Friday, June 12, 2020
English progressive form - Free Essay Example
Does English progressive form denotes subjectivity in written and oral production of the language for Mara College Banting students as English L2 learners; and how does it differs in terms of gender, educational background, and English proficiency level? INTRODUCTION              In daily conversations and writings, it seemed that English second language (L2) learners have more tendencies to write and speak while considering the grammatical construction and aspectual meaning of verb rather than it attitudinal meaning. However, grammarians have agreed that English progressive form is a genuinely emotive language device[1] where it will denote subjectivity in it usage. Subjective, in this case, means that the language user shows attitudinal meaning and put emotional colouring in the sentence while using the language. There were several studies by universities or institutions on the subjectivity of English progressive form, however, does English progressive form denotes subjectivity among Mara College Banting students as English L2 learners and how it will differ in term of gender, educational background, and English proficiency level? The study on the second language learner seemed to be missed out to formulate whether the English L2 learners view the progressive form as an indication to attitudinal meaning and subjectivity whether in written and oral production of the language.              As grammarians suggested that English progressive form is a genuinely emotive language device, therefore it is an important feature that can be applied in writing newspapersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ report, political speeches, and other writings in which the language feature can be used in order to influence the readers or the listeners more. The progressive form can be used by people in writings or conversations to show more sincerity and true feelings of the person involved. However, to what extent this is expected to be true to the English L2 learners is not proven yet. As most of the study proven to the native speakers, however, there is no study to specify whether the result of the study is similar to those non-native speakers. Therefore, this study is important to suggest whether English progressive form may contain similar feature as an emotive language device to the English L2 learners. If the result is positive, therefore it shows that the usage of English progressive form may have subjective emotional impact on both the users (writers and speakers) and the receivers (readers and listeners), therefore it will make different in emotional value when using it in writings or conversations.    AIM OF THE STUDY.              This essay is based on the study of English progressive form or the so-called à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"ing form. Throughout the study, the aim is to identify whether verbs in progressive form will denote subjectivity in the sentence; in which emotion is involved; for Mara College Banting students as English L2 learner. In other mean, the study focuses on the way in which emotion affect the language used; while in this case it will focus on the usage of verbs in progressive. Besides that, the intention of the study is also to investigate whether the subjectivity of the sentence will change when the verb is being written or spoken. Further study will include the discussion on how other factors: gender, educational background, and English proficiency level will affect the hypothesis. The study will seek out the answers of the following research question: 1) Does the usage of verb in progressive form will denote subjectivity in the sentence for English L2 learners? 2) Does the subjectivity of the phrase changes when it is written or spoken? 3) How does the subjectivity differ among students of different gender? 4) How does the subjectivity differ among students of different educational background? 5) How does the subjectivity differ among students of different English proficiency level? METHODOLOGY 1) Questionnaires Questionnaires were distributed to 40 MCB students. In the questionnaires, respondents were determined their gender, educational background, and IELTS[2] result. They were asked to answer several questions to see whether the usage of progressive form has different mean of applications to them. 2) Interviews 15 students who prefer the progressive form the most were interviewed to observe whether there were shifting of preference. Several questions were being asked according to module while some were spontaneous to trigger conversation. The students was also being asked on their views whether they are aware of other mean of applications of the English progressive form in the production of the language Below are the indicator used in determining the studentsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ preference: Preference percentage (%) Preference 0à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤x20 Non-progressive 20à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ x40 40à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤x60 Mix 60à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤x80 Progressive 80à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤x100 FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS              From the research carried out[4] In this case, students were required to make simple decisions whether to apply progressive form or attempting to use non-progressive form.              The questions given could be regarded as emphasising the respondentsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ attitude. Therefore, progressive could be seen as expressing the respondentsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ feelings about the situation. However, some students may opt for other options depending on the studentsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ commitment in producing the language too. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Non-progressive form appeared to be a better option with less personal commitment or less prominence on temporality. The neutral choice by more fact-oriented students would be the non-progressive.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢[5] Thus, it depends on the verb form preference of the students too rather than depending solely on the studentsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ implicit and explicit knowledge. The result of the research has proven to be positive on the research question. About 24 students out of 40, which is more than half prefer to use English progressive form in most cases while 10 students are consistently prefer non-progressive form while 6 students mix their preference of using progressive form in their question papers. This not only shows that most MCB students are aware of the subjectivity of English progressive form in its usage, but also prefer to use it in most situations. But, there is also a possibility that the respondents may also not aware of the subjective meaning of progressive form of verb, but rather choose the first thing that came into their mind. Since the students are young, they may be influenced by new or extended use of the progressive. Many learners fail to understand that there are many other possible reasons of using the progressive[7] Short interviews were conducted with some of the respondents to see whether they might shift from using progressive to non-progressive or vice versa while using the language in speaking. However, the result showed that the respondents tend to use non-progressive form rather than the progressive while producing the language orally[8]. Out of 15 respondents, 13 of them prefer the progressive form in most cases than the non-progressive in their English oral production. They tend to use simple tense when speaking or making decision spontaneously at the time of speaking. If they are not sure about something, they also tend to use the phrase à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“I think à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? rather than à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“I am thinking à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?. All 15 respondents for the speaking test were taken from those who answered the questions with more than 80% of using the progressive form during the written test. This indicates that most students are likely to shift from using the progressive form in English written production to the non-progressive form in the oral production of the language. It is because they have used to write in English since childhood but not speak and therefore, encounter difficulties in placing emotional colouring or using the progressive form in the orally-produced sentences at instant. These phrases were used the most by the respondents when answering questions orally: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“I think à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“I hopeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?, and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“I doà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?. In some cases, the students also made mistakes or incorrect usage of grammar while replying to the questions orally. Even though some questions being asked were in the progressive form, the respondents somehow use the simple verb in their replies. While producing the language orally, they tend to make flaws while putting aside grammatical construction in conversation. The translation of words in their mind have been the only priority in time of verbalising an instant reply such as in conversation as English L2 learners rather than undergoing the process of translating from first language, arranging words, and checking grammar, then only producing a reply.Â à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Variability in learner language is determined by a variety of factors such as linguistic context, situational contexts, and the availability of planning time.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?[9] When respondents were being asked about the usage of progressive form, most respondents have a vague idea and mostly claimed that it has something to do with an ongoing event or verb. When being asked about how they choose whether to use the progressive or non-progressive forms to denote subjectivity, they simply cannot explain the reason of why did they use either forms. That means the idea of progressive form as an emotive language device is still not widely recognised by MCB students as English L2 learners. Therefore, it can be deduced that most of Mara College Banting students prefer the usage of the English progressive form to denote subjectivity in English written production. While in the oral production of the language, the students prefer using the non-progressive form the most in which they shift from their preference from the written production. Even though they are not really exposed into the function of progressive form as an emotive language device, however, they made their decision based on how they define the usage of the form itself to denote subjectivity.   