vinh university Foreign language department = = = = Phạm Thị Quyên An investigation into the common errors in paragraph writing made by the second year students at Vinh University and some suggested solutions (một cuộc điều tra về lỗi của sinh viên năm thứ hai ở tr- ờng đại học vinh trong việc học viết đoạn văn và một số gợi ý) graduation thesis Field: methodology Vinh, May 2010 1 Introduction I.1. Reasons of the study English has been considered as an international language. It is widely used and it is becoming a more and more important subject in schools and colleges. However, it is not easy to learn English; students usually face errors in using it, especially in writing skill. The author chooses the topic “An investigation into the common errors in paragraph writing made by the second year students at Vinh University and some suggested solutions” because of the some following reasons. Firstly, among four basic language skills, writing plays a very important role in learning and paragraph writing is the first main part in the curriculum of students in university. The study is chosen to investigate the attitudes of students towards writing skill and paragraph writing as well. Secondly, the structure of entrance University tests is focused much on grammar aspects, so that students have few opportunities to practice writing paragraphs. Moreover, writing skill is not really paid attention to in many schools in Vietnam. Therefore, students do not have much experience in writing skill. They feel confused and make errors in writing paragraph. In this thesis, the author points out the errors rate in each category. Thirdly, writing has been considered as a difficult and boring subject by second language learners. The entrance quality of university students is lower and lower in the recent years. It takes much time to make progress in this skill. The author wants to do something to help students overcome and avoid making some common written English errors by giving out some suggested solutions. Last but not least, the author herself will be a language teacher in the future. The author considers this study as a good opportunity to improve her written English and get some useful experience for her teaching job. The above reasons have encouraged the author to carry out the survey titled “An investigation into the common errors in paragraph writing made by the second year students at Vinh University and some suggested solutions”. The author hopes that it may contribute to the quality of teaching and learning writing skill in general and paragraph writing in particular. 2 I.2. Aims 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 Vinh University.  Make some suggested solutions in the learning and teaching process in order to help students improve their writing skill. I.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 Vinh University? 3. What suggestions can be made in the learning and teaching process in order to help students improve their paragraph writing? I.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. 3 I.5. Scope of the study The focus of the study is to investigate common errors in paragraph writing made by second year students at Vinh University. So the scope is limited to the teaching and learning of paragraph writing only. The subjects of the study are the 2 nd year EFL students of writing at FLD, Vinh University. I.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 homework papers and midterm tests 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 4 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 5 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. Eg: The advantages of living in a big city. (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. Eg: Living in a big city is good for you (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: There are three main advantages of living in a big city. Controlling idea Topic In this example, the topic is named: living in a big city. A specific comment is then made about the topic: they should be optional for three advantages. From this sentence, the reader immediately knows that the rest of the paragraph will discuss three advantages of the living in a big city, (good education, health service, ). 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. 6 (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. E.g. In conclusion, gold is treasured not only for its beauty but also for its utility. 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: 7 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. 8 (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. 9 For example: *She left school two years ago and now works in a factory. (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”. For example: *although the people are very nice, but I don’t like it here. (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. For example:*this, no, really, for always my time .and then I happy. (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 inter- language 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. 10 . using it, especially in writing skill. The author chooses the topic An investigation into the common errors in paragraph writing made by the second year. 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 Vinh