Error Analysis And Related Suggestions Of Negative Words "?" And "?" Among Thai Students

'?" and "?" are two commonly used negative words in Mandarin. However, only a small portion of Thai students are able to use these two words correctly. A single Thai word can be used in many contexts, but for Mandarin, each word has a unique meaning which is usually specifically tied to a certain context. Word selection, therefore, can be confusing for Thai students.The objective of this research is to study the understanding and usage of the negative words "?" and "?" among Thai students learning Mandarin language. This research analyses the causes of misuses and suggests techniques of mitigating this problem. Questionnaires were conducted on 100 Thai students learning Mandarin to assess their understanding-meaning-wise and structure-wise-of the two negative words, '?"and"?", in different ways. Since the students have different levels of Mandarin proficiency, the tests have been split into multiple difficulties suitable for each type of student.To gain more insights about the understanding of the students and to further investigate their thought process of word ordering, interviews have been conducted on four students with different levels of Mandarin proficiency.Errors among Thai students have been classified into four categories, ordered from highest to lowest frequency of errors:1. Using "?" instead of "?" 2. Using "?" instead of "?" 3 Wrong word ordering 4. A combination of errors (Switching words and wrong word ordering) Results indicate that students at the advanced level have the lowest errors followed beginners. Students at the intermediate level have the highest count of errors.Applying knowledge from theories of second-language learning and psychological theories of learning foreign languages, the causes of errors can be classified into two types: Internal factors and external factorsInternal factors include:1. Negative transfer of Thai language:Thai language has influence in leading students to misuses and incorrect word ordering.2. Negative transfer of Chinese language:Most Thai students know the that the difference between the two negative words involves "time." However, when the scenario has no indication of "time," Thai students fail to choose the correct negative word.3. Individual variations:Although students in Thailand have leamt Mandarin but they usually do not use Mandarin language in their daily converse. Because of this they will easily forget what they have learn and so they think that Mandarin is hard or they did not learn good enough. Therefore, this will affect their interest in learning Mandarin.External factors include:1. Teaching material planning:The current Mandarin curricula does not focus on negative words.2. Teaching:The traditional way of teaching in Thailand focuses on the teacher. Students do not have much opportunity to practice their knowledge leamt.3. Linguistic environments:Thai students tend to converse with each other in Thai both during class time and during recess. Thailand has only one official language which is the Thai language. Therefore, Thais are not being exposed to any other languages outside the classroom.In addition to classifying types of errors of the two negative words and analysing their causes, this research also focuses on giving suggestions on teaching material planning, teaching strategies, and learning strategies for Thai students learning Mandarin.