(SKKN 2022) Guiding students in Quan Son highschool to do the mistake task in GCSE exams

- omitting options: A,C, D They are not verbs tense B is the only right answer for the question The answer is B agreement of the subject and the verb Has-> have Question 5.. - omitting

I THE REASONS FOR CHOOSING THE THEME.

English has been a compulsory subject in the GCSE for a long time It is arather difficult subject for all students especially those who come from remoteand mountainous areas as Quan Son high school The teachers in these regionsalways try the best to find out the most effective way to assist students to get ashigh as possible mark for the English test of the GCSE If teachers ask students

to revise all the general knowledge in English, it may not work The English test

is divided into small parts such as pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary,reading, rewriting and combining, mistake, communicative exchanges…Eachpart has fundermental pinciples to solve For example, in the pronunciation part,there is always a question related to pronoucing“ed” ending What the teachersneed to guide the learners is how to distinguish 3 ways of pronouncing “ed”ending and some irregular ones So that they can solve any questions related to

“ed” ending they meet in the test Simmilarly, the mistake part includes threequestions, each of which belongs to three different topics which are fixed inalmost codes of tests Therefore, when guiding learners to do this task, teachersneed to remind them to concentrate on three topics selected in the matrix Thisenables learners to familiarise to the form of the task and recognise it easily.Having done this well, students are able to get the total mark of this part simply.This is really important and meaningful for students in mountainous areas to getmark and increase their final result If teachers are aware of this principle, theycan elicit students to focus on the grammartical point which are listed in thematrix of the model test Consequently they narrow down the grammarticalpoints which are recognizable and easy to answer exactly In the same ways,once the model test has been announced, education experts, English teachers andeven students try to design their own test collections basing on the same formatfor the students to practise The more tests the students practise doing, the betterthe result seem to be That’s why I have made a decision to teach the studentsthe ways to do the mistake part exactly and get full points of the task for their

final result And I choose the theme: “Guiding students in Quan Son high school to do the mistake task in GCSE exams” for my research in school year

2021-2022 I hope my finding will make difference when teaching andsupporting students in general and inspiring students to face the most importantexamination in their life confidently

II THE PURPOSE OF THE INITIATIVE.

The purpose of this theme is to introduce popular kinds of mistake task inEnglish to students and hint the best steps to do each type of mistake task It isalso a good chance for students to review all the English grammartical pointssystematically With each types of mistake, I will provide learners someapplying exercises After that I will make mistake tasks containing three to fivetypes of mistake which are often tested in the English test It is aimed at aidingstudents to classify and recognize the mistakes in the task they have learned

PART I THE INTRODUCTION

before then students can give the correct answer for the questions Especially Idesire helping students to shorten the scale of content evaluated in the test andfocus on essential factors which the examiner wants to test them I also hope mystudents to feel more confident when seeing this kind of exercise in any Englishtest Furthermore, I will try to elicit them to find out a suitable method to do themistake task in the English test exactly, and increase their marks, enable them tohave more chances to be admitted in well-known universities

III THE RESEARCHED SUBJECTS.

It can’t be dinied that English is the most challenging subject in thenational examination In Thanh Hoa province, the result of taking English test israther troublesome to the education managers They have never stoppedchanging methods or finding new ways to improve the result of exams related toEnglish But English test still contains mainly marks from 3 to 4 especially inmountainous areas Increasing English mark in the GCSE not only contributes toraising the rate of students passing the exam but it also affects to the emulationamong schools, cities and provinces in our country In 2021, it was the growth

of marks of mountainous students that motivated the emulation of Thanh Hoaprovince in the national list in which Thanh Hoa province was ranked the 32th

in the list, and Thanh Hoa was one of three provinces having the most mark ten

in our country It is worth feeling proud of the achievement we have made forthe local education The achievement of students in mountainous areas affectpositively on the general success of all the province Therefore, when choosingthis theme, I want to concentrate on students who comes from mountainousareas such as Quan Son, Muong Lat, Ba Thuoc districts in the West of ThanhHoa province Because the rate of mountainous and remote students who get badmarks in exams has been considerably high English is the hardest barrie forthem in examination They never feel confident when doing English test Theyfinish an English test so quickly that we all feel surprised and shocked Theyeven finish a test within five minutes without reading the questions at all.Because of the fact that they just circle the options randomly It drives them onthe verge of failing the exam stupidly This raises serious questions for theeducators and especially English teachers in Thanh Hoa province This urges me

to make effort to do something and improve the situations In the limited scale ofthis initiative, I mainly focus on the students in grade 12A1 at Quan Son highschool And then I will widen to apply to teaching other ones in our school thenext school years

I THE THEORICAL FOUNDATION OF THIS THEME.

