VietTESOL International Convention 2026

This study is based on the researcher’s realization that students in a particular context struggled with written production, despite possessing strong English skills in general. In response to this, the researcher decided to investigate the errors that they make in their academic writing to provide practical suggestions. As such, this study aimed to explore the common errors in academic writing among gifted English-majored high school students and to determine the potential causes of their errors. This study applied the mixed-methods research design with 61 English-majored students from a gifted high school in Phu Tho. Data was collected and analyzed through document analysis of the students’ written work and interviews. The findings showed that the most common errors were lexical, making up nearly half of all errors, with word choice being the most frequently occurring error in this category. This was followed by morphological errors, making up more than a quarter of all errors, specifically noun ending and article errors. Syntactic and mechanical errors were less frequent. The results also showed that the major causes included L1 interference, lack of experience in academic writing, and inadequate academic vocabulary. Minor causes included limited revision, time pressure, and self-pressure. The researcher advised that teachers should address the common errors (word choice, noun ending, articles) by developing students’ vocabulary depth, explicitly teaching countable and uncountable academic words, and differentiating zero article and specific entity words. Furthermore, teachers could consider teaching language in chunks and providing opportunities for academic writing, possibly through the process writing approach.