The present progressive tense and errors made by pupils at Hanoi Technical and professional skills training school = ( Thì Hiện tại tiếp diễn và những lỗi học s20150227.PDF

Although the Present Progressive tense is a common tense which is often taught carefully, pupils still make quite a lot of errors in terms of form and use.. For the above mentioned reaso

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration ssccccssssssscsssssecccssssccssssssscsccsssscsscssssecsscsssssesesssccssssoneceees 1 Acknowl€dØ€ITTIS d5 55 2 9 9.6 959999 9999994.96 560 6000.098898989999996 il

Table €OTTẨTTẮS GG G5 G G5 559.99 90 9.0 00 0000040 600866906 IV

PART A: INTRODUC TION 0G o0 00056 56 1

I8 c0 1 1

"T0 na 2

3 Scope ái 17 2

4 Methodology of the StUyy G5 S121 31 9 1116111111181 811 kg 2 5 Significance Of the StUYy G5 2n SH HH 1H 11g ng 3 PART B: DEVELOPMENÏT SƠ 0 0ì 0 0 0ø 4 CHAPTER 1 - LITERATURE REVTEỀW GG ST seessee Á 1.1 Time - tense - aspect relatIOnshIp ««-ssssss+ssssssssssssssssa 4 1.2 Present Progressive 2 5

L.2.1 FOPMS 2 5

1.2.2 USCS 10

hà 0007 11

ID Ni: 000/2): sài na 12

1.3 Present Progressive tense vs Present SimpÌe tense 15

CHAPTER 2 - THE STUIDY - - 5-5 2< 533333 **5555xseerrres 18 "P004 00/0 18

“HN nh a 18

“529001 18

“hi 20 2.4 Data collection InStTUm€fi[L - c c S113 1011 11 9 0 3 1 ng vn 20 2.5 Data 0/0000 ) 21 a 22 2.6 Results & [DDISCUSSIOH -Q QG SH kế 22 2.6.1 QUESTION Ì G0 H000 0n 0 0 34 22

“00:00 a 24 2.6.3 QQU€SfIOTI Ổ - -G G0 n0 00 00 34 27 2.7 Summary and RecommendafiOnS - 5< << + 3s seeeesssssss 29

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 RATIONALE

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

As apart of the integrated world, Vietnam is trying to improve its English language education in many parts of the country from urban to rural, and even mountainous areas Teachers as main agents in the classroom can investigate existing serious problems, carry out research, and seek solutions to these problems to eradicate them from the classroom In this way, they will contribute to the overall improvement of the quality of English language teaching and learning in their schools in particular, and in Vietnam in general This study has been done based on this background

For my school, Hanoi technical and professional skills training school, English is still considered a minor subject, and the pupils’ general level of English is rather limited Here, teaching English mainly focuses on grammar, which occupies most of teachers and pupils’ study time and takes the considerable percentage in tests and exams Nevertheless, the result of this investment 1s not much optimistic

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

He studying English or He is studing English, etc In addition, not few of them have difficulty in distinguishing between this tense and the Present Simple tense, so they often make errors such as / live with my friends right now This is mostly evident through their practice and test results, as observed by the researcher before this study was carried out

In this circumstance, although documents on the Present Progressive tense are available, most of them are not full and detailed Besides, errors on this tense are rarely mentioned except for in the Master thesis of Pham Viet Huong (2003) named The English

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

study, common errors and solutions are given but in such a general way In addition, studies conducted at vocational schools are rather spare

For the above mentioned reasons, the study entitled The Present Progressive tense and errors made by pupils at Hanoi technical and professional skills training school has

been carried out

2 AIMS OF THE STUDY

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

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

3 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

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

4 METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY

First of all, information about the Present Progressive tense in reliable websites and prestigious books was collected, analyzed and synthesized in the literature review Next, in the study, the quantitative technique ( a multiple-choice test ) was employed Besides, a simple descriptive statistics was applied in the data analysis procedure

