Objectives of the study 3
The study is conducted to explore the problems that the high school students encounter whereby I can deal with such disruptions and find out the effective teaching methods to improve students‟ writing ability In order to realize the goals, the following research questions need to have their answers:
1 What are the students’ attitudes towards learning writing?
2 What are the types of errors made by the tenth graders in writing an English paragraph?
This study is limited to the exploration of students‟ errors in writing short paragraphs because in the English textbook 10, the highest requirement on them is to write a short paragraph The researcher will classify types of mistakes by the learners and trace the root of their committing such errors I will analyze grammatical, lexical and mechanical errors Based on such analysis, I will figure out the solutions for the problems
The writer will conduct a research to examine which writing errors tenth graders often make and the causes of such errors A questionnaire is designed to elicit information of the students‟ attitudes towards learning writing The questions in the questionnaire are both close and open-ended Based on the students‟ answers,
I will make some statistical data and do the analysis of such data In addition, students will do a writing test so that I can determine the real writing problems facing the students The requirement of the test is that learners write two paragraphs of about 100 words I will collect and analyze errors in these papers
This is intended to be a quantitative and qualitative research study using compositions as a technique of eliciting data for the analysis, statistical counting as measurement of results The causes of errors will be examined based on criteria suggested by Richards (1971)
There are three main parts in the study The first one is the introduction, the second is the development and the last one is conclusion
The study starts with an introduction that gives an overview of teaching and learning writing; the reasons why the issue is chosen for research and the way to conduct the research After introduction, there are four chapters presenting the study in detail as the main part of the research
In chapter one, some of the issues related to writing and errors in writing will be reviewed Regarding writing, main approaches to teaching writing and components of teaching writing will be reviewed Some of the main views regarding writing errors such as types, causes and contribution of errors to learning writing will be presented
In chapter two, the method of the study is presented It includes the thoroughly descriptions of subjects, instrument and data collection
The next chapter presents data analysis and discussions In this part, questionnaires and writing samples collected from students are analyzed to find out students‟ typical errors and their causes in order to recommend effective strategies for teaching paragraph writing
In the last chapter, major findings will be summarized and some discussions, limitations, and suggestions are also presented
PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW
In this chapter, some the issues related to teaching and learning writing activities and error analysis will be reviewed briefly
According to Trible (1996), process approaches lay emphasis on “writing activities which move learners from the generation of ideas and the collection of data through to the „publication‟ of a finished text.” However, the final product should not be the central focus, and the teachers play the role of facilitating students to brainstorming ideas, plan, revise, and edit Badger and White (2000) supposes that writing in process approaches is mainly concerned with linguistic aspects such as revising, editing, knowledge of grammar, vocabulary and text structure
Kroll (1990) affirms that student writers have to undergo a cyclonical approach during their writing tasks There are different views on the cyclonical process, for example, Trible (1996) proposes four typical stages that students have to go through, which are: prewriting, composing/drafting, revising, and editing In this process, student writers may go back to the first stage of prewriting after they revise and edit their papers According to Steele (2004), there are eight stages for students to experience during their creation of writing pieces
Brainstorming: Students may discuss to work out as many ideas as possible to meet the requirements of the writing tasks
Planning/structuring: Students figure out the most appropriate qualities of their ideas
Mind mapping: Students arrange their ideas into a mind map, which reveals the hierarchical relationship of ideas and helps students to shape the text structure
Writing the first draft: Students produce the first draft based on the ideas they filter and organize Writing the first draft in the class can be done in pairs or groups
Peer feedback: Students exchange their drafts with each other, and to some extent they can improve their own writing pieces
Editing: Students will improve their own drafts based on peer feedback
Final draft: Students produce the final draft after editing
Evaluation and teacher feedback: Teachers will assess and provide feedback on students‟ writing papers
As the process approach pays attention to linguistic knowledge and skills, it
“promote the development of language use” (Hasan, 2010) In addition, the approach offers students chances to release their potential to deal with rhetorical concerns of writing (Bazerman, 1980) However, there remain drawbacks with the process approach As the approach regards writing process the same irrespective of
“what is being said and who is writing…and may ignore the context in which writing happens” (Badger and White, 2000) Another disadvantage is that the process approach does not provide enough amount of input of academic discourse that can satisfy students‟ academic writing needs (Bizzell, 1982)
Gabrielatos (2002) defines product approach as “a traditional approach in which students are encouraged to mimic a model text, usually presented and analyzed at an early stage.” Pincas (1982) has a more specific view when they consider writing in the product approach mainly concerning linguistic knowledge of vocabulary, grammar, syntax and cohesive devices In addition, Pincas suggests that in the product approach students have to experience four stages in learning writing: familiarization (some features of a text become known to students), controlled writing, guided writing (students practice writing with more freedom) and free writing (they can write about authentic tasks) Steele (2004) also shares the view when affirming that the product approach is made up of four stages:
Stage 1: students may be provided with a model text so that they can familiarize themselves with certain characteristics of that text
Stage 2: students base on highlighted features to create familiar sentence patterns through controlled practice
Stage 3: students organize their ideas and are ready for free writing
Stage 4: students use their own knowledge of vocabulary, structures, and syntax to produce their own pieces of writing
Summarizing, in the product approach, students are provided with model texts so that they can imitate and then produce their own writing pieces
There are various definitions of genre instruction, for example, Swales
(1990) sees it “as a class of communicative events, the members of which share some set of communicative purposes.” Hyland (2003) defines genre approach as
“abstract, socially recognized ways of using language.”
