MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY --------------- ***** ------------- LE THI LE HA COMMON ERRORS IN USING MODAL V ERBS BY 2 ND -YEAR NON- ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS OF OFFICE ADMINISTRATION AT NGHE AN JUNIOR TEACHER’S TRAINING COLLEGE (MỘT SỐ LỖI THÔNG THƯỜNG KHI SỬ DỤNG ĐỘNG TỪ TÌNH THÁI CỦA SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN NĂM THỨ 2 - NGÀNH QUẢN TRỊ VĂN PHÒNG TẠI TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG SƯ PHẠM NGHỆ AN) FIELD: THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 60.14.10 MASTER THESIS IN EDUCATION VINH - 2011 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY --------------- ***** ------------- LE THI LE HA COMMON ERRORS IN USING MODAL V ERBS BY 2 ND -YEAR NON- ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS OF OFFICE ADMINISTRATION AT NGHE AN JUNIOR TEACHER’S TRAINING COLLEGE (MỘT SỐ LỖI THÔNG THƯỜNG KHI SỬ DỤNG ĐỘNG TỪ TÌNH THÁI CỦA SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN NĂM THỨ 2 - NGÀNH QUẢN TRỊ VĂN PHÒNG TẠI TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG SƯ PHẠM NGHỆ AN) FIELD: THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 60.14.10 MASTER THESIS IN EDUCATION VINH - 2011 STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I, Le Thi Le Ha, herein declare that the thesis is my own work and that it has not been submitted for any other purposes before. Works of others that are used in the thesis are properly cited and acknowledged. Vinh, November 2011 Le Thi Le Ha i ABSTRACT One of the most problematic aspects in teaching - learning English as a foreign language is the English modal auxiliary. Modal auxiliaries are not only auxiliaries in the grammatical sense but they also carry important meanings reflecting the user’s attitudes, emotion, and perceptions. Because of the meaning embedded in the modal auxiliaries, learners of English as a foreign language often find it difficult to use them accurately. Vietnamese language learners are not an exception. This study is aimed at investigating the difficulties encountered by the second - year non majored English students specializes in office administration at Nghe An Junior Teachers ' Training College through an analysis of their errors in using English modal auxiliaries. The aim of the study is to understand what type of errors the students committed regarding the use of English modal auxiliaries, and why they made those errors. The information is to help teachers to decide appropriate pedagogical intervention to help the students use English modal auxiliaries better. The result of this study show that, the types of common errors in using modal verbs made by the participants are misformation, omission, addition and ordering. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor Dr. Le Van Canh for his generous assistance, invaluable; deliberate guidance, constructive critical comments together with continual encouragement without which the thesis would not have been successful. I would also like to express my thankfulness to all my teachers in the M.A courses for their useful and interesting lectures which have enlightened my research path of the study. My special thanks are offered to my colleagues at forein language department, Nghe An Junior Teachers' Training College for their precious assistance in providing me with a lot of useful information. My earnest appreciation goes to the second - year non majored English students specialized in office administration who have actively participated in the study. Finally yet importantly, I would like to show how thankful I am to my be loved family members who have constantly supported, inspired, and encourged me to carry out this research. iii LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1. Background information about participants………………………… . 43 Table 4.1. Tests and number of modal verbs in each test……………………… . 47 Table 4.2. Frequencies and Percentages of Different Modal-verb Errors in Tests………… 48 Table 4.3. Errors of Omission in Tests…………………………………………. 49 Chart 4.1. Percentages of Errors of Omission……………………………………. 