VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES -***** NGUYỄN THỊ DUNG UTILIZING THE CAP (COLLOCATION-APPLYING PROCESS) TO IMPROVE A GROUP OF SECOND-YEAR MAINSTREAM STUDENTS’ USE OF COLLOCATIONS IN THEIR WRITINGS SỬ DỤNG CAP (QUÁ TRÌNH ÁP DỤNG CỤM TỪ KẾT HỢP) ĐỂ PHÁT TRIỂN VIỆC SỬ DỤNG CỤM TỪ KẾT HỢP TRONG CÁC BÀI VIẾT CỦA NHÓM SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ HỆ ĐÀO TẠO CHUẨN M.A Combined Program Thesis Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Hanoi - 2013 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES -***** NGUYỄN THỊ DUNG UTILIZING THE CAP (COLLOCATION-APPLYING PROCESS) TO IMPROVE A GROUP OF SECOND-YEAR MAINSTREAM STUDENTS’ USE OF COLLOCATIONS IN THEIR WRITINGS SỬ DỤNG CAP (QUÁ TRÌNH ÁP DỤNG CỤM TỪ KẾT HỢP) ĐỂ PHÁT TRIỂN VIỆC SỬ DỤNG CỤM TỪ KẾT HỢP TRONG CÁC BÀI VIẾT CỦA NHÓM SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ HỆ ĐÀO TẠO CHUẨN M.A Combined Program Thesis Field : English Language Teaching Methodology Code : 60 14 10 Supervisor : Ms Đinh Hải Yến (M.A.) Hanoi - 2013 TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF TABLES .vii LIST OF FIGURES viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ix PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Statement of the problem and rationale for the study Research aims and research questions 3 Scope of the study Methods of the study Significance of the study 4 Organization of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Collocation(s) 1.1.1 Definitions of collocation(s) 1.1.2 Characteristics of collocations 1.1.3 Types of collocations 10 1.1.4 Causes of collocational errors 16 1.1.5 The importance of learning collocations 18 1.1.6 Consideration when teaching collocations 21 1.2 Language awareness 28 1.2.1 What is awareness? 28 1.2.2 What is language awareness? 29 1.2.3 Levels of language awareness 30 iv 1.2.4 The role of language awareness 30 1.2.5 How to increase students‟ language awareness in teaching writing 31 1.3 The CAR Process by Ying and Hendricks (2002) 33 1.4 Related studies 35 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 37 2.1 Rationale for action research design 37 2.1.1 Defintion of action research 37 2.1.2 The action research process 38 2.1.3 The reasons for choosing action research for this study 41 2.2 Participants 41 2.2.1 Background information about the participants 41 2.2.2 Sampling methods 30 2.3 Research design 44 2.3.1 The CAR Process in this study 44 2.3.2 Research design 46 2.4 Data collection instruments 50 2.4.1 Tests 50 2.4.2 Questionnaire 51 2.4.3 Interviews 52 2.5 Data collection procedures 53 2.6 Data analysis 54 CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 56 3.1 Results 56 3.1.1 Research question 56 3.1.2 Research question 70 3.2 Recommendations 75 PART C: CONCLUSION 77 Conclusion 77 Contributions of the study 78 v Limitations of the study 79 Recommendations for further studies 80 REFERENCES ………………………………………………………………………… 81 APPENDICES …………………………………………………………………………… I vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1: A summary of the participants‟ demographic features Table 2: A summary of the interviewees‟ profile Table 3: The CAR Process in this study and its differences from Ying and Hendricks‟ model Table 4: Research design Table 5: Results of the pre-test (production test) – first versions Table 6: Results of the pre-test (production test) – second versions Table 7: Pre-test results: Recognition test Table 8: Post-test results: Recognition test Table 9: Results of the post-test (production test) – first drafts Table 10: Results of the post-test (production test) – second versions Table 11: Results of part A of the questionnaire Table 12: Difficulties related to knowledge of collocation perceived by participants Table 13: Difficulties related to collocation awareness perceived by participants Table 14: Difficulties with collocation-related skills perceived by participants vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Ferrance’s action research process (2000) Figure 2: Kemmis‟ action research process (1988) Figure 3: McNiff and Whitehead‟s action research process (2006) Figure 4: Action research in phases of teaching by Stringer et al (2010) viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL: English as a foreign language ix PART A: INTRODUCTION Statement of the problem and rationale for the study Writing is deemed to be difficult because it involves employing a variety of skills from generating ideas, being grammatically correct to using appropriate language to express opinions in the process of writing (Ross, 1968, p 253) Students not seem to have difficulty forming a central idea and using correct grammar What is challenging to them is how to use the target language appropriately to convey a message precisely and add more meaning to what they express It is difficult to solve this problem, especially for lowlevel students, despite teachers‟ search for materials suitable for teaching writing, commitment to correcting students‟ written work, and adoption of many methods to teach vocabulary (Hsueh, 1994, p 1) In his opinion, the utilization of collocations may help to address this difficult problem because it enhances not only accuracy but also fluency Besides, “giving students collocations of words newly or previously met will widen their understanding of what those words mean and, more importantly, how they are used” (Lewis, 2000, pp 13 – 14) The importance of collocation in improving learners‟ writing skills is borne out by Conzett‟s study (2000, quoted in Hsueh, 1994, p 2) More