THAINGUYENUNIVERSITY
SocialistRepublic of Vietnam

BATANGASSTATEUNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines

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LANGUAGE ACTIVITIES FOR IMPROVING THE LINGUISTIC
COMPETENCE OF FIRST YEAR STUDENTS
IN THAINGUYENUNIVERSITY

A Dissertation
Presented to
BATANGASSTATEUNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines
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APPROVAL SHEET

This dissertation entitled LANGUAGE ACTIVITIES FOR IMPROVING
THE LINGUISTIC COMPETENCE OF FIRST YEAR STUDENTS
IN THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITYprepared and submitted by Ngo Thi Bich
Ngoc 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, Ph.D.
Adviser

PANEL OF EXAMINERS

Approved by the Committee on Oral Examination with a grade of
………. ……………
THAINGUYENUNIVERSITY
SocialistRepublic of Vietnam

BATANGASSTATEUNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines
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ABSTRACT

Title
: Language Activities for Improving Linguistic
Competence of the First Year Students in Thai
Nguyen University
Author
: Ngo Thi Bich Ngoc
Degree
: Doctor of Philosophy major in English Language
Literature
Major
: English
Year
: 2014
Adviser

words and concepts?
A questionnaire for teacher for teacher and a teacher made test for
students were used to determine the level of students‟ linguistic
competence and the relationship between teachers‟ assessement and
students‟ results. The research found out that the over-all linguistic
performance of the students is generally better, as the students were
able to demonstrate an average level of linguistic competence.Students
have average level of understanding in word formation.The items found
most difficult under the cluster of linguistic competence are items (8) for
connotation,(20) for denotation, antonyms (28), synonyms (34), and
ambiguities (44). For vocabulary cluster is item (55), while for word
formation cluster, the items that are found to be most difficult are the
following: acronym item (69), clipping (74), blending (87), and
compounding (93). Linguistic skills are not frequently used or practiced
by the students as perceived by the teacher respondents. There‟s no
relationship exists between the teacher‟s assessment and the level of
students‟ linguistic competencies as indicated by the significance of the
p-value at 0. 05 levels and the language activities that composed of set
of exercises were designed for improving students‟ linguistic
competencies in the areas of connotation, antonyms and acronyms
THAINGUYENUNIVERSITY
SocialistRepublic of Vietnam

BATANGASSTATEUNIVERSITY BATANGASSTATEUNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines
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Dedication This dissertation is dedicated
To my loving and ever supportive husband, Mr. Le Huy and my loving
sons, Le Minh, to my family, and to my dear UTT community

N.T.B.N
THAINGUYENUNIVERSITY
SocialistRepublic of Vietnam


Statement of the Problem…………………………
7
Scope, Delimitation and Limitation………………
8
Significance of the Study……………………………
9
II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Conceptual Literature……………………………….
11
Research Literature………………………………….
50
Synthesis……………………………………………
55
Theoretical Framework……………………………
58
THAINGUYENUNIVERSITY
SocialistRepublic of Vietnam

BATANGASSTATEUNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines

Conclusions
136
Recommendations
137
BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………
138
APPENDICES
A. Test for Students …………………………………

146
B. Questionnaire for Teachers
164
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C. Validation Letter 1 on Test for Students and
Teacher Questionnaire…………………………
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LIST OF TABLES
Table

Page
1
Distribution of student respondents in the five
universities………………………………………………

69

2
Performance of student respondents in teacher-made
linguistics tests……………………………………………….



92
8
List of skills validated by 66 teachers respondents as
linguistic competencies of Freshman students…………. 95
9
List of students linguistic skills according to the
frequency of use by Freshman students as perceived
the teacher respondents…………………………………
97
10
List of students linguistic skills according to their
importance by as perceived the teacher
respondents………………………………………………….
99
THAINGUYENUNIVERSITY
SocialistRepublic of Vietnam 102
12
List of areas under linguistic competence to be used as
topic for design of language activities and the basic of
their choice ………………………………………………….
104

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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Page

organization, communities and friends. It also represents a
fundamental expression of social identity. As a mirror that allows a
person to understand what one is thinking, language is considered
complex and constantly evolving. It allows cultures with their shared set
of values, customs and history to exist and as a part of speech
language is important for one‟s survival for it forges friendship, cultural
ties and economic relationship.
Thoughts and emotions are shaped by language and it also
determines one‟s perceptions and reality. It is considered the light of
the mind and its retention helps maintain feeling of cultural kinship.
Knowledge of the English language is one of most important aspect for
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SocialistRepublic of Vietnam

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the learners for it is considered the key factor to competitiveness.
Because language enables people to communicate and express
themselves, it becomes an important part of any society.
As a currency used in exchanging ideas, language is considered