According to Badger and White (2000), although genre approach sees writing mainly related to linguistic aspects, the genre instruction also takes into account the social context in which writing happens In their view, the central focus of genre approach is purpose, which means each type of writing is produced for different types of purposes This type of approach is impacted by some factors such as the relationships between the writer and the readership, the organization pattern, and even the subject matter This is similar to the view that genre instruction lays more emphasis on the reader and the writing conventions acceptable to the audience (Munice, 2002)
There are three stages learners go through in the genre approaches:
Stage 1: Learners are provided with a genre model for analysis
Stage 2: They do the tasks with related language forms
Stage 3: They create a short text
The genre approach remains some disadvantages, the first of which is that it overemphasizes on the reader while nearly neglecting learner expression (Swales,
Method of the study 3 5 Design of study 4
The writer will conduct a research to examine which writing errors tenth graders often make and the causes of such errors A questionnaire is designed to elicit information of the students‟ attitudes towards learning writing The questions in the questionnaire are both close and open-ended Based on the students‟ answers,
I will make some statistical data and do the analysis of such data In addition, students will do a writing test so that I can determine the real writing problems facing the students The requirement of the test is that learners write two paragraphs of about 100 words I will collect and analyze errors in these papers
This is intended to be a quantitative and qualitative research study using compositions as a technique of eliciting data for the analysis, statistical counting as measurement of results The causes of errors will be examined based on criteria suggested by Richards (1971)
There are three main parts in the study The first one is the introduction, the second is the development and the last one is conclusion
The study starts with an introduction that gives an overview of teaching and learning writing; the reasons why the issue is chosen for research and the way to conduct the research After introduction, there are four chapters presenting the study in detail as the main part of the research
In chapter one, some of the issues related to writing and errors in writing will be reviewed Regarding writing, main approaches to teaching writing and components of teaching writing will be reviewed Some of the main views regarding writing errors such as types, causes and contribution of errors to learning writing will be presented
In chapter two, the method of the study is presented It includes the thoroughly descriptions of subjects, instrument and data collection
The next chapter presents data analysis and discussions In this part, questionnaires and writing samples collected from students are analyzed to find out students‟ typical errors and their causes in order to recommend effective strategies for teaching paragraph writing
In the last chapter, major findings will be summarized and some discussions, limitations, and suggestions are also presented
PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW
In this chapter, some the issues related to teaching and learning writing activities and error analysis will be reviewed briefly
Process approach 5 I.1.2 Product approach 6
According to Trible (1996), process approaches lay emphasis on “writing activities which move learners from the generation of ideas and the collection of data through to the „publication‟ of a finished text.” However, the final product should not be the central focus, and the teachers play the role of facilitating students to brainstorming ideas, plan, revise, and edit Badger and White (2000) supposes that writing in process approaches is mainly concerned with linguistic aspects such as revising, editing, knowledge of grammar, vocabulary and text structure
Kroll (1990) affirms that student writers have to undergo a cyclonical approach during their writing tasks There are different views on the cyclonical process, for example, Trible (1996) proposes four typical stages that students have to go through, which are: prewriting, composing/drafting, revising, and editing In this process, student writers may go back to the first stage of prewriting after they revise and edit their papers According to Steele (2004), there are eight stages for students to experience during their creation of writing pieces
Brainstorming: Students may discuss to work out as many ideas as possible to meet the requirements of the writing tasks
Planning/structuring: Students figure out the most appropriate qualities of their ideas
Mind mapping: Students arrange their ideas into a mind map, which reveals the hierarchical relationship of ideas and helps students to shape the text structure
Writing the first draft: Students produce the first draft based on the ideas they filter and organize Writing the first draft in the class can be done in pairs or groups
Peer feedback: Students exchange their drafts with each other, and to some extent they can improve their own writing pieces
Editing: Students will improve their own drafts based on peer feedback
Final draft: Students produce the final draft after editing
Evaluation and teacher feedback: Teachers will assess and provide feedback on students‟ writing papers
As the process approach pays attention to linguistic knowledge and skills, it
“promote the development of language use” (Hasan, 2010) In addition, the approach offers students chances to release their potential to deal with rhetorical concerns of writing (Bazerman, 1980) However, there remain drawbacks with the process approach As the approach regards writing process the same irrespective of
“what is being said and who is writing…and may ignore the context in which writing happens” (Badger and White, 2000) Another disadvantage is that the process approach does not provide enough amount of input of academic discourse that can satisfy students‟ academic writing needs (Bizzell, 1982)
Gabrielatos (2002) defines product approach as “a traditional approach in which students are encouraged to mimic a model text, usually presented and analyzed at an early stage.” Pincas (1982) has a more specific view when they consider writing in the product approach mainly concerning linguistic knowledge of vocabulary, grammar, syntax and cohesive devices In addition, Pincas suggests that in the product approach students have to experience four stages in learning writing: familiarization (some features of a text become known to students), controlled writing, guided writing (students practice writing with more freedom) and free writing (they can write about authentic tasks) Steele (2004) also shares the view when affirming that the product approach is made up of four stages:
Stage 1: students may be provided with a model text so that they can familiarize themselves with certain characteristics of that text
Stage 2: students base on highlighted features to create familiar sentence patterns through controlled practice
Stage 3: students organize their ideas and are ready for free writing
Stage 4: students use their own knowledge of vocabulary, structures, and syntax to produce their own pieces of writing
Summarizing, in the product approach, students are provided with model texts so that they can imitate and then produce their own writing pieces.
Genre approach 7
There are various definitions of genre instruction, for example, Swales
(1990) sees it “as a class of communicative events, the members of which share some set of communicative purposes.” Hyland (2003) defines genre approach as
“abstract, socially recognized ways of using language.”
According to Badger and White (2000), although genre approach sees writing mainly related to linguistic aspects, the genre instruction also takes into account the social context in which writing happens In their view, the central focus of genre approach is purpose, which means each type of writing is produced for different types of purposes This type of approach is impacted by some factors such as the relationships between the writer and the readership, the organization pattern, and even the subject matter This is similar to the view that genre instruction lays more emphasis on the reader and the writing conventions acceptable to the audience (Munice, 2002)
There are three stages learners go through in the genre approaches:
Stage 1: Learners are provided with a genre model for analysis
Stage 2: They do the tasks with related language forms
Stage 3: They create a short text
The genre approach remains some disadvantages, the first of which is that it overemphasizes on the reader while nearly neglecting learner expression (Swales,
2000) Another drawback is that the genre approach in the combination of both knowledge of text and knowledge of culture, which is difficult for learners to comprehend (Paltridge, 2001) In short, genre-oriented approaches are not only concerned with language use but also the social context in which writing occurs.
Major elements of writing 8
Cohesion 8
The purpose of a writer when writing a text is to make readers not only understand what the text is about but also make them realize how well the text is organized and how logical smaller units in the text are linked Cohesion is linguistically explicit and signals underlying semantic relationships between text elements Cohesion is represented by grammatical, logical and lexical bonds between elements of a text or discourse which give the readers the perception of clear compression of the given text or discourse
According to Halliday and Hasan (1976), cohesion is regarded as one of the most influential techniques in text analysis in terms of its current appeal in applied linguistics De Beaugrande and Dressler (1981) state that the presupposition of coherence is the basis of cohesion In order to make a text understandable and logically perceived there must be cohesive devices such as conjunctions, ellipsis, substitution, reference and lexical cohesion We can see that the explicit cohesive devices in texts can not only help a writer to express ideas clearly, but also to help a reader understand a text more easily If we strike out these cohesive ties in any text, the meaning of the text will not be changed, but the organization of the text will be less efficient, leading, in turn, to difficulties for the reader to achieve understanding
Halliday and Hasan (1976) classify cohesion in terms of reference, substitution, ellipsis, conjunction and lexicon Nguyen Hoa (2000) has a different approach to cohesion when he categorizes it into grammatical, logical and lexical cohesion Though the way of categorization is diverse, the elements of cohesion are fully mentioned in their works
Cohesion contributes to the comprehension of discourse but it is inadequate
Receivers may draw on their background knowledge to extract inferences to comprehend a discourse The main source of the background knowledge is taken from real experience, so it involves common procedures and activities social interactions, and spatial settings It is admitted that cohesion facilitates the interpretation of discourse; its combination with coherence is the necessary and sufficient condition for the total comprehension of discourse.
Coherence 9
According to Halliday and Hasan (1976), coherence is an underlying organizer that makes the words and sentences into a unified discourse that conforms to a consistent world picture A coherent text is meaningful, unified, and gives the impression of "hanging together" Cutting (2002) suggests that coherence refers to the rhetorical devices, to ways of writing and speaking that bring about order and unity and emphasis The term coherence also reveals the relationship of the ideas in a text or a discourse that link together to create a meaningful discourse This will help the reader to move easily from one sentence to another without feeling that there are gaps in the thought Therefore, the interconnection of ideas in the text, rather than the individual sentences, is crucial in the production of a coherent text
Let us consider the following example:
John killed two children He was sentenced to death
In this example, there is no cohesive device but we can still understand due to its coherence The second sentence is the consequence of the first one: because John killed people, he received the capital punishment
There have been various interpretations of coherence Some researchers apply the term coherence to the concepts and relations underlying meaning of a text or discourse Therefore, coherence represents both the interrelation between elements of the discourse and the unity and continuity of meaning and context
Linguistic messages are the necessary condition for our understanding of a discourse, but it will be a misconception to interpret discourse with total dependence on literal input (Brown and Yule, 1983).
