BINH DUONG PROVINCIAL PEOPLE’S COMMITTEE THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY BÙI THỊ NGỌC AN COMMON ERRORS IN THE USE OF ARTICLES AMONG NON-MAJOR ENGLISH FIRST - YEAR STUDENTS AT THU DAU MOT UNIVERSI
INTRODUCTION
Rationale for the study
English is becoming more and more popular, making learning it more important and necessary than ever Through practice, students (ss) in general and students at Thu Dau Mot University (TDMU) in particular encounter many errors when using articles in English
In writing tests, in Table 4.1 (chapter 4) students usually make some errors, such as spelling mistakes, tenses, determiners, punctuation marks, Inside, determiners account for the highest percentage of errors (479 errors involving determiners and NP), especially the 272 errors involving articles (“a”/ “an”/ “the”), which take up 56.78% Beside that, through the process of teaching, through assessment tests, and through observation of writing tests, students often choose the wrong article more than others The aims of the study are to (1) What are the common types of articles? (2) What are the possible causes of the errors the ss make in the use of English articles? (3) What are the solutions and recommendations for the teachers to teach English articles in noun phrase effectively? And the researcher decided to do a research paper on this issue That is the reason why the researcher choose “Common Errors in the Use of Articles among Non-major English First - year Student at Thu Dau Mot University: Problems and Suggestions” as the title of this research paper
❖ The importance of articles in English language
Articles are quite important in English, as they provide certain information about the nouns they precede The absence or misuse of an article will make a sentence look and sound very strange to the English people
Although the meaning of this is clear, it is ungrammatical in English because it lacks an article
The definite article “the” specifies, characterizes, and identifies a noun, and often suggests the listener is already familiar with it “The” is also used to delimit– to define a certain subgroup It is also used with geographical sites (but not names of countries unless there is a noun in the name) For example:
“The Italian people” (not necessarily all Italians but Italians as a group)
“That is the most important thing you’ve ever said”
“The cheese I like best is Swiss cheese”
“The dog ate my shoe” (implies a dog you are familiar with)
“The Republic of South Africa” (but: “South Africa”)
If no articles (“zero article”/ “ỉ”) is used (if grammatically possible), the noun becomes more general; nouns are often used in the plural in this case For example:
“Milk is full of calcium.”
“Firearms can be dangerous if they are used by children.”
The indefinite articles “a” and “an” also treat a noun in the general sense and are also used to state one’s profession:
“A dog ate my shoe.” (implies an unfamiliar dog)
“The shots came from a car of unknown type.”
“I’m a dentist and she’s an optician.”
Sometimes the article makes little difference in meaning:
“The British people love tea.”
Articles in the English system are one of the most difficult aspects of English grammar for ss Articles in English are frequently used and easily confused, which can negatively affect communication
There are three main causes leading to this confusion:
Firstly, articles such as a, an, the are commonly used function words in English, so when Ss write an essay, applying the rules for using articles causes them a lot of difficulties Secondly, these words as determiners are often spoken with such weak stress, that is also difficult for non-native speakers in learning English Finally, it is difficult to determine when to use the article “the”, e.g., when writing a number of students instead of the number of students
Errors in the use of articles can be explained by the fact that Vietnamese does not have articles which are exactly equivalent to “a”, “an” and “the” in English Instead, Vietnamese uses a system of word numbers and word types
It is because of this difference between English and Vietnamese that many Vietnamese people, when using English, have difficulty distinguishing the usage of “a”,
“an” and “the” Many students confuse or even omit these articles when speaking and writing English.
The aims of the study
This study carries out with the aims:
(1) To identify the students’ common types of errors in using English articles (2) To find out the causes of errors committed by non-major English first-year students when learning and using English articles
(3) To work out possible solutions to the problems identified.
Research questions
The study must answer the three research questions in term of achieving its purposes
1 What are the common types of article errors made by first–year students at TDMU?
2 What are the possible causes of the errors the students make in the use of English articles?
3 What are the solutions and recommendations for the teachers to teach English articles in noun phrase effectively?
The scope of the study
Because of time constraints and the length of a master’s thesis, the scope of this study is on the following aspects: research on the different kinds of English tests, focussing on the use of articles and assignments, and teaching and learning activities and academic instructions during the course The participants of this study are 194 non– majored English first–year students at TDMU and HUFI.
The research methods
In order to complete the paper, the quantitative and qualitative methods are used in the main research:
(1) Statistical methods are used to find out and classify the learners’ errors;
(2) Descriptive methods are used to describe the actual errors made by the learners.
The significance of the study
The study will be useful and meaningful not only to the author and her colleagues in improving the teaching quality, but also to the students who will get a lot of benefits from it The result of the study will serve as a foundation for the possible solutions to students’ common errors in using English articles Besides, the study will make some contributions to the field of teaching methodology.
The structure of the study
The study organizes into five chapters as follows:
This chapter introduces the Rationale for the study, the Aims of the Study, the Research Questions, the Scope of the Study, the Research Methods, the Significance of the Study and the Structure of the Study.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Definitions of terms (Extracted from Oxford Advanced Dictionary)
As explained by Oxford Dictionary, english article is a word used before a noun to show whether the noun refers to a particular example of something or to a general example of something
As mentioned by Oxford Dictionary, definite article is a determiner “the” that introduces a NP and implies that the thing mentioned has already been mentioned, or is common knowledge, or is about to be defined
As stated by Oxford Advanced Dictionary, indefinite article is a determiner (“a” and “an”) that introduces a NP and implies that the thing referred to is non–specific (for example: (1) “in she bought me a book”; (2) “government is an art”; (3) “he went to a public school”) Typically, the indefinite article is used to introduce new concepts into a discourse
Following Oxford Advanced Dictionary, zero article refers to NP that contain no articles, either definite or indefinite
According to Oxford Advanced Dictionary, determiner is a modifying word that determines the kind of reference a noun or noun group has, including articles, posssive pronouns, quantifiers and numbers, for example: “a”, “the”, “every”, “my”,” that”, etc.
Types of English articles
Thomson and Martinet (1986:15–22) divide English articles into two categories: definite article “the” and indefinite article “a”/ “an” However, Quirk and Greenbaum (1987) add a new type, “zero article(ỉ)”
As a result, the English articles “a”/ “an”, “the”, and “ỉ” (“the null” or “zero marker” or “zero article”).Indefinite and definite articles are the two types of articles
As indefinite articles, singular countable nouns use “a”/ “an” The definite marker for all nouns is “the” The table below summarizes this system:
Table 2 1: Summary of English articles
Countable Noun Singular “a”/ “an” “the”
2.2.1 Definite articles and indefinite articles
“The definite article “the” never varies in form whether it refers to people or things, singular or plural” (Alexander, 1998:55)
(1) a “Ann is in the garden.” (“the garden of this house”) b “Please pass the wine.” (“the wine on the table”)
In the example above, the noun “surprises” in the first sentence is referring to generic surprises as the speaker does not designate what kind of surprises Consequently, the noun “surprises” does not involve a definite article “the”
Quirk et al (1985:272) give this definition:
The indefinite article is notionally the “unmarked” article in the sense that it is used (for singular count nouns) where the conditions for the use of “the” do not obtain That is, “a”/ “an” X will be used where the reference of X is not uniquely identifiable in the shared knowledge of the speaker and hearer
The indefinite article “a”/ “an” occurs in an indefinite singular NP environment to denote the countability of the NP This special syntactic distribution of “a”, however, signals an important conceptual meaning such as individuating or particularising
Although the term “zero article” traditionally refers to any instance in which a noun requires no article (zero article/ ỉ), the researchers (Yotsukura, 1970; Celce– Murcia & Larsen–Freeman, 1999) divided the “zero article” into two types: zero and null To Yotsukura, there is distributional evidence suggesting a form other than the
“zero articles” By using a post modifying restrictive relative clause test, she discovered that the second zero form is found before singular proper nouns and some common nouns
Chesterman suggests using the term the “null form” for the second zero article Let us consider examples such as the following from Chesterman (1991:17)
(3) a * “I like London that the tourists see.” b “I like the London that the tourists see.” c “I like cheese that is made of goat’s milk.”
(4) a “Word has come that the Pope has died.” b * “Word that came yesterday was that the Pope has died.” c “The word that came yesterday was that the Pope has died.”
(5) a “What about question seven?” b * “What about question seven you answered before, then?” c “What about the question seven you answered before, then?”
(6) a “Breakfast is ready.” b * “Breakfast you asked for is ready.” c “The breakfast you asked for is ready.”
Through a post–modifying restrictive clause test, it can be seen that there is a difference between a proper noun such as “London” (with a presumed “null article”) and a common noun such as “cheese” (with a presumed “zero article”) A noun with a
“zero article” can be used with a restrictive clause, but a noun with the “null form” cannot In order to “identify” the proper nouns in (3b), (4c), (5c), and (6c), “the” should be used instead Master (1997) supports Chesterman when he regards the “null form” as “the null article” To him, “the null article” is the most definite of the articles.
Usage of English articles
“Articles are the most commonly used words in English, and yet their usage is in fact surprisingly complex Part of the complexity can be attributed to the fact that the English article system does not consist of one–to–one form and meaning relationships This complexity poses a number of challenges for L2 learners of English” (Andersen
Quirk and Greenbaum’s (1987) classification of usage types is well known and frequently cited Their classification is based on two concepts: specific reference and generic reference From the standpoint of language teaching, this classification has produced a large number of “detailed rules” that can be generalized and re–categorized The three basic functions of the article, according to Quirk and Greenbaum (1987:67– 80), are to express (a) specific reference, (b) generic reference, and (c) unique reference
Specific reference addresses the most important aspect of the article, as it includes the functions of the article as a discourse referent (e.g “A dog and two cats are sleeping in the cage”) The reference is specific because we are thinking about specific specimens of the class “cat” Quirk and Greenbaum (1987) In English, new information is given to the reader at the end of a sentence As a result, new information is marked with an indefinite article, and once the reader has been introduced to the information, it is placed in sentence–non–final position and marked with a definite article
Generic reference, according to Quirk and Greenbaum (1987:68), is used to describe what is normal or typical for members of a class (e.g “Cats are cute animals”) Because we are thinking of the class “cat” as a whole rather than specific cats, the reference is general.
The determiners in Vietnamese language
Before we start with a description of the Vietnamese determiners, we will briefly review the construction of the NP in Vietnamese and the issue of noun categorization in languages First, generally, a Vietnamese NP has three parts: a pre–part, a central part, and a post–part The pre–part consists of determiners and quantifiers The central part consists of nouns, and the post–part of referential particles (i.e “one word”) and modifiers (Nguyễn Tài Cẩn, 1975)
(“These three pieces of chalk”)
In (7) the pre–part is “ba” (i.e meaning “three”, an absolute quantifier), the post part is “này” (i.e a referential particle equivalent to “this”) In the central part, there are two nouns: “viên” and “phấn” The structure of the central part is similar to a partitive phrase in English This kind of partitive structure is quite abundant in Vietnamese NP constructions It is this central part that has raised a lot of debate among linguists, namely, which noun is head: “viên” (“piece”) or “phấn” (“chalk”)?
The first view holds that the nucleus of the central part lies in the second noun (i.e “phấn” = “chalk”) rather than in the first noun, which is a classifier (i.e “viên” “piece”) The second view, by contrast, maintains that the nucleus should be the first noun, not the second noun It is also worth noting that according to Cao Xuân Hạo (1999), who advocates the second view, the first noun is a count noun rather than a classifier, and the second noun is a non–count noun, which acts as a post modifier (See Cao Xuân Hạo (1999) for his detailed argument.) These views are interesting, but we will not take a position because we merely want to focus on the similarities and differences between the Vietnamese and English systems to understand what is so difficult for Vietnamese learners In this description, the analysis will base on Cao Xuân Hạo’s view concerning the NP construction That is, if there are two elements in the central part of a NP, the first noun is the head, being a count noun, which is modified by a non–count noun that follows as is seen in (7)
Second, in order to understand the noun system in Vietnamese in relation to English, we need to deal with the categorization of mass and count nouns Linguists have agreed that different languages have different ways of categorizing a noun as count or mass For example, in English “furniture” is non–count while “cow” in Vietnamese is a mass noun, and it is a count–noun in English We can mention in passing that different ways of categorizing nouns can influence the semantic correspondence between nouns across languages Therefore, if “cow” is used as an example again,
“cow” in English is equal to “con bò” in Vietnamese, whose structure consists of count noun (“con” = head) modified by a non–count noun (“bò=cows”) The non–count noun
“bò” in Vietnamese is only semantically equivalent to the plural count noun “cows” in
This is in line with Langacker’s view that both a plural noun and a mass noun can be classified under the category of mass (See Langacker, vol.2, 1991.)
With respect to Vietnamese determiners, linguists have been inclined to agree that Vietnamese has an article system which can partly be compared to that in English or French (Trần Trọng Kim 1941; Nguyễn Tài Cẩn 1975b; Đinh văn Đức 1986) According to Nguyễn Tài Cẩn (1975) and Đinh văn Đức (1986), Vietnamese has four determiners: “những”, “các” (plural markers), “một” (= “a”/ “one”), “null–form” and
“zero article” However, some other linguists do not agree on categorizing “những” and
“các” as articles, but consider them numerals (Emeneau, 1951) Cao Xuân Hạo (1999) still considers “một”, “zero”, “những”, and “các” quantifiers Although the issue is controversial, in this section we will provide a sketch of the grammar of the article–like determiners with regard to the marking of definiteness and nondefiniteness based on Nguyễn Tài Cẩn (1975) In this description we will use the term determiner for what some linguists considered as articles (Nguyễn Tài Cẩn, 1975; Đinh văn Đức, 1986) and for the word “cái”, which is quite controversial This presentation will reveal some difficulties Vietnamese learners may encounter when acquiring the English article system Let us now start with the determiner “một”
Linguists generally agree that the Vietnamese article system can be compared to the English article system in terms of determiners Vietnamese has four determiners, according to Đinh Văn Đức (1986): “những”, “các” (plural markers), “một” (= “a”/
“one”), “null–form” and “zero article” However, some linguists disagree that “những” and “các” are articles and instead consider them numerals In this study, I will refer to what some linguists call articles as determiners This paper will discuss some of the difficulties that Vietnamese learners may face when learning the English article system
“Một” (a), derive from the numeral “một” (one), is an indefinite determiner in
Vietnamese “Một” is quite similar to a in English in terms of non–definite and specific use
However, “một” + N does not seem to be an equivalent of “a” + N in English with respect to predicate nominative constructions and generic use
(9) “Ông ấy là bác sĩ.”
“Ông ấy là một bác sĩ.”
Hence, the use of the indefinite article in a predicate nominative construction is expected to be a potential difficulty for Vietnamese learners
Second, “một” +N cannot be a corresponding translation for a+N in generic use The sentence “A lion is a mammal” is rendered in Vietnamese by means of some modification such as any typical representation of “The lion is a mammal” The illustration is in (10)
(10) “Bất kỳ con sư tử nào cũng là thuộc loài động vật có vú.”
“Any lions also belong class mammal.”
Hence, “một” in Vietnamese is used with a count noun having either a specific or a non–specific sense However, in constructions like the predicate nominative construction, “một” is not an equivalent for a because non–count nouns occur in this construction in Vietnamese.Thus the use of the indefinite article in a predicate nominative construction is expected to be a potential difficulty for Vietnamese learners Also the indefinite article in a generic sense is expected to be difficult
(11) “Ở chợ trời đang cú bỏn ỉ đồ đạc và ỉ quần ỏo đấy ỉ Đồ đạc thỡ giỏ cũng phải chăng cũn ỉ quần ỏo thỡ rất rẻ.”
(“ỉ Furniture and ỉ clothing are being sold at the flea market The furniture is reasonably priced, and the clothing is cheap.”)
