“An investigation into some common errors in paragraph writing made by the second year English major students at Nghe an College of Education

Part A: Introduction Reason for choosing the study Writing is one of the important skills of language learners, particularly for people who learn English Just like the speaking skill, writing is a personal and creative communication skill When we learn the process of writing, we are learning to write as a form of communication In other words, we are learning to express the views, ideas, and thoughts which the writer wants to share with the world by writing Therefore, the final product of the writing process is the product of successful communication So, being good at writing will help people a lot in their daily lives, in their studies, in their communication and in their work However, it is a difficult skill It requires the learners to learn to write through each stage: writing a word, writing a sentence, writing a paragraph, writing an essay, etc Therefore, the learners have to practise very much and identify an appropriate method to improve the their level Besides being a part of the ordinary curriculum at a college in Vietnam, writing an English paragraph is the main part of the program for the second year English-major student at Nghean College of Education Some kinds of writing are writing descriptions, writing about people’s background, writing about the advantages and disadvantages of something Writing paragraphs is basic to students’ development of their writing skill later Writing a letter, writing a composition and writing an essay are based on writing a paragraph because they are constituted from several paragraphs Hence it is very important for students to be taught how to write a paragraph However, there are many students who make mistakes in writing a paragraph It is easy to understand that in high school, they pay attention to grammar so much They not have more opportunities to learn about writing a paragraph Knowledge of how to write an English paragraph is not presented in the English textbooks For this reason, I choose to research on the topic: “An investigation into the common errors in paragraph writing made by second year English major-students at Nghean College of Education” This thesis is carried out with the hope that the research results will provide certain linguistically useful practical knowledge for teachers in charge of the English writing skill and improving the students’ skill in writing an English paragraph Aims and objectives of the study The study is conducted with the following aims:  Investigate the attitudes of students toward writing skill and paragraph writing  Analyze the types of errors occurring in paragraph writing of second year students at Nghean College of Education  Make some suggested solutions in the learning and teaching process in order to help students improve their writing skill Research questions of the study The aims of this study are to find out the answers to the three following research questions: What are students’ attitudes towards writing skill in general and paragraph writing in particular? What is the current situation of errors in paragraph writing of the second year students at Nghean College of Education? What suggestions can be made in the learning and teaching process in order to help students improve their paragraph writing? Methods of the study To complete this study, the following methods were employed: • Analytic and synthetic methods • Comparative and contrastive methods • Descriptive methods Firstly, the author used analytic and synthetic methods to review the theories related to the matter concerned to form a framework for the analysis, and then collected books and materials to find and select necessary information Secondly, the data collected from the survey were analyzed and sorted to make a clear distinction about the students’ attitudes towards writing skill and paragraph writing Besides, the results of collected data were also used to analyze the students’ common errors of paragraph writing Finally, descriptive methods were used to make a description about some suitable ways for improving the teaching and learning of paragraph writing Scope of the study The focus of the study is to investigate common errors in paragraph writing made by second year students at Nghean College of Education So the scope is limited to the teaching and learning of paragraph writing only The subjects of the study are the nd year English – major students at Nghean College of Education Design of the study Apart from acknowledgements, tables of contents and appendices, this paper is structured in three main parts: introduction, investigation and conclusion The first part ‘Introduction’ presents the rationale, aims, objectives, research questions, scope of the study and also its design The second part ‘Development’ includes three chapters Chapter I reviews the related literature which includes some discussions on paragraphs, errors and error analysis Chapter II is the main part of the study (the survey) that includes the description of the subjects, setting, data collection instruments and procedures It also presents the results collected from the questionnaire and the analysis of errors made by students from their papers in the form of tables and figures This is followed by the discussion and analysis of the data Chapter III includes the implications and suggestions for teaching paragraph writing The third part “Conclusion” summarizes the main points and the achievement of the study Recommendations for further research are also made