(LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ) Some discourse features of requests and their responses in short conversations in the listening comprehension section of TOEFL materials

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES VÕ VIỆT CƯỜNG SOME DISCOURSE FEATURES OF REQUESTS AND THEIR RESPONSES IN SHORT CONVERSATIONS IN THE LISTENING COMPREHENSION SECTION OF TOEFL MATERIALS Một số đặc điểm diễn ngôn yêu cầu đáp lại yêu cầu hội thoại ngắn mục nghe hiểu tài liệu luyện thi TOEFL M.A MINOR THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS CODE: 60 22 15 HANOI – 2010 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES VÕ VIỆT CƯỜNG SOME DISCOURSE FEATURES OF REQUESTS AND THEIR RESPONSES IN SHORT CONVERSATIONS IN THE LISTENING COMPREHENSION SECTION OF TOEFL MATERIALS Một số đặc điểm diễn ngôn yêu cầu đáp lại yêu cầu hội thoại ngắn mục nghe hiểu tài liệu luyện thi TOEFL M.A MINOR THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS CODE: 60 22 15 SUPERVISOR: PHẠM XUÂN THỌ, M.A HANOI – 2010 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com v TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration i Acknowledgments ii Abstract iii Table of contents v List of tables vii PART I: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale for the study Aims of the study 3 Scope of the study Methods of the study Design of the study PART II: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: Theoretical background 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Systemic Functional Grammar and the clause 1.2.1 A brief overview of Systemic Functional Grammar 1.2.2 The clause 1.3 Above the clause: the clause complex 1.3.1 Clause complex and sentence 1.3.2 Types of interdependency in clause complexes: parataxis and hypotaxis 1.3.3 A brief overview of logico-semantic relations in clause complexes: expansion and projection 1.3.4 Expansion 10 1.3.4.1 Elaboration 10 1.3.4.2 Extension 12 1.3.4.3 Enhancement 13 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com vi 1.3.4.4 Embedded expansions 14 1.3.4.5 Implicitly marked logical-semantic relations in expansion 15 1.4 Summary 17 Chapter 2: Expansion in the requests and their responses of the short conversations18 2.1 Introduction 18 2.2 Clause complexes in the requests and their responses of the short conversations 19 2.3 Expansion in the requests and their responses of the short conversations 24 2.4 Conjunctions for expansion in the requests and their responses of the short conversations 32 2.5 Summary 37 PART III: CONCLUSION 38 Major findings 38 Implications 39 Suggestions for further research 40 References 41 Appendix: Twenty selected short conversations TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com I vii LIST OF TABLES Table 1: The rank scale (Thomson, 1996:22) Table 2: Primary and secondary clauses (Halliday, 1994:219) Table 3: Basic types of clause complex (Halliday, 1994:220) 10 Table 4: Inserted conjunctions in the short conversations 22 Table 5: Percentages of paratactic expansion in the short conversations 31 Table 6: Percentages of hypotactic expansion in the short conversations 31 Table 7: Original conjunctions in the short conversations 33 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com PART I: INTRODUCTION Rationale for the study Besides IELTS (International English Language Testing System), TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication), and TOEFL iBT (Test of English as a Foreign Language: Internet-based Test), TOEFL ITP (Test of English as a Foreign Language: Institutional Testing Program), which is composed of previously administered TOEFL Paper-based Test forms or TOEFL PBT, has often been used to test the English competence of learners A certain acceptable TOEFL ITP score is now one of the conditions and options which can help professionals get a higher degree or advancement in their career or both This is manifested in Circular number 08/2009/TT-BGDĐT from the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam that candidates who have a valid minimum TOEFL ITP score of 400 or higher not have to take the English entrance examination for his M.A In addition, candidates who have a valid TOEFL ITP score of 450 or higher are allowed to defend their M.A dissertation without taking the final exam in English This is also manifested in Circular number 10/2009/TT-BGDĐT from the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam that candidates who have a valid minimum TOEFL ITP score of 450 or higher not have to take the Ph.D entrance examination for English, and candidates who have a valid TOEFL ITP score of 500 or higher are allowed to defend their Ph.D dissertation without taking the final exam in English Realizing the importance of English, the President of Thai Nguyen University issued Decision number 805QĐ/TCCB stating that from 2008, a TOEFL ITP score is one of the conditions and options used to decide the job status of the lecturers in all member institutions of the University Specifically, only applicants with a minimum TOEFL ITP score of 400 can sign teaching contracts; only applicants with a minimum TOEFL ITP score of 450 can apply for a permanent teaching position A considerable number of other institutions, like Hanoi University of Education, also require their lecturers to have a valid and acceptable TOEFL ITP score As a teacher of English in Thai Nguyen University, I have had some experience in instructing quite a large number of students in TOEFL ITP During the lessons, I have found