coordinating conjunction errors in written english made by first year students majoring in english at a university in dong nai province

VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCESGRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES Nguyễn Thị Diệu Huyền COORDINATING CONJUNCTION ERRORS IN WRITTEN ENGLISH MADE BY FIRST YEAR STUDENTS MAJORING IN ENG

VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

Nguyễn Thị Diệu Huyền

COORDINATING CONJUNCTION ERRORS IN WRITTEN ENGLISH MADE BY FIRST YEAR STUDENTS MAJORING IN ENGLISH AT A UNIVERSITY IN DONG NAI PROVINCE

MA THESIS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE

HO CHI MINH CITY, 2020

VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

Nguyễn Thị Diệu Huyền

COORDINATING CONJUNCTION ERRORS IN WRITTEN ENGLISH MADE BY FIRST YEAR STUDENTS MAJORING IN ENGLISH AT A UNIVERSITY IN DONG NAI PROVINCE

Field: English Language Code: 8220201

Supervisor: Nguyễn Nhân Ái, Ph D.

HO CHI MINH CITY, 2020

I, Nguyễn Thị Diệu Huyền, hereby certify that this thesis, which is

entitled “Coordination Conjunction Errors in Written English Made by First Year Students Majoring in English at a University in Dong Nai Province”, is the result of my own research in the fulfillment of requirement

for the Degree of Master of Arts at Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences,Graduate Academy of Social Sciences The thesis has not been previouslysubmitted for a degree to any university or institution This thesis is carriedout without using any other author’ work except the information fromreferences

Author’s signature

Nguyễn Thị Diệu Huyền

Approved bySUPERVISOR

Nguyễn Nhân Ái, Ph.D.

Date:… ……….……

Secondly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all of my lecturers at Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, Graduate Academy of Social Sciences for their valuable lectures during my MA course.

Thirdly, I wish to extend my special thanks to my colleagues and students at Dong Nai Technology University for all their support and contribution to this study.

Finally, millions of thanks go to my beloved family who has facilitated and encouraged me during my MA course.

This study focuses on the analysis of errors in the use of Englishcoordinating conjunctions in written English made by the first-year studentsmajoring in English at Dong Nai Technology University with an aim torecommend some selected implications for better teaching of Englishcoordinating conjunctions in particular and writing in general The analysiswas based on the data collected from two tests: a multiple-choice test of usingcoordinating conjunctions and writing compositions on three topics given.The tests were provided by 50 first year English-majored students at DongNai Technology University The most frequently used coordinatingconjunction in students’ compositions was “And”, and the greatest frequency

of errors occurred in the uses of “And”, too The study also discussed somecauses of coordinating conjunction errors and some implications in teachingEnglish coordinating conjunctions based on the findings

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF TABLES vii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS viii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Aim(s) of the study 2

1.3 Research questions 2

1.4 Scope of the study 3

1.5 Significance of the study 3

1.6 Research methods 3

1.7 Structure of the study 4

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 Theoretical background 5

2.1.1 An overview of coordinating conjunctions 5

2.1.1.1 Definitions of Coordinating conjunctions 6

2.1.1.2 Functions of Coordinating conjunctions 7

2.1.1.3 “Comma” with Coordinating conjunctions 10

2.1.2 An overview of writing 11

2.1.3 An overview of errors 12

2.1.3.1 The notions of errors in language learning 12

2.1.3.2 Distinction between errors and mistakes 13

2.1.3.3 Classifications of errors 14

2.1.3.4 Sources of errors 17

2.1.4 An overview of error analysis 21

2.1.4.1 Definition of error analysis 21

2.1.4.2 Stages in error analysis 22

2.1.4.3 Significance of error analysis 23

2.1.4.4 Error correction and significance of error correction 24

2.2 Previous studies 26

2.3 Chapter summary 27

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 28

3.1 Research questions 28

3.2 Setting of the study 28

3.3 Participants 30

3.4 Instruments of data collection 31

3.5 Data collection procedures 31

3.6 Data analysis procedure 32

3.7 Chapter summary 32

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 34

4.1 General evaluation of the students’ performance 34

4.2 Results and analysis from students’ multiple-choice tests 34

4.3 Results and analysis from students’ compositions 37

4.4 Chapter summary 56

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 58

5.1 Recapitulation 58

5.2 Concluding remarks 59

5.3 Implications 60

5.4 Limitations and suggestions for further study 63

REFERENCES 65APPENDIX 1: MULTIPLE-CHOICE TEST IAPPENDIX 2: KEY OF MULTIPLE-CHOICE TEST IIIAPPENDIX 3: WRITING COMPOSITION: TOPIC 1 VAPPENDIX 4: WRITING COMPOSITION: TOPIC 2 VIIAPPENDIX 5: WRITING COMPOSITION: TOPIC 3 IX

