The difficulties of firstyear students at Faculty of Foreign Languages, Hung Yen University of Technology and Education in rewriting English sentences

The difficulties of firstyear students at Faculty of Foreign Languages, Hung Yen University of Technology and Education in rewriting English sentencesThe difficulties of firstyear students at Faculty of Foreign Languages, Hung Yen University of Technology and Education in rewriting English sentences

thesis has not been submitted for a degree to any other university or institution.

Hung Yen, May 2016

Nguyen Thi Nhan

valuable advices and suggestions First of all, I would like to send my heartfelt gratitude to

my supervisor, Ms Pham Thi Duong, M.A, for her enthusiastic support, helpful advice,and considerable encouragements in the completion of the thesis Besides, my words ofthanks are also send to the major first year English in class TAK13.1 and TAK13.2 atFaculty of Foreign Languages UTEHY for their enthusiastic cooperation, without theirsupport, I would not have been able to complete this paper I also owe a great debt ofgratitude to my family and my friends, especially my classmates in group TAK10, whoalways encouraged me for such a long and hard time Last but not least, I am very gratefulfor any comments from my readers who are interested in this thesis

first–year students at Faculty of Foreign Languages at Hung Yen University ofTechnology and Education In order to achieve the above mentioned objectives, the studypresents the key theories related to rewriting English sentences The researcher carried outsurvey questionnaires among 77 major first-year students at Faculty of Foreign Languages,UTEHY to get their opinions The definition,the formation, the seating arrangement, andthe role of the learners in rewriting English sentence lessons are also mentioned A survey

on the use of rewriting English sentence exercises at Hung Yen University of Technologyand Education are conducted in the process of doing this study The results of suchresearch showed that the data analysis as well as the interpretation of the results obtainedfrom the questionnaires is also given Last but not least, the study gives some difficultiesand solutions to improve students ‘ability in rewriting English sentences at Hung YenUniversity of Technology and Education

FFL: Faculty of Foreign Language

MA: Master of Arts

Ss: Students

S: Student

No.1: Number

p.25: page 25

Table 2: Students and lecturers’ opinions on the importance of rewriting English sentences

19

Table 3: Students’ foundation and lecturers’ advice of learning rewriting English 19

Table 4: Students and teachers’ inspiration of (teaching) rewriting English sentences 20

Table 5 Students’ difficulties in rewriting English sentences 22

Table 6: Students’ basic mistakes 24

Table 7: Students’ techniques before rewriting English sentences 26

Chart 2 : Students’ frequency of rewriting English sentences 21 Chart 3: Lecturers and students’ opinions about the suitableness of The Effective

Academic Writing 1 textbook 21

Chart 4: Students’ opinions about the assessment of pre-rewriting English sentences 23 Chart 5: The frequency degree of students’ and their teachers’ advice at practicing

rewriting English sentences at home 25

Chart 6: Students’ techniques after rewriting English sentences and their teachers’ advice

27

Chart 7: Students’ opinions and teachers’ advice about the activities for improving

