惠州学院 2007 届优秀毕业论文（设计）选编

On Error Analysis of English Majors’ Writing from the Perspective

of Interlanguage Theory
Author: He Dan Supervisor: Lecturer Lin Hong
(Foreign Language Department of Huizhou University, Huizhou, Guangdong, 516007)

Abstract: Literature reviews of the previous studies on IL and EA have been illustrated in this dissertation.
And then a databased analysis of IL has been also made. All the data came from compositions written by
English majors at the same class of Huizhou University when they’re in the first year and in the third year
respectively. By the use of quantitative analysis, IL errors from the perspective of language knowledge,
intralingual errors, interlingual errors and error sources have been scrutinized. The purpose is to find the
distribution changes and frequency changes of IL errors from compositions by the same class at different
academic years to gain some insights into English language learning.
The findings of this research can be summarized as follows:
a. First-year students, here, are in a transitional stage between “systematic stage” and “emergent stage”,
while third-year students are undoubtedly in a systematic stage.
b. Impact of Native language transfer’s learners’ target language learning should not be neglected.
c. Intralingual errors are committed most often by English majors at Huizhou University.
d. On the road to approach target language, the key to learning is to strengthen English grammar basic
structure and thoroughly comprehend the shades of words.
Implications for English language learning in Huizhou University have also been summarized in this
dissertation.
Key Words :Second Language Acquisition; Interlanguage; Error Analysis; Interlingual Errors; Intralingual
Errors

I Introduction
In the field of second language acquisition, terminology and theories changed all the time. But one theory
has retained its status in this field: the idea of the existence of an interlanguage (IL). Interlanguage refers to the
separateness of a second language learners’ system, a system that has a structurally intermediate status between
[1]P201
the native and target languages. However, the nature of the blending, or how “between” is to be
interpreted, and the IL systematicities have always been vague in SLA literature.
This study will investigate some grammatical problems in the acquisition of English language by English
majors at Huizhou University. By comparing errors committed at different years’ study by the same group of
students at different years’ study. We can find out what their dominant errors are and which stage their English
levels stay at when quantitative analysis of the distribution, the occurrences of errors from different aspects
will be scrutinized. One important reason to do so is that most of them don’t know whether they have
improved or not after 2 years’ study. Their knowledge of English will be reflected in their writing of TEM-8
examination.
II Literature Review
In the past 40 years, studies of second language learning have occupied a central place in the field of
linguistics. Among the various aspects in such developmental studies, learner language has been the highlight

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in the field of second language acquisition.

2.1 A Review of Second Language Acquisition Research
The term “second language acquisition” refers to the subconscious or conscious process by which a
language other than the mother tongue is learnt in a natural or a tutored setting. [2]P6 It includes the development
of phonology, lexis, grammar and pragmatic knowledge. Second Language Acquisition (SLA) ---------the
study people have showed great interests, although it doesn’t have a long history.
2.2 Interlanguage Theory (IL)
2.2.1 The Definition of IL
According to Selinker, “interlanguage refers to the separateness of a second language learners’ system, a
system that has a structurally intermediate status between the native and target languages.”[1]P201 Nemser
referred to the same general phenomenon in second language learning but stressed the successive
approximation to the target language in his term approximative system.[3]P9 Corder used the term idiosyncratic
dialect to connote the idea that the learner’s language is unique to a particular individual, that the rules of the
learners’ language are peculiar to the language of that individual alone.[4]P151 While each of these designations
emphasizes a particular idea, but they share the notion that second language learners form their own language
system.
2.2.2 The Stages of IL Development
There are many ways to describe the progression of linguistic development and learners are variable in
their acquisition. According to H.D.Brown, there are four stages of IL development.
“The first is a stage of “random errors”, in which the learner doesn’t know that there are some systematic
orders to a particular class of items.
The second stage is “emergent”. The learner becomes consistent in linguistic production.
The third stage is a “systematic stage” in which the learner is now able to show more consistency. When
their errors are pointed out, they will correct their errors instantly. Of course, they’re more close to the target
language.
The fourth stage is “the stabilization stage”, which is featured by the learners’ ability to self-correct. It
should be pointed out that the fourth stage does not describe a learner’s total language system. One might be in
second stage of the subjunctive mood, but he is in the fourth stage of past tense system.” [5]P211
2.3 Approaches to IL Study
2.3.1 Contrastive Analysis (CA)
Closely related to the study of Interlanguage are two traditional approaches: Contrastive Analysis and
Error Analysis (EA). Researchers from the 1940s to the 1960s conducted CA systematically comparing two
languages. Charles Fries, one of the leading applied linguists, stated it in this way. “The most efficient
materials are those that are based on a scientific description of the language to be learned, carefully compared
with a parallel description of the native language of the learner.” [6]P9 By the 1970s, however, their positions
about the predicative power of CA and about the relationship between L1 and L2 learning faced serious
challenges. Empirical research seemed to show that significant learning difficulties are not necessary due to the
differences between L1 and L2.[7]P17
2.3.2 Error Analysis (EA)
2.3.2.1 Significance of Error Analysis
In S.Pit Corder’s seminal 1967 paper “The significance of learners’ errors”, he made five crucial points:
“(i)We should look for parallels between L1 and L2 learning, since these are governed by the same underlying
mechanisms, procedures and strategies.
(ii)Errors are evidence of the learners’ in-built syllabus, or of what they have taken in, rather than what