that listening seems to be a challenge to my students One reason is that their English is not good enough Our students are graduates, so they probably have the TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com necessary experience and knowledge about the world However, their knowledge of English is quite limited because they were not English majors, and the majority of them not use English much in their jobs Thus, they tend to poorly in the listening comprehension section of the practice tests in TOEFL PBT materials designed and introduced by ETS (Educational Testing Service), in which the short conversations between two people in part A are the first challenge Besides the high speaking speed of the native speakers in the recordings and the fact that test takers are allowed to listen to the recordings only one time without taking notes, the meaning of each conversation conveyed by the grammatical structures seems to be one of the linguistic components affecting the students‘ understanding This means that to comprehend these conversations, the students have to combine their knowledge of the world and their experience with their knowledge of English, in which phonetics and semantics are logically structured and conveyed in grammar to create communication or language in use known as discourse in social contexts This also means that grammar is the base supporting meaning in discourse and discourse analysis This role of grammar has been recognized by Halliday (1994: xvi): … But whatever the final purpose or direction of the analysis, there has to be a grammar at the base … The current preoccupation is with discourse analysis, or ‘text linguistics’; and it is sometimes assumed that this can be carried on without grammar – or even that it is somehow an alternative to grammar But this is an illusion A discourse analysis that is not based on grammar is not an analysis at all, but simply a running commentary on a text: … The requests and their responses in the short conversations between two people in part A of the listening comprehension section of the TOEFL PBT practice tests by ETS consist of clause complexes formed by clause expansion in Systemic Functional Grammar These clause complexes help the speakers in these conversations express their intentions in a logical way known as the logico-semantic relations among their clauses in Systemic Functional Grammar The reason for the analysis of the clause complexes in the requests and their responses in these conversations also originates from Halliday‘s (1994:224) viewpoint: The clause complex is of particular interest in spoken language, because it represents the dynamic potential of the system – the ability to ‘choreograph’ very long and intricate patterns of semantic movement while maintaining a continuous flow of discourse that is TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com coherent without being constructional This kind of flow is very uncharacteristic of written language All the reasons above have encouraged us to conduct an analysis of clause expansion in the requests and their responses in these short conversations in light of Systemic Functional Grammar so as to know how it functions to display their typical discourse features, which can contribute to improving the teaching and learning of the conversations of this kind Aims of the study As stated in the title and the rationale for the study, this study is intended to find out the typical discourse features of the requests and their responses in the short conversations in the listening comprehension section of the TOEFL PBT practice tests in light of clause expansion in Systemic Functional Grammar To achieve this aim, the study attempts to answer the following research questions: How does clause expansion function in relation to the other aspects of Systemic Functional Grammar to display the typical discourse features of the requests and their responses in the short conversations in the listening comprehension section of the TOEFL PBT practice tests? Which typical discourse features in light of clause expansion in Systemic Functional Grammar can be generalized from the analysis of the requests and their responses in the short conversations in the listening comprehension section of the TOEFL PBT practice tests? Scope of the study As stated in the aims of the study, within the framework of an M.A minor thesis, we can only focus on the issues concerning clause expansion in Systemic Functional Grammar in the requests and their responses in the short conversations in the listening comprehension section of the TOEFL PBT practice tests These issues are the components of clause expansion and clause expansion-related aspects of Systemic Functional Grammar, which are discussed and realized throughout the study Twenty short conversations containing requests and their responses were selected from Part A of the listening comprehension scripts of the book ―TOEFL Preparation Kit Workbook 20022003, Volume 1‖ designed and introduced by ETS Each of the short conversations TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com consists of two utterances, each of which is made by a man or a woman Only the clause complexes in the requests and their responses are analyzed in light of clause expansion in Systemic Functional Grammar The twenty short conversations under analysis were selected according to Quang‘s (2007:151-172) and Nguyen and Vinh‘s (2008:182-184) suggestions for identifying and using requests and their responses, which will