An investigation into common errors in English speaking skills committed by the freshmen in faculty of English, Thuongmai university

An investigation into common errors in English speaking skills committed by the freshmen in faculty of English, Thuongmai university An investigation into common errors in English speaking skills committed by the freshmen in faculty of English, Thuongmai university An investigation into common errors in English speaking skills committed by the freshmen in faculty of English, Thuongmai university An investigation into common errors in English speaking skills committed by the freshmen in faculty of English, Thuongmai university An investigation into common errors in English speaking skills committed by the freshmen in faculty of English, Thuongmai university An investigation into common errors in English speaking skills committed by the freshmen in faculty of English, Thuongmai university An investigation into common errors in English speaking skills committed by the freshmen in faculty of English, Thuongmai university An investigation into common errors in English speaking skills committed by the freshmen in faculty of English, Thuongmai university An investigation into common errors in English speaking skills committed by the freshmen in faculty of English, Thuongmai university An investigation into common errors in English speaking skills committed by the freshmen in faculty of English, Thuongmai university An investigation into common errors in English speaking skills committed by the freshmen in faculty of English, Thuongmai university An investigation into common errors in English speaking skills committed by the freshmen in faculty of English, Thuongmai university An investigation into common errors in English speaking skills committed by the freshmen in faculty of English, Thuongmai university An investigation into common errors in English speaking skills committed by the freshmen in faculty of English, Thuongmai university

In an attempt to investigate common errors in English speaking lessonscommitted by freshmen in Faculty of English, Thuongmai University, the researchwas aimed at finding out: the errors they might encounter when speaking Englishand their suggested solutions to solve problems and improve speaking skill.Specifically, the study has been conducted in the form of survey research, with theinformants of the study being the first-year students in Faculty of English,Thuongmai University The survey questionnaire completed by the students was themain instrument employed for the collection of data The research reveals that thestudents’ low language proficiency including unclear pronunciation, their badgrammar, poor vocabulary and lack of practicing speaking all made it difficult forthem to be understood

I would also like to express my full appreciation to all teachers at the EnglishFaculty of Thuongmai University who helped me so much in my data collection.

My special thanks also go to English major freshmen at the faculty who agreed toparticipate in the study

Additionally, I would like to express my sincere thanks to my dear friends fortheir help and warm encouragement throughout my hard times carrying out thestudy Without them, I could not have overcome such times and concentrated on mystudy

Finally, I am greatly indebted to my family, especially my loving parents fortheir continuous support during my study Thanks to their intense devotion, I haveovercome the difficult times and completed this thesis

Hanoi, April 16th, 2021

Student

Ly Tien Anh

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iii

LIST OF CHARTS, TABLES AND FIGURES v

CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Previous studies 2

1.3 Aims of the study 4

1.4 Research subjects 5

1.5 Scope of the study 5

1.6 Research methodology 5

1.7 Organization of the study 6

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 7

2.1 Definitions of speaking skills 7

2.2 General outline of a speaking lessons 8

2.3 Activities in speaking class 9

2.3.1 Role play 9

2.3.2 Pair work 10

2.4 Nature of errors 12

2.4.1 Definitions of error 12

2.4.2 Errors classification 13

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS 17

3.1 The reality of English speaking committed by freshmen in faculty of English, Thuongmai university 18

3.1.1: English speaking frequency of students 18

3.1.2: The importance of speaking lessons 18

3.1.3 : Students’ speaking English time per day 19

3.1.4 Self - evaluate your speaking English skills? 20

3.1.5: Frequency of making errors when speaking English 21

3.2 Common errors in English speaking skills committed by the freshmen in

faculty of English, Thuongmai university 21

3.2.1 Type of errors student usually make when speaking English 21

3.2.2 The most common lexical errors in speaking English lessons 22

3.2.3 The most common grammatical errors in speaking English lessons 23

3.2.5 Some common reasons why students make errors 25

3.3 The solutions to improve English speaking skills for the the freshmen in faculty of English, Thuongmai university 26

3.3.1 The students’ thought of the knowledge learned from speaking lessons whether effective or not 26

3.3.2 How the students handle new words or phrases that they encounter in conversation 27

3.4 Classroom observation 28

3.5 Discussion 29

CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 31

4.1 Some solutions to improving student’s English speaking skill 31

4.2 Limitations of the study 32

4.3 Some suggestion for the further research 32

CONCLUSION 33

REFERENCE 34 SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE

LIST OF CHARTS, TABLES AND FIGURES

No

.

