emphasis is typically caused by such properties as increased loudness and vowel length,
full articulation of the vowel, and changes in pitch. Since stress can be realised through a wide
range of phonetic properties, such as loudness, vowel length, and pitch, which are also used for other
linguistic functions, it is difficult to define stress solely phonetically.
The stress placed on syllables within words is called word stress or lexical stress. Some
languages have fixed stress, meaning that the stress on virtually any multisyllable word falls on a
particular syllable, such as the first or the penultimate. Other languages, like English, have variable
stress, where the position of stress in a word is not predictable in that way. Sometimes more than one
level of stress, such as primary stress and secondary stress, may be identified. However, some
languages, such as French and Mandarin, are sometimes analyzed as lacking lexical stress entirely.

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The stress placed on words within sentences is called sentence stress or prosodic stress. This is
one of the three components of prosody, along with rhythm and intonation. It includes phrasal stress
(the default emphasis of certain words within phrases or clauses), and contrastive stress (used to
highlight an item − a word, or occasionally just part of a word − that is given particular focus).
As language is developed, learners must master not only the phonemes that make up
individual words, but also their associated stress patterns. One major reason why foreign
speakers of English have difficulties with pronunciation is due to the lack of the stress
knowledge of the new language. From the past, much of pronunciation teaching has involved
the practice of isolated sound or stress and intonation. Stress is used to describe the point in a
word or phrase where pitch changes, vowels is lengthened and volume is increased. It is vitally
important in conveying meaning in phrases and sentences. Getting the stress wrong can damage
the chances of being understood. Moreover, Scrivenr (2005) pointed that students needed to
learn pronunciation that would allow them to be understood in the contexts where they were
most likely to need to use the language.
2.3 English Tones:
2.3.1 The Falling:
It seems that people most usually don’t emphasize this king of tone in English. It is used
on the last stressed syllable of the sentence in statements (declarative sentences), special
questions, commands (imperative sentences), exclamatory sentences, and in the last part of
alternative questions (after "or"). (Different types of sentences are described in the file Basic
Word Order in the section Grammar.) Standard falling intonation in English falls stronger and
deeper than standard falling intonation in Russian.
Falling intonation is used for asking and giving information in normal, quiet, un-
emphatic style. At the same time, falling intonation conveys certain emotions, such as
completion, finality, confidence. Falling intonation sounds more categorical, confident, and
convincing than rising intonation. Compare the use of the falling tone and the rising tone in the
second part of tag questions. A falling tone is by far the most common used tone of all.

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According to Celik (2002), it signals a sense of finality, completion, and belief in the content of
the utterance. By choosing a falling tone, a speaker offers the hearer a chance to comment on,
agree or disagree with, or add to his/her utterance. Although this tone does not solicit a
response, it is up to the hearer to produce such a response if he/she so desire. Nonetheless, it
would be polite for the hearer to at least acknowledge in some manner that he/she is part of the
ongoing discourse.
2.3.2 The Rising Tone:
It is really complicated to discuss the rising intonation in English, because it’s qiute
difficult to describe in words. The rule of rising intonation in English is that when we speak a
sentence, our voice will rise or fall. The beginning of the sentence we uttered may be high or
low. The stressed syllables in our sentence may be strong or weak, loud or quiet, quick or slow.
The unstressed syllables in the sentence may have the same level as the stressed syllables or
higher or lower according to our emotions such as surprise, interest, suggestion, hesitation, ...
The voices are also different. All of these factors make the intonation.
From another aspect, we can see that the rising intonation should be understood to be different
in different situations. For example, when we feel surprised, our rising tone will sound different
from when we want to express our polite interest.
According to Kumaki (2003), the rising tone is used when we want to seek or take
control in a conversation in which the roles of speakers and hearers are equal. The speakers who
are dominant such as the chairpersons or the storytellers,… have the right to decide the rising
tone . In Yes/ No questions, we also use rising tones to imply that the speakers do not know the
answer, but the hearer know the answer. Celik exemplifies by pointing out that the following
question “Isn't he NICE ?” uttered with a rising tone, can have as its answer either “Yes”, “No”
or “I don’t know.” The same question, which is uttered with a falling tone, can only have one
appropriate answer, which is “Yes.” A rising tone is used if the tonic stress is uttered with extra
pitch height. In the following intonation examples, one wonders if the speaker is asking for a
repetition, a clarification, or indicating disbelief:

