Phân tích những lỗi và khó khăn trong việc sử dụng mệnh đề quan hệ của học sinh lớp 11 tại một trường cấp 3 ở hà nội

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES PHẠM THU HẰNG AN ANALYSIS ON ERRORS AND DIFFICULTIES IN USING RELATIVE CLAUSES AMONG GRADE 11 STUDENTS AT A HIGH SCHOOL IN HANOI ( h n t h nh ng l i v kh kh n vi h sinh l p t i m t tr s ng ng m nh p qu n h i) M.A THESIS – Type Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 HANOI – 2021 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES PHẠM THU HẰNG AN ANALYSIS ON ERRORS AND DIFFICULTIES IN USING RELATIVE CLAUSES AMONG GRADE 11 STUDENTS AT A HIGH SCHOOL IN HANOI ( h n t h nh ng l i v kh kh n vi h sinh l p t i m t tr s ng ng m nh p qu n h i) M.A THESIS – Type Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 Supervisor: Asso i te rofessor Võ Đ i Quang, Ph.D HANOI – 2021 i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby state that I, Pham Thu Hang, being an MA candidate of the Faculty of Post Graduate Studies, VNU University of Languages and International Studies certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled: “An analysis on errors and difficulties in using relative clauses among grade 11 students at a high school in Hanoi” The thesis is my own work and the substance of the thesis has not, wholly or in part, been submitted for a degree to any other universities or institutions Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis Signature: Date: June 2021 i ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to analyze errors and difficulties in using relative clauses by grade 11 students at a high school in Hanoi Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used to analyze data, which was collected from tests and interviews as data collection instruments 100 11st grade students at a high school in Ha Noi were employed to join in the research The researcher used percentage formula to calculate students’ errors in the relative clauses they use The findings show that all students participated in the research committed at least one error In particular, the author counted total 421 times commiting errors among all these kinds of errors, in which confusion between "who" and "whom" occupied the highest frequency of errors (109 times corressponding to 25.89%) Misuse of relative pronouns for people and lifeless things ranked approximately 20.90% among the errors Wrong use of relative pronouns in defining and non-defining relative clauses occupies 18.05% of the errors Moreover, the learners also committed other kinds of errors, including wrong use of commas, lack of concord between verb and subject, the irreplaceability of some relative pronouns, and omission of some relative pronouns Along with this, the difficulties encountered by the learners include the language phenomena not existing in students’ mother tongue, learning strategies, motivation, teaching methods, and lack of awareness related to background knowledge essentially important for the well-formed structuring of relative clauses ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First of all, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my supervisor, Associate Professor Vo Dai Quang, Ph.D., for his great support, invaluable guidance, criticism and encouragement throughout the study Without his help, my thesis could not have been accomplished My deep gratitude also goes to Dr Huynh Anh Tuan, Dean of Post-graduate Studies Department, VNU University of Languages and International Studies, and other lecturers and staff members of the department for their help I am also grateful to my friends and colleagues for their constructive comments and criticisms Additionally, I would like to express my thankfulness to all the students from a high school in Hanoi for their active participation in my study Last but not least, I wish to express my special thanks to my husband and all the members of my family, who always give me their love, support and encouragement Without their support, I could have never gone this far in the pursuit of knowledge and advancement for my life time career TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i ABSTRACT ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iii LIST OF TABLES vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .1 1.1 Rationale of the thesis 1.2 Scope of the thesis 1.3 Objectives of the thesis 1.4 Research questions 1.5 Significance of the thesis 1.6 Structural organization of the thesis CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Theoretical background 2.1.1 Relative clauses 2.1.2 Errors and mistakes 2.1.3 Difficulties in learning relative clauses 2.2 Previous studies 2.2.1 Major research works related to the thesis topic 2.2.2 The gaps left for further research to be dealt with in this thesis 10 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 11 3.1 Research setting 11 3.2 Research design 11 3.3 Research methods 12 3.4 Participants 12 3.4.1 Population 12 3.4.2 Sample 13 3.5 Data collection instruments 13 3.5.1 Test 13 3.5.2 Interview 14 3.6 Research procedure 15 3.7 Data analysis techniques 15 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 16 4.1 Findings of the study 16 4.1.1 The errors related to relative clause uses by students at a high school in Hanoi 16 4.1.2 Types of difficulties encountered by students at a high school in Hanoi in learning how to use relative clauses in English 28 4.2 Discussion 32 4.2.1 The errors of using relative clauses made by the students at a high school in Hanoi 32 4.2.2 Types of difficulties in using relative clause and recommended solutions 33 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 36 5.1 Recapitulation of the