An Analysis of Written Errors of Korean Adult Learners of English

Abstract

The objective of this study is to identify the common morphological, lexical, syntactic errors committed by Korean university students of English during 2014 academic year. The subjects who participated in the study were 36 female university students enrolled in TOEFL Speaking and Writing classes, ranging from freshmen to seniors. The elicitation techniques were outlining, TOEFL independent essay writings and explicit feedback on the errors. The errors were classified into 3 main categories and 17 subcategories and then, coded and analyzed accordingly based on frequency counts. Furthermore, a survey was conducted to explore student awareness of the errors and their needs in writing. The findings are as follows: Firstly, the morphological errors were the most frequent; the lexical and syntactic errors the second and third respectively. Secondly, the students recognized the use of transition words, the use of wrong/missing words, and missing/extra article as the most problematic areas in their writings. Since learner errors can help teachers predict possible errors, and eventually minimize student learning problems, it is suggested that teachers should train students with a list of error codes to avoid making errors in essay writing.