LIST OF TABLES

PageTable 1: Non-pass and pass students in multiple- choice

tests 34Table 2: Total number of correct and incorrect answers in

multiple- choice tests. 35Table 3: Number of correct and incorrect answers of each

of coordinating conjunctions 36Table 4: Number of coordinating conjunctions used in

compositions on topic 1 37Table 5: Number of coordinating conjunctions used in

compositions on topic 2 38Table 6: Number of coordinating conjunctions used in

compositions on topic 3 39Table 7: Number of coordinating conjunctions used in

compositions on three topics 40Table 8: Students’ coordinating conjunction errors in

compositions on 3 topics 41

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale

In the age of globalization, English has become an important means ofcommunication for the exchange and cooperation among countries around theworld More and more people of all ages have learned English That is thereason why English has become a core subject in all educational systems,from the primary schools to universities or institutes of higher education.Dong Nai Technology University (DNTU) is an example In fact, DNTUhighly appreciates English English is an important subject for students in allspecialties at DNTU Especially, it also has a faculty of English for those whoare interested in English

To learn English well, students are supposed to be competent in four skills:listening, speaking, reading and writing It is true that writing is a veryimportant skill in learning English According to White (1985), writing isused to examine a student’s performance in English In 2007, Rao stated thatwriting could help to motivate students’ thinking, organize ideas, and developtheir ability to summarize, analyze, and criticize as well as strengtheningstudents’ learning, thinking and reflecting on the English language Writing isalso considered the most difficult skill when mastering English In order towrite good paragraphs or essays, students need to have a wide range ofvocabulary, and firmly grasp the grammatical structures In addition, a verynecessary factor to be considered to write good paragraphs and essays is theunity and coherence, in which coordinating conjunctions are used with greatfrequency

In reality, at DNTU, the students’ input quality is not high compared to thenational average Students often have difficulties using language, especially in

writing Writing is considered to be a difficult skill because exposing theirideas in written form is not very easy They have to take a lot of aspects intoconsideration: grammar, vocabulary, unity and coherence, etc Sometimesgrammar is correct but the vocabulary is not appropriate Sometimes,grammar and vocabulary are exactly used but there is a lack of cohesion.Especially for freshmen, expressing what they intend to write is actually hardwork They make a lot of errors in structures, vocabulary, using conjunctions,even coordinating conjunctions.

For the above-mentioned reasons, the author wants to conduct a research

entitled “Coordinating Conjunction Errors in Written English Made by First Year Students Majoring in English at a University in Dong Nai

Province” to investigate common coordinating conjunction errors in writings

made by the first- year English-major students at DNTU, and find out somesolutions to this problem

1.2 Aim(s) of the study

Hopefully, the study will help to contribute to the improvement instudents’ writing skills in general and in using coordinating conjunctions inparticular This aim can be clarified by the following objectives:

- To find out common coordinating conjunction errors made by the year English majors at DNTU

first To suggest some solutions to help students minimize these errors

1.3 Research questions

This study is implemented to answer the following research questions:

 What are common coordinating conjunction errors made by the first- year English-major students at DNTU?

 What are some solutions to help students minimize these errors?

1.4 Scope of the study

There are three kinds of conjunctions (coordinating conjunctions,correlative conjunctions and subordinating conjunctions), but this study willfocus on coordinating conjunctions with common errors that students oftenmake in their writings

Coordinating conjunction errors will be studied on the writings of thefirst- year English-major students at DNTU

1.5 Significance of the study

Once this study has been completed, the teachers will discover the mostcommon errors of coordinating conjunctions in written English made by thefirst-year English-major students, from which the teachers will find the bestsolutions to this problem This means that students can understand more anduse coordinating conjunctions correctly as well as improve their writing skills

1.6 Research methods

In order to complete this study, the main research methods employed are:

- Statistical methods are used to find out and classify the students’

errors

- Descriptive methods are used to describe the actual errors committed

by the students

1.7 Structure of the study

The study consists of five chapters:

Chapter One: Introduction - presents the rationale, the aims, research

questions, the scope, the significance, the methodology, and the structure ofthe study

Chapter Two: Literature Review - provides both theoretical backgrounds for

the study and relevant previous studies

Chapter Three: Research Methodology - describes the methods and

procedures used to carried out the study

Chapter Four: Data analysis and Discussion - deals with the findings drawn

out from the analysis of data

Chapter Five: Conclusion - draws some conclusions of major findings,

recommendations, limitations of the study, and suggestions for further studies

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Theoretical background

2.1.1 An overview of coordinating conjunctions

Coordinating conjunctions are the most common conjunction form inEnglish writing and discourse production The term ‘conjunctions’ existswithin a very broad set of grammatical categories and subcategories thatemploy such terminology as connecting words, discourse markers, linkingwords, logical connectors, signal words, transitional devices, and others Theiruse is essential in forming connections for cohesion, coherence, and textualitybetween words, phrases, clauses, and ideas (Provost, 1985; Schills & Dehan,1993) Cohesion refers to the relationship of meaning that exists within aparagraph of sentences Cohesion is, therefore, an interpretation of a clausethat is dependent on the interpretation of either a preceding or proceedingclause These elements can be referred to as the presupposing and thepresupposed

Longman Dictionary (1987, p 214) defines conjunction as “a word

such as “but”, “and”, or “while” that connects parts of sentences, phrases or

clauses”, whereas Oxford Advanced Dictionary of Current English (2004, p.259) defines a conjunction as “a word that joins words, phrases or sentences;for example, ‘and’, ‘but’, ‘or’” Besides, it was also defined by many authors.Krishnaswamy (1984, p 302) defines conjunction as “member of a small

class, which serve as connectives” while Richards et al (1990, p 77) define

conjunctions as “a word which joins words, phrases, or clauses together, such

as but, and, when.” In addition, Celce- Murcia & Larsen- Freeman (1999, p.

