Lexical error analysis of advanced language learners' writings

File(s)
Date
2013-05-10Author
Wells, Nathan
Department
English
Advisor(s)
Pavlov, Vladimir
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Advanced language learners have unique challenges with vocabulary instruction. At the
advanced level, learners most likely have an extensive vocabulary that covers the high frequency words of the language. However, traditional vocabulary instruction focuses on creating breadth in vocabulary and not depth. This approach does not meet the needs of ALLs. This study aims to provide instructional suggestions through a lexical error analysis of ALL writing. The area of lexical errors in advanced language learners (ALLs) has been researched very little. This study takes a look at the lexical errors committed by advanced language learners in the university setting. The purpose of the study was to determine what types of lexical errors ALLs make, the influence of first language direct translations on lexical errors, the affect of split category cases
on lexical errors, and pedagogical implications for ALL vocabulary instruction. The study uses a
corpus consisting of thirty-one essays from Russian speaking and Korean speaking students at
the post-secondary level. The essays were analyzed for lexical errors. Those lexical errors were then sorted and classified. Two surveys were then administered to determine the likelihood of
calques and split categories as an influence on lexical errors. It was found that a statistically
significant number of lexical errors were made. Over 50% lexical errors had to do with the
learner not understanding the semantic range of the word and not understanding appropriate
collocations of the word. In light of the findings, several approaches and activities are provided to use with ALLs. The focus of the activities are to create individualized and differentiated instruction through the use of student writing and goal setting. The activities also focus on giving ALLs a deeper knowledge of vocabulary by using semantic mapping, studying collocations, and using concordances.
Subject
Korean
Russian
Fluency (Language learning)
Vocabulary--Study and teaching
English language--Study and teaching--Foreign speakers
Permanent Link
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1793/66411Type
Thesis
Description
Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wisconsin-River Falls, 2013. 108 leaves. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 104-108).
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