VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
*********************

PHẠM THỊ DUYÊN AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE INFLUENCE OF CROSS-
CULTURAL AWARENESS ON LEARNING ENGLISH VERB
TENSES AND ASPECTS OF 10
TH
FORM STUDENTS AT ĐÔNG SƠN
I HIGH SCHOOL,THANH HÓA PROVINCE

Nghiên cứu về sự ảnh hưởng của nhận thức giao văn hóa trong việc
học các thì và thời Tiếng Anh của học sinh lớp 10 trường THPT
Đông Sơn I, tỉnh Thanh Hóa

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY
CODE: 60140111 Hanoi, 2014i
DECLARATION

I hereby certify that the thesis entitled
“AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE INFLUENCE OF CROSS-CULTURAL
AWARENESS ON LEARNING ENGLISH VERB TENSES AND ASPECTS OF
10
TH
FORM STUDENTS AT DONG SON I HIGH SCHOOL – THANHHOA
PROVINCE”
is the result of my own research for the Degree of Master of Arts at University of
Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University – HaNoi and that
this thesis has not been submitted for any degree at any other university or tertiary
institution.

Signature Phạm Thị Duyên


iii
ABSTRACT
The interrelationship between language and culture results in the fact that
cultural knowledge plays a very important role in the process of learning English
verb tenses and aspects. Therefore, the awareness of an important cross-cultural
category Accuracy – Inaccuracy will help students use English more appropriately.
The thesis focuses on the influence of this category on learning English verb tenses
and aspects of 90 10
th
form students at Đông Sơn I High School through a test and
informal interviews with 6 students and with 2 teachers to find out the problems
students have in learning English verb tenses and aspects. Based on the findings,
some suggestions for the teaching of English as a foreign language will be given
with the hope that they will contribute to improve students’ learning verb tenses and
aspects. v
LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES
CHARTS:
Chart 1: Students’ responses to the test with the tenses
Chart 2: Students’ responses to the test with the aspects
Chart 3: Students’ responses to the test with the tenses and aspects

Tables:
Table 1: Twelve verb tense-aspect combinations
Table 2: The number of infinitive verbs for conjugation of the test

2. Aims of the study 2
3. Research questions 2
4. Scope of the study 2
5. Significance of the study 2
6. Methods of the study 3
7. Organization of the study 3
PART B: DEVELOPMENT 4
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 4
1.1. Cross-cultural awareness in second language acquisition (SLA 4
1.1.1. SLA and factors influencing students’ SLA processes 4
1.1.2. Cross-cultural awareness and its influence on language learning 6
1.2. Tenses and aspects 7
1.2.1. Tenses and aspects of English 8
1.2.2. Tenses and aspects of Vietnamese 9
1.3. The influence of cross-cultural awareness in the process of learning verb tenses
and aspects 11
1.4. Review of previous study 16
CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 18
2.1. The context of teaching and learning English at Đông Sơn I
High School 18 vii
2.2. Research questions restated 19
2.3. Research instruments, data collecting procedure and
summary of findings 20
2.3.1. Test 20
2.3.2. Interview with students 24
2.3.3. Interview with teachers 26
CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 28

country. For too long, we have been concentrating on structures and forms and
producing materials that may help our students to have perfect diphthongs or a
flawless command of the third conditional while leaving out anything approaching
real, valid, meaningful content. If our students are to have any hope of using their
language skills to genuinely comprehend and communicate in the global village,
cross-cultural awareness is crucial.
It can be said that Vietnamese culture still has certain influences on
Vietnamese learners’ acquisition of English. The interference of the native culture,
to some extents, may limit students’ ability to acquire the second language
comprehensively. Moreover, the researcher’s observation also points out that
students get many difficulties in recognizing errors caused by the interference of
their own Vietnamese cultural thought patterns. One of the most common mistakes
made by Vietnamese students is in using English verb tenses and aspects. The
mistake in conjugating verbs is inevitable whenever using or practicing English for
any skills. Many students claim that they always have problems with this part
because using verbs in English is very different from that in Vietnamese. It is cross-
cultural difference in using language that is the cause of students’ mistakes. Much
of the reason lies in the fact that students do not pay attention to the difference in
using verb tenses and aspects in Vietnamese and in English. Additionally, it is a
tradition that in Vietnam, English teaching process focuses on only linguistic
competence and cultural knowledge is not concentrated on.
This situation has inspired me to do research on cross-cultural awareness in
the process of learning English verb tenses and aspects with the focus on the cross-
cultural category proposed in Nguyễn Quang’s work (2002), namely Accuracy – 2
Inaccuracy. This study is, hence, aimed at investigating the influence of cross-
cultural awareness on learning English verb tenses and aspects for 10
th