461) defines conjunction as “the process of combining two constituents of thesame type to produce another, larger constituent of the same type.”

Conjunction plays a very important role in writing Withoutconjunction, the meaning of the text will not be logical Conjunction consists

of three kinds: coordinating conjunctions, correlative conjunctions andsubordinating conjunctions In this study, the coordinating conjunctions,

which are known as FANBOYS (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so), were

selected, for their uses are more frequent in the EFL writings of studentsbelow an advanced proficiency level than the uses of the more complexcorrelatives and subordinating conjunctions

2.1.1.1 Definition of coordinating conjunctions

The term “Coordinating conjunctions” was defined by many authors.Thomson and Martinet (1986, p 288) define coordinating conjunctions as

"words join pairs of nouns, adjectives, adverbs, verbs, phrases and clauses"

while Richards et al.(1990, p 77) define coordinating conjunctions as ordinators such as and, or, but, that they join linguistic units which are

"co-equivalent or of the same rank" Besides, Longman Dictionary ofContemporary English (2001, p 301) defines coordinating conjunction as "a

word such as 'and' or 'but', which joins two clauses of the same type".

In short, coordinating conjunctions are connecting words that join twosimilarly constructed words, phrases or clauses in a sentence

English coordinating conjunctions known as “FANBOYS” includes but, or,

so, and, yet, for, nor Following are some examples using coordinating

conjunctions:

 I like fish, but my children like meat (showing contrast)

 Would you prefer milk tea or orange juice? (before an alternative)

 I didn’t sleep last night, so I’m very sleepy now.

 I am married, and I have two daughters (additive idea))

 It’s raining heavily outside, yet he still wants to go out with his friends

(emphasizing contrast)

 Her mother must be very angry, for she doesn’t say anything (explaining

the reason)

 Mary didn’t stay at home, nor did she go to school (for two

non-contrasting grammatically negative items (not + not))

2.1.1.2 Functions of coordinating conjunctions

 And

- To suggest that one idea is chronologically sequential to

another: Mary wrote Daisy a letter and waited for her response

- To suggest that one idea is the result of another:

The children heard their mother’s footsteps and pretended to sleep.

- To suggest that one idea is in contrast to another (frequently replaced by

but in this usage):

Jenny is academically brilliant and Tom is creative in his thinking.

- To suggest an element of surprise (sometimes replaced by yet in this

usage):

Mumbai is a rich city and suffers from many symptoms of urban blight.

- To suggest that one clause is dependent upon another, conditionally:

Do exercise regularly and you’ll soon find yourself healthy and fit.

- To suggest a kind of ‘comment’ on the first clause:

Peter failed his driving test — and that surprised no one who knew him.

 But

- To suggest a contrast that is unexpected in the light of the first clause:

“We lost our way home, but we still managed to find the way finally.”

- To suggest in an affirmative sense what the first part of the sentence implied

in a negative way (sometimes replaced by on the contrary):

“Ben never invested foolishly, but used the services of a wise investment counsellor.”

- To connect two ideas with the meaning of ‘with the exception of’:

“Everybody but Cindy came to the party last night.”

 Or

- To suggest that only one option can be achieved:

“You can study hard for this exam or you will fail.”

- To interpret/refine what is said before (usually the first clause):

“NCM College is the premier all-women’s college in the country, or so it seems to most NCM College alumnae.”

- To suggest a restatement or ‘correction’ of the first part of the sentence:

“There are no high buildings in these old villages, or so the guide tells us.”

 Nor

The conjunction nor is not used as often as the other conjunctions Its most

common use is in the correlative pair, neither nor:

“He is neither brave nor intelligent.”

“That is neither what I have said nor what I have meant.”

- It can be used with other negative expressions:

“They didn’t take a map nor did they ask the local people.”

 For

The word for is generally used as a preposition, but its use as a coordinating

8

conjunction is also common.

“They shouted loudly, for they saw a snake on the road.”

As far as possible do not begin a sentence with for For has serious sequential

implications hence, you will have to look carefully at the sentences beginning

with for In this respect, it is different form the use of because and since at the

beginning of sentences

 So

Be careful of the conjunction so Sometimes, it can connect two independent

clauses along with a comma, but sometimes it can’t For instance, in thissentence,

“Nam is not the only artist in his family, so are his brother, sister, and his Uncle Toan.”

where the word so means ‘as well’ or ‘in addition’ However, a semicolon

between the two independent clauses would be smoother

In the following sentence, where so is acting like ‘therefore’, the

conjunction and the comma are adequate:

“Daisy has always been nervous in large gatherings, so it is no surprise that she avoids crowds.”

 Yet

The word yet functions sometimes as an adverb and has several meanings: in

addition (“yet another cause of trouble” or “a simple yet noble woman”), even

(“yet more expensive”), still (“he is yet a novice”), eventually (“they may yet

win”), and so soon as now (“he’s not here yet”).

It also functions as a coordinating conjunction meaning something like

‘nevertheless’ or ‘but’ The word yet seems to carry an element of distinctiveness that the conjunction but cannot fully communicate.

“Dung plays football well, yet his favourite sport is volleyball.”

“They complained loudly about the pool, yet they continued to go

swimming every day.”

“The visitors complained yet continued to play baseball every day.”

(Notice the use of the comma in the first two sentences and its disappearance

in the third.)

Yet is sometimes combined with other conjunctions, but or and It would not

be unusual to sec and vet in sentences like the ones above This usage is

correct

2.1.1.3 “Comma” with coordinating conjunctions

When a coordinating conjunction is used to connect two clauses whichare two different but related ideas, a comma is often accompanied (but notalways) by:

“Nam really wants to study abroad, but he has trouble speaking

English.”

“He was hungry but he didn’t eat anything at the buffet. ”

The second sentence is without a comma while the first has It would bethought that determining whether a comma is needed or not is very confusing.(The comma is not very easy to master, as a punctuation mark!)

But there's a very easy way out — that is, always the comma is right! Thesecond sentence with a comma, for example, would be correct too That iswhen used to separate two independent clauses connected by a coordinatingconjunction the comma is always correct A comma is also correct (andnecessary) when "and" is used to attach the last item in a serial list, althoughmany people (particularly journalists) omit this final comma:

Correct: “Tom spent his two-month summer studying English, Basic

Maths, and Reading Comprehension.”

Incorrect: “Tom spent his two-month summer studying English, Basic

Maths and Reading Comprehension.”

This comma, which is called the serial comma or the Oxford comma, will be

looked at under punctuation again.

A comma is not used when a coordinating conjunction is used to connect all the elements in a series,

“Engineers and Commerce Graduates and Management Graduates and Arts Graduates comprise the student community at IIM Ahmedabad.”

A comma is also used with but when expressing a contrast:

“This is a very interesting story, but difficult to remember its name.”

Remember that what has been said above applies to clauses, but when merely joining two sentence elements, a comma is not used

In most of their other roles as joiners (other than joining independent clauses,that is), coordinating conjunctions can join two sentence elements without thehelp of a comma

“Peter and Mary are two newcomers.

It is hard to say whether English or Maths is more interesting.”

2.1.2 An overview of writing

What is writing? There is no specific definition of writing becausedifferent writers define writing in different ways According to Flower (1981,

p 16), “Writing is simply the act of expressing what you think or saying what

you mean”, while Brannon et al (1982, p 2) consider writing as”a creative

art, not as an assembly line operation of locking words together into sentencesand bolting sentences together into paragraphs in accordance with apredefined plan” In addition, Taylor (1984, p 4) states that “The act ofwriting, upon examination, turns out to be a complex process wherein writers

use language as a tool to discover and clarifying meaning on experience inorder to say exactly what they mean” Writing means much more than simplyproducing words and sentences It is the process of forming ideas, usingwords and sentences to express those ideas through grammatical structuresand cohesive devices.

Writing is an important skill in learning a language Together withspeaking, writing becomes a powerful means of communication, which canexpress people’s thoughts, ideas and feelings Writing is also considered to bethe most difficult to achieve, not only in academic writing but also in real life.Therefore, Cross (1992, p 268) claims that “In terms of needs and ofpreparing learners to enter the real world, writing is more difficult to justifythan the other skills” Furthermore, Tribble (1996, p 3), regards writing as “aproductive and taught language skill which is difficult to acquire”, and

“Writing normally requires some forms of instructions It is not a skill that isreadily picked up by exposing” (Tribble, 1996, p 11) Thus, it is necessary forlearners to practice to improve writing skill

In short, writing is a complex skill in acquiring as well as leaning alanguage, especially in learning a second language It is a complex process ofproducing words and sentences with the help of grammatical structures andcohesive devices to express people’s thoughts, ideas and feelings

2.1.3 An overview of error

2.1.3.1 The notions of errors in language learning

“To err is human” This saying shows that it is difficult for everyone,whoever is, to avoid making errors It can be understood that making errors isthe most natural thing in the world Learning a second language is not an

exception, especially when writing is more difficult to achieve than any otherskills However, how is error defined? Different linguists present differentnorms of error.

Corder (1974) states that “Errors are typically produced by people who

do not yet fully command some institutionalized language system” WhileGeorge (1972) reviews errors as an unwanted form, especially, a form which

a particular course designer or teacher does not want, Chaudron (1986)defines errors as linguistic forms of content that differed from native speakernorms or facts and any other behaviour signaled by the teacher as needingimprovement Whereas Johanson (1975) supposes that if native-speakershesitate about the acceptability of a word or construction it should not beconsidered an error Richards and Schmidt (2002, p 184) present a clearerdefinition that “Error is the use of a linguistic item (e.g a word, a grammaticalitem, a speech act etc) in a way which a fluent or native speaker of thelanguage regards as showing faulty or incomplete learning”

2.1.3.2 Distinction between errors and mistakes

In order to understand the errors better, it is necessary to distinguishbetween errors and mistakes Brown (2000, p 217) states that “A mistakerefers to a performance error that is cither random guess or a “slip” , it is afailure to utilize a known system correctly” He argues that “Errors can notoften be self-corrected while mistakes can be self-corrected if the deviation ispointed out to the speaker or when attention is called to them” He also thinksthat “Mistakes are not the result of a deficiency incompetence but the result ofsome sort of temporary breakdown or imperfection in the process ofproducing speech.” (Brown, 2000, p 217)

According to Hubbard et al (1983), the causes of genuine errors arelack of language and incorrect hypotheses about the target language; whilemistakes are made accidentally by memory loss, confusion or tongue slipping.Therefore, learners can correct mistakes by themselves but not errors Inaddition, Corder (1974) distinguishes between two types of systematic andnon-systematic errors He called non-systematic errors made by nativespeakers “mistakes” and the other occurring in the second language “errors”.

