Common Errors and their Causes in Paragraph Writing Tasks by E.F.L. Second- year Students at Ha Hoa Tien University Các lỗi thường gặp và nguyên nhân mắc lỗi kh

ABSTRACT ***** This paper studies the common written errors in paragraph writing made by second year English major students in Ha Hoa Tien University and the causes of these errors.. To

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

- -

PHẠM THỊ LAN PHƯƠNG

COMMON ERRORS AND CAUSES OF ERRORS IN PARAGRAPH WRITING TASKS BY E.F.L SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS

AT HA HOA TIEN UNIVERSITY

(Các lỗi thường gặp và nguyên nhân mắc lỗi khi viết đoạn văn của sinh

viên Anh văn năm thứ hai trường Đại học Hà Hoa Tiên)

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 6014.0111

Hanoi, 2013

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

- -

PHẠM THỊ LAN PHƯƠNG

COMMON ERRORS AND CAUSES OF ERRORS IN PARAGRAPH WRITING TASKS BY E.F.L SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS

AT HA HOA TIEN UNIVERSITY

(Các lỗi thường gặp và nguyên nhân mắc lỗi khi viết đoạn văn của sinh

viên Anh văn năm thứ hai trường Đại học Hà Hoa Tiên)

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 6014.0111

Supervisor: Dr NGUYỄN ĐỨC HOẠT

Hanoi, 2013

DECLARATION

I, Phạm Thị Lan Phương, certify my authorship of the study report entitled

“Common Errors and their Causes in Paragraph Writing Tasks by E.F.L

Students at Ha Hoa Tien University”

is the result of my own research for the degree of Master of Arts at University of Languages & International Studies-VNU, Ha Noi, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts

Phạm Thị Lan Phương

I would like to convey my thanks to all my teachers of Postgraduate Studies Department who have supported me with a lot of knowledge

I also would like to thank all my colleagues for their invaluable comments and assistance during the time I was completing my study

My special thanks also go to the students in groups of DA5 and DAC5 for their willingness to participate in writing tasks Without their helps, this study could not have been so successful

I owe a great debt of gratitude to my husband who has constantly inspired and encouraged me to complete this research

Last but not least, I wish to thank my readers for their interests and comments on this thesis

ABSTRACT

*****

This paper studies the common written errors in paragraph writing made by second year English major students in Ha Hoa Tien University and the causes of these errors To achieve the desired aims of the current study, the author combined both qualitative and quantitative methods, including two main instruments namely analyzing student writing analysis and personal interviews The subjects participating in the research were 19 second year EFL students in Foreign Language Faculty in Ha Hoa Tien, a private University in Ha Nam

Research results show that errors second year EFL students often make are basically due to the lack of vocabulary and problems with understanding basic grammatical rules in English The main causes of these errors are the interference

of mother tongue, carelessness, overgeneralization, incomplete application of rules and ignorance of rule restriction, in which interference from the first language is the major cause

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES vi

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii

PART I: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale of the study 1

2 Objectives of the study 1

3 Research questions 2

4 Scope of the study 2

5 Significance of the study 2

6 Structures of the thesis 3

PART II: DEVELOPMENT 4

CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

1.1 Writing and paragraph writing 4

1.2 Definitions of errors 5

1.3 Errors versus mistakes 6

1.4 Error classification 6

1.5 Causes of errors 9

1.6 Previous study 14

CHAPTER II: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 14

2.1 Research setting 14

2.2 Data collection instruments 14

2.2.1.Student writing tasks 14

2.2.2 Interviews 15

2.3 Procedure of data collection 15

2.4 Data analysis 19

CHAPTER III: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 21

3.1 Common errors made by second year EFL students in HHT 21

3.2 Causes of errors made by second year EFL students in HHT 31

PART III: CONCLUSION 37

1 Summary of the study 37

2 Limitations and further studies 37

3 Recommendations 38

REFERENCES 40

APENDIX ix

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

Table 3.1 Number and frequency of errors in paragraph writing by

types and by groups

22

Table 3.4 The popularity of each kind of causes to students' common written

errors

32

List of fingures

Figure 3.3 The popularity of each kind of causes to students' common written

errors

32

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

EFL: English as a Foreign Language

HHT: Ha Hoa Tien University

EFL: Learning English as a Foreign Language

L1: First Language

L2: Second Language

SVA: Subject-Verb Agreement

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

Writing skill plays an important role in learning English and is considered most difficult skill to be acquired A proficient writing ability in second language enhances students’ logical way of thinking, thus facilitating students in meeting the requirements of almost every profession However, to attain the proficiency in writing has long been a challenge consuming much energy and practice for almost second language learners

