The interference of the mother tongue in the writing skills of the grade 10 students at Tinh Gia 2 upper secondary school = Ảnh hưởng của tiếng mẹ đối với kỹ nă

The better understanding of students‟ errors in EFL writing will help the students recognize the negative effects of the mother tongue MT interference in L2 acquisition and then avoid er

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES

-   -

HÀ VĂN MINH

THE INTERFERENCE OF THE MOTHER TONGUE IN THE WRITING SKILLS OF THE GRADE 10 STUDENTS AT

TINH GIA 2 UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL

(ẢNH HƯỞNG CỦA TIẾNG MẸ ĐỐI VỚI KỸ NĂNG VIẾT CỦA HỌC SINH

LỚP 10 TẠI TRƯỜNG THPT TĨNH GIA 2)

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Teaching Methodology

Code: 60 14 10

Hanoi, 2011

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES

-   -

HÀ VĂN MINH

THE INTERFERENCE OF THE MOTHER TONGUE IN THE WRITING SKILLS OF THE GRADE 10 STUDENTS AT

TINH GIA 2 UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL

(ẢNH HƯỞNG CỦA TIẾNG MẸ ĐỐI VỚI KỸ NĂNG VIẾT CỦA HỌC

SINH LỚP 10 TẠI TRƯỜNG THPT TĨNH GIA 2)

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Teaching Methodology

Code: 60 14 10

Supervisor: NGUYỄN BÀNG, MA

Hanoi, 2011

iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION……… i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……… ii

ABSTRACT……… iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS……… iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS……… vi

LIST OF TABLES……… vii

PART A: INTRODUCTION……… 1

1 Rationale for the study……… 1

2 Aims of the study ……… 2

3 Research questions of the study……… 2

4 Scope of the study ……… 2

5 Significance of the study ……… 2

6 Organization of the study ……… 3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT……… 4

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW……… 4

1.1 Written language vs spoken language……… 4

1.2 The interference of L1 in L2……… 6

1.3 Errors in foreign language learning process……… 7

1.3.1 Definition of errors……… 7

1.3.2 Errors and mistakes……… 8

1.3.3 Classification of errors ……… 9

1.4 Contrastive analysis……… 13

1.5 Error analysis……… 14

1.5.1 Concepts of error analysis……… 14

1.5.2 Procedures in analyzing errors……… 15

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY……… 20

2.1 Research questions of the study……… 20

2.2 Participants of the study……… 20

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2.3 Data collection instruments ……… 20

2.3.1 Introduction to a test in general and description of the final test used in

the study……… 20

2.3.2 Data collection procedures……… 21

2.4 Coding the writtings……… 22

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION……… 23

3.1 Data Analysis and discussion……… 23

3.1.1 Data Analysis and discussion on the errors from the test papers………… 23

3.1.1.1 Identification……… 23

3.1.1.2 Description and discussion on the five most frequent types of errors… 23 3.1.2 Discussion and explanation on the grammatical errors……… 29

3.2 Major findings……… 38

3.2.1 Major findings on how much MT interference in students’ errors………… 38

3.2.2 Major findings on the most frequent grammatical errors……… 39

3.3 Suggestions for further teaching strategies……… 39

PART C: CONCLUSION ……… 40

1 Summary of the study……… 40

2 Limitations of the study and suggestions for further studies……… 41

REFERENCES……… 42 APPENDIXES……… I

APPENDIX 1……… I APPENDIX 2……… II APPENDIX 3……… III

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Comparing spoken language and written language Table 2: Total number or errors from the test papers

Table 3: Parts of speech in Vietnamese

Table 2: Number or grammatical errors from the test papers

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PART A: INTRODUCTION

This part provides an overview of the study including the rationale, aims as well as the research questions and scope of the study Besides, the significance of the study and organization of the study are presented

1 Rationale for the study

In recent years, the teaching and learning of English have become a great concern in Vietnam English is now taught not only at all universities and colleges but also as a basic and compulsory subject at all upper secondary schools, including TG2USS Writing is one

of four skills in language learning process and it is seen as the most difficult and complex language skill because it requires widely perception and needs good understanding on grammar and structures

