Luận văn synonyms and their challenges for first year students at the english department university of languages and international studies vietnam national university

We can create a mental picture for the reader by using words that are specific and accurate, Thank 10 this, our utlcranees or sonlonces arc very persuasive and appealing to readers or li

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUTMES

DEPARTMENT OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

SYNONYMS AND THEIR CHALLENGES FOR FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS

AT THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT, UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND

INTERNATIONAL STUDIES, VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

(Từ đóng nghĩa và những thách thức của nó đối với sinh viên năm thứ nhất

khoa Anh, Đại học Ngoại ngữ, Đại học Quốc gia, Hà Nội)

M.A Minor Thesis

Held: English Lingulstics Code: 60.22.15

HANOI, 2009

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUTMES

DEPARTMENT OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

SYNONYMS AND THEIR CHALLENGES FOR FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS

AT THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT, UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND

INTERNATIONAL STUDIES, VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

(Từ đóng nghĩa và những thách thức của nó đối với sinh viên năm thứ nhất

khoa Anh, Đại học Ngoại ngữ, Đại học Quốc gia, Hà Nội)

M.A Minor Thesis

Field: English Linguistics Cade: 60.22.15

Supervisor: Dr Ha Cẩm Tâm

1 Rationale of the study

2 Scope af the sturdy

3 Aims of the study

4 Organization of the study

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS

3.1 Discussion of the results of the test

2 Implications of the study results

3 Suggestions for further research

RODUCTION

1, Rationale of the study:

Synonyms do exist in almost every language, including English Lnglish, as Iloward

Jackson slat

is a language rich in pairs of synonyms These pairs (or groups) af synonyms give us various choices when we want to convey one and the same idea, They make a language flexible and varied However, to choose the appropriate word among a group of synonyms for a specific situation is not simple If we can do this, we may fecl absolutely satisfied because we have expressed ourselves not only correctly but also lively and emotionally We can create a mental picture for the reader by using words that are specific and accurate, Thank 10 this, our utlcranees or sonlonces arc very persuasive and appealing to readers or listeners, On the contrary, if the word we use is not suitable, we may feel embarrassed and even uneasy,

This fact proves one thing that paixs or groups of synonyms arc not substitutable in every situation Two words may be synonymous and equally appropriate for one context, but nol so in anolher, There are some nnderlying faclors Ghat make them different from one another Even native speakers, who are aware of these factors, sometimes find it hard to express themselves by not being able to choose the most suitable word, An example in Vietnamese is that when a young gitl wore a new orange T- shirt with the pattem of a butterfly

on it, hor mother liked it very much and wanted fo pay a compliment to her However, she happened to find no words to say what she wanted to Her mind seemed to be empty, and she fell very confiased, Sho said Lo her daughler thai “Thoa hôm nay có cải áo sặc sỡ thết” Yet sho was completely dissatistied with her word choice because in Vietnamese “sic s8” bas a neutral, or sometimes rather negative sense, whereas her comment on her daughter's ‘T- shirt was entirely positive After a while, a friend of the git] came and saw the T- shirl, she exclaimed: “Oi, chi cé oAi áo thật lá rục rối” Then the girl’s mother appeared to be released from her uneasiness and confusion now that she found the key to her problem of vocabulary

“Rực rỡ” is exactly the word she wanted to use for her compliment, and that word gives an extremely different impression of how she fell aboul the T- shir

"

Therefore, using synonyms flexibly and effectively is really a challenge for students Jearning a foreign language

First year students at English Department, College of orsign Languages, Vietnam

National University, have not learnt language theory, so a majority of them are not highly aware of the factors underlying a pair or a group of synonyins, As a resull, they make a Tot of errors in using synonyms Nevertheless, these errors can be restricted and corrected if the students are warned about those factors

That is why this study is camicd out, to investigate the factors underlying the use of synonyms, and to help first year students to improve their use of synonyms in writing

2 Scope of the study:

This study is confined to English synonyms only It is not a contrastive analysis of synonyms, so Vietnamese synonyms are not mentioned, They are just given as illustrations tor the miversal properties of synonyms Even within English synonyms, only several groups are investigated owing to the fact that the munber of English synonyms is bngc, and certainly a minor research can hardly cover all of them

