How to teach english passive voice efficiently for students at grade 9 dương nội secondary school

Graduation paper DECLARATION HOW TO TEACH ENGLISH PASSIVE VOICE EFFICIENTLY FOR STUDENTS AT GRADE DUONG NOI SECONDARY SCHOOL (Graduation paper submitted in partial fulfill for B.A degree in English) I certify that no part of the research has been copies or reproduced by me from any other person‟s work without acknowledge and that the research is originally written by me under strict guidance of my supervisor Hanoi, May, 2015 Student Bui Thi Mai Bui Thi Mai (2011-2015) Supervisor Hoang Tuyet Minh Graduation paper ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to express my profound gratitude to my supervisor Hoang Tuyet Minh for her academics guidance and support through this study During this thesis-writing time, she helped me to analyze my title and gave me documents, instructions and lot of useful ideas I am also grateful to all the teachers at the English Faculty of Hanoi Open University for their interesting and useful lectures which have built in me firm foundation with immense ideas for the fulfillment of this paper Finally, many special thanks are due to the teachers and students from Duong Noi secondary school, who contributed data to my study Without their enthusiastic cooperation, I would not have been able to conduct my research Hanoi, May, 2015 Bui Thi Mai Bui Thi Mai (2011-2015) Graduation paper TABLE OF CONTENTS PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale of the study Aims of the study 3 Scope of the study Research questions Methods of the study Design of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Passive voice in English 1.1.1 Concept of voice? 1.1.2 An overview of active and passive voice in English 1.1.2.1 What is active voice? 1.1.2.2 What is passive voice? 1.1.3 Passive voice in English 11 1.1.3.1 Importance of using passive voice 11 1.1.3.2 Passive constructions in English 14 1.2 Errors analysis 20 1.3 Methods of teaching and learning English 21 1.4 Summary 24 CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY 24 2.1 Methods 24 2.2 Subjects 25 Bui Thi Mai (2011-2015) Graduation paper 2.3 Questionnaires and exercises 25 2.4 Procedures 25 2.5 Data collection 26 2.5.1 Data collected from the survey questionnaires and exercises for students 26 2.5.2 Data collected from the survey questionnaires for teachers 29 2.6 Data analysis 34 2.7 Summary 34 CHAPTER III: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 35 3.1 Common errors made by the grade students in Duong Noi secondary school 35 3.2 Suggestions to improve teaching and learning English passive voice 37 3.2.1 Suggestions for students 37 3.2.2 Suggestions for teachers 38 3.3 Summary 39 PART C: CONCLUSION 40 REFERENCES 42 Appendix 44 Appendix 46 Bui Thi Mai (2011-2015) Graduation paper PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale of the study Our country, Vietnam, is now one of developing countries in the world; English is very important and necessary in the process of joining the integrated world English is regarded as the language of modernization and technological advancement Most of the world‟s scientific and technical journals are in English Many of the world‟s top films, books and music are published and produced in English Therefore by learning English you will have access to a great wealth of knowledge, entertainment and will be able to have a greater cultural understanding English is commonly required for international trade and at international conferences Although learning English can be challenging and time consuming, we can see that it is also very valuable to learn and can create many opportunities Teaching a foreign language and its grammar is a difficult task and teacher needs to have their own methodology to reach the goals of teaching Teachers of English always wonder how to fulfill the aim of the lesson In the process of learning English at Hanoi Open University, one of our difficult problems we usually meet with is English grammar Truly, we often feel really trouble whenever we start practicing four language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing Also we are always afraid that we will make grammar errors so we are very careful of every utterance we produce For this reason, step by step, I start paying more attention to learning English grammar well, besides speaking and writing English well for a good job in the near future, we can gain the ability to read journals, scientific books, and magazines written in English We remember and like the comment by Michael Swan about grammar: Bui Thi Mai (2011-2015) Page Graduation paper “Grammar is not the most important thing in the world, but if you make a lot of mistakes you maybe more difficult to understand, and some kinds of people may look down on you or not take you seriously Hardly anybody speaks or writers a foreign language perfectly, but you will communicate more successfully if you can make your English reasonably correct” According to R Quirk (12, 1985, 37-47), “Grammar is a complex system, the parts of which cannot be properly explained in abstraction from the whole In this sense, all parts of grammar are mutually defining, and there is no