language activities for improving linguistic competence of the first year students in thai nguyen university

Republic of the Philippines LANGUAGE ACTIVITIES FOR IMPROVING THE LINGUISTIC COMPETENCE OF FIRST YEAR STUDENTS IN THAINGUYENUNIVERSITY A Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of Gradu

Republic of the Philippines

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

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

ABSTRACT

Title : Language Activities for Improving Linguistic

Competence of the First Year Students in Thai Nguyen University

Degree : Doctor of Philosophy major in English Language

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

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

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

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

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

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

C Validation Letter 1 on Test for Students and

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

4 Performance of student respondents in teacher-made

5 Performance of student respondents in teacher-made

6 Most difficult item for students respondents in the

7 Most difficult item for students respondents in the

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

10 List of students linguistic skills according to their

importance by as perceived the teacher

11 Students‟ t-test comparison of the mean % scores for

linguistics tests via frequency of use as perceived by

12 List of areas under linguistic competence to be used as

topic for design of language activities and the basic of

LIST OF FIGURES

1 Research Paradigm……… 63

CHAPTER 1 THE PROBLEM

Introduction

In our world today, language is our means of communication and

learning It is one‟s knowledge and a tool of expression of thoughts, perceptions and sentiments Thoughts and ideas can never be

expressed and can‟t be understood by one another without good language

Language is considered important because it is the vehicle for

communication between countries, cultural groups, various companies,

organization, communities and friends It also represents a

fundamental expression of social identity As a mirror that allows a

person to understand what one is thinking, language is considered

complex and constantly evolving It allows cultures with their shared set

of values, customs and history to exist and as a part of speech

language is important for one‟s survival for it forges friendship, cultural ties and economic relationship

Thoughts and emotions are shaped by language and it also

determines one‟s perceptions and reality It is considered the light of the mind and its retention helps maintain feeling of cultural kinship

Knowledge of the English language is one of most important aspect for

the learners for it is considered the key factor to competitiveness

Because language enables people to communicate and express

themselves, it becomes an important part of any society

As a currency used in exchanging ideas, language is considered

the simple greatest skill an individual should possess and master It is

compared to a glue that hold societies together and mankind evolved,

grow and prosper through language It is the key that unlocks our mind

In everyday lives, language is essential in interaction Language

is use to give information to people around us, expressing feelings,

desires and questions as well as understanding the world In varied

situations we communicate with others effectively through our words,

gestures and tone of voice Through the use of language, people are

able to communicate with one another, form bonds and teamwork

Without language we would not be able to communicate verbally or

written, not be able to read, write or communicate with each other

thoroughly With language, one would have the ability to transmit and

transport ideas orally, written and electronically

At present, the importance of language is recognized by many

institutions Second language teaching is being offered by some

schools as early as middle school and they are requiring specific

language requirements for those who would like to study in the schools

In learning the complexities of language, creation of a warm and

comfortable environment for the learner is a must It is of vital

importance that learner must develop his communication skill since this

will serve as the foundation of his future communication abilities

Having effective communication skills serve as an asset for lifetime

quality communication

Learning other language besides the national language is also of

vital importance since it helps to have additional knowledge of other

people and cultures It is also considered most important is our

knowledge of our mother tongue to preserve identity as language is said

to be logical code apart from social and cultural actions It is also

fundamental to have knowledge on the concept of language to

understand the teaching practice of foreign language It is impossible

for teachers to develop any kind of effective and successful

communication among learners as well as any kind of sharing of ideas

without language

As a system of linguistic knowledge which is possessed by all

and any speakers of a language, linguistic competence is a universal

property, common to any human being, no matter, no race, economic

class or physical characteristics, and independently of his/her

intellectual and personality attributes The speaker is allowed by this

system to go from a finite number of rules specific of any language to

the production of an infinite number of new sentences

To distinguish grammatical sentences from ungrammatical ones

is covered in linguistic competence

It is wrong to say that language is taught and misleading to say

that it is being learned Language is not learned but it grows in the mind

so that creativity of language which is the speakers ability to produce

new and different sentences to be immediately understood by his

hearer that constitute unheard dialogue, grammatical sentences every

time they establish a conversation is the most notable aspect of

competence Knowledge of language in an abstract way is also

considered in linguistic competence It must be considered a major role

when linguistic, social and cultural knowledge are mixed

It is stated that 70 percent of English Language happened among

non-native speakers so that language teachers must have the

knowledge that English language is not exclusive to English native

speakers only So it is not the best solution for teachers to teach

English focusing on native speaker‟s interaction since learners interact with other people from different linguistic and cultural communities

