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VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

--------------------

NGỤY VÂN THÙY

AN INVESTIGATION INTO COMMON WRITTEN
ERRORS COMMITTED BY FIRST YEAR STUDENTS AT
NGHE AN ECONOMICS AND TECHNOLOGY COLLEGE

Khảo sát lỗi viết sinh viên năm thứ nhất trường cao đẳng
Kinh tế – Kỹ thuật Nghệ An thường mắc phải

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60.14.10

HANOI – 2010


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VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES


ii

Abstract

iii

Table of contents

iv

List of Abbreviations

vii

List of tables

viii

Part A: Introduction

1

1.

Rationale of the study.

1

2.


1.1 Writing

4

1.2 Paragraph

5

1.3 Errors and Mistakes

5

1.4 Classification of errors

6

1.4.1 Interlingual Errors

7

1.4.2 Intralingual Errors

8

1.5 Sources of errors

8

1.5.1 Interlingual interference


1.8 Error Frequency

13


7

Chapter II: Research Method

16

2.1 Research questions

16

2.2 Research methodology

16

2.3 Participants and context of the study

16

2.3.1 Context of teaching and learning at NgheAn Economics and
Technology college

17

2.3.2 Participants and their background


Explanation of errors

20

2.5.5

Evaluation of errors

20

Chapter III: Findings And Discussion

21

3.1 Findings

21

3.2 Discussion

24

3.2.1 The most common errors

24

3.2.1.1

Preposition errors


29

3.2.2

The cause of those errors.

29

3.2.2.1

Mother tongue interference

30

3.2.2.2

Overgeneralization

31

3.2.2.3

Ignorance of rule restrictions:

32

3.2.2.4

Incomplete application of rules:


Recommendations

36

4.2.1

Peer-correction

37

4.2.2

Teacher correction

37

Part C:

Conclusions

38

1.

Conclusions

38

2.


Table 2:

Collected data about errors made by students in their final writing tests 22

Table 3:

Comparative data about errors made by students

22

Table 4:

Frequency of each types of errors

23


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Part A:

Introduction

1. Rationale of the study.
English has recently been used in many fields of life in Vietnam. It has entered into
politics, economics, tourism, electronics, telecommunication, culture and science and
technology. It is not only a means but also a key to accessing the latest achievements of
science and technology. Further more, it‟s English that brings Vietnam closer to many
other countries in the World. Therefore, it is necessary for many Vietnamese to have a

vocabulary errors, semantics errors, or errors of coherence and cohesion ect… As teachers,
how should we treat those errors? how to make their writing better? Having realized the
significance of focusing on learners‟ errors in learning and teaching a language, I do this
research to investigate into the most common errors committed in the process of foreign
language acquisition by first year students at Nghe An Economics and Technology college
to find and draw out the best possible solutions to solve the problems mentioned above.
This research attempts to overview the background theories of learners‟ errors
analysis, investigate and find out the causes of those errors. More importantly, this study
tries to give some suggestions on how to treat students‟ errors in the process of foreign
language acquisition.

2. Aims of the study
This study tries to:
-

investigate the errors made by first year students of Nghe An Economics and

Technology college in their written work.
-

identify and classify the errors into various categorizations.

-

draw out the most common errors that committed by first year students of

Nghe An Economics and Technology college in their written work; and
-

recommend methods of treating errors for teachers and students of English at

Part B is the development of the study in which 3 three chapters are presented.
Chapter I consists of the literature review in which various perspectives on error and error
analysis which have been documented in the literature are reviewed to provide a theoretical
background of the study. Chapter II is about the research methods in which the research
questions, research approach, research instrument, data collection, participants and context
of the study and procedure of investigation are given. Chapter III is about findings and
discussion. Some pedagogical implications and recommendation are included in chapter IV
of this part.
Part C is the conclusions which deal with the main summary of the study. Limitations
and suggestions for further study are presented in this part as well.


