The difficulties of khmer students in learning english at can tho university

The study the difficulties of Khmer students in learning English at Can Tho university aimed to find out the difficulties that Khmer CTU students face in learning English which caused b

CAN THO UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

THE DIFFICULTIES OF KHMER STUDENTS IN LEARNING ENGLISH

AT CAN THO UNIVERSITY (CTU)

B.A thesis

Supervisor: Le Thi Huyen, M.A Researcher: Kim Phi Rum

Student‟s code: 7062920 Class: NN0652A1

Course: 32

Can Tho – April , 2010

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

To finish this research, I have got support from many people Firstly, I would like

to thank to my supervisor, Le Thi Huyen, M.A, who has advised and showed me the procedure for the research step by step During the time working with her, I have realized errors that should be corrected to be a good person I have got more experience on working style, as well as know how to make thesis more effectively which is very useful for my higher education

Secondly, I want to send my gratitude to my friends – Vu Thi Hong and Nguyen Thi Nhuyen, who have helped me so much during my process Especially, when I have difficulties, two of them are always willing to help me

Thirdly, I am also grateful to Mr Moore Stephen (Department of Linguistics Macquaire University) and Ms Suksiri Bounchan (Department of English Institute of Foreign Languages, Royal University of Phnom Penh) who have presented a good topic

“Khmer learner English: A teachers’ guide to Khmer interference”, supplied me the

necessary materials for my thesis when I was in Cambodia

Thanks also to my advisor, Bui Minh Chau, M.A, who has given me special help during my difficult process Thank my parents who have encouraged me to finish the research well Last but not least, thank 74 participants who are willing to take part in my research so that I can have the data to finish my thesis

CONTENTS

CONTENTS Page

List of tables v

Abstract vi

1 Introduction 1

1 General statement of the problem 1

2 Statement of hypotheses, objectives and questions 2

3 General organization of the study 3

2 Literature review 4

1 The difficulties caused by the mother tongue in second language learning 4

1.1 Overview of Khmer language 4

1.2 The difficulties of Khmer Cambodia learners in learning English 4 a In phonology 4

b In grammar 9

1.3 The influence of L1 transfer 12

2 The difficulties caused by attitudes and motivation factors in learning English 14

3 Research method

1 Research design 17

2 Description of participants and instruments 17

2.1 Participants 17

2.2 Research instruments 17

3 Research procedures 18

4 Results 19

1 The level of difficulties in learning English of Khmer CTU students 19

1.1 The level of difficulties in learning English caused by the mother tongue 19

1.2 The level of difficulties in learning English caused by factor of attitude 19

1.3 The difficulties in learning English can be caused by motivation 20 2 Khmer CTU students‟ awareness of the differences between Khmer and English 22

5 Discussions 25

1 Discussions 25

2 Pedagogical implications 26

3 Limitation and recommendations 27

4 Conclusions 27

References 28

Appendices 30

LIST OF TABLES

Tables: Page

2.1 Original consonant in Khmer 5

2.2 Distinctive phonemes in Khmer 5

2.3 Distinctive phonemes of invented consonant sounds in Khmer 6

2.4 Dependent and independent Khmer vowels 8

3.1 Clusters of questionnaire 18

4.1.1.a The mean score of level of difficulties in learning English caused by the mother tongue 19

4.1.1.b Descriptive statistic of difficulties in learning English caused by factor of attitude 20

4.1.1.b.1 Descriptive statistic of specific item of attitude factor 20

4.1.2 The overall mean score of Khmer students‟ self-study frequency in learning English 21

4.1.1.c The level of difficulties in learning English caused by the motivation factor 23

4.1.1.c.1 Descriptive statistic of specific items of English speaking environment difficulties 23

4.2 The overall mean score of Khmer students‟ awareness of the difficulties between Khmer and English 24

ABSTRACT

Nowadays, English is one of the most important languages of the world However, learning English seems to be difficult to all learners as well as to Khmer CTU students The

study the difficulties of Khmer students in learning English at Can Tho university aimed to find

out the difficulties that Khmer CTU students face in learning English which caused by the mother tongue as well as attitude and motivation factors With a descriptive research, 16 items – questionnaires were delivered to 74 Khmer CTU students who were following non-major English program to get data The data was analyzed by the Statistic Package for the Social Science (SPSS) program The result shows that Khmer CTU students sometimes have difficulties

in pronouncing English sounds that do not exist in Khmer language system Besides, lack of motivation from teachers; difficult English learning material; as well as lack of English speaking environment are other difficulties that Khmer students are suffering when learning English at CTU However, they still have positive attitude to English learning From the results, the researcher proposes some implications for both teachers and students that students should not only have good attitudes to their English learning but also know the differences between their mother tongue (Khmer) and English so that they will have “special treatments” to any aspects of English which are different from those of the former Teachers should make students more motivated in learning English, use the appropriate materials to students‟ ability as well as ask students to practice speaking English more frequently