in this part CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Paragraphs 1.1.1 Definitions of a paragraph There are many different definitions of paragraph According to Carol Pemberton (2000), a paragraph is defined as “a basic unit of organization in writing in which a group of related sentences develops one main idea, the topic of paragraph Each paragraph is a separated unit It is marked by indenting the first word from the left-hand margin or by leaving extra space above and below the paragraph A paragraph can be as short as one sentence or as long as twelve sentences The number of sentences is unimportant; however, the paragraph should be long enough to develop the main idea clearly” Another definition of a paragraph by Rook G.M (1889) is: “a paragraph is a group of sentences which logically develops one subject” Alice Savage and Masoud Shafiei (2007) consider a paragraph as a group of sentences about a topic A paragraph is a self-contained unit of a discourse in writing dealing with a particular point or idea Paragraphs consist of one or more sentences The start of a paragraph is indicated by beginning on a new line Sometimes the first line is indented A written work - be it an essay or a story - is about an idea or concept An essay explains it; a story narrates it To help the readers understand and enjoy it, the explanation or narration is broken down into units of text, the paragraph In an essay, each paragraph explains or demonstrates a key point or thought of the central idea, usually to inform or persuade In fiction, each paragraph serves to advance the plot, develop a character, describe a scene or narrate an action - all to entertain the readers All paragraphs support each other, leading the readers from the first idea to the final resolution of the written work 1.1.2 Parts of paragraph According to Alice Savage and Masoud Shafiei (2007), a paragraph has three main parts: the topic sentence, the supporting sentences and the concluding sentence 1.1.2.1 The topic sentence Every good paragraph has a topic sentence, which clearly states the topic and controlling idea of the paragraph It is a complete sentence It is usually (not always) the first sentence in the paragraph A topic sentence is the most important sentence in the paragraph It briefly indicates what the paragraph is going to discuss For this reason, the topic sentence is a helpful guide to both the writer and the reader The writer can see what information to include and what information to exclude The reader can see what the paragraph is going to be about and is, therefore, better prepared to understand it There are three important points to remember about the topic sentence: (i) A topic sentence is a complete sentence; that is, it contains a subject, a verb, and complement Ex: There are many talented people (not a complete sentence) (ii) A topic sentence is the most general statement in the paragraph because it gives only the main idea It does not give both any specific details and too general ideas Ex: The person who I like the most is an actor (too general) (iii) A topic sentence has two essential parts: the topic and the controlling idea The topic names the subject or the main idea of the paragraph The controlling idea makes a specific comment about the topic, which indicates what the rest of the paragraph will say about the topic Ex: The most person who I admire is Helen Keller Topic Controlling idea In this example, the topic is named: A famous person you admire A specific comment is then made about the topic: they should be optional for the person who they admire From this sentence, the reader immediately knows that the rest of the paragraph will talk about it (his/her job, or why they admire ) 1.1.2.2 The supporting sentences Supporting sentences add information about the topic and the controlling idea The writer must develop that subject so that the reader understands your ideas There are different ways to develop and clarify a topic sentence: (i) Example: is a specific instance that explains a more general idea The writer can remind their readers that they are giving examples by using signal words or phrases such as: for example, for instance, like, such as…so on (ii) Detail: is a particular or characteristic of a whole thing or a whole idea Details are frequently used in a description (iii) Anecdote: is a short, entertaining account of some happening It is usually personal (iv) Fact: is something which is objectively verifiable A statistics is a numerical fact which presents significant information about a given topic 1.1.2.3 The concluding sentence The concluding is like the topic sentence because both are general statements However, the topic sentence is usually the first sentence, a general statement that introduces the topic to be discussed in the paragraph The concluding sentence is also a general statement, but is the last sentence and ends the paragraph A concluding sentence is not absolutely necessary; in fact, a concluding is not customary for every paragraph in a multi-paragraph essay However, in a single paragraph, a concluding sentence is helpful to the reader because it signals the end of the paragraph and because it is the reminder of the important points In facts, the concluding sentence can be written like the topic sentence but in different words In addition to restating the main idea, the concluding sentence may warn the reader, make a prediction, or give an opinion about the topic The concluding sentence serves three purposes: (i) It signals the end of the paragraph (ii) It summarizes the main points of the paragraph (iii) It gives a final comment on your topic and leaves the reader with the most important ideas to think about The writer should begin the concluding sentence with a signal phrase that tells the readers that the paragraph is completed such as: finally, in conclusion, in summary, therefore, thus, as a result, indeed, so on 1.1.3 How is the English Paragraph developing? According to Carol Pemberton (2000), in English two types of paragraphs are logical and direct: Inductive paragraph and deductive paragraph A deductive paragraph has three parts that provide direct logical development These three parts appear in the paragraph as shown in figure 1: Paragraph Topic sentence - Supporting sentence - Supporting sentence - And so forth Concluding sentence Figure 1: The three parts of a deductive paragraph Inductive pattern paragraphs place the topic sentence at the end The body of the paragraph introduces first one, then two, and often more pieces of related information Together, these ideas share common concepts that lead to a usually predictable conclusion or observation at the end This conclusion or observation constitutes the topic sentence The three parts of an inductive paragraph are shown the following figure: Paragraph - Supporting sentence - Supporting sentence - And so forth Topic sentence Figure 2: The three parts of an inductive paragraph 1.2 Types of paragraphs According to Alice Savage and Masoud Shafiei (2007), there are different types of paragraphs: (i) Descriptive paragraph: the writer describes a person, or thing, or a place so that the reader can picture it in his or her mind (ii) Example paragraph: the writer gives examples so that the reader clearly understands the writer’s idea about a topic The effective example should be specific and relate clearly to the controlling idea (iii) Process paragraph: the writer explains how to something step by step The reader should be able to follow the steps to get a desired result (iv) Opinion paragraph: the writer presents an opinion and tries to persuade readers that the opinion is a good one (v) Narrative paragraph: the writer tells a story that sets the background for an event, describes the event, and often comments on the event (vi) Cause and effect paragraph: the writer attempts to show how events are influenced by or caused by others factors (vii) Comparison and contrast paragraph: the writer develops a topic by examining its similarities or differences to another thing, process, or state Comparison emphasizes the similarities, and contrasts the differences 1.3 Errors in language learning process 1.3.1 Definitions of errors Errors play an important part in English process because they are analyzed to provide learners with a notice and a try to avoid making them So far, definitions of error are not the same among different researchers The answers to the question “what is an error in language learning?” can be understood more fully when the comparison between “an error” and “a mistake” is made Though both errors and mistakes are something wrong in learning process of a language, there are differences between them which are helpful for us to understand the definition of error better Edge (1989:9-11) claimed that there are three types of mistakes including errors They are slips, errors and attempts: (i) Slips are caused by carelessness The learners can self-correct them if pointed out and give the chance (ii) Errors are wrong forms that the students can not self-correct even if these wrong forms are pointed out However, “the teacher can organize what the students wanted to produce and think that the class is familiar with the correct form” (iii) Attempts are almost incomprehensible mistakes, and the students have no ideas how to structure what they want to mean or their intended meaning and structure are not clear to the teacher (Edge, 1989:11) In his opinion, the learners themselves can self-correct as slips are caused by carelessness not by the lack of knowledge of a language In contrast, the learners themselves can not correct errors and attempts since they are caused by the lack of knowledge To distinguish errors and mistakes, H D Brown (1994:2000) defined that an error is “noticeable deviation from the adult grammar of a native speaker, reflecting the interlanguage competence of the learner” And mistake is defined as “a performance error that is either a random guess or a “slip” in that it is failure to utilize a known system correctly” Ellis Rod (1997) shares the same point of view: “errors reflect gaps between learner’s knowledge” They occur because the learner does not know what is correct Mistakes reflect occasional lapses in performance They occur because in a particular instance, the learner is unable to perform what he or she knows” As stated in the definitions above, both errors and mistakes are deviations in the usage They are incorrect use in target language made by the second language learners However, errors and mistakes differ in the cause If errors are caused by lack of knowledge, mistakes are caused by lack of intention, fatigue, and carelessness Thus teachers not usually need to correct mistakes, errors are more serious, especially errors in language already learnt in class There are many ways of classifying the types of errors In this study, errors are categorized into six types: (i) Grammatical error: can be the learners’ wrong use of structures, tenses, articles, nouns, and so on (ii) Lexical error: (1) the student used wrong word or word choice in a paper, (2) the student could not find out a correct word to express ideas (iii) Punctuation error: refers