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(a) I'm flying to Chicago tomorrow.
(b) Flying to Chicago? (repetition)
(c) I'm taking up Taxidermy this autumn.
(d) Taking up WHAT? (clarification)
(e) She passed her DRIving test.
(f) She PASSED? (disbelief) (Celik, 2001, p. 4)
2.3.3 The Rising – Falling Tone:
These two tones (i.e. “fall” & “rise-fall) are not the referring but the proclaiming type.
Proclaiming tones indicate that the tone unit as a part of the message is not yet shared. When the
speaker is telling something, a proclaiming tone means that he/she doesn’t think the hearer has
certain information that the speaker has. When asking, it means that the hearer has some
information that the speaker doesn’t possess. By asking the questions with the proclaiming tone,
all the questions are considered to be asked without any expectations about the replies. The use
of the ‘rise-fall’ tone indicates not only the speaker’s exclamation but also intention of
controlling the discourse, and his/her expectation of a certain reaction from the hearer. [8]
2.3.4 The Falling - Rising Tone:
According to Brazil, in Kumaki (2003), when an English complex clause has two
intonation units, the first one or non-final one normally has a ‘fall-rise’, however, the second, or
final, has a falling tone. Therefore, there is a “dependency” tone, or “fall-rise” in the tone of
non-final intonation units.
The role of the falling – rising tone is also important. It helps the hearers know that
which part of the message that both the speaker and the hearer already know. This is also the
reason why people call the falling-rising tone the “referring tones”.
2.4 Vietnamese Intonation
Due to the fact that Vietnamese is a tonal language, learners should take it into careful
consideration when studying the Vietnamese intonation. The six lexical tones impact greatly on

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Vietnamese intonation, or i.e. they strictly restrict intonation in Vietnamese. Consequently, the
intonation cannot be used as a means to distinguish different types of sentences like in English.
For instance, an English assertive statement often ends with a falling tone. In Vietnamese,
however, it depends on the tone of the last word. If the high-rising tone ends the utterance, the
pitch of the voice should go up, for example:
Cái váy này đẹp lắm (This dress is very beautiful)
On the contrary, the falling tone can end an utterance if the last word has a low-
falling tone at the end, for example:
Cái váy này đẹp lắm à? (Is this dress really beautiful?)
Obviously, Vietnamese does not follow the rule: questions have rising tone at the end
while assertive statements have leveling or falling tones. An excellent example for
illustration is: (Đỗ, as cited in Luu, 2010)
The intonation contour of declarative sentence
Anh ăn cơm không (He eats only rice, without any other foods)
and that in the question
Anh ăn cơm không? (Would you like a meal?)
would have practically no difference. In conclusion, it is not clear that Vietnamese
intonation has the ability to differentiate various types of sentences.
In terms of the function of Vietnamese intonation, it comes as no surprise to state that
intonation plays a less important role in Vietnamese than in languages such as French
and English. Those who are familiar with French or English often do not recognize the
intonation in Vietnamese because it is hidden behind the ups and downs of the lexical
tones. In fact, to some extent, there is significantly unequal distribution of energy on
each syllable, caused by the tones and/or by the sentence stress. Take the previous
example again:
(1) Anh ăn cơm không
(2) Anh ăn cơm không?

