Identifying common errorss in written english of students of english at the intermediate level

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Part I:

introduction

1.rationale for the study

Since Vietnam started its “open door” policy, English has gained
national significance. And as the government has stressed the importance of
English, it will play a crucial role in the country’s drive to modernize. As a
result, English has rapidly become the most popular foreign language
among Vietnamese people. Foreign language schools and centers have
mushroomed and provided English classes at all hour of days, catering to
all kinds of learners with a variety of learning purposes.
Nowadays, English becomes one of the main subjects taught in most
of schools and universities. However, learning English well is not easy,
especially its writing aspect. A majority of students have been aware of the
importance of writing skill. To them, writing is useful not only in reference
to their future job, but also because it helps them improve the other skills
and grammar and enriches their vocabulary. Writing has been supposed an
important key to exploring English culture, customs and lifestyles.
Nevertheless, writing has long been considered as a difficult and
boring subject by many second language learners. It takes much time and
energy to make progress in this skill. In fact, many students find it very
difficult to be good at written English and make a lot of mistakes and errors
in this aspect. We want to do something to help them overcome this
problem and avoid a habit of making common written English errors. That
is why, what we want to do in this thesis is that.
Firstly, we give some ideas about students’ errors in learning written
English.

Secondly, we would like to look at the fact of errors in this aspect in
order to have a clear knowledge of the rate of errors in each category.
Thirdly, we give out some suggestions to reduce and prevent these
errors, with the hope that they will be useful to the teachers and students of
English to deal with this problem.
Finally, we consider this study as a good chance to improve written
English and get some useful experiences for our teaching job in the future.
2. aims and subjects of the study

The study reported in this thesis aimed to:
- help students see clearly their errors in written English. From this,
they can overcome their problem.


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- help teachers of English aware of and have positive attitudes toward
students’ errors in written English.
- show a range of suggestions to reduce, prevent and correct written
work for students in general, and especially for students of English at the
intermediate level in particular.
- help us widen our knowledge of English.
Subjects of the study are a group of eighty students of English at the
intermediate level of Foreign Language Department at Vinh University.
3. scopes of the study

Within the limitation of a graduation thesis, we would like to deal with
common written English errors, mostly about the errors in writing sentence
that students of English at the intermediate level usually make. The survey is
carried out at Foreign Language Department in Vinh University.
4. methods of the study

- Collecting materials and information
- Analytic and synthetic method
- Descriptive method
- Statisting and classifying


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5. design of the study

Except the acknowledgements, the table of contents and the references
as well as the appendix, this thesis consists of 3 main parts.
Part I: Introduction
This is an introductory part in which we present the rationale, aims,
scopes, methods and design of the study.
Part II: Content
This part consists of 3 chapters. Chapter 1 deals with the theoretical
background. Chapter 2 is about the study and presentation of common
written English errors of students of English at the intermediate level. The
description of research and subjects will be presented in this chapter. Then,
the results and findings of the study will be also presented and discussed.
Chapter 3 gives out the suggestions and implications.
Part III: Conclusion
The final part will conclude what has been discussed in the contents of
the thesis, point out the limitations of the study and give some suggestions
for further research.


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Part II: content

Chapter 1.

theoretical background

1.1.the overview of writing

1.1.1. The nature of writing.
As the language instruction progresses, writing is generally the last
skill to receive intensive attention after listening, speaking and reading. The
purpose of writing, in principle, is the expression of ideas and the conveying
of a message to the reader. That is why, writing is considered as a means of
communication. So, we cannot neglect the important role of writing in
learning a language.
According to Halliday (1989: 39), “ writing evolves in response to
needs that arise as a result of cultural change. The particular circumstance
led to the development of writing”. He speculates that with the emergence of
culture based on agriculture rather than hunting and gathering, a spoken
language was no longer enough. So, language had to be reduced to a form
which could be referred to over and over again. This was an initial stimulus
for emergence of a new form of language: Writing. Obviously, the
development of writing is original from the factual needs. It naturally
appears as a form to meet people’s communicative demands.
Halliday also divided writing into 3 primary types:
For activities: This type including the writings such as public signs on
roads and stations, product label and instructions and personal
correspondences: letters, postcards …ect. This one is used to serve theect. This one is used to serve the
practical daily life, materials, machinery …ect. This one is used to serve theect.
For information: People can get information from this type of writing.
It is involved in newspapers and current affairs magazines; non-fiction
books; public notices…ect. This one is used to serve the

