MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES -------------------------- PHAN THI NHAN HIEU AN INVESTIGATION INTO ENGLISH SYNTACTIC ERRORS IN WRITING BY UPPER SECONDARY STUDENTS AT QUANG TRI HIGH SCHOOL MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, Hue University of Foreign Languages HUE, 2017 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ------------ PHAN THI NHAN HIEU AN INVESTIGATION INTO ENGLISH SYNTACTIC ERRORS IN WRITING BY UPPER SECONDARY STUDENTS AT QUANG TRI HIGH SCHOOL MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 60. TRAN VAN PHUOC HUE, 2017 i BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ -------- PHAN THỊ NHÂN HIẾU NGHIÊN CỨU LỖI CÚ PHÁP TRONG CÁC BÀI VIẾT TIẾNG ANH CỦA HỌC SINH TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG TẠI TRƯỜNG CẤP BA QUẢNG TRỊ LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH MÃ SỐ: 60.11 NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: PGS. TRẦN VĂN PHƯỚC HUẾ, 2017 ii STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY This work has not previously been submitted for a degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the thesis itself./ 2017 Signature Phan Thi Nhan Hieu iii ABSTRACT Errors are inevitable in the process of learning a second language; especially, errors in writing can be seen as the primary concern of many linguistic instructors.
Many students are facing a variety of problems in dealing with logical and coherent sentences. That explains why syntactic errors are also needed to take into account to aim at conquering the wiring proficiency. This present study analyzes the common syntactic errors in students' written performances of 80 grade 11 students at Quang Tri High School. Students were given a pre-test and the investigator found 11 different types of syntactic errors categorized in the order of error frequencies.
The causes of these errors were analyzed from the students' perception using questionnaires after the error correction lesson. Moreover, post-test were also given to examining the understanding and awareness enhancement of students after they completed the questionnaires. The results from the data analysis revealed that mother tongue interference, cognitive processes, language knowledge and students' awareness are the main causes of syntactic errors among these high school students. Apart from some certain helpful measures inferred from the survey, the researchers suggested some prominent teaching strategies to help teachers tackle students' errors in writing and also reduce problems in learning the English language.
iv ACKNOWLEGEMENT This paper could not be possible and completed without the help and valuable support of a number of wonderful people who all deserve my deepest sense of gratitude and immense appreciation. First and foremost, I would like to take this opportunity to express my profound gratitude and best regard to my supervisor Assoc. Tran Van Phuoc for his precious guidance, extremely valuable feedback and continuous encouragement during the time I conducted this research. Especially, his careful reading, constructive criticism and patient guidance made my work in a much better way.
Besides my advisor, I would like to express my special thanks to all the relevant students for their willing participation and contribution in the process of data collection of the study. Moreover, I also want to thank all the teachers at Quang Tri High School, who were willing to take their time to help me conduct the research procedures, for their enthusiasm and friendly support. Last but not the least, I would like to deeply thank my parents, my older brother and my closed friends for their endless love, constant encouragement which gave me a great deal of strength and unending inspiration during my stressful time of conducting this paper. v TABLE OF CONTENTS SUB COVER PAGE .i STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY .v TABLE OF CONTENTS.
vi LIST OF ABBREVIATION. ix LIST OF TABLES.x LIST OF FIGURES .1 Background of the study .3 Aims of the study .5 Scope of the study .6 Structure of the study. Some researches on syntactic errors in writing in the world. Some researches on syntactic errors in writing in Vietnam.
Theoretical background of the study. The importance of grammar in learning a second language. Definition of grammar. Grammar in second language learning.
Errors versus mistakes. Significance of errors in English language teaching and learning. Error Analysis and the procedures. Error Analysis Procedures.
Types and causes of syntactic errors. Data collection methods. Data Collection Instruments. Pre-test and Post- test.
The perceptions of the students about syntactic errors in writing at Quang Tri High School. The perception of students about making errors in writing. Students' knowledge of syntactic errors in writing. The perception of students about the importance of syntax in writing proficiency.
Syntactic errors and the causes of these errors. Illogical and Incoherent sentences. Word order in sentences. Agreement between pronoun and antecedent.
Passive and Active voice sentences. Direct and Indirect sentences. The frequencies of each type of syntactic errors. The causes of syntactic errors.
Measures that help students limit syntactic errors. Result from post-test. Recommendations for further research .75 viii LIST OF ABBREVIATION S-P/V agreement: Subject-Predicate/Verb agreement L1: first language L2: second language ix LIST OF TABLES Table 4. Error frequencies and error rates.
Difficulties prevent students from writing correct sentences. Error frequencies and error rates. The frequencies of errors in pre-test and post-test .61 x LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4. The perception of students about making errors in writing.