rewriting English sentences 28

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv

LIST OF TABLE v

LIST OF CHART vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS vii

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Aims of the study 2

1.3 Scope of study 2

1.4 Research question 2

1.5 Methods of study 3

1.5.1 Questionnaires 3

1.5.2 Interviews 3

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

2.1 Overview of teaching English grammar 4

2.1.1 Overview of writing 4

2.1.1.1 Definitions of writing 4

2.1.1.2 The importance of writing 5

2.1.1.3 Writing errors 6

2.1.2 Overview of teaching English grammar 7

2.1.2 1 Definition of Grammar 7

2.1.2.2 The importance of teaching grammar 9

2.1.2.3 Grammatical Error 10

2.1.2.4 Grammar Rules 10

2.2.2 Run-on sentences 11

2.2.3 Parallel sentence structures 12

CHAPTER III: THE STUDY 15

3.1 Methodology and data 15

3.2 Participants of the study 15

3.3 Research questions 16

3.4 Procedures of data collection 16

3.5 Data collection instrument 16

3.5.1 Questionnaire 16

3.5.2 The interviews 17

3.6 Data analysis, main findings and discussion 17

3.6.1 The opinion of students in rewriting English sentences 17

3.6.1.1 The difficulty 17

3.6.1.2 The importance 19

3.6.1.4 The inspiration 20

3.6.1.5 The frequency 21

3.6.1.6 The Effective Academic Writing 1 textbook 21

3.6.2 Current situation of learning in rewriting English sentences at FFL, UTEHY 22

3.6.2.1 Students’ difficulties in rewriting English sentences 22

3.6.2.2 The assessment of pre-rewriting English sentences 23

3.2.6.3 Students’ mistakes in rewriting English sentences 24

3.7 Students’ activities to improve rewriting English sentences 25

3.7.1 Students’ practice 25

3.7.2 Techniques before rewriting English sentences 26

3.7.3 Techniques after rewriting English sentences 27

3.8 Main findings and discussion 29

3.8.1 Opinions of students about rewriting English sentences 29

3.8.2 Current situation in studying the rewrite English sentences 29

3.9 Recommendations for improving rewriting English sentences 30

CHAPTER IV: CONCLUSION 32

4.2Limitation and suggestions for further study 32

REFERENCES I APPENDIX 1 II SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS II APPENDIX 2 V

COLLECTED DATA FROM INTERVIEW QUESTIONS (for students) VIII

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale

Nowadays, English has become an international language which is used officially inmore than many different countries because it is considered as an effective means ofinternational communication in various fields such as education and training, business andcommerce, internal relationship and diplomacy People have different purposes to learnEnglish, some learn to go overseas, to satisfy their curiosity about the world outside, otherslearn as their major at work As well as, English is regarded as the key to the innovation,development and global integration

Because of the importance of learning English, in Vietnam, it began to be usedwidely in education and in daily-life activities As a result, English has been a compulsorysubject at schools, colleges and universities Moreover,it would know about the importance

of English teaching and learning if we understand the relations among language, grammarand vocabulary Therefore, the goals of English language teaching are not only to help thestudents learn language, but also more importantly to use language fluently Besides,English began to be used widely in education and in daily-life activities It is obviouslyseen that many Vietnamese students have a little experience of writing since leavingsecondary schools or colleges when they presenting written work in a daily life Moreover,they may be very anxious about having to write essays, letters and curriculum vitae

Therefore, using the four language skills: listening, reading, speaking,writing, isessential to English major students at Faculty of Foreign Languages (FFL) at Hung YenUniversity of Technology and Education (UTEHY).Most writing programs are still taughtusing the traditional model, emphasizing accuracy of grammatical structure andvocabulary In addition, the formative tests in most writing programs stress on objective-type questions, which require sentence completion, reordering sentences, reordering wordsand error correction Students have very few actual opportunities to represent their ideasand knowledge through the written mode

Because the students must take the test including the four language skills, writing seems to

be the most difficult but really important skill among the four skills Moreover, writingskill access student on writing English sentences and writing in topics; separately writingEnglish sentences accounts for about ten marks with five rewriting sentence Then students

pass the writing exam, all students find that they had more difficulties in rewriting Englishsentences with grammar structures and vocabulary because this course require students towrite letter and rewrite English sentences Thus, it is very important to find out theeffective methods in rewriting English sentences for all English major students.

In conclusion, in order to find appropriate methods, techniques to rewrite English

sentences better, a study entitled: “The difficulties of first-year students at Faculty of Foreign Languages, Hung Yen University of Technology and Education in rewriting English sentences” is conducted.

1.2 Aims of the study

The biggest aim of the study is to investigate the reality of difficulties and solution inrewriting English sentences of the major first-year students at Faculty of ForeignLanguages, UTEHY To be specific, the aims of the study are:

+ To find the factors causing the difficulties in the rewriting English sentenceexercises of the major first year students at Faculty of Foreign Languages, UTEHY

+ To improve the inspiration of the major first year students in rewriting Englishsentences

+ To recommend practical suggestions for improving rewriting English sentences ofthe major first year students at Faculty of Foreign Languages, UTEHY

1.3 Scope of study

To improve the effectiveness in rewriting English sentences of the first major yearstudents at UTEHY, the researcher intends to find out the difficulties in rewriting Englishsentences of the first year students at UTEHY then to give some methods for improvingit.Because of the limitation of time and knowledge, the shortage of reference materials, thisstudy cannot cover the whole issue of writing skill

Moreover, the study could not touch upon all the students at UTEHY It is confined

to the first year students at Faculty of Foreign Languages, UTEHY only

1.4 Research question

The above aims of the study are to answer the three following research questions:

1 What are the difficulties in rewriting English sentences of the first-year Englishmajor students at Faculty of Foreign Languages, UTEHY ?

