Chapter 1 LITERATURE REVIEW In this chapter, the theory of reported speech is presented including definition of reported speech, types of reported speech and changes of direct speech whe
Trang 1INTRODUCTION
There are six parts in the introduction They are motivation for the study, aims
of the study, scope of the study, significance of the study, related previous studies and organization of the study
1 Motivation for the study
Today English is the language widely used in the world English is not only the national or official language of some countries, which have different cultures, but it is also the international language of communication in many fields including science, technology, business, entertainment and so on Since Viet Nam joined World Trade Organization (WTO), the need for learning English has been considerably increasing among Vietnamese because their proficiency in English can help them get good jobs Therefore, learning English is very necessary
However, it is not easy to master this language In order to become good English learners, besides proficiency in listening, speaking, reading and writing skills, they must use grammar properly although English grammar can be difficult Numerous studies show that the use of poor grammar in spoken and written statements reflects negatively on the speaker or author, and that people who use bad grammar are instantly perceived as being less intelligent, less reliable or less trustworthy than people who use proper grammar Consequently, it is essential for English learners to master grammar
English grammar includes a lot of points One of them is reported speech Reported speech is important but rather difficult because it involves a lot of elements which causes students to feel confused and make many errors Making so many errors
of reported speech is not good because when someone reports incorrectly what someone else has said, it is difficult for listeners to understand or it is even easy for them to misunderstand, causing serious consequences In addition, reported speech often appears on tests in class, final tests and tests in the entrance exams to universities and colleges If students do not master this grammar point, they may lose marks relating to reported speech easily For those reasons, the researcher decided to study the
topic “Common Errors of Reported Speech Made by Grade 11 Students at Doc Binh
Kieu High School, Tien Giang Province” This study is aimed at searching for the
Trang 2grade 11 students‟ common errors and suggesting some solutions to help the students use reported speech better
2 Aims of the study
- To find out grade 11 students‟ common errors in using reported speech
- To suggest some solutions to help the students avoid these errors
3 Scope of the study
The study is about common errors of reported speech based on the exercise the researcher gives grade 11 students at Doc Binh Kieu High School
4 Significance of the study
The study including the solutions suggested will help students avoid common errors of reported speech Some solutions are suggested for teachers so that they can apply to help the students in learning reported speech
5 Related previous studies
Many theses relating to reported speech have been studied The research
“Teaching Reported Speech” done by Dan Rej Regmi was about the major mistakes made by the learners of Grade XII of Management stream However, the researcher only gave suggestions for teachers to teach their Nepalese students in order to help them understand and use reported speech precisely
In Vietnam, Le Thi Thu Quynh, student of Ho Chi Minh University of Education did the research “Indirect speech in English and Vietnamese: A comparative contrastive analysis” in 2010 In this research, the researcher has pointed out basic similarities and differences in indirect speech between Vietnamese and English as well
as some major mistakes made by Vietmanese However, the subjects were Vietnamese learners in general and the researcher gave a general suggestion instead of specific ones
to help them avoid those errors The suggestion was that Vietnamese people have to pay more attention to grammar structure when they want to change an English indirect speech into the direct one
Trang 36 Organization of the study
INTRODUCTION
Chapter 1 LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1 Definition of reported speech
1.2 Types of reported speech
1.2.1 Reported statements
1.2.2 Reported imperatives
1.2.3 Reported questions
1.2.4 Reported exclamations
1.2.5 Mixed types of reported speech
13 Changes of direct speech when turned into reported speech 1.3.1 Pronoun changes
Trang 4Chapter 3 RESULTS, DISCUSSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 3.1 Results
3.1.1 Results collected from the questionnaire
3.1.2 Results collected from the mini-test
3.2 Discussions
3.2.1 The questionnaire
3.2.2 The mini-test
3.3 Suggestions
3.3.1 For the teachers
3.3.2 For the students
CONCLUSION AND LIMITATIONS
REFERENCES
APPENDIX 1
APPENDIX 2
APPENDIX 3
Trang 5Chapter 1 LITERATURE REVIEW
In this chapter, the theory of reported speech is presented including definition of reported speech, types of reported speech and changes of direct speech when turned into reported speech
1.1 Definition of reported speech
Reported speech or indirect speech refers to using a noun clause to report what someone has said No quotation marks are used ( 3 )
Example:
Direct speech: She said, “She hasn‟t met Susan for two years.”