specifically, once familiarized with the concept of collocation, his students are able to produce more accurate language In addition, Sonomura also argues that “writing in English for academic purpose demands access to an infinite store of common collocations, combined in ways that have become stabilized and are the familiar expected, and recognized ways of saying things in written English” (1997, quoted in Hsueh, 1994, p 13) This view is also shared by McCarthy and O‟Dell (2005, p 6), who believe that using collocations helps “improve your style in writing.” However, there is a lack of emphasis on teaching collocations to learners of English as a second language According to Marton (1977) and Briskup (1992) (quoted in Ying and Hendricks, 2002, p 53), the major cause for this phenomenon is that collocations not create difficulty in comprehending a text as they are mostly made up of familiar and simple words That is why language teachers not draw students‟ attention to the collocations in a text, thereby causing students not to notice collocations and learn them To tackle this problem, Lewis (2001, quoted in Ying and Hendricks, 2002) proposes that language teachers should increase learners‟ awareness of collocation by helping them to pay more attention to words and their combinations in reading “This does not mean finding rare words but rather finding relatively common words which intermediate students already know (or half-know) and pointing out the words they occur with.” Besides, having been a writing teacher of 2nd-year students for two years, I myself have come to realize that most of the students I have taught during those two years are generally unconscious of the issue of collocation, lack the ability to notice collocations in a text and not make an effort to learn them The majority of students in class K45E17 are also confronted with the above-mentioned problems when it comes to collocation According to the findings of the pre-test (the production test), those students made a lot of mistakes about collocation in the first version, which were not corrected in the second one This was particularly true for the two following types of collocation: verb + noun and adjective + noun Besides, they did not score highly in the pre-test (recognition test) and chose the wrong collocate of even familiar words For example, they chose careful instead of good as a collocate a collocation is used, emphasize its meaning in that particular context and remind them to determine its correct significance in other contexts so that they can produce suitable collocations From S2‟s point of view, in order to remember collocations effectively, students should recycle what they find in a text S5 also shares this opinion, adding that it is possible for them to apply collocations not only in writing but also in speaking For example, after knowing the collocations related to a speaking topic, they should use them in the discussions in the next speaking lesson As a matter of fact, recycling collocations is an activity students should do, according to Hill, Lewis and Lewis (2000, pp 90 – 91) Besides, teachers should create opportunities for students to recycle the newly acquired collocations S1, S6 and S8 share the same opinion that learning collocations is not an interesting activity and students can easily lose motivation even though they are aware of its importance That is to say, teachers, especially writing teachers should give some incentives for them to try to learn collocations For example, S6 suggests that the student using the most correct collocations in a writing assignment should be appreciated by the teacher S8 recommends that such a student should be given bonus points As another way to motivate students to learn collocations, S1 recommends sometimes teachers should administer a collocation test, which is used as a form of assessment 76 PART C – CONCLUSION Conclusion The researcher conducted a study on raising 2nd-year students‟ awareness of collocation in writing English through the CAR (Collocation Awareness Raising) Process with a view to accomplishing the following purposes: to examine the extent to which the CAR Process raised the participants‟ awareness of collocation in writing English, investigate the difficulties perceived by them as they went through the CAR Process and the reasons for those difficulties The major findings of the study were as follows: Before the CAR Process, most of the participants had not heard about collocation for many reasons One reason was that as high-school students and freshmen, their teachers did not tell them to pay attention to collocation in the writing process Some exceptions are students that specialized in English at high school and were members taking part in the national English contest for gifted students They were unaware of its importance in writing The CAR Process helped raise the participants‟ awareness of collocation in writing English This was partly demonstrated by the improvement in their results in the post-test compared with those of the pre-test (both the recognition and production tests) Besides, this was also proven by their responses in the questionnaire and face-to-face interviews Among the three levels of awareness mentioned in the Literature Review, it seems that the participants of this study are at the first level – attention More specifically, they know the necessity to pay attention to collocation in writing Nevertheless, they still lack the ability to notice the gaps between the collocations used by them and correct collocations For example, they