simple linear path we can take in explaining one part in terms of another” Our intention, therefore, is to take a broad interpretation of grammar, which impinge on the discussion of grammatical rules and categories One of the important aspects in the process of learning the second language is the mastery of grammar Particularly, in this study, the students have to learn when to use regular and irregular verbs, tenses, and “to be” in forming the English passive voice One of the most challenging areas which readers often find hard to deal with is passive voice which is very difficult in mother tongue and more in English Passive voice stands out one of the most popular; also the most difficult and confusing to Vietnamese learners when they learn and translate passive voice and it is a source of studying for researchers because of its grammatical point in English This study will describe some background information about English Passive voice and some methods of teaching and learning English for students and teachers This will help the language users, typically the language learners and researchers avoid making mistakes when they use and study the passive voice That is the reason why the study “How to teach English passive voice efficiently for student at grade Duong Noi secondary school.” has been chosen to study in my thesis Bui Thi Mai (2011-2015) Page Graduation paper Aims of the study  To deal with the knowledge about English passive voice  To investigate the methods of teaching and learning English passive voice  To give some suggestions to help teachers and students in the process of teaching and learning English passive voice efficiently Scope of the study In the framework of the study, the usage of passive voice in English is mainly concentrated Some methods of teaching English in general are dealt with, but methods of teaching English passive voice in secondary school The study is the grade 9; especially the methods of teaching English passive voice at grade in Duong Noi secondary school Up to now, many famous grammarians and linguists have already written books and articles on the English passive voice and many terms have been uses, but so far, there have been many changes in terminology as well as concepts according to different schools of grammar In this writing, the terminology closely is followed by R Quirk et al A comprehensive grammar of the English language (Longman, 1985) and Richard et al Longman dictionary of applied Linguistics ( 1985, 2010) These are the famous and valid books which are probably written in the most detailed way of present day English Research questions The research is carried out with an attempt to find out the answers to the following research questions: What is the English passive voice? What are the methods of teaching and learning English passive voice? What are the suggestions to improve teaching and learning English passive voice? Bui Thi Mai (2011-2015) Page Graduation paper Methods of the study This thesis is carried out with traditional and general linguistic methods: statistical, deductive and inductive methods This means a number of relevant data are gathered and grouped, and then the descriptive and analytical methods are also applied in a theoretical framework illustrated by tables and examples with detailed explanations and discussion The supporting method is qualitative method which is included in this study The survey questionnaires and exercises for Secondary school students and questionnaires for teachers at Duong Noi school Design of the study The study is composed of three main parts: the introduction, the development and the conclusion Part A, introduction, introduces the reasons for choosing this topic and the tasks, aims, methods as well as design of the study Part B, development, includes: Chapter I, Literature review, are concepts of passive, some errors and the methods of teaching and learning English Chapter II, Methodology, includes method, subject, procedure, and technical applied in the study such as data collection, description, and summary Chapter III, Findings and discussion, gives suggestions for students and teachers Bui Thi Mai (2011-2015) Page Graduation paper PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Passive voice in English 1.1.1 Concept of voice? A.S Hornsby, E.V Gatenby and H Wakefield ( 14,1983 , 1120) in The advanced learner‟s dictionary of current English definite that voice means verb form ( active and passive) showing the relation of the subject to the action or state Voice, in term of grammar, is the form of a verb that show whether the subject of a sentence performs an action (the active voice) or is affected by it (the passive voice) According to Jewell A friend (15, 1976, 198) in Traditional grammar, the grammatical subject of the verb designates the recipient of the action: the grammatical subject of voice is either the direct objector the indirect of the verb in the corresponding active voice clause Passive voice verb, consist of an auxiliary (be or colloquially get) plus the participle of the main verb Richard J.et al 1985 (13, 2001, 308) claim that discussing on the English voice is exactly the discussion on the active or passive relation of