Luận văn thì hiện tại tiếp diễn và những lỗi học sinh trường trung học kỹ thuật và nghiệp vụ hà nội mắc

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI LNIVERSIT'Y OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST —- GRADUATE STUDIES EEO EEE DEH PHAN THI THU HIEN THE PRESENT PROGRESSIVE TENSE AN

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

LNIVERSIT'Y OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST —- GRADUATE STUDIES

EEO EEE DEH

PHAN THI THU HIEN

THE PRESENT PROGRESSIVE TENSE AND ERRORS MADE BY PUPILS AT HANOT TECHNICAL AND PROFESSIONAL SKILLS TRAINING SCHOOL

(‘Thi Hiện tại tiếp diễn và những lỗi học sinh trường trung hoc

Kỹ thuật và nghiệp vụ IIä Nội mắc )

MA Minor Thesis

Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10

HANOT— 2011

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST — GRADUATE STUDIES

PHAN TH! THU HIEN

THE PRESENT PROGRESSIVE TENSE

AND ERRORS MADE BY PUPILS AT HANOI

TECIINICAL AND PROFESSIONAL SKILLS TRAINING SCHOOL

( Thì Hiện tại tiếp điễn và những lỗi học sinh trường trung học

Kỹ thuật và nghiệp vụ Hà Nội mắc )

MA Minor Thesis

Field: English Language Teaching Methodology

Cede: G0 1410

Supervisor: Ms Phung Thi Kim Dung, MA

HANOL— 2011

iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaratioi

1 Rationale

2 Aims of the study

3 Scope of the study

4 Methodology of the study

5 Significance of the study

PART B: DEVELOPMEN

1.1 ‘Time - tense - aspect relationship

1.2 Present Progressive tense

1.2.1 Forms

1.2.4 Stative and Dynamic verbs

1.3 Present Progressive tense vs Present Simple tense

2.1 Context of the study

2.1.1 Teachers

ul

it

iv

2.4, Data collection insirun3eni - 20

2.6.1 Questlon Ì nhu sete 22

2.7 Summary and Recommendations - 29

2.7.2, RecoimimenidatÏOTS cọ nh rước 30

PART C: CONCLUSION ¬ 37

REFERENCE:

APPENDICES

Appendix 4 Video tasks to practise the PP tense - VỊ

L

PART A: INTRODUCTION

i RATIONALE

English is increasingly becoming an important language in the world nowadays, Its significance is retlected in the fact that almost everyone leams it in order to communicate with people from a different country Actually, English is being recognized as a means of global cormmunication

‘As a part of the integrated world, Vietnam is trying to improve its English language education in many parts of the country from urban to rural, and even momntainous areas Teachers ws main agculs in the classroom can invesligale existing serious probleis, carry out research, and seek solutions to these problems to eradicate them from the classroom In this way, they will contibute to the overall improvement of the quality of English Janguagc teaching and lcaming in their schools in particular, and in Vietnam in gencral This study has been done based on this background

For my school, Hanoi technical and professional skills training school, English is slill considered a minor subject, and the pupils” gonoral lovel of English is rather limited Here, teaching English mainly focuses on grammar, which occupies most of teachers and pupils’ stady time and takes the considerable percentage in tests and exams, Nevertheless, the result af this investinenl is nol inuch optimistic

Although the Present Progressive tense is a common tense which is often taught carefully, pupils still make quite a lot of srrors in terms of form and use Vor example, instead of speaking or writing IIe is shedving English, these pupils produced sentences like

He studying English ox He is steding English, otc In addition, not few of them have difficulty in distinguishing between ts tense and the Present Simple tense, so they often make errors such as F live with ny friends right now This is mostly evident, (hrongh their practice and test results, as observed by the researcher before this study was caried out,

In this circumstance, although documents on the Present Progressive tense are available, most of thom arc nol full and detailed Resides crrors on this te

2 are rarely

auentioned except for in the Master thesis of Pham Viet Huong (2003) named The English

present tenses in comparison and contrast with Vietiamese equivalent expressions In her

study, common errors and solutions are given but m such a general way in addition,

sludics conducted at vocational schools arc rather sparc,

2 Vor the above mentioned reasons, the study entitled ?we Present Pragressive tense and errors mace hy pupilt aí Hanai technical and professional sidlls training school bas