He states that a mistake is a deviation of the language norms but is notsystematic while errors are typically made when people are not fully incommand of some linguistic systems Richard et.al (1985) think mistakes arecaused by inattention, fatigue, carelessness or other aspects of performance.Therefore, mistakes are often non-systematic and are made due to inattention,fatigue, carelessness or other aspects of performance so if the languagelearners pay attention, learners can avoid mistakes or even can correct themthemselves Meanwhile, errors are systematic for they are caused by thelearner's incompetence, ignorance of the rules and interference of the learners’mother tongue and the general characteristics of rule learning

Corder (1974) distinguishes between systematic and non-systematic

errors Non-systematic errors occur in one’s native language, Corder calls

these mistakes and states that they are not significant to the process of

language learning They can be self-corrected when there is attention He usesthe term “errors” for the non-systematic ones, which occur in second languagelearning He believes that errors are the evidence of the language system thatthe learner is using at a particular point in the course

Other researchers (cf Burt and Kiparsky, 1978) distinguish between

local and global errors Local errors do not hinder communication and

understanding the meaning of an utterance Global errors, on the other hand,are more serious than local errors because global errors interfere withcommunication and disrupt the meaning of utterances Local errors involvenoun and verb inflections, and the use of articles, prepositions, and auxiliaries.Global errors, for example, involve wrong word order in a sentence

Richards (1992, p 173) proposed a three-dimensional error

The intralingual errors are those derived from the structure of Englishitself Complex rules-learning behavior is often characterized byovergeneration, incomplete application of rules, and the lack of learning theconditions for applying rules When the complexity of the English structure

encourages such learning issues, all learners, regardless of the backgroundlanguage, tend to make similar errors.

Developmental errors reflect the strategies which the learners acquirethe languages by These errors show that the learner, who is completelyindependent of his native language, is making false assumptions about thetarget language based on limited exposure to it A major justification for errorlabeling as development comes from paying attention to the similarities toerrors made by children acquiring their target language as their first language

Obviously, errors are classified differently according to perspectives Ingeneral, the most common classification of written errors that have won theconsensus of current scholars is the division of errors into interlingual errorsand intralingual errors Because the two main factors that contribute to thepresence of errors in students’ writing task is interlingual transfer andintralingual transfer The construction of these types is illustrated as follows:

Interlingual Errors

Brown (1980, p 173), says that “The beginning stages of learning asecond language are characterized by a good deal of interlingual transfer fromthe native language” Richard (1974, p 35) states that “Interlingual errors arethe errors that were made due to transferring the rules from the mothertongue” They are the incorrect factors under the interference of the learners’native language Consequently, interlingual errors are errors caused by theinfluence of the native language on the target language they learn Beforesomeone really masters their target language concept, they will always usetheir native language concept When it happens all the time and they don'trealize it and it can be called interlingual errors

Intralingual Errors

After learning a second language or foreign language for a while,learners’ previous experience and their existing subsections begin to includestructures in the target language itself James (1998, p 183), states that theless knowledge of the target language the learner knows, the more he is forced

to draw on any previous knowledge he possesses While Brown (1980, p 173)states that it is clear that intralingual errors or intralingual interference – thenegative transfer of items within the target language, or in other words, theincorrect generalization of the rules within the target language is a majorfactor in learning a second language Intralingual errors refer to the errorswhich are out of the influence within the developmental system of the targetlanguage, such as faulty generalization, incomplete application of rules, and

so on (Ellis, 1999, p 58)

Clearly, the understanding of interlingual and intralingual errors allowsteachers to perceive language teaching from a two-dimensional perspective,different from the traditional way of teaching emphasizing the target languageonly This classification can help teachers handle the relationship between LIand L2 in teaching practice, to trace the source of the error and determinewhich language points need more attention

analyzing the causes of the errors Brown (1980, p 156) notes that the lack ofknowledge about the target language causes errors Edge (1989, p 7) statesthat it is the interference from the first language of the speaker that is thecause of learner errors In tone with it, Richards (1974, p 174) says that theroot of errors in studying a language could be extracted from the presence ofthe mother tongue of the learners and the general characteristics of thelearning of rules.