In effect, many Vietnamese teachers and researchers have been seeking new and effective methods to improve their teaching with the hope of predicting and preventing errors before they appear Nevertheless, they pay much more concern to why Vietnamese learners commit errors and how to prevent or reduce these errors

Nowadays, there are many private universities opened in Viet Nam and the real quality of students in these universities raised a big question to both educators and the Government As a teacher at Ha Hoa Tien University, the author recognizes English major students’ weaknesses in using English, especially in writing skill One of the most challenging tasks facing both the EFL learners and teachers is to find out common mistakes and their causes in order to avoid possible mistakes or errors in writing To find effective solutions to the above problem, the author has

decided to do the research on “Common Errors and Their Causes in Paragraph Writing Tasks by EFL Students at Ha Hoa Tien University”

It is hoped that the results of this study will be really useful for both teachers and students in teaching and learning writing skill in particular and in improving their writing ability

2 Objectives of the study

The objectives of the study are:

 to investigate the types of written errors often made by second-year EFL students of English major at Ha Hoa Tien University in writing paragraphs

 to find out possible causes of common errors made by second-year EFL students in paragraph writing tasks at Ha Hoa Tien University

 To recommend effective ways of avoiding errors in students’ writing tasks

This study is carried out with the hope that teachers and students can define the students’ common errors and adjust their way of teaching and learning this skill basing on the errors’ causes to obtain better results

3 Research questions

In order to achieve the above objectives, two research questions are raised:

1/ What are the types of written errors made by second - year EFL students

of Ha Hoa Tien University in writing tasks?

2/ What are possible causes of these errors?

4 Scope of the study

Due to the limited time and the restricted scope of study of a minor thesis, the study only focuses on identifying a number of common grammatical written errors

committed by second year EFL students at HHT university The errors are classified

according to Chaney’s model (1999) and the causes of errors are distinguished based on the two researchers’ theoretical analysis, Norrish, J (1992) and Richards,

C (1971) Therefore, the criteria of classifying errors and causes of errors are partly subjective or mental analysis

5 Significance of the study

The study attempts to investigate the types of common errors in writing tasks and possible causes to avoid errors and improve writing skill of students at Ha Hoa Tien University in particular and in Vietnam in general

In terms of foreign language learning, the study tells the students how much progress they made toward the target language, especially in the field of writing, hence they need improve A deeply understanding why errors arise can assist in adjusting learning methods

In term of teaching and designing syllabus, the study may help teachers in particular and educators in general to understand the nature of errors, which is useful for them

in sequencing and arranging target language items in their syllabus or material designing

6 Structures of the thesis

The study consists of 3 parts, organized as follows:

Part I - Introduction- gives information about the topic of this paper, the reason for

choosing the topic, the aim, scope, and methods and significance of the study An outline of the thesis is also mentioned in this chapter

Part II

Chapter I - Literature Review – discusses the relevant theories related to

paragraph writing, errors and causes of errors

Chapter II- Research Methodology – will mention the 2 main research instruments

employed in the study, data collection procedure and data analysis

Chapter III - Findings and Discussions – the data colleted will be analyzed in

order to find out the common errors made by second year English major students and causes of these errors

Part III - Conclusion – provides some practical suggestions to help teachers have

effective methods in teaching writing Some brief information about the limitations

of the study and suggestions for further study will be also added here

PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Writing and paragraph writing

Many linguists give the definition of writing However, it is difficult to choose which is the most exact and trustworthy

