李玲莉
贵州六盘水盘州市第一中学553500
【Abstract】English writing plays an important role in English teaching. It is the performance of the learners’ comprehensive using ability and the important and difficult point in English teaching.
Error analysis is an important theory originated in the 1970s. Its greatest contribution is to correct people’s wrong view for the error. It points out the errors should not be avoided, but should be treated as a natural phenomenon in the process of learning target language. Based on the error analysis theory and interlanguage theory, this thesis aims to investigate and analyze the errors in the writing process for the grade 1 in Guiyang the nineteenth junior school, dissecting the reason of errors and summing up the strategies of correcting errors. It tries to provide some actual help for language teaching by combining teachers’ teaching with students’ learning.
【Keywords】 interlanguage; error analysis; junior High school student English Writing teaching
I. Introduction
With the fast developing of the information, English, as a medium of cultural exchange, plays an increasingly important role in language. English writing is the performance of the learners’ comprehensive ability. Students, especially the junior high school students always commit mistakes in English spelling, vocabulary, grammar, sentence structure and so on. Many experts and scholars do research of error analysis in junior high school English writing teaching. This Thesis, based on the experts and scholars’ research, analyzes the causes of error for the junior high school students to help them improve English writing competence.
1.1 Research Background
English writing is one of the difficulties for the English education. It has found that English writing is a quite difficulty for many students, especially for the junior school students. They lack of vocabulary and master few grammars, which leads to the nonfluency the sentence and discourse. Error reflects the learners master the language system. They are the performance of the learners attempt to judge the target language system. Error analysis is the process in which the foreign languages learners’ errors can be analyze fully and systematically. By this way, we can find the errors and the causes of the errors, so that we can avoid and reduce language errors. For this thesis, writer mainly find out different errors of junior high school students based on the error analysis, interlanguage explore the effective approaches to improve the students’ writing ability and used in the writing teaching activities to provide the actual help.
1.2 Research Goal and Significance
This paper treats the junior high school students and teacher as the object of investigation, analyzing the errors from students’ writing and finding the regulation used in the English writing teaching as the guidance.
Through error analysis, people can understand why the students make errors and the causes of errors. Through this process, it can help the educators find out the problems and take steps to prevent or reduce errors, so that improving students’ learning effect and language development. Besides, teachers can find out some flaws in their teaching process to promptly provide some actual help for the teaching activities.
Ⅱ.Theoretical Framework
This chapter mainly introduces the error analysis theory and interlanguage theory. These two theories provide a basis for the research .
2.1 Error Analysis Theory
2.1.1 The concept of Error analysis
With the development of learning styles, people probe the learning regulation from the errors. According to Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, error refers to the use of a linguistic item in a way which affluent or native speaker of the language regards as showing faulty or incomplete learning.
Corder put forward “error” and “mistake”. He thinks error is not disadvantage but the performance of learners’ creation the study, it has systematicness and it is inevitable. So, error is the phenomenon that learners lack of relevant language knowledge and can’t correct them. However, “mistake” is learners misuse language knowledge and they are able to correct them.
2.1.2 The Classification of Error Analysis
Different linguistic schools have different error types in different process according to learners’ character of language learning. Corder divided errors into three types:
(1) Pre-systematic error, it refers to the error made by learners who are at the beginning of language learning.
(2)Systematic error, it refers to error made in the period of new language system forming.
(3) Post-systematic error, it is made after language system is formed. That is learners have mastered most of the language rules and can apply them, but still haven’t formed a habit, thus making error.
2.1.3 The Causes of Error Analysis
There are many causes of making errors in the field of foreign language. Selinker thinks language errors are caused due to the following reasons: (1) Interlingual interference, it is caused by one’s knowledge and experience of native language. For example, Chinglish belong to this type. (2) Intralingual interference, it is caused by the learners can’t accurately understand the rules of the mother language. (3) Non-lingual interference, there are many factors learners’ intelligence, learning motivation, learning interest, memorizing ability, mental state and environment and so on.
2.1.4 The Steps of Error Analysis
Corder divided the error analysis into five steps：
(1) Collecting materials of writing or oral of learners’ language.
(2) Finding errors in the language materials, only “error” is the object of error analysis.
(3) Classifying errors and describing every one of them.
(4) Explaining errors and finding out the causes of making errors.
