Using Nouns in Online English Writings of EFL Students in Vietnamese Higher Education Context
Phạm Thị Thu Hương1*
1 University of Foreign Language Studies, the University of Da Nang, Viet Nam
*Corresponding Author: [email protected] Accepted: 15 September 2022 | Published: 1 October 2022
DOI:https://doi.org/10.55057/ajress.2022.4.3.13
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Abstract: The rapid development of high technology and the Internet has made potential contributions to English language education for the past few decades. Many linguistic experts have conducted relatively intriguing research on online English writings abroad. Still, there have not been many studies of online English writings in the Vietnamese higher education context so far. This study investigates nouns in one hundred and thirty-five online English students' EFL writings at the University of Da Nang, Vietnam. It finds two kinds of nouns, including interpretive and vague nouns, used in these online writings remarkably. Both tend to increase in terms of the typed-word quantity and frequency in the second writing version due to the typical characteristic of asynchronous online writings. In addition, this study reveals that the students' English levels and the topics significantly influence employing two types of nouns in the students' online English writings. The more specialized the topic is, and the higher the learner's English level is, the more appropriately they use the nouns in their papers.
Keywords: English writings, online, interpretive noun, vague noun
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1. Introduction
The rapid development of high technology and the Internet has made potential contributions to English language education for the past few decades. The rapid development of high technology and the Internet has made potential contributions to English language education for the past few decades. Many linguistic experts have conducted relatively intriguing research on online English writings abroad. Still, there have not been many studies of online English writings in the Vietnamese higher education context so far.
This study aims to investigate the use of nouns in one hundred and thirty-five online English writings made by EFL students at the University of Da Nang, Vietnam since the academic year 2017-2018.
The researchers set up two following research questions in order to target the aim of the study:
1) What type of nouns used remarkably in Vietnamese EFL students’ online English writings?
2) Is there a significant difference regarding quantity or quality in the use of some types of nouns due to the writing's topic or the writer's level of English?
2. Theoretical background
Online English writing
The networked computer-mediated writing learning brings learners an online writing environment which comprises synchronous and asynchronous writing (Hyland, 1999).
Synchronous writing
Synchronous writing is the written communication in real time via discussion software on Local Area Networks or Internet chat sites with all participants at their computers at the same time.
According to Richards (2003), synchronous online environment offers real-time conferencing between students or between students and teachers in a virtual environment which encourages greater peer involvement and interaction than in non-networked contexts. This researcher indicates that synchronous online English writing classes provide users with synchronous writing discussions, online teacher feedback, and peer conferencing on texts. These communication contexts require specialized writing software such as CommonSpace, Interchange, Google Docs, or Google Class, allowing students to co-construct a discourse simultaneously.
Asynchronous writing
According to Richards (2003), asynchronous or time-delayed communication using networked computers includes email, newsgroups, and conferencing software. Its vital benefit for L2 writing teachers is that because communication is not synchronous, a text can be composed and modified slower before transmission rather than being co-constructed by participants. This procedure results in more thoughtful and reflective responses, as well as more participation from less proficient students. Topics change more slowly, and contributions do not come in a jumbled order, so responses are usually more considered, more carefully edited, and more nearly resemble written communication conventions.
Nouns – a linguistic feature in English language
Nouns traditionally have been divided into classes based on their semantic features and textual functions. Based on their functions in English academic and published texts, Quirk et al.
(1985) classified nouns into seven types: enumerative, retrospective, language activity, illocutionary, interpretive, vague, and resultative nouns. Based on the results of the previous related study of Hinkle (2002) which found that interpretive and vague nouns were highly used in both native speaker and non-native speakers’ English texts or essays, the researcher chosed these two types of nouns to investigate in this study.
Interpretive nouns refer to cognitive and inferential states that are a result of information, thought, and experience processing. These include verbal processes and cognition in spoken or written expression and outcomes of thought and analysis (Hinkle, 2002).
According to Channel (1994), vague nouns refer to objects and events that have little definition and can be used to convey the impersonal character of generalizations without precision.
Hinkle (2002) addressed the high usage of vague nouns in non-native language learners' texts by claiming that ESL or EFL writers lacked the advanced and sophisticated vocabulary to choose more appropriate, varied, and complex lexis to represent their ideas.
3. Research methods
The study employed both quantitative and qualitative approaches to explore linguistic features frequently used by the UDN students in their online English writings because both quantitative and qualitative data would give a better overview of a situation.
