VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES ---------- PHẠM THỊ NGÀ A STUDY ON COMMON ERRORS RELATED TO THE USAGE OF DO AND MAKE COLLOCATIONS BY ENGLISH NON-MAJOR STUDENTS AT THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ NHỮNG LỖI THƯỜNG GẶP TRONG VIỆC DÙNG QUÁN NGỮ CHỨA ĐỘNG TỪ DO VÀ MAKE CỦA SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN TIẾNG ANH Ở TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC KINH TẾ & QUẢN TRỊ KINH DOANH THÁI NGUYÊN) M. MINOR THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS CODE: 60.15 Hanoi - 2012 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES ---------- PHẠM THỊ NGÀ A STUDY ON COMMON ERRORS RELATED TO THE USAGE OF DO AND MAKE COLLOCATIONS BY ENGLISH NON-MAJOR STUDENTS AT THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ NHỮNG LỖI THƯỜNG GẶP TRONG VIỆC DÙNG QUÁN NGỮ CHỨA ĐỘNG TỪ DO VÀ MAKE CỦA SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN TIẾNG ANH Ở TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC KINH TẾ & QUẢN TRỊ KINH DOANH THÁI NGUYÊN) M. MINOR THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS CODE: 60. VÕ ĐẠI QUANG Ha noi - 2012 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENT Page Part A: INTRODUCTION …………………………………………………….
Rationale of the study …………………………………………………. Aims and objectives of the study ……………………………………. Scope of the study ……………………………………………………. Significance of the study ………………………………….
Structure of the study ………………………. 4 Chapter 1: Literature Review 1. Review of previous studies related to the research area of the thesis …. Types of collocations …………………………………………….
Characteristics of collocations ……………………………………. Collocations, free compounds, and idioms ………………. Collocations with Do and Make ……………………. 20 iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.
Research – governing principles………………………. Principle/criteria for intended data collection and data analysis ……………. Major methods and supporting methods …………………………………. Data collection instruments ………………………………………….
Data analysis techniques ……………………………………………………. 33 Chapter 3: Analysis, Findings and Discussion ……………………………. Criteria for classification of the findings………………………………. Finding 1 & Discussion on this finding………………………………….
Finding 2 & Discussion on this finding……………………………. Finding 3 & Discussion on this finding…………………………………. Concluding remarks on objective 1……………………………………. Concluding remarks on objective 2………………………………………… 43 2.… 43 v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.
Concluding remarks on objective 3……………………………………. Limitations of the study ………………………………………………. Suggestions for further studies ………………………………………. 46 APPENDICES …………………………………………………………………… I Appendix 1: Test 1………………………………………………………….
II Appendix 2: Test 2……………………………………………………….… VI Appendix 3: Test 3…………………………………………………. VIII Appendix 4: Tables of the collocations under investigation ……. XI vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com List of abbreviations CALD: Cambridge Advanced Learners‟ Dictionary CUP: Cambridge University Press OCD: Oxford Collocations Dictionary OCU: Oxford Collocations in Use OUP: Oxford University Press TUEBA: Thai Nguyen University of Economics and Business Administration 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com List of Tables Table 1: Collocations under investigation in the thesis Table 2: Nouns as object constituent in DO collocations Table 3: Nouns as object constituent in MAKE collocations Table 4: A summary of the results of the test on learners‟ understanding of DO meanings Table 5: A summary of the results of the test on learners‟ understanding of MAKE meanings Table 6: A summary of the results of the test on learners‟ understanding of nouns as object constituent in DO collocations Table 7: A summary of the results of the test on learners‟ understanding of nouns as object constituent in MAKE collocations Table 8: A summary of the results of the test on learners‟ use of both DO and MAKE 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Definition of key technical terms In this thesis, the key technical terms are to be employed in the senses as stated below: i. Error = Misuse or breach of the code arising from incompetence in the target language ii.
Context = the circumstances that form the setting for an event, statement, or idea, and in terms of which it can be fully understood (Oxford Dictionary) iii. Pragmatic meaning = Meaning in context iv. Collocation= a group of words or phrase which is frequently used with another word or phrase, in a way that sounds correct to people who have spoken the language all their lives, but might not be expected from the meaning (CALD, 2005) 3 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Part A: INTRODUCTION 4 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Rationale of the study “No piece of natural spoken or written English is totally free of collocation” (OCD, 2009).
Therefore, learning collocation is important for EFL learners. For students, choosing the right collocation will make his/her speech and writing sound much more natural, more native-speaker-like. Poor collocation in exams is also likely to lead to lower marks. However, during the time working as a teacher of English at Thai Nguyen University of Economics and Business Administration (TUEBA), I have found out that English non- major students at different levels often make mistakes in using DO and MAKE collocations.
For this reason, I decided to choose this as the theme for my MA thesis. Aims and objectives of the study The ultimate purposes of the research are: i. To help English non-major students gain an insight into DO and MAKE collocations. To examine the influenced factors to possible errors made by the students iii.