Reported speech: She said (that) she hadn‟t met Susan for two years
1.2 Types of reported speech
Direct speech: “I‟m waiting for my mother,” he said
Reported speech: He said that he was waiting for his mother
Direct speech: Rick said to me, “Anne has written Jim a letter.”
Reported speech: Rick told me that Anne had written Jim a letter
Direct speech: She hopes, “I will pass the exam.”
Reported speech: She hopes that she will pass the exam
Trang 6Examples:
Direct speech: The teacher said to me, “Show me your notebook.”
Reported speech: The teacher told me to show her my notebook
Direct speech: He said to me, “Remember to come here on time.”
Reported speech: He asked me to come there on time
Direct speech: “Please give me some money,” said the old man to us
Reported speech: The old man begged us to give him some money
Direct speech: The boss tells me, “Come in!”
Reported speech: The boss tells me to come in
Negative imperatives (“Don’t + V…/ Never + V…/ ”)
Reported speech
Examples:
Direct speech: She said to her husband, “Don‟t drive too fast.”
Reported speech: She told her husband not to drive too fast
Direct speech: The teacher says to her students, “Never go to school late.”
Reported speech: The teacher tells her students never to go to school late
S + tell / told / … + O + to + V
ask / asked / …
beg / begged / …
order / ordered / …
………
S + tell / told / … + O + not to + V never to ask / asked / …
beg / begged / …
order / ordered / …
………
Trang 71.2.3 Reported questions
Yes-No Questions (“Auxiliary + S + …?” )
Reported speech
Examples: Direct speech: She said to me, “Are you hungry?” Reported speech: He asked me if / whether I was hungry Direct speech: He said to himself, “Will she arrive on time?” Reported speech: He wondered if /whether she would arrive on time Direct speech: He enquires, “Does the train stop at York?” Reported speech: He enquires if / whether the train stops at York Or-Questions (“Auxiliary + S …+ or + …? ” ) Reported speech
Examples: Direct speech: Mary‟s mother said to her, “Do you like the blue hat or the green one?” Reported speech: Mary‟s mother asked her if/whether she liked the blue hat or the green one Direct speech: “Would you rather travel by car or by train?” she asks me Reported speech: She asks me if/whether I would rather travel by car or by train S + ask / asked + ( O ) + if + S +V whether enquire / enquired / …
wonder / wondered / …
want to know / wanted to know / …
………
S + ask / asked / … + (O) + if + S +V + or +… whether enquire / enquired / …
wonder / wondered / …
want to know / wanted to know /…
………
Trang 8Wh-Questions ( “ Question words + auxiliary + S + …? ” )
Reported speech
Examples: Direct speech: “Who is going to live in the big house?” he enquired Reported speech: He enquired who was going to live in the big house Direct speech: “Who does English belong to?” our teacher has just said to us Reported speech: Our teacher has just asked us who English belongs to Direct speech: “How do you learn English?” she asks him Reported speech: She asks him how he learns English 1.2.4 Reported exclamations Exclamations(“ …!”) Reported speech
S + ask / asked / … + (O) +
enquire / enquired / …
wonder / wondered / …
want to know / wanted to know /…
………
S + ask / asked / … + (O) +
enquire / enquired / …
wonder / wondered / …
want to know / wanted to know /…
………
who + V what which who + S + V what which whom where when why how … S + exclaim / exclaimed /… + (that) + S + V say / said /
………
Trang 9Examples:
Direct speech: He said, “What a dreadful idea!”