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

In this chapter, I would like to state general statement of the problem; statement of the hypotheses, objectives, or questions Besides, general organization and coverage of the study are also included afterwards

1 General statement of the problem

Nowadays, no one denies the importance of English language It is clear that the English language has become very dominant around the world In some countries, it is a native language, and in others, it is taught in schools as a second language According to

“The world ten most influential languages” by Weber, G (1995), it ranks the second of the languages that have the most native speakers of the world with more than 508 million people (after Mandarin Chinese with more than 1 billion people) It is the official language of more countries than any other languages, including New Zealand, the U.S.A, Australia, England, Zimbabwe, the Caribbean, Hong Kong, South Africa, and Canada According to Internet World Statistics English, it is also the language that is used most in the Internet People who know English can deal with the Internet, which is regard information and communications revolution It is clear that English is very necessary today We use it in different fields of life such as economy, e-commerce, medicine, aviation tourism, travel, and so on Especially, it is used in the field of education by the university and institute for the scientific research

Because of the necessity of English, millions of people all over the world learn this language In Vietnam, English is taught from the 6th grade in Secondary School not only in the cities but also in the countryside However, learning English seems to be not easy to all learners, including Khmer learners who are considered to be more convenient

in learning English because of the similarities between their mother tongue and English For example, it is rare for Khmer speakers to have any problems with pronouncing initial

or medial – positioned consonant cluster such as /cr/, /pl/, /sm/, /tw/ because Khmer also has a similar system of blending consonants together (Moore, S & Bounchan S., 2010) Indeed, Khmer learners have met many difficulties in learning English

Lightbown, M and Spada, N (1993) stated that learning English is not easy because there are many factors affecting English learners such as intelligence, aptitude,

age at which learner begins learning the language Besides, the native language or the mother tongue is one of the important factors in learning English (Kenworthy, 1987) It can make learners learn English easily or cause difficulties to them According to Lado,

R (1957), “the elements that are similar to his native language will be simple for him, and the elements that are different will be difficult” On the other hand, in pronunciation, when there is a sound in the target language, which is absent the learner native sound inventory of vice versa, learners may not be able to produce or even perceive the sounds (Avery, P and Ehrlich, S 1992) Moreover, the factor of attitude and motivation is also one of the important factors leading to success “the more succeeds the greater one‟s motivation, the greater one‟s motivation, the more one succeeds” (Lightbown & Spada, 1993) In other words, if learners have positive attitude and motivation in learning English, it will motivate them in learning In contrast, if they have negative motivation, it will lead them to difficulties in learning English

In brief, there are difficulties in learning English of English learners especially Khmer CTU students There are many factors affecting students; however, two main factors that may directly or indirectly affect the result of Khmer students‟ language learning are their mother tongue, and their attitude and motivation These factors may cause difficulties to Khmer learners Being a Khmer student at CTU, I really want to help Khmer students realize as well as overcome problems in learning English Therefore, I

want to conduct the research that I named The difficulties of Khmer students in learning

English at Can Tho university (CTU)

2 Statement of the hypotheses, objectives and questions

2.1 Statement of the hypotheses

1 The differences between the mother tongue (Khmer) and English as well as lack

of attitude and motivation cause difficulties in learning English of Khmer CTU students

2 Khmer CTU students‟ awareness of the differences between the mother tongue (Khmer) and English is low

2.2 Statement to the objectives

With this research, I want to:

1 find out the difficulties of Khmer CTU students in learning English caused by the mother tongue as well as attitudes and motivation factors

1 measure Khmer students‟ awareness of the differences between Khmer and English

2.3 Statement of the questions

1 What are the difficulties in learning English of Khmer CTU students caused by the mother tongue as well as attitudes and motivation factors?

