通过语际错误的分析提高大学英语写作教学

1、AcknowledgementsI benefit from our university for providing me with such a precious opportunity of writing this thesis to conclude my four years undergraduate education. In the course of writing, I have gained more knowledge and enlightenment than I expected.I would like to express my most sincere a

2、ppreciation to my respected supervisor, Li Xuefeng, an amiable and knowledgeable teacher, who patiently and painstakingly fulfilled the task of reading, critiquing, shaping and polishing all the preliminary drafts of this thesis.In addition, my thanks also go to my family as well as the classmates w

3、ho have offered me suggestions and help.AbstractIn the era of globalization, mastering a foreign language is essential. English is one of the most widely used languages and is being studied by most people. Language is used as a communication tool and often used for written communication. The main ma

4、terial of this study is the interlingual errors that made by students in Xianyang Normal University. Through arranging and classifying the errors in the students composition, this study finds that the students errors are divided into three aspects: vocabulary errors, grammatical errors and discourse

5、 errors. The research continues to supplement a questionnaire, and then analyzes the reasons why the students make such errors, and then puts forward some suggestions to improve the teaching of college English writing.Key Words: Interlingual Errors; Error Analysis Theory; Interlingual Errors Theory;

6、 English Writing Teaching摘 要在全球化时代，掌握一门外语至关重要。英语作为目前使用人数最多的语言之一，正在被大多数人学习。语言作为被交流的工具，经常被用于书面交际。本研究主要材料是收集到的咸阳师范学院学生的作文中出现的语际错误。本研究通过对学生作文中出现的语际错误进行整理,并对其进行归类，发现学生的错误主要分为三个方面：词汇错误，语法错误，语篇错误。研究继续以调查问卷作为补充，进而分析出学生出现这种错误的原因，继而提出一些有利于大学英语写作教学提高的建议。关键词：语际错误；错误理论；语际错误理论；写作教学Contents TOC o 1-3 h z uHYPERLIN

7、K ./Documents/WeChat Files/muming1007/Documents/WeChat Files/zmy162556/Files/张梦怡二稿(1).docx l _Toc4808715911. Introduction 1HYPERLINK ./Documents/WeChat Files/muming1007/Documents/WeChat Files/zmy162556/Files/张梦怡二稿(1).docx l _Toc4808715922. Theoretical Preliminaries and Literature Review. 1HYPERLINK

8、l _Toc480871593 2.1 The Introduction of Error Analysis 1HYPERLINK l _Toc480871596 2.4 Related Studies at Abroad 3HYPERLINK l _Toc480871597 2.5 Related Studies at Home. 3HYPERLINK l _Toc480871605 5. The Suggestions to College English Writing Teaching 11HYPERLINK l _Toc480871607 Bibliography 16HYPERLI

9、NK l _Toc480871608 Appendix 18The Improvement of College English Writing TeachingThrough Interlingual Errors AnalysisIntroductionWriting ability more and more become a kind of practical skill,and almost all of the students have trouble in writing. So, this study will put forward some useful suggesti

10、ons to teachers to improve the efficiency of the English writing teaching. Both abroad and home have had related research, and this study mainly talk about the interlingual errors that students make in their writing. This study analyze the errors that from the college students in Xianyang Normal Uni

11、versity, and take a questionnaire as supplement to find out the reason why the students make these errors, and finally to put forward some useful suggestions for English writing teaching in university.Theoretical Preliminaries and Literature ReviewThis part generally talks the related literature abo

12、ut the Error Analysis and research about English writing teaching.The Introduction of Error AnalysisError analysis originated in the late 1960s and the early 1970. It is a branch of applied linguistic. In 1967, England linguist Pit Corder published the dissertation “The Significance of Learners Erro

13、r”, forming Error Analysis. The core of Error Analysis is to research and analyze errors systematically, find the origin of errors and provide the rational for eliminating errors in the teaching process.ES has been an important part of the research in the second language acquisition, and its theoret

14、ical basis is Chomosys theory and psycholinguistics (戴炜栋，束定芳，1-7).With the development of linguist and further study to language errors, especially after Chomsky distinguished language competence and language performance, peoples cognition to language error changed a lot. People found other factors

15、led to errors and there are foreign language learning difficulties besides native language interference. Predicting and explaining learners errors just by contrasting forms of native language and target language was not enough. Furthermore, the teaching way that errors must be corrected as soon as t

16、hey appeared was restricted, tending to exert pressure to students. Students were afraid of making errors. Thus, their development of language ability was restrained. Therefore, people began to attach much importance to find, understand, and explain language learning strategies and process.2.2 The P

17、erspective on Error and Interlingual ErrorGiving a definition to error really is not an easy job. Different linguists have different definitions to errors. In order to get a much clearer picture of the definitions of errors, different versions made by different researchers are presented as follows:I

18、n Rod Elliss opinion, an error can be comprehended as a deviation from the norms of the target language. (51)Errors are the flawed side of learner speech or writing. They are those parts of conversation or composition that deviate from some selected norm of mature language performance. (Dulay et.al,

