An application of peer correction in 11th graders’writing process

ABSTRACT This study aims at investigating the attitude of students at high school Lam Son Thanh Hoa toward peer correction and if peer correction can help them improve grammar and lexica

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

VINH UNIVERSITY

NGUYEN THI HOAI TRANG

AN APPLICATION OF PEER CORRECTION

MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION

Nghe An, 2018

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

VINH UNIVERSITY

NGUYEN THI HOAI TRANG

AN APPLICATION OF PEER CORRECTION

Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

(TESOL) Code: 8140111

MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION Supervisor: Dr Nguyen Thi Kim Anh

Nghe An, 2018

DECLARATION

This thesis is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education I certify that the thesis is the report of my own research, and that it has not been submitted for any other university or institution

Thanh Hoa, June, 2018

Student’s signature

Nguyễn Thị Hoài Trang

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to express my gratitude to Dr Nguyen Thi Kim Anh - my supervisor for his invaluable advice, constructive criticism, precious correction and helpful encouragement in the completion of my minor thesis

My thanks also go to all of the lecturers and the staff of the Department of Post-Graduate Studies at Vinh University for their valuable lectures and supports

I am also thankful to all the English teachers and students at Lam Son high school for answering the questionnaires and interviews, which are indispensable for the analysis and discussion in my study

Last but not least, I greatly appreciate the support and encouragement from

my family and friends

ABSTRACT

This study aims at investigating the attitude of students at high school Lam Son (Thanh Hoa) toward peer correction and if peer correction can help them improve grammar and lexical in their writing skill Seventy 11th graders participated

in the experimental process They were classified into two groups: one control group and one treatment group All of them did an English general test and a pre-test before the treatment and a post-test after the treatment They also had sheets of questionnaire after and before the treatment During the experiment, the treatment group was given peer correction in writing while the control group was not This was done to see if peer correction helped the treatment group improve their writing process It was found that peer correction helped the students to enhance grammar and lexical in their writings Based on the findings, implications for teaching in using peer correction in writing and suggestions for further research have been put forward It is hoped that the results of the study can be useful for both EFL high school students and teachers

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKOWLEDGEMENTS iii

ABSTRACT ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF TABLES vi

LIST OF FINGURES vi

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS viii

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Aims of the study 2

1.3 Research questions 2

1.4 Scope of the study 2

1.5 Organization of study 3

Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 4

2.1 Writing skills 4

2.1.1 Definition of writing skills 4

2.1.2 Importance of writing 4

2.1.3 Writing in a second language 6

2.1.4 English writing process 8

2.1.5 Principles for teaching the writing skill 10

2.1.6 Some activities in writing 11

2.2 Errors in writing 14

2.2.1 Definition of errors 14

2.2.2 Types of errors in writing 14

2.3 Feedback to students’ writing 16

2.3.1 Definition of feedback 16

2.3.2 Types of feedback to students’ writing 16

2.3.3 Different ways of peer correction in writing 19

2.3.4 Guiding principles for effective peer written feedback 23

Chapter 3 METHODOLOGY 26

3.1 Research context 26

3.2 Participants 26

3.3 Materials 27

3.4 Procedures 28

CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 30

4.1 Results 30

4.1.1 English general test results 30

4.1.2 Questionnaires 33

4.1.3 Pre – test results 40

4.1.4 Post test results 46

4.1.4 Discussion 55

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION 56

5.1 Summary of findings 56

5.2 Implications for teaching 57

5.3 Limitations of the study 57

5.4 Recommendation for future study 62

5.5 Conclusion 62

REFERENCES 64 APPENDICES

LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1: The writing topics of sixteen units in Tieng Anh 11 27 Table 4.1 The mean and standard deviations of participants’ general results 32 Table 4.2 The mean and standard deviations of grammar errors of the pre-test for both groups 41 Table 4.3 The mean and standard deviations of lexical errors of the pre- test for both groups 42 Table 4.4 The mean and standard deviations of grammar and lexical errors of the pre -test for both groups 43 Table 4.5 The mean and standard deviations of pre test scores for both groups 46 Table 4.6 The mean and standard deviations of grammar errors of the post test for both groups 47 Table 4.7 The mean and standard deviations of lexical errors of the post test for both groups 49 Table 4.8 The comparison on grammar and lexical errors of the pre- test compared

to the post test for both groups 49 Table 4.9 The mean and standard deviations of decreasing in grammar and lexical mistakes of the post -test compared to the pre- test for both groups 52 Table 4.10 The mean and standard deviations of scores of the pre- test and the post- test for both groups 54

LIST OF FINGURES

Figure 4.1 The general test result of two groups 31

Figure 4.2 The percentage of the general result of two groups 31

Figure 4.3 Students’ preference towards English writing 33

Figure 4.4 Students’ attitude about peer correction 34

Figure 4.5 The frequency of using peer correction 34

Figure 4.6 Kind of feedback that students want to receive 35

Figure 4.7 View of students toward effectiveness of peer correction after the treatment 36

Figure 4.8 Students’ feedback toward benefits of peer correction 37

Figure 4.9 Students’ attitude when they correct their friends’ writings 38

Figure 4.10 Students’ attitude when their friends correct their writings 39

Figure 4.11 Number of grammar errors made in the pre-test of the treatment group and the control group 40

Figure 4.12 Number of lexical errors made in the pre-test of the treatment group and the control group 41

Figure 4.13 Number of grammar and lexical errors made in the pre-test of the treatment group and the control group 43

Figure 4.14 The scores in the writing pre-test in the treatment group and the control group 44

Figure 4.15 The percentage of the scores in the writing pre- test in the treatment group and the control group 45

Figure 4.16 Number of grammar errors made in the post-test of the treatment group and the control group 47

Figure 4.17 Number of lexical errors made in the post-test of the treatment group and the control group 48

Figure 4.18 The scores in the writing pre- test and the post -test in the treatment group and the control group 53

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

1 EFL: English as a Foreign Language

2 L1: First Language

3 L2: Second Language

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale

Writing is a vital skill for English as a foreign language (EFL) student; and for many reasons, writing is the most important skill to master With strengthened writing skills, EFL writer will make greater progress and attain greater development not only in English but also in all academic areas