In learning English as a foreign language, students most

common difficulties encountered are attributed to the interference of

their mother tongue like Vietnamese language particularly in

pronunciation, syntax, and usage; their lack of opportunity also to use

the English language in some communication or situations in their daily

lives; the kind of English lessons taught by their teachers, their being

passive listeners, shyness to use English language in conversation in

class or their lack of confidence in the language; and their

irresponsibility in their own learning Their poor performance in English

is also attributed to students‟ wrong perceptions of learning as they tend

to be more focus on other activities such as taking examinations and

out class activities whereby learning is affected as they no longer

equate learning with broadening knowledge which rendered learning or

studying the language not interesting or worthy to students causing

negative effects on their learning experiences

These causes can also be related to other issue like that of their

problem or lack of understanding of words or vocabulary In the field of

literacy, relationship between students‟ vocabulary knowledge and their reading comprehension is considered one of the best It is believed that

students who were taught many vocabulary words tend to become

better readers and writers Relationship between words and concepts is

developed through effective vocabulary instruction Considered the

basic units of thoughts and beliefs are concepts and these are labeled

as words So that, if there is familiarity in concept, then the

corresponding word to this underlying knowledge is clearly understood,

recalled and utilized

Students‟ experiences help in the development of concepts Reading and writing are contributory factors in the growth of concepts

which in turn make students understand and use more words It is

believed that students vocabulary increase when they elaborate their

conceptual knowledge based on known words; relate new words to

known concepts or existing words since deep understanding of words

richly expound and connect with other concepts

On the other hand, students need to have good intuitive

command of morphology They have knowledge in specific morphemic

elements and its combinations They can explore on the use of prefixes

and suffixes and based words and on Greek and Latin prefixes for them

to be provided with valuable prior knowledge in their learning of new

terminologies

Students with better understanding on word formation such as

prefixes, suffixes and roots have the tendency to acquire larger

vocabularies and better comprehension in compared to those who do

not have such background, knowledge and skills Having full knowledge

and understanding of vocabulary improve students‟ outcomes

As a College teacher of Thai Nguyen University teaching Basic

English, I‟m interested to investigate the level of linguistic competence

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 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 Non-

Academic text using the following:

6 What English language activities may be suggested to improve

students‟ understanding of English words and concepts?

Scope, Delimitation and Limitation of the Study

The study covers the level of Linguistic competency of Thai

Nguyen University first year students specifically on connotation,

denotation, antonyms, synonyms and ambiguities; word 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 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

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, Basic English 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 study will serve 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

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 improvement

Future Researchers This will be of use to other researchers

who might wish to conduct a similar study Future researchers may

use this study to broaden their knowledge in the field linguistic,

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE

This chapter presents the review of conceptual and research

literatures which have bearing to the present study This literature

provides the right direction and appropriate track to execute and

complete the research study,

Conceptual Literature

The following concepts provide a conceptual frame of reference

to this study These include language component, linguistic

competence, vocabulary development, and language activities

Language Component Language is a human system of

communication that uses arbitrary signals such as voice sounds,

gestures or written symbols As cited byGoldstein (2008)a system of

communication using sounds or symbols that enables a person to

express his feelings, thoughts, ideas and experiences (a language

consists of symbols that can be used to generate as infinite variety of

messages (Weiten, 2007) It is something which arises out from work,

needs, ties, joy, affection, tastes of human beings Language is a

behavior which utilizes body parts such as the vocal apparatus and the

auditory system for oral language; the brachial apparatus and the visual

system for sign language where such body parts are controlled by none

other than the brain for their functions (Peng, 2005) According to Sapir

(1921) language as a purely human and non-instinctive method of

communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of voluntarily

produced symbols Trager (1942) defined language as a system of

arbitrary vocal symbols by means of which a social group cooperates,

Chomsky (1957) on the other hand pointed out that language is a set of

finite or infinite sentences, each finite in length and constructed out of a

finite set of elements while

English language consists of five components These include

phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics A good

language learner must be aware of these in language learning

Kingston(2007) states that phonology is a distinct branch of linguistics

concerned with sounds and gestures and abstract units such as

distinctive features, phonemes, mora, syllables and others and their

conditioned variation via allophonic rules, constraints for derivational

rules It relates to phonetics via the set of distinctive features which map

the abstract representations of speech units to articulatory, gestures,

acoustic signals and or perceptual representations (Halle, 1983)

