A study on common errors in writing skills by freshmen of English faculty, Thuong Mai University

A study on common errors in writing skills by freshmen of English faculty, Thuong Mai University A study on common errors in writing skills by freshmen of English faculty, Thuong Mai University A study on common errors in writing skills by freshmen of English faculty, Thuong Mai University A study on common errors in writing skills by freshmen of English faculty, Thuong Mai University A study on common errors in writing skills by freshmen of English faculty, Thuong Mai University A study on common errors in writing skills by freshmen of English faculty, Thuong Mai University A study on common errors in writing skills by freshmen of English faculty, Thuong Mai University A study on common errors in writing skills by freshmen of English faculty, Thuong Mai University A study on common errors in writing skills by freshmen of English faculty, Thuong Mai University A study on common errors in writing skills by freshmen of English faculty, Thuong Mai University A study on common errors in writing skills by freshmen of English faculty, Thuong Mai University A study on common errors in writing skills by freshmen of English faculty, Thuong Mai University A study on common errors in writing skills by freshmen of English faculty, Thuong Mai University A study on common errors in writing skills by freshmen of English faculty, Thuong Mai University

ABSTRACT Nowadays, English is a popular language in international transactions I is also the most foreign language taught in universities in Vietnam Many students have recognized the importance of learning English to meet the needs of a modern society However, mastering English is not an easy In the four basic skills of English: Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing, students have difficulties in Writing Therefore, it is often difficult for students to avoid making mistakes when writing, even when they are very attentive to their writing The purpose of this study is to study common errors of Thuong Mai University students often make in the writing process as well as some suitable solutions to solve those problems Data collection tools such as questionnaires and interviews were used to conduct this study The results of the research topic will create conditions for the students of Thuong Mai University to recognize their mistakes and have a corrective direction to perfect their writing skills I have made an effort to this research with my knowledge I hope this study will bring about effective methods to improve writing skills of students in general and students in the Business English Faculty of Thuong Mai University in particular 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS During the process of doing this study, I have received a lot of necessary assistance, previous ideas, and timely encouragement from my teacher and friends This research could not have been finished without the help, encouragement, and support from them First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude towards my supervisor – Ms Nguyen Thi Thuy Hanh, the teacher of, who has always been willing to instruct me carefully and enthusiastically in each step, give me helpful advice and suggestions as well as support me every time I need so that I can accomplish this study I also wish to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to the Faculty of English at Thuong Mai University, who have created this chance for me to work this study, learn and gain many valuable experiences I would like to acknowledge my thanks to all the authors of the books, magazines, documents, and the other materials listed in the reference part for their ideas that have been reflected and developed in the study Once again, thank you so much! 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS IT TMU Information Technology Thuong Mai University Công nghệ thông tin Đại học Thương Mại 4 LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES 5 CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF STUDY 1.1: Rationale In today’s globalization and internationalization, it cannot be denied the importance of English in people’s life and social development No English means no international communication Without communication, there is no way to express thoughts, ideas, and feelings And how can the country’s economy develop when the countries tend to integrate international economy for the whole development? English becomes a common language that helps people understand each other more in the process of diplomatic relations and economic cooperation and many other fields in today’s era English is the most effective international communitive language It is also the official language in a large number of countries According to Wikipedia, there are more than 400 million people in the world using English as a mother tongue, and more than billion people using English as the second language English is the third language that is widely used only after Chinese and Spanish Once again, we cannot deny the advantages of English bringing to us, especially in the booming era of technology and information Proficiency in English and computer skills are job requirements if you want to get a dream job in any international company In Vietnam, English is a compulsory subject and it is a necessary condition for applying for a job in the future When learning English, students are taught four skills: Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing In those four skills above, writing brings them a lot of obstacles because it requires a broad