Writing skill which includes language, private knowledge and skill, emotion and the interaction of personal opinion is difficult and challenging to learners in general and in Vietnam in particular Students need to find out the most appropriate words, correct word order, usage of the structure of the paragraphs, spelling and punctuation to express an idea in written form In Vietnam, there are many teachers

of English who even believe that teaching writing skill to EFL learners is more complex than teaching other communicative skills (Mazdayasna &Tahririan, 2001) Although language learners have to learn hard to have good compositions, they still have made a variety of errors or mistakes when writing Consequently, students do not usually feel confident when writing

To help learners avoid errors while writing, teachers tried to point out and correct errors in the students’ compositions However, “correcting written work is time-consuming” (Ur, 1999) and moreover, in Vietnam, the number of students in each class is quite large (normally 35 students), so correcting errors made by teachers for all the learners becomes more difficult

Bearing this in mind, it is essential to reform teacher-student feedback and to find a technique that helped students overcome this problem Applying of student-student approach can be step forward in solving these challenges

Peer correction is a technique where the students learn from their mistakes and provide feedback to their classmates and that helps learners realize their learning level as well as their demands for enhancement of writing ability In other words, peer feedback with its advantages can be a promising way used to encourage students to read and give comments and suggestions together for enrichment of their peers' writings before the final versions of their products are submitted to their teachers Brown (1994) and Gibbs (1994) have the same opinion that feedback is

one of the main factors in the process of English learning and teaching Many other researchers, for example, Paulus (1999), Min (2006) promote the idea that verbal and written feedback should be applied to foster writing skills

Currently, I am teaching English at Lam Son high school in Thanh Hoa where almost non-majored English students are from the countryside so for them English being treated an unimportant subject for many years and especially, writing skill is not a focus Moreover, in a class with a large number of students, the teacher is impossible to check and correct errors for all students Therefore, students

do not know what errors they often make This forms them bad habits in learning writing English Also, they become not confident and unmotivated in writing lessons because of lack of vocabulary and structure In addition, with Multiple-Choice Test Items and the use of traditional methods, both the teacher and learner mainly focus on grammar and vocabulary For the above reasons, the researcher decided to carry out the topic: An application of peer correction in 11th graders’ writing process The author hopes that the thesis would bring benefits to teachers, students and so on

1.2 Aims of the study

The study aims:

- to investigate the attitudes of the students towards peer correction in writing

- to avoid grammar and lexical errors in the 11th graders’ writing process at Lam Son high school

1.3 Research questions

1 What are the students’ attitudes towards peer correction?

2 Does peer feedback help students improve grammar and lexical errors in their writing process?

1.4 Scope of the study

The study was carried out with 70 students from two classes of grade 11 at Lam Son high school It only focused on the effect of peer correction to avoid grammar and lexical errors in students’ writing process and students' attitudes towards the peer correction Tieng Anh 11 course The researcher only focuses on grammar errors in verb tense or form; plural or possessive ending incorrect,

omitted, or unnecessary, subject-verb agreement errors; article or other determiner incorrect, omitted, or unnecessary and lexical errors in word choice, including preposition and pronoun errors; omitted words or phrases, unnecessary words or phrases

Hopefully, the findings of the study will reflect the actual situation and help the researcher find out effective approaches to teaching English writing, using peer correction

1.5 Organization of study

The thesis is divided into five chapters:

Chapter I: Introduction presents the basic information including rationale, aims, research questions, scope, and the organization of the thesis

Chapter II: Literature Review provides the previous studies about the writing skill and peer correction in writing teaching and some concepts as theoretical basis for the study that will be discussed

Chapter III: Methodology describes the participants, data collection instruments, data analysis methods as well as procedure to conduct the research

Chapter IV: Findings and discussions presents, analyzes and draws out the findings from the data collected basing on two research questions

Chapter V: Conclusion summarizes the main points presented in the study, pointing out the limitations of the research and suggestions for further studies on the topic Following this chapter are the References and Appendices

Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Writing skills

2.1.1 Definition of writing skills

Writing is one of the most essential skills in learning a new language It is a productive skill For Nunan (1989), “Writing is an extremely complex cognitive activity in which the writer is required to demonstrate communication by means of conventionally visible marks” Writing is defined in many ways, which show different viewpoints of the authors

According to the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (1989), writing is to

“make letters or other symbols on a surface (usually paper), especially with a pen

or pencil”

For Rivers (1968), writing refers to the expression of ideas in a systematic way to organize the graphic conventions of the language; the ultimate aim of a writer at this stage is to be able to express him in a polished literary form which requires the utilization of a special vocabulary and certain refinement structure

Similarly, White and Arndt (1991) take: “Writing is far from being a simple matter of transcribing language into written symbols: it is thinking process in its own right It is a permanent record, as a form of expression and as a means of communication.”

Of the four skills in English teaching- learning process, writing is considered rather difficult because it requires much accuracy in grammatical structures, punctuation and richness in the content, etc It is a complex process that allows students to explore thoughts and ideas, and make them visible and concrete

2.1.2 Importance of writing

It can be seen that it is not easy for the learners to achieve proficiency in writing It takes study and practice to develop this skill Hedge (2000) argues that writing is “a complex process which is neither easy nor spontaneous for many second language learners”.That definition is shared with Ur’s point of view (1996)

“Most people acquire the spoken language (at least their own mother tongue)

intuitively, whereas the written form is in most cases deliberately taught and learned”

In our life, writing is used to facilitate communication as letters, newspapers, advertisements; each of which carries out a specific purpose As Nunan (1991) points out, writing serves four main functions Firstly, it is used primarily for action such as the public signs on roads and stations, product labels and instructions on food or tools, recipes, maps, bills, etc Secondly, it is primarily for social contact as letters, postcards, greeting cards and personal correspondence Thirdly, writing provides the readers with information as newspapers and magazines, non-fiction books (textbooks, public notices, guidebooks, etc) Finally, written language entertains the readers with comic strips, fiction books, poetry and drama

