Nghiên cứu các bài tập học tích hợp về hình thái học và cú pháp tiếng Anh cho sinh viên năm thứ nhất tại Đại học Thái Nguyên

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Socialist Republic of Vietnam



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Republic of the Philippines
ơ

1
INTEGRATIVE LEARNING EXERCISES IN MORPHOLOGY AND
SYNTAX









A Dissertation Presented to the
Faculty of the Graduate School
Batangas State University
Batangas City

In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Doctor of Philosophy
Major in English





By:
DUONG THI HOA LU (Laura)
March 2015



THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam



BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines

i
APPROVAL SHEET
This dissertation entitled “INTEGRATIVE LEARNING EXERCISES IN
MORPHOLOGY AND SYNTAX ” prepared and submitted by Duong Thi
Hoa Lu in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of
Philosophy in English has been examined and is recommended for oral
examination.


MATILDA H. DIMAANO, PhD.
Adviser
PANEL OF EXAMINERS
Approved by the Committee on Oral Examination with a grade of

……………………
Chairman


………………… ……………………
Member Member




…………………… …………………
Member Member

Accepted and approved in particular fulfillment of the requirements
for the Degree of f Philosophy English.
Comprehensive Examination:………….

……………….
Dean





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ABSTRACT
Title : Integrative Learning Exercises in Morphology and Syntax
Author : Duong Thi Hoa Lu (Laura)
Course : Doctor of Philosophy
Major : English
Year : 2015
Adviser : Dr. Matilda H. Dimaano

Summary
This study aimed to determine the morphological and syntactic
competencies of first year college students in English Language at Thai
Nguyen University. The study covered the level of morphological
competency of student respondents in terms of meaning of root words,

affixes, pre-fixes, suffixes, word derivation, word formation and
compounding of words. Part also of this study is the level of syntactic
competency of student respondents relative to phrases, clauses,
sentences and functions. This also covered the assessment of teachers on
the students‟ morphological and syntactic competencies, the significant
difference on the level of this competency with the integrative language
exercise as the output to enhance the students‟ English language
competencies.



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The study included the 400 first year college students and 70
teachers in Basic English Course in the Academic Year 2014-2015 in Thai
Nguyen University. This study tested the following hypothesis that there
are no significant differences on the levels of morpho-syntactic competency
of students and the assessment of the English language teachers. It made
use of the descriptive method of research with survey questionnaire and
teacher-made test as the main data gathering instruments. The data
gathered were statistically treated with the use of percentage, weighted
mean, standard deviation, independent t-test.

Findings of the study revealed that as regards levels of
understanding of students in morphology particularly in meaning of root
words result indicates that the students‟ level of understanding in this area
of morphology is average with a fair number of students‟ demonstrating a
reasonable degree of competence. In prefixes, affixes and suffixes results
showed that the total rating obtained by the students on this area is 59.12
percent which indicates that the students‟ performance in this area is
average and is at par with the performance in the meaning of the root
words. As for word derivation the total rating obtained by the students on
this area 63.25 percent which falls under the average level of classification
which indicates that the freshman students‟ have developed a certain level
of adeptness in word derivation.



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In word formation, the total rating obtained by students in this
morphology skill component which is 52.85 percent with the verbal
equivalent rating of average indicates that the slightly lower numerical
value suggests that the students are finding some difficulties along this
area. In relation to compounding of words, findings revealed that the

students‟ obtained a total rating of 61.15 percent with a verbal equivalent
rating of average in this morphology skill component which indicates that
the freshman students performed consistently and has developed skills in
compounding.
Relative to the levels of students‟ performance in the use of syntax
particularly in phrases, the total rating obtained for this component area is
51.95 percent or verbally equivalent to average which means that while the
students demonstrate a certain degree of proficiency in this syntax skill,
there are areas under this component that students do not know or
unfamiliar. As for clauses, results showed that the total rating obtained by
students is 47.30 percent or its equivalent of average which implies that the
student performance on clauses are average but below the 50 percent cut-
off value. For sentences, the total rating students obtained is 60.50 percent
or average which implies that the students find the test easier and have
demonstrated more advanced skill and competency in sentences as
compared to phrases and clauses. As regards functions the total rating of



