时间：2022-07-03 04:27:16
Abstract. By using the theory of error analysis， the thesis investigates and analyzes the errors in college English CET-4 model writing. 100 samples of writing are chosen randomly from 260 student’s writing. In all， 986 errors are identified and classified from different angles， such as errors at the lexical level， errors influenced by mother tongue， errors at the grammar level and errors at the level of discourse. Then the possible causes of errors are discussed. They are as communication strategy-based errors， intralingual errors， induced errors， etc. With the analysis the errors and their causes， some strategies are given for the learners to improve their writing in Chinese learning environment.
Key words： Error， Error Analysis， CET-4 Writing
1. Introduction
Error analysis as a branch of applied linguistics is undoubtedly the major contributor to the study of second language learning and acquisition. Not only does it throw some light in the second language learning process， but also provides some insight into the strategies which learners used in learning process. Seriously studying the error will reveal the common features shared by language learners， and it is considered to be a great help for teachers and learners. Therefore， there are many scholars doing the research by analyzing students' composition errors in the process of their writing. In this way， it helps researchers better understand about the problem and teachers can help students effectively to improve their writing proficiency.
This paper will examine the common language errors of the Chinese university non-English majors’ model compositions in CET-4 based on the theory of error analysis. Then it tries to find out the causes for them so that learners will boost their writing skill in CET-4.
2. Theoretical Basis
2.1 Errors
In order to analyze learner language from a proper perspective， it is important to make a distinction between mistakes and errors.
There are two terms （“mistake” and“error”） in error analysis. A mistake is not the result of a deficiency in competence but that of failure in performance， either a random guess or a “slip”. On the contrary， an error is the result of lacking competence which occurs because the learner has not yet“internalized the formation rules” of the target language in learning.
Different researchers view errors from different perspectives when it is judged by the definitions offered by them， and they also defined error from different level of the language. However， what they all agree on one point is that errors are deviations from a “selected norm” of language performance. Again， it is not surprising that researchers usually place different weight on the corresponding aspect for different purposes. But no matter at what level the research is carried out， attention ought to be paid to recurrent， systematic errors either representative of the learning process of a particular learner or characteristic of a group of learners at certain stage of the second language learning.
Therefore， a more cautious working definition will be employed in this study， namely， a linguistic form or combination of forms which would not possibly be accepted because it deviates from written norm of the target language. Moreover， it should also be pointed out that the present study just focuses on the common characteristic of linguistic errors shared by a group of non-English majors in the Chinese environment of English-learning.
2.2 Theory of Error Analysis
Error analysis， the establishment of a basis in the known psychology and generative linguistics， one of its basic assumptions is that human brain has a special mechanism for processing language knowledge （Dai Weidong， Shu Dingfang， 1994： 3）， its aim is to find the error and its cause through analysis and evaluation of students in the second language acquisition. Error analysis theory states that innate language acquisition mechanism exists in the brain， in the process of foreign language learning， language mechanisms stimulated by language materials to make assumptions on the nature of the target language， and verify its correctness. In this process， the learner will actively create and establish the system of the target language， and build knowledge of the language of the transitional nature of the system， interlanguage.
Meanwhile， the learners will inevitably make mistakes， thus deviation language from the target language. Observing and analyzing these errors， we can accurately find the causes and make corrections （Guo Xiaohua & Ouyang Jing， 2010）.Therefore， based on this theory， the error analysis is to test the level of learners， and it is the essential analysis and evaluation tool for teachers and learners.
3. Design of the Study
3.1 Objectives
The purposes of this study are （1） to identify and classify errors of writing for college non-English majors. （2） to diagnose and explain the sources of errors from generally accepted four categories ， namely， errors influenced by mother tongue， errors at the lexical level， and errors at the grammar level and errors at the level of discourse； and （3） to provide some pedagogical implication in improving students’ writing ability.
3.2 Method
3.2.1Subjects
Data collection for this paper is carried out in Guangxi University of Science and Technology. All the data are from the second year students’ CET-4 model compositions. The topic of the composition is “The Importance of Keeping a Good Mood.” Altogether there are 100 students related to this research， who come from four different majors of the different schools in the same university.
3.2.2 Process
Two kinds of instruments are employed in the study： sample of model CET-4 compositions and software for doing statistical analysis.
In March， 2013， 260 samples of CET-4 model writing with the topic of “The Importance of Keeping a Good Mood” were collected from students in Guangxi University of Science and Technology who major in Statistics， Finance， and Civil Engineering and Machinery automation respectively. 100 samples were chosen randomly from them. Then SPSS16.0 was used to calculate and analyze the proportions of each type of errors.