‘been carried out

2 AIMS OF ILI STUDY

‘This writing provides knowledge of the Present Progressive tense fully and syslematically as the theoretical framewark to investigate common errors made by pupils

at Hanoi technical and professional skills training school, through which offers recommendations for teaching the tense

3 SCOPT: OF TH STUDY

‘This study is limited to the investigating of written errors which are common on the forms and uses of the Present Progressive tense plus sainc distinctions with tlhe Present Simple tense The study is carried out on 50 pupils of the first year who are studying Lnglish af school

4 METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY

Furst of all, information about the Present Progressive tense in reliable websiles and

prestigious books was collected, analyzed and synthesized in the literature review Next, in the study, the quantitative technique (a multiple-choice test ) was employed Besides, a simple descriplive statistics was applied in the data analysis procedure

5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This writing offers a full and detailed look at the Present Progressive tense as both

‘the studying and teaching materials Besides, common errors mentioned in the study are

really helpful expecially to noreexperienced icachers More immporlantly, recommendations

given are not useful only to this tense but other tenses as well Finally, this study provides

an overview of teaching and learning at a vocational school as inspirations to following

studies on this subject

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

3

CHAPTER 1 - LITERATURE REVIEW

Tn this chapler, knowledge of the Present Progressive lense, also called the Present Continuous tense is provided fully and systematically as the theoretical framework for the investigations of common errors in the following chapter Besides, as Present Progressive (PP) is sometimes mistaken with Present Simple (PS), some comparisons between two tenses arc also montionsd However, before coming to the main part about PP, 2 brief discussion about time _ tense - aspect relationship is necessary,

1.1 TIME - ‘TENSE - ASPECT RELA'TIONSEIP

(Source: http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/progressive htm

1.2 PRESENT PROGRESSIVE TENSE

12.1 Forms

a) Tobe

) Present participle

(Source: http www wordpewwer ws/grammuarigrainch(3.himl)

¢) Structures

The Present Progressive tense is fonned with present tense of awdliary “be” and

present participle

AM! TS! ARE+

-ING

& Positive structure

aun’ is! are

| Feng

“Hư *s/ “re

& Negative structure

We add the word not after Am/ Is’ Are to form the Negative

amy is/ are + not

St "m/”s/'re ! net | IV-ing,

isn’t aren’t

+ Interrogative siruchere

We invert Ami Is/ Are before “8” to form the Interrogative

> Yes/No questions:

‘Amv Is/ Are | S| V-ing?

- Yes, § | anny is! are

- No, $+ am is/ are+ not

The contraction is nol included in the structure above

> WIE que

We add que

at the beginning of the question

on words like who, whom, whal, which, where, when, why, how, etc

WII- am/ is/are | S| Vang?

& Negativ terrogative striuctie

am i8/ are + S+ not

(WHY | scoot arenti § V-ng?

® Note: We use contractions in informal situations

1.2.2 Uses

In English, the Present Progressive tense is usually used to express continning or ongoing actions which arc taking place at thc moment of speaking or writing, Specific uses are mentioned below

a) Firstly, we usc it for things that arc happening at the moment of speaking

b) We can also use this tense for temporary situations, when we feel something will not continus for a long time

©) We can use the present continuous tense to desotibe habits which are temporary or new 4) Another present continuous us is for describing annoying habits, when we want to show that something happens too often and we do not like it In this case we need to use an adverb like ‘always’, ‘forever’, ‘constantly”

2) The next use is for describing detinite future arrangements (with a future time word), In this case we have already made a plan and we are pretty sure that the event will happen in the future,

) Finally, we use this tense to talk about a situation which is changing slowly

(Source: htp://www perfect-english-grammar couv/present-continuous-use fin)

1.2.3 Signal words

Signal words used with the PP tense are divided into two groups

a) Signal words desoribing actions happening now

> now, right now, just now, for now, for a little while, at the moment, at present,

prosenlly (= now)

