Vietnam National University, Hanoi University of Languages and International Studies FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES - - NGUYỄN THỊ LIÊN NINH MULTI-WORD VERBS IN ENGLISH: ERRORS COMMONLY MADE BY STUDENTS AT NGUYEN HUE GIFTED HIGH SCHOOL AND POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS (Động từ đa thành tố tiếng Anh: Những lỗi học sinh trường THPT chuyên Nguyễn Huệ thường mắc giải pháp khả hữu) M.A THESIS Field: English Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Hanoi - 2010 Vietnam National University, Hanoi University of Languages and International Studies FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES - - NGUYỄN THỊ LIÊN NINH MULTI-WORD VERBS IN ENGLISH: ERRORS COMMONLY MADE BY STUDENTS AT NGUYEN HUE GIFTED HIGH SCHOOL AND POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS (Động từ đa thành tố tiếng Anh: Những lỗi học sinh trường THPT chuyên Nguyễn Huệ thường mắc giải pháp khả hữu) M.A THESIS Field: English Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Võ Đại Quang Hanoi - 2010 - vii - TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration p i Acknowledgements ii Abstract iii List of abbreviations iv List of tables and figures v Glossary of linguistic terms vi Table of contents vii PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale of the study Aims and objectives of the study 2.1 Aims of the study 2.2 Objectives of the study Significance of the study Scope of the study Organization of the thesis PART B: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: Literature Review 1.1 An overview of multi-word verbs in English 1.1.1 Definition of multi-word verb 1.1.2 Classifications and characteristics of multi-word verbs 1.1.2.1 Phrasal verbs 1.1.2.2 Prepositional verbs 1.1.2.3 Phrasal – Prepositional verbs 14 1.1.2.4 Other multi-word verb constructions 15 1.2 Error and Error Analysis 16 1.2.1 What is “error”? 16 1.2.2 What is “error analysis”? 16 1.2.3 Classification of errors 17 - viii - 1.2.4 Possible causes of errors in second language learning 18 1.2.4.1 Causes of interlingual errors 18 1.2.4.2 Causes of intralingual and developmental errors 19 1.3 Summary 19 Chapter 2: Research Methodology 20 2.1 The context of the study 20 2.2 Research method 20 2.2.1 Research questions 20 2.2.2 Instrumentation 21 2.2.2.1 Test 22 2.2.2.2 Interview 23 2.2.3 Participants 23 2.2.4 Data collection procedures 23 2.2.4.1 Data collection 23 2.2.4.2 Techniques of analysis 23 2.3 Summary Chapter 3: Findings and Discussion 23 24 3.1 Scoring and evaluation of students’ performance in doing test 24 3.2 Number and types of students’ actual errors 26 3.3 Errors and their causes 28 3.3.1 Intralingual errors 30 3.3.2 Interlingual errors 32 3.3.3 Mixed causes 33 3.4 Summary Chapter 4: Possible solutions to the students’ errors in using English 33 34 multi-word verbs 4.1 Possible solutions to the errors commonly made by students 34 at Nguyen Hue Gifted High school in using multi-word verbs 4.2 Suggestions for teaching and learning multi-word verbs in English 4.2.1 Suggestions for teaching 34 35 - ix - 4.2.2 Suggestions for learning 35 4.3 Summary 37 PART C: CONCLUSION 38 Conclusions 38 Recommendations for further research 39 References 40 Appendices I Appendix 1: Written grammar test I Appendix 2: Answer key V - iv - LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS E.g For example i.e That is L1 First language L2 Second language NP Noun phrase O Object Od Direct object Oi Indirect object Part Particle Prep Preposition p Page Qty Quantity V Verb Vintr Intransitive verb Vphr Phasal verb Vphr.prep Phrasal-prepositional verb Vprep Prepositional verb Vtr Transitive verb = Equal to / the same as * An asterisk signifies that what follows it is incorrect ^ Caret indicates omissions -v- LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 1: Differences between prepositional verbs and verbs with prepositional phrases (p.11) Table 2: Differences between phrasal verbs and prepositional verbs (p.13) Table 3: Evaluation of the students’ performance in doing the exercises (p.25) Table 4: Numbers of errors committed by the students (p.27) Table 5: Taxonomy of errors and their causes (p.29) Figure 1: Non-pass and pass students (p.26) Figure 2: Causes of error (p.30) Figure 3: Intralingual errors (p.32) - vi - GLOSSARY OF LINGUISTIC TERMS Code The systems (grammar, meaning and sound) of a language Error A systematic deviation from the accepted code Global error An error which affects the meaning of the whole sentence Local error An error which only affects the meaning of the clause in which it is found L1 transfer Use of what the learner knows about his first