EFFECT OF GENDER              Referring the data acquired[10], there is noticeably a marginal difference between the usages of progressive form among students of different gender except from 40% to 60%. It is apparently shows that female students have the higher tendency to use progressive form compared to the male students. However, more female students do not prefer using progressive form than male students and is shown by its preference from 40% and below. It is shown that there is significant difference in the number of students who prefer using progressive form 40% to 60% in their questions. However, there is still lot of male and female students prefer more than 60% of using progressive form in written production.              My early hypothesis is that gender does affect the usage of English progressive form in written production because generally women have a more soft feeling or what is called feminine compared to men. Therefore, I assume feminism may have some effect the subjectivity of the language used. However, the result indicates an opposite outcome. Among both genders, the usage of English progressive form is almost similar. The most probable reason that leads to this outcome is the treatment and gender equality within the education system in Malaysia. Mostly, students in Malaysia were taught according to syllabus regardless of gender. Even though some respondents who previously came from all-female schools or all-male schools, however, most of them were taught using similar syllabus, consistent with any students over the country.              Besides that, it cannot be denied that some students may have used to be using progressive form in their writings and therefore gender factor is irrelevant in affecting the usage of progressive form in written production. The least number of female has the preference in using the progressive form from 40% to 60% compared to the male. This shows that female respondents are interested whether to prefer progressive form consistently or non-progressive form consistently and do not prefer to mix both progressive and non-progressive.              When interviews were conducted[11], there were 13 out of 15 who used more of the progressive form than simple form. And the other 2 students were from the female group in which they tend to use progressive form in oral production. These two students stay firm on using the progressive form to denote subjectivity whether in written or oral production. However, most of the respondents interviewed shifted their preference from progressive form in the written production to non-progressive form while speaking. The possible explanations are due to the reasons that have been explained before and there is nothing to do with gender. This is because most of the respondents shifted their usage preference regardless of gender. Only two female respondents stay on using the progressive form, however, this is too insignificant to develop an inference.              Therefore, it can be deduced that the factor of gender do not affect the usage of the progressive form in denoting subjectivity whether in written or oral production among MCB students. So, gender has no relationship with the frequency of usage of English progressive form among MCB students as English L2 learners. EFFECT OF EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND              Based on Sapir-Whorf hypothesis: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“The worlds in which different societies live are distinct worlds, not merely the same world with different labels attached. We see and hear and otherwise experience very largely as we do because the language habits of our community predispose certain choices of interpretation.[12] At first, I assumed that due to different educational background, there should be significant difference on the number of students who prefer progressive form in their sentences due to different study environment.              However, from the result obtained[13], it shows that the students previously studied in daily or boarding schools have no influence on the progressive form usage in denoting subjectivity in English written production. Looking at the percentage of 20%-40% and 60%-80%, there are huge differences between the boarding and daily schools that prefer progressive or non-progressive in their written production. I take this as my limitation due to small sample size for the experiments. The number of students previously from boarding schools is not equal to the number of students from daily schools. However, splitting those as two different results will help to display the distribution of students who prefer the usage of progressive form to denote subjectivity; however, due to marginal difference between the results and also unequal distribution of students studied in boarding and daily schools within the sample space, it is hard to make an inference from the data. But, it can be seen that the number of students previously from boarding or daily schools, both share similar feature in which more number of students prefer in the usage of progressive form in their written production to denote subjectivity. The students from boarding schools who prefer using the progressive form is 13 students which is more than 11 students who prefer using the non-progressive form. For previously daily school students, those who prefer using the progressive form is 5 students which is more than 3 students who prefer using the non-progressive form.              