For entertainment: we can see this type in light magazines, comic
strips, fiction books, poetry and drama, newspaper features, film subtitles,
games…ect. This one is used to serve theThrough this one we can entertain ourselves.
Basing on those types mentioned above, we can classify the writing
into two trends: functional and unfunctional. Functional writing may be a
business technical, scientific or administrative writing. While essay, fiction
and short composition are not functional because the users do not really
know the reason why the author creates his works. However, both of them,


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functional or unfunctional writing, are very popular in daily life and serve
certain purposes.
Nowadays, we are so surrounded by written language that we can
hardly conceive of life without it. This means the need for communication
through written language is very high. And we think that when learning in an
innovative way, we can feel writing communicative and interesting.
Successful writing involves developing:
- the ability to identify and write accurately the alphabet.
- mastery of doing many kinds of writing exercises.
- skill in expressing ideas smoothly.
- skill in management of writing activities.
- skill to use words, phrases and structures.
- skill in knowing about and negotiating for writing task.
( Halliday, 1989: 40)
1.1.2. The relationship between writing skill and other skills.
As we know that a child first learns to practise language through the
skill of listening. Later he uses language by speaking combined with
listening. When school begins, he learns skills of reading and writing. Thus,
to achieve a language, we cannot separate the 4 major and necessary skills:

Listening, speaking, reading and writing. Rod and Carol Forseth (34)
presents a diagram:

Receptive skills

Productive skills

Oral skills

Listening

Speaking

Literacy skills

Reading

Writing

According to this view, the first two skills, listening and speaking are
called the oral skills. The last two skills, reading and writing are called the
literacy skills. We also can say that writing and speaking are said to be the
productive skills whereas listening and reading are said to be the receptive
ones. In conversation, when one person is speaking, another is listening.
After listening, the hearer responds by speaking. While they are listening,
they may also be writing notes or reading a handout. Obviously, all of these
skills are related to each other and used in coordination in language use.


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Reading and writing can integrate each other. Through reading,
learners not only get a lot of background information but also learn stock of
vocabulary, structure and grammar …ect. This one is used to serve theect. And like a nature matter, he
gradually produces the language with the help of these appeared in his mind.
As for speaking and writing, speaking ability can be transferred to
writing ability basing on process of selecting the content, choosing the right
words and sentences of learners to express their ideas, opinions and feeling.
on the contrary, writing ability can improve and boost speaking ability.
The purpose of listening is to comprehend. The ability to understand
the content of spoken form could therefore be transferred to an
understanding of the content of written form and vise versa.
After all, the skills of listening, speaking and reading will help
learners a lot in writing and make their writing more correct and fluent.
Thus, to be master of a language, we should pay attention to 4 skills of
language.
1.2. Factors affecting second language learning
There have been many books discussing about factors which affect
second language learning. And basing on the collection from these books’
ideas, we can see that these factors consist of both internal and external ones.
1.2.1. External factors
1.2.1.1. First language
All second language learners have already acquired their first
language. This helps them have ideas of how language works and form the
habit of learning it. Learners start off with the habits associated with the first
language. These habits interfere with those needed for second one. In
learning process, the learners can base on what they have learnt in their first
language to learn a second language. Where there are similarities between
two languages, they will acquire target language structures with ease.
However, where there are differences, the learners will have difficulty and
errors may happen. For instance:

In English, pronoun direct objects come after the verb so people write
“The dog eats it”. However, in French, pronoun direct objects precede the
verb so people write “ Le chien le mange”. As a result, a native speaker of
English might produce the sentence “ Le chien mange le” when learning
French. And a native speaker of French might write “ The dog it eats” when


