Nghiên cứu khả năng sử dụng ngữ pháp và ngôn ngữ tiếng anh của sinh viên năm thứ 3 tại đại học thái nguyên, từ đó xây dựng các bài tập bổ trợ

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines

ENGLISH LANGUAGE GRAMMATICAL AND DISCOURSE
COMPETENCIES OF 3rd YEAR COLLEGE STUDENTS OF
THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY : BASES FOR
INTERVENTION EXERCISES

A Dissertation Proposal
Presented to
The Faculty of Graduate School
Batangas State University
Batangas City, Philippines

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

By:
NGUYEN THI HONG CHUYEN
June 2015

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Socialist Republic of Vietnam

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines

APPROVAL SHEET
This dissertation entitled “ENGLISH LANGUAGE GRAMMATICAL
AND DISCOURSE COMPETENCIES OF 3rd YEAR COLLEGE STUDENTS
OF THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY: BASES FOR INTERVENTION
EXERCISES” prepared and submitted by NGUYEN THI HONG CHUYEN in
partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
major in English has been examined and is recommended for Oral
Examination.
MATILDA H. DIMAANO, Ph.D.
Adviser
PANEL OF EXAMINERS
of

Approved by the committee on Oral Examination with a grade
_.
DR. AMADA G. BANAAG
Chairman
DR. MARIA LUISA A. VALDEZ
Member

DR. FELIX M. PANOPIO
Member

DR. MYRNA G. SULIT
External Representative
Accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree
of Doctor of Philosophy major in English.
Comprehensive Examination: PASSED

Date
Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu – ĐHTN

MATILDA H. DIMAANO, Ph.D.
Dean, Graduate Studies
College of Arts and Sciences



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Socialist Republic of Vietnam

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines

ABSTRACT
Title

: English Language Grammatical and Discourse Competencies
of 3rd Year College Students of Thai Nguyen University:
Bases for Intervention Exercises

Author

: Nguyen Thi Hong Chuyen

Course

: Doctor of Philosophy

Major

: English

Year

: 2015

Adviser

: Dr. Matilda H. Dimaano

Summary
This study focused on determining English language grammatical
competence and discourse competence of 3rd year college students of Thai
Nguyen University. The grammatical competencies of student respondents
covered were parts of speech, morphology and syntax, and vocabulary while in
the discourse competencies of students’, cohesive devices, transitional
phrases, coherence, connectors and choice of words were included.
Further, the study also dealt with the assessments of the English
language teachers on the same mentioned competencies and the comparison
as well as the significant differences to the student respondents’ grammatical
and discourse competencies with intervention exercises as output of the study

to enhance students’ language competencies.
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BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines

The study made use of the descriptive method of research and utilized a
survey questionnaire and teacher- made test as the main data gathering
instrument. Statistical tools used are frequency distribution and percentage,
weighted mean, standard- deviation, and independent t-test.
Findings of the study showed that in the grammatical competence of the
3rd year College students as to parts of speech the % correct items of the
students are above 50 percent in all five items which implies that the students’
performance in this grammatical area is high average and that the students’
demonstrated a reasonable degree of competence. In morphology the total
rating obtained by the students is 83.07 percent or good where the students
showed the best performance and demonstrates mastery of this grammatical
skill component. For syntax the total rating obtained by student respondents is
74.74 percent which falls under the high average level of classification which
reflects on the advanced level of proficiency. In the case of vocabulary the total
performance rating under this grammatical area is 82.53 percent or good
performance which implies their high level of competency.
For discourse competencies of the 3rd year College students in terms of

cohesive devices results showed that students’ performance is heterogeneous
with the ratings distributed in the extreme ends of the spectrum while in
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Republic of the Philippines