Errors in writing 10
Previous studies on error analysis 10
There were a good number of papers related to error analysis were published during 1970s and 1980s Error analysis is the identification, description and explanation of errors either in its spoken or written form The structuralist linguists view language as a set of mechanistic habits, and suppose that errors can be avoided at the beginning of learning stage With the emergence of the generative- transformational theory, researchers, scholars and educators were more open to error committing, supposing that errors are natural part of learning process This positive attitude towards errors is especially important in the wake of the Communicative Language Learning and Teaching There had been many studies in language teaching and learning done by scholars like Corder (1967), Richard (1971) and Selinker (1992) By classifying errors that learners made, researchers could learn a great deal about the second language acquisition process by inferring the strategies that the learners were adopting For learners themselves, errors are
„indispensable‟ since the making of errors can be regarded as a device the learner uses in order to learn (Selinker, 1992)
In Vietnam, there has been an attempt made by researchers to contribute to the treasure of error analysis Binh (2002) conducted a study on the error analysis on the use of cohesive devices in writing by the first-year English major students at Thang Long University She presented a large number of errors regarding the use of cohesive devices; in her view, the most significant outcome of the study is that she was aware of students‟ difficulties in using cohesive devices to create their own writing contexts Ninh (2008) investigated into errors regarding multi-verbs in English commonly made by students at Nguyen Hue gifted High school She pointed out a great number of errors related to verb phrases and phrasal verbs committed by her students; and she also suggested error corrections as one of the effective way to deal with the problem Contributing to the picture of error analysis is the study conducted by Anh (2009) on common errors in the use of English articles made by first year students at Hung Yen Industrial College In her study, she claimed that lack of preposition is one of the most common errors; other than that, her students often used articles wrongly In general, many of the studies conducted by Vietnamese researchers focus on a grammatical aspect such as cohesive devices, articles, or verb use.
Errors vs mistakes 11 I.3.4 Types of errors 11 I.3.4 Sources of writing errors 13
The distinction between “errors” and “mistakes” has been given by many linguists though it is impossible to indicate any sharp differentiation According to Klassen (1991), the term “error” is used to refer to a form of structure that a native speaker deems unacceptable because of the lack of language competence Chomsky
(1965) initiated the distinction when he suggested that there were two types of errors: one resulting from verbal performance factors, the other from inadequate language competence Later, Corder (1967) named the former mistakes and the later error Mistakes are said to be unsystematic in nature and correctable when attention is drawn to its producers Errors, on the other hand, refer to any systematic deviations from the rules of the target language system In short, errors are caused by lack of knowledge about the target language or by incorrect hypothesis about it; mistakes are caused by temporary lapses of memory, confusion, and carelessness and so on If we are uncertain whether one of the learners has made an error or a mistake, the crucial test must be: can he correct himself when challenged? if he can, probably it is a mistake; if not, it is an error
The achievement of language learning and teaching may not be flawless as thought The imperfection derives from the difference between the expected output of the language learning and the real result of such process The teacher often requires and expects learners to make as few errors as possible, or even no errors In fact, learners commit errors of different extent and levels Due to the variety of errors, it is need to classify errors in specific groups
The categorization of errors is based on various criteria and aspects If the learner commits errors due to the first language interference, interlingual errors will occur In the mean time, intralingual errors are made irrespective of first language interference Corder (1973) has a different way to classify errors In his view, it is the expressive and receptive behavior in language learning that cause expressive and receptive errors He also asserts that teachers often hold the belief that learners tend to make more productive errors than receptive errors
On the basis of linguistic levels, errors can be categorized into grammatical, discourse, phonological and lexical errors Grammatical errors lay emphasis on grammatical accuracy rather than fluency, which may be obstacles for communication proficiency The immediate teacher correction is not necessary if the purpose of the language course is to provide communicative proficiency
Discourse errors are those related to the non-observance of the target language conventions and they are the manifestations of the leaner cultural and pragmatic knowledge of language use Phonological errors are related to incorrect pronunciation, word stress, and intonation Lexical errors occur when learners use wrong word class or inappropriate words
According to Touchie (1986), there are two types of errors: performance errors and competence errors Learners commit performance errors when they are hasty or careless Errors of this type are usually not so serious and learners can correct themselves with some attempt On the contrary, competence errors are committed due to inadequate learning These errors are more serious because learners will take time to accumulate and improve their language knowledge
Burt and Kiparsky (1974, cited in Touchie, 1986) differentiates between local errors and global errors Local errors include noun and verb inflections, the use of grammatical items Local errors do not have negative impacts on the communication process as well as the comprehension of the meaning of utterances or statements Therefore, local errors are not very serious Global errors involve the use wrong word order and meaning; therefore, they may cause obscurity and unintelligibility, which may disrupt and hinder communication
I.3.4 Sources of writing errors I.3.3.1 Intralingual and developmental factors
It is natural that language learners make errors during their learning process
Errors may derive from various sources There have been many explanations for errors committed by errors Richards (1974) proposes five causes of errors: 1) overgeneralization, 2) incomplete application of rules, 3) false concepts hypothesized, and 4) ignorance of rule restriction To make it clear, the four classifications above are explained briefly below
In case of overgeneralization, learners apply strategies they have learned to new learning situations More specifically, they base on their past learning experience to produce deviant structures in the target language There are two main reasons for overgeneralization; the first one is that learners want to diminish linguistic complexities, and the other one is the superficial similarities of structures in the target language
Overgeneralization is also linked with redundancy reduction This happens when learners find that some grammatical aspects are unimportant in conveying meaning This occurrence is popular in descriptive writing which learners often use simple present tense instead of past tense though the actions happen in the past
The ability to produce acceptable utterances and statements represents the extent to which learners apply rules to doing so One of the common difficulty facing learners is the use of question forms; a statement is sometimes a question
Responses to questions require grammatical rules Foreign and second language learners may pay attention to communicative aspects of language, so they often ignore grammatical forms In other words, the leaner needs to communicate in other languages may exceed the needs to produce grammatically correct sentences
An example of incomplete application of rules can be seen in the question forms Teachers‟ use of questions in classroom is not to find out something but to elicit sentences The use of question may also be unrelated to the skills it is meant to establish
There are errors arising from faulty comprehension of distinctions in the target language In other words, learners cannot distinguish different grammatical forms There are two main explanations for errors of this type The first one is the leaner‟s‟ poor gradation of teaching items The other is connected with a contrastive approach to language teaching Instead of introducing language structure as a whole for learners to follow, the contrastive approach lays excessive emphasis on points of difference, which may confuse learners Effective ways to minimize learners‟ confusion are choosing non-synonymous contexts for related words and phrases and not using excises based on contrast and transformation
Importance of errors to teaching and learning writing 15
Corder (1973) affirms that there are two main schools of thought regarding language errors in the area of teaching methodology The first school is that the teaching method is the decisive factor that governs learners‟ possibility of making errors If our goal is to achieve a perfect teaching method, then there will be no chances of learners‟ committing errors; it is the ineffectiveness of teaching methods that result in the occurrence of errors The other view is that making errors is a natural thing and is unavoidable in language learning In practice, the second thought seems popular or even ubiquitous in language learning setting Thus, if making errors is natural, the question of seriousness of the action is not as important as the significance that such errors bring about
Contributions of error analysis to pedagogy
According to Richards (1974), researchers conduct studies related to errors to find out strategies employed by learners in language teaching, to identify the causes of errors, and to explore learners‟ common difficulties to facilitate language learning and teaching process In fact the third aim is the consequence of the first two aims Learners‟ errors provide the evidence of the language they are using at some particular point in the course (Corder, 1973) Therefore, learners‟ errors have been in the interests of teachers, syllabus designers, and test developers As a result, the contribution of error analysis to language teaching and learning can be regarded from the aspects of language teachers and syllabus designers (Erdogan, 2005)
Contribution of error analysis to foreign language teachers
The teacher is the one who is well aware of types, causes and frequency of errors that their learners make The analysis of such errors in a systematic way will tell the teacher the learner‟s progress in the learning process and the remaining jobs to be done (Corder, 1973) Based on what the learner has achieved, the teacher will be able to explore the needs and weaknesses of learners whereby appropriate teaching strategies are employed Though errors are representation of learners‟ performance, the teacher should notice that errors are signs to measure the adequacy of teaching methods Consequently, the teacher needs to adapt the teaching styles in accordance with learners‟ capacity to minimize the chances of making errors
Contribution of error analysis syllabus designers
Syllabus design should not be done arbitrarily but based on studies related to specific criteria and factors such as age group, needs, and learner goals The importance of syllabus design in language course cannot be denied Errors are the source of evidence for researchers to explore “how language is learned or acquired, what strategies or procedures the learner is employing in his discovery of the language” (Corder, 1973) The analysis of learner errors will help to indentify learners‟ linguistic difficulties and their needs at some stage of language learning process; therefore, it assists to construct materials suitable to learners
This chapter describes the participants, instruments of data collection, procedure of data collection, and methods of data analysis of the study in detail.
