Psychology Research, September 2022, Vol. 12, No.

9, 679-689
doi:10.17265/2159-5542/2022.09.001
D DAVID PUBLISHING

Improve English Speaking Skills for Vietnamese Students

Through Teaching Tones and Their Communicative Values:
A Case Study at Thu Dau Mot University

Tran Thanh Du
Thu Dau Mot University, Thu Dau Mot City, Binh Duong Province, Viet Nam

For those who are going to work with English at an advanced level as English-majored students, teachers or
researchers, a deeper understanding about intonation is very important. At this level, intonation deals with more
complicated features such as prominence, key, termination, tone, pitch sequence, and orientation in interactions. As
a matter of fact, knowledge of these aspects is of crucial importance for advanced learners of English: It can help
language users gain more confidence and proficiency in speaking the target language as well as in arriving at a
complete understanding of English interactions. Based on the qualitative and quantitative data, the survey reveals
the effect of teaching tones on developing speaking skills for advanced students of the language. Regarding the
practical applications, this study serves to build up students’ awareness and provide useful practice of the
knowledge of tones they have to deal with in speech, thus outlining ways to improve speaking skills for students in
Vietnamese contexts.

Keywords: communicative value, speaking skill, tone, tone unit

Introduction
Background of the Study
Until recently, linguists have realized the importance of intonation in the communication of meaning in
spoken language. According to these authors, intonation is far more important and central to effective
communications. Intonation is not only important in interpreting information in speech but also in expressing
meaning, controlling the structures of information, and showing our feelings when we use a piece of language.
Intonation enables us “to express emotions and attitudes, and this adds to a special kind of meaning to spoken
English” (Roach, 2000, p. 183). In conversations, people can mean different things by using the same groups of
words arranged in the same order, but saying them in different ways (Bradford, 1998, p. 1). As being able to
comprehend or to convey the intended attitudes in English conversations hedges on mastering its intonation
patterns, the mastering knowledge of English intonation has been considered as one of the most effective ways
to use the language fluently in conversational situations.
Unfortunately, intonation is often treated by ESL teachers as a peripheral skill and not as central to the
conveying of meaning. It has, in fact, not been given a very prominent place in most teaching procedures and

Tran Thanh Du, Ph.D., Faculty of Foreign Languages, Thu Dau Mot University, Thu Dau Mot City, Binh Duong Province, Viet
Nam.
680 A CASE STUDY AT THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY

very often people tend to lose confidence in their ability to get to grips with it (Yen, 2000, p. 18). This has
resulted in failure in communication among interlocutors whether native or non-native speakers of the
language.
It is really a challenge for most learners of English to master its intonation because of its complexity (Yen,
2000, p. 10). At lower levels of study, students are concerned with stress, rhythm, and basic intonation patterns.
These aspects can convey different shades of conversational meanings and attitudes of the speakers involved.
At higher levels, students are required to deal with tones which have almost been ignored in the design and the
implementation of the language curriculum as well.
As an ESL teacher for years, the author of the study has realized the complexities of intonation in spoken
language. Intonation is believed to consist of a variety of aspects, each of which performs certain
conversational functions. In this short study, the author is only dealing with tone patterns which, he thinks, are
very sensitive to the discourse context and an awareness of these aspects in speech can help advanced learners
of English develop strategies for effective communications, gaining more success and confidence about their
ability to speak the target language.
Research Purposes and Questions
Conducted within a limited amount of time, the main purposes of the study include (i) to evaluate the
effectiveness of teaching tones and their communicative values in improving students’ speaking abilities; and
(ii) to find out the best ways to raise students’ awareness and help them practise different shades of tones in
their actual English communication.
Accordingly, the study is specifically designed to find answers to the following questions: (i) How
effective are teaching tones and their communicative values in improving students’ speaking abilities? (ii) How
can teachers raise students’ awareness and help them practise different shades of tones in their actual English
communication effectively?
Research Significance
With a careful and thorough observation of ELT materials and the present situation of English teaching
and learning in Vietnamese contexts, the study helps raise students’ awareness and give them practice
concerning tone units that they may deal with in their speaking sessions. Towards these objectives, the study
will ultimately help develop communicative capacities in general and speaking skills for students in
Vietnamese contexts.

