vinh university foreign Languages department ===    === lª chÝ hËu English passive voice: An analysis of errors encountered by Minh Khai high school students (Ph©n tÝch mét số lỗi sai việc sử dụng thể bị động cña häc sinh trêng thpt minh khai) graduation thesis FIELD: LINGUISTICS Graduation thesis Vinh - 2011 Hoàng Thị Thảo – K48A1 English vinh university foreign Languages department ===    === English passive voice: An analysis of errors encountered by Minh Khai high school students (Ph©n tÝch mét số lỗi sai việc sử dụng thể bị động cña häc sinh trêng thpt minh khai) graduation thesis Field: Linguistics Supervisor: nguyễn thị tờng, m.a Student: lê chí hậu, 48A1 - English Graduation thesis VINH, MAY 2011 Hoàng Thị Thảo – K48A1 English GRADUATION THESIS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT My thesis cannot be completed without the help and support of my lecturers, my friends and my family First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Ms Nguyen Thi Tuong, M.A, for her readiness at all time to give me the expert advices, useful critical comments, important materials, without which my thesis would not have been completed I would like to give my thanks to students of class 12A1 and 12A2 of Minh Khai High School in Duc Tho district, Ha Tinh province I would also like to express my greatest thanks to all the teachers for their useful lectures, which build the base for theoretical as well practical knowledge Finally, the sincere thanks to my friends and my family who stand by to help and encourage me a lot in various kinds and unconditional support VINH, 2010 LE CHI HAU Le Chi Hau - 48A1 English i Foreign Languages Department GRADUATION THESIS TABLE OF CONTENT Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .i TABLE OF CONTENT ii LIST OF TABLE iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS v PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale for the study Aims of the study Scope of the study .2 Method of the study .2 Design of the study PART B: CONTENTS CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.1 An Overview of passive voice 1.1.1 General description of Passive Voice 1.1.1.1 What is Passive Voice? 1.1.2.2 Function of the word “by” in passive sentences 1.2.3 When is passive voice used? 1.2 Passive voice construction 1.2.1 Canonical passive 1.2.2 Promotion of other objects 1.2.3 Stative Passive .7 1.2.4 Doubled Passive .8 1.2.5 Adjective Passive 1.2.6 Promotion of content clauses 1.2.7 Passives without active counterparts .9 1.2.8 Tenses and Modal verb Passive 1.3 Error in language and learning process 11 1.3.1 Definition of errors 11 1.3.2 The distinction between Errors and Mistakes .12 1.3.3 Error Analysis .12 1.3.4 Cause of Errors 13 1.3.4.1 Interlingual errors and mother tongue interference 13 1.3.4.2 Intralingual errors and developmental errors 14 1.3.5 The ways of Errors correction .16 CHAPTER II: THE STUDY 17 2.1 Research Question 17 2.2 Research settings .17 2.3 Description of subjects 17 Le Chi Hau - 48A1 English ii Foreign Languages Department GRADUATION THESIS 2.4 Data collection 18 2.5 Procedure 18 2.6 Preliminary results and data collection 19 2.6.1 Results and errors in part 19 2.6.2 Results of errors in part .20 2.6.3 Results of part 20 2.6.4 Result of part 21 2.7 Errors and their causes 22 2.7.1 Errors and their causes in part 22 2.7.2 Errors and their causes in part 24 2.7.3 Errors and their causes in part 26 2.7.4 Errors and their causes in part 28 CHAPTER III: FINDINGS AND IMPLICATIONS 30 3.1 Research question revisited 30 3.1.1 Research question .30 3.1.1.1 Tenses .30 3.1.1.2 Modal Verb passive 30 3.1.1.3 Stative verb and Adjective passive 30 3.1.2 Research question 31 3.1.3 Research question 31 3.2.1 Suggestions for explaining the lesson 31 3.2.2 Suggestions for Practice 32 3.2.3 Suggestions for Learning English passive voice 36 3.3 Suggestions for further research .36 PART C: CONCLUSION .37 REFERENCES 38 APPENDIX 40 SUGGESTED ANSWER 42 Le Chi Hau - 48A1 English iii Foreign Languages Department GRADUATION THESIS LIST OF TABLE Table 2.1 Results of part 19 Table 2.2 Results of part 20 Table 2.3.Results of part .21 Table 2.4 Results of part 22 Le Chi Hau - 48A1 English iv Foreign Languages Department GRADUATION THESIS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS Etc Et cetera E.g Example PII Past Participle L1 First Language L2 Second Language No Number % Percentage * Unacceptable Expression  Changing from active into passive Le Chi Hau - 48A1 English v Foreign Languages Department GRADUATION THESIS PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale for the study Nowadays, English becomes an important part in daily life It is used popularly and widely over the world English is an effective mean of communication and information exchange The globalization makes English as the international language that everyone wishes to possess and Vietnamese learners