“An investigation into some common errors in paragraph writing made by the second year English major students at Nghe an College of Education

Part A: Introduction
1. Reason for choosing the study
Writing is one of the important skills of language learners, particularly for people
who learn English. Just like the speaking skill, writing is a personal and creative
communication skill. When we learn the process of writing, we are learning to write as a
form of communication. In other words, we are learning to express the views, ideas, and
thoughts which the writer wants to share with the world by writing. Therefore, the final
product of the writing process is the product of successful communication. So, being
good at writing will help people a lot in their daily lives, in their studies, in their
communication and in their work. However, it is a difficult skill. It requires the learners to
learn to write through each stage: writing a word, writing a sentence, writing a paragraph,
writing an essay, etc. Therefore, the learners have to practise very much and identify an
appropriate method to improve the their level.
Besides being a part of the ordinary curriculum at a college in Vietnam, writing
an English paragraph is the main part of the program for the second year English-major
student at Nghean College of Education. Some kinds of writing are writing descriptions,
writing about people’s background, writing about the advantages and disadvantages of
something. Writing paragraphs is basic to students’ development of their writing skill
later. Writing a letter, writing a composition and writing an essay are based on writing a
paragraph because they are constituted from several paragraphs. Hence it is very
important for students to be taught how to write a paragraph.
However, there are many students who make mistakes in writing a paragraph. It is
easy to understand that in high school, they pay attention to grammar so much. They do
not have more opportunities to learn about writing a paragraph. Knowledge of how to
write an English paragraph is not presented in the English textbooks.
For this reason, I choose to do research on the topic: “An investigation into the
common errors in paragraph writing made by second year English major-students at
Nghean College of Education”.


This thesis is carried out with the hope that the research results will provide

certain linguistically useful practical knowledge for teachers in charge of the English
writing skill and improving the students’ skill in writing an English paragraph.

2. Aims and objectives of the study
The study is conducted with the following aims:


Investigate the attitudes of students toward writing skill and paragraph writing.



Analyze the types of errors occurring in paragraph writing of second year students

at Nghean College of Education.


Make some suggested solutions in the learning and teaching process in order to

help students improve their writing skill.
3. Research questions of the study
The aims of this study are to find out the answers to the three following research
questions:
1. What are students’ attitudes towards writing skill in general and paragraph
writing in particular?
2. What is the current situation of errors in paragraph writing of the second year
students at Nghean College of Education?
3. What suggestions can be made in the learning and teaching process in order to
help students improve their paragraph writing?
4. Methods of the study
To complete this study, the following methods were employed:

• Analytic and synthetic methods.
• Comparative and contrastive methods.
• Descriptive methods.
Firstly, the author used analytic and synthetic methods to review the theories
related to the matter concerned to form a framework for the analysis, and then collected
books and materials to find and select necessary information.


Secondly, the data collected from the survey were analyzed and sorted to make a
clear distinction about the students’ attitudes towards writing skill and paragraph writing.
Besides, the results of collected data were also used to analyze the students’ common
errors of paragraph writing.
Finally, descriptive methods were used to make a description about some suitable
ways for improving the teaching and learning of paragraph writing.
5. Scope of the study
The focus of the study is to investigate common errors in paragraph writing made
by second year students at Nghean College of Education. So the scope is limited to the
teaching and learning of paragraph writing only. The subjects of the study are the 2 nd year
English – major students at Nghean College of Education.
6. Design of the study
Apart from acknowledgements, tables of contents and appendices, this paper is
structured in three main parts: introduction, investigation and conclusion.
The first part ‘Introduction’ presents the rationale, aims, objectives, research
questions, scope of the study and also its design.
The second part ‘Development’ includes three chapters. Chapter I reviews the
related literature which includes some discussions on paragraphs, errors and error
analysis.

Chapter II is the main part of the study (the survey) that includes the

description of the subjects, setting, data collection instruments and procedures. It also
presents the results collected from the questionnaire and the analysis of errors made by
students from their papers in the form of tables and figures. This is followed by the
discussion and analysis of the data. Chapter III includes the implications and suggestions
for teaching paragraph writing.
The third part “Conclusion” summarizes the main points and the achievement of
the study. Recommendations for further research are also made in this part.


CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1. Paragraphs
1.1.1. Definitions of a paragraph
There are many different definitions of paragraph. According to Carol Pemberton
(2000), a paragraph is defined as “a basic unit of organization in writing in which a group
of related sentences develops one main idea, the topic of paragraph. Each paragraph is a
separated unit. It is marked by indenting the first word from the left-hand margin or by
leaving extra space above and below the paragraph. A paragraph can be as short as one
sentence or as long as twelve sentences. The number of sentences is unimportant;
however, the paragraph should be long enough to develop the main idea clearly”. Another
definition of a paragraph by Rook G.M (1889) is: “a paragraph is a group of sentences
which logically develops one subject”.
Alice Savage and Masoud Shafiei (2007) consider a paragraph as a group of
sentences about a topic. A paragraph is a self-contained unit of a discourse in writing
dealing with a particular point or idea. Paragraphs consist of one or more sentences. The
start of a paragraph is indicated by beginning on a new line. Sometimes the first line is
indented. A written work - be it an essay or a story - is about an idea or concept. An essay
explains it; a story narrates it. To help the readers understand and enjoy it, the explanation
or narration is broken down into units of text, the paragraph. In an essay, each paragraph
explains or demonstrates a key point or thought of the central idea, usually to inform or
persuade. In fiction, each paragraph serves to advance the plot, develop a character,

describe a scene or narrate an action - all to entertain the readers. All paragraphs support
each other, leading the readers from the first idea to the final resolution of the written
work.
1.1.2. Parts of paragraph
According to Alice Savage and Masoud Shafiei (2007), a paragraph has three main
parts: the topic sentence, the supporting sentences and the concluding sentence.
1.1.2.1. The topic sentence


Every good paragraph has a topic sentence, which clearly states the topic and
controlling idea of the paragraph. It is a complete sentence. It is usually (not always) the
first sentence in the paragraph.
A topic sentence is the most important sentence in the paragraph. It briefly
indicates what the paragraph is going to discuss. For this reason, the topic sentence is a
helpful guide to both the writer and the reader. The writer can see what information to
include and what information to exclude. The reader can see what the paragraph is going
to be about and is, therefore, better prepared to understand it.
There are three important points to remember about the topic sentence:

(i)

A topic sentence is a complete sentence; that is, it contains a subject, a verb, and
complement.

Ex: There are many talented people . (not a complete sentence)
(ii) A topic sentence is the most general statement in the paragraph because it gives only
the main idea. It does not give both any specific details and too general ideas.
Ex: The person who I like the most is an actor. (too general)
(iii) A topic sentence has two essential parts: the topic and the controlling idea. The topic
names the subject or the main idea of the paragraph. The controlling idea makes a specific

comment about the topic, which indicates what the rest of the paragraph will say about
the topic.
Ex:

The most person who I admire is Helen Keller.
Topic
Controlling idea

In this example, the topic is named: A famous person you admire. A specific
comment is then made about the topic: they should be optional for the person who they
admire. From this sentence, the reader immediately knows that the rest of the paragraph
will talk about it (his/her job, or why they admire...)
1.1.2.2 The supporting sentences
Supporting sentences add information about the topic and the controlling idea. The
writer must develop that subject so that the reader understands your ideas. There are
different ways to develop and clarify a topic sentence:


(i) Example: is a specific instance that explains a more general idea. The writer
can remind their readers that they are giving examples by using signal words or phrases
such as: for example, for instance, like, such as…so on.
(ii) Detail: is a particular or characteristic of a whole thing or a whole idea. Details
are frequently used in a description.
(iii) Anecdote: is a short, entertaining account of some happening. It is usually
personal.
(iv) Fact: is something which is objectively verifiable. A statistics is a numerical
fact which presents significant information about a given topic.
1.1.2.3 The concluding sentence
The concluding is like the topic sentence because both are general statements.
However, the topic sentence is usually the first sentence, a general statement that

introduces the topic to be discussed in the paragraph. The concluding sentence is also a
general statement, but is the last sentence and ends the paragraph.
A concluding sentence is not absolutely necessary; in fact, a concluding is not
customary for every paragraph in a multi-paragraph essay. However, in a single
paragraph, a concluding sentence is helpful to the reader because it signals the end of the
paragraph and because it is the reminder of the important points. In facts, the concluding
sentence can be written like the topic sentence but in different words.
In addition to restating the main idea, the concluding sentence may warn the
reader, make a prediction, or give an opinion about the topic.
The concluding sentence serves three purposes:
(i) It signals the end of the paragraph.
(ii) It summarizes the main points of the paragraph.
(iii) It gives a final comment on your topic and leaves the reader with the most
important ideas to think about.
The writer should begin the concluding sentence with a signal phrase that tells the
readers that the paragraph is completed such as: finally, in conclusion, in summary,
therefore, thus, as a result, indeed, so on.
1.1.3. How is the English Paragraph developing?


