Some methods of doing error identification exercise in the GCSE exam

THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HOANG HOA IV HIGH SCHOOL EXPERIENTIAL INITIATIVE SOME METHODS OF DOING ERROR IDENTIFICATION EXERCISE IN THE GCSE EXAM Author: Hoang Thi Minh Position: Teacher School: Hoang Hoa high school Subject: English THANH HOA , YEAR OF 2019 INDEX CONTENTS I INTRODUCTION Rationale Aims of the study Objects of the study Methods of the study II CONTENTS OF THE STUDY 1.Theoretical background Practical background 3.Implimentation and sollution Results after applying the reasearch in teaching III CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION Reference material PAGE 2 2 2- 10 2-3 3- 10 10 11-13 11 I INTRODUCTION: RATIONALE (Reasons for choosing the topic): There is no doubt that learning English is very important Especially, since the school year 2013-2014, it is compulsary for high school students throughout Vietnam to English test in the GCSE exam This heightens the need for teachers to investigate alternative approaches to teaching skills that would lead to significant improvement in students’ marks Error identification is one of exercises in the GCSE exam making up 0,6 points which most students have difficulties in identifying the errors There are some reasons for this Firstly, The studens don’t learn English grammar well (such as verbs tenses, world forms, verb forms, conjunctions, prepositions .) Secondly, most teachers mainly focus on teaching the theory of grammar, they don’t teach students the methods of doing this exercise When correcting for the students, the teachers often help their students to identify the errors directly and explain about these errors Therefore, students only identify the errors in specific sentences It is for such reasons that my experiential initiative attempts to explore “ Some methods of doing error identification exercise in the GCSE exam ” AIMS OF THE STUDY: My school is in the country, most of my students come from poor families They learn english without the support of advanced technology such as: computers, laptops They don’t have a lot of chances to learn English at English centers The studens’ learning English mainly depends on their teachers and textbooks I myself take responsibility for the job and create several simply ways to improve the score of the students in the GCSE exam OBJECTS OF THE STUDY: The objects chosen for this study are 12th- form students at Hoang Hoa high school, Thanh Hoa province where I have been teaching for 13 years METHODS OF THE STUDY: To achieve the objectives of the study, several methods are used, but I use mainly quantitative and qualitative methods The data serving the research analysis and discussions are collected by means of a survey questionnaire for students and observation II THE CONTENTS OF THE EXPERIENCE INITIATIVES THEORETICAL BACKGROUND: English as a language has great reach and influence; it is taught all over the world English may not be the most spoken language in the world, but it is the official language in a large number of countries English is the language of science, of aviation, computers, diplomacy, and tourism Knowing English increases studens’ chances of getting a good job in a multinational company within their home country or of finding work abroad Knowing the methods of doing multiple choice questions, especially the methods of doing error identification exercise will help the students gain high score in the GCSE exam PRACTICAL BACKGROUND: The study was conducted at Hoang Hoa high school, a rural school of Thanh Hoa province The school has 31 classes, each class consists of from 40 to 46 students Most of the students come from the villages in the district where English learning and teaching does not get much attention The only sources from which students can get knowledge are the textbooks and their teachers With three periods per week, this is unable for teachers to meet students’ demand At home, they are short of dictionaries, reference books, cassette tapes, speakers Additionally, their parents not know anything about English As a result, they find it difficult to learn English and they become lazy I myself has been teaching English for 13 years I have a lot of experiences in teaching students for the GCSE exam For this exercise, most students have difficulties in identifying errors (about 90 % don’t know how to this exercise) Such practical background has leaded me to my experiential initiative: “Some methods of doing error identification exercise in the GCSE exam” IMPLEMENTATION AND SOLUTIONS: 3.1 HOW TO IDENTIFY ERRORS Step 1: Read quickly all four underlined words and base on English grammar