The influence of mother tongue on second language learning has been a significant issue of research into second language acquisition, for mother tongue is an important part of learners’ linguistic background. The present research aims at (1) identifying the errors caused by L1 interference in written compositions, and (2) investigating learners’ perception of the reasons for such problems. The study employs error analysis to categorize errors in 106 written essays and organize interviews with students to explore their perceptions. The collected data from written essays and interviews are analyzed by quantitative and qualitative analysis. The results suggest that verb errors including verb voice and verb number are among the most prominent errors, while calque and collocation errors cause significant problems in lexis aspect. In terms of reasons behind L1 interference errors, two main causes are identified: the difference between Vietnamese and English, and learners’ L1 habit. The study indicates important pedagogical implications for English learning and teaching, which are expected to benefit stakeholders in ESL EFL contexts.
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION GRADUATION PAPER THE INTERFERENCE OF FIRST LANGUAGE IN ENGLISH WRITING COMPOSITIONS: A STUDY OF ENGLISH MAJORS AT A LANGUAGE UNIVERSITY Supervisor: Trần Thị Thanh Phúc, PhD Student: Đinh Bảo Ngọc Course: QH2014.F1.E1 HÀ NỘI – 2018 ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP ẢNH HƯỞNG CỦA NGÔN NGỮ THỨ NHẤT TIẾNG VIỆT ĐỐI VỚI VIỆC VIẾT TIẾNG ANH: MỘT NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ SINH VIÊN CHUYÊN NGÀNH TIẾNG ANH TẠI MỘT TRƯỜNG ĐÀO TẠO NGOẠI NGỮ Giáo viên hướng dẫn: Trần Thị Thanh Phúc, PhD Sinh viên: Đinh Bảo Ngọc Khóa: QH2014.F1.E1 HÀ NỘI – 2018 ACCEPTANCE PAGE I hereby state that I: Dinh Bao Ngoc, class QH2014.F1.E1, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (English Language Teacher Education) accept the requirements of the College relating to the retention and use of Bachelor‟s Graduation Paper deposited in the library In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper Signature Date ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The six-month process of conducting this graduation thesis has been such a valuable experience to me as a student researcher Without the support of my supervisor, my teachers and beloved people, the completion of this paper could not have been possible Firstly, I would like to express my gratitude towards Dr Tran Thi Thanh Phuc, my supervisor, whose support and guidance has enriched my reservoir of knowledge, strengthened my research skills and encouraged me to finish this research Secondly, I am thankful of all the participants of this study Their substantial assistance in the data collection process has facilitated the validity of the data and the study in general Lastly, I owe great appreciation for my beloved family and friends for their constant support, especially my classmates at QH2013.E1 These people have provided me with important academic consultant, research resources and emotional encouragement, which accompany me till the end of this journey Thanks to their invaluable help, I have matured as a researcher and have had the determination to complete this research i ABSTRACT The influence of mother tongue on second language learning has been a significant issue of research into second language acquisition, for mother tongue is an important part of learners‟ linguistic background The present research aims at (1) identifying the errors caused by L1 interference in written compositions, and (2) investigating learners‟ perception of the reasons for such problems The study employs error analysis to categorize errors in 106 written essays and organize interviews with students to explore their perceptions The collected data from written essays and interviews are analyzed by quantitative and qualitative analysis The results suggest that verb errors including verb voice and verb number are among the most prominent errors, while calque and collocation errors cause significant problems in lexis aspect In terms of reasons behind L1 interference errors, two main causes are identified: the difference between Vietnamese and English, and learners‟ L1 habit The study indicates important pedagogical implications for English learning and teaching, which are expected to benefit stakeholders in ESL / EFL contexts ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements Abstract Table of Contents List of abbreviations List of figures & tables i ii iii v vi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the study 1.2 Statement of research problem and questions 1.3 Scope of the study 1.4 Significance of the study 1.5 Organization of the study 3 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 L1 transfer and L1 influence 2.2 Different approaches to second language acquisition 2.2.1 Contrastive Analysis 2.2.2 Error Analysis 2.2.3 Error analysis process 2.2.4 