VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HOCHIMINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS AND LITERATURE USING CONCEPTUAL METAPHOR IN TEACHING PHRASAL VERBS AT HUNG VUONG HIGH SCHOOL FOR THE GIFTED, BINH DUONG PROVINCE A thesis submitted to the Faculty of English Linguistics & Literature in partial fulfilment of the Master’s degree in TESOL By NGUYEN THI NGOC DUNG Supervised by NGUYEN THI NHU NGOC, Ph. HO CHI MINH CITY, AUGUST 2022 STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby certify that this thesis entitled “Using conceptual metaphor in teaching phrasal verbs at Hung Vuong High school for the gifted, Binh Duong province” is my own work. This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or any other purposes in any other tertiary institutions. Ho Chi Minh City, August 2022 Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Dung i RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, Nguyen Thi Ngoc Dung, being a candidate for the degree of Master of Arts in TESOL, accept the requirements of the university relating to the retention and use of Master’s Theses deposited in the library.
In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my thesis deposited in the library should be accessible for the purpose of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Library for the care, loan and reproduction of theses. Ho Chi Minh City, August 2022 Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Dung ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The writing of an MA thesis is not an easy path. During the time of writing, I owe a great debt of gratitude to those who supported and assisted me to complete this work. First and foremost, I am profoundly indebted to my teacher and supervisor, Dr.
Nguyen Thi Nhu Ngoc, for all her encouragement, sympathy, and invaluable guidance. Without her wholehearted support and critical comments, I would not have overcome the difficulties to finish my thesis. I would like to express my immense gratitude to the Board of Administrators of Hung Vuong High school for the Gifted in Binh Duong Province and my beloved colleagues there, whose facilitation greatly contributed to the implementation of this thesis. My sincere thanks also go to my teammates in class 2019A for their academic support.
They are the ones who fulfil my study path and shed the light on the difficulties of this MA course. Many thanks especially go to my fiancé. He is one of my biggest spiritual supports. His love and sympathy encouraged me a lot to complete this study.
Last but not least, I would like to dedicate this thesis to my affectionately caring parents, who always love me unconditionally and devote themselves to their daughter and her desires. iii ABSTRACT Phrasal verbs play essential role in the English language but it is an obstacle for many students to comprehend written texts and especially daily conversations. There are a few effective methods of learning phrasal verbs utilized in high school contexts. To partially contribute to an effective method, the research on using conceptual metaphor in learning phrasal verbs was conducted and presented in this thesis.
There are three primary objectives to accomplish: (1) investigating students’ awareness of phrasal verbs and learning phrasal verbs; (2) examining the effects conceptual metaphor to understand and memorize the meanings of phrasal verbs; and (3) exploring the students’ perspectives towards this learning method. For its framework for analysis, a quasi-experimental study was conducted with the participation of fifty-nine non-English-majored students at Hung Vuong High school for the Gifted in Binh Duong Province, Vietnam in the period of 6 weeks. The responses of both participant groups proved the important role of phrasal verbs in students’ learning process. Besides, the findings of pre-test, immediate post-test and delayed post-test illustrated that conceptual metaphor method had effective influence on enhancing the students’ comprehension and memorization of phrasal verbs.
Simultaneously, the results of the post-study questionnaire illustrated that the positive viewpoint from the experimental group on the conceptual metaphor method. The findings of this study carry several implications of teaching and learning phrasal verbs. It is suggested that teachers should pay more attention to teaching phrasal verbs and explaining their uses properly. Additionally, it might take time for both teachers and students to grasp the conceptual metaphor and use it to comprehend phrasal verb meanings.
Key words: phrasal verbs, conceptual metaphor, TESOL, EFL iv TABLE OF CONTENT CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION. Background to the study. Statement of the study problem. Aims of the study.
Significance of the study. Scope of the study. Organization of thesis chapters. 4 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.
Definitions of phrasal verbs and their construction. Particles in phrasal verbs. Particles versus prepositions. The importance of particles in phrasal verbs.
