COMMON ERRORS IN THE USE OF DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS

This chapter presents the findings of the practical research with the students of English in grade 11 at Yen Lang High School. It falls into three sections. Section 1 deals with the survey questionnaire, which was designed to map out some common errors made by the eleventh-grade students at Yen Lang High School. Section 2 presents common errors and causes. Section 3 provides students and teachers with some suggested solutions to minimize the errors in the use of demonstrative pronouns.

1. Survey

          As it was mentioned in chapter one, the study does not only help students of English have a deep insight into the demonstrative pronouns but also find out errors in the use of demonstrative pronouns. Due to the framework of a thesis, to map out all the mistakes made by students at all educational levels is impossible. Therefore, this thesis is only focused on common errors in the use of demonstrative pronouns made by the eleventh-grade students at Yen Lang High School. To find out the errors made by those students, a survey questionnaire was conducted.

1.1. Purpose of the survey

          The overall objectives of the survey questionnaire are to test students’ understanding of the demonstrative pronouns and find out common errors made by the eleventh-grade students at Yen Lang High School in the school year of 2010/2011.

1.2. Population of the survey

          The number of students participating in the survey questionnaire is one hundred in grade 11 at Yen Lang High School. They have to learn English as a compulsory subject. Most of them have been learning English for six years. Therefore, the expected English level among them is intermediate. Naturally, they have been taught some of the demonstrative pronouns uses. Some of them are really good at grammar but some of them are bad at grammar in general and demonstrative pronouns in particular.

1.3. Types of the survey

          To collect data, a completion test was used. It involves such activities as choosing correct answer, supplying the correct form of the word and rewriting the sentence.

1.4. Construction of the survey

          The material in use in the test was taken from grammar books concerned with the demonstrative pronouns. The survey is divided into two parts. Part A, which consists of five sentences, is designed to get general information about informants and their English competence. Part B is conducted to find out how much the students have known and mastered the demonstrative pronouns. This part has three exercises.

1.                             Exercise 1: Changing the following sentences from singular to plural

              This exercise consists of twenty items.

2.                             Exercise 2: Fill in with this, that, these, those

               There are twenty items in this exercise.

3.                             Exercise 3. Choose the correct answer

               This exercise has ten items.

1.5. Test items

          There are many possible errors in the use of demonstrative pronouns that a survey cannot find out. Thus, it is necessary to predict possible errors and include them in the survey. In this survey, possible errors were classified into the following categories.

1.                             Errors in the use of demonstrative pronouns as subjects.

2.                             Errors in the use of demonstrative pronouns as direct objects.

3.                             Errors in the uses of demonstrative pronouns as object of a preposition.

4.                             Errors in the use of demonstrative pronouns before the word “one”.

5.                             Errors in the use of demonstrative pronouns before the nouns.

6.                             Errors in the use of demonstrative pronouns stand alone when the noun is understood.

7.                             Errors in the use of demonstrative pronouns with singular and plural form.

1.6. Administration of the try-out

1.6.1. Preparation of the try-out

          The teachers in charge of the two classes which were intended to do the survey questionnaire were asked for permission before the try out was carried out.

1.6.2. Try-out

          The try-out was conducted on April, 15^th, 2010. The students from the two classes were gathered in a room and asked to do the questionnaire as well as possible in compliance with their own ability. They were instructed carefully before answering the questionnaire. Importantly, they were reminded that the result of the questionnaire was to serve the research and it had no influence on their study results.  Hence, they made their real effort to do the questionnaire without copying from the others. The allocated time for fifty questions was sixty minutes.

1.7. Method of data analysis

          The data was analyzed in five steps. In the first step, the students’ self-assessment about their English level and their knowledge of verbal types were analyzed. Errors in the use of demonstrative pronouns were found out in step two. In the next step, the average percentage of errors at each level was calculated. Then, the errors levels were tanked from the highest to the lowest. Based on this arrangement, the highest was considered as the major error in the use of demonstrative pronouns. Students who made the most errors were identified in the last step.

