UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** Phan thỊ Thu HIỀn The Present progressive tense and Errors made by pupils at Hanoi
Trang 1UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES
*****************
Phan thỊ Thu HIỀn
The Present progressive tense
and Errors made by pupils at Hanoi
Technical and professional skills training school ( Thì Hiện tại tiếp diễn và những lỗi học sinh trường trung học
Kỹ thuật và nghiệp vụ Hà Nội mắc )
MA Minor Thesis
Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10
HANOI – 2011
Trang 2UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES
*****************
The Present progressive tense
and Errors made by pupils at Hanoi
Technical and professional skills training school ( Thì Hiện tại tiếp diễn và những lỗi học sinh trường trung học
Kỹ thuật và nghiệp vụ Hà Nội mắc )
MA Minor Thesis
Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10
Supervisor: Ms Phung Thi Kim Dung, MA
HANOI – 2011
Trang 3Table of contents
Declaration
Acknowledgements
Abstract
Table contents
Part A: Introduction
1 Rationale
2 Aims of the study
3 Scope of the study
4 Methodology of the study
5 Significance of the study
Part B: Development
Chapter 1 - Literature review
1.1 Time - tense - aspect relationship
1.2 Present Progressive tense
1.2.1 Forms
1.2.2 Uses
1.2.3 Signal words
1.2.4 Stative and Dynamic verbs
1.3 Present Progressive tense vs Present Simple tense
Chapter 2 - The Study
2.1 Context of the study
2.1.1 Teachers
2.1.2 Pupils
i
ii iii
iv
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2
2
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3
4
4
4
5
5
10
11
12
15
18
18
18
18
Trang 42.2 Research questions
2.3 Subjects
2.4 Data collection instrument
2.5 Data analysis procedure
2.6 Results & Discussion
2.6.1 Question 1
2.6.2 Question 2
2.6.3 Question 3
2.7 Summary and Recommendations
2.7.1 Summary
2.7.2 Recommendations
Part c: conclusion
References
Appendices Appendix 1 Test
Appendix 2 Key
Appendix 3 Procedures to present the PP tense
Appendix 4 Video tasks to practise the PP tense
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I III
IV
VI
Trang 5Part A: Introduction
1 Rationale
English is increasingly becoming an important language in the world nowadays Its significance is reflected in the fact that almost everyone learns it in order to communicate with people from a different country Actually, English is being recognized as a means of global communication
As a part of the integrated world, Vietnam is trying to improve its English language education in many parts of the country from urban to rural, and even mountainous areas Teachers as main agents in the classroom can investigate existing serious problems, carry out research, and seek solutions to these problems to eradicate them from the classroom In this way, they will contribute to the overall improvement of the quality of English language teaching and learning in their schools in particular, and in Vietnam in general This study has been done based on this background
For my school, Hanoi technical and professional skills training school, English is still considered a minor subject, and the pupils‟ general level of English is rather limited Here, teaching English mainly focuses on grammar, which occupies most of teachers and pupils‟ study time and takes the considerable percentage in tests and exams Nevertheless, the result of this investment is not much optimistic
Although the Present Progressive tense is a common tense which is often taught carefully, pupils still make quite a lot of errors in terms of form and use For example,
instead of speaking or writing He is studying English, these pupils produced sentences like
He studying English or He is studing English, etc In addition, not few of them have
difficulty in distinguishing between this tense and the Present Simple tense, so they often
make errors such as I live with my friends right now This is mostly evident through their
practice and test results, as observed by the researcher before this study was carried out
In this circumstance, although documents on the Present Progressive tense are available, most of them are not full and detailed Besides, errors on this tense are rarely
mentioned except for in the Master thesis of Pham Viet Huong (2003) named The English
present tenses in comparison and contrast with Vietnamese equivalent expressions In her
study, common errors and solutions are given but in such a general way In addition, studies conducted at vocational schools are rather spare
Trang 6For the above mentioned reasons, the study entitled The Present Progressive tense
and errors made by pupils at Hanoi technical and professional skills training school has
been carried out
2 Aims of the study
This writing provides knowledge of the Present Progressive tense fully and systematically as the theoretical framework to investigate common errors made by pupils
