A study on 11th form students’ acquisition of english relative clauses = nghiên cứu về độ tiếp thu mệnh đề quan hệ tiếng anh của học sinh lớp 11

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES -oOo - NGUYỄN THỊ HOA A STUDY ON 11TH FORM STUDENTS’ ACQUISITION OF ENGLISH RELATIVE CLAUSES (NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ ĐỘ TIẾP THU MỆNH ĐỀ QUAN HỆ TIẾNG ANH CỦA HỌC SINH LỚP 11) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 HANOI - 2017 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES -oOo - NGUYỄN THỊ HOA A STUDY ON 11TH FORM STUDENTS’ ACQUISITION OF ENGLISH RELATIVE CLAUSES (NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ ĐỘ TIẾP THU MỆNH ĐỀ QUAN HỆ TIẾNG ANH CỦA HỌC SINH LỚP 11) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 S T T T HANOI - 2017 P , Ph.D DECLARATION Title: “A STUDY ON 11TH FORM STUDENTS‟ ACQUISITION OF ENGLISH RELATIVE CLAUSES” I certify that no part of the thesis has been copied or reproduced by me from any other works without acknowledgement and that the thesis is originally written by me under strict guidance of my supervisor Hanoi, 2017 Student‟s signature Nguyễn Thị Hoa i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Doctor Tran Thi Thanh Phuc, for her careful guidance, critical feedback, and enormous enthusiasm Without her support, this thesis cannot be completed I am grateful to all the lecturers of the Faculty of Post-graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their valuable teaching and assistance during my study at the college I would like to express my thanks to all my friends who were willing to help me in sharing materials and ideas when this thesis is worked on My sincere thanks also go to all my colleagues and students for their assistance during the process of data collection Particularly, I owe my indebtedness to my husband for his support, encouragement and tolerance when I was in the process of writing this thesis ii ABSTRACT This study investigated the processing difficulty of relative clauses in two groups of Vietnamese students with high and low level of English proficiency It also aimed at exploring errors on relative clauses made by 11th form Vietnamese students at a high school in Hanoi 65 students from two classes were invited to join in the research They answered a test including 30 questions about different types of English relative clauses, namely, SS, SO, OS, and OO The results indicate that participants in both two groups faced more processing difficulty in OS and OO type than the others, providing weak evidence for any of the four hypotheses: SOHH (Subject-Object Hierarchy Hypothesis); NPAH (Noun Phrase Accessibility Hierarchy Hypothesis); PFH (Parallel Function Hypothesis; PDH (Perceptual Difficulty Hypothesis) Moreover, although students in the high proficiency group performed better than those in low proficiency group, they all made a number of mistakes in doing relative clause exercises iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vi LIST OF TABLES vii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Overview of relative clause 2.1.1 Definition 2.1.2 Classification 2.2 Predictor hypotheses of relative clause acquisition 2.2.1 The parallel function hypothesis (PFH) 2.2.2 The perceptual Difficulty Hypothesis (PDH) 2.2.3 Noun Phrase Accessibility Hierarchy (NPAH) 2.2.4 Subject - Object Hierarchy Hypothesis (SOHH) 2.3 Previous studies 2.3.1 Previous studies on the PFH 2.3.2 Previous studies on the PDH 2.3.3 Previous studies on the NPAH 10 2.3.4 Previous studies on the SOHH 12 2.4 Error analysis 13 2.5 Summary 14 CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY 15 3.1 Setting and participants 15 3.2 Methods of collecting data 15 3.2.1 Relative Clause test 16 3.2.2 Interview 17 iv 3.3 Data analysis 17 CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 19 4.1 Research question 19 4.2 Research question 24 4.3 Other findings 30 4.4 Summary 32 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS 34 5.1 Implication 34 5.2 Conclusion 36 5.3 Suggestion for further research 36 REFERENCES 37 APPENDIX I v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS DO: Direct Object Error: Error correction GEN: Genitive IO: Indirect Object M: Mean score MCQ: Multiple choice questions N: Noun NP: Noun Phrase NPAH: Noun Phrase Accessibility Hierarchy Hypothesis OCOMP: Object of comparison OO: Object – Object OPREP: Object of preposition OS: Object – Subject PDH: Perceptual Difficulty Hypothesis PFH: Parallel Function Hypothesis RCs: Relative clauses S: Subject SO: Subject – Object SOHH: Subject-Object Hierarchy Hypothesis SS: Subject – Subject vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Item