Onwe the study is doveluped, it cam be scun thal (hore are several factors underlying the use of synonyms; however, not all of these factors make synonyms become challenging to students, so only the factors that canse students to make errors are discussed m details ‘The other factors arz jusl listed for reference

Although students at higher levels of English still make mistakes in using synonyms, only first year students are taken into consideration as they are appropriate subjects for the purpose of the studly

3 Aims of the study:

‘This study is carried ont to serve three major purposes:

= To conduct an investigation irlo differcrt aspects of Buglish synianyrs

- To address the issue of using some specific groups of synonyms of first year students

in English Department, College of Foreign Languages, Viemam National University

This is done by making the students lo do some tests Then their errors in the Lests are

picked up and examined for causes and sources

- To provide some recommendations for preventative and curative measures to help improve first year students’ use of synonyms

4, Organization of the study:

‘There are three main parts in this thesis ‘he first part is INTRODUCTION in which

3, the backbone of the thesis, deals with data analysis and discussions This chapter mainly presents the errors in using synonyms by first year students and discusses their causes as well

as suggests preventative and curative mcasures, Through this last chapter, foachors and students may find useful methods to apply in their real teaching and learning

The CONCLUSION part presents conchiding remarks, implications for teaching and

learning synonyms, and suggestions tor fiuther reseaich

DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW The knowledge of synonyms, factors distinguishing them, and the skill of componential analysis are required for identifying and analyzing first year students’ errors in using synonyms Therefore, this chapter deals with the basic concepts and ideas to set the theoretical backgraund for analyses which will he carried out later in this study

There are different definitions and discussions on synonyms fiom various semanticists Some representatives are John Lyon, W Kreidler, Michael McCarthy, Norbert Schmitt, ete Their points of view on synonyms will be discussed and comparcd to establish a comprehensible and rich theoretical background that serves the purpose of the thesis

1.1 Overview of synonyms:

1.1.1 Synonymy - a sense relation:

Sense telation is an internal meaning relation that holds between words within the vooibulary systom af the language Tn other words, il is the paradigmatic relation, the relation

(8) Jack is a scarnain

(b) Jack is a sailor

Because the truth of (a) entails the truth of (b) and vice versa, and also the falsity of (a) entails the falsity of (b) and vice versa, seaman and sailor are synonyms

Linguistic semantics with a famous representative, John Lyon, defines synonyms as

“expressions wilh the same meaning” Similarly, Michacl MeCarthy (1997) says “synonysny means that two or more words have the same meaning.” He takes series of examples as begin and start, sof and settee, below, beneath and imderfneath), ete D.A Cruse (1986) in the book Lexical semantics states that synonyms arc pairs or groups of lexical items bearing a

special sort of semantic resemblance to one another Howard Jackson (2000-92) also mentions

“sameness of meaning” (hal holds balweon te words when discussing synonyms,

So each linguist uses a different expression, but they all agree that synonyms are pairs or groups of words with the same meaning Only Lyon difiérs fiom other linguists in using the term “expressions” He makes clear this point by explaining that his definition does not restrict the relation of synonymy to lexcmes, so lexically simple expressions may be synonymous to

lexically complex expressions Denying this, Kreidler (2998:98) affirms that synonyms are

typieally singlc Jexcmes of the same weight, Thorefore, Mr Jenkins is ow postman and Mr Jenkins is the person who delivers our mail may have the same meaning, but postman and the person who delivers our mail are not synonyms

For the purpose of this siudy, synonyms arc confined to lexemes, but not nsecssarily

“single Iexemes of the same weight”, and ccrtainly they must be categorized as the same pat

of speech So, die, pass away and kick the bucket are considered members of a group of synonyms This will sorve as a working tool in this thesis

ranges overlap but they are not co-extensive

lo say Utat synonyms have different ranges of compatibility, the

Another characteristic of synonyms is that the bridging rule is nat applicable for them, i.e, the fact that A is synonymous with B and A is synonymous with C does not necessarily means that B is synonymous with C ‘Thus, iamy is synonymous with humorous when compatible with story, and fiumy is synonymous with peculiar when compatible with feeling, bul famorous anil peculiar me not synonyms

Funny story — humorous story

} humorous # peculiar Funny fecling — peculiar fecling

1.1.4, Classification of synonyms:

1.1.4.1, Absolute synonyms:

“Absolute synonyms” is the term John Lyon used for pairs or groups of synonyms that can be substituted for one another in any given context, whereas Jackson (2000) would rather call this ‘strict synonyms’ In this research, these two terms are used interchangeably Lyon establishes a sct of three eritcria to assess whether a pair of synonyms is absolute or not

Gall their meanings are identical

Gi} they ars synonymous in all contexts (their collocational ranges are identical) (iii) they are semantically equivalent (their meaning or meanings are identical) on

all dimensions of meaning, descriptive or non-desoriptive) More simply, Jackson stiles that the choice between strict synonyms would have 1 offect on the caning, stylc or connotation of what was being said or wiittcn Cruse also makes a short explanation of absolute synonyms with the condition that all their contextual relations arz identical

Although many linguists mention absohite synonyms and classified them as one type

of synonyms, they all agree that this type of synonyms is really rare Some linguists even argue thal absolut: ynonyms do not exist, If they do, iL is only when scmantie chang: i taking place This means that when two words appear to become strict synonyms, either of them will change its meaning or fallen out of use Jackson takes sky and heaven as an example, At first, these twa wards denoted both the physical firmament and the spiritual realm

of God and the angels Then sky came to denote just the physical, and heaven just the spiritual

The scarcity of absotate synonyms is justified with different words as “uneconomical”,

“umnecessarily redundant”, “wasteful”, “luxurious”, ete We do not need a completely free choice between two words for a particular context because we can well do it with only one

1.1.4.2 Non absolute synonyms:

Non-absolute synonyms (or partial synonyms) should be distinguished fom near synonyms, as Lyon proposed

Near synonyms are words which are more or less similar, but not identical in meaning Some cxamples arc mist and Jog, strcam and brook, dive and plunge, ask and beg, otc

Partial synonyms are synonyms which fil to satisfy all the three conditions for absolute synonyms The failure of any of those three conditions mukes » pais of synonyms non-absolute, Take big and Jarge as an example They are partial synonyms because not all their meanings are identical, Besides, they have different collocational ranges, Big can collocate with house, sister, mistake, etc Large can also collocate with house and sister but it docs not collocate with mistake,

Another classification of synonyms makes it easier for us to follow Apart ftom absolnte synonyms, thers aro five other types, bul only thres of them are mentioned here because the other two types do not serve the aim of this thesis

Semantic synonyms are synonyms which differ in denotation (like near synonyms described above)

Stylistic synonyms arc synonyms which differ in connotation For example, while dir

is neutral, skinny is pejorative and slender is flattering

Scmanlic siylistio synonyms are synonyms which differ in both denotation and comotation This type makes up the majority of synonyms in English

1.2 Factors distinguishing synonyms:

As indicated in the scope of the sindy, there arc mmy factors underlying the use of synonyms, but for the purpose of the study, only the factors which cause difficulties for freshmen at university are mentioned and investigated in this part of the research Hence, such faclors as dialect difference (or geographical distribution) and syntactic behavior or pragmatic valve are neglected

1.2.1 Comnotation:

In addition to Literal, dictionary meanings, words often have implied, emotional

meanings known as connotations ‘I’hese connotations play an important role in the search for the ‘right words’ because they sometimes clash with the writer’s intended meaning or view

Distinguishing betweon two words that sccm Lo mean the same bet have different colors and

shapes and suggestions, this is essential to the art of writing, and also of speaking The

dictionary can tell you only what a word points to, it cannot tell you what it feels like

Unspeakable in the dictionary means the same as uuferable but the former is always used to

mean something base or vile, while the latter usually means some rapturous or divine thought

A pushy individual probably would 't have waited palicnily for his turn ta speak, but

rather would have barged in whenever he félt emotionally Jed to do so Perhaps, a more

appropriate descriptive word for an individual who “patiently waited” before “confidently expressing his concerns” might be assertive

Two words may largely share a denetation, in icfcrring to a particular entity, but they may

have divergent associative and emotive meaning Therefore, it is very important for a writer to

choose words which have appropriale comotations, otherwise, il might cause offimee to the

readers, or at least make the writer misunderstood Moreover, comotations can help the

description become not only more exact but also more lively and vividly Push and shove may serve as am exarnple here: their denotation largely overlaps, thal is “forccfial propulsion

forward’; but shove connotes roughness or haste, which pissi does not So “The bus was so

crowded that I was shoved forward and back again ad again” sounds more descriptive than