be discussed in more detail in the introduction of chapter two of the dissertation Methods of the study The basic methods applied to this study are descriptive, comparative, and analytical methods of language research which are generally inductive Firstly, the issues concerning clause expansion in Systemic Functional Grammar are extracted, described, compared, and discussed in chapter one of the thesis to set up the theoretical background underlying the analysis, discussion, and generalization in chapter two and part three of the dissertation Then, the thirty-two clause complexes in the requests and their responses in the twenty selected short conversations are analyzed in light of clause expansion in Systemic Functional Grammar In chapter two and part three of the thesis, the results of the study will be discussed and generalized based on the statistics to be able to contribute to improving the teaching and understanding of the conversations of this kind Design of the study This dissertation consists of three main parts: Part one presents the rationale for the study, the aims, scope, methods, and design of the study Part two consists of two chapters Chapter one discusses clause expansion and its relevant issues in Systemic Functional Grammar that underlie the analysis of the clause complexes in the requests and their responses in the short conversations in chapter two Chapter two analyzes the clause complexes in the requests and their responses in the short conversations in light of clause expansion in Systemic Functional Grammar and discusses their typical discourse features Each section of this chapter analyzes and discusses one aspect of expansion in the requests and their responses Part three summarizes the major findings of the study, draws out the theoretical and pedagogical implications of these results, and suggests the directions for further research TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com PART II: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.1 Introduction This chapter discusses the main issues concerning clause expansion in Systemic Functional Grammar that underlie the analysis of the clause complexes in the requests and their responses in the short conversations in chapter two We will present an overview of Systemic Functional Grammar in which the clause and clause expansion creating the clause complexes play a crucial part Then, the main components and features of the clause complex and clause expansion will be discussed Projection, which is not the main issue of the study, will also be discussed briefly because it also contributes to clause expansion to create clause complexes 1.2 Systemic Functional Grammar and the clause 1.2.1 A brief overview of Systemic Functional Grammar Systemic Functional Grammar is based on the functions of language suggested by Halliday (1970, 1985, cited in Van (2006a:28-29)) According to him, language performs three metafunctions which are ideational function, interpersonal function, and textual function The ideational function reflects the speaker‘s experience of the real world, including the inner of his consciousness known as the ―content‖ The ideational function consists of two subtypes, namely the experiential function and logical function Language gives structures to experience and helps determine our way of looking at things and combining things in a logical way to serve this function The interpersonal function serves to establish and maintain social relations among people who play the role of a questioner or a respondent by asking or answering a question and getting things done The textual function provides links with language itself and with the situation in which language is used This function enables speakers and writers to create situationally relevant discourses This function also enables listeners and readers to distinguish a discourse from a random set of utterances and sentences According to Halliday‘s (1978, 1985, 1994, cited in Van (2005a, 2005b, 2006b), each of the three metafunctions above is realized through a different system The ideational metafunction is realized through the transitivity system or system of process types There TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 30 Conversation 18: (woman) ///Could you please tell me//where I can find a CD by the Beatles?///(27) α (man) ―β ///Sure, it would be over there with all the CD‘s in pop rock.//In fact, they‘re arranged alphabetically by group.///(28) = (clarification) Conversation 19: (woman) ///Do you think//you could give me a ride to the library tonight?///(29) α (man) ‗β ///I‘d like to,//but I‘m heading in the other direction —//In fact, I‘m meeting Jean tonight.///(30) + (adversative) =3 (clarification) Conversation 20: (man) ///Hi, I‘d like to sign up for the film selection committee.//So is this the right place?///(31) x (causeeffect) (woman) ///Yes, it is!//In fact, there are a lot of fun people on that committee,//but = (clarification) you‘ll have to put in a lot of hours.//So I hope//your schedule isn‘t too tight.