5. Significance of the study
The investigation provides an insightful awareness of the influences of
Vietnam’s culture on learning English verb tenses and aspects. As for students,
identifying what interferes on learning English verb tenses and aspects will help
them overcome their mistakes in order to improve their English. As for teachers,
this is a good chance for them to reconsider the role of culture in learning English. 3
Suggestions proposed in this research could provide teachers with ideas on how to
improve students’ learning of English tenses and aspects. Besides, the study is also
hoped to lay the foundation for further research into the issue within a larger scope.
6. Methods of the study
To realize the aims of the study, the researcher uses a case study. The case is
the students of 10
th
form and the teachers of English at Đông Sơn I High School in
Thanh Hóa Province. Data will be collected through the analysis of the test and
interviews. A test is implemented with 90 10
th
form students who are chosen
randomly. The informal interviews with 6 out of 90 students are conducted basing
on their answers to the test. They are asked to explain their answers to the test. The
other informal interviews with 2 experienced teachers are to find out the way for
teachers to help student overcome their mistakes in learning English verb tenses
and aspects and improve their English.
7. Organization of the study
The study is divided into three main parts.
Part A – Introduction. In this part, the rationale, the aims, the research questions,
the scope, the significance, the method, and the design of the study are presented.

groups who are learning a language subsequent to learning their first one as young
children, and to the process of learning that language. The additional language is
called a second language, even though it may actually be the third, fourth, or tenth
to be acquire. It is also commonly called a target language, which refers to any
language that is the aim or goal of learning” (Sawill, 2006: 7)
The above definitions share a common point that SLA is the process of
learning another language apart from the native language. The process, thus, is
influenced by what factors. There are many factors that have an effect on SLA
processes such as age, sex, attitudes, motivation, language learning goals, aptitude,
degree of awareness, native language, etc. Four prominent factors motivation,
attitude, anxiety, and the influence of L1 on L2 acquisition are elaborated as
follows
- Motivation
Most researchers and educators would agree that motivation is a very 5
important, if not the most important factor in language learning, without which
even “gifted” individuals cannot accomplish long-term goals. Gardner (1985)
defines motivation to learn an L2 as “the extent to which the individual works or
strives to learn the language because of a desire to do so and the satisfaction
experienced in this activity”(Gardner, 1985:47). So the motivation of SLA refers to
the desire and impetus of the acquirers. Sheorin (1996) also point out “Motivation
is important because it directly influences how often students use second language
learning strategies, how much students interact with native speakers, how much
input they receive in the language being learned, how well they do on curriculum-
related achievement tests, how high their general proficiency level becomes, and
how long they preserve and maintain second language skills after language study is
over”(Sheorin, 1996:121).
- Attitude

(1979), humans produce language through a deep structure that enables them to
generate and transfer their own grammar to any other language. As people learn
languages, they develop certain skills. They naturally transfer the skills learned in
the first language (L1) to the second language (L2). O’Malley and Chamot (1990)
define transfer as “the use of previous linguistic or prior skills to assist
comprehension or produce”(O’Malley and Chamot, 1990:57). This indicates that
while learning second language, learners transfer their first language knowledge or
skills. This transfer process may either support (positive transfer) or detract
(negative transfer) from learning. Transfer can be facilitative, in areas where the
two languages are identical.
The above factors will help researcher partly get the aim of the study: find out
the problems the 10
th
form students at Dong Son I High School have in learning
English verb tenses and aspects.
1.1.2. Cross Cultural Awareness and its influence on language learning
Cross Cultural Awareness (CCA) or Intercultural Awareness in language
learning is talked about as though it were a fifth skill (Damen, 1986). Intercultural
learning is the process of becoming more aware of and better understanding one’s
own culture and other cultures around the world. 7
For such a long time, learning target language cultures is so important that it
has been stressed by a number of writers. Kramsch (1993) points out: “If language
is seen as social practice, culture becomes the very core of language teaching.
Cultural awareness must then be viewed as enabling language
proficiency”(Kramsch, 1993:98). She further explains : “Language is inextricable
connection to culture. We cannot be competent in the language if we do not also
understand the culture that has shaped and informed it. We cannot learn a second