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Although the word “không” in (1) and “không” in (2) would not have considerable
differences in the pitch at which they are pronounced, the energy put on (1) would be
greater than in (2). In communication, the Vietnamese intonation has such functions as
grammatical, attitudinal, implicational/logic, pragmatic (see Đỗ 2009).
2.5 Vietnamese Tones
Vietnamese is classified as a tonal language. The Northern dialect has six tones:
midlevel, low-falling, high-rising, low-falling-rising, high-rising broken and low-falling
broken. The changes of the pitch level and/or contour can signal a change in meaning. In
the follow instance, the words which differ lexically solely in the tone exerted to them
are likely to have unrelated meanings.
“mơ” means dream
“mờ” means vague
“mỡ” means fat
“mở” means open
“mớ” means bundle
“mợ” means mother’s younger bother’s wife
Figure 2: Northern Vietnamese tones uttered by a male speaker in isolation

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(Source: Nguyễn & Edmondson (1998))
Midlevel tone (thanh Ngang) is lax; in contour it has an almost flat contour with a
slight fall at the end.
Low-falling tone (thanh Huyền) is also lax. It starts quite low and trails
downward toward the bottom of the voice range. A kind of breathy voicing, reminiscent
of a sigh often accompanies this tone.
High-rising tone (thanh Sắc) starts at the mid and then rises sharply to nearly the
high point in rapid speech. It is accompanied by a tense voice.
Low-falling-rising tone (thanh Hỏi) is tense. It starts at a mid level, dips
gradually and then rises in the last third back to the original level. In natural speech, this
tone often ends with breathiness or slight creakiness.

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High-rising broken tone (thanh Ngã) is roughly the same as that of high-rising
tone (thanh Sắc), but is accompanied by a glottal stop at the lowest fall of the tonal
contour.
Low-rising broken tone (thanh Nặng) is also tense. It starts at the mid and then
drops sharply in pitch. It is usually shorter than other tones and ends with a glottal stop.
Figure 3: Vietnamese tone system
(Source: Thompson, 1987)
2.6 Conceptual Framework
Pitch range differences have an effect on the evaluation of sentences cross-linguistically.
Whereas low pitch range productions were interpreted as “polite” in Vietnamese and as “rude”
in English, utterances with a high pitch displacement were judged as “over-excited” in
Vietnamese and as “polite” in English. The essential difference between falling and rising pitch
movements has been expressed in Halliday ( 1970: 23) as polarity known versus polarity
unknown, and in Pike (1947/88: 44,51) as contrastive pointing and finality versus
incompleteness. David (1990) illustrated the value of recognizing convex and concave shapes in

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rising pitch movements for distinguishing between the two types of rises common to English
Intonation. Thus, the hypothesis is that:
H1: How pitch range affecting to English intonation
The music of speech is the intonation that is a crucial factor in speaking. The main movement of
intonation begins at the tonic syllable. The movement can be upwards (a rise), downward (a fall), a rise
with a fall (a rise-fall), a fall with a rise (a fall-rise) or flat. Intonation has a definite effect on meaning
and also gives the information about speakers’ attitude. The falling and rising of tones can be sudden or
gradual and, thus, may be grouped together in various combinations (rise-fall-rise, fall-rise-fall, etc.),
according to Nagamine (2002).
For instance:
(1) How much time have we got? (Fall, Tonic Syllable on have)
(2) How much time have we got? (Fall, Tonic Syllable on time)
(3) How much time have we got? (Fall, Tonic Syllable on much or got)
(a) Which expresses a need for an honest answer?
(b) Which expresses simple, general curiosity?
(c) Which expresses a desire to know a specific detail?
As above example, where placing the Tonic Syllable affects how a speaker wants their words to be
understood – and this is in addition to a change in tone to signify doubt, politeness etc. However,
though the change of tone may affect how certain or how polite speakers sound, what we’re
specifically talking about is indicated by stress, and the position of the Tonic Syllable. After a while
counting to give the voice itself some practice of stressing and de-stressing various syllables, speakers
can begin incorporating words, and shifting the stress to change the emphasis, and thereby change what
they really mean. Thus, the hypothesis is that:
H2: How a tonic-syllable affecting to English intonation
According to Luu (2010), a marked difference in the pitch feature can be found when comparing
Vietnamese intonation and English intonation. There are two kinds of pitch contours in Vietnamese:
syllabic pitch for individual syllables and intonation pitch for longer utterances, whereas English only
holds the latter feature. In one respect, Vietnamese intonation and English intonation have some
similarities. First, they do not make any difference in the “dictionary or literal meaning” of an utterance.
Second, the basic intonation patterns (falling, rising, rising-falling, falling-rising) of both languages just