2 What are major first year students’ inspiration towards rewriting English sentenceexercises Faculty of Foreign Languages, UTEHY?

3 How to motivate for major first year students in rewriting English sentencelessons at Faculty of Foreign Languages, UTEHY?

1.5 Methods of study

To collect the data for researching, the author used both qualitative andquantitativemethods including questionnaires for students,teachers and interview questionsfor students.The interview questions and the questionnaires were designed based on themain aims of the study After getting the results, the author used the tables and charts forpresenting the collected data The interview results which were recorded carefully and thetape script used as another data for the analysis, discussion and recommendation

1.5.1 Questionnaires

Quantitative method is used and considered the most suitable to obtain the aim Thestudy targets at analyzing the outcome with numbers and figures Therefore, the data werecollected by means of questionnaires which were designed and handled to a definedpopulation The answers are completely objective, not controlled by the researcher

CHAPTER II:LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Overview of teaching English grammar

2.1.1 Overview of writing

2.1.1.1 Definitions of writing

Writing has been defined in various ways by different following researchers

Firstly, according to Brannon (1982, p.2) defines writing as a creative art, not as anassembly line operation of locking words together into sentences and bolting sentencestogether into paragraph in accordance with a predefined plan Moreover, Byrne, (1988,p.1), writing can be considered as an art of forming graphic symbols, that is, letters or thecombination of letters on one level, writing can be said to be the act of forming thesesymbols, or more clearly the act of making marks on the flat surface of some kinds

However, in language teaching and learning process, Tribble (1996, p.3) defineswriting as a language skill that involves “not frusta graphic representation of speech, butthe development and presentation of thought in a structured way” According to Murray,(1987, p.29) and Perl (1979, p.43), writing as a creative discovery procedure characterized

by the dynamic interplay of content and language: the use of language to explore beyondthe known content

From another point of view, writing is a language skill which is difficult to acquire(Tribble, 1996, p.3) Tribble also impresses that writing normally requires some form ofinstruction and that it is not a skill that is readily picked up by exposure (1996,p.11) Tayor( 1984, p.4) expressed that the act of writing, upon examination ,and turn out to be acomplex process where in writers use language as a tool to discover and clarifyingmeaning on experience in order to say exactly what they mean

In short, in most languages, writing is a complement to speech or spoken language.Writing is not a language but a form of technology Within a language system, writingrelies on many of the same structures as speech, such as vocabulary, grammar andsemantics, with the added dependency of a system of signs or symbols, usually in the form

of a formal alphabet; an art that writers want to communicate with certain groups ofaudience to express oneself efficiently Through the mastery of writing, individuals come

to be fully effective in intellectual organization, in the management of everyday affairs, inthe expression of ideas and arguments Therefore, academic writing requires consciouseffort and much practice in composing, developing and analyzing ideas

2.1.1.2 The importance of writing

Both in studying and working in our modern life, writing brings a lot of function, itcan be considered as an instrument for communication When someone wants to imply amessage or a purpose, he or she can make a piece of writing According to Nunan, 1991,p.84), writing is:

Primarily for action: public signs (on roads and station), products labels andinstructions (on food, tool, or toy purchased), recipes, maps, television and radio guides,bill, menus, telephone directories, etc For social contact: personal correspondence, letters,postcards, greeting cards

Primarily for information: newspapers and magazines, non-fiction books includingtextbooks, public notices, advertisements, guidebooks and travel literatures, etc

Primarily for entertainment: light magazines, comic strips, fiction books, poetryand drama, film subtitles, game including computer games - Nunan (1991, p.84)

Besides, writing also plays an important role in school We are able to share ideas,arouse feelings, persuade and convince other people White (1981, p.1) gives some reasonswhy writing merits a place in the language syllabus:

Writing remains the commonest way of examining students performance in English(all public examinations include a composition) Consequently, ability to write remains akey to examination success

