Effects of English collocation instruction on the writing skill of first year English major students at Hanoi University of Science and Technology

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES TRẦN THỊ HUỆ EFFECTS OF ENGLISH COLLOCATION INSTRUCTION ON THE WRITING SKILL OF FIRST YEAR ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY ẢNH HƯỞNG CỦA VIỆC DẠY KẾT HỢP TỪ TIẾNG ANH ĐẾN KỸ NĂNG VIẾT CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT CHUYÊN NGÀNH TIẾNG ANH Ở ĐH BÁCH KHOA HÀ NỘI SUMMARY OF M.A COMBINED PROGRAM THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.10 Supervisor: Dr TÔ THỊ THU HƯƠNG HANOI – 2012 Table of Contents Candidate‟s statement i Acknowledgements .ii Abstract iii List of Abbreviations vii List of Tables viii List of Figures viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Statement of the problem 1.2 Scope and objectives of the study 1.3 Significance of the study 1.4 Organization of the study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Overview of collocation 2.1.1 Definition of collocations 2.1.2 Characteristics of collocations 2.1.3 Types of collocations 10 2.2 Pedagogical issues on collocations 14 2.2.1 The benefits of collocations 14 2.2.2 Choosing which collocations to teach 17 2.2.3 Directions for teaching collocations 17 2.2.4 Teacher‟s role in collocation instruction 21 2.2.5 Materials for teaching collocations 22 2.3 Collocations in ESL writing 24 2.3.1 The need for collocation instruction in L2 writing process 24 2.3.2 How to incorporate collocation instruction in teaching writing skills25 iv 2.3.3 Studies on the correlation between collocations and L2 writing proficiency 26 2.3.4 Studies on the effects of collocation instruction on L2 writing 28 Conclusion CHAPTER 3: THE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 30 3.1 Type of research: Action research 30 3.2 Research design 32 3.3 Setting of the study 34 3.4 Selection of participants 35 3.5 Description of intervention 35 3.6 Data collection instruments 44 3.6.1 Tests 44 3.6.2 Semi-structured interviews 44 3.7 Data analysis procedures 45 3.7.1 Scoring 45 3.7.2 Examining the use of collocations in the test papers 45 3.7.3 Statistical techniques 46 3.7.4 Analyzing data from semi-structured interviews 47 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 48 4.1 The effects of the current HUST English collocation instruction on the English writing scores of first year non-native English-major students at HUST 48 4.2 The effects of the current English collocation instruction on the use of language in English writing of first year students at HUST 49 4.3 Correlation between non-native English-major students‟ use of collocation and their writing score 54 4.4 HUST first year non-native English-major students‟ reflections on collocation instruction 56 v CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS 67 5.1 Research questions revisited 67 5.2 Pedagogical implications 69 5.3 Limitations of the study 70 5.4 Suggestions for further research 72 REFERENCES 73 APPENDIX Appendix 1: Examples of students‟ texts produced in the pre-test and post-test Appendix 2: Rubric for assessment of an essay (currently used at the research site) Appendix 3: Suggested interview questions Appendix 4: Participation information statement & Participant consent form vi List of Abbreviations EFL: English as a foreign language ESL: English as a second language HUST: Hanoi University of Science and Technology L1: First language/Mother tongue L2: Second language vii List of Tables Table 1: Lexical collocations (Benson et al, 1986) 12 Table 2: Grammatical collocations (Benson et al, 1986) 12 Table 3: Grammatical collocation type G8 (Benson et al, 1986) 13 Table 4: The writing syllabus with collocation instruction 42 Table 5: Descriptive statistics of the pre-test and post-test writing scores 48 Table 6: Paired samples t-test for writing scores 49 Table 7: Descriptive statistics of the pre-test and post-test language use scores 50 Table 8: Paired samples t-test for language use scores 50 Table 9: The number of correct collocations and collocational errors in the pre-test and post-test 51 Table 10: Correlation coefficients between the use of collocations and the writing score in the pre-test 54 Table 11: Correlation coefficients between the use of collocations and the writing quality in the post-test 56 Table 12: The students‟ preferences of collocation instruction activities 61 List of Figures Figure 1: Levels of collocational complexity Figure 2: Howarth‟scollocational continuum Figure 3: Conzett‟scollocational continuum Figure 4: Conzett‟s model for recording collocations 21 Figure 5: Simple action research model 31 Figure 6: Gerald Susman‟s action research cycle with five phases 31 Figure 7: Differences between the pre-test and post-test in the quantity of correct collocations 52 Figure 8: Differences between the pre-test and post-test in the quantity of collocational errors 53 viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Statement of the problem Since Firth (1951, p.194) introduced the idea of collocation, there has been an increasing awareness of the importance of using words naturally and appropriately In second language teaching and learning, many researchers have perceived the crucial role of collocations in developing vocabulary, communicative competence and being toward native-like writing style (Brown, 1974; Channell, 1981; Bahns & Eldaw, 1993; Howarth, 1998a, Gitsaki, 1999; Lewis, 1997, 2000; Nation, 2001; Nesselhauf, 2003; Hsu & Chiu, 2008) On discussing the relationship between L2 learners‟ collocational knowledge and their writing proficiency, there have been two studies by Zhang (1993) and Hsu (2007) In his study, Zhang (1993) compared the participants‟ knowledge of collocations and their writing quality, and the use of collocations in the participants‟ essays and their writing quality He concluded that “collocational knowledge was shown to be positively