A study on sentence errors of the english compositions of the second year students at diplomatic academy of vietnam

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES -*** - NGUYỄN THỊ HỒNG A STUDY ON SENTENCE ERRORS IN THE ENGLISH COMPOSITIONS OF THE SECOND YEAR STUDENTS AT DIPLOMATIC ACADEMY OF VIETNAM (NGHIÊN CỨU LỖI VỀ CÂU TRONG CÁC BÀI VIẾT CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ HAI HỌC VIỆN NGOẠI GIAO VIỆT NAM) M.A Minor ProgrammeThesis Supervisor : Prof Dr Hoàng Văn Vân Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 60 14 10 Hanoi, 2013 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES -*** - NGUYỄN THỊ HỒNG A STUDY ON SENTENCE ERRORS IN THE ENGLISH COMPOSITIONS OF THE SECOND YEAR STUDENTS AT DIPLOMATIC ACADEMY OF VIETNAM (NGHIÊN CỨU LỖI VỀ CÂU TRONG CÁC BÀI VIẾT CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ HAI HỌC VIỆN NGOẠI GIAO VIỆT NAM) M.A Minor ProgrammeThesis Supervisor : Prof Dr Hoàng Văn Vân Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 60 14 10 Supervisor : Prof Dr Hoàng Văn Vân Hanoi, 2013 i LIST OF TABLES Table The frequency of sentence structure errors Table The frequency of fragments Table The frequency of run-on sentences Table The frequency of stringy sentences Table The frequency of “the sentence structure errors of the other types” Table The sources of errors iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Pages Statement of authorship i Acknowledgement ii Abstract iii List of tables iv Table of content v Part A: Introduction 1 Rationale Aims Methods Research questions Significance Part B: Development Chapter 1: Literature review 1.1 What is an error? 1.2 Errors and mistakes 1.3 Error analysis 1.4 Causes of errors in language learning 1.4.1 Mother tongue interference 1.4.2 Overgeneralization 1.4.3 Fossilization 1.4.4 Errors due to the effect of teaching 1.4.5 Errors due to carelessness 1.4.6 Inadequate learning 1.5 Sentence errors Chapter 2: Findings and discussion 12 2.1 Subjects 12 2.2 Procedures 13 v 2.3 Report on the results about the kinds of sentence errors 13 2.3.1 Stringy sentences 14 2.3.2 Fragments 15 2.3.3 Run-on sentences 16 2.3.4 “The sentence errors of other types” 17 2.4 Report on the results about the frequency of the sentence errors 19 2.4.1 Frequency of fragments 20 2.4.2 Frequency of run-on sentences 20 2.4.3 Frequency of stringy sentences .21 2.4.4 Frequency of the other sentences 21 2.5 The explanation of the errors 22 2.5.1 The explanation of fragments 22 2.5.2 The explanation of stringy sentences 24 2.5.3 The explanation of the “sentence errors of other types” 25 2.5.4 The explanation of run-on sentences 26 2.6 Discussion 28 2.6.1 Research question 28 2.6.2 Research question 31 Part C: Conclusion 34 Recapitulation 34 The major findings of the research 34 Pedagogical implications and recommendations 35 3.1 To the syllabus 36 3.2 To the learners 36 3.3 To the teachers 37 3.4 Limitations and suggestions for further study 42 References 43 Appendices 44 vi PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale In this part of the study, the research background and the motivation for the study implementation would be presented As for the research background, this study is one among the studies in the field of error analysis which has been a part of language pedagogy for a long time In Vietnam in general and in University of Language and International StudyNational University of Vietnam in particular, there have been many studies on the field of error analysis in English language teaching Some of the studies have tried to investigate errors in writing skills such as Nguyễn Thị Hương, (2007), Nguyễn Văn Lợi, (2007), Nguyễn Thị Duyên, (2007) Some others have also examined the writing errors but in the specific terms such as articles Mai Thị Ngân, (2011) or errors in using cohesive devices Trần Thị Hải Bình, (2007) and errors in many other word classes of English language such as prepositions, two-word verbs, auxiliary verbs and so on There have been the studies which investigated the errors in speaking such as Lê Thu Hương, (2011), An Thị Ngà, (2011) Thus, the errors in both types of learning outputs – writing and speaking have been investigated Together with the investigation into the errors sentence constituents such as prepositions, kinds of verbs, articles and so forth This research is intended to gain insights into the errors in term of sentence structure with the hope to contribute to the findings of grammatical errors in writing by Vietnamese students As for the motivation of carrying out this research, there are three elements inspiring the author to implement this study First, it was observed that there have been many sentence errors especially the errors in sentence structures in the writings of the second year students at Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam (DAV) In the process of checking the writings, the author saw that almost all the students made the errors This actually exerted a bad influence on their writing performance Secondly, the students‟ demand of limiting the errors they make in writing is another reason for doing this research After writing tasks, some students ask the author “How can I limit my errors? Could you please give us some ways to so?” Actually, the