are not out of the orbit English has not been the L1 or L2 in Vietnam but the most updated foreign language in comparison with the other one It is used as the major subject However, each language has its own characteristics and rules Learners encounter lot difficulties One of the difficulties is the use of passive voice in writing Thus, it is not easy for students to use English passive voice effectively They usually confuse with the tenses, modal verbs, and stative verbs in passive voice In process of learning, the Vietnamese learners especially the high school students caused many errors and faced up with the tasks of acquiring a second language The errors need to be found and find the way to improve This problem has given an impetus to this study that aims at examining various use of English passive voice and the typical errors made by Vietnamese learners as well For these reasons above the author has made decision to choose: “English passive voice: An analysis of errors encountered by Minh Khai high school students” to be the theme of the thesis Aims of the study The study reported in this thesis aims at to: Le Chi Hau - 48A1 English Foreign Languages Department GRADUATION THESIS 2.7.4 Errors and their causes in part In this part, students were required to translate two sentences from Vietnamese into English and three sentences from English into Vietnamese It is set to find the interlingual errors and mother tongue interference In first sentence, it is not easy to translate because requiring the overall skills Some students give the interesting answer: “Ý kiến bị cô Shirley đề xuất.” or “Ý kiến bị cô Shirley suy nghĩ” The students seemed to have little skill of translation.the answer is “Ý tưởng Shiley đề xuất” The percentage of error is 59%, 3% of students could not give the answer The error is interlingual error In the second sentences, students improved with the percentage of error are 48% However, there is one students could not give the answer The result of students had the correct answer was surprising although it is a long sentence with difficult words 51% Some students gave the answer like that: “Tổng thống phát biểu vào ngày mai.” The correct answer is: “Vào thời gian ngày mai, diễn văn tổng thống trình bày.” The error is interlingual error In the sentence 3, students truly encountered problem with 63% of students gave the incorrect answer, % of students had no answer For the rest, 36% of them gave the perfect answer The correct answer is “Bài học giáo viên chuẩn bị.” It is a familiar sentence and the words seemed to be easy The percentage of error was high comparing with the others The error is overgeneralization in intralingual error In the sentence 4, the task is translating from the Vietnamese into English It was a difficult part It is not surprising that students committed more errors than the others did 69% of students had the incorrect answer in this sentence; even % of students could not give the answer For the left, 29% of students gave the correct answer Le Chi Hau - 48A1 English 28 Foreign Languages Department GRADUATION THESIS Correc Incorrect No answer 69% 2% t 29% Some students gave the answer that “Yesterday my mother take me to zoo” or “I will be take to the zoo by yesterday” The answer is “I was taken to the zoo by my mother yesterday” The error is considered as the overgeneralization in intralingual error In the sentence 5, 72% of students had the incorrect answer, the percentage of students had no answer is 6% These numbers shows the difficulties of students The causes might have been from the word “chase” the students used other words: “catch”, “run”, etc It is not a surprise for the results The answer is “A cat is being chased by a dog” The error is believed to be overgeneralization in intralingual error Le Chi Hau - 48A1 English 29 Foreign Languages Department GRADUATION THESIS CHAPTER III: FINDINGS AND IMPLICATIONS In this chapter, major findings of the study will be presented with the research questions being revisited Some types of exercises and suggested for practice in the process of teaching and learning English passive voice Then the implication and suggestions for further research will be made 3.1 Research question revisited 3.1.1 Research question • What difficulties the Minh Khai high school students encounter in using English passive voice? The findings from the study show that students had difficulties with English passive voice though the levels of difficulties varied according to types of exercises that students were asked to 3.1.1.1 Tenses Most students made errors of tenses This is the main errors that students committed In the part and part where they were asked to change the sentences from passive into passive sentences and find the mistakes in sentences Actually, students did not master the rules of using English passive voice with tenses Some students misplaced or be careless