Active and passive participial adjectives in English Errors commonly made by students at Lang Son technical & economic secondary school tính từ chủ động có ngu20150227

ABSTrACT This research aimed to discover common errors made by students in using English Participial Adjectives.. The study shows the six most common errors in students’ performance as f

ABSTrACT

This research aimed to discover common errors made by students in using English Participial Adjectives The participants of the study were 100 the first-year students (aged 18-30) They are from classes K29A1, K29A5, Business Accounting of Lang Son Technical & Economic Secondary school in the school year 2009 / 2010 The instrumentations used to collect data in this study are written grammar test and student interview Numbers and causes

of common errors were identified, calculated, and compared in terms of error types

The study shows the six most common errors in students’ performance as follows:

Errors in Participial Adjectives formation (29.4%); Errors in the use of -ing and -ed Participial Adjectives (31.3%); Failure to identify errors in the use Participial Adjectives (39.5%); Errors in the choice of -ing and -ed Participial Adjectives (47.5%); Errors in sentence transformation (46.7%); Errors in Vietnamese -English translation: Incorrect translation (46.9%)

Based on the findings of the study, some possible solutions to students’ errors in using English Participial Adjectives were worked out Recommendations for further study are also included

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS

E.P.Adjs English Participial Adjectives

P.Adjs Participial Adjectives

S V C Subject + Verb + complement

S V O C Subject + Verb + Object + complement

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Errors in sentence transformation (p.30) Errors in Vietnamese -English translation (p.320 Difference between two groups of students in giving wrong answers to exercise 1 (p.25)

Difference between two groups of students in giving wrong answer to exercise 2 (p.27)

Difference between two groups of students in failing to identify the wrong use of -ing and -ed P.Adjs in exercise 3 (p.28)

Difference in perceiving and (differentiating -ing P.Adjs from -ed Adjs of students of group 1 and group 2 (p.31)

Difference between two groups of students in giving wrong answers to exercise 5 (p.31)

Difference between two groups of students in giving wrong answers to exercise 6 (p.33)

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

from L1

The effects of ‘habit’ formed in the speaker’s first language acting 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-generalisation

A failure by the learner to apply restrictions where appropriate to 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)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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 2 Aims and objectives of the study

2.1 Aims of the study

2.2 Objectives of the study 3 Scope of the study

4 Significance of the study

5 Organization of the thesis

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

Chapter 1: Literature Review 1.1 An investigation into English Participial Adjectives 1.1.1 The formation of the Participial Adjectives

1.1.1.1 The definition of the participles

1.1.1.2 Participial Adjectives

1.1.2 Syntactic functions of Participial Adjectives

1.1.2.1 Attributive

1.1.2.2 Predicative

1.1.3 Semantic features of Participial Adjectives

1.1.3.1 Stative / Dynamic

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1.1.3.2 Gradable

1.1.4 Participial Adjectives in collocation with nouns

1.2 The meaning of Participial Adjectives compared with their Vietnamese equivalents 1.2.1 The meaning of Participial Adjectives rendered into Vietnamese

1.2.2 The choice of -ing and -ed Participial Adjectives in English

1.3 Error and Error Analysis

1.3.1 What is “error”?

1.3.2 What is “error analysis”?

1.3.3 Classification of errors

1.3.4 Possible causes of errors in second language learning 1.3.4.1 Overgeneralization in learning and using E.P.Adjs 1.3.4.2 Developmental errors 1.3.4.3 Teaching - induced errors 1.3.4.4 Language transfer 1.4 Summary

Chapter 2: Research Methodology 2.1 The context of the study 2 Participants and their background 2.3 Research method

2.3.1 Research questions

2.3.2 Instrumentation

2.3.2.1 Test

2.3.2.2 Interview

2.2.4 Data collection procedures

2.2.4.1 Data collection

2.2.4.2 Techniques of analysis

2.3 Summary

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Chapter 3: The Study

3.1 Some actual errors that students at Lang Son Technical & Economic Secondary school commit when using E.P.Adjs

3.1.1 Errors in Participial Adjectives formation

3.1.2 Errors in the use of -ing and -ed Participial Adjectives

3.1.3 Failure to identify errors in the use Participial Adjectives

3.1.4 Errors in the choice of -ing and -ed Participial Adjectives

3.1.5 Errors in sentence transformation

3.1.6 Errors in Vietnamese -English translation

3.2 Findings and Discussion

3.3 Summary

Chapter 4: Possible solutions to the students’ errors in using English Participial Adjectives