///(32) + (adversative) α x (cause-effect) ‗β As can be seen from the analysis above, clause expansion in the requests and their responses in the conversations are created by both original and inserted conjunctions in both parataxis and hypotaxis with different logical-semantic relations: elaboration, extension, and enhancement The percentages of elaboration, extension, and enhancement in the clause complexes of the conversations are shown in the following tables in which the TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 31 original conjunctions are interpreted as the explicit use of conjunctions and the inserted ones are interpreted as the implicit use of conjunctions: Types of expansion Elaboration Extension Enhancement Total Paratactic relation Requests Explicit Implicit 0.0% 8.3% 2.1% 6.3% 0.0% 6.3% 2.1% 20.9% Responses Explicit Implicit 0.0% 10.4% 16.6% 2.1% 6.3% 14.5% 22.9% 27.0% Total 18.7% 27.1% 27.1% 72.9% Table 5: Percentages of paratactic expansion in the short conversations Types of expansion Elaboration Extension Enhancement Total Hypotactic relation Requests Responses Explicit Implicit Explicit Implicit 6.3% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 2.1% 0.0% 10.4% 0.0% 8.3% 0.0% 16.7% 0.0% 10.4% 0.0% Total 6.3% 2.1% 18.7% 27.1% Table 6: Percentages of hypotactic expansion in the short conversations The two tables above indicate that enhancement dominates in the conversations with 45.8% (27.1% of paratactic enhancement and 18.7% of hypotactic enhancement) while elaboration and extension account for 25.0% (18.7% of paratactic elaboration and 6.3% of hypotactic elaboration) and 29.2% (27.1% of paratactic extension and 2.1% of hypotactic extension) respectively Paratactic expansion dominates with 72.9% in which extension and enhancement dominate with 27.1% while elaboration accounts for only 18.7% In paratactic elaboration, there are only inserted conjunctions which account for 8.3% in the requests and 10.4% in the responses In paratactic extension, there are both original and inserted conjunctions in which the original ones in the responses dominate with 16.6% while the original ones in the requests account for 2.1% The inserted ones in the requests and the responses account for 6.3% and 2.1% respectively In paratactic enhancement, there are only inserted conjunctions in the requests, and the inserted conjunctions in the responses dominate with 14.5% while the inserted ones in the requests and the original ones in the responses account for 6.3% There are only original conjunctions in hypotactic expansion in the requests and the responses Hypotactic expansion accounts for only 27.1% Enhancement dominates in hypotactic expansion with TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 32 18.7% in which the original conjunctions in the requests account for 10.4% and those in the responses account for 8.3% Elaboration accounts for only 6.3% in hypotactic expansion in which there are only original conjunctions in the requests Extension accounts for only 2.1% in hypotactic expansion in which there are only original conjunctions in the responses The two tables also indicate that expansion in the requests accounts for 39.7% (2.1% of explicit conjunctions and 20.9% of implicit conjunctions in paratactic expansion and 16.7% of only explicit conjunctions in hypotactic expansion) while expansion in the responses account for 60.3% (22.9% of explicit conjunctions and 27.0% of implicit conjunctions in paratactic expansion and 10.4% of only explicit conjunctions in hypotactic expansion) This implies that the structures of the responses can be more complicated than those in the requests, which can challenges testees because the questions usually focus on the responses Besides expansion by means of conjunctions, the clauses also expand by means of projection to create the clause complexes Projection appears in ten clause complexes in which clause complexes 6, 7, 13, 23, 27, 29 contribute to expressing the requests and clause complexes 10, 22, 26, 32 contribute to expressing the responses The combination between expansion through conjunctions and projection makes the conversations more complicated in structure and meaning, which can also challenge examinees In this section of the thesis, we have analyzed and discussed the interdependency and the logico-semantic relations among the clauses in the clause complexes of the conversations created by both expansion through conjunctions and projection Projection, which appears quite frequently in the analysis, is not the main focus of the dissertation, however Conjunctions, as can be seen from the analysis, are the main connections among the clauses not only in one separate utterance of a conversation but in both the request and the response The functions of these conjunctions will be further analyzed and discussed in the next section of the thesis 2.4 Conjunctions for expansion in the requests and their responses of the short conversations In this section of the dissertation, the functions of the conjunctions in the clause complexes of the short conversations will be analyzed and discussed The inserted conjunctions analyzed and discussed in the previous two sections will also be referred to in TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 33 the analysis and discussion in this section The original conjunctions in the clause complexes can be summarized in the following table: Types of expansion Paratactic relation Clause complexes Conjunctions Requests Responses Elaboration 3, 4, 10, 12, 22, 30, 32 but Extension or and so and now Hypotactic relation Clause complexes Conjunctions Requests Responses who v-ing 17 in stead of 20 11 20 2, 14 10 Enhancement where after how if the earliest time 7, 23, 27, 13 10 22 14 18 Table 7: Original conjunctions in the short conversations The original conjunctions in the table above and the inserted ones in table in section 3.2 cited below reflect the interdependency and the logico-semantic relations in