In the eyes of both parents and students, ability to write may be associated withevidence of having learnt the language Writing is tangible- parents and students can seewhat have been done and what have been achieved So it has high “face validity”

In the classroom, writing may be used as one of a number of techniques to help add varietyand interest to lesson

Teachers may use writing as a testing device to provide feedback on what studentshave learnt Students’ writing can provide useful evidence of success of failures inlearning, of confusions and errors

Writing requires thought, discipline and concentration It is relatively a permanentform and readers judgeus by our style, contents and logics So writing English demandscare and thought White (1981, p.1) said

Moreover, Raimesdiscussed about this issue with some opinions:

Firstly, writing reinforces the grammatical structures, idioms and vocabulary that

we have been teaching our students

Secondly, when our students write, they also have chance to be adventurous withthe language, to go beyond what they have just learnt to say, to take risks

Lastly, when they write, they necessarily become very involved in the newlanguage, the effort to express ideas and the constant used of eyes, hands and brain are aunique way to reinforce learning

Moreover, Khoii (2011, p.493) emphasizes on the importance of writing skill in thefield of second and foreign language learning and teaching, learning to write fluently andcorrectly seems to be of prime importance as a gate-keeping activity Therefore, writinghas many important roles not only in studying but also in many fields in life

2.1.1.3 Writing errors

According to Bartholomew(1980, p.255) “errors can be only understood asevidence of intention” In addition to that, he views errors as “one of the most markedcharacteristics of sentences or utterances, which deviate from the norm of language”.Richards (1984, p.4) find that errors can be seen as evidence of language transfer; they are

“inter-systemic interference” In addition, Choon (1993) has the opinion that: there aresome categories of errors such as semantic error (wrong words, wrong forms, etc),grammatical errors (tense, preposition, etc) global and local error She suggests that “thesystem of classifying errors should be flexible” (p.2) and adds that teacher can learn anddecide what should be focused more in the syllabus after analyzing the specific andcommon language problem their students have; she advised teacher to conduct ErrorAnalysis at the beginning of the course when the items have not been fully learnt andremedy these first

In addition, Gower and Walters (1983, p.147) suggested about a distinctionbetween an error and a mistake A mistake is really a slip of the tongue or the pen Thestudent is able to correct it himself, either completely unprompted or with the guidance ofthe teacher and other students An error is much more ingrained The student might believewhat he is saying is correct, not know what the correct form should be and know what thecorrect form should be but cannot get it right There are many kinds of errors: semanticserrors, grammatical errors, global and local errors Therefore, Hence that is why

correctionis paid so much attention to in the process of teaching writing Generally, thedefinition of error is always given in connection with that of mistake.

2.1.2 Overview of teaching English grammar

2.1.2 1 Definition of Grammar

Throughout history, Grammar is simply defined by the linguists David Crystaldefined Grammar as “Grammar is the business of taking a language to pieces, to see how itworks” Linguistics tries to codify or describe Grammar in term of Language Branches.They define Grammar in term of phonology as sounds of language In Morphology, theydescribe Grammar as structure and forms of words In syntax, they define it as anArrangement of words into larger units In Semantics, they describe it as Meaning oflanguage In Pragmatics, they define it as Functions of language and its use in context

Chomsky in “On Nature and Language” defines grammar as the grammar of a

natural Language is a systematic description of Linguistics abilities of its native speaker,and those abilities would enable any native speaker to speak and understand his/herlanguage fluently Part of these linguistics abilities could be characterized as a nativeintuition or Grammatical Competence about the sentence well sentence structure of his/ hermother tongue A native speaker of a natural language is able to tell whether a givensentence in his/ her mother tongue is well formed or not, and whether a given sentence inhis/ her mother tongue can be well formed in different senses, we are concerned with itssyntactic He also points out that a native speaker grammatical judgment not only holds forthe sentence that he or she has never said or heard before, but also holds for those that he

or she has never said or heard before (Chomsky, 1972)

Contemporary work in comparative grammar is concerned with “a faculty oflanguage that provides an explanatory basic for how a human being can acquire a firstlanguage In this way, the theory of grammar is a theory of human language and henceestablishes the relationship among all languages(R Freidin, 1991) The generativegrammar stored in the brain that allows a speaker to produce language that other speakerscan understand “All humans are born with the capacity for constructing a MentalGrammar, given linguistic experience; this capacity for language is called the LanguageFaculty (Chomsky, 1965) - Grammar is the mental system of rules and categories thatallows humans to form and interpret the words and sentences of their language “A

grammar formulated by a linguist is an idealized description of this MentalGrammar.”(P.W Culicover and A Nowak ,2003).

