AN INVESTIGATION INTO ORGANIZATION ERRORS IN EFL LEARNERS’ PARAGRAPH WRITING: A CASE IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE CENTER IN CAN THO CITY, VIETNAM

Authors

  • Hoang Thi Lien Giang English Teacher, Can Tho City, Vietnam
  • Thai Cong Dan Dr./Senior English Lecturer, School of Foreign Languages, Can Tho University, Vietnam
  • Thai Phan Bao Han English Lecturer, Can Tho University of Technology, Can Tho City, Vietnam

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.46827/ejals.v6i1.420

Keywords:

paragraph writing, organization errors, EFL learners, Can Tho City

Abstract

Committing errors is an inevitable phenomenon that happens to learners in the process of learning a foreign language, especially in writing skill. For many years, diagnosing what types of errors learners commonly made and why they are prone to committing such errors has become a great concern to language educators and researchers. The present study investigated organization errors in English compositions produced by 60 Vietnamese pre-intermediate learners on one task. The author collected data by writing tests and participant questionnaires. Analyses of the errors and survey data yielded the following main findings: (1) Among the five categories of organization errors, incoherence accounted for the largest percentage, followed by the poor topic sentence, disunity, poor conclusion and no conclusion; (2) There is a significant difference between the two genders in terms of the category of incoherence. Nevertheless, the difference in the other organization error categories between the two groups of participants was insignificant; (3) Several reasons were identified for the errors such as the lack of writing practice and the influence of Vietnamese.

 

Author Biographies

  • Hoang Thi Lien Giang, English Teacher, Can Tho City, Vietnam

    Mrs. Hoang Thi Lien Giang, is presently an English teacher. She has obtained her MA in TESOL from Can Tho University, Vietnam for six years. Her main research interests are English teaching and learning at any level, learning and teaching young EFL learners. She can be reached at hoangliengiang@yahoo.com.

  • Thai Cong Dan, Dr./Senior English Lecturer, School of Foreign Languages, Can Tho University, Vietnam

    Mr. Thai Cong Dan is currently a senior lecturer of English at School of Foreign Languages, CTU, Vietnam. He has held his Ph.D. at Naresuan University, Thailand since 2010 in Educational Administration- English program. Also, he achieved his MA in International Peace Studies from Notre Dame University (NU) du Lac, Indiana, USA in 1999. His main research interests are TEF/TESOL issues, intercultural communication, high school English learning and teaching, English program management, curriculum design, testing and evaluation, educational administration, project management and professional development. He can be contacted at tcdan@ctu.edu.vn.

  • Thai Phan Bao Han, English Lecturer, Can Tho University of Technology, Can Tho City, Vietnam

    Miss Thai Phan Bao Han is currently an English lecturer at Can Tho University of Technology in Can Tho City, Vietnam. She got her MA in TESOL in 2022 from Can Tho University, Vietnam. Her main research issues are English teaching and learning at any level, young English learners’ motivation, professional development, ESP teaching, and

    intercultural communication. She can be reached at thaiphanbaohan@gmail.com.

References

Ahmed, A. H. (2010). Students’ Problems with Cohesion and Coherence in EFL Essay Writing in Egypt: Different Perspectives, 1, 211-221

Al-Hadrami, H.A., Mechanical Writing Errors in English, 117-123. Muscat Region.

Alice Oshima & Ann Hogue (2006, 4th). Writing academic English. Pearson Longman.

Awad, A. (2012). The most common punctuation errors made by the English and TEFL Majors at An-Najah National University, 26 (1), 211-232.

Berry, T. E. (1962). The most common mistakes in English usage. Chilton Company, Philadelphia.

Brown, D. B. (1980). Principles of language learning and teaching. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc. Brown, D.B. (1994). Principles of language learning and teaching. (3rd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Corder, S. P. (1967). The significant of learners’ errors. International Review of Applied Linguistic, 5 (4), 161-170,

Corder, S. P. (1974). The significant of learners’ errors. In Jack C. Richards (Ed.), Error analysis: Perspective on second language acquisition (pp. 19-27). London: Longman.

Corder, S. P. (1981). Errors analysis and interlanguage. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Darus, S. & Ching, K.H. (2009). Common Errors in Written English Essays of Form One Chinese Students: A Case Study, 10 (2), 242-253.

Dulay, H., & Burt, M. (1974). You can’t learn without going. In J. C. Richards (Ed.), Error analysis Perspective on second language acquisition (pp. 95-123). London: Longman

Forlini, G. et al. (1987). Grammar and composition. New Jersey.

Garner, D. L. (1970). College reading and writing. Dickenson Publishing Company, Inc.

Gass, S., & Larry, S. (2001). Second language acquisition. London: Lawrence Erlbaum

Gass, S., & Selinker, L. (2001). Second language acquisition: an introductory course. Mahwah, NJ: LEA.

Kim, H. J. (2008). Error analysis. Encyclopedia of bilingual education (pp.280-282). USA: SAGE Publication. Retrieved from http://www.sage.com/bilingual /Article_n112.html (February, 2022).

Krashen, S. (1981). Second language acquisition and second language learning. Pergamon Press Inc. University of Southern California.

Lam, L. H. (2004). First step in academic writing (pp. 15). NXB TP Ho Chi Minh.

Lindner, M. (2005). Capitalization and punctuation. English language and composition (p. 181). Career Press.

Murray, N. & Hughes, G. (2008, 1st ed. ). Punctuation basic: A brief guide to punctuation use. Writing up your university assignments and research projects (p. 185). The McGraw-Hill Companies.

Smith, A. A. (1999). Writing paragraph and the writing process. Retrieved from http://www.nald.ca/CLR/search/ (February, 2022).

Downloads

Published

2023-03-09

Issue

Section

Articles