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convey the feelings and the emotional attitude of the speaker or the apparent purpose of making the
utterance. However, in real life communication, it may be hard for Vietnamese learners to understand
information, intentions and feelings expressed by a native English speaker through intonation.
Moreover, due to the influence of producing words with different tones, Vietnamese speakers may make
unnatural intonation contours when they speak in English. Thus, the hypothesis is that:
H3: How Vietnamese intonation of learners effecting to English intonation

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CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Objectives
The objectives of report are:
(1) Identify how pitch range affecting to English intonation
(2) Identify how a tonic-syllable affecting to English intonation.
(3) Identify how Vietnamese intonation of learners effecting to English intonation
3.2Research Questions
(1) How does pitch range affect to English intonation?
(2) How does a tonic-syllable affect to English intonation?
(3) How does Vietnamese intonation of learners effecting to English intonation?
3.3Limitation
The study is carried out in Ha Noi, thus, the respondents are Hanoiese that do not represent
for all learners in Vietnam. Moreover, the limitation of reporter’s knowledge that also makes some
mistakes in the report. In addition, there are some studies and information are not good on the internet
that also affect to report’s findings.
3.4Literature Review
There are many studies and articles relating to this topic
The author Warisara Yangklang studied the topic “Improving English Stress And Intonation
Pronunciation of The First Year Students of Nakhon Ratchasima Rajabhat University Through
An E-Learning” in 2013. The study presents the students’ English stress and intonation
pronunciation competence after using e-learning program. The results generally revealed that
most of students posed satisfactory competence in e-learning program. Based on the scores of
40 students, it was found that their word stress and intonation placement was higher. Therefore,
it can be said that the e-learning program can encourage them to improve their stress and
intonation pronunciation. Moreover, there are many sounds that cause difficulties for the

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students in learning English pronunciation. So, it is necessary for the English teachers to create
other instruments to improve English pronunciation of students.
The author Patchara Varasarin studied “An Action Research Study of Pronunciation
Training, Language Learning Strategies and Speaking Confidence” at Victoria University in
2007. The study shows that that the pronunciation training with direct and indirect LLS
students to achieve intelligible English competence and should be included in English lessons.
The scope of the study was how learners improve their pronunciation and how learners used
their learning strategies during training. The study’s contributions to knowledge are that
teachers will learn from the study about the importance of pronunciation and language learning
strategies that support students’ learning, and change their view of teaching.
The author Zhuang Yuan studied the topic “Evaluating the effectiveness of teaching
intonation to learners in an intensive English program” at Northern Arizona University in 2015.
This dissertation study investigated the effectiveness of using a computer program to help
English as a second language (ESL) learners improve their ability to use English intonation in
communication. Recent research suggested that intonation and other suprasegmental features of
pronunciation may have significant effects on oral proficiency and comprehensibility (e.g.,
Derwing & Munro, 1997, 1998; Kang, 2010a, 2013). However, studies on the effectiveness of
teaching suprasegmentals have not reached consensus on how intonation teaching can be
effectively taught (e.g., Anderson-Hsieh, 1992; Levis & Pickering, 2004). The study provided
support that ESL learners could develop intonation production through explicit perception
training; it also provided implications for English teachers to better understand and teach
features of English.
The author Su Tseng Lee studied the topic “Teaching Pronunciation of English Using
Computer Assisted Learning Software: An Action Research Study in an Institute of Technology
in Taiwan” at University of Reading, England in 2008. The research gives very detailed perspectives
on the characteristics of the software and the feedback they present, and teacher also provides
observations and reflections, the issue of generalizability needs to be considered. The main subjects in
this study were at the beginning level of English proficiency, and more advanced students may have

