Assessing
English Syntactic Structures Experienced by Secondary Schools Students in Sudan
A Case Study of
Oumdrman Locality (2013-2014)
By: Dr. Omer
Elsheikh Hago Elmahdi &
Mrs. Mai Hassan
Ahmed Ali
ABSTRACT
This
study aims at investigating the English syntactic structures experienced by
Sudanese Students at secondary schools. The researcher used the analytical
descriptive method in this study and a test as a tool for collecting data. The sample of the study was about ninety nine
students at secondary schools in the academic year (2013-2014). After the
analysis of the types of errors made by the subjects, the study has come out
with many findings. Here are some of the important results: The major problem
behind the students errors is the mother tongue interference, the Sudanese
learners of English in general seem not to have an adequate proficiency in
understanding the meaning and semantics when they express themselves in English
syntactic structures. Students need a
supplementary method in order to express themselves accurately. Finally the researcher has recommended
certain areas such as: Teachers and
students should be aware of the importance of writing in relation to other
skills. Activating English literature
lessons and providing a library for extra activities. Students need enough time to practice writing
in the class room because the time allotted for teaching English is not matched
to the content of the syllabus designed.
Students should be prepared to use the language for a variety of purposes
beyond the classroom.
Overview
There is no doubt that
language studies constitute a very important field of knowledge, because no
person can live a normal life without a language. Al-samawi (2000) defines language as a sign
of the honor that Allah has given to human beings; and by the language the
human become distinguished from other creatures.
From the
performance of English foreign language learners the presence of many errors
when writing in English can be noted. Traditionally, when students write in a
foreign language the purpose of the writing activity is to catch errors in
grammar, spelling, punctuation…. etc.
Students get good marks if they write texts with as few errors as
possible.
Syntactic Errors
analysis in this study is the result of those errors made by the Sudanese
secondary school students in Omdurman locality (Alawda secondary school for
girls) in the written medium. It
provides a picture of the level of those students and it may give indication to
the learning process as well.
Statement of the Problem
Sudanese learners of
English language at secondary schools face many problems in expressing
themselves in English, so they make poor English texts. This issue has been experienced by the
researchers that most of the students confront serious rhetorical, cultural and
linguistic problems when writing in English and are not capable to learn this
skill easily. The researchers believe that Sudanese learners of English
language need a supplementary method to support them. A main question can arise: what are the best
methods that make students master the English structures? So, the
importance of this study stems from the fact that: it might be a useful study
to the English language teachers to spot the difficulties in English language structures,
and to the planners and course designers to put more emphasis on syntactic
exercises. Finally, it is important to discover the syntactic structures
revealed by the students at secondary schools to try to develop a better mastering
of English structures.
Objectives of the Study
This study aims at:
1.
providing
an overview of theoretical issues and core empirical findings in
cross-linguistic research on the acquisition of syntactic structures;
2.
identifying
key issues in syntax acquisition research: the respective contribution of
learners' input and innate predispositions for language acquisition; the time
course of syntactic development;
3.
introducing methods for investigating
syntactic development;
4. discussing the relative role of learners’ input and innate
predispositions for syntax acquisition; and
5. focusing on the emergence of
syntax and discussing the empirical
findings and their theoretical implications and highlights current trends.
Questions of the Study
This study can be achieved through tackling the following three
questions:
1.
What are the
factors that affect the students' performance when writing in English?
2.
What types of
English syntactic errors committed by secondary schools students?
3.
What do
teachers and students need to enhance practicing English syntactic structures?
Limits of the Study
This study is restricted to assess
writing performance in the EFL students at secondary schools at Omdurman
locality, Al uola secondary school for girls, in the academic year 2013 – 2014.
Ninety nine students in the third year were chosen to represent the original
subjects in this study. The study is limited to assess English Syntactic
Structures Experienced by Secondary Schools Students in Sudan
Method of the Study
This study has taken its
results through a formal test given to students of third year. It consists of
three types of questions. The researchers
adopted the descriptive analytical method and a test as a tool for collecting
data.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Methods for investigating the acquisition
of syntax
In order to address the issues
discussed above, acquisition researchers have developed a broad range of
methods for (i) naturalistic sampling, (ii) experiments and (iii)
semi-structured elicitation. Naturalistic samples are obtained by
audio/video-recording learners’ speech in spontaneous interactions with family
members, friends or researchers (Behrens 2008; McDaniel, McKee, and Smith
Cairns 1996; Eisenbeiss 2006, 2010; Menn and Bernstein Ratner 2000; Wei and
Moyer 2008). Naturalistic samples from a broad range of languages and learner
types are now freely available via the CHILDES database
(http://childes.psy.cmu.edu/, MacWhinney 2000), the Max-Planck-Institute for
Psycholinguistics (http://corpus1.mpi.nl/ds/imdi_browser/) and other webpages (http://leo.meikai.ac.jp/~tono/lcresource.html). For overviews, see the CHILDES bibliographies and numerous
textbooks and edited volumes (http://childes.psy.cmu.edu/bibs/; Ambridge and
Lieven 2011; Behrens 2008, 2009; de Villiers and Roeper 2011; Guasti 2002;
Ingram 1989; Lust 2006; Myles 2005; O’Grady 1997; Saxton 2010; Sokolov and Snow 1994; the special language learning
acquisition issue of Linguistics, 2009 (volume 47)).
In naturalistic sampling, researchers only interfere by recording
learners and their interaction partners – sometimes without them even knowing
that they are being recorded. Hence, the recording situation closely
approximates the real-life situation under investigation and learners are
unlikely to develop particular response strategies - even when samples are
collected repeatedly. Thus, naturalistic sampling has a high ecological
validity. Moreover, naturalistic samples can be obtained from any learner, independently
of age, cognitive and linguistic ability; and recordings with learners’ regular
conversation partners also provide input samples. Finally, naturalistic samples
do not target a particular construction and can be (re)analyzed with respect to
a broad range of phenomena. Naturalistic sampling does not require specific
stimulus materials and hence no prior in-depth knowledge of the respective
language. Thus, it is ideal for obtaining a first overview of learners’ input
and their own production.
However, minimizing researcher control
can lead to incomparable samples, as learners may talk about different topics
and use different words or constructions. Moreover, naturalistic samples often
contain very few examples of low-frequency constructions, such as embedded
questions. Pooling data from several learners is no solution as this can lead
to sampling errors and ignores inter-learner variation. Note also that even the
frequent occurrence of a given construction cannot simply be taken as evidence
for its acquisition: naturalistic data often involve recurring word-forms and
phrases that might be parts of formulaic patterns (Eisenbeiss 2000; Radford
1990; Tomasello 2001), e.g.:
Where’s the key/car/cat…? -> Where’s the X?
Thus,
one might overestimate learners’ knowledge. Conversely, one might underestimate
learners’ knowledge when they are engaged in unchallenging activities that only
require imitations, object naming, and elliptical answers (meals, picture-book
reading, etc.). Moreover, naturalistic samples do not provide information about
learners’ interpretation of their utterances, which hampers studies on semantic
aspects of quantifiers, co-reference, etc. Finally, when researchers refrain
from interfering with the recording situation, they cannot systematically
manipulate and study variables that affect learners’ performance (e.g. sentence
length).
In experiments, researchers
systematically manipulate one or more variables and measure whether any changes
with respect to these variables affect speakers’ behavior (Crain and Thornton
1998; McDaniel, McKey, and Smith Cairns 1996; Menn and Bernstein Ratner 2000;
Sekerina, Fernández, and Clahsen 2008; Wei and Moyer 2008). Standardized
procedures ensure comparability and the avoidance of models or feedback that
occurs in spontaneous speech allows one to rule out some potential confounding
factors. Moreover, the use of stimuli in some experiments can make it easier to
determine learners’ intentions and interpretations.
In elicited imitation experiments,
participants are asked to imitate spoken sentences (Bernstein Ratner 2000;
Gallimore and Tharp 2006; Vinther 2002). This can provide insights into
learners’ knowledge as participants cannot memorize complex sentences
holistically, but must employ their own grammar to recreate them. As high task
demands and partial memorization of targets can make results difficult to
interpret, many researchers only use elicited imitation as a first step.
In elicited production experiments,
learners receive prompts to produce particular constructions, e.g. questions
like (a) or negated sentences like (b); see Crain and Thornton (1998), Menn and
Bernstein Ratner (2000). The responses show whether learners produce the target
or deviate from it in ways that reflect their syntactic knowledge. Some
production experiments investigate whether learners can productively use a
construction with novel words (see (c); Berko 1958; Menn and Bernstein Ratner
2000).
a. The dog is eating
something, but I cannot see what. Can you as ask the puppet?
b. I'll
say something and then you say the opposite.
c. This
is a wug. These are two…?
Other experiments involve syntactic
priming, speakers’ tendency to repeat syntactic structure across otherwise
unrelated utterances (Bencini and Valian 2008; Bock 1986; Branigan 2007;
Huttenlocher Vasilyeva and Shimpi 2004; Kim and McDonough 2008; Pickering and
Ferreira 2008; Savage, Lieven, Theakston, and Tomasello 2003, 2006). For
example, speakers are more likely to use passives after hearing or producing
passive prime sentences than after active primes. If learners show such priming
effects, even when the primes and learners’ own productions contain different
words, this suggests that learners possess abstract syntactic representations
that can be activated by priming. In contrast, if priming only occurs when
primes and learners’ own productions involve the same verb, this indicates that
learners’ syntactic representations are not abstract, but lexically bound.
Learners’ comprehension of syntactic
constructions or grammatical markers can be tested in different ways (Crain and
Thornton 1998; McDaniel, McKee, and Smith Cairns 1996; Sekerina, Fernández, and
Clahsen 2008): children can be asked to act out sentences with toys or to
select pictures that match sentences they hear like (8a) and (8b). For younger
learners, one can use a preferential looking task where an auditory stimulus is
presented while two visual stimuli are shown simultaneously and researchers
measure which of two visual stimuli learners attend to for longer.
Alternatively, one can show a learner a picture or tell a story and then ask
learners to answer a comprehension question or to provide a truth-value judgment
for an utterance like.
a. The girl is hitting the boy.
b. The girl is being hit by the boy.
All crocodiles are in the
bathtub. Is this true?
In
grammaticality-judgment experiments, learners from the age of three can either
be asked to tell the experimenter whether a sentence is grammatical or they are
asked to decide between a grammatical utterance and an ungrammatical variant of
this utterance (McDaniel, McKee and Smith Cairns 1996).
Recently,
researchers have employed online-methods that are sensitive to the time-course
of processing to study the syntactic processing involved in learners’
production and comprehension (Clahsen and Felser 2006a, b; Marinis 2003;
Sekerina, Fernández, and Clahsen 2008). Such studies typically involve auditory
or visual stimuli and measure learners’ reaction times or they record learners’
eye movements to detect their focus of attention at different times in the
comprehension or production process.
As
performance in experiments might be affected by memory problems, task-induced
strategies or problems in focusing on relevant aspects of the stimuli, some researchers
supplement naturalistic and experimental data with semi-structured elicitation
(Berman and Slobin 1994; Eisenbeiss 2009b, 2010; Jaensch 2008). Semi-structured
elicitation techniques keep the communicative situation as natural as possible,
but use videos or games to encourage the production of rich and comparable
speech samples. For instance, one can use form-focused techniques to
investigate particular constructions, for example games contrasting colors or
sizes to elicit noun phrases with color/size adjectives. Alternatively, one can
use meaning-focused tasks to study how learners encode particular meanings, for
instance elicitation games for possession transfer constructions, in which
learners have to describe which food they give to which animal; see e.g. (a)
vs. (b).
a. I give the bear the honey pot.
b. I give the honey pot to the bear.
Other
techniques are broad-spectrum tools to encourage learners to speak, for
instance word-less picture books such as the “Frog-story” (Berman and Slobin 1994)
or games requiring speakers to coordinate their actions verbally, such as the
Bag Task, where players hide toys in pockets of a big bag (Eisenbeiss 2009b).
Acquisition studies often involve
converging evidence from naturalistic, experimental, and semi-structured
studies. Experiments are typically part of cross-sectional studies, where
learners are recorded once or a few times within a short period. Naturalistic
and semi-structured studies may be cross-sectional, but often involve
longitudinal sampling, where learners are recorded over longer periods.
Definition of Writing
According to Paul
Davies and Eric Pearse, (2007:96) “Writing is probably the linguistic skill that is least used by most people in
their native language. Even in the most
advanced societies a significant percentage of the adult population writes with
difficulty good writing skills usually develop from extensive reading.”
Webster Dictionary
(1980, p1345), presented that “The act or process of one who writes as the act
or art of forming visible letters or characters of head writing.” While Longman
Dictionary (1999:1222) defined writing as “works of literature or other written
material, produced by the stated person.”
Creative writing that
expresses the writer’s thoughts and feelings in an imaginative, often unique
and poetic way. Creative writing is
guided more by the writer’s need to express feelings and ideas then by
restrictive demands of factual and logical progression of expository
writing. Creative writing is more
commonly considered to be non-scholarly writing, writing created for purposes
other than making an academic argument.
Creative writing is adventurous and explores life beyond limitations and
structure; it demands for imagination to become more real than reality. Creative writing, as a means of
classification, is more inclusive than exclusive. All forms of fiction writing as well as many
non-fiction forms fall under this broad heading., foundations of Creativity,
Mery Lee Marks Berry references Jerry and Lavonne 1992 teaching the People’s
language to define creative writing.
Marks Berry notes:
Jerry and Lavonne 1992
give a very clear definition of creative writing. They say it is a composition of any type of
writing at any time primarily in the service of such needs as (1.) the need for
keeping records of significant experience, (2.) the need for sharing experience
with an interested group, and (3.) the need for free individual expression
which contributes to mental and physical health.
Creative Writing
Creative
writing is considered to be any writing, fiction or non-fiction that goes
outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, and
technical forms of literature. Works
which fall into this category include most novels and epics, as well as many
short stories and poems. Writing for the
screen and stage, screen writing and playwriting respectively, typically have
their own programs of study, but fit under the creative writing category as
well. Creative writing can technically
be considered any writing of original composition that is in no way guilty of
plagiarism. In this sense creative
writing is a more contemporary and process-oriented name for what has been
traditionally called literature, including the variety of its genres. The
practice of “professional writing” is not excluded from creative writing – one
can be doing both in the same action in her /his work, Foundations of
creativity. Creative writing is usually
taught in a workshop format rather than seminar style. In workshops students usually submit original
work for peer critique. Students also
format a writing method through the process of writing and re-writing. Some
courses teach the means to exploit or access latent creativity or more
technical issues such as editing, structural techniques, genres, random idea
generating or writer’s block.
Creative Writing: Theory
Beyond Practice sets the agenda for creative writing studies in the next ten
years. Here writers, teachers and
theorists identify theoretical underpinnings for creativity and writing in a
broad spectrum of experience –architecture, morality, psychology, ecology,
philosophy, physiology, love, sculpture and the body. This new research lays innovative foundations
for insight into the nature of writing.
A book for practitioners, teachers and students, it prepares a way for
understanding the frameworks within which creative writing takes place in the
early twenty-first century.
The researchers define
writing skills as “writing skills are specific abilities which help writers to
put their thoughts into words in a meaningful form and to mentally interact
with the message.”
The Importance of Writing
Writing
is one of the ways that we translate our thoughts for other people. Some people are better at expressing
themselves in writing than any other way, and one thus gets a better
translation when he /she reads what they have to say rather than hearing them
speak.
Writing assists one with
other language tasks as well, writing helps on learning how to form language,
how to spell, how to put together a plot.
One learns how to make a logical argument, or how to persuade, mainly
through writing.
So writers write because
they are driven to do so or because no other pursuit is appropriate to
them. This doesn’t tell us very
much. This is a true statement but not a
useful one. There’s occasional positive
reinforcement. That’s supposed to be
what keeps gamblers hooked-not constantly winning, but winning occasionally,
which keeps them fixated on the idea that a big score in the future is
inevitable. That could explain why those
writers who are generally unsuccessful but some of whose writings occasionally
do moderately well keep writing. So
that’s certainly part of it. On a
personal, emotional level, it’s not enough to produce writing, no matter how
brilliant, no matter how perfectly one accomplishes the goal of giving form to
an idea. There’s also the need to be
able to keep on doing just that, writing, unhindered, instead of spending the
best, why do we write? We know that we cannot capture all of life, so what’s
the point? Here’s my answer. We may not
be able to create a complete map, but we can create a useful one. All of writing is an attempt to create a
useful abstraction of the world. It is
distilling it down to interesting or useful tidbits that can be captured. It’s making a map of life that others can
hopefully use to assist them in finding their way. (Jeremy Hamer, 1994).
Writing Development
Many of the early objections
to the national curriculum for English in England and Wales were that it was
based on a liner model of progression, whereas actual development in English
was recursive. In practice, students are
asked to return to the same themes and cues for writing-autobiographical
writing, reflections on conflict, research into particular topics-again and
again through their education, and yet the nationally formulated mode assumed a step- by – step
progression, as many teachers promote in the teaching of mathematics or foreign
language. Arnold (1991) bases her recursive model of writing development on a
four-year teacher-researcher study with 11- to 19 years old in Sydney. Her psychodynamic theory of writing
development assumes a spiral rather than a liner curriculum and an interest in
the mind of the writer at work, not just an interest in the texts they produce,
(p.5). This interest in the writer is
associated with a wider interest in what writing can do for a young person-
'the powerful psychological benefits which accurse from feeling centered in
one's own exploratory writing and focusing on one's expressive needs'
(ibid). The focus on process rather than
on product is indicative of a shift from the text to the writer that took place
in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s, and marks what seems to be a generational
pendulum swing between process and product.
One of the many valuable
insights by Arnold is that there is more to writing than making marks on a
page. All teachers have noticed that
sometimes writing assignments encourage a flow of writing and at other times
the students can hardly scrape together a few words. Writing is a complex activity that draws on
the imagination, feelings, state of mind, mood, and cognitive sate, capability
with the medium, context and other factors. Her spiral model starts at points,
which is the 'core self' and then moves up and away from that point with the
expressive self always at the centre of the spiral. The outer edge of the spiral touches
different kinds of writing-the transactional, the poetic and other kinds
(categories derived from the work of Britton in the 1970s) – as the writer
increasingly widens the range of types of writing while at the same time
holding on to the centrality of the self and the energy focused there in. Experience, contact with arrange of audiences
and self-reflection are as important as the kinds of writing they engender.
Critics of this approach
would argue that the model is predicated on a single sense of self, and that
young children have multiple sense of selves that are expressible in a number
of different ways; they would see models of writing development such as those
by Britton and Arnold to be manifestations of a late Romantic approach to
writing development, I with the individual (supposedly integrated) self at the
heart of the act of writing.
Many others would see
the approach as a fundamental to the development of writers because it keys
into their sense of purpose in the act of writing.
Arnold's key point, I
think, is that the integration of self that is possible through imaginative and
well-thought-out writing activities justifies the act of writing; it expands
writers' awareness of their expressive potential, centering them in a much
larger universe of discourse, (1999: 32).
Crucially: Self-reflection and reflexiveness are fundamental to
self-development and the personalization of knowledge. Writing can play a part in the development of
creative, integrated human beings who can afford to respect the uniqueness of
themselves and of others because they have experienced their own capacity to
make a mark in the world. (ibid).
'Making a mark' is a
key phrase here, as writing is put a long side other graphic forms of
expression (paining, multi-media creation) as extensions of human
expressiveness.
Not all research is of
this people-centered approach, however.
Research into writing (rather than the writers and their motivation) has
tended to focus on types of writing.
Controlled Writing Approach
This approach
based on the idea that students given guidelines to help them to write tasks,
and it focuses on grammatical correctness only, so; it is criticized as being
not enough for producing written discourse in which sentences are linked.
Current-Rhetorical Writing Approach
This
approach is the outcome of the controlled approach that focuses on the composed
products, the rhetorical approach contrast with the controlled approach; it
calls for producing larger structures of language rather than separated
sentences.
The main
units of this approach are the paragraph, the organizational conventions of the
discourse forms. This approach has many
characteristics such as:
1.
Current-rhetorical approach emphasis is on the composed products rather
than on the composing process.
2. The discourse is analyzed into words, sentences and
paragraphs.
3. The discourse is classified into descriptive,
narrative, expositive and argumentative.
4. The strong concern is on the use of syntax,
spelling and punctuation.
5. The style is concerned with economy, clarity and
emphasis.
6. The perception is connected with informal essay and
research writing. Ilyas, (2010:13).
The Process Approach
This
approach is based on the assumption that writing is a non-liner process in
which writers try the approximate meaning through using strategies to explore,
generate, discover and reformulate the ideas. It is also based on studies
carried out by writers who have the ability to compose and express ideas using
ways and strategies similar to those used by native speakers of English
language. The activities in the
classroom are not on the teacher, but the students develop their skills to
choose topics, find appropriate information.
The writing in this approach depends on individual writers.
The Product Approach
The middle
of 1960s witnessed the introduction of a new approach to the process of writing
known as current traditional approach.
It was introduced due to the increasing awareness of second language
learners needs concerning the production of written language. This approach was concerned with the logical
construction and argument of discourse forms.
The emphases were put on the topic sentence supporting sentences use of
transitions and methods of development.
It is argued that those components were intellectual and logical skills
rather than linguistic ones. “Al Sadiq Yahya, 2010, pp. 16-18”.
The Assessment of Writing
Drawing on models of
English such as that presented in Moffett (1968) and Britton et al. (1975),
Wilkinson et al. (1980) studies the development of written language in 7- to 14
years old, suggesting that the used criteria for judging writing were
too narrow, and that teachers needed to take into account such factors as the
emotional, moral and cognitive development of the children behind the texts, as
it were. As the authors describe the
experiment ('The Crediton project'), four different kinds of composition-
narrative, autobiographical, explanatory and argumentative-were requested from
groups of children at seven, ten and thirteen respectively, in the context of
their normal lessons. The same four
subjects were given to each group so that the compositions could be more easily
compared' (p.2). The authors set out the
four models used to serve as systems of analysis-in the fields of cognition,
affect, moral and style:
Cognitive: The basis of this model is a movement from an undifferentiated
world to a world organized by mind, from a world of instances to a world
related by generalities and abstractions.
Affective: Development is seen as
being in three movements-one to words a greater awareness of self, a second
towards a greater awareness of neighbor as self, a third towards an inter
engagement of reality and imagination.
Moral 'Anomy' or lawlessness gives way to 'heteronomy' or rule by
fear of punishment, which in turn gives way to 'socionomy' or rule by a sense
of reciprocity with others which finally leads to the emergence of 'autonomy'
or self-rule.
Stylistic: Development is seen as choices in
relation to a norm of the simple, literal, affirmative sentence which
characterizes children early writing.
Features such as structure, cohesion, verbal competence, syntax,
reader awareness, sense of appropriateness, under go modification. (pp.2-3).
From an early
twenty-first century perspective, these models appear informed by Piagetain
theories of development, nevertheless, as Wilkinson et al. (1980) point out,
'There was scarcely any previous work to go on' as far as the second fourth
categories were concerned. The main
point-and one which continuous to endure-is of a holistic and carefully
calibrated model for gauging development in writing.
Types of Errors
Selinker (1972) in
addition presents the other types of errors encountered by non-native speakers
when learning a foreign language, eliminates them in: Language transfer,
Transfer of training, Strategies of L2 learners, Strategies of L2
communications, and Over generalization of the rules. Similarly Richards (1973) groups errors
into three classes: Interference errors, Intralingual errors, and Developmental
errors. These types of errors are according into Richard (1973-98) identified
as “… instances where the characteristics of one language are being carried
over into another tongue…
Intralingual errors are
those which reflect general characteristics of rule learning such as faulty
generalization, incomplete application of rule and failure to learn conditions
under which the rules apply.
Developmental errors
illustrate the learner attempting to build up hypothesis about English language
from his limited experience of it in the classroom or textbook. In the light of the preceding views and
others, concerning the analysis of errors encountered by the eliminated 7 types
of causes errors. The eliminated types of errors are: Negative transfer,
Overgeneralization, Lack of awareness, Omission, Addition, Ignorance of rule
restrictions, and Simplification.
Errors Analysis
Systematically analyzing
errors made by language learners makes it possible to determine areas that need
reinforcement in teaching (Corder, 1974).
Error analysis is a type of linguistic analysis that focuses on the
errors learners make. It consists of
comparison between the errors made in Target language (TL) and that TL
itself. Pit Corder is the “Father” of
Errors Analysis (the EA with then “newlook”). It was with his article entitled
“The Significance of Learners Errors” (1967) that EA took a new turn. Errors used to be “flaws” that needed to be
eradicated. Coder presented a completely
different point of view. He contended
that those errors are important in and of themselves. For learners themselves,
errors are ‘indispensable’, since the making of errors can be regarded as advice
the learner uses in order to learn.
In 1994, Gass &
Selinker defined errors as “red flag” that provide evidence of the learner’s
knowledge of the second language.
Researchers are interested in errors because they are believed to
contain valuable information on the strategies that people use to acquire a
language (Richard, 1974; Taylor, 1975; Dulay and Burt, 1974). Moreover, according to Richards and Sampson
(1974, p.15), “At the level of pragmatic classroom experience, errors analysis
will continue to provide one means by which the teacher assesses learning and
teaching and determines priorities for future effort. “According to Corder (1974), error analysis
has two objects: one theoretical and another applied. The theoretical object serves to “elucidate
what and how a learner learns when he studies a second language”. And the applied objects serve to enable the
learner “to learn more efficiently by exploiting our knowledge of his dialect
for pedagogical purposes.
The investigation of
errors can be at the same time diagnostic and prognostic. It is diagnostic because it can tell us the
learner’s state of the language (Corder, 1967) at a given points during the
learning process, and prognostic because it can tell course organizers to reorient
language learning materials on the basis of the learners’ current problems.
Errors analysis stresses
often only on what the learner cannot do at a given point in time. It doesn’t give any insights into the course
of SLA process and difficulty of error identification is mainly due to the
different usages of the L2 norms. In
addition to, learners sometimes adopt the avoidance strategy not commit
errors. In this case certain types of
errors don’t appear in the L2 learner’s performance, beside errors may be
wrongly classified between language tasks, and finally the same errors may be
classified as interlingual and interalingual. All these facts must be kept in
mind when conducting an error analysis.
Model for Error Analysis
Corder
(1967& 1074) identified a model for error analysis which included three
stages:
1. Data collection: Recognition of idiosyncrasy.
2. Description: Accounting for idiosyncratic dialect.
3. Explanation (the ultimate object of error analysis).
Brown (1994,
pp.207-2011) and Ellis (1995, pp.51-52) elaborated on this model. Ellis (1997, pp.15-20) and Hubbard et al.
(1996, pp.135-141) gave practical advice and provided clear examples of how to
identify and analyze learners’ errors. This
initial step requires the selection of errors.
The errors are than classified.
The next step, after giving grammatical analysis of each error, demands
and explanation of different types of errors.
More, Gass &
Selinker (1994, p.67) identified 6 steps followed in conducting an error
analysis: Collecting data, identifying errors, classifying errors, quantifying
errors, analyzing source of error remediating for errors.
Sources of Errors
In 1972, Selinker (in
Richards, 1974, p.37) reported five sources of errors: Language transfer,
transfer for training, strategies of second language learning, strategies of
second language communication and overgeneralization of TL linguistic
material. In 1974 Corder (Allen &
Corder, p.130) identified three sources of errors: language transfer,
overgeneralization or analogy and methods or materials used in the teaching
(teaching-induced error).
PREVIOUS
STUDIES
First
study: By Fath-El Rahman El Maki PH.D, 2005.
Title:
Analysis of Errors of Writing Expression of Secondary School Students in
Khartoum State, University of Khartoum.
The Aim
of the Study: was to reveal students achievement in
literary writing, it attempts to diagnose points of weakness in their writing.
Tools:
questionnaires test and interviews.
Method:
descriptive and analytical method.
Results
and Recommendations: Most of secondary school students lack the
optimum level in the writing skill. The
writing skill received little attention from both students and teachers at
secondary schools, accompanied by inefficient methods of teaching. Errors in students writing could be attributed
to lack of a certain level of language efficiency carried throughout the
primary to the secondary school, as reflected in the wrong generalization of
grammatical rules and orthographic errors, and lack of ability to express them.
Second
Study: By Alfred Gasim Yaagub, MA, 2005.
Title: Investigating Difficulties Facing the
Sudanese Secondary School Students in Writing in English as Foreign
Language. University of Sudan for
Science and Teachnolgoy.
The Aim
of Study: investigate difficulties facing the Sudanese
secondary school students in writing in English as foreign language.
Tools:
Teacher questionnaire and student test
Method:
Descriptive and analytic method.
The
Results and Recommendations: teaching program contributed a great deal in
overcoming the students' difficulties in writing, the contributed effectively
in improving students performance. So
the performance in post test was far better than in pre test. There was significance difference between the
mean of post test and the pre test in guided composition of the first year
indicating the effectiveness of the teaching program.
There
was a significance difference between the mean of post test and pre test in
free composition of second class in favour of the post test indicating the
effectiveness of teaching.
Third
Study: By: Mohammed Hamid Al-Ahmed Al Taani, MA,
2006.
Title: An Investigating of Spelling Errors Found in
Written Composition of Second and Third Secondary School Students in United
Arab Emirates, University of Sudan for Science and Technology.
The Aim
of the Study: This study aimed at investigating the
spelling errors in composition written by the second and third secondary
students in the United Arab Emirates.
These errors under each category were counted.
Methodology:
The sample of this study consisted of (200) male and female students in the
Academic year 2003-2004 chosen randomly.
Results and Recommendations: the
result of this study showed that the vowel and silent letters were the most
frequent errors. There were no significant
differences between the percentages of errors due to sex. The most frequent errors were in the middle
of the missspelled words. Male students
in both classes committed less spelling errors than female students. The most predominate errors in the light of
findings of its study recommended that spelling should be allotted more time to
be taught in United Arab Emirate teaching programmers and that teachers should
draw their student's attention to limitation restrictions and exception of
spelling rules through teaching procedures.
Fourth
Study: By: Rasha Seif Eldeen Gibreal, PhD, 2006.
Title: the
Problems that Affect English Language Teaching in Secondary Schools in Northern
Sudan, Khartoum University.
The Aim
of Study: The
study’s aim was to identifying the actual problems that affect ELT in secondary
schools and trying to suggest solution.
Tools:
questionnaire.
Methodology:
descriptive and analytical method.
Results:
1.
Expansion
of education opportunities has negative impact on both students in the class
room and teachers.
2.
The
programs of training is not effective.
3.
The
syllabus of English needs clear aims.
4.
There
are many factors influencing the methods of teaching English.
Recommendations:
1.
Findings
effective ways and means for improving the practice of ELT in the Sudan
especially the secondary schools.
2.
Expansion
of education opportunities should be organized.
3.
The
program for continuous training of teachers should be developed.
4.
The
objective of SPINE should be clearer.
Fifth
Study: By: Asia Eltigani Mohammed Omer, MA, 2009.
Title:
Reading Skill Component in the Sudan Practical Integrated National English
(SPINE) Series an Evaluative Study, University of Sudan for Science and
Technology.
The Aim
of Study: This
study aims at analyzing and evaluating the material for developing the pupils'
reading skill in the Sudan practical integrated national English (SPINE) series
(1-6). Its purpose is to check if the reading objectives of the syllabus were
realized in the series and if the pupils could apply reading strategies.
Methodology:
Descriptive and analytical method.
Results
and Recommendations: designing a new teachers’ guide which would
help in the teaching of SPINE reading material. Finally the researcher
suggested conducting empirical studies on the basic and secondary schools
pupils' speed and fluency of reading.
Sixth
Study: By:Mohamed Ilyas Mohamed Aradeb, PhD. 2010:
Title: Evaluation
of Writing Performance of Second Year English language students in Kordufan
Universities, University of Khartoum.
The Aim
of Study: The aim of the study is to evaluate the
writing performance of second-year English students in universities of
Kordufan, West Kordufan and Dalanj. The
researcher tries to find out how can Kordufan university students produce well
organized piece of writing with appropriate language?.
Tools:
An interview and a test.
Method:
Descriptive and analytical methods.
Results
and Recommendations
Students
were weak in sentence and paragraph construction and the use of punctuation
marks, students were not interested in practicing the skill of writing, so the
researcher recommends the following:
There
should be qualified teachers in the field of writing comprehensive studies in
the field of writing should be carried out.
Seventh
Study: By: Gamal Taha Galab, PhD, 2010.
Title: Interactive Communicative Approach in
Teaching English Language: A Theoretical and Applied Study, University of Sudan
for Science and Technology.
The Aim
of Study: This research aims at introducing interactive communicative approach
and studying some of its applications in the Sudanese formal curriculum for
teaching English. The research also has
pointed out the difficulties and obstacles hindering applying this approach.
Tools: The
tool that has been used to collect data and information is a questionnaire.
Results and Recommendations
The
analysis of the information has assumed that the application of the interactive
communicative approach is weak although the formal curriculum for teaching
English in the Sudan consists of the most important components of the
interactive communicative approach. The
research has provided some recommendations to reinforce the application of
interactive communicative approach in teaching English in the Sudan.
Eighth
Study: By: Suliman Muamar Mohamed Adeeb, PhD, 2010.
Title:
The Deficiency of Writing in Libyan Secondary Schools. (Case Study of Secondary
Schools Students, third level in Bani Waleed).
Alneelain University, Faculty of Arts.
The Aim
of Study: The aim of the study was to investigate the
reasons for poor quality of writing in Libyan secondary schools and to find out
the way of teaching writing in Libyan secondary schools.
Tools: a
questionnaire.
Method: The
researcher used the observation method.
Results
and Recommendations
The
results showed that there was great weakness in the students' level, lack of
the vocabulary, the structure of the sentence and the punctuation. This study recommended that, teachers should
be qualified and trained enough to attract the students' attention to the good
command of language, also teachers and students should know the importance of
writing in relation to other skills.
Ninth
Study: By: Mohammed Salem al-amarat, MA2011.
Title: The
Classroom Problems Faced Teachers at the Public Schools in Tafila Province, and
Proposed Solutions, Faculty of education, Tafila technical university, Fafila,
Jordan.
The Aim
of this Study: The study aimed to identify the classroom
problems that faced teachers in public schools in Tafila province and the
proposed solutions.
Tools: Using
questionnaire to collect data.
Method:
Descriptive analytical method.
Results
and Recommendations
Show
that the mean of behavioral problems was 2.66 and the mean of the academic
problems was 308. Also the researcher
found that statistical significant differences refer to interaction between
level of school, and teaching experience in the behavioral problems for male in
the Basic schools, those with work less than (5) years. Also this study recommended that teachers
should be trained to face the behavioral problems beside the academic problems.
Tenth
Study: By: Omer Elsheikh Hago, PhD, 2012.
Title:
Assessing English Language Communicative Ability of Sudanese University
Students (A case study of the Open University of Sudan), Al-zaiem Alazhari
University.
The Aim
of this study: The study aimed to determine whether learners
have the ability to use appropriate language forms to communicate accurately
and meaningfully, and to explain learners succeed or fail to communicate
successfully.
Tools:
The tool that has been used to collect data and information is a test.
Method: Descriptive
and analytical method.
Results
and Recommendations
Language
communicative functions have been defined and discussed in many different ways
by language scholars of different fields.
There is, however one thing in common that is seen in the writing of all
these scholars: Linguistics, or grammatical competence, should be considered
just one aspect of overall competence an individual has with language. The researcher recommends that language communicative
ability should be assessed along three dimensions: Linguistics form, semantic
meaning and pragmatic use.
Aspects
of the Agreement
Most of the previous studies aimed to
find out and investigate the difficulties facing the Sudanese students in
writing in English as a foreign language, was to identifying the actual
problems that affect ELT in secondary schools and suggested solutions, also
aimed at introducing interactive communicative approach and was studying some
of its applications in the Sudanese formal curriculum for teaching English the
same as aimed by the current study.
This
study used the same method which was used in the most previous studies which
was descriptive and analytical method.
All these studies of different titles and different environments in
which they were conducted. The goal is to identify the problem of using English
as a foreign language and analysis of linguistic errors that committed by the
Sudanese student in different fields of linguistics what contributes to this
research and what gives this study uniqueness that the researchers found that
the students' vocabulary affected by the usage of internet.
The
Differences
This
study is different from previous studies that it focuses on the assessment of
syntactic structures experienced by Sudanese students at secondary schools and
indicated several points that have to put in consideration in order to improve
the proficiency of the students and to improve their writing performance.
This study has taken
results through a formal test (writing composition). The test is designed to
the students of the Sudanese secondary school certificate. Questions were also chosen to be familiar to
the students.
ANALYSIS OF DATA AND PRESENTAION OF RESULTS
The students’ errors with their different
types, categories and subcategories are going to be analyzed through certain
steps; firstly the errors types, then the errors correction after that the data
analysis.
Before going deeply in examining
syntactic structures (errors), the researchers try to signal out the other
unexpected errors committed by the students. They come to the fact that most
errors can be classified into three categories as in table one.
Error
Categories Table No. (1)
|
Error category
|
Occurrence
|
Percentage
|
|
- Syntactic errors
|
247
|
49.79%
|
|
- Spelling errors
|
189
|
38.1%
|
|
- Lexical errors
|
60
|
12.11%
|
|
Total
|
496
|
100%
|
Syntactic Errors
These errors are classified according to the frequency of their
occurrences, namely, tenses verbs errors, preposition errors, article errors,
pronominal errors and other errors.
A total of 247 syntactic
errors were identified in the data. The
tabulation below highlights the number of occurrences of each of the errors
category and their overall percentages.
Table No. (2) Syntax Errors
|
Percentage
|
Occurrence
|
Errors type
|
|
31.18%
|
77
|
- Tenses verbs errors
|
|
23.89%
|
59
|
- Preposition errors
|
|
17.81%
|
44
|
- Article errors
|
|
16.61%
|
41
|
- Pronominal errors
|
|
10.51%
|
26
|
- Other errors
|
|
100%
|
247
|
total
|
Tenses and Verbs Errors
Tenses and
verbs errors have been classified according to usage into wrong choice of
tenses, wrong formation of tenses and verb to be errors.
Wrong Choice of Tenses
Errors in the choice of
tenses are the most frequent errors out of all tenses errors. The data revealed that the students made in
the use of present tense form of the verb in contexts where the past tense form
is required, e.g.
A: When we arrive, we
sat down and eat our breakfast.
B: When we arrived, we sat
down and ate our breakfast.
A: That day we play some
games.
B: That day we played some
games.
A: We were very tired, so we
go to sleep.
B: We were very tired, so we
went to sleep.
A: Last Friday my family decide
to visit JabaMara.
B: Last Friday my family
decided to visit JabaMara.
A: After that we return
home.
B: After that we returned
home.
In
the other contexts the past form is used instead of the infinitive form which
is required as in the examples below:
A: I start collected
money.
B: I start to collect money.
A: Farmers want harvested
their crops.
B: Farmers want to harvest
their crops.
A: We begin played football.
B: We begin to play
football.
The data also revealed
some errors in the use of the present simple with the (3rd person) pronoun
that the students tended to use without the suffix (-s) as in the following
examples:
A: T.V. always show
useful programmes.
B: T.V. always shows useful
programmes.
A: Lion eat his food
twice a week.
B: Lion eats his food twice
a week.
A: My friend usually support
me.
B: My friend usually supports me.
Also the students
sometimes add the suffix (-s) when it is not required, e.g.:
A: Farmers works
together every Friday.
B: Farmers work together
every Friday.
A: Boys and girls helps
villagers on harvesting their crops.
B: Boys and girls help
villagers on harvesting their crops.
In other case the
students usually use present continuous to denote habitual actions or daily
activities, as we can see;
A: We are going to
the park every Friday.
B: We go to the park every
Friday.
A: Sometimes my brothers are
playing there.
B: sometimes my brothers
play there.
Also the perfect
present sometimes comes in the students writing to express what the simple
present should stand for;
A: I have always whished
to work in a charity.
B: I always wish to work in
a charity.
A: Usually we have worked
a team.
B: Usually we work as a
team.
In the previous cases
the students want to use the simple present (that express the habitual actions
or the daily activities) and this tense is formed in this way (he, she, it +VI+
s or es) “es” with certain verbs ending in (ch-sh-o-ss and x) like watch – wash
– dress and box) and with plural pronouns (I, you, we, they) we form it by
using just (VI) then we use certain verbs of times such as (always, usually,
seldom….etc).
Wrong Formation of Tenses
The EFL students
sometimes assure their weak mastering of grammar by putting verbs in wrong
forms to talk about or to express one idea.
The first case is that
the students should use the past form (ed) with regular verbs which is
required, but sometimes they use it with irregular verbs, as can be seen in the
following examples:
A: We leaved the
garden at the end of the day.
B: We left the garden at the
end of the day.
A: The animals eated
all the food.
B: The animals ate all the food.
A: I seed the lion
inside the cage.
B: I saw the lion inside the
cage.
A: My sister buyed
bananas to feed the monkey.
B: My sister bought bananas
to feed the monkey.
A: Many people lied
over the yellow sand.
B: Many people lay over the
yellow sand.
According to the
examples the students must use (ed) with regular verbs to form the past tense
such as (play – watch- help...etc) and
they must form the irregular verbs without adding (ed) any verb has a certain
irregular form such as (buy- bought, see – saw, eat- ate…etc).
The second case is that
the student wrong formation of adding the suffix (s) to the verbs ending in (y)
as the following examples:
A: This bird often flys
at night.
B: This bird often flies at
night.
According to the
examples of the verb that end in y, when the suffix (s) is added to the verbs
ending in (y), this should be change into (i) and then adding (es) as in these
examples (flu- flies), (cry- cries…etc).
Verb to be Errors
The verb to be can
function as a main verb with a copular function, progressive auxiliary and
passive auxiliary. It is also unique
among English verbs in having eight different forms with different persons, as:
a. Base: be.
b. 1st person singular present (1): am.
c. 2nd person present, (you, we, and they): are.
d. 3rd person singular present (he, she, it): is.
e. 1st and 3rd person singular past (I, he,
she, it): was.
f. 2nd person past (you, we, they): were.
g. ing form: being.
h. –ed participle: been.
According to the data
in this study the students' errors can be classified under two headings, the
omission and the addition of be and the subject – verb (be) agreement. The following examples illustrate the first
case:
A: Last Friday we are
worked together.
B: Last Friday we worked
together.
A: T.V. is provides
company for the lonely and elderly.
B: T.V. provides company for
the lonely and elderly.
A: The bus was
stopped suddenly.
B: The bus stopped suddenly.
A: We were managed to
remove and burn all the rubbish.
B: We managed to remove and
burn all the rubbish.
The previous examples
show that the students added the verb be when it is not needed.
Also the students
sometimes omit the verb when it is required as can be seen in the following
examples:
A: Collective work…..the
most valuable custom.
B: Collective work is the
most valuable custom.
A: T.V. ….passive
entertainment.
B: T.V is passive
entertainment.
A: The first method of
collective work …. based on work teams.
B: The first method of
collective work is based on work teams.
A: young people …. active
and helpful.
B: young people are active
and helpful.
The Subject- verb be Agreement
This
case can be divided into two types of errors:
Subject-verb be
agreement form with singular and plural nouns or pronouns, such as the examples
below:
A: On that day farmers was
very happy
B: On that day farmers were
very happy.
A: Radio and T.V. is
regarded as the most important mass media.
B: Radio and T.V. are
regarded as the most important mass media.
As the above examples
the students don't match the verb be with subject, the auxiliary (is- was)
should come with the singular nouns or pronouns (he – she – it) and the
auxiliary (are – were) should follow or precede the plural nouns or pronouns
(you – we – they).
The second type of
errors is the present form and past form.
The students confuse between the present form of be and the past one as
it can be seen in the following examples:
A: All yesterday we are
playing games.
B: All yesterday we were
playing games.
A: All the trees are grown.
B: All the trees were grown.
A: This place was
very suitable for us.
B: This place is very
suitable for us.
A: An ostrich was the
biggest bird in the zoo.
B: An ostrich is the
biggest bird in the zoo.
In the examples above
the students in the first and second examples use the present form of be
instead of the past one, and in the third and fourth examples they use the past
form of be instead of the present one.
This show the students’ weakness of mastering the grammar rules.
Prepositional Errors
Prepositional
errors which are considered to be one of the real problems that face the EFL
students when they write because of English language preposition richness. All the errors in the data reveal that the
students made mistakes in choosing the correct preposition as shown in the
examples below:
A: In the same day in
night.
B: In the same day at night.
A: We traveled on
bus.
B: We traveled by bus.
A: We decided to go in
Friday morning.
B: We decided to go on
Friday morning.
A: I went by my
family.
B: I went with my family.
A: T.V. can help someone on his work.
B: T.V. can help someone with his work.
A: On my opinion
collective work is very useful.
B: In my opinion collective
work is very useful.
A: At the afternoon
we started playing football.
B: In the afternoon we
started playing football.
A: In the sunset we
finished collecting the crops.
B: At the sunset we finished
collecting the crops.
A: Radio and T.V. are
important source for information.
B: Radio and T.V. are
important source of information.
A: One summer holiday I
wanted to travel between Khartoum to Atbara.
B: One summer holiday I
wanted to travel from Khartoum to Atbara.
Prepositions are very
important elements in English grammar.
The meaning of a preposition is in its use with a noun or a
pronoun. In English we divide
prepositions according to time and place, that is to say there are certain
preposition we use to denote to places (prepositions of place) and there are
certain ones we use them with time (prepositions of time), the students problem
is that sometime we use some of them in both as when we say (at) is use with
times as:
At six O'clock.
At lunch time.
At mid night.
We use (in) for longer
periods of time we say:
In March.
In 1998.
In summer holiday.
So the students
sometimes generalize some rules for the uses of prepositions (in) with all the
places (in home) which is wrong and we can say (at home) also (at summer
holiday) we must use in instead of (at) because we use in for longer period of
time.
Other cases that
students insert preposition in wrong places or add some when there is no need
for them, as they write:
A: T.V. helps us to enjoy
our time in it.
B: T.V. helps us to enjoy
our time.
A: We arrived at the moment
of at sunset.
B: We arrived at the moment
of sunset.
A: I returned at home
after a nice day.
B: I returned home after a
nice day.
Also sometimes the
students omit the preposition when it is required such as:
A: My old grandmother
insisted …. going with us.
B: My old grandmother
insisted on going with us.
A: We can receive the
information …. all over the world.
B: We can receive the
information from all over the world.
Article Errors
In the third type of the
syntactic errors comes the problem of using the English articles (the definite
article “the”) and (the indefinite articles “a – an”) correctly and also are
they necessary or it is preferable to omit them in certain cases?
A: The view of a
sunset is very amazing.
B: The view of the sunset is
very amazing.
A: Giraffe is a
tallest animal in the zoo.
B: Giraffe is the tallest
animal in the zoo.
According to the above
we use (the) with nouns which are considered as one something (the sun – the
moon – the earth…etc).
Also we use (the) when
we use superlative (the tallest – the biggest – the most expensive …etc).
Also sometimes students
use articles (the – a – an) when it is not necessary as in the following:
A: on the Friday we
went to visit Kassala.
B: On Friday we went to
visit Kassala.
A: We ate a lot of the
fruit.
B: We ate a lot of fruit.
A: In the zoo we ate a lot
of fruit, like bananas, an oranges and dates.
B: In the zoo we ate a lot
of fruit, like bananas, oranges and dates.
As we saw in the
previous examples (the) is not necessary in the first example because (the) is
not used with days and month. In the second example (the fruit) no article is
needed with non countable noun. In the
third one (an oranges) no necessary of (an) with plural nouns.
Also the students
sometimes use (the) instead of (a) or (an);
A: Last night I watched the
nice film.
B: Last night I watched a
nice film.
A: The unemployed boy
cleaned our car.
B: An unemployed boy cleaned
our car.
Here when the adjective
followed by a noun we use (a) or (an) instead of (the).
Pronominal Errors
In
the fourth type of the syntactic errors comes the problem of using the three
kinds of pronouns (subject, object and possessive), also confusing the usage of
them and sometimes there is no agreement between the subjects and the pronouns,
as it can be seen:
A: My mother prepared
everything to we.
B: My mother prepared
everything for us.
A: Boys and girls help yours
societies in different ways.
B: Boys and girls help their
societies in different ways.
A: We must remove litter and
dirt to make my village clean.
B: We must remove litter and
dirt to make our village clean.
A: My father told us to
clean him car.
B: My father told us to
clean his car.
A: My friends took food and
drinks with theirs.
B: My friends took food and
drinks with them.
A: To take part in your
community we must help others.
B: To take part in our
community we must help others.