students knew they were making errors They have tried to get rid of doing this They however, have tried in vain because there were still a lot of errors in their writings Lastly, one more motivation for carrying out this study is the demand of effective and interesting writing teaching It can be said that writing is one of the most difficult skills in English learning It is either boring or exhausting Analyzing the errors to prevent making them is assumed one of the good ways to make the teaching more efficient This is because good writing performance with no error will give students interest to learn and learn effectively Aims The present study has two main goals The first one is to find out the sentence errors made by the second year students at Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam There is a wide range of sentence errors in the students‟ writings To get an insight into the errors, the author should know what kinds of sentence errors they are Actually, there are a number of sentence errors which have been found by many other scholars and researchers This study needs to find out if the participants of this institution made the entire sentence errors mentioned in the literature review Beside, this minor thesis also needs to find out if there are any other sentence errors only made by these students One more question concerning sentence errors this study need to clarify is how frequent these errors are The second aim of this minor thesis is to find out the causes of the sentence errors made by the students There must be reasons why the errors came into existence Actually, in the field of error analysis, many causes of errors have been offered This research should also consider if all the causes for the errors the students made are the same as the causes which have been reviewed Finally yet importantly, the present study is also aimed to see if there are any other causes else leading to sentence error existence In deed, the overall goal of this study is to improve the students‟ academic writing skill The specific ways to help may vary depending on the errors and the causes which were found out There may be some changes in the teaching process or in the design of the writing syllabus By doing so, the students‟ academic writing skill will be improved in more than one ways The first way is that they will not make such kinds of sentence errors The second one is that the students will be able to put more ideas into their writing This, in turn, will make students to organize better their essays and thus the coherence and cohesion are all improved then Methods In order to achieve the aim of the study, the researcher applied both descriptive and analytic research methods as follows: As for the data collection, the author collected the primary data which was the participants‟ writings Firstly, the students were given the writing tasks in their class-time learning After that, the researcher randomly selected a certain number of the writings (More details would be presented in the next part) Thirdly, the sentence errors were found and marked to stand out on the writings As for data analysis, basing on the types of sentence errors which were reviewed in the literature review and the features of the sentence errors the author then classified them into small types Next, the author analyzed the features of the errors in term of sentence structures After that by employing quantitative analysis, the author did the calculating to see the frequency of the errors Then, basing on the social and linguistic contexts, the sources of these errors were explained Finally, some suggestions for preventing the sentence errors were made Actually, this error analysis research was carried out according to the procedure of an error analysis which consists of the steps as being suggested by Corder (1981: 36): 1) identification of errors, 2) description of errors, and 3) explanation of errors Research questions What are sentence errors made by the second year students at Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam? What are the causes of the sentence errors made by the second year students at Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam? The significance The study was supposed to have a great deal of significance The first one is for the students This research will help to improve one of the most significant English skills for the students That is because the students will be noticed what mistakes, errors they are likely to make They are also given more knowledge about English and then they will not write the sentence errors causing by their lack of knowledge about English To the teachers, the research also helps them in their writing teaching With the results found out, their academic writing teaching will be more effective and more straightforward That is because the teachers at the Academy would know what their students know already and what they not Beside, the teachers would not try many ways in vain to prevent the errors because they have known the causes already The present study also contributes its findings to the field of error analysis to confirm the already found findings Furthermore, the study affirms that error analysis is crucial in writing teaching PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW As the title suggests, this study is concerned with the sentence errors made by the second year students at Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam In order to carry out this research, this chapter attempts to provide the background related to error analysis terms and studies which have been stated and done by various scholars It will first examine the notion of error and its characteristics Then it will reexamine the notion of error analysis This will be followed by another part in which the author presents the causes of errors in language learning The final section is devoted to sentence errors found out by previous researchers 1.1 What is an error? First, the author would like to find out what is an error To answer the question, the author is going to look at some definitions of errors by some scholars For Halliday, McIntosh and Strevens (1964:119), a mistake or an error in English can be described as complete inaccuracy being reference solely to the description of English without taking any account of the students‟ native language For them each mistake stated is also a specific deviation from described English feature This is because; it deals with how language is grammatically structured According to Richards (1974), “the only sentences in anyone‟s speech which could be called erroneous are those which result from some failure of performance These may contain what often called slips of the tongue, false starts, mind changes and so on” (p.162) He also says, “Mistakes are by-products of the process of learning a language about which a teacher should make as little fuss as possible.” 1.2 Errors and mistakes Many scholars have stated the distinction between errors and mistakes, though it is still hard to indicate a sharp differentiation According to Chomsky (1965), there were two types of errors: one resulting from verbal performance factors, the other from inadequate language competence Later, Corder (1967) REFERENCES Amann, N (2011) Avoiding common sentence-level errors Retrieved on 15 August, 2012 from http://www.humboldt.edu/english/avoiding-commonsentence-level-errors Chomsky, N (1965) Aspects of the Theory of Syntax Massachusetts: MIT Press Choon, T G (1993) Error Analysis (EA) and Correction (EC) of Written Work in the Classroom The English Teacher, Vol 22 Retrieved on 15 August, 2012 from http://www.melta.org.my/ET/1993/main5.html Corder, S.P (1981) Error Analysis and Interlanguage, 36 Oxford: Oxford University Press Corder, S.P (1975) Error analysis, interlanguage and second language acquisition Language Teaching and Linguistics Vol Cambridge: Cambridge university Press Dangler, D (n.d) Correcting common errors in sentence structure: Comma splices….sentence fragments ….Run-ons Retrieved on 12 August 2012 from http://cstw.osu.edu/writingcenter/handouts/commonerrors Demirezen, M 1993 From Sentence to Paragraph Structure Ankara: Adım Publications Edge, J (1989) Mistakes and correction, 15, London: Longman Halliday, M et all (1964) Comparison and translation The linguistic sciences and language teaching, 119 London: Longman Hubbard, P et all (1983) A Training Course for TEFL 61 Oxford: Oxford University In Sierra, F C (n.d) Foreign Language Teaching Methods some issues and New Moves Retrieved 21 August 2012 from http://www.encuentrojournal.org/textos/8.7.pdf Heffernon, J & Lincoln, J E (1986) Writing– A College Handbook London: Norton Lado, R (1957) Linguistics across cultures: Applied linguistics for language teachers, 21 University of Michigan Press: Ann Arbor 43 Oshima, A & Hogue, A (2006) Writing academic English (4th ed.) New York: Pearson Education, Inc Richards, J (1974) Error Analysis, 162, 174 London: Longman Rivers, W.M (1987) Teaching Foreign Language Skills (2nd ed.), 50 Chicago: Chicago U.P Touchie, H Y (1986) Second language learning errors their types, causes and treatment JALT Journal, Volume 8, 78 Retrieved on 15 August, 2012 from http://jalt-publications.org/jj/articles/1571-second-language-learning-errorstheir-types-causes-and-treatment An, Thị Ngà (2011) An analysis on word stress errors commonly made by 12th grade students in Le Quy Don High School, Hai Phong and some solutions Hanoi: University of Languages and International Studies-Vietnam National university Lê, Thu Hương (2011) An Investigation into oral errors in English speaking classes of 10th - form non - English majors at Phan Boi Chau Specializing High school, Nghe An Hanoi: University of Languages and International StudiesVietnam National university Mai, Thị Ngân (2011) High school students‟ errors in using English Articles as shown in their written exercises Hanoi: University of Languages and International Studies-Vietnam National university Nguyễn, Văn Lợi Causes of Errors in Written English of Full-Time Vietnamese Students of English at the Intermediate Level (an error analysis) Hanoi: University of Languages and International Studies-Vietnam National university Nguyễn, Thị Duyên (2007) Common English writing errors made by English major students at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education and the significance of correcting errors to English writing teaching Hanoi: University of Languages and International Studies-Vietnam National