Participants 18
The number of participants in the study is fifty; they were chosen randomly from five classes; each class has ten students taking part in the study Below is the specific information of the participants
Information of students Number of responses Percentage
Length of English learning Nearly 5 years 50 100%
Table 1: students’ general information in the survey
The number of students participating in the survey is fifty; the age of the participants in the study are regarded as homogenous in with 44 students at the age of 15 (88%), and the rest at the age of 16 They all study in the same class in which female students account for 62%, nearly double the number of male students Until the time of the survey, they all have been studying English for nearly five years
Although those students have been studying English for nearly five years, their English is at the pre-intermediate level.
Instrumentation 18
Students‟ perceptions of writing tasks in the textbook 24
The writing tasks in the textbook are assessed based on the four main criteria: students‟ interests in the tasks, authenticity of the tasks, complexity of the tasks, and variety of the tasks
Agree Agree Unsure Disagree Strongly
Table 6: Students’ perceptions of the writing tasks in the textbook
As can be seen from the table, more than half the students found writing topics in the textbooks interesting, only 10% of them are not interested in such writing topics In terms of authenticity, only about 20% of the students perceived writing tasks as real life topics; nearly half of them showed their hesitation in determining the authenticity of writing tasks When assessing the complexity of writing tasks, nearly 60% of the students agreed that writing tasks in the textbook are complex In terms of writing task variety, there are three groups with relatively similar percentage
The table also shows that the interest and complexity of the writing topics emerge as the two noticeable factors It is not paradoxical that writing tasks are both interesting and complex because some students may find it interesting, others find it complex It can be inferred that students are focused in writing class because the writing tasks are interesting and authentic to some extent and that many students did not raise their voice in writing lessons as a result of complex writing tasks.
Students‟ attitudes towards the teacher‟s writing lessons 25 III.2 Errors analysis of students’ writing papers 25
Q 10: I find it easier to write thanks to teacher guidance 18% 60% 16% 6%
Q 11: I want my papers to be read and corrected by the teacher 8% 24% 42% 26%
Q 12: I am anxious about writing after corrections if there are so many mistakes 20% 18% 38% 24%
Q 14: I feel more confident after getting good marks for my papers 56% 42% 2%
Table 7: Students’ attitudes towards the teachers’ writing lessons
The table shows that teacher guidance is very effective in helping the students to write: nearly 80% of the learners express their agreement This implies that current teaching techniques are appropriate to most of the students and that the students have positive attitudes towards learning writing However, only 32% of the students were willing to submit their writing papers to the teacher for reading and corrections Others were hesitant to ask for teacher comments possibly because they found it unimportant to do so or they have not completed their assigned writing tasks From the question 11 and question 12, it can be inferred that teaching and learning writing activities are not interactive It is warning that up to more than 60% of the students are afraid to continue their writing in case their writing papers contain a large number of errors
III.2 Error analysis of the students’ writing papers
After the students finished the two exams, I collected and analyzed errors they committed in those papers The errors then were identified and categorized and the most typical and common errors were presented In general, the students made errors both in using language and organization.
Errors in language 26
Grammatical errors committed the students are found related to uses of verbs, prepositions, articles, and pronouns These are the most popular errors in the students‟ writing papers Grammatical aspects of errors regarding verbs mainly falls into the category of tense, voice, subject-verb agreement, omission of verbs and others The following is the graph presenting verb-related errors
Tense Voice Subject-verb agreement Lack of verbs
As can be seen from the graph, the students made most subject-verb agreement errors, up to 50% It is eight times higher than the percentage of tense and verb omission errors The students usually used base form of verbs regardless of whether the subject is a singular or plural noun Here are some illustrations:
He is handsome and be fond of… He is handsome and is fond of…
There is many songs about Hanoi There are many songs about Hanoi.
2 1 1 Grammatical errors 26
Grammatical errors committed the students are found related to uses of verbs, prepositions, articles, and pronouns These are the most popular errors in the students‟ writing papers Grammatical aspects of errors regarding verbs mainly falls into the category of tense, voice, subject-verb agreement, omission of verbs and others The following is the graph presenting verb-related errors
Tense Voice Subject-verb agreement Lack of verbs
As can be seen from the graph, the students made most subject-verb agreement errors, up to 50% It is eight times higher than the percentage of tense and verb omission errors The students usually used base form of verbs regardless of whether the subject is a singular or plural noun Here are some illustrations:
He is handsome and be fond of… He is handsome and is fond of…
There is many songs about Hanoi There are many songs about Hanoi
It talk about a cat and a mouse It talks about a cat and a mouse
Every day Tom want imprison Jerry Every day Tom wants to imprison
Jerry gradually defeat Tom Jerry gradually defeats Tom
It keep me excited and relaxed It keeps me excited and relaxed
The possible explanations for the students to make those errors are that they found it not serious to make such mistakes and some of them could not recognize the singularity and plurality of the subject
Tense and voice account for 8% and 11% respectively Regarding tense uses, the students put the verbs into present simple tense instead of considering which correct tense should be used For example, a student writes: “I see it on TV twice.”