During the interview[14], most students from daily schools can speak English better than those from boarding schools. From my point of view, for English L2 learners to speak very well, they may have been in the environment where most people around them speak in English. Daily schools usually have well-mixed races environment where there are Malay, Chinese, Indian, and the others. From my personal observation, Chinese and Indian students are likely to speak English at home and at school. When more people engage and interact in English, it will develop and improve the speaking skill of the people involved. Students from boarding schools usually live in an environment where all people are interacting by using the first language. Thatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s the reason of some boarding schools students cannot engage in English very well. Due to that, even they want to express their emotion or opinion by using the second language, they might have some difficulties in placing certain words to show an attitudinal meaning in what they want to express. Rather than placing emotional colouring in the sentences verbalised, they are more susceptible to deliver it by placing more emphasise on pronunciation and vocabulary of words. This explanation can be also applied to some of the daily school students.              In general, even though daily school students usually engage in English, depend on to whom they speak, however, their case is similar to those studied in boarding schools. It seemed that most of them didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t know the function of the progressive form as an emotive language device and theyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢d rather mix the usage of progressive and non-progressive or else constantly use the non-progressive since the construction of the sentences would be easier and simple.              From the experiment conducted, it can be deduced as a general that educational background has nothing to do with the application of English progressive form to denote subjectivity, be it in written or oral production among MCB students. OFICIENCY LEVEL Most MCB students are at intermediate or high level of English proficiency since they have been selected from many students who had going for the sponsorship interview before entering the college. Their English result in the General Certificate Examination is at least 4B. Categorisation is made into 3 groups according to their first IELTS result: Competent, Good, and Very Good.              My early prediction is most students of better English proficiency will prefer the usage of progressive form in the written production while those with intermediate and competent level of English proficiency will prefer either to mix or use the non-progressive form. This is because students with higher English proficiency should have the knowledge and used to using the progressive form to bring attitudinal meaning or emotional emphasis in the language. Good users might rather choose whichever does suit them while competent users had rather to make the sentences using the simple form because they had rather make it simple and very straightforward.              It is clearly shown that students of high level of proficiency mostly prefer the usage of progressive form to denote attitudinal meaning with 10 students chose more than 60% in their written production than 2 students used less than 40% of the progressive form.[15] This might be due to the exposure and recognition of progressive form to denote subjectivity. Analysing the data for Good users of the language, most students have a high preference in using à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"ing form of the verb in their written production to show subjectivity. There are 12 students preferring the usage of progressive form than 2 students mixed the preference of progressive and non-progressive form and 2 other students less prefer the usage of the progressive form. 2 Competent users of the language are in the preference of the progressive form while 6 students preferred the usage of non-pr ogressive in their written production while 4 students mix their preferences.              Therefore, it can be suggested that Good and Competent users of the language do not view the progressive form to denote subjectivity in written production. This is due to the fact that their formal learning in school had never introduced the students on the association of English progressive form with showing attitudinal meaning and emotional value in the utterance of words. As for learning English at secondary schools, some students claimed not to have learnt grammar thoroughly and even so, they do not grasp much of the grammatical rules. The choice of word forms they based on is only the form that they think appropriate.              Even though there are more likely students that possess better command in English to prefer the progressive form in the written production, however, they changed into using more of the non-progressive while speaking[17] According to Elina Ranta: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"attractivenessà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ of the progressive resides in the grammatical form itself à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" that L2 speakers have realised its à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"communicativeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ value in interaction. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦adding the ending à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"ing to a verb gives the verb more prominence and salience in the speakerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s utterance. It makes the verb stand out, so to speak, and draws the interlocutorà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s attention as a à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"heavierà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ periphrastic structure.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?[18] The studentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s preference in using the progressive form might be due to this even if they do not have the knowledge of the subjectivity of the progressive; it is still reasonable to choose à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"ing form as an à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"attention-catchingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ form.              