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different requirements in computer software. However, from this limited action research project, the
results might add to scholarly and professional knowledge and provide guidelines for educators in their
use of CALL, especially for beginning learners of English pronunciation.
3.5Research Method
2.5.1 Sample Size and Sampling
This survey was going to carry out on 300 samples. Snowball and convenient methods
was used with 300 printed questionnaires sent directly to target respondents. These handouts
were delivered to the Van Tin employees and the learners in Apollo English center and British
Council School. The respondents would fulfill the handouts, after that, the reporter interviewed
them directly. Then, each respondents would receive a pen as a small gift thank to their support.
The mistake is that this type of error occurs when the researcher selects an inappropriate
population. Moreover, sampling error occurs when a probability sampling method is used to
select a sample, but the resulting sample is not representative of the population concern.
2.5.2 Research Procedure
To make the report more clearly and logical, research procedure is introduced with these
following steps.
Table 1: Research Procedure
No. Works
Previous
Works
Time
(day(s))
Start Finish Worker(s)
1
Make Research
question
- 1
22/3/2018 22/3/2018 1
2
Make
Questionnaire
design
Research
question
1
23/2018 23/3/2018 1
3 Do survey
Questionnaire
design
2
24/3/2018 25/3/2018 2

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4 Analyze Data Do survey 1 26/3/2018 26/3/2018 1
5
Present
Conclusion and
suggestion
Data Analysis 1
27/3/2018 27/3/2018 1
Figure 4: Research Timeline

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2.5.3 Description of Questionnaire
There are three main parts in questionnaire such as pitch range, tonic-syllable, and
Vietnamese intonation of learners. Questionnaire is described as a structured technique
for data collection that consists of a series of question, written or verbal, that a respondent
answers. (Malhotra 2009, 330). Questionnaire is addressing the respondents by the
written form in order to contain information needed.
Table 2: Measurements
Pitch Range
1
Changing the pitch of the voice usually will change the
meaning of a spoken word or sentence
Agree
No
Idea
Disagree
2
The tone of your voice conveys a different feeling, the
listener often becomes confused as a result of neural
dissonance
Agree
No
Idea
Disagree
3
When pronouncing a word and sentence with the same
pitch that makes it difficult for listeners to understand.
Agree
No
Idea
Disagree
4
The speakers who are dominant such as the chairpersons
or the storytellers,… have the rising tone
Agree
No
Idea
Disagree
Tonic-syllable
1
Mistakes in word stress are a common cause of
misunderstanding in English.
Agree
No
Idea
Disagree
2
Stressing the wrong syllable in a word can make the word
very difficult to hear and understand.
Agree
No
Idea
Disagree
3
Stressing a word differently can change the meaning or
type of the word.
Agree
No
Idea
Disagree

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4
Mistakes with word stress can make the listener feel
irritated, or perhaps even amused, and could prevent good
communication from taking place
Agree
No
Idea
Disagree
Vietnamese intonation
1
Vietnamese intonation indicates some problems that
Vietnamese speakers may have in English intonation.
Agree
No
Idea
Disagree
2
Without ending sound like Vietnamese intonation makes
native speakers confused.
Agree
No
Idea
Disagree
3
Vietnamese intonation has such functions as grammatical,
attitudinal, implicational/logic, pragmatic
Agree
No
Idea
Disagree
4
The different tones in Vietnamese are affected by the
intonation movement.
Agree
No
Idea
Disagree

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4. DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS
4.1 Analysis Results of Range Pitch
There are results from respondents to Range Pitch that presents below
Table 3: Analysis Results of Range Pitch
Range Pitch %
Code Agree
No
Idea
Disagree
RP1
Changing the pitch of the voice usually will change
the meaning of a spoken word or sentence
91% 3% 6%
RP2
The tone of your voice conveys a different feeling, the
listener often becomes confused as a result of neural
dissonance
63% 25% 12%
RP3
When pronouncing a word and sentence with the
same pitch that makes it difficult for listeners to
understand.
92% 6% 2%
RP4
The speakers who are dominant such as the
chairpersons or the storytellers,… have the rising tone
88% 4% 8%
There is 91% respondents agree that Changing the pitch of the voice usually will
change the meaning of a spoken word or sentence, while 3% ones have no idea and 6%
ones disagree.
There is 63% respondents agree that the tone of your voice conveys a different
feeling, the listener often becomes confused as a result of neural dissonance, while 25%
ones have no idea and 12% ones disagree.
There is 92% respondents agree that when pronouncing a word and sentence with
the same pitch that makes it difficult for listeners to understand, while 6% ones have no
idea and 2% ones disagree.

