Common English writing errors made by English major students at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education and the significance of correcting errors to English writing teaching

ABSTRACT ***** This paper studies the common written errors that first year English major students in Hung Yen University of Technology and Education make and the significance of error

ABSTRACT

*****

This paper studies the common written errors that first year English major students in Hung Yen University of Technology and Education make and the significance of error correction in English writing teaching To achieve the desired aims of the current study, I combined both qualitative and quantitative methods, including 3 main ones namely observation, survey questionnaire and student writing analysis The subjects participating in the survey questionnaire were 60 first year students and 6 writing teachers Besides 30 students’ writings were also analyzed and 6 writing lessons were observed

Research results show that errors first year English major students often make are basically dueto the lack of vocabulary and problems with normal grammatical rules in English The main causes of these errors are the interference of mother tongue, teaching- included cause, carelessness and psychology, in which interference from the first language is the biggest cause Besides, it is found out that students’ writing improves significantly after teacher’s error correction Some correction methods and techniques, including self – correction, peer – correction, student – teacher correction and remedial exercises, therefore, are strongly suggested in hope to help teachers to give effective error correction

TABLE OF CONTENT

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENT iv

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES vii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS viii

PART A INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rational of the study 1

2 Aims of the study 1

3 Scope of the study 2

4 Methods of the study 2

4.1 Survey questionnaire 2

4.2 Writing analysis 2

4.3 Observation 2

5 Design of the study 3

PART B : DEVELOPMENT 4

CHAPTER 1 : LITERATURE REVIEW 4

1 1.Writing 4

1.2 Definition of error 5

1.3 Distinction between errors and mistakes 5

1.4 Sources of errors 6

1.5 Error analysis 8

1 6 Error correction and significance of error correction 8

CHAPTER II : METHODS OF THE STUDY 11

2.1 Participants of the study 11

2.1.1 Students 11

2.1.2 Teachers 11

2 2 Data collection instruments 11

2.2.1 Survey questionnaire 11

2.2.1.1 Reasons for choosing survey questionnaire 11

2.2.1.2 Description of survey questionnaires 12

a Survey questionnaire for students 12

b Survey questionnaire for teachers 12

2.2.2 Student writing analysis 13

2.2.2.1 Reasons for choosing student writing analysis 13

2.2.2.2 Description of student writing analysis 13

2.2.3 Observation .13

2.3 Procedure of data collection 13

CHAPTER III : RESULT AND DISCUSSION 15

3 1 Common errors made by first year English major students in UTEHY based on data analysis and discussion 15

3.1.1 Data analysis from questionnaires and observation .15

3.1.1.1 Students’ attitude towards their errors 15

3.1.1.2 Teacher’s attitude towards students’ errors 17

3.1.2 Data analysis from student writing 19

3.1.3 Discusion 23

3.2.Students’ improvement in writing proficiency as a result of teacher’s error correction 24