Reported speech: He exclaimed that it was a dreadful idea
Direct speech: She says, “What a beautiful dress!”
Reported speech: She says that it is a very beautiful dress
1.2.5 Mixed types of Reported Speech
Direct speech may consist of statement + question, question + imperative, imperative + statement or all together
* Rule1
Often each type requires its own introductory verb and the conjunction „and‟ is used to link them
Examples:
Direct speech: “ I‟m a stranger Can you tell me how to get to the post office?” she said
Reported speech: She said she was a stranger and asked if I could tell her how to get
to the post office
* Rule2
When the second clause is a statement explaining the first, the conjunction „ as‟ can be used instead of a second introductory verb
Examples:
Direct speech: “Don‟t turn off the light It is dark here.” my sister said
Reported speech: My sister told me not to turn off the light as it was dark there
*Rule3
Sometimes the second introductory verb can be a participle
Examples:
Direct speech: “Please, please don‟t smoke Remember that it is harmful to your
health,” his wife said
Reported speech: His wife begged him not to smoke reminding him that it was
harmful to your health
Trang 101.3 Changes of direct speech when turned into reported speech
1.3.1 Pronoun changes
Personal, reflexive and possessive pronoun changes
* Rule1: First person pronouns in the direct speech change from the first person to
the person of the subject of the reporting verb in the reported speech
Example:
Direct speech: He said, “I am a student.”
Reported speech: He said that he was a student
* Rule2: Second person pronouns in the direct speech change from the second person
to the person of the object of the reporting verb in the reported speech
Example:
Direct speech: She said to me, “You are very kind.”
Reported speech: She told me that I was very kind
* Rule3: Third person pronouns in the direct speech will not change in the reported
speech
Example:
Direct speech: The manager said, “They are hard workers.”
Reported speech: The manager said that they were hard workers
* Notes:
- The new (changed) pronoun will have the same case and number as the original one
Example:
Direct speech: He said, “This book is mine.”
Reported speech: He said that that book was his
- In some cases, to avoid confusion, we can use the former and the latter instead
of the pronouns mentioned in the rules above
Examples:
Direct speech: Tom said to Peter, “Miss White wants to meet me in the office.”
Reported speech: Tom told Peter that Miss White wanted to meet the former in the
office
Direct speech: Tom said to Peter, “Miss White wants to meet you in the office.”
Trang 11Reported speech: Tom told Peter that Miss White wanted to meet the latter in the
Direct speech: She said, “This is Tom‟s house.”
Reported speech: She said (that) that was Tom‟s house
Direct speech: He said, “These are my new pens.”
Reported speech: He said that those were his new pens
1.3.2 Adjective changes
Possessive adjective changes
The rule of possessive adjective changes in reported speech is the same as that of possessive pronoun changes mentioned above
Examples:
Direct speech: He said, “I haven‟t finished my work.”
Reported speech: He said that he hadn‟t finished his work
Direct speech: My sister said to me, “Don‟t put your bag here.”
Reported speech: My sister told me not to put my bag there
Direct speech: Alice said, “I don‟t know their names.”
Reported speech: Alice said that she didn‟t know their names
Demonstrative adjective changes
The rule of demonstrative adjective changes in reported speech is the same as that of demonstrative pronoun changes mentioned above
Examples:
Direct speech: He said, “This room needs painting.”
Reported speech: He said that that room needed painting
Direct speech: She said, “These books are mine.”
Reported speech: She said that those books were hers
Trang 121.3.3 Tense changes
* Rule 1
If the reporting verb is in the past tense, tenses of the verbs in the direct speech will be changed into their corresponding past tenses in the reported speech The changes are shown in the following table
She said that she had been to Da lat
Present perfect continuous
The clerk said, “I have been learning
English for ten years.”
Past perfect continuous
The clerk said that she had been learning
English for ten years
Simple past
My friend said, “My brother bought a
computer yesterday.”
