This thesis is about the contrastive analysis of English directive performative verbs and their Vietnamese equivalents. In the first place, some concepts and terms related to this linguistic area have been dealt with. Then, the study is focused on exploring the structures and meanings of the two language systems. Based on the analysis of directive performative verbs in terms of syntactic and semantic features, some similarities and differences of verbs in the two languages are pointed out. With the aim of helping teachers and learners gain a clear understanding about directive performative verbs in English and Vietnamese, the author offers useful recommendations for the teaching and learning of English performative verbs as well as for the translation of written discourse from English text to Vietnamese one and vice versa.
