THAINGUYENUNIVERSITY SocialistRepublic of Vietnam BATANGASSTATEUNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines i LANGUAGE ACTIVITIES FOR IMPROVING THE LINGUISTIC COMPETENCE OF FIRST YEAR STUDENTS IN THAINGUYENUNIVERSITY A Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of Graduate School BatangasStateUniversity Batangas City, Philippines In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy Major in English By: NGO THI BICH NGOC (SARAH) November, 2014 THAINGUYENUNIVERSITY SocialistRepublic of Vietnam BATANGASSTATEUNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines i APPROVAL SHEET This dissertation entitled LANGUAGE ACTIVITIES FOR IMPROVING THE LINGUISTIC COMPETENCE OF FIRST YEAR STUDENTS IN THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITYprepared and submitted by Ngo Thi Bich Ngoc in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English has been examined and is recommended for Oral Examination. MATILDA H. DIMAANO, Ph.D. Adviser PANEL OF EXAMINERS Approved by the Committee on Oral Examination with a grade of ………. …………… Member …………… Member ……………………. Member …………… Member Accepted and Approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Philosophy in English. Comprehensive Examination: ……… Dean Chairman THAINGUYENUNIVERSITY SocialistRepublic of Vietnam BATANGASSTATEUNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines ii ABSTRACT Title : Language Activities for Improving Linguistic Competence of the First Year Students in Thai Nguyen University Author : Ngo Thi Bich Ngoc Degree : Doctor of Philosophy major in English Language Literature Major : English Year : 2014 Adviser : Dr. Matilda H. Dimaano Summary This study attempts to determine the level of Linguistic Competence of the First Year Students at Thai Nguyen University for the school year 2014. Specifically, it seeks to answer the following questions:1) What is the level of linguistic competence using the following:connotation, denotation, antonyms, synonyms, ambiguities, andvocabulary. 2) What is the level of understanding of students on word-formation in terms of acronym, clipping, blending and compounding. 3) Which among the items in the different cluster students find most difficult? 4) How do the teachers assess the linguistic competence of the students? 5) Is there a significant difference between teachers‟ assessment and THAINGUYENUNIVERSITY SocialistRepublic of Vietnam BATANGASSTATEUNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines iii students‟ competencies? and 6) What English language activities may be suggested to improve students‟ understanding of English words and concepts? A questionnaire for teacher for teacher and a teacher made test for students were used to determine the level of students‟ linguistic competence and the relationship between teachers‟ assessement and students‟ results. The research found out that the over-all linguistic performance of the students is generally better, as the students were able to demonstrate an average level of linguistic competence.Students have average level of understanding in word formation.The items found most difficult under the cluster of linguistic competence are items (8) for connotation,(20) for denotation, antonyms (28), synonyms (34), and ambiguities (44). For vocabulary cluster is item (55), while for word formation cluster, the items that are found to be most difficult are the following: acronym item (69), clipping (74), blending (87), and compounding (93). Linguistic skills are not frequently used or practiced by the students as perceived by the teacher respondents. There‟s no relationship exists between the teacher‟s assessment and the level of students‟ linguistic competencies as indicated by the significance of the p-value at 0. 05 levels and the language activities that composed of set of exercises were designed for improving students‟ linguistic competencies in the areas of connotation, antonyms and acronyms THAINGUYENUNIVERSITY SocialistRepublic of Vietnam BATANGASSTATEUNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines iv ACKNOWLEGEMENT The researcher wishes to express her sincerest thanks and appreciations to those who in one way or another have helped me make this piece of work a reality. Dr. Dang Kim Vui, Thai Nguyen University President for his effort to improve English language Education in Viet Nam Dr. Matilda H. Dimaano, her adviser, for the knowledge shared in patience in editing the manuscript in consonance with academic writing norms and most of all, for the trust in the research that motivated her to complete this study Dr. Nguyen The Hung, Director of International Training and Consultancy Center for his encouragement. The teachers and students respondents of the study, for their active involvement and cooperation, Her ever dearest friends, for their encouragement and support Her affectionate parents and sibling, for the love, concern and understanding and for being her great inspiration in pursing this endeavor. N.T.B.N THAINGUYENUNIVERSITY SocialistRepublic of Vietnam BATANGASSTATEUNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines v Dedication This dissertation is dedicated To my loving and ever supportive husband, Mr. Le Huy and my loving sons, Le Minh, to my family, and to my dear UTT community N.T.B.N THAINGUYENUNIVERSITY SocialistRepublic of Vietnam BATANGASSTATEUNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page TITLE PAGE……………………………………………………… APPROVAL SHEET…………………………………………………. i ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………… ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT………………………………………… iv DEDICATION…………………………………………………………. v TABLE OF CONTENTS…………………………………………… vi LIST OF TABLES………………………………………………… ix LIST OF FIGURES…………………………………………………… xi CHAPTER I. THE PROBLEM Introduction 1 Statement of the Problem………………………… 7 Scope, Delimitation and Limitation……………… 8 Significance of the Study…………………………… 9 II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE Conceptual Literature………………………………. 11 Research Literature…………………………………. 50 Synthesis…………………………………………… 55 Theoretical Framework…………………………… 58 THAINGUYENUNIVERSITY SocialistRepublic of Vietnam BATANGASSTATEUNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines vii Conceptual Framework…………………………… 62 Hypothesis…………………………………………… 64 Definition of Terms………………………………… 64 III. RESEARCH METHOD AND PROCEDURE Research Design……………………………………. 66 Research Environment 66 Subject of Study…………………………………… 69 Data Gathering Instrument…………………………. 71 Data Gathering Procedure…………………………. 73 Statistical Treatment of Data………………………. 