In example (11), the uncountable nouns “furniture” and “clothing” when first mentioned are not preceded by a determiner When they are repeated the second time, they must be preceded by the definite article “the” Whereas, in Vietnamese, no determiner is used in both cases
As mentioned, the two no–article forms in Vietnamese are “null” and “zero”
“Null” is used before a count noun with a definite sense “Zero” is used with non–count nouns, which are neutral to being definite or non–definite It is the latter that may present difficulty for ss when acquiring “the” in English For most nouns in endophoric uses (i.e situation uses such as “the supermarket”, “the park”) which take “the” in English will take zero articles in Vietnamese because the nouns used in these cases (i.e
“endophoric uses”) in Vietnamese are mostly non–count Also, “the special null” as in (11) in cases of second mention can influence Vietnamese learners’ decision in using the or “null” when a noun is later referred to in English
Also, in cases of second mention, Vietnamese learners may use a “zero article” before an English noun (instead of using “the”) as a result of the influence of “the special null” as illustrated in (8) For in Vietnamese after a count noun is introduced, a non–count noun may be used for a second mention In this case, a “zero article” (i.e
“the special null”, as labeled by Nguyễn Tài Cẩn) is used We will now turn our attention to “những” and “các” (“numerators”)
“Những” and “các” are literally plural markers They are used with count nouns to mark plurality
(12) “Những vì sao” (“the stars”)
“Các vì sao” (“the stars”)
However, they are a little different from the
(13) “Phía sân khấu là một nhóm các nhạc công Những nhạc công đó chơi nhiều loại nhạc cụ phương đụng.” (“Behind the screen was a group of ỉ musicians The musicians played various oriental instruments.”)
Errors Analysis
2.5.1 The notions of errors in language learning
A number of experts in linguistics have presented numerous notions of error Norrish (1992:7) calls “a systematic deviation when a learner has not learnt something and consistently gets it wrong, an error”, while Corder (1992) maintains that errors are systematic and consistent deviances characteristic of the learner’s linguistic system at a given stage of learning
In the late 1960s, EA emerged and subsequently became the optimal choice over
CA This does not imply a complete rejection of CA; it remains foundational since it gave way to errors analysis But EA reveals a wider dimension of likely errors rather than monopolizing it in one dimension as in CA
Brown (2000:166) states that EA is the fact that learners do make errors and that these errors can be observed, analyzed and classified to reveal something of the system operating within the learners The purpose is to show some problems faced by the Ss It is a key to understand the process of second or FL acquisition
In any discussion of errors, the two common questions are of what is meant by an error and how an error can be distinguished from a mistake Corder (1967, 1971) and James (1998) reveal a criterion of self–correctability to make such a clear–cut distinction A mistake can be more or less self–corrected while an error cannot be recognizable by the learners and is, therefore, not amenable to self–corrected The learner’s instrument of correction is their grammatical knowledge of the target language
Furthermore, Brown (1980: 165, 1994: 205) has also shown that a mistake is “a performance error that is either a random guess or a slip in that it is a failure to utilize a known system correctly” whereas an error is “a noticeable deviation from the adult grammar of a native speaker, reflecting the interlanguage competence of a learner” Similarly, according to Richards et al (1992: 127), the term error is “the use of a linguistic item (e.g a word, a grammatical item, etc.) in a way which a fluent or native speaker of the language regards as showing faulty or incomplete learning” The authors also make a clear–cut distinction between an error that “results from incomplete knowledge” and a mistake that “is caused by lack of attention, fatigue, carelessness, or some other aspects of performance”
The differences between “performance errors” and “competence errors” should not be neglected As in first language learning, some of errors are “lapses” or slips of the tongue” due to physical or psychological reasons and they are non–systematic (Corder: 1981) Some errors, on the other hand, occur regularly and show the misunderstanding of the L2 system The first kind of error is what Chomsky (1965) calls
“performance error” and the second kind “competence error” The competence is “the speaker–hearer’s knowledge of his language” while performance is “the actual use of language in concrete situation” (Chomsky, 1965: 4)
This thesis aimed at examining the students’ ability in their use or usage 1 of English articles as well as analyzing their common errors in terms of linguistic aspect; therefore, the term “errors” will be frequently used in this thesis
In the fifties and early sixties, language learners’ errors were considered undesirable and looked upon as “a sign of learning failure”, i.e something not having adequately acquired (Littewood, 1984: 22) In other words, “errors were the results of non–learning, rather than wrong learning” (Ellis, 1994: 47) Lado (1957) proposed a scientific description of both the learners’ first and second or Foreign Language (FL)
1 Although Widdowson (1978) first makes a distinction between use and usage in facilitating a language pedagogic discussion, these terms are equally applicable to language acquisition Therefore, they are used interchangeably in this M.A thesis According to Widdowson (1978: 3, cited in Ellis, 1994: 13), usage is “that aspect of performance which makes evident the extent to which the language user demonstrates his knowledge of linguistic rules” while use is “that aspect of performance which makes evident the extent to which the language user demonstrates his ability to use his knowledge of linguistic rules for effective communication”
Language pattern from the learners’ first language were taken to be a major cause of errors in their target language At that time, “the prevention of errors was more important than the identification of errors” (Ellis, 1985: 51) This outlook owed a great deal to structuralist views of language and behaviourist views of human learning, with the belief that if the teacher taught well, taking great care to help his/her learners avoid errors, and if the patterns of the new language were drilled efficiently, there was no reason for the learners to make any errors at all Thus, Ts and learners had to engage in repetition, language drills, and over mastery of language items (Richards and Rogers, 1986); furthermore, “massive practice” was emphasized to “ensure correctness” (Brumfitet al, 1980: 134)
It was not until the 1970s, these foundations fell into disrepute as linguists began to look at learners’ language errors in a new way There was “a resurgence of interest in EA” (Ellis, 1985: 519) At that time errors were no longer seen as “unwanted forms” (George: 1972) to be eliminated but were used as data for analysis and as evidence of learner’s active contribution to Second Language Acquisition (SLA) The goal of language teaching shifted, at the same time, from linguistic competence to communicative competence EA became development that owed much to the work of Corder, who “published a number of seminal articles” in which he examined errors “as a way of investigating learning processes” (Ellis, 1994: 19) As more and more studies have been undertaken, it has been proved that “learners must make errors as an unavoidable and necessary part of the learning process and errors is a visible proof that learning is taking place” (Brumfit et al, 1980: 135)
According to Ellis (1994), if a regular pattern of errors could be observed and the learners were seen to progress through this pattern, it was a sign of achievement in learning With this change in attitude, the emphasis of EA has also changed from “the product”, i.e the errors themselves, to “the process” or the system behind these errors
It was realized that the learners evolved a system for themselves, which was much simpler than the system of language being learnt by them: they seemed to ignore certain redundancies and revised some rules if necessary, simplifying their learning tasks The learners were also found to change this system as the increasing exposure to the language they were learning According to Richard (1974), errors can be looked upon as a developmental phenomenon, providing evidence regarding the rules and categories used by the learners in a particular time
Bartlett (2002: 68) states that the theoretical frameworks of Contrastive Analysis (CA), EA, and Interlanguage 2 were established to react to the CA Hypothesis, which attempts to “predict the errors in L2 that the learners of various L1 backgrounds will make” (Larsen–Freeman and Long, 1991: 52–55) In this thesis, EA was considerably concerned
Richards et al (1992: 127), theoretically supported by Ellis (1994: 47), define
EA as “the study and analysis of the errors made by second or FL learners” or as the study of “errors in learners” “interlanguage systems” (Brown, 1994: 204) “Whereas
Definition of Determiner
“Determiner” is a word that appears before nouns or NP to indicate a specific quantity
There are six different kinds of determiners: (1) “Demonstrative determiner”; (2)
“Articles”; (3) “Possessive determiner”; (4) “Quantifier”; (5) “Number” and (6)
The Six Types of Determiners Determiners are classified into six types in traditional grammar
“Demonstrative determiners”, also known as “demonstrative adjectives”, are adjectives that show where the noun or pronoun is in relation to the speaker “This”,
“that”, “these”, and “those” are some examples of “determiners” Take note of the overlap between “demonstrative pronouns” and “determiners”
“This” and “that” should be used before singular nouns This is for something the speaker is holding or close to In the meantime, “that” indicates a distant object
“These” and “those” should come before plural nouns “These” are items that the speaker is holding or is close to Those point to several distant objects
“Adjectives” and “pronouns” are vastly different Keep in mind that
“demonstrative pronouns” are not followed by nouns Meanwhile, “demonstrative determiners” are followed by a noun, either abstract or concrete
(a) “That meal was so unforgettable that I sometimes dream about it.”
(c) “Those books were owned by the founder of this organization.”
An article is a word that indicates that a noun is a noun but does not describe it They include “a”, “an”, and “the” The is a definite article, also known as a common determiner, whereas “a” and “an” are indefinite articles
Indefinite articles are used for names that are not specific, whereas definite articles are used for names that are specific For example, because the solar system contains only one sun, we say the sun rather than a sun
Use “a” for consonant sounds and “an” for vowel sounds in the following noun For example, we might say “an apple” and “a raspberry”
(̣a) “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.”
(b) “A warm light bulb will make your bedroom appear cozier.”
(c) “The man next door introduced himself to Ruby.”
In English, a possessive adjective/ pronouns or determiner indicates ownership of the noun or NP preceding it.Possessive pronouns are a type of personal pronoun that replaces entire NP, whereas “Possessive Determiners” can be used with both nouns and
(2) “your” (singular or plural, second person)
(3) “his” (singular, third person, male)
(5) “its” (singular, third person, object)
(7) “their” (plural/ singular, third person)
(a) “You should visit my house this weekend.”
(b) “Our goal is to help improve the quality of life without spending a lot.”
(c) “That plate has her favorite pattern.”
Determiners known as quantifiers express the amount of something without revealing the precise number Quantifiers like “more”, “much”, “less”, and “few” are frequently used The determiners that are included in the category of quantifiers are listed below
(a) “Many people went to the fair last month.”
(b) “We need to spend more time together.”
(c) “Some priests walked with the nuns.”
Determiners that come before a noun are numbers or numerals These indicators may be the simplest to identify Some examples of phrases with numbers include “three spoons”, “twenty–seven cakes”, and “six instruments” For examples:
(a) “I received twenty-seven cakes on my twenty-seventh birthday.”
(b) “She adds three sugar spoons to her cup of soy milk.”
(c) “She has six instruments in her house, and she can play them.”
Ordinals are also expressed numerically, but in a different way You might use the term “the third spoon” indicating ordinals is used as an example
Words that lack numbers are a variety of ordinals But they are associated with
“first”, “second”, “third”, etc General ordinals are the name given to these determinates They are also used as determiners before nouns, just like ordinals, numbers, and other terms “The previous game” and “next week” are two instances of expressions using universal ordinals For examples:
(a) “The previous game is awesome.”
(b) “They are going to China in next week.”
Experimental research
“Experimental research” is research conducted with a scientific approach using two sets of variables The first set acts as a constant, which you use to measure the differences of the second set Quantitative research methods, for example, are experimental
Any research conducted under scientifically acceptable conditions uses experimental methods The success of experimental studies hinges on researchers confirming the change of a variable is based solely on the manipulation of the constant variable The research should establish a notable cause and effect
The researcher can conduct experimental research in the following situations:
• Time is a vital factor in establishing a relationship between cause and effect
• Invariable behavior between cause and effect
• You wish to understand the importance of the cause and effect
2.7.2 Types of experimental research design
The classic experimental design definition is, “The methods used to collect data in experimental studies.”
There are three primary types of experimental design:
Classifying research designs based on conditions or groups, determines the type of research design to use
1 Pre – experimental research design: A group, or various groups, are kept under observation after implementing factors of cause and effect This research is conducted to understand whether further investigation is necessary for these particular groups The pre–experimental research is divided further into three types:
• One–shot Case Study Research Design
• One–group Pretest–posttest Research Design
2 True experimental research design: True experimental research relies on statistical analysis to prove or disprove a hypothesis, making it the most accurate form of research
Of the types of experimental design, only true design can establish a cause–effect relationship within a group In a true experiment, three factors need to be satisfied:
• There is a Control Group, which won’t be subject to changes, and an Experimental Group, which will experience the changed variables
• A variable which can be manipulated by the researcher
This experimental research method commonly occurs in the physical sciences
3 Quasi–experimental research design: The word “Quasi” indicates similarity A quasi–experimental design is similar to experimental, but it is not the same The difference between the two is the assignment of a control group In this research, an independent variable is manipulated, but the participants of a group are not randomly assigned Quasi–research is used in the field settings where random assignment is either irrelevant or not required
It is vital to test new ideas or theories Why do we put time, effort, and funding into something that may not work?
Experimental research allows researchers to test their ideas in a controlled environment before taking it to market It also provides the best method to test the researcher’s theory, thanks to the following advantages:
• Researchers have a stronger hold over variables to obtain desired results
• The subject or industry does not impact the effectiveness of experimental research Any industry can implement it for research purposes
• After analyzing the results, the researcher can apply your findings to similar ideas or situations
• Researchers can identify the cause and effect of a hypothesis They can further analyze this relationship to determine more in–depth ideas
• Experimental research makes an ideal starting point The researcher’s data collection is a foundation on which the researcher can build more ideas and conduct more action research.