2 To which extent are Khmer students aware of the differences between their mother tongue and English?

3 General organization of the study

This thesis consists of five chapters:

Chapter 1 is introduction which consists of four following items: general statement

of the problem, statement of the hypotheses, objectives, questions, and general organization of the study

Chapter 2 is literature review It relates to the difficulties caused by the mother tongue in second language learning, the difficulties of Khmer Cambodian learners in learning English, influence of L1 transfer, the difficulties caused by attitude and motivation factors in second language learning

Chapter 3 is research methodology It includes research design, participants, instruments, and research procedure

Chapter 4 is research findings, including some difficulties that Khmer CTU students suffer from learning English, as well as their awareness of the differences between Khmer and English languages

Chapter 5 is discussions It is about the summary of research problems, methods, and findings as well as conclusions and implications

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter, I will review the difficulties caused by the mother tongue in second language learning, the difficulties of Khmer Cambodian learners in learning English, influence of L1 transfer, the difficulties caused by attitudes and motivation factors in second language learning

1 THE DIFFICULTIES CAUSED BY THE MOTHER TONGUE IN SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING:

1.1 Overview of Khmer language

Khmer is the official language of Cambodia and is spoken by virtually all Cambodians Its origins lie mainly in a local language from the Mon-Khmer family and the two ancient Indian languages, Pali and Sanskrit Words of Khmer origin are typically root words and are commonly found in the spoken language whereas words of Pali and Sanskrit origin, in a Khmerized form, can be found in formal written language and literature, including poetry Khmer has a small number of vocabulary items borrowed from Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, French, and most recently English (Moore, S & Bounchan, S 2010) Based on the differences between English and Khmer first on phonology then on grammar, the following section is some difficulties of Khmer Cambodian learners in learning English which has been reported on the 6th CamTESOL

2010 by Moore, S and Bounchan, S

1.2 The difficulties of Khmer Cambodian learners in learning English:

a In phonology

Consonants

English has 20 alphabetic consonants (or, 21 including letter „y‟), and an additional 4 consonant sounds consisting of combined consonants Khmer consonants are more numerous There are 33 consonants and sub-consonants as shown in Table 2.1, and more complex since they make up just 21 individual distinctive phoneme sounds as shown in Table 2.2 Moreover, there are 3 additional „invented‟ consonants in Khmer (see Table 2.3) bringing the grand total to 24 consonant sounds

Table 2.1 Original Consonant in Khmer (adapted from Pov, O 1968)

ញ

ឡ

Table 2.2 Distinctive phonemes in Khmer

Table 2.3 Distinctive phoneme of invented consonant sounds in Khmer

On the other hand, Khmer speakers do not instinctively voice the sound of final position consonants in words Thus, many students may drop /t/ and /d/ in „ant‟ and „and‟ They pronounce them as /an/ However, unlike Thai or Vietnamese speakers, it is rarely for Khmer speakers to have any problems with pronouncing initial or medial-positioned consonant clusters, i.e /cr/, /pl/, /sm/, /tw/ because Khmer also has a similar system of blending consonants together (Lam, K 2007)

There are 18 voiced consonants and 15 unvoiced consonants in the Khmer alphabet The next section is about the dependent and independent Khmer vowels

Vowels

While English has approximately 14 vowel sounds, depending on the dialect (Yallop, C 1995) , there are 23 dependent vowels and 12 independent vowels in Khmer (see Table 2.4) The sounds made by independent vowels are constant, whereas the sounds of dependent vowels vary, depending on nearby consonants being either voiced or unvoiced

Table 2.4 Dependent and Independent Khmer Vowels: Adapted from Tonkin, D (1962)

Stress and Intonation

Unlike English, Khmer does not have stress on individual words, partly because most Khmer words are monosyllabic However, Khmer speakers can add and do shift their pitch, stress, or tone to suit the purposes of their talk (e.g., giving polite requests, showing surprises, expressing anger or sadness, etc…)

b In grammar

Khmer and English grammar are alike in one very important aspect – their typical word order of „SOV‟ : Subject followed by Verb followed by Object (Chhun, L 2007) This share „logic‟ enables even beginner language learners to make meanings in rudimentary English However, there are some ways in which Khmer grammar is dissimilar to English grammar Below are some most significant differences that may cause difficulties to Khmer learners of English:

Plural Nouns

Khmer does not have a distinctive plural form of nouns as in English Words that represent quantity (e.g some, a few, several, five…) have to be added after the nouns to show the plural form:

/kmeng kmeng leng knong suon/

Some children play in the garden

However, there is no rule about repeating nouns, and not all nouns can be repeated

to show their plural form Generally, only one-sylable words are likely to be repeated in this manner