According to Carol Pemberton (2000), in English two types of paragraphs are
logical and direct: Inductive paragraph and deductive paragraph.
A deductive paragraph has three parts that provide direct logical development.
These three parts appear in the paragraph as shown in figure 1:
Paragraph
Topic sentence
- Supporting sentence
- Supporting sentence
- And so forth
Concluding sentence

Figure 1: The three parts of a deductive paragraph
Inductive pattern paragraphs place the topic sentence at the end. The body
of the paragraph introduces first one, then two, and often more pieces of related
information. Together, these ideas share common concepts that lead to a usually
predictable conclusion or observation at the end. This conclusion or observation
constitutes the topic sentence. The three parts of an inductive paragraph are shown
the following figure:
Paragraph
-

Supporting sentence

- Supporting sentence

-

And so forth
Topic sentence
Figure 2: The three parts of an inductive paragraph
1.2 Types of paragraphs


According to Alice Savage and Masoud Shafiei (2007), there are different types of
paragraphs:
(i)

Descriptive paragraph: the writer describes a person, or thing, or a place so that
the reader can picture it in his or her mind.

(ii)

Example paragraph: the writer gives examples so that the reader clearly
understands the writer’s idea about a topic. The effective example should be
specific and relate clearly to the controlling idea.

(iii)

Process paragraph: the writer explains how to do something step by step. The
reader should be able to follow the steps to get a desired result.

(iv)

Opinion paragraph: the writer presents an opinion and tries to persuade readers
that the opinion is a good one.

(v)

Narrative paragraph: the writer tells a story that sets the background for an
event, describes the event, and often comments on the event.

(vi)

Cause and effect paragraph: the writer attempts to show how events are
influenced by or caused by others factors.

(vii) Comparison and contrast paragraph: the writer develops a topic by examining its
similarities or differences to another thing, process, or state. Comparison
emphasizes the similarities, and contrasts the differences.
1.3. Errors in language learning process
1.3.1. Definitions of errors

Errors play an important part in English process because they are analyzed to
provide learners with a notice and a try to avoid making them. So far, definitions of error
are not the same among different researchers.
The answers to the question “what is an error in language learning?” can be
understood more fully when the comparison between “an error” and “a mistake” is
made.
Though both errors and mistakes are something wrong in learning process of a
language, there are differences between them which are helpful for us to understand the
definition of error better.
Edge (1989:9-11) claimed that there are three types of mistakes including errors.
They are slips, errors and attempts:


(i)

Slips are caused by carelessness. The learners can self-correct them if

pointed out and give the chance.
(ii)

Errors are wrong forms that the students can not self-correct even if

these wrong forms are pointed out. However, “the teacher can organize what the
students wanted to produce and think that the class is familiar with the correct
form”.
(iii) Attempts are almost incomprehensible mistakes, and the students have no
ideas how to structure what they want to mean or their intended meaning and
structure are not clear to the teacher.
(Edge, 1989:11)
In his opinion, the learners themselves can self-correct as slips are caused by

carelessness not by the lack of knowledge of a language. In contrast, the learners
themselves can not correct errors and attempts since they are caused by the lack of
knowledge.
To distinguish errors and mistakes, H D Brown (1994:2000) defined that an error
is “noticeable deviation from the adult grammar of a native speaker, reflecting the interlanguage competence of the learner”. And mistake is defined as “a performance error
that is either a random guess or a “slip” in that it is failure to utilize a known system
correctly”.
Ellis Rod (1997) shares the same point of view: “errors reflect gaps between
learner’s knowledge”. They occur because the learner does not know what is correct.
Mistakes reflect occasional lapses in performance. They occur because in a particular
instance, the learner is unable to perform what he or she knows”.
As stated in the definitions above, both errors and mistakes are deviations in the
usage. They are incorrect use in target language made by the second language learners.
However, errors and mistakes differ in the cause. If errors are caused by lack of
knowledge, mistakes are caused by lack of intention, fatigue, and carelessness. Thus
teachers do not usually need to correct mistakes, errors are more serious, especially errors
in language already learnt in class.
There are many ways of classifying the types of errors. In this study, errors are
categorized into six types:


(i)