and misapplied 3.1.1.2 Modal Verb passive It seemed that the passive with modal verb easier than one with tenses However, they encountered difficulties with modal verbs In the part 2, they were asked to choose the words from the box to fill in the blanks 3.1.1.3 Stative verb and Adjective passive It took a small part but students also made mistake and the percentage is rather high In the part and 3, they did with the modal verb and tenses Le Chi Hau - 48A1 English 30 Foreign Languages Department GRADUATION THESIS 3.1.2 Research question • What might be the causes of and sources of errors in using English passive voice? After the investigation above, it has been found that most students had many difficulties in using English passive voice A large number or errors could be traced the causes: interlingual and intralingual errors The interlingual errors are caused by mother tongue interference The intralingual are caused by overgeneralization, false concept hypothesized, incomplete application rules and ignorance of rules Besides, poor language knowledge also is considered as a major error in using English passive voice 3.1.3 Research question • What suggestions can be made in learning and teaching process to help students control English passive voice? In the process of learning language, the students make errors in using English passive voice This tends to show that students did not really master the use and rules of using English Passive voice, even they might be careless and misapplication Therefore, we make some suggestions for teaching and learning English passive voice to overcome the causes of errors 3.2.1 Suggestions for explaining the lesson Language learning is influenced by many factors Teaching method is one of them In order to help students to use English passive voice correctly the teacher‘s role is crucial in the process of improving students’ performance For teacher, the following suggestions would be helpful First, the teacher should provide students with comprehension knowledge of English passive voice The teacher should remember that the more clearly the teacher explains the uses of English passive voice the fewer errors or confusion the learner will commit Teacher should underline the Le Chi Hau - 48A1 English 31 Foreign Languages Department GRADUATION THESIS important parts of sentence to attract students’ attraction and make them understand the lesson clearly Second, teacher can introduced a table that show clear form and use of English passive voice that help students to improve memorizing of the rules Tenses Present simple Present continuous Present perfect Simple past Past continuous Past perfect Simple future Future perfect Active construction S + V+ O S + Am/are/is+ V-ing +O S+ have/has + PII+O S+ V(past) +O S + was/were+ V-ing +O S+ had +PII + O S+ shall/will + V+ O S+ will have + PII Passive construction Am/are/is +PII S+ am/arte/is +being + PII S+ have/has+ been+ PII S +was/were+ PII S+ Was/were+ being + PII S+ Had been +PII S+ will/shall+ be+ PII S+ Will have been +PII On the other hand, in order to help students avoid committing the interlingual errors and intralingual errors in using English passive voice, it is important for teacher to adopt a positive attitude toward students’ errors and its treatments This aim is to help students use English passive voice correctly Therefore, teacher should be a guider to support student in teaching and learning to get a good results 3.2.2 Suggestions for Practice From all of these above suggestions for teaching English passive voice, we have collected some types of exercise, which can be applied to check students’ abilities in using English passive voice Le Chi Hau - 48A1 English 32 Foreign Languages Department GRADUATION THESIS Type 1: Decide whether the sentences are written in Active or Passive (A or P) Boys like to play soccer This room has been painted blue I am given a book Cricket is played in Australia We have lost our keys You might see dolphins here They were singing a song The report must be completed by next Friday A letter was written to her 10.The bike is being repaired Type Change these active sentences into passive sentences Julia rescued three cats …………………………………………………………………………… The students handed in the reports …………………………………………………………………………… Maria crashed into the blue car …………………………………………………………………………… Alex learned the poem …………………………………………………………………………… Steven has forgotten the book …………………………………………………………………………… The mechanic has not repaired the DVD recorder …………………………………………………………………………… They play handball …………………………………………………………………………… Le Chi Hau - 48A1 English 33 Foreign Languages Department GRADUATION THESIS Sue puts the rucksack on the floor …………………………………………………………………………… The girls had lost the match …………………………………………………………………………… 10.The teacher is not going to open the window …………………………………………………………………………… Type Put the verb in the bracket into Passive (Chia động từ ngoặc bị động cho ) The words (to explain) by the teacher today …………………………………………………………………………… We (to send) a letter the day before yesterday …………………………………………………………………………… This car (not to steal) because it is too old …………………………………………………………………………… This street (already/ to close) …………………………………………………………………………… A new restaurant (to open) next week …………………………………………………………………………… The blue box (cannot/to see) …………………………………………………………………………… I (to give) the book by my friend last Sunday …………………………………………………………………………… The dishes (not/to wash) by my little sister yet …………………………………………………………………………… I (to take) out by my mother last week …………………………………………………………………………… 10 He (to invite) to the party tomorrow …………………………………………………………………………… Le Chi Hau - 48A1 English 34 Foreign Languages Department GRADUATION THESIS Type 4.Translation a Translate these sentences into Vietnamese (Dịch câu sau sang tiếng Việt) He will be looked after by Max …………………………………………………………………………… English is not spoken in this shop …………………………………………………………………………… We were told a joke by the teacher …………………………………………………………………………… I have not been sent a text message …………………………………………………………………………… He is given a box …………………………………………………………………………… b Translate into English (note: using passive voice) (Dịch câu sau sang tiếng Anh – lưu ý dùng bị động) Tôi mời tới dự lễ cưới Mathew …………………………………………………………………………… Colin bị phạt nặng khơng lời bố mẹ …………………………………………………………………………… Chiếc xe đạp bị kéo sang bên …………………………………………………………………………… Loại cá đánh bắt Việt nam …………………………………………………………………………… John hẳn chăm sóc chu đáo …………………………………………………………………………… Le Chi Hau - 48A1 English 35 Foreign Languages Department GRADUATION THESIS 3.2.3 Suggestions for Learning English passive voice In order to overcome the problems when learning English passive voice, the following suggestions should be good for students: • Become familiar with English passive voice and their basic rules, forms, structures and know how to realize their subtypes and application • Learn English passive voice in systematic way and keep in mind the rules English passive voice • Look out for the forming and rules themselves and organize these rules in that way that are clear • Share knowledge, experiences with the teachers and classmates • Show no fear of making errors, try to understand why they consistently make certain kind of errors They can avoid making them by checking textbook, asking the teacher • Practice regularly by doing a lot of exercises and tasks that are designed to English passive voice 3.3 Suggestions for further research Due to limitation of time for the researcher, the presented study is confined only to making error analysis in using passive voice by high school students On the basis of this research, the following studies on how to help students acquire good knowledge of English passive voice and the ability to use English passive voice as well • An analysis of errors made by Vietnamese high school students in using stative verb passive • An analysis of errors made by Vietnamese high school students in using Adjective passive • An analysis of errors made by Vietnamese high school students in using Modal Verbs Le Chi Hau - 48A1 English 36 Foreign Languages Department GRADUATION THESIS PART C: CONCLUSION This study is thorough and fully analysis of error made by Minh Khai high students on the basis of the theory of English passive voice of some famous grammatical researchers and viewpoints of previous Contrastive Analysis on English passive voice The study also implemented with a view to benefiting Vietnamese teachers and students at Minh Khai high school and all of who take care of teaching and learning English passive voice The study first deals with some theoretical background about English passive voice and Errors analysis with hope they can give readers of with a brief overview on the significance of learning English passive voice Next, with a little experience gathered from my teaching in Minh Khai high school as well as a test was done there, the author found out some most typical errors encountered by students in using English passive voice Errors collected consist of two main types: intralingual and interlingual errors In term of intralingual errors, errors consist: over-generalization, incomplete of rules, false concepts of hypothesized Moreover, the author also gives some suggestions for teaching and learning English passive voice in high school to help learners have a good knowledge of English passive voice and avoid errors in learning process It is hoped that this study, with its limitation will be of some help for teacher and students in teaching and learning English passive voice in high school Le Chi Hau - 48A1 English 37 Foreign Languages Department GRADUATION THESIS REFERENCES Chomsky, N (1965) Aspect of the Theory of Syntax Ma: M.I.T press, Cambridge Cook, G (1976) Discourse, Oxford University Press, London Corder, S.P (1976) The Significance of Learners’ Errors IRAL Corder, S.P (1974) Error Analysis- the Edinburgh Course in Applied Linguistics, Vol Oxford University Press James, C.