Luận văn thạc sĩ VNU ULIS common grammatical errors made by 12th graders in their writings a study at an upper secondary school in bac ninh province

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES
*********************

TRẦN TRỌNG CƯƠNG

COMMON GRAMMATICAL ERRORS MADE BY 12TH GRADERS IN
THEIR WRITINGS: A STUDY AT AN UPPER SECONDARY
SCHOOL IN BAC NINH PROVINCE
(NHỮNG LỖI NGỮ PHÁP PHỔ BIẾN MÀ HỌC SINH LỚP 12 THƯỜNG
MẮC PHẢI TRONG CÁC BÀI VIẾT: MỘT NGHIÊN CỨU TẠI MỘT
TRƯỜNG THPT Ở BẮC NINH)

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Major: English language teaching methodology
Code: 60140111

Hanoi – 2017

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VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES
*********************

TRẦN TRỌNG CƯƠNG

COMMON GRAMMATICAL ERRORS MADE BY 12TH GRADERS IN
THEIR WRITINGS: A STUDY AT AN UPPER SECONDARY
SCHOOL IN BAC NINH PROVINCE
(NHỮNG LỖI NGỮ PHÁP PHỔ BIẾN MÀ HỌC SINH LỚP 12 THƯỜNG
MẮC PHẢI TRONG CÁC BÀI VIẾT: MỘT NGHIÊN CỨU TẠI MỘT
TRƯỜNG THPT Ở BẮC NINH)

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Major: English language teaching methodology
Code: 60140111
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Hoàng Văn Vân

Hanoi - 2017

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CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT
I certify that the thesis entitled “COMMON GRAMMATICAL ERRORS
MADE BY 12TH GRADERS IN THEIR WRITINGS: A STUDY AT AN
UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL IN BAC NINH PROVINCE” is the result of
my own research for the Degree of Master of Art at University of Languages and
International Studies – Vietnam National University, Hanoi. The thesis has not been
submitted for any degree at any other university or tertiary institution.

Hanoi, 2017

Trần Trọng Cương

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This thesis would not have been materialized without the help of many
people, and I would like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt thanks to
them.
My first thanks go to my supervisor, Prof. Dr. Hoang Van Van, for his
constant encouragement and invaluable assistance during the process of carrying
out this project.
I am grateful to all the lecturers at Faculty of Post-Graduate Studies, VNU
University of Languages and International Studies for providing us with knowledge
from precious and helpful lectures.
My sincere thanks are reserved for all my students and my colleagues at
Nguyen Dang Dao Upper-Secondary School (NDDUS) for their helpful
contributions and co-operation in this study.
Last but not least, my heartfelt thanks are also reserved for my family and
friends for their love and support that have encouraged me a lot in carrying out this
study.

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ABSTRACT

As teachers teaching English writing skills, we have always hoped that
through teaching our students are able to produce an organized, neat and error-free
piece of writing, but this seems to be a lifelong dream for us. The purpose of this
study is to find out common grammatical errors committed by the twelve-form
students at NDDUS in their writings. The study was carried out in NDDUS with 90
12th form students involving in. The data showed that the greatest number of errors
committed by our students is verb tenses and aspects, sentence structures, articles,
prepositions and nouns. The causes of those mistakes are numerous; but two are
representative: student‟s lack of understanding of English grammar and, in
particular, their lack of writing practice. They do not have time and environment to
practise English outside the classroom; they have quite vague knowledge of
grammar; and accordingly they are not sure whether they write correct English.
From the findings, some pedagogical suggestions are offered to improve the
learning of grammar of twelve graders at NDDUS. It is hoped that this study would
make a small contribution to the study of errors analysis in foreign language
teaching in Vietnamese schools.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART A: INTRODUCTION ………………………………..……………………...1
1. Rationale …………………………………………………..…………………. 1
2. Aims and Objectives of the Study …………………..………………………...2
2.1. Aim of the Study ……………………………..…………………………..2
2.2. Objectives of the Study ……………………..………………....................3
3. Research Questions …………………...……………………………………….3