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In learning the complexities of language, creation of a warm and
comfortable environment for the learner is a must. It is of vital
importance that learner must develop his communication skill since this
will serve as the foundation of his future communication abilities.
Having effective communication skills serve as an asset for lifetime
quality communication.
Learning other language besides the national language is also of
vital importance since it helps to have additional knowledge of other
people and cultures. It is also considered most important is our
knowledge of our mother tongue to preserve identity as language is said
to be logical code apart from social and cultural actions. It is also
fundamental to have knowledge on the concept of language to
understand the teaching practice of foreign language. It is impossible
for teachers to develop any kind of effective and successful
communication among learners as well as any kind of sharing of ideas
without language.
As a system of linguistic knowledge which is possessed by all
and any speakers of a language, linguistic competence is a universal
property, common to any human being, no matter, no race, economic
class or physical characteristics, and independently of his/her
intellectual and personality attributes. The speaker is allowed by this
THAINGUYENUNIVERSITY
SocialistRepublic of Vietnam
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pronunciation, syntax, and usage; their lack of opportunity also to use
the English language in some communication or situations in their daily
lives; the kind of English lessons taught by their teachers, their being
passive listeners, shyness to use English language in conversation in
class or their lack of confidence in the language; and their
irresponsibility in their own learning. Their poor performance in English
is also attributed to students‟ wrong perceptions of learning as they tend
to be more focus on other activities such as taking examinations and
out class activities whereby learning is affected as they no longer
equate learning with broadening knowledge which rendered learning or
studying the language not interesting or worthy to students causing
negative effects on their learning experiences.
These causes can also be related to other issue like that of their
problem or lack of understanding of words or vocabulary. In the field of
literacy, relationship between students‟ vocabulary knowledge and their

On the other hand, students need to have good intuitive
command of morphology. They have knowledge in specific morphemic
elements and its combinations. They can explore on the use of prefixes
and suffixes and based words and on Greek and Latin prefixes for them
to be provided with valuable prior knowledge in their learning of new
terminologies.
Students with better understanding on word formation such as
prefixes, suffixes and roots have the tendency to acquire larger
vocabularies and better comprehension in compared to those who do
not have such background, knowledge and skills. Having full knowledge
and understanding of vocabulary improve students‟ outcomes.
. As a College teacher of Thai Nguyen University teaching Basic
English, I‟m interested to investigate the level of linguistic competence
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of students in English in terms of connotation, denotation, antonyms,
synonyms, and ambiguities as well as the level of students‟

Republic of the Philippines
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3.3. blending
3.4. compounding
3. Which among the items in the different cluster students find most
difficult?
4. How do the teachers assess the linguistic competence of the
students?
5. Is there a significant difference between teachers‟ assessment and
students‟ competencies?
6. What English language activities may be suggested to improve
students‟ understanding of English words and concepts?

Scope, Delimitation and Limitation of the Study
The study covers the level of Linguistic competency of Thai
Nguyen University first year students specifically on connotation,
denotation, antonyms, synonyms and ambiguities; word formation in
terms of the acronyms, clipping and blending, and compounding. The
output of the study is the proposed language activities to enhance the
linguistic competency of first year students of Thai Nguyen University.
The study includes the 382 First year College students taking up Basic
English course in Thai Nguyen University system in Academic Year
2013-2014.
THAINGUYENUNIVERSITY

them design their own instructional material to enhance the English
proficiency of students.
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Parents of First Year Students of TNU. Findings of this study
will provide them useful information on the present performance of their
children in Linguistic. Through this study, the parents can discover the
weaknesses of their children so they may provide proper guidance and
motivation for their children‟s improvement.
Future Researchers. This will be of use to other researchers
who might wish to conduct a similar study. Future researchers may
use this study to broaden their knowledge in the field linguistic,
gestures or written symbols. As cited byGoldstein (2008)a system of
communication using sounds or symbols that enables a person to
express his feelings, thoughts, ideas and experiences (a language
consists of symbols that can be used to generate as infinite variety of
messages (Weiten, 2007). It is something which arises out from work,
needs, ties, joy, affection, tastes of human beings. Language is a
behavior which utilizes body parts such as the vocal apparatus and the
auditory system for oral language; the brachial apparatus and the visual
system for sign language where such body parts are controlled by none
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other than the brain for their functions (Peng, 2005). According to Sapir
(1921) language as a purely human and non-instinctive method of
communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of voluntarily
produced symbols. Trager (1942) defined language as a system of
arbitrary vocal symbols by means of which a social group cooperates,
Chomsky (1957) on the other hand pointed out that language is a set of

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languages relating such concerns with other levels and aspects of
language. According to Crystal (2005), phonology is the study of how
one finds order within the apparent chaos of speech sound (Crystal,
2005). It deals with how sounds interact as a system in a particular
language, how these sounds are combined, changed in combination
and which sounds produce differences in meaning through contrast.
Every language has its own system and English language has
played a major role in the development of phonology (Carr, 2000). As a
study of how sounds are organized and used in natural language,
phonology has something to do with the sound system of a language.
Crystal (2003) pointed out that sound system of English refers to the
number of phonemes which are used in a language and how they are
organized
Linguistic reason is purely result of the certain patterns of sound
system, patterns of sound production and sequences of sound
acquisition. The inventory of sounds and their features as well as the
rules which specify how sounds interact with each other are included
in phonological system. Anderson (1981)
Nathan (2008) stated that phonology is not only about phonemes
and allophone but also concern with the principles governing the
phoneme system, that is with what sounds languages like to have,
which sets of sounds are most common and which are rare. It turns out