Trang 1 HUE UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES --- TRAN NHU QUYNH THE USE OF VERB-PREPOSITION COLLOCATIONS IN ACADEMIC ESSAYS BY EFL STUDENTS AT HUE UNI
HUE UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES - TRAN NHU QUYNH THE USE OF VERB-PREPOSITION COLLOCATIONS IN ACADEMIC ESSAYS BY EFL STUDENTS AT HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, University of Foreign Languages and International Studies, Hue University THUA THIEN HUE, 2023 HUE UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES - TRAN NHU QUYNH THE USE OF VERB-PREPOSITION COLLOCATIONS IN ACADEMIC ESSAYS BY EFL STUDENTS AT HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 8140111 SUPERVISOR: DR PHAM THI NGUYEN AI THUA THIEN HUE, 2023 ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ - TRẦN NHƯ QUỲNH VIỆC SỬ DỤNG NGỮ KẾT HỢP ĐỘNG TỪGIỚI TỪ TRONG BÀI LUẬN TIẾNG ANH CỦA SINH VIÊN TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ, ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH MÃ SỐ: 8140111 NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: TS PHẠM THỊ NGUYÊN ÁI THỪA THIÊN HUẾ, 2023 STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP The work contained in this thesis has not been previously submitted for a degree in any university I certify that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, my thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the thesis itself Signed: Trần Như Quỳnh Date: 13/11/2023 i ABSTRACT The use of collocations in academic essays is an essential aspect of language proficiency for EFL university students This study aimed to investigate HUFLIS second-year students’ perceptions of the use of verb-preposition collocations in academic essays, as well as common types of verbpreposition collocation errors A mixed methods research design was employed, including questionnaires, academic essays analysis and semi-structured interviews While the data from the questionnaire were statistically analyzed, the data from the academic essays and interviews were collected and analyzed appropriately to provide insights into the study concerns The results indicated that all of the student participants had positive perceptions of the use of verb-preposition collocations even though they struggled with different levels of difficulty In addition, the study discovered that the participants generated a large number of verb-preposition collocations in their academic essays, including verb-preposition (strong collocations), phrasal verbs (weak collocations), and verb-preposition-fixed elements (idioms) The findings also revealed that the percentage of incorrect verb-preposition collocations produced was high, and the most common types of errors were using incorrect prepositions and omitting prepositions The results also provided pedagogical implications for EFL teaching and learning ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Undertaking this Master of Arts thesis has been proven a challenging endeavor for myself, being someone who still finds researching something intricate and demanding Completing this thesis, honestly, was not something I thought I would be capable of achieving While inner strength is often cited as a key to success, I owe completing to the love and support of the precious individuals in my life Their endless belief in me and their constant encouragement have been the driving force behind my determination to overcome every obstacle along the way to success First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my research supervisor, Dr Pham Thi Nguyen Ai, for her invaluable guidance, expertise, and ongoing support throughout the entire research process She is one of the most dedicated lecturers I have had the chance to work with Her insightful feedback and encouragement have been instrumental in shaping this study and ensuring its quality Secondly, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to Ms Thai Ton Phung Diem, MA for her invaluable support and assistance in providing her students’ essays for the mid-term test Her dedication to the teaching profession and commitment to helping students improve their writing skills is truly commendable I would also like to show my sincere appreciation to the second-year students of HUFLIS who participated in this study and generously provided their essays for analysis Their contributions have been invaluable in shedding light on the use of verb-preposition collocations in academic writing In addition, I am extremely grateful to the faculty and staff of HUFLIS for their ongoing cooperation and assistance in facilitating the data collection process Their support and enthusiasm for this research project are greatly appreciated iii It is important for me to acknowledge the contributions of all the researchers, scholars, and educators in the field of collocations in EFL academic writing, whose previous work and insights laid the foundation for this study Lastly, I would be remiss in not mentioning my family, my friends, and my loved ones for their unwavering support, encouragement, and understanding throughout this research endeavor Their unconditional love, their belief in me, and their encouragement have been a constant source of motivation to overcome all challenges that I encountered while pursuing this thesis Although undertaking a Master of Arts thesis is an arduous experience, every single hardship is worth it since it helps me realise how loved and lucky I am I express my heartfelt gratitude to all those mentioned above, as well as to any individuals or organizations inadvertently left unnamed, for their support, encouragement, and contributions that have made this study possible With all these people’s tenderness and support, I feel empowered to continue exploring and growing in my chosen path iv List of Tables Table 2.1 Lewis’s (2000) collocation categories 11 Table 2.2 Benson et al.’s (1986) collocation categories 12 Table 2.3 Hudcovičová et al.’s (2021) categories of verb-preposition collocations 14 Table 2.4 Causes of lexical collocation errors 16 Table 2.5 Causes of grammatical collocation errors 16 Table 3.1 Three main clusters of the questionnaire 26 Table 4.1 Frequency distribution of verb-preposition collocations in students’ academic essays 42 Table 4.2 Frequency of verb-preposition collocation errors 51 Table 4.3 Frequency distribution of verb-preposition collocation errors in academic essays 53 v List of Figures Figure 4.1 Second-year students’ level of familiarity with the term “collocations” 37 Figure 4.2 Second-year students’ opinion of the importance of collocations in academic essays 39 Figure 4.3 Second-year students’ frequency of verb-preposition collocations in academic essays 40 Figure 4.4 Second-year students’ perceptions about the level of impacts of verbpreposition collocations on academic essays 43 Figure 4.5 Second-year students’ perceptions about the benefits of verb-preposition collocations in academic essays 45 Figure 4.6 Second-year students’ perceptions about the challenge to identify and use appropriate verb-preposition collocations in academic essays 47 Figure 4.7 Second-year students’ frequency of verb-preposition collocation errors 50 Figure 4.8 Second-year students perceive the types of verb-preposition collocations in their essays 52 Figure 4.9 Students’ opinions about the level of influences of verb-preposition collocation errors on overall grades or evaluations 57 Figure 4.10 Second-year students’ approaches to reduce verb-preposition collocational errors 58 Figure 4.11 Second-year students’ opinion about the level of focus on verb-preposition collocation teaching and practice 61 vi List of Abbreviations % Percent BNC British National Corpus C1 Level C1 (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) COCA Corpus of Contemporary American English EFL English as a Foreign Language ESL English as a Second Language GPA Grade Point Average HUFLIS Hue University of Foreign Languages and International Studies L2 Second Language VSTEP Vietnamese Standardized Test of English Proficiency vii