In classroom, teaching and learning writing also play an important role White’s (1981) indicates a number of reasons why writing occupies a place in the language syllabus The first reason is that writing is the commonest way of examining students’ performance in English Consequently, students’ writing ability

is a key to examination success Second, in the eyes of both parents and students, writing helps them see what has been done and what has been achieved during the process of learning Furthermore, in classroom, writing may be used as one technique to help the lesson interesting In addition, teachers may use writing as a testing device to provide feedback on what students have learned Students’ writing can be the useful evidence of successes or failures in learning The last reason is that our writing will be judged by the readers in parts of style, content and logic This requires the writers to spend a great deal of care and thought on the process of writing

According to Raimes (1983), writing also helps students learn Writing reinforces the grammatical structures, idioms and vocabulary that students have learned Moreover, when students write, they have chances to go beyond what they have just learned to say They can discover the language Finally, in the process of writing, students necessarily become involved with new language and the effort to express ideas The constant use of eye, hand and brain helps reinforce learning

With all the roles mentioned above, we can see that writing is an important skill in teaching and learning languages at any levels

2.1.3 Writing in a second language

When writing in a foreign language, students should try to think and write directly in that language They should not translate from a first draft It is best not to use a dictionary too much in the early stages of writing It is fine that words are used in their first language if they get a draft written more quickly They have to expect to write everything correctly the first time, but write and re-write as much as necessary Finally, students should try to get constructive feedback from others (their teacher, fellow students, native speakers) to improve L2 writers, however, are

in the process of acquiring these conventions and so they often need more instruction about the language itself Limited knowledge of vocabulary, language structure, and content can inhibit a L2 writer's performance In addition, the models

do not account for growing language proficiency, which is a vital element of L2 writing development

In L2 writing, transfer can be considered both as a learning device and as a strategy to solve communication problems When learners attempt to compose a written piece, they might use transfer as a tool to learn or as a means to convey their meaning; they may use it to formulate hypotheses about target language and to test those hypotheses Many of the composing strategies are the same in the L1 and the L2, and thus, L2 learners may be able to transfer those from their L1 to their L2 writing For example, learners who have already learned how to plan, develop ideas, revise, and edit their writing in their L1 may use the same strategies when they are composing in their L2 (Cumming, 1990) Of course, for such composing strategies

to be successfully carried over to the L2, L2 learners are required to have an adequate level of proficiency in the target language Lower-level proficiency learners may not be able to successfully transfer such L1-based strategies because they have not yet reached a level of linguistic knowledge where they can linguistically compose a text in the target language (Berman, 1994) L2 learners may also resort to their L1 to compensate for their deficiencies in the L2 knowledge As adult learners who are cognitively mature, they may have complex

ideas to convey in their writings In such cases, shortage of the target language knowledge may push them to rely on the L1 to express those ideas For these learners, reliance on the L1 can have both positive and negative consequences Errors might occur if the learner inappropriately transfers a linguistic form from one language to the other or if the learner is misled by the partial similarities between the two languages As Eckman (1977) pointed out, there are some language features, such as unmarked features, which are more prone to be transferred However, transferability of language forms may not always be predicted based on their linguistic features There may also be psychological factors such as the learner’s perception of the distance between the L1 and the L2 that may play a role

in the transfer of a linguistic item from one language to the other (Kellerman, 1983)

In Addition, L1 can be used as a tool not only to compose but also to simplify the complexity of the L2 writing task (Ringbom, 1987) L2 writers, for example, may make use of their native language when planning and organizing their essay by talking to themselves in their L1 or by getting engaged in various forms of L1 private speech The use of the L1 in such cases can make the task more manageable and may consequently have beneficial effects on the learners’ writing product

The ability to write well is not a naturally acquired skill; it is usually learned

or culturally transmitted as a set of practices in formal instructional settings or other environments Writing skills must be practiced and learned through experience Writing also involves composing, which implies the ability either to tell or retell pieces of information in the form of narratives or description, or to transform information into new texts, as in expository or argumentative writing Perhaps it is best viewed as a continuum of activities that range from the more mechanical or formal aspects of "writing down" on the one end, to the more complex act of composing on the other end (Omaggio Hadley, 1993) It is undoubtedly the act of composing, though, which can create problems for students, especially for those writing in a second language (L2) in academic contexts Formulating new ideas can

be difficult because it involves transforming or reworking information, which is much more complex than writing as telling By putting together concepts and solving problems, the writer engages in "a two-way interaction between

continuously developing knowledge and continuously developing text" (Bereiter & Scardamalia, 1987) Indeed, academic writing requires conscious effort and practice

in composing, developing, and analyzing ideas Compared to students writing in their native language (L1), however, students writing in their L2 have to also acquire proficiency in the use of the language as well as writing strategies, techniques and skills They might also have to deal with instructors and later, faculty members, who may or may not get beyond their language problems when evaluating their work Although a certain amount of consciousness-raising on the part of the readers may be warranted, students want to write close to error-free texts and they enter language courses with the expectations of becoming more proficient writers in the L2

L2 students generally want more teacher involvement and guidance, especially at the revision stage Consequently, in order to provide effective pedagogy, L2 writing instructors need to understand the social and cognitive factors involved in the process of second language acquisition and error in writing because these factors have a salient effect on L2 writing development

2.1.4 English writing process

Lannon(1989) claims that writing is a process delivering meaningful messages and including its own specific goal This process asks students to work hard instead of regarding it as an uncomplicated act (Byrne, 1988) However, other than speaking, writing requires a structured and logical presentation This means writers need to arrange their ideas logically and systematically There have been different approaches to teaching writing EFL classes but two most popular ones are product approach and process one Product approach can be the traditional method

of writing which stresses the final outcome of the writing process as well as grammar, usage, form and mechanics of the composition Students are often asked

to write a similar paragraph basing on the model and using new taught structures, vocabularies or any aspects of language After that, the teacher will correct students' writings or “feedback in the class commonly means the correction of the students' language errors” (Mazdayasna &Tahririan, 2001) Therefore, students find difficult

to know why and how they made errors to avoid repeating them on the next tasks

Though thanks to this method students can sometimes reject errors (Tribble, 1996),

it does not encourage students create in writing at all, “the use of language is manipulate of fixed patterns; the patterns are learned by imitation” (Pincas, 1962)

In opposition to the product approach, many researchers and educators as well as language teachers think that they should pay attention to students' writing process instead of only their final writing version (Paige Way, Joiner and Seaman, 2000) Process writing can contain stages such as prewriting, writing, revising and rewriting or editing However, Reid (1993) supplement this process with three more stages, namely, responding, evaluating and post-writing, in which peer feedback is focused more in responding

 Prewriting: something done before drafting such as choosing a topic, brainstorming, collecting data, organizing (In this stage, students need to brainstorm their mind to generate as many ideas as possible using mind mapping or outlining)

 Composing / drafting: actually writing (In this stage, students start writing their essays referring to the outline written in stage one.)

