A study on common errors in writing paragraphs of english majored freshmen at tay do university

TAY DO UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF LINGUISTIC AND LITERATURE RESEARCH PROPOSAL A STUDY ON COMMON ERRORS IN WRITING PARAGRAPHS OF ENGLISH- MAJORED FRESHMEN AT TAY DO UNIVERSITY Supervisor: Dang Thi Hanh,M.A Student’s name: Vo Nguyen Phuong Linh Student’s Code: 1652220201028 Class: English 11A Can Tho, MAY 2020 A Study on Common Errors in Writing Paragraphs of English- Majored Freshmen at Tay Do University ACKNOWLEDGEMENT To complete this report, the reporter would like to send the sincere thanks to all instructors of the English Faculty at Tay Do University In particular, the reporter would like to send it to the instructor –Miss Dang Thi Hanh, who has devotedly guided to complete the internship with the deepest sincere thanks Because of the limited knowledge, in the process of completing this report, the reporter cannot avoid mistakes; the reporter hopes to receive comments from instructors i A Study on Common Errors in Writing Paragraphs of English- Majored Freshmen at Tay Do University COMMENTS ii A Study on Common Errors in Writing Paragraphs of English- Majored Freshmen at Tay Do University TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT i COMMENTS ii TABLE OF CONTENTS iii ABSTRACT .v CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale .1 1.2 The significance of study 1.3 The organization of study .2 CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Definition of writing .3 2.2 The importance of writing skill 2.3 Difficulties in writing skill Perception of Difficulties in Writing .5 Behaviour (Perceived Difficulties) Environment 2.4 Definition of a paragraph 2.5 Definition of paragraph writing 2.6 Definition of error 2.7 Definition of error in writing 2.8 Classification of errors Word Choice 10 Spelling 10 Grammar 10 Repetition 11 Subject-verb agreement .11 Lack of article 11 Verb form 11 Comparative adjective 11 Demonstrative adjective 12 Possessive noun 12 Parallelism 12 Preposition 12 Run-on sentences .12 Sentences fragments 13 2.9 Previous studies 13 iii A Study on Common Errors in Writing Paragraphs of English- Majored Freshmen at Tay Do University CHAPTER RESEARCH AIMS – RESEARCH QUESTION HYPOTHESIS 15 3.1 Research aims .15 3.2 Research Question 15 3.3 Hypothesis 15 CHAPTER RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 16 4.1 Design 16 4.2 Participants 16 4.3 Instrument 16 4.4 Questionnaire 16 4.5 Interview .17 4.6 Procedure 17 CHAPTER EXPECTED OUTCOME .18 REFERENCE 20 APPENDIX A 23 APPENDIX B 26 iv A Study on Common Errors in Writing Paragraphs of English- Majored Freshmen at Tay Do University ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to analyze and understand common errors in writing paragraphs of English- majored freshmen at Tay Do University The subjects used for this study are 30 students of English-majored at Tay Do University This research is done using a survey to conduct research The study design was done by collecting and analyzing data through the analysis of the samples After the investigation, the results indicated that errors in writing paragraphs of Englishmajored freshmen at Tay Do Univerisity are various, such as: Errors of using tense, passive voice, active voice, Errors of using preposition, Errors of using article, Errors of using adjective and adverb, Errors of misplacing adjective and adverb, etc., After collecting the errors based on these findings, therefore, the following recommendations are forwarded The freshmen of Tay Do Univerist should pay full attention to grammar as they develop their paragraphs, and teachers need to focus on grammar when they teach students to write articles and give feedback on students v A Study on Common Errors in Writing Paragraphs of English- Majored Freshmen at Tay Do University CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale In recent years, learning English has been more concerned by many people such as young people, parents, and educators, students, kids, etc, They are well aware of the importance of practicing English in writing skills in their life Similarly, Tay Do University also has activities to train and practise the English writing skills for English- majored freshmen Practicing English writing skills is also one of the main activities of Tay Do University because of the increasing demand for English skills of the university and businesses after students graduate In the process of writing English, English- majored freshmen are aware of the importance of learning how to write, how to choose the proper word base on the circumstance, the grammar, etc., from which their writing skills are gradually improved However, in this process, especially when writing paragraphs, Englishmajored freshmen cannot avoid making mistakes while practicing writing English skill In this paper, I would like to mention about common mistakes in the process of learning to write English paragraphs by