According to Flower (1984, p.16), “writing is simply the act of expressing what you think or saying what you mean” while Byrne (2000, p.1) considers writing as the

“use of graphic symbols: that is, letters or combinations of letters” He concludes that writing is the act of “forming these symbols; making marks on a flat surface of some kind” Nevertheless, on higher level, “writing is a more complex process than the “production of graphic symbols” It involves the arrangement of symbols

“according to certain convention, to form words and words have to be arranged to form sentences” Furthermore, writing is regarded as a productive and taught

language skill which is “difficult to acquire” ( Tribble, 1996, p.3) and “writing

normally requires some form of instruction It is not a skill that is readily picked up

by exposure” (Tribble, 1996, p.11) Thus, it is necessary for learners to study and practice to improve this skill as Ur (2003) stated that “most people acquire the spoken language intuitively, whereas the written form is in most cases deliberately taught and learned”

For its complicated process, EFL learners meet many difficulties in writing skill From the realities in learning English in Viet Nam, there are some difficulties in writing as: learners’ low proficiency in the language, students’ low motivation to learn English, learners’ lack of background knowledge

According to Hornby (1989 p.895), paragraph is distinct section of a written or printed text, usually consisting of several sentences dealing with a single theme and starting on a new line In tone with it, Tidyman (1987, p.10) say that a paragraph is

a group of sentences that develop a point on an idea Further he explains that the important feature of paragraph is that it has unity when all of its sentences are

related to the main point So, a paragraph is a group of sentences dealing with a single theme that develop the main point on an idea

The form of paragraph can be written into 12 kinds of genre Those genres are recount, report, discussion, explanation, analytical exposition, hortatory exposition, news item, anecdote, narrative, procedure, description, and review Each of them has different function and characteristics

In short, writing is a complex skill in second language learning because it requires the ability to communicate in target language and to produce text in order to express oneself efficiently Therefore, paragraph writing requires conscious effort and much practice in composing, developing, and analyzing ideas

1.2 Definitions of errors

Making errors is the most natural thing in the world In communication, both native speakers and non- native speakers can make errors though their errors are different

Error is defined as “systematic deviations” from the norms of language being learnt

by Cunning Worth (1987) or when a learner has not learnt something and consistently gets it wrong ( Norrish, 1987) Besides, Choon (1993) describes

“error” as a form of structure that is inappropriately used and that cannot be accepted by a native speaker According to Richards (1989), the term is identified as

a faulty use of a linguistic item which shows incomplete learning Another

definition of errors is given out by Brown (1994) He identifies error as “noticeable deviation from the adult grammar of a native speaker, reflecting the interlanguage competence of the learner” (as cited in Acker, 2000, p.205) Corder (1973) refers to

errors as breaches of the code; they deviate from what is regarded as the norm by native speakers

Error in writing is defined by many linguists and methodologists, but in short it is the faulty use of target language and it reveals a portion of the learner’s weak competence in the target language

1.3 Errors versus mistakes

To understand more clearly about errors, it is necessary to differentiate errors and mistakes Brown (2000) argues that “a mistake refers to a performance error that is either a random guess or a “slip” it is a failure to utilize a known system correctly” (p.217) Brown also states that “errors can not often be self-corrected while

mistakes can be self-corrected if the deviation is pointed out to the speaker” or

“when attention is called to them” ( as cited in James (1998)) He thinks that

“mistakes are not the result of a deficiency in competence but the result of some sort

of temporary breakdown or imperfection in the process of producing speech.” (Brown, 2000, p 217)

Thus, mistakes are often non- systematic and are made by lack of attention, fatigue, carelessness or other aspect of performance so if the language learners notice, learners can avoid the mistakes or even can correct them themselves Whereas, errors are systematic because they are caused by the lack of the learners’ competence, ignorance of appropriate rule and interference of the learners’ mother tongue and the general characteristic of the rule learning

1.4 Error classification

According to Choon (1993), there are some categories of errors such as semantic error (wrong words, wrong form, etc.), grammatical errors ( tense, preposition, etc.), global and local errors She also suggests “the system of classifying errors should be flexible” (p.2) and adds that teacher can learn and decide what should be focused more in their syllabus after analyzing the specific and common language problem their students have

