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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 10, No. 7
Publication Date: July 25, 2023
DOI:10.14738/assrj.107.15096
Yujie, L. S. S. (2023). Error Analysis and Enlightenment in Junior High School English Autonomous Writing. Advances in Social
Sciences Research Journal, 10(7). 237-242.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
Error Analysis and Enlightenment in Junior High School English
Autonomous Writing
Liu Shanshan Su Yujie
Wenzhou University 325035, China
ABSTRACT
English writing is one of the language output skills, which is the embodiment of the
comprehensive use of English language ability of English learners. It is also the focus
and difficulty of teachers in English teaching. Based on the theory of error analysis,
this paper analyzes the common types of mistakes in junior middle school students’
English writing and their causes, and expounds how teachers improve junior middle
school writing teaching for students’ common writing mistakes in order to help
improve students’ English writing level.
Keywords: error analysis, English writing, Teaching
With the development of globalization, countries in the world are becoming more and more
closely connected. English, as an official communication language, plays an indispensable role
in the process of social and personal development, so it is of great significance to learn English
well. The traditional learning of English involves listening, speaking, reading and writing. In the
current junior middle school English class, reading and listening, as input knowledge, are more
emphasized by teachers; While writing and speaking are output knowledge, which are more
likely to be ignored by teachers in the context of exam-oriented education. However, writing
can be used to test the comprehensive language ability of English learners, and in all kinds of
English tests, writing is a required type of question. This paper aims at the problems and
mistakes encountered by students in the English writing of online independent learning, uses
the theory of error analysis to explore junior high school English writing, and puts forward
some English writing suggestions based on the problems found, in order to reduce mistakes
and help students better use English writing.
I
ERROR ANALYSIS THEORY
In the 1970s, researchers began to treat error analysis as an important way to study second
language acquisition. P. Corder is the earliest advocate of the theory of error analysis in the
modern sense. He proposed that it is necessary to conduct systematic analysis and research on
learners' errors in order to identify the sources of errors and provide a basis for eliminating
these errors in the teaching process. To put it simply, error analysis is a systematic study of
learner mistakes in second and foreign language learning. Its purpose is to understand the
proficiency level of learners to master a certain language, how learners learn the language, the
causes of learners' mistakes in learning the language, the common difficulties of learners in
learning the language, so as to arrange the teaching content and improve the teaching method.1
1 闫涛. 错误分析理论与写作教学 [J]. 文教资料, 2006, (30): 115-6.
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“Error”is different from “mistake”. A mistake refers to a mistake that the learner can correct by
himself, such as a slip of the tongue, while an error is caused by the learner’s lack of relevant
language knowledge and therefore cannot be corrected by himself. 2 According to the
development characteristics of learners’ interlanguage, Corder classifies errors into pre- systemic errors, systemic errors and post-systemic errors. Pre-systemic errors are mainly due
to the fact that learners are learning and mastering a brand-new language content, are in the
exploratory stage, and their awareness of language rules is vague. The learner cannot explain
this kind of error clearly and cannot correct it by himself. Systemic error is when the learner
has mastered a rule of a language and has made an assumption about that rule that is actually
wrong. The learner is able to explain such errors, but fails to correct them in time.
Post1systematic errors mainly mean that learners have mastered a language rule and can use
it correctly; But have temporarily forgotten the rule, resulting in such errors.3
For teachers, by systematically analyzing learners’ errors, they can understand learners’
progress and the difference between them and the target, and adopt corresponding teaching
methods and strategies accordingly to help learners to accept the language more quickly. For
learners, through errors, learners can understand their own learning situation and
shortcomings, and then consciously strengthen learning.
II
THE PROCESS OF ERROR ANALYSIS
Learner Corpus Collection
A total of 83 students were involved in this survey, including 40 boys and 43 girls, all of whom
were junior high school students. A total of 64,503 words were collected from 10 independent
writing sessions in the upper and lower grades of seventh grade. The topics were related to the
texts they had learned, such as shopping, celebrating festivals, running for class monitors,
imagining their future life, and so on.
Common Types of Errors in Independent Writing
Pre-system errors
Students are exposed to a lot of words in daily reading, but they can master only a few words.
Therefore, in the real writing process, learners often make pre-system errors such as spelling
or improper use of words.
Word misspelling is mainly manifested as the addition or omission of letters when spelling a
word.
For example: Thirnd, you pay for them in the cashier desk. “thirnd” is a typo. The correct word is
“third”.
The main grammatical errors include the single and plural of nouns, tenses and voices of verbs,
article errors, prepositions errors, adjectives errors and missing components.