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teachers think they have put in: intake should not be equated with input.
(iii)Errors show that L1 and L2 learners both develop an independent system of language, ‘although it is
neither the adult system ……nor that of the second language’ (Corder, 1967:166) but is evidence of a
‘transitional competence’.
(iv)Errors should be distinguished from mistakes
(v)Errors are significant in three aspects: they tell the teacher what needs to be taught; they tell the researcher
how learning proceeds; and they are a means whereby learners test their hypotheses about the L2.” [8] P161
2.3.2.2 Procedures of Error Analysis
The procedures for EA are figured out by Corder as follows:
“A. collection of a sample of learner language
B. identification of errors
C. description of errors
D. explanation of errors
E. evaluation of errors
2.3.2.3 Error Types
The first distinction we should make is mistakes and errors. A mistake refers to performance error that is
either a random guess or a “slip”, which are caused by the lack of attention, fatigue, carelessness, etc. The
latter refers to systematic errors of the target language. [2]P51
Corder also makes distinction between overt and covert errors. “An overt errors is easy to
identify, because there is a clear deviation in form. A covert error occurs in utterances
that are superficially well formed but which do not mean what the learner intended them to
mean.” [4]P59
Another division that is widely agreed on is that interlingual errors and intralingual errors believed by
linguists. An error that results from language transfer, which is caused by the learner’s native language, is
called interlingual errors.[9] P204 Intralingual errors refer to those produced in using the target language in own
terms. They result from faulty or partial learning of the target language, rather than from language transfer.
[9]P204

III. Methodology
3.1 The Purpose
Fluency and correctness of our language expression can be fully detected in a composition, which
represents one’s English ability. Therefore, in order to detect and describe partial knowledge of English that
English majors in China have, this dissertation seeks to investigate their language output by analyzing the type
and source of the errors made by English majors.
3.2 Subjects
The subjects chosen for this study are 37 students (22 females and 15 males) in the same class who are
English majors at Huizhou University. Compositions are taken from their Basic English Test when they are
freshmen and from their Advanced English Test when they’re third-year students. In this way, not only can we
analyze and describe their errors, but also detect errors’ frequency changes after they have two years’ training
and study.
3.3 Instrument
Research samples are the writings on the set topics finished by students within limited time. The
requirements of two topics respectively are:
I write an around-150-word composition on the following topic within 45 minutes. Students should base your
composition on the outline given. Marks will be awarded for content, organization, grammar and appropriacy.

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Work
1 Work is a necessary pant of our life.
2 Work provides us with a sense of achievement
3 We should try our best to do well in our work.
-----------First-year students
II Looks are not everything as the saying goes. Or are they? Write a composition on: Do Looks Really Count?
Your composition should be about 300 words in length. You should state your argument clearly and then
support it with details within 30 minutes.
-----------Third-year student
According to Carl James, “we recognize just three levels of language: the levels of substance, text and
discourse.”[8]P129 Because some errors require semantic and discourse competence for recognition, I concentrate
on errors that can be recognized syntactically from grammar aspects, which belongs to the text level, while
other two kinds of error levels are ignored here. Researchers have found that the early stages of language
learning are characterized by a predominance of interference, but once learners have begun to acquire parts of
the new system, more and more intralingual transfer-generalization within the target language – is manifested.
[5]P214
Since these two categories are so important, I also categorize errors into these two categories accordingly
and spend more space on discussing sources of these two.
IV Results and Discussion
4.1 Results
4.1.1 Data Analysis in Terms of Error Frequency Data
These errors have been grouped according to the error classification which they belong to and the
language area where the errors were made. The total number of these errors is 627 in this study. The numbers
are used to show the relative frequency of various errors to judge their overall significance (but note that even
if an error occurred multiple times in a sentence, it was counted only once).
Table I
Group I Group II Group I Group II
Be-verb 9 7 Article 14 22
Subject-verb 20 14 Subordinator 8 23
agreement
Coordinator 10 6 Pronoun 10 14
Misspelling 57 31 Preposition 33 12
Verb：tense, aspect 40 41 Part of speech 20 12
voice, mood
Adj / Adv 3 10 Incomplete sentence 27 22
or no comma for a
sentence
Number or nouns 25 29 Collocation or word 58 23
choice
Group I: first-year students Group II: third-year students