the subject to the action or state Voice is the ways in which a language expresses the relationship between a verb and the noun phrase which are associated with it Two sentences can differ in voice and yet have same basic meaning However, there may be change in emphasis and one type of sentence may be more appreciate For example in: The wind damaged the fence, the wind is the subject of the verb damaged, which is in the active voice, while in: The fence was damaged by the wind, the fence is the subject of the verb was damaged, which is in the passive voice The first sentence would be a suitable answer to the question: Did the wind damage anything? While the second sentence would be a suitable answer to the question: How did the fence get damaged? The so-called “agentless” passive, for example: The fence has been damaged Bui Thi Mai (2011-2015) Page Graduation paper is used when the speaker or writer does not know or wish to state the case, or when the cause is too obvious to be stated R Quirk et al, (12, 1985, 195) also defines that the term voice is used to describe the verb category which distinguishes an active verb phrase (example: ate) from a passive one (eg: was eaten) Voice is a category which concerns not only verb phrases, but other constituents in the clause They state that voice is a grammatical category which makes it possible to view the action of a sentence in either of two days, without change in the facts reported, let‟s consider the example: The butler murdered the detective (active) The detective was murdered by the butler (passive) (R.Quirk et al, 1985, 198) As we see from the examples above, the active-passive relation involves two grammatical “levels”: the verb phrase, which is simply defined as one which does not contain that construction According to him and in the verb phrase, the difference between the two voice categories is that the passive adds a form of the auxiliary and the past participle (–Ved) of the main verb R.Quirk et al (1985) deal with active – passive transformations, get-passives, voice constraints and the passive gradient According to them, the voice constraints are related to verb, object, agents, meanings and frequencies Voice is linguistic category that defines the relationship between the participants and indicated in the verb (Nida, 16, 1964, 200) “Voice is grammatical category of verbs that is related to what thing or person is acting and what thing or person is being acted upon” (Crystal, 5,1980,78) In grammar, the voice also called diathesis of a verb describes the relationship between the action (or state) that the verb expresses and the participants identified by its arguments (subject, object, etc.) When the subject is the agent or doer of the action, the verb is in the active voice When the subject is the Bui Thi Mai (2011-2015) Page Graduation paper passive voice in your lesson? A Often B Seldom C Never total 100 As you can see on the table 4, 100% (6teachers) of teacher admitted that teaching English Passive voice was necessary We cannot deny the importance of Passive voice in English it is very essential for both students and teachers It is a main aspect in English grammar The next question, 50% (3 teachers) of teachers sometimes spend time for teaching passive voice for students While 16.7% (1teacher) teachers teaches seldom passive voice in class room And 33.3% (2 teachers) of them usually and the knowledge of passive voice for students in class room Question was the comment of teacher about materials when they taught their students about English Passive voice Most of students (66.7%)~ teachers said that enough material in learning English Passive Voice, 16.65% of them a little The percentages of students which felt enough were 16.65%(1 teacher) Some of students were bored with learning passive voice because of they did not understand the content of English Passive voice Question 4, 50% of teacher thinks that when teaching passive voice was boring lesson And 16.7 %( teacher) of them think too many knowledge (33.3%) gave some other reason Question 5, the answer‟s teacher indicates that 50% teachers usually gives passive voice homework for student and 33.3 % (2 teachers) often and 16.7% seldom Questions 6, 66.7% teachers often test their students about passive voice and 0% with answer “No” and 33.3% (2 teachers) with answer “sometimes” Bui Thi Mai (2011-2015) Page 33 Graduation paper Question a half (50%) of teachers answer often use English passive voice in class and a half (50%) of them answer “seldom” And 0% of them answer with answer “never” 2.6 Data analysis The analysis of data was conducted with 88 students and teachers in Duong Noi secondary school English passive voice is important aspect in English grammar For students learning passive voice is very necessary, they cannot study more English without passive voice One of the most common problems encountered by the study is the use of passive rather than active voice Before discussing the appropriate use of each voice, however, one must define active versus passive voice When you write a sentence using the active voice, the subject of the sentence commits the action; when you write a sentence in the passive voice, the action is