2 Corder, Pit. 1967. The significance of learner’s Errors [J]. IRAL
3 Corder, Pit. 1984. Learner Language and Teacher Talk [J]. AVLK.
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Yujie, L. S. S. (2023). Error Analysis and Enlightenment in Junior High School English Autonomous Writing. Advances in Social Sciences Research
Journal, 10(7). 237-242.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.107.15096
For example:
1. A bank opposite the restaurant.
2. Then I’m going to help my mother do cleaning for room. And on the evening, I’m going
to watch football match.
The predicate verb is is missing in the first sentence. There are two separate sentences in the
second sentence, and the preposition “for” is used incorrectly in the former sentence, because
“do cleaning” is a phrasal verb, and it is not necessary to have a noun phrase after it, so “for
room” can be deleted. The preposition “on” in the latter sentence should be changed to “in”.
System Error
Because of the difference in the expression of English thinking and Chinese thinking, systematic
errors similar to Chinese errors may occur in writing. For example, when expressing the
sentence “I like spring very much”, students will write “I very like spring”, ignoring the difference
in English and Chinese word order.
The thinking difference between English and Chinese will also lead to many related word errors
in English writing. Most students only put together simple sentences in their writing, and rarely
or never use connective words. As a result, the structure of the essay is not compact enough and
too loose.
Post System Errors
Junior high school students begin to focus on the study and arrangement of grammar rules, so
in the learning process, they often have an unstable understanding of some rules, and there are
often misuse or misapplication of different rules in specific use.
For example, students have learned and mastered the usages of “am”, “be going to” and “enjoy”,
but there are still errors like “I am enjoying myself” and “I'm get up early” appearing
simultaneously in actual writing. In addition, although students have mastered the past tense
of verbs to add the suffix “-ed”, they will still appear in the writing of “I'm hungered”.
III
ANALYSIS OF THE CAUSES OF ERRORS
Based on the theory of contrastive analysis, the first reason is interlingual interference, which
is mainly embodied in the interference of mother tongue to second language learning. With the
development of error analysis theory, empirical studies show that there is a second reason, that
is Intralingual interference, which mainly focuses on the intralingual effects of language
learning. In addition to the above two reasons, teachers’ teaching methods, students’ learning
methods and other factors will also have an impact on students’ errors.4
Interlingual Errors
That is, the negative transfer effect caused by the influence of the learner’s mother tongue when
learning and using English. Transfer refers to the influence of mother tongue or old language
knowledge on new language knowledge in language learning. If the mother tongue promotes
the language learning, it is positive transfer; If it interferes with the learner’s language learning,
4 江星羽. 运用错误分析改进初中英语写作教学的实践研究 [J]. 新智慧, 2021, (05): 105-6.
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it is negative transfer. The negative transfer of mother tongue includes the negative transfer of
language and the negative transfer of cultural thinking, which may be reflected in the aspects
of word order and vocabulary choice in writing. Linguists have found that the interference of
mother tongue is the main source of second language acquisition disorders. Junior high school
students often apply the rules and structures in their mother tongue to the target language
when writing, resulting in Chinese-style errors.
Intralingual Errors
The reason for the error is that the learner does not fully understand the rules of the target
language and has nothing to do with the mother tongue. There are two aspects that lead to
intralinguistic errors: Overgeneralization and Gross-association. The former refers to learners’
misapplying previously learned strategies that are applicable to a certain situation to a new
situation; The latter refers to the confusion caused by associations of similar spelling,
pronunciation, grammar rules, etc., encountered by learners in the process of language learning.
When writing, it may be reflected in the single and plural of nouns, verb tenses, etc.
Other Mistakes
Such as teaching methods, cultural differences and so on. In writing teaching, teachers take
different teaching methods for different students, different students’ cultural background,
family background, may affect students’ writing methods and writing content.
IV
ENLIGHTENMENT TO JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH WRITING TEACHING
Follow the Principle of Diversified Teaching
Following the principles of diversity requires two things:
(1) Diversity of means of expression
English is rich in means of expression, and the same meaning can be expressed by different
sentence patterns. In the process of writing teaching, an important way for teachers to guide
students in writing is to guide students to use different sentence structures to express the same
meaning. This can not only make up for students’ lack of language knowledge, but also enlighten
students’ thinking, so as to turn knowledge into skills and use language flexibly. for example: I
got up late this morning. I had to catch the bus. I was late for school. Teachers can teach students
to express this simple sentence in several different ways.