To summarise, many factors can be attributed to errors Some of the errors ofthe learners are due to language skills of the learners, most due to culturalinterference; some are results of learning strategies of the learners, whileothers are the outcomes of communicative strategies; some are errors caused

in the classroom, while others are the results of individual variables, etc.Diverse as these points of view are, there should be an equilibrium betweendifferent schools of thought, or a clear argument between them, so that thesecauses are identified and proper correction of errors is provided The verycauses of written errors can usually be summed up as below:

Interlingual interference

Interlingual intervention is the intrusion in the course of learning a secondlanguage by the first language or mother tongue of the learner Interventionwith the mother tongue is one of the major causes that lead to errorscommitted by learners Norrish (1987) states the learning a language (aforeign language or a mother tongue) is a matter of habit-forming The oldones can clash with the new ones when the learner tries to learn a new habit

In other words, that phenomenon is best summarized by the phrase "firstlanguage intrusion." In fact, being able to fully convey one's thoughts inanother language is always a demanding task So, if the second language ofthe learners is not sufficient to express themselves, they are likely to rely on

their first language to express their ideas Edge (1989, p 7) notes that: "whenpeople do not know how to say something in a foreign language, onepossibility is to use words and structures from their own language and try tomake them fit into the foreign language." In addition, mother tongueintervention can result from a complication of the target language structure.Differences and similarities between the first and the second language wouldcertainly greatly affect the learning of the target language Considering thecontrast and comparison between the two languages would certainly help toevaluate the errors of the learner Vietnamese-English variations areexpressed in pronunciation, grammatical rules, lexical meaning, and wordorder is also considered another aspect of interlingual intervention.

Intralingual interference

Interferences from the students ' own language are not the sole reasonfor making errors A large number of errors are found to be the result ofintralingual interference within the target language during the process ofanalysing the causes of errors As soon as the learner has begun to understandparts of the new language system there will be more and more intralingualintervention The intralingual interference errors typically take a naturalcourse As the learner advances in the second language, in order to producenew ' development, his previous experience and his current knowledgecontinue to permeate, at the same time making new errors Intralingualinterference is the negative transfer of objects within the target language such

as overgeneralization, the incorrect application of rules and results inmisconception on the learner's panel (Richards, 1974, p 96) James (1998),divides intralingual errors into 4 items:

Overgeneralization

Another possible cause to be listed for written errors isovergeneralization It happens when the learner creates a deviant structure inthe target language, based on other structures This means typicallyconstructing one deviant structure instead of two target language structures.

As a result, students automatically apply rules where they are not supposed to.For example:

The students use: “foots” instead of “feet”

“womans” instead of “women”

“goed” instead of “went”

“gived” instead of “gave”

Ignorance of rule restriction

These types of errors include applying the rules to situations where thelearners are not relevant The learners fail to understand the constraints ofexisting structures here For instance:

“We are talking about that problem” leads to “We are discussing aboutthat problem.”

“I often go to school by bike” leads to “I often go to school by foot.”

Incomplete application of rules

This kind of intralingual error is the converse of overgeneralization andreflects the degree of rule formulation required to produce appropriatephrases It is usually analogical This includes failing to build a system to thecomplete Thus English learners were found using declarative word order inquestions (e.g "You have finished your homework yet?") instead ofinterrogative word order (e.g., "Have you finished your homework yet?").This form of intralingual error corresponds to what is also called thetransitional competence error (Richards, 1971)

False concepts hypothesized

The last intralanguage error type, which is sometimes called semanticerror, is false concepts hypothesized This results from inaccurateunderstanding of the target language differentiation For example, the studentscannot distinguish between “bring” and “take”, “go” and “run”, “too” and

“very”

2.1.4 An overview of error analysis

2.1.4.1 Definition of error analysis

It is to S.P Corder that Error Analysis owes its place as a scientificmethod in linguistics As Rod Ellis cites (p 48), "it was not until the 1970sthat error analysis became a recognized part of applied linguistics, adevelopment that owed much to the work of Corder" Error analysis is onekind of linguistic analysis focusing on the errors that learners make It is thestudy and the analysis of errors made by the second language and foreignlanguage learners Errors are analyzed to determine the strategies that learnersuse in language learning as well as the causes of learners’ errors and to getinformation on common difficulties in language learning as an aid to teachingand preparing teaching materials

According to Brown (2000), error analysis is the fact that learners do makeerrors and that these errors can be observed, analyzed and classified to revealsomething of the system operating within the learners Additionally, Crystal(1987) states that error analysis is a technique for identifying, classifying andsystematically interpreting the unacceptable forms produced by someonelearning a foreign language, using any of the principles and proceduresprovided by linguistics

Richards and Schmidt (2002) state that “error analysis is the study of

the errors made by second and foreign language learners.” and that “erroranalysis may be carried out in order to (a) find out how well someone knows alanguage, (b) find out how a person learns a language, and (c) obtaininformation on common difficulties in language learning, as an aid in teaching

or in the preparation of teaching materials.” (pp 184-185)

From the definitions above, error analysis can be understood as amethod to identify, classify and describe the errors that the learners made inlearning English

2.1.4.2 Stages in error analysis

Corder (1992b, pp 166-169) suggests three stages to conduct an erroranalysis research The first stage in error analysis is the recognition of errors.The second stage is the description of errors and the third stage is theexplanation of errors The first two stages have been linguistic whereas thethird stage is psycholinguistic It attempts to account for how and why thelearner’s error of nature it is

