A study on common errors in writing skills by freshmen of English faculty, Thuong Mai University

ABSTRACT
Nowadays, English is a popular language in international transactions. I is also
the most foreign language taught in universities in Vietnam. Many students have
recognized the importance of learning English to meet the needs of a modern
society. However, mastering English is not an easy. In the four basic skills of
English: Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing, students have difficulties in
Writing. Therefore, it is often difficult for students to avoid making mistakes when
writing, even when they are very attentive to their writing.
The purpose of this study is to study common errors of Thuong Mai
University students often make in the writing process as well as some suitable
solutions to solve those problems. Data collection tools such as questionnaires and
interviews were used to conduct this study. The results of the research topic will
create conditions for the students of Thuong Mai University to recognize their
mistakes and have a corrective direction to perfect their writing skills. I have made
an effort to do this research with my knowledge. I hope this study will bring about
effective methods to improve writing skills of students in general and students in the
Business English Faculty of Thuong Mai University in particular.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
During the process of doing this study, I have received a lot of necessary
assistance, previous ideas, and timely encouragement from my teacher and friends.
This research could not have been finished without the help, encouragement, and
support from them.
First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude towards my
supervisor – Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy Hanh, the teacher of, who has always been
willing to instruct me carefully and enthusiastically in each step, give me helpful

advice and suggestions as well as support me every time I need so that I can
accomplish this study.
I also wish to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to the
Faculty of English at Thuong Mai University, who have created this chance for me
to work this study, learn and gain many valuable experiences.
I would like to acknowledge my thanks to all the authors of the books,
magazines, documents, and the other materials listed in the reference part for their
ideas that have been reflected and developed in the study.
Once again, thank you so much!

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
IT
TMU

3

Information Technology
Thuong Mai University

3

Công nghệ thông tin
Đại học Thương Mại

4

4


LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

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CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF STUDY
1.1: Rationale
In today’s globalization and internationalization, it cannot be denied the
importance of English in people’s life and social development. No English means
no international communication. Without communication, there is no way to
express thoughts, ideas, and feelings. And how can the country’s economy develop
when the countries tend to integrate international economy for the whole
development? English becomes a common language that helps people understand
each other more in the process of diplomatic relations and economic cooperation
and many other fields in today’s era.
English is the most effective international communitive language. It is also the
official language in a large number of countries. According to Wikipedia, there are
more than 400 million people in the world using English as a mother tongue, and
more than 1 billion people using English as the second language. English is the
third language that is widely used only after Chinese and Spanish. Once again, we
cannot deny the advantages of English bringing to us, especially in the booming era

of technology and information. Proficiency in English and computer skills are job
requirements if you want to get a dream job in any international company.
In Vietnam, English is a compulsory subject and it is a necessary condition for
applying for a job in the future. When learning English, students are taught four
skills: Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing. In those four skills above, writing
brings them a lot of obstacles because it requires a broad knowledge and the learner
has a clear understanding of grammar as well as structures.
The forms of communication in writing in English are quite diverse, including
many types such as: email, inquiry, feedback, reports,… Each type of document has
a different style. Therefore, it is difficult for students to avoid making mistakes in
writing, even when they are very attentive to their writing. If students don’t correct
the mistakes, they have difficulty in writing. This can affect to their score and
reduce job opportunities after graduating. Moreover, if you use the wrong grammar
when communicating, the listener can still understand through the context. But the
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fact that writing in English will make these errors appear clear. Furthermore,
according to a study, English learners in the world often spend very little time on
writing skill. This makes them hard to write in English.
To discover student’s writing mistakes as well as help them improve their
writing skills, I choose the topic: “A study on common errors in writing skills by
freshmen of English faculty, Thuong Mai University”.
1.2: Previous studies
In 2009, Brent Sampson wrote the study "Top 10 Business Writing Mistakes
That Cost You Money". In business, every word counts. This holds true for writing,
too, particularly now when so much of business takes place through the Internet and
e-mail. Not to mention, money is tight and every message needs to have maximum
impact. Small mistakes in your business writing can leave a negative impression on
potential customers. This study provided the top 10 common errors in business