to identify the errors Step 2: If you finsh step one and you can’t identify the errors, you must read all the sentences because the errors often relate to the right part of the sentence 3.2 THE POPULAR ERRORS IN ERROR IDENTIFICATION EXERCISE IN THE GCSE EXAM 3.2.1 ERRORS IN VERBS Errors in verbs often relates to the verb tenses, verb forms, the harmony between subjects and verbs - Verb tenses These errors relate to using the wrong tense or wrong part of tense We can base on the signs of time of the tenses to identify these errors Ex1 He saw an accident when he walked to school this morning A B C D The correct answer is C (walked => was walking) because this is the use of the past continuous tense Ex2 If It didn’t rain hard yesterday, our class could have gone camping A B C D The correct answer is A (didn’t rain => hadn’t rained) because this is the conditional clause of the conditional sentense type - Verbs in passive or active voice We can base on the meaning of sentence, the subject, or “by” to know the verbs are used in active or passive voice Ex A new bridge will be build over this river A B C D The correct answer is C (be build => be built) - Verb forms These errors relate to Ing-form, to infinitive, infinitive without to or present participle, past participle Ex1 We were advised not drinking the water in the bottle A B C D The correct answer is C (drinking => to drink) because after verb “advise” we have to use “to infinitive” Ex2 Establishing in 1984 for students who wanted to study art and music A B subjects , LaGuardia was the first public school of its kind C D The correct answer is A (Establishing => Established) because in this sentence we have to use past participle not present participle Ex3 It is essential that cancer is diagnosed and treated as early as possible in A B order to assure a successful cure C D The correct answer is A (is diagnosed => be diagnosed) because this phrase is in that clause of the structure “It is +adjective+ that +S+ V (bare infinitive)” - The harmony between subjects and verbs + Verbs in the present simple tense Ex My mother usually get up late from Monday to Friday A B C D The correct answer is B (get up => gets up) because “My mother” is a singular noun + Some nouns ending “s” used as a singular nouns Economics, mathematics, linguistics, informatics, measles, Athens, The United States … Ex The United States come to of the list of countries ranked by economic A B C performances D The correct answer is A (come => comes) + Subjects are “A number of +V (inf )” , “The number of +Vs/es” Ex A number of large insurance companies has their headquarters in the capital A B C city D The correct answer is B (has => have) + Subjects combined by “and”, “both” +Vinf Ex Both his mother and he likes listening to music A B C D The correct answer is C (like =>likes) + Subjects combined by “either or”, “neither nor”, “not only but also” verbs depending on the second subject Ex Not only they but also she like learning English A B C D The correct answer is B (like => likes) because the subject is “she” + Subjects combined by “as well as”, “together with”, “along with”, “accompanied by” verbs depending the first subject Ex Industrial emissions, together with littering, is causing many problems in A B C D our large industrial cities today The correct answer is C (is => are) because the subject is “Industrial emissions” 3.2.2 ERRORS IN WORD FORMS These errors relate to using word forms wrongly between nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, plural nouns, singular nouns - Misusing adverbs and adjectives Ex I feel both excited and nervously because I have an interesting interview A B C D tomorrow The correct answer is B (nervously => nervous) because after “feel” we use adjectives not adverbs After some verbs such as: be, get, feel, seem, look, smell, taste, keep we have to use adjectives not adverbs - Misusing adjects ending “ing” and adjectives ending “ed” Ex Jane is not such a celebrating actress as her mother A B C D The correct answer is C (celebrating => celebrated) because “celebrated” the same meaning with “famous” - Misusing special adverbs not ending “ly” Ex In order to earn a lot of money my father works as harly as possible A B C D The correct answer is D (hardly => hard) because “hard” is an adverb Some adverbs (hard, fast, late, early) don’t have ending “ly”, which makes us misuse them - Errors relate to the order of words in a sentence Ex He has taken recently an English course A B C D The correct answer is B (taken recently => recently taken) - Misusing adjectives and nouns Ex Higher education is very importance to national economies and it is also a A B source of