International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences, 5(6)

Nov-Dec 2020 | Available online: https://ijels.com/

Language Cognitive Strategy Analysis in

Learner Diaries of College Freshman Students in
Kalinga State University, Philippines
Dr. Sheila Fesway-Malao1, Brenda Banggawan Lumines2

1Department of Language, Kalinga State University, Philippines

2College of Education, Kalinga State University, Philippines

Received: 30 Oct 2020; Received in revised form: 05 Dec 2020; Accepted: 17 Dec 2020; Available online: 31 Dec 2020
©2020 The Author(s). Published by Infogain Publication. This is an open access article under the CC BY license
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Abstract— The study analyzed the language cognitive strategies found in learner diaries of college freshman
students of Kalinga State University (KSU). Specifically, it determined the cognitive strategies employed by the
learners in writing their diaries. The diary of each student was used to elicit the different cognitive strategies
employed by the students. The cognitive strategies were classified based on the model of Richard (1975). The data
gathered were identified, analyzed, and interpreted using the qualitative- descriptive method. It was found out that:
(1) errors committed by the students are intralingual or developmental errors caused by the structure of the second
or target language; (2)the students utilized varied cognitive strategies such as overgeneralization, ignorance of
rule restriction, incomplete application of rules and false concepts hypothesized in their diaries; and (3) the errors
committed by the students were not all influenced by the first language but by the complexity of the target language
itself. Thus,(1) errors are considered inevitable in second language learning; the commission of errors is indicative
of the interlanguage status of student; and (2) errors are developmental which can be overcome as the students
reach a higher interlanguage stage of learning a second language.
Keywords— Learner Diaries, English language, Kalinga State University.

I. INTRODUCTION language so close to the core of what it means to be

English language learning is crucial in any human, it is not surprising that learners’ acquisition of
educational system since learning a language, like learning language has received so much attention. Anyone with
any skill, is basically a personal achievement, an strong views about the human mind would like to show
exploitation and exploration of the capacities of the mind that learners’ first few steps are steps in the right direction.
to understand and function in one’s environment. In today’s language learning, many students cannot
Language education is replete with numerous theories with express themselves well in written and oral English.
the aim of reaching the goal of understanding language and College students are linguistically handicap in an age
language learning process. Educators play a crucial role in marked by computers and other high-tech learning tools, as
language instruction. Their focus is not simply to teach the well as a window to foreign cultures opened by media. As
language but also to understand how language can foster Gonzales cited (1998), our students today are ill-equipped
acquisition and learning. for life in a world where communication skills are crucial
to communication growth, if not survival. Gonzales further
Language learning is one of the central topics in
pointed out that, “spotted a decline in the capacity of
cognitive science. Every theory of cognition has tried to
Filipino students to absorb new knowledge and skills when
explain it; probably no other topic has aroused such
they reach college.” Alarmed by this decline in the quality
controversy. Nonetheless, learning a first language is
of education in the Philippine educational system, he
something every learner does —successfully, in a matter of
offered various suggestions on how to improve quality of
a few years and without the need for formal lessons. With
education for Filipinos. In the same vein, Duenas (2013)

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noted the deterioration in the proficiency in written and writing. The context of learning such as misleading
English communication is evident in the poor results of the explanation and faulty presentation of textbook among
professional and other types of examinations. others is another source of error (Brown, 2000).
The Kalinga State University, a higher Language learners use cognitive strategies in
educational institution enables a student to graduate with a communicating the second language. These strategies may
college degree equivalent to a Bachelor of Science. be systematic or non-systematic technique employed by
Forming part of this curriculum is the core curriculum that the learner to express his meaning when faced with some
offers general education courses mandated by the difficulty because of his inadequate command of the
Commission on Higher Education (CHED). Included in language used in the interaction or communication
this core curriculum are the English courses that aim to process. Richards (1975) advocates four common learner’s
equip the students with the basic and essential cognitive strategies, these are overgeneralization, violation
communication skills- both written and oral- to enable of rule restrictions, incomplete application of rules, and
them to perform their jobs well as professionals. hypothesizing false concepts. Overgeneralization is the
Unfortunately, there seems to be a perception that all is not strategy used by language learners where they tend to
well with the communication skills and communicative simplify and regularize the linguistic complexities peculiar
competence of the KSU students, and even among its to the target language. Overgeneralization covers instances
graduates. This seeming weakness of the KSU students in where the learner creates a deviant structure on the basis of
language use has, for fact, come under attack by some his experience of other structures in the target language.
sectors in the society. There is indeed a dire need to train The learner relies on the target language rule of great
and develop KSU students so that they could compete not generality and which he already knows and avoids learning
only with the higher institution in the Philippines but can the appropriate rule. Violation of the rule restriction is the
be able to compete in the ASEAN Integration even if the learner’s failure to observe restrictions of the existing
Philippines is a developing country. One of the essential structures in the target language. Some of the rule
qualities toward ASEAN Integration is proficiency in the restriction errors may arise in terms of analogy as in
use and command of the English language. misuse of prepositions. The learner applies some rules to
From the foregoing, these researchers deemed it contexts where they do not apply hence the deviant
urgent and exigent to study the language cognitive structure.
strategies of a group of students whose language Incomplete application of rules is deviations
proficiency may have an impact upon the country’s which represent the degree of the rules required to produce
language policy. Along this line, these researchers chose to acceptable utterances. To a certain extent, rules are applied
conduct a study relevant to the language cognitive strategy but their applications are still incomplete. The learner, for
problems of KSU students. Language learners are instance, has not fully mastered the passive construction.
in themselves the cause of the errors especially if they live In hypothesizing false concepts, the errors reflect the
in a country where English is taught as a foreign language; general characteristics of rule internalization or this
they obviously do not have adequate exposure to the target category results from the faulty comprehension of
language. Opportunities to use English in both the distinctions in the target language. The learner at various
productive and receptive areas of the language are limited stages of learning makes a series of hypotheses which he
and it could give rise to errors in the areas of grammar, tests and abandons or preserves. For example, is/are may
lexis, spelling, and punctuation. be interpreted as a marker of the present. Hufana and
Ali (2004) argued that the teacher may not be a Minong’s (1983) study reveals that college freshmen have
good model of the language with regard to the way he not fully reached the native speaker’s competence as
speaks, writes, or teaches the language. This is particularly shown in the errors which fall into some kind of regularity.
true in Philippine setting because most language teachers They are errors typically committed by second language
are not native speakers. Some errors are ironically teacher learners. The findings further revealed that their
induced. Another factor is the teaching method, which may performance data demonstrate the learning strategies-
also be at fault for overemphasizing one aspect of the overgeneralization, hypothesizing false concepts,
language and neglecting the other. For example, some incomplete application of rules, and ignorance of rule
teachers are fond of only emphasizing the oral component restrictions- they employed when confronted with a range
of a course and the learner’s general speaking ability of communicative tasks. Furthermore, this study asserted
would improve but he may lag behind in listening, reading that the commission of error should not be considered as a
“sin,” rather, it should be considered as inevitable and an