Storytelling
Researchers have long been interested in the topic of storytelling A large number of researchers have dedicated their knowledge and energy to capitalizing on the benefits of this skill Words, pictures, or symbolic patterns are all used in storytelling (conceptual, leveled, patterned, and sequential) They have verbal, visual, and cogent learning preferences There are many different layouts for storytelling, but they typically serve a comparison goal In a learning assignment, they show the connections between facts and figures or important ideas and ideas
Storytelling can be utilized to teach speaking skills in conjunction with the role and layout of the teacher Functionally, there are two types of storytelling: those that meet specific needs and those that depict basic information structures (whole-to-part, cause/effect) (extended planning, objective setting)
According to Gibson (1990), storytelling does not intrude into class time as many
Ts think However, it can be a part of the actual lesson, which can help Ss retain the knowledge for a longer period of time
In the research entitled “An Experiential Study of Elementary Teachers with the Storytelling Process: Interdisciplinary Benefits Associated with Teacher Training and Classroom Integration,” Groce (2004) finds out that storytelling is found to be effective in sparking interest and improving language skills in activities associated with social studies, science, language arts, and bilingual education
In another study entitled “Teacher Storytelling: A Means for Creating and Learning within a Collaborative Space - Teaching and Teacher Education,” According to Shank (2006), storytelling can assist language teachers in creating a collaborative learning environment, reflecting on their education, recognizing new practical directions, and co-constructing a shared understanding of good pedagogy Educators also agree that storytelling lends itself particularly well to student exploration As a standard teaching tool, storytelling can encourage students to explore their individual expressiveness and improve their ability to communicate their thoughts and feelings effectively Storytelling has been shown to be beneficial to both Ts and Ss in terms of language teaching and learning by creating a positive and collaborative language learning classroom environment (Sever, 2014), as well as a convenient tool in helping students improve their linguistic skills in both their mother tongue and target language due to “numerous benefits embedded in stories” (Khodabandeh, 2018), regardless of age or culture (Lucarevschi, 2016) Storytelling can help students increase their vocabulary, which is essential for effective speaking and listening (Brakke & Houska, 2015)
Paulston (1974) defines communicative competence as knowing more than linguistic competence Many researchers discovered communicative competence in the 1970s They demonstrated significant differences in communicative and linguistic competence Notably, the distinction between language mastery and knowledge achievement allows a student to communicate interactively and frequently Furthermore, language skills like vocabulary and grammatical understanding are part of communicative competence, along with three other things (Xu Li- sheng, 2000)
Speaking proficiency is mostly determined by communicative ability (Scarcella, 1992) The ability to communicate successfully with people from different origins and cultures is a further prerequisite Language learners should concentrate on developing their communicative competence as they learn speaking techniques because it is intimately tied to the nature of speaking Speaking skills could be necessary for each actual situation Since spoken language is more frequently used in daily conversation than other skills, spoken language instruction must come first when a student begins to study a language For non-native speakers, learning a FL is exceedingly challenging The learner must be able to master both the language’s fundamentals and how to use them in various contexts Hence, the teacher must prepare the students to understand, respond to, and communicate ideas in spoken language with a particular level of accuracy and fluency
According to Richards and Renandya (2002), in order for verbal communication to be effective, students must be able to utilize the language effectively in social interactions that also involve nonverbal communication, such as gestures, body language, and expressions needed to convey messages clearly These researchers also stated that “our role as Ts is to ensure we provide that balance in storytelling.” This complementary role aids in overcoming the limitations and issues of each approach Furthermore, the storytelling skill is used to raise students’ awareness of the importance of learning language skills It is used to give students the opportunity to practice and apply their knowledge of social communication In the same vein, storytelling should be combined in teaching speaking courses
2.8.2 Benefits of storytelling in EFL teaching and learning
According to Telfer (2012), storytelling is a beneficial pedagogical technique that can be used in either EFL or ESL classrooms The benefits of using storytelling are enormous It has linguistic, and social values Storytelling, for example, can help develop all four language skills Storytelling encourages students to activate their schemata and connect previous knowledge to the events of the story In addition, students interpret the stories differently, which leads to lively debate When students are asked to retell the story, they practice speaking skills by using their own words based on what they have learned and understood from the story Students are also encouraged to read more actively when they are told stories Students are motivated when they hear lively and appealing stories
The classroom becomes a community through storytelling on a social level It fosters connections between students, their teacher, and the students themselves This setting brings the students and teachers closer, which is essential for decreasing the affective filter Learners begin to appreciate one another’s feelings and viewpoints among themselves
The usefulness of storytelling for learning, according to Hall and Strangeman (2001), should be increased Also, storytelling has a big impact on learning because it gives students ways to communicate in a way that increases their awareness and deepens their comprehension For presenting information and concepts in the classroom, the students are given a suitable instrument with a more pronounced visual technique (Chang et al., 2002) Learning how to explain and categorize information when speaking is supported for students (structure of a presentation such as opening, body parts, and conclusion) Teachers assist students in understanding how to organize information, expand vocabulary, divide sentences into grammatical structures, and connect topics with their own knowledge and easily remember topics
The benefits storytelling offers are uncountable In addition to the advantages listed above, storytelling teaches learners practical life skills including bargaining, taking turns, respecting others’ viewpoints, and reading between the lines It also expands the horizons for creativity for both teachers and students
Storytelling is a teaching and learning activity in which students are told a story one by one in front of the class while the other students listen By adopting this methodology, the lecturer typically proposes themes in advance, and students gather information or may share personal stories with the class Because learners naturally communicate their thoughts through words, storytelling becomes important This learning model, according to the author, is a better teaching and learning process because it covers all basic English skills, such as grammatical structure, vocabulary, and pronunciation
Storytelling is the act of retelling a story that has been read or heard in the storyteller’s own words based on their understanding of the story According to Zaro and Saberri in Akhyak and Indramawan (2013), storytelling entails interaction between a person and the listener on a certain level as well as between the storyteller and the audience Following that, Safdarian (2013) defines storytelling as the process by which students retell stories using a different wording from those used by the teacher Then, storytelling is cited as one instructional strategy that makes use of short stories by Ebrahiminejad et al (2014) According to Ling in Julia (2015), students are assisted in using the material and are given messages when using storytelling as a learner-centered strategy As a result, it may be claimed that storytelling is a teaching strategy in which students are expected to recount the stories’ content using various word combinations while also engaging in some sort of conversation with the storyteller
Meanwhile, Samantaray (2014) describes the procedures of storytelling as follows: (1) the teacher hangs different written stories with colorful papers on the board, (2) the teacher asks the students to make groups of five, (3) the teacher asks every group to take their paper from the board, (4) the teacher asks them to develop a story in 15 minutes, (5) the teacher asks them to retell their story based on the group discussion, and (6) the teacher gives award to the group considered as the best group Additionally, Fikriah (2016) presents the procedures of storytelling as follows: (1) the students are asked to sit in groups, (2) then, the students make a story based on a sequence of pictures having some key sentences given by the teacher, and (3) the teacher asks the students to tell the story based on the result of their discussion in front of the class
The same thing, Jalil (2014) explained that the storytelling skill has some steps in conducting a learning model on the teaching and learning process in the classroom, and the writer modified those steps to support his study Those steps are presented: Step 1: The teacher conveys the learning purpose;
Step 2: Students will acquire the explanation of the learning material;
Step 3: Students will develop the answer for the performance of the storytelling learning mode;
Step 4: The teacher will request students to hear the example of a story;
Step 5: The teacher will invite all students to see how to tell a story in front of the classroom;
Step 6: The teacher will ask several questions for students’ understanding of the learning material;
Step 7: The teacher will give a test;
Step 8: The teacher will evaluate the learning purpose’s success
There has been a review of the study’s theoretical underpinnings The researcher will introduce the research questions, research design, participants, instruments, and data collection procedure in the following chapter.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Setting of the study TDMU and HUFI
Vietnamese: Truong Dai Hoc Thu Dau Mot
English: Thu Dau Mot University
Training philosophy: Knowledge-Development-Prosperity
Type of school: Public school
Governing organization: The People’s Committee of Binh Duong Province
The toponymies explain Thu Dau Mot is a pairing phrase: Thu Dau, Mot Thu- as the sound of Han-Vietnamese means keeping, controlling, which talked about a military post guards a land, also could talk about a top location, the capital of an administrative unit; Dau is the name of a typical herb of the land Mot is a big (only) ricinus, grows up over the land, next to the military post
At first, Thu Dau Mot was a geographical name of a large location at the river basins: Be River, Dong Nai River, Saigon River, Thi Tinh River (the total Binh An of Nguyen Dynasty), then it was the geographical name to call small administrative units of Thu Dau Mot (1869), Thu Dau Mot Province (1899) The former land-Thu Dau Mot had important strategic position for the completely Southeast region In the economic and social conversion of modern life, Thu Dau Mot land had many administrative changes such as merged into the Thu Bien Capital (1945-1954) or split into Binh Duong (1956), then merged into Binh Phu, Song Be Province and backed into Binh Duong, Binh Phuoc Province (1997) The name Thu Dau Mot is not only a geographical name which recorded history marks through hundreds of years, but also as a symbol of culture and development, a big history and culture value of Binh Duong Province, and the South-east area
The University was formerly known as Binh Duong Pedagogy College - a prestigious pedagogical training institution of Binh Duong province, providing a team of professional lecturers with expertise and dedication to the younger generation On June 24, 2009, TDMU was established under Decision No 900/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister Over 10 years of operation, the University has shaped itself as an applied multidisciplinary and multi-field university, with an advanced university model With the philosophy of “Aspiration - Responsibility – Creativity”, TDMU has affirmed its position as a leading institution in training and scientific researching, and is the representation of the intellectual power of Binh Duong province The University’s structure includes the University Council, the Board of Directors, the Science and Training Council, 08 faculties, 15 departments, offices and 11 centers, and 02 research institutes
As of human resources, by June 2019, the university’s scientific staff includes 02 professors, 18 associate professors, 120 PhDs, 480 masters, and 112 researchers working in domestic and foreign institutions
As of training activities, by June 2019, the university has 15,000 students and 1,000 graduate students studying and researching in 37 undergraduate programs, 9 post- graduate programs and 1 PhD program in the fields such as Economics, Technology, Natural Sciences, Humanities, and Pedagogy The rate of employment right after graduation is over 80%, the rate of employment in economic sector and pedagogy sector is even higher; The percentage of students with part-time jobs in engineering and FL is quite high
As of scientific research, the main focus of the university is the Southeast of Vietnam - the Southern key economic region TDMU is investing heavily in scientific research and technology transfer, focusing its researches on biotechnology, urban agriculture, education quality, smart cities, and smart schools The percentage of lecturers participating in scientific research activities is 70% The percentage of students engaged scientific research is very high
At TDMU, the English article system is usually learned in the traditional descriptive grammar framework which offers the following generalizations:
(1) “the” is a definite article It precedes a noun when the thing named is already known to the reader
(2) “a” and “an” are indefinite articles They precede a noun when the thing named is not already known to the reader
(3) Use “a”/ “an” with a singular count noun and do not use them with a plural noun
(4) Do not use “the” with a plural noun or a mass noun when the noun refers generally to all representatives of what it names Use “the” when referring to one or more specific representatives of what the noun names
Official name (VI): Trường Đại học Công nghiệp Thực phẩm Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh
Official name (EN): Ho Chi Minh City University of Food Industry
Ho Chi Minh City University of Food Industry is going to 40 years of establishment and development Initially, it was named as school of Technical and Economic Junior College of Food Industry which established in Sept 9, 1982 Then, the school upgraded to Ho Chi Minh City University of Food Industry (HUFI) according to the Decision No 284/QD-TTg dated February 23, 2010 issued by the Prime Minister
With the motto study Initiatively - Work creatively, the university always strives and attempts to enhance the training quality, with the purpose of being an educational institution to train highly qualified human resources, contributing to the industrialization and modernization process of the city and the whole country
Currently, HUFI provides 34 undergraduate programs, 10 master programs and
3 tentative PhD programs in technology, engineering, business, economics as well as garment and fashion Totally, the number of on campus students is more than 18,000
The number of HUFI’s staff members is ca 720 peoples, including faculties and staffs, in which there are 02 full professors and 100 doctors The average age of them is approximately of under 40 Most of them are running or taking part in research projects granted by the international/domestical university, ministry, regions and/or states, etc.
Participants
The subjects in the present study are 194 freshmen at TDMU There are 72 TDMU students in the experimental group who take the treatment—experimental grammar lessons, using the articles in English, while there are 122 TDMU and HUFI students in the control group who do not take the treatment All students have seven years of English education through secondary and high school The backgrounds of the students are considered to be relatively uniform in that they all share the same course, the same mother tongue (Vietnamese), and similar academic achievements However, the questionnaire is only for TDMU students, and based on their answers, the treatment will be created to improve their language skills and the use of articles in English.
Research design
Although a detailed account of the Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) framework is beyond the scope of the present paper, before turning to the practical application of the SFL approach to the analysis of the students’ writing tasks, we will sketch very briefly some key terms and concepts underpinning this theory
According to Halliday (1994:15), “[a] language is a complex semiotic system composed of multiple levels, or strata”, that can be symbolized in a series of circles, where semantics is embedded in context, and lexicogrammar in semantics, as represented visually in Figure 3.1:
Figure 3 1 Stratification (adapted from Haliday & Matthiessen 2004:25)
The use of English articles as determiners before a noun is also based on the context, semantics and lexico grammar, study to analyse the common errors in using articles, and providing solutions for the errors are also suggested in the research
Figure 3 2 Pre-test, Post-test of experimental and control group design (adapted from
This present research mainly aimed to investigate if there appeared any significant differences in the group under the treatment of the second foreign language common errors when using of the articles (“a”/ “an”/ “the”) in English In short, paragraph writing ability in the areas of content, organization, vocabulary and wording was used in control with the group If so, it could be concluded whether the writing and some activities about using of articles (“a”/ “an”/ “the”) in teaching’s intervention brought such differences This kind of research can be said to be very consistent with experimental research In this design, “The researcher uses intact, already established group of subjects, give a pre-test, administers the treatment condition to one group, and gives the post-test” to all the groups in the research (McMillan & Schumacher, 2001, p 342) Therefore, in this design, the pre-test was given to both groupsơthe control group (G1) and experimental group (G2) - before the treatment, then the treatment was followed but just for the experimental group while the control group did not receive this treatment, then the post-test was administered to the two groups after the treatment The following is the diagram of this design
Teaching paragraph writing begins by introducing the main components of a paragraph Writers should begin each paragraph by indenting From there, each paragraph consists of three parts: the opening sentences (also called a topic sentence), the body sentences (also called detail sentences or supporting sentences), and the closing sentences (also called the conclusion sentences)
A paragraph should begin with an opening sentence (also called a topic sentence) The opening sentence identifies the subject or main idea of the paragraph In the graphic above, it is represented by the top bun When the researcher teaches the students about opening sentences, the students are adviced that the opening sentences should be a general introduction to the subject of the paragraph Depending on the student’s level, the teacher may also need to consider the purpose and audience for the piece of writing For instance, in a persuasive paragraph, the opening sentence would state the writer’s position about the topic Any specific details should be saved for the next section of the paragraph: The body sentences
Body sentences (also called detail sentences or supporting sentences) are where the bulk of the development occurs in a piece of writing In the graphic above, the body sentences are represented by the “meat”, “cheese”, and other fillings in the
The body sentences should give details and examples that support the topic introduced in the opening sentence The type of information presented in the body sentences will depend on the purpose of the writing If the purpose is to persuade, one would expect to find evidence to support an argument as well as interpretations of the evidence In an expository paragraph, the body would likely be comprised of details and explanations that further develop the idea presented in the opening sentence
The final sentence in a paragraph is the closing sentence (also called the conclusion sentence or statement) The closing sentence wraps up the topic and provides a sense of closure so that the audience feels like they have reached a stopping point In the graphic above, the closing sentence is represented by the bottom bun In a multi- paragraph essay or other piece of writing, the closing sentence may also include some type of transition to the next topic in the piece of writing
According to Muhammed (2015: 24 - 25), paragraph in English primarily consist of three parts in the following: (1) Topic sentence, (2) Support and (3) Conclusion
If any learners follow and apply these suggested aspects, they may be crucial and helpful for them in order to produce successful and meaningful paragraphs.
Experimental teaching
The paragraph writing and using articles (a/ an/ the) lessons were conducted for twelve weeks, each lesson studied within four periods – each week, students have one lesson, and 45 minutes for one period The experimental teaching started on December
21 st and ended on March 29 th in the school year 2021-2022, and started on November
8 th and ended on February 7 th in the school year 2022-2023
These two groups underwent twelve weeks of paragraph writing lessons following the school schedule and were taught objectively by the researcher Another control group were taught the same lesson plan designed by the researcher at another university by another teacher In other words, the students in the control group (2 classes) were taught to write paragraphs and to use the articles (“a”/ “an”/ “the”) with the usual method of writing teaching as guided in the English course book “Outcomes”, whereas the experimental group was treated with the difference lesson plan designed by the researcher concerning how to write a paragraph and how to use which were carefully prepared for treatment (see Appendix 7 lesson plans for the experimental group) and use the articles (“a”/ “an”/ “the”), ten lessons was conducted in the 40 periods for the control group every Monday afternoon and in the 40 periods for the experimental every Tuesday afternoon
As it has been pointed earlier, writing is a productive skill that enables students to express their feelings, thoughts, and knowledge students can improve the using of articles (“a”/ “an”/ “the”) and their writing skills by practicing and repetition Their writing product should be monitored from the beginning of writing to the production of the final copy Here are the four essential stages to follow during the using articles:
The number one rule is this: if a word is countable (e.g “one book”, “two books”), Ss must always use an article (or “my”, “his”, etc.)
Never use “a” or “an” with a word that is plural (e.g “books”, “trees”) or uncountable (e.g “water”, “advice”)
Note that we use “a” in front of words that start with a consonant sound (“a horse”, “a carrot”) and an in front of words with a vowel sound (“an apple”, “an elephant”)
The next most important thing to understand is the difference between “a”/
“an” and “the” Basically, we use “a”/ “an” when we do not need to say which thing we are talking about We use “the” to talk about a specific thing For example -
(1) “I caught a train to London.” (it does not matter which train)
(2) The train was late (that particular train was late)
We often use a when we mention something for the first time, and then change to the when it is clear which thing we are talking about For example - (Extracted from Cambridge Dictionary):
(1) “He was talking to a man The man was laughing.”
(2) “She gave him a present The present was very expensive.”
We also use “the” when it is obvious which thing we are talking about or when there is only one of something For example - (Extracted from Cambridge Dictionary):
(1) He travelled around the world
(2) The sun is hot today
We do not use “a”/ “an” before the names of meals For example: “We had lunch at noon.”
We do not use “a” / “an” before the words like “school”, “prison”, or
“college” when we are talking about them in a general way:
Example - (Extracted from Cambridge Dictionary):
(1) “I hope to go to college.”
(2) “He spent three years in prison.”
We use “the” before the names of shops or places where we go for services when they are the ones we usually go to:
(1) “I need to go to the supermarket.”
(2) “She went to the doctor.”