Mistake task is the compeled part in which English structures, notcommunicating skills, are tested So mastering English grammar is reallyessential for students And it is still a controversial topic among educators tochoose the most suitable one to teaching English grammar for their own

PART II THE CONTENT

students In stead of teaching all the grammar points such as verb tenses, verbforms, passive voice, reported speech….teachers must shorten the importantcontents to explain in the lectures For instance, conditional sentences topic is apopular point in English But some teachers choose to teach all the aspectsrelated to conmditional sentences to explain in the lesson Because they thinkthat, students ust learn by heart the usage of all kinds of conditional sentences sothat they can do any exercise they meet in the test It is completely wrong Themodel test only selects one aspect of conditional sentences to test such as: theinversion form of type 1, or the basic form of type 3 If teachers research themodel test carefully they can narrow down the content to teach It is much moreeffective and simple for both teachers and learners It is the same with themistake task There are a numerous of types of mistake in English It will be aserious fault if teachers teach their kids all of them Basing on English tests inrecent years, we can choose necessary types to guide students and help them toprepare for the exam.

II THE CURRENT SITUATION OF THE THEME

Mistake task is one of required parts in any English test Thereference books about this proplem are rather available However, thesedocuments only provide a variety of exercises and specific keys withoutenclosing meaningful tips which guide students to do the assignment correctly.Some teachers may ask students to learn all the grammartical points to preparefor the test perfectly, But few students can meet the requirement Because most

of students are not very good at English Forcing them to remember all thetopics is nearly impossible Therefore, basing on those documents and referencebooks, I have simplified the mistake tasks by dividing them into small groupswith specific methods and tips to deal with each group Once students havealready done all the groups of exercise skillfully, I will mix some kinds ofmistake to create mistake tasks which are as simmilar as the ones used in theofficial tests I believe that after practise solving these exercises regularly,students accumulate their own experience to do the test successfully

III THE METHODS TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM

When researching this theme, I have studied I have researched the format ofthe GCSE in recent years

- I also collect documents from famous English learning Websites

- I have conducted a numerous of real surveys on students in my school andexperience considerate changes that mindmaps bring about after the lesson -I have investigated and estimated the result of each survey so as to find outuseful tips and experiences to transfer to my students

IV.THE CONTENT OF THE INITIATIVE

1 Typical types of mistakes in English test

There are a lot kinds of mistake explored in English test The mistake mayinvolve in all the grammartical points of English such as parts of speech, verbtenses, wordform, styles of words…ect We can generalise in the the mind map

below When looking at the mind map of types of mistake, students seem tosumarise all the grammartical poinst in English Therefore, dealing with mistaketasks in the test may help student to master structures better

However, in the scale of this theme, I just focus on the mistakes whichhave been examined in the GCSE test recently And then I will provide someapplying exercises as well as the useful tips to help students to solve the task

1.1 Misuse of verb tenses and verb forms

Some applying exercises

Exercise 1 Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the underlined part that needs correction in each of the following questions

With mistakes

related to verb

tenses

- Narrow down the options: the verbs may be

V(s/es/0), V(ed), V(ing)… So, omit other options

- If there is only one the option is verb, it is thecorrect answer

- If there are more than one verb, let’s analise thetense, the mood,…in order to choose the bestanswer

-Step -Step

Question 1 Last month, my mother makes more than 20 dresses and sold all of

them

- omitting options: A month , C dresses (they are not verbs) the simple past tense,

The answer is B (makes-> made)

Question 2 Did you invited them to your wedding party last week?

- omitting options: C, D (they are not verbs) the question in simple past tense did + S + V0

The answer is B (invited-> invite)

Question 3 She turned on her computer, reads the message on Facebook and

answered it

- omitting options: C (not a verb) the sentense in simple past tense: S + Ved + O

The answer is B (reads-> read)

Question 4 Most bacteria has strong cell walls much like those of the plants.

- omitting options: A,C, D (They are not verbs tense)

B is the only right answer for the question

The answer is B (agreement of the subject and the verb)

Has-> have Question 5 Whether life in the countryside is better than that in the city depend

on each individual’s point of view

- omitting options: A,B, D (They are not verbs tense) Cis the only right answer for the question

The answer is C (agreement of the subject and the verb)

Depend on-> depends on Question 6 Never before has so many people in the United States been

interested in soccer

- omitting options: B,C, D (They are not verbs tense)

B is the only right answer for the question

The answer is B (agreement of the subject and the verb)

Has-> have Question 7 She is among the few who wants to quit smoking instead of cutting

down

- omitting options: A,C, D (They are not verbs tense)

B is the only right answer for the question

The answer is B (agreement of the subject and the verb)

Wants-> want Question 8 One of the girls worked in that company caused an accident.

