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- Điều hướng trang này:
- Chapter 3: Implications
- 3.2. Implications for teaching English modals can, may, must
- 3.3. Summary
- 1. Recapitulation
- 2. Concluding remarks
- 3. Suggestions for further research
2.3. SummaryChapter 2 has presented the conventional meanings of the modals can, may, must and has dealt with the contrastive analysis of the meanings expressed by these modal verbs and the equivalent expressions in Vietnamese. The presentation has shown that can is used to describe ability, possibility, permission and to express uncertainty and doubt. May is also used to denote possibility and permission. In addition, must is used to talk about obligation or requirement, logical necessity, inviting and complaining. All things considered, can and may are different in that can is used to say whether situations and events are possible theoretically whereas may is used to say that there is a chance that something is true, or that there is a possibility of it happening. However, in Vietnamese, can and may are both translated as cã thÓ, which can cause ambiguity. In denoting permission, can and may differ in the degree of formality. In Vietnamese, they can be expressed by “cã thÓ” in formal situations and “cø…” in colloquial speech or no modal verb is needed. That is to say, unlike English, the type of possibility and the degree of formality are not expressed via Vietnamese modal verbs. The examples analyzed have partly revealed the ambiguity in meaning of Vietnamese modal verbs. This is the reason that causes the learners’ confusion. Vietnamese language has more non-verb forms than verb-forms in expressing modal certainty. And in Vietnamese, there are various verb-forms to convey the notion of obligation which can be expressed by only must in English. The contrastive analysis of the modal meanings expressed via can, may, must in English and the equivalent expressions in Vietnamese can be summarized in the table below.
Chapter 3: Implications3.1. Challenges in teaching-learning English modalsActually, teaching the modal system of English can be compared to walking a tightrope. The balance normally required in pedagogical grammar when presenting material that is simplified enough for students to understand is magnified twofold in the modal system. The teacher is often required to present an extremely complex system with enough intricacy to illustrate the relationship between the modal auxiliaries and their place in a semantic system. In doing so, s/he has to grasp not only knowledge of English modals, but problems facing learners in this field as well. The biggest problem learners encounter in learning to use modals is their meanings. Each modal has more than one meaning and each meaning is member of an inter-related system expressing either deontic or epistemic modality. Therefore, understanding the meaning of modals and how to use them correctly requires thorough knowledge of modals. When a speaker chooses to use one modal, the problem lies not in the surface positioning of modals nor their wide range of meaning, but in assigning the right meaning to the right modal in the appropriate context. Besides, mother tougue sometimes brings about negative inteference in foreign language learning process as learners are accustomed to the rules and the ways of using mother tongue. For example, they get stuck in distinguishing can and may which can be both interpreted as “cã thÓ” in Vietnamese. Moreover, large class size and the lack of foreign language environment also generate much influence on the teaching method and learning style. Usually, modals are transmitted to students as a list of meanings or mostly, exercises focus on non-context sentences. Consequently, students have no idea of the subtle social or cultural information that each modal conveys. 3.2. Implications for teaching English modals can, may, mustModal verbs can, may, must have a high frequency of occurrence and they are used in a wide range of meanings. They generally express concepts or attitudes relating to obligation, necessity, permission, possibility, ability and so on. For example, they can convey the idea that a speaker feels something is necessary, advisable, permissible, possible; and in addition, they can also convey the strength of these attitudes. One of the important features which causes difficulty in the study of modality is that these modal verbs have more than one meaning or use. In some cases, two different modal verbs have some meanings or uses in common, but are not completely interchangeable. Based on the awareness of the problem, the writer attempts to put forth some suggestions for the teaching of English modal verbs. Techniques for teaching modal verbs There is no single technique to teach modal auxiliary verbs. Therefore, teachers should base themselves on the content of the lesson, the students’ level, the grammatical items they want to teach to find a suitable method by which they can achieve the best results. Techniques for presentation
By means of contextualization in the teaching of modal auxiliary verbs, teachers should use either real or simulated situations to make learning activity more effective and to make the students more motivated. Teachers should make full use of real situations in the classroom and combine them with the appropriate facial expression and actions to make the lesson more interesting and the meaning of the items clearer.
Students often enjoy reading and doing role plays in dialogues so this technique often achieves good results. Presenting modal auxiliary verbs and their equivalent structures through dialogues, teachers do not have to waste time creating situations because dialogues themselves are very clear in the situations. When learning dialogues, students may meet some new structures which should be introduced and clearly presented.
