an investigation into teachers correction and its effects on non english majored students motivation and improvement in learning pre esp subject at viettronics technology college

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES  NGUYỄN THỊ HỒNG LUYẾN An investigation into teachers’ correction and its effects on non-English majored students’ motivation and improvement in learning pre-ESP subject at Viettronics Technology College (Tìm hiểu việc sửa lỗi giáo viên ảnh hưởng hứng thú tiến sinh viên tiếng Anh không chuyên học tập môn học tiếng Anh sở trường Cao đẳng Công nghệ Viettronics) M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Hanoi - 2010 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES  NGUYỄN THỊ HỒNG LUYẾN An investigation into teachers’ correction and its effects on non-English majored students’ motivation and improvement in learning pre-ESP subject at Viettronics Technology College (Tìm hiểu việc sửa lỗi giáo viên ảnh hưởng hứng thú tiến sinh viên tiếng Anh không chuyên học tập môn học tiếng Anh sở trường Cao đẳng Công nghệ Viettronics) M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Supervisor: Phùng Thị Kim Dung, M.A Hanoi - 2010 iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration i Acknowledgements ii Table of contents iii List of charts and tables v PART A – INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale Aims of the study Research questions Methods of the study Scope of the study Significance of the study Design of the study Definitions of terminologies PART B – DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER – LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Perspectives on learner errors in foreign language learning 1.1.1 Errors as failure 1.1.2 Errors as positive aids to learning 1.2 Error correction and foreign language progress 1.2.1 Negative perspectives of error correction 1.2.2 Positive perspectives of error correction 1.3 Error treatment and learning motivation 1.4 Error correction in an integrated-instruction form language teaching context 11 1.5 Forms of error correction 12 1.5.1 Self-correction 13 1.5.1.1 Self-correction to oral work 13 1.5.1.2 Self-correction to written work 14 1.5.2 Peer-correction 15 1.5.2.1 Peer-correction to oral work 15 1.5.2.2 Peer-correction to written work 15 1.5.3 Teacher-correction 16 1.5.3.1 Teacher-correction to oral work 16 1.5.3.2 Teacher-correction to written work 16 1.6 Conclusion 16 iv CHAPTER – THE STUDY 17 2.1 Setting of the study 17 2.2 Subjects and instrumentations 17 2.2.1 Subjects 17 2.2.2 Instrumentations 17 2.2.2.1 Questionnaires 17 2.2.2.2 Classroom observation 18 2.2.2.3 Quasi-experiment 18 2.3 Data collection 19 2.4 Data analysis 20 2.4.1 Analysis of teachers’ survey questionnaire 20 2.4.2 Analysis of students’ survey questionnaire 23 2.4.3 Analysis of the experimental and control groups’ pre-test and post-test results 27 2.4.3.1 Comparison of linguistic competence in pre-test between the treatment group and control group 28 2.4.3.2 Comparison of linguistic competence in the pre-test and post-test within groups 28 2.4.3.3 Comparison of linguistic competence between groups 29 2.5 Findings and discussion 30 2.5.1 Teachers’ perceptions of error/mistake correction and their corrective practices 30 2.5.2 The effects of teachers’ correction practices on students’ pre-ESP learning motivation 34 2.5.3 The effect of teachers’ correction techniques on students’ learning improvement 37 PART C – CONCLUSION 39 REFERENCES 41 APPENDICES I APPENDIX I I APPENDIX II II APPENDIX III IV APPENDIX IV VI APPENDIX V IX APPENDIX VI XI APPENDIX VII XIII APPENDIX VIII XIV v LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES Name Page Chart – The role of error correction in English learning as perceived by teachers 20 Chart – Oral mistakes most corrected by the teachers 21 Chart - Written mistakes most corrected by the teachers 22 Chart – The most useful correction type as perceived by the teachers 23 Chart – The importance of error correction from the students’ perceptions 24 Chart – Oral mistakes which the students most liked to be corrected 25 Chart - Written mistakes which the students most liked to be treated 25 Chart - The most useful correction type as perceived by the students 26 Table – Factors affecting teachers’ decision of correction 20 Table – Types and frequency of teachers’ correction 23 Table – The relationship between teachers’ correction and students’ learning 27 motivation Table – Pre-test means of the experimental and control groups 28 Table – Descriptive statistics for the pre-test and post-test scores of the 28 experimental and control groups Table – Mean gains of the experimental and control groups 29 -1- PART A - Introduction Rationale Making mistakes/errors is natural in learning any language