Because of the differences in the plural form between Khmer and English, Khmer learners of English usually face difficulties in remembering to add -s,-es, or –ies to form the plural form of regular nouns in English, and to change the word forms for irregular nouns especially in speaking For example:

Ex 3: The girl are playing in the park

Verb forms and tenses

Khmer verb forms do not change as English verbs do according to number and gender This section is about the significant differences between how Khmer and English verbs are formed and used

For present simple:

Khmer learners for English may forget to add –s, -es, or –ies to English verbs or to change the verb forms for appropriate agreement in third person singular cases For example:

Ex 4: My mother work at the market

Ex 5: He have 3 children

For present continuous:

To express a continuing action in Khmer, we use the word /kampoung/ or /kampoung tae/ to add in front of a verb For example:

Ex 6: /kort kampoung tae tveur kar/

He is working

Ex 7: /yeay Chan kampoung meul touraktuos/

Mrs Chan is watching television Because of the differences in expressing the continuing action in Khmer and English, Khmer students may make mistakes in using the present simple form to express continuous tenses For example:

Ex8: Look! She come(s) to us

Or they may remember to use the –ing form, but may forget to use an auxiliary verb

Ex 9: Look! She coming to us

For past tense:

To express an action happened in the past in Khmer we use the word /barn/

to add in front of a verb For example:

Ex 10:

/kjom barn touv Siem Reap kal pi chnam touv/

I went to Siem Reap last year

However most of the time (especially in speaking) the word barn is not in fact

used – thus, Khmer students usually make grammatical mistakes by not changing verb forms in affirmative statements for appropriate past tenses (especially with irregular verbs) For example:

Ex 11: I see him yesterday

Ex 12: We went shopping and buy some shirts

For future tense:

Like the word “will” in English, a word /nueng/ in Khmer is added in front of

a verb to express action in the future For example:

Ex 13: ញ /kort nueng vil vign/

He will come back

However, normally Khmer tend to omit the word nueng and just use the verb to

say what they will or are going to do by adding the time frame Thus, common mistakes made by Khmer students when they try to express future actions can be:

Ex 16: /kmeng tauj/ little children

Ex 17: /arkea kpuohs/ tall building

With words borrowed from Pali or Sanskrit, adjectives can precede the nouns (Chhim, S 1965) For example,

Ex 18: /oudam pheakriyea/ Super wife

Articles and prepositions

Unlike English, there is no article use in Khmer Thus, Khmer students are likely

to struggle with the appropriate use of the article „the‟, either omitting it or using it where

1.3 The influence of L1 transfer

The elements that are similar to learners‟ native language will be simple for them and those elements that are different will be difficult (Lado, R 1957; Swan, M & Smith,

B 1987) They implied to talk about the important role of language transfer in the

acquisition of a second language However, what is language transfer?

The term “language transfer” is defined differently by many authors Firstly, language transfer is the influence resulting from similarities and differences between the target language and any other language that has been previously and perhaps imperfectly acquired (Odlin, 1989) Another definition of language transfer is “the use of native language (or other language) knowledge – in some unclear way – in the inquisition of a second language (or additional language) (Gass & Selimcer, 1992) whereas, by linguistic transfer, we mean what the learners carry over to or generalize in their native language helps them learn to use a target language There are two kinds of language transfer, including negative transfer and positive transfer Interference is also considered as negative transfer It occurs when language learner commits errors because of the dissimilarity between learner L1 and L2 In contrast, positive transfer is a facilitation, which results from similarity between L1 and L2 In Cummin‟s Common Underlying

Proficiency (CCUP) theory, another concept is generally in the field of second language acquisition This model shows the relationships between native language and second language According to Cummins, J (2000), “concept is most readily developed in the first language and once developed, is accessible through the second language In other words, what we learn in one language transfer into the new language” (Freeman, 1994, p.176)

The model is sometimes referred to as the “iceberg model” (Cummins, J 2000)

Extensive research has already been done in the area of native language interference on the target language Dulay et al., (1982) defined interference on the target language as automatic transfer due to habit of the surface structure of the first language

on to the surface of the target language Besides, Lott (1983) defined interference as

“errors in the learner use of the foreign language that can be traced back to the mother tongue”

