Acoustic Properties of
Taiwanese High School Students’ Stress
in English Intonation
台灣國高中學生英語重音之語調特質
研 究 生：陳泓銚
指導教授：鍾榮富 博士
Table of Contents
Introduction
Literature Review
Methodology
Results and Discussion
Conclusion
IntroductionBackground and Motivation

Stress is the key term associated with English pronunciation.
Celce-Murcia et al(1996): Stress, an individual signal, is a crucial feature
for listeners to process speech.

Most studies focus on teaching and learning vocabulary,
grammar, and listening rather than English stress and
pronunciation.
Kelly(1969): Western philologists and linguists have almost always
concerned on grammar and vocabulary studies and only recently have begun
to appreciate the value of pronunciation.
Celce-Murcia(1996): Most language teachers do not understand
pronunciation as well as they do grammar and vocabulary: the systematic
study of pronunciation began only in the late 19th century.
IntroductionHypothesis: Why English stress study is not
developed enough in Taiwan?

Taiwan has a test-oriented learning environment.
- two important national entrance exams do not include a pronunciation
assessment.
- most tests evaluate the student’s command of reading, writing, and
listening.

Few studies are concerned about the
suprasegmental concepts of stress, intonation, and
rhythm.
Segmental vs. Suprasegmental

Segmental: vowels and consonants
 Most
studies are concerned about the segmental
elements on English teaching and learning(Ali & Huven,
2009; Cardoso, 2011; Kohler, 1990)

Suprasegmental: stress, intonation, and rhythm
 This
study identified an ignored issue in English teaching
by using the results of acoustic studies.
IntroductionPrevious Studies
Num. Age
Location
Category
Instrument
Cheiting,
Northern
Kaohsiung
High and low
achievers
2 questionnaires
Oral reading text
High and low
achievers
2 questionnaires
Marking text
Oral reading text
Kuo(2004)
163
93
3rd
grade of
JH
Lee(2006)
88
98
9th grade Nan Shan,
Taipei County
IntroductionPrevious Studies





Kuo(2004):
2 groups from the same junior high school students
To investigate the differences in cognitive and
production performance between high- and lowlevel students
No significant dissimilarity in cognition
High-level students did a little better on
performance than did low-level students.
IntroductionPrevious Studies




Lee(2006)
98 ninth-graders, who were divided into high and
low achievers .
New factors: parental background and General
English Proficiency Test performance
Students with high English competence, passing
GEPT writing and oral test, or living in northern
Taiwan performed better. (parental education
background X)
IntroductionNiche

Artificial analysis of data
IntroductionPurpose of the Study




To compare the pitch produced by Taiwanese students and
native speakers of America English by using acoustic
measurement
To understand Taiwanese junior and senior high school
students’ attitude towards English stress learning and the
concept of English stress
To determine whether Taiwanese EFL learners’ pronunciation
performance(stress and intonation) can be improved from
junior to senior high school
To analyze the association between students’ performance
on English tests in junior and senior high school and what
they are taught and what they learn in the classrooms
IntroductionResearch Questions



What is the difference between English natives’ and
Taiwanese EFL learners’ stress patterns at the
sentence level?
What is the difference between junior and senior
high school students in terms of sentence stress in
English?
What is the role of stress concepts in EFL learners’
pronunciation?
IntroductionDefinition of Terms

Stress:
 a prominent effect on a syllable in a word or
sentence(Abercrombie, 1967; Crystal, 1990; Gimson,
1980)
 longer
in duration, louder in volume, higher in pitch
 intensity, fundamental frequency, and duration
(Fry, 1955)
 accent(Gunter,
1974); nucleus(Cruttenden, 1997);
primary stress(Hahn, 2004); sentence stress(Schmerling,
1976)
IntroductionDefinition of Terms

Pitch:
 auditory
property(Ladefoged, 2006)
 If a sound goes up, it goes up in pitch as well.
 fundamental frequency of a sound perceived by the
listener(Fromkin et al, 2007)
 the most reliable and appropriate cue for identifying
the placement of stress(Jones, 1960; Taylor, 1981)
The fundamental frequencies of pitch values
were collected to produce intonation contour.
IntroductionDefinition of Terms

Intonation:
 the
music of the language(Lane, 1993)
 mesh together with stress in a stress language, like
English, and with tone in a tone language, like
Mandarin(Katamba, 1989)
All levels of stress in the reading text were
identified using intonation contour.
Literature ReviewEnglish Stress




Stressed syllables are usually longer, louder, and
higher in pitch than unstressed syllables
English is a random stress language. (French X)
The stress placement is unpredictable.
Changing the stress placement in the same English
sentence will change the meaning.
Literature ReviewEnglish Stress: word sources
Literature ReviewEnglish Stress Patterns

Word stress
 The
stress that falls on the primary syllable in an
individual word.
 Stress occurs only on vowels, not consonant.
 There is only one primary stress in a word.
Literature ReviewEnglish Stress Patterns