expressing the speakers‘ intentions, especially in the responses of the conversations: Types of expansion Elaboration Extension Enhancement Conjunctions in fact and so Paratactic relation Clause complexes Requests Responses 6, 9, 15, 25 1, 24, 28, 30, 32 13, 15, 17 26 19, 21, 31 1, 3, 5, 16, 18, 20, 32 Table 4: Inserted conjunctions in the short conversations As can be seen from the two tables above, the conjunctions in parataxis dominate with the appearances of ―but‖, ―or‖, ―and‖, ―so‖, ―and now‖, and ―in fact‖ The conjunctions appearing in the requests are ―or‖ in clause complex 11, ―and‖ in 13, 15, 17, ―so‖ in 19, 21, 31, and ―in fact‖ in 6, 9, 15, 25 The responses witness the appearances of ―but‖ in clause complexes 3, 4, 10, 12, 22, 30, 32, ―and‖ in 20, 26, ―so‖ in 2, 14, 1, 3, 5, 16, 18, 20, 32, ―and now‖ in 10, and ―in fact‖ in 1, 24, 28, 30, 32 These explicit and implicit conjunctions help the speakers elaborate, extend, and enhance their intentions, i.e their requests and responses, but they can also challenge testees when the other clauses are TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 34 embedded to the requests and their responses by means of hypotactic conjunctions or projection or both, which will be discussed later in terms of hypotactic relations The structures of the requests consisting of the clause complexes mentioned above were introduced and discussed in section 2.1 according to Quang‘s (2007:151-157) and Nguyen and Vinh‘s (2008:182) suggestions These requests can be expanded by means of only paratactic conjunctions as in clause complexes 9, 11, 15, 21, 25, 31 They can also be expanded by means of only hypotactic conjunctions as in 7, 8, 23, 27, 29, and both paratactic and hypotactic conjunctions as in 6, 13, 17, 19 The combination of paratactic and hypotactic relations can be done by means of paratactic conjunctions alone as in clause complexes 8, 17, 19 and by means of conjunctions and projection as in 6, 7, 13, 23, 27, 29 The complicated structures of the requests as analyzed in section 3.1 and in the analysis and discussion above more or less can affect test takers‘ understanding of the conversations The twenty responses to the requests in the conversations consist of seventeen clause complexes and three clause simplexes The three clause simplexes appear in the responses of conversations 6, 7, in which the responses in and help the second speakers express their indirect rejections with the use of the conjunction ―but‖ which introduces the reasons for rejecting The response in conversation helps the second speaker express his direct acceptance The clause simplexes are not the main analysis and discussion of the thesis, however, because there is no expansion in them The seventeen clause complexes in the responses consist of four acceptances, twelve rejections, and one incomplete response The four acceptances appear in clause complexes 12, 20, 28, 32, in which the original conjunctions and the inserted ones can function alone to express the acceptances as ―but‖ in 12 and ―in fact‖ in 28, or they can also combine with one another as ―and‖ and ―so‖ in 20, or ―in fact‖ and ―but‖ and ―so‖ in 32 The varied conjunctions in the logico-semantic relations to convey the acceptances above imply that in accepting the requests, there seem to be more new and detailed information known as rheme expanding theme introduced by ―sure‖, ―yes‖, at the beginning of the clause complexes Rheme may be a new decision, feeling, or attitude usually focused on by the questions in Part A of the Listening comprehension section in the TOEFL PBT The original and inserted conjunctions also help express the rejections in the responses The twelve rejections appear TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 35 in clause complexes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 14, 16, 18, 24, 26, 30 In 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 14, 16, 18, 26, the reasons for refusing the requests are introduced first as theme preceding the results as rheme The results can be suggestions for other options introduced by ―in fact‖ in 1, ―but‖ and ―so‖ in 3, ―so the earliest‖ in 14, ―so‖ and ―time‖ in 18, and ―and‖ in 26 The results can also be a delay introduced by ―so‖ in 2, a bad situation introduced by ―so‖ in and 16, and ―how‖, ―but‖, ―and now‖ in 10 The reasons for declining the requests are also introduced as rheme modifying theme by means of ―but‖ in clause complex 4, ―in fact‖ in 24, and both ―but‖ and ―in fact‖ in 30 Clause complex 22 is an incomplete response in which the second speaker‘s main intention is expressed in the first independent clause as theme, and the following incomplete independent clause introduced by ―but … if‖ plays the role as a distractor suggesting a reluctant acceptance or a rejection However, the analysis shows us that the second speaker does not expect to enjoy the theater, though he can accept or reject the request On the contrary, the conjunctions in hypotaxis are only embedded in the independent clauses linked by the conjunctions in parataxis These hypotactic conjunctions are used in both the requests and the responses to which the new information is added as rheme in the thematic structure by means of elaboration, extension, and enhancement These subtypes of expansion can function alone as in clause complexes 6, 17, 19, 20, 8, 22, 14, 18, in which 6, 17, 19, are in the requests and 20, 22, 14, 18 are in the responses, or they can function in combination with projection of locution or idea as in clause complexes 7, 23, 27, 10, 13, in which 7, 23, 27, 13 are in the requests and 10 is in the response The conjunctions in the embedded clauses by means of projection can be implicit as in clause complexes 6, 22, 26, 29, 32 with the implicit use of the conjunction ―that‖ in which and 29 are in the requests and 22, 26, 32 are in the responses The projecting verbs before both the explicit and implicit conjunctions mentioned above are ―said‖, ―think‖, ―tell‖, ―see‖ in the requests and ―know‘, ―hope‖ in the responses as in the following examples in which the clause complexes are underlined: (man) ///I need to talk to someone//who knows a lot about Portland.