 Revising: selecting organization, structures, edition or collection word (In this stage, students have to revise their words, structures and write all components

 Evaluating: receiving marks or scores from the teachers (As a result of the previous discussion in stage five, the teacher gives marks for each essay.)

 Post-writing: any activities happened after completing rewriting and getting assessment (The teacher sets out some activities (role, play …)for the students after they have cured their writing)

Cresswell (2000) claims that requiring students to exchange their writing draft is an effective way to foster their learning autonomy and help them become

alert reader when proofreading their partners' written tasks As the result, they also have critical thinking when they read their own paper to find and correct themselves their mistakes in those, i.e their writing ability can be developed (Markino, 1993)

It is necessary to allow students to have more time to write and get feedback from their teachers and classmates, and then rewrite the drafts so that they can enable reader to understand their idea expressed on the paper better (Frankenberg-Garcia, 1999)

2.1.5 Principles for teaching the writing skill

According to Hochman and Wexler (2017), there are six principles in writing

- Explicit instruction starting young: students need to be taught how the conventions of written language differ from those of spoken language, communicating with much more precision and clarity, anticipating what the reader needs to know and understand, and using punctuation and key words to indicate nuances in meaning, connections, and breaks in the narrative It is also important that they avoid errors in spelling and grammar will distract readers All this needs to begin in the early elementary grades, and although it is important that students enjoy writing and get to use it as a means of self-expression, there should be plenty

of explicit instruction, practice, and feedback to hone skills

- Sentences as the building blocks: students need to do plenty of level writing in which they explain, paraphrase, or summarize sophisticated content, use correct spelling and grammar, and get feedback on form and content Then they can move on to paragraphs and essays

sentence Writing embedded in curriculum content: to maximize the benefits of writing instruction, say Hochman and Wexler, teachers need to go beyond personal narrative assignments like arguing the pros and cons of school uniforms and speculating on what it is like to be famous And all teachers should see themselves

as teachers of writing, even if it is only a 5-15 minute do-now activity, check for understanding, or exit ticket

- Curriculum content as a driver of writing rigor: Hochman and Wexler suggest writing activities that build writing skills and get students thinking deeply

about subject matter One sentence-level exercise is for students to complete a sentence stem adding because, but and so

- Grammar taught in the context of writing: for many students, learning parts

of speech and diagramming sentences just adds to the confusion, takes valuable cognitive real estate, and does not carry over to their own writing “But that does not mean teachers cannot, or should not, teach grammar” One particularly helpful exercise is sentence combining, which students find engaging and gets at many of the same skills as dry grammar instruction

- Planning and revising: a planning template helps students think through the main idea or theme, the points they will make, and the order in which they will make them This helps them think through what additional information they need, connect ideas or claims with relevant details or evidence, and avoid irrelevant information and repetition Having jotted this outline, writing a first draft is quite straightforward Then comes revising, which is where students apply what they have learned in sentence-level exercises to insert transition words, vary sentence structure, and use subordinating conjunctions, appositives

2.1.6 Some activities in writing

2.1.6.1 Pre-writing activities

Dictation

There are many ways to conduct dictation Teacher can read a piece of

humorous stories for students to write or play “whisper” game One group whisper the sentences and the others will write the whole sentences

Story Rewriting

Teacher reads a story for students to draw a picture or write some main notes After that, students write the story based on the written information or pictures This activity is very simple but it is very powerful

Visualization

Teacher describes a scene for some students while they have to close their eyes Then students write to describe the picture they have imagined for the

classmates to check

Pop Song Rewrite

Teacher plays a familiar song with some gaps Students listen and complete the song Higher level students can write with more words missing

Commercials or short videos, weather reports

Students watch a TV commercial or watch a short video Then, they write comments basing on the video or write their own script based on the commercial

Journals / Reflection / Diaries

This type is suitable for free writing Students can write some important events in their life or students can write at the end of the day and record their

thoughts about the lesson or their own learning

Describe and guess

Students think of a person / a place or a thing They write a description of them / it and they are read out and others students guess

Jokes and riddles are also effective for this Students write out a joke or riddle they know and then they are read and other students try to guess the punch line

Sentence Chains

Teacher writes a word on the board and then students continue writing out words that follow using the last letters Students can be divided into 4 groups and the more words they write, the more points they get

2.1.6.2 Controlled writing activities

Timelines

Use a timeline to describe events Then students write a narrative basing on

the time line It is best activity for the teacher to teach history or someone’s biology

Notes

Students are given notes (the classic example is a shopping list but it might

be a list of zoo animals / household items etc…) and then asked to write something using all the noted words This usually focuses on sequence (transitions) or location (prepositions)

Grammar Poems

Grammar poems are short poems about a topic that students complete using various grammar prompts This form of guided writing is very effective and helps students notice various syntactical elements of the language

Surveys / Reports

Students have a survey question or a questionnaire They walk around the class recording information After, instead of reporting to the class orally, they can write up the report about their findings

Reported Speech

Do any speaking activity or set of conversation questions Afterwards, students report back by writing using reported speech

2.1.6.3 Free writing activities

Introducing each other

Students can interview another classmate using a series of questions / key words given by the teacher After the interview of each other is over, students can write out a biography of their partner and others can read them in a class booklet