4. Scope of the Study ……...……………………………………………………..3
5. Methods of the Study ………...………………………………………………..3
6. Significance of the Study ………...…………………………………………....4
7. Design of the Study ………………...………………………………………....4
PART B: DEVELOPMENT....…………...………………………………………....5
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW…...……………………………………….5
1.1. Grammar ...………………………………………………………………..5
1.1.1. Definitions of Grammar……………………………………………….5
1.1.2. Scope of Grammar…………………………………………………….6
1.1.2.1. Randolph Quirk and Sidney Greenbaum……………………………7
1.1.2.2. Richard Hudson………………………….…………………………..8
1.1.2.3. Marianne Celce-Murcia and Diane Larsen-Freemen……...……….10
1.1.2.4. George Yule……………………………...………………………...11
1.1.2.5. M. A. K. Halliday…………………………………………………..12
1.2. Summary………………………………..……………………………….13
1.3. Error…………………………………………………………..…………13

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1.3.1. Definition of Error………………………………..………………….13
1.3.2. Distinction between “Error” and “Mistake”…………..……………..14
1.3.3. Classification of Error……………………………...………………...14
1.4. Review of Previous Studies………………………...……………………16
1.5. Concluding Remarks……………………………...………………..……17
CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY………………………………...……………….18
2.1. An Overview of the Research Site…………………...………………….18
2.1.1. About the School……………………..………………………………18

2.1.2. About the Teachers of English……………………………………….19
2.1.3. About the Syllabus and the 12th Graders‟ English Learning………...19
2.2. Methods of the Study………………………………………...………….20
2.3. Participants………………………………………………………………20
2.4. Description of the Sample……………………………………………….20
2.5. Data collection procedure……………………………….……………….21
2.6. Scope of Data Analysis………………………………………………….21
CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION…………………………………..23
3.1. Findings………………………………………………….………………23
3.2. Discussion……………………………………………….………………27
3.2.1. Verb Errors………………………………………….……………….27
3.2.2. Sentence Structure Errors…………………………...………………..29
3.2.3. Article Errors…………………………………………...…………….31
3.2.4. Preposition Errors……………………………………..……………..32
3.2.5. Noun Errors……………………………………………….…………33
3.3. Some Possible Solutions to Minimizing Errors…………………………34

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3.3.1. Deductive Teaching…………………………………………………34
3.3.2. Inductive Teaching………………………………………………….36
3.3.3. Interactive Teaching………………………………………………..37
PART C: CONCLUSION…………………………………………………….…....39
1. Summary of the Findings……………………………………….….................39
2. Limitations………………………………………………………….………...40
3. Pedagogical Implications..……….…………………………………………..40
4. Recommendations for Further Research…………………………….……….41

REFERENCES………………………………………………………….………….43
APPENDIX………………...……….….………………….………………………...I

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LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Figure1.1. Frequency of grammatical errors in students‟ writings by categories
Table 1.1. Frequency of grammatical errors in students‟ writings by types
Table 3.2. Frequency of each grammatical error type
Figure 3.2. Frequency of each grammatical error type

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

NDDUS

:

Nguyen Dang Dao Upper-Secondary School

EA

:

Error Analysis

EFL

:

English as a Foreign Language

ESL

:

English as a Second Language

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PART A: INTRODUCTION

1. Rationale
It cannot be denied that English plays a very important role in today‟s global
world. Quirk (1972: 2-3) stated that “English is the world’s most important
language ... and the world’s most widely used language”. English, moreover, is “a
top requirement of those seeking good jobs” (Quirk, 1972: 4). Therefore, without
English, it is almost impossible for nations and people to communicate with one
another. Consequently, “no language is more widely studied or used as a foreign

language than English.... more timetable hours are devoted to English than any
other subject” (Quirk, 1972: 4).
English is becoming more and more needed in Vietnam as more foreign
companies and international organizations come to Vietnam to work and do
business. If one wants to have greater chances in their work and more success in
life, he/she must know a foreign language, especially English. If students want to
have a chance to study abroad, they have to learn English or a foreign language
well. Because of that, English books in Vietnam are continuously improved to
satisfy the increasing needs of the society. Therefore, English learners of all ages
have greater chances to master the language with good resources; they are also
likely to get better learning results and good jobs in the future. But during the
course of learning English, learners can‟t avoid committing errors. All of us are in
“an imperfect world and consequently errors will always occur in spite of our best
efforts” (Richards, 1974: 20). Years ago, errors made by students were regarded as
“something undesirable which they diligently sought to prevent from occurring”
(Touchie, 1986: 75). On the contrary, people now consider errors “as evidence for a
creative process in language learning” (Touchie, 1986: 75). According to Norrish
(1983: 6), error is “a necessary part of learning a language”. Errors are made by
students both in receptive and productive skills. Of the productive skills – speaking

