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VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION
SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH TOPIC: SOME COMMON COLLOCATION MISTAKES AMONG SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS
Student
: Duong Thi Diu Lai Thi Hien
Supervisor: Ms. Dang Thu Trang Group
March 2010
: QH08.E13
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
In this research, we would like to thank our supervisor, Ms. Dang Thu Trang for her enthusiastic help and guidance. The present study would not have been possible without her assistance. In addition, we would like to send our special thanks to the lecturers who participated in our interview. Their contribution played an important role in our result. Finally, we are also thankful to our friends in group QH08.E13 who gave us so many useful suggestions in carrying out this research paper.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents
i
Abstract
iii
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1. The rationale for the study
1
1.2. Aims and objectives of the study
2
1.3. Scope of the study
2
1.4. Methods of the study
2
1.4.1. Data collection method
2
1.4.2. Data analysis method
3
1.5. An overview of the rest of the paper
3
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1. Collocation
5
2.1.1. Definition of collocation
5
2.1.2. Classifications of collocation
6
2.1.2.1. In term of grammar
6
2.1.2.2. In term of the strength of collocation
6
2.1.2.2.1 Unique collocations
7
2.1.2.2.2. Strong collocations
7
2.1.2.2.3. Medium-strength collocations
7
2.1.2.2.4. Weak collocations
8
2.1.3. Characteristics of collocation 2.1.3.1 Collocation is arbitrary
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2.1.3.2 Collocation is language specific
9
2.1.3.3 Collocation is recurrent in context
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2.1.4. The importance of collocation 2.2. Mistake 2.2.1. Definition of mistakes 2.2.2. The difference between mistake and error
10 10 10 11
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 3.1. Sampling
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3.2. Data collection instruments
13
3.3. Data collection procedure
14
3.3.1. Portfolios collection
14
3.3.1. Interviewing
14
3.4. Data analysis
15
CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
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4.1. Research question 1: What are some common collocation mistakes in writing among second-year students?
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4.2. Research question 2: What are some solutions to avoid collocation mistakes according to lecturers in ULIS, VNU?
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CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION
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REFERENCES
25
APPENDICES
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Abstract In writing skill, Vietnamese students often translate word-by-word from Vietnamese into English. However, Vietnamese and English have different sets of vocabulary and rules of grammar; therefore, their translation is not always correct. This is the reason for the collocation mistakes. This research concentrate on finding out common collocation mistakes in writing skill among second-year students in University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi. Then, some solutions to avoid collocation mistakes suggested by writing skill lecturers, Group 2, English Pedagogy, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi were given. Twenty-five writing portfolios from class QH.1.E13 were chosen as samples. In each portfolio, the researchers analyzed the second draft of three first writing assignments. Besides, the researchers interviewed three writing lecturers in Group 2. Once students realize and avoid collocation mistakes, the researchers hope that their writing skill can be improved remarkably.
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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1. Rationale for the study Nowadays, as a result of economic cooperation among countries, human beings need to have a common language to communicate with each other. English is chosen to be that common language. In fact, it is now considered as the main language in many countries all over the world, especially in developed countries. It is used in many fields such as economics, politics, education and culture. It is English that becomes one of the most necessary requirements for job not only in the world but also in Vietnam. As a result, English has become the compulsory subject in all schools and universities in Vietnam. Writing is one of the four compulsory skills in standardized tests such as IELTS, and TOEFL. To develop writing skill, learners need to have profound knowledge of vocabulary, structure and grammar. In terms of vocabulary, collocation is an essential factor in writing because "It runs through the whole of the English language. No piece of natural spoken or written in English is totally free of collocation. For the students, choosing the right collocation will make his speech and writing sound more natural, more native-speaker-like… language that is collocationally rich is also more precise" (Runcie, M. Oxford Collocation: p.7). However, learners usually find it difficult to realize and avoid some common collocation mistakes, even students specializing in English. All of these encourage researchers to conduct a study on: "Some common collocation mistakes among second-year students". The authors hope that this study will help English learners in general and the second-year students in ULIS, VNU in particular to improve their use of collocation in writing.
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1.2. Aims and objectives of the study This research aimed to introduce students and readers a thorough look on collation in writing skill. Then the study was expected to show some common mistakes in collocation that second-year students often make. Finally, some solutions were suggested to help English learners reduce their collocation mistakes when they have to deal with writing assignments. In brief, these objectives can be summarized into two research questions: 1.
What are some common collocation mistakes in writing among second-year students?
2.
What are some ways to avoid collocation mistakes according to second-year teachers?
1.3. Scope of the study As could be seen from the title of the study, this paper strongly emphasizes on common collocation mistakes among second-year students at ULIS, VNU, but not all the aspects of collocation. At the same time, the researchers also try to find solutions to avoid mistakes and improve writing skill.