some other time, usually to the moment of speaking”(Comrie, 1976:1). He believes
that “aspects are different ways of viewing the internal temporal constituency of a
situation”(Comrie, 1976:2).
Time which is distinct from tense merely refers to the actual physical time in
the real world. According to Quirk and Greenbaum (1973), the units of time are
extra-linguistic which is independent on the grammar of any particular language.
The relation between time and tense is language specific. For instance,
English time and verb tense are associated by means of verbal inflections and
auxiliaries, and it is stated by Quirk and Greenbaum (1973) that there exists only
tenses in English: past tense and present tense. In Vietnamese, however, time is not
expressed through verb tense. The use of tense in relation to time reference is
relatively subjective and context-dependent. Vietnamese speakers refer to time not
by using verbal inflections, but by using temporal expression or other makers,
which are highly specific to particular contexts of use.
Aspect has been defined by many traditionalists and modern linguists. Hockett
(1958) indicates that “aspects have to do not with the location of an event in time,
but with its temporal distribution or contour”(Hockett, 1958:493). Quirk and
Greenbaum (1973) state that aspect concerns the manner in which the verbal action
is experienced or regarded (completed or in progress).
1.2.1. Tenses and aspects of English
The English verb phrase comprises finite and non-finite verb phrases. In finite
verb phrases, both tense and aspect are construed through the conjugation of the
verbs. Verb tense indicates the time in which an action occurs, either present or 9
past. Future time is not expressed through verb inflections but through the use of
auxiliaries will, would, shall or through structures like be going to, be about to, etc.
(Quirk and Greenbaum, 1973). For example, the present tense of the verb to give is
give or gives, the past tense is gave, and the future tense is will give. On the other

and/or aspect- making particles are generally omitted.
In another description of tense and aspect in Vietnamese, Cao Xuân Hạo, an
influential Vietnamese linguist, argued that Vietnamese does not have tense; it only
has aspect. According to Cao Xuân Hạo (1998), Vietnamese uses đã to mark the
perfect aspect, đang to mark the progressive aspect, and sẽ to mark an uncertain
state expressed by verbs expressing hopes, wishes, guesses, and conditions. For
example:
(1) Họ đã đi đến trường.
They marker go arrive school.
“They went to school”(Cao Xuân Hạo, 1998:550).
(2) Họ đang đi đến trường.
They marker go arrive school.
“They are going to school”(Cao Xuân Hạo, 1998:551).
(3) Trời sẽ mưa.
Sky marker rain.
“It will rain” (Cao Xuân Hạo, 1998:552).
Sentence (1) expresses action with an end-point that was completed in the
past before the time of speaking and they did not continue into the present. In other
words, action such as went was finished already and could not happen one more
time. Cao Xuân Hạo concluded that đã in this case expresses an action that is
complete. The marker đang in sentence (2) expresses action, such as go that is still
happening at the time of speaking. In Cao Xuân Hạo’s viewpoint, this action with
no end-point is expressed by the progressive aspect. In sentence (3), sẽ is used to
indicate uncertainty of an event in the future. According to Cao Xuân Hạo, since sẽ
expresses unfulfilled action or uncertainty, it is suitable to talk about the future.
This does not mean that sẽ is a tense marker, it is an aspect marker which happens 11
to be suitable to talk about a certain frame. Thus, sẽ can, but not always, indicate a