purpose 16 Table 2: Case Processing Summary 19 Table 3: Results of t-test of difference between high and low proficiency groups 19 Table 4: Results of statistical analyses basing on Test of Homogeneity of Variances .24 Table 5: Results of statistical analyses using ANOVA 25 Table 6: Results of statistical analyses basing on Robust Test of Equality of Means 26 vii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION Learning English as a foreign language is a dynamic process in which grammar plays an important role Among different grammatical aspects, relative clauses have been showed to be a great obstacle for students This study aimed to explore the validity of different hypotheses on the acquisition of relative clauses among Vietnamese high school students 1.1 Rationale Nowadays, English has become a useful tool to get access to the world‟s knowledge and to achieve success in life To master English, students often focus on the learning of four major language skills, namely, listening, speaking, reading and writing However, grammar is the basis for the development of all these skills As a teacher of English, I realize that relative clauses (RCs) are one of the most difficult grammar aspects for students of English to master Many errors associated with relative clauses have been committed by my students, despite the fact that they have spent a significant length of time studying them For examples, a great number of students are confused about the forms and functions of the English relative clauses They often make mistakes in combining sentences containing relative clauses and fail to distinguish between restrictive and non- restrictive relatives Therefore, I would like to know and understand more about this issue Research on RCs has been conducted in a number of countries The majority of these studies focus on testing the validity of different hypotheses related to the acquisition of RCs For example, Alotaibi (2016) identifies that the most difficult type of RC for Kuwaiti EFL learners is OO (object-object), while Abdolmanafi and Rahmani (2012) points out that students encounter more difficulty in SO (subjectobject) In Vietnam, research following this approach has been quite limited One study by Lan (2009) does not focus on testing RC hypothesis, but aims to point out typical mistakes committed by Vietnamese students She identifies these as the wrong use of relativizers, the misuse of the relative clauses, and the misuse between restrictive and non-restrictive relatives such as teachers or salon Students are required to define the words by using relative clauses like This is a person who give lectures at school for teacher or this is a place where a hairdresser work for salon Therefore, relative clauses can be practiced and improved naturally through this game 5.2 Conclusion The study has contributed to understanding of the acquisition of English relative clauses in a high school in Vietnam through examining learners‟ comprehension and production tasks of RC The results showed that none of the four proposed hypotheses offer a reasonable account for the difficulty in their acquisition of English relative clauses It was identified that students made a number of errors such as the wrong use of relativizers, the misuse of the relative clauses, and the misuse of restrictive and non-restrictive relatives A comparison between two groups of students shows that high proficiency group students outperform those of low proficiency 5.3 Suggestion for further research Firstly, this study can be duplicated with a larger number of participants and more questions in the test This will help to arrive at more convincing conclusion for the research Secondly, it is suggested that future research can involve learners at various proficiency levels from different schools Finally, the scope or coverage of the relative clause type was limited to SS, SO, OO and OS Therefore, further study investigating more types of relative clauses, such as GEN, OPREP, and OCOMP are recommended 36 REFERENCES Alotaibi, A (2016) Evidence from Kuwaiti EFL Learners English Language Teaching doi:10.5539/elt.v9n2p57 Abdolmanafi S J & Rahmani Z (2012) An Investigation of the Learnability of Relative Clauses by EFL Doi:10.5430/wjel.v2n3p29 Berg, B L., & Lune, H (2012) Qualitative research methods for the social sciences: Boston : Pearson Education, 2012 Bowerman, M (1979) “The Acquisition of Complex Structures” Language Acquisition: Studies in First Language Development Ed P Fletcher and M.Garman.