VIETNAM VIETNAMNATIONAL NATIONALUNIVERSITY, UNIVERSITY,HANOI HANOI UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITYOF OFLANGUAGES LANGUAGESAND ANDINTERNATIONAL INTERNATIONALSTUDIES STUDIES FACULTY FACULTYOF OFPOST-GRADUATE POST-GRADUATESTUDIES STUDIES PHẠM PHẠMTHỊ THỊBÍCH BÍCHNGỌC NGỌC LINGUISTIC LINGUISTICERRORS ERRORSIN INWRITING WRITINGAAPARAGRAPH PARAGRAPHOF 10TH OF10 TH FORM FORM STUDENTS STUDENTSAT ATNGUYEN NGUYENTRAI TRAIHIGH HIGHSCHOOL SCHOOLIN INHAI HAIPHONG PHONGANDAND SOME SOMESOLUTIONS SOLUTIONS (NHỮNG LỖI VỀ NGÔN NGỮ KHI VIẾT ĐOẠN VĂN CỦA HỌC SINH LỚP 10 TRƯỜNG THPT NGUYỄN TRÃI – HẢI PHÒNG VÀ MỘT SỐ BIỆN PHÁP KHẮC PHỤC) (NHỮNG LỖI VỀ NGÔN NGỮ KHI VIẾT ĐOẠN VĂN CỦA HỌC SINH LỚP 10 TRƯỜNG THPT NGUYỄN TRÃI – HẢI PHÒNG VÀ MỘT SỐ BIỆN PHÁP M. KHẮC MINORPHỤC) THESIS M. MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.10 Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.10 HANOI - 2012 HANOI - 2012 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES PHẠM THỊ BÍCH NGỌC LINGUISTIC ERRORS IN WRITING A PARAGRAPH OF 10TH FORM STUDENTS AT NGUYEN TRAI HIGH SCHOOL IN HAI PHONG AND SOME SOLUTIONS (NHỮNG LỖI VỀ NGÔN NGỮ KHI VIẾT ĐOẠN VĂN CỦA HỌC SINH LỚP 10 TRƯỜNG THPT NGUYỄN TRÃI – HẢI PHÒNG VÀ MỘT SỐ BIỆN PHÁP KHẮC PHỤC) M. MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.
Supervisor: Cao Thúy Hồng, M. HANOI - 2012 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENT Page PART I: INTRODUCTION 1. Objectives of the study 2 3. Scope of the study 2 5.
Method of the study 2 6. Organization of the study 2 PART II: DEVELOPMENT Chapter I: Literature review I. Reasons for teaching writing 4 I. Principles of teaching writing 5 I.
Teaching paragraph writing I. Definition of Paragraph 5 I. Classifications of paragraph 6 I. Definitions of errors 7 I.
The role of “errors” in English Language Teaching 8 I. Classifications of writing errors 9 I. Teacher‟s role in error correction 10 I. Previous studies 11 Chapter II: Methodology II.
The situation of teaching and learning English at N. Research method 13 II. Method of data collection 13 II. Method of data analysis 14 II.
Research procedure 14 Chapter III: Data analysis and discussions III. Students‟ perception of their linguistics errors in writing a paragraph. 15 i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Students‟ feeling when making errors in writing 15 III.
The causes of students‟ linguistic errors in writing a paragraph 16 III. Teacher‟s errors correction in students‟ paragraphs 16 III. Students‟ revision on their errors 17 III. Kinds of linguistic difficulties 18 III.
Grammar difficulties 18 III. Vocabulary difficulties 21 III. Linking words difficulties 23 Conclusion 23 Chapter IV: Suggestions IV. Fostering students‟ knowledge of grammar, vocabulary and linking words.
Fostering students‟ grammar knowledge 27 IV. Fostering students‟ vocabulary knowledge 28 IV. Fostering students‟ knowledge of linking words 31 IV. Self - correction and peer – correction 33 IV.
Teacher‟s correction 35 PART III: CONCLUSION 37 References 39 ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS N.S: Nguyen Trai high school iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Students‟ perception of making linguistic errors Table 2: Students‟ feeling when making errors in writing a paragraph Table 3: Teacher‟s errors correction in students‟ paragraph Table 4: Students‟ revision on their errors Table 5: Kinds of linguistic errors Table 6: Grammar difficulties in writing a paragraph Table 7: Vocabulary difficulties in writing a paragraph Table 8: Linking words difficulties in writing a paragraph iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF CHARTS Pie chart 1: Causes of students‟ linguistic errors in writing a paragraph Chart 1 : Students‟ frequency of using linking words in a paragraph v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART I: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale Teaching and learning a foreign language aims at providing the learners with means of communication. To acquire the communicative competence, four language skills (reading, speaking, listening and writing) are taught regularly at schools and universities, among which writing skill is very important because it helps learners to learn other skills better. “First, writing reinforces the grammatical structures, idioms, and vocabulary that we have been teaching our students.
Second, when they write, they have a chance to be adventurous with the language, to go beyond what they have just learned to say, to take risks. Third, when students write, they necessarily become very involved with the new language; the effort to express ideas and constant use of eye, hand and brain is the unique way of expressing their idea. They discover a real need for finding the right word and the right sentence. The close relationship between writing and thinking makes writing a valuable part of any language courses” (Raimes, 1938: 3).