Recognition of errors

First of all, to recognize an error one should know what the term errormeans

Corder (1974) states that errors can be divided into three They are:

- Pre-systematic errors are those committed by the learner while he or she attempts to grab a new point

- Post-systematic errors occur when one forgets as a point previously

understood, temporarily

- Systematic errors are those that arise when the learner has made anerroneous observation about the target language (i.e the language he islearning)

Description of errors

In this step, one attempts to demonstrate how the learner failed torealize the intended message The researcher needs to get an extremely goodinsight into the mind of the learner The purpose of error analysis here is tolinguistically and psychologically describe errors in order to help the learnerunderstand Errors that occur should be regularly checked so that theresearcher can observe the rule that the learner can use and try to describe it

In this way it takes into account only systematic errors

Explanation of errors

Given our limited knowledge of the psychological and neurologicalprocess involved in language learning, the explanation is still largelyspeculative One could look at the same error from different points of view.For example, the mother tongue of a learner only has one way to refer tofuture time while the target language has three ways to refer to the same Thelearner has difficulties here, and is making errors In this case, it is difficult todecide whether the mistake was caused by influence from the mother tongue,

or because the laws of the target language are unclear

2.1.4.3 Significance of error analysis

Errors are inevitable matters when acquiring and learning a language.Many authors in the error analysis field have stressed the importance of errors

in learners’ language learning In 1974, Corder stated that errors could besignificant in three ways: (1) they provided the teacher with information abouthow much the learner had learnt, (2) they provided the researcher withevidence of how language was learned, (3) they served as devices by whichthe learner discovered the rules of the target language

The study of error plays a very important role in learning a language

Additionally, Corder (1992a, p 25) figures out this significance for threereasons First, errors committed by learners should not be viewed as evidence

of failure They should, on the contrary, be viewed as a sign of their learningprogress Second, they serve as insights into how a language is learnt Third,they are seen as devices by which learners can find out the rules of the targetlanguage, which can be deduced from feedback on their errors

Having the same view on the importance of error analysis, Richardsand Simpson (1974) assume that at the level of pragmatic classroomexperience, error analysis will continue to provide one means by which theteacher assesses learning and teaching and determines priorities for futureeffort Besides, Norish (1992, p 80) states that “an error analysis can give apicture of the type of difficulty learners are experiencing If carried out on alarge scale, such a survey can be helpful in drawing up a curriculum For theclass teacher, error analysis can give useful information about a new class”

In short, error analysis plays a significant role in learning a language Itprovides valuable insight into the language learning process It helps teachersknow how much the students understand what they have learned, from whichteachers can know what to teach them next

2.1.4.4 Error correction and significance of error correction

It is accepted that correction of errors is very necessary for learners ofthe second language and that correction is an important stage in the writingprocess After a written text has been created by the students, the teachers areheld accountable for input on their mistakes It is useful not only for studentsbut also for teachers

To teachers, correction is "a way to remind students of standard Englishforms" (Edge, 1989, p 20) The ultimate purpose of feedback is to help

students understand what errors they have made, which should be avoidednext time Gradually, therefore, students can produce errors-free sentences "toexpress themselves more precisely" (Edge, 1989, p 50).

Not only does the instructor act as a corrector while giving students feedbackbut he/she will learn a lot from the mistakes of the students Teachers needcontinuous feedback if they are to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness ofinstruction and plan for future instruction The importance of constructiveinput is stressed as a better guide to how to improve our teaching than oursuccesses, which frequently pass unnoticed

Ferris (2002) states that “Error feedback can help students to improvetheir accuracy in the short term” (p.7) and “Short-term improvement isnecessary for long-term progress” (p 16) In addition, he also states that

“Students value teacher feedback on their errors and think that it helps them toimprove their writing” (Ferris, 2002, p 8) Besides,he says that “students feelthat teacher feedback on grammar and errors is extremely important to theirprogress as writers"

The teachers should, however, determine when and how much tocorrect the errors of the students According to Gower and Walters (1983),almost every mistake should be corrected when the students do guidedwriting The teacher's regular correction potentially runs the risk of makingthe learner reliant on another's correction Alternatively, the teacher'scorrection of an error as self-correction of a perception problem will reducethe risk of damaging the student's self-esteem and imitate the learningconditions encountered in a natural setting Additionally, when they do cuedwriting or write freely, fewer and fewer errors should be corrected becausecommunication is the utmost purpose of these types of writing

In conclusion, the correction of errors is very important for learners of the

second language Nonetheless, teachers should know when to correct errorsexplicitly or when to allow students a greater opportunity for self-correction,which would aid the creation of autonomous control processes, which arecharacteristic of mother tongue communication skills, and which areconsidered essential in second language socialization.