4.1 Possible solutions to the errors commonly made by students at Lang Son Technical

&Economic Secondary school

4.2 Suggestions for teaching and learning Participial Adjectives in English

4.2.1 Suggestions for teaching

4.2.2 Suggestions for learning

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

Active and Passive Participial Adjectives in English are said to be one of the most important and complicated elements of English In modern English, many Active and Passive Participial Adjectives in English come into existence and cause a lot of troubles for users, especially non-native speakers

As a teacher of English at Lang Son Technical & Economic Secondary school in Lang Son, I found that my students have faced many problems when they learn Active and Passive Participial Adjectives in English They often fail to understand the differences

between Active and Passive Participial Adjectives and make errors in using them

Therefore, the idea of doing something useful for my colleagues and students has urged me

to do the research on “Active and Passive Participial Adjectives in English: Errors

commonly made by students at Lang Son Technical & Economic Secondary school and some proposed solutions" The study is expected to make a great contribution to

improve the quality of teaching and learning English at Lang Son Technical& Economic

Secondary school

2 Aims and objectives of the study

2.1 Aims of the study

 To help teachers and students gain an insight into Active and Passive Participial Adjectives in English

 To facilitate the teaching of Active and Passive Participial Adjectives to

Vietnamese learners of English

2.2 Objectives of the study

 To establish the syntactic and semantic features of English Participial Adjectives

 To identify the students’ common types of error in using English Active and Passive Participial Adjectives

 To find out the causes of errors committed by Lang Son Technical & Economic Secondary school students when learning and using Active and Passive Participial Adjectives in English

 To work out possible solutions to the problems identified

3 Scope of the study

 Syntactic and semantic features of E.P.Adjs

 Confused to the errors committed by year students at Lang Son Technical& Economic Secondary school

 Types of errors made by 100 first- year students at Lang Son Technical& Economic Secondary school in using Active English Participial Adjectives Once problems have been identified, they will be possible to make suggestions for improvement

4 Significance of the study

The study will be useful to the author and her colleagues in improving the teaching quality The results of the study will help to work out the possible solutions to students’ errors in using English Passive Participial Adjectives

5 Organization of the study

The study is structured 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 1 provides literature review focusing on the issues related to Participial

Adjectives in English, error and error analysis in second language learning

Chapter 2 presents the methodology applied in this work It also includes an

overview of the context of the study

Chapter 3 discusses the findings of the study based on the test and interview results Chapter 4 offers possible solutions to errors commonly made by students at Lang

Son Technical &Economic Secondary school Some suggestions for teaching and learning Participial Adjectives in English are also provided

Part C: Conclusion

1 Conclusion

2 Recommendation for further research

PART B: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: Literature Review

The following issues are to be dealt with in this chapter:

- The formation of the Participial Adjectives

- Syntactic functions of Participial Adjectives

- Semantic features of Participial Adjectives

- The meaning of Participial Adjectives compared with their Vietnamese equivalents

- Error and Error Analysis

- Classification of errors

- Possible causes of error in second language learning

1.1 An investigation into English Participial Adjectives

1.1.1 The formation of the Participial Adjectives

1.1.1.1 The definition of the participles

Participle may be defined differently According to Mc Graw-Hill, "A participle is a verbal that functions as an adjective English has two types of participles: the present participle and the past participle Participles can be combined with the auxiliary verbs have and be to form the perfect aspect, the progressive aspect, and the passive voice The tense is always expressed through the auxiliary verb

Glencoe /McGraw-Hill (1976 Grammar and Language Workbook, p 10)

According to Quirk and others, the present participle is formed by adding -ing to a

verb base It functions as an adjective (eg -surprising views, the offended man) ; it is used with BE to form the progressive (eg - He is playing football) ; it occurs in constructions

such as Let's go fishing

The past participle is formed by adding -ed to a verb base; exceptions are the -en

suffix (drink- drunk; grew- grown) and some irregular verbs (eg send- sent) It is used as

an adjective (a grown boy); it is used with BE to form the passive (eg The man was

offended by the policeman); and it is also used to form the PERFECT ASPECT

(eg I have worked lately)

