Developing English language skills for Vietnamese learners of English through raising their awareness of the contrastive linguistic features

Developing English language skills for Vietnamese learners of English through raising their awareness of the contrastive linguistic features By Pham Huu Duc, PhD & Nguyen Cong Dan, MA Department of English International University – Vietnam National University HCM Introduction - The knowledge of contrastive linguistic features comes as the essential complementary factor to the receptive skills and productive skills - Understanding contrastive linguistic features is closely associated with the use of a language, especially when English is used by the great number of non-native speakers in Southeast Asian (Duong, 2012) Limitations of the study Comparison and contrast are supposed to be mainly phonological, lexical, and syntactical; Referring to the linguistic features of the texts, excluding what forms of press, and article titles are; Considering language structures in lexicalgrammatical aspects through the metaphorical expression of grammar (nominalization) Literature review How people use language is the question of: How people interact naturally using the authentic speech and writing in certain social contexts How language is structured, language users interact through sounds, words or sentences to make themselves understood and understand others (Halliday, 1994; Martin,1992; Eggins,1993) Literature review CONTENTS Semantics (meanings)   Lexical-grammar (words & structures ) EXPRESSION Phonology (sounds / letters) Source: Eggins (1993: 27) Contrastive linguistic features Contrastive linguistic features Krzeszowski (1991:10) indicated that contrastive linguistics describes similarities and differences in languages, which leads to the results that are related to the linguistic theory in the search for linguistic universals Contrastive linguistic features Lado (1957) in his study also states the comparisons and contrasts of the systems of: -sounds, -vocabulary -grammatical structures Methodology Sample: the sample (N= 1000), 1000 English news texts and 1000 Vietnamese news texts, were compared and contrasted Results: Analysis and interpretation of data collected 1) Similar in form and meaning These are usually the borrowings, for example, “TV”, “radio” 2) Similar in form and different in meaning For example, “may (luck)” in English and “may” in Vietnamese Results: Analysis and interpretation of data collected 3) Different in form and similar in meaning both “eat” in English & “ăn” in Vietnamese means “to put food into the mouth, chew it and swallow.” 4) Different in form and in meaning “first floor” in American English & “tầng” in Vietnamese 5) Different in morphological formation “use up” ( verb + adverb particle) in Vietnamese ) English, & “dùng hết” (verb + modal Results: Analysis and interpretation of data collected 6) Similar in original meaning and different in derivative meaning “cat” in English also means a “clever woman”, whereas “mèo” in Vietnamese means “mistress” 7) Similar in meaning and different in geographical meaning “petrol” is used in English, and “gasoline” is used in American English Results: Analysis and interpretation of data collected Syntactical contrast - - Deals with the units of a language: words, sentences structures as well as other means of expressing relationship and grammatical category In written texts, the nominalization (turning a verb into a noun) is often used to make the writing more concise and exact This is also considered information packing Results: Analysis and interpretation of data collected English Vietnamese Speech (primary change) Bài diễn văn Happiness (secondary change) Niềm hạnh phúc Study (Việc) học Discussion For the phonological contrastive analysis: - Both English and Vietnamese have /t/ sound, but that of English is pronounced either in an aspirated way /th/or not in an aspirated way/t/ whereas that of Vietnamese is only pronounced as /t/ - Vietnamese learners of English pronounce /t/ or /k/ with a closed mouth since Vietnamese has the sound: uc / ʊkp /, ôc / ɤwkp/, oc /ɑ wkp/ - People whose native language is isolating and has such a phoneme as /tu/ may pronounce /t/ and /u/ at the same time Cao (1985: 164) They may pronounce that phoneme as /tu/ or /ut/ at the same time, not in a linear way → Vietnamese hardly pronounce the final sounds such as /t/ or /p/ Ɯ Discussion - The pronoun references in Vietnamese texts not sometimes use pronouns "he / him“, but use “the title + name” If learners want to refer to a proper noun such