5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This writing offers a full and detailed look at the Present Progressive tense as both the studying and teaching materials Besides, common errors mentioned in the study are really helpful especially to non-experienced teachers More importantly, recommendations given are not useful only to this tense but other tenses as well Finally, this study provides

an overview of teaching and learning at a vocational school as inspirations to following studies on this subject

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1 - LITERATURE REVIEW

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

1.1 TIME - TENSE - ASPECT RELATIONSHIP

“Time is a universal, non-linguistic concept with three divisions: past time, present time and future time The concept is universal in that the units of time are extra-linguistic: they exist independently of the grammar of any particular language.” (Quirk and Greenbaum, 1972: 84)

Tense is relative to the time closely It expresses the point of the time English tense has two, the past tense and the present tense The past tense expresses the past events and the present tense expresses the present events For example, "work" is the present tense, when "ed" is added, "worked" is the past tense If we express the future, we can use "will"

or "shall" etc, but these are not admitted as the future tense yet "Will" and "shall" have not only the future meaning but also the mood as the modal auxiliary Therefore, we use the future expression instead of the future tense/ form

Aspect means an act in a state, which is expressed with a grammatical form And aspect can be classified into three: simple, progressive and perfective The simple aspect is the simple forms, the present simple form, the past simple form and the future simple form The progressive aspect is the progressive forms, etc Aspect is relative to the time closely like tense For example, the perfective aspect means the relationship between a completive event and the time, and the progressive means the durative or temporary act, etc

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

I/ He/ She/ It was

We/ You/ They were

Progressive Form (present participle)

I am being, etc

Perfect Form (past participle)

T have been, etc

We must choose carefully among these various forms when selecting the proper verb to go with our subject Singular subjects require singular verbs; plural subjects require plural verbs That's usually an easy matter We wouldn't write: The troops is moving to the border But some sentences require closer attention Do we write: The majority of students

is (or are) voting against the referendum?

We can create negative statements by adding the word “not” after the verb “To be” E.g He is not studying

And create interrogatives by inverting the order of subject and the verb “To be” E.g Is he studying?

A form of the verb “To be” is combined with a past participle to create the passive E.g She is chased everywhere

The “To be” verb can be combined with other modal forms (along with the past participle of the main verb) to convey other kinds of information

E.g The wall may be rebuilt

Notice that adverbs of frequency normally appear after forms of “To be”

E.g They are never on time

(Source: http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/to_be.htm)

We form present participle by adding the suffix ing after verb bare infinitive:

> Verbs ending in a silent e

The silent e is dropped before the ending ing is added

The ie is changed to y before the ending ing is added

When a verb ends in y, no change 1s made

E.g fly flying

> One-syllable verbs ending in a single consonant preceded by a single vowel

Except in the case of the final consonants w, x and y, the final consonant must be

doubled before the ending ing is added The reason for this is to reflect the fact that the pronunciation of the single vowel does not change when the ending ing is added

E.g American Spelling British Spelling

From these examples it can be seen that the American and British spellings for verbs ending in a single | differ only when the last syllable does not have the heaviest stress

> Verbs ending in ic

The ic is changed to ick before the ending ing is added

E.g Tam staying at home = I’m staying at home

He is sleeping = He’s sleeping

Their children are playing football = Their children are playing football

E.g Iam not staying at home = I’m not staying at home

He is not sleeping = He’s not sleeping = He isn’t sleeping

They are not playing football = They’re not playing football = They aren't playing football

“¢ Interrogative structure

We invert Am/ Is/ Are before “S” to form the Interrogative

> Yes/No questions:

Am/ Is/ Are + S + V-ing?

- Yes, S + am/ is/ are

- No, S + am/ 1s/ are + not

The contraction is not included in the structure above

E.g Is he sleeping? — Yes, he is

Are their children playing football? — No, they aren't

e Note: Normally, when “S” in the question is the first person, “S” in the answer is the second person and vice versa

E.g Are you staying at home? - Yes, Tam

- No, I’m not

> WH- questions:

We add question words like who, whom, what, which, where, when, why, how, etc

at the beginning of the question

E.g Who is speaking?