students at universities in general and at Tay Do University in particular Besides, when researching on the topic, I found that English- majored freshmen of Tay Do University made some mistakes when writing English such as singular and plural errors; words; verb and subject compatibility; error of harmony between the subject and the sentence completion component; error of word order; errors of articles; error of word type; typos; error in verb form; capitalization errors; error in missing word; preposition errors and punctuation errors, etc., For this reason, I choose to research on the topic “A study on common errors in writing paragraphs of English- majored freshmen at Tay Do University” This research is carried out with the hope that the research results will provide certain linguistically useful practical knowledge for teachers and students who are dealing A Study on Common Errors in Writing Paragraphs of English- Majored Freshmen at Tay Do University with the English writing skill at Tay Do University Through this study, I hope it is helpful for these people to improve skill in writing an English paragraph 1.2 The significance of study As mentioned above, English is a significant subject for students at universities today Listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills are essential requirement of English learners Of the four skills above, writing is considered one of the required and most demanding skills As stated above, the careful study of things requires students to practice continuously, fix their mistakes, or mistakes in the writing process, and students must always be aware of common mistakes when they write their paragraph to improve the writing skills This paper will help students learn about the common mistakes they made while practicing writing paragraphs I think when students identify these mistakes, they become more aware of them and improve their writing skills This study also helps the majored freshmen of Tay Do University understand the difficulties in writing paragraphs Beside the teacher understand these mistakes and they can guide students to focus on the mistakes that are often mad and helps students to improve their skills This research paper can also be one of the references for more intensive courses 1.3 The organization of study Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Literature review Chapter 3: Research aims – Research question – Hypothesis Chapter 4: Research methodology Chapter 5- Expected outcome A Study on Common Errors in Writing Paragraphs of English- Majored Freshmen at Tay Do University CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Definition of writing There are various opinions of writing given by different researchers Each one has their own idea about writing Tribble (1996, p.3) considers writing as a language skill involving not just a graphic representation of speech, but the development and presentation of thought in a structured way Byrne (1988, p.1) considers writing as the act of forming graphic symbol only such as letters or combination of letters Writing is coding a particular message or idea by writing it in the form of a systematic series of sentences Besides, Sokolik (2003, p.88) defined writing as a physical and mental act It means that writing requires writers to commit words or ideas and to convent ideas, think about how to express them, and organize them into statements and paragraphs She also considers writing is a process and product, and writing aims at expressing and impressing The writers have to generate ideas, organize, draft, edit, read, re-read to produce a product- a paragraph, an essay or a report and writers try to express their ideas, feeling to impress their readers in certain ways Writing involves many different aspects According to Roger, G, D Phillips, and S Walters (1995, p.113), writing involves seven aspects They are handwriting, spelling, punctuation, sentence construction, organizing a text and paragraphing, text cohesion and style All aspects are carefully considered by any writers As White and Arndt (1991) defines, writing is a form of problem-solving It is a process that involves creating ideas, discovering ideas based on plans for writing, planning, setting goals, tracking Evaluating what will be written and finding ways of writing that language to express the exact meaning Based on the definitions mentioned above, we can understand that writing is a process that involves generating ideas, writing ideas in the order of a sentence, and modifying these ideas for one's own purposes A person with excellent writing skills A Study on Common Errors in Writing Paragraphs of English- Majored Freshmen at Tay Do University must include such factors as a writer who must have adequate knowledge of grammar rules, vocabulary items, and logical connections 2.2 The importance of writing skill Writing is essential It brings about a lot of advantages for the writter to express one’s personality; foster communication; develop