1 Chart 3.1.1 English speaking frequency of students

2 Chart 3.1.2 The importance of English speaking lessons

3 Chart 3.1.3 Students’ speaking English time per day

4 Chart 3.1.4 Evaluate speaking English skills of students

5 Chart 3.1.5 Frequency of making errors when speaking English

6 Chart 3.2.1 Type of errors

7 Table 3.2.2 The students’ thought of the knowledge learned from speaking

lessons whether effective or not

8 Chart 3.2.3 Common lexical errors in speaking English

9 Chart 3.2.4 Common grammatical errors in speaking English

10 Table 3.2.5 Common pronunciation errors in speaking English

11 Chart 3.3.1 The reasons why students make errors

12 Table 3.3.2 How the students handle new words or phrases that they

encounter in conversation

13 Table 3.3.3 How the students improve their speaking English skills

CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY

1.1 Rationale

It is popularly admitted that language is an indispensable part of our society’scultural richness in particular and of the world’s in general However, in order tokeep ourselves on a par with the global standards in the today’s world which iscalled international community, we need to have the understanding of English - aninternational language English is considered as the most popular language used toexchange information and ideas among different nations and cultures today Bymaking comparisons, people are able to gain insight into their own culture andsociety as well as mutually exchange countries' beauty of cultural values Moreover,English makes people understand each other more in the process of diplomaticrelations and economic cooperation and other fields in today's era when countriestend to integrate for the whole development As a result, speaking English hasgradually become an indispensable and pressing tool which set the path for theglobal success of individuals, organizations, and even businesses in the modern timewhen society is more developed and competition is relentless

Nowadays when Vietnam becomes one of the members of World TradeOrganization, it is necessary for Vietnamese students of English to have expertspeaking skill in order to meet the demand of integration into the world economyand exchange of culture with other countries As a result, learning speaking skill isundoubtedly an advantage for Vietnamese students' ideal future jobs However, inreality, speaking skill is not easy for Vietnamese students to master, so learnerscannot avoid mistakes in their speaking practice Perhaps, because of someinfluence on the differences about cultures or their own limited language ability, etc.Vietnamese students of English in general still have a lot of mistakes on grammar,word choices and pronunciation

In the context of Thuongmai University, speaking is one of the compulsorysubjects at Faculty of English However, the majority of the students do not havegood results in the subject In addition, from the classroom observation duringspeaking course in the academic year 2020 - 2024, the researcher found that the

students encounter many problems and difficulties To improve speaking learning atFaculty of English, Thuongmai University, it is necessary to identify students’common errors in English speaking lessons as well as the causes of these errors.However, until now, there is no research conducting at the University about thisarea.

For those reasons, the study entitled “An investigation into common errors inEnglish speaking skills committed by the freshmen in faculty of English,Thuongmai university.” was conducted

1.2 Previous studies

In this part of the study, some previous studies related to this study will bereviewed These studies were carried out to identify the speaking errors made bystudents

First, a study on common pronunciation mistakes faced by first year Englishmajors at Haiphong Private University (Nguyen Thi Hang, 2014) This study helpedfirst-year students at Haiphong Private University to realize their ending sounderrors It also helped students raise awareness of pronunciation problems andgave some suggestions to deal with their ending sound errors This studyfocused on two issues: the first one was to find out the most common Englishending sound errors, the second one was about some solutions for theirpronunciation problems

