English language grammatical and discourse competencies of 3rd year college students of Thai Nguyen university: bases for intervention exercises

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THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY

Socialist Republic of Vietnam 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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THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY

Socialist Republic of Vietnam 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

Approved by the committee on Oral Examination with a grade

of _________.

DR. AMADA G. BANAAG

Chairman

DR. MARIA LUISA A. VALDEZ DR. FELIX M. PANOPIO

Member 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

_____________ MATILDA H. DIMAANO, Ph.D.

Date Dean, Graduate Studies

College of Arts and Sciences

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THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY

Socialist Republic of Vietnam 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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Socialist Republic of Vietnam 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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THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY

Socialist Republic of Vietnam 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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THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY

Socialist Republic of Vietnam 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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THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY

Socialist Republic of Vietnam 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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THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY

Socialist Republic of Vietnam 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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THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY

Socialist Republic of Vietnam 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 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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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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Socialist Republic of Vietnam Republic of the Philippines

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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Socialist Republic of Vietnam 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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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......................................................... 76

6 Levels of Discourse Competence of Students in

Cohesive Devices............................................................... 79

7 Levels of Discourse Competence of Students in

Transitional Phrases.......................................................... 81

8 Levels of Discourse Competence of Students

in Coherence....................................................................... 82

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9 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