Along with language knowledge and other three skills, writing is often required and evaluated as a part of the total assessment of tests in two terms of the academic year of upper secondary school But there is a fact that students usually have a large number of difficulties in expressing their ideas in their English writing They normally translate word

by word, vocabulary, idiomatic expressions and especially grammatical rules of their first language (L1) into the target language (TL) As a result, they do not often get good marks

or have good paragraph writings These problems cause a lot of grammatical errors in students‟ writing works In other words, the students negatively transfer features of L1 into the TL, and consequently they may encounter difficulties in learning English

The better understanding of students‟ errors in EFL writing will help the students recognize the negative effects of the mother tongue (MT) interference in L2 acquisition and then avoid errors It will also help students improve their accurate and fluent writing and their English learning in the future

All the above-mentioned reasons have inspired the researcher to carry out a study entitled

“The Interference of the Mother Tongue in the Writing Skills of the Grade 10 Students

at Tinh Gia 2 Upper Secondary School”

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2 Aims of the study

This study is primarily targeted at helping to improve the grade 10 students‟ writing skills

by reducing the negative interference of the L1 (Vietnamese) on their writing To achieve

this aim, the researcher attempts:

- To find out the most frequent L1 interference errors students committed when doing paragraph writing

- To identify causes of the students‟ writing errors – the interference of the L1

- To give practical recommendations

3 Research questions of the study

The study just focuses on writing errors caused by MT interference, the following research questions are proposed:

1 How much does L1 interfere with the students‟ writing?

2 What are the most common L1- related grammatical errors committed by the students in their writing?

4 Scope of the study

The study was carried out with four classes (10C1, 10C6, 10C7 and 10C11) consisting of

182 students of TG2USS in their second term, the academic year 2010-2011 Due to the

fixed curriculum and limited time, the study only centred on the L1- related grammatical errors committed by students in their final writing test papers and based on the analysis of

their writing papers, some suggested solutions were provided

5 Significance of the study

The study attempts to bring about some benefits theoretically and practically to the readers and researchers, especially to the secondary school teachers of English

In terms of theoretical benefits, the study could provide the information on the students‟ errors in paragraph writing in teaching and learning process

In terms of practical benefits, the researcher hopes that the study could be the references

for teachers of English and the readers as well

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- The result of this study could provide the information and evaluation for the students‟ knowledge of grammar, so they would avoid the same errors next time

- It would be useful for the teachers to improve the students‟ writing skills

6 Organization of the study

The study consists of three parts: introduction, development with three chapters and

conclusion

Part A, INTRODUCTION presents an overview of the study with the rationale, aims, the

research questions and scope of the study Besides, the significance of the study and organization of the study are presented

Part B, DEVELOPMENT includes three chapters:

Chapter 1 presents literature review relevant to the study

Chapter 2 consists of research questions, participants of the study, data collection

instruments and procedures of data collection

Chapter 3 displays the major findings of the error analysis and discussions from

the collected data analysis It also provides some suggestions for further teaching strategies

Part C: CONCLUSION presents a summary of the study It also provides some limitations

of the study and suggestions for further study

The REFERENCES and APPENDIXES are at the end to the study

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PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

This part, literature review, presents a review of related literature that provides the theoretical background of the study It includes the main sections: section 1 dicusses the

written English vs spoken English, section 2 addresses the L1 interference on L2, section 3

examines errors in foreign language learning process, section 4 mentions contrastive

analysis (CA) and section 5, the last section, discusses error analysis (EA)

1.1 Written language versus spoken language

A commonly held belief is that the nature of written language will be most clearly seen when being contrasted with that of the spoken language Many famous linguists have followed this approach such as Brown & Yule, Byrne, Ellis & Sinclair, etc Brown & Yule (1983) suggest that information is packed very much more densely in the written language than in the spoken form, which also explains its brevity and results from the presence of heavy premodified noun phrases, heavy adverbial modification and complex subordinating phrases In other words, the written language provides much more information than the spoken language with a more complicated set of vocabulary and grammar rules

Ellis & Sinclair (1989) make a clear distinction between spoken and written language They point out that written language is formal and stable while spoken language is informal and variable Therefore, it appears much easier to provide a model of written language than that of spoken one Done Byrne (1997) also agrees with the view that writing is different from speech in a number of ways Speech takes place against the background of a situation and much of what we say can be understood from the situation; speech is addressed to a person who is present at that time and there is continuous interaction and feedback, which may be in verbal or non-verbal form That is not to mention the considerable amount of resources possible to be drawn from speech through the use of prosodic features, facial expressions, gestures Writing, in contrast, creates contexts and is a way of communicating with someone who is not present and may not lead

to interaction There is also no use of the prosodic features, which is replaced by graphological devices such as punctuation and capitalization

5

Ur, P (1996:159-161) suggests nine characteristics that distinguish written from spoken language His analysis is summarized in Table 1:

Written language Spoken language

Detachment detached in time and place

Standard language standard may be in regional, or

limited-context dialect

A learnt skill must be taught and learnt mother tongue is acquired

Sheer amount and

(Source: Adapted from Ur, P 1996: 159-161)

Table 1: Comparing spoken language and written language

According to the data, the different features between spoken and written language suggest some cautions in teaching writing Because written texts are permanent and can be referred many times, they must be written with careful choice of vocabulary and structures

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1.2 The interference of L1 in L2

Many language teachers and linguists have considered L1 interference as an barrier of L2 learning Lightbown and Spada (1993:54) found that in the 1960‟s various studies indicated that most of mistakes L2 learners made due to their L1 interference As a result, numerous researchers have paid attention to errors which demonstrate the influence of one‟s L1 on L2 Brown (1994:89) believes that SLA is strongly influenced by the learners‟ L1 He states “native language interference is surely the most immediately noticeable source of errors among second language learners”

Like Brown, Ellis (1995:19) points out:“It is a popular belief that second language acquisition (SLA) is strongly influenced by the learner‟s first language (L1)”

In the article „„The Effect of The Use of L1 in a Multimedia Tutorial on Grammar Learning: An Error Analysis of Taiwanese Beginning EFL Learners' English Essays‟‟ Li-Ling Chen (2006) points out that the L1 usage in CAI (computer assisted instruction) on grammar did not yield a significant effect on grammar learning However, by doing an EA and CA between Mandarin and English, a number of grammar errors found were due to L1 interference Chen identified eight error categories where the greatest number occurred in his study: (1) verbs, (2) punctuation, (3) lexicon, (4) syntax, (5) capitalization, (6) subject omission, (7) prepositions, and (8) articles

Actually, in the process of learning a new language, the learners are often affected by their

MT MT interference is due to the fact that learners convert the features of their native language, for example, Vietnamese, into the TL - English They tend to apply the grammatical rules of their native language into the target ones In her thesis Binh,T.T.H (2005:9) writes that learners tended to think in the L1 and attempted to put the idea in the

TL

In his reference book (1990), Buu, H.V states that students‟ mistakes were originated from Vietnamese interference All the common errors of the Vietnamese learners of English occurred in four areas: grammar ( parts of speech), word usage, sentence structures and pronunciation He also gives little explantion of how the errors arose or how far the learners‟ poor English was influenced by their Vietnamese

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Mohideen, H (1996, cited in Maniam, M, 2010) agrees that MT interference is viewed as one of the main causes of errors in writing among Malaysian students He says that there is

MT interference in the areas of syntax, grammar, lexis and pronunciation

Wilkins ( 1972: 199) observes that:

"When learning a foreign language an individual already knows his mother tongue, and it is this which he attempts to transfer The transfer may prove to be justified because the structure of the two languages is similar - in that case we get 'positive transfer' or 'facilitation' - or it may prove unjustified because the structure of the two languages are different - in that case we get 'negative transfer' - or 'interference'

In other words, the influence of MT on L2 learning is manifested by the positive ornegative transference.This studydoes not explore the positive impact of the Vietnamese language (MT) in learning a foreign language (English) It only concentrates on investigatingthe negative effectsof the MT in learningwriting skills

1.3 Error in foreign language learning process

1.3.1 Definition of error

In the history of English language teaching, numerous definitions of errors have been proposed by many linguists and reseachers in terms of their differences. Corder (1973:259)

refers to errors as breaches of the code Errors deviate from what is regarded as the norm

In his research in 1998, James defines a languge error as an successful bit of language Dulay, et al (1982:138) stress that errors are seen as “the flawed side of the learner speech

or writing, they are parts of conversation or composition that deviates from selected norms” Rechards, et al share the view that:

“ An erros in the speech or writing of a second or foreign language learners is the use of a language item (e.g a word, a grammatical item, a speech act, etc.) in a way which a fluent or native speaker of the language regards as showing faulty or

incomplete learning”

Chun, A et al (1982:538) also adorse this point that “an error is the use of a linguistic item

in a way which, according to fluent users of the language, indicates faulty or incomplete

learning”

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Similarily, other linguists have said that “an error occurs where the speakers fail to follow the pattern or the manner of speech of educated people in English speaking countries today” (Liski and Puntanen 1983:227) From these definitions, it is clear that an error is

the unsuccessful use of the TL in speech and writing by the learners in comparision with that by the native speakers

Nevertheless, Lennon (1991) states that such denitions are often ambiguous, because even educated language teachers and native speakers often believe perfectly correct sentences to contain errors (see also Hughes and Lascaratou 1982) Therefore, Lennon (1991:1982 ) claims to offer a more cautious definition, describing an error as:

“…a linguistic form or combination of forms which, in the same context and under similar conditions of production, would, in all likelihood, not be produced by the speaker‟s native speaker counterparts.”