12
For English, tenses and aspects are a rule. It demands the accuracy in use. It is
well known that English has two tense forms, present and past (Freeman &
Haccius, 2002). It is equally well known that English speakers make use of a wide
variety of other structures to indicate futurity (e.g., modals, phrasal modals, simple
present, present progressive), but that the modal will is usually assigned to fill the
role of the simple future. To these, the aspectual markers of perfect and progressive
are added, giving us 12 verb tense-aspect combination (Table 1).
Simple Perfect Progressive Perfect Progressive
0 have + -ed/-en be + -ing have + -en + be + -ing
Present Simple present Present perfect Present progressive Present perfect
progressive
plays has/have played am/is/are playing has/have been playing
Past Simple past Past perfect Past progressive Past perfect progressive
played had played was/were playing had been playing
Future Simple future Future perfect Future progressive Future perfect progressive
will play will have played will be playing will have been playing

Note: Adapted from Murcia & Freeman, 1998, p.110.
Table 1. Twelve Verb Tense-Aspect Combinations.
Table 1 presents constructions to realize different English tense and aspect,
their grammatical names, plus an example using the verb play. The verbs are
conjugated accurately according to these constructions to express English tense and
aspect.
Present progressive is the easiest, most intuitively accessible tense to teach,
and is a good place to start on a tour of the tenses. Present progressive indicates
action that is taking place at the moment of speaking. Now, not in the past and not
in the future. For example: He is walking. This sentence means right now, he is
walking, as we speak.
Present simple refers to actions that are generally true or habitual. That is,

moment, and that has no real connection with the current time. For example: He
will walk home. This sentences means that some time in the future, after now, he
will walk home. 14
Present perfect indicates an action that has been completed sometime before
now, with a result that affects the current situation. For example: He has exercised.
The action took place sometime in the past, but it has an effect on the situation
now. Therefore, he knows how to exercise, or he is in good shape, or he is tired and
doesn’t want to exercise any more. Some result of his exercise in the past is in
effect now.
Present perfect progressive indicates an action that started in the past and is
continuing at the present time. For example: He has been exercising for an hour.
Past perfect indicates an action in the past that had been completed before
another time or event in the past. We can think of it as “past before past”. For
example: He had exercised before it started to rain.
Future perfect indicates an action in the future that will have been
completed before another time or event in the future. For example:
By the time we arrive, he will have exercised.
Future perfect progressive indicates an action in the future that will have
been continuing until another time or event in the future. For example:
He will have been exercising an hour at 3:00.
From the examples above, it is shown that tenses in English are formed and
used differently. The two ways of forming tenses in English are adding infections
to the bare form of the verbs and combining inflections and auxiliaries or modals.
The rules for the formation and usage of tense are fixed. Therefore, the English
language is very accurate.
However, the situation is not the same in Vietnamese. Cao Xuân Hạo (1998)
argues that Vietnamese does not have tense: it only has aspect. He illustrates his

“He is selling the book.” (Cao Xuân Hạo, 1998:553)
(6) Sáng mai anh nên đến thật sớm,
Morning tomorrow you should come really early

khi cả nhà tôi đang ngủ.
when all family I marker sleep.
“Tomorrow morning, you should come early when my family will be 16
sleeping” (Cao Xuân Hạo, 1998:549).
Sentence (4) expresses an event in the past. Sentence (5) expresses an event at
present. Sentence (6) expresses an event in the future. Therefore, all these sentences
use “đang” to express past, present, and future event.
Examples with “sẽ”:
(7) Hôm qua anh ấy nói sẽ tới, nhưng
Yesterday he say marker come but
rồi không thấy đâu.
already no see anywhere.
“Yesterday he said that he was coming, but no one saw him.”
(8) Chiều nay tôi sẽ cho cậu mượn truyện.
This afternoon I marker give you borrow story-book.
“This afternoon I will lend you the story-book.”
Sentence (7) expresses an event in the past. Sentence (8) expresses an event in
the future. Both sentence (7) and sentence (8) use “sẽ” to express past and future
event.
It is clear that lexical indicators in Vietnamese as illustrated above are used
ambiguously. Without linguistic context, it seems impossible to point out the
specific meaning of the temporal indicators. This explains why Nguyễn Quang
(2002) claims that the Vietnamese seems to be more inaccurate than the Anglo-