In this case, the tense should be present perfect It is clear that some students found it hard to distinguish different tenses and that simple present is the “most convenient” means in their writing The percentage of making voice errors is a higher with 11% The students preferred active voice to passive one and vice versa
It seems that this kind of errors shows the sign of first language interference For example, some students write “Hanoi located in the North” or “The film made in Korea.” In Vietnamese language, the two sentences can be put in active voice
Verb omission errors account for 8% For example, some students wrote
“Tom not a good cat” and “It near Bac Ninh province” In these cases, the students used adjectives as verbs, so they omitted the verbs Other verb related error types are made up of 27% These include errors regarding phrasal verbs, verb phrase, and redundant verbs Below are some examples:
Other verb related errors Corrections
It do me cry It made me cry
If we go to visit Hanoi If we visit Hanoi
Hanoi attract tourists came visit Hanoi attracts tourists to visit
I like watch films and cartoons I like watching films and cartoons
"Tom and Jerry" is the film I prefer "Tom and Jerry" is the film I like best
Tom and Jerry don't happy with each other
Tom and Jerry are not happy with each other
I am very like this movie I like this movie very much
The cause of these errors seems to be false concepts hypothesized, which derives from faulty comprehension of distinctions in the target language It can be inferred from the first example in the above table that students had difficulty in telling the differences between “do” and “make” The forth and the last examples in the table represent the learners‟ first language interference
In addition to committing verb-related errors, the students also showed their weakness in the uses of prepositions In total, there are ten sentences which contain preposition-related errors Errors concerned with prepositions fall into two sub- categories: lack of prepositions and wrong choice of prepositions
Ten errors regarding preposition uses may reveal serious situation It is important to examine the causes of such errors Below are the examples of this error type:
Hanoi city is in the north Vietnam Hanoi city is in the north of
Hanoi has a lot good food Hanoi has a lot of good food
"Full house" is a kind love story film "Full house" is a kind of love story film
Michael helps his brother and his friend escape prison
Michael helps his brother and his friend escape from prison where the late president lies the 3rd floor where the late president lies the on 3rd floor
In the films I have seen Of the films I have seen
It is famous by the beauty and by friendliness of people
It is famous for the beauty and friendliness of people
Hanoi is one in the two biggest cities of Vietnam
Hanoi is one of the two biggest cities of Vietnam
Jerry was beaten by a stick Jerry was beaten with a stick
I usually watch film in home I usually watch film at home
Lack of prepositions is due to the ignorance of some fixed grammatical structures such as “a lot of”, “kind of” and „on the floor” The second sub-type of errors is obviously affected by the learners‟ first language The learners generalize the rules of Vietnamese language in English language
Other than the abovementioned errors, the learners make so many mistakes in using articles Errors related to using articles are grouped in three sub-types: lack of articles, wrong choice of articles and unnecessary use of articles
Lack of articles Wrong choice of articles
As can be seen from the graph, lack of articles is among the most common errors among those related to the use of articles, accounting for up to 74% The incorrect use of articles ranks second in this sub-type of errors with 18.5% The total number of sentences found to contain article-related errors is 27, which means that more than half number of students commit such kind of errors The following are some examples for illustrations
It is about sinking of luxury liner It is about the sinking of a luxury liner
"Tom and Jerry" is first cartoon I like "Tom and Jerry" is the first cartoon I like
It's love story film and action film It's a love story film and action film
City is crowded The city is crowded
It is based on true story It is based on a true story
He is composer loved by Korean people
He is a composer loved by Korean people
It is important city of country It is an important city of country
Hanoi is largest city of country Hanoi is the largest city of country
Wrong choice of articles Corrections
In short, Hanoi is a interesting city In short, Hanoi is an interesting city
It is a largest city in the North It is the largest city in the North
Hanoi is a capital of Vietnam Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam
It is a most interesting film It is the most interesting film
Hanoi is the largest center in the
Vietnam Hanoi is the largest center in the Vietnam
The cause of lack of articles is the neglect of rule restrictions In English language, a count noun must be preceded by an article In the examples above,
“liner”, “city” and country” are singular count nouns, so there must be an article coming before those nouns The students seemed to forget this grammatical point
The incorrect use of articles can be traced back to first language interference and the ignorance of rule restrictions It is the learners‟ way of thinking in the first language that they produced such phrase as “an interesting city” The inability to distinguish the definiteness of nouns leads to wrong use of articles In such examples as “largest city” or “most interesting film”, we know what these nouns refer to, so definite articles must be used Regarding unnecessary use of articles, learners did not pay enough attention to the rule that articles are not put before proper nouns in most cases
In addition to the abovementioned errors, the students also made mistakes regarding the use of pronouns In fact, the errors of this sub-type are not common in the students‟ writing papers In total, there are only five errors concerning the use of pronouns of which four errors are related to relative pronouns
The film is about Dung who is an orphan The film is about Dung, an orphan
Hanoi which has large population is the capital of Vietnam
Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, has large population
I love the city that has many famous places
I love the city which has many famous places
Hoan Kiem lake is the place for that Hanoi is famous
Hoan Kiem lake is the place for which Hanoi is famous
Dung saw he in a rainy day Dung saw her in a rainy day
In the first example, it is unnecessary to use the relative pronoun The root of this error may be hypercorrection In particular, when the teacher corrected this mistake repeatedly, the learners were so affected that they will always use a relative pronoun between two clauses The learner‟s attempt to produce a complex sentence via inserting a relative pronoun caused unnaturalness in sentence meaning The next two sentences contain wrong choices of relative pronouns This may be due to the leaner inability to distinguish the use of “which” and “that”.
2.1 2 Lexical errors 32
Errors in organization 34
In analysis of errors regarding the organization of students‟ writing papers, I used a checklist to see how many papers commit such mistakes; the results are as follows:
No topic sentence stating the main point 1
Lack of development of the main points 0
Errors in sentence structures or usage 50 36
No transitional words where there should be 50 98
As can be seen from the table, most of the students did not insert introductory sentences in their writing papers Lack of introduction sometimes causes the disruption in the flow of ideas The possible reason is that the students did not realize the importance of introductory sentences in leading the audience to the writing products The table also reveals a good sign that nearly all the students included topic sentences in their writing papers As the writing topics are about the description of a city or a favorite film, most of the students started their descriptive writing with such phrases as “Of all the films I have ever seen, I ” or “Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam ” Then, the students developed the topic sentence with supporting ideas
The table above shows that most of the students‟ writing papers contained errors in sentence structures and usage Such sentences contain a variety of errors regarding different grammatical and syntactical aspects For example:
*Hanoi is a interesting city has many new things
*About Hanoi's food, has a lot of serious foods
*Its stands second finish population with 7 million people
In those examples above, there is more than one error in each sentence; the cause of such errors seems to be the first language interference The construction of such sentences can be traced back to the learners‟ first language
We can see from the table that all the papers committed errors concerning the lack of transitional words The most common transition signals that are absent are those refer addition As the writing topics are descriptive, students should have used connectors to link sentences together to ensure the smoothness of chain of sentences, but the students only described in separate sentences with loose connection For example:
“ Hanoi have thirty six streets Hanoi have many mausoleums It has The Huc Bridge ”
Those sentences can be improved by inserting some connectors such as in addition, moreover, and besides Many students committed these errors due to their lack of vocabulary in this aspect or they do not know how and where to insert transitional words
The table also reveals that all the papers contained errors regarding coherence, which means that the students wrote sentences which were incomprehensible or difficult to understand For example:
“ It is about adventure’s Tom cat and Jerry mouse The film is made in America The main characters bad, it killed Jerry mouse but it never win
Jerry mouse is very characters intelligent and quickly Although it’s ran by Tom cat but by interesting in defeat Tom This is the film has a happy and I feel good fun after seeing it ”
It is obvious that this paragraph contain not only grammatical mistakes but also errors regarding incoherence The student could not express the idea that the main characters are Tom and Jerry, and Tom is bad Moreover, if Tom killed Jerry, there would be no chasing between them anymore
I also found that nearly half the numbers of writing papers lacked concluding sentences The conclusion provides brief summary of what has been written and may include the writer‟s feelings of and remarks on the topic The lack of concluding sentence makes the audience expect that there are more to read
After the analysis of students‟ writing papers, a large number of and a variety of errors have been found As a result of this, I will understand more of my students‟ writing ability and find ways to improve their writing skills
CHAPTER FOUR: MAJOR FINDINGS AND SUGGESTIONS
In the last chapter, I have presented the results of the study and discussed such findings In this chapter, I will summarize the main points of the results and point out some implications.