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and writing, students tend to make the most errors in writing since “writing is more
difficult than speaking” (Norrish, 1983: 63).
Regarding to the context of Nguyen Dang Dao Upper Secondary School, Bac
Ninh province, of the four skills in English, writing seems to be the most
challenging skill for all of the students. They commit many errors while learning

how to write. Among those, grammatical errors in writing seem to cause more
problems to them. There are reasons for this. First, students of grade 12 at Nguyen
Dang Dao Upper Secondary School use English textbooks (basic stream) written by
Hoang Van Van et al (2016). The book provides limited time for writing skill. It
consists of 16 lessons, each of which is divided into 5 parts: Reading, Speaking,
Listening, Writing, and Language focus. Every part is taught in a 45-minute period.
Thus, writing skill accounts for only one fifth the amount of time for English
subject, which is taught three times a week. Consequently, the time for the writing
part each week that students are taught is 45 minutes. And each writing lesson deals
with a different kind of writings such as writing a letter, writing a paragraph,
writing a description and so on. This requirement of writing is good for students in
general but causing some difficulties. On one hand, students will have good chances
to learn various types of writings. On the other hand, the number of mistakes they
make is also greater due to the different types of writings they have to cope with.
Second, students tend to favor receptive language skills rather than productive ones.
They can do multiple choice tests better than produce a piece of writing.
The above reasons constitute the motive for me to carry out the research:
“Common Grammatical Errors Made by 12th Graders in their Writings: A Study at
an Upper Secondary School in Bac Ninh province”.
2. Aims and Objectives of the Study
2.1. Aims of the Study
The overarching aim of the study is to find out common grammatical errors
made by the twelfth graders at Nguyen Dang Dao Upper-Secondary School in their

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writings, from which the teachers will use more suitable methods and techniques to

teach their students writing more effectively.
2.2. Objectives of the Study
To achieve this overarching aim, the following objectives are set for
exploration:
1. Identifying common grammatical errors made by the twelfth graders in their
writings at Nguyen Dang Dao Upper-Secondary School.
2. Offering some solutions to minimize those errors.
3. Research Questions
To make the task manageable, the above objectives are converted into the
following research questions:
1. What are the common grammatical errors made by the twelfth graders at
Nguyen Dang Dao Upper-Secondary School in their writings?
2. What possible solutions should be offered to minimize those errors?
4. Scope of the Study
Basing on the aim, the objectives and the research questions above, this
research will confines itself to the following tasks: (1) identifying common
grammatical errors made by the twelfth grade students at Nguyen Dang Dao
Upper-Secondary School in their writings; (2) offering some solutions to minimize
students‟ errors.
5. Methods of the Study
The study will employ both qualitative and quantitative methods. Qualitative
method is used to examine the features of grammatical errors, analyzing the data
collected from students‟ writings. Quantitative method is used to calculate the
number and frequency of grammatical errors made by the twelfth graders at Nguyen
Dang Dao Upper-Secondary School in their writings so as to identify their common
writing errors.