Materials
“Outcomes elementary student’s book” (Second Edition) published by “Nat Geo” in 2016 was involved in the material used for the two groups (exprimental group and control group) in this study This student’s book aims to help students improve their English language and skills for communicative and writing purposes Thus, it consists of sixteen units with a theme design Each unit covers five sections (A Grammar, B Vocabulary, C Listening, D Reading and Writing, E Developing Conversation) Four of sixteen units in this book, whose writing sections deal with teaching writing paragraphs in different kinds, and some activities teaching using of the articles, were chosen for the experimental group only.
Instruments of data collection
The present analysis of article errors consists of two separate parts First, a traditional type of EA is used to give an overall view of the errors found in students’ compositions in their pre-test and post-test The participants were asked to write a paragraph (100-120 words) to describe one room in their house A familiar topic was used in order to eliminate such factors as lack of general knowledge and insufficient English skills regarding expression Second, the pre - tests and post-tests in the written form of five different tasks in different language context to find out the common errors in using the articles as determiners.
Data collection procedure
After being selected, the students were invited to cooperate in the study, they were requested to do Pre-tests: Test 1 (writing test) and Test 2 (4 tasks) with the time allowance of 45 minutes each The tests were done on the two different days During the performance time, they were encouraged to do the tasks on their own and not to consult any dictionaries or grammar books under the teacher’s supervision.
Methods of data analysis
In order to complete the paper, the main research methods employed are: quantitative and qualitative
Statistical methods are used to find out and classify the learners’ errors and analyse the result for experimental
Descriptive methods are used to describe the actual errors committed by the learners, and discussion of the errors are made All the papers of the two tests were analyzed at the same time First of all, they were carefully read and examined and all interlingual and intralingual errors are identified and marked After that all the errors were analyzed to find out their causes Explanations for erroreous uses of the articles are thoroughly presented in each individual case based on the consultation of the literature on the articles of this thesis
The software Statistics Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 20.0) was used to help analyse the data from the pre-test and post-test For example, Cronbach’s alpha model was employed to estimate inter-rater reliability Independent Sample T- Test was run to compare the mean scores of the pre-test between the two groups and those of the post-test scores of the two groups The Independent Sample T-Test was run to compare mean scores on the four specific areas of the pre-test between the two groups and those of the post-test between the two groups Besides, the Pearson correlation coefficient was also utilized to examine the relationships between awareness and students’ paragraph writing ability and using the articles (a/ an/ the) between the two groups after the treatment Lastly, the theory of homogeneity of variance (according to Davis, C (2010), homogeneity of variance is an assumption underlying both t tests and
F tests (analyses of variance, ANOVAs) in which the population variances (i.e., the distribution, or “spread,” of scores around the mean) of two or more samples are considered equal.) was used to examine the difference in scores between the three groups (more detail in chapter 4)
Mean (M)
When we talk about something relating to numerical issues in our daily life, we often use the term average In research, this term can be used as the M The M is the sum of the scores for all the individuals in the sample divided by the number of such scores It is also called the average Let’s have a look at the following formula:
Source: Frost, J (2023, May 10) What is the mean and how to find it: Definition & formula Statistics By Jim https://statisticsbyjim.com/basics/mean_average/ Ʃ is called sigma, the statistical symbol for Sum
X stands for scores and N stands for the number of scores
Mean is often given as the letter M
In case researcher present data in the form of mean scores, we need to include the standard deviation (SD) as well The SD is seen as the average difference of the scores from the mean of the distribution In other words, (Muijs, 2004) defines SD as a measure of the extent to which the values in a distribution cluster around the mean It is simply looking at the extent to which each observation differs from the mean by using the software SPSS or the Excel – the useful tools for statistics that the researcher used to present the results in the next chapter – chapter 4
The study applied both quantitative and qualitative methods, the quantitative findings first, qualitative findings right afterward under each research question so that response could get more reliable.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS
Common Errors in the use of Articles in Writing Test
Table 4 1: Statistical table determiner errors in noun phrase and errors of articles in writing – Preliminary – Servey
Let us examine the following examples:
Table 4 2: Some examples of common errors in Writing test
1 My sister has a children My sister has a child
2 My brother has a brown skin My brother has brown skin
3 He is an intelligent He is an intelligent man / He is intelligent
4 What did you have for the breakfast? What did you have for breakfast?
5 She wears a blue shoes She wears blue shoes
6 She has a white skin She has white skin
7 I went to the Bangkok in 2018 I went to ỉ Bangkok in 2018
8 She bought a gold ring She bought gold ring
9 The area, measuring/which measures three kilometres
The area, measuring/which measures by three kilometres
10 He learns to play the guitar He learns to play guitar
Those common errors in Table 4.2 should be revised shown in Table 4.2 above There are some suggestions for students as feedback to the tests
(1) A singular common noun (e.g “boy”, “girl”, “tree”, “country”, “teacher”,
“village”, etc.) must have an article A plural common noun can be used with or without an article
(2) The definite article “the” must be used with superlative adjectives
(3) Do not to use “the” before the names of companies and holidays used as nouns
(4) Do not to use “the” before “breakfast”, “lunch”, or “dinner” when talking about everyday meals
(5) Do not use indefinite articles with plural words
(6) Do not use an article with uncountable nouns like “skin”
(7) If the noun is proper it will take no article (zero article/ ỉ)
(8) Articles are not used with material nouns Examples are: “gold”, “silver”,
(9) “The” is used in measuring expressions beginning with by
(10) Using “the” before musical instruments.
Causes of the errors the students make in the use of English articles based on data
There were 194 students in the first year of the two academic years 2021–2022, and 2022–2033, taking part in the study The data were collected from a set of questionnaires, two tests (pre-test and post-test) focused on using articles (see details in Chapter 3) The data would be presented and analysed in order to answer the research questions
4.2.1 Detailed analysis of the questionnaire
In the study, questionnaires were respectively delivered to students in their first year of the two academic years of 2021–2022, and 2022–2033
The questionnaire was designed to collect students’ personal information and to discover their points of view towards the activities for students to use English articles (“a”/ “an”/ “the”) in classroom
4.2.2 Students’ personal information: (sample description)
Figure 4 1: Gender in two groups
As Figure 4.1 displayed, the distributions of genders in the two groups are unequal between males and females The majority of students in the two groups were female Besides, these inappreciable differences in distribution may be a disadvantage for the research because male students were thought to be less willing to do their homework
GENDER OF THE TWO GROUPS
Q.2 Do you learn English course(s)/program(s) at Language Center or English tutoring classes before taking B.A program at TDMU?
Figure 4 2: Non – majored students in two groups learning English before taking the course
As Figure 4.2 displayed, the distributions of students in the two groups learning English before taking the course were unequal between the two groups (G1 and G2) In both groups (G1 and G2), the number of students who do not study English at FLC was
103 out of 140, which was higher than the students who studied English there, which showed that most of the students’ background knowledge was still weak That is one of the reasons for students’ mistakes when using the articles
Q.3 How long have you learned English Course(s)/Program(s) at Foreign
Languages Center or English tutoring classes before?
Table 4 3: The length of time for students’ learning English before taking the course
CTRL GROUP - HOW LONG STUDENTS LEARNING ENGLISH AT FLC
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
CTRL GROUP CTRL GROUP EXP GROUP EXP GROUP
Table 4 4: The length of time for students’ learning English before taking the course
EXP GROUP - HOW LONG STUDENTS LEARNING ENGLISH AT FLC
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
Tables 4.7 and 4.8 showed the number of students in groups 1 (the control group) and 2 (the experimental group) It indicates their length of time learning English at the FLC before taking the course For each table, the length of time for students learning English at the FLC was divided into four groups: (1) less than 6 months; (2) 7 months–
1 year; (3) 1- 2 years; and (4) over 2 years In table 4.7, the length of time for students learning English at the FLC, about 7 months to 1 year took 12 students (60%), which is the highest And the length of time that students learn English at the FLC, over 2 years took 1 student (5%), which was the lowest In table 4.8, the length of time for students learning English at the FLC, from 7 months to 1 year was 35.3%, which was the highest, and the length of time for students learning English at the FLC, over 2 years was 2 students (11.8%), which was the lowest In general, there was an inappreciable difference in the length of time for students spent learning English at the FLC The time for students learning English was not much, which means that the amount of time students learning English also affected the English knowledge that students acquire in the learning process It was also a determining factor in explaining why students made mistakes when using article
Figure 4 3: The length of time for students learning English before taking the course
As Figure 4.3 displayed, the distributions of students in the two groups’ length of time learning English at the FLCs or in English tutoring classes before taking the course were unequal between the two groups (G1 and G2) The students’ length of time learning English at the FLCs or in English tutoring classes before taking the course in the two groups was 7 months to 1 year, which was the highest in G1 and G2 Students in G2 spend less time studying English at the centre, so they will have more time than students in G1 to participate in treatment activities given by the teacher Besides that, students’ length of time learning English at the FLCs or in English tutoring classes before taking the course in the two groups (G1 and G2) was over 2 years, the lowest The number of students who had spent time learning English at the FLCs or in English tutoring classes in G1 was 1 student, whereas in G2 was 2 students
Q.4 Why do you study English?
Figure 4 4: Reasons for students studying English in G1 (motivation)
CON TR OL G RO U P EXP G R OUP
Q.3 - HOW LONG STUDENTS LEARNING ENGLISH AT FLC
To attend post graduate programs
Q.4 - CTRL GROUP - THE REASONS FOR STUDENTS LEARNING ENGLISH
Figure 4 5: Reasons for students studying English in G2 (motivation)
There are many reasons for students’ motivation to learn English, which accounts for a high percentage in the 2 study groups (G1 and G2), in the control group (G1) which was to get a better job, support a recent job, or communicate with foreigners, respectively To get a good job accounted for 51 (75%) and support for a recent job accounted for 8 (11.8%), and was also the reason to get a good job Similar to G1, G2 accounted for 46 (63.9%), and communicating with foreigners was 18 (25%) All of the above reasons were good motivations for students to learn English, to improve English in general, and ameliorate and limit mistakes when using articles in English in particular
Q.5 Do you have part-time job?
Figure 4 6: Students taking part in part-time job
As Figure 4.6 showed, the distribution of students in the two groups engaged in part-time work was unequal (G1 and G2) The majority of students in the two groups do not engage in part-time work The number of students who do not participate in part- time work was higher than the ones with their part time jobs in both groups (G1 and G2), revealing that ss learned English articles mainly through books in the school environment Besides, the English lessons at the school were poorly distributed, so students spent their time on English was also less That is one of the reasons why ss make common mistakes, especially when using English articles in their writing tasks
To attend post graduate programs
Q.4 - EXP - THE REASONS FOR STUDENTS LEARNING ENGLISH
Q.5 - STUDENTS TAKING PART IN PART-TIME JOBS
Q.6 How often do you use English at home?
Figure 4 7: Frequency of students using English at home in G1 and G2
As Figure 4.7 showed, the frequency with which the students used English at home was unequal in the two groups (G1 and G2) The majority of students in the two groups did not engage in part-time work The percentage of time the students use English at home was “rarely” the highest, showing that the time students had to spend learning English in real life was very little The students only had to learn English and English articles when they do their English homework Besides, the environment in which students use English at home was poor; the time students spent practicing speaking English and using the articles in English with parents or family members was also less That is one of the reasons why students made many mistakes when they use English articles in their tests of English articles and writing tasks
4.3 Recommendations and solutions for the teachers to teach English articles effectively (Answering the research questions 3)
When analyzing SPSS, the first step researchers usually take is descriptive statistics, and one of the most common parameters is the mean
Example: Researchers use a 5-choice Likert scale in the survey
Then: Distance value = (Maximum - Minimum) / n
DE SCR IP TIO N O F G1 - US E E N G LIS H A T H O ME
DE SCR IP TIO N O F G 2 - US E E N G LIS H A T H O ME
Students' frequency in using English at home in G1 and G2
4.21–5.00: Strongly Agree/Very Satisfied/Very Important
Therefore, according to the theory above, the researcher used the 5-choice Likert scale in Q.7 and Q.8 And in the table, there are 5 corresponding values in the study 1: Strongly disagree
Q.7: Please indicate your attitude toward learning how to use articles in English grammar lessons by ticking X in one appropriate collumn for each sentence
Figure 4 8: Students’ attitude toward learning how to use articles in English grammar lessons in G1
G1- Students' attitude toward learning how to use articles in English grammar lessons
1 -Strongly disagree 2 -Disagree 3 - Neutral 4 - Agree 5 - Strongly agree
Figure 4 9: Students’ attitude toward learning how to use articles in English grammar lessons in G2
Tables 4.15 and 4.16 in appendix 13 showed the frequency of students’ attitude toward learning how to use articles in English grammar lessons in group 1 (the control group) and group 2 (the experimental group) For each table, the frequency of students using English at home was divided into five degrees: (1) Strongly disagree, (2) Disagree, (3) Neutral, (4) Agree, and (5) Strongly agree In Table 4.15, the frequency of students’ attitude toward learning how to use articles in English grammar lessons indicate that they “strongly agree” with item 7.1 was 44, which was the highest, while they “strongly disagree” with item 7.1, 7.2, and 7.3 was 0, which was the lowest Beside that, the item 7.2 was 15, and 7.3 was also 15, which was the average After an experimental teaching treatment, Table 4.16 also indicated that the frequency of students’ attitude toward learning how to use articles in English grammar lessons It showed that 47 students
“strongly agree” with item 7.1, which was the highest, while the number of students who “strongly disagree” with items 7.1, and 7.3 was 0, which was the lowest In addition, with item 7.2, “neutral” was 12 out of 72 and 20 out of 72 in item 7.4, which was the average
The analysis uses Cronbach’s alpha when designing and testing a survey or assessment instrument This statistic helped the researcher evaluate the quality of the tool during the design phase before fully deploying it It is a measure of reliability
The table below explained a rule for interpreting alpha for dichotomous questions or Likert scale questions Let us examine in Table 4.17
G2- Students' attitude toward learning how to use articles in
1 -Strongly disagree 2 -Disagree 3 - Neutral 4 - Agree 5 - Strongly agree
Table 4 5: A rule of thumb for interpreting Cronbach’s Alpha Score
Cronbach’s Alpha Score Level of Reliability α ≥ 0.9 Excellent
Table 4.22 a: Reliability Analysis for students’ attitude towards learning how to use articles in English grammar lessons (N0)
Cronbach's Alpha Based on Standardized
Table 4.22 b: Reliability Analysis for students’ attitude towards learning how to use articles in English grammar lessons (N0)
Item-Total Statistics (See questionnaire – Appendix 5)
Scale Mean if Item Deleted
Scale Variance if Item Deleted
Cronbach's Alpha if Item Deleted
In the study, a Cronbach’s alpha score of more than 0.7 is usually okay and reliable Table 4.22.a showed a Cronbach’s alpha score of 0.961 Therefore, the results, in the table 4.22.b for questions from 7.1 to 7.5, ensure the measure of reliability
Q.8: Please indicate your evaluation of benefits of the use of articles in NP in learning
English grammar by ticking X in the appropriate collumn for each sentence
Tables 4.18 and 4.19 in appendix 13 showed the frequency of students’ evaluation of benefits of the use of articles in NP in learning English grammar in groups
1 (the control group) and 2 (the experimental group), using the Likert scale questions For each table, the frequency of using English at home was divided into five levels: (1) Strongly disagree, (2) Disagree, (3) Neutral, (4) Agree, and (5) Strongly agree In Table 4.18, the frequency of students’ evaluation of benefits of the use of articles in NP in learning English grammar is with item 8.5 “neutral” was 42 (61.76%), which was the highest, while the frequency of students’ evaluation of benefits of the use of articles in
Detailed analysis of the result of Pre-test and Post-test
Table 4.21 a Result of the pre-test of 2 groups (G1 and G2) – Independent Samples T
INDEPENDENT T TEST N Mean Std Deviation Std Error Mean
Table 4.21 b Result of the pre-test of 2 groups (G1 and G2) – Independent Samples T
Levene's Test for Equality of Variances
T-test for Equality of Means
Confidence Interval of the Difference Lower Upper
The results of the 2 groups’ pre-tests presented in Table 4.21a and Table 4.21b The pretest input scores of the 2 groups did not have difference; sig (2 tailed) 0.392.0.05 It showed that the two groups of input knowledge before entering the experiment scored had no difference in statistical significance
Table 4.24 a: Post-test scores of G1 and G2 – Independent samples T Test
2 GROUPS POST-TEST N Mean Std Deviation Std Error Mean
Table 4.24 b Post-test score of G1 and G2 – Independent samples T Test
Levene's Test for Equality of Variance s t-test for Equalit y of
Confidenc e Interval of the Difference
When the treatment effected for experimental group 2 was significant, the mean score of the 2 groups had a significant difference: the points earned by group 2 are higher than the ones in group 1, the mean of G2 = 7.526 while the mean of G1 = 6.594, and the sig 2 tailed of the 2 groups is 0.000 less than 0.05 In sum, the mean score of the 2 groups had a statistically significant difference; experimental group 2 had a higher score, achieving higher efficiency in the experiment
Table 4.25 a: The result of Pre-test and Post-test of group 1
Table 4.25 b: Sig (2 -tailed) of Pre-test and Post-test of group 1
Tables 4.25.a and 4.25.b showed that the pre- and post-scores of the control group were also different, showing that the control group had also improved during the learning process G1 had pre-test and post-test scores in Table 4.25.b, sig 2 tailed 0.000 less than 0.05, so the control group also made progress in learning process Standard deviation was 0.8916 in the Paired Sample T Tests for the control group (G1) G1: mean pre-test: 5.881 and mean post-test: 6.594
Table 4.26 a: Mean of Pre-test and Post-test scores in Pair 1 in G2 – Paired samples T
Table 4.26 b: Mean of pre-test and Post-test scores in pair 1 in G2 – Paired samples T-
To maintain objectivity, the researcher added another control group (NT) to the study Therefore, the total number of the control group was 122 The results of the pair-sample T test in Tables 4.26.a and 4.26.b showed that the mean of the pre-test in the experimental group (G2) without the treatment is 5.790 (N = 72) However, after 3 months of experimental teaching treatment, G2 (the experimental group) had a significant change; the progress of Group 2 was record in Tables 4.26.a and 4.26.b Mean of pre-test for group 2 was 5.790, and the mean of post-test for group 2 was 7.526 The results show that group 2 (the experimental group) had significantly improved after
3 months of experimental teaching treatment The average score of group 2 increased from pre-test to post-test was 1.736 The standard deviation was not high; ranging from
0.67 to 0.74, it showed that students’ scores did not deviate too much between class members in G2 (the experimental group).