1.4. Methods of the study 1.4.1. Data collection method The data collection methods involve portfolio analysis and structured interview. These two methods were used during the process of data collection. Specifically, about twenty-five portfolios of second-year students were collected to point out common collocation mistakes. Then the researchers interviewed three second-year lecturers of
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writing skill in University Of Languages and International Studies- Vietnam National University, Hanoi to find out specific solutions to the collocation problems.
1.4.2. Data analysis method At the beginning, the collected portfolios are analyzed and all the collocation mistakes were classified into fourteen types. The framework for analyzing was taken from Oxford Collocation dictionary for students of English by Moira Runcie (p.9). For the qualitative data taken in the interviews, the researchers ask the lecturers for comments and suggestions about collocation. Then, this data is compared with the results collected from portfolios.
1.5. An overview of the rest of the research The rest of the research includes five chapters as follows: Chapter 2 (Literature Review) provides the background of the study, including definitions, classification, characteristics, the important of collocation and the key concept of mistake. Chapter 3 (Methodology) involves the sampling including lecturers and portfolios, as well as the procedure used during the research. Chapter 4 (Results and discussion) presents, analyzes and discusses the results that the researchers found out from the data collected.
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Chapter 5 (Conclusion) summarizes the main issues discussed in the research. Following this chapter are the References and Appendices. Summary In this chapter, the researchers have presented the following points 1. The rationale for the study 2. Aims and objectives of the study 3. Scope of the study for the rest of the paper. 4. Method of the study 5. An overview of the rest of the paper
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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1. Collocation 2.1.1. Definition of collocation
Collocation is a familiar term with English learners. In Oxford Collocation, collocation is the way words combine in a language to produce natural sounding speech and writing. Similarly, from Wikipedia, collocation is defined as a sequence of words or terms which co-occur more often than would be expected by chance. Chitra Fernando [1996: 62] added some other features that collocation refers to the restrictions on how words can be used together, for example which prepositions are used with particular verbs or which verbs and nouns are used together. Holding the same ideas, Fernado in "Idioms and Idiomacity "(1996) regarded collocation as "The company words keep''. In Kjellmer's words [1994: XIV], collocation is '' such recurring sequences of items as are grammatically well formed''. In addition, Kathleen R. Mc Keown and Dragomir R. Radev in their paper on ''Collocation'' define collocation as word pairs and phrases that are commonly used in language with no general syntactic or semantic rules applied. Besides, collocation is also defined through its functions. According to Mitchell [1971: 65], collocation is to be studies within grammatical matrices which in turn depend on their recognition on the observation of collocation similarities. In conclusion, collocation can be defined in different ways by linguists. All definitions above consider collocation as collections of words being used together. Generally speaking, the definition in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary that collocation is '' A combination of words in a language that happens very often and more frequently than would happen by chance'' is the most comprehensive.
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2.1.2. Classification of collocations There are two main ways to classify collocations into groups in terms of grammar and the strength of collocation.
2.1.2.1. In terms of grammar According to “Oxford Collocation Dictionary for students of English learner” (2002), collocation is divided into fourteen different groups. 1. Adjective + Noun (bright/ harsh/ intense/ strong light) 2. Quantifier + Noun (a beam/ ray of light) 3. Verb + Noun (cast/ emit/ give/ provide light) 4. Noun + Verb (light gleams/ glows/ shines) 5. Noun + Noun (a light source) 6. Preposition + Noun (by the light of the moon) 7. Noun + Preposition (the light from the window) 8. Adverb + Verb (choose carefully) 9. Verb + Verb (be free to choose) 10. Verb + Preposition (choose between two things) 11. Verb + Adjective (make/ keep/ declare sth safe) 12. Adverb + Adjective (perfectly/ not entirely/ environmentally safe) 13. Adjective + Preposition (safe from attack) 14. Adjective + Verb + Adjective + Noun + Preposition + Noun (seriously affect the political situation)
2.1.2.2. In terms of the strength of collocation
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According to “Oxford Collocation Dictionary for students of English learner” (2002), there are four main types of collocation basing on its strength: unique collocations, strong collocations, medium-strength collocations and weak collocations.
2.1.2.2.1 Unique collocations This is a kind of collocation which people usually think that it does not exist. For example, the uniqueness of the word “foot” is that it is used as a verb in the collocation “foot the bill”. At the same time, there are some phrases we do not know about this word such as “footing the coffee”, “footing the invoice”. It is unique because it is not used with any other nouns.
2.1.2.2.2. Strong collocations Besides some unique collocations, a large number of collocations are strong or very strong ones in which any knowledge of words can be incomplete without some ideas of their strong collocates. In ''English Collocation in Use- Advance'' (2008), a strong collocation is one in which the words are very closely associated with each other. For example, the adjective ''mitigating'' almost always collocates with ''circumstance'' or ''factor''; it rarely collocates with any other words.