19、 138)Carl James thinks that errors are defined as unsuccessful bit of language. (1)From the preceding definitions above, we have a much clearer perspective on errors.In order to analyze the learner language in proper perspective, it is important to distinguish between errors and mistakes, which are

20、“technically two very different phenomena” (Brown, 205).A mistake refers to a performance error that is either a random guess or a “slip”, in that it is a failure to use a known system correctly. Both native speakers and L2 learners make mistakes. An error is a noticeable deviation from the adult gr

21、ammar of a native speaker, reflecting the interlanguage competence of the learner.The interlingual error is the error that results from language transfer, which is caused by the learners native language. Hu zhuanglin thought “interlingual error was made when the learner misuse an item because it sha

22、res feature with an item in the native language (272). For example, the learners utilize some L1 features (phonological, lexical, grammatical, or pragmatic) rather than that of the target language.2.3 The Current Situation of College English Writing TeachingThe current situation of university Englis

23、h writing teaching has such challenges: at first, university doesnt have enough class for student. Secondly, because teachers dont have effective skill to teach students how to write, both teachers and students get little fruits after they have took a lot of energy and time.2.4 Related Studies at Ab

24、roadError Analysis, as a branch of applied linguistics, replaced CA (Contrastive Analysis) and was formally put forward in 1970s. In the past few decades, a large number of researchers on EA have been carried out theoretically abroad, for instance, Corder (36) begins his error analysis study with hi

25、s influential article, “The Significance of Learners Error”, followed by Schachter (205). As for empirical studies, there are also researches intensely carried out by linguists in1940s. French provides an all-side account of common learners errors. Dulay and Burt describe errors and strategies in ch

26、ildrens and adults L2 acquisition and they also contribute to the systematic classification of errors in 1982 (37-53). Lennon clarifies the way for error classification (182). Whats more, Calvez provides a disappointing summary, “Students repeat their own errors time and time again, and repeat the e

27、rrors made by generations of their peers before them” (92-102). This argument provides well-documented examples for later researches. Meanwhile, researchers devotes to error correction as well. Krashen assumes that learners would spontaneously self-repair. Holly and King argue error correction could

28、 be helpful to L2 development as well as counterproductive in young childrens L1 acquisition (494-498).2.5 Related Studies at HomeWith comparing with studies overseas, China started late on error analysis, which originally only limited to the introduction of the latest theories abroad. Then from the

29、 1990s, domestic linguists begin to highlight their studies on students errors.Linguistic doctor, Wang and Wen study college students compositions and then describe their writing process (64). Xiao (422-428) and He (199-205) analyze spelling errors. Lius discuss the errors of phonology (88-93). Chen

30、 explores collocative errors (60-62). These studies chiefly focused on one certain type of writing errors respectively. And it is worth mentioning that writing errors made by the non-English majors in four-year colloges or universities are repeatedly studied either. For example, Fan gathered 94 comp

31、ositions of non-English majors in North-West Law University in China (85). After data analysis, he concluded that grammatical errors ranked the first in number among all the errors. However, so far, few studies have focused on errors made by vocational college English majors.Research MethodThe metho

32、d of this study is to analyze the errors that appeared in the students writing and a questionnaire thatfinished by students in Xianyang Normal University.3.1 Object of ResearchThe object of this study is sophomore in Xianyang Normal University. Because of the freshman have just entered the universit

33、y, they are more curious about college life, and almost all of the junior and senior students are busy with examinations, job-finding, and other things. So the researcher chooses the sophomore as the object. In order to make the study more representative and universal, this study uses random samplin

34、g method to collect samples in the university. These samples can reflect the common problems in university English writing. The solution of these problems is significant to university English writing teaching.3.2 Method of ResearchThe study uses survey method and questionnaire method. The material o

35、f this research is English composition and questionnaire by students in Xianyang Normal University. Through collecting and analyzing the errors in the students composition and the answers in the questionnaire, the conclusions are drawn. And then study gives some useful suggestions to teachers to imp

36、rove the efficiency of the English writing teaching. The texts content and requirement will be given in Appendix 1. Because of the restrictions of the students writing, the study uses a questionnaire as a supplementary means. Through the analyzing the answers of the questionnaire, it can helpful for

37、 understanding the students writing process. Please refer to Appendix 2 for the questionnaire.3.3 Design of ResearchBased on the Pit Corders Error Analysis theory, this study researches the students composition and questionnaire via a combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis. It aims at

38、the interlingual error that appeared in the composition. In this way, a clear picture of students writing situation will come into readers mind.3.3.1 The Analysis of the Students CompositionThis part will collect and classify the interlingual errors appeared in students composition. And analyze them

39、 through quantitative and qualitative analysis. The specific steps are: a. to collect the analyzed material; b. to identify the error; c. to misclassify; d. to analyze the cause of the error; e. to evaluate the error.To collect the analyzed materialThe researcher chose the Department of Mathematics

