An investigation into the errors in verb tense forms found in paragraph writing by the 10th form students at kim thanh upper secondary school

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES *************************ĐẶNG THỊ HOÀNG LAN AN INVESTIGATION INTO TH

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES *************************

ĐẶNG THỊ HOÀNG LAN

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE ERRORS IN VERB-TENSE FORMS

FOUND IN PARAGRAPH–WRITING BY THE 10 th -FORM

STUDENTS AT KIM THANH UPPER-SECONDARY SCHOOL

(Khảo sát các lỗi về dạng thì của động từ thường gặp trong bài viết đoạn

văn của học sinh lớp 10 trường THPT Kim Thành)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES *************************

ĐẶNG THỊ HOÀNG LAN

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE ERRORS IN VERB-TENSE FORMS

FOUND IN PARAGRAPH–WRITING BY THE 10 th -FORM

STUDENTS AT KIM THANH UPPER-SECONDARY SCHOOL

(Khảo sát các lỗi về dạng thì của động từ thường gặp trong bài viết đoạn

văn của học sinh lớp 10 trường THPT Kim Thành)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

Supervisor: ASSOC.PROF.DR LÊ VĂN CANH

DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP

I, ĐẶNG THỊ HOÀNG LAN, hereby certify that this thesis, which is

entitled “An Investigation into the Errors in Verb-Tense Forms Found in

Paragraph-Writing by the 10th-Form Students at Kim Thanh Secondary School” is created from my original work I have firmly declared the

Upper-contribution of others to my thesis such as data analysis, practical strategies, andall other researches that were employed or reviewed in my thesis

This thesis is the result of my own study in the fulfillment of therequirement for the Degree of Master of Arts at Faculty of Post-GraduateStudies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam NationalUniversity, Hanoi

Hanoi, 2016

ĐẶNG THỊ HOÀNG LAN

First of all, I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor,Assoc Prof Dr Lê Văn Canh, whose insightful comments, criticism, directionand kind support were of great assistance to me in carrying out this study

My sincere thanks also go to all the lecturers and staff of the Faculty ofPost- Graduate Studies, Hanoi University of Languages and InternationalStudies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, for their valuable knowledge andinvaluable guidance and help during my two years of study at the Faculty

I am also indebted to my colleagues as well as my students at Kim ThanhUpper-Secondary School, who have helped me a lot in my data collection tofulfill this paper

Last but not least, I would like to express my appreciation to my family for their understanding and strong encouragement to me throughout the study

Đặng Thị Hoàng Lan

This study aims at investigating the common errors in verb-tense formsmade by the students of grade 10 at Kim Thanh Upper- Secondary School Theparticipants are forty two tenth-grade students at Kim Thanh Upper-SecondarySchool, where the author is working In order to find out the most commonerrors in verb-tense forms and factors causing the students‟ making these errors,two data collection instruments are employed: students‟ written paragraphs andindividual open-ended interviews The results showed that more errors weremade in verb-tense forms than in verb-tense choice Regarding the errors made

by the students‟ confusion of different verb tenses, the most and the leasterroneous tenses were the Past Simple tense and the Future Simple Tenserespectively As to errors in verb-tense forms, omission errors were the mostfrequent ones, while misordering was the least frequently-made By describingand interpreting the data collected, the researcher managed to find out factorsleading to these errors, which consisted of both objective factors and subjectivefactors Based on the literature review and findings, the author put forwardpractical suggestions to the teachers of English with a view to improvingEnglish teaching and learning at the school

