A contrastive analysis of word order errors made by chinese learners vietnamese learners of english at flc and some suggestions for improvement

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES NGUYEN THI CHAU ANH A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF WORD ORDER ERRORS MADE BY CHINESE LEARNERS & VIETNAMESE LEARNERS OF ENGLISH AT FLC AND SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT A thesis in Master of Arts Major: TESOL Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts Supervisor: NGUYEN BICH HANH, MA HOCHIMINH CITY January, 2005 CERTIFICATION OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled: A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF WORD ORDER ERRORS MADE BY CHINESE LEARNERS & VIETNAMESE LEARNERS OF ENGLISH AT FOREIGN LANGUAGE CENTERS AND SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT in terms of the statement of the Requirements for Theses and Field Study Reports in Master’s Programs issued by the Higher Degree Committee Ho Chi Minh City, January 2005 NGUYEN THI CHAU ANH RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, NGUYEN THI CHAU ANH, being the candidate for the degree of Master of Arts (TESOL), accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Theses deposited in the university library In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my thesis deposited in the University library should be accessible for the purpose of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Library for case, loan or reproduction of theses I also agree that a copy of the original of my thesis will be sent to Lok-an Taiwanese Grant for Vietnamese Students Scholarship for the purpose of study and research in Taiwan Ho Chi Minh City, January 2005 NGUYEN THI CHAU ANH ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS T hanks to the good conditions created by Beán Tre College and in particular its Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, English Department, I have been able to finish this work First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Ms Nguyễn Bích Hạnh, for her guidance, suggestions and encouragement Without Ms Nguyễn Bích Hạnh, this work would not have been done I would also like to thank Lok-an Taiwanese Grant for awarding me a scholarship to this thesis This scholarship has provided me with the financial assistance to complete the study in HCMC I also wish to send my sincere thanks to my teachers, Mr Nguyễn Huỳnh Đạt and Ms Cao Thi Quỳnh Loan for their advice And my thanks also go to to Dr Wi-vun Taffalo Chiung for his encouragement and support I am also grateful to the teaching staff of the Master Course of which I am a student The professors and lecturers of the Master Course have provided excellent materials in TESOL and helped me to understand new concepts in English and English Teaching Methodology I am grateful to all the teachers of English at Vaên Lang Foreign Languages Centers, District 5, HCMC and teachers of English at thành Đoàn Informatics and Foreign Language School, District 1, HCMC, especially Mr Hà Tuấn Hiền and Ms Đặng Thị Kiều Anh who spent a great deal of time with me distributing, collecting questionnaires and tests and discussing the data for the study I would also like to thank all the learners of English at the two schools for their participation in the research Without this help, this thesis could not have been written Finally, in the place of honor, I wish to thank my beloved family Their love and support has been wonderful, particularly in the period of compilation of my thesis BIBLIOGRAPHY IN ENGLISH Anderson, R.W 1997 The Relationship between First Language Transfer and Second Language Overgeneralization Washington DC: TESOL, Georgetown University Press Abbott, G 1981 An Analysis of Foreign Language Errors: Establishing Causes, in RELC JOURNAL: A Journal of Language Teaching and Research in Southeast Asia, 12 (3), 1981, pp 78-84 Fung, B.C.Y 2001 Towards an Interactive View of L3 Acquisition The Case of the German Vorfeld Zeitschrift fur interkulturellen fremdsprachenunterricht Biber, D., and others (?) 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A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language Longman 51 Richards, J C., J Platt, H Weber 1985 Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics Longman, London 52 Richards, J C & T.S Rodgers 1986 Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching A Description and Analysis Cambridge University Press 53 Richards, J.C 1984 Errors Analysis Perspectives on Second Language Acquisition London and New York: Longman 54 Roberts, N.B 1997 Analyzing Sentences (An introduction to English syntax) Longman 55 Rubin, J 1975 What the Good Language Learners Can Teach Us TESOL quarterly 9/1 56 Rubin, J 1981 The Study of Cognitive Processes in Second Language Learning Applied Linguistics, 2, 117 – 131 57 Selinker, L 1972 Interlanguage International Review of Applied Linguistics Longman 58 Thomas, J 1988 The Role Played by Metalinguistic Awareness in Second and Third Language Learning Journal of multilingual and