A study of lexical devices used in the textbook international business

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY- HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES Ãáạ A STUDY OF LEXICAL DEVICES USED IN THE TEXTBOOK “INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS” SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF TESOL LEÂ HỒNG LINH SUPERVISOR: ĐỖ HUY THỊNH, Ph.D HOCHIMINH CITY 2006 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I hereby certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled: A STUDY OF LEXICAL DEVICES USED IN THE TEXTBOOK “INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS” In terms of the statement of Requirements for Theses & Field Study Reports in Master’s Programs issued by the Higher Degree Committee Ho Chi Minh City 2006 LE HONG LINH i RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, LE HONG LINH, 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 purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Library for care, loan or reproduction of theses Ho Chi Minh City 2006 LE HONG LINH ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to all my teachers at the Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh city, University of Social Sciences and Humanities for their valuable lectures, which laid the foundation for this thesis, and their knowledge, their thoughtfulness as well as their sympathy I always appreciate I would particularly like to convey my sincere thanks to my supervisor Dr Do Huy Thinh, who has given me valuable advice, kind guidance and corrections His suggestions and recommendations were as much appreciated as his guidance and patience I take this opportunity to thank all my colleagues at the Foreign Trade University (FTU), Branch II, Ho Chi Minh City for their help and care I am also indebted to all my friends who have kindly given me assistance and encouragement Finally, thanks must go to my family, my parents, husband and my sisters and for their love and support iii ABSTRACT This thesis is an attempt to deal with lexical cohesive devices used in Chapter Four “Business in other economies” and chapter Five “International Trade” in the textbook “International Business”, used at Foreign Trade University The research illuminates lexical cohesive devices and furthermore the research shows an analysis of lexical cohesive devices in English in the original textbook and their equivalents in the Vietnamese translation This study is confined to an analysis of equivalents of lexical cohesive devices in both English and Vietnamese at the word level The methods of description, comparison, analysis and contrast in linguistic study are used in the thesis The data are to identify discourse devices, their frequency of occurrence used in the discourse in English, and comparison between lexical cohesive devices in the English version and in the Vietnamese one The methods used in the thesis identify lexical similarities and differences in discourse in English and the translation in Vietnamese All the findings will lead to the point of improving reading skills and translation techniques for students at the Foreign Trade University iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Certificate of originality …………………………………………………………………………………………………………….i Retention and use of the thesis ………………………………………………………………………………………………ii Acknowledgements ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ii Abstract ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………iv Table of contents ………………………………….…………………………………………………………………………… ………v List of tables ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… .x List of figures………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……….x Abbreviations & symbols …………………………………………………………………………………………………………xi Chapter1 INTRODUCTION 1 The problem ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Background………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 2.1 Importance of business English…………………………………….…………………………….… 2.2 Importance of teaching reading and translation at FTU … ………… ……….4 2.3 The inadequate attention to language features……………………………… ……… v 2.4 Description of textbooks and syllabus for third year and fourth year students at FTU………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ….…6 Objectives and overview of the thesis…………………………………………………………………… Summary………………………………… ………………….…………………………………………………………………….….9 Chapter LITERATURE REVIEW -10 2.1 Viewpoints of discourse……………………………………………………………………….………………………….10 2.1.1 Discourse and text……………………………………………………………………………………….……17 2.2 Discussions about discourse context…………………………………………………………………… …19 2.2.1 Context of situation………………………………………………………………………………………….…19 2.3 Distinctions of cohesion and coherence………………………………………….………………… ……20 2.4 Types of cohesion…………………………………………………………….……………………………….…….… …22 2.4.1 Grammatical cohesion……………………………………………………………………………….….…….22 2.4.2 Lexical cohesion………………………………………………………………………………………………… 25 2.4.2.1 Reiteration………………………….…………………………………………………… ……….… 25 2.4.2.2 Collocation………………………………………………………………………………….……….……28 2.5 Summary………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………31 vi Chapter METHODOLOGY 32 3.1 Research questions…………………………………………………………………………………… ………….32 3.2 Research design………………………………………………………………………………………… ….….….33 3.2.1 Subjects of the study 33 3.2.2 Method of study………………………………………………………………………………………………… 34 Summary……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….….….…………36 Chapter DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS -37 4.1 Data analysis and findings……………………………………………………………………………….….……… …37 4.1.1 An analysis of lexical cohesive devices…………………………………….…….38 4.1.1.1 Lexical cohesive devices in the academic discourse………….…… 39 4.1.2 Detailed analysis ……………………………………………………………………………… …… 42 4.1.2.1 Repetition…………………………………………………………………….….…………….42 4.1.2.2 Synonyms…………………………………………………………………………… … ….43 4.1.2.3 Antonyms…………………………………………………………………………………… 44 4.1.2.4 Super-ordinate………………………………………………………………………… 45 4.1.2.5 Collocation…………………………………………………………………………….………47 4.1.3 Contrastive analysis on lexical cohesive device…………….……… ……48 4.1.3.1 Repetition……………………………………………………….………………… ….…….49 4.1.3.2 Synonyms……………………………………………………………………………… … 66 4.1.3.3 Antonyms……………………………………………………………………………………….71 vii 4.1.3.4 Super-ordinate……………………………………………………………….….