3.2.1 Data analysis from questionnaires and observation .24

3.2.1.1 Students’ attitude towards their improvement in writing proficiency 24

3.2.1.2 Teacher’s attitude towards their improvement in writing proficiency 26

3.2.2 Data analysis from student writing analysis 28

3.2.3 Discusion 29

3.3 Some implications for writing teachers 29

3.3.1 Methods to give feedback 30

3.3.1.1 Use error code 30

3.3.1.2 How much and when to correct errors 32

3.3.1.3 Integrate positive and negative, direct and indirect feedback 32

3.3.2 Techniques for error correction 33

3.3.3 Self – correction .34

3.3.4 Peer- correction .34

3.3.5 Student – teacher correction .35

PART C CONCLUSION 37

1 Summary of the study 37

2 The limitation of the study 38

3 Suggestion for further study 38

REFERENCES: 39 APPENDIXES I APPENDIX 1 I APPENDIX 2 IV APPENDIX 3 VI APPENDIX 4 VI

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

Page Figure 3.1 Students’ assessment on difficulty of writing skill

Figure 3.2 Students’ opinion on importance of writing skill

Table 3.1 Student’s opinion on frequencies and quantity or errors

Figure 3.3 Students’ opinion on the causes of errors

Table 3.2 Teachers’ opinion on the importance and difficulty of writing skill

Figure 3.4 Teachers’ opinion on frequencies of errors

Figure 3.5 Teachers’ opinion on quantity of student error

Figure 3.6 Teachers’ opinion on causes of student errors

Table 3.3 Collected data about errors in students’ free writings

Table 3.4 Collected data about errors in students’ final writing tests

Table 3.5 Comparative data about errors made by students

Table 3.6 Types of common errors in writings of the first year English major

students at UTEHY

Figure 3.7.Students’ assessment on the importance of teacher’s error correction

Figure 3.8 Students’ opinion on how teachers correct errors

Figure 3.9 Students’ opinion on how much teachers correct errors

Table 3.7 Students’ assessment on frequencies of error correction techniques

Table 3.8 Students’ assessment on effectiveness of error correction techniques

Figure 3.10.Teacher’s assessment on the importance of teacher’s error correction

Figure 3.11 The way teacher correct student’s errors

Figure3.12 Teacher’s assessment on the frequencies of using correction

Figure 3.13 Teacher’s assessment on students’ improvement in writing

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

UTEHY : Hung Yen University of Technology and Education

PART A INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

Since Vietnam started its open door policy in 1986 The Government of Vietnam has stressed the importance of English as it is considered to play a crucial role on the country’s path of modernization and industrialization and integration As a result, most learners are encouraged to learn English to have access to information and better interactions In the modern world, the ability to use English is an empowering tool, which increases access for professionals to information, technology and professional development Moreover, the English language has rapidly become the most popular first foreign language among Vietnamese people, especially at schools, colleges and universities English serves not only

as a beneficial instrument for English major students but also as a beneficial instrument for

non – English major ones

Writing skill plays the utmost role in learning English A proficient writing ability in second language enhances students’ logical way of thinking, thus facilitating students in meeting the requirements of almost every profession However, to attain the proficiency in writing has long been a challenge consuming much energy and practice for almost second language learners

From my own experience as a teacher of English and my observation, it is a fact that Vietnamese students commit a great number of errors when they write in English whatever level they are at After teaching at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education, for three years, I realize that most of the first year English students at UTEHY often make writing errors, especially in grammar With the hope to find out what types of errors they normally make so that appropriate solutions could be applied to improve the current situation through error correction, the author would like to carry out this study entitled

“Common English writing errors made by English major students at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education and the significance of correcting errors to English writing teaching”

2 Aims of the study

The study is aimed at investigating the common errors first year English major students make in writing at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education; and suggesting

some possible implications to aid teachers in correcting to students’ errors To achieve this aim, answers to the following research questions are sought:

1 What are the common writing errors made by first year English major students at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education?

2 What should teachers do to give effective correction which aims at improving students’ writing proficiency?

3 Scope of the study

Due to the limited time and the restricted scope of study of a minor thesis, the study only focuses on identifying a number of common writing errors committed by first year English major students at UTEHY Also, attempts are made to roughly measure the given students’ writing skill improvement after the errors have been corrected in the learning process

4 Methods of the study

In order to conduct this paper, the writer has based on the following research instruments:

4.2 Writing analysis

To have an insightfully look into the current situation of common errors made by first year English major students at HYUTE, the writer analyzed 30 papers written by the students

4.3 Observation

Observation is also applied to find out how the teachers correct students’ errors and how students’ writing improves after their errors are corrected

All comments, remarks, and conclusion in the research are backed up by the data analysis

5 Design of the study

The study consists of 3 main parts, organized as follows:

Part A - Introduction- gives information about the topic of this paper, background to the

study, the reason for choosing the topic, the aim, scope, and methods of study An outline

of the thesis is also mentioned in this chapter

Part B – Development – consists of three chapters, including Literature review,

Methodology and Results and discussions

Chapter I- Literature review – discusses the relevant theories related to writing, errors

and error correction

Chapter II- Methodology – will mention the 3 main research instruments employed in the

study as well as data collection procedure

In chapter III- Results and discussions – the data colleted will be analyzed in order to find

out the common errors made by first year English major students and the significance of error correction to teaching writing