thinking skills; make logical and persuasive arguments; give a person a chance to re-evaluate them later; provide and receive feedback and prepare for school and employment According to As Way (2010), he says writing is important because it is used extensively in higher education and in the workplace If students don’t know how to express themselves in writing, they won’ be able to communicate well with professors, employers, peers, or just about anyone else Much of professional communication is done in writing: proposals, memos, reports, applications, preliminary interviews, e-mails, and more are part of the daily life of a college student or successful graduate Writing has a unique position in language teaching since its acquisition involves a practice and knowledge of other three language skills, such as listening, reading and speaking Moreover, it requires mastering of other skills, such as metacognitive skills Learners need to set an objective for their writing, plan it carefully, think over its layout and logical structure, revise it … In the process of writing they have to use cognitive skills; they have to analyze their sources and then synthesize them in a compact piece of writing One of the best ways to attract students to writing is to let them write at the beginning of the learning process as freely as possible and evoke in them the feeling of creativity Creative writing obviously can play a crucial role in the development of writing skills Maley (2009), emphasizes the following benefits of writing, that is: it aids language development at all levels: grammar, vocabulary, phonology and discourse; it requires learners to manipulate the language in interesting and demanding ways as they attempt to express uniquely personal meanings It requires a willingness to play with the language and it concentrates more on the right side of the brain, with a focus A Study on Common Errors in Writing Paragraphs of English- Majored Freshmen at Tay Do University Correction: If I learn a second language, finding a job will become easier for me Demonstrative adjective The wrong demonstrative adjective was used ( this/that, these/those) Example: Error: Do you see these books over there? Correction: Do you see those books over there? Possessive noun The apostrophe + s (,s or s‟) was misplaced or omitted Example: Error: My two sister's cars had been stolen Correction: My two sisters' cars had been stolen Parallelism In a series of elements, these are not presented in a parallel form Example: Error: He enjoys playing football, to swim, and visit his friends Correction: He enjoys playing game, swimming, and visiting his friends Preposition Prepositions are often one of the most difficult aspects of English for speakers of other languages to learn It is rarely to have a sentence without one preposition Kreidler (1966, p.119) emphasized the significance of this word class since "every elementary course in English makes provision for teaching the common prepositions…" Example: Error: The flight will depart in 8:00 am Correction: The flight will depart at 8:00 am Run-on sentences Two independent clauses that have been run together without an appropriate conjunction and/or mark of punctuation between them 12 A Study on Common Errors in Writing Paragraphs of English- Majored Freshmen at Tay Do University Example: Error: She tried to sneak out of the house her mother saw her leaving Correction: She tried to sneak out of the house, but her mother saw her leaving Sentences fragments Sentence fragments are incomplete sentences that not have one independent clause There are three common types of errors with incomplete sentences: Sentence lacks subject: Example 1: With one dollar can buy a bowl of in Vietnam The Sentence requires both the main words and verbs: Example 2: After listening to his joke, she laughing out loud The Sentence requires main clauses: Example 3: Going out with my friends and feeling happy 2.9 Previous studies A number of studies have been conducted to investigate on common errors in writing paragraphs of English Zawaherh (2012) investigated the writing errors committed by tenth-grade students who were studying at Ajloun governorate schools-Jordan The sample of the study consisted of 350 students selected randomly from a group of schools in Ajloun They were asked to write an essay about “a journey to the ancient city of Jerash in Jordan” in an ordinary English-language exercise in the class The results of the study showed that the most dominant error among tenth-grade students in Ajloun schools was lack of agreement between the subject and the main verb Also, the results of the study suggested that the cause of students’ writing errors might be attributed to Arabic interference Crystal (2016) defines discourse as “a continuous stretch of language larger than a sentence, often constituting a coherent unit” Error offered as an alternative to Contrastive Analysis, has its value in classroom research Dulay and Burt [25] proposed the