to the case: the students use punctuations wrongly or writing paragraph without punctuations (iv) Spelling error: refers to students write the words incorrectly as the original ones (v) Content error: refers to reader’s refusal to the meaning of the students’ writing about irrelevant information (vi) Style and culture error: refers to the case that students (1) use the spoken style in written style and (2) students’ writing is not accepted in other culture environment (vii) Form error: refers to the case that student use the wrong structure of a paragraph 1.3.2 The significance of learners’ errors in the process of teaching and learning Corder (1981) states that learners’ errors are significant to teachers, researchers and especially to learners “A learner’s errors, then, provide evidence of the system of the language that he is using (i.e has learned) at a particular point in the course (and it must be repeated that he is using some system, although it is not yet the right system) They are significant in three different ways First to the teacher, in that they tell him, if he undertakes a systematic analysis, how far towards the goal the learner has progressed and, consequently, what remains for him to learn Second, they provide to the research evidence of how language is learnt or acquired, what strategies or procedures the learner is employing in his discovery of the language Thirdly (and in a sense this is their most important aspect) they are indispensable to the learner himself, because we regard the making of errors as a device the learner uses in order to learn It is a way the learner has of testing his hypotheses about the nature of the language he is learning The making of errors then is a strategy employed both by children acquiring their mother tongue and those learning a second language.” (Corder, 1981:11) Learners’ errors tell the teacher whether their students have progressed or not, which level or stage their students at and learners’ errors are also helpful for the teacher to “He usually takes part in charity activities” – Tense error Or: “He began his artistic career Ha Noi College of Art in 1994” e.g.: “I am try to behave well, study hard and improve my skills to become a good leader in the future” It should be: “I am trying to behave well, study hard and improve my skills to become a good leader in the future” 2.2.2.1.1 Run-on sentence Run-together sentences (or run-on sentences) are examples of sentences that should be divided up but have been written as if they are one sentence The mother tongue interference is the main cause leading to this problem The results show that run-on sentence occupies quite large percentage of errors (7.63%) e.g.: “I have never met him, but I have read some books about his life I know him well” Or: “Nick gradually figured out how to live a full life without limbs, he learnt daily skills such as comb his hair, brush his teeth,…” They are described as run-together (or run-on) sentences because in fact they are both made up of two sentences The correct answers to the examples should be: “I have never met him, but I have read some books about his life So, I know him well” Or: “Nick gradually figured out how to live a full life without limbs For example, he learnt daily skills such as comb his hair, brush his teeth,…” 2.2.2.1.1.5 Subject and verb agreement When speaking or writing in English, there should be the concord between subjects and verbs If the subject is singular, the verb must be singular If the subject is plural, the verb must be plural as well This rule seems to be simple for second language learners to study Surprisingly, this type of errors still occupies 5.93% in four types of paragraphs The students are inclined to generalize and simplify in order to reduce the linguistic burden This tends to show that students did not really master the use of subject and verb agreement in English Type of errors Examples Correct components between subject and verb “He always inprite me by the difficult passage stories” “He always inprites me by the difficult passage stories” “People likes to listen her voice because it is so sweet ” Plural S with singular V “People like to listen her voice because it is so sweet” “Bill Gate and his company has created both computers and software Plural noun is considered singular that has revolutionized everything in America and the world” ““Bill Gate and his company have created both computers and software that has revolutionized everything in America and the world” Table 6: Some examples of subject and verb agreement errors from the survey 2.2.2.1.1.6 Wrong article In this category, the error rate is only 2.54% Although there are only two articles – the definite (the) and the indefinite (an, a) in English articles, article is the difficult category for second language learners This type of errors might be traced to the cause of over-generalization In general, it consists of some following types: Types of errors Examples Wrong choice “Daniel Radcliffe is a famous British actor who play in the series of article Harry Potter” “Daniel Radcliffe is the famous British actor who play in the Omission of series Harry Potter” “He is morden business phenomenon” article Insertion of “He is a morden business phenomenon” “He graduated from the Griffith University at the age of the 21 st and article become a famous speaker about the theme of mastering life” “He graduated from Griffith University at the age of the 21 st and become a famous speaker about the theme of mastering life” Table 7: Some examples of wrong article errors from the survey 2.2.2.1.2 Vocabulary