Error classification 6 11 2.3 Overview of previous studies 2.3.1 Studies of L1 interference 2.3.2 Studies of Vietnamese influence on ESL learners 16 16 19 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 22 3.1 Research design 3.2 Participants 3.3 Data collection 3.3.1 Data collection instrument 3.3.2 Data collection procedure 22 22 23 23 24 3.4 Data analysis 3.4.1 Error Analysis 3.4.2 Interview data 25 25 27 iii CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 29 4.1 Overview of found errors 4.2 Frequencies of error types 4.2.1 Grammar errors 4.2.2 Lexis errors 4.3 Discussion of L1 interference errors 4.4 Discussion of reasons for L1 interference errors 29 32 32 39 46 48 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 52 5.1 Summanry of major findings of the research 52 5.2 Pedagogical implications 53 5.3 Limitations of the research 54 5.4 Suggestions for further study 54 REFERENCES 56 APPENDICES 61 Appendix 61 Appendix 63 Appendix 64 Appendix 66 iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS %: percent CA: Contrastive Analysis EA: Error Analysis L1: First Language L2: Second Language EFL: English a Foreign language ESL: English as a Second Language TL: Target Language v LIST OF TABLES Table Name of table Page Table Grammatical errors (Dagneaux, et al., 1996, cited in Lopez, 2009) 11 Table Levels of errors (James, 1998) 12 Table Types of lexical errors (James, 1998) 13 Table Overview of related studies 16 Table Error categorization chart 26 Table Frequency of L1 errors 28 Table Rank-order frequency of found grammar errors 31 Table Rank-order frequency of found lexical errors 38 LIST OF FIGURES Figure Name of Figure Figure Error frequencies per category vi Page 30 tongue on language learning will definitely contribute significant pedagogical and linguistic value to the global knowledge of second language acquisition 55 REFERENCES Bhela, B (1999) Native language interference in learning a second language: Exploratory case studies of native language interference with target language usage International Education Journal, 1(1), 22-31 Corder, S (1967) The significance of learners‟ errors International Review of Applied Linguistics, 5, 161-170 Corder, S.P (1981) Error analysis and interlanguage Oxford: Oxford University Press Creswell, J W (2014) Research design: qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches 4th Edition USA: SAGE Publications Crystal, D (2008) A dictionary of linguistics and phonetics 6th edition Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Ltd Diep, Q B (2008) Ngữ pháp Tiếng Việt [Vietnamese grammar] Hanoi: NXB Giáo dục Ellis, R (1994) The study of second language acquisition Oxford: Oxford University Press Ellis, R (1997) Second language acquisition Oxford University Press, Oxford Gass, S., & Selinker, L (2001) Second language acquisition: An introductory course (2nd ed.) London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates González, M M A (2016) A corpus-based analysis of errors in Spanish EFLl writings Retrieved November 2017 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309673649_A_CorpusBased_Analysis_of_Errors_in_Spanish_EFL_Writings 56 from Grami, G M A (2012) L1 transfer among Arab ESL learners: Theoretical framework and practical implications for ESL teaching Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 2, 1552-1560 doi:10.4304/tpls.2.8 Ha, V M (2011) The interference of the mother tongue in the writing skills of the grade 10 students at Tinh Gia upper secondary school (M.A Dissertation) University of Languages and International Studies, Hanoi Hemchua, S., & Schmitt, N (2006) An analysis of lexical errors in the English compositions of Thai learners Prospect 21(3), 3-25 Hussein, A A., & Mohammad, M F M (2011) Negative L1 impact on L2 writing International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 1(18), 184195 Ivankova, N V., & Creswell, J W (2009) Mixed methods In Qualitative Research in Applied Linguistics: A Practical Introduction (pp 135-161) Palgrave Macmillan doi: 10.1057/9780230239517 James, C (1998) Errors in language learning and use: Exploring error analysis New York: Routledge John & Turner 2003: Johnson, B., & Turner, L A (2003) Data collection strategies in mixed methods research In A Tashakkori & C Teddie (Eds.) Handbook of mixed methods in social and behavioral research (pp 297319) Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Lado, R (1957) Linguistic across culture Annrbor: University of Michigan Press López , W C (2009) Error analysis in a learner corpus What are the learners‟ strategies? A survey of corpus-based research, 675 - 690 Retrieved from http://www.um.es/lacell/aelinco/contenido/pdf/45.pdf Lott, D (1983) Analyzing and counteracting interference errors ELT Journal, 37(3), 256-261 57 Lu, L (2010) Language transfer: From topic prominence to subject prominence (M.A Dissertation) University of Leeds, UK Mai, N C., Vu, D N & Hoang, T P (2003) Cơ sở ngôn ngữ học tiếng Việt [Fundamentals of