Vinh university Foreign languages department Ngô thị yến English adjectives: an analysis of errors made by vietnamese high school students việt nam ( Phân tích lỗi thờng gặp häc sinh phỉ th«ng viƯc sư dơng tÝnh tõ tiÕng anh) Graduation thesis Field: linguistics Vinh, may 2010 Vinh university Foreign languages department English adjectives: an analysis of errors made by vietnamese high school students viÖt nam ( Phân tích lỗi thờng gặp học sinh phỉ th«ng viƯc sư dơng tÝnh tõ tiÕng anh) Graduation thesis Field: linguistics Supervisor: Vũ Thị Việt Hơng, M.A Student: Ngô Thị Yến Class: 46E1- English Vinh, may 2010 Acknowledgements First of all, at the completion of this graduation thesis, I would like to express my sincere thanks to my supervisor, Mrs Vu Thi Viet Huong (M.A) who has given me valuable suggestions and corrections as well as taken troubles with this Then, I would like to express my deepest thanks to Mrs Nguyen Thi Bich Hien (M.A) for her great support and helpful advice on my study My debt of gratitude also goes to my lecturers in Foreign Languages Department, Vinh University for their valuable lectutres which help me in the topic In addition, I also would like to express my thanks to my students of class 11B6 and 11B7 at Nguyen Cong Tru high school during my practical time, who have helped me to answer the survey questionaire of this thesis Finally, I am in large measure indebted to my family and my friends who have encouraged me much and especially have helped me much with collecting relevant materials Vinh, May 2010 Ngo Thi Yen List of abbreviations E.g: Example Etc: Et cetera * : Incorrect sentence List of tables Table 2.1 Result of section Table 2.2 Result of section Table 2.3 Result of section Table 2.4 Number of errors and their causes in section Table 2.5 Number of errors and their causes in section Table 2.6 Number of errors and their causes in section Table of contents Page Acknowledgements……………………………………………… i List of abbreviations……………………………………………… ii List of tables………………………………………………………… iii Table of contents………………………………………………… iv Part I: Introduction……………………………………………… 1 Rationale of the study…………………………………………………… Aims of the study………………………………………………………… Scope of the study………………………………………………………… Methods of the study……………………………………………………… Design of the study………………………………………………………… Part II: Investigation……………………………………………… Chapter I: Theoretical background……………………………………… 1.1 Kinds of English adjectives…………………………………………… 1.2 Syntatic function of English adjectives………………………………… 1.2.1 Attributive…………………………………………………………… 1.2.2 Predicative…………………………………………………………… 1.2.3 Postpositive…………………………………………………………… 1.2.4 Head of noun phrase…………………………………………………… 1.2.5 Verbless adjective clause……………………………………………… 1.2.6 Exclamatory adjective sentence……………………………………… 1.3 Positions of English adjectives…………………………………………… 1.3.1 Syntactic positions……………………………………………………… 1.3.1.1 Both attributive and predicative…………………………………… 1.3.1.2 Attributive only……………………………………………………… 1.3.1.3 Predicative only……………………………………………………… 10 1.3.2 Semantic positions of adjectives ……………………………………… 10 1.3.2.1 Stative and dynamic………………………………………………… 10 1.3.2.2 Inherent and non- inherent adjectives……………………………… 10 1.3.2.3 Gradable and non- gradable adjectives 11 1.4 Formation of english adjectives……………………………………………11 1.4.1 Prefixation……………………………………………………………… 12 1.4.1.1 Negative prefixes…………………………………………………… 12 1.4.1.2 Number prefixes…………………………………………………… 12 1.4.1.3 Conversion prefixes ……………………………………………………… 13 1.4.1.4 Other prefixes ……………………………………………………… 13 1.4.2 Suffixation …………………………………………………………… 14 1.4.2.1 Nouns  adjective suffixes………………………………………… 14 1.4.2.2 Adjectives  adjectives suffixes…………………………………… 15 1.4.2.3 Verb  adjectives suffixes……………………………………………… 16 1.5 Errors in language learning process……………………………………… 16 1.5.1 The notion of errors…………………………………………………… 16 1.5.2 Errors and mistakes………………………………………………………… 17 1.5.3 Causes of error in second language learning…………………………….17 1.5.3.1 Interlingual errors…………………………………………………… 17 1.5.3.2 Intranlingual errors…………………………………………………… 18 Chapter II: The study……………………………………………………… 20 2.1 Research questions……………………………………………………… 20 2.2 Research setting………………………………………………………… 20 2.3 Description of subjects…………………………………………………….20 2.4 Description of tasks……………………………………………………… 21 2.5 Procedure………………………………………………………………… 21 2.6 Preliminary results and data analysis…………………………………… 21 2.6.1 Results of section 1…………………………………………………… 21 2.6.2 Results of section 2…………………………………………………… 22 2.6.3 Results of section 3………………………………………………………22 2.7 Errors and their causes…………………………………………………… 23 2.7.1 Errors and their causes in section 1…………………………………… 23 2.7.2 Errors and their causes in section 2…………………………………… 27 2.7.3 Errors and their causes in section 3…………………………………… 29 Chapter III: Findings and Implications…………………………………… 33 3.1 Research question revisited……………………………………………… 33 3.1 Research question 1……………………………………………………… 33 3.1 Research question 2……………………………………………………… 33 3.1 Research question 3……………………………………………………… 33 3.2 Implications for teaching and learning English adjectives……………… 34 3.2.1 Suggestions for teachers……………………………………………… 34 3.2.2 Suggestions for students…………………………………………………38 39 Part III: conclusion………………………………………………… Recapitulation of the study………………………………………………… 39 Suggestions for further research…………………………………………… 40 References Appendix Part I: introduction Rationale of the Study: As we know, English is used as an official language in many countries in over