errors Most of students have problems with word choice at a very high rate due to their lack of vocabulary That is, word choice is ranked the second among six types of errors that students have encountered most frequently They not have enough vocabulary to express their opinions on the topic given The following are some examples of vocabulary errors taken from the students’ written papers: Types of errors Noun Examples “After his time at work, Cong Vinh offen comes back house to help his wife housework” “After his time at work, Cong Vinh offen comes back home to help his wife housework” “He gets himself in the song he sings” Verb “He puts himself in the song he sings” “She has a large heart She often spends her money for doing charity” Adjective “She has a merciful heart She often spends her money for doing charity” “I wish I would go here to meet my idol” Adverb “I wish I would go there to meet my idol” Table 8: Some examples of vocabulary errors from the survey In this category, a great number of errors are resulted from mother tongue interference, and a majority of errors are caused by false concept hypothesized 2.2.2.1.3 Punctuation errors Punctuation helps the writer to communicate clearly in written language Without punctuation, any piece of writing becomes much harder to understand The results from the survey show that many Ss made errors with punctuating sentences They did not start a sentence with a capital letter and end with a full stop For example: “when he was seventeen, he started to give talks at his prayer group, and later founded his non-profit organization”  It should be: “When he was seventeen, he started to give talks at his prayer group, and later founded his non-profit organization” Furthermore, some of students forgot the rule of using the proper noun They did not use capital letter with names of place, institution, and person They also did not know how to use colon and semi-colons in paragraph writing e.g : “He can speaks five languages chinese, french, english, vietnamese and russian” “He can speaks five languages: Chinese, French, English, Vietnamese and Russian” The punctuation errors might be generated from the incomplete application of rules These errors in students’ written papers are very common and they usually catch the eyes which make teachers of English cannot ignore That is the reason why we should make our students practice a lot to form the habit of using the target language 2.2.2.1.4 Spelling errors Spelling is to write the words correctly as the original ones However, the study shows that some of the students made a lot of spelling errors The following is an example of this kind of errors: e.g: “Event thought we all know he passed away, I believe he still live in our mends and our heart forever” It should be: “Even though we all know he passed away, I believe he still live in our mends and our heart forever” The above words are very simple and popular However, the students still produced them wrongly A probable explanation for the occurrence of these errors could be due to the students’ incomplete application of rules 2.2.2.1.5 Content errors Content is what the writer wants to communicate with readers If the content is not clear, it will lead to unsuccessful communication They might cause the misunderstanding between the readers and the writer, the readers might not understand the writer’s meaning The error’s rate in this category occupies the small rate on the whole errors (4.93%) Students not know the way to express their ideas because of general background knowledge and vocabulary problems Many students from the survey committed errors by using the unrelated sentences to the topic e.g: “Son Tung is well known for many talents He always wears fashionable clothes” The second sentence does not suppot for the main idea in the first sentence “many talents” It might be: “He is good at singing, composing songs and dancing” to support for the first sentence e.g: In the paragraph with topic that “a famous person you admire”, a student wrote: “Of all my relatives, I love my mother the best” It was wrong about the topic 2.2.2.1.6 Style and form error The style or the way of writing means we use words to say what we want to say Different situations call for different ways of putting words together The way we write in academic and scientific setting differs greatly from the way we write to a friend or a close one These paragraphs should be written in formal styles, but students in the survey made many errors with style Many of them used too informal style Because of mother tongue interference, students expressed their ideas like in spoken language and in Vietnamese style The results from the survey show that the students used colloquial and expressive words in their paragraphs They also used contractions in their writing The following examples are typical types of style errors: Types of errors Expression word Contractions Examples “Actually, I really like the way he sings and the way he expresses the feeling of the song” “I really like the way he sings and the way he expresses the feeling of the song” “She’s a nice body and a strong skin” “She has a nice body and a strong skin” Vietnamese way “I don’t know the reason why I admire him but he is very kind” Table 9: Some examples of style errors from the survey For the form of a paragraph, students in this survey made a few errors It indicates that most students know clearly about the structure of a paragraph CHAPTER 3: SUGGESTIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR IMPROVING THE STUDENTS’ PARAGRAPH WRITING SKILL AT NGHEAN COLLEGE