75 IV. PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,INTERPRETATION OF DATA…………………………… 76 V. SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATION Summary of Findings 118 Conclusions 136 Recommendations 137 BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………… 138 APPENDICES A. Test for Students ………………………………… 146 B. Questionnaire for Teachers 164 THAINGUYENUNIVERSITY SocialistRepublic of Vietnam BATANGASSTATEUNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines viii C. Validation Letter 1 on Test for Students and Teacher Questionnaire………………………… 171 D. Validation Letter 2 on Test for Students and Teacher Questionnaire …………………………. 172 E. Validation Letter 3 on Test for Students and Teacher Questionnaire …………………………… 173 F. Letters of Request to the Heads of Institutions…. 174 G. Response Letters of the Heads of Institutions… 178 H. Photographs of the study sites…………………… 179 I. Photographs of the Student Respondents……… 180 J. Photographs of the Teacher Respondents….… 183 K. Photograph s of the teacher made test and survey questionnaire validation………………… 184 CURRICULUM VITAE THAINGUYENUNIVERSITY SocialistRepublic of Vietnam BATANGASSTATEUNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines ix LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1 Distribution of student respondents in the five universities……………………………………………… 69 2 Performance of student respondents in teacher-made linguistics tests………………………………………………. 77 3 Performance of student respondents in a vocabulary test…………………………………………………………… 83 4 Performance of student respondents in teacher-made word formation tests…………………………………… 84 5 Performance of student respondents in teacher-made linguistic tests………………………………………………. 89 6 Most difficult item for students respondents in the teacher-made vocabulary test ……………………………. 91 7 Most difficult item for students respondents in the teacher-made word formation tests……………………… 92 8 List of skills validated by 66 teachers respondents as linguistic competencies of Freshman students…………. 95 9 List of students linguistic skills according to the frequency of use by Freshman students as perceived the teacher respondents………………………………… 97 10 List of students linguistic skills according to their importance by as perceived the teacher respondents…………………………………………………. 99 [...]... clipping and blending, and compounding The output of the study is the proposed language activities to enhance the linguistic competency of first year students of Thai Nguyen University The study includes the 382 First year College students taking up Basic English course in Thai Nguyen University system in Academic Year 2013-2014 9 THAINGUYENUNIVERSITY SocialistRepublic of Vietnam BATANGASSTATEUNIVERSITY... as input for them to be aware of their linguistic performance They will be informed on their weaknesses so they can make some ways to improve their linguistic performance Faculty Teaching Basic English Results of the study provide relevant information to the faculty teaching Basic English course for them design their own instructional material to enhance the English proficiency of students 10 THAINGUYENUNIVERSITY... What is the level of understanding of students on word-formation in terms of : 3.1 acronym 3.2 clipping 8 THAINGUYENUNIVERSITY SocialistRepublic of Vietnam BATANGASSTATEUNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines 3.3 blending 3.4 compounding 3 Which among the items in the different cluster students find most difficult? 4 How do the teachers assess the linguistic competence of the students? 5 Is there a... patterns of word formation in a language; top in down the principles for relating the form and meaning of morphological expression; explain how the morphological units are integrated and the resulting formation interpreted; and show how morphological units are 18 THAINGUYENUNIVERSITY SocialistRepublic of Vietnam BATANGASSTATEUNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines organized in the lexicon in terms of affinity... Republic of the Philippines Students who were in their Second year to Fourth year level were not included in the study Results of this research study were limited only on the data gathered from the respondents in the Academic Year 2013-2014 in Thai Nguyen University system Significance of the Study This study is believed to have significance to the Administrators of Thai Nguyen University, First Year Students, ... Republic of the Philippines a certain inflectional property It also pertains to the combination of words or morphemes in sentences Morphology as a sub discipline of linguistic was named for the first time in 1859 by the German linguist, August Schleicher who used the term for the study of the form of words It is one of the major components of grammar that studies word structure especially in terms of morphemes... THAINGUYENUNIVERSITY SocialistRepublic of Vietnam BATANGASSTATEUNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines Parents of First Year Students of TNU Findings of this study will provide them useful information on the present performance of their children in Linguistic Through this study, the parents can discover the weaknesses of their children so they may provide proper guidance and motivation for their children‟s... teachers, Parents of First Year Students and future researchers Administrators Thai Nguyen University Findings of this study will provide relevant input for them to be able to design an effective curriculum for the students Results can be used by the administrators to provide Faculty Development Training program for the teachers to improve their classroom language teaching First Year Students of TNU This... performance This prompted the researcher to conduct the study Statement of the Problem This study attempts to determine the level of Linguistic Competence of the First Year Students at Thai Nguyen University Specifically, it seeks to answer the following questions: 1 What is the level of linguistic competence in the Academic and NonAcademic text using the following: 1.1 connotation 1.2 denotation 1.3 antonyms... SocialistRepublic of Vietnam BATANGASSTATEUNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines of students in English in terms of connotation, denotation, antonyms, synonyms, and ambiguities as well as the level of students understanding on word formation relative to acronym, clipping, blending, and compounding with the end view of proposing language activities to enhance their linguistic performance This prompted the researcher . BATANGASSTATEUNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines i APPROVAL SHEET This dissertation entitled LANGUAGE ACTIVITIES FOR IMPROVING THE LINGUISTIC COMPETENCE OF FIRST YEAR STUDENTS IN THAI NGUYEN. determine the level of Linguistic Competence of the First Year Students at Thai Nguyen University for the school year 2014. Specifically, it seeks to answer the following questions:1) What is the. formation in terms of the acronyms, clipping and blending, and compounding. The output of the study is the proposed language activities to enhance the linguistic competency of first year students