An investigation into common errors in paragraph writing of the 10th grade students at hong linh high school masters thesis in education

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY NGUYEN THI THU THUY AN INVESTIGATION INTO COMMON ERRORS IN PARAGRAPH WRITING OF THE 10TH GRADE STUDENTS AT HONG LINH HIGH SCHOOL MASTER THESIS IN EDUCATION NGHE AN - 2014 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY NGUYEN THI THU THUY AN INVESTIGATION INTO COMMON ERRORS IN PARAGRAPH WRITING OF THE 10TH GRADE STUDENTS AT HONG LINH HIGH SCHOOL Major:Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) Code: 60.14.01.11 MASTER THESIS IN EDUCATION Supervisor: TRAN BA TIEN, Ph.D NGHE AN, 2014 STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby acknowledge that this study is mine The data and findings discussed in the thesis are true, used with permission, and have not been published elsewhere Author Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deepest thanks to my supervisor Dr Tran Ba Tien who has enthusiastically helped and encouraged me during the period of writing this research paper Without his experienced guidance, valuable comments and tireless help, I couldn‟t have completed the study on time My gratitude also goes to all of the instructors in my MA program at the Foreign Languages Department, Vinh University With their precious and professional lectures and tutoring, I can understand difficult basic concepts related to English teaching methodology, I am also grateful to all my friends and colleagues and my beloved family, who gave me useful advice on writing process Finally, I wish to acknowledge the kind help of the 10th students at Hong Linh High School who helped me to collect data, and their valuable support for finishing the study Vinh, September 2014 Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy ii ABSTRACT The findings of the thesis are mainly concerned with the common errors in writing by the tenth-form students at HLHS The study reveals the most frequent types of errors made by the students The greatest number of errors occurred in this study were morphological errors, lexical errors, syntactic errors and mechanical errors The study also shows the errors of paragraph organization due to the fact that students at HLHS lack access to the theory of building a paragraph such as building topic sentences, developing supporting ideas Based on the findings, implications for enhancing the effectiveness of English paragraph teaching and learning writing are put forward It is hoped that the results of the study can be beneficial for both students and teachers iii C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4 22.Tai lieu Luan 66.55.77.99 van Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22 Do an.Tai lieu Luan van Luan an Do an.Tai lieu Luan van Luan an Do an TABLE OF CONTENTS Pages STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii LIST OF TABLES viii LIST OF FIGURES ix Chapter INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Scope of the study 1.3 Aims and objectives 1.3.1 Aims 1.3.2 Objectives 1.4 Research questions 1.5 Organization of the study Chapter LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 2.1 Previous studies 2.2 Theoretical background 2.2.1 Teaching writing 2.2.1.1 Definition of writing 2.2.1.2 The reason for teaching writing 2.2.2 Approaches to writing teaching 2.2.2.1 Product approach 2.2.2.2 Process approach 2.2.3 Principles of teaching writing 2.3 Teaching paragraph writing 2.3.1 Definitions of Paragraph iv Stt.010.Mssv.BKD002ac.email.ninhd 77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77t@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn.Stt.010.Mssv.BKD002ac.email.ninhddtt@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4 22.Tai lieu Luan 66.55.77.99 van Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22 Do an.Tai lieu Luan van Luan an Do an.Tai lieu Luan van Luan an Do an 2.3.2 Classifications of paragraph 10 2.3.2.1 Informative paragraph 11 2.3.2.2 Descriptive paragraph 11 2.3.2.3 Narrative paragraph 12 2.3.2.4 Persuasive paragraph 12 2.4 Writing process of paragraph 12 2.5 Error and error analysis 14 2.5.1 Error and error analysis 14 2.5.2 Sources of errors 18 2.5.3 Errors in writing 20 2.5.4 Error classification 20 Chapter METHODOLOGY 24 3.1 Study setting 24 3.2 Participants 26 3.3 Research methods 26 3.4 Research procedures 26 3.5 Description of the sample 27 3.6 Data analysis 27 3.7 Reliability validity 27 Chapter FINDING AND DISCUSSION 28 4.1 Error analysis 28 4.1.1 Morphological errors 29 4.1.1.1 Verb errors 30 4.1.1.2 Noun ending errors 34 4.1.1.3 Article or determiner errors 35 4.1.2 Lexical errors 37 4.1.2.1 Errors in word choice 39 4.1.2.2 Errors in word form 39 4.1.2.3 Preposition