The quantitative descriptive method was conducted to describe the characteristics of the study subjects, collect quantifiable information or quantitative data for statistical analysis. Also, this method helped the researcher to calculate the frequency of intepretive and vague nouns most remarkably used in the student participants’ writings. Besides, the descriptive and comparative research helped the study to find out how essays’ topics or the writer's or students’ English levels influenced the use of these types of nouns in their online English writings.
The subject of the study
The subject of this study composes of one hundred and thirty-five online written texts or writings made by EFL students taking different English courses at some member colleges or universities of the University of Da Nang, such as University of Technology and Science, University of Economics, University of Education, and University of Foreign Language Studies since the academic year 2017-2018. Each of these writings includes two versions:
Version one (V1) is the students’ computer-typed compositions or drafts without online writing-assistant tools; Version two (V2) is the writings modificated with computer writing facilities or some online English writing aids. These English writings were put into two corpora with the total words and mean number of words per sample in each corpus described in the Table below.
Table 1: Total Words and mean number of words per sample in Corpus 1 and Corpus 2 Number of
samples
Word types Total words (word tokens)
Mean number of words per sample
Corpus 1 135 3145 24806 184
Corpus 2 135 3422 28116 208
4. Results and discussion
Intepretive nouns
The Wordlist tool of Antcounc software found nineteen intepretive in the EFL students' online English writings including attitude, belief, cause, concept, doubt, detail, idea, influence, knowledge, principle, quality, sense, source, success, term, theory, thought, trend, and view (include singular and plural forms). Their frequencies and ranks are presented in Table 2 as follow.
Table 2: Frequencies and ranks of Intepretive nouns in Corpus 1 and Corpus 2
Intepretive nouns Corpus 1 Corpus 2
Frequency Rank Frequency Rank
1. attitude 0 2 9
2. belief / believes 3 8 2 9
3. cause(s) 9 3 10 4
4. concept(s) 4 7 5 8
5. doubt(s) 4 7 5 8
6. detail(s) 2 9 2 9
7. idea(s) 7 4 7 6
8. influence(s) 6 5 5 8
9. knowledge 22 1 28 1
10. principle(s) 1 10 2 9
11. quality / qualities 15 2 17 2
12. sense 6 5 7 6
13. source(s) 6 5 8 5
14. success 6 5 5 8
15. term(s) 9 3 12 3
16. theory / theories 0 1 10
17. thought(s) 4 7 6 7
18. trend(s) 5 6 5 8
19. view(s) 7 5 6 7
Total 116 136
Among these nineteen interpretive nouns, knowledge and quality were used the most in the corpora, with the frequency reaching from 13 to 20% of the total interpretive nouns' frequency.
There were 50 tokens knowledge in 38 writing samples (both versions) and 30 tokens quality in 20 samples. So, the mean number of word knowledge and that of word quality in each sample were about 1.5 and 2 words. Particularly, a few samples contained up to three token knowledge or quality. Moreover, many samples increased the number of these words in the later version.
Ex:
[9] Corporate social responsibility contributes to improving the quality .... Competent labor is the determinant of productivity and product quality. ... the labor force's quality is not high
... (corpora 1& 2)
[40] ... because beauty will fade over time, knowledge is eternal, it can be developed through trying to acquire knowledge. (corpus 1)
[40] ... because beauty will fade over time, knowledge is eternal, ... it can be developed by knowledge acquisition. I think intelligence as well as knowledge are more important for young
people. (corpus 2)
Seven interpretive nouns such as cause, idea, fluence, sense, term, trend, and view were secondly most used in the writings. Each had a frequency from 4% to 9% of the total frequency of nineteen vague nouns. Besides, the number of these nouns also went up slightly in the final writing version.
Ex:
[16] Finally, the implementation of CSR contributes to increasing profit for businesses.
(corpus 1) [16] Corporate social responsibility is not something for the short- term. It is all about building
long-term profits ... (corpus 2)
[7] That creates a sense of community within the organization as well as a connection to the
surrounding community. (corpus 2)
[71] These are the advantages and disadvantages of living in the city in my opinion.
(corpus 1) [71] In conclusion, living in the city will be a good idea for those who love modernity.
(corpus 2)
Five words attitude, belief, detail, principle, and theory were the interpretive nouns with the lowest frequency because each appeared only once to five times in the whole corpora (occupied 0-2% of the total frequency). The number of these five words also increased slightly in the final writings compared with the first ones.