Randolph Quirk (1987 A University Grammar of English, p.140, 141)

1.1.1.2 Participial Adjectives

According to Quirk, both -ing and -ed participle form can be used as participial

adjectives Most of these such as promising, surprised, and determined can serve as main

verb as well as predicative and attributive adjectives In most cases, then, participial

adjectives can be analyzed as being derived from verbs (eg, following, working, alleged,

frightened) In some case, though, nouns rather than verb provide a more convincing base

form, as with interested or and crowded

In other instances, as with uninteresting or unemployed, a negatives prefix attaches

to the derived participial adjectives (interesting, employed) rather than directly to the verb

In still other, the correspondence with a verb or adjective is more indirect, as with outstanding, ashamed or disabled

Adjectives with -ed or -ing endings are known as Participle Adjectives (P.Adjs for short) Apart form the simple form -ing or -ed, E.P.Adjs are also found in combining with another element to make up a compound

Quirk, R et al (1985: 1567) in "A comprehensive Grammar of the English Language" state that "A compound is a lexical unit consisting of more than one base"

Participial Adjectives are presented syntactically in co-ocurrence with some other elements such as a noun, and an adjective or an adverbial prefix Their syntactic relationships with P.Adjs can be formulated as:

- Adverb + ed- participle as in carefully- homed, well- timed

- Adverb + ing -participle as in free- spending, rapidly- growing

- Adjective + ed -participle as in ready- made, white- washed

- Noun + ed participle as in classroom- based, church- owned

- Noun + ing participle as in eye- catching, hair- raising

Randolph Quirk (1999 Long Man Grammar of spoken and Written English, p 274)

breathtaking fact - finding heart -breaking

record -breaking self - defeating life - giving

self - justifying

They also divide compound P.Adjs into two distinct types follows: Type "verb and Object" and Type " Verb and adverbial"

We shall consider the -ing and -ed participles in these two types

* -ing participle in compounds: (active meaning)

[A] Type "Verb and Object" ( obvious active meaning )

Man-eating: object + -ing participle (It means " X eats men")

fact-finding

heart-breaking self-defeating life-prolonging peace-keeping

In mouth -watering, there is a causative relation: "X makes the mouth water"

In informal American English we have such a compound used to pre-modify an adjective in finger -licking good

[B] Type "Verb and adverbial" (proto-active meaning)

a) Ocean -going: Adverbial + -ing participle (It mean "X goes across oceans)

These are in fact non-active in proper analysis For example:

* -ed participle in compounds (passive meaning)

- ed participles do not appear in the type "Verb and object" They appear in the type

"Verb and adverbial", which may be sub- classified as follows:

b) Heartfelt; adverbial + -ed participle (It means "X feels it in the heart") The type

is particularly productive when the noun has agential meaning and consists of self: (X styles oneself)

Self-styled, self- appointed, self- employed, self taught (but a self -addressed

envelope is one that is addressed to oneself) For example:

handmade

suntanned

weather-beaten

airborne home-brewed typewritten

cost-led home-made thunder-struck

custom-built language-retarded town-bred

c) hard-working: adverb/ adjective + ing participle ( It means 'X work hard', 'X look good') For example:

easy- going

high-sounding

everlasting sweet-smelling

far-reaching well-meaning

good-looking

d) Quick-frozen: adjective / adverb + -ed participle (It means "X was frozen quickly")

For example:

dry -cleaned

long -awaited

new-laid wide-spread

far-fetched true-born

fresh-baked well-meant

Randolph Quirk (1985.Comprehensive Grammar of the English language, p.1576, 1577)

1.1.2 Syntactic functions of Participial Adjectives

- Like adjectives, P Adjs tend to appear in two major syntactic functions in clauses: attributive and predicative

1.1.2.1 Attributive

- Attributively, P.Adj may be divided into subtypes: Pre attributive and post attributive In pre attributive position, a P.Adj precedes a noun as a nominal group with obvious active- passive contrast:

* P.Adj + Noun

Eg

Active: Boiling water turns to steam (= water which is boiling)

The team was welcomed by cheering crowds

Passive: I had a reserved seat (= a seat which had been reserved)

The experiment must be done under controlled conditions

The terrorists used a stolen car

- This pattern is often neater than using a finite clause such as when water boils, it turns to steam, or The terrorists used a car they had stolen The participle modifies the noun, like an adjective Compare hot water, enthusiastic crowds, a special seat