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Yee, M C (2005) Acquisition of English Relative Clause among Hong Kong Chinese Medium: A Research Paper Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Linguistics Instruction Secondary School Retrieved from http://www.clicktoconvert.com Cowan, R (2008) The Teacher's Grammar of English: Cambridge University Press Doughty, C J (1991) Second language instruction does make a difference: Evidence form an Empirical Study on Second Language Relativization Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 13, 431-469 Gao, Qing – Qiang (2014) Chinese EFL learners‟ acquisition of English relative clauses http://dx.doi.org/105539/ijel.v4n3p82 Gass, S (1979) Language transfer and universal grammatical relations Language Learning, 29, 327-344 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English teaching, 58(3), 189- 208 Ioup, G., & Kruse, A (1977) “Interference vs Structural complexity in second language acquisition: Language Universals as a Basis for Sequencing” On TESOL '77-Teaching and Learning English as a Second Language: Trends in Research and Practice.Washington, DC: TESOL Izumi, S (2003) Processing difficulty in comprehension and production of relative clauses by learners of English as a second language Language Learning, 53(2), 258-323 Keenan, E L., & Comrie, B (1977) Noun phrase accessibility and universal grammar Linguistic Inquiry, 8(1), 63-99 Keenan, E L (1975) Variation in Universal Grammar In Fasold and R Shuy (eds), Analysing Variation in Language Washington DC: Georgetown University Press Kuno, S (1974) The position of relative clauses and conjunction Linguistic Inquiry, 5, 117-36 Lan, Trinh Dinh (2011) Semantic and syntactic problems in using relative clauses in English of Yendinh high school students, M.A minor thesis MA Thesis Vietnam National University - College of Foreign Languages Liao, Hsiu-chuan “The Noun Phrase Accessibility Hierarchy Revisited: A view from Ergative Languages‟‟ Working Papers in Linguistics, 31(2000):121-142 Print McArthur, T (1992) The Oxford Companion to the English Language: Oxford University Press, New York 38 O‟Grady, W, M Lee, & Choo, M (2000) The acquisition of relative clauses in Korean as the second language Department of linguistics, University of Hwaii Ozcan, Hanife “Comprehension of Relative Clauses in the Acquisition of Turkish” Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Turkish Linguistics Ed.K Dmer, and E Uzun.Ankara, Turkey: Ankara universitesi Basımevi, 1997 149-155 Ozge, Duygu, MarinisTheodoros, and ZeyrekDeniz “Comprehension of Subject and Object Relative Clauses in Monolingual Turkish Children” Proceedings of the Fourteenth International Conference of Turkish Linguistics (ICTL) Ed.S Ay, O Aydn, Ergenỗ, S Gửkmen, S sever, and D Peỗenek Wiesbaden Harrasowitz Verlag, 2010 Ozeki, Hiromi, and ShiraiYasuhiro “Does the Noun Phrase Accessibility Hierarchy Predict the Difficulty Order in the Acquisition of Relative Clauses?‟‟.Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 29(2007):169–196 Print Rahmany, R and Haghpour, M (2015) The effect of relative clause types on processing difficulty Retrieved from http://www.rjelal.com Richards, L (2005) Handling qualitative data: a practical guide London: SAGE Sadighi, F (1994) The acquisition clauses by Chinese, Japanese, and of English restrictive relative Korean speakers International Review of Applied Linguistics adult native in Language Teaching, 32,141-153 Sheldon, A (1994) The Role of Parallel Function in the Acquisition of Relative Clauses in English Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 3, 271-281 Stake, R E (1995) The art of case study research Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications Tiehua – Song (2016) Study in Chinese college EFL learners’ comprehension and production of English relative clauses: Testing three hypotheses Chinese journal of Applied linguistic Doi: 10.1515/cial-2016-0002 Wong, J (1991) Learnability of relative clauses: A Hong Kong Case Working Papers of the Department of English, 3(1), 108-117 Yule, G (1998) Explaining English grammar: Oxford University Press 39 APPENDIX APPENDIX Survey Test Exercise 1: Choose the correct answer by circling A, B, C or D We‟d like to buy the house …………overlooks West Lake A who B whose C where D which The letter.