PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED IN WRITING

ENGLISH GRAMMAR OF SELECTED

GRADE 10 STUDENTS OF SIPOCOT
NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL SY 2017 – 2018
BADIL, Roy L.

BOCATO, Sharon P.

CALINGASAN, Shine B.

CASTILLO, Juliet C.

ENRIQUEZ, Geraldine A.

LIBRERO, Lea M.

LLAMERA, Mercy K.

LORENO, May L.
 I. INTRODUCTION (LORENO, May)
• Close, 1982, p. 130
English grammar has been traditionally viewed as “a system of syntax that
decides the order and patterns in which words are arranged in sentences”.

• Fushan Sun, 2014

Writing is a medium of human communication that represents language
and emotion through the inscription or recording of signs and symbols.
Writing has always been viewed as a significant skill in studying English,
since it involves a process of selecting, combining, and arranging individual
words to develop ideas. Containing such a complex process, a qualified essay
is an organic organization of words, form and content.
• Grammatical errors are the most common problems
encountered in studying English since grammar is the
most difficult aspect of a foreign language. English
grammar is the way in which meanings are encoded
into wordings in the English language. This includes
the structure of words, phrases, clauses,
and sentences, right up to the structure of whole
texts. It is argued that mastering grammar is a
complex process that requires “making a series of
decisions about when and why to use one form rather
than the other”.
 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
(LORENO, May)

This study aims to determine Problems Encountered in writing English

grammar of the selected Grade 10 students of Sipocot National High School
SY 2017-2018. It seeks to answer the following questions:
1. What are the problems encountered in writing English grammar of
the selected Grade 10 students of Sipocot National High School based
from the teacher-standardized test in terms of:
• Finding the errors
• Construction of sentence
2. What is the problems encountered in writing English grammar of
the selected Grade 10 students of Sipocot National High School in
terms of:

• Mechanics
• Content

3. Is there a significant difference between the problems

encountered in writing English of selected Grade 10 students come
from different sections of Sipocot National High School.
 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
(LLAMERA, Mercy)
This study entitled Problems encountered in writing English
grammar of Grade 10 students of SNHS SY 2017 – 2018 aims:

1. To determine the Problems encountered in studying

English grammar of Grade 10 students of SNHS SY 2017 –
2018 based on the teacher-standardized test in terms:
• Finding errors
• Construction of sentence

 
2. To determine the problems encountered in writing English grammar
of the selected Grade 10 students of Sipocot National High School in
terms of:
 
• Mechanics
• Organization
• Content
 
3. To evaluate if there is a significant difference between the problems
encountered in writing English of selected Grade 10 students come
from different sections of Sipocot National High School.
 

SCOPE AND LIMITATION

(LLAMERA, Mercy)
This study focuses on the Problems encountered in writing English grammar
of Grade 10 students: 10-DT, 10-LR, 10-MJI and 10-MS of SNHS SY 2017 – 2018.
The respondents were the selected Grade 10 students coming from different
sections of SNHS who were selected at purposively.
The teacher-standardized test and the essay test were the basis in
determining the problems encountered in writing English grammar of the
respondents.
The students who fail to submit themselves from the administered
standardized test, in writing grammar test were excluded in this study. This study
excluded the other macro-language skills in communicate arts such as: listening,
reading and speaking.
 Significance of the study
(CALINGASAN, Shine)

The following may find the study suited to particular

needs and capacities:

The Principal
Curriculum-Makers
English Teachers
Parents
Students
 II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE
(CALINGASAN, Shine)

• Thornbury, 2000

Grammar is one of the most difficult aspects of a foreign language to master. It is defined as “the rules that
govern how a language’s sentences are formed” .
• Dresman, 2007
As cited that the other contributing writers to Connecticut English Journal, agree that student-writers have to see
the benefits of writing for them to love writing. The respondents of this study are no exception and have to find the
answer not only the question of “Why write?” but also to the question “Why write in English?” They manifest
behavior that suggests that they understand the role that writing plays in their lives as students since it is their need in
order to pass the subjects.
• Burnett and Kastman 2006
Explained that there are “basic writers” among students. This term applies to those who have “inordinate
difficulty with writing”.
• Lerio (2009)
Explained that students should be given more
practice exercises in English to strengthen their
reading, grammar and writing skills and that they
should be exposed to communication’s language
situations such activity cards, storytelling,
dramatization, narrative and descriptive writing and
other interactive and interdisciplinary activity,
• Fortes’ (2009)
Found on her study on “Assessment of Grammatical
Competence of Freshmen in Sorsogon State College –
Bulan Campus” the grammatical competence of freshmen
were low as they committed many errors and violated many
rules on subject – verb agreement with the 58 percent of
error, on pronoun – antecedent agreement with 56 percent
error, on tenses of verbs with 61 percent of error, and on
adjectives used expressing comparison with 49 percent of
error. Enrichment materials is recommended for use.
 SYNTHESIS
(ENRIQUEZ, Geraldine)
 