Literature Review
As tone is one of the most important features of a tone unit, in order to understand this notion, we first
have to come to know about what the tone unit is.
Tone Units
Theoretically, the tone unit is “difficult to define” (Roach, 2000, p. 162). According to Murcia, Brinton,
and Goodwin, (1996, p. 175), the tone unit refers to “the sequence of speech” which has its own intonation
contour or pitch pattern and typically contains one prominent element. A single utterance or sentence may
include several tone units, each with its own prominent element and contour. As the basic building block of
spoken English, you can often hear a pause or some other kinds of break in boundaries between tone units. Just
as individual utterances can be divided into words and these words into syllables, so too, the larger stream of
 A CASE STUDY AT THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY 681

speech can be broken into tone units (Murcia et al., 1996, p. 175). In spoken English, every tone unit can be
spoken in different tones, conveying different conversational meanings.
Tones
Tone can be defined as “a one-for-all choice for each tone unit” (Brazil, 1997, p. 10) or “the melody or the
pitch change of a tone unit” (Brazil, 1997, p. 10), which plays a very important role in conveying meaning. Just
as intonation is a feature of the spoken language, tone is a feature of the tone unit (Bradford, 1998, p. 1). In
English, the meaning of an utterance is expressed not only by proper words or grammatical structures but also
by the tone the speaker uses in uttering this piece of language. Even the same sentence which is spoken with
different pitch patterns or tones can signal very different meanings (Khuong, 2000, p. 9).
As far as their function is concerned, tones can reflect the context of interaction, which means “the
situation in which things are said” (Brazil, 1997, p. 2). Features of the situation include not only the place and
time, but also the roles the speakers are playing, their relationship, the knowledge, and experience they show
and what has been said, the purposes of the interaction, and so on. Most often, speakers are influenced by all of
these when they choose the tone of what they say. In a conversation, a speaker chooses a particular tone from a
number of possibilities, according to the way he or she wishes to present his or her message (Bradford, 1998, p. 61).
As a part of intonation and a feature of a tone unit, tone can regulate conversational behaviors (Roach,
2000, p. 198). Tone makes it easier for a listener to understand what a speaker is trying to convey as well as to
interpret the context of interaction. It is only when we are aware of the context of interaction, we can develop
appropriate strategies for communications. Due to its roles, the study of tones can be considered as one of the
effective ways to enhance communicative abilities for advanced learners of English.
Communicative Values of Tones in English
It is of great help to the listener to have the “news” spoken in a different way from the parts which refer to
the common ground. One of the main uses of tones is to “enable you to make this helpful distinction” (Yen,
2000, p. 35). In speech, tone choice can “indicate whether the tone unit in which it occurs is being used to
present new information or to refer to information which is felt to be already possessed by the speaker and the
hearer” (Roach, 2000, p. 199).
According to Brazil (1997, p. 83), there are two main kinds of tones in English (referring tone and
proclaiming tone), each consisting of two different sub-kinds and performing different conversational functions.
Of these kinds, the two tones which seem to occur most frequently are the “rise-fall” and the “fall” (Brazil,
1997, p. 83):

r fall-rise
refer R either
r+ rise
English tones

p fall
proclaim P either

p+ rise-fall

Figure 1. Types of Tones in English.