Grammatical error: can be the learners’ wrong use of structures, tenses, articles,

nouns, and so on.
(ii)

Lexical error: (1) the student used wrong word or word choice in a paper, (2)

the student could not find out a correct word to express ideas.
(iii)

Punctuation error: refers to the case: the students use punctuations wrongly or

writing paragraph without punctuations.
(iv)

Spelling error: refers to students write the words incorrectly as the original

ones.
(v)

Content error: refers to reader’s refusal to the meaning of the students’

writing about irrelevant information.
(vi)

Style and culture error: refers to the case that students (1) use the spoken style

in written style and (2) students’ writing is not accepted in other culture environment.
(vii) Form error: refers to the case that student use the wrong structure of a paragraph.
1.3.2. The significance of learners’ errors in the process of teaching and learning
Corder (1981) states that learners’ errors are significant to teachers, researchers
and especially to learners.
“A learner’s errors, then, provide evidence of the system of the language that he is
using (i.e. has learned) at a particular point in the course (and it must be repeated that he
is using some system, although it is not yet the right system). They are significant in three
different ways. First to the teacher, in that they tell him, if he undertakes a systematic
analysis, how far towards the goal the learner has progressed and, consequently, what

remains for him to learn. Second, they provide to the research evidence of how language
is learnt or acquired, what strategies or procedures the learner is employing in his
discovery of the language. Thirdly (and in a sense this is their most important aspect) they
are indispensable to the learner himself, because we regard the making of errors as a
device the learner uses in order to learn. It is a way the learner has of testing his
hypotheses about the nature of the language he is learning. The making of errors then is a
strategy employed both by children acquiring their mother tongue and those learning a
second language.” (Corder, 1981:11)
Learners’ errors tell the teacher whether their students have progressed or not,
which level or stage their students at and learners’ errors are also helpful for the teacher to


decide what he should teach in the course. Moreover, to the learners, their own errors are
really useful for them to develop their target language as “making errors as a device the
learner uses in order to learner”. (Corder, 1981:11)
1.3.3 Errors analysis
Error analysis, a branch of applied linguistics, emerged in the sixties, is the study
and analysis of errors made by second language learners. Its primary focus is on the
evidence that learners’ errors provide with an understanding of underlying process of
second language study. Corder (1974) says, “By describing and clarifying his errors in
linguistics terms we build up the picture of the features of the language which are causing
him learning problems”. Therefore, error analysis plays an important part in improving
the learning and teaching quality.
Error analysis is carried out in five successive stages as mentioned by Corder
(1974). These are:
-

Identification: to recognize an error, one should first of all know what “error” and
“mistake”.

-

Classification: classifying errors can help us to diagnose learner’s learning
problems at any stage of their development.

-

Explanation: in this step, we have to explain why learners make errors and the
causes of errors.

-

Evaluation: basing on the data of survey, we will know how many percents of
students do well or badly.

-

Correction: how should the teacher correct the students? What kinds of feedback
should they give? Does each of error need to be treated?
Error analysis has an important role in finding these answers to the questions.

1.3.4. Causes of errors
There are many causes leading to errors in foreign language learning. According to
Richard (1974:174), errors produced by learners can be inter-lingual, intra-lingual and
development errors. The inter-lingual errors are errors caused by the interference of the
learner’s mother tongue. The intra-lingual errors are those which reflect the general
characteristics of rule learning, such as faulty generalization, incomplete application of
rules and failure to learn condition under which rules apply. And the developmental errors

illustrate the learner attempting to build up hypotheses about the English language from
his limited experience of it in the classroom or textbooks. He claims that there are 5 main
causes of errors. They are mother tongue interference, over-generalization, ignorance of
rule restriction, incomplete application of rules, false concepts hypothesized, and error
correction.
1.3.4.1. Mother tongue interference
All second language learners have already acquired their language. This helps
them have ideas of how language works and form the habit of learning it. However,
mother tongue or first language not only has great effect on second language learning but
also is the major cause leading to errors.
Although young children seem to be able to learn a foreign language quite easily
and to produce new sounds very effectively, almost older learners experience
considerable difficulty. The sound system (phonology) and the grammar of the first
language impose themselves on the new language and this leads to the wrong choice of
vocabulary and grammatical patterns.
E.g: Thuy Tien is get married for four years.
These sentences were clearly translated from the learner’s own language. He used
the features of his previous mother tongue experience in his attempts to write in the
foreign language. Thus, the learner has committed errors since the correct sentences must
be:
-

Thuy Tien has got married for four years.
According to Lado (1957: 2), “Individual transfers the forms and meanings and

this distribution of forms and meanings of their native language and culture to foreign
language and culture”. James Carl, (1998: 179) claim that in the case that both L1 and L2
are similar, the learners benefit from their positive transfer. However, if there are
differences between the two languages, he is encumbered by negative transfer or
interference. And errors are generated from negative transfer.