Past perfect
My friend said that his brother had bought a
computer the day before
Past continuous
He said, “We were having dinner at 7
p.m yesterday.”
Past perfect continuous
He said that they had been having dinner
7p.m the day before
Past perfect
He said, “I had turned off the TV
before 8 a.m.”
Past perfect (unchanged)
He said he had turned off the TV before 8
a.m
Past perfect continuous Past perfect continuous (unchanged)
Trang 13He said, “I had been waiting for ten
minutes when the bus arrived.”
He said that he had been waiting for ten
minutes when the bus arrived
Simple future
My mother said to me, “I will buy you
a new watch tomorrow.”
Simple future in the past (Conditional)
My mother told me that she would buy me a
new watch the following day
My friend said that she would be watching
TV at 8 o‟clock the following day
But note that there are some exceptions:
- There are no tense changes in the reported speech if the reported words are true at the time of reporting
Example:
Direct speech: He said, “I am 24 years old.”
Reported speech: He said that he is 24 years old (Now he is 24 years old.)
- There are no tense changes in the reported speech if the reported words express a general truth
Example:
Direct speech: Our geography teacher said, “The Earth revolves around the Sun.”
Reported speech: Our geography teacher said that the Earth resolves around the Sun
- There are no tense changes in reported speech if the reported words refer to unreal situations
Examples:
Direct speech: My sister said, “If I were a billionaire, I would help the poor.”
Reported speech: My sister said that if she were a billionaire, she would help the
poor
Direct speech: He said, “If I had worked hard, I would have passed the exam.”
Trang 14Reported speech: He said that if he had worked hard, I would have passed the
exam
- There are no tense changes in reported speech if the reported words contain unreal past tenses after wish, would rather/sooner and it is time
Examples:
Direct speech: Tom said, “I wish I could travel around the world.”
Reported speech: Tom said that he wished he could travel around the world
Direct speech: She said to him, “I would rather you did not smoke here.‟
Reported speech: She told him that she would rather he did not smoke there
Direct speech: He said, “It‟s time the government did something to save the
Example:
Direct speech: He says, “I listen to the radio every day.”
Reported speech: He says that he listens to the radio every day
1.3.4 Modal verb changes
* Rule 1
Modal verbs in the direct speech will be changed into the corresponding past forms in the reported speech if the reporting verb is in the past tense The changes are shown in the following table
can (ability)
Ex: She said to me, “Can you swim?”
could
Ex: She asked me if I could swim
Trang 15Ex: He said, “It may rain.” Ex: He said that it might rain
may ( permission)
Ex: Our parents said to us, “You may
watch TV in your free time.”
could
Ex: Our parents told us that we could watch TV in our free time
must (obligation, present)
Ex: “Need I eat it all, mummy?” said
the child
“Yes, dear, you must,” she said
must/had to
Ex: The child asked his mother if he had to
eat it all and she said that he must/had to
must (obligation, future)
Ex: My father said to me, “You must
work harder next term.”
must/would have to
Ex: My father told me that I must/would have to work harder the next term
needn’t (necessity, present)
Ex: He said, “I needn’t be in the room
till 5 p.m.”
needn’t/didn’t have to Ex: He said that he needn’t / didn’t have
to be the room till 5 p.m.”
needn’t (necessity, future)
Ex: I said, “If you can lend me the
money, I needn’t go to the bank.”
needn’t / wouldn’t have to
Ex: I said that if he could lend me the
money, I needn’t / wouldn’t have to go to
the bank
shall ( future)
Ex 1: I said, “I shall buy a new bicycle
if I have enough money.”
Ex 2: He said, “I shall buy a new
bicycle if I have enough money.”