the world Thus, studying English has always been one of the most biggest interests of Vietnamese people English even becomes a compulsory subject in most schools, colleges and universities in Vietnam Students have to learn English at school like many other subjects However, it is not easy for students to use English correctly, taking the class of adjectives as an example Vietnamese learners, especially high school students may be familiar with some forms of adjectives like adjectives ending in “al” (national, practical, etc), “y” (lovely, friendly, etc), “ful” ( beautiful, ueseful, etc) and so on, but there are also many adjectives which not have identifying shape (long, bad, etc) Besides, the positions and functions that adjectives act in each noun phrase, each clause and each sentence are quite different and difficult to learn Thirdly, like other subjects, English is one of the subjects of which the tests are done by examinees to decide whether students can go to the university or not In addition, during the weeks at Nguyen Cong Tru high school, the author found that the lesson and sections teaching adjectives in the two existing systems of English course books not give students enough knowledge about English adjectives Moreover, students are much affected by the way we use adjectives in Vietnamese Thus, it is necessary for teachers to find out the errors made by students in order to help them to use English adjectives properly and effectively From the above reasons, the author has decided to choose the topic: “English adjectives: an analysis of errors made by Vietnamese high school students” for the study Aims of the Study: The thesis aims to : - Identify common errors in using English adjectives - Find out the major causes and sources of errors made by Vietnamese high school students - Make some suggestions for learning and teaching English adjectives Scope of the Study: Adjectives play an important role in English grammar In this study the author only focuses on researching English adjectives to find out the errors made by Nguyen Cong Tru high school students Methods of the Study: In order to solve the above mentioned aims, the author used some methods as follows Firstly, the author has used collective method to collect informations about adjectives in English that she can consult from some grammar referent books Then, the author has descriptived and analyzed the collected data Design of the Study: This study consists of three main parts and three chapters which are organized as follows: Part I Introduction In this part, the author give some information about the reasons for choosing the study, aims, scope, methods and design of the study Part II Investigation This part consists of three chapters Chapter I Theoretical background gives an overview of the relevant literature related to the issue under investigation It provides all concepts related to the study Error analysis as the main theoretical tool for analyzing data will also be reviewed Chapter II The study is the main section of the thesis This chapter describes research setting, participants of the study And then results, data and data analysis of the study are given in this chapter Chapter II Finding and implication summarizes the major findings and gives some suggestions in teaching and learning English adjectives Part III: Conclusion concludes what has been discussed in the thesis Some suggestions for further research are also presented Part Ii: investigation Chapter I: theoretical background 1.1 Kinds of adjectives English adjectives have many kinds According to Trinh Quang Vinh in “ The formation of Adjectives”(1993), there are eleven main kinds of adjectives as follows: - Proper adjectives: E.g: A Chinese book A Vietnamese people - Descriptive adjectives: E.g: Some naughty chilren A brave woman - Distributive adjectives are such words as: Each, every, either, neither E.g: Show me either of your books Give each of the boys a cake - Quantitive adjectives: Quantitive adjectives consist of: much, little, few, any, no, many, some, half, enough E.g: She has not had enough food They had some bread - Numeral adjectives: There are two kinds of numeral adjectives: +) Cardinal numbers: E.g: one, two, three, etc There are fourty students in my class +) Ordinal numbers: E.g: first, second,etc The first chapter is very difficult - Interrogative adjectives are which, what, whose E.g: Which book are you reading? Firstly, the thesis mentioned kinds of English adjectives However, because of the lack of information as well as documents, in this paper the author just mentioned some kinds not all in details Nextly, the study show that the students have five problems, such as: position of adjectives, function of adjectives, comparison of adjective, adjectives ending in - ed and - ing, adjectives acting like a head noun We have shown some errors made by Vietnamese highschool students in using English adjectives and the errors were collected and analyzed All of the errors have been divided into two types: interlingual errors and intranlingual errors The causes of interlingual errors are mother tongue interference The intralingual errors include: over- generalization, ignorance of rule restrictions, incomplete application of rules, false concepts hypothesized Moreover, in order to limit the errors that the learners often commit, the author has given some applications of English adjectives in teaching and learning These suggestions have been provided with a hope that the students will get mastering