The use of adjective patterns in Hong Kong secondary school students' writing: a case study

Abstract



The main goal of this paper is to study the difficulties Hong Kong secondary school students have using adjective patterns correctly in their writing. It also aims to explore the effectiveness of teaching strategies employed to improve their use of this aspect of English and to test the hypothesis that learners who are taught the concept of linking meaning and pattern in adjectives will be better able to use adjective patterns correctly in writing.

A case study of 60 Hong Kong Form 5 students’ writing was carried out. The data come from their exam essays, pre-test, post-test, questionnaire and interviews. To assist them in improving their use of adjective patterns in writing, workshops were run for the students who were divided into a control group and an experimental group of 30 students each. The findings suggest that the students had three main difficulties using adjective patterns correctly in writing: not knowing which grammatical structure to use, blending or mixing up two adjective patterns and not knowing which preposition to use. The findings also suggest that the teaching strategies had a beneficial effect on the correct use of adjective patterns in the 60 Form 5 students’ writing. In addition, the hypothesis posed seems to be somewhat tenable.

This paper ends by summarizing the main findings and pointing out the limitations of the study like time and logistic constraints. Also, it suggests possible implications for classroom teaching and for future research such as the need for larger-scale research on other aspects like underuse of adjective patterns in Hong Kong secondary school students’ writing.