High – frequency errors have been suggested for language teachers when they respond to written products (Allwright, 1975, Mings, 1993) Walz (1982) defines frequent errors as those frequently committed by individual students or by many students in a class, and these errors are normally grammatical Hendrickson (1980, p.161) claims that the examination to find out the frequently committed errors at

various stages of FLA is necessary, because it could provide the information to build “hierarchies of language learning features”

In fact, some researchers have found errors that are produced frequently by EFL and ESL learners introduced by Dulay et al in 1982

(1) Omitting grammatical morphemes, which are items that do not contribute

much to the meaning of sentences, as in He hit car

(2) Double marking, as semantic feature (e.g past tense) when only one

marker is requires, as in She didn’t went back

(3) Regularizing rules, as in womans for women

(4) Using archiforms – one form in place of several- such as the use of her for

both she and her, as in I saw her yesterday Her danced with my brother

(5) Using two or more forms in random alternation even though the language

requires the use of each only under certain conditions as in the random use of

she and he regardless of gender of the person of interest

(6) Misordering items in constructions that require a reversal of word- order

rules that had been previously acquired, as in What you are doing?, or

misplacing items that may be correctly placed in more than one place in the

sentences, as in They are all the time late

(Vann et al., 1984, p.431)

There is also a useful checklist developed by Robinett in 1972, which contains the frequent errors of ESL learners The checklist consists of 18 areas, and the types of

frequent errors in each areas are described in detail, so that the teachers can use them to evaluate compositions in a more objective way (for more detail, see Walz, 1982)

Article/ Determiners Format

Paraphrase Nouns Spelling Word order

(Robinet, 1972, extracted from Walz, 1982, p.35)

In addition to the above studies, Ferris and Roberts’s (2001) recent article introduces the following five categories that represent the five most frequent errors found by Chaney’s analysis of learner error in 1999

Description of Error Categories Verb errors All errors in verb tense or form, including

relevant subject-verb agreement errors

Noun ending errors

Plural or possessive ending incorrect, omitted, or unnecessary; includes relevant subject-verb agreement errors

Article errors Article or other determiner incorrect,

omitted, or unnecessary

Wrong words

All specific lexical errors in word choice or word form, including preposition and pronoun errors

Spelling errors only included if the (apparent) misspelling resulted in an actual English word

Sentence structures

Errors in sentence/ clause boundaries

(run-on, fragments, comma splices), word order,

unidiomatic sentence construction

It’s obvious that common writing errors are identified and classified differently according to the researchers’ perspectives However, in order to achieve the study objectives of finding the most common errors in paragraph writing made by EFL second year students in HHT, I have adopted the way Chaney (1999) analyzed learner’s errors This will be discussed in detail in chapter II of this study

1.5 Causes of errors

To know why certain errors arise from learners' performance is essential and helpful

in different ways as aforementioned However, it is not easy to elucidate the problem in psycholinguistic terms: what process and strategy it is that leads to the making of errors According to Norrish, J (1992), he reported that some causes of errors were carelessness, first language interference, translation, overgeneralization, incomplete application of rules but Richards, C suggested that over-generalization, ignorance of rule restrictions, incomplete application of rules and false concepts hypothesized are main causes From the two authors' theory above and from my experience, the researcher sees that a number of reasons for how learners go wrong are mother tongue language interference, overgeneralization, ignorance of rule restrictions, incomplete application of rules and carelessness

1.5.1 Mother tongue interference

According to Norrish, J (1983, p 22) mother tongue interference “was commonly believed until fairly recently that learning a language (a mother tongue or a foreign language) was a matter of habit formation Beside forms, meanings and cultural aspects which can be transferred, Lado (1957, p.1) claims "errors are originated in the learner's disposition to transfer the forms and meanings, and the distribution of forms and meanings of their native language and culture to the foreign language and culture" Generally there are four major factors that may enable FL learners to use their native language in second language acquisition

