PONTIFICIA UNIVERSIDAD CATOLICA DE CHILE FACULTAD DE LETRAS PROGRAMA DE MAGISTER EN LINGSTICA APLICADA A ILE

EFL Adverbial Word Order in Written Language : A Case Study

Jenny Subiabre Crdenas

Santiago, June, 2012

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract... 1. Introduction .... 1.1 1.2 Problem Identification..... 1.1.1. Research Questions Justification......

3 3 3 4 4 4

2. Word Order.

3. Research Methodology. 8 3.1 Objectives.......... 3.1.1. General objectives ... 3.1.2 3.2 3.3 3.4 Sample .... Procedure. 8 8 9 9

Specific objectives 8

Instruments for Data Collection... 9

4. Analysis of the Results.. 10 5. Discussion..... 13 6. Conclusions 14 REFERENCES...... 15 APPENDICES .. 16

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the use of word order for adverbial placement in EFL in Spanish speaking Chilean students. The purpose is to identify if the students use the appropriate word order of adverbials in written English and identify if the errors are due to transfer. This research is carried out with 23 students from the 7th grade at a German School in Santiago, Chile. The students were asked to write a 35-45 word composition on Likes and dislikes for singers, bands and music. They were instructed on writing, how much they liked these singers, band and music, where they listened to this music and when and stick to the amount of words required. The results show that there is greater interference from Spanish in Adverbial Placement for Adverbs of Manner, due to the adverbial position in Spanish (before or after the verb) and less interference from Frequency Adverbs as these are similarly placed in English and Spanish.

1. Introduction When deciding on an issue to make research in Applied Linguistics, one should inevitably think of the problems of language present in a group of people as being the essential matter of Applied Linguistic or as Brumfit (1995:27) defines the theoretical and empirical investigation or real-world problems in which language is a central issue. For problems encountered in Foreign Language Teaching in English in Spanish speakers, one of the aspects, which can be attributed to interference from L1, is Adverbial Placement in sentences. This study deals with the analysis of errors in English Word Order in Adverbial Placement for Place, Manner, Time and Frequency in a group of Chilean students, and from the

results, it is expected to reflect upon the teaching and learning techniques on how to solve this negative transfer and change the course of further teaching practices. 1.1 Problem Identification Having introduced the topic of Word Order in Adverbials in English and Spanish,

the problem is presented as follows: Is there interference from L1 (Spanish) in EFL Pre-Intermediate level students when writing in English? 1.1.1 Research Questions

Out of the problem question presented above, we state the following interrogatives: What type of transfer is present in adverbial placement in the written language? What are the most common errors in adverbial placement in English 1.2 Justification Word Order in English differs from Spanish in that this language is more flexible when ordering the elements of a sentence (Butt & Benjamin, 2000, 513). This is perhaps what students cannot handle when they have to use adverbial phrases in English and recur to Spanish flexibility, which is better perceived in the written form, being the speaking act more flexible in English. Another aspect, which justifies this study, is the students lack of motivation when they have to write in English. Explicitly they show laziness and lack of confidence as they keep on asking and clarifying almost everything they have to put in words. Perhaps this aspect is present because they feel they need more support to overcome their absence of linguistic tools to produce the language in the proper way.

This weakness expressed in writing has caused that, students in higher levels continue making mistakes in adverbial placement in English, without awareness of the grammatical correct use of the adverbial forms in the language. 2. Word Order For word order in English and Spanish it is possible to see some differences as well as similarities for the structure of a sentence. Conventionally, both English and Spanish structures consist of predication, which is explained as something is said about the subject (Hill & Bradford, 2000). Therefore, we can assume that the main parts of the sentence in these languages are the subject and the predicate, even though in Spanish, sometimes the subject is not so clearly distinct as it is in English. One reason because Spanish is so flexible in its word order in sentences is due to its verbal forms being very well defined in terms of person, number, tense, aspect, and mood (Hill & Bradford, 2000, p.3). English, however, is more strict and fixed to define the structure of sentences. 2.1 English Word Order The organization of a sentence in English is generally expressed by the subject and the predicate. In the predicate the verb is followed by other elements as the objects, adverbs and prepositional phrases (Hill & Bradford, 2000). These authors add that there are some special cases where the common subject-verb form in English may be accepted, as in emphatic statements, i.e. Am I ever bored, existential there, as in there are three of them and direct quotation for Ah, ah, said the clown.