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF TABLES vi

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale of the study 1

2 Objectives of the study 2

3 Research question 2

4 Scope of the study 2

5 Method of study ……….……… 2

6 Design of the study 3

7 Significance of the study 3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 5

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

1.1 The writing syllabus for 10th-grade students 5

1.2 Definitions of errors 6

1.3 Causes of errors 6

1.4 The challenges of learning English verb tenses 8

1.5 Theoretical Foundation of Error Analysis ……….……….12

1.5.1 Interlanguage Theory……….…………12

1.5.2.Interference of First language (L1) into Second Language (L2)………… 14

1.6 Methods used in researching errors……….15

1.6.1 S.P Corder‟s Error Analysis Procedure……….……… 15

1.6.2 Surface Strategy Taxonomy (Dulay, Burt and Krahsen, 1982) ….……… 16

CHAPTER 2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 19

2.1 Research design and methodology …19

2.2 Participants 20

2.3 Data Collection Instruments 20

2.4 Research Procedures 21

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION……… 23

3.1 Common verb-tense errors made by the 10th-form students 23

at Kim Thanh Upper-Secondary School 23

3.1.1 Wrong choice of verb tenses 23

3.1.2 Wrong formation of verb tenses 27

3.1.2.1 Errors of omission 27

3.1.2.2 Errors of addition 29

3.1.2.3 Errors of misformation 30

3.1.2.4 Errors of misordering 31

3.2 Factors that lead to the errors in verb-tense forms in paragraph writing made by the 10th-form students at Kim Thanh 32

Upper-Secondary School 32

3.3 Discussion of the findings 35

PART C: CONCLUSION 36

1 Conclusion 36

2 Implications………36

3 Limitations and suggestions for further study 37

3.1 Limitations of the study 37

3.2 Suggestions for further research 37

REFERENCES 39

APPENDICES………I APPENDIX A: Questions for interview

APPENDIX B: Photocopies of some students‟ writing pieces

Table 1.1 Fossilization Process of Interlanguage (adapted from

Selinker 1972)Table 1.2 Positive and Negative Transfer (Adapted from Khansir,

2012)Table 1.3 Error Analysis Procedure by S.P Corder

Table 3.1 An overview of the errors in verb tense choice

Table 3.6 Summary of the errors in verb-tense forms

Table 3.7 Factors leading to the errors

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

BA: Bachelor of Arts

M.A: Master of Arts

EFL: English as a Foreign Language

L1: First language, or Mother tongue

L2: Second language

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

In English, the different tenses are signaled by verb endings or by auxiliaryverbs The English tense system is quite complicated Therefore, it is notsurprising that even though students start from the easiest tense, they find itdifficult to understand, remember and use the tense correctly, especially when,besides various uses and forms of different verb tenses, they have to memorizeall kinds of nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and auxiliaries This will makestudents bored and make it difficult for them to comprehend English grammar

In English writing, verb is the most active part in the sentence forexpressing an action, an occurrence, or a state of being Palmer (1965: 5)suggests that “learning a language is to a very large degree learning how tooperate the verbal forms of that language.” In English, verbs are inflected fortense while there is no inflection in Vietnamese This causes difficulty toVietnamese students learning English

Through this study, the author tries to find out the common types of errors

in using verb-tense forms made by the 10th- grade students at Kim Thanh Secondary School in their written paragraphs

Upper-As a teacher at Kim Thanh High School, a school in a rural area of HaiDuong province, the author sees that students tend to have problems in using the

English tenses in their writings The situation encourages the author to have An Investigation into the Errors in Verb-Tense Forms Found in Paragraph- Writing by the 10 th -Form Students at Kim Thanh Upper-Secondary School.

It is hoped that the results of this study will be useful for both teachers andstudents in teaching and learning writing skill in general and in improvingparagraph-writing ability in particular

2 Objectives of the study

The main objective of this study is to analyze students‟ errors in usingEnglish tenses and identify the sources of errors as taken from the students‟writings as well as to provide some pedagogical implications for teachingEnglish as a foreign language The objectives of this study are:

1 To describe the types of errors in verb-tense forms made by the 10th- grade students at Kim Thanh Upper-Secondary School as revealed in their writings.