“The bus was so crowded [hal T was pushed forward and back again and again”

‘The following table lists some gronp of words which have similar dictionary meanings but are different in connotative meanings

Some other examples are: (all the words on the left are nicutrall)

Ambiguous equivocal (deliberately)

Famous notorious (disreputably)

Hate loathe (with repugnanec or disgust)

Misuse abuse (of privilege or power)

Obtain procure (wilh effort)

1.2.2 Formality of the context:

Language cannot be used in isolation ftom the context When something is said or written, vocabulary needs to be chosen carefully basing on who is saying, to whom, when, where and why it is the relationship between the content of a message, its sender and receiver,

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its situation and purpose, and how it is commmnicated, which altogether make up register In tarms of register, Halliday proposes three key components which restrict the selection of vocabulary [hey are field, tenor, and mode

Field: the subject matter and purpose of a message (travel’s brochure, ete.)

Tenor: the relationship between sender and recciver (boss (0 employee, friend to fricnd,

etc) Mode: the channel of communication (phone call written report, notice, ete.)

Basing on these three components, contexts arc oftcn divided in such types as formal vs informal/stang/colloquial, written vs spoken, technical vs non-technical

Asa rosull, ane word ina pair of synonyms may be uscd in amore formal conloxt than the other; or ong of the pair may belong to slang or colloquial English, while the other is in more general use, The level of formality you write should be determined by the expectations

of your audience and your purpose For example, if you are writing a cover letter for a job application or a college academic essay, you should write in a formal style, If you arc writing

a letter to a fhiend, something personal, or even something for a tmmorous or special interest ihagavine whou informal writing is expected, you would usc a more informal stylc Fomwiily exists ona scale, tom formal to semiformal, and to informal

Vormality of the context is very important in writing in the sense that if the wrifer writes

in a wrong style, il may cause offenes or orcats a distimae betwoon the writer and the readers For instance, if the writer uses colloquial language or slang in an application form, the reader may feel that they are offended Consequently, the applicant is likely to be refused On the

think that the writer stands on ceremony with hinvher, and so keeps a distance ftom the writer

Following are some examples of synonym pairs, the ones on the left are usually used in

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According to Howard Jackson (2000), collocation refers to a structural or syntagmatic

telations that a word conlracls with ather words occuring in [he same senlerice or Lext Th is

concerned with the meaning arising trom co-occurrence, more specially to meaning arising from predictable co-occurrence

Two things should be marked in Jackson's idea, Firstly, collocation is not orfy about synonyms It is structural or syntagmatic relation held between a word and any word that can co-occur with it in a sentence Besides, collocation most clearly occurs in specified syntactic relation, eg 34 V (kettle | boil), or V 1 O (bail | kettle), or A 1S Fed F wing) These should be called ‘grammatical collocation’, in order to differentiate it fiom ‘lexical collocation’, which is the subject of this study

Sccondly, collocation is predictable, Tl is a relation of tauinal cxpeclancy or habitual association, The occurrence of one word predicts the greater than chance likelihood that another word will occur in the context The statistical terms ‘greater than chance likelihood? suggest that the mutual <xpectancy of two words could be stronger or weaker, depending on both the direction of expectancy and the number of alternative predictable words Kor example, belween kettle and boil, the collocation from kettle lo boil is stronger lan Unit from hoil to kettle bocanse tho muber of verbs that regularly en-necur with kedile is less than the munber of nouns that regularly co-occur with doi, Similarly, wreak has a stronger collocational relation with its object nouns than does settle hecause wreak occur predominantly with only two nouns (avec and revenge) whercas settle occurs with a whole range of nouns: dispute, argument, stomach, nerves, child, etc.

