Lexical Error Analysis In Non-english Majors' Writing

Writing,as one of the basic language skills,is an important indicator for learners to measure their English proficiency level and also reflects learners' actual competence of language use.In the process of writing,learners make errors frequently.In particular,error analysis,as an important method to investigate language errors,has great significance to second language teaching and learning.The present paper surveys lexical errors in non-English majors' writing.Through the categorization and analysis of lexical errors,the writer hopes to provide empirical evidence of L2 learners' acquisition of writing skills and offer some suggestions to deal with errors and help improve students' vocabulary learning and writing competence.In this study,non-English major university students' lexical errors are investigated quantitatively by means of 163 writings and 170 questionnaires.Within the framework of James' lexical errors classification and error analysis theory,three research questions are put forward.First,what are the major categories of lexical errors in the non-English students' writing? How does the frequency occur? Second,are there any differences between high-mark and low-mark compositions in terms of lexical errors? Third,what are the potential sources of these main errors? Are there any correlations between sources?Results show that the main types of lexical error in non-English major students' writing are distortion and collocation,which are followed by confusion of sense relation and misformation and formal misselection.In addition,through the comparative analysis of high-mark and low-mark compositions,it is concluded that the number of lexical errors in high-mark compositions are obviously less than those in low-mark compositions.Besides,the width and accuracy of vocabulary with high score are higher than those with low score in compositions.The potential sources of lexical errors are interlingual errors caused by mother tongue negative transfer,intralingual errors caused by improper learning strategies.Other sources such as communication strategy-based sources and induced sources are also related.Relatively small samples of composition and lack of experience of the researcher may influence the objectivity of this study.In spite of the limitations displayed in this study,it is hoped to put forward some suggestions for vocabulary teaching and learning,thereby help improve learners' English writing proficiency.