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The first and fourth columns refer to grammar variables categorized according to students’ error types.
The second and fifth column show error frequency of first-year students’ compositions while the third and the
sixth column show error frequency of third-year students’ compositions. Comparing two groups’ performance,
we can get an overview in these ways:
1. Compared with group I, group Ⅱ makes half spelling mistakes. After 2 years’ study, vocabulary
commanded by students obviously enlarges.
2. When group Ⅱ intends to choose a word or collocations to describe what they want to say, they become
more serious and skillful than first year students who mainly focus on grammar mistakes when they’re writing.
This phenomenon can be detected from the ratio of 58: 23.
3. It can be noticed that subordinator errors committed by group Ⅱ are nearly 3 times more than Group I. It is
out of our expectations. Finally, I found that the frequencies of using subordinators are completely
different. Group I seldom use complex sentences such as relative clauses. Group Ⅱoften use relative
clauses or other complex sentences to express their ideas.
4. It is worth pointing out that the errors in usage of verb are almost the same committed by Group I and
Group Ⅱ. It means that a command of English verbs is not as good as we expect.
4.1.2 Data Analysis in Terms of Interlingual and Intraligual Errors
In this study, “article”, “number on nouns”, “no stop for a sentence” and “collocation and word choice”
are categorized into intralingual errors. “Intralingual errors reflect the general characteristics of rule learning
such as faulty generalization incomplete application of rules and failure to learn conditions under which rules
apply.” [9]P204 According to Richards’ method, other types of errors are put into intralingual errors although
there’re overlaps between two categories.

Table II
Group I Group II
Interlingual errors 124 37% 96 34%
Intralingual errors 210 63% 187 67%
Total 334 100% 293 100%
Group I: first-year students Group II: third-year students

The figures in the second column are the number of intralingual and interlingual errors committed by
first-year students and the percentages of these two types, which constitute the total number of errors
respectively. The third column, made up of third-year students’ results is the same format with the second one.
1.It seems that English knowledge of our students reach a certain level before they entered into Huizhou
University because interlingual errors committed by Group I are only 37%.They’ve got a good training in
English language system and almost mastered the difference between English language system and Chinese
language system.
2. From the table above, it is forward that intralingual errors predominate in our students’ compositions, while
interlingual errors are about half less than intralingual errors at different stages.
3. Mother tongue interference in Group II is only 3% less than Group I. We can infer that the interference of
mother tongue still play a significant role in junior students’ language system. 4. It is evident that Chinese
learners at the present study always violate target language conventions in the written production, which also
reflect their incompetence in language use.