“¢ Negative — interrogative structure

E.g Isn’t he sleeping? — Yes, he is He is sleeping

Why aren’t you staying at home?

e Note: We use contractions in informal situations

a) Firstly, we use it for things that are happening at the moment of speaking

E.g I’m working at the moment

Please call back We are eating dinner

Julie is sleeping

You are studying the present continuous tense

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

E.g She’s staying with her friend for a week

I’m living in London for a few months

John’s working in a bar until he finds a job in his field

I’m reading a really great book

c) We can use the present continuous tense to describe habits which are temporary or new

E.g He’s eating a lot these days

She’s swimming every morning (she didn’t used to do this)

You’re smoking too much

They’re working late every night

d) Another present continuous use is for describing annoying habits, when we want to show that something happens too often and we do not like it In this case we need to use an adverb like ‘always’, ‘forever’, ‘constantly’

E.g You're always losing your keys!

She’s constantly missing the train

He’s always sleeping in

They re forever being late

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

the future

E.g We’re going to the beach at the weekend

I’m leaving at three

They’re coming to the party at the weekend

I’m meeting my father tomorrow

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

E.g I’m getting better at playing the piano

The weather is improving

(Source: http://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/present-continuous-use html)

1.2.3 Signal words

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

a) Signal words describing actions happening now

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

presently (= now)

E.g Now he is studying in Paris

Your proposal is presently being considered

> After imperative

E.g Look! Colin is playing football

> While + present situations

E.g Colin is playing football while Anne is watching TV

b) Signal words describing actions in the future

e today, tonight, this week/ month/ year/ summer, etc

e tomorrow, next week, etc

E.g I’m meeting my father tomorrow

These signal words are quite useful in identifying the PP tense However, “Tagging the adverbs and the expressions which use the present continuous can also be counter- productive Many languages rely entirely on adverbs to express that an action is temporary, and it is a problem for many learners to get used to verb form (i.e continuous aspect) to express this in English.” (Parrott, 1999: 159)

1.2.4 Stative and Dynamic verbs

a) In English language, there are verbs that are not normally used in Progressive tenses, because they describe states rather than actions They are called stative verbs, including:

> Verbs of Inert Perception and Cognition

E.g I detest chocolate, but not J am detesting chocolate

I prefer cinnamon toast, but not J am preferring cinnamon toast

> Relational Verb

E.g Tam sick, but not I am being sick

My brother owes me ten dollars, but not My brother is owing me ten dollars

b) The verbs that can be used in Progressive tenses are called dynamic verbs, including:

> Activity Verbs

call listen say write

drink look at Slice

E.g lam begging you

They will be playing upstairs

> Process Verbs

E.g The corn is growing rapidly

Traffic is slowing down

> Verbs of Bodily Sensation

ache feel hurt itch

E.g lam feeling bad

> Transitional Event Verbs

arrive fall leave

die land lose

Progressive forms indicate the beginning of an event, as opposed to the simple

present tense

E.g She was falling out of bed [when I caught her] as opposed to

She falls out of bed every night

> Momentary Verbs

Progressive forms indicate little duration and suggest repetition

E.g She is hitting her brother

He is jumping around the house

These categories and lists are derived from Quirk and Greenbaum (1993: 46-47)

c) Some verbs can be both stative and dynamic verbs depending on their meanings

I think she’s rich (= I believe) I’m thinking about your plan (= ’'m considering)

He has a pet dog (= He owns) He’s having dinner now (= He’s eating)

I see you're in troubles (= understand) | /’m seeing my lawyer tonight (= I’m visiting) The milk tastes awful (= It has a bad He's tasting the sauce (= He's trying its flavour) flavour)

Your hair looks great (= It appears) She's looking at some old photographs (= she's

examining)