three categories of errors: developmental, interference and unique 13 A Study on Common Errors in Writing Paragraphs of English- Majored Freshmen at Tay Do University Simbwa (1987) investigated the causes of syntactic errors in the English essays among Taiwan university students The sample of the study contained 94 males and 14 females’ students of the academic year 1985 The participants were chosen randomly from four schools in Kambala (the capital city of Uganda) The results of the study showed that the predominant errors among male students were prepositions, pronouns and tense The most predominant error type for females was prepositions Salebi (2004) investigated Saudi college students’ perception of their errors in written English They had attended an error analysis course where they were taught how to identify, classify, and describe errors in English committed by secondlanguage learners The result showed that most of the learners made the errors during learning process and that is a part of learning and students can avoid 14 A Study on Common Errors in Writing Paragraphs of English- Majored Freshmen at Tay Do University CHAPTER RESEARCH AIMS – RESEARCH QUESTION - HYPOTHESIS In this chapter, I introduce the purpose of this research, the question is designed to conduct this research and hypothesis 3.1 Research aims During studying at Tay Do University, English majored freshmen and I have faced many difficulties in practicing the writing skills of English paragraphs Therefore, the goal of this research is to understand and investigate the common mistakes in writing English paragraphs encountered by English freshmen After finding out the common mistakes of writing English paragraph, the interview will help to find out some suggestions to improve English writing skills 3.2 Research Question The research is conducted to deal with following questions Which common mistakes have been made by students when writing English paragraphs? Which suggestions can help them to improve their writing? 3.3 Hypothesis Based on the literature review and the research questions above, it is hypothesized that these students have a lot of difficulties during writing the paragraphs From the hypothesis, some suggestions are made for the English-majored freshmen of Tay Do University to improve their writing skills 15 A Study on Common Errors in Writing Paragraphs of English- Majored Freshmen at Tay Do University CHAPTER RESEARCH METHODOLOGY This chapter will describe the design of this research paper, the participants of the research paper, and the instruments to carry out this research paper 4.1 Design The research is performed to find out the common errors that English-majored freshmen have faced in writing paragraphs The reliability and validity of the research are based on the instruments To achieve the above mentioned purpose, the Englishmajored freshmen were chosen the sample to the survey The data from the participants would be collected through the questionnaire and interview for students The collected information of these two instruments would be analyzed to show the common errors in writing paragraphs 4.2 Participants In this study, 30 freshmen of Tay Do University majoring in English course 14 are chosen Of the 30 freshmen, majoring in English there were 20 female students and ten male students The age of the students is from 19 to 21 years old They have been learning English more than years Students speak Vietnamese as their mother tongue and English as a foreign language They had been learning to write paragraphs at the university 4.3 Instrument In order for this survey to proceed well, questionnaire and interview were used to collect participants’ ideas about common mistakes in writing English paragraphs The reason the author chose the questionnaire were because the questionnaire can provide the fastest answers for students as well as the author about the problems encountered by these students Besides, the author also had a quick interview with students to test the solutions to improve their English writing ability 4.4 Questionnaire Before conducting the survey, the author explored the common mistakes students made during writing student passages The references to create this survey 16 A Study on Common Errors in Writing Paragraphs of English- Majored Freshmen at Tay Do University were taken from books, previous studies by scholars After identifying common mistakes, the author set up a questionnaire in 13 questions The structure of the table is implemented as follows: Group Question Questions from to Background of participants Questions from to Importance of writing skills Questions from to 18 Catergory of common errors in writing 4.5 Interview In the process of collecting information using the already created questionnaire, the author asked some questions to interview these students The main questions is to get advice on how to improve common mistakes in learning English writing According to this student's method, which method