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4.2 Discussion
Target language learners commit errors largely because their language proficiency is not good enough for
them to use this language at will. In order to fill the gap between inadequate proficiency and tough
requirements of a task, language learners draw on different strategies, such as ignorance and avoidance, mother
tongue transference, incomplete rule application, overgeneralization [10] P175-187 in their IL forms, which cause
different types of errors. Next we describe and explain the analysis of interlingual and intralingual errors.
4.2.1 Interlingual Errors
“When we count the percentage of thinking-in-Chinese-then-translating-into-English when students write
in English, the answer is from 50 percent to 80 percent, even as high as 100 percent for some individuals.” [11]
P71
From this statement, we can infer that interlingual errors are quite common in target language learners’
writing.
A. Inappropriate Word Choice
(1) As an English major student, I think the best way to learn English is to study on my own.
“student” is overused here. We don’t need to add “student” in an English phrase. When we say:作为一名
外语专业学生, where there is a “student” in Chinese. It is obviously that chinglish is taking effect here.
(2) Looks are usually decorated by three words: beautiful, plain and ugly.
According to Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, “decorate” is used to express the idea of
making the inside of a building look more attractive by painting it. The best verb for here is “described” which
is used to give details about them. When target language learners who choose the word “ decorated” here is
intervened by mother language “修饰” whose equivalent in English is the verb “decorate”.
B. Misuse of Article
(1) We don’t know what the society could bring to us.
(2) First, people often judge the others by appearance
Regardless of other types of errors the above, (1) and (2) misuse specific reference “the” in two sentences.
There is only one society, thus, we don’t need to add “the” before society.
C. Run-on Sentence (no comma for one sentence)
Frequently two or more complete sentences are split by a comma instead of being separated by a period.
[13] P41
When the students are writing, they pay little attention to sentences structures, especially freshmen.
(1) Work is very important in our life, it is a part of our life and provides us, a sense of achievement.
(2) You don’t need to invent a machine, you don’t need to write a poem, what you are to is finish some work.
(1), (2) are run-on sentences. Students who wrote the sentence perhaps wanted to describe two things
happening at the same time, but ignored the sentence structure.
D. Number on Nouns
(1) Eye witnesses sometimes provide direct evidences to the judge
(2) Firstly, let’s come to the most common part of our life.
(1) “evidence” is an uncountable noun. We can’t add “s” to the end of “evidence”.
(2) “life” is a countable noun, when we refer to plural forms, we need to charge its form into “lives”, because
it is an irregular plural noun.
4.2.2 Intralingual Errors
Most linguists of second language acquisition, however, have tended to accept many of the errors caused
by incomprehensive understanding and incorrect application of the target language during the period of
internalization. These errors are called intralingual and development errors, which will be discussed in terms of
overgeneralization, ignorance of rule restriction, incomplete application of rules and hypothesized false
concepts.

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A. Misspelling
According to the record, misspelling plays an important role in errors no matter for freshmen or junior
student. Some misspelling errors are surely due to bad memorization, or generalization.
e.g. sociality – society park – part
dujing – during complant – complaint
pround – proud experement – experiment
B. Incorrect Use of Verb
In English, a verb has different tenses, aspect, voice and mood. We need to be fully informed of this
phenomenon because just one verb has 16 tenses. Target language learners often take these for granted and
overgeneralize these rules.
(1) It is widely believed that everybody working not only for the living but also for pleasure.
The tense of “working” should be simple present tense, because it expresses a common phenomenon
(2) But sometimes it’s unfair that much you have gave but less you have been given.
It is obvious that the student already known that this sentence should use Perfective Aspect. But
he/she made an error in the usage of Perfective Aspect. He overgeneralized the rule.
“give – gave – given”
C. Misuse of Subordinator and Sentence Structures.
(1) This shows that how beautiful she is.
“that” the subordinator is overused here. Due to bad comprehension of clauses, the students
hypothesized a false concept. Subordinator plays a significant rule in compound sentences. If misusing a
subordinator, a sentence structure may naturally go wrong.
(2) Last night we discussed about the problem of looks.
“about” should be omitted here. In English, “discuss something” is an idiomatical saying.
4.3 IL Stages of Different Sample Groups
There is doubt that at which stage two different groups stay respectively. From their compositions, we see
that freshmen have known certain English linguistic rules, especially structural knowledge and grammatical
regulations. Also they have intention to apply these rules in language use, and to express their ideas. As for
junior students, they’ve paid attention to words choice and tried to write compound sentences to show their
English ability. However, two groups usually get things wrong and violate conventions in a broad way.
According to the analysis in this dissertation, first-year students should be categorized into a transitional stage
between “systematic stage” and “emergent stage”. Sometimes they can self-correct errors but sometimes not.
Even they violate them again and again. Third-year students are surely at the third stage---systematic stage.
They try to use accurate words and make relative sentence frequently, though it is possible for them to make
errors. Due to their over-confidence which will result in their errors, the chance for them to commit
subordinator errors is much higher. However, once pointed out, they would self-correct these errors or find
another expression.
V Implications
As justified in the previous chapter, most students tend to lay stress on the acquisition of the signified
meaning of words. They are also found to refer only to the Chinese equivalents in textbooks or dictionaries. All
these have led to literal translations of some words and phrases from Chinese to English on the part of the
learner. That’s mother tongue interference. Therefore, it is high time for students to change their ways of
acquiring English vocabulary.
As discussed in 4.2.1, the negative transfer as demonstrated in writings is a reflection of the difficulty that
the students encounter in SLA. The transfer errors appeared in the writings suggest that the learners are