Further, phonology is concerned with the abstract grammatical

characterization of systems of sounds or signs It concerns itself with

the system of phonemes, abstract cognitive units of speech sound or

signs and study how sounds and gestures pattern in and across

languages relating such concerns with other levels and aspects of

language According to Crystal (2005), phonology is the study of how

one finds order within the apparent chaos of speech sound (Crystal,

2005) It deals with how sounds interact as a system in a particular

language, how these sounds are combined, changed in combination

and which sounds produce differences in meaning through contrast

Every language has its own system and English language has

played a major role in the development of phonology (Carr, 2000) As a

study of how sounds are organized and used in natural language,

phonology has something to do with the sound system of a language

Crystal (2003) pointed out that sound system of English refers to the

number of phonemes which are used in a language and how they are

organized

Linguistic reason is purely result of the certain patterns of sound

system, patterns of sound production and sequences of sound

acquisition The inventory of sounds and their features as well as the

rules which specify how sounds interact with each other are included

in phonological system Anderson (1981)

Nathan (2008) stated that phonology is not only about phonemes

and allophone but also concern with the principles governing the

phoneme system, that is with what sounds languages like to have,

which sets of sounds are most common and which are rare It turns out

that there are prototype-based explanations for why the phoneme

system of the languages of the world have the sounds that they do, with physiological/acoustic/perceptual explanations for the preference for some sounds over others

The sound system of a language is the phonology of English

The phonological system of a language consists of its individual speech

sound, as well as its stress, rhythm and intonation patterns

(www.authorstream.com.preser) and to identify the contrastive elements of phonological oppositions of a language is the main goal in

the study of phonological system Phonological oppositions refer to the

feature or set of features that uniquely distinguishes one phoneme from

another in a language (Sommerstein, 1977)

Phonological knowledge has been defined ( Dinnsen, 1984;

Dinnsen & Elbert, 1984; Elbert and Gierut, 1986) as including important

idiosyncratic and unpredictable aspects of language that are learned

and stored in speakers‟ It refers to those aspects of production and properties of the sound system that are specific to a particular

language These properties must be learnt and can not be generated by

ruleslexicon, along with the predicable rules that associate sound to

meaning Based on phonetic context, the occurrence of other sounds

and features in a particular language is not predictable In English,

voicing instruments and the contrast between fricatives and stops as

well as the difference between central and lateral in liquids are not

predictable These features are referred to as distinctive or contrastive

phonetic features

Phonemic features on the other hand are phonetic features

whose presence or absence can alter meaning Delahunty et.al (1994)

stated that phonetics is an attempt to record and describe the sound of

language objectively It provides a valuable way of opening our eyes

ears to the many nuances of language that are taken for granted

According to phonetic contexts, the presence of phonemic feature is not

predictable There is a change of meaning as well as a change in

pronunciation as a result of adding or subtracting a phonemic feature

Phonology is related to other aspects such as phonetics,

morphology, syntax and pragmatics The sound pattern of a particular

language is analyzed by determining which phonetic sounds are

significant and explain how these sounds are interrupted by the native

speakers

Phonologyis the study of the sound systemsand patterns of

soundsthat can be stated in terms of precise rules in language

(www.linguistics.uka.edu/people) A phone is a unit of speech sound

sounds do not all have the same status In the case in English with

voicing in sonorant, nasality of vowels, or lengths in vowels The

occurrence of certain phonetic features is essentially predictable

Redundant phonetic features are those whose features are present in

entirely predictable based on phonetic environment In signaling

change in meaning contrasts involving a redundant feature cannot be

used Mispronunciation is the result for adding or removing redundant

predictable features Redundant features cannot be ignored in phonetic

transcriptions and the most important in distinguishing listed meaning

are the elements of pronunciation

Phonology also has different models including classical phonology, standard generative phonology and non-linear phonology Classical centers around phonemes, and their different combinations Standard generative is where differences are the main idea, and speech