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v
the students‟ performance is 49.95 percent or average which implies that

the students demonstrated some degree of proficiency on syntactic
functions.
In relation to comparison of the levels of understanding in
morphology and performance in syntax, results show that in 22 out of 28
mean comparisons, the p-values are less than 0.05 which means that the
morphology and syntax performances corresponding to this means are
significantly different and are therefore not related. In six out of 28 mean
comparisons, the p-values were greater than 0.05 which means that the
morphology and syntax performances corresponding to this means are not
significantly different and so they are related to each other which means
that in general, no relationship exist among these linguistic skills.
With regards to teachers assessment of the morphological
competencies and syntactic performance of students all the items obtained
an agree score of 100 percent which means that the teacher respondents
unanimously agree that the items raised are valid items that can be used
for the assessment of the students‟ morphological competencies and
syntactic performances. According to the frequency of use of students‟
skills, 11 out of 12 items had mean scores close to 3.0 or equivalent to
sometimes and only one had mean scores close to 4.0 or equivalent to
often which means that the teachers observed the students do not practice



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vi
and use these skills as often in the class. For the assessment according to
their degree of importance, result of assessment showed that all the 12
items had mean scores close to 4.0 or equivalent to moderately important
which means that the teachers regarded the 12 items as only moderately
important skills to be developed by the students as that there could be
more important topic for teaching than those items.
In terms of the difference on the levels of morpho-syntactic
competencies of the students and their performance as assessed by
English teachers, results showed that eight out of 11 component items had
a p-value that is below 0.05 which means that the teacher‟s assessment
and students‟ morpho-syntactic competencies along these areas are
significantly different which suggests that no relationship exist between the
treatment means being compared. Moreover, the integrative learning
exercises on morpho-syntactic competencies designed are based on some
criteria that are considered and used as concrete basis for the exercises to
be included to address the needs of the students.
The study recommended that teachers may be encouraged to attend
more trainings, seminars and workshops along the areas of morphology
and syntax to further enhance their teaching techniques; that output must
be reviewed and evaluated, and similar studies be conducted by future
researchers.



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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The author greatly acknowledges indebtedness to the following
persons in their respective fields whose skills and competence contributed
much to the completion of this study.
Dr. Dang Kim Vui, Prof. Dr. Dang Kim Vui, President of Thai
Nguyen University, for his continuous effort to make this Cooperation
Program successful;
Dr.Matilda.H.Diamaano, her adviser for the whole hearted
assistance, her encouragement and precious time enthusiastically reading,
editing the manuscript, for having provided the researcher useful materials.
Without her guidance and assistance, this dissertation would probably still
be incomplete;
Dr. Nguyen The Hung, Director of the International Training Center
Thai Nguyen University, for his precious and whole hearted assistance and
encouragement;
The Teachers and the student-respondents of the study, for their
active involvement and cooperation; All friends who in one way or another
have their encouragement and remarkable support;
Her affectionate parents and sibling, for innumerable blessings she
had received through them, for being her greatest inspiration in pursuing
this endeavor.
D.T.H.L.

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DEDICATION


With pride and honor,
this piece of work is lovingly dedicated
to her nice daughters and son,
to her loving husband and to her family



D.T.H.L.