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confused about the essential differences between those forms or structures that they think to be similar between
two languages. Moreover, results from transfer errors indicate that the subjects of two groups have reported to
have difficulty, to some degree, in telling cross-linguistic differences. Therefore, some information about
contrastive studies of the two languages is needed so as to help students to see more clearly some of the
problems they encounter.
Intralingual errors still play a significant role in students’ writing. Overgeneralization, ignorance of rule
restriction, etc are due to students’ poor command of grammar structures. In the basic stage, students should
focus their energy on the grammar courses, which lay a foundation for them to write or speak a correct
sentence.
VI Conclusion
By the quantitative analysis of IL errors from the dimension of grammatical rules and error source, I have
mainly scrutinized the frequency and distribution of IL errors, and found what kind of IL errors influence IL
development greatly at different stages, and accordingly give some suggestions on the knowledge of second
language acquisition. The major findings of this study can be summarized as follows:
a. In Huizhou University, English knowledge of students had reached a certain level before they entered
into Huizhou University.
b. Apart from native language interference, target language interference affects students’ IL
development seriously.
c. First-year students, here, are in a transitional stage between “systematic stage” and “emergent stage”,
while third-year students are undoubted in a systematic stage.
d. Improvement for the same class is not obvious after 2 years’ study. And for junior students, who need
to take TEM-8 examination next year, should be exposed more to English because there is a long way
for them to reach the final stage---the stabilization stage.
e. Implications for English language acquisition have also been given in this dissertation.
However, the study is limited in the following aspects. Firstly, due to the time and difficulty in analyzing
IL errors, the number of samples collected is somewhat limited. Secondly, in the process of categorizing
interlangual and intralingual errors, some sources identified maybe overlapping with each other, i.e. some
errors maybe attributed to two or more source.

References:
[1] Larry Selinker. Interlanguage [M]. International Review of Applied Linguistics, 1972
[2] Rod Ellis. Understanding Second Language Acquisition [M].上海外语教育出版社, 1999
[3] Nemser W. Approximitative systems of foreign language learners [M]. International Review of Applied
Linguistics, 1971
[4] Corder S.Pit. Idiosyncratic dialects and error analysis [M]. International Review of Applied Linguistics,
1971
[5] Fries C. Teaching and learning English as a foreign language [M]. University of Michigan Press, Ann
Arbor, 1945
[6] Odlin .T. Language Transfer: Cross-linguistic influence in language learning [M]. Shanghai Foreign
Language Education Press, 2001
[7] Corder S.Pit. The significance of learners’ errors [M]. International Review of Applied Linguistics, 1967
[8] Carl James. Errors in Language learning and Use: Exploring Error Analysis [M]. Foreign Language
Teaching and Research Press, 2001
[9] H.D.Brown. Principles of Language Learning and Teaching [M]. Foreign Language Teaching and Research

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 惠州学院 2007 届优秀毕业论文（设计）选编

Press, 2002
[10] Richards,O. A non-contrastive approach to error analysis [J]. English Language Teaching Journal, 1971b
[11] ZhangWentao. Analysis of interlingual and intralingual errors made by college students [J].中国英语教学,
2003, (11)
[12] 章振邦.《新编英语语法教程》第三版[M].上海外语教育出版社,2000
[13] Weiner.E.S. Writing Dianogstic Approach [M]. Oxford Pergamon, 1984

从中介语理论谈英语专业生写作偏误
英语（商务） 何丹 指导教师：林红讲师
（惠州学院外语系， 广东， 惠州， 516007）

摘要：本文首先回顾了二十世纪四十年代以来有关中介语理论和错误分析等方面的研究发现。在此基
础上采用定量分析的方法对惠州学院英语专业同一批学生在一年级和三年级时的英语写作错误进行了
抽样，并从语言知识，语内错误，语际错误和错误原因四方面进行分析和归纳，得出他们在不同年级
时中介语错误的分布和出现频率。这一分析对于我们了解学生在不同阶段的中介语特点和英语水平有重
要的意义。
研究与发现如下：
1. 大一学生的中介语发展处于“ 突发阶段 ” 和 “系统阶段” 间的过渡阶段，而大三学生完全处于
“系统阶段”。
2.母语迁移是影响学习者靠近目标语的一个不可忽视的因素
3.语内错误是本校学生所犯最多的错误
4.加强英语语法基础以及重视深入理解和运用词汇是英语学习的重点。
最后本文总结了错误分析对英语学习者的影响和指导意义。
关键词：第二语言习得; 中介语; 错误分析; 语际错误; 语内错误