In the first place, it is common knowledge that at a certain stage of their learning: often very early in classroom settings, FL learners are required to produce the new language The performance forms needed in classrooms are for example writing

compositions, talking about something, or taking tests The important thing is that they are forced to perform even though they do not want or their linguistic competence fails to meet their expansive needs to communicate It is due to this pressure both from the demand for communication and the teacher's request that the learner falls back on the language he is most familiar with

Secondly, the limited L2 environment is to blame The absence of a natural linguistic input with native speakers and confinement to contact with non-native teachers and people cause learners to have recourse on their language

What is more, the way learners are asked to perform the FL also has a significant affect on his verbal production For example, he is asked to translate a paragraph into the target language, write an essay or describe a picture orally, etc All these things may have mother tongue influence rooted in them Among the types of tasks,

translation is said to "increase the L2 learner's reliance on first language structures" (Dulay et al., 1982 p.110)

Last but not least, the monitor use is believed to be in effect It is realized by Dulay

et al as "an important factor associated with L1 use in L2 acquisition" (Dulay et al

1982: 110) It is reflected in the learner's use of L2 vocabulary to fill L1 structures

He is said to think in his mother tongue and attempt to put his idea in the target language By this way, he has subconscious reliance on his vernacular

By far land large, the influence coming from L1 is one of the popular attempts to interpret the source of Fl errors It is conditioned by four basic factors: the performance pressure, limited language environment, manner of eliciting verbal performance and the monitor use

1.5.2 Overgeneralization

The concept of generalization has been perceived the same as transfer by Jakobovits

(1969, p.55), i.e "the use of previously available strategies in new situations" This

use of previously learned rules is, for some reasons, sometimes misleading where the rules are inapplicable, thus being over-generalized Over-generalized covers instances where the learner creates a deviant structure on the basis of his experience

of other structures in the target language: he can sings, we are hope, it is occurs, he come from (Richards, 1971)

What then give rises to the process of overgeneralization? Actually, it is part of the learning process and it reflects the learner's consciousness and creativeness in learning It is closely related to the process of simplification as seen in L1 learners L2 learners also tend to reduce redundant sub-systems such as omission of the third person -s or the past maker -ed

However over- extension may result from other sources as well "Failure to observe rule restrictions of existing structure" is one of the reasons A good example suggested by Richards is the application of infinitive even to verbs that do not require it The last factor, perhaps an important one that is worth noticing is the teaching and presentation technique Certain types of teaching techniques increase the frequency of over- generalized structures Many patterns drills and transform exercises are made up of utterances that can interfere with each other to produce a hybrid structure Richards (1971) gave the following example:

This has been described as over-learning of a structure At other times, he walks may be contrasted with he is walking, he sings with he can sing, and a week later, without any teaching of the forms, the learner produces he can sings, he is walks

George (1972) also agreed on the same thing He postulated that the erroneous

structure like Did you mended it? Owed its cause to the instruction of simple

present statements, simple present questions and simple past statements respectively

in succession

In short, along with L1 interference, over-generalization is regarded as one of the major causes of error-making It is the result of learners' processing and making hypotheses about the language that is subjected to a variety of factors and is hard for

us to control

1.5.3 Ignorance of rule restriction

Closely related to the generalization of deviant structure is failure to observe the restrictions of existing structures, that is, "the application of rules to contexts where they do not apply" (Richards, 1974) The scholar also mentions that some rule restriction errors that learners commit may be accounted for in terms of analogy For example, the learner, encountering a particular preposition with one type of verb, will attempt to apply the same preposition with similar verbs by analogy To

be specific, students know the sentence "He showed me the book" so that they may

think the sentence " He explained me the book" is correct one

Besides, the rote learning of rules is also a cause of learners' ignorance of restrictions For instance, students are taught to use a to-verb infinitive after some

verbs such as allow, enable, permit and then that makes students assume that the use of verb make should be make sb to do sth (Richards, 1974)

1.5.4 Incomplete application of rules

Like L1 learners, Fl learners undergo developmental stages through which they process target language rules This is the reason for their imperfect application of the rules There are two factors Richards thinks that lead to this violation The first one is the use of questions in classroom as elicitation techniques For example:

Teacher: What does she tell him?