knowledge and the learner has a clear understanding of grammar as well as structures The forms of communication in writing in English are quite diverse, including many types such as: email, inquiry, feedback, reports,… Each type of document has a different style Therefore, it is difficult for students to avoid making mistakes in writing, even when they are very attentive to their writing If students don’t correct the mistakes, they have difficulty in writing This can affect to their score and reduce job opportunities after graduating Moreover, if you use the wrong grammar when communicating, the listener can still understand through the context But the fact that writing in English will make these errors appear clear Furthermore, according to a study, English learners in the world often spend very little time on writing skill This makes them hard to write in English To discover student’s writing mistakes as well as help them improve their writing skills, I choose the topic: “A study on common errors in writing skills by freshmen of English faculty, Thuong Mai University” 1.2: Previous studies In 2009, Brent Sampson wrote the study "Top 10 Business Writing Mistakes That Cost You Money" In business, every word counts This holds true for writing, too, particularly now when so much of business takes place through the Internet and e-mail Not to mention, money is tight and every message needs to have maximum impact Small mistakes in your business writing can leave a negative impression on potential customers This study provided the top 10 common errors in business writing and tips for how you can avoid them Another research named “Grammatical errors in writing task: male and female” was written by Dewi Furtina, Ika Apriani Fata and Dohra Fitrisia and first published in 2016 This study focused on the grammatical errors when writing between male and female The issues that the study showed including subject-verb agreement, verb form, singular/ plural form, preposition, conjunction, pronoun, article and total The results showed that the most dominant in male students was errors of article and in female students was errors of subject-verb agreement Derived from the results, this study had some implications for language teachers as well as consideration for further research Huynh Minh Hien and Trinh Quoc Lap with the study “Danh gia truc tuyen theo ban cung lop: mot so bien phap tang cuong dong co hoc va kha nang viet tieng anh” (2010) also had assessments of the writing ability of students Many researches about the effects of online classmate assessments in English writing classes had been conducted in a variety of educational contexts This article showed the results of an empirical study done at Can Tho University The study aimed at the impacts of online peer-based assessments on student’s motivation in learning to write in English and their writing ability and the correlation between learner’s motivation and their writing ability The result of research showed that there was a significant difference in the writing motivation and the writing ability of students in the experimental and control groups Pham Thi Anh Dao (2015) studied the writing errors that the first-year students in English Faculty, University of Industry, often make and the meaning of correcting mistakes in teaching writing skills To achieve the goal of the study, the author used two methods: qualitative and quantitative analysis, with two main tools: survey questionnaires and analysis the student’s writing The research results showed that the writing errors of them were due to lack of vocabulary and lack of common grammar rules in English The main reasons are the influence of mother tongue, teaching methods, carelessness and student’s psychology, of which the influence of mother tongue was considered the biggest cause 1.3: Aims of the study - Discover the errors in writing English of freshmen of English Faculty, Thuong Mai University - Find out the causes of English writing errors of freshmen in English Faculty, Thuong Mai University - Propose some solutions to avoid making mistakes when writing 1.4: Research Subjects The research subject is common errors in writing skills of freshmen of English Faculty, Thuong Mai University 1.5: Scope of the study This research is restricted to study about the common errors in writing skills I will investigate the common mistakes as well as the causes of them in the process of writing Furthermore, because of the large number of students at Thuong Mai University and the timing limitation, resources, and my knowledge, this study could only explore the common errors of freshmen the Business English Faculty at Thuong Mai University 1.6: Research methodology 1.6.1 Participants Selection in Thuong Mai University Selection of the participants The participants in this study were 100 first-year students of English Faculty at Thuong Mai university They were willing to participate in this study 1.6.2 Instruments The study was conducted with the assistance of questionnaires, interviews, documentary studies, and observation notes which are summarized from my learning experience The main instrument in this research was a survey questionnaire which was designed by the researcher The participants were asked about their obstacles in writing skills and their common mistakes in the process of practicing writing 1.6.3 Data analysis The data which is gained from the questionnaire were analyzed to clarify the research questions After that, the results were also calculated into statistical values as below: The data gained from the general background was presented