- omitting options: A, B, D (They are not verbs tense)

C is the only right answer for the question

The answer is C (reduced relative clause) Worked->

working Question 9 A man saparating from his mother at birth met this brother for the

first time on stage

- omitting options: B, C, D (They are not verbs tense)

A is the only right answer for the question

The answer is A (reduced relative clause)

Saparating -> saparated Question 10 Today, the number of people died from AIDs is finally decreasing.

- omitting options: A,C, D (They are not verbs tense)

B is the only right answer for the question

The answer is B (reduced relative clause) Died-> dying

The crucial steps to do this type of mistake

explanation

explanation

explanation

Mistake in using parallel structures

Mistake in using parallel structures

A chain

of the same adverbs

A chain

of the same adjective s

A chain of the same nouns

- Find out a chain of words in the sentence

- The needed answer may be a verb, a noun, an adjective

Question 1 For more than 450 years, Mexico City has been the economic,

culture and political centre of Mexican people

A more than B has been C culture D Mexican people

- a chain of adjectives: economic, cultural, political

- omitting options: A, B, D

C is the only right answer for the question

The answer is C Culture-> cultural Question 2 The lion has long been a symbol of strength, power and it is very

cruel

-a chain of nouns: strength, power, cruciality

- omitting options: A, B, C

D is the only right answer for the question

The answer is D It is very crucial-> cruciality Question 3 Unlike other architects of the early modern movement, Alva Alto

stressed informality, personal expression, romantic , and regionality in his work

A unlike B other architects C informality D romantic

- a chain of nouns: informality, expression, romane

- omitting options: A, B,

D is the only right answer for the question

The answer is D Romantic-> romane Question 4 Killer whales tend to wander in family clusters that hunt, play, and

resting together

-a chain of verbs: hunt, play, rest

- omitting options: A, B,

D is the only right answer for the question

The answer is D Resting-> rest Question 5 It would be both noticed and appreciating if you could finish the

work before you leave

A both B appreciating C the work D leave

- a chain of verbs: noticed and appreciated

- omitting options: A, C, D

- B is the only right answer for the question

The answer is B Appreciating-> appreciated 1.3 Mistake about the agreement of the subject and related pronouns

The subject in the sentence has respective pronouns, objective and possessiveadjective This rule can also be examined in the English test The answer needed

is the option related to seven personal pronouns: I, you, we, they, she, he, it Sowith this kind of mistake, students should base on the following tips

- Find out the subject, pronoun, possessive adjective in

the sentense and relationship between them

- Omitting the options are not suitable (verb, conjunctions, article…)

- Finding out the correct answerThe right answer must be included in this table

Personal Objective Possessive adjective Possessive pronoun Reflexive pronoun

Applying exercises

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the underlined part that needs correction in each of the following questions

Question 1: John and Jane would like to have her own house in the future.

A would like B to have C her D in

- The agreement between the subject and the possessive adjective

- Omitting the options A, B, D

- A is the right answer for the question

The answer is A Her -> their Question 2: I am going to a wedding on Saturday A friend of me is getting

married

- The agreement between the subject and the possessive pronoun

- Omitting the options A, B, C

- D is the right answer for the question

The answer is D Me-> mine Question 3: It's a shame that the apartment hasn't got their own parking space.

- The agreement between the subject and the possessive adjective

- Omitting the options A, B, C

- D is the right answer for the question

The answer is D Their-> its Question 4: Jack was sitting in a corner of the cafe by themselves when I came.

- The agreement between the subject and the reflexive pronoun

- Omitting the options A, B, D

- C is the right answer for the question

The answer is C By themselfves-> by himself Question 5: It’s always been one of myself ambitions to travel around the

world

- The agreement between the subject and the possessive adjective

- Omitting the options A, C, D

- B is the right answer for the question

The answer is B Myself-> my 1.4 Mistake in using confusing pairs of words

This is one of the most challenging mistake in the task because there are

so many cofusing pairs of words that nobody can remember Besides, anumerous of words which have the same root are difficult to distinguish Theyhave the same pronunciation or the same meaning but different using styles Themore words students know, the more correct answer they can give And the bestway to solve this type of mistake is that teachers provide students pairs ofwords, differentiate them and applying exercises However, nooone can knowand remember all the pairs of confusing word in English even teachers.Therefore, beside taking notes the words they have learned, students can alsofollow the tips below to have correct answers

explanation

explanation

explanation

explanation

The meaningful tips to do the task

- The needed answer may be verbs, nouns or adjectives

- omitting the other options (article, conjunction, preposition…)

- Finding out the correct answer which seem to be the

longest word among the given ones Applying exercises

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the underlined part that needs correction in each of the following questions

Question 1 In your capacity as a judge, you have to work with high

concentration You must make uninterested judgment

- mistake in using confusing words

- Omitting the options A, C,

- Analyse B and D is the right answer for the question

The answer is C Uninterested-> disinterested