(I/we + should / would), (You/he/she/it/they + would)
Ex 1: I said that I should / would buy a
new bicycle if I had enough money
Ex 2: He said that he would buy a new bicycle if he had enough money
Trang 16shall ( offers, requests for advice and
confirmation)
Ex: He asked his wife, “Where shall I
put this box?”
should
Ex: He asked his wife where he should put
that / the box
In the reported speech, such words as had better, would rather/sooner, ought
to, used to, should, would, could, might remain unchanged
Examples:
Direct speech: “The children had better/ should go to bed early,” the doctor said
Reported speech: The doctor said that children had better/should go to bed early
Direct speech: He said, “I would rather travel by car.”
Reported speech: He said that he would rather travel by car
Direct speech: “They ought to widen this road,” she said
Reported speech: She said that they ought to widen that road
Direct speech: “I used to play marbles when I was young,” he said
Reported speech: He said that he used to played marbles when he was young
Direct speech: “It might be colder,” she said
Reported speech: She said that it might be colder
Direct speech: “I couldn’t stand on my head,” he said
Reported speech: He said that he couldn’t stand on his head
Direct speech: She said to her boyfriend, “If I were you, I would apply for the job.”
Reported speech: She told her boyfriend that if she were him, she would apply for
the job
Trang 171.3.5 Adverb changes
Adverb changes in the reported speech are shown in the following table:
Ex: He said to me, “Don‟t put your
books on these tables.”
Ex: He said, “I graduated from high
school 4 years ago.”
before
Ex: He said that he had graduated from
high school 4 years before
the day before/ the previous day
Ex: He said that he had gone swimming
the day before/ the previous day
the day before yesterday/ two days
ago
two days before/two days earlier
Ex: She said that her mother had taken
Trang 18But note that there are some exceptions:
- If the speech is made and reported on the same day, these time changes are not necessary
- If the speech is made and reported at the same place, these place changes are not necessary
Examples:
Direct speech: At breakfast this morning he said, “ I‟ll be very busy today”
Reported speech: At breakfast this morning he said that he would be very busy
today
Direct speech: In this room he said, “ I will have a meeting here.”
Reported speech: In this room he said that he would have a meeting here
Ex: She said, “My mother took me to
the zoo the day before yesterday.”
her to the zoo two days before/ two days earlier
last night
Ex: He said, “I stayed up late last
night.”
the previous night /the night before
Ex: He said that he had stayed up late
the previous night / the night before
Tomorrow
Ex: He said, “It may rain tomorrow.”
the following day/ the next day
Ex: He said that it might rain the following day/ the next day
the day after tomorrow/in two days
Ex: She said, “I will return home the
day after tomorrow.”
in two days’ time / two days later
Ex: She said that I would return home
in two days’ time/ two days later
tomorrow evening
Ex: “We are going to have a party
tomorrow evening,” she said
the following evening / the next evening
Ex: She said that we were going to
have a party the following evening/ the next evening
Trang 191.3.6 Exceptions
In reality, direct speech is sometimes turned into reported speech according to the meaning instead of the structures mentioned above The exceptions fall into such
groups as thanks, advice, encouragement, congratulation, compliment, wish, dream,
promise, request, suggestion, insistence, admission, denial, apology, blame, accusation, warning , prohibition and so on For example:
* Thanks:
Direct speech: “ It was nice of you to visit me Thank you,” Mary said to me
Reported speech: Mary thanked me for visiting her
* Advice:
Direct speech: “You‟d better not swim too far from the shore,” he said to us
Reported speech: He advised us not to swim too far from the shore
Direct speech: “I hear you passed your exams Congratulations!” Peter said to us
Reported speech: Peter congratulated us on passing our exams
* Compliment:
Direct speech: “ What a beautiful hat you have!” said Tom to Alice
Reported speech: Tom complimented Alice on her beautiful hat
* Wish:
Direct speech: He said, “Happy Christmas!”