Second, “Grammatical error analysis of tenses in speaking English at the firstsemester of STKIP-PGRI Lubuklinggau” made by E-Gram Group (2016) In thisresearch, researchers chose 4 students at first semester of STKIP-PGRILubuklinggau, they were taken to tell something like introduction, idol, experiencesbased on their interesting, and all of those are the way to answer the researchquestion The researchers found out types of grammatical error in using tenses whenthey spoke English and the factors influenced them Also, suggestions forimproving students’ performance was made

The third study is “ Errors in Spoken Production Made by Students inMicroteaching Class of Department of English Education of MuhammadiyahUniversity of Surakarta In 2013/ 2014 Academic Year ” (Hendita Leila Rahma,

2015) “In this research, the writer used theory of Clark and Clark According toClark and Clark, 1977: 224 (in Fauziati, 2011: 83) the speech production can simply

be described as the speakers first plan what they want to say based on how theywant to give effect to their listeners They then put their plan into execution, utteringthe segments, words, phrases, and sentences which made up the plan The writeralso used the theory of Clark and Clark to analyze the data Clark and Clark (1977)divided the speech error into nine types There were silent pause, filled pause,repeats, correction, stutters, interjection, slip of tongue, retraced false start andunretraced false start Clark and Clark also discovered three possible sources ofplanning difficulty, namely: cognitive reason, psychological reason and socialreason.”

In addition, the study “an analysis of grammatical errors on speakingactivities” made by Merlyn Simbolon in 2015 This study aimed to analyze thegrammatical errors and to provide description of errors on speaking activities usingsimple present and present progressive tenses made by the second year students ofEnglish Education Department, Palangka Raya University The errors wereidentified and classified according to Linguistic Category Taxonomy and Richard’sclassification, well as the possible sources and causes of errors The findingsshowed that the errors made by students were in 6 aspects; errors in production ofverb groups, errors in the distribution of verb groups, errors in the use of article,errors in the use of preposition, errors in the use of questions and miscellaneouserrors With regard to resource and causes, it was found that intra-lingualinterference was the major source of errors (82.55%) where overgeneralization tookplace as the major cause of the errors with total percentage of 44.71%

Another study is “Errors in speaking English made by students of Englishdepartment of Muhammadiyah University of Surakarta” by Hawa Fadhila (2013).The researcher wrote this research to describe the type of errors in speaking English

of English Department of Muhammadiyah University of Surakarta, described thefrequency and the dominant, and explained the sources of error The type of thisresearch was descriptive qualitative research The researcher collected microteaching video from her friends The researcher made the transcript of the video as

the source of the data The researcher used documentation method to select the data.There were 212 data containing of errors The researcher used Clark and Clarktheory and Dulay, Burt, and Krashen theory to analyze the errors The researcherdivided the errors into three classifications They were speech error, lexical error,and grammatical error In speech errors were repetition (27,4%), unretraced (4,3%),retraced (6,6%), filled pause (20,3%), silent pause (9,9%), stutters (1,9%),correction (0,9%), and slip of the tongue (0,5% ) Lexical error was wrong choice ofword (0,9%) Grammatical errors were omission of auxiliary in question (6,1%),omission of “to be” (2,4%), addition of “to be” verb (7,6%), omission of “do” innegative sentence (0,5%), addition of “do” in question (1,9%), addition ofpreposition (2,8%), misordering(0,9%), the use of V-O instead of V-ing (0,5%),addition of ”to” after auxiliary (1,4%), and wrong choice of verb (3,3%) Thesources of speech error were cognitive and psychological reason The sources oflexical and grammatical error were interlingual and intralingual transfer.

To sum up, these previous studies in speaking English revealed that studentshad pronunciation errors and grammatical errors in speaking These errors resultedfrom the influence of mother tongue, lack of linguistic competence and lack ofpractice

The present study would have some aspects that were different from the abovestudies The first thing was that the study was conducted to investigate not only

pronunciation and grammatical errors but also lexical errors in speaking English The second thing was that the participants of the study were the freshmen in Faculty

of English, Thuongmai University Another was that these errors were made in English speaking lessons.