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6. Significance of the Study
It is hoped that the findings of the study will be useful to both the teachers of
English and students of the twelfth grades at Nguyen Dang Dao Upper-Secondary
School. It will help the teachers to realize what their students have achieved and
what gaps need to be filled concerning their teaching writing skill. It will help the
twelfth grade students at Nguyen Dang Dao Upper-Secondary School realize their
strengths and weaknesses in writing skill so that they can find ways to minimize
errors, to practice more so as to get better results in their writing. It will also help
students in the 12th grade improve their English grammar in general and writing
skill in particular.
7. Design of the Study
The study consists of three parts: Introduction, Development, and
Conclusion.
The Introduction presents the rationale for the study, the aim and objectives of the
study and research questions, the scope of the study, the significance of the study,
and the design of the study.
The Development consists of 3 chapters:
Chapter 1 presents the theoretical background for the thesis which includes
definitions of grammar and errors; review of some grammar books; distinction
between “error” and “mistake”; review of previous studies on grammatical errors
made by students in their writings.
Chapter 2 presents the methodology of the research: the participants involved
in the study, the data collection procedure and the statistical analysis of data.
Chapter 3 presents the findings and discussion of the findings, pointing out
the grammatical errors made by 12th form students in their writings, and giving
suggestions on possible solutions to minimizing students‟ errors.
The Conclusion sums up the things that have been studied, points out the
limitations of the study, and offers some suggestions for further study.

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PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter is carried out with a view to laying the theoretical background
for the thesis. As a way of start, the chapter will re-examine some definitions of the
term “grammar”. Then it will present some English grammar books to identify
scope of grammar. Third, it will discuss the term “error”, types of error, and make a
distinction between “error” and “mistake”. In the final section, it will present some
previous studies relevant to the current study – students‟ errors in their writings.
1.1. Grammar
1.1.1 Definitions of Grammar
Grammar is one of the most general terms used by researchers in foreign
language studies. As each of the researchers look at grammar from a different
perspective, they, therefore, define the term differently. In his study, In Word and
Deed, David Crystal (2004: 6) expresses his perspective on grammar as follows:
“Grammar is the business of taking a language to pieces, to see how it works”. He
points out that “Grammar is the structural foundation of our ability to express
ourselves. The more we are aware of how it works, the more we can monitor the
meaning and effectiveness of the way we and others use language. It can help foster
precision, detect ambiguity, and exploit the richness of expression available in
English. And it can help not only teachers of English but teachers of any other
subject, for all teaching is ultimately a matter of getting to grips with meaning.”
Affirming the importance of grammar, William Somerset Maugham says
that it is necessary to know grammar, and it is better to write grammatically than
not, but it is well to remember that grammar is common speech which is

formulated. Usage is the only test (William Somerset Maugham, The Summing Up,
1938). When talking about grammar, Palmer (1971: 11) offers his own definition.
According to him, “Grammar is a device that specifies an infinite set of wellformed sentences and assigns to each of them one or more structure descriptions”.
Moreover, Penny Ur (1990: 4) regards grammar as “the way language manipulates

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and combines words or bits of words together in order to form longer units of
meanings”. This is, as we shall see presently, an over-simplification, but it is a
good starting point. Thus in English “She is a student” is grammatical; “She a
student” and “She are a student” are not grammatical at all. A specific instance of
grammar is usually called a “structure”. Examples of structures would be the past
tense, noun plurals, the comparison of adjectives, and so on. Not all languages, of
course, have the same structures: the English verb has “aspects”, for example in
progressive: “she is going”, which many other languages do not.
In tone with it, in the book entitled Assessing Grammar, James E. Purpura
(2004: 6) defines grammar “as a systematic way accounting for a predicting an ideal
speaker‟s or hearer‟s knowledge of the language. This is done by a set of rules or
principles that can be used to generate all well-formed or grammatical utterances in
the language.”
In short, grammar is a set of rules in a language that combine language
elements together in order to make the language understood among language users.
It also creates structures or chunks of words in a logical and comprehensible way so
that language users can communicate with one another in a right way.
1.1.2. The Scope of Grammar
The definitions of grammar in the above section are general. They cannot
provide the readers with the range the grammar of a language covers. What is

grammar as defined generally by the authors cannot provide an adequate framework
for this study. In order to establish a comprehensive study framework, we have to
look at some grammar books to see what grammar consists of. As can be seen,
books on grammar in general and on English grammar in particular are numerous.
This suggests that in reviewing them for the scope of grammar, one has to be
selective. For the purpose of this study, the following works are found relevant for
review: (1) A University Grammar of English by Randolph Quirk and Sidney
Greenbaum (1990), English Grammar by Richard Hudson (1995), The Grammar
Book by Marianne Celce-Murcia and Diane Larsen-Freemen (1999), Explaining

