AN ANALYSIS OF ERRORS MADE BY CHINESE LEARNERS AT THE TERTIARY LEVEL

Abstract

Most error analysis studies in Singapore have been conducted on learners at the primary, secondary or post-university level. This study of 100 university learners aims to fill the gap. It retests the hypothesis that errors reflect learning strategies and interference is seen as another kind of over-generalization. 400 essays 1.rere the primary data. There is also a. questionnaire to gather background information about the learners. In addition, an awareness exercise is given to test the learner's awareness of errors and self-correction ability. The analysis of the errors in the essays aims to discover types of errors and relative frequencies of different types and to find out whether errors reflect learning strategies or any other factors in language learning or production. The conclusion of the analysis is that errors do reflect learning strategies. Two relatively new findings are that errors could also be traced to mispronunciation or over-generalization from spoken English. In terms of application, among other suggestions, a programme to promote awareness of errors and self-correction is outlined.