2.1.2.2.3. Medium-strength collocations This kind of collocation makes up the greater part of what people say and write. For example, in some cases, people often think of “have a conversation”, but it is true that “make a conversation”. Besides, there are many phrases which are considered as
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medium-strength collocations such as “make a mistake”, “recover from a major operation” and so on.
2.1.2.2.4. Weak collocations According to M. Michael in ''English Collocation in Use- Advance'' (2008), Weak collocation is made up of words that collocate with a wide range of other words. In fact, most students can create combinations of words which are on the verge of the area we define as “collocation”. For example, with colors, people can apply them in English in a similar way to their own language such as a red shirt, white wine, a blue film, black hair and so on. In general, these combinations are entirely predictable to most students and they do not pay more attention to them. However, in order to have a perfect writing or essay, it is important to understand and concern about all aspects of weak collocations. Between two ways mentioned, the way in Oxford Collocation Dictionary for students of English learner” (2002) is more convenient to classify common collocation mistakes. In fact, this way is also mentioned in detail in ''English Collocation in UseAdvance'' (2008).
2.1.3. Characteristics of collocation According
to
the
article
“Collocation”
from
website
http://depts.washington.edu/cidrweb/ITAPAWfluency4.html#COLLOCATION, there are three characteristics of collocation.
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2.1.3.1 Collocation is arbitrary Collocation is often regarded as arbitrary. Smadia (1989) says “Many wording choices in English sentences cannot be accounted for on semantic of synthetic grounds; they can only be expressed in terms of relations between words that usually occur together” (p163). In fact, there is no rule or particular reasons for words when they are combined with each other. For example: "fast food", not "quick food" "quick meal", not " fast meal" As a result, people make the correct collocation based on lifetime’s experience of hearing and reading the words in set combination.
2.1.3.2 Collocation is language specific Each language has own way and convention to combine words. Therefore collocation is difficult to translate across language. For example: “eat dinner” in Vietnamese must be “have dinner” in English. In another words, collocation's ability to combine with another is restricted by linguistic conventions.
2.1.3.3 Collocation is recurrent in context Another characteristic of collocation is that its combinations are very often repeated in a given context. For example: “to do a crossword",” to make a mistake" are typical of the language.
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2.1.4. The importance of collocation As a matter of fact, human’s brains have a tendency to store language in chunks rather than individual words. Besides, it is more efficient and easy for people to remember and use phrases as chunks. It is a good way to save a lot of time and effort when people are trying to express our thoughts and emotions. Secondly, collocation also makes our speech and writing become more natural and attractive because at a time, it is not easy for people to think of the meanings and uses of a difficult word. In these cases, collocations get their best effectiveness. Thanks to them, writers do not have to consider about the uses of confusing words. In contrast, they are easy to write what they think and what they want. The last reason that proves the importance of collocation is that learning collocation lead to an increase in written. Learners can use more phrases in a right way and improve their knowledge of vocabulary and collocation. All of these reasons above make collocations become more important and necessary for English learners.
2.2. Mistake 2.2.1. Definition of mistakes According to “Oxford Student’s Dictionary of English”, “Mistake is something that you think or do that is wrong”. In “What’s the difference between ‘to make an error” and “to make a mistake” from http://www.english-test.net/forum/ftopic18958.html, Mister Micawber wrote “Mistake implies misconception, misunderstanding, a wrong but not always blameworthy judgments, or inadvertence; it expresses less severe criticism In
than the
error”. article
“mistake’
from
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http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/mistake.html, mistake is something that does not work out in search for a solution. Often used interchangeably with error. Although mistake can be defined in some different ways, all of them tell about something the writer think or do incorrectly. May be the most obvious definition is in Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary:'' Mistake is an action, decision or judgment which produce an unwanted or unintentional result ''. Therefore, it is considered as the basic definition for the whole research.
2.2.2. The difference between mistake and error According to Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary, error is something people did that was wrong. In general, mistake and collocation share the same meanings. However, also according to Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary, error is slightly more formal than mistake. Besides, people use mistakes when the mistake does not often happen; error is used for mistake happen frequently. According to Mr. Webster in the article “What’s the difference between ‘to make an error” and “to make a mistake””: “Error etymologically implies deviation; it suggests culpability but not necessarily carelessness or intention, for it implies a guide to be followed such as a record or manuscript, or a rule or set of rules, or a principle, law, accepted code, or the like. Mistake implies misconception, misunderstanding, a wrong but not always blameworthy judgments, or inadvertence; it expresses less severe criticism than error''.