1.3.4.2. Over-Generalization
The mentalist theory claims that errors are inevitable because they reflect various
stages in the language development of the learner. This claims that the learner processes


new language data in his mind and procedures rules for its production, based on the
evidence.
Richard (1974) defines over-generalization as “the use of previously available
strategies in new situation…in second language learning…some of these strategies will
prove helpful in organizing the fact about the second language, but other, perhaps dues to
superficial similarities, will be misleading and inapplicable.” Over-generalization covers
instances where learners create a deviant structure on the basic of their experience of
other structures in the target language.
1.3.4.3. Ignorance of rule restrictions
The situation is a failure of learners to observe the restrictions of existing structure.
It means that the application of rules to contexts where they do not apply. Ignorance of
rule restrictions happen since the learner is making use of a previously acquired rule in a
new situation.
Some rule restriction errors may be accounted for in terms of analogy or may
result from the rote learning of rules. Analogy seems to be a major factor in the misuse of
prepositions. The learner attempts by analogy to use the same preposition with similar
verbs.
1.3.4.4. Incomplete application of rules
This cause contrasts to over-generalization which is also called undergeneralization. Learner has applied only some rules in new situations.
Richard (1974) also illustrated errors caused by incomplete application of rules:
e.g.: Nobody knew where was Barbie. (where Barbie was)
Incomplete application of rules involves a failure to learn the more complex types
of structure because the learner finds he can achieve effective communication by using
relative simple rules.
1.3.4.5. False concepts hypothesized

This cause derives from faulty comprehension of distinctions in the target
language. These are sometimes due to poor gradation of teaching items.
e.g.: He is speaks French.
‘is’ may be understood to be the responding marker of the present tense.


Richard (1974) has traced errors of errors of this sort to classroom presentation,
and to presentation which is based on contrastive analysis of English and another
language or on contrasts within English itself.
1.3.5. Error correction
Error correction is said to be an argumentative part in the process of teaching and
learning. The following questions posed by Hendrickson (1978) can be helpful for the
teachers when deciding how to treat to students’ oral errors:
1. Should learner errors be corrected?
2. If so, when should learner errors be corrected?
3. Which learner errors should be corrected?
4. How should learner errors be corrected?
5. Who should correct learner errors?
For the first question “should learner errors be corrected?” Some researchers say
that teachers should not make a point of error correction because it is considered to be a
kind of criticism or punishment, and errors would be self-corrected by learners.
On the contrary, discussing error correction, some famous error linguists such as
James (1998) and Edge (1989) suggest that it is necessary to correct errors because it is
useful for both teachers and learners. In his book “Mistakes and Correction”, Edge
(1989:20) argues that “teachers decide to correct our students and we have to be sure that
we are using correction positively to support learning”. Sharing Edge’s point of view,
James (1998) claims that learners want all their written errors corrected and correction
will help them improve. He also adds that correction is essential in the cases where the
language processing task is difficult, because in such cases learners will be unable to selfcorrect.
It is hoped that error correction will help learners be aware of their errors more

fully. And their subsequent writing will carry less errors of the same type.
The next question that the language should consider achieving the best reaction to
learners’ errors is “when learner errors should be corrected?” Teachers should choose
only particular errors to concentrate on a time of making corrections so as not to depress
learners. In fact, if all errors are selected, students will feel bored and as a result, this will
decrease their motivation. It is also advisable that teachers should make learners pay more