writing and tips for how you can avoid them.
Another research named “Grammatical errors in writing task: male and
female” was written by Dewi Furtina, Ika Apriani Fata and Dohra Fitrisia and first
published in 2016. This study focused on the grammatical errors when writing
between male and female. The issues that the study showed including subject-verb
agreement, verb form, singular/ plural form, preposition, conjunction, pronoun,
article and total. The results showed that the most dominant in male students was
errors of article and in female students was errors of subject-verb agreement.
Derived from the results, this study had some implications for language teachers as
well as consideration for further research.
Huynh Minh Hien and Trinh Quoc Lap with the study “Danh gia truc tuyen
theo ban cung lop: mot so bien phap tang cuong dong co hoc va kha nang viet tieng
anh” (2010) also had assessments of the writing ability of students. Many
researches about the effects of online classmate assessments in English writing
classes had been conducted in a variety of educational contexts. This article showed
the results of an empirical study done at Can Tho University. The study aimed at the
impacts of online peer-based assessments on student’s motivation in learning to
write in English and their writing ability and the correlation between learner’s
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motivation and their writing ability. The result of research showed that there was a
significant difference in the writing motivation and the writing ability of students in
the experimental and control groups.
Pham Thi Anh Dao (2015) studied the writing errors that the first-year
students in English Faculty, University of Industry, often make and the meaning of
correcting mistakes in teaching writing skills. To achieve the goal of the study, the
author used two methods: qualitative and quantitative analysis, with two main tools:
survey questionnaires and analysis the student’s writing. The research results
showed that the writing errors of them were due to lack of vocabulary and lack of

common grammar rules in English. The main reasons are the influence of mother
tongue, teaching methods, carelessness and student’s psychology, of which the
influence of mother tongue was considered the biggest cause.
1.3: Aims of the study
- Discover the errors in writing English of freshmen of English Faculty,
Thuong Mai University
- Find out the causes of English writing errors of freshmen in English Faculty,
Thuong Mai University
- Propose some solutions to avoid making mistakes when writing
1.4: Research Subjects
The research subject is common errors in writing skills of freshmen of English
Faculty, Thuong Mai University
1.5: Scope of the study
This research is restricted to study about the common errors in writing skills. I
will investigate the common mistakes as well as the causes of them in the process of
writing. Furthermore, because of the large number of students at Thuong Mai
University and the timing limitation, resources, and my knowledge, this study could
only explore the common errors of freshmen the Business English Faculty at
Thuong Mai University.
1.6: Research methodology
1.6.1. Participants
Selection in Thuong Mai University
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Selection of the participants
The participants in this study were 100 first-year students of English Faculty at
Thuong Mai university. They were willing to participate in this study.
1.6.2. Instruments
The study was conducted with the assistance of questionnaires, interviews,

documentary studies, and observation notes which are summarized from my
learning experience. The main instrument in this research was a survey
questionnaire which was designed by the researcher. The participants were asked
about their obstacles in writing skills and their common mistakes in the process of
practicing writing.
1.6.3. Data analysis
The data which is gained from the questionnaire were analyzed to clarify the
research questions. After that, the results were also calculated into statistical values
as below:
The data gained from the general background was presented as the percentage.
To study effectively, the strategies used in this study are:
Material collection from reliable sources and books
Questionnaires: the study investigated 100 first-year students of Thuong Mai
University in the English Faculty by giving them questionnaires.
Conclusion
This chapter has presented several research tools I have applied to handle the
problems related to the topic of the recent study. Besides, the chapter also reports
and explains the rationale of selections, as well as the purposes of questionnaires
and interviews which are conducted by the researcher.
1.7. Organization of the study
My graduation thesis is divided into four main chapters.
Chapter 1: Overview about the thesis
The first chapter will give readers an overview of the study including
rationale, previous studies, aims, scope, methods, and organization of the study.
Chapter 2: Literature review

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It focuses on knowledge theories related to writing, such as: the definition of

writing, the importance of writing skills and overview of error.
Chapter 3: Research finding
In this chapter, I will show the research methodology and the results of
analyzing the problem. The research method is clearly described with specific
procedures for data collection and analysis. The statistical results show the common
errors in the student’s writing and the frequency of them. In addition, the survey,
interview and observation results also indicate the cause of the student’s writing
errors.
Chapter 4: Suggested solution
This chapter will focus on giving solutions.