including English As an Italian proverb goes “Sbagliando s’impara”, which means “We learn through our errors,” it is commonly agreed that mistakes and errors are indispensable parts in the learning process, and correction should be included in productive English lessons Surprisingly, the history of foreign language teaching and learning research has witnessed contradictory opinions on the effects of correction on learner’s English improvement On the one hand, scholars like Truscott (1996), Krashen (1978), Semke (1984), and many others found negative impacts as a result of this classroom practice On the other hand, linguists like Chaudron (1986), Hendrickson (1984), Ferris (1999), Corder (1973) and Ellis (1989) maintain significant usefulness of error correction in learner’s learning success Moreover, despite being one form of teacher-student classroom interaction and closely related to learners’ interest in learning in that it may either motivate or demotivate learners, how error correction affects learners’ learning motivation has not been adequately studied Therefore, the effects of correction on motivation and improvement deserve more detailed studies In Vietnam nowadays, with the increasingly important role of English in the society, in most colleges where students major in information technology, accounting, business administration, electronics and electric technology or else other than English, freshmen are required to attend a pre-ESP course in preparation for their ESP courses At Viettronics Technology College (VTC), English is taught as a basic science to assist their work in the future In the curriculum, it is one of the compulsory subjects that have to be taken by firstyear students before they take ESP courses in their second or third year The aims of the course are to help students improve their English communicative skills and more importantly, enhance their linguistic knowledge so as to successfully deal with ESP materials Lifelines Elementary is chosen as the course book Students need to practice pieces of grammar and learn the vocabulary needed for speaking, reading, listening and writing activities They are almost at the same low level of English proficiency, so error making is unavoidable Mistakes and errors occurring in this English course are in both spoken and written forms including those on grammar, pronunciation, word use and word/sentence meaning Understandably, teachers’ correction does follow as an attempt to fix these problems However, what might be unknown to these practitioners is the level of impact that their corrective practices assert on the language motivation and improvement of their students In the context of pre-ESP -2- teaching and learning of teachers and non-English majored students at VTC, it is worth our effort to investigate teachers’ corrective practices as well as how they influence students’ motivation and improvement in learning pre-ESP subject Aims of the study The aims of this study are threefold: - To investigate teachers’ perceptions of error/mistake correction and their corrective practices - To investigate the effect of teachers’ correction practice on students’ pre-ESP learning motivation - To investigate the effect of teachers’ correction techniques on students’ learning improvement Research questions - What teachers think of the role of mistake/error correction in English learning? What factors affect their decision of correction? - What are teachers’ correction practices in pre-ESP classes? (What kind of mistakes teachers correct most? What is the amount of correction they offer in a pre-ESP lesson? What types of correction they often use to correct students in pre-ESP classes?) - What are students’ opinions on their teachers’ correction? How teachers’ corrective practices affect their students’ learning motivation? - What is the effect of teachers’ error correction on the students’ learning improvement in terms of linguistic competence? The answer to this question will reveal the acceptance of either the hypothesis that + The students who receive error correction will make more improvement in linguistic competence than those who receive no error correction at all + There is no difference in learning improvement (in terms of linguistic competence) between the experimental group and the control group Methods of the study The instrumentations employed in this study are as follows: - Two questionnaires to investigate teachers’ perceptions of correction as well as its relation to students’ attitudes and motivation in learning pre-ESP - Classroom observation to collect more information about teachers’ correction practices - A quasi-experiment to work out if the teachers’ correction does lead to the students’ improvement in language learning -3- Scope of the study Given that