Sentence stress
 Sentence
stress is concerned with the stresses which fall
on words of one or more syllables.
 Content words stressed whereas function words are
unstressed.
Literature ReviewEnglish Stress Patterns

Intonation stress
 The
word whose syllable receives the most prominence
in the sentence is attributed to intonation stress.
 It attracts the main pitch change.
 The most prominent syllable is called the tonic syllable
and the stress it carries is called “intonation stress.”
 Its function is to provide the new or key information the
speaker emphasized to listeners.
From Ladefoged.
A Course in Phonetics
An Example of Intonation Stress
A: I lost my BOOK.
B: WHICH book?
A: My ENGLISH book.
B: It’s on your DESK.
A: But that one is YOURS.
Literature ReviewCommon Intonation Patterns




Wh-questions and declarative statements
Yes-no questions and open-choice alternative
questions
Closed-choice alternative questions
Tag questions
Celce-Murcia et al, 1996; Ing, 1997; Prator &
Robinett, 1985
Literature ReviewPronunciation Teaching
1940~1960 Audio-Lingual Method
Late 1960s communicative
approaches
1970~1980 Pennington & Richard,
Brown
1990s
MethodologyStudy Procedure
Participants were recruited
A questionnaire designed
Taiwanese students answered the questionnaire
The oral reading text was constructed as the recording material
All participants read the oral reading text and were recorded
The questionnaire and recorded data were analyzed and
compared by statistic
MethodologyParticipants
Group
Gender
Numbers
Mean Age
NS Group A
Male
8
22
NS Group B
Male
8
22
JH Group
Male
12
16
Pao Chung Junior high
School, Yun-Lin County
SH Group A
Male
8
17
SH Group B
Male
8
17
National Chia-Yi Senior
High School, Chia- Yi
County
University of St. Thomas,
Houston
MethodologyProduction Test: Oral Reading Text



It was adopted from Lee(2006).
Participants can practice before recording. If they
are not satisfied with their recording, they are
allowed to rerecord.
Two software programs, PRATT 5.2.25 (Boersma
and Weenink, 2011) and fetch_pitchlist.praat
(Huang, 2005), were used to analyze data.
MethodologyDeclarative Sentences





My family bought some delicious seafood in the
supermarket yesterday.
The teacher asked us to review the conversation
taught today and preview a new one for tomorrow.
It is impossible for him to volunteer to help others.
Forty Americans came to visit Taiwan last Sunday.
I usually prepare some bananas and vegetables for
my child in the afternoon.
Result and DiscussionStress Pattern: The average of NS-A &B
Result and DiscussionStress Pattern: The average of SH-A & B
Result and DiscussionStress Pattern: The average of JH
Result and DiscussionStress Pattern: The average of NS-A &B
Result and DiscussionStress Pattern: The average of SH-A & B
Result and DiscussionStress Pattern: The average of JH
Result and DiscussionEnglish Stress Patterns





English is a stress-pitch language.
The key word in the sentence is given the most
prominent stress and spoken with the highest pitch.
Function words such as pronouns, articles, and
prepositions are normally not stressed.
JH: some are flat and others gave equal pitch.
There were very few difference between JH and SH.
MethodologyInstrument: Questionnaire