1. I got up late this morning and I had to catch the bus, so I was late for school.
2. I was late for school because I got up late this morning and I had to catch the bus.
3. I was late for school. It was because I got up late and had to catch the bus.
The Diversity of Writing Style and Training Forms
From the stylistic point of view, they can write narrative essay, expository essay, argumentative
essay, you can also write notes, letters, notices and other styles.
In terms of form, they can use oral composition, or they can continue to write stories; They can
write an outline to train the layout of the article, and they can also allow students to expand,
abbreviate, imitate and continue writing compositions, so that students can master the writing
skills. These writing forms are helpful to cultivate students’ imagination and comprehensive
ability. Students are required to accumulate the knowledge they have learned, refine and
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Yujie, L. S. S. (2023). Error Analysis and Enlightenment in Junior High School English Autonomous Writing. Advances in Social Sciences Research
Journal, 10(7). 237-242.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.107.15096
transform it into beautiful words with emotional colors. Through this diverse writing exercises,
the overall writing level can be improved.
Combine Listening, Speaking and Reading Effectively to Increase Language Input
Stephen Krashen proposes the Comprehensible Input hypothesis, which holds that language
learners can acquire a second language by hearing and understanding information that is
slightly above the current level of the second language (Comprehensible Input+1). 5
Understanding large amounts of second language input is both necessary and important for
second language acquisition. Language output is produced naturally by receiving a large
number of intelligible inputs. In teaching English writing, teachers should follow the principle
of combining listening, speaking and reading, because writing does not exist in isolation.
Although listening, speaking, reading and writing have their own characteristics, in essence, the
relationship between them is interdependent and mutually promoting. Listening and reading
are input knowledge while reading and writing are output knowledge. Specifically, speaking
can lay the foundation for writing, while writing is the development of speaking; Using listening
as a means of input to get what is written, and writing to reflect the results of listening. Reading
a lot broadens your horizons and provides you with a variety of material to write about. In a
word, only when students have enough language input ability can they apply it to their writing.
Enrich Western Cultural Education and Cultivate English Thinking Habits
The Chinese mistakes students make in writing are mainly caused by the lack of understanding
of Western culture. Therefore, teachers should enrich the education of western cultural
background and cultivate students’ cross-cultural awareness in their daily teaching, so as to
help students form English thinking. Teachers can select some documentaries of Western
countries for students to play in class, and guide students to enjoy more excellent western
movies and British and American literary works in daily life, so as to expand students’
understanding of Western countries, create a good language learning situation for students,
cultivate students’ English thinking mode, and improve students' interest and motivation in
English learning.
Pay Attention to Basic Training and Guide Students to Use It
The spelling errors and grammar errors of students are mostly caused by the lack of basic
knowledge. Therefore, on the one hand, teachers should strengthen students’ spelling and use
of words in teaching, consolidate and test students’ word foundation in listening, speaking,
reading and writing, and emphasize the use methods and applicable situations of English
vocabulary to students, so as to deepen students’ understanding and mastery of words. On the
other hand, English writing is essentially a combination of sentence patterns, so it is necessary
to improve students’ understanding and application of sentence patterns, learn a variety of
expressions of one meaning, and flexibly replace vocabulary and sentence patterns. In addition,
when teaching grammar, teachers should not only stay at the surface of grammar teaching, but
also help students to use it in real contexts. As for the negative influence of mother tongue
transfer, teachers should gradually guide and actively give feedback and help to students. Of
course, students themselves should also do more exercises, pay attention to the important and
difficult points in class, and pay attention to accumulation. Only by ensuring a certain amount
of “input” can there be a more complete and appropriate “output”.
5 Krashen,S.D.Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition[M].Oxford: Pergamon,1982.
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With The Help of Intelligent Evaluation System, Enrich the Error Correction Methods and
Improve the Efficiency of Error Correction
In traditional English writing teaching, due to the large number of students and heavy workload,
teachers do not have too much time for composition correction. Therefore, composition
correction is incomplete, does not give clear suggestions, and does not have much practical
effect on students. Some teachers also ask students to evaluate each other directly in class, but
they cannot guarantee the efficiency of students’ error correction, and it is difficult to classify
students’ errors. With the popularization and development of the Internet, online intelligent
composition marking system begins to appear, teachers can use the marking network,
intelligent marking, etc.,6 to improve students' English writing level.
V
CONCLUSION
Writing is a comprehensive reflection of students’ cognitive level and English expression ability,
which is very important in the process of English learning. At present, teachers lack a systematic
cognition of students’ errors in English writing and pay little attention to writing teaching. In
fact, it is quite normal for students to make mistakes in writing. In teaching, we should analyze
the errors in time, analyze the types of errors and their causes, and take correct teaching
strategies to make up for them.
References
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