at Hanoi technical and professional skills training school, through which offers recommendations for teaching the tense
3 Scope of the study
This study is limited to the investigating of written errors which are common on the forms and uses of the Present Progressive tense plus some distinctions with the Present Simple tense The study is carried out on 50 pupils of the first year who are studying English at school
4 Methodology of the study
First of all, information about the Present Progressive tense in reliable websites and prestigious books was collected, analyzed and synthesized in the literature review Next, in the study, the quantitative technique ( a multiple-choice test ) was employed Besides, a simple descriptive statistics was applied in the data analysis procedure
5 Significance of the study
This writing offers a full and detailed look at the Present Progressive tense as both the studying and teaching materials Besides, common errors mentioned in the study are really helpful especially to non-experienced teachers More importantly, recommendations given are not useful only to this tense but other tenses as well Finally, this study provides
an overview of teaching and learning at a vocational school as inspirations to following studies on this subject
Part B: Development
Trang 7Chapter 1 - Literature review
In this chapter, knowledge of the Present Progressive tense, also called the Present Continuous tense is provided fully and systematically as the theoretical framework for the investigations of common errors in the following chapter Besides, as Present Progressive (PP) is sometimes mistaken with Present Simple (PS), some comparisons between two tenses are also mentioned However, before coming to the main part about PP, a brief discussion about time – tense - aspect relationship is necessary
1.1 Time - tense - aspect relationship
(Source: http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/progressive.htm)
1.2 present progressive tense
1.2.1 Forms
a) To be
b) Present participle
(Source: http://www.wordpower.ws/grammar/gramch03.html)
c) Structures
The Present Progressive tense is formed with present tense of auxiliary “be” and present participle
am/ is/ are + V-ing
Positive structure
S+ am/ is/ are +V-ing
‟m/ ‟s/ ‟re
Negative structure
We add the word not after Am/ Is/ Are to form the Negative
S+
am/ is/ are + not
+V-ing
‟m/ ‟s/ ‟re + not isn‟t/ aren‟t
Interrogative structure
We invert Am/ Is/ Are before “S” to form the Interrogative
Trang 8 Yes/ No questions:
Am/ Is/ Are + S + V-ing?
- Yes, S + am/ is/ are
- No, S + am/ is/ are + not
The contraction is not included in the structure above
WH- questions:
We add question words like who, whom, what, which, where, when, why, how, etc
at the beginning of the question
WH- + am/ is/ are + S + V-ing?
Negative – interrogative structure
( WH- ) + am/ is/ are + S + not + V-ing?
isn‟t/ aren‟t + S
Note: We use contractions in informal situations
1.2.2 Uses
In English, the Present Progressive tense is usually used to express continuing or ongoing actions which are taking place at the moment of speaking or writing Specific uses are mentioned below
a) Firstly, we use it for things that are happening at the moment of speaking
b) We can also use this tense for temporary situations, when we feel something will not continue for a long time
c) We can use the present continuous tense to describe habits which are temporary or new d) Another present continuous use is for describing annoying habits, when we want to show that something happens too often and we do not like it In this case we need to use an adverb like „always‟, „forever‟, „constantly‟
e) The next use is for describing definite future arrangements (with a future time word) In this case we have already made a plan and we are pretty sure that the event will happen in the future
f) Finally, we use this tense to talk about a situation which is changing slowly
(Source: http://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/present-continuous-use.html)
Trang 91.2.3 Signal words
Signal words used with the PP tense are divided into two groups
a) Signal words describing actions happening now
now, right now, just now, for now, for a little while, at the moment, at present, presently (= now)
After imperative
While + present situations
b) Signal words describing actions in the future
today, tonight, this week/ month/ year/ summer, etc
tomorrow, next week, etc
These signal words are quite useful in identifying the PP tense However, “Tagging the adverbs and the expressions which use the present continuous can also be counter-productive Many languages rely entirely on adverbs to express that an action is temporary, and it is a problem for many learners to get used to verb form (i.e continuous aspect) to express this in English.” (Parrott, 1999: 159)