as the percentage To study effectively, the strategies used in this study are: Material collection from reliable sources and books Questionnaires: the study investigated 100 first-year students of Thuong Mai University in the English Faculty by giving them questionnaires Conclusion This chapter has presented several research tools I have applied to handle the problems related to the topic of the recent study Besides, the chapter also reports and explains the rationale of selections, as well as the purposes of questionnaires and interviews which are conducted by the researcher 1.7 Organization of the study My graduation thesis is divided into four main chapters Chapter 1: Overview about the thesis The first chapter will give readers an overview of the study including rationale, previous studies, aims, scope, methods, and organization of the study Chapter 2: Literature review It focuses on knowledge theories related to writing, such as: the definition of writing, the importance of writing skills and overview of error Chapter 3: Research finding In this chapter, I will show the research methodology and the results of analyzing the problem The research method is clearly described with specific procedures for data collection and analysis The statistical results show the common errors in the student’s writing and the frequency of them In addition, the survey, interview and observation results also indicate the cause of the student’s writing errors Chapter 4: Suggested solution This chapter will focus on giving solutions 10 • This activity has helped me to be more confident and add a lot of friends (make) • I must get up early, and my father gives me to school (takes) • Every day, I spend much time in the garden, and the thing I like most is the smell of all the flowers (scent) Students lack appropriate vocabulary One student uses the word “add” instead of “make” in the first sentence Another student uses the word “gives” instead of “takes” While the student writing the third sentence uses “smell” instead of “scent” 3.4.2.5 Prepositions The students show their confusion for correct usage of preposition • About me, I prefer French and Japanese food that I cannot make myself (For) • In the trip, we met a lot of foreign visitors (During) It is supposed that students usually apply prepositions according to their habit that they translate prepositions from Vietnamese into English 3.4.2.6 Nouns The most common error of using nouns made by the students is forgetting adding “s” or “es” after plural nouns • One day, the Prince opened a ball and invited all girl to attend (girls) • There are a variety of dish in the menu (dishes) 3.4.3 Causes of the errors Chart 2: Causes of students’ writing errors 3.4.3.1 Spending little time practicing writing A large number of students (74%) admit that they don't practice writing The students who were interviewed also said that they read less and less articles and books of reputable authors, less active and persistent in practicing writing, and did not pay attention to administrative documents that are very important in their work Besides, students are negatively affected by the language of chat, blogs, movies, 24 comics and music market, even affected by the use of spelling and grammatical errors in the textbooks, documents, In addition, because students have not practiced writing skills on a regular basis, they are not quick in finding ideas for writing and have not had the habit of thinking in English before writing Therefore, they make a lot of mistakes in their posts 3.4.3.2 Influence of mother tongue One of the biggest reasons that the majority of students choose (68%) is due to the influence of their mother tongue When interviewed, they also said that Vietnamese had a great influence on their writing style Many students think in Vietnamese and then translate into English This makes the writing speed slow Furthermore, students also make many writing mistakes such as translating each word, wrong word order, This makes the article long, incoherent and sometimes make readers misunderstand the writer's ideas 3.4.3.3 Limits on vocabulary and structure When being asked, 48% of students said that they had difficulties in limiting on vocabulary and structure and this caused mistakes when writing The English grammar curriculum has many quizzes that require students to write about companies and economic issues Therefore, many of them have difficulties in writing about these issues, simply because their vocabularies about economic terms are limited Besides, the vocabulary in English is extremely rich In addition to synonyms, there are many homophones which have different spelling and meanings such as: I/eye, sun/son Furthermore, there are homophones which have similar spelling with different meanings such as left, flat, saw, play Therefore, students face many difficulties in understanding thoroughly and exactly the meaning of words, differences in usage of similar words as well as from their kind This leads to students often making mistakes in vocabulary when writing English essays 3.4.3.4 Grammar is not good Although at high school, students learn a lot of grammar and tests that check grammar phenomena a lot, many of them are still confused when applying to their writing due to their incomplete grammar knowledge 37% of students said that they make mistakes when writing because they have not mastered basic grammar 25 knowledge All students who were interviewed said that they confused grammar tenses For example many students cannot distinguish the use of verbs, lack of completion, V-ing and infinitive verbs,… 3.4.3.5 