the teachers’ perceptions of error/mistake correction and their corrective practices as well as the effects of their error correction on students’ pre-ESP learning motivation and improvement are the foci of the study, this paper does not try to investigate written or oral error correction in details Instead, it deals with error correction of both kinds, which always occurs in a pre-ESP lesson Moreover, error correction is too broad a part of study in English language teaching, so this paper only focuses on teachers’ correction and its effects on non-English majored students’ motivation and improvement in learning pre-ESP subject at Viettronics Technology College First-year VTC students have to take two pre-ESP courses The first course aims at improving students in their four common communicative skills and the three language elements while the second, apart from focusing on the language areas as mentioned above, intends to enhance their linguistic knowledge so as to assist them in processing and responding to the ESP materials Therefore, students’ improvement in this study refers to that in linguistic competence Finally, the relationship between motivation and improvement lies beyond the scope of our investigation Significance of the study This study, with the view to investigating the effects of teachers’ correction on students’ motivation and improvement in learning pre-ESP subject, hopes to bring a thorough look at one of the influential factors to the teaching and learning of a specific subject Additionally, it reveals a fact that though grammatical error correction is considered unnecessary by many scholars, it still receives much attention by both teachers and students A discussion on useful and effective correction will also make this paper a worth-reading reference document for those who care about this pedagogical issue Design of the study This study contains three parts: - Part A – Introduction covers an overview of the study in which the rationale, aims, research questions, methods, scopes, significance as well as design and definitions of terminologies of the study - Part B – Development deals with a review of related literature, the setting, the methods, data analysis, and findings and discussions of the data collected - Part C – Conclusion sums up the main findings of the study and presents the limitations as well as recommendations for further study -4- Definitions of terminologies 8.1 Error: “A systematic deviation from the accepted code.” (Norrish, 1983:127) 8.2 Mistake: “A non-systematic deviation from the language code indicating incomplete learning.” (Norrish, 1983:128) 8.3 Correction: A way of reminding learners of the forms of standard language 8.4 Feedback: Listener or reader’s responses provided to the learner’s spoken or written production Feedback covers two terms: assessment and correction In this paper, feedback refers to correction, thus, the terms “feedback”, “error correction”, “error treatment” and “corrective feedback” can be interchangeably used 8.5 Language acquisition: The process of learning a native or a second language 8.6 Motivation: “The extent to which the individual works or strives to learn the language because of a desire to so and the satisfaction experienced in this activity.” (Gardner, 1985:10) 8.7 Improvement: The process of something becoming better (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary) -5- part B - Development CHAPTER – LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Perspectives on learner errors in foreign language learning Ever since language teaching and learning began, errors have been in existence as an integral part of learning process However, not until the 1940s was a systematic analysis of second/foreign language errors developed and scholarly attended to Methodologically, there have been two schools of thoughts concerning learner’s errors One maintains that “if we were to achieve a perfect teaching method, the errors would never be committed in the first place, and therefore the occurrence of errors is merely a sign of the present inadequacy of our teaching techniques” (Corder, 1967: 162-3) The other school claims that “we live in an imperfect world and consequently errors will always occur in spite of our best efforts” (Corder, 1967:163) Thereby, errors and mistakes are viewed from two extremes: errors as failure and errors as an essential part and positive aids to learning Understandably, these converse perspectives, which will be discussed in more details below, decide upon how teachers respond to students’ mistakes 1.1.1 Errors as failure With the coming into being of the Audio-lingual approach to language teaching after the Second World War and affected by the theory of Contrastive Analysis, language learner errors were seen as a