Email / messaging / chat / social networking

This is an excellent way to get students speaking by writing Set up a social networking system or a messaging / emailing system for the students They can communicate and chat there using an “English only” policy Use videos / pictures like in class to promote student discussion and communication

Class / School English newspaper or magazine

Students can gain valuable skills by meeting and designing a school English newsletter Give each student a role (photographer, gossip / news / sports / editor in chief / copy editor etc…) and see what they can do

As what has been said earlier, the context will dictate the proper usage

‘Error’ and ‘mistake’ fall into the same category Many say that ‘error’ is more severe It is due to miscalculation and wrong judgment, that ‘mistake’, on the other hand, is less in gravity, as people normally make mistakes However, there are also many people who will argue with this dissection

It is highly acceptable to use ‘error’ in formal or technical contexts In scientific or highly technical terms, the word ‘error’ is more suitable In the world

of computing and programming, ‘error’ is the more fitting term to indicate a mistake, or fault, particularly in coding and processes

‘Mistake’, on the other hand, is used more in casual English conversation Though

‘error’ may still be used in exchange, it will often sound unnatural, or technical else 2.2.2 Types of errors in writing

In learning foreign languages, errors are an inevitable part especially in the writing process and neither the teacher nor the students should become fixated on them It is useful for both, however, to have an understanding of the variety of typical errors in written English, since these are the most amenable to correction

It is important to understand what types and classifications of errors are usually made by ESL learners and how often they are made in order to provide the teaching instruction for them Ellis (1985) stated that considering whether sentences are “overtly idiosyncratic” or “covertly idiosyncratic” is important Kim (1998) noted that Korean high school students showed problems with determiners, especially articles as the most common error type, followed by awkward

expressions Cha (2004) verified and supported Kim’s findings with his university students, stating that they have the same problem Other errors than articles such as over generalization, ignorance of rule restrictions, incomplete application of rules and the use of false hypotheses were noted in Ryoo’s (1992) study Corder(1967) and Laroche(1983) asserted that error analysis helps students figure out how far towards the goal the learner has progressed and what remains to learn, reasoning the importance of error analysis There are some critical views on error analysis Brown (2000) indicated a major shortcoming as disregard of the learning process Schachter(1974) and James(1998) viewed another limitation of error analysis as strategy of avoidance

Errors found in learners’ pieces of writing are analyzed and categorized into various categories

Errors are categorized according to their features by Dulay, Burt and Krashen (1982) into six different categories: omission of grammatical morphemes, double marking of semantic features, use of irregular rules, use of wrong word forms, alternating use of two or more forms, and disordering

In the late 1990s, James (1988) proposes five categories or errors which include grammatical errors (adjectives, adverbs, articles, nouns, possession, pronouns, prepositions and verbs), substance errors (capitalization, punctuation and spelling), lexical errors (word formation and word selection), syntactic errors (coordination/subordination, sentence structure and ordering), and semantic errors (ambiguous communication and miscommunication)

In another study by Hengwichikul (2006), errors were analyzed at the sentential level All of the errors were classified as subject-verb agreement, tenses, parts of speech, participial phrases, relative clauses, passive voice, parallel structure, punctuation, run-ons and fragments

Likewise, Runkati (2013) categorized the errors found in her study into two main types The former type dealt with errors at the sentential level which were fragments, run-ons, subject-verb agreement, word order, tenses, capital letters and punctuation The latter one was errors at the word level, such as articles, preposition, word choices, nouns and numbers

As the present study focused on errors in English sentences, the analysis or errors found at the sentential level and the word level was adopted The one regarding sentential level errors included fragments, subject-verb agreement, word orders, tenses, capitalization and punctuation The other concerning errors at the word level were articles, prepositions, word choices, nouns, pronouns and verbs Other kinds of analysis, for example, addition and omission were also referred to as sub-categories of the sentential level errors and the word level errors

2.3 Feedback to students’ writing

2.3.1 Definition of feedback

According to Dulay, Burt and Krashen, 1982: 34, “Feedback generally refers

to the listener’s or Reader’s response given to the learner’speech or writing” Feedback is information about the gap between the actual level and the reference level of a system parameter which is used to alter the gap in some way The above definition of feedback emphasizes three crucial points:

- The focus of feedback may be any system parameter: input, process, or put

our The necessary conditions for feedback are the existence of data in the reference level of the parameter, data on the actual level of the parameter, and a mechanism for comparing the two to generate information about the gap between the two levels There cannot be any feedback if any one of the three (data on the reference level, data on the actual level, mechanism for comparing) is absent

- The information on the gap between the actual level and the reference level

is feedback only when it is used to alter the gap If the information is stored in memory it is not feedback

2.3.2 Types of feedback to students’ writing

2.3.2.1 Teacher’s feedback

Written teacher feedback plays an important role in improving students’ writing skills Not only does it provide a valuable opportunity for individualized, text-based, contextualized instruction from teachers (Ferris, 2001), but also it is likely to be taken seriously by students than feedback given to groups of students (Hattie, 2012) Especially for second or foreign language writing, research has

found that both teachers and students hold that teacher feedback on student writing

is a critical part of writing instruction and can have a great influence on student writing (Ferris & Hedgcock, 2014; Leki, 1990)

Research on teacher feedback has been exploring about its different aspects, such as its description and its effects, and recently the survey from students’ perspectives on teacher feedback has emerged as one of the main aspects (Ferris & Hedgcock, 2014) It indicates the importance of students’ views in investigating about teacher feedback What do students need and pay attention to influence the impact written teacher feedback have on students Most studies on students’ reactions to teacher feedback find out that it may reduce students’ motivation if they

do not receive what they expect from teachers (Ferris, 2003) Only if students read and take seriously teacher feedback can teacher feedback be successful in helping students improve their writing (Ferris, 1995) Therefore, many scholars have suggested that how students receive feedback on their writing and their preferences for feedback should be carefully considered, understood and acknowledged by teachers