Writing skill is not good The cause of this problem is that they not have good writing skills and 57% of students admitted this Many students not have the habit of making an outline before writing, not know how to write topic or conclusion sentences Moreover, they also not use linking measures in the passage and not master how to write sentences and paragraphs or not understand the formal writing style When students receive the assignment, they not make an outline and list the main ideas, additional ideas Therefore, they not avoid lacking ideas when writing 3.4.3.6 Careless 23% of students agreed that they were not really careful when writing and did not read the article before submitting to check for errors If they read the article after writing, they will fix simple mistakes like “She don’t” or “they is” 3.4.3.7 Teaching methods are not suitable 16% of students said that teachers did not have appropriate teaching methods and correcting errors From their point of view, there were teachers who did not reemphasize the grammar phenomena in each lesson to reinforce students, especially they not allow students to write articles 3.4.4 Solutions to improve students’ writing skill There are many ways to limit writing mistakes and improve writing skills for learners To limit errors when translating the native language into English, teachers need to carefully evaluate the translation and the influence of the mother tongue in the student's writing In a recent research, Pham Thi Anh Dao (2015) proposes a number of writing teaching methods and techniques such as guiding students to correct mistakes, cross-pair corrections, and direct error correction between teachers and students Chart 3: Solutions to improve students’ writing skills 26 This chart is the result of surveying students 'perspectives on measures to improve students' writing ability In general, students strongly agreed with these solutions, in which all students agreed that practicing writing would help them improve their writing skills Besides, they need to reinforce their vocabulary, structure and grammar (92%) The mistakes that are corrected by teachers were chosen by 83% On the other hand, 78% of students thought that it was necessary to organize the workshop to discuss and get experiences The last solution "Selfcorrecting errors" is accepted by the overwhelming number of students (53%) 27 CHAPTER 4: SUGGESTED SOLUTION 4.1 Solutions for students 4.1.1 Vocabulary Learning vocabulary is a very important part to improve the writing skills There are many ways to learn vocabulary First of all, you have to decide which words to learn because you can’t possibly learn all these new words You can learn the words that are related to the topics you are studying or learn the words that you read or hear again and again as well as learn the words that you know you will often want to use yourself You should avoid learning words that are rare or not useful After choosing which words to learn, you have to decide how to learn them Most students find that they memorize words better if they something with them Even better is to try and learn the word in a typical combination with other words The best effective way to enlarge vocabulary is reading Each student is advised to build a good habit of reading They should begin reading easier materials then they can raise their level by reading more difficult ones in a variety of topics but make sure that the text is appropriate for their reading level When reading books and magazines, you can learn many vocabulary words you read The context of a new word in a sentence or story was often enough for you to guess the meaning The more words you're exposed to, the better vocabulary you will have While you read, you should pay attention to words you don't know First, you should try to figure out their meanings from context Then look the words up in the dictionary To deal with the problem of memorizing the words' meaning, students should practice regularly in many effective ways You can write the words in a notebook or on a small card with their translations or definitions Whenever you forgot any new words, you can review them on your cards It is also advised to put the words into different groups by using a graphic organizer If you have an electronic dictionary you can hear how the word is pronounced, you should say the words many times to memorize them Besides, students should make up as many associations and 28 connections as possible When students learn a new word, they should relate this word to the words they have already known 4.1.2 Grammar Grammar is the system that structures a language, and how to use suitable grammar and grammatical structures in the target language to transfer ideas is a difficult task for most students This part only focuses on finding out the best ways to learn English grammar To be better at English grammar, the students have to practice doing grammar exercises regularly It’s a good idea to follow style guide and grammar books This will provide an idea of the different ways to approach spelling, syntax, and style, give you a better idea of the fundamentals of grammar, and show you where the language is adaptable and where it’s inflexible Some grammar books are recommended to the students such as English Grammar in Use (Raymond Murphy), Essential Grammar in Use (Raymond Murphy), Grammar of the English Language (Rodney Huddleston and Geoffrey K.Pllum), Advance Grammar in Use (Martin Hewings), and Oxford English Grammar (Sidney Greenbaum), etc Moreover, doing grammar exercises from grammar books or the Internet is particularly beneficial