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Definition of writing
Writing is an important area in in both native and foreign language
development. Therefore, there are lots of definitions of writing. Writing is the
process in which the writer expresses his or her thoughts or ideas in the form of
handwriting.
Leki (1976), “writing is communicating. Good writing gets your ideas out of
your head and into the reader’s head without losing or distorting those ideas”. Byrne
(1988) gave a long and complex definition which might be summarized as follows:
writing is the act of forming graphic symbols (letters or combinations of letters)
which were arranged to form sentences, and we produced a sequence of sentences
arranged in a particular order and linked together in certain way, on a flat surface of
some kind. Writing, in Davies’s point of view, involved two kinds of skills. The first
ones were low – level skills such as handwriting or typing, spelling, constructing
grammatical sentences, organizing and sequencing, structuring, drafting and editing.
Nunan (2003) described “Writing is physical and mental act. It’s about

discovering ideas, thinking about how to communicate, develop them into
statements and paragraphs that will be comprehensible to a reader. Writing has dual
purpose to express and impress. Writers must select the most advantageous medium
for their writing. Each types has a different level of difficulty which determined by
its objectives.” Nunan also said that “writing is a process and also a product. The
writer creates, plans, writes various drafts, revises, edits and publishes.”
According to “Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary” (1989), writing is “the
activity or skill of making coherent words on paper and composing text” and it is to
“make letters or other symbols on a surface (usually paper), especially with a pen or
pencil”.
From another point of view, Weigle (2007) recognized that the complex of
writing process. The author stated that writing is a process of creating ideas,
opinions, relationships among linguistic formats, and structure. The author further
indicated that when writing, writers must combine and apply a lot of knowledge and
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skills categories. He added that this process will often be interrupted and affected
when the writers seek for appreciate structures and vocabulary. Apparently, writing
requires more time and effort of learners (Liu and Braine, 2005).
2.2. Importance of writing skills
First of all, writing helps to convey feelings, thoughts and personal opinions as
well as develop the written presentation skills. When you write, your products will
express your emotions clearly and words will help you express your mood. For
example, writers and poets often choose to express their feelings and emotions by
writing on paper. When reading books, poems or novels, readers can clearly feel the
author’s thoughts and feelings.
The next importance of writing skills is to improve focus and connect with
yourself as well as improve communication skills. Writing abilities channelize your
knowledge and brain to the point of value. Whether it is a post, an article, essay,

quotes or whatever you write, one cannot write effectively without connecting your
brain to the heart. This is the way you become focused, more conscious and
intelligent. It also reflects the personality of an individual.
Furthermore, writing skills also help increase your knowledge, creativity and
imagination. While writing anything, a human brain uses every part of the brain and
cells. If a person is writing his or her life experiences, article for a blog, editorial or
anything else, all his knowledge related to that, including memories, incidents,
success and failures, present situation and future possibilities. This ultimately
increases awareness improve memory, make you sharp and increase your creativity
and imagination.
Last but not least, writing is the most demanding skill that will help in getting
a job. In the evolution of information technology, if you have a good writing skill,
you will have more opportunities to get a job with high salary. For instance, digital
marketing companies need a content writer. News websites need writers and many
other IT- related or non-IT companies need a writer to help them through writing for
digital marketing channels such as brand quotes, advertisements, social medial
posts. Another example, in case you want to be a freelancer, you need to market
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your writing skill. You can use freelance websites to build your profile and bid on
your projects. Besides, you also need a website to promote and showcase your
writing skills. It can be a personal website or business.
2.3. Error
2.3.1. Definition of error
Until now, many experts have introduced the concept of error. In the book
(Language Learners and their errors, 1983, p.7), John Norrish called “an error” as
systematic divergence that happens when a learner has not learnt something and
consistently “get it wrong”.
According to Brown (2007), errors are the “noticeable derivation from