committed before the subject is identified In other words, in active voice, the emphasis is on the subject doing something, while in the passive voice, the emphasis is on what is being done to the subject Teacher said that when they teach English grammar as well as passive voice their students are usually not interested in that lesson Because grammar in English makes the student feel bored and they don‟t want to enjoy their lesson That is the biggest reason that makes students decrease effectiveness of studying 2.7 Summary The study investigates 88 students at the grade and teachers with years at class with B.A level are subject The results are that most students also feel learning English passive voice is very important and necessary For students need actively prepare the lesson before class The study gives questions for teachers and 88 students The answer is sincerely from teachers and students For teacher , they need to Bui Thi Mai (2011-2015) Page 34 Graduation paper improve the teaching skills usually pay attention to their students and give more and more exercises related to passive voice The following are the findings and discussion leased on the data analysis CHAPTER III: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 3.1 Common errors made by the grade students in Duong Noi secondary school The student‟s works were classified in the form of tables based on the linguistic categories proposed by Krashen.S (1982) The column in each table consists of the erroneous sentences, and the correct sentences based on the basic formula of passive voice (S + be + Past Participle) The descriptive analysis of the error was presented in a narrative way Table 5: The incorrect use of past participle Erroneous sentence Correct sentence Next year‟s Congress is going to be Next year's congress is going hold in San Francisco by them to be held in San Francisco In the above categories of errors, there was only one student made that kind of error It happened may be because she did not understand the English verb particularly the irregular verb It is because in her first language, there is no irregular verb Moreover, there is no past participle verb in forming the passive voice Therefore, the above student did not change the verb of the active sentence into past participle in the passive sentence In changing the sentence from active to passive, the verb used in the active sentence must be changed into past participle to form the passive sentence Then, the use of by phrase is actually not necessary in this number, since the focus of this sentence is on the congress or on the action, not the performer Bui Thi Mai (2011-2015) Page 35 Graduation paper Table 6: Incorrect “be” Erroneous Sentence Correct Sentence The windows should have be cleaned The windows should have by someone yesterday been cleaned In 1895 this house is built by This house was built in somebody 1895 Next year‟s congress are going to be Next year's congress is going held by them in San Francisco to be held in San Francisco In the above categories of errors, there were three students made that kind of errors in the different numbers of the sentences They did not consider the subject of the passive sentence before inserting the copula be, and they also did not consider the time signal that could reflect the use of copula be It seemed that those students did not understand the correct copula be to be used in a particular sentence It happened may be because there is no copula be to be inserted in the passive voice of their first language Therefore, they made this kind of errors Moreover, the use of by phrase in all of those sentences actually was not necessary, since the agents in those sentences were implicit Table 7: Passive order but active form Erroneous Sentence Correct Sentence 1.The complain should send by Complaints should be sent to the them to the office head office Your car might have stolen by Your car might have been stolen if somebody if you had left the key in it you had left the key in it This problem can solve by us The fire could have caused by an 10 The room is cleaning by Bui Thi Mai (2011-2015) The problem can be solved The fire could have been caused by an electrical fault 10 The room is being cleaned Page 36 Graduation paper somebody at the moment 2.The meeting had been postpone by The meeting had to be postponed their because of illness because of their illness Some of student‟s errors were in the same number of sentence They still used the active form but already in passive order Here, we can see from the object of the active sentence has already put as a subject Then we can see from the use of the verb which was still in active form while it supposed to be changed as the rules of the passive structures Such as in sentence number 1, the object of the active sentence the complaint was already put as a subject in the above sentence But the verb of that sentence was still in active form Where it supposed to be changed into past participle verb and added “be” in front of it The same case was happened in the sentence number 3, 4, 7, 8, and 10 The objects of those sentences were already put as subjects, but the verbs have not been changed into passive voice Moreover, most of the