| Language teachers are inevitably confronted with various production errors made by students in the course of teaching. Among them, writing error is a major sort. With the development of linguistics, applied linguistics, physiology and other relevant subjects, people's attitude toward error changed greatly. In the 1950s and 1960s, Contrastive Analysis (CA), which was based on behaviorism and structural linguistics theoretically, was widely employed to analyze learners' errors. The behaviorists believed that errors produced by the learners would occur at those points at which the two languages were dissimilar. Interference was believed to take place whenever the habits of the native language differed from those of the target language. However, it is not always true that difference between first language (LI) and target language (TL) lead to errors through interference, nor is it true that the LI is the sole source of error. It causes another way of analysis: Error Analysis comes into being. Error Analysis (EA), which is theoretically based on cognitive psychology, examines the actual errors produced by the learner in the TL. It sees errors as a natural phenomenon that inevitably occurs when learning a first or second language before correct knowledge is acquired and completely internalized. EA has been closely related with language teaching from the very beginning and has been a major concern of researchers.In this paper, with CA, EA and interlanguage as theoretical guidance, we first sample 100 compositions at random from the Third Center of CET-4. Since learners' writing errors are very complicated and the learners of different language level commit errors differently, we narrow the sample compositions down to those which are scored 9 or over 9 points which shows that the testees reach the syllabus requirement for writing (the total score if 15 points). According to this criterion, we select 20 pieces of compositions out of the 100. Based on our statistic figure and with reference to the pioneer error classification, we classify the counted errors into two major types: the surface level errors and the deep level errors. For surface levelerrors, we mainly discuss grammatical and lexical errors; for deep level errors, we focus on discourse coherence, information arrangement and pragmatic problems.In order to find appropriate ways to counter these writing errors, we first explode the sources. In the light of the pioneer research, we classify various writing error sources into five kinds: interlingual sources, intralingual sources, induced factors, lack of practice and the negative effect of product-focused approach. For interlingual sources, we lay our emphasis on MT interference. And for intralingual sources, we lay focus on learning and communication strategy. As to induced factors, our discussion is aimed at teaching methods and teaching materials.Based on the discussion, corresponding countermeasures are proposed. But before the actual correction begins, we should adopt correct attitude toward error. At present, our correction of students' writing errors bears a feature of subjectivity and unsystematicity. Much attention is paid to surface level errors (linguistic errors), but inadequate attention is given to deep level errors (discourse and pragmatic errors). Meanwhile, many people wrongly think that it is the teachers' job to correct writing errors, not the learners' business. Faced with these problems, we put forward some practical suggestions. We think that the TL thought-pattern and proper writing approach are necessary for learners to prevent or reduce errors. Therefore, it's suggested that process-focused approach be adopted. Next, we discuss four ways to achieve discourse coherence. They are repetition of key words, application of transitional devices, the use of parallelism and logical arrangement of ideas. Finally, we recommend explicit correction and self-correction which we tend to believe preferable to cope with surface level writing errors.In the conclusion part, we suggest that... |
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