Lexical error analysis of advanced language learners' writings

Abstract

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.