Tiến Sĩ Năng lực chiến lược, ngữ pháp, từ vựng tiếng Anh của sinh viên năm thứ nhất Đại học Thái Nguyên: Cơ

ABSTRACT

Title :Strategic, lexical and syntactic competencies in
English of freshman students in Thai Nguyen
university: Basis for a proposed drill exercise.
Author : Nguyen Thi Thanh Hong
Course octor of Philosophy major in English language and
literature.
Year : 2014
Adviser : Dr Amada G. Banaag


Summary

The main focus of this study was to determine the strategic,
lexical and syntactic competencies in English of freshman student Thai
Nguyen university.
This study made use of the descriptive method and utilized
researcher-constructed questionaire and teacher made test. For
objective interpretation and analysis of the study, the data were
subjected to the following statistical treatment: frequency, percentage,
ranking, independent t-test and standard deviation.



THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam



BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines


iii
The findings of the study revealed that majority of the freshman
students of Thai Nguyen University employed strategic competencies to
cope and promote their communication skills. Further, freshman
students have poor performance in the areas of vocabulary, idioms and
word formation but have better performance in synonyms and antonym;
they demonstrate poor performance in the areas of verb tenses, direct
and indirect speech, but have better or remarkable performance in the
areas of subject verb agreement, pronoun references and phrases and
clauses. In addition, There is no significant relationship exists between
students’ lexical and syntactic competencies. There exists a relationship
between teachers’ assessment and the level of students’ lexical and
syntactic competencies. Students did not frequently used or practice
their lexical and syntactic skills as indicated by their mean score of 3.0.
The drill exercises formulated contains activities geared towards
improving freshman students’ lexical and syntactic competencies in
Thai Nguyen university.



THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam



BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines


iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This dissertation wouldn’t have been possible had it not been for the
support, love, patience, and generosity of many people, who have
helped me in their own incredible way to deal with myself while trying to
find my voice in what I do.
I would especially like to acknowledge and thank Dr. Amanda G.
Banaag, who as a major professor and director of my dissertation
opened my eyes to see the details in the “big picture”. I highly admire
her scholarship, dedication, efficiency in decision-making, valuable
advice, to Dr. Maltida H. Dimaano, who has enormously helped me to
keep on moving. Had it not been for her constant administrative and
academic support, I doubt I would have finished the Program and my
dissertation in such a timely manner. There isn’t a quantifier in the
English language that can express how grateful I am for everything that
she has done for me during the past four years. I would also sincerely
like to thank Dr. Corazon Cabrera, who has always been full of new
ideas and contagious enthusiasm and who has encouraged me to be
respectful to the papers that I’ve written. I have a special thank for Dr.
Remedios P. Magnaye as well, whose energy and resourcefulness
have been inspiring. Finally, I a big “thank you” should go to the



THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam



BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines


v
participants in this study and especially to a good friend and colleague
of mine at Thai Nguyen University, who graciously helped me with
collecting the data for the study.
My greatest thanks go to my nearest and dearest – my family and my
friends - whom I selflessly and unconditionally love, and I know they
love me back. I thank my mother for giving me life, love, values, and
belief that I can accomplish anything I set out to do. Thank you, Mum,
for sacrificing so much to make this Possible for me! All I have ever
wanted was to make you proud of me! And thank you to my sisters, who
have always given me a lot of encouragement. I also don’t think it would
have been possible to write this dissertation without my husband, and
my sons. My husband’s patience and high level of tolerance to all my
academic queries, intellectual quests, and unpredictable mood swings
have been more than highly appreciated. My son’s well-being, love, and
encouragement have been my guiding light. Finally, I am entirely
indebted to all my friends for their spiritual generosity and for being my
friends. Thank you!



THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam



BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines


ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE I
TABLE OF CONTENTS ii
LIST OF TABLES .v
LIST OF FIGURES vii
CHAPTER
I. THE PROBLEM .11
Introduction 11
Statement of the Problem 20
Scope, Delimitation and Limitation of the Study 21
Significance of the Study .22
II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE 23
Conceptual Literature 23
Competence in the English Language .23
Research Literature .70
Synthesis .78
Theoretical Framework 82
Conceptual Framework .86
Hypothesis .89
Definition of Terms .89



THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam



BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines


iii
III. RESEARCH METHOD AND PROCEDURE 80
Research Design .80
Subjects of the Study .80
Data Gathering Instrument 82
Data Gathering Procedure .83
Statistical Treatment of Data .84
IV. PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA
.85
V. SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 143
Summary of Findings .143
Conclusions .153
Recommendations .154
APPENDICES
A. Questionnaire for Students .164
B. Questionnaire for Teacher’s -Part 1 175
C. Questionnaire for Teacher’s - Part 2 .180
D. Validation Letter of the Questionnaire for Students 186
F. Letters of Request to the Head of Institution .189
H. Documents for Validation of Questionaires in Batangas State
University .194
K: Photographs of the Research Sites .195



THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam



BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines


iv
L. Photographs of the Approval Test Administration of the Head
of Institutions 196
M. Photographs of the Teachers Respondents .197
N. Photographs of the Students Respondents 198
P. Psychrometric Conversion Table 199
CURRICULUM VITAE 201





THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam



BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines


v
LIST OF TABLES

Table Title Page
1 Distribution of the respondents of the study . 81
2 Strategic competencies of Freshman students 85
3 Student skills according to the frequency of use as strategic
competencies . 90
4 Degree of importance of strategic competency 93
5 Performance of student on Lexical Competence 94
6 Performance of student on Syntactic Competence 98
7 Student's t-test comparison of the mean scores for each
lexical test . 104
8 Student's t-test comparison of the mean scores for each
syntactic 105
9 Student's t-test comparison of the mean scores for lexical vs.
syntactic test . 106
10 List of student skills validated by 60 teacher respondents as
lexical and syntactic competencies of Freshman students 108
11 Students’ frequency of lexical and syntactic skills 111
12 Mean scores of student lexical and syntactic skills 113


THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam



BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines


vi
13 Student's t-test comparison of the mean scores for lexical and
syntactic test . 115
14 Areas under lexical- syntactic competencies to be used as
topics for the design of drill exercises and the basis of their
choice . 118