Part C- Conclusion – provides some practical suggestions to help teachers in making error

correction more effective in teaching writing Some brief information about the limitations

of the study and suggestions for further study will be also added here

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

1 1.Writing

Many linguists give the definition of writing skill However, it is difficult to choose which

is the most exact and trustworthy

According to Flower (1984, p 16), “writing is simply the act of expressing what you think

or saying what you mean” while Byrne (1988) considers writing as the “use of graphic symbols: that is, letters or combinations of letters” (p 1) He concludes that writing is the act of “forming these symbols; making marks on a flat surface of some kind” Nevertheless, on higher level, writing is a more complex process than the “production of graphic symbols” (Byrne, 1988, p 1) It involves the arrangement of symbols “according to certain convention, to form words and words have to be arranged to form sentences” (Byrne, 1988, p 1)

Furthermore, writing is regarded as a productive and taught language skill which is

“difficult to acquire” ( Tribble, 1996, p3) and “writing normally requires some form of instruction It is not a skill that is readily picked up by exposure” (Tribble, 1996, p.11) Thus, it is necessary for learners to study and practice to improve this skill as Ur (1996) stated that “most people acquire the spoken language intuitively, whereas the written form

is in most cases deliberately taught and learned”

Regarding academic education, Taylor (1984, p 4) expresses that “the act of writing, upon examination, turns out to be a complex process wherein writers use language as a tool to discover and clarifying meaning on experience in order to say exactly what they mean” In addition, Brannon, Knight and Neverow -Turk (1982, p 2) states that "writing is a creative art, not as an assembly line operation of locking words together into sentences and bolting sentences together into paragraphs in accordance with a predefined plan"

In short, writing is a complex skill in second language learning because it requires the ability to communicate in target language and to produce text in order to express oneself efficiently Therefore, academic writing requires conscious effort and much practice in composing, developing, and analyzing ideas

as the norm by native speakers

Error in writing is defined by many linguists and methodologists, but in short it is the faulty use of target language and it reveals a portion of the learner’s weak competence in the target language

1.3 Distinction between errors and mistakes

To understand more clearly about errors, it is necessary to differentiate errors and mistakes Brown (2000) argues that “a mistake refers to a performance error that is either a random guess or a “slip” it is a failure to utilize a known system correctly” (p.217) Brown also states that “errors can not often be self-corrected while mistakes can be self-corrected if the deviation is pointed out to the speaker” or “when attention is called to them” ( as cited in James (1998)) He thinks that “mistakes are not the result of a deficiency in competence but the result of some sort of temporary breakdown or imperfection in the process of producing speech.” (Brown, 2000, p 217)

In accordance with Hubbard et al (1984), causes of genuine errors are lack of language and incorrect hypotheses about target language; while mistakes are made accidentally due

to lapses of memory, confusion or slips of tongue Consequently, learners can correct by themselves their mistakes but not errors Besides, Corder differentiates two types of errors which are systematic and non- systematic He calls non-systematic errors which are made

by native speakers “mistakes” and the other which occur in a second language “errors” He argues that a mistake is a deviation of the norms of the language but is not systematic while errors are typical made when people do not yet fully command some institutionalized language system (Corder,1974) Richard et.al (1985) adds mistakes are caused by the lack

of attention, fatigue, carelessness or other aspect of performance

Thus, mistakes are often non- systematic and are made by lack of attention, fatigue, carelessness or other aspect of performance so if the language learners notice, learners can avoid the mistakes or even can correct them themselves Whereas, errors are systematic because they are caused by the lack of the learners’ competence, ignorance of appropriate rule and interference of the learners’ mother tongue and the general characteristic of the rule learning

He states that the significant source of error for all learners is interlingual transfer This means that when using the second language, learners often tend to transfer from the native

language or interference Take the verb “ăn: in Vietnamese as an example According to

Vietnamese rule, the verb does not change in form when going with third singular person

Hence, they can produce such sentence as “Cô ấy/ Anh ấy ăn tối” However, when this rule is applied into English, students may write “He/ she eat dinner”, which is considered

erroneous Students may also translate from first language into second language because they assume that their first and second language are similar (Acker, 2000) For instance,

Vietnamese learners may translate the sentence “Anh ấy rất thông minh” into English “He very intelligent”, skipping the verb to be He also thinks that the major factor in the second

language is intralingual transfer –generalization (within the target language itself) For

example, learners often write “she go to school every morning” instead of “she goes to

school every morning” or they say that “Do you can play tennis?” instead of “ Can you play tennis?”