Therefore, it can concluded that the English proficiency level do affect the studentsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ decision whether English progressive form denotes subjectivity in written and oral production of the language for MCB students. LIMITATIONS              Throughout the study, the biggest limitation is that the sample size (number of respondents) is not large, in which some data might be biased since it does not represent the whole college population. Time is a factor of limitation because the respondents took a longer time to hand in their answers back and interviewing the students would never been easy. Therefore, it is quite hard to obtain more data or to increase the sample size of students due to time limitation. The sample size for the interview and the questions are also quite small; however, due to majority of preference, conclusion can still be made. Increasing the number of respondents and questions would be a great help to develop a more significant conclusion. The number of respondents should be increased more so that the distribution of the data is more towards normal.[19] Other than that, book reference o n subjectivity of English progressive form is hard to find, but previous researches from the internet have helped a lot as academic readings to justify certain things.              Besides that, the respondents might be confused with the rural, developing, and urban areas in which they lived in. Some places have the look of developing areas, but in fact it is not in the process of developing. Furthermore, biasness might happen if the respondents do not answer the questions according to their own judgement, but rather follow friendsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ answers especially for general questions. Hence, future studies should consider these limitations and seek for other better option to categorise the respondents and make effective use of resources and the respondents. CONCLUSION              In general, English progressive form denotes subjectivity in written production for MCB students as English L2 learners; however it does not apply in oral production of the language. This is displayed from their shifting in preference of using more of progressive form in written production while non-progressive in oral production.              It is stated that gender of the students does not affect the view of subjectivity as an indication of subjectivity in written and oral productions among MCB students as English L2 learners. This is displayed from the minor difference in the data between male and female students in the written production while for the oral production; it shows no correlation between gender and the usage of progressive form to denote subjectivity.              Educational background has been also concluded showing no correlation to the indication of English progressive form to denote subjectivity among MCB students. This is displayed from the distribution of the data that is quite similar between previously daily and boarding schools students.              However, English proficiency level does affect the view of English progressive form to denote subjectivity in written and oral production of the language. This is shown by large difference between those who possess better command in English language than those who does not. BIBLIOGRAPHY Catherine J. Doughty and Michael H.Long, 2003: The Handbook of Second Language Acquisition; published by Blackwell Publishing. Rod Ellis, 1997: Oxford Introductions to Language Study: Second Language Acquisition; published by Oxford University Press. Linda Duvsten from LuleÃÆ' ¥ University of Technology, Department of Languages and Culture. Masterà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Thesis: The Subjective Progressive in Everyday Written English (A study on Pragmatics) (https://epubl.luth.se/1402-1552/2007/087/index.html 12/11/2009) Margareta Westergren Axelsson and Angela Hahn: The Use of Progressive in Swedish and German Advanced Learner English à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" a corpus based study (https://icame.uib.no/ij25/axelsson.pdf 13/11/2009) Elina Ranta from University of Tampere: The à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Attractiveà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ Progressive à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Why Use the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"ing in English as Lingua Franca (https://gupea.ub.gu.se/dspace/bitstream/2077/3150/1/5-2-Ranta.pdf 9/12/2009) Daniel Chadler: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesisà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? (https://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/short/whorf.html 17/1/2010) 8.0 APPENDICES 8.1 Appendix 1 Table of the number of students in refer to the percentage usage of progressive form in 20 questions Percentage usage of progressive form Number of students / Frequency 0 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ x 20 3 20 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ x 40 7 40 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ x 60 6 60 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ x 80 17 80 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ x 100 7 8.2 Appendix 2 Table of the effect of gender on the number of students in refer to the percentage usage of progressive form in 20 questions. Percentage usage of progressive form Male students Female students 0 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ x 20 1 2 20 