In short, based on the above discussion, the researcher hopes to identify errors in the study

in the clearest way

1.3.2 Errors and mistakes

Norrish (1983: 7) made a clear distinction between error and mistake He states errors as a

„„systematic deviation when a learner has not learnt something and consistently „gets it wrong‟.‟‟ Cunning Worth (1987) defines error as systematic deviations from the norms of language being learned It seems that the phrase “systematic deviation” in these two definitions is a key word which can be interpreted as the deviation which happens

repeatedly Chaudron (1986) reviews error as (i) “linguistic forms or content that differed from native speaker norms or facts”, and (ii) “any other behaviour signaled by the teacher

as needing improvement” George (1972: 2) gives a definition of “error” as “an unwanted

form, specifically, a form which a particular course designer or teacher does not want”

Johansson (1975) believes that “If native speakers hesitate about the acceptability of a word or construction it should not be considered an error”

However, it is necessary to differentiate between error and mistake Corder introduced the distinction between systematic and non-systematic errors Unsystematic errors occur in one‟s native language; Corder calls these "mistakes" and states that they are not significant

to the process of language learning He keeps the term "errors" for the systematic ones,

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which occur in a L2 According to Corder (1974: 29), errors are typically produced by people who do not yet fully command some institutionalized language system A mistake

is also a deviation of the norms of the language but is not systematic It means that the use

of the norm of the language in the sentences is sometimes right and sometimes wrong Norrish (1983:7) also says that a mistake is an inconsistent deviation that is sometimes the learner „gets it right‟ but sometimes wrong For example, if a learner has not yet been taught a certain correct form and he uses one form sometimes and another at other times quite inconsistently, „the inconsistent deviation‟ is called mistake According to Richards,

et al (1992:127), a difference between an error and mistake is that error results from incomplete knowledge, whereas a mistake made by a learner when writing or speaking and which is caused by lack of attention, fatigue, carelessness, or some other aspect of performance

From the linguists‟ opinions above, it can be concluded that a mistake is a non systematic deviation from the norms of language A mistake refers to the failures to use the language system correctly caused by some factors such as carelessness, memory lapses, and physical condition while error refers to the failure to use the system correctly caused by the lack of the learners‟ competence, ignorance of appropriate rule and interference of the learners‟

MT and the general characteristics of the rule learning

Error is a complicated concept by nature However, for the purpose of this study, the definitions by Norrish and Cunning Worth are adopted because these two definitions are adequate to reveal the errors showing up in the written texts

Medium refers to whether the language received or produced is spoken or written This refers to errors made when the learner is operating with speech sounds (involving listening and speaking or with written symbols (reading and writing) Taking modality and medium

of substance errors besides misspellings that involve writing They are referred to as mechanical errors, including punctuation errors, typographic errors, dyslexic errors and confusables

Text errors: include lexical and grammatical errors

Discourse errors: cover inappropriate coherence, pragmalinguistic and receptive

Regarding writing errors, according to James (1998:130), only misspelling (substance errors), lexico-grammar (text errors) and inappropriate coherence (discourse errors) are involved However, due to the limited time and the purpose of the study, misspellings (substance errors) and inappropriate coherence (discourse errors) will not be discussed in this study

Text errors:

Text errors are errors that derive from misapplication of the lexico-grammatical rules of the language That is to say, this type occurs when a learner fails to apply the rules completely, including how these rules are exploited to achieve texture.Text errors consists

of lexical errors and grammar errors However, only grammar errors will be discussed in the study

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abolishment abolition

was drinken was drinking

- Adjective colorfuller scene colorful scene

These errors are basic but persistent, regularly resurfacing even in the EFL writing of PhD students (James, 1998:155)

