VIỆC SỬ DỤNG CÁCH KẾT HỢP TỪ TRONG KỸ NĂNG VIẾT IELTS ĐỐI VỚI SINH VIÊN NĂM TƯ KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH

57 692 0
VIỆC SỬ DỤNG CÁCH KẾT HỢP TỪ TRONG KỸ NĂNG VIẾT IELTS ĐỐI VỚI SINH VIÊN NĂM TƯ KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH

Đang tải... (xem toàn văn)

Tài liệu hạn chế xem trước, để xem đầy đủ mời bạn chọn Tải xuống

Thông tin tài liệu

Collocational knowledge is at the heart of vocabulary learning and enables language learners to produce flawless language. Nevertheless, the use of collocation is more problematic on productive language skills, especially in writing because written contexts require precision in the use of words. This research has aimed at examining the 4th year students’ usage of collocations in IELTS-based writing quantitatively and qualitatively, hoping to give suggestions to help the last year students at the Faculty of English Language Teacher Education (FELTE, ULIS) effectively work on collocations. Data for the study were collected from 200 last year students at FELTE by using questionnaires, in-class IELTS-based essays and writing portfolio. The results show that students considered collocations significantly important and useful in English academic success but knotty to deal with. Because of its thorny feature, a large number of students are of low frequency of learning collocation. Statistical analysis indicates that the number of collocations, correct collocations and infrequent collocations produced by the last year students was not sufficiently large. Students mainly produced the type of Adj+N collocations and used vastly frequent ones in their writing. Unacceptable collocations were resulted from different causes but mainly due to their misuse of verb. Finally, pedagogical implications and suggestions for further research are provided on the basis of the research findings.

