A Study of the Errors in Non—English Major Students’ English Writing

【Abstract】This paper mainly investigated the frequent errors found in English writings of Chinese non-English major students. Students argumentative writings on the topic of “computer” were collected and analyzed. The mostly frequent types of errors were classified and analyzed. Besides， the sources of errors were also discussed from two perspectives：interlingual source and intralingual source. The present paper also provided some pedagogical implications for English writing teaching.

【Key words】Errors； English writing； Interlingual； Intralingual

1. Introduction

Corder （1967） pointed that errors provided the researcher with evidence for how language was learnt and also that they served as devices by which the learner discovered the rules of the target language. Thus， in the teaching of English writing， teachers can take the errors as the feedback of students learning and then find out the shortcomings which need further attention.

The present study examines some common and frequent errors occurred in students English writings， and the description and causes analysis of these errors would provide teachers and students some pedagogical implications and further attention to the following teaching and study. The participants of this study are non-English sophomores， who were asked to write an English argumentative composition about 150 words on the topic of computer within 40 minutes.

2. Error types

2.1 Misuse of Singular or Plural Form of Nouns

The errors in singular or plural form of nouns are the most frequent one in all of errors. This type of error accounts for 19% in all of the 17 error types. Misusing of singular or plural form of nouns means that the students may know the spelling of the nouns， but neglect to change the form of the nouns. Some of the examples from the sample writings are as follows：

a） Computer brings about many change to our world. （changes）

b） The computers have many function. （functions）

c） Students use their owner computer to play computer games. （own computers）

d） Computer is a very important and common things for us. （thing）

The reasons of this type of error can be classified as two kinds. On the one hand， students may do not know whether the noun is a countable noun or uncountable noun （example a b）. On the other hand， some students commit this type of errors as the result of neglecting of the agreement of the sentence components （example c d）.

2.2 Misuse of Punctuation and Capitalization

The errors in punctuation and capitalization both rank the second most frequent errors in all sample writings. The reason why the researcher locates and describes these two types of errors together is that some of these two errors in the sample writings occurred together.

a） in a word. we cant live normally without computers in this society. （In a word， we）

b） But. The computer cant replace human in the future.

（But， the）

c） it is computer that can store documents for us. which is essential for us. （It is computer that can store documents for us， which is essential for us.）

d） With the rapid process of modernization computer becomes more popular. （With the rapid process of modernization， computer becomes more popular.）

In English writing， the first word of the sentences should be capitalized， and the full stop can only be used after a complete sentence. However， some students may not be so careful when they were writing. Besides， in example c， students may dont know the rules of the non-restrictive attributive clause. In example d， after the prepositional phrase， a comma should be used rather than a full stop. In order to avoid these errors， self editing and peer editing are two useful ways.

2.3 Chinese-English Expressions

Chinese-English expression is the third most frequent error in the sample writings. According to Richards （1971）， some errors occur as a result of “the use of elements from one language while speaking another.” So in the process of learning English， native language will affect the learning of new language. The errors in Chinese-English expression are the effect of negative transfer. Some examples of the sample writings are as follows：

a） If computers are good for us or bad for us its hard to say. （It is hard to say whether computers are good or bad for us.）

b） But it is human design product. （But it is the product designed by human.）

c） We can download our likes movies and files. （We can download the movies and files that we like.）

d） It have a important part in our work. （It plays an important part in our work.）

e） Although， the computer has brought convenience to the society， but the computer will never take the place of human. （but）

These examples are all written in the Chinese syntactic form. It is obvious that some participants of this study didnt grasp the rules of English writing well， so they turn to their native language. As a result， they would be affected greatly by negative transfer of mother tough.

2.4 Wrong Tense and Verb Form or Voice

The errors in tense， verb form or voice means that the writers used the tense or verb form which is not appropriate to the whole sentence. Some students neglected to change the tense or verb form to make the whole sentence agreement with the whole text， some students may dont know the right verb form of some tenses （c）. For examples：

a） They are use in many ways. （used）

b） The computer is created by human beings. （was）

c） As for me， the computer has indeed bring us many changes. （brought）

2.5 Misuse of Phrases

Misusing of phrases is easily to be explained. On one hand， students have memorized the right forms of the phrases， but they do not know how to use them appropriately. On the other hand， the students didnt memorize the right form of the phrases. Some typical examples are as follows：

a） As far as computer is concerned， it has a lot of functions. （As far as I am concerned， the computer has a lot of functions.）

b） Last but the not least， we can go shopping on the internet. （Last but not the least）

c） In the last， although the computer is very important， It cant take the place of human. （At last， it）

2.6 Misuse the Parts of Speech

Students are often confused by the different forms of one word， for example， noun， verb， adjective， adverb， etc. Some of the students mixed the different forms of a word. Some examples are as follows：

a） With the advent of the computer in our social， many things became convenient. （society）

b） It brings about much happy in our life. （happiness）

c） Some people have their owner computer. （own computers）

d） Computer has indeed bring us many convenient. （brought， conveniences）

2.7 Other Types of Errors

Other types of errors found in these sample writings include misusing of articles， preposition， and words， neglecting the modal verbs， and lack of s-v agreement and so on. Some examples from the samples are as follows：

a） Computer brings about many changes of our world. （to）

b） Computers can helps us do math problems. （help）

3. Sources of Errors

The causes the Errors can be categorized into two types：interlingual errors and intralingual errors. According to Richards （1971）， interference errors occur as a result of “the use of elements from one language while speaking another.” That means interlingual errors are caused by the interference of the native language. The Chinese- English expressions are the most typical examples of this source. Because students will unconsciously turn to their mother tongue when write in target language. Intralingual errors were defined by Richards （1971） as “reflect the general characteristics of rule learning such as faulty generalization， incomplete application of rules and failure to learn conditions under which rules apply.” Intralingual errors are the results of learners incomplete knowledge of the target language.

4. Conclusion

Teachers can identify language developmental stage of the EEL learners based on the errors they committed in their productions of writings （Pimpisa， 2015）. Thus， the teachers can know what have been grasped by the students and what have been neglected in the teaching process. Therefore， teachers should hold right attitude towards the errors in students English writings. Errors should be corrected， but remembering not to harm students confidence and learning motivation. Besides， in the process of teaching English， students error awareness should be improved. Finally， it is beneficial for students to self-edit or peer-edit before handing in their English writing production.

References：

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作者簡介：陳白雪（1990.12-），女，甘肅隴南人，蘭州交通大學研究生，研究方向：外國語言學及應用語言學。