The most popular are third singular “s”, plural “s”, past tense “ed”, and progressive “ing” About adjective morphology errors, eg: using colourfuller (instead of colourful) scene or visit me soonly (soon) is an example of adverb morphology errors

(ii) Syntax errors

Syntax errors are errors that affect texts larger than the word, namely phrase, clause, sentence and ultimately paragraph Below are the examples of syntax errors

Phrase structure errors: at phrase level, James (1998:157) suggests using the tripartite

structure: modifier + head + qualifier (MHQ) in which M and Q can be refined in terms of positional subclasses m1, m2, m3… and q1, q2, q3, etc For example:

He no can swim He can not swim A double error: misselection

and misordering of negator in verb phrase

That fat big fish is the

mama fish

That big fat fish is the

mama fish

Misordering of adjective in adjective phrase

Clause errors: while phrase errors involve violation in the internal relations between parts

of phrases, clause errors involve whole phrase – themselves well-formed – entering into the structure of clauses Deviance will arise where any one of five condition holds:

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He shaved himself the

beard

He shaved himself The phrase in question is

superfluous

Give ø to the dog! Give it to the dog! Omission of noun phrase

Watson sent to him the

letter

Watson sent him the letter/

Watson sent the letter to him

Misording

He seems crying He seems to cry Misselection

You would be most likely

get first prize

You would be likely to get first prize

A blend or hybrid

Sentence errors: These involve the selection and combination of clauses into larger units

Other sentence errors are consolidation errors, comprising the two sub-types coordinate and subordination errors ( Shaughenessy, 1977:55)

They believe [they can become leaders in their field1] and [a good secure2]

The two conjuncts are not equals: in fact the first is a clause and the second an NP What they have in common is that both are objects of the verb believe

a Gandhi, who led the independence movement in India, was a politician

b Gandhi, who was a politician, led the independence movement in India

They contain the same information, but it is differently packaged and differently valued in each

Intersentence errors (Cohesion): to be identified with five types of codesive link of text

structure: referece, substitution, ellipsis, conjunction and lexical cohesion

Jim insists that there is a beast Jack being controlled by this fear

There is no obvious referent of “this fear”

Simon is also a Christ like figure We see it in the way he gave his food to Piggy Simon is also a Christ like figure We see this in the way he gave his food to Piggy

By the same token if you are too old I am too old also

If you are too old, by the same token I am too old also

EA It can help explain some of the errors actually committed by learners after these errors have been observed

CA is the basic approach used to study L1 interference According to Richards and Schmidt (2002), CA focuses on the comparison of the linguistic systems of the two languages, especially the sound and grammar systems of L1 and L2, to find solutions to L2 instruction problems CA was developed and practiced in the 1950s and 1960s, as an application of structural linguistics to language teaching It is based on the following assumptions: (i) the main difficulties in learning a new language are caused by interference from the L1 or „language transfer‟, (ii) such difficulties can be identified by

CA, and (iii) teaching materials can make use of CA to eliminate the interference effects

CA stressed the native language as the main factor affecting L2 learners‟ errors In other words, CA emphasizes the interference of the MT in learning a L2 in phonological, morphological, lexical and syntactic level It holds that L2 would be affected by L1 Here, language is taken as a set of habits and learning as establishment of new habits, a view sprung from behaviorism, under which language is essentially a system of habits In the course of language learning, L1 learning habits will be transferred into L2 learning habits Therefore, in the case of L1 transfer into L2, if structures in the MT have their corresponding structures in the TL and L1 habits can be successfully used in the L2, learners would transfer similar properties successfully and would result in positive transfer Contrastingly, in the case of negative transfer or interference, certain elements of the MT

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have no corresponding counterparts in the TL, L1 habits would cause errors in the L2, and learners would transfer inappropriate properties of L1

1.5 Error analysis

1.5.1 Concepts of error analysis

Error analysis (EA) is a type of linguistic analysis that focuses on the errors committed by learners According to Richards, et al (1992:127), the study an analysis of errors made by the L2 learners is called EA, which is carried out in order to identify strategies learners use

in language learning, try to identify the cause of learners‟ errors, and obtain information on common difficulties in language learning, as an aid to teaching or in the preparation of teaching materials

James (1998:1) says that EA is the process of determining the incidence, nature, causes, and consequences of unsuccessful language learning Cook (1993: 22) points out, EA is “a

methodology for dealing with data, rather than a theory of acquisition” The data can be

taken by conducting a test with the students as the respondents Brown (2000:218) gives a complete definition of EA in the following way:

“the fact that learner do make errors and that these errors can be observed, analyzed, and classified to reveal something of the system operating within the learners, led to surge of study of learners‟ errors, call error analysis”

It seems this concept is the same as the one proposed by Crystal (1987:112), EA is a technique for identifying, classifying and systematically interpreting the unacceptable forms produced by someone learning a foreign language, using any of the principles and

procedures provided by linguistics

EA developed as a branch of applied linguistics in 1960s, and set out to demonstrate that learners‟ errors were not due to the learners‟ MT but reflected universal learning strategies

EA, therefore, offered as an alternative to CA, has its value in the classroom research CA, which may be least predictive at the syntactic level and at early stages of learning languages (Brown, 1994:214), allows for prediction of the difficulties involved in acquiring a L2 (Richard, 1974:172) whereas EA emphasizes “the significance of errors in learners‟ inter-language system” (Brown, 1994:204), may be carried out directly for pedagogic purposes (Ellis, 1995:51)

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EA does not focus only on the interface between MT and L2, but also on other sources of errors EA became distinguished from CA by its examination of errors attributable to all possible sources, not just those which result from negative transfer of the native language (Brown & Douglas, 1994:206)

1.5.2 Procedures in analyzing errors

Various researchers in the field of linguistics have attempted to establish their own models for EA procedures One of the most frequently mentioned models by numerous other authors in the same field such as Richards, et al (1992), Ellis (1995:51-52), Brown (2000:207-211) is Corder‟s model (1967 & 1974) Corder identified a model for EA which included three stages: (i) Data collection: Recognition of idiosyncracy; (ii) Description: Accounting for idiosyncratic dialect; (iii) Explanation (the ultimate object of

EA)

In 1984, Van Els, et al propose a model for EA procedures including six steps: A corpus

of language is selected, the errors in the corpus are identified, the errors are classified, the errors are explained, the errors are evaluated, prevention or correction of errors

James (1998) suggests a more detailed model for EA procedures Basically, his model follows the same steps as Van Els, et al (1984) However, Jame‟s model emphasizes detailed description of errors His description of errors in three levels of errors mentioned

in section 1.3.3, namely modality, medium and level They seem very useful and easy to understand for many studies, including the researcher

According to Ellis and Barkhuizen (2005), there are five steps in conducting any EA study: (i) Collection of a sample of learner language; (ii) Identification of errors; (iii) Description

of errors; (iv) Explanation of errors, and (v) Error evaluation

The models for EA procedures mentioned above, in which the model by Ellis and Barkhuizen (2005) is selected for this study because it is described in a very easy way to follow Nevertheless, the last step - error evaluation is not carried out due to the limited time and the scope of the study The other steps are described and discussed as follows

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(i) Collection of a sample of learner language

The first point in EA is the collection of a sample of learner language Van Els, et al (1984) states the the sample of learner language ( or corpus of language) should involve deciding

on the size of the sample, the medium to be sampled and the homogeneity of the sample (by taking into account the learner‟s characteristics: age, stage of development, motivation, etc) Corder (1974) proposes four points to pay attention to when collecting samples as follows:

First, it is necessary to identify the size of the sample Researchers have identified three broad types of EA These types are: massive, specific and incidental samples

Second, it is very vital to collect well-defined samples of learner language so that clear statements can be made regarding what kinds of errors the learners produce and under what conditions The reason for this matter lies in that the errors that learners commit can be influenced by a lot of factors For example, they may commit errors in speaking, not in writing, as a result of the different processing conditions involved

Third, the researcher decides the manner in which the samples are to be collected In these samples, learner language either reflects natural, spontaneous language use or is elicited in some ways Natural samples are generally preferred but learners often do not produce much spontaneous data Therefore, elicited data is argued to be the case The research

identified two kinds of elicitation:“Clinical elicitation” and “Experimental methods”

However, the identification of error elicitation stated above is not strong enough to clarify which data collection instruments to be used for the research James (1998) suggests three kinds of elicitation techniques: observational techniques, experimental techniques and introspection Observational techniques are believed to reside mainly in naturalness while experimental techniques reside in manipulative nature

Observational techniques are conducted with such classroom activities as role play, information gap activities, simulations, involving pairs and groups of learners

Classroom observation is also one of the observational techniques, using observation sheet Experimental techniques are used by contrast interventionist They take the learners aside and give them tasks to do, the sole purpose of which is to elicit targeted forms which the error analyst is interested in Experimental techniques include simple imitation, stimulus