trained and educated personnel for the whole country C D The correct answer is A (importance => important) because after “is” and “very” we have to use an adjective not an adverb - Misusing singular nouns, plural nouns, countable and uncountable nouns Ex All of the alumnus are attending the reception at the president’s house A B C D The correct answer is A (alummus => alumni) because the plural noun is “alumni” not “alummus” - Words connected by “and”, “but” or “or” have the same word form Ex The puppy stood up slowly, waged its tail, blinking its eyes and barked A B C D The correct answer is D (blinking=> blinked) 3.2.3 ERRORS IN PRONOUNS - Misusing pronouns Ex Your house is not so beautiful as my A B C D The correct answer is D (my => mine) because we have to use an possessive pronoun “mine” not possessive adjective “my” - The harmony between nouns and pronouns Ex Children learn primarily by dirrectly experiencing the world around it A B C D The correct answer is D (it => them) - Excess pronouns Ex A jelly fish, which isn’t really a fish, it has no brain, no bones, and no face A B C D The correct answer is C (it => leave out “it”) 3.2.4 ERRORS IN PREPOSITIONS - Misuing prepositions after adjectives, verbs, or in idioms Ex The boy apologised the woman of breaking her window A B C D The correct answer is B (of => for) because the structure “to apologise sb for” - Lack of prepositions Ex According experts 60,000 cubic feet of earth was thrown into the air in the A B C D explosion of Mount St Helen The correct answer is A (According => According to) - Excess prepositions Ex Most of people learn English for their jobs A B C D The correct answer is A (Most of =>Most) 3.2.5 ERRORS IN CONFUSING WORDS - like/ alike Ex Alike other forms of energy, natural gas may be used to heat homes, cook A B C D food, and even run automobiles The correct answer is A( Alike => Like) - many/ much Ex Much people agree that we should protect the environment A B C D The correct answer is A (much => many) - most/ almost Ex Almost poetry is more enjoyable when it is read aloud A B C D The correct answer is A (Amost =>Most) - few/ a few , little/ a little Ex I’ve got a few friends and I need to make new friends A B C D The correct answer is B (a few=>few) - so/ such Ex It is so an interesting book that I’ve read it three times A B C D - beside/ besides Ex Many small towns have a wooded park besides a lake or stream A B C D The correct answer is C (beside => besides) - lay/ lie Ex She lay the baby down gently on the bed A B C D The correct answer is A (lay => laid) - despite, in spite of / although, though, eventhough, because/ because of Ex Although the bad weather, we decided not to cancel our trip A B C D The correct answer is A (Although => Despite or In spite of ) because after it is a noun phrase - other/ another/ the other Ex Some birds perch on branches, while other cling to their trunks A B C D The correct answer is C (other => others) - make / Ex The helicopter can make jobs that no other aircraft can A B C D The correct answer is B (make => do) - Not/ no Ex Because not food is as nutritious for a baby as its mother’s milk, many A B C D women are returning to the practice of breast feeding The correct answer is A (not food => no good) - twice/ double Ex There are only ten children in the class at the moment but it could be A B twice that after Christmas C D The correct answer is C (twice => double) 3.2.6 ERRORS IN INVERSION - Inversion with .rarely, hardly, never or little, much, nowhere, at no time, under no circumstance Ex Little he knows about her A B C D The correct answer is B (he knows => does he know) - Inversion of some structures + so that Ex So beautiful the girl is that everyone likes her A B C D The correct answer is B (the girl is =>is the girl) + Not only .but also Ex Not only she is intelligent but she is also hard-working A B C D The correct answer is B (she is => is she) + It was not until that Ex Not umtil he came into the light I recognized him The correct answer is D (I recognized => did I recognize) + No sooner .than , Hardly when Ex No sooner I had come home than it rained A B C D The correct answer is B (I had => Had I) + Inversion with Only (in, on, at, by, after, when ) Ex Only when he grew up he knew about the truth A B C D The correctanswer is C (he knew => did he know) - Inversion in conditional sentences Ex Alex had asked, I would have been able to help A B C D The correct answer is A (Alex had asked => Had Alex asked) 3.2.7 ERRORS IN RELATIVE CLAUSES - Most errors relate to misusing relative pronouns (who, which, that ) Ex1 There are many single mothers and single fathers which are raising A B C D children