errors 40 v Stt.010.Mssv.BKD002ac.email.ninhd 77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77t@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn.Stt.010.Mssv.BKD002ac.email.ninhddtt@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4 22.Tai lieu Luan 66.55.77.99 van Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22 Do an.Tai lieu Luan van Luan an Do an.Tai lieu Luan van Luan an Do an 4.1.2.4 Pronoun errors 40 4.1.2.5 Spelling errors 41 4.1.3 Syntactic errors 42 4.1.3.1 Word order 43 4.1.3.2 Omitted words or phrases 45 4.1.3.4 Run-ons - comma splices 46 4.1.3.5 Fragments incomplete sentence 48 4.1.3.6 Unidiomatic sentence construction 49 4.1.4 Mechanical errors 51 4.2 Paragraph organization 52 4.2.1 Topic sentence 53 4.2.2 Supporting sentences 54 4.2.3 Concluding sentence 56 4.3 Some solutions to the problem 58 4.3.1 Suggestions on teaching how to write a paragraph 58 4.3.2 Suggestions on reviewing grammar and practicing writing 59 4.3.3 Suggestions on making drafts 60 4.3.4 Suggestions on teachers‟ error correction 61 4.3.5 Suggestions on teachers‟ checking 61 4.4 Summary 62 Chapter CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS 64 5.1 Conclusions 64 5.2 Implications 65 5.3 Limitations 67 5.4 Suggestions for further studies 67 REFERENCES 68 APPENDIX 71 vi Stt.010.Mssv.BKD002ac.email.ninhd 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Stt.010.Mssv.BKD002ac.email.ninhd 77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77t@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn.Stt.010.Mssv.BKD002ac.email.ninhddtt@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4 22.Tai lieu Luan 66.55.77.99 van Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22 Do an.Tai lieu Luan van Luan an Do an.Tai lieu Luan van Luan an Do an LIST OF TABLES Pages Table 2.1 Common ESL Writing Errors Based on Ferris‟ (2005) Model 22 Table 2.2 Description of Major Error Categories (Ferris, 2005) 23 Table 4.1 Categories of errors in the paragraphs written by HLHS students 28 Table 4.2 Morphological errors 29 Table 4.3 Verb Errors 31 Table 4.4 Noun ending errors 34 Table 4.5 Article or determiner errors 36 Table 4.6 Lexical Errors 38 Table 4.7 Syntactic errors 42 Table 4.8 Mechanical Errors 51 Table 4.9 Topic sentence display 53 Table 4.10 Organization of Supporting Sentence Display 55 Table 4.11 Concluding sentence display 56 Table 4.12 Summary of Errors in Writing by HLHS Students 62 viii Stt.010.Mssv.BKD002ac.email.ninhd 77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77t@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn.Stt.010.Mssv.BKD002ac.email.ninhddtt@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4 22.Tai lieu Luan 66.55.77.99 van Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22 Do an.Tai lieu Luan van Luan an Do an.Tai lieu Luan van Luan an Do an when checking the students, the teachers should divide the students into small groups (of four or five), and ask the students in each group to check and correct errors together Then the teachers can check one or two groups each time 4.4 Summary In this chapter, I have reported and discussed the data about common linguistic errors in writing by the tenth-form students in HLHS The data were collected from the source as described in chapter The result of the analysis helps to have deeper understanding of students‟ ability in writing and their difficulties when they write English paragraphs From that there are some suggested solutions for teachers teaching writing at HLHS and HLHS students to reduce errors when they writing tasks Table 4.12 Summary of Errors in Writing by HLHS Students Extracts from students’ writing Verb Error Errors in Tense Error in Form S-V Agreement Error - Last week I have seen a film - The students continue increase considerably - More schools was built Extracts from students’ writing Categories Article or Determiner Noun Ending Error Error Morphological Error Categories Error related to S-V Agreement - The main character are Jack and Rose Ending Incorrect - Nguyen Trai was not only a great cultural but also a famous poets Ending Omitted - The film has two character Article Incorrect or Unnecessary Article Omitted Other Determiner Incorrect - The film has a unhappy ending - The his name in birth certificate is Nguyen Sinh Cung - He was child - The table above shows all of that ones 62 Stt.010.Mssv.BKD002ac.email.ninhd 77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77t@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn.Stt.010.Mssv.BKD002ac.email.ninhddtt@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4 22.Tai lieu Luan 66.55.77.99 van Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22 Do an.Tai lieu Luan van Luan an Do an.Tai lieu Luan van Luan an Do an