According to M.Ángeles Ecobar Álvarez, (2011, p.14), “Grammar is the system of alanguage People sometimes describe grammar as the “rule” of a language; but in fact nolanguage has rules If we use the word “rule”, we suggest that somebody created the rulesfirst then spoke the language, like a new game Nevertheless languages did not start likethat Language started by people making sounds which evolved into words, phrases andsentences No commonly-spoken language is fixed All languages change over time What

we call “grammar” is simply a reflection of a language at a particular time.”

According to Thombury, (1999, p.13), grammar is:

A description of the rules for forming sentences, including an account of the meanings thatthese forms convey; and Grammar adds meanings that are not easily inferable from theimmediate context While Swan (P2005, p.xix), defines grammar as the rules that showhow words are combined, arranged and changed to show certain kinds of meaning

It is probably a correct saying that there are very few inflexions in Englishgrammar Ithas grown up as an easy and simplified language Thus, Sir Philip Sidneytowards the end of his essay The Apologyie for Poetrie states that “Nay, truly, it hath thatpraise, that it wants not grammar; for grammar it might have, but needs it not; being soeasy in itself, and so void of those cumbersome differences of cases, genders, moods, andtenses; which, I think, was a piece of the tower of Babylon's curse, that a man should beput to school to learn his mother tongue” (Sidney) And he has accepted the criticism thatEnglish has little grammar On such an issue, George Perkins Marsh, Americanphilologist, in his Lectures on the English Language (1866) which was published morethan a century ago is of the opinion that English language as “having no grammar” (Marsh,p.73 )

Grammar challenges but brings more benefit such as: for teaching concepts onsubject, verb, clause and phrases, for teaching the translation method, for teachingbilingual method, and for teaching structural approach and traditional Methods

It is said that knowing a language is not the same thing as knowing about it.Knowing a language means to master four basic skills, “(a) Listening, (b) Speaking, (c)Reading and (d) Writing” (Kohli, p.32) Here, the listening and the reading are passiveskills whereas the speaking and the writing are active skills The Knowledge of the

language makes us to know the meaning of isolated words or sentences or the rules ofgrammar Talking about the language does not mean knowing language and using it If weconsider language as speech, as the linguists do, then knowing a language means to use itsgrammatical patterns as well as proper usage.

2.1.2.2 The importance of teaching grammar

Raimes A (1983, p.167), Grammar is important because it is the language that makes itpossible for us to talk about language Grammar names the types of words and wordgroups that make up sentences not only in Englishbut in any language As human beings,

we can put sentences together even as children-we can all do grammar But to be able totalk about how sentences are built, about the types of words and word groups that make upsentences - that is to know about grammar And knowing about grammar offers a windowinto the human mind and into our amazingly complex mental capacity People associategrammar with errors and correctness But knowing about grammar also helps usunderstand what makes sentences and paragraphs clear and interesting and precise.Grammar can be part of literature discussions, when we and our students closely read thesentences in poetry and stories Knowing about grammar means finding out that alllanguages and all dialects follow grammatical patterns

Grammar rules facilitate clear and concise communication Errors in verb tense,sentence structure, contractions, punctuation, spelling and word usage detract from yourintended message Being an effective communicator helps the students make a positiveimpression on others, which impacts your overall happiness, social life and employmentopportunities In fact, the American Psychological Association suggests that the first fewminutes of meeting someone shapes the course of the relationship such as: carrier success,professional communication, personal communication, academic achievement

Therefore, the value of grammar teaching is important in English language teachingfield Grammar is the base of English language It is not acquired naturally, but learning, itneeds be instructed Grammar operates at the sentence level and governs the syntax orword orders that are permissible in the language It also works at the sub sentence level togovern such things as number and person agreement between subject and verb in asentence To grammar learning, some students may have a more analytical learning stylethan others, but if one hopes to use English language accurately and fluently, it is

necessary for him to receive grammar rules instruction In a short word, grammar teaching

is necessary in English language teaching

(J T Baker, 1901)