Student's knowledge about syntactic errors in writing. The perception of students about the importance of syntax in writing. The percentages of Syntactic Errors students usually made in writing. The frequencies of each type of errors.
Factor generally causes syntactic errors in writing. Measures for teacher to deal with students' errors in writing. Measures for students to deal with their in writing .57 xi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the study It is important to acknowledge that English has become one of the most widespread languages all over the world. This prevalent tendency has gone hand in hand with the socio- economic development in the process of global integration.
As a result, English learning demand has been increased significantly with fully enthusiasm from different ages. This phenomenon has probably created a numerous challenges for both educational programs and English language teachers who take their responsibility for high-quality language teaching as well as students' positive learning achievement. In other words, "The worldwide demand for English has created an enormous demand for quality language teaching and language teaching materials and resources. 5) It is clear that English has been taught as a compulsory subject in Vietnamese classes at upper secondary schools seems to be convincing evidence proving that the importance of English has been taken into account.
More importantly, English has been examined annually in the national high school graduation test as a basic criterion for university entrance admission. This explains why Vietnamese education system and English teachers in particular have made attempts to strengthen and foster the professional development in order for a firmly educational background. According to Canale and Swain, (1980) (cited in Nonkukhetkhong, 2013, p. 118), "the goal of teaching English is to develop learners’ communicative competence consisting of grammatical or linguistic competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence, and strategic competence".
That means Grammar is considered as one of the most salient factors, both in spoken and written language, contributing to the meaningful communication. In other words, without a good preparation of English grammatical knowledge, the language users 1 would be impossible to convey the meaning effectively or transfer the messages properly. In Quang Tri high school, a national standard school, where was proud of the champion of Competition “The Road to Olympia Peak” 2015, the reality of dealing with grammatical errors in terms of syntax made by students has been occurring for many years. Furthermore, in the national high school graduation test, grammar section and knowledge of grammar needed for section accounts for up to more than 20 percents of the total mark of Language subject.
This is an illustration of how educational program pays more attention to grammar proficiency of students. Admittedly, writing can be considered as an important skill in learning a second language. Nevertheless, there is a fact that the limitations of grammatical proficiency might cause some problematic difficulty in mastering the writing ability of language learners. In Quang Tri high school, the possible constraints of dealing with grammatical errors in writing made by students has been occurring for many years.
Indeed, the road to a successful language learner is absolutely not easy to navigate or accomplish. This explains why making errors, especially making syntactic errors, is somewhat common and not surprising in the long term process of second language acquisition. Even though learners somehow could learn or get experiences from their errors, it sometimes might cause some communicative problems in terms of the meaningful expression of language. Accordingly, English teachers should take into consideration the most frequent grammatical errors made by students in writing to aim at solving their problems, and more importantly, giving students appropriate corrections depending on their error evidences to support their positive learning outcomes.2 Topic The above situation of the importance of grammar in second language acquisition and syntactic errors made by high school students in writing have 2 aroused my interest and encourage me to conduct this study "An investigation into English syntactic errors in writing by upper secondary students at Quang Tri High School." This study may help Vietnamese teachers of English, especially English teachers at Quang Tri High School, realize the most frequent grammatical errors in upper secondary students in order to adjust properly their teaching strategies or prepare a firmly grammatical knowledge for grade twelve students before The National High School Graduation Test.
Personally, I used to study at Quang Tri High School and my dream of becoming an English teacher has built up during the years of high school students. Doing this research is a chance to express my gratitude to my old school as well as my English teachers who foster the interest of English in me. In addition, this study might be a useful additional reference for both students and language teachers at upper secondary schools in Quang Tri.3 Aims of the study This research aims to: - Investigate students' perceptions about syntactic errors at Quang Tri high school. - Seek for English syntactic errors in writing made by students.
- Investigate the possible causes of these syntactic errors in order to help students limit their syntactic errors in writing.4 Research questions In order to achieve these aims mentioned above, the research has to seek the answers to the following questions: 1. What are students' perceptions about syntactic errors in writing at Quang Tri High School? 2. What are syntactic errors and the causes of these errors made by students at Quang Tri High School? 3 3. What should students do to limit their syntactic errors in writing? 1.5 Scope of the study There are many types of frequent English grammar errors in written productions, but this study only focuses on investigating the errors of syntax in writing produced by 80 Grade eleven students at Quang Tri High School.6 Structure of the study This study has been structured in five chapters to reflect the different research goals.
Introduction: This chapter shows the readers the background of the study, presents the topic, objectives, research questions and scope of the study. Literature review: discusses the literature on English syntactic errors in writing and the previous studies. Methodology: presents the research methodologies which are both quantitative and qualitative. Finding and Discussion: presents the finding.