Sharing the same idea, Richards (1971), when trying to identify the causes of competence errors, comes up with three types of errors: interference errors, which reflect the use of elements from one language to the other, intralingual errors, subdivided into errors due to overgeneralization, or to ignorance of rules restriction, which is incomplete application of the rules, or finally due to the false concept hypothesis, which demonstrate the general characteristics of rule learning and third developmental errors when the learner builds hypothesis about the target language based on limited experience

However, Selinker (1974, p 37) has another way to study errors and reports five sources of errors: (1) Language transfer, (2) Transfer of training, (3)Strategies of second language learning, (4) Strategies of second language communication, and (5) Overgeneralization of

TL linguistic material while Corder (1974, p 130) identified three sources of errors: Language Transfer, Overgeneralization or analogy, & Methods or Materials used in the Teaching (teaching-induced error)

According to Choon (1993), there are some categories of errors such as semantic error (wrong words, wrong form, etc.), grammatical errors ( tense, preposition, etc.), global and local errors She also suggests “the system of classifying errors should be flexible” (p.2) and adds that teacher can learn and decide what should be focused more in their syllabus after analyzing the specific and common language problem their students have Moreover, she advised teachers to conduct Error Analysis at the beginning of the course when the items have not been fully learnt and remedy these first

All in all, although each researcher has different way to look at the sources of errors, it can

be concluded that there are two main sources of errors which are interlingual errors of interference from the native language including and intralingual errors within the target language, including Overgeneralization, Ignorance of rule restriction, Incomplete application of rules, False concepts hypothesized Knowing the sources of errors is very necessary for teachers because it helps them know how to develop effective error correction measures for their students

1.5 Error analysis

Error analysis is a type of linguistic analysis that focuses on the errors learners make It is the study and analysis of the errors made by second and foreign language learners Errors are analyzed in order to identify strategies which learners use in language learning, to identify the causes of learners’ errors and to obtain information on common difficulties in language learning, as an aid to teaching or in the preparation of teaching materials

According to Brown (2000, p 218), error analysis is that “errors can be observed, analyzed, and classified to reveal something of the system operating with the learner, led

to a surge of study of learners errors” Additionally, Richards and Sampson (1974, p 15) states that “at the level of pragmatic classroom experience, error analysis will continue to provide one means by which the teacher assesses learning and teaching and determines priorities for future effort.”

In 1967 Corder figured out the procedures for error analysis as follows : (1) collection of a sample of learner language, (2) identification of errors, (3) description of errors, (4) explanation of errors, and (5) evaluation of errors Besides, Corder (1974) argues that error analysis has two objects: one theoretical and another applied The theoretical object serves

to “elucidate what and how a learner learns when he studies a second language.” And the applied object serves to enable the learner “to learn more efficiently by exploiting our knowledge of his dialect for pedagogical purposes.”

Moreover, to treat the error the teachers should consider the three phases of its treatment: localization, Identification and correction Many times teachers just care for the localisation of the errors without moving on to the Identification of the type of the error made or its cause It is of great importance to try to find out why the error is made, because not all types of error must be treated in the same way It is not just the teacher that should correct the students, they should actually be motivated to do so themselves

1 6 Error correction and significance of error correction

It is agreed that error correction is very necessary for second language learners and that correction is an important stage in writing process After students have produced a written text, teacher is held accountable for giving feedback to their errors It is not only useful for students but for teachers as well

For students, correction is “a way of reminding students of the forms of standard English” (Edge, 1989, p 20) Ultimate purpose of feedback is to help students aware of what errors they have made, which should be avoided next time Thus, gradually, students can produce error – free sentences “to express themselves more accurately” (Edge, 1989, p 50)

Teacher not only plays as a corrector when giving feedback to students but he/ she can learn many things from students’ errors Moore (2001, p.255) states that “teachers need continuous feedback in order to plan, monitor and evaluate their instruction” In agreement with Moore, White (1980, p.109) emphasizes the significance of corrective feedback as “a better guide to how to improve our teaching than our successes, which frequently pass unnoticed.”