in using English adjectives and avoid the errors In the conclusions, the author also have some suggestions for further studies The author hopes that these suggestions will be useful to people who care about this area Due to the limitation of documents, time, materials and experience, the author would not come up to all aspects of the matter Thus, the author wishes to receive comments and ideas to perfect the thesis Suggestions for further research Due to the researcher’s limitation of time, limited knowledge and the scope of the study, the thesis can not cover all aspects of English adjectives In order to help Vietnamese students have an overview about adjectives, the following studies can be about: - An analysis of errors made by Vietnamese high school students in using adjectives ending in “- ed” and “- ing” - An analysis of errors made by Vietnamese high school stdudents in using distributive adjectives - An analysis of errors made by Vietnamese high school stdudents in using possessive adjectives, etc References A.J Thomson and A.V Martinet (1985), A practical English Grammar Oxford University Press Ltd Chomsky, N (1965) Aspect of the Theory of Syntax Cambridge MA: M.I.T Press Coder, S.P.(1967) The Significance of Learners’ Errors IRAL Jacobovits, L.A (1969) A Psycholinguistic Analysis of Second language Learning and Bilingualism Illinois James, C.(1980) Contrastive Analysis Longman Group Limited James, C.(1998) Errors in Language Learning and Use Addison Wesley Longman Limited John, East Oxford Guide to English Grammar Oxford University Press Lado, R (1957) Linguistics Across Cultures University of Michigan Press Lyons, John (1977) Semantics Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Leech, G (1987) Meaning and the English Verb Longman Group Limited Quirk, R and Greenbaun, S (1973) A University Grammar of English Longman Group Limited Quirk, R and Greenbaun, S (1976) A University Grammar of English Longman Group Limited Quirk, R and Greenbaun, S (1987) A University Grammar of English Longman Group Limited Quirk, R and Greenbaun, S (2003) A University Grammar of English Longman Group Limited Richard, J.C (1971) Errors Analysis and Second Language Strategies Language Science Richard, J.C (1984) A Non – Contrastive Approach to Error Analysis, Error Analysis Perspective on Second Language Acquistion, Longman Ur, P (1996) A Course in Language Teaching London: Cambridge University Press Tr×nh Quang Vinh (2003) The formation of Adjectives Hà Nội: Nhà Xuất Bản Trẻ Appendix English test Time: 90 minutes Full name: …………………………………………………… Class: ………………………………………………………… School: ………………………………………………………… Date:…………………………………………………………… I Make your choice by putting only ONE tick (v) before it In a noun phrase, the adjectives usually stand Before the head noun to modify it After the head noun to modify it For example: A new house A house new Which is the grammatically correct sentence? You should go somewhere exciting You should go somewhere excited You should go excited somewhere You should go exciting somewhere Which is the correct sentence? He makes me shocking because there is something surprising in his speech He makes me shocked because there is something surprised in his speech He makes me shocked because there is something surprising in his speech He makes me shocking because there is something surprised in his speech Which is the correct sentence? He fells much sad He fells sad very He fells sad much He fells very sad Which is the question that you choose to ask about the height of a building? What is its high? How high is it? How much is its height? What is its height? Which is the correct sentence? This well is deep metres This well is metres deep Which is the correct noun phrase? A young beautiful British girl A British beautiful young girl A beautiful British young girl A beautiful young British girl Which sentence is the correct one? She is enough beautiful to attract the Prince of Britain She is beautiful enough to attract the Prince of Britain II Answer the following questions by putting a tick (v) if you say Yes and writing your answer down if you say No Are these sentences correct ? Yes No She very beautiful What he said very difficult for me to understand That man rich enough to buy a business class ticket Lan so tall that she can reach the top of the bookshelf Answer: …………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………… Are these sentences correct? Yes No Honest is a good qualification Difficult can always stop him from working She needs happy She warns him that careless can put him off driving Answer: …………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………… Are these sentences correct ? She drives very careful Yes No He answers my questions very quick My uncle draws very beautiful We lost the match because we did not play very good Answer: ………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… III You have to decide which sentences are wrong and which ones are right and correct the mistakes in those which are wrong sentences The poors always need help Right Wrong Correction: …………………………………………………… The exercise is so difficult for me to Right Wrong Correction: …………………………………………………… My grandmother’s walking stick is about metre long Right Wrong Correction: …………………………………………………… The old’s advice is always helpful to us Right Wrong Correction: …………………………………………………… Two these men have been seen on the day of the robbery Right Wrong Correction: …………………………………………………… The girl who is talking to him looks baeutifully Right