40、1601 students to achieve the composition according to the essay requirements which requirements for Appendix 1. The researcher issued 33 essay papers, and finally received 30 essays, and three students because of personal reasons failed to submit the essays in time. Therefore, the main material of t

41、his study is these 30 essays that I received.To identify the errorIdentification of errors needed to be from the vocabulary, grammar and discourse these three aspects.At first, the researcher sees whether the vocabularies use is correct, appropriate, reasonable, if not, there are errors. For example

42、:Students also misspelled “environment”, “vacation” and “strengthen” as “enviroment”, “vocation” and “strengtheen”. However, if they take much attention on their writing, the errors of this type are easy to decrease in number or even avoid.*the public medical farethe free medical fareThis type of er

43、rors appeared because of the wrong collocation. And this kind of errors needed students to pay attention to remember.Secondly, the researcher sees whether the sentence conforms to the grammatical norms (This study mainly researches the attributive clause,and researcher focus on the norms of the attr

44、ibutive clause.). if not, there are errors. For examples:*She used to help my brother, who was very kind of her.She used to help my brother, which was very kind of her.This errors appeared because of students misunderstand the antecedent.*Do you still remember the day when we spent together in China

45、 last year?Do you still remember the day that we spent together in China last year?This type of errors appeared because students dont understand the difference between relative adverbs and relative pronouns.*It was in the kitchen where the fire broke out.It was in the kitchen that the fire broke out

46、.This type of errors appeared because students misunderstand the attributive clause and the emphasized pattern.*There are many books in the library, most of which is in Chinese.There are many books in the library, most of which are in Chinese.This type of errors appeared because students misundersta

47、nd the “which” stand what.*The scientist has made another discovery, that I believe is of great importance.The scientist has made another discovery, which I believe is of great importance.This type of errors appeared because students dont understand what kind of introducer can be used in Non-definin

48、g Attributive Clauses.Thirdly, the researcher sees whether the sentences fit the specific context of the rules. The researcher needs to see whether the whole composition is complete and fluent.To misclassifyThe researcher makes a series of predictions based on the problems that are common to learner

49、s, and establish false categories like this: spelling errors, improper selection of vocabularies, vocabulary collocation, misuse of relational pronouns and relational adverbs, lack of relational pronouns and relational adverbs, lack of prepositions, inconsistencies in antecedent and attributive pred

50、icate verb, and then classify the errors in the analyzed material according to the established error categories.Through the misclassifying, the researcher got the following table:错误类型 错误现象 次数 比例 排次 错误出现个数 比例 排次词汇错误 拼写错误 103 23% 1 242 56% 1词汇错误 94 21% 2词汇搭配错误 45 10% 4语法错误（定语从句） 关系代词和关系副词的误用 81 18% 3

51、166 37% 2关系代词和关系副词的缺失 40 9% 5介词的缺失 27 6% 6先行词和定语从句谓语动词不一致 18 4% 8语篇错误 衔接和连贯 13 3% 9 40 7% 3标点符号 27 6% 6From the above table, we can clearly see the students will appear what errors and the proportion of each kind. We can find that the vocabularies errors accounting for 56%, which is most. In this pa

52、rt, the portion of spelling error is the highest, which accounts for 23%，following is the vocabulary selection error, the proportion is 21% , and vocabulary collocation problems also plagued a considerable number of students, this kind of errors portion is 10%. The second sorts of errors are grammat

53、ical error, which proportion is 37%. This study mainly researches attributive clause that appears in students writing. In this study, the grammatical errors in students writing are divided into four categories: misuse of relational pronouns and relational adverbs, lack of relational pronouns and rel

54、ational adverbs, lack of prepositions, inconsistencies in antecedent and attributive predicate verb. Among them, the amount of misuse of relational pronouns and relational adverbs is the most which account for 18%. Following is the lack of relational pronouns and relational adverbs, the proportion i

55、s 9%, the proportion of the lack of preposition is 6%, and the proportion of the inconsistencies in antecedent and attributive predicate verb is 4%. The last is the discourse error, and the proportion is 7%.To analyze the reason of the errorWhen the error is identified and classified, then it is nec

56、essary to explain why the foreign language learners have made these errors. In other words, it is necessary to try to find out the reasons of these errors,and to analyze and correct them to achieve the purpose of learning.The first kind of error mainly caused by students confused the word and its Ch

57、inese meaning. Students always learn the vocabulary by memory the words Chinese meaning, and this always make students misuse the synonym. Also, English has some native expression, and students often make a wrong collocation.The second kind of error mainly because Chinese and English belongs to two

58、languages, there is no attributive clause in Chinese, so some students understand it with some deviation, and they often make sentences in their Chinese thought.The third kind of error is discourse error which is mainly due to the difference between Chinese thinking and foreign thinking. Chinese and

59、 foreigners think one thing in different way, they will write a composition in a different way, and Chinese learners will not complete a native composition like foreigners.3.3.2 The Analysis of QuestionnaireThere also have much more questions that cannot reflect on the students composition, so the researcher m