International Journal Advances in Social Science and Humanities
Available online at: www.ijassh.com
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Predominant Errors in Written Discourse of the FFS Students:
Basis in the Formulation of Remedial Module
Dr. Joseph Bangayan Cuarteros
Quality Assurance Coordinator, Gulf College, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman.
Abstract
Over the years, writing has been viewed as one of the most cogent ways through which a person can communicate and extraordinarily influence and touch others’ lives even in their most remote places and solitary moments. It has been considered as an ultimate recourse deemed to provide a way out for a man to escape the enticing snares of indifference and to break the iron shackles of physical repression and intellectual hush-up. The researcher believes that something must be done to remedy these serious language problems. Lecturers and researchers should not close their eyes to such situation. It is necessary to have a thorough and careful study of the problems of the students particularly in composition writing. They should know what remedial measures to give. By knowing all these things, the English lecturers can have a better method especially in the teaching of composition writing. The researcher observed this alarming deterioration of the quality of the written English. It is for this reason that prompted him to take courage in conducting study of the common errors in written discourse of the PSPP students of the Faculty of Foundation Studies to find out the common errors committed in their compositions so that these can be remedied or minimized.
Keywords: Composition writing, Composition, Writing difficulties, Errors, Grammatical errors and Mechanical errors, Predominant.
Introduction
Writing as one of the major avenues is essential to man’s complex system of social arrangement. It is a means by which it links him to one another irrespective of age or race. In fact the reader’s digest stressed the importance of writing for students especially in their college years when it said, “The purpose of writing is to communicate a thought, an idea, sentiments and a fact. The more tangible and concise those elements in communication, the more precise, the more rewarding they use in palatable form to command out attention and to hold it”.
Moreover, it is lamentable to note that writing has become a serious problem interruption in the progress of English as a second language. It has been found out that the students cannot even make compositions. If ever they do, their compositions are full of errors. The ideas they expressed are not clear neither are they well-organized. This was also confirmed by
Cahigas [1] when he found out that the poor quality of composition writing of the student lies on two factors- the students and the lecturers. For the students, their ideas are not well organized. They cannot express themselves clearly. For the English lecturers, they do not guide their students and they do not find the possible reasons for the students’ difficulties in writing. As a result, the students write poorly and the lecturers do not give ways to improve it.
Cura [2] emphasized that writing is universally recognized as one of the most important activities in the college level. He further stressed that it has an intellectualizing effect on the individual in the society in general. Its increasing importance in today’s social order demands more rapid, efficient and wider learning to keep pace with the times.
knowledge one gains through writing contributes to the wholesome development of an individual’s personality in performing duties and responsibilities as an intelligent citizen in the society he lives. Having ability to write, the learner can communicate with those he cannot speak across distance and time. What a person finds it difficult to say orally is easier done by writing. Also, he is able to record things that others would like to hear or know about even for prosperity.
Furthermore, it is lamentable to note that writing has become a serious problem interruption in the progress of English as a second language in the Sultanate of Oman. From the researcher’s observation, it is indeed a disturbing thing that there also non-writers in the college level and who may have accumulated their writing difficulties from the time they started composition writing in their basic education years.
Cauilan [4] also stressed that the poor quality of composition writing of the students lies on two factors- the students and the lecturers. For the students, their ideas are not well organized. They cannot express themselves clearly. For the English lecturers, they do not guide properly their students and they do not find the possible reasons for the students’ difficulties in writing. As a result, the students write poorly and the lecturers do not give ways to improve it.
Students simply commit errors in their written compositions because the lecturers themselves fail to diagnose the needs and deficiencies of the students. They do not provide effective instruction for students with varying abilities, interests and experiences that would challenge them to master their writing skills.
It has been observed by many lecturers in the Faculty of Foundation Studies that students view writing as a very boring, brain-racking activity. It is very evident that the idea of undertaking a writing activity generally gets on their nerves especially to those who would always grope for appropriate string of words to express ideas and feelings, and those who would spend
several minutes to scribble a single, correct sentence.
The researcher believes that something must be done to remedy these serious language problems. Lecturers and researchers should not close their eyes to such situation. It is necessary to have a thorough and careful study of the problems of the students particularly in composition writing. They should know what remedial measures to give. By knowing all these things, the English lecturers can have a better method especially in the teaching of composition writing. The researcher observed this alarming deterioration of the quality of the written English. It is for this reason that prompted him to take courage in conducting study of the common errors in written discourse of the PSPP students of the Faculty of Foundation Studies to find out the common errors committed in their compositions so that these can be remedied or minimized.
Statement of the Problem
This research was conducted primarily to find out what types of errors predominated in the composition of the PSPP students in the Faculty of Foundation Studies, Gulf College.
Specifically, this study attempted to find answers to the following questions:
What are the predominant errors in grammar and mechanics committed by the students?
What difficulties and problems in composition writing do the students encounter?
What remedial measures could English lecturers offer to minimize students’ errors in grammar and mechanics?
Scope and Delimitation of the Study
Locale of the Study
This study was conducted among the PSPP students in the Faculty of Foundation Studies, Gulf College for the academic year 2015-2016.
Data Gathering Procedure
The researcher made use of a selection which was an off shot of the respondents’ language lesson. The respondents were asked to write an essay on the theme of the selection. This was used to determine the predominant errors committed under mechanics and grammar. The data gathered were consolidated, presented in tables, and interpreted. From the data that were collected, findings conclusions and recommendation were made. Likewise, the checklist for the secondary analysis used in analyzing the essay of the 30 students was based on the actual items or key to correction used in composition writing.
The inventory items under grammatical category includes the following:
Grammar
Adverb - [Types and uses] Verb-[Tenses and agreement] Conjunction Appropriateness
Preposition and Prepositional phrases Adjective -[Uses, types and appropriateness Pronoun-[Antecedent, person, gender and number]
Noun-[Forms, uses, kind, gender and number]
The inventory of items under mechanics includes the following:
Mechanics
Punctuation Spelling Syllabication
Form of paragraph [Margin indention, and general format ]
Statistical Treatment
The simple frequency counts; percentage and ranking distribution were used in the statistical treatment of the common errors of the students in their written compositions. These errors committed in mechanics were classified and categorized in tables.
Presentation,
Analysis
and
Interpretation of Data
In this chapter, the data were presented, analyzed and interpreted. The data were gathered from their formal themes written by PSPP of the Faculty of Foundation Studies, Gulf College.
Table 1 shows the errors in mechanics. Errors and spelling ranked first. [Ex. Make today an opportunity for a better tomorrow. Student no. 1] This reveals therefore that most students are generally poor in spelling. They are found to have limited reading vocabulary and are unable to write simple words or phrases. Another cause of this error is the student’ weakness in getting the thought from connected materials and poor recognition of words.
Errors in lack of punctuation marks ranked 2nd. [Ex. They cannot stand in their own feet Student no. 14.] This show that the students have missed to place, period, comma, question mark etc. Again, this error is due to students’ carelessness and lack of concentration. Writing without understanding is one possible reason why students commit these errors. Errors in syllabication ranked 3rd with 28.700%.[Ex. They want that their dreams and goals will come true.
Student no. 13] This shows students have limited knowledge in the proper way of syllabicating or dividing a word.
Errors in indention improper margin ranked 4th. Students have forgotten that there should be at least one-inch space on the left and one and a half inches space on the right. They also have forgotten to indent every beginning of the paragraph.
The data imply that the students do not give importance on margin and indention when writing a composition. Sometimes the students are also very much engrossed with their writing activity that they even forget about the proper margin and indention of their composition.
are ranked in the following: Spelling, punctuation, syllabication and indention.
Table 1: Distribution of respondents according to errors in mechanics
Mechanics Frequency Percentage Rank
Indention 11 04.000 4
Spelling 77 33.900 1
Punctuation 76 33.400 2
Syllabication 64 28.700 3
Table 2 shows the frequency, percentage and rank distribution of the grammatical. Errors committed by the respondents in their composition.
Errors in subject-verb agreement ranked 1st.[Ex. Let say he can buy all the things he want to buy but can’t buy the trust of the people. Student no. 20.] This result indicates the manager knowledge of the students of the rules about subject-verb agreement. If ever they know the rules, they fail to apply it.
It was also to found out that they are confused in the ending in which singular or without s which is plural. Errors in pronoun ranked 2nd.This also mea. [Ex. My best friend changes their mind. Student no. 29.] This show the students lack knowledge on the agreement between pronoun and antecedent ns that students are not able concretize reinforce the correct usage of pronoun.
Errors in noun ranked 3rd [Ex. We need peoples in order to survive. Student no.20.] It is al so evident that the students are not too familiar with rules governing nouns.
Errors in subject ranked 4th [Ex. It is more better to live with companions. Student no. 8] This indicates that the students seem to be in a very hurry or careless to write what they want to express. This also further implies that respondents committed 14 errors under this phase.
Errors and conjunction ranked 5th.[ Ex. My friend or I do believe in saying” No man is an island”. Studentno.12.] The students committed 12 errors under this phase. This reveals therefore that some do not know the correct usage of conjunction and others have missed to use it in their formal themes.
Errors in adverb ranked 6th. [Ex. I firm believe in John Donne quotes, Never send to know for whom the bell tolls, It tolls from you Student no. 9] This also indicates that the students are confused with the different functions of preposition.
To summarize, the data reveal that the respondents are very in the sentence structure/grammar- the most important unit in the composition writing. It implies therefore that students cannot write a good paragraph. They cannot even construct grammatically correct sentences.
Table 2: Distribution of respondents according to errors in grammar
Grammar Frequency Percentage Rank
Verb 24 23.529 1
Pronoun 18 17.647 2
Noun 16 15.686 3
Adjective 14 13.725 4
Conjunction 12 11. 746 5
Adverb 10 9.803 6
Preposition 8 7.843 7
TOTAL 102 100 2
Table 3.shows the problems encountered by the respondents. Among the problems are: lack of knowledge in the principles
ranked 2nd; lack of reading materials ranked 3rd; lack of vocabulary ranked 4th; Careless in choosing word to express ideas ranked 5th; English lecturers do not provide effective instruction and strategies to challenge the students to master their writing skills ranked 6th; Lack of interest in the English
language ranked 7th; the English lecturers fail to diagnose the needs and deficiencies of the students in writing ranked 8th and having incompetent English lecturers ranked 9th.
Table 3: Problems encountered by the respondents
Problems Encountered by the Respondents F R
Lack of vocabulary 146 4th
The English lecturers fail to diagnose the needs and
deficiencies of students in writing. 196 8th English lecturers do not provide effective instruction
strategy for the student that would challenge him to master his writing skills.
186 6th
Carelessness in choosing words to express ideas 163 5th Lack of knowledge in the application of principles governing
the use of noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, and other components of grammar
51 1st
Incompetent English lecturers 204 9th
Lack of interest in the English language 189 7th
Poor reading study habit 109 2nd
Lack of reading materials 111 3rd
Table 4 presents the rank distribution of the remedial measures suggested by the English lecturers that could be adopted to minimize students’ errors in mechanics.
To intensify dictionary work in spelling and syllabication emerges ranked 1st, drill on pronunciation receive ranked; give enough practice on writing skills ranked 3rd; teach proper use of punctuation marks ranked 4th ; make use of word reading skills ranked
5th;rill on vocabulary ranked 6th; have plenty of exercises on capitalization and use of model formats in indention and margin ranked 7th and 8th respectively.
These data further reveal that English lecturers should give more emphasis on the following phases of mechanics which are ranked in this order: spelling, punctuation, syllabication and indention. Therefore, lecturers should give more drills/ exercises for the students to master these skills.
Table 4: Remedial measures in mechanics
Mechanics Rank
Drill in pronunciation and spelling 2nd Intensify dictionary work in spelling and syllabication 1st
Drill on vocabulary 6th
Teach proper use of punctuation marks and uses 4th Give enough practice on writing skills 3rd
Make use of word reading skills 5th
Use of model format in indention and margin 8th Have plenty exercises on capitalization 7th
Table 5 shows the suggestions offered by the English lecturers in order to minimize students’ errors in grammar. The English lecturers suggested the following in the
ranked 3rd; drill on the use adverb and adjective ranked 4th; drill on the use of conjunction ranked 5th; drill on modifiers and their position ranked 6th; drill on sentence analysis and approach ranked 7th; and drill of the use of preposition ranked 8th.
The data show that English lecturers should give more drills / exercises particularly on subject-verb agreement because it has been found out that many students are weak on this phase and other components of grammar.
Table 5: Remedial measures in grammar
Grammar Rank
Drill on simple tenses of regular and irregular verbs 3rd Drill on pronoun-antecedent harmony 2nd
Drill on subject – verb agreement 1st
Drill on modifiers and their positions 6th Drill on sentence analysis and approach 7th
Drill on the use of preposition 8th
Drill on the use of conjunction 5th
Drill on the use of adverb and adjective 4th
Summary
This study was conducted to find out the prevalent errors in grammar and mechanics committed by the students in the Faculty of Foundation Studies , Gulf College for the academic year 2015-2016.
The researcher sought to find out the difficulties and problems encountered by the students in their written compositions and remedial measures that could be offered to minimize students’ errors in mechanics grammar.
The researcher made use of a selection which was an off shot of the respondents’ language lesson. The students were asked write an essay of the theme of the selection.
This was used to determine the common errors committed under grammar and mechanics. A total of 30 PSPP students served as respondents of the study. The simple frequency counts, percentage and ranking distribution were used to treat the common difficulties in their compositions writing.
Findings
In the area of mechanics, the most prevalent errors committed by the PSPP students are presented on this order based in the frequency of errors or violations. Errors in spelling rank 1st’, errors in punctuation mark rank 2nd; errors syllabication rank 3rd; and in indention rank 4th; Most of the student are generally weak in spelling. This
was found out and reflected in their formal themes.
Along the area on grammar, the errors committed by the students are in this rank. Errors in verb have the highest number of errors followed by pronoun with a frequency of 18. Errors in noun rank 3rd; errors in adjective rank 4th; errors in conjunction rank 5th; followed by errors in adverb and preposition which rank 6th and 7th, respectively.
and approach and on the use of prepositions, respectively.
Among the problems encountered by the senior students of Gulf College are rank in this order; lack of knowledge and application of the principles governing use of noun, pronoun, verb, adverb, adjective and other components of grammar ranked 1st; poor reading study habits rank 2nd; lack of reading materials ranked 3rd; lack of vocabulary ranked 4th; careless in choosing words to express ideas ranked 5th; for ranked 6th; English lecturers do not provide effective instruction and strategies for the students that would challenge them to master their writing skills; lack of interest in the English language ranked 7th; the English lecturers fail to diagnose the needs and deficiencies of students in writing ranked 8th and is having incompetent English lecturers ranked 9th.
Conclusion
English lecturers encounter a series of problems in so far as teaching the English language is concerned. In spite of modern methods, techniques and approaches used by the English lecturers, the quality of composition writing of the students are still traced to the lecturers and learners.
Based on the findings of the study, the following conclusions are drawn:On grammatical category, most of the students lack knowledge and application of the principles governing the use of verb, pronoun, adjective, conjunction and other components of grammar.
Along the area of mechanics, the senior students of FFS are also weak spelling, punctuation, syllabication, and indention. This is reflected in their formal themes. The problems and difficulties of the students in composition writing are the following; lack of knowledge and application of the principles
governing to use of noun; pronoun, verb, adverb, adjective, and other components of grammar, poor reading study habits; lack of reading materials; lack of vocabulary; carelessness of choosing words to express ideas; incompetent English lecturers lack of interest in the English language; the English lecturers fail to diagnose the needs and deficiencies of students in writing and English lecturers do not provide effective instruction and strategies for students that would challenge them to master their writing skills [5-7].
Recommendations
To improve the writing skills of the senior students of Gulf College, the following are recommended:
The Faculty of Foundation Studies should offer a remedial module that would help the students in their writing deficiencies and difficulties.
The administration must also provide opportunities for the lecturers and students to attend seminar-workshops and conferences to keep them abreast with the modern trend of teaching theme writing; Lecturers should provide remedial work
and many exercises/drills to help the students learn the basic skills of writing; Lecturers must identify the needs and
deficiencies of each student and should provide effective instruction of student’s varying abilities, interest and experiences that would challenge him to master his writing skills.
English lecturers should stress the teaching of subject-verb agreement and other components of grammar. They should emphasize lesson in improving grammatical proficiency in writing composition.
References
1.Cahigas Guillermo C (2002) Composition Writing Errors in Second Year Students in Secondary Vocational Schools in Cagayan. 2.Cura Juliet O (2008) Language Proficiency of
the Secondary Teachers of Cagayan State University: Its Implication to TESL
3.Dizon J (2011) Predominant Types of errors in Written Themes of Students. Cagayan, Philippines.
College Students and their Ability to Detect Errors in a Weak Prose Composition
5.Hammond Eugene R (1999) Informative Writing. New York, USA Mc Graw Hill Book Composition.
6.Kinsella Everette L et. al. (2006) Approach to College Writing. New York. Henry Holt