Extracts from students’ writing Categories Lexical Error Other Determiner Omitted Error in Word Choice - The closed of the story is the weeding of Perter Parker Error in Word Form - Marry Jane live happy Preposition Error - He mother is Tran Thi Thai Spelling Error - The cat allways find way to catch Jerry Word Order - The main character second is Bao Nam Phrases Unnecessary Words or Syntactic Error - Uncle Ho was born in 19th May 1890 Pronoun Error Omitted Words or Phrases - Because he never catches a mouse, he always bad - One day she decided that she wanted to become a doctor Run-ons - Truc is brave, witty and very kind she lives a family poor Comma Splices - They are not kind, they usually find a way to harm Linh Lan Fragments Incomplete Sentence Other Unidiomatic Sentence Construction Mechanical Error - Mother died when he was years old - After several years wind and waves - In his 10 years old, he studied at school Munkhen Punctuation Error - He is bad, because he never catch a mouse Spelling Capitalization - This film was written by william and made in hollywood 63 Stt.010.Mssv.BKD002ac.email.ninhd 77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77t@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn.Stt.010.Mssv.BKD002ac.email.ninhddtt@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4 22.Tai lieu Luan 66.55.77.99 van Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22 Do an.Tai lieu Luan van Luan an Do an.Tai lieu Luan van Luan an Do an Chapter CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS 5.1 Conclusions The thesis has so far dealt with the common linguistic errors in writing by the tenth-form students in HLHS based on Ferris‟ classification (2005) In this section, I will summarize the study and draw some conclusions on the issue The study has collected some important information from the students‟ writings Some findings worthy of discussion are: Firstly, the study reveals the most frequent error types the students made The greatest number of errors that occurred in this study belong to four categories: morphological errors, lexical errors, syntactic errors and mechanical errors Morphological errors consist of verb errors, noun ending errors and article or determiner errors Lexical errors consist of errors in word choice or word form, preposition errors, pronoun errors and spelling errors only included if the misspelling resulted in an actual English word All errors in the sentence or clause boundaries are syntactic errors which can be classified according to word order, omitted words or phrases, unnecessary words or phrases, run-ons- comma splices, fragments, and other unidiomatic sentence constructions Mechanical errors are errors in which the students used wrong punctuation and wrong spelling capitalization While the overall error rates help the researcher understand the students‟ overall performance, the specific errors the participants made frequently make help to clarify what the students‟ learning difficulties are Secondly, many errors in the students‟ writing were due to syntactic errors The students‟ writing in this study may have been related to the language structures of the students‟ first language: Vietnamese For example, several English writing samples were found with direct word order between a noun and an adjective from Vietnamese sentences This finding is in line with some research that confirmed the interference from L1 in the process of EFL writing 64 Stt.010.Mssv.BKD002ac.email.ninhd 77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77t@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn.Stt.010.Mssv.BKD002ac.email.ninhddtt@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4 22.Tai lieu Luan 66.55.77.99 van Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22 Do an.Tai lieu Luan van Luan an Do an.Tai lieu Luan van Luan an Do an Thirdly, regarding the errors of paragraph organization, the study shows that the students lack access to the theory of building a paragraph such as building a topic sentence, developing supporting ideas, especially making a concluding sentence so that the paragraph loses coherence Moreover, in order to deal with the problem, some solutions are suggested for students and teachers of writing Concerning the teachers, there is a view to plan strategies for teaching writing in English There should be flexible and effective techniques of error correction for the teachers They should pay much attention to their students‟ errors Besides, there should be more practical writing tasks for students in order to reduce errors in their writing In conclusion, making errors is inevitable in language learning process Errors provide feedback about the effectiveness of the teaching techniques and show the teachers what