2 To describe the causes of errors in verb-tense forms

This study is carried out in the hope that teachers and students can definethe student‟s common errors in verb-tense forms and adjust their way of teachingand learning this skill basing on the causes of these errors in order to obtainbetter results

3 Research Questions

In order to achieve the above aims, two research questions are raised:

1 What are the common verb-tense errors made by the 10 th -form students at Kim Thanh Upper-Secondary School?

2 What are the causes of these errors according to the students’ reports?

self-4 Scope of the Study

Due to the limited time and restricted scope of study of a minor thesis, thisstudy only focuses on identifying a number of common errors in verb-tenseforms committed by 10th-form students at Kim Thanh High School when theywrite paragraphs Based on the discussions of the findings, some possiblesolutions will be introduced

5 Method of the study

In this study, the writer adopted mainly quantitative and qualitativeresearch methods Two main instruments were employed for data collection:students‟ written paragraphs and interviews

Specifically, 168 paragraphs, each of which is about 130-150 words inlength, on four different topics were collected from 42 students of grade 10.Errors on verb tense forms were identified and classified into different categories.Statistical counting was carried out to present the real picture of students' errors

on verb tense forms

A face-to-face interview with individual students was conducted to findout the reasons students gave for the way they used the verb-tense forms in theirwritten paragraphs

6 Design of the thesis

The study consists of three parts, organized as follows:

Part A – Introduction - gives basic information about the topic of this paper

including the reason for choosing the topic, objectives, research questions, scope,method and significance of the study An outline of the thesis is also mentioned

in this chapter

Part B - Development

This part is composed of three chapters

Chapter 1- Literature Review - discusses the relevant theories related to errors,

causes of errors, challenges of learning English verb tenses as well as theoreticalfoundation of error analysis

Chapter 2- Research Methodology - mentions the methodology employed to

carry out the research This includes a discussion of the participants, the setting,the data collection instruments, data collection procedure and data analysis

Chapter 3- Data Analysis and Discussion - presents the findings and discussion

of the findings

Part C- Conclusion- provides some practical suggestions to help teachers have

effective methods in teaching writing skill Some brief information about thelimitations of the study and suggestions for further study will also be included

7 Significance of the study

The study is significant for a variety of reasons From an academic level itallows for a highly useful demonstration regarding the learning and languageskill abilities of students within the specified tenth grade class This is important

to assess the way that grammatical errors may occur as well as the way that theycan be propagated despite instructors‟ efforts

The students‟ errors that are identified in this investigation are particular tothose within a rural learning setting The specific nature of their errors will allow for

a differentiated understanding of the way that future evaluation regarding verbformation can be improved Such a value is further important based on the responsesfrom a qualitative survey (the interview) regarding the student

perspective on teaching style and their own aptitude for retention The studywould further be significant in detailing the way that rural students at the tenthgrade level form cognitive application of the English language as well as thecommon themes or challenges in teaching this demographic The overallsignificance of individual case reports within this area will create a highlyvaluable account of one particular community in Vietnam and can be seen asuseful for gathering conclusions about other areas as well.

Ultimately the value of this inquiry will promote second language learningskill acquisition research on a whole There are specific benefits towards theparallels between those learning English with their mother tongue beingVietnamese in particular The greatest value that can be identified would be theconnection between information from this micro study with the larger picture ofresearch on the learning and teaching of English in similar contexts

1.1 The writing syllabus for 10 th - grade students

Unit

123456789101112131415

1.2 Definitions of errors

Making errors is the most natural thing in the world In communication,both native speakers and non-native speakers can make errors though their errorsare different

Error is defined as “systematic deviations” from the norms of language

being learnt by Cunning Worth (1987) or when a learner has not learnt somethingand constantly gets it wrong Besides, Choon (1993) describes “error” as a form

of structure that is inappropriately used and that cannot be accepted by a nativespeaker According to Richards (1989), the term is identified as a faulty use of alinguistic item which shows incomplete learning Another definition of errors is

given by Brown (1994) He identifies errors as “noticeable deviation from the adult grammar of a native speaker, reflecting the interlanguage competence of the learner” Corder (1973) refers to errors as breaches of the code; they deviate

from what is regarded as the norm by native speakers

Error in writing is defined by many linguists and methodologists, but inshort it is the faulty use of target language and it reveals a portion of the learners‟weak competence in the target language

Error analysis

Error analysis is a valuable source of information to teachers It providesinformation on learner‟s error which helps teachers to correct it and alsoimproves the effectiveness of their teaching In other words, errors give signs toteachers and researchers whether the using process is successful or not (Brown,1994)

superficial similarities, will be misleading and inapplicable - overgeneralizationcovers instances where the learner creates a deviant structure on the basis of hisexperience of other structures in the target language.