2.3.2.2 Self-editing

According to Marthen (2010) that self assessments a process during which students reflect on the quality of their work, compare it to explicitly stated criteria, judge how well their work reflect the criteria and make appropriate revisions Furthermore, Marthen defined that self assessment is formative process during which students recognize the strength and weaknesses in their work and take to be a good writing, the demand to conduct self correction is an alternative to understand the errors and mistakes that have to be corrected in order to get high score when it is evaluated In the context of teaching and learning writing skill at the university, students are given a test as an evaluation of their progress in the form of formative test Having corrected by a lecturer, students usually get a feedback from the lecturer in order students know how to self edit for their writing such as the inaccuracies text, contents, organization, and mechanics By understanding the technique of self correction, students are capable enough of making the deliberate efforts and be responsible of their writing The effect of doing this technique, students are able to be independent writer (Kasule &Lunga , 2010) Students also

edit their writing themselves thoroughly about level errors, revise essay, sentence fragment, run on sentence, parallelism, and mixed structures, misuse of the comma, omission and repetition Therefore, the writer suggest that the implementing of self editing technique of teaching writing descriptive composition may involve writing paragraph draft, doing self editing technique, revising, and discussing the student difficulties It is clear that self editing technique encourages students to become independent learners and can increase their motivation Student can become better learner when they engage in deliberate thought about what they are learning and how they are learning it

2.3.2.3 Peer correction

Peer correction is a classroom technique where learners correct each other, rather than the teacher doing this In other words, peer correction is a method of correcting work where other students in the class correct mistakes rather than having the teacher correct everything

Like cooperative learning, peer correction is referred to by many names such as peer response, peer editing, peer reviewing and peer evaluation (Keh, 1990) Peer feedback, as defined by Richard et al (1992) is an activity in the revising stage of writing in which students receive feedback about their writing from other students-their peers Typically students work in pairs or small groups, read each other’s compositions and ask questions or give comments or suggestions Through peer correction, synonymous with self - correction, students can be more independent from their teachers’ judgment and correction In addition, when students work together to correct each other’s work, the discussion helps each

of them have chance to learn from his or her own errors Two heads are better than one And the more students are involved in correction, the more they have to think about the language used in the classroom (Edge, 1989) He also showed four advantages of peer correction as follows Firstly, when a learner makes an error and another corrects it, both of them are involved in listening to and thinking about the language Secondly, when a teacher encourages learners to correct each other’s errors, the teacher gets a lot of important information about the learners’ ability Thirdly, the learners become used to the idea what they can learn from each other So, peer correction helps learners cooperate and makes them less dependent on their

teacher Fourthly, if learners get used to the idea if peer correction without hurt each other’ feelings, they will be able to help each other learn when they work in pairs or groups, when the teacher cannot hear what is said

Harmer (2005) establishes that this technique is a valuable element in the writing process It encourages students to work collaboratively and reduces the students’ reluctance in the editing process On the other hand, the students develop the skill of revising and checking their own process of learning Even though this is

an effective process, it needs the teachers’ feedback in order to know about the focus and the way they checked a classmates’ work

However, teacher feedback has more influences on students’ writings because students tend to respect and respond more to their teacher’s feedback rather than their peers’ feedback, and they often take peer feedback for granted so that they do not make corrections based on it Some students lack ability to give peer feedback owing

to their insufficient knowledge Therefore, not much improvement can be expected from peer feedback compared to teacher feedback

In conclusion, peer correction can also be a way to help disadvantaged or special students Students who are shy do not feel confident to participate or produce written texts because they are afraid of making mistakes Peer correction helps students overcome difficulties, the advanced students helping the weak ones who sometimes understand better a classmate’s explanation than a teacher’s

2.3.3 Different ways of peer correction in writing

As argued by Keh (1990) and Mangeldorf (1992), writing is the process in which different ways of feedback such as written comments, talking about the paper and using the checklist could be carried out According to Shrum & Glisan (2000), responding to writing simply used to mean that the teacher correct students’ errors

in grammar, vocabulary, and typical types of mistakes However, this narrow view

of correction has been expanded in recent years because we can consider the effect that various kinds of feedback have on improving the quality of students’ written work Obviously, the understanding of different ways of giving feedback to students’ writing will help teachers make the right decision about which kind of feedback to apply in certain teaching situation

2.3.3.1 Written comments

Written comments mean students respond by writing down their notes or ideas on their peers’ writings Normally, written comments that take the form of a paraphrase of ideas expressed, praise, questions or suggestions are more productive than an end comment like “Only fair”, “Good”, or “Need more work”, etc

Feedback may not always be sufficient and effective if they are too short and uniformed (Shrum and Glisan, 2000) Students preferred comments referring to specific points in their writing, rather than a list of general comments at the end (Todd; Mills; Palard & Khamcharoen, 2001)

To make the comments more valuable to students’ written papers, Cohen (1997) classifies students into two kinds as “good learners” and “poor learners” with respects to their use of feedback He discovers that “good learners” pays greater attention to comments dealing with vocabulary, grammar, and mechanics than those who report being “poor learners”

In order to avoid ineffective comments, writers should write comments from three different points of view, as a reader, as a teacher and as a grammarian (Keh, 1990) Firstly, a reader’s comments to the writer can have the content such as “good point” or “I agree” Then, from a writing commentator’s point of view, it should be commented on the confusion or the illogical ideas Finally, the comment from the view of a grammarian may refer to grammatical mistakes such as tense choice Raimes (1983) suggests the ways to give comments to students’ papers by paraphrasing ideas, praising, questioning or giving suggestions He also points out

“noticing and praising whatever students does well improves writing more than any kind of or amount of correction of what he does badly”

The steps to give the comments to students’ written papers are described by Raimes (1983) as followed

- The first thing is to read the paper through then to note what students have done well before writing anything on it

- Then note what students have done well from organizing ideas to using apostrophe correctly

He argues that after students receive the praise of the strengths, they then need to know what to do to improve the piece of writing A suggestion to “Revise” tells nothing Suggestions must be specific, giving directions that the students can follow, step by step

Besides, he also suggests questions be useful if commentators want to lead students to consider other options without necessarily suggesting those options themselves Questions are valuable to direct a student’s attention to unclear content

or organization or insufficient details Questions are useful recommendations for revision