correlated with writing quality” and “effective use of collocational knowledge may help improve writing quality” (p 165) In a later study by Hsu (2007), the finding was consistent with Zhang‟s study (1993) in the aspect that “there seems to be a significant correlation between Taiwanese college EFL learners‟ frequency of lexical collocations and their online writing scores” (p.192) From the findings of the two studies, it can be said that the knowledge and use of collocations is an indicator of good and poor writing Thus, it is absolutely essential for ESL learners to be aware of English collocations and to learn how to use collocations effectively in writing Learning collocations; however, is a challenging job for ESL learners Wolter (2006) notices that in second language learning, collocational knowledge is more difficult to learn than grammatical rules Even advanced language learners have great difficulties in the production of collocations (Nesselhauf, 2003; Laufer & Waldman, 2011) There has been a great concern among researchers about the reasons why ESL learners make collocational errors Recent studies have pointed out that the causes of collocational errors are mainly related to: (1) The lack of collocational concept, i.e ESL learners are not aware of collocation as a potential problem in language learning (Bahns & Eldaw, 1993, p 108) (2) The shortage of collocational knowledge, i.e students not understand the potential collocational properties of the words they have already known For example, it can be assumed that most students know the collocation “a good boy”, but few students can generate “a good knowledge” (Ooi and Kim-Seoh, 1996, p 55) (3) Interlingual transfer (the interference of mother tongue/L1), i.e some collocational errors are caused by direct translation (e.g for some Vietnamese ESL students, they write “learn knowledge” instead of “gain knowledge” or “absorb knowledge”) (Bahns, 1993, p 61; Nesselhauf, 2003, p 234; Laufer and Waldman, 2011, p 665) The first and second causes of collocational errors may imply that collocation teaching and learning could be neglected in ESL classes and therefore, learners are not aware that collocations may pose potential problems in their language learning The use of collocation is more problematic on productive language skills, especially in writing because written contexts require precision in the use of words Having taught English writing skill to first year English-major students for many years, the researcher notices that collocational errors account for a relatively high percentage among the types of errors her students make in writing English When they write a paragraph or an essay, it is no easy task for them to find the right collocates of a word, which affects their writing fluency In addition, the inappropriate combination of words makes their writing sound odd to native speakers of English It is, therefore, essential for teachers to raise students‟ awareness of collocations and to teach students how to use collocations appropriately and accurately in their writing To date, there have been few published papers about collocation instruction in relation to writing skill Due to this lack of studies, this study was conducted to explore the effects of English collocation instruction on English writing skill as well as students‟ attitudes toward the teaching of collocation and its effect on their writing 1.2 Scope and objectives of the study Within the scope of an MA thesis, this study only aimed at investigating the effects of English collocation instruction on the writing skill of first year non-native English-major students at a university in Hanoi, Vietnam More specifically, the study was designed to address the following research question: Could English collocation instruction help improve the writing skill of first year non-native English-major students at Hanoi University of Science and Technology (HUST)? This research question was broken down into sub-questions: What are the effects of the current English collocation instruction on the English essay writing scores of first year non-native English-major students at HUST? What are the effects of the current English collocation instruction on the use of language in their English essay writing? Is there any relationship between the students‟ use of collocation and their essay writing scores? 1.3 Significance of the study The contribution of the study is pedagogical Although the study was carried out on a small scale, focusing on a particular group of Vietnamese English-major first year students, its results will (1) help teachers have a better understanding of English collocation instruction in relation to writing skill; (2) obtain students‟ opinions on ways to further enhance collocation instruction for better writing; and (3) provide recommendations for teachers who are interested in using collocation instruction to improve writing skill of students in their own teaching context 1.4 Organization of the study This research report is divided into five main parts Chapter presents a brief overview of the study The second chapter reviews previous studies whose focus and findings are relevant and beneficial to this one The third part discusses the methodology of this study, including the research type, the study site, the selection of participants, the description of the intervention and the methods of data collection and data analysis The fourth chapter reports the findings and their discussions Finally, the report ends with the conclusion part which summarizes the research in some main remarkable points, gives some recommendations for those who want to teach collocations to improve students‟ writing skill in their own contexts and presents essential aspects relating to the study for future research APPENDIX Rubric for Assessment of an Essay (Currently used at the research site) Rubric for Assessment of an Essay (maximum of 100 points for each essay) Criteria Contents - Introduction/ Thesis -Main points/ Body paragraphs 1|P ag e Excellent Proficient Competent Less than Competent Pts /40 8-9 - Exceptional introduction that grabs interest of reader and states topic, thesis, and all subtopics in proper order - Thesis is exceptionally clear, well developed 7-6 - Proficient introduction that states topic, thesis, and all subtopics in proper order - Thesis is a clear 0-3 5-4 - Adequate introduction that - Weak introduction of states topic , thesis and some topic, thesis & subtopics - Thesis is weak of the subtopics - Thesis is somewhat clear /9 23-25 The essay: - is complete, accurate, and 16-22 The essay: - generally fulfills the task 8-15 The essay: - only partially fulfills the 0-7 The essay: - demonstrates poor /25 thorough - includes all important ideas and demonstrates an understanding of important expectations demonstrates a good understanding of the topic - includes most of the task expectations and demonstrates some knowledge and understanding of the topic knowledge and understanding of the topic - fails to fulfill the task expectations and the topic relationships - contains fully developed evidence for generalizations important ideas and shows a good understanding of important relationships but may show gaps in student‟s knowledge - includes some of the is not always addressed clearly - contains insufficient or and supporting arguments are provided in a relevant and - contains sufficient evidence for generalizations and important ideas related to the topic and show some but irrelevant evidence for generalizations and credible way - contains no irrelevant information - Conclusion Organization 2|P ag e supporting arguments are provided in a relevant and credible way - may contain some irrelevant limited understanding of relationships - includes some evidence for generalizations and supporting arguments - may be vague, repetitive, or not well developed, and may include information supporting examples, though these may be weak misconceptions or some inaccurate information 4-5 3-2 0-1 Exceptional summary of topic (with no new information), thesis and all subtopics in Good summary of topic, thesis and some subtopics with some final concluding ideas There Plain summary of topic, thesis and some subtopics with weak concluding ideas Lack of summary of topic, thesis and subtopics No concluding ideas proper order with concluding ideas that leave an impact on reader may be repetition of parts of the topic sentence There is heavy repetition of parts of the topic sentence 18-20 The essay: - is logically organized around major ideas, concepts or principles - achieves coherence through the appropriate and varied use 13-17 The essay: - is generally well organized around major ideas, concepts or principles - achieves some coherence through the appropriate use of 7-12 The essay: - is loosely organized around important ideas, concepts, or principles - uses some appropriate academic language and 0-6 The essay: - is not organized around important ideas, concepts, or principles - paragraphs are not separate, related to the of academic language academic language structures structures and cohesive devices and cohesive devices - contains paragraphs which - contains paragraphs which cohesive devices, though these may be repetitious - paragraphs may not be thesis or connected to each other by appropriate transitions are separate and logical units, fully developed, clearly related separate, related to the thesis - sentences within or connected to each other by paragraphs may not form a are separate and logical units, related to the thesis and /6 /20 Language use (Vocabulary, grammar, sentence, ) to the thesis and effectively connected to each other by appropriate, well-chosen and varied transitions effectively connected to each other by appropriate transitions appropriate transitions connected series; transition words and other cohesion devices may be missing or used inappropriately 26-30 The essay: - is clearly written with no errors 18-25 The essay: - is generally clear with some errors, most of which not 9-17 The essay: - contains few serious errors which may interfere with 0-8 The essay: - contains serious errors, most of which interfere - includes academic vocabulary that is rarely inaccurate or repetitive interfere with comprehension - uses generally accurate academic vocabulary comprehension - demonstrates somewhat limited vocabulary or with comprehension - uses simple and repetitive vocabulary that may not be - demonstrates excellent and appropriate word choice -includes generally accurate word forms and verb tenses -uses a variety of sentence types accurately - demonstrates occasional problems with word choice -includes some inaccurate word forms and verb tenses - uses simple and compound sentences with occasional errors and may attempt inappropriate word choice - includes a number of inaccurate word forms -contains some problems with verb tenses -uses a limited number of sentence types appropriate for academic writing - uses inappropriate word forms and verb tenses -does not vary sentence types sufficiently /30 complex sentences Mechanics Spelling, 9-10 Punctuation, spelling, 7-8 Punctuation, spelling, 4-6 Some errors in punctuation, 0-3 Distracting errors in punctuation, capitalization capitalization are correct No errors capitalization are generally correct, with few errors spelling, capitalization punctuation, spelling, capitalization /10 TOTAL POINTS /100 FINAL GRADE /10 3|P ag e APPENDIX SUGGESTED QUESTIONS FOR THE INTERVIEW How important is English writing skill to your present study and future jobs? What problems you often have when writing in English? Do you think that collocation instruction in this semester is helpful to you in writing English essays? If yes, in what way you think that collocation instruction helps you in your writing? If no, why you think that collocation instruction is not necessary for essay writing? After receiving collocation instruction, you