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On the Mongolian Students’ Difficulties in Acquiring English Relative Clauses, Due to Syntactic Structure Difference

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At the Crossroads: Challenges of Foreign Language Learning

Part of the book series: Second Language Learning and Teaching ((SLLT))

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Abstract

According to researchers of applied linguistics, the basic problems of foreign language learning arise not out of any essential difficulty in the features of the new language itself, but primarily out of first language habits. English and Mongolian relative clauses are greatly different from each other with regards to their phrase structure. This paper examines evidence for structural differences such as head-directionality, which cause difficulties for Mongolian learners in mastering the English relative clause. 100 students between grades 10 and 12 (aged between 15 and 18) who have studied English for 5–7 years were chosen in the study. First, in order to check the students’ background knowledge of relative clauses, the students were given an exam with 2 tasks: (1) to translate Mongolian sentences into English and (2) to create sentences by putting given words in the correct order. According to the study, most students had problems with English relative clause structure: omitting the relative pronoun altogether, selecting the wrong relative pronoun, or disordering the constituents of the syntactic structure. Second, we carried out an experiment on the same students in order to examine the importance of translation for learning complex structures in the English relative clause. According to the study, I hypothesize L1 grammar influences the foreign language learners and I argue that a grammar-translation method is the most effective way to teach and learn L2 complex grammar attributes based on the result of the second experiment.

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Acknowledgements

I am very grateful to the TAL conference organizing committee of Department of Applied Linguistics in Institute of English of Opole University for giving me such a good opportunity to submit my paper for the book At the crossroads: Challenges of foreign language learning.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Language and Literature, Mongolian Academy of Sciences, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

    Namsrai Munkhtsetseg

Authors
  1. Namsrai Munkhtsetseg
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Namsrai Munkhtsetseg .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of English, Opole University, Opole, Poland

    Ewa Piechurska-Kuciel

  2. Institute of English, Opole University, Opole, Poland

    Elżbieta Szymańska-Czaplak

  3. Institute of English, Opole University, Opole, Poland

    Magdalena Szyszka

Appendices

Appendix 1

  • Relative clause test for the Pre-test

  • Oct/15/2015

  • Translate the following sentences into English

  1. 1.

    Tэнд cyyж бaйгaa xүн бoл миний ax.

  2. 2.

    Xөдөө aмьдapдaг xүүxдүүд бaгaacaa мopь yнaж cypдaг.

  3. 3.

    Энэ бoл түүний cypч бaйcaн cypгyyль.

  4. 4.

    Tүүний cypдaг cypгyyль эндээc xoлгүй.

  5. 5.

    Өчигдөp миний xyдaлдaж aвcaн үзэг мaш гoё.

  • Put the words in correct order to make sentences

  1. 6.

    freezer, ice cream, the, I, ate, the, that, was, in

  2. 7.

    a lot, ask, who, learn, students, questions

  3. 8.

    children, I, a, woman, two, know, has, who

  4. 9.

    countryside, who, have, I, the, some, live, in, friends

  5. 10.

    my, bought, gave, friend, he, the, pen, which, yesterday, me

Name:

Age:

Class:

How many years have you studied English?

Thank you for your participation.

Appendix 2

  • Relative clause test for the post-test

  • Oct/26/2015

  • Translate the following sentences into English

  1. 1.

    Tүүний aжиллaдaг гaзap мaш тoxилoг.

  2. 2.

    Tэнд зoгcoж бaйгaa эмэгтэй бoл миний эгч

  3. 3.

    Энэ бoл түүний төгccөн cypгyyль.

  4. 4.

    Гэpт aмьдapдaг xүүxдүүд эpүүл чийpэг бaйдaг.

  5. 5.

    Tүүний нaдaд өгcөн дaaшинз иx гaнгaн.

  • Put the words in correct order to make sentences

  1. 6.

    singing, who, is, my, man, brother, is, the

  2. 7.

    computer, very, the, bought, where, the, shop, he, big, is

  3. 8.

    thick, is, table, is, book, which, on, thick, very, the

  4. 9.

    was, yesterday, fantastic, watched, we, film, the

  5. 10.

    who, French, has, studies, a, she, friend

Name:

Age:

Class:

How many years have you studied English?:

Thank you for your participation.

Appendix 3

  • Gloss translation of Mongolian sentences in the second experiment

Translation task sentences

  1. 1.

    Öčigdör cecerlegt nadtai togloson hüühed bol minii naiz.

    Yesterday garden-Loc 1SG-Com play-PF child-Nom   is   my   friend.

    The girl who played with me in the garden is my friend.

  2. 2.

    Tűűnii ajilladag gazar maš tohilog.

    3SG-Gen work-Hab place-Nom very comfortable.

    The place where he works is very comfortable.

  3. 3.

    Tend zogsoj baigaa emegtei bol minii egč.

    There   stand-ImPF    exist-Pr woman-Nom is     my    sister.

    The woman who is standing there is my sister.

  4. 4.

    Ene bol tűűnii tőgssőn surguuli.

    This is   3SG-Gen graduate-PF  school.

    This is the school which he graduated from.

  5. 5.

    Gert amidardag hüühdüüd erüül čiireg baidag.

    Yurt-Loc live-Hab  children    healthy strong exist-Hab.

    Children who live in yurt are healthy and strong.

  • Some examples showing the genitive marked subject in Mongolian relative clauses

  1. 1.

    Öčigdör minii üzsen kino maš sonirholtoi baisan.

    Yesterday 1SG-Gen watch-PF movie-Nom very interesting to be-Pst.

    The movie which I watched yesterday was very interesting.

  2. 2.

    Tűűnii nadad őgsőn daašinz ih gangan.

    3SG-Gen 1SG-Dat give-PFdress-Nom much fancy.

    The dress which she gave me is very fancy.

Appendix 4

  • Abbreviations in Gloss Translation

  • Nom: Nominative case

  • Gen: Genitive case

  • Acc: Accusative case

  • Dat: Dative case

  • Loc: Locative case

  • Abl: Ablative case

  • Com: Comitative case

  • Conv: Converb

  • ImPF: imperfect verb

  • PF: Perfect verb

  • Prs: Present tense

  • Hab: Habitual

  • 1SG: 1st person singular

  • 3SG: 3rd person singular

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Munkhtsetseg, N. (2017). On the Mongolian Students’ Difficulties in Acquiring English Relative Clauses, Due to Syntactic Structure Difference. In: Piechurska-Kuciel, E., Szymańska-Czaplak, E., Szyszka, M. (eds) At the Crossroads: Challenges of Foreign Language Learning. Second Language Learning and Teaching. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55155-5_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55155-5_4

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-55154-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-55155-5

  • eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)

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