Wrong Correction: …………………………………………………… She is more happy than me Right Wrong Correction: …………………………………………………… Mary is very younger than her sister Right Wrong Correction: …………………………………………………… Her hair is long as mine Right Wrong Correction: …………………………………………………… 10 This is the most good man in our country Right Wrong Correction: …………………………………………………… 11 She is beautiful most in the class Right Wrong Correction: …………………………………………………… 12 He pulled his belt tight Right Wrong Correction: …………………………………………………… 13 After the accident, there is only a survival person Right Wrong Correction: …………………………………………………… 14 He does not like his father He has a fair hair while his father has a black one Right Wrong Correction: ……………………………………………………… 15 My grandfather has been dead for 30 years Right Wrong Correction: …………………………………………………… Suggested answer I Make your choice by putting only ONE tick (v) before it In a noun phrase, the adjectives usually stand V Before the head noun to modify it After the head noun to modify it For example: V A new house A house new Which is the grammatically correct sentence? V You should go somewhere exciting You should go somewhere excited You should go excited somewhere You should go exciting somewhere Which is the correct sentence? He makes me shocking because there is something surprising in his speech He makes me shocked because there is something surprised in his speech V He makes me shocked because there is something surprising in his speech He makes me shocking because there is something surprised in his speech Which is the correct sentence? He fells much sad He fells sad very He fells sad much V He fells very sad Which is the question that you choose to ask about the height of a building? What is its high? How high is it? How much is its height? What is its height? V Which is the correct sentence? This well is deep metres V This well is metres deep Which is the correct noun phrase? A young beautiful British girl A British beautiful young girl A beautiful British young girl V A beautiful young British girl Which sentence is the correct one? She is enough beautiful to attract the Prince of Britain V She is beautiful enough to attract the Prince of Britain II Answer the following questions by putting a tick (v) if you say Yes and writing your answer down if you say No Are these sentences correct ? Yes V No She very beautiful What he said very difficult for me to understand That man rich enough to buy a business class ticket Lan so tall that she can reach the top of the bookshelf Answer: She is very beautiful What he said is very difficult for me to understand That man is rich enough to buy a business class ticket Lan is so tall that she can reach the top of the bookshelf Are these sentences correct? v Yes No Honest is a good qualification Difficult can always stop him from working She needs happy She warns him that careless can put him off driving Are these sentences correct ? Yes V No She drives very careful He answers my questions very quick My uncle draws very beautiful We lost the match because we did not play very good Answer: She drives very carefuly He answers my questions very quickly My uncle draws very beautifuly We lost the match because we did not play very well III You have to decide which sentences are wrong and which ones are right and correct the mistakes in those which are wrong sentences The poors always need help Right V Wrong Correction: The poors always need the help The exercise is so difficult for me to Right V Wrong Correction: The exercise is too difficult for me to My grandmother’s walking stick is about metre long Right V Wrong Correction: My grandmother’s walking stick is about metre length The old’s advice is always helpful to us V Right Wrong Correction: …………………………………………………… Two these men have been seen on the day of the robbery Right V Wrong Correction: These two men have been seen on the day of the robbery The girl who is talking to him looks beautifully Right V Wrong Correction: The girl who is talking to him looks baeutiful She is more happy than me Right V Wrong Correction: She is happier than me Mary is very younger than her sister V Right Wrong Correction: …………………………………………………… Her hair is long as mine Right V Wrong Correction: Her hair is as long as mine 10 This is the most good man in our country V Right Wrong Correction: …………………………………………………… 11 She is beautiful most in the class Right V Wrong Correction: She is the most beautiful in the class 12 He pulled his belt tight V Right Wrong Correction: …………………………………………………… 13 After the accident, there is only a survival person Right V Wrong Correction: After the accident, there is only a survivor person 14 He does not like his father He has a fair hair while his father has a black one V Right Wrong Correction: ……………………………………………………… 15 My grandfather has been dead for 30 years Right V Wrong Correction: My grandfather has been died for 30 years ... studies can be about: - An analysis of errors made by Vietnamese high school students in using adjectives ending in “- ed” and “- ing” - An analysis of errors made by Vietnamese high school stdudents... some errors made by Vietnamese highschool students in using English adjectives and the errors were collected and analyzed All of the errors have been divided into two types: interlingual errors and... properly and effectively From the above reasons, the author has decided to choose the topic: ? ?English adjectives: an analysis of errors made by Vietnamese high school students? ?? for the study Aims of