Therefore, when people do something wrongly unusually, people call it mistake. Meanwhile, learners do not combine words incorrectly as often as grammar, vocabulary or structure. That is the reason why the name of this research is “common collocation mistakes...” and it only focuses on collocation mistakes. In fact, there have
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been some studies related to collocation in ULIS, VNU, namely “Collocation of hard and happy in English” and “The collocation of some groups of synonyms and some problems faced by Vietnamese learners”. However, they focused on others areas such as synonyms, collocation of ‘hard” and “happy” in English.
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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 3.1. Sampling As the subject of the research was to find collocation mistakes among second-year students, twenty-five writing portfolios from classes QH.1.E13 were chosen as samples. In each portfolio, the researchers analyzed the second draft of three first writing assignments. For such a limited scope, this number was considered suitable. In addition, the research was carried out with the participation of three second-year teachers of writing from Universities of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi. They were chosen for some following reasons. The first one was that they all taught second-year students; therefore, they knew exactly their weak and strong points about collocation. Besides, lecturers were of advanced levels, so their acquired knowledge of English was deep enough to give useful solutions to students to avoid collocation mistakes. The researchers did not have questionnaire to investigate the students' solutions because the English level of second-year students is not high enough to do this. In short, with the experience of the lecturers, the researchers would receive the most specific advices to make the study become more clear and accurate.
3.2. Data collection instruments In order to answer all the above research questions, some portfolios were collected with the help of the teacher who was in charge of E13’s writing skill. This was an effective way in identifying common mistakes or problems of students.
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In addition, a structured interview was also prepared for the data collection for. This interview consisted of five questions delivering to CFL teachers from Division 2 in order to get the most reliable and useful data. The questions were asked in Vietnamese so that the answers would be more understandable. Two teachers were asked directly and the third teacher answered via email. Then, all of them were translated into English fully and clearly.
3.3. Data collection procedure The procedure of data collection could be divided into two main steps.
3.3.1. Portfolios collection In order to have twenty-five writing portfolios of class QH08.E13, the researchers asked the teacher who was in charge of E13’s writing skill to borrow from this class. All of these portfolios were coded randomly to make them anonymous. After that, they were classified and analyzed in order to find out common mistakes which were considered as collocation mistakes.
3.3.2. Interviewing After interview questions were designed and piloted, the researchers contacted with second-year lecturers of writing so that they could arrange suitable time to meet each other. Then, in the interview, the researchers began with a brief self-introduction and explanation of the format of the interview. During the interview, it was necessary for the researchers to take notes some key points that the lecturers referred to. At the same time, if necessary, the researchers would record the interview to get information as much as possible. Finally, all the contents of the interview would be collected and transcribed fully.
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3.4. Data analysis After collected portfolios, the researchers would concentrate on analyzing, and classifying student’s common collocation mistakes according to fourteen types of collocation reviewed in chapter 2. The results were presented in forms of tables. At the same time, the answers receiving from lecturers were also systematized in forms of summary and direct quotations.
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CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION This chapter will present and discuss the results the two research questions. The main results come from the collected portfolios and the information provided by the lecturers.
4.1. Research question 1: What are some common collocation mistakes in writing among second-year students? To find common collocation mistakes in writing among second-year students, researchers analyze seventy five writing assignments in twenty five portfolios. The following table shows the result of each portfolio’s mistakes. Typ e Po.
1
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
2
2
3
4
5
6
7
2
1
1
1
1
1 2
1 2 1 3 1
2 1
9
10
11
1
2 1
1
1 1
3
1
1 1 1
1 2 1 1
12
13
1
2 1 1
1 1 1 1
2 1 1 1
8
1 1 1
1 1
1
1 1
1
2 1 1 2 1
1 2 1 2
1 3 3 1
1 2
1
14
Tot al 11 5 2 10 4 5 8 5 4 2 3 7 9 5 8
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16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 T0. %
1
19
1
14
8
11
19
15
2
2
20
2
1
5
0
3 5 4 1 3 2 7 2 3 0 119
16. 1
0.8 5
11. 9
6.7 8
8.4 7
16. 1
12. 7
1.6 9
1.6 9
16. 9
1.6 9
0.8 5
4.2 8
0
100
1
2 1
1
1 1 2
1 1 1 1 1 3 1 2
1
2 1
1
1 1
1 1
Table 1: The types of mistakes in each portfolio Table 1 shows the proportion of fourteen types of collocation mistakes, which were collected from twenty five portfolios with seventy five writing assignment of secondyear students. There are three highest proportion involving type 1 (Adjective + Noun, 16.1%), type 6 (Preposition + Noun, 16.1%), type 10 (Verb + Preposition, 16.9%). The second highest group includes type 3 (Verb + Noun, 11.9%) and type 7 (Noun + Preposition, 12.7%). The next group has type 4 (Noun + Verb, 6.78%) and type 5 (Noun + Noun, 8.47%). Type 13 (Adjective + Preposition) follows with 4.28%. The final ones consist of five types, type 2 (Quantifier + Noun), type 12 (Adverb + Adjective) with 0.85% and type 8 (Adverb + Verb), type 9 (Verb + Verb), type 11 (Verb + Adjective) with 1.69%. According to the statistics above, second-year students' writings often have three most popular types of collocation mistakes. It is displayed clearly through the table below.