is best for them 4.6 Procedure Regarding the procedure of this research, I divide the procedure of the work within 12 weeks as follows: Week Week – Week – Week – Week 10 – 12 Activities Designing the framework of the research Designing the questionaire and some questions for the interview Make the survey by instruments Collect the information from these instruments Analyze the data based on the collected information Completed the paper 17 A Study on Common Errors in Writing Paragraphs of English- Majored Freshmen at Tay Do University CHAPTER EXPECTED OUTCOME After surveying the topic "A study on common errors in writing paragraphs of English- majored freshmen at Tay Do University," the researcher collected a lot of relevant information from English- majored freshmen at Tay Do University The researcher learns about how problems are encountered while learning to write in English Some difficulties encountered were discussed and produced results 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: Errors made by using tense, Errors made by Passive voice, Errors is made by active voice, Errors is made by using preposition, Errors is made by using article, Errors is made by misplacing adjective and adverb, etc., The research is made help the researcher have the overall of common errors that students made It helps the researcher understand the students’ overall performance, the specific errors the participants made frequently make help to clarify what the students’ learning difficulties are Besides, when the researcher interviews the English- majored freshmen at Tay Do University, these students said their writing may have been related to the language structures of the students’ first language: Vietnamese They also said regarding the errors of paragraph organization, the students are 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 During the interview with them, they also suggest some solution to deal with the these errrors, some solutions are suggested for students such as the teachers should should be flexible and effective techniques of error correction and 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 common in writting errors is inevitable in language learning process Errors provide feedback about the effectiveness of techniques and 18 A Study on Common Errors in Writing Paragraphs of English- Majored Freshmen at Tay Do University show that the student needs further attention Therefore, 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 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 can be of some help not only for students to be aware of the importance of writing in English so that they can improve their writing skills 19 A Study on Common Errors in Writing Paragraphs of English- Majored Freshmen at Tay Do University REFERENCE  AbiSamra, N (2003) An Analysis of Errors in Arabic Speakers English Writings Alice, O & H Ann Writing Acdemic English Addison-Wesley Publishing Company 1996 Assis Lecturer Nada Salih A The Effect of EFL Learners' Mother Tongue on their Writings in English : An Error Analysis Study Ridha University of Basrah College of Education Bitchener, J., Young, S., & Cameron, D (2005) The effect of different types of corrective feedback on ESL student writing Journal of Second Language Writing Brown, H.D (1994), Teaching by Principles An Interactive Approach to language Pedagogy, Loangman Brown, H.D (1980) Principles of language learning and teaching London:Prentice-Hall, Inc Byrne D Teaching Writing Skill London: Longman,1988 Connor, U (1996) Contrastive rhetoric: Cross cultural aspects of second language writing Cambridge: Cambridge University Crystal, D (1999) The penguin dictionary of language Penguin Dulay, H.C., Burt, M.K., & Krashen, S.D (1982) Language Two New York: Oxford University Press Ellis, G (1996) How culturally appropriate is the communicative approach? Feist, B Applied Communication Skills: Writing Paragraphs Cambridge Adult Education, 1996 Hamash, K and Younis, H (1985).Principles and Techniques of Teaching English as a Second Language Baghdad: IDELTI 20 A Study on Common Errors in Writing Paragraphs of English- Majored Freshmen at Tay Do University Hasyim, Sunardi (2002) Error Analysis in the Teaching of English Hengwichitkul, L (2006) An analysis of errors in English abstracts translated by Thai university graduate students (Unpublished master’s thesis) Srinakharinwirot University, Bangkok, Thailand Huỳnh Minh Hiền Trịnh Quốc Lập (2010) Đánh giá trực tuyến theo đôi: Một biện pháp tăng cường động học khả viết tiếng Anh Tạp chí Khoa học James A W Heffernan Writing, a college handbook , Published 2001 by Norton in New York Written in English Jersey.Prentice-Hall, Inc Kreidler, C 1966 English prepositions English Language Teaching Maley, A Maley, A (2009) Creative writing for language learners (and teachers) Retrieved April 12, | 2011 Oshima A, and Hogue A (1999) Writing Academic English London: Longman Academic Writing Series Petersen, B T.