by themselves The correct answer is C (which => who) Ex2 He passed the exam with high score, that made his parents happy A B C D The correct answer is C (that =>which) because after “,” we don’t use “that” 3.2.8 ERRORS IN REPORTED SPEECH - These errors relate to not changing tense, time, place in reported speech Ex1 The children said that they hadn’t gone to school yesterday A B C D The correct answer is D (yesterday => the day before) Ex2 They said that they will come back again soon A B C D The correct answer is C (will =>would) - Errors relate to the order of elements in reported speech Ex Her husband asked her son what did he want for his birthday A B C D The correct answer is C (what did he want => what he wanted) 3.2.9 ERRORS RELATING EXCESS WORDS - These are some pairs of words which can’t be used together Ancient / old Precede / before Enter / into Following / after Proceed/ forward Progress / forward Join / together First/ original Incorrect / mistake Only / unique Rarely / seldom Return / back Repeat / again Nearly / almost Reread / again Tiny / little Same / identical Sufficient / enough New / innovations Advance / forward Single / only giant / huge Ex1 Once you have finished an article and identified its main ideas, it may not A B be necessary to reread it again C D The correct answer is D (again => leave it out) Ex2 Would you like to join together with us ? A B C D The correct answer is C (together => leave it out ) 10 3.2.10 ERRORS RELATING THE LACK OF WORDS The lack of words may consist of the lack of nouns, pronouns, prepositons, articles Ex1 World, although once perceived to be limitless, is beginning to reach its A B C capacity The correct answer is A (World => The world) Ex2 They had difficulty identifying the man committed the crime because of A B C D the poor lighting along the street The correct answer is B ( The man commited => the man who commited) RESULTS AFTER APPLYING THE RESEARCH IN TEACHING: There are three error identification sentences in the GCSE exam making up 0,6 points - The score of the students in the GCSE exam (2016-2017) in classes which are not applied the research Class 12A1 12A3 12A4 Number of students 45 43 40 0.6 points % (6,6 %) (4.6%) 2( 5%) 0,4 points % (13,2 %) 5(11,6%) (10%) 0,2 points % 15 (33,3 %) 12 (29,9%) 10 ((25%) point % 21 (53,1%) 24 (53.9%) 24 (60%) - The score of the students in the GCSE exam (2017-2018) in classes which are applied the research is much better Class 12A2 12A5 12A7 Number of students 40 44 42 0.6 points % 12 ((30%) 13 (29,5%) 10 (23,8%) 0,4 points % 10 (25%) 12 (27,2%) 12 (28,5%) 0,2 points % 16 (40%) 12(27,2%) 11(26,1%) point % (5%) (16,1%) (21,6%) The result has shown that the implementation and solutions used in the school year 2017-2018 have made the students’score in the GCSE exam much better 11 III CONCLUSION AND SUGGUESTION : I have found some specific characteristics to create experiental steps singled out from practical teaching at Hoang Hoa high school in the past school year The study has provided students with good methods of doing error identification exercise This study will be applied in next years I will try my best to explore effective methods to help students to get higher score in the GCSE exam To bring students effective school time, I suggest modern educational equipments should be installed in the classes for the ease of applying technology in teaching I hope my experiential initiative will be received great comments so that I can promote good points and limit shortcomings next time THE CONFIRMATION OF THE LEADER Thanh Hoa, May 25th, 2019 I assure this experiential initiative is written by myself, I not copy the others’ content HOÀNG THỊ MINH 12 REFERENCE MATERIAL Title test of English subject 2019 - Nguyen Huu Cuong Guide to reviewing graduation exam in English 2018, 2019- Nguyen Huu Cuong- Ho Huyen- Nguyen Thu Hien Method of doing English test Quiz - Nguyễn Bảo Trang Method of doing error identification exercise - Nguyen Thi Huyen Trang 104 sentences identifying errrors in the GCSE exam 2018 - Nguyen Thi Huyen Trang 13 14 ... AFTER APPLYING THE RESEARCH IN TEACHING: There are three error identification sentences in the GCSE exam making up 0,6 points - The score of the students in the GCSE exam (2016-2017) in classes... identify the errors, you must read all the sentences because the errors often relate to the right part of the sentence 3.2 THE POPULAR ERRORS IN ERROR IDENTIFICATION EXERCISE IN THE GCSE EXAM 3.2.1 ERRORS... work abroad Knowing the methods of doing multiple choice questions, especially the methods of doing error identification exercise will help the students gain high score in the GCSE exam PRACTICAL