A Study On Modal Particles And The Relevant Teaching In Basic Textbooks For Vietnamese Majors In China’s Universities

Vietnamese is the official language of Vietnam, belonging to a branch ofAustro-Asiatic languages. Vietnamese is an isolating language like Chinese. Itsgrammatical relation in sentences is mainly expressed through word order andfunction words. Normally, there are about31modal particles in Vietnamese whichare barriers for foreign learners to improve their language proficiency due to theircomplexity and diversity. However, they are not explained well enough in our presentfive published basic university textbooks and easily ignored by teachers duringVietnamese teaching. To find out solutions to the existing problems in the basicVietnamese university textbooks and university Vietnamese teaching, this thesismainly adopts the methods of statistics and comparative analysis.Firstly, by using statistics, classification and comparison, the thesis analyzes thewidth and depth of the grammar points of modal particles in the present fivepublished university Vietnamese textbooks. Regarding the widths, the numbers ofmodal particles listed in each of the textbooks differentiate from23to11. As far asthe depth is concerned, each introduction to the modal particles in the five textbookslacks system, integrity or detailed explanations about minor differences of the modalparticles.Secondly, through questionnaires the thesis analyzes the learning effect of themodal particles that Vietnamese majors have acquired in six universities in China.The research findings show that Vietnamese majors are learning the modal particlesin a shape of a “shuttle”, namely,“small at both ends and big in the middle”:1. asmall number of students know the modal particle grammar points well and can applythem well in daily communication;2. most of the students are in average level, whocan use some common modal particles;3. a few students know little about modalparticles and often ignore them in oral use completely. Investigations also show thatVietnamese teaching in our country lacks detailed introduction, enough exercises, andnecessary instruction to practical application of Vietnamese modal particles. Lastly, on the basis of analyzing causes of the insufficiency to the problems thatare discussed above, this thesis offers suggestions for improvement of basic teachingtextbooks. When compiling textbooks, grammar points of modal particles are to beemphasized, examples should be richer, more vivid, more interesting and much easierto understand, and even, there should be summaries after each unit so thatVietnamese major students can have a good command of language about modalparticles. And, as to improvement of Vietnamese teaching, teachers should try toexplain modal particles in great detail, stress differences of the part of speech,especially the differences between auxiliary words and interjections. Of course,teachers should also create a good language environment in oral Vietnamese teaching.Anyway, by various ways Vietnamese majors should be encouraged to communicatemore with native speakers and learn more about modal particles.