attention to the errors which have been repeated by many members in class, or to
important errors which affect clear communication.
When accuracy is the aim of the activity, students are involved an accuracy work
such as the study of a piece of grammar, pronunciation exercise or some vocabulary
work. It is essential of the teachers to point out and correct students’ errors. (Harmer,
2001:105). Moreover, students should given sufficient time and should be encouraged to
correct their own mistakes. It is also found that increasing wait-time by an extra second or
two enables learners to self-correct 50-90 percent of their errors (Walz 1982).
When the aim of the activity is fluency, the teachers in this case should delay the
corrective feedback until the end of the activity (Huge, 2000).
Besides the aims of activity, the language teachers should also notice the stage of
the activity, the types of errors and the students’ expectation of assistance.
Another question is “which learner errors should be corrected?” It is necessary
that teachers should know how to correct learners’ errors effectively and avoid using
correction strategies that might embarrass or frustrate learners. Some error analysis and
methodologists like Allwright (1975) and Hendrickson (1977) suggest that there are five
techniques for correcting written errors:
a. The teacher gives the sufficient dues to enable self-correction to be made.
b. The teacher corrects the script.
c. The teacher deals with errors through marginal comments and footnotes.
d. The teacher explains orally to individual students.
e. The teacher uses errors as an illustration for the class explanation.

Allwright (1975) makes a conclusion that any error correction process includes
some of the following general features: indication that an error was committed;
identification of the type of error, location of the error, mention of who made the error,
selection of a remedy, provision of a correct model, the furnishing of an opportunity for a
new attempt, indication of improvement and the offering of praise.
One more question is “how should learner errors be corrected?” The teachers
should decide how to decide how to correct learners’ errors in order not to embarrass
learners. The techniques for correction are various. However, it seems to be impossible to
decide which one is the most effective technique.


James (1998) suggests some opinions and principles for error correction as
follows:
-

First, that is “correct effectively”, teachers’ correction techniques help

learners

to progress in accuracy and fluency.
-

Second, correction should be sensitive and non-threatening form.

-

Third, correction must be matched to student preferences.

-

Fourth, the correction should have two stages: form-focused correction at the
practice phase and function-focused correction in the production phase.
The last question is “who should correct learner errors?” In classroom, the

teacher, the student who makes the error or other students can correct errors. Most of
language teachers expect the learners to self-correct their errors. Once students can selfcorrect, they can recognize the wrongness in his/her cognition. In fact, students are
encouraged to self-correct but not all of them succeed, so teachers should increase the
wait-time for them.
Edge (1989) indicates the benefits of peer-correction as follow:
Firstly, when a learner makes an error, and another learner corrects it, both of them
are involved in listening to and thinking about the language.
Secondly, when a teacher encourages learners to correct each other’s errors, the
teachers get a lot of essential information about the students’ current TL competence at
that time.
Thirdly, peer-correction helps learners cooperate and helps make them less
dependent on teachers.
Fourthly, students will be able to help each other learn when they work in pair and
groups, when the teachers can not hear what is said.
(Edge, 1989:26)
In summary, students’ participation in error correction is very important. The
discussion between the teacher and students is very helpful. Students understand their
errors and are finally encouraged to express them more accurately. For effective error
correction, teacher should write on the blackboard the most important errors from
learners’ pieces of writing in class for discussion.


CHAPTER 2: THE DATA AND DATA ANALYSIS
Introduction
In this chapter, the author presents the overview of the survey, which includes the
aims, the description of the subjects, research setting, and the ways to carry out the study.

The results of the study are presented followed by the discussion and analysis of the data.
The results are statistically presented in the forms of tables, or charts.
2.1. The overview of the survey
2.1.1. Aims of the survey
The data has been collected from the students’ questionnaire and
the analysis of the students’ written papers. These are used to answer the
following research questions:
1. What are students’ attitudes towards writing skill in general and paragraph
writing in particular?
2. What is the current situation of errors in paragraph writing made by the second
year students at Nghean College of Education?
The results from the survey questionnaire and the analysis of the students’ errors
helped the researcher make some implications and suggestions for improving the teaching
and learning of paragraph writing.
2.1.2. Research setting
The research was carried out in 1 class (K38-SPTA) of Foreign Language
Department at Nghean College of Education.
2.1.3. Description of subjects
The subjects are 22 second year students of English majors at Nghean College of
Education. These students are studying in their third term. They are aged from twenty to
twenty-two. Most of them are females. At the time the students had 3 periods of writing a
week. Most of them have been studying English for 5 or 6 years. They are almost at the
same level: intermediate.
2.1.4. Instrumentation


The procedure of the study is as follows: First, a survey questionnaire was
distributed to second year students to investigate their attitudes towards the teaching and
learning of writing skill in general and paragraph writing in particular. Second, 22 written
papers of the students were analyzed to find out the common errors in paragraph writing.