transitional phrases findings showed that student performance is 73.73 percent
or its equivalent of high average which implies that the student performance is
heterogeneous. In coherence, results showed that the total rating of % correct
items is 54.74 percent or average which implies inferior student performance
relative to cohesive devices and transitional phrases and further implies that
only approximately half of the students developed and demonstrated the
advanced skill of coherence.
For connectors, findings indicated that the total rating of the students’
performance under this component is 69.95 percent or high average which
indicates that the student performance in connectors is equally superior
relative to cohesive devices and transitional phrases. Moreover in choice of
words results showed that the total rating of the students’ performance under
this component is 57.57 percent or average which implies that students have
not developed mastery.
In relation to teachers’ assessment of the grammatical and discourse
competencies of 3rd year college students, results of the study showed that

seven of nine items obtained an “agree” score of 100 percent. These items
pertain to the grammatical skills involving parts of speech and vocabulary; and
the discourse skills involving cohesive devices, transitional phrases,
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Republic of the Philippines

coherence, connectors and choice of words.
According to the frequency by which the students apply these skills in
their various encounters in class, results showed students practice and use
these skills more often in the class as observed by teachers while according to
their degree of importance results showed that six out of nine items had mean
scores close to 5.0 or equivalent to very important which mean that the
teachers had high regards and valuation for the nine items as important skills
to be developed by the students.
As to relationship of teacher’s assessment and students’ grammatical
and discourse competencies findings revealed that only seven out of nine
items showed a p-value that is below 0.05 which means that the teacher’s
assessment and students’ grammatical and discourse competencies along
these areas are significantly different and further indicates that no relationship
exist between the means being compared and are independent of each other.
Only two items showed a p-value of greater than 0.05 which indicates that the

teacher’s assessment and students’ grammatical competencies along these
two areas such as morphology and syntax are not significantly different.
Based on the findings of the study, an English intervention exercises, the
output of the study focused on the low-scoring items that are below 70 percent.
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Socialist Republic of Vietnam

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines

From the findings, the study recommended that the proposed English
intervention exercises may be reviewed by administrators and suggestions
maybe adopted before utilization; that teachers must be given seminar and
trainings along discourse competence to enhance students’ writing skills; and
that a similar study may be conducted in other higher educational institutions.

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Socialist Republic of Vietnam

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The researcher would like to express her sincere gratitude to the
following persons who in one way or another made this work possible.
Dr. Dang Kim Vui, President Thai Nguyen University, Vietnam for the
opportunity given to be included in the Ph.D. major in English Program in
cooperation with Batangas State University, Philippines;
Dr. Matilda H. Dimaano, dissertation adviser, for her guidance, scholarly
inputs, and consistent encouragement. Her expertise in the field of research
work contributed much in the completion of this academic work. Thank you so
much for being my adviser. The precious time shared in reading patiently the
manuscript, all the help and support make me a better researcher;
The panel Members from Batangas State University Philippines: Dr.
Felix M. Panopio, Dr. Myrna G. Sulit, Dr. Corazon B. Cabrera, Dr. Amada G.
Banaag, and Dr. Maria Luisa A. Valdez for their valuable comments and
suggestions;
Dr. Remedios P. Magnaye, Recording Secretary for her dedication in
preparing and encoding the final defense minutes;
Ms. Le Quynh Anh, Staff of International Training Center, TNU Colege of
Agriculture and Forestry for the support; and
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Socialist Republic of Vietnam

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines

Her parents, husband, son, and daughter for their love, and
understanding and support in the completion of this academic endeavor.

Nguyen Thi Hong Chuyen

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Socialist Republic of Vietnam

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines

DEDICATION
This work is wholeheartedly dedicated to my parents, husband, children
and friends.

Nguyen Thi Hong Chuyen

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Socialist Republic of Vietnam

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
TITLE PAGE........................................................................................ i
APPROVAL SHEET............................................................................ ii
ABSTRACT......................................................................................... iii
ACKNOWLEDGMENT........................................................................ viii
DEDICATION....................................................................................... x
TABLE OF CONTENTS...................................................................... xi
LIST OF TABLES................................................................................ xiv
LIST OF FIGURES............................................................................. xvi
CHAPTER
I. THE PROBLEM
Introduction............................................................ 1
Statement of the Problem ..................................... 7
Scope, Delimitation and Limitation of the Study.....8
Significance of the Study .......................................10
II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Conceptual Literature............................................. 12
Research Literature................................................41

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Synthesis ...............................................................48
Theoretical Framework ......................................... 51
Conceptual Framework ......................................... 54
Hypothesis............................................................. 57
Definition of Terms................................................. 57
III. RESEARCH METHOD AND PROCEDURE
Research Environment ..........................................60
Research Design .................................................. 62
Subjects of the Study ............................................ 63
Data Gathering Instrument..................................... 64
Data Gathering Procedure..................................... 67
Statistical Treatment of Data ................................ 68
IV. PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF
DATA .................................................................... 70
V. SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Summary of Findings............................................. 126
Conclusions ...........................................................137
Recommendation .................................................. 138

BIBLIOGRAPHY.............................................................................139
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BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines

APPENDICES………………………………………………………….. 146
A. Questionnaires........................................................... 147
B. Letters of Request....................................................... 159
C. Documentations......................................................... 165
D. Psychrometric Conversion Table............................... 171
CURRICULUM VITAE………………………………………………… 174

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Republic of the Philippines

LIST OF TABLES
Table

Title

Page

1

Distribution of the Respondents of the Study………………. 63

2

Levels of Grammatical Competence of Students
in Parts of Speech............................................................... 71

3

Levels of Grammatical Competence of Students
in Morphology ..................................................................... 73

4

Levels of Grammatical Competence of Students
in Syntax ............................................................................. 74

5

Levels of Grammatical Competence of Students in
Vocabulary Meaning.........................................................

6

Levels of Discourse Competence of Students in
Cohesive Devices...............................................................

7

79

Levels of Discourse Competence of Students in
Transitional Phrases..........................................................

8

76

81

Levels of Discourse Competence of Students
in Coherence.......................................................................

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Levels of Discourse Competence of Students
in Connectors........................................................................ 84

10

Levels of Discourse Competence of Students
in Choice of Words.............................................................. 85

11

Students’ Assessment on Skills in Teaching the
Basic English Course........................................................... 87

12

Students’ Skills and their Frequency of Use........................ 89

13

Students’ Skills and their Degree of Importance.................. 91

14

Correlation Between Students’ Level of Competencies and their
Performance as Assessed by English Teachers.................. 93

15

Bases in the Design of English Language
Teaching Intervention Exercises on
Morpho-Syntactic Competencies........................................... 96

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BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure
1

Title

Page

Conceptual Paradigm of the Study ……………........................56

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Socialist Republic of Vietnam

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines

CHAPTER I
THE PROBLEM

Introduction
In Vietnam, students are required to learn English through compulsory
programs and as a requirement in school and universities and in most
countries in the world. Many students take English course because of its utility
value as lingua franca or a world language. Most of them fail to learn the
language successfully. This situation also applies to students in other countries
where learning a foreign language is also compulsory. Students enrolled in the
English courses have either high dropped out rates or failed students at the
end of the term. This situation is true to countries like the United States and

Australia where students literally drop out in their foreign language studies,
while in countries like China, Japan and Vietnam students either mentally
withdraw or look for strategies that will help them to learn the English
language.
In the last decade, the use of English as the main foreign language
taught and employed in communication with foreigners, has dramatically
increased in Vietnam. According to the Ministry of Education, the number of off
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-shore students exceeds 60,000 in Vietnam nowadays and Vietnamese
students who want to work and study abroad are increasing.
However, English language teaching in Vietnam still utilizes the
traditional teaching model where students are taught English just for passing
examination purposes only and teachers just give lecture mainly to help
students achieve this goal. The result is that students do not have the ability to
communicate effectively with others in English. This is referred to as dumb
English or deaf English in Vietnam. Obviously students’ overall skills are not
enhanced, especially for students at the college and university level.
In order to improve the situation based on need analysis, Vietnam