- In post attributive position, a P.Adj follows a noun as a modifier in a nominal group

* Noun + P.Adj

Eg He got the watch repaired

I watched the match because I knew some of the people playing

He found the watch stolen

The man writing on the board when I came in

- According to Quirk.R et al (1985) "Adjectives can sometimes follow the noun or pronoun they modify A post- posed adjectives (together with any complementation it may have) can usually be regarded as a reduced relative clause"

Eg He got the watch repaired (He ordered that the watch should be repaired)

I watched the match because I knew some of the people playing

(I watched the match because I knew some of the people who were playing)

He found the watch stolen (He found that the watch was stolen)

The man writing on the board when I came in

(The man who was writing on the board when I came in)

Randolph Quirk (1987 A University Grammar of English, p 396)

1.1.2.2 Predicative

According to Randolph Quirk (1999 Grammar of spoken and Written English, p

274) "Predicative Adjectives have two syntactic roles: subject predicative and object

predicative Subject predicative complements a copular verb such as: seem, become, feel,

look, etc characterizing the nominal expression in the subject position" There is

co-reference between subject& subject complement, the two being in an intensive relation ship (SVC), characterizing the subject The predicative can be the subject complement to a

noun, a noun phrase or a clause

Eg I don't think your joke was amusing

The new song is interesting

My parents were surprised

Object predicative follow a direct object, making a predication about that noun phrase There is co- reference between direct object and object complement, the two being

in an intensive relationship (SVOC)

Eg He saw the watch stolen (He saw that the watch was being stolen)

Predicative adjectives can be object complement to clauses

Eg I found what he told me interesting

The Predicative adjectives are used after the copular verbs, we may have difficulty in distinguishing between adjectival and verbal uses of the Predicative adjectives The following criteria show the distinction between adjectival and verbal uses of the Predicative adjectives

The first criterion for this distinction is the presence of a direct objects after Predicative adjectives (ing form) hence the so-called active participial adjective Let's look

at figure 1.1

Adjectival Verbal

This film is terrifying This film is terrifying the children

Your comments are alarming Your comments are alarming the people

Figure 1.1 The criterion for this distinction is the presence of a direct objects after P.Adjs (ing form)

The second criterion for this distinction is the presence of a by -agent phrase after the -ed form, which indicates that the -ed form is verbal Conversely, the presence of adjectival complement, such as a that - clause or a nonfinite clause or prepositional phrase indicates that it is adjectival, which is shown in figure 1.2

I was very embarrassed

I was embarrassed by your behaviour

I was very embarrassed by your behaviour

She was surprised She was surprised by my reaction

She was frightened that I'd be late

She was frightened of losing power

Figure 1.2: The criterion for this distinction is the presence of a by -agent phrase after the -ed form,

Another criterion for distinction between the adjectival & verbal uses of the -ing form is the use of the intensifier "very" before it Let's have a look at figure 1.3

She was very charming She is charming a man next door

the fact that "charming" takes " very" as

modifier is strong evidence for analyzing it

as adjective

"charming" is followed by a direct object;

therefore, it is evidently more verbal; it is not gradable and can not function as predicative complement The inability to supply " very" in this case indicates a verbal construction showing the transivity of the verb

Figure 1.3 The use of the intensifier "very" before -ing P.Adjs

This criterion can hardly be applied to the -ed form, since "very" can sometimes be supplied in both the adjectival and verbal constructions as in the following figure:

I was very embarrassed I was very embarrassed by your behaviour

She was very surprised She was very surprised by my reaction

Figure 1.4 The use of the intensifier " very before -ed P.Adj

1.1.3 Semantic features of Participial Adjectives

According to Quirk (1987 A University Grammar of English, p.124) "adjectives are characteristically stative Many adjectives, however, can be seen as dynamic" Most of these adjectives are gradable We shall deal with these features of P.Adjs in turn

1.1.3.1 Stative/ Dynamic

Basing on the meaning of the verb base, we see that P.Adjs are divided into two groups: P.Adjs of state & P.Adjs of action

P.Adjs of state refer to P.Adjs which derive from some stative verbs expressing

emotions or feelings like disappointing, disappointed, interested, amusing, amused, terrfying, terrified The P.Adjs of state are both active and passive Usually -ing P.Adjs

convey active meaning and -ed P.Adjs convey passive meaning

Eg What thrilling news this is! Congratulations!

