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English Language Error Analysis of the Written Texts Produced by Ukrainian

Learners: Data Collection

Article in Cognitive Studies | Études cognitives · December 2015

DOI: 10.11649/cs.2015.027

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 COGNITIVE STUDIES | ÉTUDES COGNITIVES, 15: 389–395
Warsaw 2015

DOI: 10.11649/cs.2015.027

LESSIA M. KOTSYUK
National University of Ostroh Academy, Ostroh, Ukraine
[email protected]

ENGLISH LANGUAGE ERROR ANALYSIS OF THE WRITTEN

TEXTS PRODUCED BY UKRAINIAN LEARNERS:
DATA COLLECTION

Abstract

Recently, the studies of second language acquisition have tended to focus on learn-
ers errors as they help to predict the difficulties involved in acquiring a second
language. Thus, teachers can be made aware of the difficult areas to be encoun-
tered by the students and pay special attention and devote emphasis to them.
The research goals of the article are to define what error analysis is and how it
is important in L2 teaching process, to state the significance of corpus studies in
identifying of different types of errors and mistakes, to provide the results of error
analysis of the corpus of written texts produced by Ukrainian learners. In this ar-
ticle, major types of errors in English as a second language for Ukrainian students
are mentioned.
Keywords: corpus; data; English language; error; error analysis; Ukrainian
learner

Introduction
Being a young independent state, Ukraine looks for the effective ways of integration
into the European community. English became an essential part of the educational
process in every university. Ostroh Academy National University chose English
as a second working language along with the official Ukrainian language. The
students use English during the classes, communicate with foreign professors and
guests, write scientific papers, apply for programs abroad. The research group of
lexicographic laboratory LEXILAB initiated creating of a Learner English Corpus
to become a part of ICLE project and to represent samples of the Ukrainian English.
While the data is being collected and organized, the research group of professors
and students already make use of the Corpus to inform curriculum design at the
College of Romance and Germanic Languages.
390 Lessia M. Kotsyuk

Error analysis in the process of L2 teaching

Errors are not anymore taken as bad signs of nonperformance, in teaching or learn-
ing, that should be eliminated at any cost; rather, they are considered to become
a necessary part of language learning process. More than that there exists and func-
tions a special type of linguistic analysis that focuses on the errors learners make.
David Crystal (Crystal, 2003, p. 165) defines Error Analysis (EA) as a “technique
for identifying, classifying and systematically interpreting the unacceptable forms
produced by someone learning a foreign language, using any of the principles and
procedures provided by linguistics”. Furthermore, M. Keshavarz (Keshavarz, 2012,
p. 168) claims that EA is “a procedure used by both researchers and teachers which
involves collecting samples of learner language, identifying errors, classifying them
according to their nature and causes, and evaluating their seriousness”.
An analysis of errors in L2 learning surrounding is significant in three different
ways (Selinker, 1969; Corder, 1981).
(1) To the teacher. If a teacher initiates a complex permanent analysis, of whether
the learners progress in their studies and, therefore, what remains for them
to learn, it can acknowledge both the advances and defeats of the teaching
programme. If a teacher understands what is hard to learn, and where the most
of mistakes come from, he can add more efforts in the classroom practicing it
with his students. According to S. K. Sharma (Sharma, 1980) “Error analysis
can thus provide a strong support to remedial teaching”.
(2) To the researcher. EA provides the researcher with information about the
process of language learning and acquisition, the methods or strategies the
student is using on his way to learn a language.
(3) To the learner. Making of errors serves a device the learner uses in order to
learn. If students understand what is hard to learn, they will pay attention to
the grammar morphemes, the little words, and endings of words, not only when
studying, but also when speaking.
In general, Error analysis has several implications for the handling of learner’s
errors in the classroom: (1) Devising remedial measures; (2) Preparing a sequence of
target language items in classrooms and textbooks with the difficult items coming
after the easier ones; (3) Making suggestions about the nature or strategies of
second language learning employed by both first and second language learners.
Models for error analysis
The establisher of EA Corder S. P. (Corder, 1973, 1975, 1981) has worked out the
procedure for error analysis. Other scientists elaborated on this model: R. Ellis
(Ellis, 1994), S. Gass and L. Selinker (Gass & Selinker, 2008).
Thus, the model for Error Analysis includes three stages: (1) Data collection
— the selection of a corpus of language, written or oral one, the identification of
errors; errors classification and quantification; (2) Description — a grammatical
analysis of each error and the sources, and (3) Explanation (the ultimate object of
error analysis) — explanation of different types of errors.
The significance of corpus studies in language error analysis
The tradition of language error analysis of the texts produced by learners goes back
to 1960–70s. Some not very big collections of texts, non-electronic, variegated were
English Language Error Analysis of the Written Texts . . . 391