(5) Analyzing errors and providing the decision-making basis for making the effective foreign language teaching plan and arraignment.
2.1.5 The Significance of Error Analysis
Error can provide something feedback. For one thing, through error analysis, we can know learners’ error forms and the causes of making errors, so that we can take measures to remedy their limitation. For another, we can find out the weak points of the teaching methods and the teaching plans, whether the teaching content is appropriate. All of the decisions are carried out according to the results of error analysis.
2.2 Interlanguage Theory
2.2.1 The Definition of Interlanguage
In 1972, American linguists Larry Selinker produced the new “interlanguage”, it refers to the separateness of a second language learners’ second language system, a system that has a structurally intermediate status between the native and target languages, but a bridge of native and target language at every stage.
2.2.2 The Development of Interlanguage
The development of interlanguage can be traced back to the study of contrastive analysis and error analysis in the middle of the 20th century. Learners make kinds of errors in the process of learning, Scholars adopt two means contrastive analysis and error analysis to probe why the learners make errors and where are these errors, so that correct them.
Contrast is the comparison between different things, appeared in the fifties and sixties of 20th century. People have imagined that interference and negative transfer were going to appear when target language different from the mother language. If both are similar, positive transfer was going to come. People could predict the problems learners meet and solve them.
Ⅲ. Error Analysis in English Writing Teaching
3.1 Methodology
It is important to cultivate the students’ writing ability in the junior high school. In order to increase teaching quality and train students’ writing ability, this paper aims to survey and analyze errors in the junior high school students’ writing to offer some material and examples for the teaching.
The object is the 90 students and teachers of grade 1 in Guiyang the nineteenth junior school. The title is “My Family”. The objects started to learn English from grade three, have certain foundation and English writing skills. Author thinks they are representative.
Author collected 90 compositions of junior high school in due time. The theme is “My Family”, word count in between 50 to 80. Finally, author found out the errors and arranged and analyzed them.
3.2 Results and Discussion
3.2.1 Vocabulary Errors Analysis
Vocabulary is basis of learning foreign language, but the students’ vocabulary base is weak. However, the mother tongue always influences the students inevitable. That is interlingual errors, many vocabulary belong to transfer error. The following sentences are incorrect sentences:
(1) My mother is an teacher.
(2) My father is a engineer.
(3) My father likes seeing newspaper.
(4) I will good good study, day day up to return my family.
The errors of (1) and (2) caused by the misuse of article. Students can’t understand how to applied the “a” or “an”, because they are influenced by Chinese. There is no difference about “a” or “an” in Chinese. However, “a” or “an” decided by the following word which is pronounced as vowel or consonant. The errors of (3) and (4) caused by the mother tongue. That is so-called Chinglish. “seeing newspaper” means “reading newspaper” in Chinese. Students can’t understand the foreign culture well. “good good study, day day up” just translate Chinese into English word by word. It doesn’t conform with regular English expression. The correct sentence should be:
(1) My mother is a teacher.
(2) My father is an engineer.
(3) My father likes reading newspaper.
(4) I will study hard to repay my family.
3.2.2 Grammatical Error Analysis
English grammar is a difficult problem for the junior high school. They are always makes kinds of errors on grammar.
(1) When I am 10 years old I, I am ill.
(2) My father like watching TV.
The errors of (1) and (2) caused by the tense, because there is no tense in Chinese, the students didn’t know the simple past tense and simple present tense. Besides, “my father” belongs to the third person singular, “like” should add “s”. The correct sentences should be:
(1) When I was 10 years old, I am ill.
(2) My father likes watching TV.
3.2.3 Syntax Errors Analysis
During the process of writing, the students tend to ignore and forget the structure of sentences. They are always makes up some wrong sentences. The following examples are typical errors.
(1) Although my parents are serious, but I love them.
(2) Because my mother was ill, so I have to stay at home.
(3) I very thank my family.
The errors of (1) and (2) are affected by conjunctions. The two conjunctions “Although...but...” and “Because...so...” can be used in the same sentence in Chinese. But in English, we must remove the “but” and “so”. For the error of (3), students ignored the tense, part of speech and grammar. They just translate word by word according to Chinese.
IV. Conclusion
This chapter mainly summaries the major findings, pedagogical implications of this thesis and provides some suggestions for the further research.