We were thrilled to hear your good news

After traveling all day and night they were very tired

She has a tiring job She has a tired sound to her voice

P.Adjs of action refer to P.Adjs which derive from some dynamic verbs expressing

activity and process like damaging, damaged, stolen, fallen, broken, running

Some of the P.Adjs of action are both active and passive while others are either active or passive

Eg

- A broken heart (passive meaning): (a heart that has been broken)

- ( furnishing: non occurring)

- falling leaves (active meaning)

- (ran: non occurring)

- a damaging earthquake (active meaning): an earth quake which damages something

- a damaged building (passive meaning): a building which is damaged by an earhquake

- P.Adjs of action sometimes denote a completed action of the noun referent as in:

- the escaped prisoner (‘the prisoner who has escaped’)

- a grown boy (‘ a boy who has grown (up)’)

- the retired manager ( the manager who has retired)

- the faded curtains (the curtains which have faded)

1.1.3.2 Gradable

Because participial adjectives contain the nature of adjectives or adverbs, some of them, especially for those that are apt to develop into adjectives, have the characters of

gradability Like common adjectives or adverbs, some –ing or ed participles have three

degrees of comparison: positive/absolute degree, comparative degree and superlative

degree The positive/absolute degree is just the base form of –ing or- ed participle

Generally speaking, -ing or-ed participle has two or more than two syllables, their

comparative and superlative degrees are regular by adding more and most in front of –ing

or ed participle, and the superlative degree should be with definite article the, e.g

more interesting most exiciting

more interested most excited

According to Michael Swan: “When a past participle is used as a gradable adjective, it can usually be modified by very This is common with words referring to mental states, feelings and reactions”

Eg: a very frightened animal

A very shocked expression

The children were very bored

She looked very surprised

Common exceptions:

That’s Alice, unless I’m (very) much mistaken

When a past participle is part of a passive verb, much or very much is normal

He’s very much admired by his students

Britain’s trade position has been (very) much weakened by inflation

Micheal Swan (1995 Practical English Usage, p 405)

- Certain P.Adjs - which modify a referent noun can focus on the process as a temporary, non- intrinsic feature of the referent, and not as an intrinsic or permanent quality: In this case these P.Adjs can not be modified by adverbs of degree

- an approaching storm ( not a very approaching storm)

- a dying custom ( not an extremely dying custom)

- a setting sun ( not a slightly setting sun)

- The other group of -ing participles is used to describe a process or state that continues over a period of time,

- windling herds of humpback whales

- life of increasing labor and decreasing leisure

- Oil and gas drillers are doing a booming business

- P.Adjs can be modified by adverbs referring to the speed or extend of the process

Eg - the slowly setting sun - a fast approaching storm

- a horribly injured man - a perfectly planned journey

- a fully furnished flat - a well polished table

1.1.4 Participial Adjectives in collocation with nouns

* Active and passive meaning

- The head nouns in nominal group which are in collocation with P.Adjs play an important part in the distinction between active and passive meaning of the P.Adjs Let's consider the following examples:

The boring professor put the students to sleep

The boring lecture put the students to sleep

The bored students went to sleep during the boring lecture

- In "boring professor" the relationship between "boring" and the noun "professor" can be interpreted as something like a "professor who bores students" Or "boring lecture"

can be interpreted as something like a lecture which bores students

- The -ing P.Adjs of state is used to describe someone or something that cause a feeling or reaction and the head noun is the doer or causes of action

- In "bored students" the relationship between "bored" and "students" can be interpreted as something like "students who are bored by the professor or by the lecture"

- When the –ed P.Adjs of state is used to describe someone or something who experience a feeling or reaction, the head noun is affected by the action

- This distinction can also be applied to the P.Adjs of progress Take the following as examples

- A damaging earthquake occurred recently People are still in the process of repairing the many damaged building and streets

("a damaging earthquake can be interpreted as "an earthquake which causes damaged by something like and earthquake)

* Being-completed vs completed

- P.Adjs of action with -ed or -ing form can bear the distinction interpreted as being completed versus completed thus corresponding to the progress and perfect tenses Take the following as examples

- a developed country ( a country which has already developed)

- the retired manager ( the manager who has retired)

- a developing country (a country which is developing its economy)

