VIETNAM NATIONAL UNNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST -GRADUATE STUDIES
****************************************
HOÀNG THỊ HẢI ACTIVE AND PASSIVE PARTICIPIAL ADJECTIVES IN NGLISH:
ERRORS COMMONLY MADE BY STUDENTS AT LANG SON
TECHNICAL&ECONOMIC SECONDARY SCHOOL
AND SOME PROPOSED SOLUTIONS.

(Tính từ chủ động và bị động có nguồn gốc phân từ trong tiếng
Anh: Những lỗi học sinh Trường Trung cấp Kinh tế- Kỹ thuật
Lạng sơn thường mắc và một vài giải pháp đề xuất)

M.A. MINOR THESIS
Field: EnglishTeaching Methodology
Code: 60 14 10 M.A. MINOR THESIS
Field: EnglishTeaching Methodology
Code: 60 14 10

SUPERVISOR: Assoc. Prof. Dr. VÕ ĐẠI QUANG

Hanoi-2011
iii

ABSTrACT

This research aimed to discover common errors made by students in using English
Participial Adjectives. The participants of the study were 100 the first-year students (aged 18-
30). They are from classes K29A1, K29A5, Business Accounting of Lang Son Technical &
Economic Secondary school in the school year 2009 / 2010. The instrumentations used to
collect data in this study are written grammar test and student interview. Numbers and causes
of common errors were identified, calculated, and compared in terms of error types.

The study shows the six most common errors in students’ performance as follows:

L1
First language
L2
Second language

v

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES


students of group 1 and group 2. (p.31)
Difference between two groups of students in giving wrong answers to
exercise 5 (p.31)
Difference between two groups of students in giving wrong answers to
exercise 6 (p.33)
vi
GLOSSARY OF LINGUISTIC TERMS

Code
The systems (grammar, meaning and sound) of a language.
Error
A systematic deviation from the accepted code.
Global error
An error which affects the meaning of the whole sentence.
Local error

An error which only affects the meaning of the clause in which it is
found.
L1 transfer
Use of what the learner knows about his first language to try and
assist expression in the target language.

vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration p.i
Acknowledgements ii
Abstract iii
List of abbreviations iv
List of tables and figures v
Glossary of linguistic terms vi
Table of contents vii
PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale of the study
2. Aims and objectives of the study
2.1. Aims of the study
2.2. Objectives of the study
3. Scope of the study
4. Significance of the study
5. Organization of the thesis
PART B: DEVELOPMENT
Chapter 1: Literature Review
1.1. An investigation into English Participial Adjectives
1.1.1. The formation of the Participial Adjectives
1.1.1.1. The definition of the participles
1.1.1.2. Participial Adjectives
1.1.2 Syntactic functions of Participial Adjectives
1.1.2.1. Attributive
1.1.2.2. Predicative
1.1.3. Semantic features of Participial Adjectives
1.1.3.1. Stative / Dynamic
1

1.3.4. Possible causes of errors in second language learning
1.3.4.1. Overgeneralization in learning and using E.P.Adjs
1.3.4.2. Developmental errors
1.3.4.3. Teaching - induced errors
1.3.4.4. Language transfer
1.4. Summary
Chapter 2: Research Methodology
2.1. The context of the study
2. Participants and their background
2.3. Research method
2.3.1. Research questions
2.3.2. Instrumentation
2.3.2.1. Test
2.3.2.2. Interview
2.2.4. Data collection procedures
2.2.4.1. Data collection
2.2.4.2. Techniques of analysis
2.3. Summary

10
11
13
13
13
14
15
15
15
15
17

3.3. Summary
Chapter 4: Possible solutions to the students’ errors in
using English Participial Adjectives
4.1. Possible solutions to the errors commonly made by students at Lang Son Technical
&Economic Secondary school
4.2. Suggestions for teaching and learning Participial Adjectives in English
4.2.1. Suggestions for teaching
4.2.2. Suggestions for learning
4.3. Summary
PART C: CONCLUSION
1. Conclusion
2. Recommendations for further research
References
Appendices
Appendix 1: Written grammar test
Appendix 2: Answer key

24
24
25
27
28
30
31
33
35


This research aimed to discover common errors made by students in
using English Participial Adjectives. The participants of the study were 100
the first-year students (aged 18-30). They are from classes K29A1, K29A5,
Business Accounting of Lang Son Technical & Economic Secondary school
in the school year 2009 / 2010. The instrumentations used to collect data in
this study are written grammar test and student interview. Numbers and
causes of common errors were identified, calculated, and compared in terms
of error types.
The study shows the six most common errors in students’ performance
as follows: Errors in Participial Adjectives formation (29.4%); Errors in the
use of -ing and -ed Participial Adjectives (31.3%); Failure to identify errors
in the use Participial Adjectives (39.5%); Errors in the choice of -ing and -ed
Participial Adjectives (47.5%); Errors in sentence transformation (46.7%);
Errors in Vietnamese -English translation: Incorrect translation (46.9%) Based on the findings of the study, some possible solutions to students’
errors in using English Participial Adjectives were worked out.
Recommendations for further study are also included.

Nghiên cứu này nhằm mục đích tìm ra những lỗi thông thường mà học
sinh thường mắc trong quá trình sử dụng tính động từ có nguồn gốc phân từ
trong tiếng Anh. Nghiên cứu này được khảo sát trên 100 học sinh năm thứ
nhất ( tuổi từ 18-30) lớp K29 A1 và K29A5 chuyên ngành kế toán doanh
nghiệp tại trường Trung Cấp Kinh tế - Kỹ thuật Lạng Sơn năm học 2009-
2010) Công cụ dung để nghiên cứu là thu thập dữ liệu từ phiếu điều tra từ bài
kiểm tra viết ngữ pháp và phỏng vấn học sinh. Nghiên cứu này đã xác định
được, tính toán và so sánh một số loại lỗi, con số, và nguyên nhân gây ra
những lỗi thông thường đó.
Nghiên cứu này chỉ ra sáu lỗi học sinh thường mắc trong quá trình học