2.1.2.4 Grammar Rules

In the Longman Active Study Dictionary ‘rule’ is defined as:

- A principle order which guides behavior, says how things are to be done etc, or

- The usual way that something happens

- With regard to grammar, the first type of rule is often called precriptive rule and thesecond a descriptive rule For many people, grammar instruction is traditionally associatedwith the first type of rules – that is, prescriptions as to what should be said or written:+ Do not use different to and never use different than Always use different from.+ Never use the passive when you can use the active

+ Use shall for the first person and will for second and third persons

- Second and foreign language is primarily concerned with descriptive rules, that is,with generalizations about what speakers of the language actually do say rather than withwhat they should do Thus:

+ Do not normally use ‘the’ with proper nouns referring to people

2.2 Overview of the feature forms in rewriting English sentence exercises

Rewrite sentences without changing the meaning

2.2.1 Phrase structure rules

In generative-transformational grammar theory, phrase structure rules illustratemathematically our knowledge of how the basic units of a sentence are assembled Thetheory of phrase structure rules states that there is a limited number of rules that arecarefully ordered:

+ There is a limited number of rules which serve to reflect the linguistic competenceand knowledge of a native speaker.

+ These rules are arranged in an order: the first rule must precededthe second rule,which must precede the third rule, etc

+ The rules can be illustrated in phrase structure trees

+ These rules can be equated mathematically in phrase structure rules

According to this theory, the learners can take a sentence and mathematically divide

it into parts Chomsky explains that phrase structure rules are basically "rewriting" rules.For instance, a sentence can be rewritten as a noun phrase plus a verb phrase In thenotation of transformational grammar, this rule is written as:

S > NP + VP "a sentence consists of a noun phrase followed by a verb phrase"

A sentence can be further illustrated by a phrase structure tree, like this:

Starting with this base, we can begin to build rules which will allow us to generate aninfinite number of sentences

2.2.2 Run-on sentences

A run-on sentence (sometimes called a "fused sentence") has at least two parts, eitherone of which can stand by itself (in other words, two independent clauses), but the twoparts have been smoothed together instead of being properly connected Review, also, thesection which describes things that can happen between two independent clauses.It isimportant to realize that the length of a sentence really has nothing to do with whether asentence is a run-on or not; being a run-on is a structural flaw that can plague even a very

short sentence: “The sun is high, put on some sunblock” An extremely long sentence, on

the other hand, might be a "run-off-at-the-mouth" sentence, but it can be otherwise sound,structurally When two independent clauses are connected by only a comma, theyconstitute a run-on sentence that is called a comma-splice The example just above (aboutthe sunscreen) is a comma-splice When students use a comma to connect two independent

clauses, it must be accompanied by a little conjunction (and, but, for, nor, yet, or, so) “The

sun is high, soput on some sunscreen”

Run-on sentences happen typically under the following circumstances:

When an independent clause gives an order or directive based on what was said inthe prior independent clause.

Two independent clauses are connected by a transitional expression (conjunctiveadverb) such as however, moreover, nevertheless

The second of two independent clauses contains a pronoun that connects it to the firstindependent clause

2.2.3 Parallel sentence structures

Parallelism in sentences refers to matching grammatical structures Elements in asentence that have the same function or express similar ideas should be grammaticallyparallel, or grammatically matched Parallelism is used as a rhetorical and stylistic device

in literature, speeches, advertising, and popular songs

“I sighed as a lover, I obeyed as a son” – Edward Gibbon

“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.” – Joseph Addison

“Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country” –John F Kennedy

Parallelism lends balance and grace to writing It can make a sentence memorable.Even in prose not destined for greatness, parallelism is important

+ Faulty parallelism

A failure to create grammatically parallel structures when they are appropriate isreferred to as faulty parallelism In the following examples, note the difference betweencorrect parallel structure and faulty parallelism

What counts is not how to look but how you behave

Not What counts is not how you look but your behavior

+ Parallel structure in a series

When a sentence includes a series, make sure it has not used different grammatical

structures for the items The elements would remain parallel even if the phrases followingthe gerunds were changed or omitted The length of the items in the series does not affectthe parallel structure It does not matter what grammatical structure chosen for the series aslong as the students keep it consistent