Ferris (2002) states that “error feedback can help students to improve their accuracy in the short term” (p.7) and “short-term improvement is necessary for long-term progress” (p.16)

He also adds that “student value teacher feedback on their errors and think that it helps them to improve their writing” (Ferris, 2002, p 8) Besides he shows that “students feel that teacher feedback on grammar and errors is extremely important to their progress as writers”

However, teacher should decide when and how much to correct students’ errors According

to Gower and Walters (1983), when students do controlled writing, almost every error should be corrected The routine correction on part of the teacher actually runs the risk of making the learner depend on correction by others Moreover, the correction of an error by the teacher as self correction of a problem of perception would reduce the risk of hurting the student's self-esteem and would imitate the conditions of acquisition found in a natural setting Additionally, when they do cued writing or write freely, fewer and fewer errors should be corrected because communication is the utmost purpose of these types of writing

In conclusion, error correction is very necessary for second language learners However, teachers should know when they correct errors directly or when they should allow students

a greater opportunity of self-correction, which would help the development of autonomous control processes, which are characteristic of the competence in communication of the

mother language, and which are considered to be essential in the socialization of the second language

CHAPTER II : METHODS OF STUDY

2 1 Participants of the study

Subjects of this study are students and teachers from Hung Yen University of Technology and Education Teaching and learning English in this university is taken into great consideration In this university, English is learned not as a major but as an instrument; however English still has a role to play because of its close relation to students’ majors such as Economics or Information Technology

2.1.1 Students

They are first year English major students from 2 classes of Foreign language Department

in Hung Yen University of Technology and Education Their English is at intermediate level, they are familiar with writing skill and are able to compose an essay consisting of more than one paragraph However, their proficiency in English is not as fluent as advanced learners; hence they tend to make more errors in higher frequency Thus, treatment of students’ errors in writing is a headache and time – consuming job to teachers

2.1.2 Teachers

They are 6 teachers of English at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education They have been teaching English for at least four years Four of them have Master degree and the rest have been doing master course in TESOL

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

2 2 Data collection instruments

2.2.1 Survey questionnaire

2.2.1.1 Reasons for choosing survey questionnaire

Survey questionnaires are always considered one of the most frequently used and effective methods for studying This is the reason why the writer decided to choose questionnaires as her main type of instruments used to accomplish the research The survey questionnaire is mainly to collect information from the subjects of this study, i.e both students and teachers

as they are useful ways of gathering information Moreover, it is easy and simple to summarize and report collect data while the researcher does not spend much time on it

Nevertheless, survey questionnaire is undoubtedly not a perfect method for study It is the truth that researchers cannot gather unpredicted responses from subjects for the surveys are usually mainly multiple choice questions As a consequence, other supplementary instruments, student writing analysis and observation are also used to lessen the draw backs of survey questionnaire

2.2.1.2 Description of survey questionnaires

There are 2 different questionnaires designed to survey the subjects of this study One questionnaire is for students and the other is for teachers

a Survey questionnaire for students

The first survey questionnaire is distributed for students in writing class in order to study the common errors they often make, their opinion about their teacher’s correction and their improvement in their writing when their errors have been corrected by their writing teacher

In this questionnaire, 16 questions (divided into 2 parts) are conducted

The first part (including 4 questions) is aimed at gathering student’s general information such as age, sex and so on

Part II, consisting of 11 questions, is intended to find out student’s remark on writing skill, errors as well as their writing teacher’s correction

Question 5, 6 and 7 are used to find out students’ opinion about writing skill while three next questions can be designed to study students’ errors Through the answers of questions from 11 to 16 the author will know students’ opinion about their teacher’s error correction, the correction techniques and their improvement in writing skill

b Survey questionnaire for teachers

Another survey questionnaire of 12 questions has been administered to 6 teachers who teach writing in Foreign Language Department at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education for their opinion