- a burning house (a house that is on fire)

- in some cases basing on the "permanent" characteristic in attributive positions, some P.Adj cannot collocation with nouns after them

The explanation to this case is given by Quirk & Greenbaum (1972; 908, 909) in " Grammar of Comtemporay English"

Eg The man was very shocked

The man was very surprised

"The man himself can not shock or surprise attributed permanently to him, but a particular look can, of course, be permanently associated with such a value So too we may speak of a smiling face rather than of a smiling person It is thus necessary to realize that

we are not here concerned with particular participial so much as with their contextual meaning A wandering minstrel is one habitually given to wandering, but if we saw a man wandering down the street, we could not say:

“Who is the wandering man?"

Again, someone who told good stories could be a (very) entertaining person but one

could not say this of someone who happened, at the moment of speaking, to be

entertaining his friends with a good story

1.2 The meaning of Participial Adjectives compared with their Vietnamese equivalents

The focus of this part is to present the comparison between the meaning expressed

by P.Adjs in English and their Vietnamese equivalents

1.2.1 The meaning of Participial Adjectives rendered into Vietnamese

Vietnamese adjectives which express the quality of things may be: hay, thú vị, buồn

tẻ, đáng ngac nhiên, thất vọng These adjectives may be applied when we are talking about

someone's feeling

For example:

- Everybody was surprised that he passed the examination

- (Mọi người rất ngạc nhiên về việc nó thi đỗ)

- It was quite surprising that he passed the examination

- (Nó thi đỗ là một điêu đáng ngạc nhiên)

- I was disappointed with the film I expected it to be much better

-( Tôi thất vọng về cuốn phim Tôi nghĩ nó hay hơn nhiều)

- The film was disappointing I expected it to be much better

- (Bộ phim thật thất vọng Tôi nghĩ nó hay hơn nhiều)

The reason why we can use the same form of adjectives to convey the meaning of the above examples is that in Vietnamese the concept "voice" does not exist Therefore, there is almost no distinction between the active meaning and passive meaning of the adjectives in the Vietnamese language In contrast, there should be a choice of -ing and -ed P.Adjs in the English language, which will be presented here under

1.2.2 The choice of -ing and -ed Participial Adjectives in English

E.P.Adjs which come from some verbs expressing mental state such as excite,

worry, interest, satisfy, frighten etc, may convey the active or passive meaning

- These P.Adjs are used both in attributive and predicative positions

+ Used predicatively, these P.Adjs denote a state where an -ing form implies something active and an -ed form implies something passive

For example:

It was disappointing not to get the job I was disappointed not to get the job

The game was really exciting The United fans were excited

+ Used attributively, such P.Adjs, apart from expressing activeness or passiveness, may refer to inherent or temporary value of the head noun -ing P.Adjs refer to both inherent and temporary value of the noun referent meanwhile -ed P.Adjs only refer to temporary value of the noun referent Let's look at the following examples:

- The tired bird flew very slowly

E.P.Adjs derived from action verbs, both transitive and intransitive express processs

or event They are more often used in attributive position than in predicative position When used as modifiers, P.Adjs of action often denote a subclass of the noun referent, by indicating a process associated with it, for example:

+ screaming children, falling leaves, the sailing ship, shrinking man, a growing population, the burning grass

+ a lost dog , fried eggs, the offended man, fallen leaves, a broken vase, the expected results

Take the following examples for more illustration:

- When Jane noticed the burning building, he notified the fire department

immediately

- There was the laughter and gurgle of falling water in the empty tanks

Burning and falling, in the above example are from action verbs which denote an event in progress

- The -ed form refers to a completed event or a passive process, as in

Eg: - The police are looking for an escaped prisoner (a)

- Japan is a developed country (b)

- He'd like a boiled egg and some milk for breakfast (c)

- Many injured people are taken to hospital after the crash (d)

- ed P.Adjs in c and d refer to passiveness and those in a and b refer to a completed action

From the above comparison, it seems that Vietnamese learners of English may have difficulty in learning and using P.Adjs in the two positions: pre attributive and predicative, therefore, the confusion about the use of -ing and -ed P.Adjs is inevitable We shall predict hypothetical errors made by Vietnamese students in learning and using E.P.Adjs in the next part

