strategic, lexical and syntactic competencies in english of freshman students in thai nguyen university bais for a proposed drill exercises

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines i STRATEGIC, LEXICAL AND SYNTACTIC COMPETENCIES IN ENGLISH OF FRESHMAN STUDENTS IN THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY: BASIS FOR A PROPOSED DRILL EXERCISES A Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of Graduate School Batangas State University Batangas City, Philippines In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy Major in English By: NGUYEN THI THANH HONG (ROSE) June 2014 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines ii ABSTRACT Title :Strategic, lexical and syntactic competencies in English of freshman students in Thai Nguyen university: Basis for a proposed drill exercise. Author : Nguyen Thi Thanh Hong Course :Doctor of Philosophy major in English language and literature. Year : 2014 Adviser : Dr Amada G. Banaag Summary The main focus of this study was to determine the strategic, lexical and syntactic competencies in English of freshman student Thai Nguyen university. This study made use of the descriptive method and utilized researcher-constructed questionaire and teacher made test. For objective interpretation and analysis of the study, the data were subjected to the following statistical treatment: frequency, percentage, ranking, independent t-test and standard deviation. THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines iii The findings of the study revealed that majority of the freshman students of Thai Nguyen University employed strategic competencies to cope and promote their communication skills. Further, freshman students have poor performance in the areas of vocabulary, idioms and word formation but have better performance in synonyms and antonym; they demonstrate poor performance in the areas of verb tenses, direct and indirect speech, but have better or remarkable performance in the areas of subject verb agreement, pronoun references and phrases and clauses. In addition, There is no significant relationship exists between students’ lexical and syntactic competencies. There exists a relationship between teachers’ assessment and the level of students’ lexical and syntactic competencies. Students did not frequently used or practice their lexical and syntactic skills as indicated by their mean score of 3.0. The drill exercises formulated contains activities geared towards improving freshman students’ lexical and syntactic competencies in Thai Nguyen university. THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This dissertation wouldn’t have been possible had it not been for the support, love, patience, and generosity of many people, who have helped me in their own incredible way to deal with myself while trying to find my voice in what I do. I would especially like to acknowledge and thank Dr. Amanda G. Banaag, who as a major professor and director of my dissertation opened my eyes to see the details in the “big picture”. I highly admire her scholarship, dedication, efficiency in decision-making, valuable advice, to Dr. Maltida H. Dimaano, who has enormously helped me to keep on moving. Had it not been for her constant administrative and academic support, I doubt I would have finished the Program and my dissertation in such a timely manner. There isn’t a quantifier in the English language that can express how grateful I am for everything that she has done for me during the past four years. I would also sincerely like to thank Dr. Corazon Cabrera, who has always been full of new ideas and contagious enthusiasm and who has encouraged me to be respectful to the papers that I’ve written. I have a special thank for Dr. Remedios P. Magnaye as well, whose energy and resourcefulness have been inspiring. Finally, I a big “thank you” should go to the THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines v participants in this study and especially to a good friend and colleague of mine at Thai Nguyen University, who graciously helped me with collecting the data for the study. My greatest thanks go to my nearest and dearest – my family and my friends - whom I selflessly and unconditionally love, and I know they love me back. I thank my mother for giving me life, love, values, and belief that I can accomplish anything I set out to do. Thank you, Mum, for sacrificing so much to make this Possible for me! All I have ever wanted was to make you proud of me! And thank you to my sisters, who have always given me a lot of encouragement. I also don’t think it would have been possible to write this dissertation without my husband, and my sons. My husband’s patience and high level of tolerance to all my academic queries, intellectual quests, and unpredictable mood swings have been more than highly appreciated. My son’s well-being, love, and encouragement have been my guiding light. Finally, I am entirely indebted to all my friends for their spiritual generosity and for being my friends. Thank you! THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines ii TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE I TABLE OF CONTENTS ii LIST OF TABLES v LIST OF FIGURES vii CHAPTER I. THE PROBLEM 11 Introduction 11 Statement of the Problem 20 Scope, Delimitation and Limitation of the Study 21 Significance of the Study 22 II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE 23 Conceptual Literature 23 Competence in the English Language 23 Research Literature 70 Synthesis 78 Theoretical Framework 82 Conceptual Framework 86 Hypothesis 89 Definition of Terms 89 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines iii III. RESEARCH METHOD AND PROCEDURE 80 Research Design 80 Subjects of the Study 80 Data Gathering Instrument 82 Data Gathering Procedure 83 Statistical Treatment of Data 84 IV. PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA 85 V. SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 143 Summary of Findings 143 Conclusions 153 Recommendations 154 APPENDICES A. Questionnaire for Students 164 B. Questionnaire for Teacher’s -Part 1 175 C. Questionnaire for Teacher’s - Part 2 180 D. Validation Letter of the Questionnaire