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Types Por 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Total %
1
6
10
2
1
2 1
2 1 3
3 1
1
1 2 1 1
2 2 1 1 1
2
1
1
1 1 2
2 1 1 2 1 1
1
1 1 1 3 1 2
19 16.1
19 16.1
20 16.9
1 2
Table 2: The three highest proportion of mistakes in 25 portfolios. From the table above, it is clarified that the most common mistake is the combination of adjective and noun. For example, "dark intention" in portfolio 6 should be changed into "practical intention" and "tender rice" in portfolio 22 should become "sticky rice". Secondly, preposition and noun were also combined incorrectly such as "in the ceiling" (P24), and "in the street" (P23). The correct form must be "on the ceiling" and
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"on the street". Thirdly, many students find it difficult to combine verb and preposition correctly. E.g:
Contribute for (P4) --->
contribute to
Borrow in the library (P18) ---> borrow from the library The next mistake were in type 3(Verb + Noun) and type 7 (Noun + Preposition). Types Por. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Total %
3
7
1 2
1
2 1 1 1 1 1
2 1
1 1 1 1 1 1 3 3 1 1
1
14 11.9
15 12.7
Table 2: The second highest proportions of mistakes in 25 portfolios
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This was the second highest groups of mistakes the researchers found in twenty-five collected portfolios. The following phrases were typical examples. E.g. Make a test (P18) ---> do a test Pay attention of (P18) ---> pay attention to Besides, students did not make mistakes in type 14: adjective + verb + adjective + noun + preposition + noun. That does not mean that students are good at this kind of combination. The reason is that they can not combine at such a high level like that. Moreover, according to the information collected from interviews, the lecturers supposed that students often make mistakes in type 3 (Verb + Noun), (interview transcript 2) , type 5 (Noun + Noun), (interview transcript 1), type 6 (Preposition + Noun), (interview transcript 1), type 7 ( Noun + Preposition) (interview transcript 1+2), type 8 (Adverb + Verb) (interview transcript 3), (interview transcript 2).
type 9 (Verb + Verb)
This result is quite similar to the result collected from
portfolios. Also according to them, there are some reasons for collocation mistakes among second-year students. Firstly, students are affected by mother tongue. It means they translate word by word from Vietnamese into English. One of the examples is "gui no cho toi"- "send it for me". In fact, it should be "send it to me" (Interview with teacher 2). Secondly, the limited vocabulary and uncertain collocation led to wrong combination of words. Another example is the combination of adverb and the adjective "wonderful". Students often write "very wonderful" instead of "absolutely wonderful" (Interview with teacher 2, appendix page 32). The final reason is the carelessness in writing, especially when students write under time pressure.
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4.2. Research question 2: What are some solutions to avoid collocation mistakes according to lecturers in ULIS, VNU?
From the views of the lecturers, there are many ways to avoid collocation mistakes. The following solutions are the most typical ones. As for the teachers, they should help students to be more aware of collocation mistakes and the ways to avoid them. In other words, teachers and students play an important role in commenting writing assignments. It will be better if students' writings are commented before class so that the problems are found and solved easily. In fact, the lecturers interviewed focused mainly on suggesting students. Firstly, students should spend much time on practicing reading and writing skills to improve their vocabulary and grammar. It helps students not only to develop creative thinking in order to arrange main points and supporting points suitably but to develop information in their writings as well.
Secondly, they need to arrange suitable time to finish each step:
brainstorming, outlining, especially revising and editing before handing in the assignments. These steps can make the writing papers more fluent and accurate. Thirdly, learning based on sentence structures and phrases is also an essential and useful factor to avoid collocation mistakes. Especially, Students can learn the structures and phrases in Google; if they type the structure or the phrase, there will be many results involving the structure of native speakers. Finally, students should collect many materials involving collocation as sources of reference. For example, collocation dictionary is very necessary. In short, after analyzing the data collected from portfolios and interviews, the answers
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to the two research questions were found. The researchers hope that second-year students can be more aware of collocation mistakes so that they would avoid them in writing skill.