Both in English and Spanish the use of the rules for word order are bound to less fixed rules than the known ones. When we produce a sentence, there is always a topic to be described and a comment given what we want to say about the topic as for example Mary hates strawberry yoghurt is a comment about Mary. (Butt & Benjamin, 2000 p.521). 2.1.1 Adverbials Word Order in English

As stated by some authors, adverbs are complex structures because of their various classifications, meanings and positions in the sentence. This complexity is due to the syntactical and semantic behavior of the adverb which is determined by its position in the sentence. Adverb position may not only change the meaning of the sentence but also make the sentence grammatical or ungrammatical (Carter, Hughes, and McCarthy 2000; Bing 1989; Parrot 2000; Raimes 2001; Swan 2006; Celce-Murcia and D. Larsen-Freeman 1999). Bing (1989) defines the adverbs as single words that modify verbs, adjectives, and

adverbs. Adverbs answer the questions how, when, where, and why, and most of them modify or describe actions, states, or qualities. A phrase or clause that is used as an adverb is called adverbial. The author provides the following considerations regarding adverb position in the sentence: a. When negative adverbs such as never and rarely are used at the beginning of a sentence, the word order changes from statement order to question order: Never have I seen such a crowd! Rarely do we invite so many people.

b. Adverbs of frequency come after the verb be; with other verbs, they usually come before the main verb: It is always cold in Minnesota. It always snows a lot here. Have you ever visited Iowa? c. Adverbs that tell the exact number of times (once, twice) usually come near the end of a sentence, but they can come at the beginning of a sentence, too: I have seen that movie twice. Twice I went skiing when it was twenty below zero. d. Adverbials of time can occur in various positions in a sentence. When they are prepositional phrases, they often come at the end of sentences: I worked on that jigsaw puzzle on Saturday. e. When two adverbials of time occur in a sentence, the smaller unit of time usually comes first: I worked on another puzzle one evening this week. f. Adverbials of time can also come at the beginning of a sentence, particularly when there are other kinds of adverbials at the end of the sentence: On Sunday, I started another puzzle because I was bored.

g. The adverbs of time just, still, and already usually come either after the first auxiliary verb or before the main verb, and the negative forms yet and anymore usually come at the end of a sentence: I am still working on that puzzle. I just bought it last week. I have already worked on it for six weeks. h. Adverbials of place usually come after the verb and its complements, and before time adverbials: Lets move the bed upstairs now. (upstairs = place; now = time) h. Adverbials of manner come before or after the verbs that they modify but never between a verb and its object. Correct: The director quickly offered Sylvia the role. Incorrect: *The director offered quickly Sylvia the role. Besides being problematic, adverbs are considered the most movable elements in English by Carter, Hughes, and McCarthy (2000) and by Maclin (1996). These authors explain that adverbs take different positions within the sentence. They can appear before the subject, between the subject and the verb, or at the end of the clause. In general, English adverbs do not come between the verb and the object. Exceptionally, and adverb may separate verb and object, but there must be a good reason for making the exception, e.g. to avoid ambiguity, or because the object is a long noun phrase, or to produce a dramatic effect. Thus in the

sentence We must examine carefully the meanings of the wrods we use, ambiguity would result if the adverb carefully were placed after the verb use instead of after the verb examine; in the sentence He opened, very slowly, the most amazing book I have ever seen, the delay in introducing the object creates an atmosphere of suspense (Close 1998). 2.2 Spanish Word Order Spanish word order is undoubtedly very flexible with respect to the placement of its elements in a sentence. (Butt and Benjamin, 2000, p.513). Adjectives, for example, can be placed before or after the noun they modify: el pasado remote/en el remoto pasado in the remote past. A subject may follow or precede a verb: Juan lo sabe/lo sabe Juan Juan knows. Also in the case of a direct object noun phrase, it may precede or follow the verb: no tengo hambre/hambre no tengo hambre no tengo. Being word order a sensitive aspect in the Spanish sentence, these authors clearly state that different factors should also be considered as for the style, context, emphasis and rhythm, which determine a different normal plain-style which is found for example in poetic styles in early periods (when Classical Latin influenced style) when word order was usually freer than modern Spanish style. 2.2.1 Adverbials Word Order in Spanish

a) Adverbial Phrases are placed before or after the words they modify (Butt & Benjamin, 2000, p.520). In this sense, it is mentioned that adverbs cannot be separated from their verb as in El rey ha inaugardo hoy.