Based on the above statements, we can say that the cause of error in thiscase is not the influence of the learners' mother tongue but it is the influence ofthe target language which they have already learnt, for example: “He runs

fastly” In this sentence, the learner produces an error because he/she generalizes

that adverbs of manner must always be formed by adding 'ly' to the adjectives.

• Ignorance of Rule Restriction

This kind of error is closely related to overgeneralization; that is, thelearners fail to observe the restrictions of certain structures In this case, theyapply a rule in the context of a sentence where actually it is not necessary, e g :

The man whom I saw him yesterday The student does not know that it is

impossible to mention the person referred to by the relative pronoun by anotherpronoun as well

• Incomplete Application of Rule

This means that the learners apply a rule in the context of a sentence,although the rule is not yet complete The students may use a statement for a

question by adding a question mark at the end of the sentence, for example: “He goes to school?”

• False Concepts Hypothesized

False concepts hypothesized refers to faulty rule learning at various levels.There is a class of interlingual errors which derive from faulty comprehension ofdistinctions in the target language These are sometimes due to poor gradation of

teaching items some students get confused and cannot differentiate between go and come, bring and take, too and very, etc They use the present tense instead of the

present continuous tense or the other way round This might be caused by learners

not paying much attention to the difference between items They consider too and very are the same as well as go and come, etc.

Another cause of error mentioned by George (1972) is 'redundancyreduction' This is a tendency by EFL learners to eliminate many items or add

unnecessary items which are redundant to conveying the intended message Forinstance, in the case of a learner of English language as a foreign language we

may meet utterances, such as: “No understand”, “return back” etc It is rather a

simplified code of communication or reduced language systems used by foreignlanguage learners especially in earlier stages of the learning process

1.4 The challenges of learning English verb tenses

Verbs in English provide information about whether they are happening inthe past, present and future Hence, in English, tense is marked on all verb forms.EFL learners face several difficulties in their attempt to master English tenseproperly For Cowan (2008, p 350) “use of verb forms is one of the two or threemost difficult areas for English language learners to master.” As a result, EFLlearners sometimes make mistakes in the proper use of verb forms as theyattempt to express the time of an event in the target language

The following sentences were produced by some Bengali learners ofEnglish who have completed secondary education (Cowan, 2008) The sentencesindicate some potential areas in which they are likely to make errors:

(1)* When I was entered into the exam hall, I was feeling

nervous (When I entered the exam hall, I was feeling nervous.)

(2) * I was seen and introduced with many unknown students

(I saw many unknown students, and I was introduced to them.)

(3)* Then I was taken

lunch (Then I took lunch.)

(4)* Then I was come back

home (Then I came back home.)

(5) * I was done the work

(I did the work.)

The above Bengali learners of English seem to make errors in theformation of past expression;

Sentences 1 to 5, for example, indicate that some EFL learners form pasttense using an auxiliary and the past participle form of the verbs instead of usingthe past form of the verbs

Therefore, this is an area in which learners are observed to face problems

in using verbs to indicate past time

EFL learners are sometimes found to form expression in which time itself

is confused In the following example (6), a student does not use any auxiliary toindicate whether the action time is in the present or the past This may be due tothe L1 interference because in Bengali language, progressive action does notrequire any extra auxiliary

(6) * I going with my father

(I am/was going with my father.)

In example 7, an EFL learner who is studying for a BA degree in English,uses “is appeared‟ to form the following past expression:

(7)* The ghost is appeared for some reasons

(The ghost appeared for some reasons.)