1.3 Aims of the study

The study provides the background theories of speaking skills that helpreaders wrap up the basic knowledge of speaking

The primary aim of the thesis is to find out the first-year students’ commonerrors in English speaking lessons The study also aims at finding causes of theseproblems and then suggesting some possible solutions to help students overcomethe problems

The targeted subjects of this thesis are mainly students; nevertheless, allpeople who are interested in speaking English can consider it as a useful referencefor improving their speaking skills as well.

1.4 Research subjects

The research subjects in this study are common errors in English speakinglessons committed by the first-year students in Faculty of English, ThuongmaiUniversity Some mistakes in English speaking lesson are about:

-Pronunciation includes the segmental features of vowels, consonants, stress,and intonation patterns

-Grammar correct use of language with respect to word form and word order

at the sentence level

-Vocabulary

1.5 Scope of the study

This present study focuses on improving English speaking lessons of allEnglish-majored students However, due to the limitation of time, resources andknowledge as well as other condition, the study was carried out to find out thecommon errors in English speaking lessons of English-majored freshmen as well asoffering some suggestions to help them enhance their English speaking lessons

1.6 Research methodology

In this research, the researcher applies both qualitative and quantitativemethod, which include data analysis and survey questionnaire In the study, datawhich is collected through observation during lessons and questionnaire will beprocessed and analyzed to investigate into learner’s errors in English speakinglessons The subject of this research are “Common errors in English speaking skillscommitted by the freshmen in faculty of English, Thuongmai university” ; “Thereality of English speaking committed by freshmen in faculty of English,Thuongmai university” and “The solutions to improve English speaking skills forfreshmen in faculty of English, Thuongmai university” The number of subject ofdata is 40 students The data of the study was collected through a questionnairewhich was administered to fourty subjects The questionnaire included thirteenquestions At first, the researcher identifies the data The researcher selects the data

whether error or not Then searcher describes the data based on the type of error anderror analysis theory The researcher counts the number of each type of error, andthen the researcher count the percentage of them by this formula:

At last, based on the percentage of the error data, theresearcher presents and explains the source of each error in thedata

1.7 Organization of the study

The study is divided into four chapters including (1) Overview of the study,(2) Literature review, (3) Research findings, (4) Recommendations and suggestions.Opening with chapter 1, Overview of the study, it presents a general overview

of the study, starting with the rationale, aims of the study and some previous studiesrelated to the present research Later, there are research subjects, the scope of thestudy and research methodology - including a detailed description of the object andparticipants of the study followed by the research instruments and procedures tocollect data as well as error analysis, and data analysis The organization of thestudy comes in the end

The second chapter, Literature review, lays the foundation for the study Thischapter reviews the terms or aspects related to errors in speaking English, erroranalysis, some concepts related to speaking theory and so on

The next chapter, Research findings, indicates the results of the study,discussion of the results, and summary of major findings

The last chapter, Recommendations and suggestions, provides somesuggestions for students alongside with some recommendations for further study

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Definitions of speaking skills

“Different people use the term “speaking” in different ways, which can causemuch confusion Speaking a foreign language usually seems much harder thanlearning to write and read it, especially to the freshmen Often the most importantproblems people have with foreign language is that they cannot speak their thinkingand their ideas as well In fact, it is like a vicious circle: they make mistakes, theybecome afraid of speaking and thus they never get the practice which would able tocorrect their mistakes Most of the beginning learners do not understand exactly

“what is speaking” We only regard speaking as a simple, easy process that involvesspeaking the words, the ideas by speaking out what they think without the correct

So, we had better start by making sure that we are thinking about the same thingwhen we use this term As the first step, it would be useful to understand “what isspeaking”

According to the Oxford Pocket dictionary of Current English 2009,

“Speaking is the action of conveying information or expressing one’s thoughts andfeelings in spoken language And speaking used to indicate the degree of accuracyintended in a statement or the point of view from which it is made”