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learning English. This shows that first language actually influences to second
language acquisition of the learners.
1.2.1.2. The language environment
No one can deny the great effect of language environment on foreign
language learning. Adrian Doff (1989: 222) emphasized that “ if the teacher
uses English most of the time, it will give students practice in listening and
responding to spoken English. This will help them “ pick up” words and
expressions beyond the language of the textbook. Besides, if the teacher
uses English to say real things to the class, it will give students the feeling
that English is a real language which is used for communication, and not just
a language that belongs to the textbook”. Clearly, using second language
frequently in class not only forces learners to learn it but also forms their
habit of using their second language.
Moreover, the popular using of foreign language as English in many
aspects of life such as internet, job interviews, workshops, traveling and
economy…ect. This one is used to serve theect, helps the learners identify the importance of foreign
language. From this, they are motivated to learn it so that they can take part
in those aspects in the future.
To sum up, language environment, inside classroom or outside
classroom, plays an important role in encouraging the learners to learn
language. It helps the learners practise their second language frequently and
motivates them to acquire it as well.

1.2.2. Internal factors
Internal factors affecting second language learning here are the
learners’ personal characteristics which lead to more or less successful
language learning. According to Pasty Lightbown and Spada (1999: 52),
these characteristics can be classified into: intelligence, aptitude, personality,
motivation and attitudes, learning style, and age of acquisition.
1.2.2.1. Intelligence
According to Rod Ellis (1994: 23)“ Intelligence refers to abilities to
master and use a whole range of academic skills”. Over the years, many
studies using a variety of IQ tests and different methods of assessing
language learning have found that intelligence levels were a good means of
predicting how successful a learner would be at language learning.
Furthermore, some recent studies have shown that intelligence may be more
strongly related to certain kinds of second language abilities than others. For


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example, in a study with French immersion children in Canada, it was found
that while intelligence was related to the development French second
language reading, grammar and vocabulary, it was unrelated to oral
productive skills ( Genesse, 1976).
Similar findings have been reported in other studies where intelligence
was highly related to performance in reading, dictation, and writing tasks,
but not on listening comprehension and free oral production skills.
Intelligence seems to be a strong factor when it comes to learning second
language in classroom, particularly, if the construction is formal. However,
intelligence may play a less important role when the classroom instruction is
less formal.
1.2.2.2. Aptitude.
Aptitude is innate or inborn ability to learn a language. As for Long

man dictationary of Applied linguistic by Richard (1992: 57), “ language
aptitude is thought to be a combination of various abilities such as the ability
to identify sound patterns in a new language, the ability to recognize the
different grammatical functions of words in sentences, ROTE- LEARNING
ability, and the ability to infer language rules. A person with high language
aptitude can learn more quickly and easily than a person with low language
aptitude, all other factors being equal ”. It is thought that learners will be
more successful if they have these abilities. Lorraine Obler (1989) reported
that a man, a native speaker of English, called CJ has such a specialized
ability in learning language. He can learn quickly and easily many languages
such as German, Spanish, Latin, Italian and French in a short time.
Aptitude is easily shown in formal setting where learners express and
share their opinions.
1.2.2.3. Personality
Two aspects of personality which have been studied are extroversion
and inhibition. Success in learning language is highly related to extroversion.
And inhibition is considered as a negative force in language learning process
because it discourages risk- taking which is necessary for this process.
Besides, some other characteristics such as self – esteem, sympathy,
dominance, talkativeness and responsiveness also have great effect on
second language acquisition. These characteristics seem to be a major factor
only in acquisition of communicative competence. However, many
researchers believe that personality will be shown to have an important


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influence on success in language learning when it combines with other
factors.
1.2.2.4. Motivation and attitudes
Motivation in second language learning is a complex phenomenon,

which can be defined in term of two factors: learners’ communicative needs
and the attitudes towards the second language community. If learners want to
fulfill their purpose, they will perceive the communicative value of the
second language and will therefore be motivated to acquire proficiency in it.
What is more, when learners are highly motivated, they will form positive
attitudes toward second language learning. This shows that motivation and
positive attitudes is a key to success in second language learning.
Gardner (1985) also defined motivation in terms of L2 learners’
overall goal or orientation, and attitude as the persistence shown by the
learners in striving for a goal. Attitudes are related to motivation by serving
as supports of the learners’ overall orientation. Motivation can be classified
into instrumental motivation and integrative motivation. Learners with
instrumental motivation is more interested in how second language can be a
useful instrument toward furthering other goals, such as gaining a necessary
qualification or improving employment prospects. And learners with
integrative motivation are more active in class and less likely drop out.
1.2.2.5. Learning style
Learning style means how people learn. There are many different
ways to lean a language. For visual learners, they learn something by seeing
it. For aural learners, they need to hear something. And for the others, some
need to practise and some need to add physical action in their learning
process. Of course, all of learners learn in all these ways. They can all
benefit from a variety of learning experiences. And each way brings certain
advantage. However, a good learning style will help learners study their
language more effectively.
It is believed that learners will be more successful if they are given
freedom to choose their preferred way of learning and they will do better
than those who find themselves forced to learn in environments where a
learning style which does not suit them is imposed as the only way to learn.
1.2.2.6. Age of acquisition.