negative phenomenon in language learning This approach, derived from the behaviorist psychology and emphasizing the teaching of oral skills i.e listening and speaking skills, maintained that “language performance consists of a set of habits in the use of language structures and patterns” (Krashen & Terrell, 1983:14) Accordingly, it was not necessary for learners to understand grammar rules Instead, they were expected to memorize correct forms of the language and then produce error-free utterances As Mings (1993, cited in Hashimoto, 2004:17) points out, “errors were to be avoided as if they were sinful”, this mechanistic approach stressing grammatical accuracy required that errors were treated immediately as they occurred so as to avoid compounding bad habits in the learner Influenced by this approach, many pedagogists treat errors as learner’s failure in acquiring the language 1.1.2 Errors as positive aids to learning It can be said that the pedagogical treatment of foreign language learner errors is closely related to the changes in language theories Appearing at the same time as Communicative method, Error Analysis pioneered a positive thought of the significance of errors in language acquisition Enlightened by Chomsky’ s idea that a child generates language through innate I APPENDICES APPENDIX I Course content during the treatment Unit 13 13 13 Content Vocabulary Phrasal verbs Completing the sentences with phrasal vers Reading and The year of the Answering the questions and writing about a Writing Tiger famous person Listening and speaking Pronunciation 14 Grammar 14 Vocabulary 14 14 Reading and Writing Listening and Speaking Pronunciation Listening and answering the questions and Going out / /, / 13 14 Activities / making conversation about going out how many Listening and distinguishing between the two words sounds The Present perfect tense The world Earth Watch Lucky Break Revision Doing practice exercises Completing the crossword Answering the questions and writing about three expeditions Listening and answering the question and then roleplaying the show Differentiating the sounds, identifying stress and intonation APPENDIX II II Classroom observation results Some notes on error treatment by the teachers Teacher 1: Lesson Task Speaking – Conversation roleplay Speaking – Conversation roleplay Pronunciation Make a sentence with a given word 13 13 13 Mistakes/errors caught Would you like go out? Kind of mistakes/errors Grammar Where would you like going? Grammar My father has got a mustache Pronunciation Correction techniques Recast: “going out” Immediately while the student is talking Clarification request “I’msorry?” Immediately Elicitation: “mus ” (with raised eyebrows) Teacher 2: 13 Fill the the blank with a phrasal verb He got in the train Kind of mistakes/errors Grammar 13 Pronunciation Make a sentence with a given word Grammar practice I had a headache yesterday Pronunciation Have you ever rode a horse? Grammar Lesson 14 Task Mistakes/errors caught Correction techniques Explicitly “No, he got on the train” (with stress on “on”) “Say it again.” Clarification request “Pardon?” Explicitly “Not ‘rode’ ‘ridden’ Say it again , please.” Teacher 3: Lesson Task Mistakes/errors caught Kind of mistakes/errors Grammar 13 Talk about a famous person I very love footballer David Beckham 13 Pronunciation - Make a sentence with a given word Talk about what you have done recently I like eating mushrooms Pronunciation Fanxipan is the tallest mountain in Vietnam Word use 14 Correction techniques Explicitly “No, ‘I love footballer David Beckham very much Say it again.” Explicitly “Not /s/ / / Mushrooms Say it again.” Echoing III Teacher 4: Lesson Kind of mistakes/errors Grammar Task Mistakes/errors caught 13 Talk about what you are going to I’m going play football this Sunday 13 Talk about a famous person He had five goals season ago Grammar 14 Talk about what you have done recently I have meet a famous person Grammar Correction techniques Echoing (with a tress on ‘playing’ and rising tone at the end of the sentence) Recast “A season ago? That sounds interesting.” Recast “Ah, you have met a famous person? Who was that?” Teacher 5: Lesson Task Mistakes/errors caught Kind of mistakes/errors Grammar 13 Speaking – Talk about a famous person Sport is most intersting thing 13 Talk about what you are going to I’m going to be an optician Pronunciation 14 Talk about what you have done recently We went to climbing there Grammar APPENDIX III Teacher survey questionnaire Correction techniques Elicitation “Sport is most interesting thing.” (using fingers and pointing at the missing word) Clarification request “What? Optician?” (with wrong pronunciation) then Explicit correction No correction IV This survey questionnaire is designed for my research on “Teachers’ correction and its effects on non-English majored students’ motivation and improvement in learning preESP subject at Viettronics Technology College” Your assistance in completing the survey is highly appreciated All the information provided by you is reserved for the study purpose, and you can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data Thank you very much for your cooperation! Instruction: Please put a tick () in the appropriate box or give short answers in the space provided Your written answers may be in either English or Vietnamese Your opinions on error correction and your corrective practices: What you think of student’s making mistakes/errors? A It’s an essential part of learning  B It’s a sign of students’ failure in learning the language  How important is error correction in English learning? A Very important  B Important  C Not important  Do you correct students whenever they make mistakes/errors? A Yes  B No  If Yes, can you explain why? ………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………… ……………………………………………… If No, how many percents of correction you offer in a pre-ESP lesson? Why? ………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………… ……………………………………………… What corrective practice you prefer? A Immediate correction  B Delayed correction  C Other(s): .…………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… What kind of students’ mistakes you correct most when they speak? A Grammatical mistakes  B Phonological mistakes  C Mistake on word use and word/sentence meaning  V  D Mistakes on idea organizing What kind of students’ mistakes you correct most when they write? A Grammatical mistakes  B Spelling mistakes  C Mistake on word use and word/sentence meaning  D Mistakes on idea organizing  How often you use the following types of correction? Frequency Never Sometimes Usually Types of correction Teacher-correction Peer-correction Self-correction Which correction type you find the most useful in your English classroom? A Teacher-correction  B Peer-correction  C Self-correction  When correcting students’ mistakes, what you take into consideration? (You can tick more than one option) A Focus of the task (i.e accuracy or fluency)  B Timing of the lesson (how much time left)  C Student’s feeling concerning correction  D Student’s English competence  E Other(s)………………………………………………………………………… ………………… …………………………………………………………… Thank you! APPENDIX IV Student survey questionnaire PhiÕu ®iỊu tra VI Phiếu điều tra thiết kế nhằm phục vụ cho việc thực đề tài nghiên cứu “Việc sửa lỗi giáo viên ảnh hưởng hứng thú tiến học sinh học tập môn tiếng Anh” Chúng mong nhận giúp đỡ bạn Mọi thông tin cá nhân bạn giữ bí mật Cảm ơn cộng tác bạn Hướng dẫn: Xin điền dấu () vào ô bạn chọn để trả lời cho câu hỏi lựa chọn viết câu trả lời ngắn vào chỗ trống cho sẵn Ý kiến bạn việc sửa lỗi giáo viên ảnh hưởng đến hứng thú học tiếng Anh bạn: Việc sửa lỗi giáo viên quan trọng việc học bạn nào? A Rất quan trọng  B Quan trọng  C Không quan trọng  Bạn có muốn giáo viên sửa tất lỗi sai bạn khơng? A Có  B Khơng  Nếu Có, sao? ………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………… ………………………………… Nếu Khơng, bạn muốn giáo viên sửa phần trăm lỗi tiết học tiếng Anh? Bạn giải thích cho lựa chọn này? ………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………… ……………………………………………… Bạn muốn giáo viên sửa lỗi cho nào? A Ngay bạn mắc lỗi  B Sau bạn hoàn thành yêu cầu giáo viên  VII C Ý kiến khác: Trong hoạt động nói bạn thích giáo viên sửa loại lỗi nhiều nhất? A Lỗi ngữ pháp  B Lỗi ngữ âm (phát âm, trọng âm, ngữ điệu)  C Lỗi dùng từ ý nghĩa câu  D Lỗi xếp ý  Trong hoạt động viết bạn thích giáo viên sửa loại lỗi nhiều nhất? A Lỗi ngữ pháp  B Lỗi tả  C Lỗi dùng từ ý nghĩa câu  D Lỗi xếp ý  H ình thức sửa lỗi bạn thấy hữu dụng nhất? A Giáo viên sửa lỗi  B Sinh viên sửa lỗi cho  C Sinh viên tự sửa lỗi  Thái độ giáo viên việc bạn mắc lỗi? A Khó chịu  B Cảm thơng nhiệt tình sửa lỗi  Bạn thích đư ợc sửa lỗi với: A Sự khuyến khích từ phía giáo viên  B Sự phê bình từ phía giáo viên để bạn tiến  Đồng ý Khơng Bình VIII đồng ý Việc sửa lỗi giáo viên làm bạn thấy chán nản tiết học tiếng Anh sở Việc sửa lỗi giáo viên làm bạn thấy tự tin 10 nói tiếng Anh tiết học tiếng Anh sở 11 Cách sửa lỗi giáo viên làm bạn thấy khó chịu Việc sửa lỗi giáo viên giúp bạn đạt mục đích 12 học tập mơn học tiếng Anh sở Cách sửa lỗi giáo viên làm bạn thích học mơn tiếng 13 Anh sở Việc sửa lỗi giáo viên làm bạn muốn học môn học 14 tiếng Anh sở Việc sửa lỗi giáo viên động viên bạn học tập chăm 15 Cảm ơn bạn! APPENDIX V thường IX Pre - TEST _*** _ I Multiple choices: (20 points) Choose the word whose stress is placed differently from that of the others: A expedition B volunteer Choose the best answer: C adventure D disappear James has _ scuba-diving for seven months now A