1.3 Error and Error Analysis

1.3.1 What is “error”?

In language teaching literature, various definitions of errors have been presented by

experts John Norrish in his book (1983 Language Learners and their errors, p.7) calls a

‘systematic deviation’, when a learner has not learnt something and consistently ‘gets it wrong, an ‘error’

We, for the purpose of this study, adopt the definition of error by Richards stated in

Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics (2002, p 184)

“…Error (in the speech or writing of a second language learner) is the use of a linguistic item (e.g a word, a grammatical item, a speech act, etc.) in a way which a fluent

or native speaker of the language regards as showing faulty or incomplete learning”

1.3.2 What is ‘error analysis’?

According to Richards, “Error analysis is the study and analysis of the errors made

by second and foreign language learners" Emerged in the 1960s, Error analysis may be

carried out in order to:

a) Identify strategies which learners use in language learning

b) Try to identify the causes of learners’ errors

c) Obtain information on common difficulties in language learning as an aid to teaching, or in the preparation of teaching material

d) Jack.C.Richards & Richard Schmidt (2002 Longman Dictionary of language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, p 184-185)

syntax, and lexicon John Brian Heaton divides errors into two main types: Global and

Local errors According to him: “Those errors which cause only minor trouble and

confusion in a particular clause or sentence without hindering the reader’s

comprehension of the sentence are categorized as Local errors” “Global errors are

usually those which involve the overall structure of a sentence and result in misunderstanding or even failure to understand the message which is being conveyed” J

B Heaton (1998 Dictionary of Common Errors, p.154)

Richards, Jack C (1984 A Non-Contrastive Approach to Error Analysis, p.172-188)

distinguishes three major types of errors: Interlingual errors, Intralingual errors and

Developmental errors

Richards, J.C (1992 Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics)

defines “Interlingual errors as being the result of language transfer, which is caused by

the learner’s first language” Interlingual errors may occur at different levels such as

transfer of phonological, morphological, grammatical and lexico-semantic elements of the native language into the target language

“Intralingual errors are those which reflect the general characteristics of rule

learning, such as faulty generalization, incomplete application of rules, and failure to learn conditions under which rules apply”

“Developmental errors illustrate the learners’ attempt to build up concepts and

hypotheses about the target language from their limited experience of it in the classroom

or textbook” Richards, J.C (1974 “A Non-Contrastive Approach to Error Analysis”, p 174-175)

In this study, the researcher would like to adopt the Richards’ error classification theory to predict and analyze students’ errors in using English Participial Adjectives because sufficient types of error and causes of error were much taken into account in his theory

 Distinction between ‘error’ and ‘mistake’

According to Richards, a learner makes a mistake when writing or speaking because

of lack of attention, fatigue, carelessness, or some other aspects of performance Mistakes can be self-corrected when attention is called Whereas, error is the use of linguistic items

in a way that a fluent or native speaker of the language regards it as showing faulty or incomplete learning In other words, it occurs because the learner does not know what is

correct, and thus it cannot be self-corrected Richards, J.C (2002 Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistic, p.184)

1.3.4 Possible causes of errors in the second language learning

From interlingual and intralingual perspectives we shall consider the followings as major types of errors that Vietnamese learners commit in learning English in general and predicting errors they may commit in using E P Adjs in particular

1.3.4.1 Overgeneralization in learning and using E.P.Adjs

Overgeneralization is a process common in both first and second - language learning, in which a learner extends the use of grammatical rule of linguistic item beyond its accepted uses, generally by making words or structures follow a more regular pattern For example, a child may use ball to refer to all round objects, or use mans instead of men for the plural of man When dealing with E.PAdjs, students may commit errors of the use

of -ing and -ed P.Adjs, which reflect the general characteristics of the rule learning, such

as faulty generalization, incomplete application of rules and failure to learn conditions under which rules apply

In fact, may students think -ing P.Adjs usually collocation with an inanimate noun and -ed P.Adjs collocate with animate nouns

They may produce such errors:

learners often produce verb forms such as comed, goed and breaked instead of came, went and broken This is thought to be because They have learnt the rule for regular past tense

formation and then apply it to all verbs n using E.P.Adjs, Vietnamese students may make such errors

-The breaking dishes lay on the floor

- He found it surprised to see the passport office closed when he arrived

This is again a type of generalization since students failed to observe the restriction

of the rules and apply the rules to contexts where they do not apply

Later such errors disappear as their language ability increases These overgeneralization errors are a natural or developmental stage in language learning