In answering the three first questions, teachers will reveal their thought about writing skill

The remark of these teachers on the common errors students often make in their writing and the causes of these errors will be indicated in the next two questions

The last five questions clarify the technique that teachers use to correct students’ errors in writing class and students’ improvement after teacher’s correction

In order to help students and teachers understand the surveys as well as to give at the beginning of each questionnaire, at the same time, the researcher was always present in the time of distributing surveys so as to instruct the subjects and help ones in need Last but not least, a Vietnamese translated version for students was also handed out to avoid any misunderstanding from students

2.2.2 Student writing analysis

2.2.2.1 Reasons for choosing student writing analysis

It is plausible that student writing analysis is a persuasive and reliable method of study since every clear clue is present on the paper It is the reason why student writing analysis

is chosen one of the main methods used to conduct this thesis so as to help the study more reliable and relevant

2.2.2.2 Description of student writing analysis

Thirty students’ writing papers with teachers’ error correction were collected Fifteen papers were collected from free writing The rest were copied from the final writing tests Collection of students’ writing papers is aimed at discovering explicitly the common errors students make and the methods that teachers use to correct their students’ errors Then, some effective strategies for error correcting will be suggested to apply in this particular situation

2.2.3 Observation

To confirm the result of questionnaires and find out how the teacher correct students’ errors and how students’ writing improve after their errors are corrected, the researcher has attended 3 lessons

2.3 Procedure of data collection

To collect information about errors and error correction in written work of English major students at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education, first of all, 60 survey questionnaires were handed out to first year English major students Besides, 6 teachers of English were asked to complete 6 survey questionnaires, which are designed for teachers only

Next, students were asked to write an essay in class within 45 minutes Students’ writing papers with teachers’ correction were collected some days later to analyze Besides, ten final writing papers were copied for the study

When data collection was accomplished, the data analysis was initiated The results of survey questionnaire and analysis of students’ writing papers revealed students’ common errors and teachers’ treatment of students’ errors at this university In addition, observation and analysis of students’ writing papers with teachers’ correction also revealed accurately which methods teachers apply to correct students’ errors

This chapter has presented the methods of study which include participants, data collection instruments as well as the data collection procedure

CHAPTER III: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

In this chapter, data collected from survey questionnaire, student writing analysis and observation are analyzed to find out the insight of students’ error making, students’ improvement in writing proficiency after teacher’s correction and the methods teachers apply to correct students’ errors On the basis of such data analysis, some methods and techniques are sought out in an attempt to help teachers offer an effective feedback

3 1 Common errors made by first year English major students in UTEHY based on data analysis and discussion

3.1.1 Data analysis from questionnaires and observation

3.1.1.1 Students’ attitude towards their errors

After 60 survey questionnaires were handed out to the students, I received back 55 Each questionnaire consists of 16 questions (Appendix 1) Analysis of these questionnaires shows some interesting results about errors made by students in writing, their teachers’ correction method and students’ improvement as the results of teachers’ error correction Question 2 of the questionnaire brings a result that students have learnt English for 7 to 10 years This number implies that although they are first year English major students, their background knowledge of English language is quite good Their proficiency is equal to that

of an intermediate student Therefore, it is reasonable that writing skill, in their opinion, is not very difficult

Figure 3.1 Students’ assessment on difficulty of writing skill

Figure 3.1 shows that the most proportion students polled (50%) admit that writing skill is difficult but only 20% of them consider writing a very difficult skill which is beyond their aptitude Only 5 % students studied think that writing is not difficult at all As the

observation in some writing classes, the author can see that most students have difficulty in writing skill It takes them much time to finish a writing task and they seemed confused to express their ideas clearly because of the lack of grammar knowledge and vocabulary Regarding question 6, all students polled acknowledge the significance of writing skill and

no one has the idea that writing skill is unimportant as shown in the chart below:

Figure 3.2 Students’ opinion on importance of writing skill

Question 7 and 8 ask students about their frequencies and quantity of errors in writing Due

to the intricacy of writing skill, students often commit many errors while writing is a logical result