Meanwhile the book “Collins Cobuild English for advanced learner 4thedition, which was published in 2007, defines that “Speaking is the activity ofgiving speeches and talks, to indicate the opinion you are giving “Speaking” is alsounderstood the productive skill in the oral mode It, like the oral skills, is morecomplicated than it seems at first and involves more than just pronouncing words”(In the website Lingua Link Library, Version 3.5, published on CD.ROM by SILInternational 1998)

Other skills and knowledge that speakers might address include thefollowing: producing the sounds, stress patterns, rhythmic structures, andintonations of the language; using grammar structures accurately; assessingcharacteristics of the target audience, including shared knowledge or shared points

of reference, status and power relations of participants, interest levels, or differences

in perspectives; selecting vocabulary that is understandable and appropriate for theaudience, the topic being discussed, and the setting in which the speech act occurs;applying strategies to enhance comprehensibility, such as emphasizing key words,rephrasing, or checking for listener comprehension; using gestures or bodylanguage; and paying attention to the success of the interaction and adjustingcomponents of speech such as vocabulary, rate of speech, and complexity ofgrammar structures to maximize listener comprehension and involvement (Brown,1994).”

To sum up everything that has been stated so far, the author can point out that Speaking is an act of making vocal sounds We can say that speaking means

to converse, or expressing one’s thoughts and feelings in spoken language To speak often implies conveying information It may be from an informal remark to

a scholarly presentation to a formal address.

2.2 General outline of a speaking lessons

“Speaking lessons can follow the usual pattern of preparation, presentation,practice, evaluation, and extension The teacher can use the preparation step toestablish a context for the speaking task (where, when, why, and with whom it willoccur) and to initiate awareness of the speaking skill to be targeted (asking forclarification, stressing key words, using reduced forms of words) In presentation,the teacher can provide students with a preproduction model that furthers studentcomprehension and helps them become more attentive observers of languageuse Practice involves students in reproducing the targeted structure, usually in acontrolled or highly supported manner Evaluation involves directing attention tothe skill being examined and asking students to monitor and assess their ownprogress Finally, extension consists of activities that ask students to use the strategy

or skill in a different context or authentic communicative situation, or to integrateuse of the new skill or strategy with previously acquired ones (Brown, 1994; Burns

& Joyce, 1997; Carter & McCarthy, 1995).”

Examples of activities in speaking lessons:

⮚Preparations Show the students a picture of two people conversing in a

familiar casual setting (The setting will be determined by a prior needsassessment.) Ask them to brainstorm what the people might be discussing (i.e., whattopics, vocabulary, typical phrases)

⮚Presentations Present several video clips of small talk in casual situations.

Have students complete a worksheet in which they describe or list the topicsdiscussed, the context in which the speech is occurring, and any phrases that seem

to typify small talk Follow up with a discussion of the kinds of topics that areappropriate for small talk, the factors in the specific situations that affect topicselection (e.g., relationships of participants, physical setting), and typical phrasesused in small talk Chart this information

⮚Practices Give students specific information about the participants and the

setting of a scenario where small talk will take place In pairs, have them list topicsthat might be discussed by the participants and simple phrases they might use.Students then engage in improvised dialogues based on these simple phrases

⮚Evaluations Give pairs a teacher-prepared dialogue based on their scenario.

Ask them to compare their improvised dialogues with the prepared dialogue,analyzing the similarities, differences, and reasons for both

⮚Extensions Have students go individually or in small groups into various

contexts in the community (work, school, church, bus stop) and record theconversations they hear Ask them to report their findings back to the class, and thenhave the class discuss these findings

2.3 Activities in speaking class

2.3.1 Role play

⮚Role-plays is “drama-like classroom activities in which students take the

roles of different participants in a situation and act out what might typically happen

in that situation” (Richards, Platt & Platt, 1993) According to Harmer (1998), plays stimulate the real world in the same way, but students are given differentroles Students are told who they are and what they think about a certain subject.They have to talk and act with their new characters While Richards et al (1993)

and Harmer (1998) define play as a term, Ladousse (1992) characterizes play as two single words as follows.