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There is 88% respondents agree that The speakers who are dominant such as the
chairpersons or the storytellers,… have the rising tone, while 4% ones have no idea and
8% ones disagree.
To sum up, Range Pitch has strongly effect to English intonation.
Figure 5: Findings of Range Pitch
4.2 Analysis Results of Tonic-syllable
There are results from respondents to Tonic-syllable issue that presents below
Table 4: Analysis Results of Tonic-syllable
Tonic-syllable %
Code Agree
No
Idea
Disagree
TS1
Mistakes in word stress are a common cause of
misunderstanding in English.
72% 9% 21%
TS2
Stressing the wrong syllable in a word can make the word
very difficult to hear and understand. 89% 2% 9%
RP1 RP2 RP3 RP4
91%
63%
92%
88%
3%
25%
6% 4%
6%
12%
2%
8%
Agree No Idea Disagree

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TS3 Stressing a word differently can change the meaning or
type of the word. 93% 5% 2%
TS4
Mistakes with word stress can make the listener feel
irritated, or perhaps even amused, and could prevent good
communication from taking place
83% 9% 8%
There is 72% respondents agree that mistakes in word stress are a common cause
of misunderstanding in English, while 9% ones have no idea and 21% ones disagree.
There is 89% respondents agree that stressing the wrong syllable in a word can
make the word very difficult to hear and understand, while 5% ones have no idea and 2%
ones disagree.
There is 93% respondents agree that stressing a word differently can change the
meaning or type of the word, while 5% ones have no idea and 2% ones disagree.
There is 83% respondents agree that mistakes with word stress can make the
listener feel irritated, or perhaps even amused, and could prevent good communication
from taking place, while 9% ones have no idea and 8% ones disagree.
To sum up, wrong stress make native speakers confused and misunderstand
Vietnamese English learners.
Figure 6: Findings of Tonic-syllable

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4.3 Analysis Results of Vietnamese intonation
There are results from respondents to Vietnamese intonation that presents below
Table 5: Analysis Results of MTI Learners
Vietnamese intonation %
Code Agree
No
Idea
Disagree
VI1
Vietnamese intonation indicates some problems that
Vietnamese speakers may have in English intonation. 82% 8% 10%
VI2
Without ending sound like Vietnamese intonation makes
native speakers confused. 65% 11% 24%
VI3 Vietnamese intonation has such functions as grammatical,
attitudinal, implicational/logic, pragmatic 71% 6% 23%
VI4
The different tones in Vietnamese are affected by the
intonation movement.
82% 8% 10%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
TS1 TS2 TS3 TS4
72%
89%
93%
83%
9%
2%
5%
9%
21%
9%
2%
8%
Agree No Idea Disagree

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There is 82% respondents agree that Vietnamese intonation indicates some
problems that Vietnamese speakers may have in English intonation, while 8% ones have
no idea and 10% ones disagree.
There is 65% respondents agree that without ending sound like Vietnamese
intonation makes native speakers confused, while 11% ones have no idea and 24% ones
disagree.
There is 71% respondents agree that Vietnamese intonation has such functions as
grammatical, attitudinal, implicational/logic, pragmatic, while 6% ones have no idea and
23% ones disagree.
There is 82% respondents agree that the different tones in Vietnamese are affected
by the intonation movement, while 8% ones have no idea and 10% ones disagree.
To sum up, Vietnamese intonation also affects English Intonation.
Figure 7: Findings of Vietnamese intonation
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
VI1 VI2 VI3 VI4
Agree 82% 65% 71% 82%
No Idea 8% 11% 6% 8%
Disagree 10% 24% 23% 10%

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5. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS