An error analysis of the use of verb patterns in writing English sentences by French-major students at ThangLong high school (DaLat, LamDong): Master’s thesis report

Abstract

Error analysis is a way to investigate errors in the learning process of a foreign language. This thesis reports on a study on error analysis of the use of verb patterns (VPs) by French-major students at ThangLong high school in DaLat. The research followed a descriptive research design. An error analysis framework by Corder (1981) was employed. It includes data collection, error detection, classifying, describing errors, and explaining errors. The data were collected from 104 essays written by 26 students in an English writing class. From the analysis of the data, it was found that the 5 verb patterns which were the most used and which also contained the most errors were VP6, VP1, VP7, VP5 and VP14. Furthermore, the study showed that the errors were caused by intralingual and interlingual factors. Gaining insight into errors would throw light into areas of difficulties faced by students in English writing. It is suggested that the students must have adequate exposure to English and more frequent use of some English verb patterns to be able to internalize language rules and reduce the tendency of committing errors in their writing. This study also gives Vietnamese teachers of English some suggestions of how to teach English verb patterns effectively.