…………she received this morning is from the USA A who B whose C whom D which I don‟t know the girl …………is wearing a long blue dress A whom B whose C which D who The teacher with………… we studied last year no longer teaches in our school A which b who c whom d whose Our house, …………was destroyed in the storm, is now being rebuilt A whom B whose C which D who The police are looking for the paintings …………stolen last night A which B were C which were D who was He went to the sport club …………he first met his wife A which B who C where D when Have you found the wallet …………you lost yet? A who B where C which D when The books …………written by Jack London are very interesting A which were B were C whose D which 10 The girl, …………injured in the accident yesterday, is my friend A which B were C which were D who was Exercise 2: Identify the words or phrases that need correcting and correct them 11 Rice, which it still forms the main diet of much of the world‟s population, grows best in hot, wet lands …………………………………………………………………………… I 12 The person to whom he is phoning is his mother …………………………………………………………………………… 13 I like the beach where is very nice and clean …………………………………………………………………………… 14 Van Cliburn, who studied piano from 1951 to 1954 and won multiple awards between 1958 and 1960 …………………………………………………………………………… 15 Dr Harder, that my father is more professional than, is well-known …………………………………………………………………………… 16 I saw the man of whom the red car is parked in front of our house …………………………………………………………………………… 17 The woman to who I sent a letter is at Mary's house …………………………………………………………………………… 18 Look at the bottle of milk who she drunk …………………………………………………………………………… 19 Do you know the girl which he studies better than …………………………………………………………………………… 20 I have heard her on the violin, what she plays extremely well …………………………………………………………………………… Exercise 3: Combine the following sentences, using an appropriate relative word: who, whom, which, that, whose Put commas where necessary 21 It may be the most important decision You will ever take the decision …………………………………………………………………………… 22 The river is polluted It flows through the town …………………………………………………………………………… 23 The trousers are too small for me I bought them yesterday …………………………………………………………………………… 24 It is a Tudor house Its sitting room looks out over a wonderful walled garden …………………………………………………………………………… II 25 The woman is a doctor Bill passed a note to the woman …………………………………………………………………………… 26 Do you remember Mr Darnell? He taught us English Literature …………………………………………………………………………… 27 The man made no comment on the situation He was appointed just last week …………………………………………………………………………… 28 The bed has no mattress I sleep on this bed …………………………………………………………………………… 29 I invited my old acquaintance She seemed not to undestand my situation to give me any advice …………………………………………………………………………… 30 This is the man The girl is taller than the man …………………………………………………………………………… III APPENDIX Survey Test Suggested answers Exercise 1: Choose the correct answer by circling A, B, C or D D which D which D who A.whom C whom C which were C where C which A which 10 D who was Exercise 2: Underline the words or phrases that need correcting and correct them 11 Rice, which it still forms the main diet of much of the world‟s population, grows best in hot, wet lands  Rice, which still forms the main diet of much of the world‟s population, grows best in hot, wet lands 12 The person to whom he is phoning is his mother  The person whom he is phoning is his mother 13 I like the beach where is very nice and clean  I like the beach which is very nice and clean 14 Van Cliburn, who studied piano from 1951 to 1954 and won multiple awards between 1958 and 1960  Van Cliburn, who studied piano from 1951 to 1954 won multiple awards between 1958 and 1960 15 Dr Harder, that my father is more professional than, is well-known  Dr Harder, whom my father is more professional than, is well-known IV 16 I saw the man, of whom the red car is parked in front of our house  I saw the man whose red car is parked in front of our house 17 The woman to who I sent a letter is at Mary's house  The woman to whom I sent a letter is at Mary's house 18 Look at the bottle of milk who she drunk  Look at the bottle of milk which she drunk 19 Do you know the girl which he studies better than  Do you know the girl whom he studies better than 20 I have heard her on the violin, what she plays extremely well  I have heard her on the violin, which she plays extremely well Exercise 3: Combine the following sentences, using an appropriate relative word: who, whom, which, that, whose Put commas where necessary 21 It may be the most important decision You will ever take the decision  It may be the most important decision that you will ever take 22 The river is polluted It flows through the town  The river which flows through the town is polluted 23 The trousers are too small for me I bought them yesterday  The trousers which I bought yesterday are too small for me 24 It is a Tudor house Its sitting room looks out over a wonderful walled garden  It is a Tudor house whose sitting room looks out over a wonderful walled garden 25 The woman is a doctor Bill passed a note to the woman  The woman whom Bill passed a note to is a doctor 26 Do you remember Mr Darnell? He taught us English Literature  Do you remember Mr.Darnell, who taught us English Literature? 