looked through. Only certain types of mistakes were fixed and extracted, the rest of
the material was not taken into account. Modern learner corpora in contrast have
a whole set of essential advantages: the amount of data is much bigger, electronic
form, accurate criterion of data collection, etc. They provide the possibility not
only to fix language errors but to make conclusions as to learners’ speech in general
and look critically at existing teaching methods, syllabuses, and teaching materials.
Some works prove that corpora may provide data, which may further alter what
is taught (D. Mindt (Mindt, 1996), S. Hunston (Hunston, 2002), T. McEnery and
R. Xiao (McEnery & Xiao, 2011)).
The research group of lexicographic laboratory LEXILAB initiated creating of
Ostroh Academy Corpus of Learner English (OACLE) to become a part of ICLE
project and to represent samples of the Ukrainian English. The process of corpus
creation is divided into several phases. The first step is to collect the essays of
the students of the College of Romance and Germanic Languages. Every student
can donate one or several essays, the number of words in each can range from
100 to 1000 words. The essays collected were of the some type — argumentative
(a) written as a home task and allow using additional materials), or (b) written in
class and does not allow using additional materials. At the moment 165 essays of
(a)-type and 245 of (b)-type are taken from the students, whose native language
is Ukrainian, they are at their first, second, third and the fourth year of studying
at the College. All the samples were coded according to the system proposed by
ICLE project.
The development of such a corpus appeared to be useful not only to participate
in the international project but to inform the administration of the College as to
typical mistakes, peculiarities of vocabulary choice, grammatical organization of
the writings of the students.
Case study
As it was mentioned above, learner corpora can be used for the linguistic analysis,
the aim of which is to identify the main lexical and syntactical errors of the students
in the process of foreign language acquisition. It helps spot the frequency of different
types of language errors, types of contexts in which a particular mistake was made,
and develop effective plans and methods to improve foreign language teaching.
The research group of lexicographic laboratory LEXILAB set the aim to identify
English language areas of difficulty for the students of the College of Romance
and Germanic Languages in Ostroh Academy National University, which could
help in (1) determining the sequence of presentation of target items in textbooks
and classroom, with the difficult items following the easier ones; (2) deciding the
relative degree of emphasis, explanation and practice required in putting across
various items in the target language; (3) devising remedial lessons and exercises;
and finally, (4) selecting items for testing the learner’s proficiency.
Performing the experiment and collecting data is the starting point of the pro-
cess of completing the experiment. Thus, according to the traditional framework
of Error Analysis, three stages of the first phase were established.
392 Lessia M. Kotsyuk

(1) Collection of data

OACLE was the only source of data at this stage. The essays of students were
selected. To be selected the essay should have met the following requirements:
written by a student whose native language is Ukrainian; produced in class sur-
rounding without using reference papers (dictionaries, textbooks, etc.) or web
based error analysis tools (spellcheckers, grammar checkers, etc.). The task set for
the students was the following:
“In the space below, write about yourself. Say where you come from, where you
live, and give a little bit of information about your family and friends as well as
your hobbies and interests. Finally, say where, when and how long you have been
learning English. Also say how and why you would like to improve your English”
(American inside out, n.d.).
The study dealt with written performance data from 245 students whose pro-
ficiency levels were previously assessed, varyingly, as level A2 (pre-intermediate),
level B1 (intermediate), level B2 (upper-intermediate), level C1 (advanced), and
level C2 (proficiency). Since the numbers of test takers in levels A2 and C1, C2
were low, they were not employed for the study. The total number of essays further
analyzed was 217.
(2) Identification of errors
As far as OACLE is an untagged corpus the errors were detected with the help of
Grammarly software. This grammar check service has a high Accuracy Score and
recognizes a variety of common grammatical errors (Grammarly Review). Though
Grammarly should not be considered the final word in spelling, syntax, and gram-
mar we trusted it for the sake of this particular investigation. The errors found by
the software serve the basis for the tag sets of corpus annotation.
(3) Classification into error types
Below are some examples of the grammatical errors identified in the sentences
produced by the Ukrainian students of English. They can be classified into errors
in spelling, grammar, punctuation, structure, and style.
Spelling Errors group falls into several subgroups, such as Contextual Spelling,
Misspelled Words, Misspelled Grammatical Forms, Missing Hyphen in a Number,
Lowercase Pronoun. The Contextual Spelling subgroup is represented mainly with
mistakes due to inattentive printing of the text, i.e. My mother works in a bank ans
(and) is very intelligent and determined person. What abous (about) my hobbies?
Familly. The examples of typically misspelled words are: quatation (quotation),
valleyball (volleyball), sturted (started), lern (learn), conected (connected), proffe-
siional (professional), alredy (already), espesialy (especially), hovewer (however);
misspelled grammatical forms: studing (studying), missing hyphen in a number:
twenty two (twenty-two), My siblings are second(-)year student right now.
Grammar Errors group contains the subgroups of errors in article use, in-
correct verb form, misuse of quantifiers, incorrect noun number, and misuse of
modifiers.
The Article Use subgroup can be exemplified by cases of missing article, i.e.
I have (a) close friend. We have (the) tradition in our family, we have movinights
and dinner together.; missing article before proper names, i.e. Now I am a student
English Language Error Analysis of the Written Texts . . . 393