OF EDUCATION Introduction Making errors in writing English paragraphs is a common problem The results from the survey questionnaire and the analysis of the students’ errors reveal that the students of English majors at Nghean College Of Education have some difficulties in writing paragraphs Therefore, it is the author’s intention to make some implications and suggestions for improving the students’ paragraph writing skill in this chapter 3.1 Suggestions on teaching how to write a paragraph Most of the students not know how to organize their writings Therefore, the teachers should teach them how to write a paragraph with three main parts: introduction, body and conclusion Introduction: The first section of writing an English paragraph is to write the topic sentence of the paragraph that gives background information of the topic Body: Following the introduction is the section of discussing the controlling idea, using facts, arguments, analysis, examples, and other information This stage is the development of the main ideas by contributing supporting ideas In order to produce a coherent paragraph, each sentence of the supporting ideas must be logically related to the topic sentence or controlling idea and be adequately explained and supported through evidence and examples These ideas, of course, should all work together to explain and support the controlling idea Structuring ideas in some kind of logical order will make them clearer to readers, and deciding on a logical order to use will give a writer a tool for organizing supporting ideas In writing paragraphs, various techniques to indicate the logical relationships between the ideas in sentences rely on some common types of logical ordering: time order, space order, importance, comparison and contrast, cause and effect In order to organize coherent paragraphs some useful transitions may be used: To show addition: again, and, also, besides, equally important, first (second, etc.), further, furthermore, in addition, in the first place, moreover, next, too… To give examples: for example, for instance, in fact, specifically, that is, to illustrate… To compare: also, in the same manner, likewise, similarly… To contrast: although, and yet, at the same time, but, despite, even though, however, in contrast, in spite of, nevertheless, on the contrary, on the other hand, still, though, yet… To show time: after, afterward, as, as long as, as soon as, at last, before, during, earlier, finally, formerly, immediately, later, meanwhile, next, since, shortly, subsequently, then, thereafter, until, when, while… To show place or direction: above, below, beyond, close, elsewhere, farther on, here, nearby, opposite, to the left (north, etc.)… To indicate logical relationship: accordingly, as a result because, consequently, for this reason, hence, if, otherwise, since, so, then, therefore, thus… Conclusion: The final section of writing an English paragraph is summarizing the connections between the information discussed in the body of the paragraph Here the main idea of the paragraph is restated in different words in the conclusion part The useful transitions to summarize or conclude are: all in all, in conclusion, in other words, in short, in summary, on the whole, that is, therefore, to sum up 3.2 Suggestions on reviewing grammar and practicing writing Many students make morphological errors, lexical errors, syntactic errors and mechanical errors In order to overcome types of the errors, reviewing the uses of the related grammatical points is vital In addition, the most important difficulty which the students face is lack of structures and vocabularies Therefore, practicing writing is also essential There are some suggestions for teachers: Teachers should help students review grammar points for writing Teachers should give the students more communicative activities in grammar practice This means that the students have more opportunities to use the structures and phrases they have just learnt Teachers should give homework on the grammar points which they have just taught to help the students remember and understand them more clearly Practice the grammar points in writing activities can be adapted with many writing activities of different kinds designed Then the teachers should check if the students their homework and the teachers should spend time on correction Group work is also a way to help students overcome their errors The teachers allow the students to exercises and to correct errors in pairs or in groups This helps to make the students more active and more confident because they can cooperate and exchange ideas with each other 3.3 Suggestions on making drafts In writing, drafts are very important Writing out a draft for any piece of work is a key to polished writing Outlining a paper can help students get better grade in the class Drafts allow students space to outline and explore ideas without the pressure of writing a finished paper on their first try First drafts also give them a framework in which they can fix and edit their writing at a later step Therefore, the students should always be asked to draft before starting the writings Using an outline to jot down the basic organization of a paper can help students maintain the structure of their work as they write the first draft Better draft is one of the simplest ways to improve a text When responding to a first draft, teachers should not pay much attention to errors in grammar, errors in spelling and errors in punctuation, but make comments on the organization, the ideas expressed and the writing style The teachers can underline