Error Analysis : Insight into English Errors Observable in Written Samples
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概要
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While Japanese students' incompetence in English communication skills has always been severely criticized, the actual level of their heavily crammed "grammar knowledge" seems to have always escaped question The reliability of hypotheses such as that the average Japanese speaker of English has actually mastered complex grammatical rules and that it is solely speaking skills that cannot be satisfactorily shown remains to be proven McConnell (2000), in his book on the JET programme, specifically states the lament heard from Japanese in all walks of life that almost all students, despite going through six to ten years of English instruction, remain unable to hold the most basic conversations with a native speaker McConnell also points out that the system in Japan has continued to be harshly criticized owing to the fact that the teaching approach emphasizes rote memorization and grammar - and students gain little sense of a living language However, he, as well as most other language educators, does not seem to be aware of the importance of the question that still remains to be asked does the average Japanese learner of English really know grammar? Whether Japanese students excel in demonstrating their grammatical knowledge or not cannot be determined unless a close investigation is conducted - and if productive skills are the key to clarifying actual competence, ability as shown m the form of writing, m particular, may be of great value Bell and Burnaby (1984) point out that writing is an extraordinarily complex cognitive activity in which the writer is required to demonstrate control of a number of variables simultaneously At the sentence level, these include control of content, format, sentence structure, vocabulary, punctuation, spelling, and letter formation With this in mind, written samples are analyzed in this study so as to investigate some aspects of the linguistic competencies and deficiencies of college-level students based on the assumption that written samples can demonstrate skills not evident in speaking activities that normally include other factors such as gestures and facial expressions for successful communication This study, conducted at a national college of technology, offers the opportunity to become cognizant of tendencies toward making certain errors among students, which may lead to more viable approaches for better instruction and acquisition of English, while at the same time clarifying the degree of retention of student grammatical knowledge.
- 香川高等専門学校の論文