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b) Adverbs cannot be placed at the end of sentences. Spanish requires that adverbs should stay close to their verb and this results in un-English order. Verb-Adverbial-Object Ex. Bes fervorosamente la mano de su anfitriona Adverbial Verb Object Ex. Casi siempre a la una segua en chanclas y bata c) Adverbs of time are usually put before adverbials of place: Ex. Fuimos ayer a la casa de la abuela 3. Research Methodology 3.1 Objectives 3.1.1 General Objective

- To identify if there is adverbial placement interference from L1 (Spanish) in the written language produced by 7th grade students at a German School . 3.1.2 Specific Objectives

To identify the type of transfer in adverbial placement produced by 7th grade students at a German school in Santiago.

To classify the types of interference (error analysis) in adverbial placement in English due to L1 (Spanish).

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3.2 Sample As this research is a Case Study, there was a random selection of a group of 23 students (girls and boys) from the 7th grade at a German School in Santiago. This school is a private School where English is taught from the 5th grade. 3.3 Procedure For the purpose of this study, it was decided to work with compositions written by the students in a class. These compositions were based on likes and dislikes for the topic of music, singers and bands. These pieces of writing were required as part of the contents and objectives for the period at this level. With likes and dislikes students were led to use the type of adverbs, especially of manner, frequency and place and time as in manner: Werner likes very much Queen (Werner likes Queen very much) or place: Cristobal play in he`s hous the electric guitar (Cristobal plays the electric guitar in his house). Students were asked to have an informal interview with the classmate next to them and take notes on the answers he/she gave. They were instructed on the type of writing they had to produce: Write a 35-45-word composition describing the type of music, singer(s) and band(s) your classmate likes. Give detailed information on how much he likes it(them), when he listens to the music and where. 3.4 Instruments for data collection Free style 35-45-word compositions based on the contents and objectives planned for the level at the period of instruction. The compositions were written in a 45 hour-lesson and created out of notes taken from an oral interview with a classmate. There were clear

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instructions on the type of information to be written, expecting the students to produce sentences using appropriate adverbial placement in English. 4. Analysis of the Results Table 1. Types of Adverbials and Sentences

Adverbs of Place I like to hear the radio in my car He takes his MP3 to all parts In the car she listen the radio Cristobal play in he`s hous the electric guitar In her Ipod he have Ricardo goes with he`s MP3 player to the school when she go to school Claudia listen to the radio in she`s house In my house I listen reagee

Adverbs of Manner I like so much the song Werner likes very much Queen She likes more hip hop She doesn`t like very much classical music She plays the guitar and keyboard very good

Adverbs of

Adverbs

Time Frequency My parents heard all the day I`m always with my classic muisic MP3 when I go to school One day was Alex in the Karin listens to the street radio never Her MP3 player is One day he was in Italia always with she In Italia was Usher In the night he goes to the concert of Usher One day in the school and he say She listens to it every day Cristobal was this summer in David Gettas concert In the summer her favourite song was "Glad you came" Agustin listen to her every day In the summer Agustin went to the beach He listens to the radio all the time In the summer I have my MP3 She practices all mondays His sister listen to Justin Bieber always It is always the same

She like it very much She sings very nice He likes too to go to the Gym She play the piano verry good he have (tambien) radio but (solo) he hear them

This table shows the total number of sentences using adverbials in their structure. Furthermore we can see four types of adverbials studied. The sentences in color show the incorrect word order use.

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Table 2. Types of Adverbials and number of Correct and Incorrect Word Order Use.

Adverbs Correct Incorrec t TOTAL

Adverbs of Place 5 4 9

Adverbs of Manner 4 7 11

Adverbs of Time 7 7 14

Adverbs of TOTA Frequency L 3 19 2 5 20 39

This table shows the number of correct and incorrect sentences in terms of their Adverbial Word Order and the total amount of sentences produced. Adverbs of Manner and Time show the highest number. Fewer sentences were produced for the Adverbs of Frequency and Place. Graphs 1. Porcentages of total use of Correct and Incorrect adverbial placement.

This graph shows that there was a 51% of Incorrect use of Adverbials Word Order in sentences and a 49% of correct ones.