made a 77 lot of mistakes in the first versions of the post-test (production test), and they needed the help of dictionaries to identify and correct their mistakes Apart from raising K45E17 students‟ awareness of collocation in writing English, the CAR Process also provided them with some knowledge of collocation such as the types of collocation and improved some skills related to collocation such as noticing collocation mistakes and looking up collocations Quite many difficulties in all three aspects listed in the questionnaire were perceived by the participants during the CAR Process With regard to knowledge of collocation, the problem perceived by the largest percentage of K45E17 students was to distinguish the different types of collocation because there are many of them In terms of collocation awareness, their difficulty was making a serious effort to look up collocations This was due to the large number of collocates one headword has, which caused them to lose motivation to search for the most suitable collocate Regarding collocation-related skills, they perceived it difficult to apply the recorded collocations in their writings on account of having to use other collocations to support their ideas In addition, they also found it difficult to notice collocations in the given reading texts text due to being accustomed to only paying attention to the new words in a text In conclusion, the objectives of the study were satisfactorily accomplished The researcher hopes that this study will provide concerned readers with useful information about the research area Contributions of the study Overall, this research on raising 2nd-year students‟ awareness of collocation in writing English through the CAR Process could be helpful for teachers, students as well as researchers working on related studies This is 78 because this study dealt with a practical issue in teaching and learning academic writing in English As for the English writing teachers in the Faculty of English Language Teacher Education in the University of Languages and International Studies, the findings of the research may encourage them to apply the CAR Process to their teaching In addition, teachers of English as a second language in other institutions of higher education can adapt and make use of the CAR Process in a way that is beneficial for their own students Second, next generations of 2nd-year students, at least mine, may benefit from the stronger emphasis I put on teaching and learning collocations not only in writing lessons but also in reading lessons, as it can be integrated in reading courses as well Finally, researchers who develop an interest in the same research area can refer to this study for useful information for their future related work For example, they can take advantage of the literature review as theoretical background for their research It is also likely for them to model their study on this research with necessary changes Limitations of the study Although the researcher devoted herself to conducting this study, difficulties in the process of implementation were unavoidable, which entailed some limitations for the research, as follows: 79 First, the number of participants taking part in the study was not high in comparison with the total number of 2nd-year students In fact, only students in one class out of 20 classes participated It would have been better for the collection of data if more students had joined the study Second, due to the constraints of time, the semi-structured interviews could not be held with all students in K45E17 This might have prevented the researcher to have a more comprehensive picture of the issues investigated in the study Third, the teacher-researcher did not provide any recommendations based on the findings of the study In conclusion, these above shortcomings should be taken into account when further related studies are conducted in the future Recommendations for further studies Despite being a matter of concern to many scholars and researchers in the field of second language teaching and learning, collocation is still a phenomenon with many exciting aspects open to further research In regard to monitoring students‟ recording and learning collocations at home, it is advisable for researchers to adopt several methods to check and make sure they actually make a conscious effort to learn them For example, their collocation worksheets can be considered as a form of assessment In respect of participant for the research, it is more advisable to choose first-year students and draw a larger sample from them This may help to address the problem of students‟ unawareness of collocation earlier 80 REFERENCES Altrichter, H et al (1993) Teachers investigate their work – an introduction to the methods of action research London: Routledge Arapoff, N (1967) Writing: a thinking process The TESOL quarterly, 1(2) Bahns, J (1993) Lexical collocations - a contrastive view ELT Journal, 47(1), 56-63 Bio, B Language awareness Retrieved 18 February, 2012 from http://www2.education.ualberta.ca/staff/olenka.Bilash/best%20of%20bil ash/languageawareness.html Bolitho, R et al.