part needs further attention Studying the learner language in terms of errors is something that teachers have always done for practical reasons It requires the teacher to have skills of diagnoses and treatment 5.2 Implications According to this study, the tenth-form students in HLHS face three kinds of problems in writing: incomplete learning of grammar rules, incomplete learning of writing paragraphs and un-reminiscent vocabulary In order to achieve effectiveness in paragraph writing, the following points should be paid more attention to: First of all, it is necessary to raise students‟ awareness of the importance of writing English paragraphs Students should be equipped with a deep theoretical insight into the elements of a good paragraph Students should know how to build a topic sentence and develop supporting ideas unitively and coherently They should write their first drafts carefully and list ideas relevant to the topic Among the causes leading to the students‟ errors, the influence of mother tongue is a major one In order to reduce this kind of errors, it is necessary to have students recognize the differences between the usages of English and Vietnamese in thinking and writing Simultaneously, teachers should analyze how a certain first 65 Stt.010.Mssv.BKD002ac.email.ninhd 77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77t@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn.Stt.010.Mssv.BKD002ac.email.ninhddtt@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4 22.Tai lieu Luan 66.55.77.99 van Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22 Do an.Tai lieu Luan van Luan an Do an.Tai lieu Luan van Luan an Do an language interference error comes about by carefully explaining the differences between the two languages in term of the particular features Regarding the writing rules, it is necessary to raise student‟s awareness of problems they often face writing a paragraph and have them correct their own errors It is obvious that the most important thing to is practicing writing The students need to write in class and at home It would be very useful to increase the number of exercises and activities for writing Consequently, students can develop their skill of writing and for self-correction In terms of error correction, it is crucial that error correction should be carried out frequently Teachers of writing should use different techniques of correction flexibly and effectively because simply presenting the data repeatedly and going through the same set of drills and exercises can make students bored Besides, effective error correction requires that the teacher understands the source of the errors in order to provide appropriate remedy, which will resolve the learners‟ problems and allow them to discover the relevant rules However, for correcting written works, it is better that the teachers would not correct the students‟ errors directly but should put marks indicating there is something wrong with that sentence, word or punctuation Moreover, team work in class is implemented so that students would have to practice together for their presentations in groups on their tasks and correct each other‟s errors In addition, students are also expected to take responsibility for their own learning and become aware of their own strategies They are also often encouraged to carry out self- evaluation in order to further their learning and regulate their language learning and language using skill To sum up, knowledge of error analysis is helpful for language performance It also improves a process of teaching and learning writing It is clear that students‟ ability to communicate in writing will be better if they recognize how to avoid errors effectively and how to arrange information logically It is hoped that the results of this thesis can be of some help not only for students to be aware of the 66 Stt.010.Mssv.BKD002ac.email.ninhd 77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77t@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn.Stt.010.Mssv.BKD002ac.email.ninhddtt@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4 22.Tai lieu Luan 66.55.77.99 van Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22 Do an.Tai lieu Luan van Luan an Do an.Tai lieu Luan van Luan an Do an importance of writing in English so that they can improve their writing skills but also for teachers of English to develop effective measures for teaching the English writing skill 5.3 Limitations Although the researcher has made great efforts to carry out the study, the study has got certain restrictions due to the shortage of time, lack of reference materials as well as the limited knowledge of the researcher Firstly, the study just collected 240 papers from 240 students in HLHS for error analysis