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Part B:
Chapter I:

Development
Literature Review

This chapter, Literature Review, will present the previous studies related to the
errors analysis in the context of second language teaching. The pertinent literature will be
reviewed and analyzed with the intention of providing a theoretical foundation to the
current study. The literature review will initially look at the terms concerned in the study.
It will then concentrate on the issues related to errors analysis in second language
acquisition. Classification and sources of errors are two main issues which will be carefully
discussed in the review. Finally, a summary of the chapter will conclude the literature
review.

1.1


enterprise. It has a relation with grammar, reading, listening, and speaking. Most students
find foreign language writing is difficult; they will rarely need to write in adult life, so they
will decrease the amount of writing. Rivers as quoted by Swarbick (1994: 142) describes
five stages of development which students need to go through in acquiring competence in
writing, i.e.: copying, reproduction, recombination, guided writing, and free writing.
In short, writing is the most complex skill to show the relationship of ideas which
needs the willingness to write and some practices done step by step to pass on knowledge
or messages. So, writing is one way to speak what is on our mind. It involves more than
just producing words and sentences. To produce a piece of writing, we should be able to
write a connected series of words and sentences which are grammatically and logically
linked.

1.2

Paragraph
According to Hornby (1989:895), paragraph is distinct section of a written or

printed text, usually consisting of several sentences dealing with a single theme and
starting on a new line. In tone with it, Tidyman (1987:10) says that a paragraph is a group
of sentences that develop a point on an idea. Further he explains that the important feature
of paragraph is that it has unity when all of its sentences are related to the main point. So, a
paragraph is a group of sentences dealing with a single theme that develop the main point
on an idea.
The form of paragraph can be written into 12 kinds of genre. Those genres are
recount, report, discussion, explanation, analytical exposition, hortatory exposition, news
item, anecdote, narrative, procedure, description, and review. Each of them has different
social function and characteristics.

1.3 Errors and Mistakes

systematic deviation from the norms of language. A mistake refers to the failures to use the
language system correctly caused by some factors such as carelessness, memory lapses,
and physical condition while error refers to the failure to use the system correctly caused
by the lack of the learners‟ competence, ignorance of appropriate rule and interference of
the learners‟ mother tongue and the general characteristics of the rule learning
Error is a complicated concept by nature. However, for the purpose of this research,
I adopt the definitions by Norrish and Cunning Worth because these two definitions are
adequate to reveal the errors showing up in the written texts.

1.4 Classification of errors
When a learner develops his second or foreign language system, he makes errors.
In first language learning, these errors are “lapses” or “slips of the tongue” due to physical
or psychological reasons (Brown, 1980). However, in second language and foreign


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language learning, these errors are reviewed carefully. Corder (1973) introduces the
distinction between systematic and non-systematic errors. Non-systematic errors occur in
one‟s native language, Corder calls these "mistakes" and states that they are not significant
to the process of language learning. They can be self-corrected when attention is called. He
keeps the term "errors" for the systematic ones, which occur in a second language. He
believes that errors are the evidence of the language system that the learner is using at a
particular point in the course. Corder (1973) refers to three types of errors. These are : 1)
transfer errors; 2) analogical errors and 3) teaching-induced errors. Chomsky classifies
learners‟ errors into: 1) performance error and 2) competence error. Competence is the
„speaker-hearer‟s knowledge of his language‟, while performance is the actual use of
language in concrete situations. Heaton (1998) and Littlewood (1984) divide errors into
two main types: global and local errors. Richard (1974) and some other researchers
distinguish between interlingual errors and intralingual errors.

target language, the more he is forced to draw upon any other prior knowledge he
possesses. While Brown (1980:173) says that it is clear that intralingual errors or
intralingual interference-the negative transfer of items within the target language, or put
another way, the incorrect generalization of rules within the target language is a major
factor in second language learning. Intralingual errors refer to those out of the influence
within the developmental system of target language, such as faulty generalization,
incomplete application of rules, and so on (Ellis, 1999:58).