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Socialist Republic of Vietnam



BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines


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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
TITLE PAGE……………………………………………………………………
APPROVAL SHEET…………………………………………………………… i
ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT…………………………………………………….…vii
DEDICATION………………………………………………………………… viii
TABLE OF CONTENTS……………………………………………………… ix
LIST OF TABLES……………………………………………………………….x
LIST OF FIGURES…………………………………………………………… xi
CHAPTER
I. THE PROBLEM 1

Introduction 1
Statement of the Problem 6
Scope, Delimitation and Limitation of the Study 8
II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE 11
Research Literature 43
Synthesis 49
Theoretical Framework 51
Conceptual Framework 53
Hypothesis 55
Definition of Terms 55



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III. RESEARCH METHOD AND PROCEDURE 58
Research Environment 58
Research Design 61
Subjects of the Study 61
Data Gathering Instrument 63
Data Gathering Procedure 65
Statistical Treatment of Data 66

IV. PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
OF DATA 68
V. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS……………………………… … ….118
CONCLUSION
RECOMMENDATION
BIBLIOGRAPHY…… ………………………………… ……………132
APPENDICES
A. LETTER OF REQUESTS
B. QUESTIONNAIRES
C. DOCUMENTATIONS



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LIST OF TABLES

Table Title Page
1. Distribution of Population and Sample 62
2. Level of Students‟ Understanding in Meaning of Root Words 69
3. Level of Understanding of Students in the Prefixes, Affixes and
Suffixes 71

4. Level of Understanding of Students in the Word Derivation 73
5. Level of Understanding of Students in the Word Formation 74
6. Level of Understanding of Students in the Compounding of
Words 76
7. Level of Students Performance in the Use of Syntax Relative to
Phrases 79
8. Level of Students Performance in the Use of Syntax Relative to
Clauses 81
9. Level of Students Performance in the Use of Syntax Relative to
Sentences 82
10. Level of Students Performance in the Use of Syntax Relative to
Functions 84
11. Relationships of the Student's Level of Morphological
Competencies and Performance in Syntax…………… ………………… 87
12. Students‟ skills employed in teaching the Basic English course…88



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13 Student Skills and Their Frequency of Use 91
14. Students‟ Skills and Their Degree of Importance……………… ….92

15. Difference of the Students‟ Level of Morpho-syntactic Competencies
and their Performance as Assessed by English Teachers…………………93
16. Bases in the Design of Integrative Learning Exercises on
Morpho-syntactic Competencies 95




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LIST OF FIGURE
Table Title Page
1. Research Paradigm………………………………………… ………54






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CHAPTER I
THE PROBLEM
Introduction
Nowadays English is considered as the international language of
communication, especially in the area of commerce, trade, media, culture,
arts and education.It is known as a key to open the door into the bustling
word of rapid changes and development.Teaching and learning English in
Vietnam has received special attention since the country implemented the
“open-door” policy.That is the reason why learning English is not only
interesting but is also a great and practical demand for many people
especially for those who want to advance in their careers and to achieve
their long term study goals.
English is a compulsory subject from the elementary school up to
senior school in today‟s Vietnam education system.It is considered a
difficult subject for the Vietnamese students because English is completely
different from Vietnamese language being looked at from the system of
structure, pronunciation and vocabulary.In the study of the English
language, it involves the four language skills namely listening, speaking,
reading and writing. Aspects such as grammar, structure, vocabulary,
spelling and pronunciation are the focus in English teaching and learning
process. For pedagogical reasons, specific skills may be focused on

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separately but there are two elements that are important to the process of
acquiring and using a language and that is grammar and vocabulary.
The element of understanding of the English language consists of
vocabulary items which makes it a very important segment in language
teaching and learning aside from language structures and forms.So that
grammatical and lexical aspects have a place in language teaching.
According to Tikunoff (1983) students with limited English proficiency
need these three kinds of competences which include participative
competence which is the ability to respond appropriately to class demands
and the procedural rules for accomplishing them; interactional competence,
the ability to respond both to classroom rules of discourse and social rules of
discourse, interacting appropriately with peers and adults while accomplishing
class tasks; and academic competence, the ability to acquire new skills,
assimilate new information, and construct new concepts.
Syntax as one of the major components of grammar is the study of the
rules that govern the ways in which words combine to form phrases, clauses
and sentences. It also refers to the arrangement of words in a sentence.
Syntax is the grammar, structure or order of elements in a language
statement. It applies to natural languages.