for Students 186 F. Letters of Request to the Head of Institution 189 H. Documents for Validation of Questionaires in Batangas State University 194 K: Photographs of the Research Sites 195 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines iv L. Photographs of the Approval Test Administration of the Head of Institutions 196 M. Photographs of the Teachers Respondents 197 N. Photographs of the Students Respondents 198 P. Psychrometric Conversion Table 199 CURRICULUM VITAE 201 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines v LIST OF TABLES Table Title Page 1 Distribution of the respondents of the study 81 2 Strategic competencies of Freshman students 85 3 Student skills according to the frequency of use as strategic competencies 90 4 Degree of importance of strategic competency 93 5 Performance of student on Lexical Competence 94 6 Performance of student on Syntactic Competence 98 7 Student's t-test comparison of the mean scores for each lexical test 104 8 Student's t-test comparison of the mean scores for each syntactic 105 9 Student's t-test comparison of the mean scores for lexical vs. syntactic test 106 10 List of student skills validated by 60 teacher respondents as lexical and syntactic competencies of Freshman students 108 11 Students’ frequency of lexical and syntactic skills 111 12 Mean scores of student lexical and syntactic skills 113 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines vi 13 Student's t-test comparison of the mean scores for lexical and syntactic test 115 14 Areas under lexical- syntactic competencies to be used as topics for the design of drill exercises and the basis of their choice 118 [...]... power and prestige As a gatekeeper to social and economic progress, many countries give importance to English language as it serves as a pathway towards progress and learning Understanding and 12 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines communicating English is a factor for a person to learn and progress faster because most of the information... is available in the English language and for that reason to be globally competitive, communicating effectively in that language is a must As an international language, English is spoken in many countries both as native and as a second or foreign language It is the world’s dominant language because aside from being designated as an official among sixty two nations, it has the greatest number of speakers... professions and fields, a working knowledge of English becomes a need Knowledge also of the English language to enhance educational attainment through improved communication ability is also important English as the lingua franca of the modern times of business and of popular culture is also the language of computers and internet aside from being the language of globalization of international business,... The narrowing of cultural linguistic diversity, expansion of cultural and linguistic divergence as well as information and media advancement are some of the contribution of English language to globalization One of the biggest advantage of a country in a global job market is the proficiency of the skilled workers in the English language In the field of education, proficiency in the English language also... syntactic standards of the English language Administrators and Policymakers This study is important to them as they will appreciate the need to institute teaching reforms and insure the implementation of innovative strategies towards the improvement of English language teaching that is geared towards generation of personal benefit 23 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY. .. not a simple duty for the teachers, especially for the teachers in Thai Nguyen university where most all students have poor background knowledge of language and lack competency on all aspects of language such as, strategic, lexical, syntactic and discource 20 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines Because of the above mentioned reasons,... global business and communication such as news and information, business, finance, entertainment, maritime and air traffic communication It is also the language that plays an important role in government diplomacy, science, medicine and other profession In the world also connected by bits and bytes, English language is also important as it emerged as a common vehicle for communication In globalization... on English in school education or facilities for English teaching and learning First of all, it can be seen clearly that for most of students in Thai Nguyen university who are hailed from rural areas, English is always a really difficult subject and they do not often like English lessons Although they have different back ground knowledge and different level of learning, they are arranged to learn English. .. thought, ideas and feelings is better equipped for sucsess both on the job and in personal relationship Together with all the learning competencies expected of a 21st century professional such as information retrieval and evaluation, 17 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines ethical reasoning, teamwork and leadership, creative thinking, computer... improves academic performance of students Proficiency in the English language has been identified as a requisite in the globalized economy; with countries having a large number of its population capable of communicating in English being rewarded with economic advantages In Asian countries, this trend has been realized by both governments and individuals and are thus pushing the wide interest in English language . Year : 2014 Adviser : Dr Amada G. Banaag Summary The main focus of this study was to determine the strategic, lexical and syntactic competencies in English of freshman student Thai. 3.0. The drill exercises formulated contains activities geared towards improving freshman students lexical and syntactic competencies in Thai Nguyen university. THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY. 12 communicating English is a factor for a person to learn and progress faster because most of the information is available in the English language and for that reason to be globally competitive,