//In fact, someone said//you lived there.///(6) (woman) ///Do you think//you could give me a ride to the library tonight?///(29) (woman) ///Could you please tell me//where to find running shoes?///(7) TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 36 (woman) ///Excuse me, could you by any chance tell me//where the dean‘s office is?///(23) (woman) ///Could you please tell me//where I can find a CD by the Beatles?///(27) (man) ///Hello, this is Mark Smith.//And I‘m calling to see//if my blood test results are in.///(13) (man) ///I don‘t know//how to put this —//but, uh, I dropped it,//and now the ―on‖ button doesn‘t light up.///(10) (man) ///You know//I hate battling all those mosquitoes.//But … if you have your heart set on it ….///(22) (woman) ///You know,//review sessions are being held every night this week.//And they‘re supposed to be good.///(26) (woman) ///Yes, it is!//In fact, there are a lot of fun people on that committee,//but you‘ll have to put in a lot of hours.//So I hope//your schedule isn‘t too tight.///(32) As the examples show, the verbs ―tell‖ and ―see‖ project the clauses after the explicit conjunctions in the requests and the verb ―know‖ projects the clause after the explicit conjunctions in the responses The verbs ―said‖ and ―think‖ project the clauses after the implicit conjunctions in the requests and the verbs ―know‖ and ―hope‖ project the clauses after the implicit conjunctions in the responses The projected clauses in the requests above can be an elaboration to clarify what the first speaker requests as in clause complex They can also be what exactly the first speakers request as in clause complexes 7, 23, 27, 13, 29 Expansion by means of conjunctions and projection in these clause complexes helps the first speakers express politeness in the requests while the clause complexes in the responses helps the second speakers express feelings and attitudes prior to their intentions as in clause complexes 10 and 32, or they can help them express their immediate intentions as in clause complexes 22 and 26 These embedded clauses, together with the clause simplexes in both the requests and the responses, make the conversations natural, dynamic, interesting, but complicated in expressing the speakers‘ intentions In this section of the thesis, we have analyzed and discussed how the conjunctions in the clause complexes of the conversations function These conjunctions work flexibly in combination with the thematic structure in expansion and projection, which helps the speakers express their intentions effectively in their short but dynamic conversations TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 37 2.5 Summary In this chapter of the dissertation, we have analyzed the twenty short conversations in terms of clause complex analysis, clause expansion analysis, and conjunction analysis respectively The clause complex analysis has helped us define the clause and clause complex boundaries in the requests and their responses in the conversations in which the conjunctions can be implicit to convey the logico-semantic relations among the clauses in the clause complexes, especially in paratactic expansion which can be modified by embedded expansions The clause expansion analysis has provided us with an insight into how the clause complexes are created through expansion and projection to display the typical discourse features The conjunction analysis has helped us find out the flexible functions of the conjunctions in combination with the thematic structure in expansion and projection to convey the speakers‘ intentions TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 38 PART III: CONCLUSION As stated in part one of the thesis, this study was intended to find out the typical discourse features in the requests and responses of the short conversations in the listening comprehension section of TOEFL PBT practice tests in light of clause expansion in Systemic Functional Grammar, which can contribute to improving the understanding of the conversations of this kind In chapter one and chapter two, we have presented and applied the relevant theory to realize the aims of the study stated in the research questions In this part, the major findings of the study will be summarized first Then, some theoretical and pedagogical implications will be drawn out from these results This part concludes with some suggestions for further research Major findings In answering the two research questions in section of part one, we have analyzed the twenty short conversations in terms of clause complex analysis, clause expansion analysis, and conjunction analysis respectively Clause complex analysis has helped us define the clause and clause complex boundaries in the requests and their responses in the conversations in which the conjunctions can be implicit to convey the logico-semantic