682 A CASE STUDY AT THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY

Referring tone. A referring tone (R) can either be a “rise” tone which is marked by a ➚, or a “fall-rise”
tone which is marked by a ➘➚. The matter or the message of the tone unit having a referring tone is presented
by the speaker as being already present in the common ground (Brazil, 1997, p. 70). More specifically, a
referring tone, either a “rise” or a “fall-rise” tone is used to refer to a part of the common knowledge or the
shared information between the speaker and the hearer at the moment the interaction is taking place (what are
being said is not “news”) (Yen, 2000, p. 146). It may be something they both know about already or which has
just been stated or implied in the conversation (Bradford, 1998, p. 13). Let’s look at what Sue is saying to Tony
about Arthur in the following examples with referring tones:
(1) // ➘➚but YOU know Arthur // ➘➚he NEver TELLS you much //
(2) // ➘➚he’s NOT very HAppy about it though //
In (1) above, Sue knows perfectly well that Tony knows Arthur; and she assumes that anyone who didn’t
know him would be well aware that he was a secret sort of person. In (2), Sue is assuming that no one who
knows Ted would expect him to be very happy about being “still there”. Perhaps they both know he’s always
been an ambitious person who was all the time looking for a move to a better job.
The following pairs are different grammatically, but similar distinctive values are attached to the two tone
units in each:
(3) // ➘➚When I’ve finished MIDdlemarch // ➘I shall READ adam BEDE //
(4) // ➘When I’ve finished MIDdlemarch // ➘➚I shall READ adam BEDE //
Whatever the additional implications these two utterances may have, it is clear that (3) is spoken in
circumstances where the hearer is expected to know that the speaker is in the process of reading Middlemarch;
and the intention of reading Adambede is declared as if it were an item of news. By contrast, (4) addresses itself
to the question, presumed to have been already raised in some ways, as to when the speaker will read
Adambede; what is presented as news is the intention of doing so after finishing Middlemarch.
More examples of referring tones will be included in the section about proclaiming tones which will be
discussed right in the following sections.
Proclaiming tone. In opposition to referring tones, proclaiming tones (P) can either be a “fall” tone which
is marked by a ➘, or a rise-fall tone which is marked by a ➚➘. These two tones can mark what the speaker
believes or proclaims. The matter or the message presented by the tone unit having a proclaiming tone is not yet
present in the common ground (It wasn’t shared between the speaker and the hearer) (Brazil, 1997, p. 10). The
speaker who uses the proclaiming tone wants to proclaim some new information to the hearer and even to find
out some new information for himself; or to find out if his ideas are right or wrong (Yen, 2000, p. 59). It may
be information in response to a question, or it may be the information the speaker presents as news, something
they want the hearers to know about or consider (Bradford, 1998, pp. 12-13).
In the case of (5) // ➘he had a nasty ACcident of some sort // ➘in his CAR //, the “falling” tone in each of
these tone units indicates that these do count as “news”. Neither the fact that the acquaintance had an accident
nor the fact that he was in his car at that time was thought to be known to the hearers.
Sometimes, we use proclaiming tones to find out rather than to restate something as in the case of:
(6) // ➘WHEN were you hoping to TRAvel //?
(7) // ➘and WHEN does it get to YORK //?
(8) // ➘perHAPs I could go by aNOther route //?
 A CASE STUDY AT THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY 683

(9) // ➘HOW much Luggage do you have //?

(10) // ➘but WHAt about my TIket //?
In (6)-(10), here the enquiry clerk needs to find out whether the traveler has a lot of luggage because
she probably won’t want to change trains. The traveler wants to find out which platform to go to. She also
wants to find out whether there is an alternative route, and if so whether she can use the ticket she has already
bought.
Similarly, when David says to Mandy: (11) // ➘until you come to a Mini ROUNdabout // ➚and ON the
ROUNDabout // ➘you want the FIRST Exit//, only the first and the last tone units will sound like “news” to
Mandy. The second tone unit with a rising tone refers to something that he has already mentioned and which
has therefore become shared background.
The above examples show the common use of a proclaiming tone in asking questions to find some new
information. However, it comes to ask questions for mainly social reasons, a referring tone is often used. The
case is quite true (having a referring tone) for replies, or parts of replies which don’t answer questions directly
(Yen, 2000, p. 72). When the teacher comes into the class, for example, he often asks the question “How are
you?” with a referring tone: He does not necessarily expect the answer—It is just a form of greeting and
addressing his students.
Level tone. Besides the proclaiming tone and the referring tone as mentioned above, there exists in
English another type of tone: the “level” tone. This type is most often used in situations in which speakers have
to choose their words carefully, or in situations in which they have difficulty putting together the language they
need to express their feelings and intentions (Yen, 2000, p. 89). The use of the “level” tone” together with
pauses or hesitation devices will then give them time to put the language together. Let’s take the talk made by
the chairperson as an example for this:
(12) // → ER // ➚GOOd EVEning //→ ER // ➚good EVening to one ane ALL // WELcome // → TO // →
FEBruary MEEting //
In (12), the chair person is a fluent native speaker of English but he is doing something very similar to
what learners have to do when they are using a language with which they are not yet very similar: He is
mentally preparing the next step before he takes it. He then resorts to the level tone. In fact, this tone has few
communicative values. It does not reflect the meaning of spoken language as well as the context of interactions
as the two tones mentioned above. That is why the author of this study does not treat it as one of the main tones
of the English language.
Tone and dominance. Although there are many conversational occasions when it is possible to say that
either you or your listener is in charge for the time being, there are other occasions when it is decided moment
by moment (Yen, 2000, p. 82). There are situations in which one person is playing a more dominant role than
the other. These values can also be clearly reflected by the tone the speaker uses. While the “rise-fall” tone or
the “fall-rise” tone can be used by both dominant or non-dominant speakers, the “rising” version of referring
tone or the “falling” version of proclaiming tone can be used by dominant speakers only. The special
significance of the pure rising or falling tone is that when you occupy the dominant speaker role, you can use it
to emphasize the fact that you occupy the role (Yen, 2000, p. 77). This is considered as a way of drawing
attention to the authority the speaker claims for himself for the time being. Let’s look at the speech made by a
chair person as a typical example for this:
684 A CASE STUDY AT THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY

(13) // ➚beFORE I introduce tonight’s SPEAker // ➚there’s ONE important reMINder // ➚our NEXT
month’s MEEting // ➘will be our ANNual GENeral meeting // ➚ON that oCCAsion // ➚we’re hoping for a
GOOD // ➘and SPIRited aTTENdance //
In (13), the chair person is in charge of the speech. The usual rules for conducting meetings give him the
responsibility to control what happens. It is he who determines when the meeting will begin and end, what
questions may be asked, who may ask them, and so on. For the time being, the chair person is the dominant
speaker. That is the reason why the fall tone is used most of the time.
Another example in point can be manifested in the order given by the father to his son:
(14) // ➘Put the WARning on // ➚If the CAr stops //
or
(15) // ➘Give me a RING // ➚when you get to the STAtion // ➘and I’ll FETCH you //
It would not probably be a good idea to underline one’s authority too often. The thing to remember is that
while less dominant speakers can only use the “rise-fall” or the “fall-rise”, dominant speakers can have their
own choice. It is then up to them to decide whether to draw attention to their speech role. They can either make
use of the “rising” or the “falling” tone to underline their present status as the controller of the discourse, or
they can refrain from doing so and use the non-dominant “fall-rise” tone or “rise-fall” tone instead (Yen, 2000,
p. 79). We can illustrate this by taking a pair of utterances like:
(16) // r the FIGure on the LEFT // p is a TRIangle //
(17) // r+ the FIGure on the LEFT // p is a TRIangle //
While it is easy to imagine a teacher producing either of these in course of some pieces of exposition, it is
unlikely that a pupil would produce the second in a response to the teacher’s question (Brazil, 1997, p. 85)
For effective communications, we should make the correct choice between the tones in conversations. If
we use a ➚ or a ➘ when a ➘➚ or a ➚➘ should have been more appropriate, you may be considered to be
self-assertive or even aggressive (Bradford, 1998, p. 30).

Research Methodology
Together with document review and analysis concerning the concepts/theories of tone and tone unit, both
quantitative and qualitative research designs are also used. The data collected for the study come from various
sources: questionnaire survey, experimental teaching, classroom observation concerning the teaching, and
practice of tone patterns before speaking sessions in Vietnamese contexts. The questionnaire consists of
questions related to students’ awareness of the role of speaking skill, the role of knowledge of tones in
developing speaking skill, and the suggestions for the improvement of the situations in Vietnamese contexts.
For the experimental teaching to work properly and successfully, the questionnaire survey and the
experimental teaching were conducted among fourth-year English-majored students at TDMU in the academic
year 2021-2022. At the time of the survey and the experimental teaching taking place, these students had
attended the course on English Phonetics and Phonology and are taking the advanced course on
listening-and-speaking strategies. For comparison, two groups of students were chosen (each group consisting
of 50 students), in which one group was reminded and given some practice of tones and their communicative
values at some time before and during the course (Group A) and the other wasn’t (Group B).
To obtain the validity and reliability of the data collected, the two groups chosen are supposed to have the
same proficiency level concerning listening-and-speaking skills of English. This is assured by reviewing the
 A CASE STUDY AT THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY 685