university 44 Nguyễn, Thị Hương (2007) Possible causes of common English written errors made by 12th- form students at Thanh Ha High School, Hai Duong and some possible solutions Hanoi: University of Languages and International Studies-Vietnam National university Trần, Thị Hải Bình (2007) An Error Analysis on the Use of Cohesive Devices in Writing by Freshmen Majoring in English at Thang Long University Hanoi: University of Languages and International Studies-Vietnam National university 45 APPENDIX Fragments: overall number 52 Subject lacking fragments Should clearly distinguish economic globalization with the broader concept of globalization in general Hence, will save natural resources Always remember to rake and turn coffee at the right time Futhermore, cause fewer students so pressure of competition reduce Try to take advantages of globalization and limit their negative matters Increase your life expectancy and improve your health and feel great as you age And take advantage of it Thus, avoid the unnecessary use of paper and if needed, stick to recycled paper Conclusion, have some causes and factors make inflation 10 Keep fit, stay healthy, live naturally and you‟ll be the healthiest and happiness person in the world Main verb lacking fragments - Main verbs lacking fragments as questions What effects and causes of inflation in the world? So, what benefits and effects of globalization? Do you know how much your country‟s average life expectancy now and 20 years ago - Main verb lacking fragments as statements Every people want to live as long as they can, but some dead because of illness It all thanks to the development of economic and medical technology However that culture can‟t instead of our culture The development countries can foreign direct investment I All of them indicate people awear better and better about health Education now is received the attention of government, we aware of what is good or bad for health We could capuccino, milk coffee or any other coffee but we know about dry method of coffe production? Ice melting doing rise level sea, so square area decline Main clause lacking fragments To have negative impacts on human Such as, import or non-toxic product Because increase life expectancy mean we have more labor resources In which, the phenomenon of global warming is a matter of interest and research by many scientist Because doctors are becoming more and more advanced in their specialties and the development of high-quality medical equipments and drugs can help you overcome dangerous diseases Because of appearance of good job and high salaries Which bring good benefits to people and also earth Because when you using the energy to recycle is less than the energy needed to make it from Scratich Especial to macro economy 10 Because the people in each country always want to know everything in other country for example: culture, food… 11 Because reserves isn‟t unlimited and need time for recycling of resources 12 Because globalization expand free trademarket and lower tarriffs 13 Because we now apply a mordern technology that uses in all over the world Complement lacking fragments The reasons of this phenomenon are: II Fragments of a group of words Secondly, increase life expectancy because of the development of medical technology Management class easier and the can feel less pressure First, the increase of carbon dioxide from means of transportation Second, the uncontrolled fumes from factories Example, waste newpaper recycling More labour resources, more developing economy Further more, political system, culture, human physical well being Second cause: The development of medical technology Secondly, the development of medical technology 10 Secondly, political system, culture, human physical well being 11 Carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel burning power plants 12 Methane emissions from animals, agriculture such as rice paddies, and from Arctic seabeds 13 Deforestation, especially tropical forests for wood pulp, and farmland 14 Rise in sea levels worldwide 15 The development of Internet, broad cat, transportation 16 Political system, culture, human well being 17 In conclusion, globalization continuing progressed virtually in all countries during this century which caused by development of international trade, demand of cultural interaction and exchange information, the international investment III APPENDIX Stringy sentences: overall number Stringy sentences with „and‟ It is clear that in the last 10 years the climate is warmer and El Nino phenomenon happens unpredictable and it causes a lot of challenges for pp in the future Stringy sentences with more than necessary linking words Many schools try to organize small classes because they want to train a group of excellent students, if students focus on learning and don‟t be disturbed by anything else such as chatting, it will be more easier for them to succeed After retirement, people can go to visit anywhere they desire that they don‟t have time to visit while young time or they can help their children take care of their grand child so that their children would spend more time on working Also, students ask many question after class if they not understand, however, it exhaust teachers‟ energy and patient and they