above sentences must omit the use of by phrase, except for the sentence number because the agent is importantly mentioned since it was not implicit in the sentence 3.2 Suggestions to improve teaching and learning English passive voice 3.2.1 Suggestions for students In general, material is the thing presented by the lecturer to be understood by the students It aims to achieve the objective of the learning process already determined The material usually consists of facts, generalization, concepts, etc In determining the materials, there are some considerations The instructional objective of the learning process must be in accordance with it Besides that, the ability of the students in general, systematically organized, and also includes factual and conceptual things should also be in accordance with it The material should be based on the instructional objective of the learning process Besides, the material must be very important to be given to Bui Thi Mai (2011-2015) Page 37 Graduation paper the students and also meaningful and contains some values that are beneficial to everyday life In this study, two suggested materials are offered to the students based on the objective of the learning process particularly the material that related to the English passive voice According to the principle of the target needs, the students must understand the changing process of the active voice into passive voice based on the passive construction The concept in forming the passive voice is also important The first material is the passive (be done/have been done) In this material, the students can see and study some examples of the changing active voice into passive voice particularly for passive infinitive The second material is the passive (present and past tense) In this material, the students can see and study some examples how to arrange the passive of present simple, past simple, present continuous, past continuous, present perfect, and past perfect tense 3.2.2 Suggestions for teachers Teachers should pre-planning and made decisions about the kinds of lesson that lecturer wants to teach, lecturer can make the lesson plan This may take a number of different forms and it depends on the circumstances of the lesson and on our attitude to planning in general The way that a lecturer plan lesson depends upon the circumstances in which the lesson is to take place and on the lecture‟s experience Experienced lecturers may be able to run effective lessons in this way, without making a plan at all When such lessons are successful, they can be immensely rewarding for all concerned However, more often they ruin the risk of being muddled and aimless There is a real danger that if lecturers not have a clear idea of their aims and crucially, if the students cannot or will not help give the lesson shape, then nothing useful or meaningful can be achieved at all (A.J.Thomson,4,1973) Though some students may enjoy the adventure of 96 the jungle path, the majority will benefit both linguistically Bui Thi Mai (2011-2015) Page 38 Graduation paper and psycho linguistically from the forethought the lecturer has given to the lesson 3.3 Summary In conclusion, the errors made by students and some suggestions for students and teachers are testing In English passive voice have more function and is used to more commonly and frequently From the finding above we know detail the passive voice and avoid some errors Through the statistic and description above we know that the students make error still quite lots (112 errors) Most of students get some common errors such as using “be” and not determine the object And the teachers also need improve the attitude about teaching and enhance the knowledge Some teachers should pay attention their students about the learning English passive voice Bui Thi Mai (2011-2015) Page 39 Graduation paper PART C: CONCLUSION In conclusion, there are three main parts in this study Chapter I is the background theory of passive Voice in English Chapter II is research about learning and teaching them of students and teacher at grade 9A in Duong Noi secondary school Finally chapter III is useful suggestions and some errors for teachers to improve the teaching passive voice in English The study has long time and effort to investigate and write this thesis with assistance of many teachers and secondary school students at Duong Noi secondary school After finish this, the study also has some conclusion that: English passive voice brings many advantages for students For examples, student can use it for their skill, such as: writing and speaking In writing if student apply Passive voice, they are got high marks than the others English passive voice helps students have comprehensive knowledge to pass many examinations Using passive voice and active voice appropriately is vital for writing effectively about your business or concept As a general rule, think of active voice as your “default setting,” but don‟t discount the benefits of passive voice when the situation calls for it This study is expected to give a contribution to the development of applied linguistics in the area of teaching and learning especially in teaching English as a foreign language For teachers, the lesson