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English Grammar by George Yule (1998), and An introduction to Functional
Grammar by M. A. K. Halliday (1994).
1.1.2.1. Randolph Quirk and Sidney Greenbaum
In A University Grammar of English, Randolph Quirk and Sidney
Greenbaum (1990) talk much about parts of speech. First, they mention varieties of
English. Then, they provide readers with elements of grammar. In this section,
sentence elements, parts of speech, stative and dynamic, pro-form, question and
negation are discussed. According to the authors, sentences in English have two
parts which are subject and predicate. In the predicate part, there are such smaller
parts as operator, auxiliary and predication. Quirk and Greenbaum (Ibid.) discuss in
some detail verbs and verb phrases later in their book. They mention two types of
verbs: lexical verbs and auxiliary verbs. They also give details about verb forms,
tenses, aspects and mood as well as the verb phrase. Moreover, Quirk and
Greenbaum help readers understand more about nouns, pronouns and the basic noun
phrase. Through this chapter, we know noun classes, determiners, reference and

articles, number, gender, the genitive and pronouns. After reading the chapter,
readers can understand the notions of “countable noun” and “uncountable noun”
attached to the features “singularity” and plurality” accordingly. Adjectives and
adverbs are also mentioned in their book. Adjectives function as attributive and
predicative. It can precede nouns and follow verbs of perception and “to be”.
Adverbs function as modifiers; both adverbs and adjectives can be used to make a
comparison. Next, prepositions and preposition phrases are discussed. Talking
about prepositions, we often link them with place, time, adjunct, disjunct, and
complementation of verb or adjective. The simple sentence is the thing the authors
want to introduce to the readers. In simple sentences, we get to know clause
patterns, elements and their meanings. We also know about concord in a sentence.
Simple sentence is a one-clause sentence. It consists of the subject, the verb and
some other elements such as object, adverb, complement… The authors deal with
adjuncts, disjuncts and conjuncts, too. Then they discuss coordination and

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apposition. Next is about sentence connection. Readers are introduced more about
time relaters, logical connecters, substitution, discourse reference and ellipsis in
dialogue. Then the authors move on to talk about the complex sentence. In complex
sentence, we learn more about clauses: finite, non-finite, verbless, nominal and
adverbial clauses. Subordinators and subordination are in this chapter, too. The
complex sentence is associated with comparative sentences, the verb phrase in
dependent clauses, direct and indirect speech. The verb and its complementation are
once again discussed. This time, phrasal and prepositional verbs are looked into.
They also provide a clear explanation of complementation of adjective phrase, units
as

direct

objects,

complex

transitive

complementation,

and

ditransitive

complementation. The complex noun phrase in the things they care about. In this
section, restrictive and non-restrictive relative clauses are explained and made clear
for the readers. The last things Quirk and Greenbaum explore in their book are
focus, theme and emphasis. To make it clearer, the authors give detailed explanation
of information focus, voice and reversibility, theme and inversion, existential
sentences, extraposition and other postponement devices, and emotive emphasis.
1.1.2.2. Richard Hudson
Different from Quirk and Greenbaum, in his book English grammar, Richard
Hudson (1995) begins with word classes and discusses the roles of word in the
language “word classes are one of the basic components of grammar” (Hudson,
1995: 7). In word classes, Hudson mentions nouns and verbs. The author cares
much about how words, nouns and verbs are combined to make “good sentences”.
He distinguishes nouns and verbs by concerning the meaning of an utterance. If an
utterance contains a verb, it has meaning. If an utterance contains nouns, it has no or
bad meaning. E.g.: “help Pat!”, “Jo helps Pat.” (good meaning); “Jo Pat.”