don‟t have enough time and disable to interpret all question Each country has advantages so if all nations shake their hand, they will have real development and international trade develops more and more quickly Second, students would get more personal attention from teachers and it would be easier for a teacher indentify a child‟s strength and weaknesses because a student doesn‟t perform well in a subject doesn‟t mean they need to be in a lower level and are just important When we don‟t know about deseases, we will scare it, but if we have already known about deseases and have some knowledge about health, not only we don‟t care it but also we will find out the solution In addition, Recycling helps prevent global climate changes by reducing greenhouse gas emissions because if greenhouse gas reach dangerous IV concentration levels then you might see rising global temperatures, sea level changes Stringy sentences with „if‟ For example, if one old person has some serious diseases like cancer, if we were in the past, there were no modern machine to prevent and cure these disease V APPENDIX “The sentence errors of other types”: Overall number 42 Sentences with incorrect use of linking words Reducing class size has many positive effects thanks to it help student to develop a better comprehension and to allow the development of friendship between all classmates Sentences of verb abundance Globalization helps people can choice education environment that best way So, medical technology develops help to diagnosis and treatment favorable than Another effect is we have more labour resources Increase life expectation but rate of born is low can lead old population, there is amount of population is out of labour It makes sea water level rate is increasing rapidly Reducing class size is also bring a negative effects Then the coffee sold to consumers throughout the world is to be roasted One of the services that is closely related to life expectancy is health care pioneering technology, effective medical…has indeed helped us a lot in extending our longevity 1st cause: economy condition has been improved is the increase in the amount of the goods and services produced by an economy overtime 10 Globalization is an objective definition is continuous reciprocal dependence between nations and individuals 11 It is relate to the concept of capitalism does not interfere and neo-liberal 12 It leads the life expectancy also increases 13 There are tons of garbage is eliminated each day but many things can be recycled such as old papers, bottles, platics, … 14 Therefore, the power of national money is decrease VI 15 Daily, there are many individual or organization take part in traffic 16 The first reason is economic condition has been improve 17 This is causes contribute to global warming 18 Government can not control the foreign currency as well as the foreign direct investment is another cause of inflation 19 High inflation leads to uncertainty is the population 20 Second, students would get more personal attention from teachers and it would be easier for a teacher indentify a child‟s strength and weaknesses because a student doesn‟t perform well in a subject doesn‟t mean they need to be in a lower level and are just important 21 Hence, government, nations are very concern about people factor 22 The development of Internet, Broad cast, transportation… help people with people are nearer and nearer 23 To sum up, increase life expectancy is a good signal to demonstrate the quality of human life is constantly increasing 24 Beside, modern technology support us, they hard job instead of we use macular 25 Economic condition has been improved is just a cause 26 It also happen to water as getting deposited in landfills contains toxic chemicals that pollute water system 27 Because when you using the energy to recycle is less than the energy needed to make it from Scratich 28 There are many reasons which make them but I think that economic condition has been improved, the development of medical technology and the awareness of people about health is better than in the past are three main reasons to analyze this opinion 29 Nowday, economic of all nations is globalization so each country has fulfill condition to develop economy, people are decrease time of working, they don‟t work more VII 30 Countries take part in this process have chances and challenges that promote their development of all sicles: economy, culture and society 31 The first cause is country doesn‟t have enough gold to guarantee for the money that is in use in the market 32 Globalization is a positive thing and is benefits a country for example, specializes in certain product and then exchange that good with other countries 33 For example, if raw material is increase in price, this leads to the cost of production increasing, wich in turn leads to the company increasing prices to maintain steady profits 34 It‟s clearly to find that for a small lass has a small number of students the teacher can observe all students in class 35 This lead to a bad consequence is quality of study decrease in general 36 Firstly, this is environment, economy development and our lives conditions is better Sentence with the incorrect use of relative pronouns From this cause, global warming