to improve the students' translation skills Learning must be paralleled with practicing To be better at English grammar, the students have to practice doing grammar exercises regularly It is unnecessary to look for a teacher for grammar lessons; the students themselves can practice English grammar by doing online exercises just by some simple clicks There are several websites, which offer exercises on a wide range of topics Some common and useful websites to learn English grammar are http://learnenglish.vn/ and http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/ These are perfect e-learning sites for learning English online They offer thousands of English learning lessons for free These sites also give you support you need, and all the components work together for more effective learning Alternatively, students can access https://learningenglish.voanews.com/ or https://www.englishcentral.com/browse/videos/ These websites offer both free and pay lessons And it is video based website The more videos you watch, the more 29 progress you will make Learn English using thousands of the most engaging videos on the web presented with text transcriptions and word definitions Moreover, the students should look for a reliable grammar book that offers answer keys and clear explanations for each grammar point The best sale “Oxford Practice Grammar with Answers” (Norman Coe, Mark Harrison, Ken Paterson) and the series book consist of Grammar Practice for Elementary Students, for Pre-intermediate Students, for Intermediate Students, and Grammar Practice for Upper Intermediate Students (Elaine walker, Elsworth) can be considered as helpful tools for those who want to improve their grammar quickly and effectively 4.1.3 Rewriting and checking errors after writing Rewriting is also an effective way to minimize errors and add new ideas that students have not come up with in the first draft Furthermore, students will find it easier because the mistakes are underlined by the teacher and the strengths and weaknesses of the students have been pointed out so they can correct them The fact that students can adjust and supplement their writing both in grammar and content will help them develop their own writing skills and build confidence in writing later On the other hand, there are some errors that students may not notice in the writing process like misspellings However, when reading them again, students will find out immediately Therefore, it very important for students to read their sentences or writing after completing 4.2 Solutions to teachers It is particularly difficult to obtain the best result as well as keep motivation levels up unless the learners' needs can meet in each class The teachers' responsibility is to satisfy all their needs as well as concretize the intended aims and objectives of the course to enhance the quality of both teaching and learning That is the reason why I would like to mention some suggestions for teachers with the hope that the teacher can sympathize and support well for the students' study 4.2.1 Create a free atmosphere when teaching It is undeniable that the teachers' attitude directly influences the quality of studying Certainly, in teaching, a friendly atmosphere in the classroom is believed to bring in a great impulse for studying Therefore, during his teaching time, the 30 teacher should create a free atmosphere to help students study under no pressure and have a chance to ask or state their opinions freely about some wondered things Providing students with useful knowledge as well as answering or explaining students' questions enthusiastically are things teachers can to help both teachers and students make progress in teaching and studying Every teacher has his way of teaching, if the teacher wants his students to pay attention to his lesson and seriously concentrate on studying, he surely has to be strict in teaching However, from the students' viewpoint, his sternness restrains their creation in studying The students dare not state their thinking and be afraid to contribute their opinions to the new lesson, it is, therefore, one of the failures in the classroom 4.2.2 Explain the difference between English and Vietnamese Teachers should analyze the structural and semantic differences between certain features in English and Vietnamese for students When learning English, students need to avoid imposing Vietnamese in English because in the field of foreign language learning, all language impulses only bring unexpected results If students are aware of these differences, they will be able to help students reduce errors Besides, teachers can provide translation exercises that help students reinforce these phenomena This will make students learn new words, structures and know how to express them in their essay in English 4.2.3 Applying flexibly the correcting error methods Teachers teamwork in class and get students to work in groups on their assignments, students will have the opportunity to practice together to develop their sentence writing skill, they will also have the opportunity to speak English together, which can improve their speaking skills simultaneously Besides, they will have the opportunity to correct each other Teachers can suggest a few more error analysis exercises to help students identify a complete sentence more accurately Moreover, teachers can apply error correction in pairs Students shuffle papers in pairs and correct their own writing This activity excites students and changes the atmosphere in the classroom as students become active in giving feedback on their writing CONCLUSION 31 “A study on common errors in writing skills by freshmen of English Faculty, Thuongmai University” was conducted to find out the common errors in the writing process of students in the Faculty of English, Thuongmai University as well as the causes of these errors and on that basis, propose some solutions to improve their writing ability During the process of researching, I recognized that freshmen of English Faculty, Thuongmai University made some common mistakes in writing, especially vocabulary, grammar and word usages I analyzed and found out the causes of these errors Moreover, I also gave some solutions to improve the writing ability of students I hoped that the study can help the students to overcome the obstacles and improve their writing skills 32 REFERENCES Brown, D H (2000) Principles of language learning and teaching (4th ed.) Longman, New York Byrne, D (1988) Teaching Writing Skills, Longman Group Ltd, London Corder, S P (1967) The significance of learners’errors International Review of applied Linguistics, l5 (4): 161-70 Brent Sampson (2009) Top 10 Business Writing Mistakes That Cost You Money" Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (1989) Hien, H.M and Lap, T.Q (2010) Đánh giá trực tuyến theo bạn lớp: số biện pháp tang cường động học khả viết tiếng anh Tạp chí khoa học trường ĐH Sư Phạm TPHCM Dao, P T A (2015) Lỗi diễn đạt viết sinh viên tiếng Anh năm thứ số đề xuất chữa lỗi Tạp chí khoa học ngoại ngữ 42 Dai, W Y & Shu, D F (1994) Some research issues in contrastive analysis, error analysis and interlanguage Journal of Foreign Languages, 517 Dörnyei, Zoltán "Motivation and motivating in the foreign language classroom." The modern language journal 78.3 (1994): 273-284 10 Brown, H D (2007) Principles of language learning and teaching (5th Ed.) White Plains, NY: Pearson Education Inc 11 Norrish, J (1983) Language learners and their errors The Macmillan Press, London 12 James, C (1998) Errors in language learning and use: Exploring error analysis London: Longman 13 Richards, Julia Becker "Mayan language planning for bilingual education in Guatemala." (1989): 93-116 14 Weigle, Sara Cushing "Teaching writing teachers about assessment." Journal of Second Language Writing 16.3 (2007): 194-209 15 Weigle, Sara Cushing Assessing writing Ernst Klett Sprachen, 2002 16 Nunan, D (2003) Language Teaching Methodology – A textbook for teachers, Prentice Hall International Ltd, Great Britain 17 Murad H Sawalmeh (2013) Error Analysis of Written English Essays: The case of Students of the Preparatory Year Program in Saudi Arabia English for Specific Purposes 40 (14) 33 34 APPENDIX I am doing the research ““A study on common errors in writing skills by freshmen of English Faculty, Thuongmai University” This questionnaire describes issues related to learning English writing skills and difficulties in the writing process I hope that you will take some time to answer the following questions All of your comments are valuable to me I hope to receive honest and objective comments from you I highly appreciate your contribution to my study I promise that all your information will be kept and only used in this study Sincerely! Personal Information Name: Class: APPENDIX 1: Questionnaire Question 1: Do you like learning English? A: Very like B: Like C: Normal D: Do not like Question 2: Do you like the writing skills? Why? A: Really like B: Like C: Normal D: Do not like Write down your reasons: ……… 35 .Question 3: How much time you spend daily on practicing sentence writing skill? A: More than hours B: From to hours C: From 30 minutes to hour D: Less than 30 minutes E: Never Question 4: What is your method of learning writing skill? A: Self-study or self-study online B: Study in groups C: the instructions of the teacher D: Others Write down your other methods: Question 5: Do you often ask teachers to correct your writing? A: Regularly B: Sometimes C: Rarely D: Never Question 6: How often you ask classmates to correct your writing? A: Regularly B: Sometimes C: Rarely D: Never 36 Question 7: What causes you not interested in sentence writing? A: Have not seen the importance of sentence writing skill B: Have not found a suitable learning method C: Lack of teacher attention D: Lack of books, references E: Weak grammar F: Lack of vocabulary G: Your ideas: Question 8: When writing the sentence, which part were the most difficult for you? A: Grammar B: Lack of vocabulary C: Word arrangement D: Find ideas and express ideas in English Question 9: If you assessed your writing ability yourself, how would you rate yourself? A: Good B: Quite good C: Not good D: Weak 37 APPENDIX 2: Interview questions From your point of view, what should be done to improve the writing ability of English faculty students, Thuongmai University? ………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… What you want teachers to teach you or give you exercises or activities to help you learn sentence writing better? ………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… 38 ... 10 common errors in business writing and tips for how you can avoid them Another research named “Grammatical errors in writing task: male and female” was written by Dewi Furtina, Ika Apriani Fata... English Faculty, Thuong Mai University - Find out the causes of English writing errors of freshmen in English Faculty, Thuong Mai University - Propose some solutions to avoid making mistakes when writing. .. changes the atmosphere in the classroom as students become active in giving feedback on their writing CONCLUSION 31 ? ?A study on common errors in writing skills by freshmen of English Faculty, Thuongmai