is seen as a linear sequence of unique sounds As regard to non-linear

it is speech that is multidimensional and not just a linear sequence of sounds,

As regard to morphology it is the study of how words are put

together, develop as a subfield of linguistics as soon as linguist realized

that the rules they had devised to explain sound patterns in English

could explain the structure of words (http.www.quizlet.com) Fromkin et

al (1974) on the other hand stated that morphology is the study of

morphemic structure of words It tells when lexemes may or must carry

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 as well as the study of the internal structure of words and

of the systematic form-meaning correspondences between words

Morphology also covers the identification, analysis and description of

the structure of a given languages, morphemes and other linguistic units

such as root words, affixes, parts of speech, intonation and stresses or

implied text It also focused on the study of the forms and formation of

words in a language (Booji, 2007)

Hamaward (2011) on the other hand stated that the study of

morphology uncovers the lexical resources of language, help speakers

to acquire the skills of using them creatively and consequently express

their thoughts and emotions with eloquence As an essential subfield in

linguistics, morphology has several aims This include: to describe the

structures of words and 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

organized in the lexicon in terms of affinity and contrast The lexical

resources of language is uncovered by the study of morphology and

help speakers to acquire the skills and use them creatively and

consequently express with eloquence their thoughts and feelings

In morphology, there are three main types of languages Two of

these are polysynthetic meaning that the words are made up of

connected morphemes and the other type of polysynthetic language is

an agglutinative language in which the morphemes are connected by

more or less unchanged and the analytic or isolating languages in which

a great majority of morphemes remain independent words

(www.wisegrek.org/what morphology.htm)

Two domains or branches in morphology are identified by Crystal

(2003) These include lexical or derivational morphology which studies

the way in which new items of vocabulary can be built up out of

combination of elements and inflectional morphology which studies the

ways words vary in their forms in order to express a grammatical

content or contrast and deals with inflectional forms of various lexemes

According to Huddleston, et al (2002) inflectional morphology has

something of the character of an appendix to the syntax, the major

component of grammar and it tells what form it takes when it carries an

inflectional property and describe lexical word formation as the process

by which new lexical bases are composed of more than one

morphological element Word formation is the traditional term for lexical

word formation

Morphology aims to describe the structure of words and patterns

or word formation in a language It also aims to pin down the principles

for relating the form and meaning of morphological expressions and

explain how the morphological units are organized in the lexical terms of

affinity and contrast There are two kinds of morphological word

formation namely: derivation which involves affixing bound forms to

existing lexemes whereby the addition of the affix derives a new lexeme

and compounding which is a process of word formation that involves

combining complete word forms into a single form

In morphology, words are the only units of language, the smallest

units of language, are independent, can be separated from one another

and can move around in sentence, words Fasaed et.al (2006) pointed

out that words are independent in that they do not depend on other

words which means they can be separated from other units and can

change position

Words have internal structure being the smallest independent

units of language and built by simple words which comprise of one

piece that do not have internal Complex words on the other hand have

internal structure and consist of two or more pieces O „Grady (1997)

stated that these pieces are called morphemes and are the smallest

bearing units of language

Morphology which refers to the rules of combining morphemes

has three approaches including morpheme-based morphology;