Then these were followed by the data discussion and error analysis of collected data to
find out the current situation of writing paragraph of the second year students at Foreign
Language Department at Nghean College of Education.
2.1.4.1. The description of the survey questionnaire
The survey is conducted with a questionnaire which consists of 9 questions. 22
students at Foreign Language Department, Nghean College of Education were invited to
complete the questionnaire. Short and clear explanations about the aims of these
questionnaires were given before handouts were distributed. Questions No.1 and No.2 are
aimed at investigating the students’ attitudes towards writing skill in general and
paragraph writing in particular. Questions No.3 and No.4 are designed to get to know
what the students really think about writing skill and paragraph writing. Question No.5 is
to get the students’ difficulties in writing a paragraph in English. Question No.6 shows the
students’ opinions on the order of importance of four skills. Question No.7 surveys the
amount of time that the students spend on practicing writing at home. Question No.8
investigates if the students studied paragraph writing much at their high schools. For
Question No.9, the students are free to give their opinions and suggestions for the
teaching and learning writing skill in general and paragraph writing in particular.
2.1.4.2. The description of the analysis of the students’ papers
In the framework of the third term at Foreign Language Department at Nghean
College Of Education, students have studied many types of paragraphs. However, due to
the limitation of time, the researcher only chose 1 major types of paragraphs to analyze
errors. It is descriptive paragraph.
The topics of these paragraphs is “The famous person you admire.”
The data were collected from one source (the source is from the students’
homework). In this study, the errors made by the students in their written homework were
mainly classified into 6 major types of errors as follows:
- Grammatical error.


- Lexical error.

- Punctuation error.
- Spelling error.
- Content error.
- Style and form error.
2.2. Results and Data Analysis
2.2.1. Attitudes of students toward writing skill and paragraph writing
Attitude plays an important role in second language learning. The students who
have more positive attitudes are more likely to succeed in second language learning than
others. This part is the investigation into the students’ opinions about learning writing
skill and paragraph writing as well as the amount of their practicing time at home.
The following tables and charts are the summaries of the students’ responses to the
questions in the questionnaire.
Surprisingly, many of students are not interested in writing skill and paragraphs
writing.

Number of
Questions
1. How do you find writing skill?

students

%

A. Boring

17

77.3

B. Interesting

4

18.2

1

4.5

A. Boring

17

77.3

B. Interesting

3

13.6

C. Very interesting

2

9.1

C. Very interesting
2. How do you find paragraph writing
lesson?

Table 1: Second year students’ attitudes towards writing skill and learning paragraph
writing


Although these students are students of English majors, many of them feel bored
with writing skill and paragraph writing lesson (77.3%) while a little of them think
writing skill (18.2%) and paragraph writing lesson (13.6%) are interesting. This is
because, in their opinions, writing skill and paragraph writing are very difficult.

Figure 3: Students’ opinions about degrees of difficulty of writing skill and paragraph
writing
As can be clearly seen from the chart, a majority of students find the writing skill
difficult (95%). Meanwhile, no one think that this skill is very easy and easy. Similarly,
73% of the students confirm that paragraph writing is difficult or very difficult (18%). It
is not easy for them to write a good paragraph. The reason why they find writing skill and
paragraph difficult is that there are six main difficulties causing the students to make
errors in their writing paragraphs such as: Vocabulary, spelling, punctuation, content,
cultural and style, other types.


Figure 4: The students’ difficulties in writing a paragraph

As shown in the bar chart, 86% of the students think that the choice of correct
words (i.e. the lack of sentence structures and vocabulary) is the most difficult aspect of
writing. The difficulty which is at the second rank is using grammar correctly. Therefore,
most of the students think that writing skill is very difficult and boring, they still consider
that it is not as important as other skills such as: speaking, listening, reading skill.

Figure 5: The students’ attitudes of importance of writing skill in comparison with

others


As we can see from the bar chart, a lot of them (54%) choose speaking skill as the
most important skill. In addition, listening is considered as an important skill (32%). Only
5% of them confirm that writing is the most important skill in the learning process of a
foreign language.
Althought many students are not well-aware of the importance of writing skill,
they also spend much time practicing their writing paragraphs at home.

Figure 6: Students’ amount of time for practicing writing skill at home
As be seem the chart, most of students care about improving their writing ability.
They spend one hour (45.5%) or two hours (24%) practicing it. However, many of them
do not really pay attention to do it.