Synthesis of the findings and discussions 37
The aim of the study is to find out common errors made by graders 10 at Thuan Thanh 2 high school in learning writing skill In order to do so, I try to explore the students‟ attitudes towards this skill and the errors committed by the students in their writing papers
It has been found that the students have positive attitudes towards writing skill; the proof of this is that more than 80% of them recognize the importance of mastering the writing skill There seems to be the relationship between the percentage of those who find writing important and the percentage of those who spend time learning writing; more than half of the students spend about one hour to do their wiring tasks at home However, about two thirds of the students say that they are not focused in writing lessons Their distraction may be due to their lack of writing ability or temporal lack of interest in writing lessons Students‟ interests in writing lessons are possibly reflected through the percentage of those who raise their voice in writing class Nearly 60% of the students sit silent in the class because they know little of writing As such, it can be inferred that the students‟ interests in writing depend on their knowledge of this skill The research also pointed out that grammar and vocabulary are among the most difficult factors facing the students
This finding is justifiable because in the English textbook 10, other writing requirements are not paid attention so much
Students‟ perceptions of writing tasks in the textbook have also been examined Many of them found that writing tasks in the textbook are both interesting and complex The possible explanations for this are that writing topics are of their interests but they do not have enough ideas or vocabulary to write about such topics
Questions regarding students‟ attitudes towards the teacher‟s writing lessons have been analyzed Most of them answered that it is easier to write with teacher guidance The finding revealed that many of the students do not participate actively in writing class It is warning that 60% of the students are afraid of writing if their papers contain many mistakes and are corrected It can be inferred that hypercorrection does not always bring about positive effects and that the teacher should find effective ways to encourage the students in writing lessons
When examining the students‟ writing papers, it was found that they often make mistakes in grammar, vocabulary and organization In terms of grammar, the learners usually make mistakes regarding the use of verbs, prepositions, articles, and pronouns The most noticeable errors related to verb uses are subject-verb agreement, with 50% The cause of subject-verb concord is that the learners often ignore the rule restrictions and they want to simplify language uses The causes of verb-related errors are that there are leaner first language interference and the ignorance of rule restrictions In addition to committing verb-related errors, the students also show their weakness in the uses of prepositions In total, there are ten sentences which contain preposition-related errors Errors concerned with prepositions fall into two sub-categories: lack of prepositions and wrong choice of prepositions Other than the aforementioned errors, the learners make so many mistakes in using articles Errors related to using articles are grouped in three sub- types: lack of articles, wrong choice of articles and unnecessary use of articles The most serious of this sub-type of mistakes is that the learners often omit articles, the cause of which is the neglect of rule restrictions Concerning lexical errors, the students often makes mistake in wrong word order It can be easily realized that the learners often put nouns before adjectives in the formation of noun phrases from nouns and adjectives The interference of the students‟ first language may be the root of such sub-type of errors
In addition to language errors, the students also committed errors in organization of writing Most of the students started their descriptive paragraph without introductory sentences Nearly half the students lacked concluding sentences in their writing papers, and all of them make mistakes regarding coherence and cohesion As such, there will be more to be done to help the students to improve students‟ writing skill.
Implications 39
Exploring the tenth graders‟ attitudes towards writing skill is an important step to gain comprehensive views on difficulties that the learners face during writing learning It is certain that learner attitudes are bound by three main factors: learners, learning and teaching materials, and the teacher On analyzing students‟ attitudes towards learning to write in English, I found that most of them realized the importance of writing skill but they could not focus on writing lessons and spent little of their time on learning the skill This implies that there were negative factors affecting the students Moreover, many of them said that they found it easier to write thanks to teacher guidance As such, their autonomy in learning may not reach to the spectrum of efficacy Another noticeable thing is that the students tend to like good marks for their writing papers, the implication of which is the teacher can encourage or discourage their students by marking the papers
The analysis of errors in the students‟ writing papers revealed that there remained flaws in their products The students committed a great number of and a various types of errors regarding language use and organization The causes of such errors were also pointed out The key thing is how to reduce the number of errors in the students‟ papers maximally
So far three approaches to teaching writing have been mentioned: product, process, and genre approach The main principles of the product approach are as follows:
The teaching of second language writing often goes with the instruction of grammar and structure
At more advanced levels, students can learn to write about an essay
Correct sentence structure is an important component of writing, and grammatical skills receive much emphasis
Errors in writing can be avoided if learners are provided models to follow
Learners do not usually learn from their mistakes
Such characteristics and the findings of the study point out that product approach may be an effective approach to writing instruction In fact, my students‟ writing skill is not at high levels; they often work with sentence structures and sometimes write short paragraph Therefore, product approach can be a suitable solution to my teaching situation Teaching language structures and correcting errors regarding language use may be acceptable to the situation
Perhaps one of the most frustrating tasks of language teachers is correcting errors, and then seeing the repeated occurrence in the students‟ writing Despite error corrections consumes a great deal of teacher‟ time, there is often a feeling that the same errors are being corrected again and again Thus, whether the error correction is beneficial in students‟ learning is a big question to many writing teachers Ferris (1995) emphasizes the importance that gives to writing accurately and their need to obtain corrections from teachers Some such as Ferris and Robert,
(2001), Semke (1984), Lanlade (1982) agree that corrections are useful to students as long as they are consistent and systematic Error correction can be implemented via teacher correction, self-correction and peer correction
In this part, the main findings of the study will be concluded In addition, limitations and suggestions of the study are also revealed
In order to find out the common writing errors committed by tenth graders in Thuan Thanh 2 high school and their attitudes towards learning, two research questions have been answered The first question regards their attitudes towards learning writing skill The second question is related to the exploration of error types committed by the learners In general, the students have positive attitudes towards and perceptions of writing lessons However, they still make a large number of errors in their writing papers Most of the students often make mistakes related to language use and vocabulary It can be said that these are the two important factors in conveying messages from the writer to the audience
In second language teaching and learning, it is impossible for learners to make no mistakes, but it seems that errors tend to be considered negatively Errors are the signs of ineffectiveness of teaching and learning process In fact, errors also contribute to language teaching and learning if the language teacher analyzes errors systematically and figure out effective ways not to deal with those errors but to help learners to make as few mistakes as possible This study shows that error analysis can help the teacher to identify specific types and causes of errors and common language problems facing writing learners In addition to that, it can help the teacher to predict errors in a certain contexts, as a result of which the teacher can choose the appropriate teaching methods to improve students‟ writing ability
Although the study reveals some noticeable results, there remain limitations
In the first place, the number of the participants is only fifty; it will be very hard to determine whether the situation is similar when the study is conducted with larger participation of the students Moreover, as tenth graders‟ writing paragraphs is not paid attention in the right sense, their encountering difficulties is evident Another limitation is that the researcher only designs two writing tests and the students only
As such, it is impossible to affirm that these writing problems are outstanding
Similar studies can be done with larger number of participants and with more writing tests to increase the possibility of generalization The next limitation is that the students are tasked to write two descriptive paragraphs whose typical feature is the use of simple present and past tense, so it is hard to determine other types and frequency of errors made by the students
Future studies needs to go beyond the simple identification of learners‟ errors in writing descriptive paragraphs to overcome the limitations of the study and to obtain more general and more reliable results In fact, future researchers of the topic can require students to write more descriptive paragraphs to see changes in the types and causes of errors As a result of this, the researchers will be able to identify errors of highest frequency and find effective ways to improve students‟ writing ability.