That is only a small number Therefore, the results of the research may be less convincing Secondly, the data for analysis were paragraphs which were collected from free-writing tasks so that the students could avoid the structures or words which they felt uncertain This means that the results of the research cannot reflect and detect thoroughly all kinds of errors which the students may commit However, the researcher hopes that the study will be a valuable reference and useful to the teachers and the students in HLHS as well as others who are interested in the problem 5.4 Suggestions for further studies In order to improve the English learning and teaching at high schools in Vietnam, the researcher hopes that there will be researches focusing on the following topics: - The syntax of topic sentences in English paragraphs - Cohesive devices in the English writings by high school students in Vietnam - The syntactic features in the English writings by high school students in Vietnam 67 Stt.010.Mssv.BKD002ac.email.ninhd 77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77t@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn.Stt.010.Mssv.BKD002ac.email.ninhddtt@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4 22.Tai lieu Luan 66.55.77.99 van Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22 Do an.Tai lieu Luan van Luan an Do an.Tai lieu Luan van Luan an Do an REFERENCES I VIETNAMESE BOOKS Diệp Quang Ban (1999), Văn liên kết tiếng Việt Nxb Giáo dục, Hà Nội Diệp Quang Ban (2003), Giao tiếp -Văn - Mạch lạc - Liên kết - Đoạn văn Nxb Khoa học Xã hội Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh Nguyễn Hịa (2003), Phân tích diễn ngơn - Một số vấn đề lý luận phương pháp Nxb Đại học Quốc gia, Hà Nội Nguyễn Hịa (2006), Phân tích diễn ngơn phê bình Nxb Đại học Quốc gia, Hà Nội Lưu Quý Khương, Mai Chiếm Khang, Tìm hiểu lỗi người Việt Nam học tiếng Anh: Nguyên nhân Giải pháp (An Investigation Into Vietnamese Learners‟ Errors When Learning English: Causes and Solutions) Trường Đại học Ngoại ngữ, Đại học Đà Nẵng II ENGLISH BOOKS Alice, O & H Ann (1996) Writing Academic English Addison-Wesley Publishing Company Burt, M and Kiparsky, C (1972) The Gooficon: A Repair Manual for English Rowley, Mass: Newbury House Corder, S.P (1986) Error Analysis and Interlanguage (4 Edition), Oxford University Press Corder, S.P (1981) Error Analysis and Interlanguage Oxford University Press 10 Corder, S.P (1967) “The Significance of Learner‟s Errors”, International Review of Applied Linguistics p.161-169 11 Corder, S.P (1971) Idiosyncratic Dialects and Error Analysis, in Richards, J (Ed.).Error Analysis: Perspectives on Second Language Acquisition p.158-171 Essex: Longman 68 Stt.010.Mssv.BKD002ac.email.ninhd 77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77t@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn.Stt.010.Mssv.BKD002ac.email.ninhddtt@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4 22.Tai lieu Luan 66.55.77.99 van Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22 Do an.Tai lieu Luan van Luan an Do an.Tai lieu Luan van Luan an Do an 12 Corder, S.P (1979) Techniques in Applied Linguistics (4 Edition), Oxford University Press 13 Crystal, D (2003) A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics (5 Edition), Wiley- Blackwell, p.165 14 Crystal, D (1992) Introducing Linguistics London, Penguin 15 Dulay, H & Burt, M (1974) Errors and Strategies in Child Second Language Acquisition, TESOL Quarterly 8, p 129-134 16 Dulay, H & Burt, M (1974) You Can‟t Learn without Goofing, in Error Analysis (Ed) J C Richards, London Longman 17 Dulay, H., Burt, M & Krashen, S (1982) Language Two Oxford University Press 18 Edge, J (1986) Mistakes and Correction London and New York: Longman 19 Ellis, R (1997) SLA Research and Language Teaching Oxford: Oxford University Press 20 Feist, B (1996) Applied Communication Skills: Writing Paragraphs Cambridge Adult Education 21 Ferris, D.R (2005) Treatment of Error in Second Language Writing Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press 22 Fitikites, T J (1961) Common Mistakes in English London: Longman 23 Gass, S.M and Selinker, L (1994) Second Language Acquisition: an Introductory Course Lawrence Erlbaurn Associates Inc 24 Halliday, M.A.K and Hasan, R (1976) Cohesion in English London and New York, Longman 25 Harmer, J (1998) How to Teach English Malaysia: Longman 26 Hubburd, P., Jones, H., Thornton, B and Wheeler, R (1996) A Training Course for TEFL Oxford: Oxford University Press 27 Huong, T.T, Minh,N.T.T etal (2007) ELT Methodology II-Course book VNU: CFL 28 James, C (1998) Errors in Language Learning and Use London: Longman 29 Lado, R (1964) Language Teaching: A Scientific Approach, McGraw-Hill 69 Stt.010.Mssv.BKD002ac.email.ninhd 77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77t@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn.Stt.010.Mssv.BKD002ac.email.ninhddtt@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4 22.Tai lieu Luan 66.55.77.99 van Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22 Do an.Tai lieu Luan van Luan an Do an.Tai lieu Luan van Luan an Do an 30 Lewis, M and Hill, J (1985), “Techniques - Correction”, Practical Techniques for Language Teaching, Commercial Colour Press 31 Norrish, J (1983) Language Learners and Their Errors London: Macmillan Press 32 Nunan D.