It is evident from the extracts above that the
students have a little knowledge about the English pronouns. The English pronouns are of three types
(subject, I, you, we, they, he, she, and it), and these are the doers of the
actions so they should be placed only at the beginning of the sentences. The second type is the object pronouns and
from its name they should be placed in the object position that means the
action happened to or upon them (me, him, her, you, them, and us). Also we have
possessive pronouns (me, him, her, its, you, our, and their) the students
sometimes confuse them with what we call possessive adjective (mine, his, her,
its, yours, ours and theirs).
Also the students have
another problem with the usage of the relative pronouns (who, whom, which,
where, when, and that) as we can see in the following examples:
A: The animals whom
we saw were very dangerous.
B: The animals which we saw
were very dangerous.
A: T.V. shows an interesting
programme who I love.
B: T.V. shows an interesting
programme which I love.
A: Portsudan is the most
beautiful town which we went.
B: Portsudan is the most
beautiful town where we went.
A: People which work
together must love each other.
B: People who work together
must love each other.
A: Collective work is
something when we done together.
B: Collective work is
something which / that we done together.
The extracts above show
that the students confusing of the usage of relative pronouns. (Who) and (whom)
are used for people, and functions as the subject of verbs, (who) is usually
used instead of (whom) specially in speaking, (whom) is generally used in very
formal English. (which) is used for things and functions as the subject or
object of verbs. (That) is used for both
people and things. (Where) is used for
the place and (when) is used for the time.
Other Errors
The students’ other
syntactic errors are the usage of comparative and superlative forms of the
adjectives, as we see:
A: Gorilla is clever
than the baboon.
B: Gorilla is cleverer than
the baboon.
A: Portsudan is beautiful
than Khartoum.
B: Portsudan is more
beautiful than Khartoum.
A: Lion is dangerous
than the tiger.
B: Lion is more dangerous
than the tiger.
A: T.V. is gooder than the radio.
B: T.V. is better than the radio.
In the previous
examples the students use the adjectives to compare between two things, but
when we compare two things we must add (er) to the adjectives of one syllable
(clean – big – tall –etc) and must add (more) to the adjectives of more than
one syllable (beautiful – interesting – difficult…etc). In the last example the students add (er) to
the adjective (good) which is wrong, there is certain adjectives have irregular
form like (good – bad ..etc).
Also the students’
other problem the use of the superlative forms:
A: An elephant is the big
animal in the zoo.
B: An elephant is the
biggest animal in the zoo.
A: Collective work is the important
work in the village.
B: Collective work is the
most important work in the village.
A: Kassal is the beautiful
place where I went.
B: Kassal is the most
beautiful place where I went.
According to the above
the students should use the superlative form (est) with adjectives of one
syllable like (big – long – pretty …etc) and use the superlative form (most)
with the adjectives of more than one syllable (important) –comfortable – useful
…etc). Also they should use the article
(the) before the superlative and irregular superlative forms like (good –
better – best), (much- more- most) and (old – elder- eldest).
The data also revealed another type of errors, the wrong formation
of regular and irregular plural nouns, as the students write:
A: The street was full of
cars and busies.
A: The street was full of
cars and buses.
The plural of the most
nouns is formed by adding (s) like (cat – cats), (dog – dogs) or (es) like (box
– boxes, bus, buses).
Final (es) is added to
nouns that end in (sh), (ch), (s), (z) and (x).
Another problem with the plural of words that end in (y) as they
write:
A: Villagers travel by lorrys.
B: Villagers travel by
lorries.
A: We must clean our citys.
B: We must clean our cities.
According to the above
examples the plural of words that end in (y) preceded by a consonant is spelt
(ies), (cities – babies, lorries…etc).
Another case that some nouns have irregular plural forms are don’t
end in (s):
A: Womans also
collected the crops.
B: Women also collected the
crops.
Summary of Results
The results
obtained from the data analysis confirmed that research hypotheses mentioned in
chapter one.
The researcher has found out many results
that represent the answers to the research's questions which support
hypotheses:
1.
Sudanese
learners of English as a foreign language in general seem not to have an adequate
proficiency in understanding the meanings and semantics at the performance of
writing.
2.
The major
problem behind the students' errors is the mother tongue interference.
3.
Writing which
is eventually produced is seen as an outcome of the learning process rather
than as the cause of learning.
4.
The weak
mastering of grammar affected the students’ writing performance.
5.
Students need a
supplementary method in order to get their writing performance accurately.
6.
Students need
motivation and self assessment because it is widely accepted that self
assessment is a key of learning strategy for autonomous language learning,
enabling the students to monitor their progress and relate learning to
individual needs.
7.
The students
depend on their literacy translation in order to get the equivalent meaning.
Conclusion
The purpose of this study is to
investigate the student's performance of writing at Sudanese secondary schools
and to provide useful suggestions, which may lead to improve students writing
performance. Despite the importance of writing, it has been noticed that:
syntactic errors in the students writing could be attributed to lack of a
certain level of language efficiency carried throughout the primary to
secondary school, which are reflected in the wrong generalization of
grammatical rules, also the analysis shows that there is a great weakness in
the students’ performance, lack of the vocabulary, the structure of the
sentence and the punctuation, and most of the secondary schools students
confront serious rhetorical cultural and linguistic problems when writing in
English and they are not capable to learn this skill easily.
Recommendations
1.
Students should
be prepared to use the language for a variety of purposes.
2.
Activating
English literature lessons and providing a library for extra activities.
3.
Teachers and
students should be aware of the importance of writing in relation to other
skills.
4.
Students need
enough time to practice writing in the classroom, because the time allotted for
teaching English is not matched to the content of the syllabus designed.
5.
English grammar
should be taught (implicitly) especially in the lower level.
Suggestions
for Further Studies
1.
Since some of
the linguistic errors might stem from teaching methods, there is a need for
research in the way (s) of how teaching linguistic skills is given.
2.
Further studies
are needed to handle the area of teachers' training, teaching methods and
curriculum designing.
3.
Related studies
will display studies focusing on mother tongue interference, problems with
semantic denotations and pedagogical implication for non native speakers.
4.
More researches
highly needed in the areas of spelling and lexical errors.
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APPENDIX
TEST
Write
a composition on one of the following topics.
Your composition should contain the ideas and information given below,
but you may add to them if you wish. It
should be about (100-120) words.
(1) Write a composition of about (100-120) words to describe a journey
you went on:
-
Means of transport.
-
Things you saw on the way.
-
Description of the farm – garden - park ….etc.
-
Pleasant and enjoyable things.
-
Activities – joking – singing – playing games…etc.
(2)
Today, television is regarded as one of the most popular mass media in the
world. In not more than (100-120) words,
write a composition about the advantages and disadvantages of T.V:
-
The advantages:
- It
is a source of information, news, knowledge, education, advertisement, etc.
-
The disadvantages:
- Passive entertainment (watch only).
- Steals valuable time, neglect
studies, hobbies, visit friends, relatives.
- It
is bad for health, causes blindness.
(3)Young
people, both boys and girls, can help their societies in many ways. One day you took part in communal and
collective work (Nafeer) in your village.
Write about (100-120) words describing the work you did with others:
-
planting trees.
-
helping someone to collect his crop.
-
collecting money to help the poor.
-
Campaign to remove litter and dirt to make your village clean.
Good Luck