1.5

Sources of errors
We all know that errors are unavoidable in language learning process. These errors

occur because of many reasons. By identifying the sources of error, the teacher begins to
know how learner‟s cognitive and affective self relates to the linguistic system and also to
formulate his process of learning a foreign language.
However, it is by no means easy to identify the actual sources of written errors in the
field of English Language Teaching. Different classifications of errors provide us with
different perspectives to analyze the causes of errors. Brown (1980:156) states that errors
are caused by the lack of knowledge about the target language. Edge (1989:7) claims that
the source of learner‟s errors is the interference from the speaker‟s first language. In tone
with it, Richards (1974:174) says that the source of errors in studying a language might be
derived from the interference of the learners‟ mother tongue and the general characteristics
of the rule learning.
In summary, errors can be ascribed to many factors. Some of learners' errors are due
to learners' language competence, some due to cultural interference; some are results of
learners' learning strategies, while others are the products of communicative strategies;
some are classroom induced errors, while others are the results of individual variables , and
so on. Diverse as these viewpoints are, there should be an intersection among different
schools of thoughts or a clear-cut justification among them so that these causes are figured


1.5.2 Intralingual Interference
Interferences from the students‟ own language is not the only reason for
committing errors. During the process of analyzing the causes of errors, a large number of
errors are found to be the result of intralingual interference within the target language. As
soon as the learner has begun to acquire some parts of the new language system, more and
more intralingual interference will occur. The errors from intralingual interference
normally follow a natural route. As the learner progresses in the second language, his


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previous experience and his existing knowledge begin to permeate for producing new
progress, at the same time arousing new errors. Intralingual interference is the negative
transfer of items within the target language such as the overgeneralization, the wrong
application of rules and results in false conceptualization on the part of the learner.
(Richards 1974:96).
According to James (1998), intralingual errors can be divided into 4 items:
1.5.2.1 Overgeneralization
Another possible cause of written errors to be mentioned is overgeneralization. It
occurs when the learner creates a deviant structure on the basis of other structures in the
target language. It generally involves the creation of one deviant structure in place of two
target language structures. Consequently, students automatically apply rules wherein they
are not allowed to. For example:
She will cries aloud.
He can speaks English well.
We are hope to see you.
In the examples, the learners overgeneralize that the simple present tense „s‟ ending
is required by the third person singular. Whereas, the form of English sentences are not
fully the same as they expect. In addition, they may reduce their linguistic burden. To

The last category of intralanguage error, that is sometimes called semantic error is
false concepts hypothesized. It derives from incorrect comprehending of distinction in the
target language. These particular errors are the result of poor gradation of teaching items.
The form „was‟ for example, may be interpreted as the marker of the past tense, as in “one
day it was happened”.

1.6

Error analysis
It is to S.P. Corder that Error Analysis (EA) owes its place as a scientific method in

linguistics. As Rod Ellis cites (p. 48), "it was not until the 1970s that EA became a
recognized part of applied linguistics, a development that owed much to the work of
Corder".

According to James (1998:7) error analysis is a methodology for dealing with

data rather than a theory of acquisition. The data can be taken by conducting a test with the
students as the respondents. Further he (James 1998:1) says that the process of determining
the incidence, nature, causes, and consequences of unsuccessful language learning. While
Brown (1980:166) states that error analysis is the fact that learner do make errors and that
these errors can be observed, analyzed, and classified to reveal something of the system
operating within the learners. The purpose is to show some problems faced by the students.
It is a key to understand the process of foreign language acquisition.
Richards et.al (1985:96) states that error analysis is the study of errors made by the
second and foreign language learners. Error analysis may be carried out in order to (a) find
out how well someone knows a language, (b) find out how a person learns a language, and
(c) obtain information on common difficulties in language learning, as an aid in teaching or



In conclusion, error analysis theory together with other theories have enriched the
second language learning theory in that learning involves in a process in which success
comes by profiting from mistakes and by using mistakes to obtain feedback from the
environment. With the feedback they make new attempts to achieve the more closely


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approximate desired goals. However, some errors need to be handled, otherwise, they will
become fossilized.