When the learners use words such as to, a, an, his, her, or their with items in a series,

they can use the word with the first item, thus having it apply to all the items; or they canrepeat it with each item If they choose to repeat it, they must do so with all the items, not

just some of them When the learners are comparing items in a sentence, obviously

parallelism will be important In antithetical constructions, something is true of one thing

but not another But not and rather than are used to set up these constructions As with

comparisons, both parts of an antithetical construction should be parallel

+ Parallel structure with correlative conjunctions

Errors in parallel structure often occur with correlative conjunctions: either …or;

neither …nor; both …and; not only …but also; whether …or The sentence structure

following the second half of the correlative conjunction should mirror the sentencestructure following the first half

The scientists disputed not only the newspaper article but also the university's official statement (parallel: phrase with phrase) The scientists disputed not only the newspaper article but also they disputed the university's official statement (faulty

parallelism: phrase with clause) Be sure that any element they want to repeat

appears after the first half of the correlative conjunction Look at the position of as in the following examples In the second sentence, as appears before either and is repeated after or, which makes the construction not parallel.

They acted either as individual citizens or as members of the committee.

NOT They acted as either individual citizens or as members of the committee.

In the following example, the last sentence, we expected appears before the first half of the

correlative conjunction and should not be repeated after the second half

We expected not only to be late but also to be exhausted.

OR We expected to be not only late but also exhausted (better)

BUT NOT We expected not only to be late but also we expected to be exhausted.

+ Parallel structure with verbs

When the learners have more than one verb in a sentence, be sure to make the verbsparallel by not shifting tenses unnecessarily Also, don't shift from an active to a passiveverb.Choon (1993, p 88)

Kate prepared the speech on the plane and delivered it at the conference (parallel:

both verbs are active)

Kate prepared the speech on the plane, and it was delivered by her at the conference.

(faulty parallelism: active verb followed by passive verb)

Sometimes sentences use a single verb form with two helping verbs Look at thefollowing example.

Robert has in the past and will in the future continue to support the measure.

(incorrect)

To support belongs with will continue, but not with has If the students read the sentence without and will in the future continue, theywill see this: Robert has in the past to support the measure Rewrite the sentence to include a participial form for has.

Robert has in the past supported, and will in the future continue to support, the

measure

OR Robert has supported the measure in the past, and he will continue to support it in the

future

CHAPTER III:THE STUDY 3.1 Methodology and data

To collect the data for researching, the author used both qualitative and quantitativemethods including questionnaires for students,teachers and interview questions forstudents.The interview questions and the questionnaires were designed based on the mainaims of the study After getting the results, the author used the tables and charts forpresenting the collected data The interview result which were recorded carefully and thetape script used as another data for the analysis, discussion and recommendation

3.2 Participants of the study

Subject of this study are teachers and students from Faculty of Foreign Hung Yen University of Technology and Education Teaching and learning English at thisuniversity is taken into great consideration English is learned not as major but it is verynecessary for all students in this University as instrument; however English still plays animportant role because the relation is close to students’ major

Languages-3.2.1 Students

Because of limited time for the graduation paper, it is impossible to implement thestudy with all major students of English at UTEHY Therefore, the data collection in thestudy is derived from students who are in the first year at Faculty of Foreign Languages There are 77 English major students The proportion of school boys to girls is 8/77(the number of male students accounted for 10% of the student population) They are at theage between 18 and 22 At present, they are on the first year at FFL, UTEHY and theirmajor subject is English In addition, they come from different parts of Vietnam, but most

of them are from Northern Vietnam At last, all of the students are studying the samecourse book named after “Effective Academic Writing 1”

3.2.2 Lectures

The second group is composed of 5 lecturers of English teaching writing skills forstudents at FFL, UTEHY These lecturers, whose ages ranged from thirties to over forties,were invited to join this study Their level of English proficiency is rather good All ofthem are titled MA This is one of many advantages for English major students at UTEHY

In addition, the reason for choosing these 5 lecturers is that they have experience inteaching English major students, especially teaching rewriting skills

Both students and lectures are willing and enthusiastic to take part in this study