Linguistics and Vietnamese] Hanoi: NXB Giáo Dục Mackey, A., & Gass, S M (2005) Second Language Research: Methodology and Design New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publisher Mahmoud, A (2000) Modern standard Arabic vs non-standard Arabic: Where Arab students of EFL transfer from? Language, Culture and Curriculum, 13(2), 126-136 Mitchell, R., & Myles, F (2004) Second language learning theories Second Edition London: Hodder Arnold Nguyen, D H (1996) Vietnamese verbs Mon-Khmer Studies, 25, 141-159 Nguyen, H K (2015) The influence of Vietnamese on English acquisition and use by the Hanoians Ngon ngu & Doi song, 3(233), 35-44 Nguyen, C T (2015) The differences between spoken and written grammar in English, in comparison with Vietnamese Gist Education and Learning Research Journal, 11, 138–153 Norrish, J (1983) Language learners and their errors London: McMillan Publishers Ltd Nowell, L S., Norris, J M., White, D E., & Moules, N J (2017) Thematic analysis: Striving to meet the trustworthiness criteria International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 16, 1-13 doi: 10.1177/1609406917733847 Odlin, T (1989) Language transfer Cross-linguistic influence in language learning Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 58 Pham, C N (2016) Negative mother tongue language transfer into English writing learning of first year advanced program students at Vietnam National University of Forestry Journal of Forest Science and Technology, 3, 183-192 Saville-Troike, M (2006) Introducing second language acquisition New York: Cambridge University Press Tang, G M (2007) Cross-Linguistic Analysis of Vietnamese and English with Implications for Vietnamese Language Acquisition and Maintenance in the United States Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement, 2(1) doi: 10.7771/2153-8999.1085 Timina, S (2013) The Problem of Chinese Language Interference in Written English Proceedings from The European Conference on Language Learning 2013 Retrieved November 2017 from www.iafor.org Tran, H M (2007) Ngôn ngữ học đối chiếu Cú pháp Tiếng Anh – Tiếng Việt [Contrastive linguistics: English and Vietnamese syntax] Hanoi: NXB Đại học Quốc gia Hà Nội Vu, V D (2017) An empirical study on negative transfer in Vietnamese tertiary EFL learners‟ English writing The Journal of Teaching English for Specific and Academic Purposes, (5)4, 661668 Wang, Y (2015) Negative transfer of mother language in English compositions by Jiujiang university students EDP Sciences doi: 10.1051/shsconf/20151401008 Zaphar, A (2016) Error analysis: a tool to improve English skills of undergraduate students Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 217, 697 – 705 doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2016.02.122 59 Zohrabi, M (2013) Mixed Method Research: Instruments, Validity, Reliability and Reporting Findings Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 3(2), 254-262 doi: 10.4304/tpls.3.2.254-262 60 APPENDIX SAMPLE OF CONSENT FORM FOR PARTICIPANTS CONSENT FORM OF PARTICIPATION Title of study: The interference of L1 Vietnamese on L2 English writing compositions: A study on English majored students in a language education university (submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts) Researcher’s name: Dinh Bao Ngoc Introduction You are being invited to participate in this research study This study is carried out to investigate the interference of mother tongue on writing compositions It is suggested that you read this form and ask any questions that you may have before agreeing to participate in the study If you decide to participate, please sign and date the last line of this form Explanation of the study This study has been reviewed and approved by the Faculty of English Language Teacher Education, ULIS, VNU, Hanoi The research would investigate the L1 interference errors made in writing compositions By involving in this study, you will: - Allow the researcher to collect your writing compositions submitted during your 4C writing course from January 2018 to April 2018 Allow the researcher to identify errors and mother tongue related problems in your writing compositions Participate in a personal interview to answer some questions related to your writing The interview will be tape-recorded and possibly last for 30 minutes Confidentiality All of the data collected will only be used for research purposes Your confidentiality as a participant in this research will remain secure The records of this study will be kept strictly confidential Research records will be kept in a locked file, and all recorded audio files will be secured using password protection The researcher will not include any information in any published report that would make it possible to identify you Participants’ rights The decision to participate in this study is up to you You can decide to participate in this study, and you can withdraw from it at any time without any consequences If you have any questions about this study, you