3.2.3 Data Collection and Analysis
The actual number of the errors collected from the sample compositions is presented as follow. The results show in Table 1 that a total of 986 errors are collected out of all the writings.
Of errors shown above， we can easily find that lexical errors are the most distinctive， which count 391， about 40% of the total； next comes 172 influenced by Chinese mother tongue errors， accounting for17.5% of the total. The numbers of the errors at the level of grammar and discourse are 156 and 101， accounting for 15.8% and 10.2% respectively.
4. Results and Findings
4.1Common Error Description
There are many criteria for us to classify the errors committed by its learners. For instance， the sex， age or the nationality of the learner， type of the school attended， type of the activities which gave rise to the errors， such as translation， dictation， free speech， guided composition and so on.（James 2001：102）
In this paper， in order to describe and analyze the errors more clearly and scientifically， the author just employs the common errors as errors influenced by mother tongue， errors at the lexical level， and errors at the grammar level and errors at the level of discourse.
4.1.1 Errors at the Lexical Level
Lexical errors refer to the semantic or conceptual errors in lexis where the learner uses forms that exist in the target language， but these forms do not convey the meanings they intend to express. Lexical errors mainly involve two types， namely， errors in word choices and those in collocations.
e.g.
1）Today， people are making every effort to decrease pressure.
2）Proper measures should be made to benefit everyone in the world.
The first sentence contains an error of word choice. The suitable word in sentence （1） should be “Today， people are making every effort to reduce pressure”. Sentence （2） contains collocation errors. The correct collocation should be “proper measures should be taken to benefit everyone in the world”.
4.1.2 Errors Influenced by Mother Tongue
Here are some examples from the samples：
（1）a good mood means a good body.（health）
（2）Where we are， when we are， we should keep a good mood.（wherever， whenever）
（3）Also it will not make things regret easily. （Also it will make things not regretted easily.）
Because Chinese learners usually have a native language foundation and certain language habits when learning English， some of them have naturally and unconsciously taken these habits into writing， namely， language transfer. When the transfer leads to errors in foreign language， it is called mother tongue interference， also known as the language negative transfer. When learners use native language knowledge to write a correct purpose statement， it will not form the mother tongue interference， it is called positive transfer. If transfer occurs within a language， that is， learners make errors of reasoning according to the rules of the target language； it is called intralingual transfer. This also is one of the main reasons why learners make mistakes. We need to use some strategies to help learners reduce negative transfer and improve positive transfer.
4.1.3 Errors at the Grammar Level
Traditionally speaking， grammar has been discussed in terms of morphology and syntax. It is， therefore， not surprising that some aspects of morphology are touched on when lexis errors are discussed.
As agreed on， there are five lexical word types in English： noun， verb， adjective， adverb and preposition. Some examples are taken from the sample writing.
e.g.1） I have try to figure out the sources of pressure of some college student.
2） Keeping a good mood is very importantly for everyone.
Sentence （1） contains two morphological errors in terms of nouns. The correct form of “try” and “student” should be “tried” and “students” respectively. Whereas， there is an adjective morphology error in Sentence （2） “importantly”， it should be “important”.More examples are listed.
3） If they can keep a good mood， the cherish their family life.
4） But more and more people are worrying their life and complain about their works.
5） So we cannot afraid of pressure.
The tense of the verb “cherish” in Sentence （3） is erroneous； the correct form should be “will cherish”. Sentence （4） contains a syntax error because the conjunction “and” should link two parallel linguistic structures. The sentence should be revised as “But more and more people are worrying their life and complaining about their works.” Sentence （5） is also syntactically wrong， for it lacks a predicate verb “be”. The correct sentence should be “So we cannot be afraid of pressure？”
4.1.4 Errors at the Level of Discourse
In James （2001）， he just explains the discourse into three main kinds： cohesion， pragmatic errors and receptive errors. But in this paper， the author mainly focuses his attention on the errors of cohesion. According to Halliday and Hasan （Cited in Li Zhijuan， 2012） cohesion includes：1） reference，2）substitution，3） ellipsis，4）conjunction ，5）lexical coherence.