•
Burnett and Kastman (2006)
They explained that there are “basic writers” among students. This term applies to
those who have “inordinate difficulty with writing”. This may be because they are
fearful or apprehensive about writing, or they may have reading disabilities or other
learning disabilities. Therefore, even though they may have the necessary writing
background, fear and learning disabilities may be factors affecting the quality of their
compositions.
This study is related to the present study because they are both considering the
difficulty of the learners. However, the present study does not consider fear and learning
disabilities as problems encountered in writing English grammar.
 THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK
(ENRIQUEZ, Geraldine)

Cognitive Theory of Chomsky (1957)

This theory assures that responses are also the result of insight and
intentional pattern. Insights can be directed to the concepts behind language, i.e.
to traditional grammar. It can be directed to language as operation-sets of
communicative functions. A variety of activities practiced in new situations will
allow assimilation of what has already been learned or partly learned. It also
creates further situations for which existing language resources are inadequate
and must accordingly be modified. This ensures awareness and a continuing
supply of being grabbed as well as aiding the motivation of the learner. That is a
simple example, but our schemas get incredibly complex as we learn more
about the world, and particularly as we become experts in a field.
• Schema Theory
Piaget used the term “schema” to refer to the structures by
which individuals intellectually adapt to the environment. It is
an individual’s way to understand or create something about a
thing or experience. It is like the mind has a filing cabinet, each
drawer has folders that contain files of things he has experience
within a relation to writing. The basic concepts are thought first
and are then reinforced with much complex concepts.
For instance, in pre-school, children are taught how to write
letters and based on that schema; they learn how to write words
and so on. Learners need to have existing schemas in order to
advance and reinvent those for them to improve their writing.
• Piaget’s Cognitive Development Theory
This theory states that the development of natural logic from birth to
adulthood. The basic assumption of his theory is that human intelligence
and biological organisms function in similar ways. As cited by Aquino, A.
(1999), cognitive development theory describes the stages that children
pass through the development of intelligence and formal thought
processes. According to him, the changes in that occur during development
are the result in one’s ability to reason about the world around him or her.
We were born with organized ways of receiving information from the
environment. He explained that cognitive system moves us to seek out
information about environment and thus organize into an accurate picture
of the world.
• Lev Vygotsky (1962)

He proposed the Constructivism Theory. This theory

emerged when educators observed that the students were
learning in isolation and had no background skills and
information. This trend resulted in the inability of the
students to apply their learned skills to real-life situations as
cited by Gredler, 1997.
Constructivism is a recent development in cognitive psychology.
It focuses its attention on the central role that learners play in
creating or constructing new knowledge. As cited by Kauchak
and Eggen (1998), constructivism is an elective view of learning
that emphasizes four key components: (1) learners construct their
own undertanding, (2) new learning depend on prior
understandings, (3) learning is enhanced by social interaction,
and (4) authentic learning tasks promote meaningful learning.
Piaget and Vygotsky maintained that human learn by activity,
constructing from their simultaneously embedded experiences.
Constructivism is designed and sequenced to encouraged
learners to use their own experiences to actively construct
meaning that makes sense to them rather than to acquire
understanding through exposure to a format exclusively
organized by their teachers (Richardson, 1997).
• Spolsky’s (2004)
General Theory about Second Language of Learning is that writing in English
should be placed in the proper social context. A major difference between first and second
language acquisition is in the degree of variation in the levels of proficiency attained by
learners. While some speakers have a better control of their first or native language than do
others, all normal human beings reach a minimal standard in at least one language and arc
capable of communication using it. In the case of second languages, however, there is
variation in proficiency ranging from no knowledge at all to native-like ability. A central
problem in the development of a theory of second language acquisition is to account for
this. Among the factors that have been proposed as significant are method, age, aptitude,
and attitude. Of these, teaching method has generally been considered the most easily
controllable (it has been considered a sufficient provision for a program in applied
linguistics or language pedagogy to offer courses in methodology), but results of research
into the effectiveness of various methodologies have generally proved to be disappointing.
• Rionda’s (1996)
Theory on Linguistic Elements and Linguistic knowledge stated that
in written language, communication is achieved through the effective
manipulation of the “linguistic elements” and the possession of “extra
linguistic knowledge”. In English, linguistic elements include cohesive
devices (sentence and paragraph linkers), and semantic relations (cause
and effect, purpose and means, etc.), and punctuation and capitalization
(mechanics and stylistics of text models).
The effective use of these linguistic elements will result to a
beautifully crafted work but the writer’s extra linguistic knowledge is
the writers understanding of his social and cultural environment. This
will allow him to fit his writing into context.
 General Theory
about Second
Language of
Learning,