EFL learners‟ native language (L1) influence can be claimed to be one ofthe reasons behind their failure to acquire the tense of the target language (TL).For example, according to Cowan (2008), in some languages, including Chinese,tense is not expressed through „overt markers, or inflections on verbs‟ Thefollowing Chinese sentences, for example, indicate past time with the use of „jientien‟ not by adding an inflection such as the „English –ed‟

(8)„Ta zao tian chu zhigiageo‟

(*She yesterday go Chicago.)

(She went to Chicago yesterday)

Apart from the Chinese EFL learners, L1 influence is observed among theDutch learners of English

According to Housen (2000), Dutch EFL learners are required tounderstand the difference between the simple past and the past progressive inEnglish as this dissimilarity is not marked in their L1 L1 influence may retain toaffect even the proficient L2 learners (See also, Housen, 2002)

Unlike English, Bengali speakers do not need to use inflection in the verbfor simple present tense

(9) Arif vat khai

*Arif eat rice.

(Arif eats rice.)

Sentence 9, for example, shows that the Bengali EFL learner of English

did not use inflection in the verb -eat This is a common mistake that is observed

with most EFL learners in Bangladesh, and this seems to happen since Bengalilanguage does not indicate present tense though inflection on verbs

According to Cowan (2008), unlike English, some languages do notinclude „back shifting constraints‟ (p.382) Bengali speakers may use their L1sequence of tense rule in forming English sentences For example, in the sentence

shown below (10), the verb in that clause is not back shifted to “had”.

(10) *He remembered that he has to go back home

(He remembered that he had to go back home.)

Within Bengali language, speakers do not have to maintain tense sequence

by backshifting to previous clause(s)

Hence, some learners apply their Bengali tense sequence in order to form English sentences with that complements (See also, Cowan, 2008)

Apart from EFL learners‟ problems in tense, sometimes they also haveproblems in understanding how they need to see an event-aspect

In what follow are some example sentences produced by some Bengalilearners of English The examples indicate the nature of the problems these EFLlearners have in using aspect properly

(11) * I am reading every day in the

evening (I read every day in the evening.)

Although „every day’ in sentence 11 indicates that the action is habitual,

hence simple in aspect, the Grade 8 level Bengali learner of English views it astemporal and therefore progressive in aspect Here the learner overgeneralizes thefact that as she reads every day, the action is in progressive aspect Thisphenomenon can be related to the example that is provided by Cowan (2008) thatGerman simple sentence conforms to both English present simple and presentprogressive; hence, „they [German speakers of English] have troubles using the two English tenses in the appropriate context A common error is to

overgeneralize the progressive to context in which time expression requires asimple form‟.

For example,

(12) Do you know Sapsucker Woods?

*Yes, my wife is often going there with the children

Alternatively, German speakers may make errors using simple present inthe place of present progressive (Cowan,2008)

For example, (13)* I send you the money now

Therefore, the answer to the sentence 12 and sentence 13 are erroneous inaspect, and the problem in how the German speakers view the action here iscaused by their German L1 interference

The following ill-formed sentence (14) was produced by a Bengali learner ofEnglish:

(14) * I am studying English for twelve years (I

have been studying English for twelve years.)

Bengali EFL learners are often seen to produce sentences like (14) This

occurs as within Bengali language temporal progressive aspect (e.g I am playing football) is not usually distinguished from the progressive activity that started in the past but extends to the present (I have been playing football for seven years).

For Vietnamese learners, according to Phap Dam in “Analyzing Some Persistent Errors in English Made by Vietnamese Speakers”, when necessary,

Vietnamese grammar can express time adequately by means of placing one of

several aspect-marking particles in front of the main verb, notably “đã” (for past), “đang” (for present), and “sẽ” (for future):

“Hắn đã gặp một bạn cũ tuần rồi.”

[He past-marker meet one friend old week just past]

“He met an old friend last week.”

“Ông thầy đang dạy ngữ pháp tiếng Việt.”

[Mr teacher present-marker teach syntax language Viet]

“The teacher is teaching Vietnamese syntax.” “Khi có

thì giờ tôi sẽ thăm bác tôi tại Houston.”

[When have time I future-marker visit father‟s older brother my in

Houston] “When I am free, I will visit my uncle in Houston.”