Ministry of Education states that the aims of Vietnam English Language
Teaching (ELT) at general educational level expressed in the new curriculum
are that at the end of the upper secondary level, students will be able to use
English as means of communication at a certain level of proficiency in four
macro skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing and to be able to read
materials at the same level of their textbook, using a dictionary, to have a
mastery of basic English phonetics and grammar, to have acquire the
minimum of around 2,500 vocabulary items of English; to attain a certain level

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of

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
S o c ia lis t R ep u b lic o f V ie tn m
R e p ub l ic
unders t a n d in ofg t ohef E
n g l is h a nd American cultur e s , t o
P hi lip p ine s

b e c o m e a w a re of cross
cultural differences in order to become better communicators, to better inform

the world of the Vietnamese people, their history and culture and to take pride

in Vietnam, its language and culture (MOET 2007).
To promote the English language teaching and learning at tertiary level
in recent years, Vietnamese government has encouraged the private tertiary
institutions to carry out advanced programs in which English is required to be
the medium of instruction. They have also encouraged tertiary institutions to
teach in English in fundamental science subjects such as mathematics,
physics, chemistry and some specialized subjects in the senior years.
It is suggested that work start at the two national universities namely;
Hanoi National University and Vietnam National University; three regional
universities such as Thai Nguyen University, Hue University and Danang
University and other pivotal universities in Vietnam with twenty percent of the
students being involved in these advanced programs. This percentage will be
increased and expanded so that finally all advanced programs will be applied
throughout the tertiary educational system.
In Vietnam, English is the most important foreign language since the
implementation of the reform and opening up policy. One of the major goals
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for

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
S o cial is t R ep u bl ic of Vie t nam
R e pu b li c
Engli s h t e aof ct he

h inP ghi li is
t o develop commun ic a ti v e
p p in es

c o m p e t e n c ies of the
learners. It is the initial and ultimate goal of English teaching. Communication

on the other hand is considered the essence of English teaching.
In language teaching, the ability to communicate should be cultivated.
Students should learn how to use a language in their daily communication in
order to demonstrate their mastery of a language.
Different language skills included under communicative competence are
linguistic, socio-linguistic, discourse, strategic and pragmatic competencies.
The expression, interpretation and negotiation of meaning between two
interlocutors or between a text and its readers is referred to as language
learning.
As a component of communicative competence, discourse competence
is the ability to understand and produce the range of spoken, written and visual
texts that are characteristics of a language and includes the ability to convey
information appropriately and coherently to those who are listening to, or
viewing one’s texts (Schroeder, 2009). Covered also in discourse competence
are the knowledge of interpreting the larger content and constructing longer
stretches of language for putting together the parts that would make up a
whole coherent unit.
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So ci ali st R e pu b lic o f V i et n a m
R ep u b lic
Gra
m m a t ic a l c o m p e t e n ce on the other h a n d
o f th e P hili pp in e s

is t h e m a s t ery of the
linguistic code: the ability to recognize the lexical, morphological, syntactic and

phonological features of a language and to manipulate these features to form
words and sentences (Canale and Swain, 1980). This competency is
demonstrated not to state a rule but to use a rule. Both grammatical and
discourse competence are related to linguistic skills at the word, phrase,
clause, sentence and discourse levels. Correct usage or accuracy is the focus
of these two components.
One of the main goals of both English language teaching and
communicative English teaching in Vietnam nowadays is to develop students’
communicative competence, as more students will regard English as a
communicating tool after graduation.