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION GRADUATION PAPER THE USE OF ENGLISH COLLOCATIONS IN IELTS-ORIENTED WRITING: A CASE STUDY OF THE 4 TH STUDENTS AT FELTE, ULIS Supervisor: Nguyễn Thị Linh Yên, PHD Student: Nguyễn Thị Trang Course: QH2010.F1.E13 1 HÀ NỘI - 2014 ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP VIỆC SỬ DỤNG CÁCH KẾT HỢP TỪ TRONG KỸ NĂNG VIẾT IELTS ĐỐI VỚI SINH VIÊN NĂM TƯ KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH Giáo viên hướng dẫn: Nguyến Thị Linh Yên Sinh viên: Nguyễn Thị Trang Khóa: QH2010.F1.E13 HÀ NỘI - 2014 2 DECLARATION I certify that this work contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in my name, in any university or other tertiary institutions and, to the best of my knowledge and belief, contains no material previously published or written by another person, except where due reference has been made in the text. In addition, I certify that no part of this work will, in the future, be used in a submission in my name, for any other degree or diploma in any university or other tertiary institutions without the prior approval of the University of Languages and International Studies. Signature: Date: 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my great gratitude to my lecturers, family and friends who inspired and encouraged me in the completion of this thesis. First and foremost, thanks are due to all of my lecturers at University of Languages and International Studies (ULIS) who have enthusiastically taught and guided for four years at university. Specially, from the bottom of my heart, I would like to thank my supervisors whose rigorous academic coaching, personal support, and inexhaustible enthusiasm have been an invaluable spur. Their pioneering views on the units of language acquisition have inspired me to further research on collocations. The two supervisors are so open-minded, energetic and extremely patient. They carefully read all my writings and spent a lot of time analyzing and discussing my data and encouraged me to consider in various point of views. Without the help of the two linguistic experts, this thesis would have been far weaker. Next my thanks go to all of the students at the Faculty of English Language Teacher Education, ULIS. Their enthusiasm and cooperation significantly contributed to the data collection. I am further thankful to ten participants for their willingness to spending time writing essays for my research. I also owe thanks to many other researchers who have made existing researches. Finally, my greatest thanks are reserved for my family who has given me the opportunity to pursue my academic career. Especially, I would like to thank my parents for their unconditional and understanding support. 4 ABSTRACT Collocational knowledge is at the heart of vocabulary learning and enables language learners to produce flawless language. Nevertheless, the use of collocation is more problematic on productive language skills, especially in writing because written contexts require precision in the use of words. This research has aimed at examining the 4th year students’ usage of collocations in IELTS-based writing quantitatively and qualitatively, hoping to give suggestions to help the last year students at the Faculty of English Language Teacher Education (FELTE, ULIS) effectively work on collocations. Data for the study were collected from 200 last year students at FELTE by using questionnaires, in-class IELTS-based essays and writing portfolio. The results show that students considered collocations significantly important and useful in English academic success but knotty to deal with. Because of its thorny feature, a large number of students are of low frequency of learning collocation. Statistical analysis indicates that the number of collocations, correct collocations and infrequent collocations produced by the last year students was not sufficiently large. Students mainly produced the type of Adj+N collocations and used vastly frequent ones in their writing. Unacceptable collocations were resulted from different causes but mainly due to their misuse of verb. Finally, pedagogical implications and suggestions for further research are provided on the basis of the research findings. Table of Contents 5 List of Tables 6 List of Figures 7 8 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1. Statement of the problem It is widely known that writing has been an essential skill benefiting individuals for the rest of their lives. Well-written expression, undoubtedly, is a key to future success in spite of one’s age, gender or career. Writing is more than just putting on paper what has already existed in one’s head. By no means is it an exercise in English grammar or vocabulary, but the exercise of thinking critically. In school, college, workplace or in society, writing has become a vital tool to assess one's knowledge, and intellectuality. One, in other words, is judged by the quality of writing that he/she possesses. An effective writing makes vivid impressions on others whereas poor one is likely to hinder writers from conveying concise and self-explanatory messages. Particularly, writing plays an indispensable part in every English degree exams for second language learners and IELTS examination makes no exception. It evaluates how well candidates are able to structure and frame their thoughts and how clearly they express them. Similarly, IELTS writing section ensures test takers’ competence of English communication, as a second language, in written form. Most native speakers, as a matter of fact, crave for writing accurately and effectively even on what they are well aware of, casts no doubt on the fact that writing, as most foreign language learners shrink from, is the most difficult skill. Needless to say, it is not easy at all for a non- native speaker to do something that an average native speaker usually finds a tough job to do. An IELTS considerably successful writing is not simply to put chunks of utterance together which many students mistake; in contrast, it is a 9 type of academic writing attached standards to assess adequate band scores. Of many criteria, collocational competence, the cornerstone of every language, instantly considered leading one to evaluate an advanced foreign language learner. Assessors, obviously, make no hesitation to praise candidates for their proficient use of collocations which partly indicates their master of foreign language. Nevertheless, students taking IELTS examination, influenced by many factors, fail to write effectively. The lack of collocational competence often leads learners to “create longer utterances/ paraphrases because they do not know the collocations which express precisely what they want to say” (Michael Lewis, 2000). If students use poverty breeds crimes”instead of writing poverty causes crimes, or excruciating pain, burst into tears instead of painful or cry, they will be highly appreciated. It is, therefore, imperative that students should realize the undeniable significance of collocation in writing. Had students been aware of its outstanding importance, they would have deliberated on it much more meticulously. 1.2. Research objectives This study is, first of all, to examine the 4th year students’ attitude towards collocations and collocation learning in IELTS-based writing, whether learners underestimate or overstate collocations’ significance. Secondly, it directly aims at identifying the real use of collocations by the last year students in IELTS-oriented writing, types of collocations as well as collocational errors produced in their writing. Moreover, the last year students’ use of collocations in IELTS-based writing between year four and previous year is also compared. 10 [...]... this part 4.1.1 Students' evaluation of their current IELTS level Figure 1: Students' evaluation of their current IELTS level The pie chart is the result of question number four in the survey questionnaire that describes the 4th year students’ subjective evaluation of their current IELTS level The majority of students (roughly 67%) assessed that their IELTS band score was from more than 5 to 6.5 which... are considerably inserted Finally, reviews on general IELTS are briefly presented 2.1 Collocations 2.1.1 Definition of collocations It is strongly claimed that collocations are home to linguists’ researches due to its complex and uneasily-explainable features Why we speak or write make progress, thick fog, or heavy rain but not have progress, strong fog or hard rain; also we employ pay attention to,... often make mistakes in writing collocationally correct 2.3 Reviews on IELTS The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) is the joint production of the British Council, the International Development Program of Australian Universities and Colleges (IDP) and the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES) (IELTS Handbook, 2006) It is a specific test officially beginning in... English Language Teacher Education, ULIS to collocations and English collocation learning in IELTS- based writing? 2 How do students at the Faculty of English Language Teacher Education, ULIS use collocations in IELTS- based writing? Hypotheses: Students are incapable of realizing the importance of collocations in IELTS- based writing There is still existence of common mistakes in using collocations of students... To get high mark in IELTS, candidates have to meet specific criteria Particularly, in terms of speaking and writing, 24 candidates are expected to satisfy task requirements, use attractive cohesion and a wide range of vocabulary as well as structure correctly and naturally On account of strict criteria, many of candidate all, over the world, continuously make an attempt to sit for IELTS test with high... that they would not be influenced by the expression of “collocations” Their essays, hence, were not purely subjective The topic of the essay was taken from IELTS writing exam in April, 2013 at British Council- a prestigious and reliable organizer of IELTS examinations Writing portfolio 10 students who wrote in-class essays were also the subjects that were asked for their writing portfolio in year three... attitude of the 4th year students to English collocations and collocation learning in IELTS- based writing To answer the first hypothetical research question: “what is the attitude of the 4th year students of the Faculty of English Language Teacher Education, ULIS to English collocations and collocation learning in IELTS- based writing?” a survey questionnaire was carefully designed to acquire students’... of the test Based on the IELTS administrators, the examination begins with a listening subtest followed by a reading and then writing subtests These three modules are to be taken respectively on one day without any interval Speaking subtest, nevertheless, can be taken before or after these three in a seven day period It can be said that there is no pass or fail mark in the IELTS It ranks from band... considerable concerns about collocations, and regarded them as a knotty issue to tackle in IELTS- based writing However, on account of its difficulty in mastering collocations, students seem not to learn them effectively which partly leads to their non-proficient writings 4.2 The Use of Collocations of the 4th Year Students in IELTS- writing 34 The use of collocations, the number of collocations that was added... students’ IELTS- based essays Table 2: The number of collocations used in each essay Essay 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Total Number words 288 252 252 250 251 330 253 260 260 251 2580 of total Number of collocations 23 (15.90%) 16 (13.88%) 15 (13.64%) 20 (16.00%) 18 (16.33%) 23 (13.94%) 16 (14.29%) 19 (14.62%) 23 (17.69%) 24 (19.12%) 197 (399 words) (15.47%) Figure 6: The rate of collocations used in IELTS- based . TIẾNG ANH Giáo viên hướng dẫn: Nguyến Thi Linh Yên Sinh viên: Nguyễn Thi Trang Khóa: QH2010.F1.E13 HÀ NỘI - 2014 2 DECLARATION I certify that this work contains no material which has been. WRITING: A CASE STUDY OF THE 4 TH STUDENTS AT FELTE, ULIS Supervisor: Nguyễn Thi Linh Yên, PHD Student: Nguyễn Thi Trang Course: QH2010.F1.E13 1 HÀ NỘI - 2014 ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI TRƯỜNG. gratitude to my lecturers, family and friends who inspired and encouraged me in the completion of this thesis. First and foremost, thanks are due to all of my lecturers at University of Languages

