An Error Analysis of Written English Paragraphs at Lexical, Syntactic, and Paragraph Levels Made by Thai EFL Non-English Major Students
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the most frequent errors made by Thai EFL non-English major students at lexical, syntactic, and paragraph levels in their EFL writing class. 95 pieces of expository paragraphs written by non-English major students who enrolled in a paragraph writing course (205122) at Naresuan University were collected and analysed. It was found that the most frequently committed errors at the word, sentence, and paragraph levels were spelling, capitalisation, and errors in semantics and good coherence, respectively. It is suggested that writing teachers utilise these errors as a facilitator in teaching and improving the writing performance of their students. In addition, L1 interference, the literal translation from Thai, and differences between Thai and English should be taken into account. Moreover, the knowledge of some particular mechanics and grammar need to be taught in greater detail. The findings emerging from the present study imply that more writing activities and exercises on revision and feedback provision are needed.
Keywords: Error analysis; lexical level; syntactic level; paragraph level; Thai EFL non-English major students
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Alhaysony, M. (2012). An analysis of article errors among Saudi female EFL students: A case study. Asian Social Science, 8(12), 55-66.
Al-Shujairi, Y. B. J. & Tan, H. (2017). Grammar errors in the writing of Iraqi English language learners. International Journal of Education and Literacy Studies 5(1), 122-130.
Boardman, C. A. (2008). Writing to communicate 1: Paragraphs. Pearson Longman.
Boonyarattanasoontorn, P. (2017). An investigation of Thai students’ English language writing difficulties and their use of writing strategies. Journal of Advanced Research in Social Sciences and Humanities, 2(2), 111-118.
Brown, H. D. (2007). Principles of language learning and teaching (5th ed.). Longman.
Byrne, D. (1984). Teaching writing skill. Longman Group.
Chuenchaichon, Y. (2011). The development of paragraph writing for EFL writers through the use of a reading into writing method [Doctoral dissertation]. University of Reading.
Corder, S. P. (1973). The elicitation of interlanguage. In J. Svartvik (Ed.), Errata: Papers in error analysis (pp. 36–48). CWK Gleerup.
Corder, S. P. (1981). Error analysis and interlanguage. Oxford University Press.
Dulay, H. C., Burt, M.K., & Krashen, S.D. (1982). Language two. Oxford University Press.
Ellis, R. (2002). Second language acquisition. Oxford University Press.
Ellis, R., & Barkhuizen, G. (2005). Analysing learner language. Oxford University Press.
Gass, S. M., & Selinker, L. (2008). Second language acquisition: An introductory course (3rd ed.). Routledge.
Grabe, W., & Kaplan, R. B. (1996). Theory and practice of writing: An applied linguistic perspective. Longman.
Hamed, M. (2018). Common linguistic errors among non-English major Libyan students writing. Arab World English Journal, 9(3), 219-232.
Hussain, R. A. M. (2019). An analysis of undergraduate Saudi EFL female students’ errors in written English essays. Arab World English Journal, Special Issue: The Dynamics of EFL in Saudi Arabia. 241-258. https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/efl1.17
Hyland, F. (2003). Focusing on form: Student engagement with teacher feedback. System, 31(2), 217-230.
James, C. (1998). Errors in language learning and use: Exploring error analysis. Routledge.
Karim, A., Mohamed, A.R., Ismail, S.A.M.M, Shahed, F. H., Rahman, M.M., & Haque, M.H. (2018). Error analysis in EFL writing classroom. International Journal of English Linguistics, 8(4). 122-138.
Kirmizi, O., & Karci, B. (2017). An investigation of Turkish higher education EFL learners’ linguistic and lexical errors. Educational Process: International Journal, 6(4), 35-54.
Kongkaew,S., & Cedar, P. (2018). An analysis of errors in online English writing made by Thai EFL authors. International Journal of Applied Linguistics & English Literature, 7(6), 86-96.
Murad, T.M., & Khalil, M.H. (2015). Analysis of errors in English writings committed by Arab first-year college students of EFL in Israel. Journal of Language Teaching and Research. 6(3), 475-481.
Nuruzzaman, M., Islam, A. S., & Shuchi, I. J. (2018). An analysis of errors committed by Saudi non-English major students in the English paragraph writing: A study of comparisons. Advances in Language and Literary Studies, 9(1), 31-39.
Olshen, S. (1999). Errors and compensatory strategies: A study of grammar and vocabulary in texts written by Norwegian learners of English. System, 27, 191-205. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0346-251X(99)00016-0
Padgate, W. (2008). Beliefs and opinions about English writing of students at a Thai university. PASAA, 42, 31-54.
Phuket, P. R. N., & Othman, N. B. (2015). Understanding EFL students' errors in writing. Journal of Education and Practice, 6(32), 99-106.
Richards, J. C., & Schmidt, R. W. (2002). Longman dictionary of language teaching and applied linguistics. New York: Routledge.
Saville-Troike, M. (2006). Introducing second language acquisition (1st ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Saville-Troike, M. (2012). Introducing second language acquisition (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Sermsook, K., Liamnimitr, J., & Pochakorn, R. (2017). An analysis of errors in written English sentences: A case study of Thai EFL students. English Language Teaching, 10(3), 101-110.
Suraprajit, P. (2021). An analysis of errors in English essays written by Thai non-English major students. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 11(1), 12-19.
Sychandone, N. (2016). Comparative error analysis in English writing by first, second, and third year students of English Department of Faculty of Education at Champasack University. Jurnal Penelitian Humaniora, 17(1), 74-86.
Ulla, M. B. (2014). Analysis of the language errors in writing among BSEE and AB English students. European Journal of Academic Essays, 1(3), 39-47.
Watcharapunyawong, S., & Usaha, S. (2013). Thai EFL students’ writing errors in different text types: The interference of the first language. English Language Teaching, 6(1), 67-78. http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/elt.v6n1p67
Weigle, S. C. (2002). Assessing writing. Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1060-3743(02)00084-X
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/3L-2022-2802-07
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
eISSN : 2550-2247
ISSN : 0128-5157