1.3.4.3 Teaching- induced errors

In language learning transfer of training is known as induced error Richards et al define it as an error which has been caused by the way in which a language item has been presented or practiced

For example, in teaching at the teacher may hold up a box and say I'm looking at the

box However, the learner may infer that at means under If later the learner uses at for

under (thus producing (The cat is at the table) this would be induced error or transfer of

training

Another example is an induced error in using P.Adjs We have observed some lessons on P.Adjs in both lower and upper secondary schools and have taken notes of the teachers' explanation on the use of P.Adjs In stead of giving clear and adequate explanation, some of them simplify this matter by giving such incomplete rules: "animate nouns go with -ed P.Adjs, inanimate nouns go with

-ing P.Adjs"

They may produce such errors:

- She is an interested writer

- We bought some freezing vegetable at the supermarket

Transfer of training may cause learners to build false systems or concept of the rules

in the target language

In this study, the researcher would like to adopt the Richards’ error classification theory to predict and analyze students’ errors in using English Participial Adjectives because sufficient types of error and causes of error were much taken into account in his theory

1.3.4.4 Language transfer

On learning one language learners seem to translate whatever comes into their mind into the target language and may impose their own language on the target language usage Frequently, language learners keep trying to find linguistic equivalence of their native language and immediately transfer it into the target language The effect off one language

on the learning of another is known as language transfer Such effects may be either advantageous or disadvantageous and are divided into two types

- Positive transfer which facilitates the learning might occur when both the native and the target language share something in common

- Negative transfer (also known as interference) is the use of a native language pattern of rule, which leads to an error or inappropriate form in the target language

According to George (1972), Patsy M Light Brown and Nina Spada (1999), one third of all errors made by target language learners are due to interference from their native language Therefore, we shall consider the interfernce from native language when Vietnamese learners use E.P.Adjs

In Vietnamese there is no distinction between the active and passive meaning of the adjectives In order to express someone's feelings or quality of things, we may use the same form

For example, the adjective "ngạc nhiên" may be used to express someone's feelings

in Vietnames

Cô ấy ngạc nhiên về cách cư xử của anh ấy

This adjective may be used to express the quality of things

Cách cư xử của anh ấy đáng ngạc nhiên

- Vietnamese learners may be bewildered when dealing with the pair such as

"surprising" and "surprised"as well as other pairs of P.Adjs with active or passive

meaning Therefore, the interference of the mother tongue is bound to cause our students' errors in perceiving E.P.Adjs

1.4 Summary

This chapter I have presented two main issues The first issue focused on syntactic and semantic features of E.P.Adjs as well as the choice of -ing and -ed P.Adjs in English The second section includes major issues related to definition of error, types of error, sources and causes of error From these theoretical bases, the study will be carried out Hopefully, it will work out some possible solutions to errors commonly made by students

at Lang Son Technical Economic Secondary school

Chapter 2: Research Methodology 2.1 The context of the study

In the context of Lang Son Technical&Economic Secondary school, English is a non-major but a compulsory subject: 90 periods for General English which is taught in the first year Elementary Lifelines has been used for General English This book consists of fourteen lessons and is designed for a development of four language skills: reading, listening, writing, and speaking However, the limitation of the time and the pressures of the English Test and the English curriculum have prevented teachers from covering all language skills carefully Only speaking and reading are introduced and practiced at the classroom Listening and writing are often practiced at home by the students themselves

2.2 Participants and their background

The participants of the study are hundred first-year students in the academic year of

2010 - 2011 who I took randomly as sample to my study They are from classes K29A1, K29A5, Business Accounting of Lang Son Technical & Economic Secondary school They are at elementary level and all major in Business Accounting

They all come from different parts in Lang Son province 90 percent of them were minorities, aged from 18 to 30 They have learnt English for at least 3 years at their high schools but many of them were not good at English before they come to Lang Son Technical &Economic Secondary school All these students fell the university and college entrance examinations Some of them come from remote areas and they are not proficient

in standard Vietnamese language

2.3 Research method

The main research methods used in the study are both qualitative and quantitative: The quantitative method will be based on the data collected from Written grammar test

The qualitative method will be based on the interview to some of the participants about their choice of -ing or ed P.Adjs (distinguishing different kinds of errors for instance)