1.8. Results of the survey

          In the first part of the survey, the students were asked to give their self-assessment of their English levels and their understandings of verbal types. A large number of them said that their English was not really good. Forty-seven per cent of them stated that they were rather good at English. Eight per cent said that they were good at subject. Five per cent stated that their English were excellent. There are three students confess that they were bad at this subject. It can be seen from the result of the survey that every student could quickly recognize the form of the demonstrative pronouns and demonstrative adjectives. However, most of them could not distinguish between the demonstrative pronouns and demonstrative adjectives.

          2. Common errors and causes

2.1. Errors in the use of demonstrative pronouns before the word one

          The errors in the use of demonstrative pronouns before the word one among the eleventh-grade students at Yen Lang High School are most common.

          Based on theory, only singular forms of demonstrative pronouns are this, that can also be used with one. However, plural forms of demonstrative pronouns: These and those are commonly used alone.

           For example: I want this one.                        

                                 I want these.  (not these ones) 

          Some students make mistakes because they think that this, that, these, those are the demonstrative pronouns. So they have the same uses.

2.2. Error in the use of demonstrative pronouns with plural and singular forms

          The errors linked with the use of demonstrative pronouns with plural form and singular form make. They rank the second to the errors in the use of demonstrative pronouns before the word one. There are students whose percentage of errors in this use of demonstrative pronouns is many.

For instance:             1.  ........ .are bananas (close to the speaker)

                                  2. What is ……….. ? (far from the speaker)

                                  3. …… is really good (close to the speaker)

                                  4. …… are heavy. (far from the speaker)

          Correct answer:  1. This  2. that   3. This   4. Those

          Most of students make mistakes when they use demonstrative pronouns with singular and plural form because of the limited knowledge of grammatical rules or sometimes they ignored the grammatical rules. Based on the theory of demonstrative pronouns, this and these refer to nouns that are nearby in time or space to the speaker. That or those refer to nouns that are further away in time or space. This and that refer to singular nouns; these and those refer to plural nouns. Hence, the students must pay attention to the grammatical rules of demonstrative pronouns to do exercise better. 

2.3. Error in the use of demonstrative pronouns before the nouns

          For instance: Is this John’s house?

                              Who owns that house?

          The cause was that the students ignored the grammatical rules. Based on the theory of demonstrative pronouns, this and that refer to singular nouns; these and those refer to plural nouns.

II.2.4. Error in the use of demonstrative pronouns as direct objects

          The percentage of errors in the use of demonstrative pronouns as direct objects. There were no students whose percentage of errors in using demonstrative pronouns as direct objects. Most of the students had difficulties identifying when they use demonstrative pronouns as direct objects.

          For instance: Jack brought this

2.5. Error in the use of demonstrative pronouns stands alone when the noun is understood

          For example: I will never forget this.

          Many students make this error because sometimes they cannot distinguish between the demonstrative pronouns before the word one and before the noun with the demonstrative pronouns stand alone when the noun is understood.

2.6. Error in the use of demonstrative pronouns as objects of prepositions

For example: Tom can work with this.

          This type of error is mainly caused by the limited knowledge about the grammatical rules.

2.7. Error in the use of demonstrative pronouns as subjects

          The least common type of error in the use of demonstrative pronouns is the errors in using demonstrative pronouns as subject

          For example: Those belong to me.

          The main cause of this type of error is that the students ignored grammatical structures.

3. Suggested solutions

          To give a solution to this problem is never easy. However, after analyzing the mistakes made by the students of English in grade 11 at Yen Lang High School, some suggestions are made in the hope of minimizing students’ errors in connection with the demonstrative pronouns.

          The teaching process is complex and difficult so it is required a teacher of foreign language to have a good knowledge and patience. Students expect teachers will help them be aware of the demonstrative pronouns. Therefore, it is important for the teacher to enable the student to see the importance of the demonstrative pronouns in the English language. Besides, the teachers should introduce all possible uses of the demonstrative pronouns to the students, such as definition, form, function, position and meaning.                                