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CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION In this research, the researchers gave general information about collocation, mistakes and the importance of collocation in writing skill. More importantly, the common collocation mistakes among second-year students were pointed out specifically and clearly. The most common mistakes were the combination of adjective and noun, preposition and noun, verb and preposition. The least ones were type 2 (Quantifier + Noun), type 12 (Adverb + Adjective) with 0.85%. Besides, type 14 (adjective + verb + adjective + noun + preposition + noun) was the type that students did not make mistakes. In the mean time, the useful solutions were also provided to help students to avoid basic collocation mistakes. They were reading much to enrich vocabulary, learning based on structure and phrases and taking advantages of “Oxford Collocation Dictionary”. However, this research was only in a small scale. In fact, the researchers focused on twenty-five portfolios from class QH08.E13. The data could not reflect the level of all students in English Pedagogy Department. Besides, this research only concentrated on common collocation mistakes. The researchers did not cover much about the untypical mistakes. Finally, solutions given in this research can only help students realize and avoid collocation mistakes in general, not in specific types of mistakes. As a result of the limitations above, the researchers hope that the next researchers who share the same interest in collocation should have larger scale with more participants and writing assignments. In addition, collocation mistakes should be analyzed and discussed more specifically. Especially, the solutions for each type of mistakes should
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be given. At the same time, the next researchers should also cover collocation mistakes among students at different levels in ULIS, VNU, not only second-year students. In short, the researchers hope that this research paper will be an useful material for second-year students in particular and students in ULIS, VNU in general.
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REFERENCES 1. Hornby, A.S (2005). Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Oxford University
Press. 2. Runcie, M. (2002). Oxford Collocations dictionary for Students of English.
Oxford University Press. 3. Procter, P. (1996). Cambridge International Dictionary of English. Cambridge
University Press. 4. Jackson, H. (1994). Grammar and vocabulary: A resource book for students.
Rouledge publisher. 5. Fernando, C. (1996). Idioms and Idiomacity. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 6. Collocation. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collocation 7. Collocation.
Retrieved
from
http://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/collocations.htm. Beare,
8.
K.
Collocation.
Retrieved
from
http://esl.about.com/od/grammarglossary/g/collocation.htm. 9.
M. Michael (2008). English Collocation in Use Advanve. Cambridge University Press.
10. Dao, N.N. (2007). Collocation of hard and happy in English. Graduation paper. 11. Nguyen, N.B. (2003). The collocation of some groups of synonyms and some
problems faced by Vietnamese learners. Graduation paper.
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APPENDICES Appendix 1: Interview scheme
1, Setting Place and time 2, Personal information - Gender - Experience 3, Content Main points: Lecturers' general view of collocation in writing Asking questions to compare collected data with lecturers' opinions Asking the reason why students have some common collocation mistakes Asking questions to get some solutions to avoid collocation mistakes
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Appendix 2: Interview Transcript Interview with Teacher 1 1, Setting Place: In a teacher hall Time: 14.30 p.m -15.00 p.m, 09/03/2010 2, Personal information - Gender: Female - Number of years teaching: 8 3, Content Với kinh nghiệm của cô, xin cô cho biết nhận xét chung về vai trò của collocation trong việc phát triển kĩ năng viết tiếng anh? Theo mình thì vai trò của collocation là rất quan trọng Trong quá trình dạy viết, cô thấy sinh viên có thường mắc lỗi collocation không ? Có thể nói là thường xuyên Theo cô, sinh viên thường mắc loại lỗi nào nhất trong các lỗi sau đây? 1. Adjective + Noun 2. Quantifier + Noun 3. Verb + Noun 4. Noun + Verb 5. Noun + Noun 6. Preposition + Noun 7. Noun + Preposition 8. Adverb + Verb 9. Verb + Verb 10. Verb + Preposition 11. Verb + Adjective 12. Adverb + Adjective 13. Adjective + Preposition 14. Adjective + Verb + Adjective + Noun + Preposition + Noun Theo mình, sinh viên thường hay mắc lỗi Noun + Noun, Preposition + Noun, Noun + Preposition, and Adverb + Adjective
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Theo cô, có những nguyên nhân phổ biến nào khiến sinh viên thường mắc loại lỗi này? Thường thì có hai nguyên nhân cơ bản là do sinh viên không cẩn thận hoặc không viết bài theo các steps Cô có thể đưa ra một số giải pháp để khắc phục các lỗi sai về collocation khi làm bài môn viết? - kiên trì và làm theo các bước được học - luyện kĩ năng phân bố thời gian hợp lí với các bước. For exmple:brainstorming, outline, editing - lên kế hoạch học viết thao các mẫu câu - đọc nhiều để phát triển về tư duy để có thể sắp xếp các mainpoínt and supporting point một cách hợp lí. Thứ hai là để phát triển thông tin, từ đó mình có thể xây dựng những ý tưởng về các ví dụ và số liệu trong các bài viết của mình - chú trọng đến các bước revision và editing trước khi hoàn thành bài và nộp bài
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Interview with Teacher 1 (Translation) According to your experience, can you please remark the general role of collocation in developing English writing skill? In my opinion, collocation is very important in writing In writing skill, do your students make collocation mistakes? Very often. In your opinion, what are the most typical collocation mistakes among these following types? 1. Adjective + Noun 2. Quantifier + Noun 3. Verb + Noun 4. Noun + Verb 5. Noun + Noun 6. Preposition + Noun 7. Noun + Preposition 8. Adverb + Verb 9. Verb + Verb 10. Verb + Preposition 11. Verb + Adjective 12. Adverb + Adjective 13. Adjective + Preposition 14. Adjective + Verb + Adjective + Noun + Preposition + Noun Noun + Noun, Preposition + Noun, Noun + Preposition, and Adverb + Adjective In your opinion, what are the typical reasons for collocation mistakes? In my opinion, there are two main reasons. Students are not careful in writing and they don't follow steps of writing. Can you please give some suggestions to avoid collocation mistakes in writing? -- be patient and follow correct steps. -- practice the skill of arranging suitable time with steps. Such as: brainstorming, outlining, and editing. -- plan to study according to structures and phrases. -- read much to develop the ability to arrange main points and supporting points suitably. Reading much also help to improve information, build up ideas about example and data in writing papers. -- reread and revise carefully before handing in.