Anh, D T P (2009) Common errors in the use of English articles made by first- year students at Hung Yen Industrial College University of Foreign
Azimah, H (2005) Analysis of errors in composition of form one secondary school in Kuala Lumpur Unpublished M.A thesis University of Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi
Badger, R., & White, G (2000) A process genre approach to teaching writing ELT
Bazerman, C (1985) The informed writer: Using sources in the disciplines Boston:
Bizzell, P (1982) College composition: Initiation into the academic discourse community Curriculum Inquiry, 12, 191-207
Binh, T T H (2002) An Error Analysis on the Use of Cohesive Devices in the
Writting by the Freshmen Majoring in English at Thang Long University
University of Foreign Language and Studies, Hanoi
Brown, G & Yule, G (1983) Discourse Analysis, Cambridge: Cambridge
Chomsky, N (1965) Aspects of the Theory of Syntax CUP
Corder, S.P (1967) The significance of learners‟ errors OUP
Corder, S.P (1973) Introducing applied linguistics Middlesex Penguin
Cutting, J (2002) Pragmatics and discourse New York: Routledge
Darus, S (2009) Error analysis of the written English essays of secondary students in Malaysia: a case study European of social sciences, 8(3)
De Beaugrande, R., & Dressler, W.U 1981 Introduction to text linguistics
Erdogan, V (2005) Contribution of error analysis to foreign language teaching
Ferris, D and Robert, B (2001) Error feedback in L2 writing classes How explicit does it need to be? Jounal of Second Language Writing
Gabrielatos, C (2002) EFL writing: product and process
Halliday, M A K & Hasan R 1976 Cohesion in English London: Longman Hasan, M K., & Akhand, M M (2010) Approaches to writing in EFL/ESL context: Balancing product and process approach in writing class at tertiary level NELTA Journal, 15(2), 77-87
Hoa, Nguyen (2000) An Introduction to Discourse Analysis Hanoi National
Hyland, K (2003) Second language writing New York: Cambridge University
Klassen, J (1991) Using Student Errors for Teaching The English Teacher Forum,
Kroll, B (1990) Second language writing: research insights for the classroom
Lalade II, J (1992) Redution composition errors: An experiment The Modern
Mungungu, S S (2010) Error analysis : investigating the writing of ESL Namibian learners University of South Africa
Munice, J (2002) Finding a place for in EFL composition classes EFL Journal,
Ninh, N T L (2008) Multi-word verbs in English: Errors commonly made by students at Nguyen Hue gifted High school and possible solutions University of Foreign Language and Studies, Hanoi
Pincas, A (1982) Teaching English writing London: Macmillan
Raimes, A (1983) Techniques in teaching writing Oxford: Oxford University
Richards, J.C (1971) A non contrastive approach to error analysis English language teaching, 25(3)
Richards, J.C (1974) Error analysis London: Longman Press
Selinker, L (1992) Rediscovering interlanguage London: Longman
Semke, H The effect of the red pen (1984) Foreign language Annals
Steele, V (2004) Product and process writing: a comparison Rowley: Newbury
Swales, J.M (2000) Further reflections on genre and ESL academic writing
Touchie, H Y (1986) Second language learning errors: their types, causes, and treatment JALT Journal, 8(1)
Tribble, C (1996) Writing Oxford: Oxford University Press
APPENDICES Appendix1: Questionnaire for students
Phiếu câu hỏi này được thiết kế nhằm mục đích tìm hiểu thái độ của học sinh (lớp 10) đối với việc học kỹ năng viết tiếng Anh và các hoạt động của học sinh trong các giờ học viết Các em hãy làm theo hướng dẫn và hoàn thành phiếu câu hỏi Tôi đánh giá cao việc các em hoàn thành câu hỏi, thong tin về các em sẽ không được tiết lộ
Thông tin về học sinh l Tuổi:
3 Số năm học tiếng Anh:
I Thái độ của học sinh đối với kỹ năng viết
1 Mối quan tâm của các em đối với kỹ năng viết
1 Kỹ năng viết có quan trọng với em không?
Rất quan trọng quan trọng bình thường Không quan trọng
2 Em thường dành bao nhiêu thời gian để hoàn thành một bài viết ở nhà?
0 hour Khoảng 1 giờ Khoảng 2 giờ Hơn 2 giờ
3 Em có tập trung trong giờ học viết không?
Tập trung Bình thường Không tập trung
4 Em có thường phát biểu trong giờ học viết không? Tại sao?
……… 5.Em thấy khó nhất phần nào khi viết?