As mentioned above, in language transfer, the elements are different will be difficult for the learner in learning the target language (Lado, 1957) Beardsmore (1982) suggests many difficulties that a second language learner has with the phonology; vocabulary and grammar of L2 are due to the interference of habit from L1 In writing or speaking the target language, second language learner tends to rely on their native language (L1) structure to produce a respond If the structures of two languages are different, then one could expect a relatively high frequency of errors to occur in L2 (Dechert, 1983 and Ellis, 1997) It appears to be much more difficult for an adult to learn

“Iceberg model” – The relationships between native language and second

language (Cummins, J 2000)

a second language system that is the first language partly in terms of the kind of meaning already learned in the first language (Carroll, 1964; Albert and Obler, 1978; and Larson – Freeman and Long, 1991) On the other hand, Belbe (1988) suggests that in learning a second language, L1 responses are grafted on to L2 responses Both are made to a common set of learning responses Other things being equal, the learner is less fluent in L2 and the kind of expression that he uses in L2 bear telltale traces of the structure of L1

In short, native language plays an important role in second language acquisition It can cause difficulties to the learner in case there are the differences between the native language and the target language SLA researchers conclude that language distance cannot be used to predict students‟ ease and difficulties in their language learning process It is still helpful for ESL teacher and learner to know the similarities and difficulties between the mother tongue and the target language (L2) as they can have a deeper understanding of students‟ difficulties (errors) in language learning Therefore, they can also have more effective teaching methodologies

2 The difficulties caused by attitudes and motivation factors in learning English

There are many factors affecting second language learning They can help English learner learn English easily or cause difficulties to them According to Lightbown and Spada (1993), these factors include intelligence, aptitude, and personality, learning style, age of acquisition as well as attitudes and motivation However, learner‟s motivation has been widely accepted as a key factor which influences the rate and success of second language learning (Donough, 1983; Ellis, 1994) Donough (1983) also stated that

“motivation of the students is one of the most important factors influencing their success

or failure in learning the language” Another factor is the learner‟s attitudes This is also

an English learner‟s motivation in language learning It is affected by his/her attitudes and has been considered a prime concern in language learning research In addition, Gardner and Lambert (1997) state “his (the learner‟s) motivation to learn is thought to be determined by his attitudes towards the other group in particular and by his orientation towards the learning task itself”

In order to know the difficulties caused by the motivation and attitude, it is necessary to know what motivation and attitudes are To motivation, Atkinson (2000) defines motivation as “a cluster of factors that „energize‟ the behavior and give it direction” Thus, in Atkinson‟s point of view, motivation is a term used to describe what

energizes a person and what directs his activity Energy and direction are at the center of motivation Whereas Ofoegbu, F (2004, as cited in Berelson, Steiner 1964 and Tracy 2000) define motivation as all those inner striving conditions, such as wishes, desires, and urges to stimulate the interest of a person in an activity To attitude, Gardner (1980) defines the term attitude as “the sum total of a man‟s instinct about any specified topic” Ajzam (1988) considers attitudes as “a disposition to respond favorably or unfavorably to

an object, person, institution or event However, Wenden (1991) proposed a broader definition of the concept “attitudes” differently He states that the term attitude includes three components namely, cognitive, affective and behavioral A cognitive component is made up of the beliefs and ideas or opinions about the object of the attitude The affective one refers to the feelings and emotions that one has towards an object „like‟ „dislike‟

„with‟ or „against‟ Finally, the behavioral components refer to one‟s consisting actions or behavioral intentions towards the object For example, student‟s attitude in learning English is reflected by learner‟s reading autonomy or self-studying in English

As mentioned above, the factor of attitudes and motivation can make English learners learn English easily or cause difficulties to them Raines (2007) said that attitudes are expressed by our action, our action better know as our behavior Therefore, when we show correct behavior to English learning, we are also showing the positive attitude If we have the positive attitude, we will learn English with ease On the contrary, when we have negative one, we will learn English difficultly There are several of sub-factors of motivation in second language learning These sub-factors may be either positive or negative to the learners The following section is the sub-factors of motivation which may cause difficulties to English learners

Teacher

In L2 learning, teachers play a vital role since the learning of the target language

rests on the competency of the teachers In fact, as Wiseman et al (2000) confirm, teachers can motivate students by being enthusiastic about their teaching, and for learners themselves, when teachers demonstrate that learning is important, motivating and relevant, students will become increasingly self-motivated to be active learner A teacher who is knowledgeable about the target language and able to adopt various teaching methods to impact or teach the language is likely to be a positive motivating factor for the L2 learners, so they will learn the language more easily and more effectively; thereby