Ngày đăng: 22/09/2014, 09:41

Từ khóa liên quan

Mục lục

  • DECLARATION

  • ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  • ABSTRACT

  • List of Tables

  • List of Figures

  • CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

    • 2.1. Collocations

      • 2.1.1. Definition of collocations

      • 2.1.2. Approaches to the study of collocations

        • 2.1.2.1. The lexical composition approach

        • 2.1.2.2. The semantic approach

        • 2.1.2.3. The structural approach

      • 2.1.3. Classification of collocations

      • 2.1.4. Characteristics of collocations

        • 2.1.4.1. Combinability

        • 2.1.4.2. Transparency

      • 2.1.5. Collocations, idioms and other word combinations

      • 2.1.6. Overview

    • 2.2. Collocations in English writing

      • 2.2.1. Significance of learning collocations

      • 2.2.2. The use of collocations in native and non-native writing

      • 2.2.3. The causes of collocational errors

    • 2.3. Reviews on IELTS

  • CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

    • 3.1. Participants

    • 3.2. Data collection instruments

    • 3.3. Procedure of data collection

    • 3.4. Procedure of data analysis

  • CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

  • 4.1. The attitude of the 4th year students to English collocations and collocation learning in IELTS-based writing.

    • 4.1.1. Students' evaluation of their current IELTS level

    • 4.1.2. Students’ attitude to English collocations

    • 4.1.3. Students’ common ways of learning collocations

    • 4.2.1 The number and ratio of collocations used in students’ IELTS-based essays.

    • 4.2.2. The use of acceptable and unacceptable collocations

    • 4.2.3 Types of collocations in students’ IELTS-based essays

    • 4.2.4. The use of frequent and infrequent collocations

    • 4.3. A comparison of the use of collocations between 4th year students and 3rd year ones in IELTS-based writing.

    • 4.4. Recommendations

  • CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION

    • 5.1. Summary of findings

    • 5.2. Limitations of the study

    • 5.3. Suggestions for further research

  • APPENDICES

    • Appendix 1-Quesstionnaire

    • Appendix 3-Types of collocational errors

Tài liệu cùng người dùng

  • Đang cập nhật ...

Tài liệu liên quan