took up B taken up C took down D taken down Circle A, B, C or D where there is a mistake: Last summer I went to scuba-diving with my father in Florida A B C D Circle A, B, C or D where there is a mistake: Would you like coming to the movies with me? I’m going to see Avatar A B C D Choose the word whose underlined part is pronounced differently from that of the others: A learns B kids C days Choose the word whose stress is placed differently from that of the others: D photographs A major B detail C guitar Choose the word whose stress is placed differently from that of the others: D junior A advert B charity C eclipse Choose the word whose stress is placed differently from that of the others: D ordinary A noisy B forest C canoeing Choose the word whose stress is placed differently from that of the others: D photograph A millionaire B professional C performance D tonight 10 Choose the word whose underlined part is pronounced differently from that of the others: A surprised B sugar 11 Choose the best answer: C special D station I always the radio in the mornings A turn up B turn down C turn off D turn on 12 Circle A, B, C or D where there is a mistake: My brother and I are going to climb the tallest mountain in the world A B C D 13 Circle A, B, C or D where there is a mistake: Jim have won a $1,000 lottery prize two months ago A B C D 14 Choose the word whose underlined part is pronounced differently from that of the others: A flew B knew 15 Choose the best answer: C threw D blew X I want to look _ this word in the dictionary but I’ve put _ my glasses and now I can’t find them anywhere A up/down B for/off C for/down D down/up 16 Choose the word whose underlined part is pronounced differently from that of the others: A arrived B missed 17 Choose the best answer: C jumped D knocked Yesterday was the day of my life A happiest B happy C most happy D more happy 18 Circle A, B, C or D where there is a mistake: Did Martin enjoy the concert last night? Yes, he enjoyed A B C D 19 Choose the word whose underlined part is pronounced differently from that of the others: A chemist B moustache 20 Choose the best answer: C mechanic D stomach I the train at Chinatown Station for shopping A got in B got out C got off D got away II Put the verbs in brackets into the correct tense: (10 points) A: What (you, do) _ tonight? B: I (not decide) _ yet A: Would you like to come to the cinema with me? I (see) _ The Lord of the Rings B: I (see) _ it three times already A: Well, what about spending the evening at the museum? B: Good idea I (not be) _ there III Put the words and phrases into the correct order to make meaningful sentences: (10 points) you/ ever/ driven/ car/ have/ racing/a? ……………………………………………………………………… most/ this/ the/ interesting movie/ have/ I/ watched/ is ……………………………………………………………………… has/ he/ climbed/ highest/ the/ and/ /to/ mountain/ travel/he/ going/ the/ is/ world/ around ……………………………………………………………………… we/ buy/ are/next/ going/ a/ house/ new/ to/ week ……………………………………………………………………… married/ she/ a/ man/ is/ to/ going/ to/ rich/ get ……………………………………………………………………… THE END APPENDIX VI POST - tEST _*** _ I Multiple choices: (20 points) Circle A, B, C or D where there is a mistake: XI Would you like coming to the movies with me? I’m going to see Avatar A B C D Choose the word whose stress is placed differently from that of the others: A volunteer B adventure Choose the best answer: C disappear D expedition I the train at Chinatown Station for shopping A got in B got off C got out Circle A, B, C or D where there is a mistake: Last summer I went to scuba-diving with my father in Florida A B C D Choose the word whose stress is placed differently from that of the others: D got away A noisy B forest C photograph D canoeing Choose the word whose underlined part is pronounced differently from that of the others: A flew B blew Choose the best answer: C threw D knew C turn up D turn down I always the radio in the mornings A turn on B turn off Choose the best answer: Yesterday was the day of my life A more happy B happiest C most happy D happy Choose the word whose underlined part is pronounced differently from that of the others: A special B surprised 10 Choose the best answer: C sugar D station I want to look _ this word in the dictionary but I’ve put _ my glasses and now I can’t find them anywhere A for/off B down/up C up/down 11 Circle A, B, C or D where there is a mistake: Jim have won a $1,000 lottery prize two months ago A B C D 12 Circle A, B, C or D where there is a mistake: My brother and I are going to climb the tallest mountain in the world A B C D 13 Choose the word whose stress is placed differently from that of the others: D for/down A ordinary B advert C eclipse D charity 14 Choose the word whose underlined part is pronounced differently from that