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Appendix 2: Interview Transcript Interview with Teacher 2 1, Setting Place: In a classroom Time: 16.30 – 17.00 p.m 2, Personal information - Gender: Female - Number of years teaching: 2.5 3, Content Với kinh nghiệm của cô, xin cô cho biết nhận xét chung về vai trò của collocation trong việc phát triển kĩ năng viết tiếng anh? Rất quan trọng. Nó không chỉ giúp học sinh viết tốt hơn mà còn thể hiện được trình độ viết, trình độ ngôn nhữ của học sinh. Ngoài ran nếu collocation sai thì ngôn ngữ, languages trong bài sẽ không được trôi chảy. Điều này ảnh hưởng đến độ fluency của bài viết Trong quá trình dạy viết, cô thấy sinh viên có thường mắc lỗi collocation không ? Có khá nhiều. Ví dụ như một từ đơn giản như cách dung của từ “do” và từ “make”. Hoặc là lẽ ra phải viết là “do a crossword” nhưng một số bạn viết là “make a crossword” Theo cô, sinh viên thường mắc loại lỗi nào nhất trong các lỗi sau đây? 1. Adjective + Noun 2. Quantifier + Noun 3. Verb + Noun 4. Noun + Verb 5. Noun + Noun 6. Preposition + Noun 7. Noun + Preposition 8. Adverb + Verb 9. Verb + Verb 10. Verb + Preposition 11. Verb + Adjective 12. Adverb + Adjective
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13. Adjective + Preposition 14. Adjective + Verb + Adjective + Noun + Preposition + Noun Ở đây cô thấy là sinh viên thường mắc lỗi với Verb + Noun, Noun + Preposition, Verb + Verb, Adverb + Adjective. Ví dụ từ “wonderful” thì một số bạn viết là “very wonderful” nhưng thực ra phải là “absolutely wonderful” Theo cô, có những nguyên nhân phổ biến nào khiến sinh viên thường
mắc loại lỗi này?
Thứ nhất là do tiếng mẹ đẻ tức là nhiều khi sinh viên quen dung tiếng việt hơn tiếng anh nên thường mắc lỗi Verb and Noun, Preposition. Ví dụ khi người ta nói là “send it to me” nhưng theo tiếng việt có nghĩa là “gửi bó cho tôi” nên mình lại hay viết là “send it for me”. Thứ hai là do sinh viên bất cẩn trong việc viết. Cô có thể đưa ra một số giải pháp để khắc phục các lỗi sai về collocation khi làm bài môn viết? Cách đầu tiên là phòng ngừa nó. Cô thường hay suggest cho học sinh làtrước khi đọc, trước khi viết nên đọc nhiều, tham khảo nhiều nguồn tài liệu khác nhau. Từ đó phát hiện ra những cụm từ liên quan đến chủ đề của mình và sử dụng những cụm từ đó vào trong bài viết. Như thế sẽ tránh được những lỗi do ảnh hưởng của tiếng mẹ đẻ. Thứ hai khi học từ không nên học theo từng cùm từ riêng lẻ mà học theo hệ thống từng cụm từ. ví dụ khi mình học từ “attention”, mình không nên chỉ học riêng từ đó mà nên học cả cụm như “pay attention to”. Ngoài ra, khi không chắc về một cùm từ nào đó mình có thể tra trên goggle để tìm được những gợi ý tốt nhất. hoắc mình cũng có thể hỏi bạn bè hoặc tra trong quyển từ diển “Oxford collocation”.