grammar of a native speaker, reflect the competence of the learner” and reveal “a
portion of learners’ competence in the target language” (p.285).
James (1998, p.1) defined error as “an unsuccessful bit of language”. In a
study of Richards (1989) errors are identified as the faulty use of linguistic items
that express incomplete learning.
2.3.2. Definition of error analysis
Analysis off writing errors is a way of analyzing the writing results of foreign
language learners. Many researchers have discussed error analysis from different
perspectives. Both Corder (1967) and Brown (2000) emphasized that it was
necessary to study the mistakes of foreign language learners to know the foreign
language knowledge of the learners.
Besides, Corder (1967) as well as Dai and Shu (1994) pointed that error
analysis was extremely important in acquiring foreign languages for many different
subjects: teachers could understand the actual learning level of students; researchers
could understand learner’s learning styles and language structures; students could
avoid these errors to improve their language skills.
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2.3.3. Causes of errors in writing skills
There are many causes for errors when learning the writing skill of students,
especially first-year majors. The following are some of the reasons why students
often make these types of errors while writing.
According to Norrish (1983, p.21-42) described the causes of language
learners” errors as arising from carelessness, interference from the learners first
language, translation from the first language, contrastive analysis, general order of
difficulty, overgeneralization, incomplete application of rules, material-induced
errors and a part of language creativity.
On the other hand, Richards (1974) pointed out that there were two causes of
writing errors: the interference of learners’ mother tongue and the characteristics of

the learning. In a recent study, Brown (2007) cited four causes of errors: interlingual
transfer, intralingual transfer, learning context and communication strategies. The
author explained that interlingual transfer refers to the negative influence of the
learner’s mother tongue. In the other words, interlingual transfer error occurs when
the learners make error by transfer their native language system into the target
language system, but they are not aware of the differences between the two
languages. For intralingual transfer, it refers to the negative items within the target
language. Intralingual errors are “items produced by the learner which reflect not
the structure of the mother tongue, but generalizations based on partial exposure to
the target language”.
Briefly, errors can be arising from many different factors. The causes of errors
are influences of mother tongue, learning characteristics and incomplete application
of rules. The explanation of above causes will be clarified in more details as
follows:
2.3.3.1. The influence of the mother tongue

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According to Richards (1971), the learners’ mistakes were due to the influence
of the mother tongue when a linguistic element or a structure in the second language
which was similar to elements and structures in the learner's language. In this case,
the learner moves recognition from the mother tongue to the second language.
Selinkker (1994) pointed out the negative influence of mother tongue habits. For
example, many learners think in their native language and they translate directly
when speaking and writing in English.
Students, especially first-year students, tend to think and translate word for
word from their native language. Moreover, they often make mistakes in word
usage and word order due to the differences between the two languages. Therefore,
their writings are usually translated from their native languages into English, which

makes their writing not academic and attached to the thinking of indigenous people.
In Vietnam, it is easy to see that first-year students often express ideas in
English writing in a Vietnamese way of thinking because of limited vocabulary,
basic knowledge about phrase structure and clause structure and sentence structure.
In other words, they cannot distinguish the difference between these points of
grammar. For example, Vietnam students often produce such sentence as “I very
like reading books” instead of “I really like reading books”. It is obvious that they
will translate each word, but use improper combination of English word types and
word order in their writing. This makes the sentence incoherent and sometimes
makes the reader misunderstand the idea of the writer.
2.3.3.2. Characteristics of learning writing
Studying writing in limited time is a characteristic of learning writing.
Because the amount of time for English writing skills can be said to be very limited,
the students have not been trained writing skills on a regular basis. Therefore, they
are not quick to create ideas and have no habit of thinking in English before writing.
When writing, first-year students usually make quite a lot of errors in grammar,
words, and structures. These errors can become systematic errors if students are not
promptly corrected (S Bourke and A Holbrook, 1992).
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Students are the subject of the learning process, but the majority of students do
not show the self-motivation in their learning (Z Dörnyei, 1994). The demonstration
is that they do not really set a goal for learning in general and a specific subject for
writing. In addition, many students are still very lazy to study, afraid to do
homework even when teachers assign tasks. There are many cases that students do
their work in a sketchy manner or copy it from Internet sources. According to VM
Rosenberg (1989), “writing is like swimming” and learners have to practice it over
and over again. However, the fact is that first-year students do not practice writing
skills on a regular basis. Therefore, they are not quick to find ideas for writing and

