An error analysis of the use of verb patterns in writing english sentences by french major students at thanglong high school (dalat, lamdong) master’s thesis report

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING BA RIA - VUNG TAU UNIVERSITY Ba Ria-Vung Tau, August 2nd, 2021 MASTER’S THESIS REPORT Student name: BÙI NGUYỄN HIỆP Sex: Male Date of birth: January 28th 1973 Place of birth: DaLat - LamDong Major: English Language Student code: 18110085 I- Thesis title: “An error analysis of the use of verb patterns in writing English sentences by French-major students at ThangLong high school (DaLat, LamDong)” II- Objectives and contents: The overall objectives of this study are to find errors in the use of English verb patterns by the French-major students at ThangLong high school and the causes of these errors Then this study suggests effective ways to avoid these errors and some recommendations for students to improve their use of English verb patterns in English writing as well as for teachers of English to enhance their teaching English verb patterns to Vietnamese students This thesis consists of five parts: the introduction of the thesis; the review of literature on theoretical framework and on previous studies; the research methodology; the discussion of the results and findings and the conclusion III- Starting date: June 21st 2020 IV- Completing date: August 2nd, 2021 V- Academic supervisor: NGUYỄN QUANG TIẾN, Ph.D ACADEMIC SUPERVISOR FACULTY DEAN i CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authorship of the Master‟s Thesis submitted today entitled: “An error analysis of the use of verb patterns in writing English sentences by French-major students at ThangLong high school (DaLat, LamDong)” In terms of the statement of requirements for Theses in Master‟s programs issued by the School of Languages, Cultures, and International Collaborations of BaRia - VungTau University The words contained in this thesis have not previously been submitted for a degree or diploma in any university I certify that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, my thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the thesis itself Ba Ria - Vung Tau, August 2nd, 2021 BÙI Nguyễn Hiệp ii RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, BÙI Nguyễn Hiệp, being a candidate for the degree of Masters of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master‟s Theses deposited in the Library In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my Master‟s Thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of theses and any special conditions of usage in relation to this thesis entitled “An error analysis of the use of verb patterns in English essays by French-major students at ThangLong high school (DaLat, LamDong)” Ba Ria - Vung Tau, August 2nd, 2021 BÙI Nguyễn Hiệp iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my thesis supervisor, Dr NGUYEN Quang Tien for his guidance, his efforts and support, his time and availability throughout my thesis writing I would like to thank him for his professional guidance, his assistance and enthusiastic support in every step of my research I wish to acknowledge the School of Languages, Cultures, and International collaborations of Ba Ria-Vung Tau University for helping me fulfill the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts in TESOL My special thanks go to the headmaster, the administration board and all the English teachers at ThangLong high school for supporting me throughout this process of thesis writing I would like to convey my thanks to all French-major students who enthusiastically supported my process of collecting data, making my study become successful and meaningful Last but not least, I would like to express my sincere thanks and appreciation to all people contributed to the success of this thesis iv ABSTRACT Error analysis is a way to investigate errors in the learning process of a foreign language This thesis reports on a study on error analysis of the use of verb patterns (VPs) by French-major students at ThangLong high school in DaLat The research followed a descriptive research design An error analysis framework by Corder (1981) was employed It includes data collection, error detection, classifying, describing errors, and explaining errors The data were collected from 104 essays written by 26 students in an English writing class From the analysis of the data, it was found that the verb patterns which were the most used and which also contained the most errors were VP6, VP1, VP7, VP5 and VP14 Furthermore, the study showed that the errors were caused by intralingual and interlingual factors Gaining insight into errors would throw light into areas of difficulties faced by students in English writing It is suggested that the students must have adequate exposure to English and more frequent use of some English verb patterns to be able to internalize language rules and reduce the tendency of committing errors in their writing This study also gives Vietnamese teachers of English some suggestions of how to teach English verb patterns effectively Keywords: errors, error analysis, intralingual errors, interlingual errors v TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ………….