lexeme-based morphology; and word-lexeme-based-morphology The first approach is

analyzed as arrangement of morphemes that is defided as the minimal

meaningful unit of a language The second approach is (usually) an

Item-and Process approach Instead of anylysing a word form as a set

of morphemes arranged in sequence, a word form is said to be the

result of applying rules that alter a word form or stem in order to

produce a new one The last approach- Word-based morphology- is a

(usually0 Word-and-Paradigm approach that takes paradigm as a

central notion Instead of stating rules to combine morphemes into word

forms, this model states generations that hold between the forms of

inflectional paradigms

In the case of morpheme based morphology, analysis of word

forms as arrangement of morpheme is done Morpheme is the minimal

unit of a language There are three basic axioms in

morpheme-based-morphology including single morpheme hypothesis by Baudoin; sign

base morpheme hypothesis by Bloomfield and Lexical morpheme

hypothesis also by Bloomfield In single morpheme hypothesis, roots

and affixes have the same status as morpheme while in sign based

morpheme, the morphemes are dualistic signs because they have both

forms and meanings As for lexical morpheme, hypothesis, the

morpheme, affixes and roots alike are stored in the lexicon

In lexeme-based morphology, it is an item and a process

approach A word form is said to be the result of the rules applied that

changes a word form or stem to produce a new one instead of

analyzing the said form as a set of morphemes arranged in sequence

A stem is taken by an inflectional rule and as a requirement of the rule

changes it and a word form is outputted As for derivational rule, a stem

is taken and based on its own requirement it changes In compounding

rule, it takes a word form and a compound stem is similarly outputted

Word-based-morphology on the other hand is also a word and

paradigm approach A paradigm which serves as the central concept is

considered in this theory Word-based morphology states

generalizations that hold between the forms of inflectional paradigm

instead of stating the rules to combine morphemes into word forms or to

generate word forms from stems

Syntax in linguistic according to Chomsky (1971) is study of rules

that govern the ways in which words combine to form phrases, clauses,

and sentences It is the study of the principles and processes by which

sentences are constructed in particular language Syntactic

investigation of a given language has its goal, the construction of

grammar that can be viewed as a device or some sort for producing the

sentences of the language under analysis

Syntax as one of the major components of grammar is the study

how phrases and sentences are formed from phrases, words and

morphemes Baker (1995) emphasized that all English speakers are

successful language learners since they follow rules unconscious rules

of syntaxderived from early language development and the small

differences in the sentences that they prefer best understood as coming

from small differences of these rules

Syntax as a branch of linguistic that studies how the words of a

language can be combined to make a larger units It incorporates the

grammar of phrases, clauses and sentences and produces uttering

sentences can be seen as an important part of how a person makes

sense of the word is

Aitchison(2001) pointed out that hose principles and rules which

teach us how to put words together so as to form sentences are also

referred to as syntax It also means sentence making A change in the

form and order of words and is sometimes describe as an elusive

process as compared to sound change is called syntactic change The

puzzling nature of syntactic change is due to its variety Modification

can be done with word endings

In addition, Miller (2002) expounded that ,many kinds of spoken

languages have syntax that is different form the syntax of the formal

writing It is stated that the difference exists because any written

language results from centuries of development and elaboration by a

small number of users In spite of the huge prestige enjoyed by written

language in any literate society, spoken language is primary in several

major aspects

Semantics on the other hand is the study of meaning It refers to

the set of rules by which meaning is derived from morphemes, words

and sentences in a given language (Laverda,www.oup.com/US/companion)

As a wide subject within the general study of language, understanding of

semantics is essential to the study of language acquisition, how language

users acquire a sense of meaning, as speakers and writers, listeners and

readers and of language change and how meanings alter over time

(www.teachit.com.uk/themes-linguistics) Understanding language in

social contexts is important as these are likely to affect meaning and for

understanding different English and effects of style Thus, semantics is

one of the most fundamental linguistic concepts The study of meaning

constructed, interpreted, classified, obscured, illustrated, simplified,

negotiated, contradicted and paraphrased are covered in the study of

semantics

In linguistics, semantics is devoted to the study of meaning at the

level of words, phrases, sentences and larger unit of discourse It is

linked to the subject of representation, reference and denotation It is

oriented to the examination of the meaning of signs and the study of the

relations between different linguistic units and compounds, homonymy,

synonymy, antonymy, meronymy and holonymy Morris (1955)