1.8 Error Frequency
High-frequency errors, has been suggested for language teachers when they respond
to written products (Allwright, 1975, Mings, 1993). Walz (1982) defines frequent errors as
meaning those that are frequently committed by individual students and by many students
in a class, and they are normally produced on common features of grammar. Thus, learning
the right forms has more value for students than learning the right forms of minor errors.
Hendrickson (1980, p.161) claims that the examination to find out the frequently
committed errors at various stage of SLA is necessary, because it could provide the
information to build “hierarchies of language learning features”. In fact, some researchers
have found errors that are frequently produced by ESL learners. As an illustration, the
following shows the most common errors made by ESL learners introduced by Dulay, et
al. in 1982.
(1) Omitting grammatical morphemes, which are items that do not
contribute much to the meaning of sentences, as in He hit car.
(2) Double marking, a semantic feature (e.g. past tense) when only one
marker is required, as in She didn’t went back.
(3) Regularizing rules, as in womans for women.
(4) Using archiforms – one form in place of several – such as the use of her
for both she and her, as in I see her yesterday. Her dance with my

Pronoun agreement

Comma splice

Word order
(Vann et al., 1984, p.431)

There is also a useful checklist developed by Robinett in 1972, which contains the
frequent errors of ESL learners. This checklist consists of 18 areas, and the types of
frequent errors in each area are described in detail, so that the teachers can use them to
evaluate compositions in a more objective way (for more detail, see Walz, 1982).
Agreement

Capitalization

Article / Determiners

Verbs

Punctuation

Format

Word division

Sentence

Paraphrase

Penmanship

including relevant subject-verb
agreement errors.
Plural or possessive ending
incorrect, omitted, or unnecessary;
includes relevant subject-verb
agreement errors.
Article or other determiner
incorrect, omitted, or unnecessary.
All specific lexical errors in word
choice or word form, including
preposition and pronoun errors.


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Sentence structure

Spelling errors only included if the
(apparent) misspelling resulted in
an actual English word.
Errors in sentence/clause
boundaries (run-on, fragments,
comma splices), word order,
omitted words, or phrases,
unnecessary words or phrases, other
unidiomatic sentence construction.

It‟s obvious that common ESL writing errors are identified and classified
differently according to the reseachers‟ perspectives. However, in order to achieve the
study‟s objective of finding 5 most frequent errors made by students of Nghe An

Research method
In order to meet the aims set in this current study, the researcher has used the

quantitative approach in which the data were obtained from the students‟ written work
under the form of paragraphs. These writings were then analyzed. In analyzing these
writings,

the researcher has employed the method which Corder as quoted by Ellis

(1994:48) suggests to conduct an error analysis research. This method consists of five steps
as following:
No
1.

2.

Steps

Explanations

Collection of samples of learner Deciding what samples of learner language to use for
language

the analysis and how to collect these samples

Identification of errors

Identifying the errors by underlying the errors the
learner made


English. This book consists of fourteen lessons and is designed for a development of four
language skills: reading, listening, writing, and speaking. However, the limitation of the
time and the pressures of the College English Test and the College English curriculum
have prevented teachers from covering all language skills carefully. Only speaking and
reading are introduced and practised at the classroom. Listening and writing are often
practised at home by the students themselves
2.3.2 . Participants and their background
The participants of the study are forty first-year students in the academic year of 2009
- 2010 who I took randomly as sample to my study. They are from classes K5- 05, K5- 06,
K5- 07, K5- 08 Business Accounting of Nghe An Economics and Technology college.
They are at elementary level and all major in Business Accounting.
They all have studied English as a compulsory subject at high school for at least
three years and they have passed the entrance examination to the college. Therefore, they
all know how to write a paragraph. The age of the participants varies from 18 to 22. Four
of them were male. They come from different parts of the province. Some of them are from
Vinh city and districts around the city. And some of them are from rural or remote areas,
where they have no good opportunities for studying English.
The other participation in the research paper were 40 first-semester final writing
tests which I was allowed to copy from the Training Department of Nghe An Economics
and Technology college. In order to get the allowance of copying those tests, the researcher
had consulted with the Head of the Training Department about the needed samples and
explained to him what the researcher was doing. The samples were taken randomly as well.
There was no written work of the same students. These samples were collected from
official tests, so there is a low risk that students may copy down from the others, the


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internet or reference books. This ensures that the writing samples collected are students'
own products and it would contribute greatly to the reliability of the study.

they wanted using suggested topics, but it must be at least 100 words long. The subject
matter of this research was which types of errors the students made inside their written