Ex:
[41] ... intelligence is what determines the quality of each person. (corpus 1) [41] It can show the attitude and politeness of treating people. (corpus 2)
[16] CSR will help improve the reputation ... business will enjoy many socio-economic benefits.
(corpus 1)
[16] When operating in the principle of complying with the laws, a company would take less time on paper works or legal issues. (corpus 2)
In general, the students tended to employ slightly more interpretive nouns in the final writing version compared to the initial one. There were two reasons for this result: Firstly, the genre of all the writings mostly were argumentative essays requiring a lot of interpretive nouns and verbs to meet the lexical sophistication of standard academic writings. Secondly, the total number of words in corpus 2 was more (13%) than in corpus 1.
Furthermore, as examining the usage of interpretive nouns in the writings by three student groups with different English levels, the study revealed that the first sub-corpora 1.1 & 2.1 used the biggest number of interpretive nouns with the highest frequency (eighteen nouns, 140 times of occurrence) among three pairs of sub-corpora. The second sub-corpora 1.2 & 2.2 stood at the second rank with fourteen nouns, 92 times of occurrence, and the rest sub-corpora had nine interpretive nouns with the lowest frequency (28 times of occurrence).
Figure 1: Interpretive nouns in sub-corpora
The above statistical results reveal that the higher the English level of the students was, the more interpretive nouns were used in their English writings. Besides, the English-major students often used this kind of lexical feature more flexibly and harmoniously than the two other groups of students. Last but not least, there were two reasons for the bias in using some interpretive nouns (i.e., knowledge, quality, and cause) in the writings of sub-corpora 1.2 &
2.2 and sub-corpora 1.3 & 2.3. Firstly, because knowlege, quality, and cause belong to the vocabulary of level A2 (classified by the online Oxford Learner's Dictionary), they are highly familiar to most students. The other reason came from the essays or writings about students' life, schools, studying, and work, requiring these interpretive nouns a lot.
Vague nouns
The Wordlist tool of Antcounc software found thirdteen vague nouns such as boy(s), girl(s), guy, human(s), individual(s), kid(s), man, people/person, society, thing(s), way(s), whatever, and woman in the EFL student participants' online English writings. The frequency and rank of each vague noun are presented in Table 3 below.
Table 3: Frequencies and ranks of vague nouns in Corpus 1 and Corpus 2
Vague nouns Corpus 1 Corpus 2
Frequency Rank Frequency Rank
1. boy(s) 0 1 9
2. girl(s) 1 10 2 8
3. guy 0 1 9
4. human(s) 12 5 11 5
5. individual(s) 3 8 4 7
6. kid(s) 1 10 2 8
7. man 0 1 9
8. people/ person 182 1 230 1
9. society 30 4 27 4
10. thing(s) 39 3 33 3
11. way(s) 47 2 51 2
12. whatever 2 9 2 8
13. woman 0 1 9
Total 328 384
Regarding frequency, four vague nouns (in singular and plural forms): people, thing, way, and society appeared the most frequently in both corpora. Especially noun people/person had the sharply highest frequency compared to the other vague nouns.
Word people/ person appeared 412 times (occupied nearly 60% of the total frequency of fifteen vague nouns) in the students’ writings. It meant the average frequency of this word was one and a half times each sample. Especially, several samples employed this vague noun from six to eight times in each writing text.
Ex:
[13] Especially, people want to buy products ... so, people invest in its operation heavily. ...
CSR also brings people a lot of generation of ... people become positive and enthusiastic when they work ... . People should increase their knowledge of responsibility ... . Besides, people should encourage and study good behaviors in business. (corpus 2)
[24] For many people, owning a house is a dream ... . There are two benefits when people live in a house for rent ... . Renting even allows people to live in a luxurious area ... . ... the job requires people to move frequently ... people just have to call the landlord to ... . Firstly, people can’t personalize that space ... people can’t enovate, decorate or change the layout ... . People will not see that space like their home... (corpus 2)
Word way and thing stood at the second and the third rank. Each word occupied 14% and 10%
of the total frequency of this linguistic feature in both corpora. On average, way appeared once every two writing samples, and thing did once every three ones. Occasionally, a few samples contained more than one token way or thing.
Ex:
[59] Mobile phones have radically altered the way that people work ... Finding our way around has never been easier ... mobile phones are an excellent way to organize ....