(2015) "Additional Resources in the Practice of Writing Across the Disciplines."writing-language- | learners-teachers Roger, G., D.Phillips, and S Walters Teaching Pratice Handbook China: Macmillan Heinesnann,1995 Runkati, K (2013) Organizational patterns and common mistakes in English research abstracts (Unpublished master’s thesis) Prince of Songkla University, Songkhla, Thailand Salebi M (2004) “Saudi college students’ perception of their errors in written English”, Scientific Journal of King Faisal University: Humanities and Management Sciences, Vol 5, No Simbwa, E (1987) Investigating Writing Errors among University Students in Uganda International Journal of Applied Sciences Sokolik, M Writing In D Nunan (Ed) Pratical English Language Teaching China: McGraw-hill Companies, Inc and Higher Education Press, 2003 21 A Study on Common Errors in Writing Paragraphs of English- Majored Freshmen at Tay Do University Solagha, O.Z (2013) Writing Difficulties in the Swedish ESL Classroom Retrieved Tribble, C (1996) Writing Oxford University Press White & Arndt (1991) Process writing Essex Longman Publisher Zawahreh, F (2012) Applied error analysis of written production of English essays of tenth grade students In Ajloun Schools, Jordan International Journal of Learning and Development Webpages: http://abisamra03.tripod.com/nada/languageacq-erroranalysis.html http://abisamra03.tripod.com/nada/languageacq-erroranalysis.html http://esl.fis.edu/learners/advice/mistakes.htm http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:652520/FULLTEXT01.pdf https://authority.pub/common-grammar-mistakes/ https://text.xemtailieu.com/tai-lieu/a-study-on-common-grammatical-andlexical-errors-in-writing-compositions-made-by-the-first-year-english-majorstudents-at-hai-phong-private-university-and-some-suggested-solutions253041.html https://www.iasj.net/iasj?func=fulltext&aId=58267 22 A Study on Common Errors in Writing Paragraphs of English- Majored Freshmen at Tay Do University APPENDIX A QUESTIONNAIRE Dear friends, My name is Vo Nguyen Phuong Linh Currently, I am a senior majoring in English Through the research, the topic is on common errors in writing paragraphs of English- majored first-year students at Tay Do University I would to survey the common mistakes made when writting paragraph I would like you to help me to complete this survey for my research topic Once again thank you so much! Personal information: Student’s full name:…………………………………………… Gender:  Male  Female Age:… years old How long have you studied English? years Which subject did you learn when you were in high school? a Writing b Reading c Listening d Speaking In your opinion, learning English is a Very important b Important c Normal d Not important What you think about writing? a Very important b Important c Normal d Not important What you often to improve your writing skills? 23 A Study on Common Errors in Writing Paragraphs of English- Majored Freshmen at Tay Do University a Writing a lot b Doing many kinds of the exercises c Enriching your vocabulary as much as possible d Try to get better understanding of grammar Common errors are made in writting paragraphs Please read the following questions and mark agreement or disagreement in the appreciate box to make clear your opinion Strongly Statemens Disagree Disagree Do you agree that writing skills is important to future job? Learning writing is not simple for you You can write a good academic paragraph You have difficulties faced in the paragraph writing 10 You cannot write well because you not have enough vocabulary 11 Repeat words and phrases when writing paragraph is due to insufficient vocabulary 12 You have face word choice for formal or imformal paragraph 24 Normal Agree Strongly Agree A Study on Common Errors in Writing Paragraphs of English- Majored Freshmen at Tay Do University 13 Spelling is another difficulty that you face in writing 14 You make some grammatical errors such as errors of subject-verb and noun- adjective 15 You are afraid of using collocation in your writing because of their hidden meaning 16 You not know how to use appropriate tense in your writing 17 Word order makes you confused when you write a sentence 18 The sentences in your writing are disordered and not wellconnected THANKS FOR YOUR HELPS! 25 A Study on Common Errors in Writing Paragraphs of English- Majored Freshmen at Tay Do University APPENDIX B INTERVIEW STUDENTS Dear friends, My name is Vo Nguyen Phuong Linh and I am currently an English – majored senior at Tay Do University This interview is one of the important instruments for my research about “A study on common errors in writing paragraphs of English – majored freshmen at Tay Do University” I will really appreciate if you can take your priceless time to answer the following questions Thank you so much! Student’s name: Gender:  Male  Female Class: Age: years old In your opinion, how can you avoid making common mistakes while writing? What suggestions you have for the school to improve your writing ability? 26