A SURVEY ON COMMON CAUSES IMPEDING ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDY STUDENTS OF CAN THO UNIVERSITY IN UNDERSTANDING SHORT FICTION

CAN THO UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF EDUCATION ENGLISH DEPARTMENT A SURVEY ON COMMON CAUSES IMPEDING ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDY STUDENTS OF CAN THO UNIVERSITY IN UNDERSTANDING SHORT FICTION B.A THESIS Field of study: English Language Learning Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu Supervisor: Nguyen Thi Viet Anh, M Ed Researcher: Ho Hoai Bao Student ID: 7044853 Letters of English Class 03 C.30 Can Tho, May 2008 CONTENTS Contents…… ……………………………………… Page i Acknowledgements ……… ………………………………………………… ii Abstract…………………… ………………………………………………… iii List of tables and figures ………… …… …………………………………… iv CHAPTER – INTRODUCTION……… ………………………………… 1.1 Rationale……………………………………………………………… 1.1.1 Why learning fiction.… .…… 1.1.2 Context of learning fiction at Can Tho University.… ……… 1.2 Research aims………………………………………………………… 1.3 Research question……………………………………………………… 1.4 Hypotheses…………………………………………………………… 1.5 Organization of the thesis ……………………………………… CHAPTER - LITERATURE REVIEW………… .…………………… 2.1 Definition of fiction……….…………………………………………… 2.2 Fiction classification…………………………………………………… 2.3 Definition of short fictional works/short stories ……….…………… 2.4 Factors impacting students’ understanding short fictional works………8 CHAPTER - RESEARCH METHODOLOGY….…………………… 10 Design…………… ………………………………………… Trung3.1tâmResearch Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên10cứu 3.2 Participants………………………….………………………………… 10 3.3 Materials……………………………… ……………………………… 11 3.4 Instrument………………… ………………………………………… 11 3.5 Procedure………………………… ………………………………… 16 3.5.1 Data administration ………………………… ……………… 16 3.5.2 Data analysis …………… ……………………… ………… 16 CHAPTER – RESULTS and DISCUSSION ………… …………… 18 CHAPTER – EXPECTED OUTCOMES, LIMITATIONS, CONCLUSION and DIRECTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH … ………… 26 5.1 Expected outcomes…… ……………………………………… 26 5.2 Limitations… ….… ……… …………………………………… 26 5.3 Conclusion and directions for further research… …………… 27 References…………… .…………………………………………………… 29 Appendix …………… .…………………………………………………… 34 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This survey would never been completed without supports of many dear lecturers and students of English Department, Can Tho University I would like to send my greatest gratefulness to Ms Nguyen Thi Viet Anh-lecturer of English Department, Can Tho University - my dear supervisor, who inspired me from the beginning I prepared for this thesis, supported me whenever I needed help, and warned me every time I neglected in conducting my thesis Special thanks must be offered to Ms Ho Phuong Thuy and Ms Nguyen Nguyen Tuyet lecturers of English Department, Can Tho University – who heartedly allowed me to proceed my delivering and collecting data in their classes Their permission was a passport to a new step of my thesis I cannot forget enthusiastic faces of English Language Study sophomores course 32, Can Tho University when cooperating with me in doing the questionnaire How could I manage with my thesis without your participation? I also owe Mr Chau Thien Hiep - lecturer of English Department, Can Tho University - a thanks for your advice to improve my doing research I wish You good health and perfect working result in the United States It is so kind of You - lecturers of English Department, Can Tho University- who sacrificed your valuable time to offer me books, advice and information I am so lucky having chance to meet You Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu Last but not least, I am so happy to have my family beside me in every stage of my life including the period I was doing this research Especially, Mom! It’s You that is my greatest motivation in everything Can Tho, May 2008 ABSTRACT This is a qualitative survey research on common causes of three levels: linguistics, culture, and motivation which are hypothesised to prevent English Language Study students of Can Tho University from understanding short fictional works The idea for conducting this research originated from the reserarcher, myself, after learning short fiction at Can Tho University, and facing certain obstacles in learning fictional works The aims of this small research are to investigate which are some most common causes among three abovementioned levels that negatively influence English Language Study sophomores in learning short fictional works, to find out the most challenging cause and the reasons why students consider it as the most considerable cause Suggestions for overcoming these causes also need to be detected Following these lodestars, the research was designed with one instrument: A questionnaire with close and open questions on 86 English Language Study sophomores’ opinions about the common causes affecting themselves From collected and analyzed data, the cause of coping with a lot of new vocabulary turned to be the most common (84%) and the most challenging one (42%) that impeded students in understanding short fictional works The solution that was applied by majority of students was Reading as many books in English as possible, especially fictional books (56%) Discussions were made after receiving the results Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu LIST OF T ABLES AND FIGURES Table 1.1: Questionnaire components … ………………… ……… page 12 Table 1.2: Questionnaires administration…………………… ……………… 17 Table 1.3: Reasons why students chose cause as the most serious one….… 23 Table 1.4: Solutions students chose to overcome the most serious cause….… 24 Figure 1.1: Rates of each cause selected by students …… ……………… 20 Figure 1.2: Percentage of each cause selected by students…… ………… 20 Figure 1.3: Rates of the most serious cause opted by students……… …… 21 Figure 1.4: Percentage of the most serious cause opted by students ……… 22 Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.1.1 Why learning fiction? According to Negrete (2007), experiencing other people's adventures is one of the useful ways allowing us to obtain knowledge of worlds and subjects which we may never have time or opportunity to experience for ourselves And learning literature, especially fiction, is the best way to acquire the process above When enjoying fiction, we not need to cost any energy or cost to witness people, things, events, internal world, etc that we want to acknowledge Instead, we sit at one place to conceive almost all of the things above by exploring fiction He emphasized that reading fiction enables us to learn to express ourselves with far greater depth of experience than we would if we depend only on our own lives for material Is there anything more to fiction than entertainment? Can we learn anything Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu from it? Landy (2004) thought that it actually helps us find out our ego by recognizing ourselves from the characters’ internal world He argued that it doesn't make readers become morally better right after they read it, but it does improve the readers’ lives He put it metaphorically, “if you go to the gym and don't lift the weights, it