Another internal factor affecting second language learning is age.
Many studies have shown that there are differences between adult learners


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and young learners. That is, adult learners recognize similarities and
differences as well. They think flexibly and have experience of the world and
cognitive skill…ect. This one is used to serve theThus, they learn a new language with clear purposes. On the
contrary, children see only similarities, lack flexible thinking, and have no
experience and no linguistic knowledge. So, for them, language is a tool for
expressing meaning. As Halliday (1973: 98) pointed out: the young child
responds not so much to what language is as to what it does. It is possible
that age different in second language acquisition can be explained in terms
of the different orientation to language of children and older learners.
Besides, children and adult learners also differ from learning conditions. The
fact shows that children have more time and more opportunities to learn
language than adults. ( D. A. Wilkins, 1975: 185).
1.3. Errors in language learning process.
1.3.1.The notion of error
According to Richard (1992: 95), error is the use of a linguistic item in
the speech or writing of a second or foreign language learner, such as a
grammatical item, a speech act…ect. This one is used to serve theect in a way which a fluent or native speaker
of language regards as showing faulty or incomplete learning. Error is the
results of incomplete knowledge.
For Dulay et Al (1982: 138), errors are understood as “ the flawed side
of learner speech and writing, those parts of conversation or composition that
deviate from some selected norms”. ( James Carl, Errors in Language learning
and use, 1998).
Or for Corder (1967: 122), error is either superficially deviant or
inappropriate in items of the target language.

1.3.2. Error versus mistake
Error and mistake are two terms that we usually use to identify the
faulty of students in learning a foreign language. However, there is a
distinction between them, and there are many different ideas about this.
Corder (1967: 167) associates errors with failures in competence and
mistakes with failures in performance. Mistakes are of no significance to the
process of language learning since they do not reflect a defect in our
knowledge, but are traceable to performance failure. The learner is normally
immediately aware of them. (P. Hubbard, 1987: 46).
Or for Ellis (1994: 51), “ Errors reflect gaps in a learner’ s knowledge,
they occur because the learner does not know what is correct. Mistakes reflect


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occasional lapses in performance, they occur because, in a particular instance,
the learner is unable to perform what he or she knows”.
According to Ron and Carol Forseth (160), some language teachers
make a distinction between mistakes and errors. That is a mistake is
something the student says or writes incorrectly but usually produces
correctly. Mistakes, unless they are not repeated often, do not need to be
corrected. Students will correct their own mistakes over time.
e.g: * They is my friends.
(The student knows and usually says ‘They are my friends’)
An error, on the other hand, is an inappropriate use of language which
the student is not aware of.
* He gived me some candy. (gave)
* The policeman said the man to stand up. (told)
If errors are caused by lack of knowledge, mistakes are caused by lack
of intention, fatigue and carelessness. Thus, while teachers do not usually
need to correct mistakes, errors are more serious, especially errors with

language already learnt in class. If these errors continually go uncorrected,
students may develop bad habits that will be hard to break.
1.3.3. Error analysis
The pupils’ errors are evident and 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 student has progressed and,
consequently, what remains for him to learn. Second, they provide to the
researcher evidence of how language is learned or acquired, what strategies or
procedures the student is employing in his discovery of the language. Third,
they are dispensable to the student himself, because we can regard the
marking of errors as a device the student uses in order to learn. It is a way the
student has of testing his hypotheses about the nature of the language he is
learning. ( Richard, 1974: 25).
Therefore, it is very important to study errors analysis and use it in
learning a second language, especially, in dealing with error problems.
Because it helps us not only find out causes of learners’ committed errors but
also know difficulties that second language learners meet.


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Error analysis, according to Richard (1992: 96), is the study and
analysis of the errors made by second or foreign language learners. Error
analysis may be carried out in order to:
* find down how well someone knows a language
* find down how a person learns a language
* obtain information on common difficulties in language learning, as an
aid in teaching or in the preparation of teaching materials.
1.3.4. Causes of errors
There are many causes leading to errors in foreign language learning.

Richard (1974: 174) suggested that errors produced by learners can be
interlingual, intralingual and developmental errors.
The interlingual errors are errors caused by the interference of the
learner’s mother tongue.
The intralingual 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:
1.3.4.1. Mother tongue interference
Mother tongue or first language, which we have discussed above
(Factors affecting language learning process), has great effect on second
language learning. However, it is also the major cause leading to errors.
Although young children appear to be able to learn a foreign language
quite easily and to reproduce new sounds very effectively, most 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 : * The bird is on the tree.
* John is ill for four days.
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
error since the correct sentences must be:
- The bird is in the tree.


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- John has been ill for four days.
For Lado (1957: 2), “Individual transfers the forms and meanings and
the distribution of forms and meanings of their native language and culture to
foreign language and culture”. In the case that both L1 and L2 are similar, the
learner benefits 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. (James Carl,
1998: 179).
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 produces rules
for its production, based on the evidence. Where the data are inadequate, or
the evidence only partial, such rules may well produce the following patterns:
Where you went yesterday?
Where you did go yesterday?
She drinked all the lemonade.
Jakbovits defines overgeneralization as “ the use of previously available
strategies in new situation…ect. This one is used to serve thein second language learning…ect. This one is used to serve thesome of these
strategies
will prove helpful in organizing the facts about the second
language, but others, perhaps due to superficial similarities, will be misleading
and inapplicable.” Overgeneralization covers instances where learners create a
deviant structure on the basic of their experience of other structures in the
target language.
e.g : *It is occurs.
*We are not work.
1.3.4.3. Ignorance of rule restriction
Closely related to the generalization of deviant structures is failure of
learners to observe the restrictions of existing structure. That is, the

application of rules to contexts where they do not apply. Ignorance of rule
restrictions since the learner is making use of a previously acquired rule in a
new situation.
e.g : ‘The man who I saw him’ violates the limitation on subject in
structure with who.
Some rule restrictions 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


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prepositions. The learner attempts by analogy to use the same preposition with similar
verbs

He show me the book.
(leads to )
(produces)
Ask him to do it.
1.3.4.4. Incomplete application of rules.

He explained me the book.
Make him to do it.

This is converse of overgeneralization. One might call it
undergeneralization.
e.g : Nobody knew where was Barbie. ( Barbie was)
Here the learners have applied only two components of the interrogative
formation rule: they have selected and fronted a wh- element, but have
omitted to invert subject and verb.
Richard also illustrated errors caused by incomplete application of rules:

Teacher’ s question
Student’ s response
What does she tell him?
She tell him to hurry
Will they soon be ready?
Yes, they soon be ready
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 belongs to developmental errors which derive 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 corresponding marker of the
present tense.
* One day it was happened
‘was’ interpreted as a marker of the past tense.
Richard has traced 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.
e.g : many students can not distinguish between too and so, as a result,
they make errors when using them
* Honey is too much sweet.
Honey is so much sweet.


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Chapter 2: the study

2.1. research design

Research design is a work to test the students’ level and to find out
their errors in written work of foreign language learning. This research took
place while the researcher was learning the seventh term of senior student at
Vinh University, and it was carried out at Foreign Language Department.
Basing on the writing textbook of first year students of English at the
intermediate level and prediction of some errors through the students’
writing exercises, we have given many types of questionnaires in order to
collect data for the study.
Types of questionnaires
Test 1: I. Translate some sentences into English.
II. Combine each pairs of sentences to form one sentence.
III. Rewrite some sentences, beginning with the words given.
IV. Write the full sentence, using suggested words.
Test 2: Write a paragraph about 25 sentences to describe your
hometown.
With the translation task, the author just wants to focus on
grammatical and vocabulary errors. These questionnaires (presented in the
appendix) intend to find out what common written errors students of English
at the intermediate level commit and what the sources of the errors might be.
From that, we can find out some solutions to this problem.
2.2. description of subjects

The subjects of the study are a group of 80 junior students and in their
intermediate level of English for the academic year of 2005- 2006.They are
all Vietnamese native speakers. Their mother tongue, Vietnamese, was the
medium of instruction throughout their past studies. They are approximately
of the same chronological age, having the same knowledge of English. Most
of them have been studying English at least 3 years. They are supposed to

have two 45 minute periods of writing a week. Thus, this group of students
are believed to be qualified enough to do the survey task.
2.3. Test setting

The two tests were carried out in 2 periods in classrooms and under
the researcher’s supervision. The time allowance for doing test 1 was 45


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minutes plus 30 minutes for the test 2. The students did their tests on their
own without discussing and using reference book or dictionary.
2.4. Result of the study and presentation of common errors in
written English of students of English at the intermediate level.

The data obtained from 20 questions that 80 junior students were
asked to answer in written form, reflected a sample of the subjects’
performance in English. The students’ works were corrected and evaluated.
And what we got from their performance are the common English written
errors that they usually make in their writing. Since the students were
conscious of the importance of doing well in the tests, they tried their best to
finish them. However, the limitation of time (one hour and 15 minutes)
might have decreased the impact of revision and monitoring to some extent.
The data was analyzed, then we summed up all of the students’ errors and
classified them into 4 main types of errors as follow:
- Grammatical errors
- Punctuation errors
- Vocabulary errors
- Spelling errors
2.4.1. results of test 1

The results of test 1 are presented in the following table. The
percentages of errors are derived through dividing the number of errors per
category by the total errors of 4 categories. It is then converted to percentage
once multiplied by a hundred.
Category
Number of errors
Error percentage
Grammar
820
51.25%
Punctuation
345
21.6%
Vocabulary
300
18.75%
Spelling
135
8.4%
Table2.1. Results of test 1
The results in the table above show that Grammatical errors occupy
the highest rate (51.25%). Followed by it is the Punctuation one- a category
does not seem to be easy for all of students. It constitutes 21.6%. Because of
the stage of questionnaires, the students made less errors in Vocabulary
(18.75%), and the smallest rate belongs to spelling aspect which takes only
8.4%.
2.4.1.1. Grammatical errors


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Grammar is the most complex category in learning language in
general and a foreign language in particular. It consists of a lot of small
categories which make students find it difficult to distinguish the use of each
one.
The finding shows that the students’ performance on grammar is
51.25%. This is an evidence of effectiveness of Error Analysis in identifying
difficulties of the second language learners. There are many types of
grammatical errors. However, the common types here can be classified into
the following ones:
- Wrong tense sequence
- Wrong Preposition
- Wrong Article
- Word order

- Incorrect subject- verb concord
- Wrong Clause
- Wrong Structure
- Miscellaneous

The percentages of these errors are presented in the table below:
Type of error
Wrong tense sequence
Wrong Preposition
Wrong Article
Word order
Incorrect subject verb concord
Wrong Clause
Wrong Structure
Miscellaneous

Total errors
250
120
101
91
85
83
70
20

Error percentage
30.5%
14.7%
12.3%
11%
10.4%
10.1%
8.6%
2.4%

Table 2.2. Results of grammatical errors
2.4.1.1.1. Wrong tense sequence

The error that figured prominently in the students’ English written
errors is the wrong tense sequence. It constitutes 30.5% - the highest rate in
the whole test. Most of students made errors when they were asked to
translate sentences into English or write the full sentences using suggested
words.
e.g: * That was the shop where I used to have my clothes made.
* I heard yesterday that you just left hospital.

* This morning, when I ask my mother for $10, someone rings the bell.
These respondents over- generalized the use of simple past tense and
simple present tense, and as a result they produced the above sentences
instead of the correct ones:


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- That is the shop where I used to have my clothes made.
- I heard yesterday that you have just left hospital.
- This morning, when I was asking my mother for $ 10, someone rang
the bell.
Mother tongue interference might be another cause for the sentences as
following:
* I forgot who was the first to reach the South Pole.
* As you have never met him before, I describe him for you.
Meanwhile the corrects ones must be:
- I have forgotten who was the first to reach the South Pole.
- As you have never met him before, I’ ll describe him for you.
2.4.1.1.2. wrong Preposition

Preposition is one of the eight parts of speech. It indicates the
relationship between words in a sentence. The errors of preposition constitute
14.7% in the test. Errors involving prepositions in the study include:
+ Wrong choice of prepositions such as:
describe him *to you describe him for you
a constant theme *of history a constant theme in history
*At any society In any society
blamed *on the cancellation of the meeting  blame for the
cancellation of the meeting.
She prides herself *of her cooking she prides herself on her cooking

A possible explanation for the errors above is ignorance of rule
restrictions. They tend to make analogy of what they have learnt and apply it
in new situations.
+ Insertion of prepositions.
left *from hospital left hospital
reach *to the South Pole reach the South Pole
Errors involving insertion of prepositions when a zero preposition is
required could also be a result of ignorance of rule restrictions.

2.4.1.1.3. wrong Article

Although, there are 2 articles- the definite (the) and the indefinite (a
and an), English articles have been considered as a difficult category for
learners to use. The result shows that, 10.4 % students committed errors


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when they were asked to do every kind of exercises. This type of error
includes:
+ Insertion of articles:
e.g:
*I heard yesterday that you have just left the hospital.
*I like the green.
Errors related to articles found in this study could be due to ignorance
of rule restrictions. Many Vietnamese students are either ignorant or
unaware of the various conditions existing in English that require zero
articles.
- I heard yesterday that you have just left hospital.
- I like green.
+ Omission of definite article:

e.g: *I have forgotten who was the first to reach South Pole.
This might be also a case of ignorance of rule restrictions on the
learners’ part. That is why, students produced the above sentence instead of
‘I have forgotten who was the first to reach the South Pole’.
+ Wrong choice of article:
e.g: *War and peace is the constant theme in history.
The correct one must be:
- War and peace is a constant theme in history.
This error might be traced to the cause of over- generalization.
2.4.1.1.4. Word order

In this category, the error rate is 11%. Word order is the category
which second language learners usually make errors. The main cause leading
to this problem mainly dues to mother tongue interference. That is, the
students usually translate word by word. Let us consider the following
sentences:
* This morning, when I was asking my mother for 10 $……
* I cannot remember when is our appointment.
*…you just have left hospital.
In these cases, the correct answers must be:
- This morning, when I was asking my mother for $ 10…
- I cannot remember when our appointment is.
-…you have just left hospital.
2.4.1.1.5. Incorrect subject- verb concord


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Concord errors are common among students as they are inclined to
generalize and simplify in order to reduce the linguistic burden. The test
shows that the students made this type of error either in marking singular

verb for plural nouns or using plural verb for singular nouns as in the
following examples:
* In any society, it is certain that the poor is not always unhappy. But
the rich is not always happy.
* War and peace are constant theme…
This type of error constitutes 10.4% in the test. These errors seem to
be unbelievable. However, a lot of students committed these ones. They were
not aware of collective nouns such as “the poor” and “the rich” which
always take plural verbs. And although the two nouns “ war” and “peace”
are linked by “ and”, they are abstract nouns and take singular verbs. Thus,
the correct ones are:
- In any society, it is certain that the poor are not always unhappy.
But the rich are not always happy.
- War and peace is a constant theme in history.

2.4.1.1.6. wrong clause

Quite a few first year students of English produced wrong clauses
while combining sentences or rewriting sentences. The popular error is to
place relative pronoun in wrong position. E.g:
+ With relative clause, they produced unexpected sentence:
* He who did not understand its purpose went to a meeting.
In this case, using the relative pronoun “ who” to stand by “he” is
wrong, because relative pronoun is only used to provide more information
for nouns. Thus, the correct sentence should be ‘He went to a meeting whose
purpose he did not understand’.
+ With nominal clause, students produced the sentence like this
* We have only enough for 2 days is very alarming.
They omitted “ that” at the beginning of the sentence because they
might have thought “ that” refers to whole sentence ‘ we have only enough

for 2 days’. However, the sentence needs a ‘that clause’ as subject ‘ That we
have enough for 2 days is very alarming’.