….……… ……… …… List of tables …………………………….….….…… …… List of figures ……………………….………….….….…… List of abbreviations……………….….….…….….….…… Page iv viii viii ix CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale for the study 1.1.1 English as an international language 1.1.2 English language learning in Vietnam 1.1.3 The role of verb patterns in sentences in English 1.2 Objectives of the study 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Scope of the study 1.5 Significance of the study 1.6 Organization of the thesis 1 5 5 CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Definition of key terms 2.2 Review of theoretical framework 2.2.1 Contrastive analysis 2.2.2 Interlanguage 2.2.3 Language transfer 2.2.4 Error analysis 2.2.5 Errors versus mistakes 2.2.6 Significance of errors 2.2.7 Types and taxonomies of errors 2.2.8 Sources and causes of errors 2.3 Classification of verb patterns by Hornby 2.4 Review of previous studies 2.4.1 Previous studies on interlingual errors 2.4.2 Previous studies on intralingual errors 2.5 Models for error analysis 7 8 9 11 12 13 14 16 18 21 21 23 26 vi CHAPTER RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research design and methods 3.2 Research site 3.3 Sampling and participants 3.4 Pilot study 3.5 Data collection 3.5.1 Document analysis 3.5.2 Interviews 3.6 Data analysis 3.7 Conclusion CHAPTER FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 4.1 Findings 4.1.1 The frequency of the use of 25 verb patterns by Hornby (1975) in 104 English essays 4.1.2 Classification of errors: the common types of errors in the use of verb patterns in 104 English essays 4.1.3 The causes of errors 4.1.3.1 Interlingual errors 4.1.3.2 Intralingual errors 4.1.3.3 Selection errors 4.1.3.4 Omission errors 4.1.3.5 Addition errors 4.1.3.6 Misordering errors 4.1.3.7 Local errors and global errors 4.1.3.8 Conclusion 4.1.4 Results from interview questions 4.2 Discussion 4.2.1 Discussion of the research question 4.2.2 Discussion of the research question 4.2.3 Conclusion CHAPTER CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS, LIMITATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5.1 Conclusion 5.2 Implications of the research 5.3 Limitations of the study 5.4 Recommendations for further research REFERENCES APPENDICES vii 27 27 27 28 29 30 30 32 33 35 36 36 36 39 44 44 47 50 63 67 71 72 72 73 77 77 78 80 80 81 81 83 87 88 92 94 LIST OF TABLES Page Table Finite and non-finite forms of verbs 20 Table 25 verb patterns by Hornby (1975) 21 Table The distribution and the frequency of verb patterns used, correct and incorrect verb patterns 39 Table The most common verb patterns used 40 Table Types and frequency of errors in 104 essays 42 Table The verb patterns containing the most errors 43 Table Types, frequency and percentage of errors in the VP6 43 Table Types, frequency and percentage of errors in the VP1 44 Table Types, frequency and percentage of errors in the VP7 44 Table 10 Types, frequency and percentage of errors in the VP5 45 Table 11 Types, frequency and percentage of errors in the VP14 45 Table 12 The frequency of use of verb patterns and the verb patterns containing the most errors 46 Table 13 Some differences between Vietnamese and English verb patterns 47 Table 14 The types, frequencies and causes of errors 52 LIST OF FIGURES Figure Kachru‟s (1990) three concentric circles viii 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 ... ? ?An error analysis of the use of verb patterns in writing English sentences by French- major students at ThangLong high school (DaLat, LamDong)? ?? In terms of the statement of requirements for Theses... English verb patterns The errors in the use of verb patterns in the English essays written by French- major students at ThangLong high school in DaLat are the focus of this study Most of these French- major. .. types of errors in the use of verb patterns in English essays written by French- major students at Thang Long high school? What are the causes of these errors? 1.4 Scope of the study Most of the writings