Reference is a semantic relation， which occurs in the place that an item indicates identity of what is being discussed can be retrieved from the immediate context. （Song Yingmei， 2006）Here， we can see some reference errors from students’ compositions：
1） Knowing how to keep a good mood is the most important thing in my life.（our）
2） The most important thing is to transform you attitude in different environment.（your）
3） Keeping a good mood is good for our.（us）
Substitution has some similarities with ellipsis. In English language， it operates at nominal， verbal or clausal level. Usually， in English the common items， for instance： one， ones， so， same， do are used as substitution. Here are some examples from the writing sample：
（1） Will you believe she is healthy？ I believe not so.（I believe not）
（2） The pressure today is different from the past.（it in the past）
Ellipsis is the omission of some elements needed by grammar rules， however， the writer views they are obvious according to the language context. In this study， in order to make the reader understand this point more easily， substitution and ellipsis will be explained respectively. Here are some examples from the students’ writing sample：
1） Happiness can be transferred to others， it is beneficial to create relaxing atmosphere.（which）
2） Too many pressure will make us feel depressed.（too much）
Conjunction is a cohesive device， we can just understand it via the reference to other elements in the text. During our English learning process we always employ many conjunctions， for instance： but， although， though， and， while， consequently， therefore， however， firstly， then， in the end， all in all， finally， in the last place， etc. The following conjunction errors are from students' composition：
1） In my opinion， I think it is important to keep a good mood.（delete）
2） If we don’t possess good mood， and then we don’t possess happiness.（delete）
Lexical cohesion is one of the major cohesive devices in the cohesion relations， which takes place when two words are semantically related or related in terms of their meaning in a text. Here are examples from students’ writing sample：
1） So it is good or harm for us is all based on our attitude. （So whether ）
2） The reason we should keep a good mood is that a good mood can make people happy.（The reason why）
4.1.5 Other Types of Errors
Besides these four main types mentioned above， we usually find that it is not easy for us to categorize all the errors into these four categories， because most of errors are compound or ambiguous. For instance，“We must keep a good mood very time”. As to this sort of errors， it is hard to get the meaning the student intends to express. It is also impossible to ascribe it to any of the above mentioned error categories. So the author tries to put them into other groups.
4.2 The Causes of Errors
4.2.1Communication Strategy-Based Errors
With the lack of language ability， language learners often cannot express his true meaning freely and correctly. Therefore， if a language learner can not choose the right words to express himself， he will try to employ many other methods to complete his communicative purpose. Just under this circumstance， the communication strategies will come into being. According to James （2001：187-188）， language learners usually employ two ways to achieve the goal of his communication. The first method is holistic strategy. The term "holistic" refers to when the learner can be said A in the L2， then he should say B. Without the required form， we can use a similar form that we have learned. The second method is analytic strategies that express the some conceptions not in the direct way but in the indirectly way.
4.2.2 Intralingual Errors
Intralingual errors are those that cannot be traced back to differences between mother tongue and target language， but they relate to a specific interpretation of the target language and manifest themselves as universal phenomena in any language learning process. According to James （2001）， apart from recourse to mother tongue transfer， the learners in ignorance of a target form at any level and of any class can either set about learning the needed items， engaging their learning strategies or try to fill the gap by resorting to communication strategies.
4.2.3 Induced Errors
Induced errors refer to some errors that come from the classroom more frequently than that from something like the learners’ mother tongue interference or English grammar rules. These errors are coming from the students misled by their language teachers who are always giving them some definitions， fixed examples， and explanations.
For instance，
（1） So they need to support the bad mood.（bear）
（2） The good mood can lead to others a good mood.（can transfer to others）
（3） It’s very important for everyone to keep a Good Mood.（good mood）
5. Conclusion
It is undeniable that every learner will commit various kinds of language errors during the language learning process. We can see from the findings and analysis that the types of errors committed in CET-4 writing most frequently by the students includes lexical errors， errors influenced by mother tongue and grammar errors. English teachers should attach much importance to enhancing the students’ lexical proficiency because students’ writing proficiency mostly results from their lexical proficiency. Meanwhile， teachers should hold a positive attitude towards the students’ errors and also make full use of the errors to effectively help the students with their writing ability.
However， during the error categorizing process， the author finds that the distinction among different error categories is not quite as clear-cut as it seems. Since the same error could be categorized into different types， the author fails to give a plausible explanation， which leaves room for further research.
References
[1] James， C..Errors in Language Learning and Use：Exploring Error Analysis.Beijing： Foreign Language Teaching &Research Press. 2001.
[2] Dai Weidong， Shu Dingfang..Contrastive analysis， error analysis and problem of interlanguage research. Foreign Language. Vol. 5： pp1-7，1994
[3] Guo Xiaohua & Ouyang Jing. A new exploration of college English writing based on error analysis theory. Foreign Language and Literature，Vol.2：pp137-141，2010.
[4] Li Zhijuan.Error analysis on non-English majors’ writing in Northwest A&F University. Xian：Northwest A&F University. 2012.
[5] Song Yingmei.Error analysis on CET-4 writing. Jilin：Jilin University. 2006.