(meaningless/bad meaning). Hudson considers syntax, morphology, semantic
grammar. Syntax is the study of how words are combined with one another.
Morphology is the study of word forms. Semantic is the study of words‟ meanings.
Hudson goes deep into the study of nouns as phrases, which he calls noun

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expansions: heads, dependents, and adjectives. He says that a noun has a single or
multiple dependents. He also provides us with general order of dependents in a
noun so that it has good meaning. Linking words like prepositions and coordinators
are of Hudson‟s great concern in his book. He claims that prepositions and
coordinators both provide “syntactic glue” though not much meaning. Prepositions
must have a noun (which normally follows) as a dependent. And they go with each
other basing on the one-arrow principle: with the exception of coordinators, every
word has just one dependency arrow (horizontal or vertical) pointing at it.
E.g.: N-> P: take part in
P-> N: with a remarkable ability
Coordinators link words as equal so that they can share dependency relationships.
These groupings of words are indicated by brackets.
E.g.: {[…}] [C…]}: telepathy or mind control
After talking about linking words, Hudson moves on to talk about subclassification
of nouns. Nouns belong to one of these three subclasses: common noun, proper
noun, and pronoun. Verb expansions are the things Hudson discusses next in this
book. He considers a simple sentence a verb expansion. He adds that a noun may
depend on a verb in four different ways, which must be distinguished by labeling in
the diagrams: as its subject (s), as its object (o), as its sharer (r), or as a simple
dependent (no label). Besides subclassification, verb chains are talked about. Verbs

are either finite or non-finite, auxiliary verbs or full verbs. Last but not least,
Hudson introduces to readers subordinate clause clues and uses. We can identify
subordinate clauses by four kinds of “signal”: that, prepositions, wh-pronouns or the
verb‟s own non-finite form. Subordinate clauses are traditionally classified in terms
of basic word classes: noun clauses and adverb clauses are used roughly like nouns
and adverbs, while relative clauses are used somewhat like adjectives.
1.1.2.3. Marianne Celce-Murcia and Diane Larsen-Freemen
In a similar vein but a slightly different perspective, in The Grammar Book,
Marianne Celce-Murcia and Diane Larsen-Freemen (1999) focus much on

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pedagogical grammar, not linguistic grammar. They first introduce the lexicon.
Here they consider the words and grammatical structures lexicogrammar. When
talking about lexicogrammar, the authors tend to introduce and lay emphasis on
their form, meaning and use. The second thing they discuss in their book is subjectverb agreement. One of the reasons they talk about it is that form, meaning and use
are associated with it. In the book, they pay attention to structures, too. Rules of
structures are introduced here so that English learners use phrases and sentences
correctly. Next, the book provides us with knowledge of tense and aspect. They
explain to us the form, meaning and use of the verb tense-aspect system, which will
be used at sentence level. Helping the readers master the knowledge of elements,
the authors go on to introduce various types of sentences such as statements,
negative and interrogative ones. Certain types of language elements are additionally
taken into consideration by the two authors. Such language elements are adjectives,
prepositions, phrasal verbs, adverbial, logical connectors. Some types of clauses and
sentences appear in their discussion, too. They provide readers with passive
sentences, relative clauses, reported speech, complementation and degrees of

comparison. In conclusion, the book recalls grammar both abstract system and
socially constructed practice. As abstract system, grammar can be characterized by
certain rules below the level of the sentence; that is, morphological rules (e.g.,
formation of plurals, subject-verb agreement, and so forth), sentence-level syntactic
rules (e.g., those necessary for specifying unmarked and marked sentence word
order), and rules above the level of the sentence, discourse rules, which contribute
to the thematic coherence and cohesion of oral and written texts. The socially
constructed view of grammar applies when we consider what grammatical devices
speakers/writers employ to convey what they mean to their listeners/readers.
1.1.2.4. George Yule
Looking at grammar from the learner‟s perspective, in his book Explaining
English Grammar (1998), George Yule pays attention to basic grammar points that
learners often have to cope with. First, he briefly reviews some basic grammatical