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essential part in the learning process, thereby, driving the that it is a real communication and that the teacher
point that error correction should be an integral part of responds to the students in an authentic way within this
classroom instruction. dialogue. The teacher shares his genuine thoughts and
Catimo’s (1999) "Linguistic Errors in the Written opinions with the students rather than simply correcting
English of the Student Teachers in the College of their grammar and spelling.
Education of Saint Louis University" revealed that the In setting up a learner diary, Peachy further states that the
errors committed by the student teachers were attributed to teacher writes a few questions for the students to answer.
overgeneralization, ignorance of rule restrictions, The questions will be classroom related items and outside
incomplete application of rules, and false concepts classroom related items. From the students’ answers, the
hypothesized. teacher will draw inferences as to the reasons of the
Viewing writing as an act of communication suggests an perceptions of the students based on the questions asked.
interactive process which takes place between the writer Deen (2011), states that learner diaries play a role
and the reader via text. Such an approach places value on in defining a personal philosophy of teaching. The diaries
the goal of writing as well as on the perceived reader allow teachers to examine language learning or teaching
audience. According to Olshtain (1989), the skill of experiences and conduct a kind of self-assessment such as
writing enjoys special status – it is via writing that a clarifying their thoughts and feelings about these
person can communicate a variety of messages to a close experiences and their way of handling language learning
or distant, known or unknown reader/s. related problems.
A written data used as basis of language analysis For students, a learner diary provides an
is the learner diary. Learner diary is a first-person account opportunity for self-analysis since it gives them a chance
of the language learning documented through regular, to reflect on their difficulties and achievements. For the
candid entries in a personal journal and then analyzed for teacher, the chance to write comments in the diaries
recurring patterns or salient events. These are daily provides the opportunity to interact with students on an
writings about experiences, memories, and events in the individual basis, which in turn appears to have a positive
life of a person. effect on their behavior and motivation. Students,
Learner diaries have been proposed as one way of accustomed previously only to learning situations in which
systematizing self-assessment of students. Learners are they played a passive role, are slowly beginning to change
encouraged to write about what they learned, their their attitudes towards their own learning. The students’
perceived level of mastery over the subject, and what they constructive criticism of lessons becomes a valuable
plan to do with their acquired skills. source of feedback, which has had a great effect on the
teacher’s planning for the subsequent classes (Usuki,
A learner diary is where a language learner can write down
2009).
his thoughts on what he has learned during a specific
period. Its main aim is to help language learner reflect on One of the uses of learner diary studies is to
the learning process and in particular on which strategies clarify issues. These issues emerge when one looks at the
seem to work best for him. What he writes down is totally data again and again – to see what is included, what is left
a question of personal choice depending on the questions out, what kind of language is used, what kind of
asked by the teacher (Riley, 2015).Learner diaries provide perspective is taken, what kind of reactions are noted, what
the teacher with invaluable insights into what the students kind of tone is adopted, what kind of connectors are made,
think of the lessons, what they understood and what what the cumulative weights are, what the parts add up to,
problems they are having. The fact that the teacher has a what projections can be posited, and what cycles can be
private and individual learning relationship with each revealed.It is important, however, to note that a teacher
student can have a very positive effect on student behavior will only get from the learner diaries what he prepared to
and class control, as the teacher can have a discrete means put in. If the teacher writes openly and honestly to the
of finding out about and addressing the causes of students, generally the students will do the same.
behavioral problems. Likewise, if the teacher’s responses are minimal and
superficial, the same will be the response of the students.
Peachy (2006), claims that learner diaries at its
Generally, learner diaries is beneficial both to the students
best should be a private dialogue between a student and the
and to the teacher, particularly with the latter because he
teacher. It does not have to be about the learning process
can possibly elicit errors committed by the students on the
only, but can be about almost anything that the learner
particular subject. They are, however, very time
would like to know or discuss. The most important thing is

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consuming and they will not work for everybody all the college freshman students in Kalinga State University
time, so it is just as well to have them as an experiment (KSU).
and not to have too high expectations of what can be Specifically, it determined the language cognitive
achieved the first few times (Peachy, 2006). strategies employed by the learners in writing their diaries,
Thus, the main objective of the study is to analyze and demonstrate that errors committed by the students
the language cognitive strategies found in learner diaries of were not all influenced by the first language but by the
complexity of the target language itself.

Fig.1: Paradigm of the Study

II. METHODOLOGY researchers applied the stratified sampling technique,

The search paper was conducted in the where, the distribution of the 293 number of students in
five (5) institutes of Kalinga State University (KSU), the 19 different major courses across five (5) Institutes,
Tabuk City, Kalinga, Philippines. These are the Institute of were identified as follows: Institute of Liberal Arts (60),
Liberal Arts (ILA), Institute of Business Administration, Institute of Business Administration, Public
Public Administration and Entrepreneurship (IBAPAE), Administration and Entrepreneurship (62), Institute of
Institute of Teacher Education (ITE), Institute of Teacher Education (29), Institute of Agriculture and
Agriculture and Forestry (IAF), and Institute of Forestry (47), and Institute of Engineering Information and
Engineering Information and Applied Technology Applied Technology (95).
(IEIAT).This research is qualitative- descriptive. It Sample student population was chosen using the Sloven’s
analyzed, described and demonstrated the language Formula:
cognitive strategies found in learner diaries of college
freshman students in KSU. The researchers used the diary
of each student to elicit the different cognitive strategies
Where:
committed by the students based on Richard’s model
(1975). n = sampling population
The student- respondents of this study were 293 N = whole population
college freshman students from the five (5) institutes of e = standard error at .05
KSU enrolled in English 2 (Writing in the Discipline). The level

