Apichai RUNGRUANG. The Use of English and Chinese Predicates by Thai University Students. (). มหาวิทยาลัยแม่ฟ้าหลวง. ศูนย์บรรณสารและสื่อการศึกษา. : , .
The Use of English and Chinese Predicates by Thai University Students
Abstract:
This study aims to examine how well Thai university students could cope with English and predicates, and to investigate the possible causes of difficulties in English and Chinese predicates. Nineteen university students took a predicate test, and among the 19, six students participated in a structured interview session. The statistical findings reflected and showed no difference in their performance in both languages. To be more precise, their performance on the test did not provide a clear-cut answer on which language students performed better (p>.05). The interview was employed to elicit the information with regards to why certain structures posed some difficulties on the Thai learners. The findings revealed that in English, their body of knowledge on parts of speech and sentence structure such as imperative sentences and the complex sentences were inadequate. In Chinese, a lack of understanding of certain Chinese predicate structures and lexical items caused them to misidentify which one was a phrase or a complete sentence on the test. Instructors in both languages should pay closer attention to these problematic areas and find appropriate teaching lessons and materials to enhance their students language performance.