(Spolsky, 2004)

 
Cognitive Constructivism
Development Theory,
Theory,
(Vygotsky,1962)
(Piaget, 1999)
Problems encountered
  in writing English
grammar of selected
Grade 10 students of
Sipocot National High
School SY 2017 – 2018

Theory on Theory on
Linguistic Elements Linguistic Elements
and Linguistics and Linguistics
 
knowledge, knowledge,

(Rionda, 1996) (Rionda, 1996)

  Figure 1. Theoretical Framework  

 Problems encountered in writing English grammar of selected Grade 10 students of Sipocot National
 
INPUT
Teacher-standardized test
Criteria of Written Composition
 
 
High School SY 2017 – 2018
  OUTPUT
PROCESS
1. The problems encountered of
selected grade 10 students.
1. Construction/preparation, 2. Difference between the problems
validation, retrieval of encountered in writing English
instrument.  of selected Grade 10 students
2. Gathering of Data coming from different sections of
3. Analysis and treatment of the Sipocot National High School
data SY 2017-2018.
4. Presentation, analysis and  
interpretation of data
FEEDBACK
 Conceptual Framework
(ENRIQUEZ, Geraldine)

This manuscript is about the Problems encountered in writing English grammar of selected Grade 10
students coming from different sections: 10-DT, 10-LR, 10-MJI and 10-MS.
INPUT. The respondents of this study are the Grade 10 students come from different sections: 10-DT,
10-LR, 10-MJI and 10-MS. The essay writing test and teacher-standardized test were used as tools in
determining the problems encountered in writing English grammar.
PROCESS. The data was gathered after the preparation and validation of the instrument which
consists of standardized-test and essay test. It was followed by the gathering of data wherein the respondent
answered the standardized-test and essay test. The results were subjected to analysis and interpretation
through the use of appropriate statistical tools.
OUTPUT. After gathering the data, the researchers were able to find out the results of the problems
encountered in writing English grammar of the selected Grade 10 students coming from different sections:
10-DT, 10-LR, 10-MJI and 10-MS. The result also shows the difference between the problems encountered
by the student in writing English grammar.
 Assumption
(BOCATO, Sharon)

This study was guided by the assumption that the problems

encountered by the selected Grade 10 students varies.
 
 
 Hypothesis
(CASTILLO, Juliet)

This study was guided by the hypothesis that there is no

significant difference between selected Grade 10 students
coming from different sections: 10 – DT, 10 – LR, 10 –
MJI and 10 – MS of Sipocot National High School SY
2017 - 2018.
 Definition of Terms
(CASTILLO, Juliet)

The following terms as used in this study are defined as follows:

Grammatical Error
Grammatical error is a term used in prescriptive grammar to describe an instance of faulty,
unconventional, or controversial usage, such as a misplaced modifier or an inappropriate verb
tense.
In this study, this is what the researcher measured among the selected Grade 10 students
come from different sections: 10 – DT, 10 – LR, 10 – MJI and 10 – MS of Sipocot National
High School students by using the rating scale of 1-5. The levels are: (5) Excellent, (4)
Outstanding, (3) Very Good, (2) Good, (1) Poor.
Teacher-Standardized Test
A standardized test is any form of test that (1) requires all test takers to
answer the same questions, or a selection of questions from common bank
of questions, in the same way, and that (2) is scored in a “standard” or
consistent manner, which makes it possible to compare the relative
performance of individual.
Standardized tests are tests that have been prepared with questions
specially aimed at the identification of achievement levels. These types of
tests are created with great deal of research that has been aimed at
identifying what areas of knowledge and skills are typical at what ages and
education levels. (Castro, 2007).
In this study it refers to a test which consists of (1) Finding the errors, (2)
Construction of sentence. It is also the basis of the researchers if the
respondent is excellent, outstanding, very good, good or poor in
constructing written output.
Essay Test
William Weirsama (2011) Essay test is a test that requires the student to
structure a rather long written response up to several paragraphs.
Mar (2011) Essay test refers to any written test that requires the examinee
to write a sentence, a paragraph or longer passages.
Maria Ashraf (2013) defines essay test as a test that requires the student
to compose responses, usually lengthy up to several paragraphs. Essay test
measure Higher Level Thinking Questions that test higher level processes.
In this study it refers to the test wherein the respondents need to construct
their own composition in order to determine the problems they will
encounter.
 III. METHODOLOGY
(BADIL, Roy)

This chapter presented the methodology which was used in conducting the study, the
research setting, the target respondents, what was the research instrument used, the
process of gathering the data and the statistical treatment employed.
Methodology
The descriptive-evaluative research methodology was used in this study. Descriptive
method was used to find out the problems encountered in writing English grammar of
selected Grade 10 students: 10-DT, 10-LR, 10-MJI and 10-MS of Sipocot National High
School SY 2017-2018.
 Research Setting
(BADIL, Roy)

The setting of the study was the Sipocot National High

School. Located at Tara, Sipocot, Camarines Sur, along
Maharlika Highway approximately 2.5 kilometers away
from Sipocot town proper.
 Respondents
(BADIL, Roy)

The respondents were the Selected Grade 10 students: 10-DT,

10-LR, 10-MJI and 10-MS of Sipocot National High School SY
2017 – 2018.
 
 Table 1. Distribution of Respondents

Respondents Frequency Percentage

10 – DT 10 25 %

10 – MJI 10 25 %

10 – LR 10 25 %

10 - MS 10 25 %

  Total 40 100%

This table shows that the 25% of the respondents were coming from the different sections of Grade 10: 10 – DT, 10 –

MJI, 10 – LR, and 10 – MS.

 Research Instrument
(BOCATO, Sharon)

The research instrument that was used in this study is the questionnaire. The
questionnaire consisted of three parts: (1) teacher-standardized test which consists is (1)
Finding the error (s), (2) essay test in which the respondents need to write their reaction
about the selection they have read was employed as an isolated test to determine the
extent of their writing skills and there must have a design rubric for checking it.
Numerical ratings were given to teacher-standardized test. The teacher-standardized test
was divided into two parts : (1) Finding error (s), a score of 14-15 is equivalent to
Excellent, 12-13 is equivalent to Outstanding, 10-11 is equivalent to Very Good, 9-8 is
equivalent to Good, and a rating of Poor is given to those who scored 7-1. For the other
parts : (2) Essay test, a score of 5 is equivalent to Excellent, is Outstanding, 3 is
equivalent to Very good, 2 is equivalent to Good, while a score of 1 is equivalent to Poor.
 The essay was related according to English as a school language composition grading
system. It was given to the respondents as a test just like in the school.
Numerical ratings were given to the essays. A rating of excellent to very good means
that the writer clearly analyzes the relevance of ideas and accurately gets the ideas,
premises, points of view structure and transition; outstanding means one information is
not relevant to the theme, has 1 error in grammar, spelling, punctuation and capitalization;
very good means two information are not relevant to the theme, has 2 errors in grammar,
spelling, and capitalization; good means that the writer has three information which are
not relevant to the theme, has 3 errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation, and
capitalization; poor means four or more information are not relevant to the theme, has 4
and above errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation and capitalization or there are not
enough data to evaluate.
 
Data Gathering Procedure
(LIBRERO, Lea)

After seeking approval to conduct the study, the

researchers formulated and prepared the instrument to be
used in gathering the data. In order for them to get the
premises of the said data gathered.
 Statistical Treatment
(LIBRERO, Lea)

The researchers used four (4) statistical tools to treat data. These are
the frequency count, weighted mean, percentage and ranking technique.
The frequency count, weighted Mean, percentage, and ranking
technique were used to determine the problems encountered in writing
English grammar of selected Grade 10 students based from the
administered standardized test and essay test.
 
 
THANK YOU !!