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Friedman’s test showed the following formula: by their first language but by the complexity of the target
language itself. Thus, the analysis was qualitative rather
that quantitative because there were evidences where two
strategies overlap. For instance, an error may be due to
ignorance of rule restriction or overgeneralization as
The respondents answered a set of guide shown in the following sentences.
questions as a basis for writing their diaries regarding When our instructor see wrong doing of us in the
classroom related factors (Cohort 1). From their written classroom…
comments and reactions, the cognitive strategies employed When our instructor sees wrong doing of us in the
by the learners in writing their diaries were analyzed using classroom…
the model of Richards (1975).
She use a variety in techniques and approaches.
The questionnaires were administered (cohort 1) twice a
week in English 2 classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 1 She uses varied techniques and approaches.
½ hours a day to enable the students to write something in The above sentences are examples of
their diaries. overgeneralization; that is the learner demonstrates that the
The data gathered were identified, analyzed, and present tense formation involves a zero morpheme as in
interpreted using qualitative descriptive treatment. The “instructor see” and “she use….”
college freshman students wrote their diaries based on a set On the other hand, the above sentences illustrate
of questions asked. From these diaries, errors produced his ignorance of rule restriction. It violates the restriction
were elicited for analysis. of concord or SV agreement.
The analysis was qualitative rather than quantitative for the The data presented herein are excerpts from the
reason that there were evidences where two strategies students’ diaries. The errors were classified within the
overlap. The strategies were classified based on the Model framework advocated by Richards (1975), namely:
advocated by Richards (1975), namely: overgeneralization, overgeneralization, violation of rule restrictions,
ignorance of rule restriction, incomplete application of incomplete application of rules, and hypothesizing false
rules, and false hypothesized concepts. concepts.

III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Overgeneralization

Cognitive Strategies Employed by the College Freshman This kind of error results from the learner’s
Students in their Diaries attempt to simplify and regularize the linguistic
Language learners use cognitive strategies in complexities peculiar to the target language. For example,
communicating in the second language. These strategies in the sentences:
may be systematic or non- systematic technique employed Our teacher give varied activities.
by the learner to express his meaning when faced with Our teacher gives varied activities.
some difficulty because of his/her inadequate command of
For the topics are discuss in class, I finds it very
the target language used in the interaction or
interesting.
communication process. Richards (1975) claims that
deviant forms produced by second language learners are For the topics that are discussed in class, I find it very
not only caused by the interference of the learner’s mother interesting.
tongue but originate within the structure of the target She use varieties of techniques approaches...
language itself. These errors which he calls intralingual or
She uses varied techniques approaches...
developmental errors reflect the learner’s competence at a
particular stage of learning. In this context, the learner uses Our teacher encourage us students...
some strategies in his attempt to communicate in the target Our teacher encourages us students...
language.
This portion of the study presents the cognitive
This demonstrates that the learner’s rule for the
strategies employed by the respondents. The main
present tense formation involves using a zero morpheme to
objective of the analysis was to demonstrate or show that
mark number for all persons. However, the target language
errors committed by the students were not all influenced

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rule says that all present tense verbs for all persons except Here are some examples:
the third person singular requires –s, the morpheme has Also she is good mood and to all of us in good atmosphere.
been reduced to a rule which requires a zero morpheme for
She is in good mood to all of us so the atmosphere is also
all persons. Duskova (1999) accounts for this omission as
good.
a result of the heavy pressure of all other ending less
forms. Here the expression “good mood” is always as a rule
preceded by the preposition “in” this “in good mood”.
Other examples of this kind of errors are found in
the following sentences: Yes on certain times, our instructor relates the topic in
real life situation.
She present the lesson in a well-organized and easy-to-
understand manner. Yes, on certain times, our instructor relates the topic to real
life situation.
She presents the lesson in a well-organized and easy-to-
understand manner. The phrase “relates the topic” as a rule uses the preposition
to which indicates a relation or reference to a particular
Our instructor organize lectures, recitations, and
thing: real life situation.
discussion logic.
The teacher is related our lesson of real life and to exist
Our instructor organizes lectures, recitations, and
condition…
discussion logically.
The teacher relates our lesson to real life and to existing
The instructor speak slow but clearly.
condition…
The instructor speaks slow but clear.
Of course there was a learning on something in the lesson
On the other hand, errors on the opposite that is of importance and relevant in my English 2 class.
direction are shown below:
Of course we learned something in the lesson that is
The activities provides participation. important and relevant in our English 2 class.
The activities provide participation. In the above sentence, important is used be parallel with
The topics challenges me to attend the class every meeting. relevant. That is two adjectives are joined to show
The topics challenge me to attend the class every meeting. parallelism.