(corpus 1) [67] The most important thing that many people chose .... ... there will be a lot more thing ...
so many things to think about. ... fresh air to bearth, fresh water to drink, cheaper thing to buy
... (corpus 1)
Four words boy, guy, man, and woman reached the lowest rank among forteen vague nouns which did not present in the first writing version and appeared only once in the entire corpora.
Ex:
[89] Thank you for taking some time to join my birthday, hope you feel comfortable attending my birthday. (corpus 1)
[89] It wouldn’t be a happy birthday without your participation like you guy.
(corpus 2) [43] ... even though for the first impression, the look plays a role, after several minutes, the knowledge of a person becomes important. (corpus 1)
[43] A good looking man or woman can have a better vibe ... (corpus 2)
In comparison between the draft and the final writing versions, it found that the writers tended to employ vague nouns increasingly in the later version. There were two reasons for the result:
Firstly, the mean number of words in each written sample of corpus 2 was considerably more (up 30%) than that of corpus 1; Secondly, the topics of all the writings mostly were about common social issues which usually relate to all kinds of people, general objects or things, and the entire society.
Furthermore, as examining the usage of vague nous in the writings made by three student- groups with different English levels, the study revealed that the second sub-corpora 1.2 & 2.2 used the biggest number of vague nouns with the highest frequency (eleven nouns, 316 times of occurrence) among three pairs of sub-corpora. The first sub-corpora 1.1 & 2.1 stood at the
second biggest number position (six vague nouns, 247 times of occurrence), and the rest sub- corpora contained seven vague nouns with the lowest frequency (122 times of occurrence).
Figure 2: Vague nouns in sub-corpora
In sub-corpora 1.1 & 2.1, people/person was the most favorite vague noun of the EFL students, with the frequency reaching 51% of the total frequency of all six vague nouns. Following was society with the frequency of 19%, and the word way stood at the third rank. The rest three nouns individual, human, and thing appeared relatively infrequently (from twice to five times) in the whole corpora.
The above statistical results implicate that students with English level B2-C1 did not tend to use many vague nouns in their online English writings. The bias in employing the three most vague nouns people, society, and way could be because the topic of two-thirds essays was 'business and corporate social responsibility’. The rest vague nouns were seldom used because the authors with high English levels (B2-C1) employed particular nouns instead of vague expressions to improve their writings.
The sub-corpora 1.2 & 2.2 contained eleven vague nouns, including boy, girl, human, individual, man, people/ person, society, thing, way, whatever, and woman (in both singular and plural forms). This student group's writings had the most considerable number of vague nouns among the three groups. As the first pair of sub-corpora, people/person, society, and way were the three most commonly used words with 52%, 19%, and 18% of the total frequency in sub-corpora 1.2 & 2.2, respectively. In contrast, the eight other nouns appeared from once to three times in the whole corpora, which referred to a significant bias in using vague nouns in the second student group. This bias could come from the topics of the writings, which were about common social issues such as school, studying, or students' life. It could be because the students' English level was not high (at level elementary or pre-intermediate); therefore, they lacked the advanced and sophisticated vocabulary and used a lot of vague nouns in their texts.
The last pair of sub-corpora (1.3 & 2.3) had only six vague nouns such as people/person, thing, kid, girl, guy, and way, which were employed extremely unequally and unevenly. Noun people/person was overused and appeared majorly in most of the writings of sub-corpora 1.3
& 2.3 (nearly 80% of the total vague nouns’ frequency). Word thing occupied 15%, and the other four nouns accounted for only 6% of the entire frequency. The reasons for this bias were the same as those in the second sub-corpora. In addition, the authors of these writings were non-English major students with the lowest English level (beginner or elementary), so their vocabulary was minimal, and their texts often contained the most basic words like people and things.
5. Conclusion
In short, the current study investigates the use of nouns in the online English writings made by EFL students at the University of Da Nang, Vietnam. It finds two kinds of nouns, including interpretive and vague nouns which were used in these students’ online English writings remarkably.
Both tend to increase in terms of the typed-word quantity and frequency in the second writing version due to the typical characteristic of asynchronous online writings. In addition, this study reveals that the students' English levels and the topics significantly influence employing two types of nouns in the students' online English writings. The more specialized the topic is, and the higher the learner's English level is, the more appropriately they use the nouns in their papers.
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