SKKN Some tips to help Students solve error identification exercises quickly, effectively

PART A- INTRODUCTION
I. The reason of selecting the topic 
In the trend of globalization today, the importance of English cannot be denied and ignored because it is widely used everywhere in the world. Along with the development of technology, medicine, engineering and education, English plays a very important role. Therefore, learning English becomes even more necessary than ever. It can be said that committing errors when learning a second or foreign language is unavoidable. This is a natural part of learning process. In the past, people considered errors as the result of ineffective teaching or a sign of failure. However, there has been a positive change in the attitude towards errors recently. According to Richards (1973: 1), the learners’ errors indicate both the state of learner’s knowledge and the way in which a second language is learned. In other words, errors now are viewed as an important part of learning process because they can provide useful information about language learning. Therefore, it is advisable for teachers to conduct Error Analysis at the beginning of the course before all the language items have been fully learnt and errors are fossilized so that the teachers can improve their teaching skills and the instructional process.
It is the fact that English has long been a compulsory subject in any Vietnamese high school curriculum. Trieu son I high school is also not an exception. Students are supposed to complete the general English program. After that, they change to study English for specific purposes such as English for communication and English for taking exams. At the beginning of the term, the 10th form students have to take a placement test to identify their levels. If the students cannot pass the test, they will take part in the General English course at Elementary level. However, since most of the students of Trieu son I High school, their English proficiency is not very high. Every year, it is about half of the 10th form students are classified to study in elementary-level English course. As a teacher of English, I am aware of the fact that these students may commit a considerable number of errors during their learning process. Hence, I have decided to conduct an error analysis after the first three weeks to describe and explain errors made by the elementary level students of Trieu son I high school. This will beneficial for me to know some types and causes of errors that my students commit in order to determine the adequate sequence and emphasis of instruction as well as to implement necessary remedy.
The above reasons have inspired me to conduct my initiative with the title " Some tips to help Students solve error identification exercises quickly, effectively".
II. Basis of practice:
The study aims at identifying, categorizing and describing common types of errors in writing made by students at Trieu son I high school. Furthermore, it also covers the implications of findings for teaching.
Since the study aims to identify common types of errors in writing faced by 10th form students at Trieu son I high school after the first term of studying, the language items provided in the samples is limited in the units of the text book.
Most of the students in class 10C4 and 10 C5 were chosen as the subjects of the study. Most of them have learned English in high schools. However, for some reasons, they accumulate very little knowledge of English.
 English as an international language, is taught in most of schools; kindergartens, elementary schools, junior high schools and also senior high schools. In senior high school, students are expected to be able to perform their own error identification exercises skill highly. Moreover, they are expected to be able to practice like an English native speaker. English is also taught in Trieu son 1 High school, however, I realize that there is no motivation for students to solve error identification exercises in English here. Based on interviewing with the teachers, many problems faced by the students. The students are not confident to writing or doing exercises in English,tests, the teachers used monotonous method (giving material, listen, and giving exercises) then teacher is the main source of the teaching learning process. The effects from these phenomenon students tend to be lazy to pay attention to the materials, feel sleepy, make conversation each other and the class cannot control. the English writing ability of the students is categorized as low ability. This situation is revealed from the mark students got. Therefore, the students cannot achieve the criteria. Following is the convey on the quality of English of 2 classes through do error identification exercise tests: 10C2, 10C5 at the beginning of the first term in school year 2017-2018. 
Class
Number of students
Mark
7- 8
%
6 - 7
%
3 - 4
%
0 - 2
%
10C4
40
2
5,0
5
12,5
26
65
7
17,5
10C5
38
3
7,89
6
15,79
23
60,5
6
15,8
From the problems above I conclude to increase students do sentences ability there are two factors, internal factor and external factor that should be improved. Internal factors come from the students. There are motivation, self confidence, and background knowledge. While, external factors are teacher, method, and environment. It is a totally different environment from the secondary school environment. If they wish to be a good English speaker, they must put a lot of efforts and find opportunities to help them solve error idenfication exercises.
 PART B- DEVELOPMENT
I. Theoretical background
1. Concept of error
In 1987, Norrish (cited in Hasyim, 2002) stated that “error is a systematic deviation, when a learner has not learnt something and consistently gets it wrong”.
Cunningworth (cited in Hasyim, 2002) in 1987 gave another definition of “errors” as “systematic deviations from the norms of the language being learned”. 
In brief, it is agreeable that error is a “systematic deviation” from the rules of the target language system.
It is also essential here to make a distinction between mistake and error. In 1985, Richards et.al (cited in Hasyim, 2002) stated that “mistake is made by a learner when writing or speaking which is caused of lack of attention, fatigue, carelessness, or other aspects of performance”. From these definitions, it can be concluded that whereas errors are caused by lack of knowledge about the target language and not recognized by the learners, mistakes are caused by lack of attention, carelessness and self-correctable by the learners.
2. Error Analysis (EA)
Error analysis is a type of linguistic analysis that focuses on the errors learners make.
As to Brown (cited in Hasyim, 2002), error analysis is defined as “the process to observe, analyze, and classify the deviations of the rules of the second language and then to reveal the systems operated by learner.”
Choon (1993) mentioned some stages which are involved in Error Analysis: identifying errors, classifying errors, analyzing causes of errors and remeditating for errors. 
According to her, the errors are classified according to categories or sub-categories such as semantic errors (wrong word, wrong form, poor choice of word, slang or colloquialism), and syntactic errors (tense, preposition, article, spelling, word order, subject-verb agreement. However, she emphasized that the system of classifying errors should be flexible and one should let the error determine the category. 
3. Transfer errors and Developmental errors
Basically, errors are classified into 2 types: transfer errors (mother tongue inference) and developmental errors.
a. Transfer errors (mother tongue inference)
According to Corder (1971) transfer errors occur when “the learner’s L1 habits (patterns, systems or rules) interfere or prevent him/her, to some extent, from acquiring the patterns and rules of the second language”. This is understood as negative transfer from the first language to the target language. Students who commit transfer errors often reply on the first language as the strategy of communication. They merely use literal translation to overcome their difficulties in expressing ideas.
b. Developmental errors.
This type of errors is independent of the first language. As to Richards (1974) errors are not only caused by the interference from the mother tongue, but also what he calls overgeneralization, false concepts hypothesized, incomplete application of rules, cross association, and fossilization.
Overgeneralization: According to Jakobovits overgeneralization relates to “the use of previously available strategies in new situations”.
 Ignorance of rule restrictions: These errors occur when ESL learners “ignore the limitations of the existing structures and apply these structures in contexts where this is impossible.”
Incomplete application of rules: These errors reflect the degree of rule acquisition and the ability correct utterances to be produced.
False concepts hypothesized: Brown (1987) pointed out that “Fossilization referred to as a phenomenon that takes place as a learner internalizes an incorrect form.”
II. Analyzing some common types of errors in writing made by students at Trieu son I High School. 
All the errors in the sample mainly belong to 2 sources of errors: transfer errors (mother tongue inference) and developmental errors.
These errors are also classified into these following categories and sub-categories: 
Grammatical errors (verbs, prepositions, articles, singular & plural, adjectives & adverbs, possessive case )
Syntactic errors (coordination, word order , fragments)
Semantic errors
Spelling errors
 1. Transfer Errors (Mother Tongue Inference) (table 1 in the appendix)
a. Grammatical errors
	One of the typical features of Vietnamese learners at elementary level, especially those who just start to learn English is that they only try to memorize the individual words without caring of phrases and grammar rules. They merely combine individual English words into a sentence with Vietnamese grammar rules. 
+ Verbs
In English, “verb” is considered as an indispensable component of a sentence. A verb can change in various forms to indicate tense, or to show its agreement with the subject. However, this is on the contrary in Vietnamese. There is no difference between the form of verb in the third person singular and the form of verb in the third person plural. When necessary, Vietnamese grammar can express time adequately by means of placing one of several aspect-marking particles in front of the main verb, notably “đã” (for past), “đang” (for present), and “sẽ” (for future). Therefore, Vietnamese students often fail to make sentence with correct verb.
E.g. My family have 6 members. (wrong sentence)
à The student who writes the above sentence violates the rule of subject-verb agreement. 
Another common error is the way students omit auxiliary verb when they want to make negative sentences.
E.g. Lan not like learning English. (wrong sentence)
Students tend to refer “not” as “không” in Vietnamese and they think that “not” is enough to make negative sentences: “Lan không thích học tiếng anh.”
Students also have a tendency to ignore the grammar rule “like + V-ing”. 
E.g. I like drink milk. (wrong sentence)
This error can be explained by the fact that in Vietnamese two verbs can stand side by side without changing the form of the latter verb: “Tôi thích uống sữa.”
+. Prepositions
Prepositions pose a great difficulty for an ESL learner since there are various prepositions in English that have the same function. As a result, when students are not sure which preposition to use in a certain sentence, they often compare that sentence with its Vietnamese equivalence, giving a literal translation of that Vietnamese preposition in English. However, prepositions seldom have a one to one correspondence between English and Vietnamese. A Vietnamese preposition may be translated by several English prepositions and vice versa.
Wrong Sentences Correct Sentences
I want to talk with him. I want to talk to him.
Go into the gate. Go through the gate.
John is married with Susan. John is married to Susan.
+ Articles
	Articles in English can be viewed as one of the most difficult areas for Vietnamese learners. There are two types of English articles: indefinite article (a/an), definite article (the). English speakers sometimes use indefinite article, sometimes definite article and sometimes no article at all. Because there is no exact counterpart of a, an, the in Vietnamese, Vietnamese learners of English frequently confuse to decide which one should be used. This uncertainty causes them to write such flawed English sentences as:
She’s cook. 
We like going to sea on holiday. 
She works in restaurant. 
à Correct sentences: She’s a cook. 
 We like going to the sea on holiday.
 She works in a restaurant. 
+ Singular & Plural
 While Vietnamese do not differentiate the form of plural nouns and singular nouns, English plural nouns are always attached by suffix “-s”. Hence, a lot of students at high school level forget to add “-s” after the English plural nouns.
E.g. My brother and my sister is student. (wrong sentence)
à Correct sentence: My brother and my sister are students.
+ Adjectives & Adverbs
	Most of the students can not make a distinction between the function of English adjectives and English adverbs. Thus, this leads to the wrong use of adjectives and adverbs.
Wrong Sentences Correct Sentences
I very love my mother and my father I love my mother and my father very much.
My family lives very happy. My family lives happily. 
b. Syntactic errors
+. Coordination
In English, items in a series are separated by commas, and the coordinate conjunction 'and' is used just before the last word. On the other hand, in Vietnamese, sometimes people omit conjunction 'and' before the last word.
E.g. There are 4 members in my family: my mother, my father, my sister, I.
à Correct sentence: There are 4 members in my family: my mother, my father, my sister, and I.
+. Word order
	The word order in Vietnamese sentence is sometimes very different from this in English sentences. That is the reason why when students use translation from Vietnamese into English, it will result in some very amusing sentences.
 Wrong Sentences Correct Sentences
My number phone is 0954321968. My phone number is 0954321968.
My sister is a teacher good. My sister is a good teacher. 
He is handsome more than me. He is more handsome than me. 
c. Fragments
A fragment is a sentence that is missing a subject or a verb. Students tend to commit this error when they would like to express more complicated ideas. They will translate word by word from Vietnamese into English as the strategy to overcome their difficulties in expression.
 Wrong Sentences Correct Sentences
I live in a family has 4 people. I live in a family which has 4 people.
My mother likes cooking for My mother likes cooking for family and 
family and she thinks happy. she thinks it is happy.
d. Semantic errors
	“Semantic error” is the result of the overuse of literal translation which causes the confusion and misunderstanding from the readers. 
Wrong Sentences Correct Sentences
My son is 6 age. My son is 6.
My father name is Nam and a driver. My father’s name is Nam and he is a driver
My father and mother work farmer. My father and my mother are farmers.
2. Developmental Errors (table 2 the appendix)
a. Grammatical errors
+ Verbs
be + infinitive for infinitive: (overgeneralization)
 Wrong Correct 
Mary and Sara are want candy. Mary and Sara want candy.
infinitive + ing for infinitive (rote learning)
 Wrong Correct 
I often going for a walk with my friends. I often go for a walk with my friends.
infinitive + s for infinitive: (overgeneralization)
 Wrong Correct 
They goes to London. They go to London. 
wrong tense: (incorrect understanding of rules)
 Wrong Correct 
 He’s watching TV everyday. He watches TV everyday.
be + not + infinitive for auxiliary verb + not + infinitive: (overgeneralization)
 Wrong Correct 
 Nam isn’t like mending cars. Nam doesn’t like mending cars.
wrong form after auxiliary : (overgeneralization)
 Wrong Correct
 Nams doesn’t likes mending cars. Nam doesn’t like mending cars.
be + infinitive for be + Ving: (incomplete application of rules)
 Wrong Correct
 I am learn with them. I am learning with them. 
subject-verb agreement: (overgeneralization)
 Wrong Correct
My brother and my sister is student. My brother and my sister are students.
+. Prepositions (incomplete understanding of rules)
 Wrong Correct
I’m from toTrieu son. I’m from Trieu son
Please ask to help if you want. Please ask for help if you want. 
 He isn’t good in French. He isn’t good at French
+. Articles (ignorance of rule restriction)
 Wrong Correct
It is an red apple. It is a red apple.
The first sister is a accountant. The first sister is an accountant.
+. Singular & Plural (overgeneralization)
 Wrong Correct
She teachs English in high school. She teaches English in a high school.
They have 2 childs. They have 2 children. 
The boy ’s 5 year old. The boy ’s 5 years old.
+. Possessive case (incomplete understanding of rules)
 Wrong Correct
My father name is John. My father’s name is John.
What is He address? What is his address? 
b. Syntactic errors
Fragment (ignorance of rule restriction)
 Wrong Correct
I proud of them. I am proud of them 
My mother a teacher. My mother is a teacher. 
Teacher very good. My teacher is very good. 
c. Semantic errors (incomplete understanding of rules) 
 Wrong Correct
 I’m 20 old. I’m 20 years old. d. Spelling errors 
 Wrong Correct
My mother is a docter. My mother is a doctor.
(Overgeneralization)
3. Implication
	According to the study, students at Trieu son I high school are facing two main types of errors: transfer errors (mother tongue inference) and developmental errors. From the findings, teachers can also determine some suitable teaching methods to help students overcome these difficulties.
First, it would be very useful to encourage students to read more reading texts and learn some interesting expressions and phrases rather than only trying to memorize the individual words.
Secondly, teachers should create more group work activities in the class as well as group work assignments at home so that students can exchange their experience in learning and helping each other. 
In addition, teachers can assign some common topics for students to write in class and at home. These writing tasks can be assigned for group works so that students in the same group can check errors for each other. After that, some samples of their writings need to be transcribed and distributed to them for correction and analysis so that they can learn from their mistakes.
Through the assessment in class 10C4 nd 10C5with 78 students of my charge, I achieved the following result:
Class sizes
Good
(8-10)
Above average
(7-8)
Average
(5-6)
Weakness
(3-4)
Poverty
(0-2)
40
3 = 7,5%
13 = 32,5%
17= 42,5%
7 =17,5%
0 = 0%
And class 10 C5: 
Class sizes
Good
(8-10)
Above average
(7-8)
Average
(4-6)
Weakness
(3-4)
Poverty
(0-2)
38
05=13,16%
15= 39,47%
16=42,12%
2 = 5,26%
0 = 0%
Comparing the results between the two above tables, we see that the number of students of my charge getting average marks has increased. This means that most of the students know how to not only correct the mistakes but also do each kind of sentences quickly and effectively. They tried their best to find out key words in eachsentences, classify each of them, and then scan the the sentences to choose the correct answer. By this way, they have enough time to finish their task in advance. 
Through the process of applying these methods to improve mistakes comprehension skills for the 10th graders at Trieu Son I high school, I have found out that most studen