Student: She tell him to hurry

The second factor may be that the learner is so interested in the communication that they need not a mastery of L2 rules provided that they can achieve efficient communication (Richards, 1974)

1.5.5 Carelessness

Carelessness is also a significant cause to students' common written errors Carelessness is often closely related to lack of motivation Many teachers will admit that it is not always the student's fault of losing interest; perhaps the materials and/

or the style of presentation do not suit him

Norrish (1983) mentioned one way of reducing the number of "careless" errors in written work Teachers get students to check their work themselves and then each

other's work This will involve students in an active search for errors and English can be used for a genuine communication while discussing these errors in class There are many other factors that cause FL learner errors in writing However, in this minor thesis any other causes of error would be classified in to carelessness group to make easier to the data analysis

1.6 Previous studies

A great number of error studies have been carried out in many countries Researchers like Corder (1967), Richards (1974), Dulay and Burt (1974), and Norrish (1983) among others emphasized the importance of errors in theory and practice of teaching and learning a foreign language As Corder observed, errors as traced to their sources are helpful in different ways First, they tell language teachers how much progress a learner has made toward the target language, as a result, where he needs help and what sort of help he needs Second, they provide evidence for researchers of the second language learning process That is to say, the researchers discover what strategies FL learners use in learning and acquiring a language The last benefit is practical in the sense that errors can serve as good feedback to the learners for self- adjustment

However, errors searched in those studies come from learners other than Vietnamese and may be characteristic of those learners The causes may be common but the types of error may be distinctive and must be pointed out together with their causes Despite common errors believed to exist in learners of various language backgrounds Etherton (1977) still holds the view that learners of different mother tongues "make different types of mistakes" This is why this study should be conducted to find out what types of errors are derived from the Vietnamese students and what their causes are To be specific, in this study the researcher wants to investigate common written errors made by second- year EFL students and causes

of these errors

CHAPTER II: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 2.1 Research setting

The research is conducted in 2 groups of English Department in HHT for two weeks Teaching and learning English in this university is taken into great consideration It is not only a major but also an instrument in studying other majors such as Economics, Accounting, Information Technology, etc However, students’ ability of using English in this university is mostly at beginner level English major students get low marks in the entrance exam

Subjects of the study are 19 second year English major students from 2 classes of Foreign language Department Their English is at intermediate level They are familiar with writing skill and are able to compose narrative, cause and effect, compare and contrast paragraphs However, their proficiency in English is not as fluent as advanced learners; hence they tend to make more errors in higher frequency Thus, treatment of students’ errors in writing is a headache and time – consuming job to teachers They are willing and enthusiastic to take part in this study

2.2 Data collection instruments

An instrument plays an important role in research It influences the data which are collected In order to obtain adequate data for the study, the researcher employed two data collection instruments namely document analysis and interview

2.2.1 Student writing tasks

Regarding the objectives of the study, the researcher would like to employ document analysis as a feasible method to gain insights into the problems of the study This method is "considered a research technique that provides objective, systematic and qualitative data" (Verma and Mallick, 1999) This method of researching enables the researcher to summarize students' typical errors and it also allows her to make inferences from data collected, which can be used to assist the data gained from interview as well

The participants are asked to write paragraphs choosing one of the following topics:

Topic 1: Living in your house or living in the hostel

Topic 2: The most unforgettable day in your life

Topic 3: A bad habit

Topic 4: A favorite film

Topic 5: The way you learn English

The topics for writing are designed based on the topics in the book “Writing Academic English”, 3rd edition by Alice Oshima and Ann Hogue, introduced by Le Thanh Tam and Le Ngoc Phuong Anh (2004, p.257-258)

The paragraphs are written in pieces of paper It is not an exam so students are allowed to use dictionaries The paragraph has to be at least 150 words long It could be done in maximum of 60 minutes The total respondents are 19 students who are chosen as samples of the study

After collecting the writing papers, they are marked by two writing teachers in HHT university Before marking, they are given a list of marking symbol (see table 2.1), then the researcher introduces the way of marking (see appendix 1 as an example)