Nội dung Ngữ pháp Bố cục Chấm câu Từ vựng
Hãy đánh dấu tích vào ô bên phải để thể hiện mức độ em đồng ý hoặc không đồng ý với các phát biểu sau
Cảm nhận của em về các bài viết trong SGK
6 Các bài viết trong SGK rất thú vị
7 Các bài viết trong SGK rất thực tế
8 Các bài viết trong SGK quá dài
9 Các bài viết trong SGK quá phức tạp
Thái độ của em đối với giáo viên dạy kỹ năng viết tiếng Anh
10 Em thấy dễ viết hơn khi giáo viên hướng dẫn
11 Em muốn giáo viên đọc và sửa bài mình viết
12 Em sợ viết mỗi sau khi chữa lỗi vì đã mắc nhiều lỗi
13 Em thấy tự tin hơn sau khi đước bài viết được điểm cao
Choose and write about one of the following topics Task 1: Describe one of your favorite films The length of your description is from
100 words The following information should be included: the name of the film, kind of film, what it is about, where it is made/based on, the main characters, its ending (happy or sad)
Task 2: Describe Hanoi capital city The length of your description is about 100 words You can use the following suggestions: where it is located, how big it is, its population, kind of city, what it is famous for, history of the city
I see it on TV twice I have seen it on TV
I never go to Hanoi before I have never gone to Hanoi before
The film made in Korea The film is made in Korea
Sung Yo was lost his money Sung Yo lost his money Hanoi located in the North Hanoi is located in the North
They were lived happily They lived happily
Hanoi has extended recently Hanoi has been extended recently
It founded in 1066 It was founded in 1066
He is handsome and be fond of… He is handsome and is fond of…
There is many songs about Hanoi There are many songs about Hanoi
It talk about a cat and a mouse It talks about a cat and a mouse
Every day Tom want imprison Jerry Every day Tom wants to imprison
Jerry gradually defeat Tom Jerry gradually defeats Tom
Watching "Tom and Jerry" make me feel happy and funny
Watching "Tom and Jerry" makes me feel happy and funny
It keep me excited and relaxed It keeps me excited and relaxed
He stand against bad people He stands against bad people
The film have a happy ending The film has a happy ending
They was kept in prison They were kept in prison
People in Hanoi is friendly People in Hanoi are friendly
Hanoi have thirty six streets Hanoi has thirty six streets
Hanoi have apartment buildings, universities, and entertainment areas
Hanoi has apartment buildings, universities, and entertainment areas
The main characters is Lee Joon and Kim Na Na
The main characters are Lee Joon and Kim Na Na
Two brothers is studying Two brothers are studying
The film make the audience moving The film makes the audience moving
It near Bac Ninh province It is near Bac Ninh province
When from America to Japan to find his father…
When moving from America to Japan to find his father…
It famous for long streets It is famous for long streets
It do me cry It made me cry
If we to Hanoi, If we visit Hanoi,
The film about the fights The film is about the fights
"Tom and Jerry” the film I prefer "Tom and Jerry" is the film I like best
Tom and Jerry happy with each other
Tom and Jerry are happy with each other
Hanoi city is in the north Vietnam Hanoi city is in the north of Vietnam
Hanoi has a lot good food Hanoi has a lot of good food
"Full house" is a kind love story film "Full house" is a kind of love story film
Micheal helps his brother and his friend escape prison
Micheal helps his brother and his friend escape from prison where the late president lies the 3rd floor where the late president lies on the 3rd floor
In the films I have seen Of the films I have seen
It is famous by the beauty and by friendliness of people
It is famous for the beauty and friendliness of people
Hanoi is one in the two biggest cities of Vietnam
Hanoi is one of the two biggest cities of Vietnam
Jerry was beaten by a stick Jerry was beaten with a stick
I usually watch film in home I usually watch film at home
It is about sinking of luxury liner It is about the sinking of a luxury liner
"Tom and Jerry" is first cartoon I like "Tom and Jerry" is the first cartoon I like
One of famous films is "Gia dinh da quy" shown in 1999
One of the famous films is "Gia dinh da quy” shown in 1999
It's love story film and action film It's a love story film and action film
City is crowded The city is crowded
Hanoi is capital of Vietnam Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam
This place is cultural center of nation This place is a cultural center of nation
"Prison break" is a action film "Prison break" is an action film
Van Mieu is a place to memorize the most brilliant scholars of nation
Van Mieu is the place to memorize the most brilliant scholars of nation
Film is about student who lives far from home The film is about a student who Family has five children The family has five children
The film is about conflicts in family The film is about conflicts in a family
Hanoi is large city Hanoi is a large city
Hanoi is business center of Vietnamese Hanoi is the business center of
One of four seasons is cool One of the four seasons is cool
When country was united, it was called Hanoi
When the country was united, it was called Hanoi
It is based on true story It is a based on true story
He is composer loved by Korean people He is a composer loved by Korean people
It is important city of country It is an important city of country
Hanoi is largest city of country Hanoi is the largest city of country
Wrong choice of articles Corrections
In short, Hanoi is a interesting city In short, Hanoi is an interesting city
It is a largest city in the North It is the largest city in the North
Hanoi has a long history of culture and development
Hanoi has long history of culture and development
Hanoi is a capital of Vietnam Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam
It is a most interesting film It is the most interesting film
Unnecessary use of articles Corrections
Hanoi is the largest center in the Vietnam
Hanoi is the largest center in Vietnam
I have seen the many famous films I have seen many famous films
The film is about Dung who is an orphan The film is about Dung, an orphan
Hanoi which has large population is the capital of Vietnam
Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, has large population
I love the city that has many famous places
I love the city which has many famous places
Hoan Kiem lake is the place for that Hanoi is famous
Hoan Kiem lake is the place for which Hanoi is famous
Dung saw he in a rainy day Dung saw her in a rainy day
Dong Hac is a cook young Dong Hac is a young cook
Seawa is a lady intelligent Seawa is an intelligent lady
The city covers an area large The city covers a large area
The city is a city big The city is big/ It is a big city
It is about the men intelligent It is about the intelligent men
Jerry is a very character intelligent Jerry is a very intelligent character
Tom is a cat lazy and Jerry is a mouse friendly
Tom is a lazy cat and Jerry is a friendly mouse
It has a culture thousand year old It has a thousand-year-old culture
Hanoi is a city big and beauty Hanoi is a big and beautiful city
It is a development city with famous landscapes
It is a developed city with famous landscapes
The film is made in American The film is made in America cartoon films cartoons
It attracttion many visitors It attracts many visitors
A Tinh is a good cooker A Tinh is a good cook
He met much difficults He met many difficulties
I have visted much famous places in Hanoi I have visited many famous places in Hanoi
Hanoi has old street Hanoi has old streets
Visitors can enjoy many historical pagoda Visitors can enjoy many historical pagodas
The main character are Park Min, Song Hoo…
The main characters are Park Min…
Appendix 8: Errors in sentence structures and usage
"Tom and Jerry" is the like best "Tom and Jerry" is the cartoon I like best
Hanoi, which in the capital city of Vietnam Hanoi is the capital city of Vietnam
The film audience delights The film delights the audience
Hanoi is "Thap Rua" and Hoan Kiem Lake
Hanoi has "Thap Rua" and Hoan Kiem Lake
Hanoi is a interesting city has many new things
Hanoi is an interesting city with many new things
About Hanoi's food, has a lot of serious foods Hanoi has a lot of delicious food
Nowadays have a lot of interesting films about friendship
Nowadays there are a lot of interesting films about friendship
It is a comedy cartoon, talks about two characters is Tom cat and Jerry mouse
It is a funny cartoon talking about two characters: Tom cat and Jerry mouse
This film came watchers comfortable and laughs
This film makes the audience laugh and feel comfortable
I love Jerry because it lovely and I hate Tom because it badly
I love Jerry because it is lovely and I hate Tom because it is bad
The film have parent live happy with children always love children and look after it
Parents in the film live happily with their children, always love and look after them
Hanoi is capital very beautiful Hanoi is a very beautiful capital
Hanoi is the largest city in the Vietnamese Hanoi is the largest city in Vietnam
Although difficult but they always help Although life is hard, they help each other
Hanoi capital city is one place very beautiful Hanoi is a very beautiful capital city
In Hanoi have many visit place famous Hanoi has many famous places to visit
Special Hanoi center have Hoan Kiem lake Especially, in the Hanoi center is Hoan
Between lake have one tower beautiful There is a beautiful tower in the middle of the lake
What a beautiful Hanoi it is! What beautiful Hanoi!
Come to Hanoi, visitors will enjoy many delicious food
Coming to Hanoi, visitors will enjoy a lot of delicious food
Its stands second finish population with
Its population ranks second in the country, with 7 million people
Lie in the middle of the Red river plain populous and wealthy
Located in the middle of the populous and wealthy Red river delta
Hanoi be one of two a economy center of the country
Hanoi is one of the two economic centers of the country
Hanoi a cultural and educate center Hanoi is a cultural and education center
Have very many songs about Hanoi There are many songs about Hanoi.