Me!(176)
To investigate the learning experience of the
participants, except native speakers.
To understand how they are taught and learn
English stress.
Result and DiscussionQuestionnaire1: English Learning Background
Item
Opinion
JH School
SH School
1. How many
6 years
years have you 7 years
studied English? 8 years
9 years
10 years
7(58.3%)
4(33.3%)
1(8.3%)
0(0%)
0(0%)
2(12.5%)
4(25%)
3(18.8%)
2(12.5%)
5(31.3%)
2. Have you
ever lived
abroad?
0(0%)
12(100%)
0(0%)
16(100%)
Yes
No
Result and DiscussionQuestionnaire1: English Learning Background
Item
3. Besides from
your English
teacher, where
do you hear
English spoken?
Opinion
JH School SH School
English teaching broadcast 0(0%)
3(18.8%)
English environment
broadcast
0(0%)
1(6.3%)
English teaching CDs
10
(83.3%)
English teaching programs 0(0%)
10
(62.5%)
0(0%)
General English programs 2(16.7%)
2(12.5%)
Result and DiscussionQuestionnaire1: English Learning Background
Item
Opinion
JH School
SH School
4. Have you ever
studied particular
English pronunciation
skills or stress?
Yes, segmentals.
1(8.3%)
3(18.8%)
Yes, phonics.
4(33.3%)
3(18.8%)
No.
7(58.3%)
10(62.5%)
Very good.
Not bad.
Average.
Very bad.
1(8.3%)
3(25.0%)
6(50.0%)
2(16.7%)
1(6.3%)
7(43.8%)
7(43.8%)
1(6.3%)
5. How your grades
in English class?
Result and DiscussionQuestionnaire2: Students’ Responses to
English Stress Learning
Item
Opinion
JH School
SH School
1. Did your English
teacher ever paly
English teaching CDs
for you to listen to?
Never.
Sometimes.
Often.
7(58.3%)
5(41.7%)
0(0%)
0(0%)
14(87.5%)
2(12.5%)
6(50%)
8(50%)
1(8.3%)
1(6.3%)
5(41.7%)
7(43.8%)
2. Which way do you Repeat after the
like when you need to teacher.
read something aloud?
Repeat after the
teaching CDs.
Both.
Result and DiscussionQuestionnaire2: Students’ Responses to
English Stress Learning
Item
Opinion
JH School
SH School
3. Why do you like
repeating after the
teacher?
Clearer.
More correct.
More interesting.
More convenient.
9(81.8%)
1(9.1%)
1(9.1%)
3(27.3%)
4(26.7%)
1(6.7%)
2(13.3%)
12(80%)
4. Why you like
repeating after the
teaching CDs?
Clearer.
More correct.
More interesting.
More convenient.
1(16.7%)
5(83.3%)
0(0%)
1(16.7%)
0(0%)
8(87.5%)
0(0%)
1(12.5%)
Result and DiscussionQuestionnaire2: Students’ Responses to
English Stress Learning
Item
Opinion
JH School
SH School
5. Does your teacher
stress the same
syllables and words
as the teaching CDs
do?
The same.
1(8.3%)
0(0%)
Different.
6(50.0%)
2(12.5%)
Almost the same.
5(41.7%)
14(87.5%)
Result and DiscussionQuestionnaire2: Students’ Responses to
English Stress Learning
Item
6. Do you ever pay
attention to the
placement of stress
while listening to the
teaching CDs?
7. Which one is
important when you
read an English
sentence?
Opinion
Never.
JH School
3(25.0%)
SH School
4(25.0%)
Sometimes.
8(66.7%)
9(56.3%)
Often.
Pronounce each
word correctly.
1(8.3%)
5(41.7%)
3(18.8%)
14(87.5%)
The stress of the
sentence is clear.
0(0%)
1(6.3%)
Both.
7(58.3%)
1(6.3%)
Result and DiscussionQuestionnaire2: Students’ Responses to
English Stress Learning
Item
Opinion
8. Do you spend time Never.
practicing reading
the text aloud outside Sometimes.
the class?
Often.
9. Do you pay
Never.
attention to your own
placement of stress
Sometimes.
when you practice
reading the text
Often.
yourself?
JH School
3(25.0%)
SH School
3(18.8%)
8(66.7%)
13(81.2%)
1(8.3%)
5(41.7%)
0(0%)
4(25.0%)
7(58.3%)
11(68.8%)
0(0%)
1(6.3%)
Result and DiscussionQuestionnaire2: Students’ Responses to
English Stress Learning
Item
10. If you want to
speak good English, is
English stress
important?
Opinion
Not important.
A little important.
Very important.
JH School
1(8.3%)
4(33.3%)
7(58.3%)
SH School
2(12.5%)
8(50.0%)
6(37.5%)
11. What do you
think about the ease
of learning English
stress?
Very difficult.
Difficult.
A little difficult.
A little easy.
Easy.
Very easy.
2(16.7%)
1(8.3%)
7(58.3%)
2(16.7%)
0(0%)
0(0%)
1(6.3%)
3(18.8%)
9(56.3%)
2(12.5%)
1(6.3%)
0(0%)
Result and DiscussionQuestionnaire2: Students’ Responses to
English Stress Learning
Item
12. What do you
think of your English
stress?
Opinion
Excellent.
Correct.
So-so.
Incorrect.
No idea about it.
JH School
1(8.3%)
7(58.3%)
3(25.0%)
1(8.3%)
0(0%)
SH School
2(12.5%)
10(62.5%)
4(25.0%)
0(0%)
0(0%)
Conclusion
What is the difference between English natives’ and
Taiwanese EFL learners’ stress patterns at the
sentence level?
1.
2.
The slopes of rising and falling tones produced by
Taiwanese students were not as sharp, steep, or
distinctive as those produced by the NS-A students.
Taiwanese students emphasized almost every
words.
Conclusion
What is the difference between junior and senior
high school students in terms of sentence stress in
English?
1.
2.
No major differences.
Flat or equally stressed words
Conclusion
What is the role of stress concepts in EFL learners’
pronunciation?
1.
2.
3.
Both junior and senior high school students did not
understand English stress.
Students seldom pay attention to the location of stress.
English stress is an unfamiliar issue for both junior and
senior high school students.
Suggestions for Further Research


The participants of this study are all from central
Taiwan.
The present study used a declarative statement
sentence pattern for research.
This study only focuses on only one acoustic cue,
pitch, to analyze stress. (vowel duration, pause,
linking and vowel reduction)
Thank you~~