do not have the habit of thinking in English before writing.
2.3.3.3. Incomplete application of rules
Most of freshmen do not know the exact meaning of a word. In fact, “English
vocabulary system is extremely diversified” (Chen, Chih-Ming, and Yi-Lun Li,
2010). “Learning and knowing the meaning of words is not easy; moreover, in
English, there are synonyms sometimes used for different contexts and
interchangeable to avoid repetition” (Ben-Ari Meta, 1998). However, some words
that are in the same context interchangeably will change the sentence content. The
students usually use the words “so” and “very” wrongly, although these words are
the simplest in English. Two sentences “Thank you so much” and “Thank you very
much” have the same meaning; nevertheless, in other contexts, the words “so” and
“very” cannot be changed mutually. For instance, in the sentence “I am very tired to
continue doing this work”, it is inaccurate to replace the word “very” by the word
“so”. In this case, with the word “so”, the sentence will become “I am so tired that I
cannot continue doing this work”. Indeed, students who learn to write English often
make mistakes in finding the right words for each context in their writing. In
addition, students who lack vocabulary will not know what kind of words they need
to use to express their ideas while writing. Therefore, they often have to replace
words and sentence structures they don't know with what they have learned.
In addition, a huge number of first-year students are not good at English
grammar. It is the lack of mastery of basic grammar, which has made it difficult for
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students to use tenses, word structure, clause structure, and sentence structure when
they write an English sentence, a paragraph or an essay correctly.

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CHAPTER III: RESEARCH FINDINGS
3.1. Research findings
This survey was conducted with 130 first-year students of the English-faculty,
Thuong Mai University. This survey was conducted from March 1, 2021 to March
20, 2021 and got 100 answers.
3.2. Research questions
The research was conducted to answer three questions:
a. What mistakes freshmen in English Faculty, TMU often make in English writing?
b. What causes these English writing errors?
c. What are the solutions to improve English writing skills?

3.3. Research methods
The data collection methods that I used in this study were the primary and
secondary data collection methods. For the method of collecting primary data, I
combined two research tools including namely direct interview and investigation.
For the method of collecting secondary data, the author collects data from books,
previous research articles and scientific journal articles.
Another research tool used in research was the survey questionnaire and
interview. Questionnaires were issued to 130 first-year students of English Faculty,
TMU. Each student had 10 minutes to complete the questionnaires and return them.
3.4. Research results
3.4.1. Analyze the research object
Chart 1: Students' interest in English
I issued the questionnaire and received answers from 100 first-year students of
English Faculty, Thuong Mai University, including 10 are male and 90 are female.
These students are between the ages of 18-20. 37% of students learn English under
10 years, the rest learn English for 10 years or more. Especially, there are students
studying English for 15 years. Because they have learnt English for many years,
they have a clear and correct awareness and attitude towards learning English. This
is extremely important because when students have a clear passion and attitude

toward learning, students will have the right motivation to pursue this subject.
According to chart 1, most of the students are interested in learning English.
Specifically, 53% of students are interested in learning English, 29% of students are
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very interested in English, while the number of students with normal attitudes to
this language accounts for only 18%.
3.4.2.

Errors Frequently Found in English Sentences Written by first-year majors at
TMU
The researcher has detected 416 writing errors in the written work of 100
students. After the analysis of errors, sixteen types of errors were found in English
sentences written by first-year English majors at TMU. The errors at the sentential
level include punctuation, subject-verb agreement, parallelism, capitalization,
fragments, tenses, passive sentence, relative clauses and word order. The errors at
the word level were articles, nouns, verbs, prepositions, adjectives, word choices,
spelling, and transitional words. The errors were counted and rated in percentage of
frequency. The two tables below demonstrate types, frequency, percentage and rank
of the errors.