role-⮚When students assume a “role”, they play a part (in either their own orsomebody else’s) a specific situation “Play” means that the role is taken on in asafe environment in which students are as inventive and playful as possible (p 5)

⮚Meanwhile, Thornbury (2005) thinks that role-play involves the adoption ofanother “persona” (p 98) when students play a role For example, students pretend

to be an employer interviewing a job applicant or a customer complaining about acompany’s products

⮚Regarding the advantages of play, Dangerfield (1991) believes that play is one method of maximising students’ talking time, ensuring that students get

role-an optimum level of practice during their limited class time Furthermore, role-playgives students opportunities to improve communicative competence and creativity.Klippel (1991) claims that “role-plays improve the students’ oral performancegenerally” (p.122) Besides helping students enhance their oral skills, Sasse (2001)believes that role-play might unlock creative doors Last but not least, role-play isone of the communicative techniques “which develops fluency in languagestudents, which promotes interaction in the classroom, and which increasesmotivation” (Ladousse, 1992)

⮚In brief, there have been various definitions of role-plays, yet they share thesame idea that role-play is a communicative technique in which students aresupposed to act with new characters

2.3.2 Pair work

According to Curtain & Dahlburg (2010), interaction is very important tolanguage development for second-language learners and interactive language tasksare one of the most important activities Sufficient opportunity for interaction andfor building interpersonal communication should be given to learners, as bothcognitive learning theory and second-language acquisition theory affirm that inorder to acquire language, learners must express themselves orally Partner activitiesand small-group work are a plus for the early language classroom, as when studentslearn to work in cooperation, their opportunities for language use are multiplied,

and so are their opportunities for active participation in concrete and meaningfulexperiences.

"Small group and pair work activities (…) have numerous advantages forthe language learner: many opportunities for language use, a chance for naturallanguage practice, more student talk, a higher percentage of student talk in realcommunicative activities, a "safe" environment for communication, more like one-on-one conversation, two- way communication - a chance both to ask and to answerquestions In addition to the language benefits, partner activities specifically provideother benefits (Nerenz and Knop, 1982): variety in class routines and activities, anopportunity for students to practice social skills, students are "center stage" ratherthan the teacher and an on-task behavior" (Curtain & Dahlberg, 2010, p 98)

McDonough (2004) claims that there are several theoretical approaches toL2 acquisition that indicate that pair and group work activities generate learningopportunities through various interactional features that occur when learners engage

in the communication of meaning There are also many pedagogical reasons to usethese activities, such as providing more time to speak using L2 than with teacher-centered classes, they promote learner autonomy and self-directed learning, andthey provide the opportunity for teachers and instructors to work and observeindividual learners This study also states that learners may feel less anxious andmore confident when working with peers in group or pair activities, than duringwhole-class discussions Even when students can speak in L2, they were not good atinteracting using that language in a natural way By promoting pair work, studentsare more motivated to use L2 in those activities (Hawkey, 2006)

In a study conducted by Cao & Philp (2006), they reached the conclusionthat the willingness to communicate (WTC) of students in an L2 classroom depends

on various levels The study suggests that the WTC behavior of students wasinfluenced by trait- level and state-level WTC Trait-level WTC brings situationswhere communication is likely, whereas state-level WTC could influence whethercommunication actually happens In pair work, the WTC is influenced by thefamiliarity with the other student and motivational disposition Pair work is mostlikely to be successful if both learners are motivated to work, and if one learner

talked more, the other may also produce more speech The willingness tocommunicate may also vary in the classroom across interactional contexts, and thatwillingness is not necessarily predictive of the behavior that will occur in theclassroom This WTC may be strengthened or weakened, according to many factorsassociated with a specific situation, whether it is related to the topic, the speaker orthe confidence of the learner in relation to that task The results of this study by Cao