… 73 4.1.3.5 Collocation………………………………………………………… ……………….75 4.2 Summary……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …… 88 Chapter CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 89 5.1 Conclusions on lexical cohesive devices ……………………………………………………………… 89 5.2 Suggested recommendations …………………….…………………………………… ………….…….… ….…93 5.3 Implications for further research…………………………………………………………………………… 95 LIST OF REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……96 viii LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1 Overall views – Lexical Cohesive Devices in the Academic Discourse, Absolute counts……………………………………………….…39 Table 4.2 Repetitions – Absolute Count……………………………… ……………………………….49 Table 4.3 Synonyms – Absolute count……………………………………………… ………………… 66 Table 4.4 Antonyms – Absolute count………………………………………………… …………………71 Table 4.5 Absolute count – Overall picture – Different types of collocations, numbers of cases, and their percentages……….….75 Table 4.6 Absolute Count by Collocation combinations and Structure changes after Translation………… ………………………………………………………………78 Table 4.7 Percentage counts -Collocation combinations and types of change…………………………………………………………………………………………… 79 ix CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS - Word omission Prepositions in this type of collocation in English sometimes are omitted in the Vietnamese equivalents such as: Spring up: xuất Compete against: caïnh tranh In conclusion, the contrastive analysis relating to the tendency of translation of lexical cohesive device discloses some other facts: Repetition with the same equivalent in Vietnamese is at a high percentage of 63.3%, and the synonyms ranks the second with 12.3% and the least with the type of word omission of only 5.1 % So this implies one technique that can be taught to students in translation, that is repetitions can sometimes be translated into synonyms provided that the meaning is kept clear Synonyms translated most of the time by one equivalent are of 37.5% of the cases, and the percentage of a somewhat slightly higher 54.1% refers to maintained synonyms This can be attributed to the fact that the source language and the target language not have exactly the same number of synonyms for the same reference For example, in English there are country, economy, nation, to refer to the general national geographical and administrative unit, but in Vietnamese there are “đất nước”, “quốc gia”, “nền kinh tế”, “nước” Antonyms and super-ordinates play an insignificant role and they are translated into Vietnamese by maintaining the same lexical cohesive devices - 86 - CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS Finally, collocations account for the largest, most essential part of all the lexical devices (70%) It is noticeable that, in the pool of 671 collocation cases, NounCollocations (those types with Noun as one element) amount to 73% In terms of contrastive analysis, most collocations in English get translated with either unchanged structure or swapping position for collocation components in the Vietnamese translation - 87 - CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 4.2 SUMMARY This chapter has discussed and analyzed the data from the two books It is clear for teachers as well as students to understand about the use and the frequency of lexical cohesive devices used in English and in Vietnamese The analysis and findings lead to suggestions for the most suitable ways for teaching reading and translation - 88 - CHAPTER5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS As mentioned above, the textbook International Business is an academic discourse containing various kinds of cohesive devices that constitute a topical and logical coherence of the discourse However, there is a fact that both lecturers and students at FTU does not seem to pay enough attention to the linguistic aspects of the book but more to the content, the specific knowledge In this chapter, I would like to draw some conclusions and recommendations for teaching lexical cohesive devices 5.1 CONCLUSIONS ON LEXICAL COHESIVE DEVICES To make a theme, especially that of technical nature, become more coherent and cohesive, several lexical devices have so far been put to use Of them, the helpful tools include repetition, synonymy, antonymy, super-ordinates, and collocation A Repetition Repetition, like other lexical devices, is used to ensure some coherence in the context and create a logical, clear and cohesive discourse in its two common forms: exact repetition or with the definite article the, the demonstrative adjectives or possessive adjectives placed just before the repeating words - 89 - CHAPTER5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS In terms of contrastive analysis with English and Vietnamese, in Vietnamese, the repeating words is not necessarily accompanied by reference items whereas the repeated words with reference items especially “THE” is obligatory By and large, in the Vietnamese version, the repeating words with reference items are found much less frequently than their English counterparts B Synonymy Synonym is a word with the same meaning or nearly the same meaning as another word in the same language; it is used to avoid mentioning again words and phrases with a view to ensuring coherence, clarity, precision and unambiguity in the academic discourse Synonyms are often used in newspapers, magazines to avoid monotony Within the background of contrastive analysis of English (the source language) and Vietnamese (the target language), in the context of reading and translation, both languages have a wealth of synonyms So once a synonym is needed to be translated into Vietnamese it can easily find its ready counterparts in Vietnamese and as it has been said synonyms carry the same or nearly the same meaning, therefore they can be used interchangeably C Antonym Antonym is a word that is opposite in meaning of the pair, it is used to highlight contrast thereby reinforcing the theme under review It is also put to use to express - 90 - CHAPTER5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS a paradox, a contradiction with its sharp aspects Its proper use will help to make the theme, a subject and even a paragraph sound more interesting, exciting and vivid In the context of contrastive analysis, it is easily seen the way English antonyms are formed They are usually