plans can be design and the material for teaching can be prepared The findings of this study suggested that the lecturer should try to use the lesson plan particularly in teaching English passive voice By applying the lesson plan it is expected that the students will be able to understand the use and the form of passive voice correctly, and minimize the interference of their first language However, materials and methods always need to be developed by the next researcher particularly in the English passive voice Because in teaching and learning process, there are many things to be considered, such as the student‟s profile, Bui Thi Mai (2011-2015) Page 40 Graduation paper materials to be given, and methods of teaching including the motivation of the students, an advance research is needed for more understanding and useful suggestions Bui Thi Mai (2011-2015) Page 41 Graduation paper REFERENCES Alexander L G (1988) Longman English Grammar London: Longman Collins C (2005) A smuggling Approach to the Passive in English Corder S.P (1973) Introducing Applied Linguistics, Penguin Books Ltd A.J Thomson & A.V Martinet (1986) A Practical English Grammar Crystal David (1980) A First Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics Boulder, CO: West view Gordon.E.M (1972) The difference between English active and passive voice Halliday M.K.A (1994) An introduction to functional grammar London Edward Arnold Harmer J(1998) How to teach English Cambridge University Press Krashen S (1982) Principle and Practice in Second Language Acquisition New York: Prentice Hall 10 Larsen-Freeman, Diane and Michael H Long (1991) An introduction to second language acquisition research New York: Longman 333pp 11 Palmer.F.R (1994) Grammatical Roles and Relations.Cambridge University Press 12 Quirk, Randolph et al(1985) A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language New York: Longman 13 Richards J.C (2001) Curriculum Development in Language Education Cambridge University Press 14 A Hornsby & E.V Gdonby and H.Wakefe (1963) The advance learner‟s dictionary of current English London OUP 15 Detailed lesson plan in active and passive Available from: URL: http://www.slideshare.net 16 Nida passive in the world‟s language Cambridge University Press Bui Thi Mai (2011-2015) Page 42 Graduation paper 17 C.E.Eckersley and J.M Eckersley (1960) A comprehensive English grammar England Longman group 18 Swan, M, Walter (1997) How English work USA, Oxford University Press 19 W.C Fields (1880-1946) Grammar of Contemporary English London Longman 20 Baker (1992) Traditional grammar London.S.I.U.P 21 Farlex Inc (2010) The Grammar book Boston: Heinle 22 Sinlair J.C et al(1990) English Grammar Glasgow Har Percollins Published 23 Asher.K (1994) Rules, Pattern and words New York Cambridge University Press 24 Willis.D(2003) Advanced Grammar in Use Cambridge University Press Bui Thi Mai (2011-2015) Page 43 Graduation paper Appendix (For students) Exercise 1: Change the sentence from Active to Passive voice They should send to the complain the head office They had postponed the meeting because of their illness If you had left the key in it your car might have stolen An electrical fault have caused the fire In San Francisco is going to held next year‟s congress Harry ate six shrimp at dinner We can solve the problem Yesterday he have cleaned the window In 1895 somebody built this house 10 Somebody is cleaning the room at the moment Exercise 1: Change the sentence from passive to active At dinner, six shrimp were eaten by Harry The savannah is roamed by beautiful giraffes The flat tire was changed by Sue A movie is going to be watched by us tonight The obstacle course was run by me in record time The entire stretch of highway was paved by the crew The novel was read by Mom in one day A scathing review was written by the critic The house will be cleaned by me every Saturday 10 A safety video will be watched by the staff every year Bui Thi Mai (2011-2015) Page 44 Graduation paper Questionnaires How you feel about your teacher‟s methods of teaching English passive voice? A Like B Dislike C Other How often does your teacher give exercises or material about passive voice? A always B often C seldom What is the information channel you often search the passive „material? A Internet B Self study C School Do you remember the knowledge about English passive voice that your teacher taught? Bui Thi Mai (2011-2015) A Yes, of course B No C A little Page 45 Graduation paper Appendix (For teachers) What you think about teaching passive voice for Duong Noi secondary school? A Necessary B Boring C Difficult How often you spend time on teaching Passive Voice in class room ? A Sometimes B Seldom C Usually What you material of teaching Passive voice? A A little B Enough C A lots Which difficulties you think when teaching English Passive Voice? A Boring lesson B Too many knowledge C other How often you give passive voice homework for students? Bui Thi Mai (2011-2015) A Usually B Often C Seldom Page 46 Graduation paper Do you often test your students about the passive voice? A Yes B No C Sometimes Do you usually use English passive voice in your lesson? A Often B Seldom C Never Bui Thi Mai (2011-2015) Page 47