can ask me in person, via email at ngocbaodinh128@gmail.com or via mobile phone at (+84) 976355763 Consent 61 Your signature below indicates that you have decided to volunteer as a research participant for this study, and that you have read and understood the information provided above You will be given a signed and dated copy of this form to keep Participant's Name Participant 's Signature: Date: Researcher’s Signature: Date: 62 APPENDIX INTERVIEW QUESTIONS INTERVIEW QUESTIONS Interview questions for students Which types of writing errors you frequently make? (How did you notice them?) What you think are the reasons for your writing errors? Do you think L1 influence is one of the sources of your errors? Why? How you realize L1 is one source of your writing errors? After handing students their essays with marked errors: What you think are the reasons for the expression you write in the given essay? Could you explain your thought process when you write this? (optional) What exactly did you think of when you write this expression? (optional) What are your strategies to avoid L1 influence on your written essays? 63 APPENDIX SAMPLE OF INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT Interviewer: Good afternoon, I‟m working on a thesis on the influence of Vietnamese on English learning Would you be so kind as to answer a few questions? Interviewee: Of course Interviewer: The first one is… when you write, what types of mistakes you usually make? Interviewee: Let‟s see, I make a lot of mistakes with my grammar, and also word choice Mostly word choice Interviewer: And how you realize these mistakes? Interviewee: Thanks to the feedback from the teacher I think Interviewer: Where you think the mistakes come from then? Interviewee: Well, I don‟t pay that much attention during writing I often my assignments in a rush, so… Interviewer: If you reread the work yourself, would you be able to detect them on your own? Interviewee: Only a few of them I‟d say The rest I can only know if the teacher points them out Interviewer: So, you think your native tongue affects your learning in anyway? Interviewee: Well, the way I see it, there are many sentences that sound really simple and straightforward in English, but when I translate those from Vietnamese I keep thinking they would be a lot more complex, more academic if you will But the fact is for some expressions, it cannot be any simpler Interviewer: You‟re saying, you think in Vietnamese first? Interviewee: Yes I‟m always translating something from Vietnamese to English It‟s just how I it, and this probably makes things harder for me Interviewer: Let‟s take a look at your written work Like this phrase “it is not only broaden” Why you think you put it like that? 64 Interviewee: I think… I‟m not really sure myself Perhaps because I translated it from Vietnamese Interviewer: How about this “one the latest choice of them”? Was this also a translation? Interviewee: This one, not so much I probably didn‟t pay attention to what I was writing Interviewer: And this “they are easily to be distracted their mind”? What are your thoughts? Interviewee: Oh, this one I translated Interviewer: Do you remember what the original Vietnamese thought was? Interviewee: It is “họ dễ dàng bị, xao nhãng tinh thần.” Interviewer: Okay that was the first assignment, on to the second one This part I cannot see what you mean, would you care to explain? “The sense of practical will be lost” Interviewee: Well, I was trying to say that „mọi người dùng Internet để giao tiếp với tính thực tế bị đi‟ I‟m probably mistaken somehow Interviewer: Ok how about this, “There are a lot of people who online Facebook”? Interviewee: Huh, I think that one I got correct Interviewer: Why you think so? Interviewee: I just We still say “online facebook” all the time Interviewer: I see, we use „online‟ as a verb in everyday life Interviewee: Yeah, that‟s why I wrote that Interviewer: Do you have any solutions to improve and avoid this kind of effect from Vietnamese? Interviewee: I think I can only write as much as I can Interviewer: Hm, you think there‟s any other method to avoid the negative effects of Vietnamese on your writing? Interviewee: … Again, I think I can only write as much as I can 65 APPENDIX SAMPLE OF WRITTEN ESSAYS Sample 66 Sample 67 Sample 68 Sample 69 ... NỘI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP ẢNH HƯỞNG CỦA NGÔN NGỮ THỨ NHẤT TIẾNG VIỆT ĐỐI VỚI VIỆC VIẾT TIẾNG ANH: MỘT NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ SINH VIÊN CHUYÊN NGÀNH TIẾNG ANH. .. ANH: MỘT NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ SINH VIÊN CHUYÊN NGÀNH TIẾNG ANH TẠI MỘT TRƯỜNG ĐÀO TẠO NGOẠI NGỮ Giáo viên hướng dẫn: Trần Thị Thanh Phúc, PhD Sinh viên: Đinh Bảo Ngọc Khóa: QH2014.F1.E1 HÀ NỘI – 2018 ACCEPTANCE... could not have been possible Firstly, I would like to express my gratitude towards Dr Tran Thi Thanh Phuc, my supervisor, whose support and guidance has enriched my reservoir of knowledge, strengthened