CONCLUSION
Conclusion
This study is carried out with a view to bring a lot of benefits to firstly Vietnamese teachers and learners of English, especially non-major English first-year students of TDMU on the basis of the major findings of the study, and then to material designers
The researcher conducted the study, which aimed at finding the common errors when using the articles (“a”/ “an”/ “the”) made by 1 st year students of TDMU in their writing test, pre-test, and post-test, in order to have a thorough insight into the nature of the errors and their causes In addition, the implementation of multiple research instruments, other factors, including the students’ receptive knowledge and the actual teaching and learning of English articles (“a”/“an”/“the”), were also carefully investigated for a better understanding of their knowledge and the underlying reasons hindering their performance In general, the study revealed a deficiency in the students’ the use of articles (“a”/“an”/“the”) knowledge which was probably the result of the teaching and learning process The findings of this experimental study also suggest some pedaagogical implications applied in EFL classrooms
The data for EA in the present study were collected from two sources the students’ writing test, pre-test, and post-test about the use of articles (“a”/“an”/“the”) Among the types of errors, wrong choice of articles was the dominant category, which was followed by wrong determiners and wrong choice of noun respectively The result suggested that the choice of the articles (“a”/“an”/“the”) tends to cause more difficulties for learners and thus needs special attention; however, as discussed above, the choice of nouns is also very important as it is the noun that determines the choice of the articles The causes of the errors were also identified, among which L1 transfer, approximation and formal confusion were dominant ones, accounting for a large portion of the errors The study also revealed several emerging causes of errors besides hypothetical ones, among which the most noticeable was incorrect use of words The errors and their causes signified several issues including the limitations in the students’ productive knowledge of collocations and their lack of concentration and/or motivation in using of the articles Besides, the research also revealed some other factors, to which the students’ deficiency in collocational knowledge could be partly attributed, such as the lack of motivation in studying and limitations in vocabulary knowledge Therefore, handling the learning activities in the “treatment” well can make students at TDMU more confident in learning English and help them improve the use of English articles in their language performance
To sum up, the research suggested that although the students were supposed to be at relatively high level of English proficiency, there were inevitably flaws in their collocational knowledge which were attributed to several reasons including the teaching and learning process In the next sections, recommendations are given to teachers and students in order to address the aforementioned issues
5.1.1 Activities for teaching the articles in English
With aforementioned requirements, the activities used to teach using articles in English in Grammar Lessons can give students chances to practice and at the same time broaden their using the articles and grammar units knowledge The integrated teaching of using the articles and grammar points through activities and tasks that the teachers have been using, in fact, is a very good method as students can learn a new lesson about the articles and the others' grammar points while reading, and writing the texts in students' book and the others hangouts Moreover, teachers need to give clear instructions to ensure students’ awareness of the target articles in the texts A similar activity was introduced by Rezaei, M., & Jafari, M (2014), in which students are asked to identify phrases in texts following teachers’ instructions and later to translate nouns phrases or determiners, or the articles into their L1 This activity, according to Lewis (2000), “will help indents become more aware of collocation and less inclined to translating word-for- word” It can also be adapted as a method for self-study Teachers can assign reading texts to groups of students and ask them to identify in the texts collocations of a certain type (e.g., nouns phrases, determiners, adjective-noun, verb- noun, etc.) and provide their own translations of these phrases Teachers may need to instruct students in using grammar dictionaries to help them with their assignment The groups’ collections of phrases, sentences or stories later tell to their classmate, then will be corrected by teachers and used as a glossary for the students By organizing self- study in such a way, teachers of grammar can improve their students’ knowledge of English and also save time for other important in-class activities In the experimental methods, the results reveal that the experimental group had a higher score in the post- test than the scores in the post-test of the control group
One important step in teaching is giving corrections By doing so teachers can help students recognize their weakness and learn from their errors As a matter of fact, identifying and correcting the articles errors are also an effective way to teach grammar in general, especially teaching the articles in English The study showed that although the teacher pointed out the articles errors in their students’ translations, they did not always give corrections Moreover, it is commonly seen that teachers tend to focus more on the others grammatical errors than on the articles ones (“a”/“an”/“the”), due to the fact that the former is more easily identified Therefore, it is suggested that teachers pay more attention to identifying and correcting the articles errors in students’ grammar lessons To reduce the amount of time needed for errors correction, teachers can choose to focus only on typical errors They can also assign groups of students to identify and correct errors by themselves To sum up, correction of the grammar errors, especially the articles ones, in students’ English lessons should be promoted as it is also a way to make the teaching of using the articles more explicitly and raise students’ awareness of the issue
In addition to the adjustments to the teaching practices, there are some other issues that also need teachers’ attention as they might possibly affect students’ performance The first one to be mentioned is students’ use of dictionaries It is an undeniable fact that dictionaries are essential in learning English However, incorrect use of such a useful tool may lead to serious errors As suggested by the analysis of errors, the students’ careless use of bilingual dictionaries resulted in several errors that should not have been committed if they had been more careful, and possibly accounted for errors in other categories Although the number of errors was not large, it emphasized the need to pay more attention to their use of dictionaries Particularly, teachers should remind them that bilingual dictionaries are useful but should be used cautiously because a word in English may have multiple Vietnamese equivalents and vice versa The use of monolingual dictionaries, therefore, needs to be highlighted, especially when students are confused by bilingual ones More importantly teachers should encourage Ss to use collocation dictionaries as it will bring more benefits to students Linguistic corpora are also a good alternative to the dictionaries as they provide free access to much larger database and many more functions that students can make use of to broaden their knowledge However, as corpora are quite complicated, teachers may need to give some instructions of how to use English articles in their lessons when needed
The last issue is that teachers themselves also need to frequently update their knowledge continuously and frequently in teaching grammar
In the experiment methods, the results reveal that the experimental group had a higher scores in the post-test than the scores in the post-test in the control group.
Limitations, suggestions and recommendation for further study
No matter what the study attempts at, it can not cover all aspects of errors due to the researcher’s shortage of time and the scope of the study The study merely investigates article errors committed by the non-major elementary students at TDMU And all ambiguous or uncertain items were not judged by a native speaker of English, the errors such as faulty format, content, incorrect mechanics, and so on, were ignored when analyzing the errors in this study In order to have a full picture of English articles errors by the learners at TDMU, more studies approached from actual errors should be conducted on different types of learners of various levels
Although all of the teachers being questioned affirmed their teaching of English, especially using the articles in English, their teaching practices as the research revealed were not always effective The researcher, therefore, basing on the theoretical framework and the authentic data, tentatively suggested some adjustments to the teaching of articles in English (“a”/ “an”/ “the”) as follow
Firstly, it is suggested that the teaching of articles in English should be more explicit While the teachers did include collocations, or noun phrases in their teaching program, most of their instructions were integrated in other activities Despite their explanation that collocations were not a focus of English courses like the articles in English, or noun phrases and determiners, etc and thus could hardly be taught explicitly, there has been an undeniable fact that collocations are an important unit of translation and using the articles in English usually cause difficulties to translators, which we also affirmed in the study Besides, the teachers’ implicit instructions on noun phrases, determiners or using the articles in English (“a”/“an”/“the”) proved to be insufficient to catch students’ attention as some of them negated such instructions or were even unaware of the concept of noun phrases or articles in English Moreover, it has been suggested in previous studies that explicit teaching of using the articles in English was beneficial to students With the reasons given above, it is not only appropriate but also necessary for noun phrases, determiners or articles in particlarly in English to be taught explicitly in teaching grammar and also in teaching English courses in general
Secondly, to make the teaching of noun phrases, determiners or articles in English more effective, it is also important to raise students’ awareness Developing students' awareness, therefore, is necessarily the very first step in the teaching process
To achieve such a goal, it is advisable that teachers first introduce the term the articles in English to the students, explain the concept and highlight its role According to Van Dang, H (2014), they can also use students’ native language as a gleans to introduce the concept as it is a universal phenomenon existing in every language By giving explicit and formal instructions on using articles in noun phrases, teachers can attract students’ attention and thus foster their awareness more easily
As discussed above, explicit instructions on using the articles in English and related concepts in gestation would bring great benefits to students However, according to the teachers, it was impossible to implement such formal teaching due to the constraints of time Within that limited time of the course, they had to deliver a great amount of knowledge about English grammar in gerneral, especially the English articles
(“a”/“an”/“the”) to students, which allowed them to focus only on certain issues that they found important
With the difficulties above, it is necessary for teachers to have a method that can make instructions on articles in English more explicit and effective, and at the same time, maintain the sufficiency of knowledge about these grammar points delivered to students within the time limit Such a method incorporates some essential steps including choosing of noun phrases, determiners, the articles in English and contexts, choosing suitable teaching activities and giving appropriate corrections
Based on the findings of the study, it is suggested that the students should put more effort in improving their knowledge of English grammar in general, especially using the articles in English
The first recommendation, they need to reinforce their understanding of the articles and their related concepts, and their roles in communication as well as translation The knowledge would raise their awareness of grammar (the articles in English) and collocations and possibly reduce their probability of committing errors related to them However, understanding the term and its related concepts is not enough
It is advisable for students to have profound knowledge of how words combine together, which would help them in recognizing and producing the writing texts, especially using the articles ones, accurately These kinds of knowledge are obtainable from different sources and activities including teachers’ instructions and self-study Therefore, students should pay more attention to and follow their teachers’ instructions More importantly, however, they should think seriously about self-study As it is obvious that teacher can never introduce everything to them, they need to broaden their knowledge by themselves basing on teachers’ instructions For example, they can read material on grammar or books about using the articles (“a”/“an”/“the”)
The second recommendation is on students’ learning of vocabulary, which is believed to have positive effects on collocations acquisition and vice versa On one hand, it is obvious that one without a wide vocabulary would have many difficulties in recognizing and producing collocations On the other hand, effective learning of vocabulary requires collocational knowledge Learning vocabulary in such a way, in return, can improve their knowledge about collocations While learning chunks of words they may consciously or unconsciously memorize the ways the words combine, which will eventually be helpful for them when they need to produce certain collocations To sum up, students should broaden their vocabulary by learning words as chunks as it is an effective way to improve both their vocabulary and collocational knowledge
The last recommendation aims at their translation skills Having a broad vocabulary and profound knowledge of collocations is necessary but not sufficient to ensure a successful translation since the knowledge, after all, will be meaningless if students do not have the essential skills to put it into practice Therefore, it is also recommended that students improve their language skills
In sum, students are recommended to broaden their knowledge and put it into practice with different methods Also, it is a good way to strengthen their memory
The present study focused on common errors when using articles in English However, due to the limits in time and of the study, it only took into account one type of common errors Therefore, a study on larger scale that includes all other types of grammar points can be conducted for a more thorough insight into the issue Also, this study should be carried out with a larger size of sample for stronger generalizability
One other point, the present study revealed that students' time spent for English is limited or so less so they usually make some errors, which was also mentioned in several previous studies However, due to the lack of evidence, it was impossible to further elaborate on the issue Therefore, future studies can focus more on learners’ use of the articles in their real life in order to investigate this issue more thoroughly
Last but not least, the present study made some recommendations on using the articles which could be taught and leamt in books and materials in their schools However, these recommendations were produced mostly on theoretical basis and thus still need further empirical studies to confirm their effectiveness and convince teachers of the necessity of teaching the articles in English
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TEST 1: FREE-RESPONSE TEST Writing Test (10 points) (see detail samples in Appendix 13)
Choose one of the topics and write a paragraph about it:
Topic 1: Write a short story about your best friend
Topic 2: Write a short paragraph about a famous person in your country
Topic 3: Write a short an essay about a famous person that you like the best
Topic 4: Write a short essay about a below question:
What are the advantages and disadvantages of travelling by car/ by plane? Do you like travelling by car/ by plane? Why?
PART I Fill in the blanks with a, the or ỉ (no article) (2.5 pts)
2 Life is hard for unemployed
3 Akiko can play piano perfectly
4 eldest son in that family is at college
5 Our uncle lives in Philipines
6 Statue of Liberty was completed in 1886
7 Most people in my hometown go to church every Sunday morning
8 What did you have for breakfast this morning?
9 I would love to take luxury cruise next year to exotic locations such as Indonesia or Panama
10 Moon goes around Earth every 27 years
PART II Complete this story Put in a/an/ the (2.5 pts)
(1) A man decided to rob (2) _ bank in the town where he lived He walked in to (3) _ bank and handed (4) _ note to one of (5) _ cashier (6) _ cashier read (7) _ note, which told her to give (8) _ man some money Afraid that he might have (9) _ gun, she did as she was told (10) _ man then walked out of (11) _ building, leaving the note behind However, he had no time to spend the money because he was arrested the same day He had made a mistake
PART III Choose the correct article: a, an, the or x (no article) (2.5 pts)
1 _ golf is my favourite sport
2 _ koala bear is becoming almost extinct
3 _ most valuable minerals are found in common rocks everywhere
4 _ origins of that fairy tale are unknown
5 _ train that I took yesterday was delayed
6 _ water in the North Sea is usually quite cold
7 A composer can choose among many variations to express anger
8 Cai luong, or “Renovated Opera”, is a form of _ drama, modeled after
9 Climatologists say that _ world’s climate is changing
10 Eaten with some locally picked mint leaves or greens, the rice concoction, gao duoc pha che, provides balanced diet
PART IV Choose the correct form, with or without the (2.5 pts)
1 A: Did you see football/ the football on television/ the television last night? B: No, I hate football/ the football I was listening to news/the news on radio/ the radio
2 A: Do your family have a dog?
B: No, I’m afraid of dogs/ the dogs I didn’t like dogs/ the dogs that are running around on the street
3 A: You know that cars/ the cars cause pollution/ the polution, don’t you?
B: Yes, but cars/ the cars these days are cleaner than they used to be Isn’t it aeroplanes/ the aeroplanes that are mainly reponsible for pollution/ the pollution of atmosphere/ the atmosphere?
