Implications For EFL Testing And Teaching From Interlanguage Error Analysis And Research

Interlanguage refers to a continuum that is an in-between and inherently variable systembetween native language and target language. Language learners are always somewhere alongthe interlanguage continuum. Foreign language learning is a process in which interlanguagegradually reaches target language, and during which errors are inevitable. Learners' errorsindicate what they have grasped and what way they take to learn language. From 1950s to1970s the study of errors has roughly experienced three phases: Contrastive Analysis (CA),Error Analysis (EA) and the theory of Interlanguage. CA, which is theoretically based onbehaviorism, owes most errors to interference of first language (L1). But CA cannot predictall the errors, and L1 interference is only one of the causes of errors. It was not until in the1970s that EA became a recognized part of applied linguistics. The development owed muchto the work of Corder. EA firstly involves independent and objective description of thelearners' interlanguage (invented by Selinker, 1972) and the target language (TL) itself. Andthen it is followed by a comparison of the two, so as to locate mismatches. The novelty of EAis that learners' errors are caused by other causes besides L1 interference. By analyzing errorsteachers can get a clear idea of what errors learners are used to making and whichinterlanguage stage learners are in.Writing, which is considered to be a productive and creative activity, is very important forpeople in all walks of life. However, students' ability in writing remains the weakest amongthe four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing). Various kinds of errorsoccur in their compositions. Even for those advanced English learners, who have Englishlearning experience of at least ten years, writing up a readable and satisfying composition isalso very difficult. So it is urgent for teachers to improve students' English, especially, theirwriting ability. The aim of this thesis is to give causes of the errors by finding students' errorsin their compositions, and to help testers make English tests more valid and to help teacherspromote English teaching so as to improve students' English. The thesis is based on the studyand analysis of the writing errors collected from students' compositions. Classification anddescription of the errors are made according to James' related EA theory. Combined withself-designed questionnaire, implications are found for English as a foreign language (EFL)testing and EFL teaching.The organization of the thesis, which includes four chapters, is as follows:In chapter one, literature review is made on CA, EA and interlanguage theory, which is thetheoretical basis of the following study. From 1950s to 1970s the study of errors has roughlyexperienced three phases: Contrastive Analysis, Error Analysis and the theory ofInterlanguage.In chapter two, three methods employed in the study are pointed out. The first is theapplication of James' related EA theories to the analysis of errors. The second is corpus-basedanalysis. The data is collected from 64 compositions of first-year graduate students who arenon-English majors. The third is self-designed questionnaire. Twenty non-English majorgraduate students chosen at random from the 64 subjects are required to give their responsesto the questionnaire, which involves personal information, language learning activities,attitudes towards English testing and strategies used in English testing. Its aim is to gain aninsight into their errors and get evidences for working out corresponding countermeasures.In chapter three, errors detected from the sample compositions are classified and describedat the level of text and discourse according to James' EA theory. From the analysis of theseerrors it has been found that compared with discourse errors, advanced English learners makemore text errors. Among the text errors there are more grammar errors than lexical errors. Andmost of these grammar errors lie in the incorrect use of core grammars. MT interference isstill one of the main causes of these errors. It results in many errors that occur repeatedly,which makes students take on the inclination of language fossilization.In chapter four, implications from interlanguage errors are presented for EFL testing andteaching. Firstly, three causes resulting in these errors can be found. MT interference is stillone of the main causes of these errors. Its interference covers lexis and grammar. Misuse ofstrategies is another reason for the errors. Many intralingual errors occur because of misusinglearning strategies and communication strategies. The negative influence from English testingcan also account for these errors. Secondly, implications for EFL testing are presented. Thefirst is that both students and teachers should keep a sound perspective on the relationshipbetween interlanguage errors and English testing. The two sides interact. Valid testing is ofgreat help for finding studetns' disadvantages and improving students' English learning, whileerrors can give useful information to make testing more valid. The second is that someadjustments should be made to EFL testing. More writing tasks should be added in mostEnglish test papers. Other types of composition should also be tested besides the type ofargumentation, and analytic method should be employed in composition marking. Thirdly,some implications for EFL teaching are presented. The first is for lexical teaching. Teachersshould give an explanation for a new word mainly in English, and in Chinese only whennecessary, and put the new word in a specific context to show the usage of the word. Studentsshould be encouraged to use English-English dictionary during the process of Englishlearning. The second is for grammar teaching. Teachers should realize the necessity ofteaching grammar fully and strengthen the application of English core grammars. In addition,it is also helpful to offer more chances for students to promote their output in English. Thethird is for the cultivation of students' English thinking pattern. MT interference is one of themain factors for the fossilization. So teachers should make efforts to cultivate students'English thinking pattern. Arousing students' awareness of difference between Chinese andEnglish is the most important task for English teachers. In class teachers should exposestudents to as much English as possible. More original material should be provided forstudents to read. The last is for correction of writing and speaking errors. Self-correction, peercorrection and teacher correction should be combined to correct students' writing andspeaking errors in sequence. After these corrections teachers should return the compositionsto students and require them to read them again and take notes for these errors. What is more,students should recite the corrected expressions and review them after some time in order toavoid making such errors again.