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Table 1. Types, frequency, percentage, and rank of the sentential level errors
found in the English sentences
Numbers of students

Frequency Percentage

Types of errors
Tenses

Rank
making errors

(times)

(%)

44

84

20.2

1

4.1

9

subject-verb
Errors

Agreement

17
5

4

9

2.2

14

Capitalization

3

6

1.5

16

Fragments

3

7

1.7

15

passive sentences

Punctuation

8
10

14
20

3.4
4.8

12
7

relative clauses

5

15

3.6

11

word order

5

18

4.3

8

Sentential

Level

Parallelism

Table 2. Types, frequency, percentage, and rank of the word level errors found in
the English sentences
Numbers of students

Frequency

Percentage

Level

Errors

Types of errors

20

Rank
making errors

(times)

(%)

Articles

20

41

9.9

3

Nouns

19

26

6.2

6

Prepositions

27

32

7.7

5

Adjectives

6

16

3.8

10


Word

Word choices

21

38

9.1

4

Spelling

42

61

14.6

2

Transition

8

12

2.9

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As shown in the two tables above, tenses were the most frequent error type
(20.2%). Next comes “spelling” which constitutes (14.6%) second after
punctuation. Other error types were articles (9.9%), word choices (9.1%),
prepositions (7.7%), nouns (6.2%), punctuation (4.8%), word orders (4.3%),
subject-verb agreement (4.1%), adjectives (3.8%), relative clauses (3.6%), passive
sentences (3.4%), and transition (2.9%), parallelism (2.2%), fragments (1.7%), and
capitalization (1.5%) respectively.
A deeper analysis of the errors showed that the six common types of errors
found to be the greatest difficulties of the students were tenses, spelling, articles,
word choices, prepositions, and nouns, respectively.
Errors of tenses

3.4.2.1.

In English, each tense has its own forms and usages. However, due to lack of
basic grammar knowledge, students often write grammatically incorrect sentences.
Tense also causes many difficulties for students and is one of the mistakes that
students make and fear the most. In the survey, when being asked to describe the
history of the company or the changes of the homeland compared to the past, so the
past is used quite a lot. However, many students still do not really pay attention to
using a single past properly. In addition, when writing about the company's future
plans, many students still use "will".
3.4.2.2. Spelling
There are three main types of spelling errors found in the students’ writings.
-

Omission of a letter
• I want to get a job with high salary to be able to cover my life as well as

have more oppotunity to broaden my knowledge. (opportunity)
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• Today French is the forein language the most taught after English. (foreign)
- Addition of a letter
• Sepecially, I sang my favorite song and dances with my friend in front of

everybody, which I had never done before.(Specially)
• There are many types of food served according to each one's tatse. (taste)
- Interchange of two adjacent letters
• There are many types of food served according to each one's tatse. (taste)
• In my birthday party, I recieved a lot of presents from my friends, especially

my grandparents. (received)

Besides, some errors related the apostrophe and word segmentation.
• Its the first time I have been a such beautiful place. (It’s)

• I am happy and excited about preparing every thing for my trip.

(everything)
3.4.2.3. Articles
Article errors are ranked as the third place. Most students in the survey were
confused when using articles, “a”, “an” and “the” in their writing English
sentences. They have difficulties in determining which article is appropriate and
when it is not necessary to use it. Errors of using articles are divided into two main
types: addition and omission.
- Addition
• On the Monday, we are going to visit my grandparents.
• The next morning, we got up early and prepared breakfast.
• Walking the dogs as a hobby giving the owner an opportunity to make more

friends, especially those who share the same hobby.
• I had a lunch with my family at restaurant and returned the hotel to rest.

The students wrongly apply the rule of the target language. It is inaccurate to
add the articles as cases in above sentences.
- Omission
• When I grow up, I want to be woman like her. (a woman)

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• Nowadays, a large number of people prefer to own a business rather than

work for company or someone else. (a company or companies)
Besides, there are several cases that the students forget the knowledge about
the article "an", so they use “a” instead of “an”.
• Tom and Jerry is a American animated series of comedy short films. (an)
• Tom and Jerry series is about a endless rivalry between the title characters

Tom,
a cat, and Jerry, a mouse. (an)
The article "a" stands before a consonant or a vowel with a consonant sound.
• When I was a child, my mother often told me about my grandparent’s

meeting.
• Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British.

