REVISION ON CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS 2021

THEORY

1. State the major assumption of CAH.

(1) Language is a habit
(2) L1 is the major source of errors in SLA
(3) Errors can be explained by the differences between L1 &L2
(4) The more L1 and L2 differ, the greater the chance for errors
(5) Learners must concentrate on differences between L1 & L2
(6) Ease or difficulty in learning correlate to the amount of differences or similarities
between
L1 and L2
2. State the definition of language transfer?
“the influence resulting from similarities and differences between the target language any
other language that has been previously (and perhaps imperfectly) acquired.” Odlin’s
(1989: 27)
3. What are the two main forms of language transfer? Provide examples.
a) Positive Transfer (facilitation)
- similarity between L1 and L2, result in something correct.
- assist the acquisition process.
b) Negative Transfer (interference)
- dissimilarity between L1 and L2, result in something incorrect
- impede the acquisition process.
4. What are the three ?
Strong Version, Weak Version, Moderate Version
5. What are the claims of the Strong Version of CAH?
6. What are the claims of the Weak Version of CAH?
7. What are the claims of the Moderate Version of CAH?

Strong version: ability to predict difficulty through CA

1. Obstacle to TL learning: interference of the learner's MT
2. Differences of L1&L2 trigger chance of error
3. Systematic CA helps predict the difficulties
4. Result of CA: reliable source in preparation of teaching materials, planning of course,
improvement of classroom techniques

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Weak version: ability to explain observable error
1. use "the best linguistic knowledge available” to explain observable difficulties
2. Error: systematic & consistent & countable -> Error analysis
Moderate version: categorization of abstract & concrete patterns according to similarities.
& difficulties: basis of learning
1. Minimal distinction of patterns in form & meaning in systems may results in confusion
2. Difficulty may not be due to difference
3. Items similar to existing items may cause difficulty
PRACTICE
1.
i) Juxtapose the two pair of sentences and compare to state how explicit Vietnamese is
compared to English in the translationally-equated pair of sentences in rank of sentence,
clause, phrase, word, morpheme.

Contrasted ranks S Cl. Phr. Wd. Morph.

Contrasted sentences
1 1 2 5 5
Tối qua cô ấy mệt.
1 1 2 4 6
She was tired yesterday.

The two sentences are unit identical down to the rank of phrase. Now, they begin to
diverge: The English sentence employs 4 words while the Vietnamese one uses 5 words;
The English sentence employs 6 morphemes while the Vietnamese one uses 5
morphemes.
Tối/ qua/ cô/ ấy/ mệt.
1 2 3 4 5 morphemes
She/ was/ tir/ed/ yester/day.
1 2 3 4 5 6 morphemes
English is more synthetic
Vietnamese is more analytic
S Cl. Phr. Wd. Morph.
Contrasted ranks

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 Contrasted sentences
1 1 2
Cô ấy đã đọc xong cuốn
sách này.
1 1 2
She has finished reading
this book.

S Cl. Phr. Wd. Morph.

Contrasted ranks
Contrasted sentences
1 1 2 7 7
Hôm qua anh ấy bị chó
táp.
1 1 2 8 10
He was snapped at by a
dog yesterday

The two sentences are unit identical down to the rank of phrase. Now, they begin to
diverge: The English sentence employs 8 words while the Vietnamese one uses 7
words; the English sentence employs 10 morphemes while the Vietnamese one uses 7
morphemes.

Enlish is more synthetic

SUGGESTED ANSWER:

i) Use the figure below for the comparison of the two sentences in terms of rank scale
Contrasted ranks S Cl. Phr. Wd. Morph.
Contrasted sentences
Cô ấy đã đọc xong cuốn sách này. 1 1 2 8 8
She has finished reading this book. 1 1 2 6 8
ii) Make a comment about about the explicitness of English sentence and the
Vietnamese one:
The two sentences are unit identical down to the rank of phrase. Now they begin to to
diverge: the English sentence employs 6 words while the Vietnamese one uses 8 words.
At the morpheme level, the imbalance is absent: the English sentence employs 8
morphemes whereas the Vietnamese one still uses 8 as presented follows.
Cô /ấy /đã /đọc /xong/ cuốn/ sách/ này/
.1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 morphemes

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She /has /finish/ed /read/ing /this /book.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 morphemes
English is more synthetic
Vietnamese is more analytic

3. Examine the sentence below and answer the following questions

… cái mông to của ông ta làm cho chiếc ghế mây cong oằn..
i) List out possible translational equivalents in English for the Vietnamese
sentence
ii) Identify the causative verb type of the English translational equivalents for the
Vietnamese causative verb (làm cho sợ hãi) in terms of morphological, syntactic, lexical
categories.
PLEASE CONSULT THE SUGGESTED ANSWER BELOW
i) Consider possible translational equivalents in English
Vietnamese text English equivalents

cái mông to của ông His heavy buttock unstraightened the bamboo chair
ta làm cho chiếc
ghế mây cong oằn His heavy buttock bended the bamboo chair

His heavy buttock made the bamboo chair unstraightened

ii) Identify the causative verb type of the English translational equivalents for the
Vietnamese causative verb (làm cho sợ hãi) in terms of morphological, syntactic, lexical
categories.

Types of causative verb Syntactic Morphological Lexical

unstraightened something +

bended something +

made something unstraightened +

iii) Which type of causative verbs in English (mentioned in ii) has most similarities in
terms of syntactic features (word order, sentence element, number of words/morphemes)
as those in Vietnamese?

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Make s.b. afraid: Syntactic/Analytic
iv) To show the similarities between this type of causative verb (mentioned in iii)
in English and Vietnamese, please draw a table to represent the syntactic features of the
causative verbs in the two sentences.
cái mông to của ông ta làm cho chiếc ghế mây cong oằn
His heavy buttock made the bamboo chair unstraightened

Subject Causative verb Object Complement

cái mông to của ông ta làm cho chiếc ghế mây cong oằn

His heavy buttock made the bamboo chair unstraightened

Causer Causative process Causee Resulting state

4. Examine the sentences in the box on the box below and answer the following
questions.
i) Identify the cause of error of transfer (lexical or structural) in the each of the
following sentences;
ii) Write the intended correct sentences in the box on the right.
 You are asked to identify the kind of error and point out the negative transfer of
the word/structure, e.g. Có has
Erroneous sentences Cause of error of transfer Intended Correct
Sentences
My family has five Kind of error: lexical error There are five
people. Có has members/persons in my
family.
Although he was so tired, -kind of
but he still kept working. error: ................................
I lost two hours to finish -kind of
this work. error: ................................
I forgot my book at home. -kind of
error: ................................

I very like Coca Cola. -kind of

error: ................................

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PRACTICE

1. Mary is a young beautiful girl. (trẻ đẹp)

2. A modern big brick house (lớn hiện đại bằng gạch)

3. He’s tall 1,7metres (cao 1,7 m)

4. She’s different with her sister. (khác với)

5. Don’t fear. (sợ)

6. The film is boring and Brad Pitt is a boring man. (chán nản)

7. Almost people came to the party. (phần lớn/hầu hết)

8. I’ll take all two shirts. (cả 2 chiếc áo)

9. All is yours. (tất cả)

10. I’ve lost all. (tất cả)

FORMAT OF ONLINE TEST

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