Reported speech: He wished me a happy Christmas
* Dream:
Direct speech: “ I‟ve always want to be healthy ” Alice said
Reported speech: Alice has always dreamed of being healthy
* Promise:
Direct speech: He said to me, “ I will send you details of the competition ”
Trang 20 Reported speech: He promised to send me details of the competition
* Request:
Direct speech: “Could you send me details of the competition?” I said to him
Reported speech: I asked him to send me details of the competition
* Suggestion:
Direct speech: Mary said, “ Let‟s talk about the General knowledge Quiz ”
Reported speech: Mary suggested talking about the General knowledge Quiz
* Insistence:
Direct speech: “ We must be given every detail of the contest, ” they insisted
Reported speech: They insisted on being given every detail of the contest
* Admission:
Direct speech: She said, “ To tell the truth, I haven‟t participated in a singing contest”
Reported speech: She admitted not having participated in a singing contest
* Denial:
Direct speech: “ Me? No, I didn‟t take your pen,” said Tom to Mary
Reported speech: Tom denied having taken Mary‟s pen
* Apology:
Direct speech: “I‟m sorry, I didn‟t phone you earlier.” Mary said
Reported speech: Mary apologized for not phoning me earlier
* Blame:
Direct speech: He said to me, “ It was your fault You ignored the notice.”
Reported speech: He blamed me for ignoring the notice
* Accusation:
Direct speech:, “You didn‟t pay attention to the lesson,” the teacher said to Paul
Reported speech: The teacher accused Paul of not paying attention to the lesson
* Warning:
Direct speech: She said to us, “ Don‟t go alone in the dark.”
Reported speech: She warned us against going alone in the dark
* Prohibition:
Direct speech:She said to her children, “ You can‟t go out after dark.”
Reported speech: She prevented her children from going out after dark
Trang 211.4 Summary of reported speech used in grade 11 student’s English book
After considering the grammar point of reported speech in grade 11 student‟s English book, the researcher found out three main points relating to reported speech as follows:
1.4.1 Reported speech with infinitive
* Affirmative imperatives
Examples:
Direct speech: The teacher said to me, “Show me your notebook.”
Reported speech: The teacher told me to show her my notebook
Direct speech: He said to me, “Remember to come here on time.”
Reported speech: He asked me to come there on time
Direct speech: The boss tells me, “Come in!”
Reported speech: The boss tells me to come in
* Negative imperatives
Examples:
Direct speech: She said to her husband, “Don‟t drive too fast.”
Reported speech: She told her husband not to drive too fast
Direct speech: The teacher says to her students, “Never go to school late.”
Reported speech: The teacher tells her students never to go to school late
* Advice, encouragement, promise, request…
Examples:
Direct speech: “You‟d better not swim too far from the shore,” he said to us
Reported speech: He advised us not to swim too far from the shore
Direct speech: “You should take part in the English Speaking Competition,” said the
teacher to us
Reported speech: The teacher encouraged us to take part in the English Speaking
Competition
Direct speech: He said to me, “I will send you details of the competition”
Reported speech: He promised to send me details of the competition
Direct speech: “Could you send me details of the competition?” I said to him
Reported speech: I asked him to send me details of the competition
Trang 221.4.2 Reported speech with gerund
* Suggestion, denial, insistence, dream, congratulation, thanks, apology…
Examples:
Direct speech: Mary said, “Let‟s talk about the General knowledge Quiz.”
Reported speech: Mary suggested talking about the General knowledge Quiz
Direct speech: “Me? No, I didn‟t take your pen,” said Tom to Mary
Reported speech: Tom denied having taken Mary‟s pen
Direct speech: “We must be given every detail of the contest,” they insisted
Reported speech: They insisted on being given every detail of the contest
Direct speech: “I‟ve always want to be healthy” Alice said
Reported speech: Alice has always dreamed of being healthy
Direct speech: “I hear you passed your exams Congratulations!” Peter said to us
Reported speech: Peter congratulated us on passing our exams
Direct speech: “It was nice of you to visit me Thank you,” Mary said to me
Reported speech: Mary thanked me for visiting her
Direct speech: “I‟m sorry, I didn‟t phone you earlier.” Mary said
Reported speech: Mary apologized for not phoning me earlier
1.4.3 Reported speech with conditional sentences
* Tenses in conditional sentences type change in the usual way
Example: Direct speech: She said to me, “If you work hard, you will pass the exam.”