While the article "an" stands before a vowel or a mute. In addition, "an" also
stands before special letters that read like a vowel
• My mother is an indispensable part of my life.
• He is an honest person.

3.4.2.4. Word choice
- Wrong word formation
• In the afternoon, I have to join two action. (activities)
• By studying at university, people can get a job easier. (easilier)

The two above sentences show the wrong defining kinds of words. With many
variable groups of word formation, students often fail in classifying and choosing
the correct forms of words. The most common errors are using nouns or adjectives
and using adjectives or adverbs.
• I like stay alone, so I don't like talk with other persons. (staying or to stay /

talking or to talk)
Another common error of word formation is wrong use of gerund, to infinitive
and bare infinitives.
- Use of inappropriate words

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• This activity has helped me to be more confident and add a lot of friends.

(make)
• I must get up early, and my father gives me to school. (takes)
• Every day, I spend much time in the garden, and the thing I like most is the

smell of all the flowers. (scent)
Students lack appropriate vocabulary. One student uses the word “add” instead
of “make” in the first sentence. Another student uses the word “gives” instead of
“takes”. While the student writing the third sentence uses “smell” instead of “scent”.
3.4.2.5. Prepositions
The students show their confusion for correct usage of preposition.
• About me, I prefer French and Japanese food that I cannot make myself.

(For)
• In the trip, we met a lot of foreign visitors. (During)

It is supposed that students usually apply prepositions according to their habit
that they translate prepositions from Vietnamese into English.
3.4.2.6. Nouns
The most common error of using nouns made by the students is forgetting
adding “s” or “es” after plural nouns.

• One day, the Prince opened a ball and invited all girl to attend. (girls)
• There are a variety of dish in the menu. (dishes)
3.4.3.

Causes of the errors

Chart 2: Causes of students’ writing errors
3.4.3.1. Spending little time practicing writing
A large number of students (74%) admit that they don't practice writing. The
students who were interviewed also said that they read less and less articles and
books of reputable authors, less active and persistent in practicing writing, and did
not pay attention to administrative documents that are very important in their work.
Besides, students are negatively affected by the language of chat, blogs, movies,
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comics and music market, even affected by the use of spelling and grammatical
errors in the textbooks, documents,... In addition, because students have not
practiced writing skills on a regular basis, they are not quick in finding ideas for
writing and have not had the habit of thinking in English before writing. Therefore,
they make a lot of mistakes in their posts.
3.4.3.2. Influence of mother tongue
One of the biggest reasons that the majority of students choose (68%) is due to
the influence of their mother tongue. When interviewed, they also said that
Vietnamese had a great influence on their writing style. Many students think in
Vietnamese and then translate into English. This makes the writing speed slow.
Furthermore, students also make many writing mistakes such as translating each
word, wrong word order,... This makes the article long, incoherent and sometimes
make readers misunderstand the writer's ideas.
3.4.3.3. Limits on vocabulary and structure

When being asked, 48% of students said that they had difficulties in limiting
on vocabulary and structure and this caused mistakes when writing. The English
grammar curriculum has many quizzes that require students to write about
companies and economic issues. Therefore, many of them have difficulties in
writing about these issues, simply because their vocabularies about economic terms
are limited. Besides, the vocabulary in English is extremely rich. In addition to
synonyms, there are many homophones which have different spelling and meanings
such as: I/eye, sun/son.... Furthermore, there are homophones which have similar
spelling with different meanings such as left, flat, saw, play ... Therefore, students
face many difficulties in understanding thoroughly and exactly the meaning of
words, differences in usage of similar words as well as from their kind. This leads to
students often making mistakes in vocabulary when writing English essays.
3.4.3.4. Grammar is not good
Although at high school, students learn a lot of grammar and tests that check
grammar phenomena a lot, many of them are still confused when applying to their
writing due to their incomplete grammar knowledge. 37% of students said that they
make mistakes when writing because they have not mastered basic grammar
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