1.3 PRESENT PROGRESSIVE TENSE VS PRESENT SIMPLE TENSE

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

between two tenses are discussed here Nevertheless, first of all an overview of the PS

tense may be useful

Truths or facts that are true

Present habits, customs and abilities

Perceptions, feelings or states that occur at the moment of speaking

Future reference (for timetables) esp with verbs: leave, go, walk, arrive, come, get,

start, begin, etc

“+ Signal words

Use adverbs of frequency like afways, never, etc

E.g Jason goes jogging every morning

¢¢ Stative and Dynamic verbs

Use both stative and dynamic verbs

E.g I like ice-cream

He usually gets up at 6 a.m

( Source: http://d3.violet.vn/uploads/previews/506/290669/preview.swf)

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

the two tenses

a) Forms

(3rd person singular: infinitive + s)

he / she / it speaks he / she / it is speaking

e Exception when adding s: After a consonant, |e Exception when adding ing: Final ie

the final consonant y becomes ie becomes y

b) Uses

e something happening in general e something happening right now

Colin plays football every Tuesday Look! Colin is playing football now

e present actions happening one after another |e present actions happening at the same time First Colin sleeps, then he studies Colin is sleeping and Anne is studying

e timetable or schedule e arrangement for the near future

The film starts at 8 pm Iam going to the cinema tonight

Bob works in a restaurant Jenny is working in a restaurant this week

c) Signal words

Use ‘always’ with general habits Use ‘always’ with annoying habits

I always go to school on Mondays He’s always sleeping in

I prefer cinnamon toast | am-preferringe cinnamon toast

(Source: http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/simpre-prepro)

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

CHAPTER 2 - THE STUDY

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

2.1 CONTEXT OF THE STUDY

2.1.1 Teachers

Teachers at this school belong to different generations and thus have different points of view in teaching Older teachers seem quite conservative; and do not like any changes in teaching Perhaps, they think they are more experienced and their ways of teaching are more suitable; therefore, they want younger teachers to follow them The younger appear to have a lot of ambitions and renovations in teaching but have no chance

to carry them out and also have little autonomy in what, how, when to teach This probably decreases their motivation in their jobs Sometimes, the disagreement in teaching among teachers makes the workplace stressful and partly causes worries in pupils

Older or younger as they are, they often have to teach many more periods than defined So, maybe they do not have enough time and energy for improving their lesson plans and searching for supplementary teaching materials for lessons in class Their teaching, thus, seems to be not attractive enough to pupils

In addition, the teachers’ salary is too low to pay for living costs, so most of them have to take part-time jobs as contracted teachers at other schools, tutors or translators These part-time jobs can even help them earn much more money than the salary they receive at school every month, which undoubtedly distracts them from their teaching at the

school

2.1.2 Pupils

The pupils here are from different regions throughout the country; some of them

are city dwellers, some others come from the rural, the mountainous, and even coastal

areas, so they have different backgrounds, which creates various learning styles among the

learners here

Besides, pupils’ ages are not the same While most are at the age of eighteen, there are some about ten years older, even older than several teachers At times, they rebel in class and make bad examples to their classmates Therefore, class management is sometimes quite difficult

Despite differences in regions and ages, it is likely that these pupils share the same limited abilities, failing the entrance examinations into colleges and universities Thus, they seem to have no choices except for going to vocational schools They attend this school as the last resort and have no motivation in studying Most just cope with studying Some even come to class only for roll-calling in order to have enough conditions to take final examinations In class, these pupils often do their private business like reading stories, listening to music, playing games, chatting, etc Some others come to class with tiredness which is the result of part-time jobs Learning appears to be something out of their concern

Whereas, English, the subject requires learners’ hardness, is only a minor subject Therefore, the pupils are not very interested in learning it, which makes the prospect of English learning at this school dim However, the result of their study is not so low because most of them cheat in examinations and the majority of teachers ignore this

More than three-fourths of the subjects scored the average marks (from 5 to 7) in the Exam | of English, so the results can reflect the general performance of all Since these pupils were in moderate proficiency categories, it could be assumed that the degree of diversity was reasonably low and that a sample of data elicited from 50 subjects would be

sufficient Prior to collecting the sample, the researcher was aware that certain variables,

particularly previous training in the language and intelligence quotients, might have affected their performance on the grammar test However, this study did not aim at investigating the correlation between their performance on a grammar test and other possible independent variables such as proficiency levels or intelligence quotients