(1991) Language teaching Methodology GB: Prentice Hall 33 Odlin, T (1989) Language Transfer Cambridge University Press 34 Oshima, A & Hogue, A (1991) Writing Academic English (2nd Ed.), USA: Addison-Wesley 35 Raimes, A (1938) Techniques in Teaching Writing Oxford University Press 36 Richard Larson (1987) Structure and Form in Non-Narrative Prose Ten Bibliographic Essays, ed Gary Tate, Fort Worth: Texas Christian UP 37 Richards, J.C., Platt, J.T & Weber, H (1985) Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics Errors Longman 38 Richards, P.J and Platt, H (1992) Dictionary of Language Teaching & Applied Linguistics London: Longman 39 Richards, J.C (1974) Error Analysis, Perspectives on Second Language Acquisition Longman 40 Richards, J.C and Simpson, G P (1974) The Study of Learner English, in 19.Richards, J.C Errors Analysis, Perspectives on Second Language Acquisition, p 3-18 41 Roger, G., D Phillips, and S Walters (1995) Teaching Practice Handbook China: Macmillan Heinesnann 42 Selinker, L (1972 Interlanguage IRAL 10/3 43 Sokolik, M Writing In D Nunan (Ed) (2003) Practical English Language Teaching China: McGraw-hill Companies, Inc and Higher Education Press 44 Steele, V (2002) Product and Process Writing Retrieved from the World Wide Web 30 December 2007 at: www.teachingenglish.org.uk/thinking/writing/approach.shtml 45 Tripple, C (1996) Writing Oxford: Oxford University Press 70 Stt.010.Mssv.BKD002ac.email.ninhd 77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77t@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn.Stt.010.Mssv.BKD002ac.email.ninhddtt@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4 22.Tai lieu Luan 66.55.77.99 van Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22 Do an.Tai lieu Luan van Luan an Do an.Tai lieu Luan van Luan an Do an APPENDIX APPENDIX QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS Introduction: - You are students at Hong Linh High School, you are learning paragraph writing as scheduled - I want to know your needs when you write an English paragraph So with your honest answers, we can enhance the quality of teaching and learning English paragraph writing Thank you very much _ Full name: ………………………………………………………………………… Sex: (Male/ Female)………………………………………………………………… Age: ………………………………………………………………………………… Class: ……………………………………………………………………………… Circle the best answer or fill words in the blanks to answer the following questions: The General information Choose the best answer: a I would not have learned English as a major subject b I learn English to get a good job in the future c I like English very much d Other reasons (give the details) …………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… How long have you been learning English? ……………………….…………… ………………………………………………………………………………… Stt.010.Mssv.BKD002ac.email.ninhd 77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77t@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn.Stt.010.Mssv.BKD002ac.email.ninhddtt@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4 22.Tai lieu Luan 66.55.77.99 van Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22 Do an.Tai lieu Luan van Luan an Do an.Tai lieu Luan van Luan an Do an Which skills have you ever learned before? a Sentence building b Letter c e-mail d Paragraph e Others: …………………………………………………………………… About paragraph writing skill Do you think it necessary to learn English paragraph writing ? Why? ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… What you expect after learning English paragraph writing? Point out the necessity for the following items not low necessary necessary necessary very extremely necessary necessary - Vocabulary, sentence structures using in paragraph writing - Visual aids - Paragraph writing process - Idea organization - Social information to write a paragraph What are your difficulties in paragraph writing? ………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………… … What are your recommendations? ………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………….