50 Table 4.4. Misformation Errors in Tests………………………………………… 51 Chart 4.2. Percentages of Misformation Error………………………………… 52 Table 4.5. Errors of Addition in Different Modal Verbs……………………… 52 Chart 4.3. Percentages of Addition Errors in Different Modal Verbs………… 53 Table 4.6. Errors of Ordering in Different Modal Verbs……………………… 54 iv Table of content FIELD: THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING .1 CODE: 60.14.10 .1 FIELD: THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING .2 CODE: 60.14.10 .2 Table 4.1. Tests and number of modal verbs in each test……………………… iv 47 .iv Table 4.2. Frequencies and Percentages of Different Modal-verb Errors in Tests………… .iv 48 .iv Table 4.3. Errors of Omission in Tests………………………………………… .iv 49 .iv Chart 4.1. Percentages of Errors of Omission…………………………………… iv 50 .iv Table 4.4. Misformation Errors in Tests………………………………………… iv 51 .iv Chart 4.2. Percentages of Misformation Error………………………………… iv 52 .iv Table 4.5. Errors of Addition in Different Modal Verbs……………………… iv 52 .iv Chart 4.3. Percentages of Addition Errors in Different Modal Verbs………… .iv 53 .iv Table 4.6. Errors of Ordering in Different Modal Verbs……………………… .iv 54 .iv CHAPTER I .4 INTRODUCTION .4 1.1. Rationale 4 1.2. Aims and Objectives .5 1.3. Research Questions .5 1. 4. Research Methods 5 1. 5. Scope of the Study 6 1. 6. Structure of the Thesis 6 1 CHAPTER II 6 LITERATURE REVIEW .6 2.1. Modals and Modality in English .7 2.1.1. Modals and Modality in English .7 2.1.2. Modal Auxiliaries in English 8 2. 1.3. Semi-auxiliaries in English 10 2. 1.4. Problems in Using Modal Auxiliaries .11 2.2. Modals and Pedagogical Aspects 12 2.3. Error Analysis .14 2.3.1. Historical Review 14 2.3.2. Definitions of error .15 2.3.3. Errors and Mistakes .16 2.3.4 Classification of errors. .17 2.3.2.1. Interlingual Errors 18 2.3.2.2. Intralingual Errors 19 2.4. Causes of error 19 2.4.1. Mother tongue interference 20 2.4.2. Interlingual interference 22 2.4.3. Intralingual Interference .23 2.4.3.1 Overgeneralization .23 2.4.3.2. Ignorance of rule restriction 27 2.4.3.3. Incomplete application of rules .27 2.4.3.4. False concepts hypothesized .28 2.5. Error analysis .28 2.5.1. Significance of error analysis 29 2.5.2. Error Frequency .30 2.6. The Role of Error Analysis in Second/ Foreign Language Education .33 1. Linguistic category classification 34 2. The surface structure taxonomy 34 2.1. Omission 34 2.2. Addition .34 2.3. Misformation .35 2.4. Misordering .35 2 2.7. Previous Studies on Learners’ Errors in Using Modal Auxiliaries in English 40 2. 8. Summary .41 CHAPTER 4 47 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS .47 Table 4.1. Tests and number of modal verbs in each test 47 Table 4.2. Frequencies and Percentages of Different Modal-verb Errors in Tests 48 Table 4.3. Errors of Omission in Tests 50 Chart 4.1. Percentages of Errors of Omission 51 Table 4.4. Misformation Errors in Tests .52 Chart 4.2. Percentages of Misformation Errors 53 4.1.2.4. Errors of Addition 53 Table 4.5. Errors of Addition in Different Modal Verbs 53 Chart 4.3. Percentages of Addition Errors in Different Modal Verbs .54 Table 4.6. Errors of Ordering in Different Modal Verbs .55 CHAPTER 5 67 CONCLUSION 67 References 74 APPENDIX 1……………………………………………………………………… APPENDIX 2……………………………………………………………………… APPENDIX 3……………………………………………………………………… 3 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION This chapter introduces the study. First it introduces the rationale of the study. Then the aims, objectives and scope of the study are presented. Finally, the research questions, the research methodology and the structure of the thesis are presented. 1.1. Rationale One of the most problems in learning and teaching English as a foreign language is the complexity of the English modal auxiliary system. In the standard formal English the same modals express different notions, ranging from probability through permission to obligation. Modals are not only auxiliaries in the grammatical sense but they also appear to contribute to the semantics of communication. Thompson (2002) sees modals as complex entity and that it is not easy to package the complexity into meaningful chunks of information to be presented to students. If this were possible, that is reducing the complexity of the modals, this would make learning modals less problematic to learners of English as a foreign language. In language learning, Ferris (2002) states that verb forms related to modals are problematic to first and second/ foreign language speakers. L1 speakers also make grammatical errors. If L1 speakers make errors, L2 speakers are even more capable of making the same errors and more in areas of formation of the verb phrases, passive and conditional forms, misuse of modals, gerunds, infinitives and other grammatical items. The need to recognize errors students of English make as well as to have a certain amount of knowledge on how to correct those errors before imparting the knowledge to students, is important to classroom teachers (Ferris, 2002). 4 . THI LE HA COMMON ERRORS IN USING MODAL V ERBS BY 2 ND -YEAR NON- ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS OF OFFICE ADMINISTRATION AT NGHE AN JUNIOR TEACHER’S TRAINING COLLEGE. made by second -year non- major students specialized in office administration in using modal verbs in written texts.  Seeking explanations for the errors