2.4 DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENT

According to Bachman (1990: 68), “Language tests can also be used in research” and “Responses to language tests can provide a rich body of data for the identification of processing errors and their explanation” Consequently, this study was based on a grammar test consisting of three questions aiming at investigating pupils’ errors on the Present Progressive The questions in the design of multiple-choice items were useful in measuring the subjects’ errors on forms and uses, and on distinctions between PP and PS

The first question consisted of six items assessing the subjects’ errors on verb forms of PP The matters tested were: auxiliary Be and its existence; present participle: its existence and formation; structures of positive, negative and interrogative together with PS’s interference Each of them was tested two times in two items apart from each other to guarantee the result In each item, there were four options equaling to 25% of the ability to have the correct answer The choices competed in some way with the correct one, appearing to be correct to any subject who was uncertain of the grammatical option Correct answers were placed in different locations (choice A, B, C or D) so that testees who answered only by guessing only got as many as one-third of the point of the question, which was not desired by any testees

The second question consisted of eight items assessing the subjects’ ability to the correct use of PP Four common uses were tested They describe: A Actions happening at the time of speaking, B Actions happening around the time of speaking, C Changing situations, and D Definite future arrangements Each use was questioned two times in two items separated from each other to ensure the truth of the result

The third question focused on the distinctions between PP and its commonly mistaken tense, which is PS It had eight items in the form of pairs: one in PP and the other

in PS, which were disordered Because some differences on forms had been mentioned in question 1, this question only paid attention to those on uses The question gave the situations in which pupils often meet difficulties in deciding the correct tense to use In each item, the requirement to use one or the other tense was signaled to the pupils via signal words like now, look, etc, or contexts like at the party, the doorbell rings, etc, or time-related verbs like begin, arrive, etc Finally, like the two previous questions, each difference was mentioned two times in two items separated from each other to guarantee the result of the study

The multiple-choice items were used (instead of a composition) in this study because: first they were convenient to code and analyze and could avoid off-the-wall responses, second they ensured that the subjects could select among alternatives that were likely to cause difficulties, and last they could measure the subjects’ ability to make fine discriminations The major advantage of the multiple-choice items was that they required the subjects to discriminate among alternatives which needed a level of mastery that a free response item might not be able to detect The incorrect alternatives provided clues to misunderstandings or confusions that needed attention or correction And finally, before decisions were made on the options to be included as distracters, informal observations were conducted during a period of three months

The test was administered to the subjects after they had learnt the lessons about PP and comparisons between PP and PS

2.5 DATA ANALYSIS PROCEDURE

In this study, a simple descriptive statistical procedure was used when considering the data in terms of percentages of subjects’ errors which were grouped into types Then these percentages were compared with those in items testing the same problems 1n order to identify the average percentage of each error type made by the subjects Besides, possible causes were also pointed out as explanation for their errors

2.6 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

2.6.1 Quesfion Í

Table 1 The result for Question 1 in terms of percentages of the subjects’ choices

- Items 1 and 4:

1 Look! Mary and John on the playground

In this item, 24% of the subjects chose either A or B with the false belief that V-ing without auxiliary Be is enough for the verb of the PP This might be for they had forgotten the structure of PP Besides, by choosing A or D, 38% of all believed the formation of V- ing to the verb “run” is not an exception In fact, “run” is the verb of one syllable ending with one consonant preceding by a unique vowel, so we have to double the final consonant before adding —ing It is likely that these pupils did not remember this exception

4 Her son abroad this year

A studying B studing C is studing D is studying 22% had wrong choices of A or B for believing that only present participle is enough for the PP B or C were chosen by 32%, who mistakenly thought ending “y” must

be omitted before —ing is added Maybe, these pupils mistook the adding of —ing with that

of —s