& Philp (2006) concluded that learners have different behaviors, according to thecontexts, and preferences were different amongst students, as some were morewilling to communicate in teacher-centered activities, and others were more intopair or group work The participants of this study linked differential WTC behavior

to the size of the group, self-confidence in their abilities to communicate andfamiliarity with the speaker or interlocutor Teachers may increase learners’participation by addressing such factors such as learner self-confidence and anxiety,and through the selection of materials and topics that are more appealing to learners,and that match their interests and needs

2.4 Nature of errors

2.4.1 Definitions of error

There have been many studies concentrating on the issue of foreign languageerrors and how to deal with them These studies are mostly done by famous scholars

in the world such as Edge (1989), Gower (1983), Hubbard (1991), etc Depending

on their own point of view and their own areas of research, these authors givedifferent notions about errors So it is essential for us to consider some definitions

of errors from different sources

“Error is an act that through ignorance, deficiency or accident departs from orfails to achieve what should be done.”

(Webster, 1976)

“Error is the use of a linguistic item in a way which a fluent or native speaker

of the language regards as showing faulty or incomplete learning.”

(Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistic, 1992)

“The above definitions of errors provide us with a deep insight of the nature oferrors in the process of learning language Errors are not a simple record of what

learners fail to do because of incompetence or indifference They are referred to asevidence of choice or strategy among a range of possible choices or strategies,providing evidence of an individual style of using the language and make it work.

In other words, errors are evidence of learners’ strategies they build in the targetlanguage.”

“On the other hand, the definition of errors is always given in connection withthat of mistakes These two terms are often assumed to have a similar meaning andthey are used to replace each other However, there is a significant distinctionbetween errors and mistakes A mistake is a slip of the tongue or pen Normally,learners can use a particular item of language correctly but when making aconversation, they might use it wrongly because of their carelessness, sickness orquick speaking In order to correct mistakes, learners are able to do by themselves,either completely unprompted or with the guidance of teachers and other learners.Meanwhile, an error is much more deep-rooted Learners might believe what theyare speaking is correct, or not know what the correct form should be, or know thecorrect form but cannot get it right.”

According to Websters Collegiate Dictionary (9th ed., 1978:1320), vocabulary

is defined as: (1) A list or collection of words and phrase usually alphabeticallyarranged and explained or defined (2) A sum or stock of words employed by alanguage group individual or work or in a field of knowledge (3) A list orcollection of terms or codes available for use

This definition is echoed by Hatch and Brown (1995) Ur (1996) elaboratesfurther and she uses the term ‘vocabulary item’ to refer to ‘word’ This is because,she argues, a vocabulary item can be either a single world or a multi-word phrase.According to her, “Vocabulary can be defined, roughly, as the words we teach in theforeign language However, a new item of vocabulary may be more than just asingle word: for example, post office, and mother-in-law, which are made up of two

or three words but express a single idea A useful convention is to cover all suchcases by talking about vocabulary “items” rather than “word” which is made up oftwo or three words but express a single idea”

Similarly, Lewis, an advocate of the lexical approach to second languageteaching, views vocabulary either as individual words or as full sentences, which heterms as ‘institutionalized utterances, that “convey fixed social or pragmaticmeaning within a given community” (Lewis, 1993: 89).”

In my opinion, when learning a foreign language, our individual vocabulary inthat language is one of the most important micro-skills to develop Of course, allmicro-skills like grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation are important But it is farmore difficult to communicate with no vocabulary than with no grammar

Some vocabulary errors:

-Non-availability of words to express feelings.

-A wrong word was used to express student’s idea, thus rendering the sentence as illogical.

-Spelling mistakes.

-The lexical item in the sentence is repeated, used or paraphrased unnecessarily.

-The wrong form of word is used in the sentence.

-The word used does not collocate well with another part of the sentence.