4 A: I’ve put some bread out in the garden for birds/ the birds
B: You like birds/ the birds, don’t you?
A: Yes, I love wildlife/ the wildlife
5 A: Do you play sports/ the sports?
B: Yes, my favourite sport is basketball/ the basketball I also like skiing/ the skiing but I’m not very good at it
B: My sister is listening to music/ the music Music / The music is too loud, isn’t it?
7 A: What did you have for breakfast / the breakfast?
B: Nothing I never eat breakfast/ the breakfast
8 A: Will you be in America for Thanksgiving/ the Thanksgiving?
B: Oh, no That’s in November/ the November, isn’t it? I’m often very busy at that time, but I’ll be back at Christmas/ the Christmas
9 A: Do you think rich/ the rich should pay more taxes to help poor/ the poor? B: That’s right And one of our biggest social problems in unemployment/ the unemployment
10 A: You’re alwaysreading books about history/ the history, aren’t you?
B: It’s was my favourite subject Do you know anything about history/ the history of this area?
A: No, but of you like looking around museums/ the museums and old buildings/ the old buildings, we could find out it together
-THE END OF THE TEST -
Part I Fill in the blanks with a, the or ứ (no article) (2.5 pts)
1 They are building _ new mall downtown I heard that _ mall will have _ movie theatre, _ great restaurans, and _ ice skating rink
2 We went to saw _ movie yesterday Even though it got _ good reviews, _movie was absolutely terrible
3 Carrie works for _ amazing organization; the organization provides _ food and _ supplies for children in _ developing world
4 I have _ awesome recipe for chocolate cake My grandmother gave me _ recipe, and it goes great with _ big scoop of _ vanilla ice cream
5 We have _ beautiful lake behind our house Every winter, _ lake freezes over and we can go ice skating When I was a kid, I used to spend hours skating back and forth across the ice
Part II Choose the correct (and most natural-sounding) response to complete each sentence:
1 They usually spend their holidays in mountains
2 Los Angeles has ideal climate
3 This is best Mexican restaurant in the country
4 I can't live on 500 dollars a month
7.He is real American hero
8 I don’t like dogs, but I like my brother’s dog
9 I haven’t seen him in five years
10 Kobe Bryant is basketball player
PART III Complete this story Put in a/an/ the/ ứ (2.5 pts)
I recently discovered that (1) money doesn’t buy as much as it used to I’d been living in (2) dormitory for two years and hadn’t had to buy my own food for (3) whole time Then, I moved into (4) apartment where I needed to buy (5) food for myself The first day I wanted to get (6) juice, (7) meat, (8) bread and (9) butter I went to(10) grocery store and put everything into (11) cart
PART IV Insert ‘a’, ‘an’ or ‘the’ wherever necessary (2.5 pts):
1 I did not enjoy dinner he gave me
2 They were first to reach station
3 Sooner it is done, better it will be
4 I met him year ago at home of richest man of town
5 Black and white cow is for sale
6 Child was looking at pictures when there was knock at door
7 Last Sunday I went to school to see old teacher of mine
8 There is bag lying on back seat of car
9 She is artist married to European engineer
10 One-eyed man cannot get driving licence
-THE END OF THE TEST -
I am carrying out the research about “Common Errors in the Use of Articles among Non-majored English First - year Student at Thu Dau Mot University: Problem and Suggestion.” The purpose of this survey is to collect data related to your opinion about learning English, as a non-English major student, about your attitude towards learning English and some related issues, toward students’ common mistakes when using article a, an, the in English.Please have a look and give me your answers It may take 10 to 15 minutes to complete the survey Your information provided via this questionnaire will definitely give me sufficient and significant data for my research I am sure that your identity and responses are used only for research purposes and thus, will be held in strict confidentiality Thank you for your help!
2 Do you learn English course(s)/program(s) at Language Center or English tutoring classes before taking B.A program at TDMU?
3 How long have you learned English Course(s)/Program(s) at Language
Center or English tutoring classes before?
4 Why do you study English? (Choose ONE of the following answers that you consider the most important for you)
◻ To attend post graduate programs
5 Do you have part-time job?
6 How often do you use English at home?
I am carrying out the research about “Common Errors in the Use of Articles among Non-majored English First - year Student at Thu Dau Mot University: Problem and Suggestion.”The purpose of this survey is to collect data related to your opinion about learning English, as a non-English major student, about your attitude towards learning English and some related issues, toward students’ common mistakes when using article a, an, the in English.Please have a look and give me your answers It may take 10 to 15 minutes to complete the survey Your information provided via this questionnaire will definitely give me sufficient and significant data for my research I am sure that your identity and responses are used only for research purposes and thus, will be held in strict confidentiality Thank you for your help!
Q.7: Please indicate your attitude toward learning how to use articles in English grammar lessons by ticking X in one appropriate collumn for each sentence
No Items Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree
7.1 I am interested in working in the learning activities organized in class
7.2 I am interested in the topics of story telling
I am interested in performing a task in a real-life situation, to develop speaking and writing skill, using articles in NP
I am interested in showing my sentences in speaking in front of the class and in my essay, receive feedback from teacher and other students
I like learning activities, focusing on grammar especially using articles / determiners in NP which are important in learning English to develop my language skills
Q.8: Please indicate your evaluation of benefits of the use of articles in NP in learning
English grammar by ticking X in the appropriate collumn for each sentence
No Items Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree
8.1 I have self-confidence when writing essay in class
8.2 I can understand the texts clearly when reading NP in each sentence in different situations
8.3 My speaking skill is getting better I paid attention to the all the NP when speaking
8.4 I can produce correct articles in
NP when speaking and writing
8.5 Using correct articles also helps me enhance my listening skill in appropriate learning activities
8.6 Using appropriate arcticles in NP helps me develop language skills and become a more independent learner in class
8.7 The learning activities with teacher’s feedback in grammar, especially how to use NP with correct articles, help me become more confidence in speaking in front of the class
8.8 The learning activities with the use of articles help me develop my critical thinking and creativity
8.9 I can enjoy my learning activities in developing writing skill in class
8.10 I can have some more experiences in using NP with appropriate articles that I have learned during the course
Q.9: How often do you take part in the following activities in this class?
QUESTIONS Always Usually Often Sometimes Rarely Never 9.1 Answering teacher’s questions
9.4 Presenting/Reporting in groups/ in class
Articles (“a”/ “an”/ “the”) are determiners or noun markers that function to specify if the noun is general or specific in its reference Often the article chosen depends on if the writer and the reader understand the reference of the noun
The articles “a” and “an” are indefinite articles They are used with a singular countable noun when the noun referred to is non-specific or generic
The article “the” is a definite article It is used to show specific reference and can be used with both singular and plural nouns and with both countable and uncountable nouns
A few important definitions to keep in mind: a) Countable noun: The noun has both a singular and plural form The plural is usually formed by adding an “–s” or an “–es” to the end of it
Countable nouns may also have irregular plural forms Many of these forms come from earlier forms of English
(5) “one mouse”, “two mice” b) Uncountable noun: The noun refers to something that cannot be counted It does not have a plural form
(8) “News” c) Proper noun: The name of a person, place, or organization and is spelled with capital letters
2 When to Use “a” or “an”
“a” and “an” are used with singular countable nouns when the noun is non-specific or generic
(11) “Tim sit down on a chair.”
In sentence (11), “chair” is a singular countable noun that is not specific It is one of many chairs in the room
(12) “She would like to go to “ a university ” that specializes in teaching.”
In sentence (12), “university” is a singular countable noun Although it begins with a vowel, the first sound of the word is /j/ or “y.” Thus, “a” instead of “an” is used In this sentence, it is also generic (it could be any university with this specialization, not a specific one)
In sentence (13), “umbrella” is a singular countable noun that is not specific It could be any umbrella
“a” is used when the noun that follows begins with a consonant sound
(16) “ a uniform” (Note that “uniform” starts with a vowel, but the first sound is /j/ or a
“y” sound Therefore “a” instead of “an” is used here.)
“an” is used when the noun that follows begins with a vowel sound
(19) “an MBA” (Note that “MBA” starts with a consonant, but the first sound is /Ɛ/ or a short “e” sound Therefore, “an” instead of “a” is used here.)
Sometimes “a” or “an” can be used for first mention (the first time the noun is mentioned) Then, in subsequent sentences, the article “the” is used instead
Example: “Do you have a car? I cleaned the car yesterday.”
In the sentence (first mention), “a” is used because it is referring to a non-specified car In the second sentence, “the” is used because now the car been specified
“The” is used with both singular and plural nouns and with both countable and uncountable nouns when the noun is specific
(20) “The magazine that I watched last night was great.”
In this sentence (20), “magazine” is a singular, countable noun It is also specific because of the phrase “that I watched last night” The writer and reader (or speaker and listener) know which “magazine” is being referred to
(21) “The tasks assigned for this class are very useful.”
In this sentence (21) , “tasks” is a plural, countable noun It is also specific because of the phrase “for this class” The writer and reader (or speaker and listener) know which tasks are being referred to
(22) “The information you gave me was very helpful.”
In this sentence (22) , “information” is an uncountable noun However, it is specific because of the phrase “you gave me” It is clear which piece of information was helpful
Here are some more specific rules:
“The” is used in the following categories of proper nouns:
(1) Museums and art galleries: the Walker Art Center, the Minneapolis Institute of Art
(2) Buildings: the Empire State Building, the Willis Tower
(3) Seas and oceans: the Mediterranean Sea, the Atlantic Ocean
(4) Rivers: the Mississippi, the Nile
(5) Deserts: the Sahara Desert, the Sonora Desert
(6) Periods and events in history: the Dark Ages, the Civil War
(7) Bridges: the London Bridge, the Mackinac Bridge
(8) Parts of a country: the South, the Upper Midwest
In general, use “the” with plural proper nouns
(25) “the Rockies” (as in the Rocky Mountains)
“The” is often used with proper nouns that include an “of” phrase
(26) “the United States of America”
(28) “the International Swimming Hall of Fame”
Use “the” when the noun being referred to is unique because of our understanding of the world
(29) “The earth moves around the sun.”
(30) “The earth goes round the sun, and the moon goes round the earth.”
Use “The” when a noun can be made specific from a previous mention in the text This is also known as second or subsequent mention
(31) “Tom sat down on a chair He sat down the chair nearest the door.”
(32) “I read a good book The book was about how to use articles correctly in English.”
“The” is used with superlative adjectives, which are necessarily unique (“the first”, “the second”, “the biggest”, “the smallest”, “the next”, “the only”, etc.)
(33) It was the second study to address the issue
(34) She was the slowest participant
(35) She was the only person to drop out of the study
Biber et al (1999) found that “the” is about twice as common as “a” or “an” in academic writing This may be because writers at this level often focus on overall ideas and categories (generic reference, usually no article) and on specific references (definite reference, the article “the”)
Writers sometimes struggle with the choice to include an article or to leave it out altogether Keep in mind that if the noun is singular, countable, and non-specific or generic (e.g., “book”, “author”), the articles “a” and “an” may be used However, if the noun is countable and plural (e.g , “research studies”) or uncountable (e.g.,
“information”) and it is being used in a non-specific or generic way, no article (zero article/ ỉ) is used
Here are some more specifics:
• No article (zero article/ ỉ) is used when a plural countable noun is generic or non- specific
(36) I bought new notebooks and pencilscases at the store (general, not specific ones)
(37) Owls have big eyes that can see in the dark (owls in general, all of them)
(38) Babies cry a lot (babies in general, all of them)
• No article (zero article/ ỉ) is used when a non-count noun is generic or non-specific Examples:
(39) I bought milk and rice at the store (generic reference)
(40) We were assigned homework in this class (generic reference)
(41) There has been previous research on the topic (generic reference)
xxxvi APPENDIX 8 xliv APPENDIX 9 xlv APPENDIX 10 l APPENDIX 11 lv APPENDIX 12 lxviii APPENDIX 13 lxx APPENDIX 14 lxxviii
Time Teacher’s activity Student’s activity
Activity 1: TIC - TAC – TOE GAME
– Ask student to make a sentence with a noun given:
– The traditional version of Tic-Tac-Toe must be played on a 3×3 grid that incorporates 9 squares
– Players must select their mark before the game starts (either X or O) and must play the entire game using the same mark
– The players have to make a sentence with the given noun, if it is correct, they will get 1 turn
– Players must take turns, making only 1 mark with each turn
– Marks can only be placed in empty squares, and once it is placed, it is permanent
– The winner is the first player to get 3 of their marks in a straight line (the line can be positioned diagonally, vertically, or horizontally)
– The game is over when all 9 squares are filled with marks, even if none of the players have a straight line of 3 marks
– If neither player has a straight line of 3 marks, it is considered a tie
Hat → She bought a new hat
Book → She read her book for 5 hours
Students should: – listen to teacher explanation and examples carefully
– raise their hands or stand up to share their ideas – If it is right, students receive a bonus mark – If it is wrong, good luck to next time
– copy them in their exercise book
Correct the errors/ mistakes in the following sentences
1 I have never read the more interesting book than before
Students should: – listen carefully to teacher explanation and examples
2 Oanh had a hour to do her homework yesterday
3 According to a weather forecast, it is going to rain this week
4 Kim didn’t have lot of money to buy a new house for her parents
5 They can’t clean polluted rivers overnight
2 a → an (danh từ đếm được số ít, một nguyên âm có h là âm câm)
4 lot of → a lot of/lots of (thiếu mạo từ a)
5 thiếu the (polluted rivers đã được xác định)
– raise their hands or stand up to share their ideas – If it is right, students receive a bonus mark – If it is wrong, good luck to next time
– copy them in their exercise book
1 Ann is in the garden
4 The elephents are inteligent animals
6 We met on a wet Monday evening
7 The car was parked on front of the Tim’s house
Students should: – listen carefully to teacher explanation and examples
– raise their hands or stand up to share their ideas – If it is right, students receive a bonus mark – If it is wrong, good luck to next time
– copy them in their exercise book
Work in groups Fill in the blanks with the articles a/an/the/ zero aritcles (10)
1 He is _ very nice man
3 farmhouses in my village were rather poor
4 He told me _ story of his life
Students should: – listen carefully to teacher explanation and examples
– raise their hands or stand up to share their ideas
6 roof of house was on fire
9 Look at _ top of that tree
1 He is a very nice man
3 The farmhouses in my village were rather poor
4 He told me the story of his life
6 The roof of the house was on fire
9 Look at the top of that tree
– If it is right, students receive a bonus mark – If it is wrong, good luck to next time
– copy them in their exercise book
1 _ golf is my favourite sport
2 _ koala bear is becoming almost extinct
3 _ most valuable minerals are found in common rocks everywhere
4 _ origins of that fairy tale are unknown
5 _ train that I took yesterday was delayed
6 _ water in the North Sea is usually quite cold
Students should: – listen to teacher’s explanation and examples carefully
– raise their hands or stand up to share their ideas – If it is right, students receive a bonus mark – If it is wrong, good luck to next time
– copy them in their exercise book
7 A composer can choose among many variations to express anger
8 Cai luong, or “Renovated Opera”, is a form of _ drama, modeled after French comedy
NOTE: lucky number: give you a bonus point
Activity 6: Make a sentence using requirements:
Count noun (plural) + zero articles
Students should: – listen to the teacher’s explanation and examples carefully
– raise their hands or stand up to share their ideas – If it is right, students receive a bonus mark – If it is wrong, good luck to next time
– copy them in their exercise book
Activity 7: Write a story based on the pictures
Look at these pictures These pictures tell you the story It’s called ‘Football in the living room’ Just look at the pictures first (Pause) Look at the first one
It is raining today, so Michael can’t play outside He isn’t very happy
He is throwing and catching his ball in the living room
Now you tell the story
Students should: – listen to teacher’s explanation and examples carefully
– raise their hands or stand up to share their ideas – If it is right, students receive a bonus mark – If it is wrong, good luck to next time
Look at these pictures These pictures tell you the story It’s called ‘The river’ Just look at the pictures first (Pause) Look at the first one
John and his sister, Sally, are walking in the forest
They are going to have a picnic in the field across the river
Now you tell the story
Look at these pictures These pictures tell you the story It’s called ‘The untidy bedroom’ Just look at the pictures first (Pause) Look at the first one
Emma and Jill are in their bedroom with their mother
She isn’t happy because the room is untidy She is saying, ‘It’s half past six You must tidy your room and then you can watch TV in bed.’