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In agreement with TI Jackson, Michael MeCarthy (1997) claims that there is a binding force or a ‘martiage contract” between words, and some words are more firmly ‘married’ to each other than others He takes example of biond and brown Both can co-occur with Aair, but the relationship between blond and Aair is stronger than that hetween brown and hair (given blond, there is hardly anything else to think of hesides hair, bul given brown, we can think of a large number of other nouns) McCarthy gives high opinion of collocation, saying that it is fundamental in ths study of vocabulary, and it deserves to be a central aspect of vocabulary study

An example taken from McCarthy's book “Vocabulary” illustrates the influence of collocation on word choice Some cveryday words denoting sive are considered to sce haw they collocate with a random selection of single nouns

v—collocates ?—guestionabic x— docs not collocatc

One remarkable thing about collocation is that until relatively recently, the intuitive method was the only one possible for lexicologisls to discover it, and il is the method that is retlected in the content of most dictionaries Adult native speakers also have a good intuitive knowledge of typical collocations However, it is not a reliable method for investigating a statistical probability, which implics a degree of accuracy This, fortumately, have been eured

by today’s corpora of a hundred million words Computers scanning huge amounts of text can confirm and augment those intuitions, or can make explicit whal we use automatically in our cveryday languags Vietnamese learners, unfortunately, have not been familiar with these corpora, ‘The traditional way of leaming still have influence on them, so they often leam just

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the meaning of ach individual ward but not a lexical chunk or phrase That is why collocation

is really challenging to them

1.2.4, Denotation:

Denotation is the most abvious aspect of meaning, so it is the first thing people are

oflen concerned about when (hey learn or usc a word However, il is listed as (he last faclor in

this part because denotations of wards, if learnt carefully, are not very troublesome Therefore,

it is considered just as a minor factor in this thesis

In fact, it is donotative meaning of words that creates the type of synonyms which John

Lyon identified as near synonyms Near synonyms, in nature, are the synonyms whose

đonolalions arc ore or less similar tnt nol identival Jevolve and include can serve as an

example here According to Oxford dictionary, #volve means to have or include something or

somebody as a part, an element, a condition, or a result, whereas include means to have

something as part of a whole The remarkable thing is that iavolve specially refers to a

situation or an cvent, but include docs not Thus, it should be ‘The accidents involved several

vehicles’, bt not “the accident included several vehicles’

The diffewly with denotation is often caused by the translation into 1.1 Obviow

there are always lexical gaps between any two languages As a result, a word in L2, which does not have any exact equivalent in LI, will be at risk of being translated without being stored its original meaning If the Tearners choose the word in 7.1 first, and Iranslsted ïL into L2, there is prcat likelihood that they will make mistake, For cxample, both remark and evaluate can be translated into Vietnamese as ‘nhin xét, danh gid’, their denotations in English are quite different, Remark means ‘to wrile or lo say something as a commenl, to observe something’, while the denotation of evaluate is ‘to assess or to form an idea of the

amount, quality, or value of somebody or something’ lence it is more suitable to say ‘1 can’t

because the difference is visible Tlawever, (he problem becomes much harder when it

concems abstract words Ask and beg, for instance, are sensitive words, which are just slightly

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different Which word to chooss will be determined by the writer's evalnation on the attitude

of the agent of the action

Generally speaking, these four factors have the famction of distinguishing synonyms and help writers to take a word out of a pair or a group of synonyms to express their idea most appropriately Tl is worlh noling thal synonyms in a pair or a group arc not always distinguished by only one factor Two or more factors can be combined to distinguish the same pair or group of synonyms For instance, big and large are diffrent not only in terms of their collocation but also of their formality, Brg can collocate with sister while /arge cannot Besides, /arge is more formal than big

1.3 Componential analysis:

Some semanticists and lexicologists have suggested that meanings of words can be analyzed into a finite number of features or components, winch are universal to all languages, and ftom which the meanings of all words can be composed by new, unique combinations This approach is called ‘componential analysis’, The featurcs or components cnable us to

organize lexical fields in terms of what the entities within them have in common and what

distinguishes them from onc another The common feature amung the momibers of a lexical field is a semumtic marker, The markers and the distinguishing features are put together in a table in componentiat analysis ‘The squares in the table are filled with plus (1) ot nrinws (-) to show thal a specific ontitly has or docs not have the feature Sometimes bath plus and minus (+4) are used for a square to indicate that cithcr may apply Following is an cxampls

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judgements vary This is because our lexical competence is highly variable, is dynamic, in constant change and development Therefore, a lewner's analysis may be different fom others’ Jackson (2000) also affirms that there is no sure way of establishing what the universal set of semantic components might be Only the analysis of considerable numbers of lexcmes in many different languages will revel what such a set of components: right plausibly look like And it may well be the case that the meanings of many lexemes cannot be exhaustively described by means of semantic components, especially those lexemes that have

a more abstract reference (c.g naive, aware, wise, foolish, suphisticated, ctv.)