If students can use the English

knowledge, skills and cultural aspects they have learned to communicate with
people of different cultural backgrounds in real language contexts, they are
then using English as a communication tool.
The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has set a target of
boosting foreign language teaching in high schools. At the start of Academic

Year 2011-2012, students at specific schools will have to study mathematics
and information technology in English. Despite the significance of English
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BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
S o cia li s t R e pu bl ic of V iet n a m
R e pu b l ic
language , m a j o rioftyt he
o fP thh ili
e V
i e t namese students r e m a i n
p i ne s

h a n d ic a p p e d in the use
of English. It was even reported by the MOET in 2011 that English language

competence of Vietnamese students was rapidly deteriorating.
This implies that the government, in particular the education sector can
hardly address such perceived deterioration of English. It was also reported
by the MOET of Vietnam and the AETS or the American Educational Testing
Service that fifty one point seven percent (51.7%) of Vietnamese students who
graduated from college in 2009 had substandard English skills.
There are several reasons cited why English language teaching in
Vietnam becomes a problem. Reasons include the deterioration in students’

English competence and less opportunities for students to practice English in
the classroom. Most of the English classes are still adopting the traditional
teaching in which teachers do the talking while students are merely listening
and note taking so that the chance to speak diminished.
Most college graduates in Vietnam have deteriorating English because during
their college days, they spend only at least one and half year of English
language studies. So that when they embark on a more complex academic
work which demands the use of English as well as the language skills, they fail

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BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
S oc ia l is t Re pu b lic f V i t na m
Re p u b lic o f
because o f l a c k oth f e k Phinol w
l e d g e. Another reason c it e d i s
ip p in es

th e i n c o m petency of
Vietnamese students in the use of English. This problem leads to losing the
most useful assets of Vietnamese people in contributing to national

development and international communication.
Many of the students in Thai Nguyen University (TNU) system struggle

to keep up with the expectations of the school for them to communicate in
good English. For decades the university system in Thai Nguyen worked to
address the need of all students. But somehow, the expected outcome has a
very slow progress.
With this scenario, as college teacher teaching English subject in this
institution, the researcher is interested to determine the English language
grammatical and discourse competence of the Third year college students of
Thai Nguyen with the end view of proposing intervention exercises that will
enhance further their knowledge along the said competencies.
Statement of the Problem
This study focused on determining English language grammatical
competence and discourse competence of 3rd year college students of Thai
Nguyen system.
Specifically, it sought answers to the following questions.
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Republic of the Philippines

1. How may the grammatical competence of student respondents be
described in terms of:
1.1

parts of speech;

1.2

morphology;

1.3

syntax; and

1.4

vocabulary?

2. What is the discourse competence of student respondents relative to:
2.1

cohesive devices;

2.2

transitional phrases;

2.3

coherence;

2.4

connectors; and

2.5

choice of words?

3. How do English teachers assess the grammatical and discourse
competencies of 3rd year college students?
4. How do the respondents’ grammatical and discourse competencies
compare

with

English

teachers’

assessments? Are

there

significant

differences?
5. What innovative English language teaching intervention exercises may
be proposed to enhance students’ grammatical and discourse competencies?
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Scope, Delimitation and Limitation of the Study

The study determined the English language grammatical and discourse
competencies of 3rd year college students of Thai Nguyen University System.

This included the grammatical competence of student respondents in parts of
speech, morphology and syntax, and vocabulary. Included also in the study
was the discourse competence of student respondents relative to cohesive
devices, transitional phrases, coherence, connectors and choice of words.
Further, the study covered the assessment of the English teacher on the
grammatical and discourse competencies of 3rd year college students, the
comparison of the respondents’ grammatical and discourse competencies and
English

teachers’ responses, the

significant differences on

students’

grammatical and discourse competencies and teachers’ responses with

English intervention exercises as the output of the study to enhance students’
grammatical and discourse competencies.
The study covered the three (3) Thai Nguyen Universities in Thai
Nguyen City and made used of 40 teachers teaching English and 300 3 rd
Year College students who were enrolled in the Academic Year 2013-2014
as respondents of the study.
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