> Aller imperative

> While | present silualions

) Signal words describing actions m the fature

© today, tonight, this wock/ month’ ycar/ surumer, cte

© tomorrow, next week, vie

These signal words are quile »

fil in identifying the PP tc

However, “Tagging

the adverbs and the expressions which usc the present continuous can also be eounter- productive Many languages rely entirely on adverbs to express that an action is temporary, and iL is a problem for many leamers lo get used lo verb formn G.¢ continous aspect) ta express this in English,” (Parrott, 1999: 159)

1.2.4, Stative and Dynamic verbs

a) In English language, there are verbs that are not normally used in Progressive tenses, becanse they describe states rather than actions They are called stative verbs, including: b) ‘The verbs that can be used in Progressive tenses are called dynamic verbs, including:

&) Some verbs can be both stative and dynarrie verbs depending on their meanings

1.3 PRESENT PROGRESSIVE TENSE VS PRESENT SIMPLE TENSE

Because the PP tense is sometimes mistaken with the PS, some comparisons

‘between Iwo tenses arc discussed hors Neverthel first of all an overview of the PS tense may be usefid,

(Source: bttp.//d3 violet vn/uploads/previews/506/290669\preview sw

Now, let us compare the PS with PP tense, mainly to point out differences between

‘the two tenses.

a) Forms

) Uses

©) Signal words

4) Stative and Dynamic verbs

Gource: http: www enodu com/en‘cram-up/arammar/simpre-prepra)

Besides, detailed differences on uses can be found in Eastwood (2005: 38-53)

CHAPTER 2- THE STUDY

Tn the previous chapler, knowledge of Present Progressive tense is provided filly and systematically It is the theoretical framework for investigations of common errors on forms and uses of the PP tense made by pupils at Hanoi technical and professional skills training school (Hatechs) Subsequently, recommendations for teaching the tense are offerod in this chapter

2.1 CONTEXT OF THE STUDY

2.1.1 Teachers:

2.1.2 Pupils

2.2, RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Focusing on the understanding of the Present Progressive tense of pupils al Hatechs, this paper seeks to obtain data that answer the following research questions;

1 To what extent do pupils at Hatechs make exrors on forms and uses of the Present

Progressive tense?

2 To what, extent can pupils al Uatechs distinguish Present Progressive tense with

Present Simple tense?

Answers for these questions can be obtained through detailed discussion on crrors made by pupils in the area of the Present Progressive tense

2.3 SUBJECTS

‘The population of the study was about 403 first - year pupits of Tlatechs Through systematic sampling, 50 pupils were chosen

T7

More than three-fourths of the subjects scored the average marks (from 5 to 7) in the Exam 1 of English, so the results oan reflect the gencral performace of all Since these pupils were in moderate proficiency categories, it could be assumed that the degree of diversity was reasonably low and that a sample of data elicited from 50 subjects would be sufficient Prior to collecting the sample, the researcher was aware that cerlain variables, particularly previous training in the language and intelligence quotients, might have affected their performance on the grammar test However, this study did not aim at investigating the correlation betwoon thoit performnance on a grammar test and other possible independent variables such as proficiency levels or intelligence quotients

2.4 DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENT’

According to Bachman (1990; 68), “Language tests can also be used in research” and “Responses to language tests can provide a rich body of data for the identification of processing crrors and their explanation”, Conscquently, this study was based on @ grammar

test consisting of three questions aiming at investigating pupils’ errors on the Present

Progressive The questions in the design of multiple-choice items were usefill in measuring

the subjects’ crrors on forms and uses, and on distinctions between PP and PS

afer they had Tcarnt the 1

and comparisons between PP and PS

2.5 DATA ANALYSIS PROCEDURE

in this study, a simple descriptive statistical procedure was used when considering the data in terms of percentages of subjects’ crors which were grouped into types Then these percentages were compared with those in items testing the same problems in order to identify the average percentage of each error type made by the subjects Besides, possible causes were also pointed oul as explanation for their errors

2.6 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

2.6.1 Question 1

‘Fable 1 ‘the result for Question 1 in terms of percentages of the subjects’ choices

Hem