Now you tell the story
Look at these pictures These pictures tell you the story It’s called ‘Helen and Betty tidy their bedroom’
Just look at the pictures first (Pause) Look at the first one
– copy them in their exercise book
This is Helen and Betty’s bedroom It’s very untidy Their mum is very unhappy
Now you tell the story
Look at these pictures These pictures tell you the story It’s called ‘Robert helps a man’ Just look at the pictures first (Pause) Look at the first one
Robert has got a new bicycle He is very happy because he likes riding in the countryside It’s a cold day so he is wearing a long scarf
Now you tell the story
Look at these pictures These pictures tell you the story It’s called ‘John wants to see a film’ Just look at the pictures first (Pause) Look at the first one John’s father is taking him to the city for the day They are going by train John wants to see a film, but his father wants to go to a museum
Now you tell the story
Activity 8: Work in pairs To tell your partner about your experiences using “One day, a man came….”
Students should: – listen to the teacher’s explanation and examples carefully
– raise their hands or stand up to share their ideas – If it is right, students receive a bonus mark – If it is wrong, good luck to next time
Activity 9: Simon Says “Listen carefully to the articles”
Simon Says is a well-known children’s game where students only do an action if the teacher is preceded by the words “Simon says…” and otherwise stay still
There is a fairly well-known TEFL variation on this where students only do the action if the instructions are grammatically and logically correct Then, teacher divide the class into 2 groups, and this can easily be adapted to practice articles with instructions they should copy like “Look at the teacher”, “Point at the tallest student” and “Wink at a student”, and ones they should not like “Touch the student” (because they do not know which one)
This continues round the class until one of members each group do not do the action right
Students should: – listen to the teacher’s explanation and examples carefully
– raise their hands or stand up to share their ideas – do the activity until there is one group that becomes the winner
In this articles game, students practice matching articles (a, an, the) with nouns In groups, students take it in turns to turn over an article card and a picture card If the article matches with the noun, the student
Students should: – listen carefully to teacher explanation and examples
– write down the articles in their exercise book scores a point The student can then score an extra point by making a sentence with the article and noun The student then keeps the cards and has another turn The student with the most points at the end of the game wins
WORKSHEET ABOUT DETERMINERS - DETERMINERS WORKSHEET
I Choose the letter of the correct answer
1 Which determiner is not applicable in this sentence?
“You need hours of sleep.”
2 Which determiner is not applicable in this sentence?
5. dogs obeyed the “sit” command
II Determiner whether the underline word is a determiner by writing
_7 I have seventy-five sample of my favorite perfume
_9 The man tried to chase the suspect
RESULT OF PRE-TEST FOR CONTROL GROUP (G1)
STT MSSV Họ đệm Tên Giới
2 2123402010691 Trần Thị Ái Ân NỮ 1 2 1 1 5
5 2023402010344 Nguyễn Ngọc Vân Anh NỮ 1 2 1 1 5
6 2122202040396 Hồ Thị Lan Anh NỮ 2 1 1 2 6
8 2123801010381 Võ Thị Quế Anh NỮ 1.5 1.5 1 1 5
9 2022202040635 Phạm Thị Kim Anh NỮ 1 1.5 1 1.5 5
10 2123801010755 Vũ Hồng Diệp Anh NỮ 2 2 1 1 6
11 2122202040794 Hoàng Thị Ngọc Ánh NỮ 2 1 2 1 6
15 2023402010684 Nguyễn Thị Thanh Bình NỮ 1 1.5 2.5 1 6
16 2122202100284 Nguyễn Thị Linh Chi NỮ 1.5 2.5 1 1 6
18 2023214151 Nguyễn Thị Mỹ Chi NỮ 2 1.5 1.5 2 7
21 2123201040208 Từ Thị Anh Đào NỮ 1 1.5 1 1.5 5
23 2030219339 Nguyễn Thị Thanh Diệu NỮ 2 2 1 2 7
27 2121402020054 Đinh Thị Thùy Dương NỮ 2 1 1 2 6
31 2023401010771 Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Duyên NỮ 2 2 1 1 6
32 2022202040683 Hồ Thị Mỹ Duyên NỮ 1 2 1 1 5
35 2123401011399 Cao Thị Ngọc Hiền NỮ 1 2 1.5 1 5.5
36 2123401011401 Lê Thị Ngọc Hiền NỮ 1 2 1 1 5
37 2123401011412 Trần Thị Ngọc Hiệp NỮ 1 2 1 1 5
42 2123403011052 Võ Thị Huỳnh Hoa NỮ 1.5 1.5 1.5 2.5 7
44 2123402010054 Nguyễn Thị Mỹ Hoa NỮ 2 2 1.5 1 6.5
45 2022202040330 Hoàng Thị Diệu Hoa NỮ 2 1 1 2 6
46 2022202040744 Hồ Thị Thanh Hoài NỮ 1.5 2 1.5 1.5 6.5
48 2030219385 Phan Thị Thu Hoài NỮ 2 1 1 2 6
51 2121402020078 Phạm Thị Cẩm Hồng NỮ 1 1 2 2 6
52 2024218992 Ngô Thị Ánh Hồng NỮ 1 2 1 1 5
53 2023210703 Lê Quỳnh Thiên Hương NỮ 2 1 1 2 6
56 2023211882 Đoàn Nguyễn Đức Huy NAM 1.5 2 1.5 1.5 6.5
58 2013213226 Lê Thị Như Huỳnh NỮ 1 1 2 2 6
60 2023402010638 Bùi Nguyễn Nam Kha NAM 2 1 1 2 6
63 2122202040321 Phan Thị Lệ Khuyên NỮ 2 1.5 1.5 2 7
68 2023214267 Lê Thị Bích Liên NỮ 2 1 1 2 6
70 2022202040368 Phạm Ngọc Cẩm Linh NỮ 2 1 2 1 6
72 2122202040210 Trương Thị Ánh Linh NỮ 1 1.5 1 1.5 5
74 2121402020250 Đoàn Châu Khánh Linh NỮ 1.5 1 1 2 5.5
75 2023214276 Lê Thị Kiều Linh NỮ 2 1 1 1 5
77 2024210022 Nguyễn Thị Thùy Linh NỮ 2 1 2 1 6
80 2013211217 Dương Thị Trúc Ly NỮ 2 1 1 1 5
81 2123402010147 Bùi Thị Tuyết Mai NỮ 1.5 2.5 1 1 6
84 2023402010580 Nguyễn Thị Thanh Minh NỮ 2 1 1 2 6
85 2023214310 Nguyễn Thị Thu Minh NỮ 2 1 2 1 6
86 2125106050904 Nguyễn Lê Kiều My NỮ 1 2 1 1 5
87 2013210650 Đoàn Phạm Hà My NỮ 1 2 1.25 2 6.25
90 2123401011667 Nguyễn Thị Thúy Nga NỮ 1 2 1 1 5
91 2123403010870 Lê Thị Thuỳ Nga NỮ 1 2 1 1 5
92 2123102050125 Nguyễn Thị Hằng Nga NỮ 2 2 1 2 7
93 2023402010901 Phan Ngọc Yến Ngân NỮ 1 1.5 1 1.5 5
94 2021401010049 Nguyễn Đặng Yến Nghi NỮ 2 1 1 2 6
97 2122202100223 Hà Thị Bảo Ngọc NỮ 1 1 2 1 5
98 2021402020721 Đỗ Thị Minh Ngọc NỮ 1 1.5 2.5 1 6
100 2037215161 Nguyễn Thị Bảo Ngọc NỮ 1 2 2 2 7
101 2022202040896 Trịnh Thị Thanh Nhàn NỮ 1 2.5 1 1.5 6
105 2124601010014 Nguyễn Thị Tuyết Nhi NỮ 1.5 1 2 1.5 6
108 2030219456 Lê Nguyễn Ngọc Nhi NỮ 2 1 2 2 7
111 2123401010542 Vũ Thị Quỳnh Như NỮ 1 1.5 1 1.5 5
113 2023210817 Thạch Thị Quỳnh Như NỮ 2 2 1.6 1 6.6
114 2023402010126 Nguyễn Thị Cẩm Nhung NỮ 1 2 1 1 5
115 2023402010697 Nguyễn Thị Tuyết Nhung NỮ 2 1 1 2 6
118 2123401010050 Nguyễn Thị Kim Oanh NỮ 1.5 2 1.5 2 7
119 2038219217 Nguyễn Thị Ánh Phi NỮ 2 1.5 1.5 2 7
120 2023401011177 Lê Khắc Hùng Phú NAM 1 2 1 1 5
125 2022202040951 Dương Thị Thùy Phương NỮ 1 2.5 2 1.5 7
126 2123402010462 Nguyễn Thị Thanh Phương NỮ 1.5 1.5 1 1 5
127 2122202041130 Nguyễn Thị Thanh Phương NỮ 1 1 2 2 6
128 2121402020025 Ngô Thị Thu Phương NỮ 2 1 1 2 6
133 2125106050727 Phạm Thị Như Quỳnh NỮ 1.5 1 1 2 5.5
135 2037210372 Phạm Thị Như Quỳnh NỮ 1 1.5 1 1.5 5
139 2123401011949 Nguyễn Thị Tâm Tâm NỮ 1 2 1 2 6
140 2037210386 Đào Khoa Đăng Tâm NAM 2 1 1 2 6
145 2013213390 Quách Mỹ Xuân Thành NAM 1.5 2 1.5 1.5 6.5
147 2022202041017 Đậu Thị Phương Thảo NỮ 1 1 2.5 1 5.5
150 2123401010374 Nguyễn Thị Thu Thảo NỮ 2 1 1 1.5 5.5
151 2122202040277 Lê Thị Phương Thảo NỮ 2 1 2 1 6
152 2123402010223 Trần Thị Phương Thảo NỮ 1 1 2 2 6
153 2023210135 Nguyễn Thị Thu Thảo NỮ 2 1 1 2 6
155 2025801050032 Nguyễn Thị Diễm Thi NỮ 2 1 2 2 7
157 2025102050284 Lê Đình Trung Thông NAM 2 1 2 1 6
158 2122202040251 Hà Thị Anh Thư NỮ 1 2 2 1 6
159 2023401010450 Phạm Trần Minh Thuận NAM 1 1.5 2 2 6.5
160 2022202040283 Phạm Thị Thanh Thúy NỮ 2 1 2 1 6
161 2124601010104 Nguyễn Thị Mộng Thùy NỮ 1.5 1.5 2 1.5 6.5
162 2122202100235 Phạm Thị Thủy Tiên NỮ 1 1.5 2.5 1 6
163 2022202041090 Nguyễn Thị Thủy Tiên NỮ 1.5 2.5 1 1 6
166 2123401010169 Trần Thị Thu Trâm NỮ 1 2 1 1 5
167 2123402010146 Trương Trần Bảo Trâm NỮ 1 1 1 1 4
169 2122202040193 Cao Thị Ánh Trâm NỮ 2 2 1 2 7
172 2022202040613 Ngô Thị Thùy Trang NỮ 1 2 1 1 5
174 2123403011391 Nguyễn Thị Thu Trang NỮ 1.5 1.5 1 1 5
176 2023401011558 Ngô Phạm Đan Trinh NỮ 1.5 1.5 2 1.5 6.5
177 2023403011233 Vũ Thị Thanh Trinh NỮ 1 1.5 1 1.5 5
179 2023214522 Nguyễn Thị Cẩm Tú NỮ 1.5 1 1 2 5.5
182 2121402020287 Lê Thị Kim Tuyến NỮ 2 2 1 1 6
183 2023401010623 Nguyễn Vũ Ngọc Tuyền NỮ 2 1 1 2 6
184 2023214534 Nguyễn Thị Bạch Tuyết NỮ 2 1 1 1.5 5.5
185 2121402020045 Lê Thái Thảo Uyên NỮ 1 2 1 1 5
186 2123401012267 Trương Thị Tường Vi NỮ 1.5 2 1 2 6.5
190 2024210029 Nguyễn Thị Lan Vy NỮ 1 1 2 2 6
191 2031210416 Trần Huỳnh Yến Vy NỮ 1 2 2 1 6
194 2025801010014 Đinh Thị Hải Yến NỮ 1 2 1.5 1 5.5
RESULT OF THE POST TEST FOR EXPERIMENTAL GROUP (G2)
STT MSSV Họ đệm Tên Giới
2 2123402010691 Trần Thị Ái Ân NỮ 1 2 1.5 1 5.5
6 2122202040396 Hồ Thị Lan Anh NỮ 1.5 1.5 1.5 2 6.5
8 2123801010381 Võ Thị Quế Anh NỮ 1 2 1.5 1.5 6
9 2022202040635 Phạm Thị Kim Anh NỮ 2 1.5 2 2 7.5
10 2123801010755 Vũ Hồng Diệp Anh NỮ 2 1.5 1.5 1.5 6.5
11 2122202040794 Hoàng Thị Ngọc Ánh NỮ 2 1.3 2 1.3 6.6
16 2122202100284 Nguyễn Thị Linh Chi NỮ 1.5 2.5 1.5 1 6.5
18 2023214151 Nguyễn Thị Mỹ Chi NỮ 2 2.5 2 1.5 8
21 2123201040208 Từ Thị Anh Đào NỮ 2 1.5 1 1.5 6
27 2121402020054 Đinh Thị Thùy Dương NỮ 2.5 1.5 2 2 8
31 2023401010771 Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Duyên NỮ 2 2 1.25 1.5 6.75
32 2022202040683 Hồ Thị Mỹ Duyên NỮ 2 2 1.5 2 7.5
35 2123401011399 Cao Thị Ngọc Hiền NỮ 1 2 2 1 6
36 2123401011401 Lê Thị Ngọc Hiền NỮ 1 2 2 1 6
37 2123401011412 Trần Thị Ngọc Hiệp NỮ 1.5 2 1.5 2 7
42 2123403011052 Võ Thị Huỳnh Hoa NỮ 1.5 2.5 1.5 2.5 8
44 2123402010054 Nguyễn Thị Mỹ Hoa NỮ 2 1 2.5 2 7.5
45 2022202040330 Hoàng Thị Diệu Hoa NỮ 2 2 2.5 1.5 8
46 2022202040744 Hồ Thị Thanh Hoài NỮ 2 2 2 2 8
48 2030219385 Phan Thị Thu Hoài NỮ 2 2.5 1 1 6.5
51 2121402020078 Phạm Thị Cẩm Hồng NỮ 1.5 2 2 2 7.5
52 2024218992 Ngô Thị Ánh Hồng NỮ 1.5 1.5 2 1.5 6.5
53 2023210703 Lê Quỳnh Thiên Hương NỮ 1 2 2 1.5 6.5
56 2023211882 Đoàn Nguyễn Đức Huy NAM 1 2 1 2.5 6.5
58 2013213226 Lê Thị Như Huỳnh NỮ 1 2 2 2 7
60 2023402010638 Bùi Nguyễn Nam Kha NAM 2 2 1.5 2 7.5
63 2122202040321 Phan Thị Lệ Khuyên NỮ 2.5 2 2 2 8.5
68 2023214267 Lê Thị Bích Liên NỮ 2 1 2 2 7
70 2022202040368 Phạm Ngọc Cẩm Linh NỮ 2 1.5 2 1.5 7
72 2122202040210 Trương Thị Ánh Linh NỮ 2 2 1.5 2 7.5
75 2023214276 Lê Thị Kiều Linh NỮ 1 1 2.5 1.5 6
77 2024210022 Nguyễn Thị Thùy Linh NỮ 1 1.5 2 2 6.5
80 2013211217 Dương Thị Trúc Ly NỮ 1.5 1.5 2 2 7
81 2123402010147 Bùi Thị Tuyết Mai NỮ 1.5 2.5 1.5 1 6.5
85 2023214310 Nguyễn Thị Thu Minh NỮ 2 2 2 1 7
86 2125106050904 Nguyễn Lê Kiều My NỮ 1 2 1.5 1 5.5
87 2013210650 Đoàn Phạm Hà My NỮ 2 1.5 2 1.5 7
90 2123401011667 Nguyễn Thị Thúy Nga NỮ 2.5 2.5 1.5 2.5 9
91 2123403010870 Lê Thị Thuỳ Nga NỮ 2 2 2 1 7
92 2123102050125 Nguyễn Thị Hằng Nga NỮ 2 2 2 1.5 7.5
93 2023402010901 Phan Ngọc Yến Ngân NỮ 1.75 1.5 1.5 1.5 6.25
97 2122202100223 Hà Thị Bảo Ngọc NỮ 1 2 2.5 1 6.5
98 2021402020721 Đỗ Thị Minh Ngọc NỮ 2 2.5 1 1 6.5
100 2037215161 Nguyễn Thị Bảo Ngọc NỮ 1.5 2 2 1.5 7
101 2022202040896 Trịnh Thị Thanh Nhàn NỮ 1 2.5 1.5 1.5 6.5
108 2030219456 Lê Nguyễn Ngọc Nhi NỮ 1 1.5 1.5 2.5 6.5
111 2123401010542 Vũ Thị Quỳnh Như NỮ 1.5 2 1.5 1.5 6.5
113 2023210817 Thạch Thị Quỳnh Như NỮ 1 1.5 1 1.5 5
114 2023402010126 Nguyễn Thị Cẩm Nhung NỮ 1.75 2 1 1 5.75
118 2123401010050 Nguyễn Thị Kim Oanh NỮ 1.75 2 1.5 2 7.25
119 2038219217 Nguyễn Thị Ánh Phi NỮ 1.5 1 2 1 5.5
120 2023401011177 Lê Khắc Hùng Phú NAM 1 2.5 2.5 1.5 7.5
125 2022202040951 Dương Thị Thùy Phương NỮ 1.5 1.5 2 1 6
128 2121402020025 Ngô Thị Thu Phương NỮ 1.5 2.5 2 2 8
133 2125106050727 Phạm Thị Như Quỳnh NỮ 2 2 2 1 7
135 2037210372 Phạm Thị Như Quỳnh NỮ 2.5 2 1.5 2 8
139 2123401011949 Nguyễn Thị Tâm Tâm NỮ 1 2 2 2 7
140 2037210386 Đào Khoa Đăng Tâm NAM 1.5 2.5 1.5 2.5 8
145 2013213390 Quách Mỹ Xuân Thành NAM 1 2 2.5 1 6.5
147 2022202041017 Đậu Thị Phương Thảo NỮ 1 1 2.5 1.5 6
150 2123401010374 Nguyễn Thị Thu Thảo NỮ 2 2 1.5 2 7.5
151 2122202040277 Lê Thị Phương Thảo NỮ 2 1.5 2 1.5 7
152 2123402010223 Trần Thị Phương Thảo NỮ 1.5 2 2 2 7.5
153 2023210135 Nguyễn Thị Thu Thảo NỮ 2 2.5 1 1 6.5
155 2025801050032 Nguyễn Thị Diễm Thi NỮ 2 1 2 2 7
157 2025102050284 Lê Đình Trung Thông NAM 2 2.5 2 1.5 8
158 2122202040251 Hà Thị Anh Thư NỮ 1.5 2 2 1 6.5
159 2023401010450 Phạm Trần Minh Thuận NAM 1.5 1.5 2 2 7
160 2022202040283 Phạm Thị Thanh Thúy NỮ 2 1.5 2 1 6.5
162 2122202100235 Phạm Thị Thủy Tiên NỮ 1 1.5 2.5 1.5 6.5
163 2022202041090 Nguyễn Thị Thủy Tiên NỮ 1.5 2.5 1.5 1 6.5
166 2123401010169 Trần Thị Thu Trâm NỮ 1.25 2 1 1.5 5.75
167 2123402010146 Trương Trần Bảo Trâm NỮ 1 1.5 1.5 1.5 5.5
169 2122202040193 Cao Thị Ánh Trâm NỮ 1.5 2 1.7 2 7.2
172 2022202040613 Ngô Thị Thùy Trang NỮ 1.5 1 2 1.5 6
174 2123403011391 Nguyễn Thị Thu Trang NỮ 1.5 2 1.5 1.5 6.5
176 2023401011558 Ngô Phạm Đan Trinh NỮ 1.5 1.5 2 2 7
177 2023403011233 Vũ Thị Thanh Trinh NỮ 2 2.5 2 2 8.5
179 2023214522 Nguyễn Thị Cẩm Tú NỮ 1 2 2 1.5 6.5
182 2121402020287 Lê Thị Kim Tuyến NỮ 2 2.5 2 1.5 8
183 2023401010623 Nguyễn Vũ Ngọc Tuyền NỮ 2.5 1.75 2 2 8.25