Table 3.1 Student’s opinion on frequencies and quantity or errors

In question 10, students are asked about possible causes of their errors The utmost cause (69%), in students’ standpoint, is the teaching – induced one, including ineffective teaching and correction methods The second ranked cause is the interference from mother tongue

with the percentage of 51% Psychology and carelessness, accounting for 36 and 33 respectively, affect significantly to writing The rest (15%) admit that they commit errors because of time pressure and other reasons The result was synthesized in the following chart

Figure 3.3 Students’ opinion on the causes of errors

Moreover, students’ answers for question 11 show that they often have much more grammar errors (such as verb form, verb tense, sentence structure, subject verb agreement, fragments, parallelism, run-on sentence, prepositions, articles and pronoun) than mechanic errors ( including punctuation, spelling) or word choice or expression errors That means their grammar knowledge is not good enough

3.1.1.2 Teacher’s attitude towards students’ errors

The author received 6 survey questionnaires which had been handed out to 6 teachers The result of the first question of the questionnaire shows that English teaching experience of the teachers polled ranges from 4 to 9 years

Like students, teachers are also asked to access the importance and difficulty of writing skill The result was synthesized in the following table:

Table 3.2 Teachers’ opinion on the importance and difficulty of writing skill Importance Very important Important Quite important Not important

10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Interference from mother tongue

Psychology Teaching

-included cause

Carelessness Time

pressure

Others

According to Table 3.2, half of the teachers (50%) express that writing skill is important, 33% state that it is quite important, and only 17% accept that it is very important Half of teachers polled (56%) admit that writing in second language is very difficult, 33 % say that

it is quite difficult

In questions 4 and 5, the teachers share the same idea with the students They reveal that their students frequently make numerous errors in writing

0 0%

50%

17%

Often Sometimes Rarely Never

Figure 3.4 Teachers’ opinion on frequencies of errors

As shown in Figure 3.4, 50% of the teachers polled say that their students often make errors in writing while 33% state that students commit errors sometimes Students do not make errors very often but in general the frequencies of error are remarkable according to teachers’ assessment

In accordance with 50% of teachers’ opinion as demonstrated in the chart below, students commit a lot of errors while writing

Many 50%

No errors 0%

A few 17%

Several 33%

Figure 3.5 Teachers’ opinion on quantity of student error

Some other teachers express that their students make several errors, accounting for 33% Only one teacher (17%) states that their students make a few errors

Question 6 reveals teachers’ assessment on the types of students’ common errors Most of teachers admit that most students often make grammatical errors, including verb form, verb tense, sentence structure, subject verb agreement, fragments, parallelism, run-on sentence,

prepositions, articles and pronoun Sometimes, students have other types of errors such as punctuation, spelling, capitalization and so on

In the question about the causes of students’ errors, the result is shown in the chart below:

Figure 3.6 Teachers’ opinion on causes of student errors

Most of teachers (84%) reveal that interference from mother tongue is the paramount cause

of student errors The secondary cause is students’ carelessness while writing, which is stated by 50% of teachers Psychology and time pressure which both account for 33% equally cause student written errors

3.1.2 Data analysis from student writing

In order to study the common errors made by first year English major students in UTEHY, the author collected 15 students’ free writing papers and 15 final writing tests After that the author found out errors in these writing works and calculated the frequency of each type of errors

According to the result of students’ analyzed free writing I collected, a total of 175 errors were examined and categorized into 16 types of error encountered during their process of learning this skill The results are presented in the following tables

Psychology Teaching

-included cause

Carelessness Time

pressure

Others

Table 3.3 Collected data about errors in students’ free writings

Besides, all students’ final writing tests were examined to find errors and also categorized into 16 types of error The results are presented in the following tables

Table 3.4 Collected data about errors in students’ final writing tests

The table below is the comparison between data collected from free writings and data collected from final writing tests

Table 3.5 Comparative data about errors made by students

Tables 3.5 and 3.6 reveal the fact that these students have the greatest difficulty in using correct grammar although they make fewer errors in the final writing tests They normally make grammatical error in the usage of verb, articles, pronoun, and especially in sentence structure, which makes up more than 60 % The reasons for this may be due to poor