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According to Crystal (2004), grammar is the structural foundation of a
person‟s ability to express oneself. The more one is aware as to how it works,
the more the meaning and effectiveness of the way language is used can be
monitored. It can help foster precision, detect ambiguity, and exploit the
richness of expression available in English. It can help everyone, not only
teachers of English, but teachers of anything, for all teaching is ultimately a
matter of getting to grips of meaning.
Further, for students to be functionally proficient in the classroom,
they must to be able to utilize these competences to perform these three
major functions such as to decode and understand both task expectations
and new information, to engage appropriately in completing tasks, with
high accuracy; and to obtain accurate feedback with relation to completing
tasks accurately.
In the study of English language, there are problems or difficulties
encountered by students.Among the four skills, speaking is the most
challenging as it involves a complex process of constructing meaning.The

development of English learning on the other hand involves the use of real
or authentic material which reflect social and cultural context of
language.Students therefore must have exposure to English resource
material for them to improve their communicative skills.They can also
engage in some activities like filling forms, writing letters or engage in



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discussion as to the content of the reading material to enhance their
comprehension.Failure of students to understand the language they hear
leads to complete breakdown of communication so that students are
challenged to make some attempts to understand language as native
speaker does.
Mastering the learning of language is crucial to most students.But
there are methods, techniques and activities that would aid them to
become proficient in the use of the language.Students who wish to learn
English language must be able to make use of the four language
components.
Morphology plays an important role in language learning.It focus on
the understanding of language speakers to complex words and create new

lexical items.Morphology knowledge about word as the smallest element
that may be uttered in isolation and pragmatic content as well as
morpheme which is the smallest unit of meaning and the composition of
word which include single morpheme is very important to students who are
learning the language.
In morphology, students encountered difficulty in forming compound
word where they are going to add affixes to the root.Similarly, they can‟t
put together words in order to build larger elements of language such as
phrases, clauses and sentences.Further, there are also difficulties in



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developing definition giving of synonyms of antonyms of certain words.So
language teachers must look for a way to help students improve their
language proficiency like utilizing instruction material fitted for the lesson
that would make conversation of students prior knowledge to the new
words so that students can make modifications of their existing framework
of knowledge and whenever they meet these words in their readings they
effectively construct meaning.
Language teachers must also give emphasis in the context of the

words.They can discuss the meaning through context clues from the
reading selection or by defining the terms to give clarity to meaning for
better understanding of students.Further, students must also be given
requested exposure in the use of words in different situations and
meanings and engage them in oral and written practice.
As in the case of inflections and word formation, students has
encountered problems relative to determining the correct syntax in
sentences and what kind of inflection the word need in order to have a
grammatically correct statement.In this situation, language teacher must
give emphasis to the teaching of word order and give focus on the
functions and relationship of each word for students to develop their
language proficiency. Producing appropriate grammatical utterance is not
the only measure that students develop language proficiency but instead



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they must have the ability to produce and understand those utterances in a
particular grammar sequence that is most appropriate to the linguistic and
situational context.
Further, students must develop their ability to apply grammatical

rules of language in order for them to grammatically correct sentences and
where and who to use these sentences and for whom.This indicates that in
all aspects in the study of language, they must learn the appropriateness of
its uses, communication with other people and culture as well as in
linguistic and situational context.
As an English language teacher teaching General English in Thai
Nguyen University, difficulties in morphology along the areas of word
formation, affixes, synonyms and antonyms as well as compounding and
word functions were observed among freshman college students. This
scenario, prompted the researcher to conduct a study along morpho-
syntactic competency of firstyear college students with integrative
language exercise as output to enhance students‟ morpho-syntactic
competence.
Statement of the Problem
This study aimed to determine the morphological competencies and
performance in syntactic of first year college students in English Language
at Thai Nguyen University.