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modification and controlled elicitation Among these, controlled elicitation involves the use of cloze tests, dictations and even multiple choice tests The third kind of elicitation techniques is introspection This approach means getting the learner‟s cooperation to discover what is going on in the language learner‟s mind Introspection is carried out using learner diaries, questionaires and language judgment tests

Among these techniques of elicitation, observational techniques using classroom activities seem to be preferable in speaking EA Therefore, in this study, the researcher decided to use one of experimental techniques A test was used to investigate different types of errors which students at TG2USS made and possible causes of these errors

Finally, the researcher should decide “whether the samples of learner are collected sectionally (i.e at single point in time) or longitually (i.e at successive points over period

cross-of time)” Longitudial collection is better but time-consuming than cross-sectional one Due to the limited scope and time for this study, a massive sample for this study was collected cross-sectionally using the techniques mentioned above

(ii) Error Identification

According to Corder (1974), the second step of EA procedures - identification of errors, the researchers need to “decide what constitutes an „error‟ and to establish a procedure for recognizing one” He suggests four crucial questions that should be clarified when recognizing an error

The first question is to set up what TL should be used as the point of evaluation for the study Generally, in order to describe writing errors, Corder suggests choosing the standard written dialect as the norm where classroom learners are concerned Burt and Kiparsky (1974) also stated that “we should identify errors by reference to the TL, according to what person who says them has learnt about English”

The second is related to the differences between “errors” and “mistakes or slips” An error

is made when the deviation arises as a result of lack of knowledge while a mistake or slip occurs when learners fail to perform to their competence in the TL Normally, a mistake or slip is immediately corrected by the learner

The third one is about interpretation There are two kinds of interpretation: overt and

covert The former is easy to identify because there is a clear deviation in form (She selled

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her car) and the latter occurs in utterances that are syntactically and semantically formed but pragmatically odd (Where do you go?) James (1998:68) states if an error touches the grammar, it is overtly error Whereas touching the acceptability of meaning, it

well-is covertly error

The last one is focused on deviations There are two kinds of deviation: correctness and appropriateness Their difference is very simple: the first is a deviation of the rules of the

language usage (I did ate with her) and the other is a deviation of the language use (she can

to do whatever she wants)

In this study, the esearcher used two kinds of books as the norms They are “A University Grammar of English” by Quirk and Greenbaum(1976) and “English Grammar in Use” by Murphy (1994)

The distinction between errors and mistakes, overt and covert errors is not taken into consideration in this study All the errors in the study were identified in terms of both correctness and appropriateness

(iii) Description of errors

According to Corder (1974), the system used for the desription of learners‟ errors must be one having two essential characteristics First, the system must be well-developed and highly elaborated because many errors committed by even beginning learners are considerably complicated: it is not the case, as one might expect, that only advanced learners make advanced errors, since even many errors committed by beginners are serious Second, it should be as simple, self-explanatory and easily learnable as possible According to James (1998: 96-97), there are three main purposes of the description stages: (1) to make the errors explicit; (2) it is indispensable for counting errors, and (3) it is a basis for creating categories In other words, James points out that one of the basic purposes of error description is that this stage reveals which errors are different or the same, and this is the necessary step in putting them into categories In this study, the error classification by James is used to identify and categorize errors found in the test papers This error classification has been pesented in section1.3.3

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(iv) Error Explanation (Tracing errors to their sources)

It is the time to trace errors to their sources By identifying the sources of error, the researcher begins to know how learner‟s cognitive and affective self relates to the linguistic system and also to formulate the process of learning his first foreign language The source of an error could be interlanguage or intralanguage (Richards, 1971) In other words, there are two sources of errors, they are MT interfereces (Interlingual) and TL causes (Intralingual) However, due to the limited time and the aim of the study, MT interfereces (Interlingual) will be discussed in this study

Mother-tongue interference (Interlingual Error)

If the learner of a foreign language makes some mistakes in the TL by the effect of his MT, that is called as interlanguage errors According to Brown (1994: 225) the beginning stages

of learning a L2 are characterized by a good deal of interlingual transfer from the native language Moreover, Richards (1974:35) says interlingual errors are errors which are caused by interference from the native language to the TL they learn In short, the learning problem is caused by the structure of L1 For instance, in Vietnamese nouns do not

pluralize after a numeral; one says in Vietnamese the equivalent of two pen and not two pens