2.2 Previous studies

English conjunction is one of the problems that has been studied by manyresearchers There are three related studies that can be introduced to find moreinformation to develop this research The first study is from Kurniasih (2014),entitled “Error Analysis of Conjunction Usage in Students’ Written RecountText” In her research, she analyzed the common errors of conjunctions whenwriting retelling texts and the factors that cause errors in students writingcontent The method used in her research is qualitative method Kurniasih didnot attend classes at all or did not even use any tests for students, shecollected data from students’ written task given by their teachers and took thestudents’ assignments outside the classroom so students were unaware theyare being observed She found out that among four types of errors proposed

by Dulay, two were found in students' writing assignments; they are the errors

of omission and errors of addition

The second research was conducted by Setyawan (2013), titled “Analysis

of Students' Errors in Using Correlated Conjunction in Their Writing in SMPKarya Bakti Gadingrejo” Setyawans’ study focuses on the use of correlativeconjunctions The results of his study show that the students made a number

of errors on omission and disordering errors in using the correlationconjunction

The next study came from Hastuti (2011), called “An Error Analysis inWriting Procedure Text made by The Seventh Grade Students of SMPNEGERI 6 Surakarta in Academic Year of 2010/2011” In his study, Hastutifocused on students’ errors in procedural text writing, to know the error rateand the cause of errors when writing procedure text.

There are several differences found in previous studies: researchmethodology, research limits, and data collection techniques Obviously, therehave been a lot of studies on error analysis in general and in writing skills inparticular However, there has been no research on coordinating conjunctionerrors in written English, more specifically, this study was conducted at DongNai Technology University with its participants of teachers and students in thefaculty of English

2.3 Chapter summary

This chapter, Literature review, has presented all the terms concerned in thestudy, including coordinating conjunctions, writing, errors and error analysis,along with the review of literature with some previous relevant research onerror analysis of written English In fact, there have been many studies on thisfield and there have also been many studies on conjunctions errors However,most of these studies pay attention to the errors of conjunctions in general ortwo more complex types of conjunctions (subordinating conjunctions andcorrelative conjunctions) than coordinating conjunctions

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

The purpose of this chapter is to present the methodology used in thisthesis It includes research questions, the setting of the study, participants,instruments of data collection, data collection procedure and data analysisprocedure

3.1 Research questions:

The study aims to answer the following questions:

 What are common coordinating conjunction errors made by the first- year English-major students at DNTU?

 What are some solutions to help students minimize these errors?

3.2 Setting of the study

Dong Nai Technology University was founded in 2011 on the basis ofupgrading Dong Nai Technology College In spite of the fact that DNTU is ayoung university, it develops quickly in terms of its facilities as well as itstraining quality, which results in the increasing number of students every year.Currently, it provides fifteen undergraduate training programmes for all kinds

of students, including Electrical & Electronics Engineering, FoodTechnology, Chemical Engineering Technology, Automotive Technology,Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Information Technology,Environment Engineering Technology, Finance- Banking, Accounting,Business Administration, Hospitality Management, Medical Testing, Nursing,and English Language

In the trend of integration with the region and the world, English plays

an increasingly important role in a multilingual and multicultural working

environment, to meet the society’s needs and to accompany the development

of Dong Nai Technology University, Department of Foreign Languages wasestablished with the task of training English-majored students as well as general English to students from other faculties In recent years, along with the growth of the university, the Faculty of Foreign Languages has also

constantly developed to meet the demands of English teaching at the

University as well as social requirements for training of human resources qualified in English FFL trains English-majored students in two main fields+ Business English, translation- Interpretation orientation

+ English Teaching orientation

At present, the total number of students in the FFL of DNTU isapproximately nine hundred The number of students in each class is thirty inmaximum The students are from different provinces in Central part, Southernpart and Western part of Vietnam such as Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Thanh Hoa,Binh Dinh, Phu Yen, Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan, Dong Nai, BinhDuong, An Giang, Vinh Long, etc All of the students are diploma The largepopulation has just graduated from high school, some others left school someyears ago In general, the input quality of English- majored students is not ashigh as that of other prestigious universities However, after four years oftraining at the university, the students can confidently start their career andmeet the employers’ needs

There are twenty-two teachers of English in FFL of DNTU, all ofwhom have the master’s degrees or higher The teachers are quite young,from thirty to thirty-five years old They are all energetic, dynamic andenthusiastic in teaching

An academic year at DNTU is divided into three semesters Thefreshmen of FFL begin to study writing skill in the second semester of the

first year The English writing coursebook is Effective Academic Writing 1

by Alice Savage & Masoud Shafiei (Oxford University Press) Students studywriting 1 from unit 1 to unit 3, and writing 2 from unit 4 to unit 6 Eachsemester consists of 30 lectures Students study three writing lectures perweek

This study is carried out in the second term of the students’ first year,which is from the beginning of December to the middle of January The testsare asked to be done by the students after their studying 6 lectures of writing 1and the compositions are done after 12 lectures

3.3 Participants

The subjects of this study were 50 freshmen of the FFL, DNTU Theyall have had 7 years of English education through secondary schooling Thebackgrounds of the students are considered to be relatively uniform in whichthey all share the same native language, Vietnamese However, their Englishlevels are mixed Many of them are from cities which have better conditionsfor learning English Therefore, their proficiency of English is pretty good.Whereas many others come from rural areas, so their proficiency is limited

The students chosen to take part in the study are the ones who have fullattendance in English writing lessons The students who are absent for even alesson are not eligible to take part in the study They are believed not to besuitable to be the informants of the study because they may cause factors thatmislead us to false identification of the error causes and provide unreliableand untrue data for the analysis