as the leader's own name, then “ title + name" must be used - The English pronoun "he" can be used to replace the name of the national leader, or the synonym, such as "the president", or just his/her name is used e.g “(President) Bush" Discussion For the syntactical contrastive analysis: - In Vietnamese texts, the nominalization is formed: putting “sự” or “việc" before an adjective or a verb“; putting "cái" or "máy" before a noun Meanwhile, in English, the nominalization is formed: a) through the primary change of a verb: "to give" into a noun "gift", or "to speak" into "speech”, etc b) through the secondary change by adding the affixes (prefixes and suffixes) c) putting "the" before the adjective, for example “the + poor” (poor people) CUP COMMON UNDERLYING PROFICIENCY L2 L1 CUP Cummins (2000): "Conceptual knowledge developed in one language helps to make input in the other language comprehensible." Conclusion -The study forms a prototype related to the comparison and contrast of the aspects of phonology, lexicology, and syntax between English and Vietnamese -This greatly helps to improve the progress of Vietnamese learners’ English language performance in developing and in achieving their language proficiency -The prototype indicates two features, each of which reflects one of the three meta-function of systemic functional linguistic theory - Interpersonal, Experiential (using nominalization) and Textual, and also three modes of communication - Interpretive, Interpersonal and Presentational Implications of the study The study will significantly contribute to: 1.Working out the appropriate methods to improve students’ weaknesses through the awareness of the distinctions of linguistic features, on which a system of language performance is built 2.The theoretical framework that supports the processes of identifying language similarities and differences in SLA , Implications of the study  The awareness of the distinctions of linguistic features can allow teachers and students to get more access to the solutions to language barriers while language learners of different systems learn each other’s languages  The study may also serve as a model in exemplifying not only how research on contrastive linguistics affects the second language acquisition, but also how immersion programs and non-immersion programs can meet to form a seamless connection It holds much promise for the future as our profession continues to advance in standards-based instruction and assessment References Bui, Manh Hung (2008) Ngôn ngữ hoc đối chiếu TP HCM: Nhà Xuất bản Giáo dục Cao, Xuan Hao (1985) Âm vị học và tuyến tính – Suy nghĩ về những định đề của âm vị học đương đai Đai học Quốc Gia Hà Nội: Nhà Xuất bản Đai học Quốc Gia Hà Nội Cao, Xuan Hao (1998) Tiếng Việt – mấy vấn đề ngữ âm, ngữ pháp ngữ nghĩa TP HCM: Nhà Xuất bản Giáo dục Cummins, J (2000) Language, Power and Pedagogy – Bilingual Children in the Crossfire NY: Multilingual Maters Ltd Duong, Thi Hoang Oanh (2012) Global vs Glocal English: Attitudes and Conceptions among Educators, Administrators and Teachers in Eight Asian Countries in Kirkpatric, A & Sussex, R (eds.), English as an International Language in Asia: Implications for Language Educations: Multilingual Education1, DOI 10, 1007/978- 94-007-4578-0_8© Springer Science+ Business Media Dordrecht 2012 Eggins, S (1994) An Introduction to Systemic Function Linguistics New York: Wellington House Halliday, M.A.K & Matthiessen, C MIM (2004)(2004) An Introduction to Functional Grammar New York: Routledge, Chapman and Hall, Inc References Krzeszowski, T P (1990) Prototypes and Equivalence In Fisiak, J (Ed) Further Insights Into Contrastive Analysis.) John Benjamin Publishing Company Krzeszowski, T P (1991) Contrasting Languages: The Scope of Contrastive Linguistics New York: Mouton de Gruyter 10 Lado, R (1957) Linguistics across Culture Michigan: Michigan University Press 11 Martin, J.R (1992) English text – System and Structure Philadelphia: John Benjamin Publishing Company 12 Nguyễn, Đình Hịa (1997) Vietnamese – Tiếng Việt không son phấn Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company 13 Pham, Huu Duc (2008) The linguistic features in Vietnamese news texts (in comparison with English news texts) The doctoral dissertation Unpublished 14 Pham, Huu Duc (2009) Teaching English speaking skills to IU students The scientific research at university-level International University 15 Pham, Huu Duc (2010) The congruence of spoken and written English The scientific research at university-level International University Thank you for listening