explained that semantics is the study of the interpretation of signs and

symbols used in agents or communities within a particular

circumstances and context Within this view, sounds, facial

expressions, body language and proxemics have semantic or

meaningful content and comprise several branches of study In written

language, the following bear semantic content: paragraph structure and

punctuations

Cruse (2004) pointed out that the formal study of semantics

intersects with many other fields of inquiry like lexicology, syntax,

pragmatics, etymology and others Independently, semantics is a

well-defined field with synthetic properties It includes the study of sense and

denotative reference, truth conditions, argument structure, thematic

roles, discourse analysis, argument structure, thematic roles, discourse

analysis as well as the linkage to syntax

In addition, semantics as a study of the meaning of expression tries to

understand what meaning is, an element of language and it is constructed

by language as well as interpreted, obscured and negotiated by speakers and

listeners (https/sites.google.com/a/Sheffield.ac.uk/).In the study of semantics,

the language can be a natural language such as English or an artificial

language, like a computer programming language Meaning in natural

languages is mainly studied by linguistswho study meaning, divide the

meaning of a word into semantic concepts based on real and concepts

Words are broken down into smaller units called componential

analysis.In fact, semantics is one of the main branches of contemporary

linguistics (semantics.html)

web.eecs.umich.edu/~rthomaso/documents/general/what-is-As one of the main branches of contemporary linguistics,

semantics is related to the connotative and denotative of words The

direct meaning of word is called denotation and the word with implied

meaning is called connotative meaning An individual experience were

made basis for understanding connotation

The knowledge and comprehension of words is also being

referred to as semantics Its skills maybe measured by various

receptive vocabulary tests and it has been noted that people use

different concepts of semantic information during inferences

(Garnham, 1992)

Crystal (2006) emphasized further that the knowledge and

comprehension of words are also covered in semantics Various

receptive vocabulary measured semantic skills The properties of

meaning which is systematic and objective with reference to a wide

range of utterances and languages are being studied by linguistic

approach

The delineation of its subject matter is considered the perennial

problem of semantic The word meaning can be used in varied ways

and only some match to the usual understanding of the scope of

linguistic or computational semantics Pulman (1983) pointed out that

the scope of semantics must be restricted to the literal interpretations of

sentence in a context, ignoring phenomena like irony, metaphor or

conversational implications

Saeed (2013) stated that since semantics is the most diverse field

within linguistics, semanticists must have at least a nodding

acquaintance with other disciplines like philosophy and psychology

which also investigate the creation and transmission of meaning Some

of the questions raised in the neighboring discipline have important

effects on the way linguists do semantics

Potentially contrastive part of meaning of a lexical unit is covered

by semantic component The kinds of semantic component include:

contrastive or diagnostic, distinctive and essential which distinguishes

one lexical unit from the other and shared or common which occurs in

each member of a group of lexical units

As regard to semantic context, it is certain logical or conceptual

entity that corresponds to a sense in a natural language, in a way that

connects the literal senses of the words making up this sentence to one

another and reflects its syntactic structure

Semantic also covers the study of how linguistic elements carry

meaning The linguistic system which convey meaning and the

conceptual system which interprets it are linked inextricably in the

intersection between language and cognition Three things must be

done to acquire the semantics of a language namely: identify the

relevant linguistic items, identify the meanings these link to and learn

how the forms connect to the meanings

Through words language meaning is conveyed Thousands of

words or vocabulary items contain every language that refers to the

concepts ranging from the concrete to the mundane

Semantic structure is as complex and as broad as the range of

concepts The acquisition of any particular area of semantics is

dependent on the specification of the meaning involved as well as the

process of mapping the meaning into linguistic form

With regards to pragmatics as a subfield of linguistics and

semiotics, Jacob, (1993) stated that pragmatics studies the way in

which context contributes to meaning encompasses speech acts theory,

conversational implicature, talk in interaction and other approaches in

language behavior in philosophy, linguistics and anthropology (Jacob,

1993) Yule (1996) pointed out that in pragmatics, it is more concerned

with the meanings that words in fact convey when they are used or with

intended speaker meaning as it is sometimes referred to It can be said

that pragmatics attempts to analyze how it happens that often more is

communicated than said It is more concerned with the use of language

in social contexts and the ways in which people produce and

comprehend meanings through language

Pragmatics on the other hand refers to the choices of language

which persons make use in their social interaction as well as the effects

of those choices It also focus on the rules of how language is used or

in other words the social rules of language such as taking, initiating a

topics, maintaining topics, body language, greetings, salutation, small

talks and others

It focuses also in the aspects of meaning and language use that

are dependent on the speaker, the addressee and other features of the

context of utterances, such as the effect of following aspects on the

speakers choice of expression and the addressee‟s interpretation of an