Keh (1990) also suggests six useful recommendations for writing comments:

1 connect comments to lesson objectives (vocabulary)

2 note improvements: “good”, plus reasons why,

3 refer to a specific problem, plus strategy for revision

4 write questions with enough information for students to answer

5 write summative comment a strengths and weaknesses

6 ask “honest” questions as a reader to write rather than statements that assume too much about the writer’s intention/meaning

2.3.3.2 Talking about the paper

According to Raimes (1984), “talking about the paper” means students discuss their peer’ papers with each other to find out what the other is trying to say

in his writing It also means “peer review” where students read their peers’ written papers in order to make suggestions for revision (Mangelsdorf, 1992) It can be conducted after students write their drafts Then, they exchange their writings, reading or listening to a peer’s draft and commenting on what they find most interesting, what they want to know more about, where they are confused and so on The writers then use this feedback to decide how to revise their writing

Although “talking about the paper” can be time-consuming, a talk of just a few minutes can be productive During a discussion, students can take notes of what the other student says (Raimes, 1984) The student is then surprised at the ideas produced in a few minutes The written notes they can be used as basis for further rewriting activities

Mangelsdorf (1992) allows student to collaborate in pairs on a student’s essay This way they can decide together what comments to give and how to express them By working together, students often have more exact and better comments because they can discuss ideas with each other Collaboration also enables students to feel more confident about the feedback they are giving their classmates (Mangelsdorf, 1992)

2.3.3.3 Using checklists

One way to help students approach the feedback task is to provide them with

a set of yes/no questions to be answered while they read and analyze each other’s paper This document, or checklist, according to Raimes (1983) “is a very useful tool as a starting point for training as it directs the students’ attention to the elements which should be focused on during peer feedback sessions”

Raimes (1983) also says that a checklist should be short and it should be used first by the student to check a piece of writing then by a teacher to evaluate it

In each writing assignment, a new checklist can be devised to be suitable to the features of one particular writing task as well as the objective of the lesson

Keh (1990) suggests the guidelines for the feedback sessions should begin as very structured checklists, and then be less structured; finally, there are no guidelines He also says that the guidelines are based on lesson objectives and use vocabulary from readings and discussions Actually, in each writing assignment, a new checklist can be devised to be suitable to the critical features of one particular task For example, a checklist can focus attention on form and grammar, without being overwhelming in its demands or a checklist can be used to note only success with items that have been taught in class

The checklist is used to identify any problems in the writing and is designed

to give the writer some ideas about areas which should be improved The checklist can contain questions about manuscript form, instructions about grammar, tasks to analyze content and organization Students can use the checklist to answer questions concerning the draft’s topic, unity, development, focus and whatever the teacher wants to emphasize for that lesson

Hedge (2000) shows a coding system for correcting written work :

2.3.4 Guiding principles for effective peer written feedback

Conffin et al.(2003) states that good feedback includes “positive comments”,

“criticism” and “suggestions for improvements” Therefore, this part presents guiding principles teachers can utilize in their own planning and student training for effective peer written feedback as the key to making peer written feedback a welcome component in writing classrooms lies in teacher planning and student training Therefore, the guiding principles given below as Hansen and Liu (2005) state emphasize three stages; before peer written feedback, during peer written feedback and after peer written feedback

2.3.4.1 Before peer written feedback

Soares (2008) believes that simply asking students to work in pairs exchanging ideas about their papers is no guarantee that the activity will achieve its goals in helping students to revise their writing For peer written feedback to be useful in writing classes, it is essential to train students how to conduct a successful peer feedback session

First, the teacher can use the checklist as “a starting point for training” (Raimes, 1983) The checklist, as is mentioned above, includes a set of yes/no questions to be answered concerning different aspects of the paragraph The teacher can introduce a model checklist to students and go through each item on the list discussing its content to ensure that everybody understands what each of the questions aims at Next, students can receive a sample text to be analyzed individually As the learners go through the checklist, they should write down their answers to each question, identifying in the text the elements which support their opinion

Secondly, the teacher can suggest the ways how to deal with the mistakes in their peers’ writing One way of dealing with the mistakes as Haswell (1983) suggests is that the mistakes should be indicated only by a cross in the margins alongside the lines in which they occur In this way, nothing is underlined and no symbols are used to point students in the right direction This helps develop students’ ability of self correction as they have to find out where the mistakes are and then correct the mistakes themselves However, the most widely-used means of accomplishing this as Hyland (1990) notes is to use a set of symbols written in the margins or above the mistakes to guide the students to their mistakes and indicate the kind of mistakes made The teacher needs to make sure that all the students are familiar with the symbols used in the class After indicating the mistakes, the students are encouraged to provide suggestions that they think are correct to help their peers improve the mistakes

Besides, the teacher can provide students with some useful expressions that they can use to give comments on their peers’ writings (Hansen and Liu, 2005) For example, if a point is not clear, or if the reader has perceived that the writer has made an error, rather than saying “This is wrong”, the reader can soften the expression by saying “I am not sure if this is right”, or “Could you explain what you wanted to say here?” The teacher can also direct students how to ask the specific questions or to look for specific issues that are revision-oriented so that there is a meaningful discussion about the content, rhetoric, or grammar of the paper Besides, teachers can provide models by giving their own comments about some common

problems of a sample paper to help students know what to look for (Hasen and Liu, 2005)

2.3.4.2 During peer written feedback

First, the teacher can randomly pair the students (Jacobs, 1989) or teachers can randomly form groups (Rollison, 2005) Then, the teachers ask students to swap paragraphs and read the paragraphs silently, taking notes based on the checklist In this stage, teachers need to provide students with clear criteria to use when revising each other’s work depending on the focus of the lesson In addition, teachers should monitor students or group progress, to provide support, and to remind students of appropriate linguistic expressions (Hasen ans Liu, 2005)