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Specifically, the study sought answers to the following questions;
1. What is the level of understanding of students in the following
morphological competencies:
1.1. meaning of root words,
1.2. prefixes, affixes and suffixes,
1.3. word derivation,
1.4. word formation, and
1.5. compounding of words?
2. What is the level of students‟ performance in the use of syntax
relative to:
2.1. phrases,
2.2. Clauses,
2.3. sentences, and
2.4. functions?
3. How do levels of understanding morphological competencies and
performance in syntax compare? Are there significant relationships?
4. How do English language teachers assess morphological
competencies and syntactic performance of students?
5. Is there any significant difference on the levels of morphological
and syntactic competencies of the students and their performance as
assessed by English teachers?



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6. What integrative learning exercises in morphology and syntax
may be proposed?
Scope, Delimitation and Limitation of the Study
The study covers the level of morphological and syntactic
competencies of first year college students in English language at Thai
Nguyen University. This included the level of morphological competency of
student respondents in terms of meaning of root words, affixes, pre-fixes,
suffixes, word derivation, word formation and compounding of words.Part
also of this study is the level of syntactic competency of student
respondents relative to phrases, clauses, sentences and functions.This
also covers the assessment of the teachers on the students‟ morphological
and syntactic competencies, the significant difference on the level of this
competency with the end view of proposing an integrative language
exercise to enhance the students‟ morphological and syntactic
competency.
The study covered the 400 first year college students and their 70
teachers in Basic English Course in the Academic Year 2014-2015 in Thai
Nguyen University. Students who are in their second year, third year and
fourth year respectively are not part of the study. Likewise, results of the
study are limited only on the data gathered from the respondents.
Significance of the Study



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This study is believed to have profound significance to the
Administrators, Faculty of Foreign Language, First Year Students in Thai
Nguyen University, and future researchers.
Administrators.Findings of this study will provide basic information
to the administrators regarding levels of morphological and syntactic
competencies of first year college students and these will also serve as an
opener for them to have plans of providing effective Faculty Development
Training Program gearing towards improving students‟ English language
proficiency.
Faculty of Foreign Language. Results of the study will provide
them information on the current status regarding morphological and
syntactic competencies of first year college students in English language
for them to have an opportunity to choose the best training program to
attend toin order to improve their strategies in teaching morphology and
syntax.
First Year Students of TNU.This study will serve as input for them
to be aware on their morphological and syntactic competencies. They will
be informed of their weaknesses so that they can make some ways to
improve their English performance.

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Present Researcher. Results of this study may contribute to
broaden his knowledge in providing recommendations to improve
morphological and syntactic competencies of first year college students
Future Researchers. Results of the study will be of use to other
researchers who wish to conduct a similar study.Future researchers may
use this study to enrich their own body of literature and substantiate their
own findings.



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CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
This chapter presents the review of concepts and studies that fits
into the existing body of knowledge.These literatures provide a rich
background and right direction to complete the present study. Included also
in this chapter are synthesis, theoretical and conceptual frameworks,
paradigm of the study and definition of terms.
Conceptual Literature
The following concepts branches of linguistics, morphology,English
syntax and English language learning exercises which were discussed
provided a conceptual frame of reference in the study.
Branches of Linguistics.The scientific study of human language
and speech is termed Linguistics. It is the study of language and is
concerned with human language as a universal part of human behavior
and of the human abilities (Nasr, 1984). Linguistics as competence is
referred to as being a person‟s potential to speak a language, and his or
her linguistics performance as the realization of that potential (Powers, et
al., (1994). The following are the branches of linguistics and these include:
phonetics as the study of the sounds of human language; phonology or
phonemics as the study of patterns of a language‟s basic sounds;
morphology as the study of the internal structure of words; syntax as the study