multicultural development, (3), 235 – 246 59 Wenden, A.L 1982 The Process of Self Directed Learning Unpublished doctoral dissertation Teacher College Columbia University Wenden, A.L., & J Rubin 1987 Learner Strategies in Language Learning Applied linguistics Practice Hall International 143 60 Zobl, H 1992 Prior Linguistic Knowledge and The Conversation of the Learning Procedure: Grammaticality Judgments of Unilingual and Multilingual Learners In S.M Gass & L Selinker (Eds) Language transfer in language learning Amsterdam: John Benjamins IN VIETNAMESE 61 Nguyễn Văn Chiến 1992 Ngôn Ngữ Học Đối Chiếu Đối Chiếu Các Ngôn Ngữ Đông Nam Đại Học Sư Phạm Ngoại Ngữ Hà Nội 62 Lê Thị Minh Chaâu 2001 An Analysis of Common Written Errors Made by Students at the College of Economics and Business Administration M.Ed Thesis The University of Đà Nẳng 63 Hà Văn Bửu 1993 A Descriptive English Grammar Nhà Xuất Bản Thành Phố Hồ Chí Minh 64 Giáp Văn Cường 1993 Hán Ngữ Cơ Bản Xin Chào Bắc Kinh (Tập 3) Nhà Xuất Bản Trẻ 65 Nguyễn Tài Cẩn 1996 Ngữ Pháp Tiếng Việt Nhà Xuất Bản Đại Học Quốc Gia Hà Nội 66 Khổng Đức, Long Cường, Đạt Só 2002 Tự Điển Hoa-Việt & Việt – Hoa Nhà Xuất Bản Trẻ 67 Tạ Châu Đức 2001 Sổ Tay Tiếng Hoa Cấp Tốc Nhà Xuất Bản Thanh Hóa 68 Nguyễn Đức Dân 1995 Tiếng Việt Thực Hành Tủ Sách Đại Học Tổng Hợp TP HCM 69 Lê Cận, Phan Thiều, Diệp Quang Ban, Hoàng Văn Thung 1983 Giáo Trình Ngữ Pháp Tiếng Việt (Tập 2) Nhà Xuất Bản Giáo Dục 144 Chapter Five: Some Suggestions and Conclusion dictogloss which can bring a lot of benefits to learners, not only language skills but also communication strategies In this technique, learners listen to a short text or a dialogue (from to sentences) twice or three times after the topics are introduced and some essential vocabulary and grammar are pre - taught In the activity, the learners have to: - read the text on the posters for a few minutes (about minutes) or listen to in order to get the main ideas - note down the key words - recognize the key words and the relations between the words within each sentence (WO) - work together in groups to produce a version of the text The emphasis is on successfully communicating the main points using their English It is good if they can reproduce the original text, but it is not essential The teacher and groups then correct their texts and compare them with the original, e.g using the poster on the board to show the original text for learners to compare The aim of this technique is to help them become aware of the gaps in their IL Based on the WO errors (listed in section 5.1.1) that the learners have struggled with in the three tests, the activity should be designed to give learners a chance to practice and improve their IL by revising their WO hypotheses in their learning process In this activity, learners work in pairs or groups, asking and answering the questions to complete the dialogue on the posters, from controlled practice to free practice under the guidance of the teachers For example: 10 Chapter Five: Some Suggestions and Conclusion Learners listen to six pairs of Learners sentences tree times or read reproducing the version, then asking and them on the poster within answering these questions in real situations minutes to exchange information for communication - How long does it take - you to go to school by work in groups It takes go to school - It takes me fifteen minutes to go to school by bicycle - How deep is the - river? - How deep .? The river / It is The river / It is 30 meters deep - How many children - you have? - How many .? I - I have three children - How many books are - - How many table? - There five Which books are you - Which reading? there on the table? There are five books on the table - reading? - pairs, How long does it take bicycle? bicycle/ by Honda? - or novel - I am reading a novel 11 Chapter Five: Some Suggestions and Conclusion - Do you call your dog - Luky or Lucky? - Do you or Lucky? I - I call my dog Lucky drive as - carefully as this driver? - No, as him - Or: No, he drove - - Did you No, I didn’t drive as Did you drive .? carefully as him - Or: No, he drove more carefully than me 5.1.5 Some suggestions to improve learners’ speaking and writing skills The results of the survey present a number of important implications for teaching speaking and writing at FLC It is acceptable that productive skill is a recursive process of exploring one’s thoughts, discovering ideas and generating meanings Thus, errors certainly occur in the learning process In order to have a better understanding of some ways to improve learners‘ productive skills of language, the following suggestions will give a summary of all the teachers’ opinions based on their learning needs and their learning strategies from the teachers and learners’ responses To help learners overcome their difficulties in the learning process, the teacher should: be friendly, creative and have sense of humor to create motivation in class 12 Chapter Five: Some Suggestions and Conclusion increase activities for sentence pattern practice for the Chinese group and organize