(1988) Error in language and Use Addison Wesley Longman Limited James, C (1980) Contrastive Analysis Richards, J.C (1974) Error Analysis: Perspective on Second Language Acquisition Longman Group Limited Richards, J.C (1992) Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics Longman Group Limited Richards, J.C(1971) A non- contrastive Approach to Error AnalysisEnglish Teaching - 25 Oford University Press 10 Edge, J (1989) Mistake and correction London: Longman 11 Dulay et al (1982) Language Two Oxford University Press 12 Quirk,R and Green Baum, S (1976) A University Grammar of English Workbook Longman Group Limited 13 Randolph Quirk and Sidney Green Baum, S (1976) A University Grammar of English Longman Group Limited 14 Downing, A and Locke, P (1992) English Grammar International book Distributors Limited 15 Raymond Murphy.(1991) Essential Grammar in Use Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Le Chi Hau - 48A1 English 38 Foreign Languages Department GRADUATION THESIS 16 Ellis, R SLA Research and Language Teaching Oxford: Oxford University Press 17 Alwright, RL(1975) Problem in Study of the Language Teacher’s Treatment of Learner Errors: Cambridge University Press 18 Website: http:// www.google.com 19 Website: http:// www.tienganhonline.com Le Chi Hau - 48A1 English 39 Foreign Languages Department GRADUATION THESIS APPENDIX English test Time: 45 minutes Full name: ………………………………………………………………… Class: ………………………………………………………………… School: ………………………………………………………………… Date: ………………………………………………………………… Part Choose the word in the box to complete the sentences (Tìm từ hộp để hồn thành câu) can not be opened was born bored with should have been sent must have been built is made will be invited had better be returned lost was turned Tom ………………………………… to the picnic tomorrow The window ………………………………… The letter ………………………………… last week This house ………………………………… over 22 years This book ………………………………… to the library before Sunday The box ………………………………… of cotton I ………………………………… in May The light in this room ………………………………… on She is ………………………………… the film 10 I got ………………………………… last night Le Chi Hau - 48A1 English Foreign Languages Department GRADUATION THESIS Part Change these sentences into passive voice (Chuyển câu sau sang bị động) Dangerous driving causes many accidents ……………………………………………………………………………………… He gave her a rose on the women’s Day ……………………………………………………………………………………… He was cleaning the floor when his mother came home ……………………………………………………………………………………… Someone will take the ball out ……………………………………………………………………………………… Kathy had returned the book to the library ……………………………………………………………………………………… Part Find one error in each sentence (Tìm lỗi câu) The computer is be used at the moment The chair has been repair recently By June, his work will has been completed He is interesting in books This floor are being cleaned now Part Translation Translate into Vietnamese (Dịch sang tiếng Việt) A: This new idea has been suggested by Shirley ……………………………………………………………………………………… B: By this time tomorrow, the announcement will have been made by the president ……………………………………………………………………………………… C: The lesson is prepared by the teacher ……………………………………………………………………………………… Translate into English (Dịch sang tiếng Anh) A: Hôm qua mẹ dẫn chơi sở thú ……………………………………………………………………………………… B: Con mèo bị chó đuổi ……………………………………………………………………………………… Le Chi Hau - 48A1 English Foreign Languages Department GRADUATION THESIS SUGGESTED ANSWER Part Choose the word in the box to complete the sentence (Tìm từ hộp để hoàn thành câu sau) will be invited is made can not be opened was born should have been sent was turned must have been built bored with had better be returned 10 lost Part 2: Change these sentences into passive voice (Chuyển câu sau sang bị động) Many accidents are caused by dangerous driving She was given a rose on her birthday The floor was being cleaned by him when his mother came home The ball will be taken out The book had been returned to the library by Kathy Part 3: : Find one error in each sentence (Tìm lỗi câu) be repair has interesting are Le Chi Hau - 48A1 English Foreign Languages Department ... K48A1 English vinh university foreign Languages department == =    == = English passive voice: An analysis of errors encountered by Minh Khai high school students (Ph©n tÝch mét sè lỗi sai việc sử. .. to use English passive voice as well • An analysis of errors made by Vietnamese high school students in using stative verb passive • An analysis of errors made by Vietnamese high school students... and fully analysis of error made by Minh Khai high students on the basis of the theory of English passive voice of some famous grammatical researchers and viewpoints of previous Contrastive Analysis