184 2023214534 Nguyễn Thị Bạch Tuyết NỮ 1.5 1.5 2 1 6
185 2121402020045 Lê Thái Thảo Uyên NỮ 1.75 2 2 1 6.75
190 2024210029 Nguyễn Thị Lan Vy NỮ 2 1 2 2 7
191 2031210416 Trần Huỳnh Yến Vy NỮ 1 1.5 1.5 2 6
194 2025801010014 Đinh Thị Hải Yến NỮ 1 1.5 1.5 2.5 6.5
1 and a magazine The newspaper is in my bag, but I can't remember where I put the magazine
2 I saw an accident this morning A car crashed into a tree The driver of the car wasn't hurt, but the car was badly damaged
3 a blue one and a grey one The blue one belongs to my neighbours; I don't know who the owner of the grey one is
4 My friends live in an old house in a small village There is a beautiful garden behind the house I would like to have a garden like that
11 a small apartment in the city centre
12 a supermarket at the end of the street
6 Two or three times a week
2 a nice holiday the best holiday
3 the nearest shop the end of this street
4 a lovely day a cloud in the sky
5 to the internet the same problem
6 the most expensive hotel a cheaper hotel
7 to travel in space go to the moon
8 a star a planet the largest planet in the solar system
3 Room 25 is on the second floor
4 The moon goes round the earth every 27 days, or
5 a very hot day the hottest day of the year
6 We had lunch in a nice restaurant by the sea
10 The next train from Platform 3
11 You'll find the information you need at the top of page 15
5 get to and from school
The school isn't very far
2 a OK b the hospital the hospital c OK
Rubric for marking writing the topic for each paragraph
Indicators Paragraph marking rubric Sectional
1 point 0.75 point 0.5 point 0.25 point Topic sentence
Interesting, original topic sentence, reflecting thought and insight; focused on one intersting main idea
Clearly stated topic sentence presents one main idea
Acceptable topic sentence presents one idea
Missing, invalid, or inappropriate topic setence; main idea is missing
Interesting, concrete and descriptive examples and details with explainations that relate to the topic
Examples and details relate to the topic and some explanation is included
Sufficient number of examples and details that relate to the topic
Insufficient, vague, or undeveloped examples
Thoughtful, logical progression of supporting examples;
Details are arranged in a logical progression; appropriate trasitions
Acceptable arrangement of examples; transitions maybe weak
No discernible pattern of organization;
Well- constructed sentences and various structures and length; no errors in grammar, mechanics, and/ or spelling
Well-constructed sentences and various structures and length; a few errors in grammar, mechanics, and/or spelling, but not interfere with understanding
Well-constructed, but similar structures and/or length; several errors in grammar, mechanics, and/or spelling that interfere with understanding
Awkward sentences; distractingly repetitive, or difficult to understand; numerous errors in grammar, mechanics, and/or spelling that interfere with understanding
Introductory Paragraph (include good topic sentence or introductory sentences, present the purpose of the letter): 15%
Developing paragraphs (include relevant examples, causes, arguments to support the ideas): 30 %
Concluding paragraph (summarize the main ideas and leave readers final impression): 15%
Grammar and structure (use a wide range of structure with full flexibility and accuracy): 10%
Vocabulary (use a wide range of vocabulary, convey precise meanings with sophisticated control of lexical features): 20%
Coherence (logically organize information and ideas; present a clear central topic within each paragraph): 10%
LIST OF TABLES OF RESULTS FROM THE QUESTIONNAIRE
Table 4 7: Frequency of male and female in G1
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
Table 4 8: Frequency of male and female in G2
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
Tables 4.3 and 4.4 showed the number of student genders in group 1 (the control group) and group 2 (the experimental group) For each table, the students were divided into two groups by gender: male and female Table 4.3 showed that there were 32
“males” students out of 68 (47.1%), and the 36 “females” students (52.9%) In table 4.4, the results showed that the number of “males” was 30 (41.7%), and the “females” was
42 (58.3%) out of 72 students The female students were more engaged than the male students, but there was not much difference between the male and female genders for each group according to the researcher’s observation
Table 4 9: Non – majored students learning English before in G1
G1- CTRL GROUP – STUDENTS’ LEARNING ENGLISH BEFORE
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
Table 4 10: Non – majored students learning English before in G2
G2- EXP GROUP – STUDENTS’ LEARNING ENGLISH BEFORE
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
Tables 4.5 and 4.6 showed the number of students taking English course(s) or program(s) at the Foreign Languages Center (FLC) or in English tutoring classes before taking the B.A program at TDMU in group 1 (the control group) and group 2 (the experimental group) This reveals their knowledge of English For each table, the students are divided into two groups: (1) yes, students learn English before, and (2) no, students do not learn English before In Table 4.5, the “yes” group took 20 students 29.4%), and the “no” group took 48 students (70.6%) In table 4.6, the “yes” group took
17 students (23.6%), and the “no” group took 55 students (76.4%)
Table 4 11: Reasons for students studying English in G1
CTRL GROUP – THE REASONS FOR STUDENTS LEARNING ENGLISH
Valid To support current job 8 11.1 11.8 11.8
To attend post graduate programs
Table 4 12: Reasons for students studying English in G2
EXP GROUP – THE REASONS FOR STUDENTS LEARNING ENGLISH
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
Valid To support current job 5 6.9 6.9 6.9
To attend post graduate programs
Tables 4.9 and 4.10 showed the reasons for students studying English in groups
1 (the control group) and 2 (the experimental group) For each table, reasons for studying English were divided into five groups: (1) To support the current job; (2) To get a better job; (3) To attend post-graduate programs; (4) To apply for scholarships; and (5) To communicate with foreigners In table 4.9, the reason for studying English to get a better job was 51 (75%), which was the highest, while the reason for studying English to apply for scholarships was 2 (2.9%), and to attend post-graduate programs was also 2 (2.9%), which was the lowest In table 4.10, the reason for students studying English to get a better job was listed as 46 (63.9%), which was the highest, while the reason for students studying English to apply for scholarships was listed as 1 (1.4%) and to attend post- graduate programs was also listed as 2 (2.9%)
Table 4 13: Students taking in part-time jobs in G1
CTRL GROUP - STUDENTS TAKING PART IN PART-TIME JOB
Table 4 14: Students taking in part-time jobs in G2
EXP GROUP - STUDENTS TAKING PART IN PART-TIME JOBS
Tables 4.11 and 4.12 showed the number of students taking part in part-time job in group 1 (the control group) and group 2 (the experimental group) For each table, the students were divided into two groups: yes, students take part in part-time job (YES) and no, students do not take part in them (NO) In table 4.11, the “yes” group took 02 students (2.9%), and the “no” group took 66 students (97.1%) In table 4.12, the “yes” group took 05 students (6.9%), and the “no” group took 67 students (93.1%)
The majority of students in the two groups did not take part in part-time job show that they have favorable conditions for participating in the experiment
Table 4 15: Frequency of students using English at home in G1
DESCRIPTION OF STUDENTS’ FREQUENCY IN USING ENGLISH AT HOME (G1)
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
Table 4 16: Frequency of students using English at home in G2
DESCRIPTION OF STUDENTS’ FREQUENCY IN USING ENGLISH AT HOME (G2)
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
Tables 4.13 and 4.14 showed the frequency of the students who used English at home in groups 1 (the control group) and 2 (the experimental group) For each table, the frequency of students using English at home was divided into five levels: (1) never, (2) rarely, (3) sometimes, (4) often, and (5) always In table 4.13, the frequency of students using English at home “rarely”, was 36 (52.9%), which was the highest, while the frequency of ss using English at home “never” was 1 (1.5%), and “always” was also 1 (1.5%), which was the lowest In table 4.14, “rarely” was 40 (55.6%), which was the highest, while “never” was 1 (1.4%), which was the lowest
Table 4 17: Students’ attitude toward learning how to use articles in English grammar lessons in G1
7.1 I am interested in working in the learning activities organized in class 0 4 8 12 44
7.2 I am interested in the topics of story telling 0 3 10 20 35
I am interested in performing a task in a real-life situation, to develop speaking and writing skill, using articles in NP
I am interested in showing my sentences in speaking in front of the class and in my essay, receive feedback from teacher and other students
I like learning activities, focusing on grammar especially using articles / determiners NP which are important in learning English to develop my language skills
Table 4 18: Students’ attitude toward learning how to use articles in English grammar lessons in G2
7.1 I am interested in working in the learning activities organized in class 0 3 7 15 47
7.2 I am interested in the topics of story telling 2 2 12 27 29
I am interested in performing a task in a real-life situation, to develop speaking and writing skill, using articles in NP
I am interested in showing my sentences in speaking in front of the class and in my essay, receive feedback from teacher and other students
I like learning activities, focusing on grammar especially using articles / determiners in NP which are important in learning English to develop my language skills
Table 4 19: Students’ evaluation of benefirs of the use of articles in noun phrase in learning English grammar in G1
No Items (G1)(Nh) 1 -Strongly disagree 2 -Disagree 3 - Neutral 4 - Agree 5 - Strongly agree
No % No % No % No % No %
8.1 8.1 I have self-confidence when writing essay in class 10 14.71 31 45.59 5 7.35 4 5.88 18 26.47
8.2 I can understand the texts clearly when reading noun phrases in each sentence in different situations
8.3 My speaking skill is getting better I paid attention to the all the noun phrases when speaking
8.4 I can produce correct articles in noun phrases when speaking and writing
8.5 Using correct articles also helps me enhance my listening skill in appropriate learning activities
8.6 Using appropriate arcticles in noun phrases helps me develop language skills and become a more independent learner in class
8.7 The learning activities with teacher’s feedback in grammar, especially how to use noun phrases with correct articles, help me become more
3 4.41 5 7.35 20 29.41 32 47.06 8 11.76 confidence in speaking in front of the class
8.8 The learning activities with the use of articles help me develop my critical thinking and creativity
I can enjoy my learning activities in developing writing skill in class
I can have some more experiences in using noun phrases with appropriate articles that I have learned during the course
Table 4 20: Students’ evaluation of benefits of the use of articles in noun phrase in learning English grammar in G2
No % No % No % No % No %
8.1 I have self-confidence when writing essay in class 2 2.78 10 13.89 4 5.56 34 47.22 22 30.56
I can understand the texts clearly when reading NP in each sentence in different situations
My speaking skill is getting better I paid attention to the all the NP when speaking
I can produce correct articles in NP when speaking and writing
Using correct articles also helps me enhance my listening skill in appropriate learning activities
NP helps me develop 2 2.78 2 2.78 2 2.78 40 55.56 26 36.11 language skills and become a more independent learner in class
The learning activities with teacher’s feedback in grammar, especially how to use NP with correct articles, help me become more confidence in speaking in front of the class
The learning activities with the use of articles help me develop my critical thinking and creativity
I can enjoy my learning activities in developing writing skill in class
I can have some more experiences in using NP with appropriate articles that I have learned during the course
1/ SAMPLE IN PRE-TEST IN GROUP 1
2/ SAMPLE IN POST-TEST IN GROUP 2