According to Adrian Doff, the simplest way and clearest way to present a structure is often to show it directly, using things the students can see: objects, the classroom, ourselves, the students themselves and pictures. In the class, visual aids can be used at any stage of the lesson because good visual aids are not just used once but again and again.
Examples can be very effective in presenting modal auxiliary verbs and their equivalent structures. The teacher can use either inductive method or deductive method. It means that the teacher could give a series of examples of the structures and then students must draw out the rules for themselves. The other way is that the teacher explains the rules with examples and students study and finally make up sentences with the help of the teacher. In either way, students will have chances to use the language. Techniques employable at practice stage While the purpose of the stage of presentation is to show the meaning and the use of modal auxiliary verbs to students, the practice stage is aimed at developing students’ ability to use modal auxiliary verbs through different language practice activities which are controlled practice, guided practice and free pratice. For each type of practice activities, teachers can design appropriate exercises with specific aims.
In this kind of exercise, students are given some part of a sentence or a paragraph. They are asked to complete the sentence or the paragraph. Completion exercises can also be gap filling like close reading texts. E.g. Exercise 1: Complete the following sentences using suitable modal auxiliary verbs. 1. You ……… see the sea from our bedroom window. 2. Carol knows a lot about films. She……… go to the cinema a lot. 3. ………. I put the TV on?
One of the important things in teaching modal verbs is that students must know how to use the structures in the right situations. Therefore, situation practice is necessary. The situations the teacher uses for practice must be from easy to difficult and must be closed to real life situations. E.g. Ask polite questions in the following situations. Use any appropriate modal. 1. You’re in class. You’re hot. The window is closed. 2. You’re at a restaurant. You want some more coffee.
For this kind of practice, students have the chance to use the modal verbs and their equivalent structures to give their own ideas or to talk about their own experience. One common activity that can be used to practice the use of modal verb can is “Find someone who can…”. With a pen and a piece of paper, students are asked to move round the classroom to ask their friends and note down the information. After adequate time for practice, students are asked to report back to the whole class on the information they have. However, there is no single method or technique used to teach a particular language point because the background of learners, situations, teaching and learning conditions are different. That is why teachers have to take those points into consideration so that they can choose appropriate method, techniques and exercises in order to help students learn better. 3.3. SummaryActually, teaching English modals does meet with a lot of challenges, the biggest of which is their meanings. Modals are polysemantic and each meaning is an element of an inter related system expressing either epistemic or deontic modality. Thus, understanding and using them correctly requires knowledge of not only their semantic but also syntactic features. Taking into account the challenges of teaching English modals in general and can, may, must in particular, some techniques to help teach these modals are presented for reference. In my study, two groups of techniques are introduced: techniques for presentation of the modals and techniques for practice. Since the purpose of the presentation stage is to show the meaning and the use of modal verbs to students, teachers can present the modals through appropriate situations, through dialogues, visual aids or through specific examples. Moreover, the practice stage is aimed at developing students’ ability to use modal verbs through different language practice activities. Thus, teachers can apply such activites as completion, situation practice and free practice. At this stage, the role of the teacher becomes less dominant. The teachers do not spend time explaining things, they should give students more chance to try out the language by themselves.
Semantically, the English modals can, may, must express the notion of ability, possibility, permission and obligation. Can and may refer to different types of possibility: can shows theoretical possibility whereas may talks about factual possibility. Each modal conveys itself the modal meaning that the speaker implies. Must is used when it involves the speaker-imposed compulsion. It brings the subjective obligation. It is discovered that these modals do not simply convey only one meaning, but there exists a wide range of meanings. The specific modal in a certain situation makes clear which meaning is intended. An effort has also been made to have a contrastive analysis of the meanings expressed via the modal verbs can, may, must and the equivalent expressions in Vietnamese. The analysis has shown that there occurs a few modal verb forms in expressing possibility and in expressing obligation. This is seen as a difference between English modal verbs and Vietnamese ones. Importantly, in clarifying and judging the linguistic features of Vietnamese modal verbs ph¶i and cã thÓ, the study has revealed the differences in the type of possibility. Cã thÓ does not make clear whether it is theoretical possibility or factual possibility. The study, to some extent, displays the ambiguous features in meaning of Vietnamese modal verbs which consequently result in the confusion and difficulty encountered by learners in mastering English modal verbs. 2. Concluding remarksThe thesis has gained the aims set forth with the remarks listed belows:
3. Suggestions for further researchSo far the following issues are left for further research: 1. A contrastive analysis on English and Vietnamese modal systems in expressing the notion of possibility, permission and obligation. 2. A study on linguistic means capable of expressing permission and obligation in English.
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