relations among the clauses in the clause complexes, especially in paratactic expansion which can be modified by embedded expansions In light of clause complex analysis, the clause complexes tend to dominate in the conversations in which paratactic expansion tends to be implicit Clause expansion analysis has provided us with an insight into how the clause complexes are created through expansion and projection to display the typical discourse features shown by the percentages of elaboration, extension, and enhancement The results indicate that enhancement and paratactic expansion tend to dominate in the conversations, and expansion also tends to appear more in the responses than in the requests Conjunction analysis has helped us find out the flexible functions of the conjunctions in combination with the thematic structure in expansion and projection to convey the speakers‘ intentions Both paratactic and hypotactic conjunctions tend to combine with projection to create speech act-based requests Rheme in the responses tends to extend to make them become part of an adjacency pair in conversational implicature In TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 39 addition, rejections tend to dominate in the responses in which the structure: ―(But) + reason for rejecting, (so) + result of the rejection …‖ tends to dominate The requests tend to use the projecting verbs ―said‖, ―think‖, ―tell‖, ―see‖ to express politeness while the responses tend to use ―know‖, ―hope‖ to express feelings and attitudes These discourse features make the conversations natural, dynamic, interesting, but complicated in expressing the speakers‘ intentions Implications The results of the study support and strengthen Halliday‘s (1994) theory that expansion can be created among the clauses in a clause complex without conjunctions to some extent, while the logico-semantic relations still remain in communication and that there are less hypotactic embedded expansions and less nominalization known as grammatical metaphor than hypotactic expansion in spoken language The results of the study also enrich Halliday‘s theory in that the analysis of expansion is applied to the twoutterance conversations between two people in which the second utterance can be considered to expand the first one, which is new to Halliday‘s (1994) examples of expansion The results of the study also support listening practice instructions in that listening practice should be done in combination with strategy training in which learners should be provided with tips, tactics, and strategies based on the typical discourse features of each type of speech acts Then, the listening practice should be combined with providing students with the context in which language functions are realized through their respective systems and subsystems The subsystem of conjunctions under study is a device to convey meanings and intentions which can be categorized and instructed in each situation of the listening practice with a view to instructing students how to communicate naturally in English To this, each listening practice period should be integrated with other language skills, especially speaking Teachers can get students to connect the separate clauses by using the given conjunctions, insert the appropriate conjunctions in the given conversations, or fill in the missing utterances of the given conversations in the prelistening task to provide students with the language input In the post-listening task, teachers can check students by playing the recording consisting of the practised conversations and stop between the two utterances for students to respond with their own TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 40 utterances using the appropriate conjunctions Teachers can also get students to work in pairs to use the appropriate conjunctions to create their own conversations to practise the conversations orally in the post-listening task Teachers can facilitate the tasks by giving students necessary knowledge and tips Suggestions for further research Within the framework of an M.A minor thesis, we could only analyze the requests and their responses in the thirty-two clause complexes in the twenty short conversations in light of clause expansion in Systemic Functional Grammar The conversations had been selected from only part A of the listening comprehension scripts of the book ―TOEFL Preparation Kit Workbook 2002-2003, Volume 1‖ designed and introduced by ETS Thus, future studies should be designed so that more speech acts, such as compliments and their responses or complaints and their responses in the clause complexes of the conversations of this kind in Volumes and by ETS can be analyzed in light of more aspects of Systemic Functional Grammar to have a better insight into these conversations The other aspects of Systemic Functional Grammar which can be investigated are the transitivity system or system of process types, the mood structure, the thematic structure, and cohesion TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 41 REFERENCES Bộ Giáo dục Đào tạo (2009a), Thông tư số: 08/2009/TT-BGDĐT việc sửa đổi, bổ sung số điều Quy chế đào tạo trình độ thạc sĩ ban hành kèm theo Quyết định số 45/2008/QĐ BGDĐT ngày tháng năm 2008 Bộ trưởng Bộ Giáo dục Đào tạo Bộ Giáo dục Đào tạo (2009b), Thông tư số: 10/2009/TT-BGDĐT ban hành Quy chế đào tạo trình độ tiến sĩ Đại học Thái Nguyên (2007), Quyết định số: 805/QĐ-TCCB việc ban hành Quy định số sách tuyển dụng ưu đãi giảng viên ETS (2004), TOEFL Preparation