* Tenses in conditional sentences types 2 and 3 remain unchanged
Examples:
Direct speech: My sister said, “If I were a billionaire, I would help the poor.”
Reported speech: My sister said that if she were a billionaire, she would help the
poor
Direct speech: He said, “If I had worked hard, I would have passed the exam.”
Reported speech: He said that if he had worked hard, I would have passed the
exam
Trang 232.2.2 The subjects of the research
The subjects of the research are 79 students of class 11A9 and 11A13 at Doc Binh Kieu High School, Cai Lay Town, Cai Lay District, Tien Giang Province The students
in these two classes are chosen to participate in my study for two main reasons First, they have been taught quite enough knowledge of reported speech, so it is possible for the researcher to test the students‟ knowledge of every aspect related to this English grammar point Second, if they still make mistakes, some useful solutions will be taken
to help them avoid making mistakes in reported speech Therefore, they may improve their skills in using reported speech Besides most of the students don‟t have their own computers However, the library of their school is equipped with many computers linked with the Internet for them to search information if they want The students study
in classrooms with computers and projectors, a good condition for them to acquire knowledge
2.3 Data collection instruments
2.3.1 The questionnaire
The questionnaire which was invented by Sir Francis Galton is a useful way to collect data from the subjects There are two types of questions in this instrument They are close questions and open questions Close questions require the respondents to choose the best among the given options Meanwhile, open questions require the respondents to give their own answers
Trang 24In this study, there are 10 questions in the questionnaire The questions are mainly about the respondents‟ attitude toward reported speech They have been designed as follows
Item 1 is used to know how students feel about English reported speech
Item 2 is used to know how the students feel about reported speech
Item 3 is designed to find out how many opportunities of practising reported speech were given to the students in their lesson about reported speech
Item 4 is used to know which elements of reported speech the students like dealing with
Item 5 is applied to know how the students rank the elements which need changing according to degrees of difficulty
Item 6 is used to know which type of reported speech the students think is the most difficult
Item 7 is employed to find out in what types of reported speech the students make mistakes most often
Item 8 is used to know how the students recognize their errors of reported speech
Item 9 is applied to find out how the students‟ errors of reported speech have been corrected
Item 10 is implemented to know what the students often do to overcome difficulties in learning reported speech
2.3.2 The mini-test
The test consists of exercises about the research area It helps the researcher to have a general view of the test takers‟ strengths and weaknesses Through the test, the researcher would like to suggest some solutions aimed at helping the students improve their weak points There are 30 items in this mini-test
Items 1 to 3 are designed to check whether the students know how to use reporting verbs
Items 4 to 6 are implemented to test the students‟ knowledge of pronoun changes
Trang 25 Items 7 to 9 are used to find out if the students know how to change possessive adjectives and demonstrative adjectives
Items 10 to 12 are used to test the students‟ knowledge of tense changes
Items 13 to 17 are applied to check if the students remember the cases in which there are no tense changes
Items 18 to 19 are used to know whether the students understand how to change modal verbs
Items 20 to 23 are used to test the students‟ knowledge of the cases in which modal verbs are not changed
Items 24 to 25 are designed to check whether the students know the rules of adverb changes
Items 26 to 30 are employed to check if the students know the exceptions in changing reported speech
2.4 Research procedure
2.4.1 The questionnaire
The researcher delivered 79 copies of the questionnaire to 79 students in class 11A9 and 11A13 on 5th April, 2013 Class 11A9 is the class the researcher practised teaching but class 11A13 is not Both of the classes have been following the basic syllabus by Ministry of Education and Training, which is suitable for the purpose of the study All the copies of the questionnaire were collected one day later so that the respondents could complete the questionnaire more comfortably Furthermore, they weren‟t influenced by their classmates‟ ideas Therefore, this might help make the result of the study more precise and realistic
2.4.2 The mini-test
The researcher also delivered 79 copies of the mini-test to the 79 students of the
two classes 11A9 and 11A13 and collected them 30 minutes later That is, students had
to do the mini-test in class under the supervision of the researcher in 30 minutes Supervising the students during their mini-test might help the researcher know the students‟ ability more exactly and suggest suitable solutions aimed at helping them overcome difficulties in learning reported speech
Trang 26Chapter 3 RESULTS, DISCUSSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
Chapter 3 consists of three main parts The first part is the data collected from the questionnaire and the mini-test The second part is the discussion of the data The last past is some solutions for the teachers and the students
3.1 Results
3.1.1 The result from the questionnaire
Item 1: What do you think of English grammar?