records of the average speaking-and-listening test scores that these students had got in the last three successive
semesters.
Also, for the experimental teaching to be conducted as planned and to meet the objectives of the study,
these classes were intentionally taught by the author himself. During the process of the experimental teaching,
students’ behaviors and satisfaction were carefully observed and noted with the checklist carefully designed. At
the end of the experimental teaching, the final scores of the course (listening-and-speaking sessions) were
carefully collected, analyzed, and compared to evaluate the effectiveness of the technique under discussion.

Findings and Discussion

Research Findings
As previously mentioned, this research is conducted with the participation of 100 students from two
experimental classes from TDMU. Personal records reveal that these students are generally competent in their
language skills as they are in the final year of the course. Realising the importance of English speaking skill,
these students are making every effort to develop the skill, including paying attention to different aspects of
pronunciation in their language learning.
Findings from the questionnaire survey.

Table 1
Results From the Questionnaire
Questions Ideas
Completely
How important is the speaking skill to Very important Important No ideas Unimportant
unimportant
1
you in learning a foreign language?
65% 23% 10% 2% 0%
How important is the knowledge of Completely
Very important Important No ideas Unimportant
2 tones and their values to you in unimportant
developing speaking skills? 65% 23% 10% 2% 0%
How often are you provided with Every speaking
Usually Sometimes Occasionally Never
extra-lessons related to tones and their session
3
values in your listening and speaking
0% 0% 9% 30% 61%
classes?
Do you wish to be provided with Completely
Strongly agree Agree No idea Disagree
extra-lessons related to tones and their disagree
4
values in your listening and speaking
65% 23% 10% 2% 0%
classes?

From the collected data, the following findings and interpretations are revealed: Most of the students
recognize the importance of the speaking skill in their language learning (in response to Question 1); Most of
the students react positively to the knowledge of tones and their values, recognizing the roles of these elements
in developing speaking skills (in response to Question 2). Unfortunately, the problem arises when these
students acknowledge they are rarely provided with extra-lessons related to tones and their values in their
English classes (in response to Question 3). It is also suggested by these students that knowledge of tones and
their values is very important and therefore should be included in their listening-and-speaking courses in one
way or the other.
Findings from the experimental teaching. The checklist obtained from the experimental teaching is
presented in Table 2.
686 A CASE STUDY AT THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY

Table 2
Checklist Obtained From the Experimental Teaching
Classroom observation results from Group A Yes No
1 The classroom atmosphere is lively. √
2 Students are interested in listening and speaking sessions √
3 Students are interested in listening to lessons related to tones and their communicative values √
4 Students actively asks questions related to tones and their communicative values √
5 Students are interested in practicing tones in their speech. √
6 Students are trying their best to produce appropriate and meaningful tones in their speech √
7 Students feel and satisfying with these sessions √

From the observation during experimental teaching sessions and the checklists above (Table 2), it is clear
to the author of the study that the focused group (Group A) really showed their interest and motivation in
studying tones and their communicative values as they all realized the use of these units in their language skill
development right at the beginning of the course. Some even asked their lecturer to give them more materials
related to these patterns for their self-study at home. The activities and tasks used to present these units are
considered to be appropriate and satisfactory for these students. These students also showed their satisfaction
and confidence in classroom speaking activities, too.
In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the strategy under discussion, the final scores of the two groups
(the average of the listening-and-speaking tests implemented during and at the end of the course) were analyzed
and compared by the researcher himself. The principal objective of these tests was to measure students’ ability
and performance on their listening-and-speaking skills. These final results of these tests are generally presented
in Table 3.