To improve my own teaching of English at TUEBA To achieve these aims, the following objectives are pursued forward: Establishing the types of errors related to DO and MAKE collocations commonly committed by English non-major students at TUEBA Finding out the causes of students‟ errors related to the usage of DO and MAKE collocations. Working out possible solutions to the problems encountered by students in using collocations with DO and MAKE. Scope of the study The survey was conducted at TUEBA. The population was not large, only 300 Accounting students who were at pre-intermediate level of English.
Only errors related to the uses of DO and MAKE collocations in the form of “verb + noun” pattern were taken into consideration. 5 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Significance of the study It is much to the author‟s expectation that the research results will help students gain a more insightful look into English MAKE and DO collocations. And, on account of this, well-formed utterances containing DO and MAKE collocations might be produced.
And, this constitutes the practical value of the research. Structure of the thesis The thesis consists of three main parts: Part A, B and C. Part A is an introduction that gives a rationale behind the study. It also presents the aims, objectives, the significance as well as scope of the study.
Part B is divided into three chapters; chapter 1 both reviewed some previous studies related to the research area of the thesis and provides theoretical background to the concerning matters. In chapter 2, the methodology of the thesis including research-governing principles and research methods are introduced. Chapter 3 analyzes data collected from the students‟ tests. Additionally, some significant findings of the study are written up and discussed.
Part C concludes the main issues which dealt with in the previous parts. Accordingly, some concluding remarks are drawn out. 6 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Part B: DEVELOPMENT 7 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com CHAPTER 1 LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Review of previous studies related to the research area of the thesis Prior to this thesis, there have been the following related studies: 1. Related research 1 - Title of the research: Applying semantic theory into vocabulary teaching - Issue raised: The researcher carried out the study to examine collocational knowledge of eight advanced EFL learners of English.
- Contribution: The results showed that these students did not succeed in completing a collocational grid that included adjective-noun collocations although vocabulary was not a problematic matter. The researcher emphazised that presenting highly frequent collocates for learners when they start is really important. Related research 2 - Title of the research: The acquisition of basic collocations by Japanese learners of English - Issues raised: The findings were based on two types of analyses; a corpus-based analysis to identify basic collocations and an empirical analysis to examine how Japanese learners develop knowledge of collocation. - Contribution: The researcher came to such a conclusion that there was a significant positive relationship between learners‟ general knowledge of vocabulary and their knowledge of collocations.
The knowledge of the learners‟ on receptive collocation tasks of was better than their productive ones, and the learner had difficulty with some collocation categories, such as adjective-noun collocations in comparison with others 1. Related research 3 - Title of the research: Research methods in education and psychology: Integrating diversity with quantitative & qualitative approaches 8 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com - Issues raised: By using two instruments: pretreatment and post-treatment translation tests, Marton investigated Polish learners‟ knowledge of collocations and their abilities to use them. - Contribution: The researcher found that there were no significant differences in the participants‟ scores on the two translation tests, which confirmed learners‟ poor productive knowledge of collocations. Marton, therefore, concluded that learners‟ limited exposure to collocation could not improve their productive knowledge of those structures.
Related research 4 - Title of the research: The Acquisition of Basic Collocations by Japanese Learners of English -Issues raised: In Matsuno and Sugiura‟s study, the researcher probed the question of whether the collocational expressions of L1 Japanese learners of English resemble those of native speakers. Two types of corpora were used to compare the performance of the two groups. The Japanese learners were asked to write about a certain topic as fast as possible and they were allowed to use dictionaries. - Contribution: The researcher‟s conclusions also confirmed that Japanese learners of English were poor at collocational knowledge.
Related research 5 - Title of the research: Should we teach EFL students collocations - Issues raised: The pretreatment and post-treatment translation tests, consisting of a translation task and a gap-filling task were conducted among advanced learners of English with German as a native language - Contribution: The study showed that the students‟ knowledge of collocations had not developed at the same rate as their knowledge of vocabulary in general. Related research 6 - Title of the research: Prefabricated patterns in Advanced EFL writing: collocations and formulae in A. Theory, analysis and applications 9 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com - Issues raised: The researcher investigated the role of the first language and acquisition of collocations among French learners of English - Contribution: Granger‟s study confirmed the important role that learners‟ L1 plays in the use and acquisition of collocations. In this study, the researcher studied the difference between native speakers of English and French learners of English in producing English collocations, in particular adjective amplifiers, such as totally and highly.
It was found that amplifiers with direct translation equivalents in French were the most frequent ones. She attributed that finding to the L1 positive transfer that facilitated learners‟ acquisition of the similar amplifiers to their L1 (French). Related research 7 - Title of the research: Do English language learners know collocations? - Issues raised: Martynska conducted the study of English collocation competencies among intermediate high school Polish students. To collect data, the researcher used different types of tests, for example, matching, a completion, circling the correct option, and identifying and correcting errors in underlined parts of sentences.
- Contribution: The findings showed that the students performed poorly on all tasks. One important result was that their collocation competence did not depend on the length of time of learning English because the student studying English for a short time performed better on the English tests than those who studied English for longer time. Moreover, in comparison between two types of task, it was found that some students got higher scores on the multiple-choice tasks but lower scores on the completion tasks.