The discussions motivates me to prepare. Yes, I learned something off important in research.

The discussions motivate me to prepare. Yes, I learned something of important in research.

The noises makes her get angry easily. The use of off is incorrect for what the learner meant was
“of importance,” or phrase commonly used. In the above
The noises make her gets angry easily.
context the rule is of + noun.
Varied activities gets me excited all the
In the similar manner, the learner having learned
time.
the structure can be classified into, can be divided into or
Varied activities get me excited all the can be grouped into in realizing classification used by
time. instead of into in the sentence.
These errors are ascribed as hypercorrection as We discussed in research writing the parts of the research
being due to generalization of the third person singular paper can be divided by...
number for the third person plural.
We discussed in research writing the parts of the research
paper can be divided into...
Ignorance of Rule Restrictions We can be grouped by during
This type of error is the learner’s failure to class activities.
observe restrictions of the existing structures in the target We can be grouped into during class activities.
language. For instance, some of the rule restriction errors
Our lesson in English can be classified by many sub
may arise in terms of analogy as in misuse of prepositions.
topics.
The learner in encountering a particular preposition with
one type of verb tries by analogy to use the same Our lesson in English can be classified into many sub
preposition with similar verb as in the sentence. topics.

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Another instance where the learner fails to That shows her evidence of the thorough
observe restrictions in the article usage is the omission of preparation.
the article the before nouns made particular in the context. That shows her evidence of a thorough
It is the responsibility of ^ students to preparation.
listen or not. She has discussed the lesson in the
It is the responsibility of the students to logical manner.
listen or not. She has discussed the lesson in a logical
The lecture of ^ teacher was long and... manner.
The lecture of the teacher was long and... The activity given by the teacher is the true to life
In my English 2 class ^ topics are few situation.
and interesting. The activity given by the teacher is a true to life situation.
In my English 2 class the topics are few but interesting. Violation in the restriction of concord is
The article a is used instead of the before demonstrated in the following:
the plural noun in a sentence like: Lessons is well organized by the
I did not like a suggestions of my board mates like sharing instructor.
in expenses. Lessons are well organized by the
I did not like the suggestions of my board mates like instructor.
sharing in expenses. The activities is a true to life situations.
Our instructor distributes a The activities are true to life situations.
photocopies needed in our lesson. Sometimes, in our lesson our instructor relate the topic of
Our instructor distributes the photocopies needed in our our lesson to real life situation.
lesson. Sometimes, our instructor relates the topic of our lesson to
She discusses a lessons with a loud voice. real life situation.
She discusses the lessons with a loud voice. Our teacher have good sense of humor…
I appreciates a activities Our teacher has a good sense of humor…
prepared by our teacher. Another violation in the verb system is
I appreciate the activities prepared by our teacher. the violation of the limitations of the –ed after be + past
The article a is omitted before class nouns participle as exemplified in the following sentences:
defined by an adjective is another example of the learner’s Our seatwork need more time to be
failure to observe restrictions in articles as in: complete.
The teacher delivering the lesson with ^ objective style. Our seatwork need more time to be
The teacher is delivering the lesson with an objective. completed.

The lesson in research is ^ very The assign task given the teacher, more time is needs.
relevant topic. The assigned task given by the teacher needed more time.
The lesson in research is a very relevant She is prepare when she comes to class.
topic. She is prepared when she comes to class.
What I can say is that she has ^ good command of the Her methodologies are admire by her class.
English language.
Her methodologies are admired by her class.
What I can say is that she has a good command of the
The lessons were present well and interestingly.
English language.
The lessons were presented well and interestingly.
Of course there was ^good raport among us.
Good answers are recognize by our instructor.
Of course there was a good rapport among us.
Good answers are recognized by our instructor.
The use of the instead of a before an
adjective is another instance of the article misuse as in: The subject matter is integrate with real life situations.