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terminology, such as noun, noun phrase and pronoun. Then, he looks at some basic
meaning distinctions, explaining the connection between terms such as subject,
object, agent, theme, source, and experiencer. He also makes a distinction between
core and peripheral elements of a message. The author illustrates the distinctions of
information structures. Then he goes into details and discusses articles in English.
In this section, the author helps readers know how to use articles correctly by
distinguishing between definite and indefinite articles, which articles can be used
with countable and uncountable nouns and so forth. The second thing discussed in
the book is tense and aspect. To begin with, the author introduces the basic forms of
tense and aspect in English. A basic structure for the English verb complex is
presented. Some basic meaning distinctions between different tense forms are

offered. The role of tense and aspect is illustrated here. After discussing tense and
aspect, the author talks about English modals. To help readers understand deeply
modals, Yule provides form, meaning and use of all the modals in English. The he
discusses conditionals. Here, we know basic forms of if-clauses and main clauses as
well as exceptional conditionals. Prepositions and particles are the things discussed
then. After a brief survey of basic forms, distinguishing between prepositions and
particles (occur in phrasal verbs), Yule considers the different types of prepositions
(simple, complex, lexical and grammatical) and their basic meaning in terms of
space, time and metaphor. He also introduces the uses of particles, both separable
and non-separable, in four different types of phrasal verbs and provides the
conceptual meanings of some common particles. Then he presents the roles of
prepositions and particles in information structure. Knowledge of indirect objects is
addressed in the book. The author makes it clear which prepositions go after the
indirect objects and other relevant knowledge. Then he moves on to talk about
infinitives and gerund. He introduces various verb structures and their use. He helps
readers distinguish pairs of verbs which go with either infinitive or gerund. Yule
moves to a higher level in language use that is sentence level when introducing
relative clauses, direct and indirect speech. Here, the author helps us know more

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about how to use relative pronouns and clauses, direct and indirect speech correctly.
1.1.2.5. M. A. K Halliday
In a similar grammar book which has been translated into several languages
including Vietnamese entitled An Introduction to Functional Grammar, M. A. K
Halliday (1985/1994) tackles grammar from a functional perspective (systemic
functional). He claims that every use (or function) of English determines the form

of the language that is used for that particular purpose. Grammar is thus a tool for
making meaning. At the beginning of the book, Halliday introduces to readers the
basic grammatical unit – the clause. The clause, according to Halliday (Ibid.) is
made up of several elements. He considers the study of phonology (phoneme,
syllable, rhythm (foot), and intonation (tone group) as part of the grammar of
English. Clauses are treated as messages sending information to readers/hearers.
Each clause bears a theme that signifies the idea of the writers/speakers. Clauses are
treated as exchanges in conversation. Clauses are considered as representation,
realizing what goes on or exists in the experiential world. Besides talking about
clauses, Halliday studies elements of grammar at a smaller scale below the clause.
They are groups and phrases. According to him, groups have many types which are
nominal group, verbal group, adverbial group, conjunction group, and preposition
group. Each of these groups has a distinct function in a sentence. Phrase is
mentioned here as prepositional phrase. At a bigger scale, above the clause, there is
the clause complex which consists of more than one clause. Besides the clause,
Halliday introduces intonation and rhythm. Different from other linguistics
approaches when talking about grammar, Halliday considers intonation and rhythm
as belong to the realm of grammar and take them into proper consideration.
Cohesion and discourse are also what the author explores in this grammar book.
Beyond the clause, Halliday talks about metaphorical modes of expression. He
discusses rhetorical reference, grammatical metaphor, ideational metaphors and
interpersonal metaphors.
1.2. Summary

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It is clear from the review above that grammar is a very complex notion

which can be seen from different approaches and covers a number of issues.
However, given the wide range of grammar and diversity of the issues treated, the
authors reviewed share the following issues that constitute the scope of grammar:
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Words (vocabulary): morphemes, parts of speech (noun, verb, adjective,
adverb, pronoun, conjunction…) and their characteristics.
+ nouns: singular, plural, compound, complex …
+ verbs: tenses, voices, aspects …
+ pronouns: I, you (singular/plural), he/she/it,…
+ prepositions: in, at, on, upon, …
+ conjunctions: and, or, but, so, …

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Groups/Phrases: noun phrase, verb phrase …. and their characteristics.