In spite of the difficulties in identifying the semantic components of a word, there are four major components of word moaning thai arc helpfid far us, They ars listed balow

denotation, which includes conceptual and referential meaning; denotation exists by virtue ot what it refers fo

connotation, including stylistic, affective, evaluative, and intensifying is the pragmatic comumunicative value the words acquires by virtue of where, when, how, and by whom, for what purpose and in what context it is or may be used

strudtural moaning, which is the meaning of a ward acquired by virluc of iis membership in a system or a set

categorical meaning, which serves as a classificatory basis

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CHAPTER 2: MEFHODOLOGY This chapter presents the methodology of the study Part 2.1 describes research design, which is sub-divided into research questions (2.1.1), data collection instruments (2.1.2), informants (2.1.3), and procedures (2.1.4) Part 2.2 deals with (he analytical framework of the study, i.e componential analysis,

- What errors do first year students often make in using synonyms?

~ What are the causes of those crrors?

2.1.2 Data collection instruments:

To answer the research quostious, a test has hoon designed Tt has beun used to make students provoke their ezrors in using synonyms, basing on the belief that actual errors will come up in spontaneous production, either by means of speaking or writing An analysis of the result of the test will show the real situation of the freshmen in using several familiar groups

of synonyms

‘As shown in the literature review, there are four factors distinguishing synonyms, which ara challonging 1o Ioarnars, Therefore, the test was designed with four exoreises, cach concentrating on one factor Exercise 1 focuses on denotation, exercise 2 on collocation,

exercise 3 on connotation, and exercise 4 on formality Exercises 1, 2, and 3 are of multiple-

choiec type, white cxcreise 4 asks for substitutions The pairs ar groups af synonyms in hase exercises were chosen at random, not coniined to any part of speech or a certain topic or field,

‘The only criterion is that they are all words for intermediate level, which is the level of the first year students a1 ED, CPI, VNU The selection of exercises was made basing on the belie! that synonyms of any part of speech and any speciiic field are distinguished by the same

factors in the same way Besides, students at ED, CLL, VNU leam different types of writing

such as description, narrative, letters (both formal and informal) and academic essays They are also exposed to different contexts of speaking such as everyday conversation, delivering presentation, sfc ‘Tins, the groups of words in the test should also be varied to cover as many topics as possible

on some geucral topics

In terms of time fength in learning English, they all have spent af Jeast seven years at socondary school, and the first semester al Iho university,

In general, the whole group is homogeneous in its age, cultural background and experience, and knowledge of both mother tongue and foreign language

The papors were then scarched for crrors, These errors made up the data for the t

and were analyzed to serve the goals ot'the thesis

2.2, Analytical framework:

The main framework of this research is compenential analysis (or semantic (ealure

analysis) This technique of analysis is based on the components of word meaning as dascribes

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in the literamre review For a given group of words set in a specific context, their components

of meaning may be analyzed in terms of denotation, connotation, associative meaning, and

categorical meaning ‘I'he identical components make up the semantic markers of the group, and the distinguishing features show that only one word is appropriate in the given context Following is an example

Their appearance ine They told me vesterday that they could not come to the party

A surprised B astonished C amazed D astounded

Firstly, the components of meaning of the four options arc analyzed and compared, and then

shown in the following table:

The analysis of scmantic components of the four options and the context makes it evident that serprised is the right word to complete the sentence

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CILAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS After the data had been collected and suitable analysis techniques had been selected, the data were carefiilly analyzed and the results are discussed in 3.1 to help the researcher

cin 3.2

obtain the major findings, whieh arc prose

3.1 Results of the test:

Analysis and discussion of the test show how the students performed on soms given groups of synonyms, and how challenging cach factor under investigation is to them, Some groups of synonyms are analyzed by means of componential analysis, while some others are already clearly distinguished in terms of commotation, collocation, or formality of the context

The result of cach exercise will now be discussed in order

3.4.1 Result of exercise 4:

This is type of multiple-choice exercise There were ten incomplete sentences with cach followed by four options The task of the studcnts was to circle the options that best complete the sentences ‘The specific result of it is shown in the following table:

Sentence | Key | Option A | Option 8 | Option C | Option D