Problems in using English nominal modification of Chulalongkorn Uiversity students

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine and analyse the problems that Chulalongkorn University students have in using noun modifiers in English, i.e. the relative clause, the modifying phrase and the adjective, within the transformational framework. The data used were collected from 500 examination papers. The study is divided into five chapters. The first chapter is an introduction. The second provides an analysis and comparison between relative clauses in English and in Thai. The third presents a comparison between English and Thai relative pronouns together with a contrastive analysis of relative pronoun deletion in both languages. The fourth chapter is a study of the modifying phrase and the adjective in English and in Thai. The last chapter brings together the findings and proposals for further study are made. The problems that the students have in using noun modifiers in English are: use of sentences containing a relative clause with two subjects or objects having the same referent, use of inappropriate relative pronouns, omission of prepositions preceding the relative clause, omission of relative pronouns functioning as the subject of the relative clause, incorrect verb forms beginning participial phrases, and incorrect positioning of adjectives. The study has shown that most problems are caused by failure to apply English transformational rules.