added to by prefixes or suffixes whereas in Vietnamese, words like không, chưa, or bất D Super- ordinates Super-ordinates have been contributing to enhancing some degree of vividness, diversification of the text with their generalizing function and nature From the viewpoint of contrastive analysis, it can be said that when doing our translation we can easily find out the Vietnamese closest equivalents or counterparts and the structural order in the Vietnamese version often conforms to the English ones So the Vietnamese equivalents are no much different from the English core words in meaning And as what has been shown by a survey as well as by statistical data, both types of super-ordinates are found with rather low frequency of occurrence in the academic discourse of the textbook E Collocation Collocation can be defined as the way words combine in a language to produce natural-sounding speech and writing Why is collocation so important and even considered to be the most important and significant tool of all the lexical devices, as collocations run through the English language A language that is collocationally - 91 - CHAPTER5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS rich is also more precise This is because most single words in English language especially the more common words - embrace a whole range of meanings, some quite distinct, and some that shade into each other by degrees It is obvious that the precise meaning in any context is determined by that context: by the words that surround and combine with the core word-by collocation And in the context of contrastive analysis, the writer or translator is supposed to deal with his translation by means of unchanged structure, word type modification, swapping position, word addition, passive or active structure, word omission as already said of in the previous chapter As collocations in any language take their fixed or nearly fixed form so a greater degree of competence with the language is needed from learners and even from teachers to combine them correctly in productive use Discourse analysis is really a new method to investigate how language works in different languages and how texts are structured beyond the sentence level Therefore, it is useful to study a discourse in terms of coherent structure and cohesive devices The following issues have been discussed so far in this study: The coherence of the academic discourse, and lexical cohesive devices used to create coherence of a discourse The thesis revealed the frequencies of occurrence and categories of each lexical cohesive device in the discourse Lexical cohesive devices are contrastively analyzed in terms of parts of - 92 - CHAPTER5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS speech and tendency of translation from English into Vietnamese It is believed that the study can be of some help not only to students to be aware of the importance of coherence, cohesion and cohesive devices so that they can improve their reading skill and translation but also teachers and lectures to develop an effective syllabus design for students in the process of learning reading comprehension, translation in the business context 5.2 SUGGESTED RECOMMENDATIONS First of all, some recommendations for the university board, in terms of syllabuses and curriculums, the university board should take charge of drawing up an appropriate syllabus with proper curriculums for each year and with due funds of time allocated for each year and with due funds of time allocated for each subject Each week at least five periods should be spent on translation work to check students understanding of the target book they are studying Second, in the background of supporting facilities, the university’s library should be provided with a fully wide range of source books in English and in Vietnamese as well The library should offer free access for teachers and students as well, this is a good way for both teachers and students improve their command of English - 93 - CHAPTER5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS In addition, each university or college should encourage its professors, academics, instructors to compile or write target books or reference books in English and Vietnamese for its own use as what we can see at universities in Australia, New Zealand, and India, not to mention in the USA and England As for teachers, the classroom instructor, an awareness of techniques of teaching lexical cohesive devices is necessary Teachers should use proper techniques in certain situations to help students learn and make practical use of lexical cohesive devices Most important however lies in the teacher’s ability to make a difference to his/her students’ ability to use lexical cohesive devices effectively and efficiently in their reading and translation On the part of students, once they have reflected on their learning, they are ready to set new goals for themselves As they work toward these goals, they should be encouraged to reflect on their learning journey at regular intervals Students should be required to keep track of the results they get when leaning reading and translation in terms of lexical cohesive devices to help reaffirm their goals and motivate them to move toward meeting each goal - 94 - CHAPTER5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5.3 IMPLICATIONS FOR FIRTHER RESEARCH Although the data in the survey is probably great enough, the results of the study might not be highly representative because the data come from only two chapters in the textbook There could have been more comprehensive results if the survey had been conducted on the whole textbook Further research should focus on one of the following topics: Grammar cohesive devices used in reading and translation texts Lexical cohesive devices used in speaking and writing The similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese collocations - 95 - REFERENCES Adam, J.H (1989) A Dictionary of Business English Longman Bloomfield, L (1933) Language Newyork: Henry Holt and Company Brown, G and Yule, G (1983) Discourse Analysis Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Chafe, W (1992).Talking data: Transcription of coding in Discourse reseach Hillsdate, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Chomsky, N (1965) Aspects of the 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