Figure 7: Students’ frequency of practicing writing at high schools


The above bar chart shows that before entering Nghean College of Education, only
some of them studied writing skill very often (5%) or offen (14%). 72% of the students
did not study English writing much at their high schools. When they were at high schools,
their teachers only focused on teaching vocabulary, grammar, and a little reading
comprehension to prepare the students for their entrance exams. As a result, the students
were not good at writing skill.
In conclusion, this part presents negative attitudes of the second year students
towards writing skill and paragraph writing. In general, only some of them are very
interested in writing skill and paragraph writing lessons. Because most of the students do
not consider writing as an important skill in their language learning, they spend very little
time practicing their writing skill at home. As a result, they encounter many difficulties
and make many errors in their writing tests.

2.2.2. Current situation of errors in paragraph writing of the second year students
In this part, the results from the analysis of 22 students’ writing papers are used to
identify the frequency of errors in four types of paragraphs and to compare the errors
committed by students in these types of paragraphs.
2.2.2.1. The most frequent errors in four types of paragraph
In total, there are 223 errors collected from the students’ homework. They are
shown in the following table:
Types of errors

Number of

Number of

Grammar
Vocabulary
Punctuation
Spelling

errors
118
36
33
19

percentages (%)
52.91
16.14
14.81
8.52

Content

11

4.93

Style and form

6

2.69

Table 2: The percentage of types of errors from the survey
It is clear from the table that the highest percentage of errors committed by the
students is grammar errors (52.91%). Meanwhile, the lowest percentage is style errors
(2.69%), vocabulary errors rank the second with the percentage of 16.14% and this


category is appropriately higher than punctuation and spelling which account for 14.81%
and 8.52%. Content errors (4.93%) are one of the low categories which are higher than
category of style and form.
2.2.2.1.1. Grammatical error
Grammar is one of the most complex categories in learning language in general
and in foreign language in particular. It consists of a lot of small categories which cause
students to make errors in writing a paragraph.
The results show that grammar occupies a large percentage of errors in total
(52.91%). There are many ways of classifying the types of grammatical errors. In this
study, errors can be classified into the following ones:
Number of

Number of

Types of errors
Wrong structure
Word order
Wrong tense sequence

errors
47
32
20

percentages
39.83
27.12
16.95

Run-on sentence

9

7.63

Subject and verb agreement

7

5.93

3

2.54

Wrong article

Table 3: Types of grammatical errors from the survey
2.2.2.1.1.1. Wrong structure
Structures are used to build up sentences. If the writer uses a wrong structure, it
will be difficult for readers to understand the sentence. And in this category, the error rate
occupies 39.83%. First of all, a large number of students produced wrong structures when
using the conditional sentences. They made errors in both form and usage.
e.g.1: “Bill Gate is the most rich businessman in the world”.
In this sentence, the form should be: S + V + the + short adj + est… It should be
corrected: “Bill Gate is the richest businessman in the world”.
e.g.2: “If I had an opportunity to meet a famous person, I like to meet My Tam
Singer”
“If I have an opportunity to meet a famous person, I will meet My Tam Singer”.


In this sentence, students made errors not only in formation but also in use. This
sentence is used in the conditional sentence type 1.
Moreover, relative clause is also one of difficult aspects which students committed.
It has the following types of errors:
Type of errors
Incorrect relative
pronoun

Examples
“Uncle Ho was born in Nghe An province where is also my
home town”.

“Uncle Ho was born in Nghe An province which is also my
home town”.
“His famous song is “Lac troi” which I am really interested”.

Lack of
preposition in
relative pronoun

“His famous song is “Lac troi” in which I am really
interested”.
“Mother Terexa visited many countries are the poor and the

Omission of
“that”

miserable present”.
“ Mother Terexa visited many contries that are the poor and
the miserable present”
“Uncle Ho who is the greatest leader of Vietnamese people, was

Lack of comma
in relative clause

born on May 19th 1890”.
“Uncle Ho, who is the greatest leader of Vietnamese people,
was born on May 19th 1890”

Table 4: Some examples of wrong structure errors from the survey
As can be seen from the table, it is important to choose the correct relative pronoun
in making a relative clause. However, many students had some problems with the use of

the relative pronouns. First of all, it was difficult for them to make the correct choice of
relative pronouns among: “who, whom, that, which and whose”. In addition, many
students sometimes forget to use the preposition when they used relative clauses.
Furthermore, they made errors with the omission of “that”. They were not aware of the
fact that it is possible to omit the relative pronoun functioning as the object of verb or
preposition in a relative clause. Finally, many students committed errors in using comma