( 2003) Ten questions about language awareness ELT Journal, 57(3), 251-259 Burns, A (2010) Doing action research in English language teaching New York: Routledge Cardenas, C (2010) Language awareness Retrieved 18 February, 2013 from http://www.slideshare.net/clauditacar/language-awareness Boonyasaquan, S (2009) The lexical approach: an emphasis on collocations Dickinson, P (2008) Raising awareness of collocation in the Japanese EFL classroom Ferrance, E (2000) Action research Providence: LAB at Brown University Finegan, E (2004) Language: Its structure and use Guo, S., & Zhang, G (2007) Building a customized Google-based collocation collector to enhance language learning British journal of educational technology, 38(4) 81 Hill, J (2000) Revising priorities: From grammatical failure to collocational success In Michael Lewis (Ed.), Teaching collocation (pp 47-67) Hove, England: Language Teaching Publications Hill, J., Lewis, Morgan., & Lewis, Michael (2000) Classroom strategies, activities and exercises In Michael Lewis (Ed.), Teaching collocation (pp 88-117) Hove, England: Language Teaching Publications Hsueh, S (1994) A study on the relationship between collocations and English writing Jeon, J (2009) The selection of collocations in media for KFL learners Kasuya, M (2008) Teaching collocation in Japanese classroom Kuo, C (2009) An analysis of the use of collocation by intermediate EFL college students in Taiwan Le, T H (2010) Learning lexical collocations with concordancing and scaffolding Lewis, Michael (2000) Learning in the lexical approach In Michael Lewis (Ed.), Teaching collocation (pp 155-184) Hove, England: Language Teaching Publications Lewis, Michael (2000) Materials and resources for teaching collocation In Michael Lewis (Ed.), Teaching collocation (pp 186-204) Hove, England: Language Teaching Publications Lewis, Morgan (2000) There is nothing as practical as a good theory In Michael Lewis (Ed.), Teaching collocation (pp 10-27) Hove, England: Language Teaching Publications Li, C (2005) A study of collocational error types in ESL/ EFL in college learners‟ writing Little, D (1997) Language awareness and the autonomous language learner Language Awareness, 6(2&3),93-104 82 Mackey, A & Gass, A M (2005) Second language research – methodology and design Manning, C., & Schutze, H (1999) Foundations of statistical natural language processing Martynska, M (2004) Do English language learners know collocations? McCarthy, M., & O‟dell, F (2005) English collocations in use – intermediate McKay, S (1979) Communicative writing The TESOl quarterly, 13(1) McNiff, J., & Whitehead J (2006) All you need to know about action research London: SAGE Publications Ltd McNiff, J., & Whitehead J (2006) Action research – living theory London: SAGE Publications Ltd Nesselhauf, N (2005) Collocations in a learner corpus Parastuti, A (2009) The negative transfers of English collocations written by the students of Gunadarma university Phan, T N L (2012) Enhancing learner autonomy through peer assessment training – An action research Ross, J (1968) Controlled writing: a transformational approach The TESOL quarterly, 2(4) Sadeghi, Z (2010) The importance of collocation in vocabulary learning and teaching Translation journal Sun, Y., & Wang, L (2003) Concordancers in EFL classroom, cognitive approaches and collocation difficulty To, T H et al (2009) English Language Teaching Methodology II Vu, H H (2007) The exploitation of task authenticity in reading activities for Grade 10 students in Hanoi 83 Woolard, G (2000) Collocation – encouraging learner independence In Michael Lewis (Ed.), Teaching collocation (pp 28-46) Hove, England: Language Teaching Publications Ying, Y., & Hendricks, A (2002) Collocation awareness in the writing process Zengin, B (2009) Benefit of Google search engine in learning and teaching collocations Eurasian journal of educational research, 34 84 APPENDICES APPENDIX A: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE Raising awareness of collocation in the writing process of a group of 2nd-year students through the CAR Process (Collocation Awareness Raising) Process - An Action Research Hello, I am Dung I am doing a study on the above topic I would like to ask for your help with this questionnaire, which serves as a major source of data for my research Your identification information would be kept confidential Thank you very much for your help! Part A: Benefits of the CAR Process Please circle the number that best describes your choice for each statement strongly disagree disagree undecided agree strongly agree Benefits of the CAR Process Knowledge of collocation helping students know what a collocation is helping students know about different types of collocation helping students know the resources for learning collocations helping students know about the importance of learning collocations 5 helping students be aware of the importance of noticing collocations in a text helping students be aware of the importance of recording collocations in a text helping students be aware of the importance of looking up collocations helping students be aware of the importance of learning collocations helping students be aware of using correct collocations in writing 10 improving students‟ skill of noticing collocations in a text 11 improving students‟ skill of recording collocations 12 improving students‟ skill of looking up collocations 13 improving students‟ skill of applying collocations in their writings 14 improving students‟ skill of noticing mistakes about collocation 15 improving students‟ skill of correcting mistakes about collocation Collocation awareness Improvement of collocation-related skills I Part B: Difficulties while going through the CAR Process Please tick beside the answers that are true for you You can choose more than one Difficulties while going through the CAR Process Knowledge of collocation understanding what a collocation is distinguishing different types of collocation understanding how to use the introduced