The metaphorical extension of phrasal verb particle meanings. Conceptual metaphor and its relation to interpreting phrasal verbs. Definition of conceptual metaphor. Kinds of conceptual metaphor.
Using image schemas in interpreting phrasal verbs. The theory of image schemas. The interpretation of phrasal verb meanings using image schemas. Previous empirical studies on the use of conceptual metaphors in learning phrasal verbs.
Selected studies for analysis. Summary of the chapter. Pre-test and post-test papers. Pre-test paper.
Immediate post-test paper as worksheets. Delayed post-test paper. Materials for the research. The detection process of phrasal verbs in currently used textbooks.
Selection of phrasal verbs for study. Teaching and learning handouts. Procedure of one period in both classes. Data collection procedure.
Quasi-experimental study. Summary of the data collection procedure. Summary of the chapter. 56 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION.
Students’ performance on tests. Pre-test scores between two groups. Immediate post-test results between two groups. Delayed post-test scores between two groups.
The comparisons between pre-test and delayed post-test scores within groups. Students’ responses to the questionnaires. Students’ awareness of phrasal verbs. The importance of phrasal verbs in English language.
The preference of using phrasal verbs. Difficulties in learning phrasal verbs. Existent strategies of learning phrasal verbs. The effectiveness of existent methods.
Students’ perspectives towards the conceptual metaphor method. Satisfaction of the material of conceptual metaphor method. Satisfaction of the conceptual metaphor method. Students’ perceptions on phrasal verbs.
Students’ perspectives towards the conceptual metaphor method. Summary of the chapter. 77 vii CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION. Summary of the major findings.
Suggestions for teachers. Suggestions for students. Limitations of this study. Recommendations for further study.
85 APPENDIX 1: MAPPINGS BETWEEN CONSTITUENT ELEMENTS OF SOURCE AND TARGET DOMAINS. 91 APPENDIX 2: SUMMARY OF KINDS OF CONCEPTUAL METAPHOR. 92 APPENDIX 3: LIST OF IMAGE SCHEMAS. 93 APPENDIX 4: THE EXCERPTS FROM COLLINS PHRASAL VERB DICTIONARY.
94 APPENDIX 5: PHRASAL VERBS IN TEXTBOOKS (TIENG ANH 10, 11, 12) AND THEIR MEANINGS IN CONTEXT. 98 APPENDIX 6: PHRASAL VERBS’S GROUPS OF MEANINGS BASED ON THEIR PARTICLES. 106 APPENDIX 7A: TEACHING AND LEARNING HANDOUTS FOR CONTROL GROUP. 109 APPENDIX 7B: TEACHING AND LEARNING HANDOUTS FOR EXPERIMENTAL GROUP.
114 APPENDIX 8: PROCEDURE OF ONE INSTRUCTION FOR EXPERIMENTAL GROUP. 123 APPENDIX 9: STUDENTS’ DRAWINGS. 125 viii APPENDIX 10: TEST FOR UNSEEN PHRASAL VERBS. 127 APPENDIX 11: LIST OF UNSEEN PHRASAL VERBS.
129 APPENDIX 12: ORIGINAL PRE-TEST PAPER FOR PILOTING GROUP. 130 APPENDIX 13: ORIGINAL DELAYED POST-TEST PAPER FOR PILOTING GROUP. 132 APPENDIX 14: PRE-TEST PAPER. 134 APPENDIX 15: POST-TEST PAPER AS WORKSHEETS.
136 APPENDIX 16: DELAYED POST-TEST PAPER. 141 APPENDIX 17: PRE-STUDY QUESTIONNAIRE. 143 APPENDIX 18: POST-STUDY QUESTIONNAIRE. 145 APPENDIX 19A: SPSS OUTPUT OF PRE-TEST SCORES BETWEEN TWO GROUPS.