errors in grammar, word choice, punctuation, and indicate the error types In order to save time, the teachers should let the students draft in groups, and respond to groups’ drafts Moreover, doing so allows the students to exchange the ideas with each other In a final draft, the teachers should point out errors in grammar, errors in spelling, errors in word choice and errors in punctuation The teachers should also correct errors that interfere with communication The teachers should respond to more errors on a final draft than on a first draft And the teachers should continue making comments on the organization, ideas and writing style 3.4 Suggestions on teachers’ error correction Errors correction must be sensitive and non-threatening Thus, the teachers should give the students sympathy and encouragement Error correction is often done by the teacher providing corrections for mistakes made by students However, it is probably more effective for students to correct their own mistakes Most students find it very dispiriting if they get a piece of written work back and it is covered in red ink, underlining and crossing out In order to avoid “overcorrection”, the teachers should correct only the major errors which can interfere with communication For a particular piece of work the teachers can only correct errors in grammar, or mechanical error Some appropriate corrective techniques can be used such as whole class correction, group correction and self correction In class, errors are pointed out with the answers of corrections if the students not know the right answers This will require the teacher’s control during the process Most importantly, it is a good idea to have students discussed their written works in group, which is a chance to overcoming errors Self-correction by the students is also a useful way The teachers should only indicate error types, and let the students correct errors themselves This not only saves time, but also stimulates the students to think more about their errors 3.5 Suggestions on teachers’ checking Checking the students’ learning is a way to help them to overcome their errors Checking is a way which makes the students improve their language learning when students neglect their self-studying at home The teachers should check new- taught lessons as well as the homework at the beginning of every class This is very important, as it forces the students to learn, to practice the structures and the vocabularies which are helpful to their writing In order not to be time-consuming when checking the students, the teachers should divide the students into small groups (of four or five), and ask the students in each group to check and correct errors together Then the teachers can check one or two groups each time Summary In conclusion, the above suggestions will help the teacher how to teach a paragraph writing If the teacher knows how to correct the students’ errors well, the students will not feel discouraged They will be more interested when they are involved in communicative writing activities and therefore have positive attitudes towards their study Part C: Conclusion Concluding remarks The thesis has so far dealt with the common linguistic errors in writing by the second year English major student at Nghean College of Education In this section, I will summarize the study and draw some conclusions on the issue The study has collected some important information from the students’ writings Some findings worthy of discussion are: Firstly, the study reveals the attitudes of students toward writing skill and paragraph writing The results of the survey show that the students have very low opinions of the importance of writing skill in general and paragraph writing in particular Most of them consider writing skill as a boring subject In their opinion, writing skill is only at the third rank of importance in comparison with other skills Therefore, they not have positive attitudes towards writing lessons and spend little time practicing writing paragraphs at home Secondly, the study shows the error types the students made The data from the analysis of the students’ written papers show that the students encountered many errors with grammar, punctuation, spelling, and fewer errors with style and form Moreover, in order to deal with the problem, some solutions are suggested for students and teachers of writing In conclusion, making errors is inevitable in language learning process Errors provide feedback about the effectiveness of the teaching techniques and show the teachers what part needs further attention Studying the learner language in terms of errors is something that teachers have always done for practical reasons It requires the teacher to have skills of diagnoses and treatment Suggestions for further studies I hope that the study can make a little contribution to the quality of teaching and learning writing English at Nghean College Of Education Due to the limitation of time, the study cannot cover all aspects of writing skills Therefore, within the field of the study: paragraph writing, the following are some suggestions for the further research: Using some writing activities and games to increase the students’ interests in paragraph writing at Nghean College Of Education (For the 1st or 2nd year students) An investigation into strategies to teach writing skills to students of English majors at Nghean College Of Education (For different stages of a writing lesson For example: pre-writing, while-writing and post-writing Choosing different subjects can narrow this research: 1st year, 2nd year or 3rd year students) 41