resources for learning collocations understanding the importance of learning collocations Collocation awareness paying attention to noticing collocations in the given reading texts paying attention to recording collocations in the given reading texts making a serious effort to look up collocations bearing in mind the importance of learning collocations remembering to use correct collocations in writing Collocation-related skills 10 noticing collocations in the given reading texts 11 recording collocations in the given reading texts 12 looking up collocations 13 applying the recorded collocations in their writings 14 noticing mistakes about collocation in their writings and their peers‟ 15 correcting mistakes about collocation in their writings and their peers‟ THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION! II APPENDIX B: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS Part A The effectiveness of the CAR Process in raising the participants’ awareness of collocation in the writing process Before participating in this research, have you ever paid attention to the use of collocation while you are writing? Can you give me your opinion of the role of language awareness when learning a foreign language in general and the role of collocation awareness in writing in particular? Do you think that the CAR Process may help raise your awareness of collocation in the writing process? If yes, how ? If no, explain why? After checking your writing assignments, I noticed that some mistakes about collocation in the first versions were not corrected in the second versions? Can you tell me the reasons for this? B Difficulties while going through the CAR Process Among the difficulties mentioned in the questionnaire, which difficulties you experienced most during the CAR Process? Can you explain in more details the reasons why you had such difficulties? What suggestions or recommendations you have to solve those difficulties during the CAR Process? III APPENDIX C: RECOGNITION TEST Time allowance: 20 minutes Choose the best answer to fill in the blank in the following sentences My daughter‟s ……… news about her test results really made my day A happy B good C splendid I hope to set up a ……… business of my own in the near future A small B tiny C minute You should take ……… care of your health A good B careful C wonderful A lot of ……… customers always buy the goods in our shop A faithful B true C loyal Nowadays, people can ……… information from a variety of sources A get B achieve C attain It is important for any business to ……… a profit in order to survive A make B create C You ……… a mistake when answering back the teacher during class yesterday A did B got C made We are trying our best to ……… customers‟ demand for our new product A fulfill B achieve C meet I spend a ……… amount of money buying books A giant B fair C big 10 The most ……… feature on his face is his nose A attractive B beautiful C handsome 11 He has a wardrobe full of ……… clothes A nice B wonderful IV C attractive 12 Doing ……… exercise is good for your health A temperate B mild C moderate 13 Smoking has a ……… impact on people‟s health A large B big C giant 14 That restaurant provides a very ……… service to customers A efficient B great C excellent 15 You have delayed writing the report for an ……… period of time A expanded B extended C elongated 16 Her ……… mistake worsened the situation A severe B horrible C terrible 17 There has been a ……… increase in the number of traffic accidents in the last five months A tremendous B large C giant 18 The ……… reason for my lateness is that I was caught in a traffic jam A primary B major C A and B are correct 19 The ……… conditions of the house cause her health to get worse A serious B poor C terrible 20 Her ……… advice helped me solve the problem more easily A wise B valid C valuable 21 Being married makes a ……… difference to my life A big B tremendous C giant 22 Her ……… smile lit up the whole room A joyful B blissful C cheerful 23 You should something to ……… your appearance A improve B foster C boost 24 He ……… a lot of training in the gym near his house A obtains B does C takes V 25 The company ……… a lot of services A offers B gives C distributes 26 The teacher ……… the importance of going to class on time A stresses B underlines C A and B are correct 27 We need to ……… a new plan for the project A create B develop C invent 28 Don‟t make ……… decisions A hasty B quick C fast 29 Her emotions were so ……… that she burst into tears A great B burning C intense 30 We need to prepare ourselves for ……… circumstances A unforeseen B unpredictable C unforeseeable 31 The issue of ……… importance is to provide housing for the homeless A utmost B biggest C largest 32 The company went bankrupt as a result of its ……… debt A considerable B massive C vast 33 The movie ……… a lot of different emotions among the audience A creates B sparks C provokes 34 The police have to support their case with ……… facts A thick B hard C solid VI ... TRIỂN VIỆC SỬ DỤNG CỤM TỪ KẾT HỢP TRONG CÁC BÀI VIẾT CỦA NHÓM SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ HỆ ĐÀO TẠO CHUẨN M.A Combined Program Thesis Field : English Language Teaching Methodology Code : 60 14 10 Supervisor... THE CAP (COLLOCATION-APPLYING PROCESS) TO IMPROVE A GROUP OF SECOND-YEAR MAINSTREAM STUDENTS’ USE OF COLLOCATIONS IN THEIR WRITINGS SỬ DỤNG CAP (QUÁ TRÌNH ÁP DỤNG CỤM TỪ KẾT HỢP) ĐỂ PHÁT TRIỂN VIỆC... 28 1. 2 .1 What is awareness? 28 1. 2. 2 What is language awareness? 29 1. 2. 3 Levels of language awareness 30 iv 1. 2. 4 The role of language awareness 30 1. 2. 5