isn't the fault of the weights that you don't get stronger” From many above-mentioned benefits that reading fiction provides us, I suppose this is the first reason why I conduct this research In learning any subjects, students are always obstructed by certain causes To acquire ideas and knowledge from the fictional works, students (with the help of lecturers) need to perceive what causes are preventing themselves from understanding the works Since then, they will have appropriate strategies to overcome the situation I believe my research, focuses on this topic, will be a useful source for lecturers and students to regard the issue 1.1.2 Context of learning fiction at Can Tho University As a student majoring in Letters of English at Can Tho University, I used to work with three courses related to literature in English: An Introduction to Literature, American Literature, and British Literature respectively The position of the An Introduction to Literature course, consistent with Truong (2006), is “the first step for students to explore the fantastic world of literature” In the An Introduction to Literature course, fiction section comprises six short-short stories (A Case of Suspicion by Ed Wallace, Marionettes, Inc by Ray Bradbury, The Lady, or the Tiger by Frank R Stockton, Bill by Zona Gale, Old Man at the Bridge by Earnest Hemingway, and The Necklace by Guy De Maupassant) In the American Literature and British Literature courses, there are mainly extracts from short novels (novelettes or novellas) and novels Basing on this context, I infer the second reason why this research is of value That is from the results of my research, lecturers and English Language Study sophomores at Can Tho University will recognize common causes affecting students’ learning fiction, and find out solutions for these Consequently, they will prepare better for the two next coming courses: American Literature and British Literature Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu 1.2 Research Aims and Research Question 1.2.1 Research aims The research aims to find out which level of causes most impedes English Language Study sophomores at Can Tho University in understanding short fictional works among the three levels: linguistics, culture, and motivation Also, the cause that most English Language Study sophomores suppose to impede themselves in understanding short fictional works Solutions for this issue are the final aim of the research 1.2.2 Research question From the research aims, the research is directed by this research question: What are common causes impeding English Language Study students of Can Tho University in understanding short fictional works in English? 1.3 Hypotheses From my classmates’ and my experience when learning the An Introduction Trung tâm Học liệuI hypothesized ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài họcaretập new nghiên to Literature course, that the causeliệu “There many wordscứu in the short fictional works that I not know.” would be encountered by most of participants I also predicted that most of participants would choose the cause “I hardly understand the meanings of the characters’ behaviors, gestures, and sayings People in my country not think and act like that.” as the most serious one to them 1.4 Organization of the thesis The thesis was set up with five chapters including: Chapter one - Introduction - gives out typical reasons for learning fiction according to foreign professors and writers An overview of fiction-learning context at Can Tho University is also briefly mentioned The next part of this chapter addresses the aims for conducting this research and indicates the research question Chapter two – literature review – discusses different definitions of fiction, short fictional works, fiction classification and previous published writings on factors impacting students’ understanding short fictional works From these, directions for the research were inferred Chapter three – Research Methodology – provides detailed information about methodology that I applied to conduct this research comprising research design, participants, material, instrument, and procedure Chapter four presents the results and discussions about the research Chapter five includes expected outcomes, limitations, and conclusion respectively Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu CHAPTER L ITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Definition of fiction Literature is divided into different categories, or genres such as poetry, drama and fiction In this research, the word FICTION is implied as the prose fiction that is studied in pedagogical environment According to Watkins (1995), fiction presents a story that is invented and not literally “true.” Its prose language is not divided up according to principles of rhymes, rhythm, meter or word patterning And fiction is written to be read rather than acted or performed, and the events described are told to us by a narrator, not enacted or dramatized The most commonly encountered fiction is novels and short stories In this definition, the author concentrated on describing literary features of fiction Yet, I not agree with his idea that fiction is written to be read rather than acted or performed In fact, there are countless fictional works Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH liệu học nghiên which were transformed intoCần playsThơ@Tài or films From Gone withtập the Wind to Harrycứu Potter From Odyssey to Romeo and Juliette These fictional works became immortal in everybody’s mind when being transformed into plays or movies With a more simple definition, Bhargava (2008) considered fiction as the work of imagination in the form of a novel or a short story Fiction can be broadly classified into art and entertainment Fiction in layman terms can be defined as something that is purely imaginary and not real However, he said that it is a common observation that anything fictional is derived from real life incidences etc Fiction, to him, arouses the sleeping dreams and hidden desires of people When I just read his ideas about fiction for the first time, I wondered why he had contrast thoughts when saying fiction is purely imaginary and unreal, but confirming that fiction is gained from reality incidences After considering his idea carefully, I thought that his saying is accurate Although everything in fiction such as characters, conflicts, plot, etc is visional, fiction really reflects some aspects from real life Types of characters represent different types of people in real world Relationships, conflicts, and settings are reproduced from 10 ... following question: What are common causes impeding English Language Study students of Can Tho University in understanding short fictional works in English? 3.1 Research Design In this research, descriptive... the form of a novel or a short story Fiction can be broadly classified into art and entertainment Fiction in layman terms can be defined as something that is purely imaginary and not real However,... Research question From the research aims, the research is directed by this research question: What are common causes impeding English Language Study students of Can Tho University in understanding