results .36 5.1.1 Concluding remarks on types of errors 36 5.1.2 Concluding remarks on the learners’ difficulties in using relative clauses 37 5.2 Pedagogical implications and recommendations .38 5.3 Limitations 39 5.4 Suggestions for further research .39 REFERENCES 40 APPENDICES………………………………………………………………………I LIST OF TABLES Table The errors of relative clauses made by the students at a high school in Hanoi Page 16 Table Examples about confusion between “who” and “whom” Page 19 Table Examples about the errors of wrong use of relative pronouns to refer to people and lifeless things Page 21 Table Examples about the errors of wrong use of relative pronouns in defining and non-defining relative clauses Page 22 Table Examples about confusedness when using commas in relative clauses Page 24 Table Examples about the errors related to subject-verb concord in relative clauses Page 25 Table Examples about the errors related to the irreplaceability of some relative pronouns Page 26 Table Examples about the errors related to omission of some relative pronouns Page 27 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL: English as a Foreign Language RC: Relative clauses Wulandari, (2018), Students difficulties in using relative pronouns of adjective clause at the tenth grade of SMA Dharma Wanita Taman Surabaya: Unpublished Zulkarnein, S (2016), An Analysis on Students‟ Errors and Difficulties in Using Relative Clause: A Descriptive Study at Universitas Islam Negeri ArRaniry, Banda Aceh, An-Raniry State Islamic University Banda Aceh APPENDICES The principles for test and interview designing are: (i) focus on the points students are likely to commit errors; (ii) from easy to difficult; (iii) from errors that are eye-catching to those that are more delicate, i.e more difficult to identify; etc APPENDIX A ENGLISH TEST Subject: English - 11st grade Time: 45 minutes (regardless of the time of the topic) Section A: Multiple choice (10 Qs) Fill each of the blanks with an appropriate answer My mother likes the book my father gave her yesterday a who b whom c what d which I talked to the boy my brother just met this morning a which b that c whom d where I like that song, which me of my memory a reminded b reminding c reminds d remind This is the shop was investigated two days ago a who b which c whose d whom January and February are the months most people are busy with Tet holiday a which b what c when I d where Do you know the reason there is the spread of the covid pandemic in the world? a what b that c which d why The taxi the policeman drove was orange a what b who c which d why A man motorbike was parked at the park stopped and went to book shop a whom b whose c that d who I will stay at a homestay my ant has recommended to me a when b which c who d whom 10 Nam Dan is the town Uncle Ho was born a where b when c that d which Section B: Fill in the blanks with WHO, WHICH, WHOSE, THAT, WHERE, WHY (10Qs) The father thanked the policewoman had saved his daughter The supermarket _closed yesterday had been there for many decades Three women, neither of _I had met before, visited my house John has got a new mobile phone takes photos The street _ my father was thirsty didn’t have any stalls The job for _my husband has applied is in Ha Noi Mai sold her laptop, _she no longer needs, to her ant Cuong has two mobile phones, one of is very expensive This businessman, my sister knew in the university, just visited my house 10 She ate the hamburger _ no one else needed Section C: Combine two sentences into one by using reduced relative clauses (10Qs) The second girl has just moved She knows the truth I not know the woman You said you saw her at the hotel yesterday The only thing is how to go home It makes me worried Mai loves romantic novels These romantic novels have happy endings Yesterday I met a woman named Mary Her husband works in New York The woman is in the hall She is wearing an orange hat He bought the laptop His mother had recommended it She lost the book I had bought it for her My boss called the delivery company Nga often uses it 10 Mai’s grandfather lives in Ho Chi Minh city He has three sons APPENDIX B INTERVIEW PROTOCOL (For students only) Thank you for volunteering and for signing the consent form to take part in this interview that is expected to last between 10 and 15 minutes You will answer some questions during the interview, and you may wish to stop the interview at any time The purpose of this interview is to gain a better understanding of the errors of using relative clauses and the reasons and difficulties of using relative clauses in learning English language at a high school in Hanoi With your permission, the interview will be audio-recorded All information you share with me is treated confidentially and anonymously Before we start the interview, you have any question? If no, we are about to start A Interviewees’ b kgroun Number of interviewees: Name: Class: Interview time: B Questions for interview What errors of relative clauses you often make? What, in your opinion, are the causes of errors? What are the difficulties you encounter in using relative clauses? What you think you would to avoid such errors? Thank you for your cooperation! ... CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 11 3. 1 Research setting 11 3. 2 Research design 11 3. 3 Research methods 12 3. 4 Participants 12 3. 4.1 Population... 12 3. 4.2 Sample 13 3.5 Data collection instruments 13 3.5.1 Test 13 3.5.2 Interview 14 3. 6 Research procedure 15 3. 7 Data... solutions 33 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 36 5.1 Recapitulation of the results .36 5.1.1 Concluding remarks on types of errors 36 5.1.2 Concluding remarks