2.4.2.2 Grammar errors

In linguistics, grammar (from Greek: γραμματική) is the set of structural rulesgoverning the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given naturallanguage The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field

includes phonology, morphology, and syntax, often complemented by phonetics,semantics, and pragmatics

The whole system and structure of a language or of languages in general,usually taken as consisting of syntax and morphology, etc A particular analysis ofthe system and structure of language or of a specific language

Grammar is the structural foundation of our ability to express ourselves Themore we are aware of how it works, the more we can monitor the meaning andeffectiveness of the way we and others use language It can help foster precision,detect ambiguity, and exploit the richness of expression available in English And itcan help everyone, not only teachers of English but also teachers of anything, for allteaching is ultimately a matter of getting to grips with meaning

(David crystal, “In Word and Deed”, TES Teacher, April 30, 2004)

Without grammar, a language wouldn't work, because people couldn'tcommunicate effectively The speakers and the listeners of any exchange need toboth function in the same system in order to understand each other

Some grammar errors:

-Adjective is used as adverb

-The verb does not agree with the subject

-The order of the word in a sentence is not correct

-An incorrect form of the verb is used

-An incorrect verb tense is used

-The students use the wrong article or they do not use any article

-The wrong preposition is used

2.4.2.3 Pronunciation errors

“To every English speaking learners, the first thing they need to learn ispronunciation They have to know how to pronounce a word exactly before theylearn the other things, so what is pronunciation? In this part, definition ofpronunciation will be presented to provide more information for all students First

of all, pronunciation is “the way a word or a language is spoken, or the manner inwhich someone utters a word If one is said to have "correct pronunciation", then itrefers to both within a particular dialect”, according to Wikipedia

In the AMEP Fact sheets that have been funded by the Department ofImmigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs through the AMEP SpecialProject Research Program, pronunciation was defined as: “The production ofsounds that we use to make meaning It includes attention to the particular sounds

of a language (segments), aspects of speech beyond the level of the individualsound, such as intonation, phrasing, stress, timing, rhythm (suprasegmentalaspects), how the voice is projected (voice quality) and, in its broadest definition,attention to gestures and expressions that are closely related to the way we speak alanguage Each of these aspects of pronunciation is briefly outlined below, andreferences for further study are suggested.”

Wikipedia Dictionaries indicates another definition of pronunciation:

“Pronunciation refers” to the ability to use the correct stress, rhythm, and intonation

of a word in a spoken language A word can be spoken in different ways by variousindividuals or groups, depending on many factors, such as: the area in which theygrew up, the area in which they now live, if they have a speech or voice disorder,their ethnic group, their social class, or their education.” Besides, pronunciation wasalso put as “the way in which a language is spoken” (Oxford Advance Learner’sEncyclopedic, 1992:718) The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 8th end(2008) makes clear pronunciation is “the way in which a language or a particularword or sound pronounced”.”

English pronunciation is notoriously difficult There are two differentpronunciations: British English and American English

Some pronunciation errors:

-Drop the ending sound of the word

-Have trouble pronouncing words ending with consonants

-Confuse some similar sounds such as: /s/ for /ʃ/, /ð/ for /d/ or /z/…

-Omit the connecting sounds

-Use too much unrelated words like: uhm, ah, oh…

-No intonation and word connections

-No stress or wrong stress patterns

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS

This chapter deals with the collected data and analyzes statistics implementedvia the classroom observation and the responses to the questionnaire in order tocategorize kinds of Errors in English speaking lessons committed by freshmen inFaculty of English, Thuongmai University (2020-2024 curriculum), the possiblecauses of those errors and the techniques to avoid them and to improve the students’speaking skills

The questionnaire has two parts: the first one asks about the students’ personalinformation; the second one is the main part containing 13 questions which areclosed questions, multiple choice questions and opened questions which wereprepared with the purpose to seek for information about the students’ recognition ofdifficulties, errors in speaking English as well as the ways they improve theirspeaking skills

The 40 copies of the questionnaire were delivered to the first-year students inFaculty of English, Thuongmai University (2020-2024 curriculum) and all werecollected After collected through the questionnaire, the data of the study isidentified and described basing on the type of error and error analysis theory Thenthe researcher counts the number of the type of error and calculates the percentage

of them by the formula which is mentioned in part 1.6, Chapter 1 The result ispresented and explained the source of each error in the data