Kit Workbook 2002-2003, Volume 1, Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh: Nhà xuất Trẻ Halliday, M.A.K and Hasan, R (1976), Cohesion in English, London: Longman Halliday, M.A.K (1994), An Introduction to Functional Grammar, London: Edward Arnold Vân, Hoàng Văn (Ed.) (2004), Dẫn luận ngữ pháp chức năng, Hà Nội: Nhà xuất Đại học Quốc gia Hà Nội Vân, Hoàng Văn (2005a), Ngữ pháp kinh nghiệm cú tiếng Việt: Mô tả theo quan điểm chức hệ thống, Hà Nội: Nhà xuất Khoa học xã hội Vân, Hoàng Văn (2005b), Nghiên cứu dịch thuật, Hà Nội: Nhà xuất Khoa học xã hội Vân, Hoàng Văn (2006a), Introducing Discourse Analysis, Hà Nội: Nhà xuất Giáo dục Vân, Hoàng Văn (2006b), Translation: Theory and Practice, Hà Nội: Nhà xuất Giáo dục Nguyên, Huỳnh Thị Ái and Vịnh, Nguyễn Quang (2008), TOEFL-iBT bí thành cơng, Hà Nội: Nhà xuất Giáo dục Quang, Nguyễn (2007), Cú điển dụng học Anh – Việt, Hà Nội: Nhà xuất Từ điển bách khoa Schiffrin, D (1994), Approaches to Discourse, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Thompson, G (1996), Introducing Functional Grammar, London: Edward Arnold TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com I APPENDIX TWENTY SELECTED SHORT CONVERSATIONS Conversation 1: (woman) I‘m looking for a lightweight jacket … navy blue … medium … (man) Let‘s see Have you checked the sales rack in the back? There were still a few there yesterday Conversation 2: (man) Can you come over for dinner tonight? (woman) I‘m up to my ears in work, so I‘ll have to take a rain check Conversation 3: (man) Hello? I‘d like two seats for this evening‘s show (woman) Sorry, but the performance is already sold out Would you be interested in something later this week? Conversation 4: (man) My wife and I would like to have you over for dinner on Friday (woman) That‘s very kind of you, but I have theater tickets for that evening Conversation 5: (man) I‘d like you to come with me to the opening of the photography exhibit (woman) I‘m exhausted! You‘ll have to manage without me tonight Conversation 6: (man) I need to talk to someone who knows a lot about Portland Someone said you lived there (woman) Oh, but I was really young at the time Conversation 7: (woman) Could you please tell me where to find running shoes? (man) Yes, they‘d be on the second floor in sporting goods TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com II Conversation 8: (man) I‘d like to borrow that book after you‘ve finished it (woman) Sure, but I‘ve promised it to Jane first Conversation 9: (woman) Could you bring my calculator back — I need it to my math homework tonight (man) I don‘t know how to put this — but, uh, I dropped it, and now the ―on‖ button doesn‘t light up Conversation 10: (woman) Can you come to the concert with me this weekend, or you have to prepare for exams? (man) I still have a lot to … but maybe a break would me good Conversation 11: (man) Hello, this is Mark Smith I‘m calling to see if my blood test results are in (woman) Dr Miller just sent them to the lab last night, so the earliest they could be back is tomorrow Conversation 12: (woman) Come on, we‘re almost there I‘ll race you to the top of the hill (man) I‘m so out of shape; I might have to crawl the rest of the way Conversation 13: (man) Yes, hello, this is Robert White calling Could Dr Jones see me on Tuesday morning instead of Tuesday afternoon? (woman) Tuesday morning? Let‘s see … Is that the only other time you could come? Conversation 14: (man) Driving at night always makes me tired Let‘s stop for dinner (woman) Fine! And let‘s find a motel, too — instead of continuing on, we can get an early start tomorrow TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com III Conversation 15: (woman) I really want to see the play at the outdoor theater tonight Will you come with me? (man) You know I hate battling all those mosquitoes But … if you have your heart set on it … Conversation 16: (woman) Excuse me, could you by any chance tell me where the dean‘s office is? (man) I‘m sorry I‘m just visiting a friend here Conversation 17: (man) Can you go over my notes with me? I‘ll never understand all these chemistry experiments (woman) You know, review sessions are being held every night this week They‘re supposed to be good Conversation 18: (woman) Could you please tell me where I can find a CD by the Beatles? (man) Sure, it would be over there with all the CD‘s in pop rock They‘re arranged alphabetically by group Conversation 19: (woman) Do you think you could give me a ride to the library tonight? (man) I‘d like to, but I‘m heading in the other direction — I‘m meeting Jean tonight Conversation 20: (man) Hi, I‘d like to sign up for the film selection committee Is this the right place? (woman) Yes, it is! There are a lot of fun people on that committee, but you‘ll have to put in a lot of hours I hope your schedule isn‘t too tight TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ... of the short conversations 19 2.3 Expansion in the requests and their responses of the short conversations 24 2.4 Conjunctions for expansion in the requests and their responses of the short conversations. .. discourse features of the requests and their responses in the short conversations in the listening comprehension section of the TOEFL PBT practice tests? Which typical discourse features in light of. .. discourse features of the requests and their responses in the short conversations in the listening comprehension section of the TOEFL PBT practice tests in light of clause expansion in Systemic Functional