4.1 Major Findings
The reasons of making errors are as following:
(1) Mother tongue is one of the main factor lead to students make error, particularly in the sentences structure and vocabulary.
(2) Be not good at grammar.
(3) Other induced errors, such teaching methods, students’ learning situation, environment and so on.
4.2 Pedagogical Implications
Junior high school students made all kinds of errors in English writing. For the students, the writing habits, understanding of the grammar and English writing methods are the main factors. For the teacher, they should pay attention to improving their knowledge level and teaching methods.
4.2.1 Learning Measures Taken for the Students
4.2.1.1 Cultivating Confidence and Good Writing Habits
Confidence is the key factor to learn English. Most of the students lost confidence when they are faced with writing, this is bad for them. They should overcome psychological barriers and self-encouragement. It is good for students to do some reading training and extensive reading after class and try to master the important and difficult point. It is worth making a timetable when students are writing composition, completing the writing in the limited time.
4.2.1.2 Grammar is the Foundation
Grammar, which including students’ vocabulary, syntactic structure and tense, is the foundation and basis for a good writing. Many students think grammar is difficult and complex. On the country, English learners choose a book accord with needing, combing with the knowledge teacher having taught, and analyzing gradually the complex sentences structure, by this way, students can avoid or reduce the grammar error.
4.2.1.3 Students’ Mutual-evaluation
In most cases, only the teacher corrects the students’ English writing. Students’ mutual-evaluation method is often neglected in writing, but in fact offering some advantages. For example, it has a freshness that arouses students’ interest. As we all know that the freshness is the most important factor that arouse the interest, the interest is the best teacher. In addition, students’ mutual-evaluation enhance the students’ confidence, they can find their real selves in the case of mutual evaluate. Through long-term contact, they can understand each other and set up a reading, appreciation and writing of confidence. When finished the task of teacher assigned, students can mutual-evaluation from all sides, and learning form each other, sharing the best way for English writing.
4.2.2 Teaching Measure Taken for the Teacher
4.2.2.1 Improving the level of Knowledge and Teaching Skills
Teacher must arm themselves with knowledge as guide. For example, they can go abroad for further study and do some research. As for the teaching skills, flexible teaching methods are adopted to promote students’ knowledge construction and develop their thoughts, changing the teaching skills system according to the students’ situation creating easy and harmonious teaching atmosphere. For instance, questions in class should be dealt with different teaching methods on the basis of different teaching contents; teacher should pay attention to changing methods when they design a lesson for a new class. Improving the level of knowledge and teaching skills are conducive to teaching effect.
4.2.2.2 Improving the Students’ Ability of Error Correction
Language learning is a process of making errors, you are learning. It is quite important to how to correct errors for students. Students self-evaluation, mutual-evaluation are good means to correct errors. Teacher tell students what are the common mistakes in English composition, such as, structural errors, spelling errors and errors in punctuation and so on. To give the students enough time to read and think again what are errors in their writing according to the error types teachers give. As a whole in the learning process, students can consult dictionary or reference book even ask teacher for help, of course, the teacher dose not directly tell where mistakes are but indirect point out the mistake. By this way, teacher can lighten their work pressure and students can active participate in.
4.2.2.3 Doing More Exercise to Enhance Students’ Writing Ability
As the saying goes, “Practice makes perfect”. We are supposed to insist this truth and doing more training to enhance students’ writing ability. Teachers should encourage students making sentences by imitating expression in text with the learned words, phrases and sentence patters, rewrite modal essays, write a summary or comment to the text and rearrange the disordered sentences to be a logical essay or assay developing as time sequence and so on.
4.3 Suggestions for Future Research
Due to the author’s limited research ability, there are many shortcomings in the thesis. First, sample material selected from an ordinary composition of grade one, and the content is very simple, grammar structures are narrow, the error category can’t be gathered. Second, the error caused by many factors, the collection of misclassification is not necessarily appropriate. Third, as the time is relatively limited, the author didn’t collect and analyze the English writing in large sample, so the effectiveness and practicability of the study is weakened. However, the author hopes to research further in the process of teaching in the future.
In a word, for the error analysis study, there are lots of works to do. Teachers should not only analyze the English writing error according to the theory but also apply them in actual teaching. In this way, students’ errors can be corrected and their English using competence can be improved.
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