Table 3
Analysis of the Average the Post-test Scores
Final score of the course
Groups
3 5 5-6 6-7 7-8 8-9
Group A (N = 50) 0 1 (2%) 8 (16%) 15 (30%) 17 (34%) 9 (18%)
Group B (N = 50) 2 (4%) 5 (10%) 21 (42%) 13 (26%) 7 (14%) 2 (4%)

As it is shown from Table 3, students from Group A (the focused group) overall got better results at the
end of the course.
Discussion of the Main Findings
It can be concluded from these findings that the teaching of tones and their communicative values, as
proposed by the researcher, at first sight, has proved to be useful and effective contributing to the satisfactions
and the development of listening-and-speaking skills for Vietnamese students. The knowledge of tones and
their communicative values can, in fact, give more insights into the understanding of the context of interaction,
helping language users develop appropriate communicative strategies, thus making the interaction go smoothly
and effectively. As the goal of pronunciation teaching is to make students more effective in their attempts in
communicating the language, in order to increase students’ fluency and comprehensibility, it is essential that all
of these aspects of tone be practiced in the ESL classrooms (Avery & Ehrich, 1995, p. 89).
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As pronunciation is one of the most influential factors in speaking and listening comprehension practices
(Gilbert, 1996), it is, necessary for students to master pronunciation of a language in order to communicate
effectively in that language. In English, there are a number of phenomena that are exploited by the native
speakers to make their speech more fluent and speedy. Research shows that those who have more knowledge or
understanding about intonation can speak the language better and more confidently. Extensive work on the
aspects of tone discussed in this study will not only contribute to “students’ ability to produce fluent and
comprehensive speech”, but also “to their ability to comprehend English interactions” (Avery & Ehrich, 1995,
p. 89). As it is not easy for most Vietnamese learners of English to successfully produce appropriate tones in a
tone unit, it is suggested that tones and their values should be introduced in Vietnamese contexts to help
language learners improve their listening and abilities.
From both the receptive and productive point of view, learners need extensive practice in distinguishing
the subtle shades of meaning that are conveyed through prosodic clues (Murcia et al., 1996, p. 210). When
presenting the interplay between intonation and meaning to learners, like teaching other aspects of
pronunciation, a top priority should be given to providing them with adequate opportunities to listen for the
shades of meaning in authentic conversational exchanges and to check their interpretations against that of a
native speaker listening to the same conversational interchange (Murcia et al., 1996, p. 210). The teaching of
tone and tone units as different aspects of intonation is of no exception. Based on pronunciation teaching
materials and the author’s teaching experience, the following steps should be taken into consideration to raise
students’ awareness and help them master these intonation aspects, gaining more confidence and accuracy in
speaking English:
# Step 1 (Awareness-raising stage): This step can be done as an awareness-raising activity. It is a good
idea to begin instruction of tones and their communicative values by reminding or raising students’ awareness
of the concepts. The teacher can ask students to listen to some examples with certain features of the tones being
taught, pointing out the conversational functions that the use of these features may perform. If students know
the rationale for studying tones, they will be motivated to learn them.
# Step 2 (Presentation stage): It is usually easier for students to get an overview of tone and tone units. As
understanding their meaning is really a challenge for most of these students, the presentation stage is needed.
The objective of this stage is to indicate these patterns, their meanings as well their effects on the context of
interaction. Students can be asked to listen to sentences or dialogues and then match them with possible
interpretations, based on the tone being used. After doing this matching exercise, the teacher should then show
the patterns by using different techniques such as drawing on the board or using gestures. Once the patterns
have been shown, the teacher needs to introduce or state the meanings or the effects of these patterns.
# Step 3 (Controlled practice stage): This stage can be conducted in pairs. Students are asked to listen to
and analyze a dialogue read with varying emotions/meanings, paying special attention to the features of the
tone being introduced and how these help to communicate meanings, and then practise reading the same
dialogue themselves, trying to copy the voice on the tape. At this point of instruction, the teacher can use a
cassette player to record a dialogue or a passage made by students and then compare their reading or speaking
with the recording of the same material made by fluent speakers of English. This activity not only helps raise
students’ awareness of tones and their communicative values but also helps them know what they need to
improve in their production of spoken English.
688 A CASE STUDY AT THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY

Step 4: (Meaningful practice stage): After practising tones in a variety of controlled activities, students
should be given an opportunity to practise them in communicative and meaningful practice, i.e., in longer
stretches of real-life discourses (Avery & Ehrich, 1995, p. 169). The teachers then can ask students to
participate in an extemporaneous role play situation, telling jokes or comics, using the context that has been set
as a point of departure for more creative uses of language. These activities often provides clues in the boldface
type that can assist students in their understanding of intonation and sentence prominence, and aid students in
practising these phenomena (Murcia et al., 1996, p. 303). The following activities can be taken as typical
examples for this:
# Activity 1: You are a customer in a small restaurant and are ready to order. The menu is quite limited but
there are different kinds of each thing. Your partner is the waiter/waitress and will ask you for your order. You
are supposed to: (i) choose from the menu what you would like for each course; (ii) ask the waiter/waitress for
more information, and (iii) choose from the selection of things you are offered. This activity can be used to
practise key and dominance.
# Activity 2: You have just come back from holiday in Spain or France. You meet student B who you
know has been on holiday in Morocco or Italy. Ask your friend about his/her holiday assuming he/she did the
same sorts of things as you. This activity can be used to practise proclaiming and referring tones.
At this stage, the teacher serves primarily as a resource person. While students are doing these activities,
the teacher should pay special attention to the ability of students to use intonation to communicate information
and give appropriate feedback (Murcia et al., 1996, p. 215).
These are the stages that can help students practice and master the forms and meanings of English tones.
However, the problem may arise when the teaching of these aspects is not given a prominent place in the
language curriculum. If this is the case, the teacher does not have to cover all of these stages in the teaching
process as it has been pointed earlier. He thus can leave students to learn these aspects of intonation naturally
through the course of study. For the correct direction of students’ self-study, there are two things that the
teachers should not ignore: (i) introducing the patterns of tones and (ii) stating their meanings in the context of
interaction. Remember that in teaching aspects of intonation, authentic materials are of crucial importance. It is
through larger samples of real language that the relationship between supra-segmentals and meaning becomes
evident (Murcia et al., 1996).

Conclusion
As stated in the introduction, English intonation with a variety of features is a complicated component of
spoken language and the mastering of these features is really a challenge for most users of English, even its
native speakers. Among the most important features of intonation for advanced learners of English are tones.
As a reflection of social convergences, the choice of tone “depends in some absolute ways on the factors in the
environment” (Brazil, 1997, p. 67). The appropriate use of tone can reflect the social context of the interaction.
On the one hand, it can also show the background information of the interaction as well as the knowledge of the
speaker involved. On the other hand, the role of the speaker can be reflected in the tones he uses to speak a
piece of language. While a referring tone reflects the shared knowledge between the speaker and the hearer, the
proclaiming tone shows that there is some new information being referred to in the course of conversation.
Tone and tone units are easy to be designed into effective classroom activities which can help students
considerably in their learning. With the aims beforehand, the research shows that the teaching of tones and their
 A CASE STUDY AT THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY 689

communicative values, just like any other features of intonation, is very important not only in helping students
to improve their production of spoken English but also essential in helping them to improve their listening
comprehension, responding to the needs of both students and teachers alike. With appropriate strategies and
techniques presented in the study, it is fondly hoped that this study will raise students’ awareness and give them
opportunities to practice these sound aspects in their language classes effectively. Gaining these objectives, this
study ultimately will be conducive to the better communicative skills of Vietnamese learners of English,
especially of those at an advanced level or those who want to gain more confidence and fluency in
conversations in the English language.

References
Avery, P., & Susan Ehrich, S. (1995). Teaching American English pronunciation. Oxford: Oxford University Express.
Bradford. (1998). Intonation in context. Cambridge: Cambridge University Express.
Brazil, D. (1997). The communicative values of intonation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Express.
Gilbert, B. J. (1996). Clear speech. Cambridge: Cambridge University Express.
Khuong, L. Q. (2000). A practical course for teaching English as a foreign language. Danang: Danang University Express.
Ladderfoge, P. (2000). A course in phonetics. The U.S.A.: Thomas Wadsworth.
Murcia, M. C., Brinton, D. M., & Goodwin, J. M. (1996). Teaching pronunciation: A reference for teachers of English to
speakers of other languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Express.
Roach, P. (2000). English phonetics and phonology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Express.
Yen, N. T. (2000). Pronunciation for advanced learners of English. HCMC: Ho Chi Minh City Publishing House.