2.2.2 Interviews

After collecting the errors from the participants’ writing tasks the researcher choose 60 errors, 10 errors of each error group, in 10 writing samples Then the researcher interviews 10 students who make these errors to get better insights into the research on the causes of written errors in paragraph writing Each student receives a piece of paper containing their own errors in their writing papers Then, the researcher interviews them with the same question: “Why do you make this error?” The researcher can suggest some causes if the participants find difficulties

to explain their causes All the answers are recorded and classified into categories of causes by the researcher The classifying criteria is detailed in table 2.2

2.3 Data collection procedure

To collect information about errors the researcher has used the combination

of qualitative and quantitative approaches The qualitative approach is used in

describing and analyzing data to find out the distinctive features of English paragraphs written by HHT students in term of linguistic errors On the contrary, the quantitative approach is applied in determining the percentage of some linguistic errors

2.3.1 Student writing tasks collection procedure

Prep Wrong/ unnecessary or

Wrong/ omitted or unnecessary Articles

participle, infinitive, modal

or passive voice verb)

Frag Fragment sentence RO Run – on sentence

Word order

symbol and mark the word

type omitted)

word/phrarse (cross the words and mark if they are article, preposition, or others)

Conj Wrong/omitted/unnecessary

Plural

Poss Wrong possessive ending Cs Comma splice

Table 2.1 Error marking symbols

(According to Klassen 1991, Bates et al 1993, Igram and King 1996)

2.3.1.3 Classification of errors

According to Jame (1988) errors in writing such as tenses, prepositions and weak vocabulary are the most common and frequent type of errors that are committed by learners Grammar is only a means in writing However, learners tend to emphasize its great importance in writing when they often make grammatical errors such as in subject-verb agreement, verb tenses, word form, preposition, article and pluralizing

In adapting Chaney’s model of learners’ error classification (1999), and basing on the teachers’ marking, the author classify the errors into categories as following

Group 1: Verb errors - verb tense errors (both tense and aspect errors)

- verb form errors (including gerund and infinitive errors, passive and active voice errors, conditional verb errors and other wrong forms of verbs)

- subject-verb agreement errors

Group 2: Noun errors - incorrect Plural/ singular nouns

- wrong possessive ending

Group 3: Article errors - wrong, omitted or unnecessary articles

Group 4: Word choice

errors

- wrong words, wrong word forms

- wrong, omitted or unnecessary prepositions

- wrong, omitted or unnecessary pronouns (including personal/ possessive/ relative pronouns, and other types of pronouns), spelling errors

Group 5: Sentence

structure Errors

- errors in sentence/ clause boundaries (run-on, fragments, comma splices), unidiomatic sentence construction

Mechanical Errors - wrong/ omitted or unnecessary conjunctions

- wrong/omitted or unnecessary transitional signals

- wrong punctuation, capitalization errors

Table 2.2 Error classification

2.3.1.4 Coding the writing errors

Each student writing has a code number 19 paragraphs are coded from 1-19 Then each error in the student writing paragraphs is given a code number with the writing number and the line in the writing from which it is extracted For example, an error with the code “2-6” means the error is taken from the line 6, writing number 2 The code numbers will help the reader to find out errors from the writing and the causes

of each error in the interview result

2.3.2 Interviews

2.3.2.1 Interviewing

After classifying the errors into categories, the researcher randomly collects 10 errors in each error group to find out the causes for these error In the following week, the researcher asks the students who have the errors chosen for an appointment The participants receive a piece of paper with their code and their collected writing errors in it They are asked the same question: “Why did you write it?” for each error 60 answers are recorded and then divided into 6 group into causes of each types of errors If one error is feed backed by two causes in one answer, the researcher choose the more possible one basing on the theory discussed

in chapter I and her own English teaching experiment

2.3.2.2 Identifying Causes of Errors

Once errors are collected and classified, the caused are determined by the researcher basing on the theory discussed tin chapter I If any unclear, the researcher asks why they make these error The causes of errors are determined and classified into the following categories:

I thought in Vietnamese and then translated through google translation