146 APPENDIX 19B: SPSS OUTPUT OF IMMEDIATE POST-TEST SCORES BETWEEN TWO GROUPS. 147 APPENDIX 19C: SPSS OUTPUT OF DELAYED POST-TEST SCORES. 149 APPENDIX 20A: REQUEST LETTER TO CONDUCT STUDY. 150 APPENDIX 20B: RESPONSE LETTER.
151 APPENDIX 21: LESSON OF PHRASAL VERBS EXTRACTED FROM TEXTBOOK (TIENG ANH 12, PP. 152 ix LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS PV Phrasal verb PVs Phrasal verbs CM Conceptual metaphor CMs Conceptual metaphors HVHS Hung Vuong High school for the Gifted ESL English as a Second Language EFL English as a Foreign Language PBLM Particle-based learning model EG Experimental group CG Control group x LIST OF TABLES Table 2. The differences in changeability between prepositions and particles (Huddleston & Pullum, 2002, p. Examples of particle on.
Several cross-domain mappings of upward and downward orientation. List of image schemas. Trajectors and Landmarks in sentences. Particles and image schemas.
Demographic characteristics of participants. Mean scores of piloting group’s pre-test and delayed post-test. Comparison of pre-test and delayed-post-test mean scores. Summary of test structures.
Structure of pre-study questionnaire. Structure of questionnaire for experimental group. Some examples of the PVs detected and their groups of meaning based on particles. Procedure of one period at both groups’ classes.
The procedure of the study. The pre-test mean scores between two groups. The comparison of pre-test mean scores between two groups. The immediate-post-test mean scores between two groups.
The comparison of immediate-post-test mean scores between the two groups. The delayed-post-test mean scores between two groups. The comparison of delayed-post-test mean scores between two groups. The comparison between pre-test and delayed post-test within groups.
Summary of rating scale about the importance of PVs. Summary of rating scale about the effectiveness of existent methods 70 Table 4. Summary of case processing. Reliability of post-study questionnaire.
Summary of mean scores of question items 1-3. Summary of mean scores of question items 4-6. 74 xii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2. Phraseological categorization (Howarth, 1998, p.
Semantic classification of phrasal verbs. Spatial or prototypical meanings of particles (Rudzka-Ostyn, 2003, p. Kinds of conceptual metaphor. Elaborations of OUT schema.
Mapping for the interaction of verb and particle (Morgan, 1997, p. The particle-based learning model. The PBLM of take out. Lesson of PVs extracted from textbook (Tieng Anh 12, pp.
Bloom's taxonomy of learning. The format of pre-test paper. The format of the worksheets. The format of delayed post-test paper.
An extracted output of phrasal verb detection via Text Concordance. Data analysis scheme. Normal distribution of pretest scores. Mean scores of four immediate post-test results between two groups.
Mean scores of delayed-post-test results between two groups. The differences of mean scores within each group. The preference of using PVs. Difficulties in learning PVs.
Existent strategies of learning PVs. The effectiveness of existent methods. 71 xiii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1. Background to the study In contemporary dictionaries like Oxford or Cambridge, a phrasal verb (hereafter referred to as PV) is frequently defined as a combination of a verb and a preposition or an adverb (sometimes followed with both).
However, as linguists noted, the component, a so-called preposition, which accompanies the verb in a PV, should be considered a particle (Quirk et al., 1985; Huddleston & Pullum, 2002; etc. Taking run up as an example of a PV, it is constituted by a verb and a particle, which means accelerating. Regarding a combination of a verb, a particle and an adverb, put up with, which means tolerating, can give a good illustration of a PV. In the English language, this kind of grammatical aspect is believed to play an essential role, especially in spoken discourse (Cervantes & Gablasova, 2017).
For the frequency of these multiword items in English from the British National Corpus (BNC), average one PV can be exposed to in every 150 words (Gardner and Davies, 2007, p. Although its importance is recognized in language and English-subject curricula, PVs are a problematic source for EFL/ESL learners.