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ x 40 3 4 40 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ x 60 5 1 60 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ x 80 8 9 80 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ x 100 3 4 8.3 Appendix 3 Table of the effect of educational background on the number of students in refer to the percentage usage of progressive form in 20 questions. Percentage usage of progressive form Boarding schools Daily schools 0 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ x 20 4 3 20 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ x 40 7 0 40 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ x 60 4 4 60 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ x 80 10 3 80 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ x 100 3 2 8.4 Appendix 4 Table of the effect of English proficiency level on the number of students in refer to the percentage usage of progressive form in 20 questions. Percentage usage of progressive form Level of English user Number of students / frequency 0 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ x 20 Very Good 2 Good 1 Competent 0 20 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ x 40 Very Good 4 Good 1 Competent 2 40 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ x 60 Very Good 4 Good 2 Competent 0 60 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ x 80 Very Good 2 Good 7 Competent 8 80 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ x 100 Very Good 0 Good 5 Competent 2 8.5 Appendix 5 Result for interview questions Respondents Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5 Question 6 Total 1 ÃÆ'– ÃÆ'– ÃÆ'– ÃÆ'– ÃÆ'– 5 2 ÃÆ'– 1 3 ÃÆ'– ÃÆ'– 2 4 ÃÆ'– 1 5 ÃÆ'– 1 6 ÃÆ'– ÃÆ'– ÃÆ'– 3 7 ÃÆ'– ÃÆ'– 2 8 ÃÆ'– ÃÆ'– 2 9 ÃÆ'– ÃÆ'– 2 10 ÃÆ'– 1 11 ÃÆ'– ÃÆ'– ÃÆ'– 3 12 ÃÆ'– 1 13 ÃÆ'– ÃÆ'– 2 14 ÃÆ'– ÃÆ'– ÃÆ'– ÃÆ'– ÃÆ'– ÃÆ'– 6 15 ÃÆ'– 1 Indicator: Total questions involved in progressive form feedback Preference 1 to 3 Non-subjective 4 to 6 Subjective 8.6 Appendix 6 CATEGORISATION OF ENGLISH PROFICIENCY LEVEL BY IELTS              IELTS stands for International English Language Testing System, which is an internationally recognised standardised test of English language proficiency level. IELTS is mainly divided into two categories: the Academic version and the General Training Version. It is generally acknowledged that the reading and writing tests for the Academic Version are more difficult than those for the General Training Version, due to the differences in the level of intellectual and academic rigour between the two versions.[20]              For MCB students, since they are doing preparation programme (International Baccalaureate) before going overseas, it is a must for each students to take the IELTS- Academic version to identify their English proficiency level for university placement requirement. IELTS consists of 4 tests: speaking, writing, listening, and reading and all modules have to be completed before the test report is printed out.              Besides that, each module also has a range of band from 0 to 9 which indicate the English proficiency level of the students for each module. The overall band is the total average band level which places the English proficiency level of the students in average. However, mostly students in Mara College Banting obtain a result ranging from 6.0 to 8.0 only for the overall band while the lowest band for each separate module is 5.5 and the highest is 9.0.              Taking the overall band as the main indicator for the English proficiency level, the range of band is therefore only from 6.0 to 9.0. IELTS has also classified the result into several classes as tabulated in the following page:[21] Band Level Description 9 Expert user Has fully operational command of the language: appropriate, accurate and fluent with complete understanding. 8 Very Good User Has fully operational command of the language with only occasional unsystematic inaccuracies and inappropriacies. Misunderstandings may occur in unfamiliar situations. Handles complex detailed argumentation well. 7 Good User Has operational command of the language, though with occasional inaccuracies, inappropriacies and misunderstandings in some situations. Generally handles complex language well and understands detailed reasoning. 6 Competent User Has generally effective command of the language despite some inaccuracies, inappropriacies and misunderstandings. Can use and understand fairly complex language, particularly in familiar situations. 5 Modest User has partial command of the language, coping with overall meaning in most situations, though is likely to make many mistakes. Should be able to handle basic communication in own field. 4 Limited User Basic competence is limited to familiar situations. Have frequent problems in using complex language. 3 Extremely Limited User Conveys and understands only general meaning in very familiar situations. Frequent breakdowns in communication occur. 2 Intermittent User No real communication is possible except for the most basic information using isolated words or short formulae in familiar situations and to meet immediate needs. 1 Non User Essentially has no ability to use the language beyond possibly a few isolated words. 0 Did not attempt the test No assessable information provided. 8.7 Appendix 7 Below are the abbreviations used throughout the essay: Abbreviations Meaning L2 second language MCB Mara College Banting IELTS International English Language Testing System Appendix 8 Sample of Questionnaire Part 1 Answer the question with more than 8 words. Make your sentences to be reflective of whatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s happening. 1. You just went back from UK. Express your current feeling when you get back home. 2. Your aunt just died. You pay a visit to her house and express your condolence to her family. 