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The subject matter is integrated with real life situations. For our teacher, she is teaches with a well-modulated
voice.

Incomplete Application of Rules For our teacher, she teaches with a well-modulated voice.

Errors of this type indicate that to some extent rules are The activities are provide a participation of all..
applied; but their application is incomplete. For example, The activities provide a participation of all..
the learner has not fully mastered the passive formation In the above sentences, Richards (1975) contends
which is formed by the be + past participle. Thus, be is that in the classroom context, the teacher or the textbook
omitted as illustrated in the following deviant sentences: can lead the learner to make faulty hypotheses about the
The activities that ^ given is quite difficult because there is language which George (2005) calls as induced errors.
the time pressure. That is, students make errors because of a misleading
The activities that were given is quite difficult because explanation from the teacher, faulty presentation of a
there is the time pressure. structure or word in a textbook or even a pattern
memorized but not properly contextualized.
The research that ^ assigned by the teacher more time to
do is needed. The analysis of errors presented in this study,
yield potentially interesting information. They are
The research that was assigned by the teacher needed more
deviations typically committed by anyone learning English
time to be done.
as a second language. The data also reflect the general
Nothing, I could say due to the topics that ^ gave by our characteristics of rule learning indicative of the regular and
teacher was in our own field of specialization. systematic application of rules, strategies and hypothesis
Nothing, I could say because the topics that were given by testing.
our teacher were in our own field of specialization. The study of Hufana and Minong (1983) revealed
The research paper that ^ require to us was quite fulfill. that their respondents, the college freshmen have not fully
reached the native speaker competence as shown in the
The research paper that was required to us was quite
deviant sentences in the dicto-comp exercises. The
fulfilling.
findings further revealed that their performance data
The tasks which ^ given by the teacher is challenge to me demonstrate the learning strategies employed by the
The tasks which are given by the teacher are challenging to students when confronted with a range of communicative
me. tasks. Furthermore, the study asserted that the commission
of error should not be considered a “sin” rather, it should
be considered as inevitable and an essential part in the
False Concepts Hypothesized learning process.
Errors falling under this category reflect the general Catimo’s (1999) study in the College of
characteristics of rule internalization. In the process of Education in Saint Louis University revealed that errors of
hypothesis testing, for example, the learner interprets is / student-teachers were attributed to the cognitive strategies
are as markers of the present, thus the following they employed in their written composition.
deviations:
Moreover, it can be concluded that a second
The teacher is provide an atmosphere conducive to language learner uses “communicative strategies”,
learning. propounded by Dulay and Burt (2013) to explain the origin
The teacher provides an atmosphere conducive to learning. of certain types of errors. This highlights the principle
Our instructor is shows a refinement of manners. which Corder (1978) calls “risk-taking strategies” which a
learner employs when confronted with the task to
Our instructor shows a refinement of manners. communicate in the second language. For second language
She is answers students’ inquiry intelligent. teaching, this implies that the learner should be encouraged
She answers students’ inquiry intelligently. to take risks even at the expense of committing errors.
More importantly, the teacher should demonstrate
Our teacher is relates our lesson to real
willingness to accept errors as a sign of motivation for
situations.
learning or a strategy of learning. Holly and King (2013)
Our teacher relates our lesson to real situations. aptly stated that a case can be made for permitting and
even encouraging foreign language students to produce

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sentences that are ungrammatical in terms of full native [12] HAMADA, I. 2001. An Error Analysis of Written
competence. This would allow the learner to progress like Compositions in Four Rhetorical Acts by PMA Fourth
a child by forming a series of increasingly complete Class Cadets. Unpublished Master’s Thesis, Saint Louis
University, Baguio City.
hypothesis about the language.
[13] HENDRICKSON, J. 1976. Effects of Error Correction
Treatment upon Adequate and Accurate Communication in
IV. CONCLUSIONS Written Composition of Adult Learners of English as a
Second Language. Unpublished Dissertation, Ohio State
(1) Errors are considered inevitable in second language University, Ohio, USA.
learning. The commission of errors is indicative of the [14] HOLLY, F. & J. KING. 2013. Imitation and Correction in
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