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Graph 2. Adverbs of Place. Porcentages of Correct and Incorrect Word Order

This graph shows the porcentages of correct use of adverbs of place word order with a 56%, and a 44% for incorrect word order. Graph 3. Adverbs of Manner. Porcentages of Correct and Incorrect Word Order

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This graph shows a 64% of incorrect use for Adverbs of Manner in Word Order and a 36% of correct use. Graph 4. Adverbs of Time. Porcentages of Correct and Incorrect Word Order

This graph shows even porcentages (50%) for both Incorrect and Correct use of Adverbs of Time in word order. Graph 5. Adverbs of Frequency. Porcentages of Correct and Incorrect Word Order

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This graph shows a 40% of incorrect sentences and a 60% of correct sentences in the use of Adverbs of Frequency the word order of sentences. 5. Discussion Transfer, or the effect of the L1 on the L2 has been a controversial issue of contrastive analysis to find the positive or negative influence from the mother tongue or any language previously acquired (Alonso, 2002, p.37). In this study, the purpose was to identify the type of L1 (Spanish) transfer in the use of Adverbial Word Order in English. The focus of attention was the negative transfer and transfer of structure, with the purpose of finding and answer to errors produced by 7th grade students at the German School in Santiago. Analyzing the results, it is possible to see that the highest difference for the correct and incorrect Adverbial Word Order use is in Adverbs of Manner. This result confirms that there is a negative transfer from L1 (Spanish). The wrong use was because the adverbial was placed immediately after the Verb, which is the correct use in Spanish Word Order (Butt & Benjamin, 2000). There is Overt transfer which is that the learner uses L1 rules, structures and forms in L2 (Alonso, 2002).

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Another aspect of transfer which is worth discussing has to do with an even porcentage of correct and incorrect Word Order use in Adverbs of Time. As described by Whitley, (2002), the position of Adverbs of Time in Spanish is rather flexible, being placed at the beginning or end of the sentences in many cases. The situation is somehow similar in English being this type of adverbial the one that permits more position flexibility, i.e. at the beginning or end of the sentence, with few restrictions.

6. Conclusions The objective of this study was to identify Spanish adverbial placement interference in the word order of sentences in English produced by Chilean 7th grade students at the German School in Santiago. Some of the aspects that were also intended here had to do with the misplacement of adverbs in the sentence due to transfer from Spanish word order. There was some interference form the Adverbial Word Order use from Spanish, especially with adverbs of Manner and Time. We can conclude that this interference is clearly produced because in Spanish Adverbs are placed immediately after or before the verb, which, in English, is only permitted in Frequency Adverbs. This aspect is also demonstrated for these types of adverbials since the lowest percentage was for Adverbs of Frequency. Concluding that Adverbial placement in English is interfered by Spanish Word Order in certain aspects, much attention should be drawn towards teaching practices and the learning process in terms of providing the students with explicit teaching methods on Adverbial

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Placement in English followed by incidental strategies with the purpose of raising awareness on the appropriate position of adverbs in English. This study can be a contribution for further research on the same issue. The group analyzed here is just a small sample that cannot be generalized to all students in our Chilean reality, but can provide the starting point for broader analysis to include various groups and therefore take decisions on future teaching practices.

References Alonso, M. R. The Role of Transfer in Second Language Acquisition. Vigo, Universidad de Vigo, 2002. Bing, J. 1989. English Grammar in Context. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall Regents. Brumfit, C. (1995) Teacher professionalism and research, in: Cook, G. & Seidlhofer, B. (eds.) (1995) Principles and Practice in Applied Linguistics, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp27-42.

Butt J. & Benjamin C. A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish. Chicago, NTC Publishing Group, 2000. Carter, Ronald, Rebecca Hughes, and Michael McCarthy. 2000. Exploring Grammar in Context. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Close, R.A. 1998. A Teachers Grammar: The Central Problems of English. London: Language Hill, S. & W. Bradford. Bilingual Grammar of English-Spanish Syntax: A Manual with

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Exercises. New York, University Press of America, 1991. Maclin, Alice. 1996. Reference Guide to English: A Handbook of English as a Second Language. Washington: Materials Branch, English Language Programs Division Whitley, M. S. Spanish/English Contrasts. 2nd edition, Georgetown, Georgetown University Press, 2002.

Appendix Samples:

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