27 The man made no comment on the situation He was appointed just last week  The man who was appointed just last week made no comment on the situation V 28 The bed has no mattress I sleep on this bed  The bed on which I sleep has no mattress 29 I invited my old acquaintance She seemed not to undestand my situation to give me any advice  I invited my old acquaintance, who seemed not to undestand my situation to give me any advice 30 This is the man The girl is taller than the man  This the man whom the girl is taller than VI APPENDIX An example of interview scripts in Vietnanese (From a student in high proficiency group) A Câu hỏi chung Giáo viên (GV): Em học mệnh đề quan hệ (MĐQH) từ nào? Học sinh (HS): Em học từ khoảng năm trước GV: ừ, tức khoảng đầu năm lớp 10 không em? HS: Vâng GV: Khi học MĐQH em thấy hay gặp khó khăn gì? HS: Khi học em gặp khó khăn việc phân tích số trường hợp phức tạp GV: Em có học thêm tiếng Anh đâu không? (Bao lâu, buổi tuần) HS: Em có học số nơi GV: Khi làm kiểm tra em vận dụng kiến thức lớp chủ yếu hay lớp học thêm (nếu có) chủ yếu? Vì sao? HS: Khi làm kiểm tra em vận dụng kiến thức lớp học thêm số kiến thức biết qua sách chủ yếu lớp học thêm, bên cạnh việc cung cấp cơng thức, cịn đưa ví dụ hay trường hợp đáng ý việc sử dụng cho sai Còn lớp giáo viên chưa thể cho học sinh kiến thức MĐQH rõ ràng, hầu hết có cơng thức để học sinh học thuộc vượt qua kiểm tra, có lẽ số lượng học sinh q đơng hay chưa có nhiều thời gian B Câu hỏi riêng GV: Em xem lại lượt làm mình, em có muốn thay đổi câu trả lời không? HS: Em không GV: Bài câu 1, em chọn đáp án D HS: Em chọn đáp án D ta thấy chủ ngữ câu We có hành động buy the house Sau có đoạn … Và overlooks the West Lake VII Mệnh đề quan hệ giúp ta rút ngắn câu muốn nhắc đến hay miêu tả mà khơng cần đến câu thứ hai Do chủ ngữ muốn nói đến ngơi nhà mà nhìn hồ West Lake nên ta cần Mệnh đề quan hệ vật, Which ko có đáp án hợp lí GV: Bài câu em chọn đáp án “where” Em thấy câu giống hay khác đâu? HS: em thấy hai câu khác nghĩa vế sau Ở câu vế sau thiếu chủ ngữ thực việc overlook the West Lake Ở câu vế sau vế câu hồn chỉnh ta cần MĐQH dẫn vế câu GV: Bài câu 4, em giải thích cách làm câu Tại em lại bỏ “and” HS: Em bỏ and trước tiên câu có sử dụng mệnh đề quan hệ nên ta thấy theo câu gốc: Van Cliburn người mà học giành … Về nghĩa câu bị cụt Cho nên việc bỏ and hoàn chỉnh cấu trúc câu có sử dụng MĐQH giúp câu có nghĩa đầy đủ VIII APPENDIX An example of interview scripts in Vietnanese (From a student in low proficiency group) A Câu hỏi chung Giáo viên (GV): Em học mệnh đề quan hệ (MĐQH) từ nào? Học sinh (HS): Em nhớ em học MĐQH từ năm lớp 10 GV: Khi học MĐQH em thấy hay gặp khó khăn gì? HS: Em chưa nắm rõ cách vận dụng GV: cách vận dụng trường hợp nào? HS: Tất loại GV: Em có học thêm tiếng Anh đâu khơng? (Bao lâu, buổi tuần) HS: Em không học thêm tiếng Anh đâu GV: Khi làm kiểm tra em vận dụng kiến thức lớp chủ yếu hay lớp học thêm (nếu có) chủ yếu? HS: Khi làm kiểm tra em vận dụng kiến thức em nhớ lớp em khơng học thêm B Câu hỏi riêng Giáo viên (GV): Em xem lại lượt làm mình, em có muốn thay đổi câu trả lời không? Học sinh (HS): Không GV: Bài câu 1, em lại chọn “which”, đáp án D HS: Vì em nghĩ thay cho từ house, thay cho vật làm tân ngữ GV: Bài câu 3, em lại chọn “whom” HS: Vì thay cho người làm tân ngữ GV: Bài 1, câu em chọn “whom” Tại vậy? Câu có giống với câu khơng? HS: Em sửa lại câu em chọn “Who” Nó thay cho người làm chủ ngữ GV: câu cô thấy em bỏ trống Tại vậy? HS: Em chọn “which” thay cho vật làm tân ngữ IX GV: Bài câu 9, cô thấy em chọn đáp án C “whose”, vậy? HS: Vì em nghĩ sách thuộc sở hữu Jack GV: Bài câu cô thấy em bỏ “it”, vậy? HS: Em nghĩ which thay cho rise không cần it GV: Bài câu 2, cô thấy em bỏ “to”, vậy? HS: Vì em nhớ đến cấu trúc : N + whom + s + v GV: Tức khơng có giới từ kèm “whom” em? HS: Hình X APPENDIX An example of SPSS Data Analysis XI ...VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES -oOo - NGUYỄN THỊ HOA A STUDY ON 11TH FORM STUDENTS’ ACQUISITION OF ENGLISH RELATIVE. .. ENGLISH RELATIVE CLAUSES (NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ ĐỘ TIẾP THU MỆNH ĐỀ QUAN HỆ TIẾNG ANH C? ?A HỌC SINH LỚP 11) M .A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 6014 0111 S T T T HANOI - 2017... INTRODUCTION Learning English as a foreign language is a dynamic process in which grammar plays an important role Among different grammatical aspects, relative clauses have been showed to be a great