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Interview with Teacher 2 (Translation) According to your experience, can you please remark the general role of collocation in developing English writing skill? In my opinion, collocation is very important in writing. It not only helps students write well but also expresses the students' level and the ability of language. Besides, if collocation is not good, the writing will not be fluent. In writing skill, do your students make collocation mistakes? Very often. For example, students often write '' make a crossword'' instead of ''do a crossword'' In your opinion, what are the most typical collocation mistakes among these following types? 1. Adjective + Noun 2. Quantifier + Noun 3. Verb + Noun 4. Noun + Verb 5. Noun + Noun 6. Preposition + Noun 7. Noun + Preposition 8. Adverb + Verb 9. Verb + Verb 10. Verb + Preposition 11. Verb + Adjective 12. Adverb + Adjective 13. Adjective + Preposition 14. Adjective + Verb + Adjective + Noun + Preposition + Noun Verb + Noun, Noun + Preposition, Verb + Verb, Adverb + Adjective. For example, students often write ''very wonderful'' instead of '' absolutely wonderful” In your opinion, what are the typical reasons for collocation mistakes? Firstly, because of mother tongue, students are more familiar with Vietnamese than English, so they make mistake about Verb and Noun, Preposition. For example,'' send it for me" means” gui no cho toi''. In fact, the correct way is: “send it to me". Secondly, students are not careful in writing. Can you please give some suggestions to avoid collocation mistakes in writing? -- read much to improve the vocabulary -- study basing on structures and phrases -- search on goggle to find the correct way of native speakers
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-- ask friends for peer check -- use collocation dictionary
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Appendix 2: Interview Transcript Interview with Teacher 3 1. Setting Place: via email 2. Personal information - Gender: female - Numbers of year teaching: 6 3. Content: Với kinh nghiệm của cô, xin cô cho biết nhận xét chung về vai trò của collocation trong việc phát triển kĩ năng viết tiếng anh? Collocation đóng vai trò đáng kể trong việc phát triển kỹ năng viết đoạn dành cho sinh viên năm thứ hai vì nó liên quan đến cohesion và coherence Trong quá trình dạy viết, cô thấy sinh viên có thường mắc lỗi collocation không ? Lỗi lexical collocation sinh viên thường mắc nhiều hơn grammatical collocation Theo cô, sinh viên thường mắc loại lỗi nào nhất trong các lỗi sau đây? 1. Adjective + Noun 2. Quantifier + Noun 3. Verb + Noun 4. Noun + Verb 5. Noun + Noun 6. Preposition + Noun 7. Noun + Preposition 8. Adverb + Verb 9. Verb + Verb 10. Verb + Preposition 11. Verb + Adjective 12. Adverb + Adjective 13. Adjective + Preposition 14. Adjective + Verb + Adjective + Noun + Preposition + Noun 1,5,8,12,14 Theo cô, có những nguyên nhân phổ biến nào khiến sinh viên thường mắc loại lỗi này?
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Do ảnh hưởng của tiếng mẹ đẻ, do vốn từ vựng còn nghèo nàn, ngữ pháp còn lỏng lẻo và do lỗi bất cẩn của bản thân Cô có thể đưa ra một số giải pháp để khắc phục các lỗi sai về collocation khi làm bài môn viết? Giáo viên giúp đỡ sv trong việc tăng cường nhận thức lỗi collocation mà họ mắc phải cũng như cách khắc phục. Bản thân sinh viên phải tự trau dồi bằng nhiều phương thức như đọc sâu đọc rộng, luyện viết thường xuyên với sự hỗ trợ của giáo viên và bạn bè.
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Interview with Teacher 1 (Translation) According to your experience, can you please remark the general role of collocation in developing English writing skill? Collocation plays an important role in develop writing skill among second year student because it involves cohesion and coherence. In writing skill, do your students make collocation mistakes? Yes, students make mistakes about lexical collocation more than grammatical collocation In your opinion, what are the most typical collocation mistakes among these following types? 1. Adjective + Noun 2. Quantifier + Noun 3. Verb + Noun 4. Noun + Verb 5. Noun + Noun 6. Preposition + Noun 7. Noun + Preposition 8. Adverb + Verb 9. Verb + Verb 10. Verb + Preposition 11. Verb + Adjective 12. Adverb + Adjective 13. Adjective + Preposition 14. Adjective + Verb + Adjective + Noun + Preposition + Noun Adjective + Noun, Noun + Noun, Adverb + Verb, Adverb + Adjective, Adjective + Verb + Adjective + Noun + Preposition + Noun. In your opinion, what are the typical reasons for collocation mistakes? Due to the effect of mother tongue, the limited vocabulary, uncertain grammar and carelessness of students. Can you please give some suggestions to avoid collocation mistakes in writing? Teachers help students to be more aware of collocation mistakes and the ways to correct. Students themselves must improve by reading much and deeply, writing more often with the help of teachers and friends.