          Moreover, the teacher should distinguish clearly between the demonstrative pronouns and demonstrative adjectives in the lecture. The teacher is to explain the cases where the demonstrative pronouns are needed.                                               The teachers should provide students with some useful techniques to help them memorize and use the demonstrative pronouns correctly. And the best way to help students master the demonstrative pronouns is to give them various types of exercises related to demonstrative pronouns uses.

          To students, the first thing they should pay attention to is to master demonstrative pronouns. They cannot do exercise if they do not know how the demonstrative pronouns are used. Besides, another item which should be paid attention to is grammar.

          In brief, there are quite a large number of students making the error types above. The problem is that the students are just too lazy to practise this kind of exercise or sometimes they ignored the uses of demonstrative pronouns. To make things easier, some suggestions and solutions for both the teacher and the student have been made. Hopefully, the students in general and the students at Yen Lang High School in particular can minimize errors in the use of demonstrative pronouns.

APPENDINCES

SURVEY QUESTIONNARE

Part A: Could you please give some personal information?

1.                 How long have you been learning English? ..............................

2.                 Do you like learning English? ........................

3.                 What is your English like?

A. Excellent                              B. Good                         C. Rather good

D. Not very good                      E. Other……………….

4.                 I do not like this

          In this sentence, “this” is called:

          A. a subject           B. a direct object             C. an object of preposition

5.                 Those belong to Jane.

          In sentence, “those” is called:

          A. a direct object             B. a subject           C. an object of preposition

Part B: Please do the exercises below

I. Changing the following sentences from singular and plural

6.                 This look good (subject)

7.                 Jack brought this (direct object)

8.                 That belongs to Tom (s)

9.                 I will never forget this (stand alone when the noun is understood)

10.              Who owns that house? (before the noun)

11.              That is my book (s)

12.              Give me this skirt (o)

13.              I’ll take that one (before the one)

14.              Ba can work with this ( o of preposition)

15.              This is unbelievable (s)

16.              Will Tom find this in time (d o)

17.              That is the tree I want (S)

18.              Can I please have this? (d o)

19.              John will put the new coat of paint on that if necessary. (o of preposition)

20.              This shirt is too tight. I’ll wear that one. (before the one)

II. Fill in with this, that, these, those

21.              …….. is a cat. (close to  the speaker)

22.              …….. is a mouse (far from the speaker)

23.              …….. are bananas (close to the speaker)

24.              They are working with …… (far from the speaker)

25.              He started the machine with …… (close to the speaker)

26.              They’ll take …….. one. (far from the speaker)

27.              …….. belongs to Hoa. (far from the speaker)

28.              ……. tastes good. (close to the speaker)

29.              Three customers wanted …… (far from the speaker)

30.              I want four of ……. .( close to the speaker)

31.              Does the skirt you bough with ….. ( far from the speaker)

32.              Is……John’s house? (close to the speaker)

33.              …….. is sweet. (far from the speaker)

34.              ……… is heavier than that one. (close to the speaker)

35.              ……… are heavy (far from the speaker)

36.              I want …… one (close to the speaker)

37.              What is …… ? (close to the speaker)

38.              I want four of  ……. (far from the speaker)

39.              …… are funny. (close to the speaker)

III. Choose the correct answer

40.              She does not like …….

A.               This                                         B. These

41.              …… is my ruler.

A.               That                                         B. Those

42.              ……..  picture looks beautiful than …… one

A.               This/ That                                 B. This/ These

43. ..…. is really good.

A.               That                                         B. Those

43.              …… games are a lot of fun.

A.               These                                       B. This

44.              …… exercise is probably too easy.

A.               These                                       B. This

45.              ……. book is difficult to understand.

A.               This                                         B. These

46.              ……. are good English book.

A.               Those                                                B. That

47.              …… film is really good.

A. This                                              B. These

48. …… ear rings are beautiful.

A. That                                              B. Those

49. …… coat is black.

A. This                                              B. These

50. …… are a lot of fun.

A. These                                            B. This

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