Lexical Error Analysis In Non-English Majors' Writing

It is well known that one can not learn a language without committing errors. As a branch of applied linguistics, error analysis has undoubtedly made great contributions to the study of second language learning. It not only has enriched the research achievements of second language teaching methodology, but also helped the teacher learn about the learner's linguistic competence and make sure how far towards the teaching goal the leaner has progressed. Besides, the study helps both the teacher and the language learner locate the difficult points in the target language and get prepared to acquire the language in a more oriented way.Though much research has been done on the errors in college students' writing, studies on lexical errors in writing are still insufficient. This study focuses on the common lexical errors in Chinese college students' writing in the following three aspects: (a) What are the major categories of lexical errors in the students' compositions; (b) What are the potential sources of the errors; (c) What kind of difficulties do students have when learning vocabulary? One hundred and thirty-five non-English majors' compositions were collected in the study.The result of this study shows that the major errors in the students' compositions are spelling errors, assumed synonymy and mix-up of parts of speech. Spelling errors are mainly caused by the students' overgeneralization of the phonological rules they have mastered, and the students' failure to tell the difference between forms with similar pronunciations or similar spellings. Assumed synonymy is mainly caused by negative transfer from Chinese, communication strategies and overgeneralization. The causes of mix-up of parts of speech are negative transfer from Chinese, separate storage of lexical information in the mental lexicon and inappropriate ways of word memorization. From the aspects of knowing a word, the study shows the students should master word meaning, organization, form and grammatical knowledge.Vocabulary acquisition theory is applied in this study. This study helps the teachers and learners know the common lexical errors students' in compositions, and provides some suggestions to the teachers and learners in the process of vocabulary teaching and learning by exploring the sources of these errors. In the process of teaching vocabulary, the teacher should be aware of possible confusion that can be created by form similarity. Vocabulary teaching should follow the principle that more practice time is devoted to the difficult lexical structures than to the easy ones.This thesis consists of four chapters. Chapter One is mainly about the theoretical orientation in classifying errors. It introduces error analysis and some terms involved in the study. In chapter Two, an empirical study is conducted on lexical errors in non-English majors' writing. Chapter Three explores the sources of errors. In Chapter Four, the pedagogical implications of the study are explored.