1.2.4 Stative and Dynamic verbs
a) In English language, there are verbs that are not normally used in Progressive tenses, because they describe states rather than actions They are called stative verbs, including: b) The verbs that can be used in Progressive tenses are called dynamic verbs, including: c) Some verbs can be both stative and dynamic verbs depending on their meanings
1.3 Present Progressive tense vs Present Simple tense
Because the PP tense is sometimes mistaken with the PS, some comparisons between two tenses are discussed here Nevertheless, first of all an overview of the PS tense may be useful
( Source: http://d3.violet.vn/uploads/previews/506/290669/preview.swf)
Now, let us compare the PS with PP tense, mainly to point out differences between the two tenses
Trang 10a) Forms
b) Uses
c) Signal words
d) Stative and Dynamic verbs
(Source: http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/simpre-prepro)
Besides, detailed differences on uses can be found in Eastwood (2005: 38-53)
Chapter 2 - THE STUDY
In the previous chapter, knowledge of Present Progressive tense is provided fully and systematically It is the theoretical framework for investigations of common errors on forms and uses of the PP tense made by pupils at Hanoi technical and professional skills training school (Hatechs) Subsequently, recommendations for teaching the tense are
offered in this chapter
2.1 Context of the study
2.1.1 Teachers
2.1.2 Pupils
2.2 Research questions
Focusing on the understanding of the Present Progressive tense of pupils at Hatechs, this paper seeks to obtain data that answer the following research questions:
1 To what extent do pupils at Hatechs make errors on forms and uses of the Present Progressive tense?
2 To what extent can pupils at Hatechs distinguish Present Progressive tense with Present Simple tense?
Answers for these questions can be obtained through detailed discussion on errors made by pupils in the area of the Present Progressive tense
2.3 Subjects
The population of the study was about 403 first - year pupils of Hatechs Through systematic sampling, 50 pupils were chosen
Trang 11More than three-fourths of the subjects scored the average marks (from 5 to 7) in the Exam 1 of English, so the results can reflect the general performance of all Since these pupils were in moderate proficiency categories, it could be assumed that the degree of diversity was reasonably low and that a sample of data elicited from 50 subjects would be sufficient Prior to collecting the sample, the researcher was aware that certain variables, particularly previous training in the language and intelligence quotients, might have affected their performance on the grammar test However, this study did not aim at investigating the correlation between their performance on a grammar test and other possible independent variables such as proficiency levels or intelligence quotients
2.4 Data collection Instrument
According to Bachman (1990: 68), “Language tests can also be used in research” and “Responses to language tests can provide a rich body of data for the identification of processing errors and their explanation” Consequently, this study was based on a grammar test consisting of three questions aiming at investigating pupils‟ errors on the Present Progressive The questions in the design of multiple-choice items were useful in measuring the subjects‟ errors on forms and uses, and on distinctions between PP and PS
The test was administered to the subjects after they had learnt the lessons about PP and comparisons between PP and PS
2.5 Data analysis procedure
In this study, a simple descriptive statistical procedure was used when considering the data in terms of percentages of subjects' errors which were grouped into types Then these percentages were compared with those in items testing the same problems in order to identify the average percentage of each error type made by the subjects Besides, possible causes were also pointed out as explanation for their errors
2.6 Results and Discussion
2.6.1 Question 1
Table 1 The result for Question 1 in terms of percentages of the subjects‟ choices Choice
Trang 123 18 54 12 16
From the table above, detailed discussion is made to make out the percentages of the subjects making the same types of errors and their possible causes In order to make
comparisons, items testing the same problems are paired as follows:
2.6.2 Question 2
Table 2 The result for Question 2 in terms of percentages of the subjects‟ choices Choice
Item
From the table above, detailed discussion is made to make out the percentages of the subjects choosing the wrong uses and their possible causes In order to
make comparisons, items testing the same uses are paired as followed
2.6.3 Question 3
Table 3 The result for Question 3 in terms of percentages of the subjects‟ choice of
Present Progressive
Verb
Item