think you have changed your writing habits? If yes, in what way have you changed your writing habits? Among the activities that the teacher used to teach collocations in this semester, which activities you like best? Why you like these activities? (Please tick activities)  The teacher trained me how to search for collocations in a collocation dictionary  The teacher taught me how to choose appropriate collocations when writing essays  The teacher showed me how to identify collocations in reading passages  The teacher asked me to collocation exercises  The teacher highlighted collocation mistakes in my essays  The teacher taught me how to store collocations in a notebook  Others (please specify) Do you have a dictionary of collocations? If yes, when did you get your collocation dictionary, before or after receiving collocation instruction in this semester? Did you any collocation search during the process of writing your essays in this semester? If yes, from what sources did you search for collocations? If your choice is no, what was the main reason for you not to search for collocation? Do you have any difficulties in learning collocations after receiving collocation instruction this semester? If yes, what are your difficulties? After experiencing collocation instruction, would you like to know more about collocations? Why? 10 What you think I should change the way of teaching collocations and the materials used in this course to benefit students like you? APPENDIX Participation information statement & Participant consent form PARTICIPANT CONSENT FORM I, , give consent to my participation in the research project: Effects of English collocation instruction on the writing skill of first year English major students at Hanoi University of Science and Technology In giving my consent I acknowledge that: The procedures required for the project and the time involved have been explained to me, including any inconvenience, risk, discomfort, and any questions I have about the project have been answered to my satisfaction I have read the Participant Information Statement and have been given the opportunity to discuss the information and my involvement in the project with the researcher I understand that being in this study is completely voluntary – I am not under any obligation to consent I understand that my involvement is strictly confidential I understand that any research data gathered from the results of the study may be published however no information about me will be used in any way that is identifiable I understand that I can withdraw from the study at any time, without affecting my relationship with the researcher or the University of Languages and International Studies – Vietnam National University now or in the future I understand that I can stop the interview at any time if I not wish to continue, the audio recording will be erased and the information provided will not be included in the study I consent to:  Audio-recording YES  Signature Please PRINT name Date NO  PARTICIPANT INFORMATION STATEMENT RESEARCH TITLE: Effects of English collocation instruction on the writing skill of first year English major students at Hanoi University of Science and Technology PURPOSE OF THE STUDY You are invited to participate in a study aiming at investigating the effects of collocation instruction on the writing performance of a group of first year English major students at a university in Hanoi, Vietnam More specifically, the study is designed to address the following research questions: What are the effects of the current HUST English collocation instruction on students’ writing skill? What should be done, in students’ opinions, to further enhance the teaching of English collocation and its effect on their essay writing? Although the study will be carried out on a small scale, focusing on a particular group of Vietnamese EFL first year students, the researcher hopes that its results will (1) help teachers have a better understanding of English collocation instruction in relation to writing skill; (2) obtain students’ opinions on ways to further enhance collocation instruction for better writing; and (3) provide recommendations for teachers who are interested in using collocation instruction to improve writing proficiency of students in their own teaching context RESEARCHER The study is being conducted by Ms Trần Thị Huệ and will form the basis for the Degree of Master at the University of Languages and International Studies under the supervision of Dr Tô Thị Thu Hương PROCEDURES If you volunteer to participate in this study, I would ask you to take part in an interview within 10-15 minutes You can choose to be interviewed and answer either in Vietnamese or English The interview will take place at Room 303, D4 building, HUST and will be audio recorded The list of suggested questions will be given to you at least hours prior to the interview PARTICIPATION AND WITHDRAWAL Being in this study is completely voluntary You are not under any obligation to consent and you can withdraw at any time without affecting your relationship with the researcher or the University of Languages and International Studies – Vietnam National University now or in the future You may stop the interview at any time if you not wish to continue; the audio recording will be erased and the information provided will not be included in the study CONFIDENTIALITY All information provided will remain confidential The information I obtain will be analyzed, and general findings will likely be published in the form of a research report, but individual participants' identities will not be known QUESTIONS ABOUT THE RESEARCH When you have read this information, Ms Trần Thị Huệ will discuss it with you further and answer any questions you may have If you would like to know more at any stage, please feel free to contact Ms Trần Thị Huệ at (phone number, email) or Dr Tô Thị Thu Hương at (phone number, email) This information sheet is for you to keep