language games in class for extrinsic motivation and for language practice organize English speaking clubs inside the class whenever possible, to create language environment for all the learners, expose them to the target language in every class meeting in order that they can test and revise their hypotheses of word order in the learning process give them some tasks to solve and help them with error correction inside and outside the class guide learners on ways of how to learn language which is suitable to them and help them recognize and correct errors by themselves take notes of what kinds of errors and the frequency that the errors occur so that the teacher can develop plans to teach the grammar structures again elicit the way to correct errors and let learners correct the errors themselves If they cannot, help them by giving them the correction organize role-play activities in the controlled practice stage first, so that learners can learn through imitation, and then again in free practice to give them a chance to think and create ideas for communication so that they can test their hypotheses about what is correct in the language they are using In this case, they can correct mistakes for each other in groups with confidence correct serious errors that hinder communication as soon as they are made, in order to prevent the formation of bad habits, particularly if learners are frequently in contact with weak learners who often make errors in pair and group work 13 Chapter Five: Some Suggestions and Conclusion give learners opportunities to reproduce the patterns they have difficulty with in order to ensure that they feel they are successful and make progress in language learning [23} & [24] 5.2 Conclusion In conclusion, the findings of the study are not consistent with hypothesis one Subsequently, the findings totally support hypothesis two and hypothesis three in many aspects from the study Obviously, in the aspect of the study, errors in word order occur differently among learners of the two groups And L1 transference is used only in some cases during the production of language as both positive and negative transfer, one of the learner’s learning strategies The findings also reveal that word order results from the application of T-rules that transform the deep structure into the surface structure It is clear that errors occur because of learners’ failure in applying transformational rules for the output at some stage However, grammar is acquired by a process of observation, hypothesis and experiment, and thus, errors made by learners imply that teachers need to expose learners to data in the target language environment so that they can revise their hypotheses and then acquire fluency in the target language better Moreover, one of the causes of their lack of communicative competence and motivation is the mismatch between their learning styles, their learning strategies and the ways of teaching In the study, the researcher has made efforts to suggest some ways to improve beginning learners’ listening and speaking skills at FLC 14 Chapter Five: Some Suggestions and Conclusion Hopefully, the suggestions in the study can help EFL learners at FLC overcome their difficulties in the productive use of language for communication 5.3 Limitations and recommendations for further research 5.3.1 Limitations This study has its limitation One of the limitations is the lack of generalizability because of its research design As stated in the part of the scope of the study in chapter one, the sample size in this study was rather small (only 110 learners and 12 teachers) Thus, a large number of teachers and learners are highly recommended for further study However, in spite of this, the careful analysis in this descriptive study can be considered as a representative sample and does reveal several interesting and indispensable phenomena on language learning and teaching at FLC that deserve attention One limitation of the study is that the number of sentence tests in the tests designed for discovering WO errors was only in the forms of recognition and reproduction written tests It was not varied enough to present a very reliable picture of learners’ language production during the course syllabus However, it is found that the patterns analyzed in the study were the ones learners were studying in the course syllabus Therefore, to some extent, the study is limited in only presenting beginning learners’ language productive skills in a sentence level only Another limitation of the study was that the study is limited in only beginning levels It is hoped that the intermediate and advanced levels are also needed to be involved in further research Another limitation was that the data could not recorded on video and cassette tapes for the following reasons: 15 Chapter Five: Some Suggestions and Conclusion First, the Chinese class was very large (over 60 learners in a class) and teachers had to use a microphone Moreover, there is so much noise outside As a result, the quality of the recording was poor Second, the Vietnamese class was very small (under 30 learners in a class) However, from the psychological perspective, the recording could not be carried out in order to ensure a comfortable, secure, friendly and natural environment for learners and the teacher 5.3.2 Delimitations It was necessary to prescribe certain delimitations for the study in order to ensure that its goals were achievable, within the time frame and scope of this research project These included: Confining the study to beginning level and two EFL learner groups of different native languages with that level Although investigating a large number of learners of different levels may have yielded some interesting data, the predominantly qualitative nature of the research design meant that a reduced scope in this research was not only acceptable but also desirable In such research, the aim is not to investigate samples sufficiently large enough to produce “generalisable” results, rather it is to make closer examination on the samples with a smaller scale with a view to test the hypotheses on L1 transference of the beginning level and substantiate in further emperical studies Collecting data only in written test in WO Although the researcher collected data on WO errors from learners only in written forms, she also spent time working with the learners in the class as their 16 Chapter Five: Some Suggestions and Conclusion classmates, and this contributed to the researcher’s knowledge of the research questions 5.3.3 Recommendations for further research On the basis of the study some further research need to be carried out on: - Analysis of common spoken and written errors at the sentence level with learners at different levels of proficiency in English at FLC in Ho Chi Minh City - Analysis of common WO errors made by beginning learners at the discourse level at FLC throughout many provinces in Vietnam - Analysis of word order errors in comparison with other errors and with survey data recorded in video and cassette tapes for evidence Based on this research, the researcher desires to conduct a further research on WO in English and Vietnamese with an aim to further comprehend the word order of the two languages in some different aspects First, this study will have to be conducted again with a larger group Second, the next research should study WO in different kinds of styles and attempt to interpret the interlanguage data from learners at the higher levels and make some suggestions for enhancing EFL learners’ proficiency in fulfilling the English oral requirements in an academic setting 17 Chapter Five: Some Suggestions and Conclusion LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 1: Descriptions of the most difficult language areas in ESP Table 2: The positions of descriptive adjectives or adjective equivalent adjectives qualifying a noun 19 Table 3: Descriptions of word order in English adjective phrases 20 Table 4: Description of word order in English adverb phrases 22 Table 5: Seven basic sentence patterns in English 23 Table 6: Structures of comparisons in English and in Vietnamese 30 Table 7: Exclamatory sentences in English and in Vietnamese 30 Table 8: Description of word order in Vietnamese noun phrases 33 Table 9: Description of word order in English noun phrases 34 Table 10: The “BA- construction” in Chinese sentence patterns 38 Table 11: Theme and rheme in English 45 Table 12: Descriptions of questionnaires for teachers Table 13: Description of questionnaire for learners Table 14: Description of test parts Table 16: Information of the teacher group Table 17: Information about the learner groups Table 18: Assessment of the class observations Table 19: Investigation into teaching styles 11 Table 20: Teachers’ assessment of learners’ learning styles and teachers’ beliefs about factors affecting WO errors 14 19 Chapter Five: Some Suggestions and Conclusion Table 21: Investigation of learners’ strategies and learning strategies concerning L1 transference 16 Table 22: Investigation into the learners and learning strategies 19 Table 23: Results of test A 26 Graph 4.1: Information about English WO errors influenced by L1 from Vietnamese beginning learners 26 Graph 4.2: Information about English WO errors influenced by L1 from Chinese beginning learners 27 Table 24: Results of test B 32 Table 25: A contrastive analysis of WO errors - Chinese group (Exercise 1) 38 Table 26: A contrastive analysis of WO errors – Vietnamese group 41 Table 27: Information of WO errors in details – Chinese group Table 28: Information of WO errors in details – Vietnamese group 48 Table 29: Information of word order errors and the other kinds of errors among the two groups 51 Table 30: Information about the frequency of WO errors of the two groups in the last test, reproduction test (C) 53 Graph 4.3: Information of learners’ achievement in test C 55 Table 31: Results of the interview about teachers’ opinions on language teaching 20 Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS Cover page Certification of originality Retention and use of the thesis Acknowledgements Abstract Table of contents List