With their native tongue lacking the intricate structure of tenses and moodsfound in English and other Western languages, Vietnamese speakers find Englishtenses other than present (“He IS at work today”), past (“Mary LOOKED sohappy with her parents last week”), and future (“They WILL DO it for us thisafternoon”) hard to understand and use Indeed, the handling of morecomplicated English tenses (especially those expressed by auxiliaries and pastand present participles, like “We WILL HAVE BEEN LIVING in America fortwenty years by then” and “If my parents HAD BEEN rich at that time, theyWOULD HAVE SENT me to a private school in Switzerland”) could qualify asthe problem area in which they make the most errors The serious mismatch intense and mood systems between Vietnamese and English and the convenientsimplicity of the Vietnamese system are the reason why Vietnamese learners ofEnglish keep writing such interference-induced sentences as:

#“We live in California since 1975.”

#“ I really wish I can speak English like you.”

#“ If you are ten years younger, my brother will probably marry you.”

It is worth noting that the above sentences reflect “correct” Vietnamesesyntax, and that some Vietnamese learners of English deliberately avoid usingcomplicated tenses in English, simply for fear of making mistakes

1.5 Theoretical Foundation of Error Analysis

1.5.1 Interlanguage Theory

According to the Second Language Acquisition theory, learners build up asystem for themselves which is different in some ways from their first language andsecond language systems, which are called Interlanguage The concept ofInterlanguage , which was formerly suggested by Selinker in 1972, aimed to drawlearner‟s attention to the possibility that while learning the second language, alearner may develop separate internalized mental grammar that is characterized

as distinct language variety or system with its own particular characteristics andrules differs from both his/her mother tongue and the target language.

Interlanguage is typically characterized by the set of linguistic rules whichcan further generate novel utterances, and according to Ellis (1990), it is veryimportant in providing the explanation for “how both children and adults acquire

a second language” (Ellis, 1990) Interlanguage productions typically have thecharacteristic of language that hardly conform to the general expectation on whatnative speakers of the target language usually produce, not a fixed translation ofnative language utterances, spoken utterances are not randomly produced andinterlanguage is usually spoken either by adults or by children when secondlanguage acquisition is not simultaneous acquired with the first language

Selinker in 1972 further explored the Interlanguage impact on the secondlanguage learning and proposed the five fossilization processes that indicated thelearner‟s tendency to stop developing their interlanguage grammar in thedirection of the target language The five fossilization processes are as follow:

Table 1.1: Fossilization Process of Interlanguage (adapted from Selinker 1972)

Overgeneralization of the

Target

Linguistic Materials

1.5.2 Interference of First language (L1) into Second Language (L2)

Behaviorist learning theory asserts that “old habits contribute in the way oflearning new habits” and thus if taken into context, individuals who learn manylanguages tend to transfer the realization device from his first language into thesecond language prior to the cognitive notion that the first and second languageshare a similar meaning but failed to discern that it should be expressed indifferent ways (Ellis, 1990) Smooth acquisition of the second language is ofteninterfered by the first language grammar which has already been programmedinside one‟s individual mind prior to the learning process

There are two types of transfer between mother tongue and target languagewhich served as the reasons that explained errors made by the learners in bothwritten and oral construction They are negative transfer and positive transfer(Khansir, 2012)

Table 1.2: Positive and Negative Transfer (Adapted from Khansir, 2012)

Type of Transfer

Positive Transfer

Negative Transfer

1.6 Methods used in researching errors

1.6.1 S.P Corder‟s Error Analysis Procedure

Error Analysis Procedure have been developed by S.P Corder in 1974

commenting on the errors that can be classified through a comparison process

which is similar to the process involved in the contrastive analysis procedures

Error analysis is considered as a five-stage procedures The concept is thoroughly

based on the original erroneous utterance and later compared with the

constructed one but exclusively in term of the linguistic categories such as error

in phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics

The procedures can be summarized in the five-staged procedures as being

illustrated in the figures below:

Table 1.3: Error Analysis Procedure by S.P Corder

Procedure

1

2

3

5

1.6.2 Surface Strategy Taxonomy (Dulay, Burt and Krashen, 1982)

Surface Strategy Taxanomy proposed by Dulay, Burt and Krashen in 1982

is a taxonomy developed in analyzing errors made by the learners which consists

of several alternatives for error classification as a result of comparative

categorization and communicative effect taxonomy (Dulay, Burt and Krashen,

1982) This taxonomy divides learner errors into four categories, which are

Omission, Addition, Misinformation and Misordering Classifying errors using

the Surface Strategy Taxonomy is very practical since it can physically highlight

the cognitive process underlying learner‟s reconstruction of the mother tongueand target language In addition, this taxonomy also emphasizes that errors areinevitable since the learners are actively progressing towards producing the targetlanguage while utilizing their temporary principle in the former language Below

is the detailed description of each category presented in the Surface StrategyTaxonomy

As mentioned above, the Surface Strategy Taxonomy consists of fourelements, which are: 1)omission; 2) addition; 3) misformation; 4) misordering

An omission error is the error of leaving out an item that is required for an

utterance to be considered grammatically correct For example: "He working in the office at the moment." - this sentence leaves out the copula "is" that must be added before the word "working"

An addition error is one that adds some unnecessary or incorrect element

in an utterance There are three types of addition errors

a) Addition due to double marking For example: ""He didn't knew her name." instead of "He didn't know her name."

b) Addition due to regularization For example: "Those cats are chasing

the mouses." instead of " Those cats are chasing the mice."

c) Addition due to simple addition For instance: "The birds doesn't lives

in the water." instead of "The birds doesn't live in the water."

Error of misformation is the error of using one grammatical form in place

of another grammatical form For instance: "Last weekend we go to the cinema."

-this sentence contains misformation in using irregular verb which is marked by

the use of "go" instead of "went" Misformation also has three types of errors,

namely:

a) Regularization: when a learner uses regular and irregular types of words

in a wrong place For example: " Last Monday he comed to class late." instead of

“Last Monday he came to class late."

b) Archi-form: the choice of a class form to represent or describe another

class form in different situation; eg.: "This car is hers, and that cars are ours." instead of "This car is hers, and those cars are ours."

c) Alternating form: the learner mistakenly uses some forms alternatively

but this results in producing a wrong word For instance: "Everyone likes he

because he is very kind." instead of "Everyone likes him because he is very

kind." An error categorized as "misordering" is the error of putting the words in

an utterance in the wrong order For example: "I don't know where is she now." instead of "I don't know where she is now."

CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

2.1 Research design and methodology

The research was designed to gather evidence regarding the students‟errors in the way they used English tenses as revealed in their paragraph writings

In order to achieve this aim, an exploratory research design was used This designwas employed to find out the patterns of students‟ errors in using English verb-tense forms

The study focuses on the analysis of errors on grade 10th students‟ use ofEnglish verb tense agreement morphology and the Error Analysis theoreticalframework developed by Corder (1967) was put to test Error Analysispresupposes that learners make major elements in the feedback system oflanguage teaching and learning process (Corder, 1967) In the process of L2acquisition this temporary and changing linguistic system , i.e the interlanguage(ILG), has continually been developed by L2 learners who are not yet fullyproficient but are approximating the target language (Corder,1981) Theircompetence developes and should advance gradually until they attain native-like

or near native-like level in the target language In light of the above discussion,the selection of Error Analysis theoretical framework is valid and proper in order

to identify the types of errors committed by grade 10th students at Kim ThanhUpper-Secondary School in the process of learning English as demonstrated intheir paragraph writings Therefore, this study set out to:

1 analyze the types of verb-tense form errors that the 10th graders in my school make in their paragraph writings

2 provide a better understanding of the acquisition and the use of English tenses

by the students

3 suggest pedagogical implications for the English as a foreign language

classroom teaching practice

The research project will collect a series of writing samples in paragraphform from students Each participant will complete the writing assignments

according to the specifications provided by their teacher Each sample will be