language to try and assist expression in the target language Interference The effects of ‘habit’ formed in the speaker’s first language acting from L1 upon the target language (This is the phenomenon of borrowing and transferring learner’s native language patterns into the target language) Target language The language which the learner is learning Over- A failure by the learner to apply restrictions where appropriate to generalisation the application of a rule (It is learners’ previous mother tongue experience that is considered as a means of organizing the second language data.) L1 First language (usually the mother tongue) Ignorance of The second language learners “fail to observe the restrictions of rule restrictions existing structures’’ Intralingual are those which reflect the general characteristics of rule learning errors Developmental are those which illustrate the learner’s attempting to build errors hypotheses about English language from his limited related experience -1PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale of the study Multi-word verbs are said to be one of the most important and complicated elements of English In modern English, many multi-word verbs come into existence and cause a lot of troubles for users, especially non-native speakers As a teacher of English at a secondary school in Hanoi, I found that my students have faced many problems when they learn English multi-word verbs They often fail to understand the meaning of multi-word verbs and make errors in using them Therefore, the idea of doing something useful for my colleagues and students has urged me to the research on “Multi-word verbs in English: Errors commonly made by students at Nguyen Hue gifted High school and possible solutions” The study is expected to make a great contribution to improve the quality of teaching and learning English at Nguyen Hue gifted High school Aims and Objectives of the study 2.1 Aims of the study  To help teachers and students gain an insight into multi-word verbs in English  To facilitate the teaching of multi-word verbs to Vietnamese learners of English 2.2 Objectives of the study  To identify the students‟ common types of error in using English multi-word verbs  To find out the causes of error committed by Nguyen Hue Gifted High school students when learning and using multi-word verbs  To work out possible solutions to the problem identified Significance of the study The study will be useful not only to the author and her colleagues in improving the teaching quality, but students will also benefit from it The result of the study will serve as a foundation for the possible solutions to students‟ errors in using English multi-word -2verbs Furthermore, the study will make some contribution to the field of teaching methodology Scope of the study • English multi-word verbs in terms of: (1) structural organization, (2) Meanings and usages, (3) Integrity, motivated and non-motivated idiomaticity • Types of error made by 50 twelfth-form students at Nguyen Hue Gifted High school in using English multi-word verbs Once problems have been identified, it will be possible to make suggestions for improvement Organization of the study The study has three main parts as follows: Part A: Introduction This part introduces the rationale, the aims, the objectives, the significance, the scope and the organization of the thesis Part B: Development This part consists of four chapters: Chapter provides literature review focusing on the issues related to multi-word verbs in English, error and error analysis in second language learning Chapter presents the methodology applied in this work It also includes an overview of the context of the study Chapter discusses the findings of the study based on the test and interview results Chapter offers possible solutions to errors commonly made by students at Nguyen Hue Gifted High school Some suggestions for teaching and learning English multi-word verbs are also provided Part C: Conclusion This part summaries all the major issues in the previous parts with conclusions drawn from the findings Some recommendations for further research are also included PART B: DEVELOPMENT ... NGUYỄN THỊ LIÊN NINH MULTI-WORD VERBS IN ENGLISH: ERRORS COMMONLY MADE BY STUDENTS AT NGUYEN HUE GIFTED HIGH SCHOOL AND POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS (Động từ đa thành tố tiếng Anh: Những lỗi học sinh trường. .. POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS (Động từ đa thành tố tiếng Anh: Những lỗi học sinh trường THPT chuyên Nguyễn Huệ thường mắc giải pháp khả hữu) M.A THESIS Field: English Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Supervisor: Assoc