… Stt.010.Mssv.BKD002ac.email.ninhd 77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77t@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn.Stt.010.Mssv.BKD002ac.email.ninhddtt@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4 22.Tai lieu Luan 66.55.77.99 van Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22 Do an.Tai lieu Luan van Luan an Do an.Tai lieu Luan van Luan an Do an Teaching method Point out the effectiveness of given methods of teaching by circling the numbers not effective low effective effective very extremely effective effective The way of teacher‟s presenting: - While teachers are presenting, he provides students with some questions to brainstorm - Read materials and books of reference and discuss problems with classmates or the teacher - Discuss questions given by teachers - Teachers use visual aids in teaching - Read materials yourself and make conclusion - Discuss with partners in pairs or in small groups - Teachers‟ explanation - Translate the paragraph model into Vietnamese 5 10 Method of content analyzing: 11 Practicing and exercises - Work with a text (gap filling, word or sentence order….) - Provide familiar issues or problems with students to think of the ideas and write a paragraph - Correct some remarkable errors only - Ignore all errors but the errors of language and content - Give a comment at the end of the paragraph only - Correct all errors - Others: ………………………………………………… 12 The teacher‟s method of correcting errors End of the questionnaire Stt.010.Mssv.BKD002ac.email.ninhd 77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77t@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn.Stt.010.Mssv.BKD002ac.email.ninhddtt@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4 22.Tai lieu Luan 66.55.77.99 van Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22 Do an.Tai lieu Luan van Luan an Do an.Tai lieu Luan van Luan an Do an APPENDIX WRITING TEST Time: 30 minutes TOPIC The table below shows the number of students in District A entering universities from 2007 to 2012 Write a paragraph to describe information from the table You should write about 100 words Year 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Number of students 75 90 87 102 125 150 SAMPLE DESCRIPTION The table provides us information about the number of students in District A entering universities from 2007 to 2012 In 2007, there were only 75 students passing the exam In 2008, the number of students went up slightly from 75 to 90 But in 2009 it was reduced students However, in 2010 this numbers rised up to 102 students Specially in 2011 and in 2012, the number of the students of District A entering universities increased dramatically from 125 to 150 In brief, from 2007 to 2012 the number of students in district A entering universities had much changes The table above shows all of this ones These changes are good signals of Dictrict A‟s education It may help District A have suitable plans for educational development in future - Stt.010.Mssv.BKD002ac.email.ninhd 77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77t@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn.Stt.010.Mssv.BKD002ac.email.ninhddtt@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4 22.Tai lieu Luan 66.55.77.99 van Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22 Do an.Tai lieu Luan van Luan an Do an.Tai lieu Luan van Luan an Do an APPENDIX WRITING TEST Time: 30 minutes TOPIC Write a paragraph about a famous person you know well The length of the paragraph is about 100 words SAMPLE DESCRIPTION Thomas Edison is one of the most famous inventors of all times He was born on February 11, 1847 in Milan, Ohio His parents were very poor and he went to school only a short time He was taught reading, writing by his mother.When Edison was seven, his family moved to Michigan He began working at an early age Edison worked in a numbers of cities throughout the Unites States before arriving in Boston in 1868 Here Edison changed his profession from telegrapher to inventor He moved to New York City in 1869 He continued to work on inventions related to the telegraph and developed his first successful invention He got married to Mary Stilwell in 1871 They had children He died on October 18, 1931 at his estate Genmont, in West Orange, New Yersey - Stt.010.Mssv.BKD002ac.email.ninhd 77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77t@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn.Stt.010.Mssv.BKD002ac.email.ninhddtt@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4 22.Tai lieu Luan 66.55.77.99 van Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22 Do an.Tai lieu Luan van Luan an Do an.Tai lieu Luan van Luan an Do an Stt.010.Mssv.BKD002ac.email.ninhd 77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77t@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn.Stt.010.Mssv.BKD002ac.email.ninhddtt@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn