The AEC Proficiency Test Battery includes sections on aural comprehension, grammar, reading and vocabulary, and a composition. For the latter, students are given two topics from which to choose and forty minutes in which to write it. At least 250 words are required for a passing grade. These compositions are graded by three teaching assistants, an instructor and an administrator. Based on the scores on all the sections of the test, and on teachers' recommendations for returning students, students are placed in either Elementary, Intermediate, Advanced I or Advanced II level instruction, either in classroom or individualized settings.
In order to assess the types of writing problems Vietnamese students face at the Advanced II level, their test compositions were studied. Twenty compositions were collected for the first semester; their scores awarded them placement in an Advanced II writing class. A preliminary marking system was used to show major areas of weakness. These areas were then further analyzed. The marking system included errors involving verb tense, verb form, subject-verb agreement, number, word form, determiners, articles, forms of the verb be, prepositions, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, word order, sentence fragments, and run-on sentences or comma splices. Then a tabulation of the errors on each composition was done for all the compositions. The purpose of this tabulation was not to provide a statistical error analysis but to provide an overview of areas to stress in the course design. In the preliminary marking, several of these areas proved to be insignificant in as much as only a limited number of errors made by a limited number of students were found, and most students used the areas correctly. In these compositions, students used determiners, capitalization and word order well. There were also few sentence fragments.
To generalize about the significant errors, these advanced students had lingering difficulty with aspects of English which are markedly different from Vietnamese. As was previously discussed in Section II, five of these areas of contrast are suffixes, tense, be sentences, negation and articles. With the sole exception of negation, where there were few incidences of its correct or incorrect usage, the other four figured prominently in the findings. The major weakness of each of these students was either suffixes, tense, or articles. Be sentences, which is a much less encompassing category, caused confusion for more than two-thirds of the students.
In the following section, several examples of these four error types, all preceded by "*" to indicate ungrammaticality, will be illustrated from the test compositions. In addition, the problem of determining sentence boundaries, which resulted in many comma splices and run-on sentences, will be presented. An overview of spelling errors will conclude this section.
There are no suffixes in Vietnamese, making the multitude of suffixes in English difficult to master. One frequently used suffix in English is the plural -s (or -es). In the sample, there was considerable confusion in showing if a noun was singular or plural. In many cases, the plural -s suffix was omitted, even in cases where a word or phrase preceding the noun indicated that it should be plural.
*..... communication with other students from many different country.
*..... for almost two week.
*Vietnamese language come from two country, France and Chinese.
*This school doesn't have any window.
*Since I was six year old, I have been in school.
*…an architect with these two degree earn a good salaries.
*..... at one of the motel.
These examples follow the pattern of Vietnamese sentences,, where number is not expressed in the noun but by other words in the sentence. From this perspective, Vietnamese writers may see the plural ending as a redundant form.
The -s suffix also caused confusion in cases of count vs. mass nouns. Here the -s suffix was added to mass nouns.
*important researches
*Because most of the times, I spend my times in school.
*Also many students worry about their classes at the university and it causes isomia and danger to their healths.
*Foreigners do not realize that many people in my country is needed foods, shelter, medical aids and freedom.
In other cases, the -s suffix was also added unnecessarily.
*a ten-speeds bicycle
*a good facilities for student to have a good education
*each schools has its own requirements for admissions
*The first things that foreigners understand least about my country is that Vietnam is a modern country.
It is important to remember that since [s]and [z] never occur at the end of Vietnamese words, pronunciation and discernment of this suffix in English may be difficult. Students, if they have relied heavily on learning English through informal means, may be unsure of what they hear in speech. This uncertainty may transfer into their writing. They may omit the plural suffix frequently or overgeneralize and use it unnecessarily.
The possessive 's suffix, although not used as extensively as the plural -s suffix, appeared with some interesting variations. In some places it was merely omitted.
*First, I think doctor has more responsible than a teacher because he or she has to handle a person life or death.
In another place, it was added, but not attached to the correct word.
*The writer of this paper favorite's activities are….
In another place, a student wrote:
*In the midde of the school, there is a round grass' field with classes around.
However, in this case, an adjective and not a possessive form before the noun was needed.
Comparative and superlative word endings were infrequently used in the compositions, which could have been due to the nature of the topics or possible uneasiness with the forms. However, some confusion with comparative and superlative expressions was evident. These errors also involved articles and word choice.
*I tried to be a best player and I did.
*However, I would like to be a teacher than be a doctor for these reasons.
Derivational suffixes in English, which can change the form of a word, for example, from a verb to a noun, caused confusion. As discussed previously, English has much more clearly defined morphological distinctions between nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. The following examples illustrate a lack of proficiency with English word forms.
In these examples, nouns, verbs, adverbs and other adjectives were used where the adjective form should have been used.
*industry machines
*I enrolled to study at a private English-Vietnam high school.
*You won't be worry about a job.
*My educational background are very poorly in the United States.
*I decided to go to school. But it was not easyly like I thought.
*I fell very closed to my teacher.
In other cases, nouns were used where verb forms should have been used.
*If he/she makes a wrong justment on the students then it can be damage to the students' future.
*mower the lawn
The most prominent category involved using adjectives in place of noun forms.
*The disadvantages that these students have to dealt with are homesick, not familiar with the language and culture of the country where they study.
*First, I think doctor has more responsible than a teacher . . .
*I had to go to work for about two week as a full-time but later I asked my boss to reduce my Eours so I worked as part-time.
*Vietnamese language come from two country, France and Chinese.
In other cases, students "created" noun forms or used the wrong noun form.
*Soccering and reading are my hobbies.
*aloneness
*The modern technology has required a lot number of engineerings, and mechanical engineering has a high demand in the society.
*. . . an interior design is trained to arrange a comfortable interior with certain style of decoration for the users.
As evident by these examples, advanced students need to look more closely at what meaning in conveyed by English suffixes and be able to use the correct suffix in the correct context. By this level, most have acquired considerable information about suffix use. However, greater facility, especially with widely used suffixes, such as plural -s and derivational suffixes, is still necessary.
Using the English articles a, an and the correctly is difficult for many ESL learners even at the advanced level. To look more carefully at the errors made by Vietnamese students, article use was divided into three broad categories. The first category, which showed the largest number of errors, involved the overuse of the with a generic mass noun, as in these examples:
*They suffered the hunger, the coldness and the aloneness since my country was in the war time.
*Presently, the Society has always depended on the technology and without the technology we will not be able to have cars, airplanes, or all the industry machines.
The next category involved the improper use of a or an, either through omission or using the indefinite article where it was unnecessary. In other cases, the was used instead of a/an.
1. a/an were omitted
*First, I think doctor has more responsible than a teacher.
*They can find exciting new culture that different from their own.
*An interior design is trained to arrange a comfortable interior with certain style of decoration for the users.
(Notice that in some of these examples, a/an were used correctly in the same sentences from which they were also omitted.)
2. a/an were added where unnecessary
*I could not communicate with any an American.
*. . . the career that I have always wanted is a mechanical engineering
*Fortunately, I have a ability in those backgrounds..
3. the was used instead of a/an
*Practically, I do not want to have a degree and don't have the job.
*..... and I expect myself to do the good job in school and in my future job.
*The job for a mechanical engineering is to design the machine which is usefull and economically.
The final category, and the one with the least errors, was not using the with a specific noun.
*. . . foreigners did not know how Vietnamese language was form.
*..... I decided to attend school of pharmacy then in order to help other people.
*When I first came to United States, I cannot speak english or write fluently.
In analyzing verb tense errors, it was necessary to determine whether the main problem was form- or context-related. Although there were limitations due to the size of the sample and possibly to the composition topics, which may not always have demanded a wide range of tense usage, at this advanced level there was little confusion with verb tense form. The students indicated that they knew, for example, that the present perfect is formed by adding the past participle to have/has. Therefore, the category of suffixes did not overlap as much with the category of tense as might be expected. In the English tense system, suffixes such as -ing, -ed and -en are added, along with auxiliaries, to form various tenses. Students had a much better grasp of the verb forms than they did with using these correct forms in the right context. To discover in which contexts the verb forms were used, a tabulation indicating which tense was used and which tense should have been used in that context was made. All of the following were represented and are listed in order of highest to lowest frequency, with an example given for each:
1. Using present tense for past tense:
*The first school that I attend in the United States is Junior high.
2. Using past tense for present tense:
*In Viet Name, New Year and Christmas are two big holidays, which children usually received gifts from their parents or relatives, those gifts are usually clothes, toys, and money.
3. Using present tense for present perfect tense:
*According to my friend, KU is the biggest university in Kansas and it has reputation for a long time for its academic excellence.
4. Using present perfect for past perfect:
*I was exhausted from all the places I have been to.
Using present perfect tense for past tense:
*During the time we were there, we've done a lot of great activities together.
5. Using past tense for present perfect tense:
*Since I was a young girl I dreamed about the white coat people.
Using past perfect tense for present perfect tense:
*Nowaday, because of the rapid progress in technology, archetecture had divided into many smaller fields of study such as, urban design, interior design, engineering, etc.
The wide diversity of usage indicates that there is confusion at this advanced level with the appropriate context for these tenses. However, the ones that appeared in at least a third of the students' compositions were the first three listed: using present tense for past tense, using past tense for present tense and using present tense for present perfect tense. All of these involved the present tense and as was presented in the section on language contrast, Vietnamese verbs are invariable in form (which form is similar to our present tense) and other words in the sentence indicate the time relationships.
Several examples of using a present tense form with a past time expression such as in 1984 or long time ago were found in these compositions. When the students used a past time expression, it seems possible that the students felt that indicating tense was redundant. The result was often an unexpected tense shift.
*When I first came to United States, I cannot speak english or write fluently.
*For an example, long time ago, some teachers do think black students are not capable for any white color job.
*Although we didn't go anywhere on those two days, I still enjoy the time I get to learn to fix a flat tire, and that's one great experience.
*..... and it is estimated between $22,000 to $30,000 in 1984.
*I enjoy soccer since I was in forth grade.
In other sentences, the correct and incorrect forms appear in the same sentence. This also shows an unexpected shift in tense and may have been the result of not proofreading carefully or an uncertainty about which tense to use or how to write the past tense form.
*I was so happy that I cried out, ran to her and kiss her.
*During that time I went to school, work at the motel, and I also worked at some other odd jobs.
As can be seen from the above examples, attention needs to be given to work on tense. Several of these advanced students indicated by their compositions that they needed work with widely used tenses such as present, past and present perfect. Use of other tenses was not as frequent, and therefore, errors involving these tenses were not prevalent. The lack of use of these tenses could possibly be due to the students' uneasiness about using them in a test composition or the fact that the test composition topics did not elicit these tenses. Context-related tense study seems indicated for the course design.
Although these advanced Vietnamese students appear to know the correct verb forms, despite difficulty in using them in the proper context, the various forms of be continue to cause difficulty. As was previously discussed, the Vietnamese word la, which is equivalent to be in some environments, remains constant in form and cannot be used in all of the ways that be can. The many changes be undergoes due to changes in person and tense are illustrated by the following examples taken from the compositions. In many cases, be was omitted entirely:
*They can find exciting new culture that different from their own.
*The only thing that made me not like this school very much because this school doesn't have any window.
*..... I hope someday I can able to take some classes like every American student.
In other cases, the wrong person was used so that the subject did not agree with the verb.
*Foreigners do not realize that many people in my country is in needed foods, shelter, medical aids and freedom.
*..... in Vietnam there are hardly enough food for people to eat.
*All of this are still very strange to me.
In yet other cases, the wrong tense was used.
*My educational background are very poorly in the United States, because of the english language barrier.
*The first school that I attend in the United States is . . .
Two-thirds of these students made some errors with be verbs. In many of the previous examples, it was more complicated than simply choosing between is/are or was/were. Several factors interplayed within the sentences. Included in the problem of selection were using be with modal auxiliaries, distinguishing between count/mass nouns, determining the actual subject of the sentence, especially one separated from the verb by an adjective clause, and coping with other incorrect word or tense choices in the sentence. Even at this advanced level, more work is needed with the basic forms of be and its use in relationship to other elements in the sentence.
Comma splices, or punctuating two sentences with a comma instead of a period between them, and run-on sentences, or omitting punctuation between sentences, were other common errors. It often appeared that these errors were strongly influenced by spoken language. The following two examples show this conversational style.
*I like the high school that I was going because it have good facilities, teacher, material for student to have a good education, also it prepare you for a new life in college.
*As we got ready to leave, when we went out to the cars, all of the tires were flatten it's because my friends lived in a bad neighborhood
The following examples, while still showing a conversational style, show additional confusion with sentence boundaries, punctuation and in the second example, capitalization.
*I came back to High School went through my first semester and now I just finished my high school, I start go to KU I feel a whole lot different for example: classes are bigger.
*One of the most important thing is that I am a resident of Kansas so It is very convenient for me to go there, I live at Wichita a city not very far from Lawrence.
Connectors, which can often help to correct comma splices and run-on sentences, are another area to re-emphasize with these advanced students. In the following examples, knowledge of when and how the various connectors can be used would help to solve the problem of these types of sentences.
*I knew that the sickness was the worst thing in the world, I decided to attend school of pharmacy then in order to help other people.
*Vietnamese people eat dog because in Vietnam there are hardly enough food for people to eat, so the only thing to eat is to eat dog, if we don't eat the meat we will so be hungry and maybe died of hunger.
Therefore, in addition to concentrating on the differences between spoken and written language, and the conventions of punctuation, additional practice with connectors would probably benefit students who have difficulty determining sentence boundaries.
Spelling errors, which ranged from zero to six per composition, also seemed to indicate an unfamiliarity with translating the spoken word into the written form. The following group of errors is interesting in that the incorrect spelling on the left is pronounced the same as the correct spelling on the right. In many cases the errors were due to incorrect word spacing. In other cases, another word with the same sound was used.
*alot/a lot
*highschool/high school
*a long/along
*every body/everybody
*somethings/some things
*therefore/there for
*forth/fourth
*by/buy
In other examples, it appears that the spelling could be related to a pronunciation problem:
*prersent/present
*howerver/however
*event/even
*midde/middle
*satifying/satisfying
*dorminitory/dormitory
In dealing with spelling errors, careful attention needs to be paid to the relationship between the spoken and the written forms. Also, some pronunciation practice may help to insure better spelling.
By studying the preceding examples from student compositions, we can gain insight into the types of writing problems these students face. The three major problems, of which at least one was the major weakness of each of these students, were suffixes, tense and articles. Be sentences also figured prominently. These were all shown to be related to marked differences between Vietnamese and English. The additional problems with sentence boundaries and spelling appear to indicate some confusion between spoken and written forms. In addition to insight into the major types of errors, the examples give us a glimpse at some of the interests and concerns of these Vietnamese students.
Now, in the third part of this section, a course design incorporating this assessment of writing samples and the enrollment and placement information of Vietnamese students at the AEC will be presented.
Background
| Purpose
of Study | Outline
of Research | Review
of the Literature |
Developing the
Course | Course
Design | Conclusion
and References
Table of Contents for Issue 1 | Front Cover of the Journal of English Grammar on the Web