Actually, language transfer is considered to be major among the seven factors that may influence and characterize the L2 learner systems The MT interference may result in some deviant sentences made by L2 learners Some linguists have been doing CA to predict errors by comparing the linguistic systems of the MT and the TL

George (1971) found that one-third of the deviant sentences from L2 learners could be attributed to language transfer In other words, the MT interference , which causes interlingual errors, rooted from the differences of the two languages

There are four basic factors, which affect the MT interference in L2 learning namely the performance pressure, limited language environment, manner of eliciting verbal performance and the monitor use

In summary, in this chapter, the researcher has reviewed the necessary literature related to errors, CA and EA The key procedures of EA are also found out The reviewed literature lays a foundation for the CA and EA in the next chapters

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CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

This chapter is covered with research questions, participants of the study, data collection instruments and procedures of data collection

2.1 Research questions of the study

As mentioned in part A.3, the researcher sets the aim of the study to seek answers to the following research questions:

1) How much does L1 interfere with students‟ errors?

2) What are the most common L1- related grammatical errors committed by the students in their writing?

2.2 Participants of the study

Due to time limitation, it is impossible to conduct the study with all grade 10 students Therefore, the study was carried out with four classes (10C1, 10C6, 10C7 and 10C11) consisting of 182 students of Tinh Gia 2 Upper Secondary School in their second term, the academic year 2010-2011 Each class had about 50 students (45 from class 10C1, 46 from class 10C6, 46 from class 10C7 and 45 from class 10C11) both male and female at the age

of 15-16

2.3 Data collection instruments

The test paper is one research instrument used to investigate errors and explain the causes

of these errors The test chosen for this study is the final test

2.3.1 Introduction to a test in general and description of the final test used in the

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- Regarding the actual conditions, the teacher designing the test can adjust the proportion but the difference between the proportion of skills must not exceed 10% (Ministry of Education and Training, 2009-2010) and Listening is often omitted due to the poor facilities of schools in Thanh Hoa in general as well as in Tinh Gia 2 Upper Secondary School in particular In writing, the length of a writing is within 100-120 words

The final test chosen in this study was a final test of the academic year 2010-2011 The test was administered at the end of the second term after the students had finished the textbook

“Tiếng Anh 10”

Three reasons why the researcher chose this kind of test: first, the researcher wished to help students get over the difficulties in their final term test through EA; second, the final term test can reveal more types of errors relating to their basic knowledge of the English curriculum than any of other kinds, and third, students can show the MT interference in L2 learning when doing paragraph writing

This test was based on the goals of the new English textbook “Tiếng Anh 10”( the standard set) by Hoang Van Van, et al The test consisted of four parts as mentioned above: Listening, Reading, Language use and Writing within 60 minutes Listening, reading and Language use were ignored because the L1- related grammatical errors in writing paragraph are investigated in this study as the researcher stated in the introduction

The students were asked to choose one of the following topics to write about (within 100 -

120 words)

- write about your father‟s or mother‟s daily routine

- write a description of a place (a city / a town / a village…) in Vietnam you know well

- write short paragraphs about advantages and disadvantages of the mass media (computer/television/radio )

- write about your most memorable thing in your life

2.3.2 Procedures of data collection

The procedures of data collection from the test in this study were conducted in accordance

with the key procedures of error analysis presented in chapter 1, section 1.5.2

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The tests were delivered to each class During the time, the supervisors of the four classes worked seriously to ensure that the students did the tests by themselves, not consulting any dictionaries, grammar books, or copying their friends A massive sample of 182 test papers was collected right after they were done As these test papers need marking for scores and giving back to the school, they were copied The copies of the test papers were examined

by the researcher before they were given back to the school

Errors in the test papers were identified and then classified into different error categories These errors were then analyzed for possible causes

sub-2.4 Coding the writtings

Coding is the process of assigning codes to groups of data collected with an aim to simplify and standardize the data for analytical purposes (Hughes, B and Tight, M, 1996: 184) Coding is important to the success of the research since how coding wil be influential

to how the data are analyzed, thus determing what may be concluded in the research Coding data collected in this study is coding 10C1: from 1-45, 10C6: from 46-91 , 10C7: 92-138 from and 10C11: from 139-182

In summary, this chapter has presented in detail the study‟s methodology including research questions, participants of the study Then data collection instruments and procedures of data collection were also described The next chapter will present major findings and discussion based on the analysis of data from the test papers