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Sentence: simple, compound, complex, compound-complex and their

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characteristics (subject-verb agreements in number, passive/active voices…)

1.3. Error
1.3.1. Definition of Error
The term “error” has long been defined and studied by many applied
linguists. But each of them has different views on this term. According to Norrish
(1987: 7), error is “a systematic deviation, when the learner has not learnt

something and consistently gets its wrong”. Similarly, Cunningworth (1987: 87)
defines error as “systematic deviations from the norms of the language being
learned”. According to these applied linguists, “systematic deviation” can be
interpreted as the deviation which happens repeatedly. Another definition of error is
given by Corder (1973), he suggests that errors are “the result of some failure of
performance. They may contain what are often called slips of the tongue, false
starts, changes of mind, and so on. They may be the result of failures in memory.”
(Corder, 1973: 162). In contrast, Crystal (2003: 165) says: “Error is a term used in
psycholinguistics referring to mistakes in spontaneous speaking or writing
attributable to a malfunctioning of the neuron-muscular commands from the brain.

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It is thus distinct from the traditional notion of error, which was based on the
language user‟s ability to conform a set of real or imagined standards of
expression.”
1.3.2. Distinction between “Error” and “Mistake”
Before investigating students‟ errors, it is necessary to make a distinction
between mistakes and errors. According to Brown (1994), mistakes refer to "a
failure to utilize a known system correctly" while errors are concerned with "a
noticeable deviation from the adult grammar of a native speaker, reflecting the
interlanguage competence of the learner" (1994a: 205). There are two things to be
considered here: First, mistakes do not require special treatment assuming they are
recognized. Second, error here refers to structures only. Both Corder (1967, 1971)
and James (1998) give us an idea that helps us treat them: A mistake is caused by
learners lacking attention when using the language. If the learners recognize those
mistakes, they can self-correct them. Whereas, errors are caused by the learners

lacking knowledge of the language. The learners haven‟t mastered the rules or use
of that language, so they commit errors. And therefore, errors can‟t be selfcorrected. They need to be treated by others such as the teachers or native speakers.
Moreover, errors are “systematic”. They are likely to happen regularly and are not
recognized by the learner. Hence, only the teacher or researcher would locate them,
the learner would not (Gass & Selinker, 1994).
1.3.3. Classification of Error
There are different ways to classify errors. Each researcher has his/her own
way of classification. Burt and Kiparsky (1972), for example, classify errors based
on communication. According to them, errors can be divided into two kinds: global
errors and local errors. Global errors are errors hindering and causing problems with
communication. They affect the whole sentence organization. Here are common
global errors: wrong word order, missing, misplaced sentence connectors, missing
cues to signal obligatory exception to pervasive syntactic rules, over generalizing
pervasive syntactic rules to exceptions. Local errors are errors those that cause

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problems to single elements in sentences. These local errors do not hinder and cause
problems with communication as do global errors, such as errors in noun and verb
inflection, articles, auxiliaries and the formation of quantifiers.
From another perspective, Richards (1971) distinguishes three types of
errors: (i) intralingual error, (ii) interlingual errors, and (iii) developmental errors.
Interlingual errors, according to Richards (Ibid.), are errors resulting from the use
of elements from one language while writing another. In this instance, learners often
use ideas and structures of the target language in their foreign language, which
causes some misuses. Intralingual errors are errors reflecting general characteristics
of the rule learning such as overgeneralization, incomplete application of rules and

failure to learn conditions under which rules apply. And Developmental errors are
errors occurring when learners attempt to build up hypothesis about the target
language on the basis of limited experiences.
Unlike other applied linguists, Corder (1986) classifies errors into two types:
Error of competence and error of performance. Errors of performance, according
to Corder (Ibid.), are the results of mistakes in language use and manifest
themselves as repeats, false starts, corrections or slips of the tongue. Errors of
performance occur frequently in the speech of both native speakers and second
language learners. They are especially likely to occur when the speaker suffers from
stress, indecision or fatigue. In contrast, Errors of competence show the learner‟s
transitional competence. They are the result of the application of rules by second
language learner which do not (yet) correspond to the second language norm.
1.4. Review of Previous Studies
In his book entitled An Analysis of Grammatical Errors in Writing Made by
Turkish Learners of English as a Foreign Language Ibrahim Abushihab (2014)
studied the errors made by students of English as a foreign language in their
writings. The subjects of his study were twenty students who learn English at Gazi
university of Turkey. They were all enrolled in a writing course designed for
second-year students in the academic year 2011- 2012. The students were asked to

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