of the others: A moustache B chemist C stomach 15 Choose the word whose stress is placed differently from that of the others: D mechanic XII A guitar B junior C detail D major 16 Choose the word whose underlined part is pronounced differently from that of the others: A arrived B knocked C jumped D missed 17 Choose the word whose underlined part is pronounced differently from that of the others: A kids B photographs C days 18 Circle A, B, C or D where there is a mistake: Did Martin enjoy the concert last night? Yes, he enjoyed A B C D 19 Choose the word whose stress is placed differently from that of the others: D learns A professional B performance 20 Choose the best answer: D millionaire C tonight James has _ scuba-diving for seven months now A took up B taken up C taken down D took down II Put the verbs in brackets into the correct tense: (10 points) A: What (you, do) _ tonight? B: I (not decide) _ yet A: Would you like to come to the cinema with me? I (see) _ The Lord of the Rings B: I (see) _ it three times already A: Well, what about spending the evening at the museum? B: Good idea I (not be) _ there III Put the words and phrases into the correct order to make meaningful sentences: (10 points) you/ ever/ driven/ car/ have/ racing/a? ……………………………………………………………………… most/ this/ the/ interesting movie/ have/ I/ watched/ is ……………………………………………………………………… has/ he/ climbed/ highest/ the/ and/ /to/ mountain/ travel/he/ going/ the/ is/ world/ around ……………………………………………………………………… we/ buy/ are/next/ going/ a/ house/ new/ to/ week ……………………………………………………………………… married/ she/ a/ man/ is/ to/ going/ to/ rich/ get ……………………………………………………………………… THE END APPENDIX VII Answer key Pre-test I Multiple choices: (20 points) 1.C 2.B 6.C 7.C 11.D 12.C 16.A 17.A XIII 3.C 4.B 5.D 8.C 9.A 10.B 13.A 14.B 15.A 18.D 19.B 20.C II Put the verbs in brackets into the correct tense: (10 points) A: What are you going to tonight? B: I haven’t/have not decided yet A: Would you like to come to the cinema with me? I am/’m going to see The Lord of the Rings B: I have seen it three times already A: Well, what about spending the evening at the museum? B: Good idea I haven’t/have not been there III Put the words and phrases into the correct order to make meaningful sentences: (10 points) Have you ever driven a racing car? This is the most interesting movie I have watched He has climbed the highest mountain and he is going to travel around the world We are going to buy a new house next week She is going to get married to a rich man Post-test I Multiple choices: (20 points) 1.B 6.D 11.A 16.A 2.B 7.A 12.C 17.B 3.B 8.B 13.C 18.D 4.C 9.C 14.A 19.D 5.D 10.C 15.A 20.B II Put the verbs in brackets into the correct tense: (10 points) A: What are you going to tonight? B: I haven’t/have not decided yet A: Would you like to come to the cinema with me? I am/’m going to see The Lord of the Rings B: I have seen it three times already A: Well, what about spending the evening at the museum? B: Good idea I haven’t/have not been there III Put the words and phrases into the correct order to make meaningful sentences: (10 points) Have you ever driven a racing car? This is the most interesting movie I have watched He has climbed the highest mountain and he is going to travel around the world We are going to buy a new house next week She is going to get married to a rich man APPENDIX VIII Results of the pre-test and post-test Case Experimental group Pre-test Post-test Gain 16 23 24 27 15 18 20 28 Control group Pre-test Post-test 22 26 18 20 21 23 18 20 Gain 2 XIV 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 25 19 21 17 19 23 22 20 18 16 21 24 18 15 21 15 24 17 27 24 19 19 23 18 24 17 15 14 24 16 25 25 19 20 23 18 13 21 20 16 19 20 22 19 27 26 23 20 26 30 27 22 21 22 24 26 21 23 23 16 26 26 33 27 25 25 24 22 26 26 21 23 27 23 30 32 23 28 25 20 19 28 23 18 28 23 28 21 7 3 2 6 9 7 2 23 20 18 14 22 29 16 23 25 17 15 19 21 28 16 24 16 24 25 18 19 24 23 15 18 22 21 20 19 15 25 16 21 14 20 23 22 18 17 16 25 18 23 14 23 23 20 19 24 31 19 25 26 21 18 22 24 30 20 26 21 24 30 21 21 26 24 18 22 25 21 21 19 19 28 18 24 18 25 24 26 20 22 20 26 21 27 19 2 3 5 2 4 3 5 4 XV 49 50 18 13 25 20 7 22 16 23 22 ... study in English language teaching, so this paper only focuses on teachers? ?? correction and its effects on non- English majored students? ?? motivation and improvement in learning pre- ESP subject at Viettronics. .. famous person Listening and speaking Pronunciation 14 Grammar 14 Vocabulary 14 14 Reading and Writing Listening and Speaking Pronunciation Listening and answering the questions and Going out /... on error correction as well as their actual in- class corrective practices and the effects of error correction on non- English majored students? ?? motivation and improvement in learning pre- ESP at