SKKN Some effective methods in correcting mistakes for grade 11 students

A. Preamble.
I. Reason for choosing the research.
It cannot be denied that English is not only the most popular language in the world but also an important language. Seeing the importance of this language in international communication and integration, the Vietnamese Education and Training has chosen Vietnamese the core subject. English is needed in certain fields such as tourism, trade, foreign company, computer user and so on. English is also a compulsory subject in the GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) so every student need to have a certain level of English to be ready for the exams and after graduation, students at least can communicate, read and write in English. To help students master the English skills (reading, writing, listening and writing), we- the teachers of English need to constantly renovate the teaching methods and curriculum.
 When studying English, writing skill is considered one of the most important skills that learners must master if the really want to be successfully in communication. Learning English is not an exception, especially in the period of economic integration when most of the information is in English, the writing skilled is more demanding. Writing is a skill that people, whatever jobs they do, need to use every day. In reality, students have met a lot of different kinds of writing to better their learning process. However, according to Nunan” In term of skills, producing a coherent, fluent and extended piece of writing is probably the most difficult thing there is to do in language”.
 II. The aim of the study.
 During the process of learning language, makings mistakes is an unenviable part and it plays an important part. When practicing writing, students have to face a lot of difficulties in order to have a coherent and fluent passage. For grade 10 and 11 students, it is essential to show them basic mistakes and guide them to correct the mistakes because it can help students better next time and improve their writing skill. For teachers of English who has the main responsibility to help students improve this skill, they need to have not only good method of teaching writing skill but also knowledge and language skill.
 There are many factors that affect learners. Correcting mistakes is one of the important factors. Ii can’t be denied that making mistake is unenviable. The more students concentrate on their studying, the more they want to create and develop in their own ways. This is one of the reasons why students make more and more mistakes but making mistakes is considered a positive way to make progress. Basing on the mistakes the students make, they can be aware of the level at which they are. Moreover basing on the mistakes the students make also helps teachers to know about the students’ level at certain time and help them to be better. In the process of correcting the students’ mistakes teachers also receive students’ response which means that the disagreement appears not only in teachers themselves but also in students about the mistakes they make, the ways to correct the mistakes, and the most effective and reasonable ways to correct mistakes.
III. Research subjects. 
 To solve the problem facing in the process of teaching writing, I created an experience initiative in the school year 2018- 2019 “ Some effective methods in correcting mistakes for grade 11 students”.
 With the summarization and analysis the mistakes students often make and the application of the mistake correction I hope to help students understand the difficulty in learning how to write, at the same time give students and teachers effective ways to get the desirable results.
IV. Method of study.
- Research in the teaching of English at Dong Son 2 Upper-Secondary School.
- Academic writing – Oxford Press
- Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (7th edition)
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B. Problem solution.
I. Theoretical basis of experience initiative.
1. The concept “ writing” in the language theory.
 For second language learners, language writing as one of the form of communication is particularly touch. In order to help learners to write correctly and fluently, teachers could guide learners to integrate genre and content reasonably to meet the communicative needs, to motivate their interest and to improve their writing skills. The paper provides diverse teaching techniques and strategies for teachers to help learners from elementary level, the intermediate level or the advanced level to be fully exposed in communicative activities in class. And teachers are expected to give feedback to ideas, felling or perception that student have to try to communicate through their writing in a sensible way. Teaching writing is a process of aiding learners to discover themselves and implicit communication with readers with purposes.
 To learners, if vocabulary is the building blocks of language study, then sentences are the layers of the building, and only after the learners finish the whole building successfully, could they achieve the final point of writing, which is commonly regarded as the most difficult language skill in language learning. Byrne( 1988. P4) provides three reasons to explain why writing is difficult. First writing itself is a solitary activity without interaction or feedback but depends solely on the writer himself. Second, during the process of producing, writer himself need to make the efforts to bridge the gap and to realize the possibility in communication
 However all these difficulties are particularly touch for the second language (L2) learners. Like Trible ( 1996.14) says when someone learned how to write, “they are getting involve in an activity in which questions of social role, power, and the appropriate use of language cannot be avoided”. To the teacher, the more advanced the language teaching is, the tougher the teaching of writing would be. Many teaching –English –as-a-foreign language (TEFL) teachers admit that their knowledge of writting practice was limited as this create a gap between their ideas and their actually teaching situation. ( Pennington, 1997 P132). What’s the dilemma of teachers in teaching writing? How to improve students’ writing skill? What do the teachers need to do in their teaching? When talking about these questions, the TEFL teachers should think about the basic elements related with L2 writing , the L2 writer, the reader, the L2 text and the writing text. 
TEFL teachers’ dilemma.
No one has doubt about the function of using a language , that is, to communicate. Nevertheless, the ways of exchanging information by language are limited, in which the main style are gestures, meaningful pictures, speaking and listening, and what’s more, writing is the most meaningful and permanent way to pass the knowledge on one generation after another. “ Writers and readers obviously do not interact in the sense that they take turns as do speakers and listeners.” ( Nystrance, 1986 P40) . Therefore a successful communication between writers and readers counts a lot on what and how do the writers provide information for their various kind of audience. Ur ( 1996.P163) provides the standards of language in writing: careful construction, precise, and varied vocabulary, correct expression in general, and the slow and reflective nature of the process of writing. These idea standard are not only expected by the writers but by the teachers as well, nevertheless, in the EFL writing classroom there are always some divergences between the ideal expectation and reality , the writer the reader, the writer and the written works, etc.
Differences exist between first language ( L1) writing classrooms and second language (L2) one , which are the obvious fact that TEFL teachers should be concerned with in planning and executing. The common goal of both younger and elder students in sitting in the EFL classroom is to study the language but many adult learners seem to expect more since they desire to accomplish more practical goals, such as to conduct business in English , which is defined as instrumental motivation by Gradner and Lambert ( Leki, 192, P43) . Thus genre and content will be greatly colored by their impetus for study a foreign language and their life experiences drawn from outside the school. Caudery ( 1996, P17) summarizes the points of difference between the L1 teaching situation and the L2 one , i.e. delayed development in writing skill and culture- based differences. Therefore, two problems are related in the teaching of written: One is to form grammatical sentences and the other is to fulfill a give rhetorical aim ( Byrne, 1980,p.172). The imitating of others mechanically but the proper controlled and guided writing is still the main task in teaching.
In order to help L2 learners write correctly and fluently, teacher should understand the aim and the process of their learning. Geist (1996,P.51) summarizes three dimensions of learning , which are the acquisition of techniques skills through observation of the knowledge of rules, a vocabulary and a systematic understanding via verbal explanation or instruction. Thus, what teachers need to do is to help learners find the real purposes to write, to show them on how to do it, to give learners the internal impetus to reflect on their own.
Some factors need to be considered according to Raines (1983)
 SYNTAX	 	CONTENT
	Structure	Appropriation, clearness
GRAMMAR	 	 PROCESS
clear, effective ideas
	tenses	 ideas, draft, check
	articles, pronouns	 
 FORM 	 OBJECT- reader	 
 writing, 
 pronunciation, 
 punctuation
	STRUCTURE	 AIM
passages 	 reasons to write
	topics	 coherence 
CHOICE	
 Vocabulary, idiom, ways of expression
2. Procedures of teaching writing.
According to Tribble (1996), there are four steps:
 - Step1. Before writing: This is the step that learners do before draft writing. This includes the topic selection, thinking, taking notes, discussion, idea arranging, making outline, information collecting. (For example, interviewing, searching information in library, processing information).
- Step 2. Writing draft: This is the process by which the writers brainstorm the ideas to write sentences, the passages, focus on explanation, clarify and link the ideas.
 - Step 3. Correction: This is an important step to have a completing passage. Writers will think about what learners expect, readers are the people who the passage focuses on. For example: polishing the structure, linking the ideas or adding the linking words.
 - Step 4. Edition: Writers check the form of the passage such as dictation, grammar, marks.
As we see from the above point of view, writing is a one-sized process and there is no connection with readers. Reid(1993) also has the same point of view but he adds three more steps in writing process: feedback, evaluation and after writing, which makes the writing process more reasonable.
In short, steps of writing process according Reid (1993) can be illustrated with the following outline.
BEFORE WRITING
DRAFT
RESPONSE
CORRECTION
EDITION
ASSERTMENT
AFTER WRITING
II.The concept of “ mistakes” and “correcting mistakes”.
1.The definition of mistakes.
1.1.Definition. 
There are many definitions given by famous researchers such as : Abbort ( 1981), Edge ( 1989) , Mc Kay( 1989) , Goldstein ( 1990), Hubbard ( 1991), Klassen ( 1993)., Crosling ( 1996) etc. Although they give their ideals in different ways but they have common ideas about the nature and function of mistakes. 
Klassen ( 1993) has a simpler definition about the mistakes . According to him, mistakes is “ a form of structure that the native speakers cannot accept because of the unsuitable using”. 
Meanwhile, Crosling (1996) gives his own ideals in which he attach much importance in criterion “ Any misleading in method comparing with ordinary thing is considered mistake”.
On referring to mistake, some researchers have the same point of view: not only learners but native speakers as well make mistakes. Native speakers often make mistakes at two levels: form mistake and expression mistake and the latter is the kind of mistake that we often make. So, mistakes should be considered extra ordinary and unsuitable. We can see that making mistakes happens in all level of languages from form mistake to expression mistake.
1.2. Mistake category.
Lippman, J. ( 2003) divides mistake into two types: general mistakes and specific mistake.
General mistake : incorrect sentence for example: incorrect word order, conjunctionà unsuccessful communicative result.
Specific mistake: incorrect sentence elements: tense, article, auxiliaryà incomprehensible communicative result.
General mistake include:
Theoretical point.
Structure
Basis
Compatibility and consistence
The suitability to the subject and purpose.
Specific mistake include:
Dictation
Syntax
Grammar
Punctuation
 According to Lippman ( 2003)
2. An overview about correcting mistake.
2.1. Correcting mistakes.
When asserting an article we have the term “feedback” in which there are two things that needs to be distinguished: assessment and correction. In assessment, it is simple that learners are aware whether they write well or badly. In correction, learners have detail information in their article such as explanation and provide better way of writing. In principle, correction should and must make remark on whether the writers write correctly or incorrectly, but in general, both learners and teachers consider this a process of correcting mistakes.
2.2. Major methods in correcting mistakes. 
In teaching process, teachers often have to deal with some problem such as “ what mistakes need to be corrected” and “ how to correct effectively”.
 Gower and Walter (1983) give four problems for teachers to solve when correcting students’ mistakes, they are “ what to correct, when to correct, how to correct and how many mistakes need to correct”.
Meanwhile, Raines (1983) also suggests seven main rules to correct mistakes.
With students’ articles, there is no need to mark the mistakes but teachers still can identify the mistakes that need correcting.
Identify mistakes carefully and find the causes.
Find the part that students do well.
Take note the part that has mistakes.
Have the signals that show the mistakes.
Give reasons, correct or delete mistakes carefully.
Finally: correcting mistakes carefully and help students to have that habit.
To clarify on how many mistakes should be corrected Gover and Walter give some suggestions:
- Draw students’ attention to the correction process.
- Spend little time on correcting each student’s mistakes, concentrate on common mistakes.
- Show students the mistakes they have just made.
- Show students the kinds of mistake they made.
- Give students chances to correct themselves.
- If students cannot correct mistakes themselves, ask others to help.
- If the above steps are unsuccessful, teacher will help students to correct the mistakes by the following ways:
 Edge ( 1998) also gives three basic steps to correct mistakes.
- Self- correction.
Teachers show students their mistakes because they need to know what mistakes they have made before correcting them.
- Peer correction.
Learners work in pair or group to find out their mistakes. This will attract all student s to correct mistakes, make them more active and less dependent on teachers.
- Teacher correction.
Teachers find out the meaning that students want to convey in the incorrect sentences and guide them to express in other way.
3. The relationship between mistakes, correcting mistakes with the process of teaching and learning writing skill.
Making mistakes is unavoidable in learning, through this learners create important and necessary traits for learning a foreign language. Making mistakes is the way learners check what they have learned, through that they will master the language.
For teachers, basing on the mistakes students make help them assert students’ level, decide what to teach students to help them perfect.
Correcting mistakes also have good effect on the process of teaching and learning the language. By self correcting, peer correcting and listening to what teachers comment students can make progress. Especially, writing skill need high accuracy in words and expressing meaning.
C. Current status of the problem before applying innovative experience.  I. Introducing an overview of units.
 Dong Son II high school is a young school. Moreover, students here have few chances to study English intensively because they are not aware of the importance of learning English. They only know little about English.
Base on the fact of teaching and correcting students’ mistakes, we can see the problems of this matter as following:
+ Both teachers and students have positive manner towards correcting mistakes and consider correcting mistakes a necessary process, an important factor in improving students’ writing.
+ Although correcting mistakes plays an important role in writing process and both teachers and students try hard, students’ writing does not improve much. The reason is that many mistakes are not pointed out and corrected after teachers give general comments about students’ writing, so students cannot know what mistakes are though they read their articles again.
+ There are many kinds of mistakes that are difficult for both students and learners to recognize such as mistakes related to logic, expression or word choice. For example: Is there any electrical equipment in this room?(correct). Is there any electric equipment in this room?( incorrect) . Teachers and students usually pay attention on dictation, grammar or structure mistakes.
In general, there are still many problems in correcting students mistakes especially grade 10 when they first meet some types of writing such as writing a letter, writing an invitation, writing a report and so on. Therefore, to improve the quality of teaching and learning in general as well as to have better result in correcting mistakes, we should apply effective methods in correcting mistakes.
II. Solutions to the problem.
1. Teacher: 
1.1. Steps in marking students’ articles:
- Identify what mistakes need to correct.
It is not necessary to correct all the mistakes in students’ writing. Teacher should choose what is important to correct, this depend on the aim of the lesson. 
- Decide how many mistakes need to be corrected.
Teachers can decide to correct basic and serious mistakes in order not to make students feel disappointed because they may makes so many mistakes. However, it also depends on the students for teacher to decide on the quantity of mistakes that need to be corrected because some students feel shy when they makes so many mistakes while others do not feel satisfied if teachers give them vague comments. 
- Form the method of correcting.
Teachers should use signals when correcting mistakes. This is convenient because teachers do not have to write the full form of words and phrases, especially when there are many articles needed correcting.
- Signals and their meanings: 
GR: grammar
Voc: vocabulary
Sp: spelling error.
P: punctuation error
V: verb tense error
W.O: wrong word order
W.W: wrong word use
Agr: agreement
Y upside down: word missing
!: careless error
J Good, well done
? I don’t understand.
Pre: preposition
 ü Good point
Cap: capitalizing this word
( ) unnecessary word
f Omitting this word
- Give feedback carefully.
Giving feedback play an important role in encouraging students to revise the lesson and study harder. Besides, teacher also needs to give positive comments on what students have tried to do. 
- Use different colored pen.
Teachers usually use red pen when correcting students’ mistakes so that students can easily recognize their mistakes. But if teacher use red pen to correct every mistakes, it will make students fell shocked and as a result they feel shy and don’t w