of (the) National University of Ostrog Academy.; using the definite article instead
of indefinite, i.e. I am the (a) third year student of the National university of Ostroh
academy. I think the (a) good way to do this is to immence yourself in the English-
speaking atmosphere.; using the indefinite article with a plural noun, i.e. Each day
I take a pictures of a sky. Some examples of incorrect verb form use are: We like
(to) spend weekends together, as we all study in different cities and do not have
possibility to meet more often. To conclud, I want to say we have work(ed ) hard
to develop our inner world and knowladge of language, and we should do it all the
time.
The Misuse of Quantifiers subgroup in Grammar Errors group contains the cases
where the students write singular quantifier with a plural noun, i.e. . . . and that is
why I see my parents not each weekends., or singular noun after plural quantifier,
for example, My name is Tania and I was born at one of the most freeziest day
in January, 1993 in little village. Also, there are cases of using this with a plural
noun: This (These) both styles are very different but both worth admiring.
Noun number can also be the source of errors in students’ writings. There were
noticed some sentences in which singular noun was used with the plural number:
I spend 3 month(s) in Canada. Another error case in this subgroup is forming
plural instead of possessive, i.e. My parents(’ ) names are Eygeniya and Vasil.
Erroneous double comparative was placed in the subgroup of Misuse of Modi-
fiers: I have a dream to go to London and live there for some time to feel their life
and to be more better in English.
Punctuational errors formed a separate group in which such types of prob-
lems were noticed: 1) Comma misuse within a clause, missing comma after in-
troductory phrase in particular: In winter (,) we like spending long cold evenings
by watching some amazing film or just reading a fascinating book. In my native
town(,) I have a lot of friends.; 2) Missing comma in a compound sentence, i.e.
My name is O.(,) and I come from Rivne region. Poland and Canada helped me to
proved my English skills(,) but I know that it is not the end.; 3) Unnecessary comma
in a complex sentence: Some of them I can see every day, because we are studing
together, going out and living. We like spend weekends together, as we all study in
different cities and do not have possibility to meet more often.; 4) Comma splice:
My father is a mechanic by profession, (;) he likes reading books and watching tele-
vision. I come from Sarny, (;) that is a Rivne region. ; 5) Incorrect punctuation
with quotation mark: “Family is not an important thing, it’s everything(.)”.
Structure Errors group contains problems that deal with misplaced words
or phrases. The examples are as follows: With this town connected a lot of precious
memories. For me is better to have a few friends, that I can trust all my worries
and feelings.
The last group of errors found in students’ writings is Style Errors. These
are the problems connected with, firstly, improper formatting, such as incorrect
spacing with punctuation: I am easy-going,friendly and kind person, so I have
a lot of friends in Sarny and Ostrogh., or capitalization at the start of a sentence:
that is my cup of tea. The second type of stylistic errors is wordiness, i.e. In order to
improve my foreign languages I will pay more attention to self-education, listening
different records and watch films in English and German, attend different courses,
394 Lessia M. Kotsyuk

because if I want to have a good workplace I have to be a proffesiional. / In general,

my family is very small, It is me and my mother, but we have so tight relations with
our relatives that I can even say I have maybe the biggest family in this town or
even in whole district. As well, students erroneously use redundant words: Actually
they all are my old school friends whom I keep in touch with. / I really hope so.
/ Hovewer, it was a hard time of building our home and all my family was doing
their own work, especialy when there were a lot of work to do in the fild.
Conclusion
The purpose of the study was to give a look at the first steps in the process of error
analysis of the corpus of Ukrainian students’ essays written in English. The results
of the present survey indicate that error analysis is a complicated process consisting
of several stages. Data collection is the primary step in this process and presupposes
the collection of essays, error identification and classification into its types. As the
result, 217 essays were collected, grammar checked and errors were grouped into
spelling, grammar, punctuation, structure, and style types. Each type in the paper
was exemplified with sentences from students’ works. The findings will be useful
for the teachers of English in Ukraine in compiling teaching materials, students of
English in the process of learning, researchers and developers of automated gram-
mar checkers. Future research will deal with deep analysis of the sources of errors,
their context interpretation and their dependence on learner proficiency level and
native language.

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Acknowledgment
This work was supported by a core funding for statutory activities from the Ministry
of Education and Science of Ukraine.
The author declares that she has no competing interests.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution
3.0 PL License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/pl/), which permits redistribu-
tion, commercial and non-commercial, provided that the article is properly cited.

© The Author 2015

Publisher: Institute of Slavic Studies, PAS, University of Silesia & The Slavic Foundation

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