Due to the importance of writing skill, it is part of the English syllabus at high school. However, from the writer‟s teaching-experience at Nguyen Trai high school, not enough attention has been paid to the teaching and learning of writing skill at high school. Writing is both dismal and neglected: many students never get a writing assignment, and many writing exercises in the textbook are abandoned. Besides that, teachers are also afraid of teaching writing skill.
They think that teaching writing is really a challenge. The ignorance of writing skill at high school has resulted in students‟ poor writing skill: they have a lot of mistakes and many of them are unable to write an understandable paragraph. One of the most serious problems that the writer has identified from her experience teaching paragraph writing to students is linguistic difficulties. For example students often use wrong verb tenses in a paragraph, they confuse the meaning of the words or they can‟t create the coherence in the paragraph by linking words.
Therefore, the researcher would like to do this research 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com to find out common linguistic difficulties in writing a paragraph of 10th form students and suggest some solutions to help students to avoid the linguistic errors and improve their paragraph writing. Objectives of the study As just mentioned, students at Nguyen Trai high school face many linguistic difficulties in writing a paragraph. Therefore, the ultimate goal of the research is to find out the real situation of students‟ linguistic difficulties in writing. Research questions Specifically, the research aims at finding out the answers to the following questions : - What are students’ perceptions of their linguistic errors in writing paragraph? - What are common linguistic errors (in terms of grammar, vocabulary and linking words) made by students in writing a paragraph? 4.
Scope of the study The study is about paragraph writing of 10th form students at Nguyen Trai high school. However, due to the limited scope and time, it is confined to finding out the students‟ linguistic errors in paragraph writing. Specifically, only mistakes in grammar, vocabulary and linking words will be taken into consideration. Method of the study In this study, the writer adopted the quantitative research approach.
Specifically, survey questionnaires and model analysis were two methods employed to collect data for the research study. Questionnaires were conducted among 60 students to find out students‟ perceptions of their linguistic difficulties in writing a paragraph. Sixty paragraphs on three different topics from 60 students were collected. Mistakes were identified and classified into different categories.
Statistical counting was carried out to bring about the real picture of students‟ linguistic difficulties. Organization of the study 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com In order to achieve the above mentioned aims, this paper is divided into three parts: The first part is the Introduction, which points out the rationale, aims, and scope of the study. Research questions are also specifically defined to serve as guidelines for the whole paper. The second part is the Development.
In this part, three chapters are presented. In chapter one, literature related to teaching writing, paragraph writing and writing errors is reviewed. In chapter two, the method of the study is presented. It includes careful descriptions of the subjects, sampling method, instrument and method of data collection and analysis.
The last chapter presents data analysis and discussion. In this part, questionnaires and writing samples collected from 10th form students at Nguyen Trai high school are analyzed to find out students‟ typical errors in order to recommend effective strategies for teaching paragraph writing. The last part of the study is the Conclusion, which points out what has been addressed as well as what has not been completed and offers recommendations for further study. 3 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW I.
Reasons for teaching writing In Byrne‟s (1988) point of view, teaching writing is beneficial because it brings many pedagogical benefits. First, writing enables different learning styles and needs of learners. Some learners, especially those who do not learn easily through oral practice alone, feel more secure if they are allowed to read and write in the language. Besides that, written work provides learners with some tangible evidence that they are making progress in language.
Moreover, learning writing means that the learners are exposed to the foreign language through more than one medium and it is more effective than relying on a single medium alone. In addition, writing provides variety in classroom activities, serving as a break from oral work. At the same time, it increases the amount of language contact through work that can be set out of class. Last but not least, writing is often needed for formal and informal testing.
Harmer (1998) also highlighted some reasons for teaching writing: Firstly, it is reinforcement. Most students gain great benefits from seeing the written language especially the visual demonstration of language construction is valuable for both their understanding and committing the new language to their memory. It is, therefore, very useful for them to write sentences using new language after they have just studied it. Language development is also a reason for teaching writing.
It seems that the actual process of writing helps students to learn language better. The highest level of writing skill involves critical thinking. To deal with their mental activities, students have to construct proper written texts using all their learning experience. The third and also the most important reason for teaching writing is that it is a basic productive language skill.
Obviously, students need to know how to write a letter, how to write a report, etc. Therefore, they need to know some writing conventions such as punctuation, paragraph construction, forms of paragraph. 4 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Principles of teaching writing There are several principles of writing.
But according to Huong, T.etal (2007: 58), teachers should consider some following principles when teaching writing. First of all, teachers should provide many opportunities for students to write. Students‟ writing skills just improve when they practice writing a lot. Therefore, just asking students to practice in writing lesson is not enough.
Teacher can create writing tasks from listening, reading and speaking lessons with different styles of writing such as letter writing, e-mail writing, etc. Then, teachers should make their feedback to students helpful and meaningful by giving detailed comments at the end of students‟ writings. Teachers‟ comments should help students to be independent writers. It means that teachers‟ comments should help students to correct the errors themselves instead of teacher correcting students‟ errors.
Moreover, to evaluate students‟ writings clearly and exactly, teachers should have specific criteria for marking such as spelling, accuracy of vocabulary, use of cohesive devices, etc. Besides, as often as possible teachers should create the right conditions for students‟ generation of ideas, Moreover, teachers should always consider themselves a resource for information and language when necessary. Lastly, teachers should provide students with communicative writing activities. With this kind of activities, students must identify the genre, the audience and the purpose of the writing.