THE USE OF PHRASAL VERBS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE RESEARCH PROPOSALS BY VIETNAMESE M.A. STUDENTS

Abstract

Phrasal verbs are considered an integral domain of linguistics in the English language. However, ESL/EFL students in different contexts seem to avoid using them in their academic writing, especially in English applied linguistics. This study aims at investigating the use of phrasal verbs in the research proposals among Vietnamese M.A. students who were studying at one university in Vietnam. Nineteen research proposals chosen in this study were categorized into five types, including TESOL Methodology, Discourse Analysis, Linguistics, Literature, and Translation. The data were analyzed by the software AntConc version 3.7.8. The findings of the study indicated that the participants had a tendency to avoid using phrasal verbs in their M.A. research proposals like those of the previous studies. Furthermore, they did not utilize many among top 100 common phrasal verbs in BNC by Gardner and Davies (2007). With respect to the functions of phrasal verbs, Vietnamese M.A. students used different subcategories in syntax and semantics. Nevertheless, they paid more attention to the use of transitive and inseparable phrasal verbs as well as phrasal verbs with semi-idiomatic and fully-idiomatic meanings.