An Analysis Of Lexical Errors In College Students' Writing

For all learners, language learning process has been haunted by its by-product -learner's errors. Error analysis, a branch of Applied Linguistics, has undoubtedly made great contributions to the study of second language learning. It not only throws some light on the process of second language learning, but also helps us gain some insights into the strategies learners employ in the learning process. A careful study of the errors revels the common problems shared by the language learners, which is believed to be of great help to both language teachers and language learners.Though much research has been done on the errors in college students' writing, studies on lexical errors in writing are still insufficient. An empirical study was conducted to explore the common lexical errors in Chinese college students' writing in following perspectives: (a) what are the major categories of lexical errors in the students' compositions; (b) what are the potential sources of the errors; (c) is there any difference between the English majors and non-English majors? Seventy-one non-English majors and sixty English majors' compositions were collected.Findings of the present study show that the major lexical errors in the students' compositions are spelling errors, assumed synonymy and mix-up of parts of speech. Some of the spelling errors are mainly caused by the pronunciation, the students' overgeneralization of the phonological rule they have mastered, and the students' failure to tell the difference between forms with similar pronunciation or similar spelling. Assumed synonymy is mainly caused by negative transfer of Chinese, communication strategies and overgeneralization. Three possible causes leading to mix-up of parts of speech include: negative transfer from Chinese, separate storage of lexical information in the mental lexicon and inappropriate ways of word memorization. Non-English majors commit more lexical errors in the compositions, but there doesn't exist obvious difference between the proportions of each category of errors.This study is of pedagogical significance in that it helps the teachers and learners...