of tables and figures Abbreviations CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationales 1.2 Problems 1.3 Aims and objectives of the study .6 1.3.1 Aims 1.3.2 Objectives The significance of the thesis The scope of the study 1.6 Structure of the thesis .8 CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 The importance of word order in communication .1 2.2 Errors in general .4 2.2.1 Interlanguage 2.2.2 Lado’s contrastive analysis 2.2.3 Universal Grammar and SLA theory .9 2.2.4 A study on L3 acquisition 10 2.2.5 Error Correction 12 Table of Contents 2.3 Learner strategies and learning strategies 13 2.3.1 Learner strategies 13 2.3.2 Learning strategies .14 2.4 Word order in Chinese , Vietnamese, and English 17 2.4.1 Word order in English 17 2.4.2 Word order in Vietnamese 27 2.4.3 Word order in Chinese 34 2.5 Word order in functional grammar 44 2.5.1 The theme and Rhyme structure in English .44 2.5.2 The topic – comment structure in Vietnamese 45 2.5.3 The topic – comment structure in Chinese 48 Summary 48 CHAPTER METHODOLOGY .1 3.1 Research question .1 3.1.1 Research question 3.1.2 Hypotheses .1 3.2 Research design 3.2.1 Subjects 3.2.2 Instruments 3.3 Procedures of data collection .9 3.3.1 Questionnaire 3.3.2 Recognition reproduction and tests 10 CHAPTER FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 4.1 Characteristics of the two groups 4.1.1 Teachers’ profiles 4.1.2 Characteristics of learner groups (N = 100) 4.2 Results from the class observations 4.2.1 Teaching styles 4.2.2 Learning styles .9 Table of Contents 4.3 Findings from the questionnaires 4.3.1 Teachers’ teaching styles .10 4.3.2 Teachers’ assessment of learners’ learning styles and teachers’ beliefs about factors affecting WO errors 12 4.3.3 Learners’ beliefs and learners’ learning strategies regarding L1 transference .15 4.3.4 Findings from test results and discussions 22 Summary .56 CHAPTER SOME SUGGESTIONS AND CONCLUSION 5.1 Some suggestions for overcoming difficulties on WO errors 5.1.1 Results from the interviews 5.1.2 Ways of correcting errors in WO 5.1.3 Ways of creating language environment for communication in class .6 5.1.4 Techniques of how to help learners acquire English word order 5.1.5 Some suggestions to improve learners’ productive skills 12 5.2 Conclusion .14 5.3 Limitations and recommendations for further research 15 5.3.1 Limitations 15 5.3.2 Delimitations .16 5.3.3 Recommendations for further research .17 Bibliography Appendices APPENDIX PART D STATISTICS OF SCORES ON WO ERRORS - TEST C (PART 1: SCORES :15/15 - PART SCORES : 15/15) CHINESE GROUP (N=33) LEARNERS PART PART % OF WO ERRORS 13 26.67 12 15 10 14 15 3.33 12 12 20 12 11 23.33 12 13 16.67 10 14 20 63.33 10 14 20 10 11 50 11 12 13 16.67 12 14 15 3.33 13 12 14 13.33 14 13 15 6.67 15 14 15 3.33 16 15 14 3.33 17 13 13 13.33 18 10 10 33.33 19 14 15 3.33 20 12 33.33 21 15 14 3.33 22 14 26.67 23 11 50 24 13 15 6.67 25 12 15 10 26 43.33 27 10 13 23.33 28 12 14 13.33 29 10 15 16.67 30 13 13 13.33 31 15 14 3.33 32 13 15 6.67 33 13 15 6.67 34 35 606.64/990 606.64 AVERAGE=18.38 VIETNAMESE GROUP (N=35) PART PART % OF WO ERRORS 11 12 23.33 13 14 10.00 15 23.33 11 43.33 12 30.00 15 13 6.67 11 14 16.67 15 15 0.00 12 13 16.67 10 14 20.00 10 40.00 10 13 23.33 15 13 6.67 10 36.67 70.00 10 40.00 10 11 30.00 12 36.67 11 14 16.67 10 13 23.33 12 14 13.33 13 14 10.00 53.33 50.00 15 15 0.00 15 10 16.67 14 14 6.67 12 14 13.33 13 15 6.67 14 14 6.67 11 13 20.00 14 10 20.00 15 14 3.33 10 14 20.00 14 15 3.33 756.67 756.67/1050 AVERAGE =21.6 ABSTRACT This thesis aims to investigate the word order errors made by Vietnamese and Chinese learners of English at Van Lang Foreign Language Center and Thanh Doan Informatics and Foreign Language School in Ho Chi Minh City This study involves 126 participants divided into two groups, a Vietnamese group whose first language is Vietnamese and a Chinese group whose first language is Chinese Survey data collected through questionnaires, interviews, and class observations and a variety of tests from the two groups of learners were carefully examined for a contrastive analysis The frequencies of word order errors, transferred from the first language in the test sentences, by word order difference were analysed in order to answer the research questions as to whether errors in word order negative transfers from the first language into the target language or they are characteristics of different stages of language development The results, which were discussed in light of the first language transference and universal hypotheses, showed no relationship between their first language word order and their performance in the target language Nor did it show any consistency that EFL learners of different first languages may have in common The thesis concludes that word order of the first language is not the only strongest factor that influences the beginning learners’ acquisition of word order in English and suggests some ways to help learners overcome the difficulties of word order in their production of language in different stages of language development