have many negative effect such as accelerating see level rise, drought, floots, storms, melting ice which threatening to life‟s people and animals I think it mean that machines choose good coffee beans and reject beans not good quality Sentences of subject abundance If we want to have better education for ours, reducing class this is the best way to The labor resources are the element that it is very important Secondly, the development of science and technology, we have medical science which helps us to live longer and healthier VIII APPENDIX Run-on sentences: overall number 26 Run-on sentences with no or wrong punctuation Burning fuel can make N2O, CO2, SO2 and acid rain it can destroy environment and cause global warming First, beans are processed in the farm then coffee mills the rest such as packaging and distributing Inflation is a normal economic development as long as the annual percentage remain low one the percentage rises over apre-determin level it is considered an inflation crisis Comma splices: For example, Vietnam took part in World Trade Organization in 2007, Vietnam can develop economic‟s relationship with many nations Countries have the interaction each other, developing help developing countries Negative effect is pollution, positive effects includes economic development and the spread of education Education now is received the attention of government, we aware of what is good or bad for health In conclusion, global warming phenomenon is not a story of a country, all government should cooperate more to find out a better and smarter solution For instancy, the poor past life make people unabe to take care of themselves but lives condition is more improve, people can use the best services that help them more healthy and live longly Depend on the size of the bean, where it was grown, how it was grown, how it was prepared and picked, and how good it tastes, each bean will be graded Increasing 10.000 tons of waste creates one job, land fill 10000 tons of waste creates six jobs, recycling 10000 tons of waste creates 36 jobs IX Beside, modern technology support us, they hard job instead of we use macular 10 People earn more money, they live in house with modern conveniences they have the demand of entertainment besides working hard 11 There are many reasons which make them but I think that economic condition has been improved, the development of medical technology and the awareness of people about health is better than in the past are three main reasons to analyze this opinion 12 Nowaday, economic of all nations is globalization so each country has fulfilly condition to develop economy, people are decrease time of working, they don‟t work more 13 Meanwhile, the studying students is more effective because of more noticing of teacher, they more focus on their lessons and all of their questions are answers, besides, they have chances to raise their knowledge 14 With that number, the teacher can manage easily, time of one lesson is not enough for teacher to pay attention in each student 15 Each people should be aware of environmental protection, just your small activity can change our life in the future 16 Some effect of globalization are: The environment, economic develop, of course, when the country is investigated and more free in business, everything is improved 17 Now day, polluted environment make Co2 in the atmosphere increase quickly, for example, emissions from traffic industry areas put into the air which make ozon layer thicker 18 Every year, a large number of people died because of floots storms, this is bad effect from global warming 19 There are a variety of reasons for this increase of life expectancy, the first of which is the improvement of economic conditon X 20 In Vietnam, every year, there are many national to return to country, they bring many foreign culture, information and agree with domestic culture 21 Increase life expectation but rate of born is low can lead old population, there is amount of population is out of labour 22 The root cause of inflation is the decession of the economy, when producing becomes inert, the government needs to supply an amount of money to encourage business‟s producing activities XI APPENDIX Participants‟ compositions This is the collection of the students‟ compositions The author would like to give the symbols for marking the errors as follows: Frag : Fragments Run-on : Run-on sentences Stringy : Stringy sentences Other : “The sentence errors of other types” The number on the circle : the symbol for a certain student Number+ sentences : the number of the sentences in the composition XII ... description of errors, and 3) explanation of errors Research questions What are sentence errors made by the second year students at Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam? What are the causes of the sentence errors. .. language understanding The other popular causes are carelessness and idea organization The least common cause is generalization The cause of fossilization and overgeneralization: Fossilization and... errors made by the second year students at Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam? The significance The study was supposed to have a great deal of significance The first one is for the students This research