3. Express your feeling of sorry to your friend who got a bad result in SPM. 4. You met your best friend coincidentally at the shopping mall. Express what do you feel after meeting him/her. 5. You felt stressed. How do you say to a friend who annoyed you at that time, threatening with a punch if he/she wonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t stop talking? Part 2 Fill in the blank with any possible answer. The suggested root word given might help. You may have more than one word per entry. 1. The first time I had to sit for an oral examination, I was all tensed up a day before the actual examination. I ___________________ (worry) about how should I they behave in front of the examiners. 2. There is an old Indian couple who lives opposite my house. Both of them are retired and they __________________ (spend) their twilight years pottering around their little garden. 3. I once read somewhere that the present living population on Earth is more than combined population of all the people who had ever lived in history! The population of the human species on Earth that had increased tremendously over the past few decades ___________________ (become) a serious problem. 4. Crime rates have been rising sharply nowadays. If we do/are not ________________ (prevent) this scenario from going on continuously, we have to do something! 5. Communists are still free out there. A Chinese man claimed that they have encountered the communists setting up their camps in the forest. The police speaker said that they are/will _______________(go) to the forest next week to assault the communists. Part 3 Circle the suitable word to be placed in the blank. Consider no wrong answer provided. 1.                           Have you already forgotten                           What are you waiting for 2.                              you should be doing                                       have to do 3.                 Was beginning                                       began 4.                    I am going to punish you now                          I have to punish you now 5.                 was shrinking                                                    shrank 6.                  crowded                                                    were crowding Part 4 Choose the best option that you will use when you are in that situation. There is no wrong answer. 1. What is your back-up plan if the football match is cancelled today? A) If that really happen, I am going to go to Golden Screen Cinema to watch movie. B) If that really happen, I will go to Golden Screen Cinema to watch movie. 2. What time is it now? You always be the last person before I close the door every time. A) Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m sorry to be late today, teacher. B) Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m sorry for being late today, teacher. 3. Darling, what promise do you want to say before our marriage next week? I am kind of nervous. A) Haha donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t worry my dear. I will not call off the wedding. B) Haha donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t worry my dear. I am not going to call off the wedding. 4. How do you feel today? A) Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m feeling very well. B) I feel very well. [1] Masterà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Thesis: The Subjective Progressive in Everyday Written English (A study on Pragmatics) by Linda Duvsten from LuleÃÆ' ¥ University of Technology, Department of Languages and Culture. (https://epubl.luth.se/1402-1552/2007/087/index.html 12/11/2009) [2] Refer to Appendix 6 [3] Refer Appendix 1 [4] Catherine J. Doughty and Michael H.Long, 2003. The Handbook of Second Language Acquisition, 326; Blackwell Publishing [5] The Use of Progressive in Swedish and German Advanced Learner English à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" a corpus based study; by Margareta Westergren Axelsson and Angela Hahn (https://icame.uib.no/ij25/axelsson.pdf 13/11/2009) [6] ibid [7] The à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Attractiveà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ Progressive à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Why Use the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"ing in English as Lingua Franca; by Elina Ranta from University of Tampere (https://gupea.ub.gu.se/dspace/bitstream/2077/3150/1/5-2-Ranta.pdf 9/12/2009) [8] Refer Appendix 5 [9] Rod Ellis, 1997. Oxford Introduction to Language Study: Second Language Acquisition, page 28; Oxford University Press [10] Refer Appendix 2 [11] Refer to Appendix 5 [12] à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesisà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? by Daniel Chadler (https://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/short/whorf.html 17/1/2010) [13] Refer to Appendix 3 [14] Refer to Appendix 5 [15] Refer to Appendix 4 [16] Refer to Appendix 5 [17] The à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Attractiveà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ Progressive à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Why Use the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"ing in English as Lingua Franca; by Elina Ranta from University of Tampere (https://gupea.ub.gu.se/dspace/bitstream/2077/3150/1/5-2-Ranta.pdf 9/12/2009) [18] ibid [19] Statistical term to describe data that cluster around the mean of data in which it produce data distribution that closer to the population distribution. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IELTS 12 January 2010) [21] ibid
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