2.3.4.3 After peer written feedback

Teachers have students review their writings based on the feedback they received from their peers This activity is probably necessary as students may find the weaknesses but they are uncertain about the way to improve them (Mangelsdorf, 1992) The reader can discuss with the writer his/her answers to the questions on the list At this point, it is important to notice that there should be negotiation between the reader and the writer as they exchange opinions on the text and that they are free

to agree or disagree with what is said At this stage, the teacher can also provide some questions to guide the students to discuss

Chapter 3 METHODOLOGY This chapter presents a detailed description of how the research was carried out including the research context, research questions, participants, material, and procedures

3.1 Research context

The study was conducted at a high school in Thanh Hoa province There are

33 classes with the total number of more than 1.000 students and 11th grade students make up 11 classes These students’ English proficiency is, on average, not very high even though they have learnt English for at least seven years Writing is a rather difficult skill for them, and their most common problem with this skill is that they cannot find out the most appropriate word, correct word order, use of the structure of the paragraphs, spelling and punctuation to express an idea in written form Besides, their teachers complained that they were word-by-word writers and, consequently, write at very low rates

At school, the students worked with English 11 (Tieng Anh 11), which is the second of a three-level English language set of textbooks for the Vietnamese upper secondary school It is theme-based curriculum approved by the Ministry of Education and Training under learner – centered and communicative approach The aim of the textbook is to develop students’ listening, speaking, reading and writing skills with a focus on communicative competence

3.2 Participants

With the main method is experimental research, the participants are the students in two randomly selected classes to be the participants They are both male and female This study is carried out with seventy 11th graders at Lam Son high school All of them are about 16-17 years old and had experience of 4 years learning English at secondary schools They are divided into two groups: the treatment group and the control group All of the participants have the same educational and language background and they all have already obtained basic knowledge of English including basic structures and common vocabulary

3.3 Materials

The study is composed of three tests: general test, pre-test and post-test The general test includes grammar, listening skill, writing skill and reading skill at level B1 which is designed by University of Cambridge This test aims at measuring the level of participants to know whether they have the same level

The pre-test and the post-test are created with the similar topics, formats as well as difficulties The tests were meant to evaluate students’ writing accuracy and fluency They are taken to make sure that the participants had reached the desired level of their writings

The survey questionnaires included pre-task survey questionnaires and task questionnaires In the pre-task questionnaire, question one and were made to know students’ preference toward English writing and their attitude about peer correction Questions three was about the frequency of using correction Question four was meant to know kind of feedback students want to receive

post-In the post-task questionnaire, question one and two were designed to know their feedback about the effectiveness of peer correction Question three and four was for their attitude about peer correction The data of the survey questionnaires will be analyzed based on this target population

Furthermore, the researcher follows eight writing lessons in the syllabus “Tieng Anh 11” of the second semester to apply in experimental teaching process Eight teaching lesson plans are designed for treatment group and 8 ones for control group

In the experiment, the group which serves as the treatment group receives peer correction in their writings whereas the control group receives no treatment Here are topics of 16 lessons in textbook “Tieng Anh 11”

Table 3.1: The writing topics of sixteen units in Tieng Anh 11

2 Writing a personal letter to describe a past experience

3 Writing an informal letter of invitation

4 Writing an formal letter expressing gratitude

5 Describing information in a table

6 Writing a letter of reply

7 Interpreting statistics on population from a chart

8 Describing a celebration’s activities

2

9 Writing a formal letter to express satisfaction or

dissatisfaction

10 Describing a location

11 Describing information from a chart

12 Describing the preparations for the coming Asian Games

13 Writing about a collection

14 Describing a camping holiday

15 Writing a biography

16 Writing a report on a man-made place

In each semester, students have to take 5 tests: one oral test, one 15-minute test, two 45- minute tests and an end – of - semester test All of the tests in the curriculum are usually meant to reading, writing and grammar The materials used

in the research were eight lessons from the syllabus of Tieng Anh 11, which is from unit 9 to unit 16 in class book

3.4 Procedures

Before the treatment, 70 participants have to take a general English test which its aim was in order to make sure that they achieved the same level of English proficiency The test lasted forty-five minutes including four parts with 25 questions Then, the author implemented survey based on designed questions to explore the students’ opinions about the peer correction Information was collected and

analyzed under qualitative approach The pre-questionnaire was a useful way of gaining insight on the attitudes of the students toward writing skill and the peer correction The survey questionnaire was designed to find out the students’ attitudes towards peer correction 35 copies of a questionnaire were given to 35 students of experimental class who agreed to answer the questionnaire The questionnaire for students is in English so as to make sure that there is no misunderstanding The survey questionnaire is shown in Appendices D, E

After questionnaires, the researcher conducted pre-treatment test on writing The purpose of the pre-treatment test is to investigate level of students before teacher’s observation and carrying out a research in teaching English

The participants were randomly divided into two groups One group served peer correction in the writing lesson and the other did not After 8 weeks of using frequently the peer correction in teaching English, the teacher conducted another test, in which use other writing but the same aspects to evaluation as above to give students scores

The pre-treatment test and the post-treatment test were created with the similar level as well as difficulties The tests were used to evaluate students’ writing skill They were taken to make sure that the participants had reached the desired level of their writings

Then the teacher started to gather all the data and computerize the scores obtained from the pre and post-treatment test

CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 4.1 Results

This chapter presents and discusses all results from the general English test and the pre- treatment test and post-treatment test in the experimental process of the treatment group and the control group as well as analyzes the data of the questionnaires It begins with the rationale of the general English test and their results, then processes with the results of the tests in the treatment process

4.1.1 General English test results

Before the treatment, a general English test was given to two groups in order that the students in the groups achieved similar level of English proficiency This test was taken from University of Cambridge with B1 level There are twenty five questions with a writing task One mark for a right answer The total mark for the general test is 10 Initially, the total participants taking part in the general test in two classes were 80

Analyzing the general English test result, the researcher found that there were four students in group 1, one student in group 2 who marked 10 points and two student s in group 1, three students in group 2 scored 2 points Hence, the researcher did not choose them in this experiment process In order to choose two groups that had similar level of English proficiency, the researcher chose only 70 students from 2 classes The researcher chose a class named group 1 and another class named group 2 The table below only shows the general test result of 70 students