Table 3.1: The students’ opinion about English grammar
Figure 3.1: The students’ opinion about English grammar
Figure 3.1 shows the students‟ opinion about English grammar 54.4% of the students who have completed the questionnaire think that English grammar is difficult
It is noteworthy that 24.1% of them think that English grammar is very difficult However, about a quarter or 21.5% of them consider it easy and even very easy Thus,
Trang 27English grammar is a big problem to most students, which may negatively affect the
students‟ ability of reporting
Item 2: What do you think of reported speech?
Table 3.2: The students’ opinion about reported speech
Figure 3.2: The students’ opinion about reported speech
The students‟ opinion about reported speech is shown in Figure 3.2 More than 20% of the students think that reported speech is very difficult and 43% of them think that it is difficult It means that a lot of students still have difficulty using reported speech
Item 3: How many opportunities of practising reported speech were you given in your lesson about reported speech?
Trang 28Table 3.3: The degrees of opportunities of practising reported speech the students
were given in their lesson about reported speech
Figure 3.3:The degrees of opportunities of practising reported speech the students were given in their lesson about reported speech
According to Figure 3.3, no students had so many or many opportunities of practising reported speech in their lesson about reported speech while 45.6% of the students had quite a few opportunities and the students who had few opportunities made up the majority (54,4%) It can be inferred that they need more opportunities to practise reported speech
Item 4: Which elements of reported speech do you like dealing with?
Table 3.4: The elements of reported speech the students like dealing with
Trang 29C Tenses 18 22.8
Figure 3.4: The elements of reported speech the students like dealing with
As can be seen from Figure 3.4, five elements of reported speech are liked with various percentages Pronouns are what students like dealing with most 29.1% of the students like dealing with pronouns In contrast, only 19% of the students like dealing with modal verbs Modal verbs are what students like dealing with least This means that changing pronouns and adverbs is quite easy while changing modal verbs is quite difficult to the students
Item 5: Put the elements that need changing in reported speech in the order of ascending difficulty (1-5)
Table 3.5: The elements that need changing in the order of ascending difficulty
29.1
25.3
0 5 10 15 20 25
30(%)
A Pronouns B Adjectives C Tenses D Modal
verbs
E Adverbs
Trang 30Figure 3.5: The elements that need changing in the order of ascending difficulty
Figure 3.5 indicates the order of ascending difficulty of the five elements that need changing in reported speech In the students‟ opinion, pronouns are the easiest element accounting for 38% of the students‟ options and modal verbs are the most difficult one accounting for 45.6% of the students‟ options In addition, the chart also shows that according to the students adjectives are more difficult than pronouns but they are easier than adverbs and adverbs are easier than tenses However, tenses are not
as difficult as modal verbs Hence, changing modal verbs and tenses are the students‟ main weakness
Item 6: What type of reported speech do you think is the most difficult?
Table 3.6: The types of reported speech the students think the most difficult
17.7 27.8 24.1 17.7 12.7
19 15.2 25.3 24.1 16.4
7.6 7.6 7.6 31.6 45.6
16.5 25.3 29.1 15.2 13.9