A Corpus-Based Study on the Development of Grammatical Accuracy in EFL Writing
- DOI
- 10.2991/978-2-494069-37-4_41How to use a DOI?
- Keywords
- Longitudinal learner corpus; Grammatical accuracy; EFL writing
- Abstract
This paper takes a descriptive approach to the development of grammatical accuracy in EFL beginner writing. The types and frequency of errors in a longitudinal learner corpus are described and analyzed. The type of errors with the highest average frequency is misspelling, followed by typographical and grammatical errors. Besides, the average frequencies of misspelling and typographical errors are on the rise over six semesters. On the contrary, grammatical errors do not demonstrate any linear trend. It indicates that the development of grammatical accuracy in beginner language is a dynamic process. Further, we notice that the types of grammatical errors with a comparatively higher frequency are subject-verb disagreement, sentence fragments, misuse of noun plural, and errors concerning forms of verbs. A descriptive analysis of these types of grammatical errors indicates that the influence of the first language is strongly felt. The implication here is that the learner’s first language is not a hindrance but a facilitator in learning a new language. Therefore, a comparative approach between the first language and English seems a potentially promising route for teaching beginners. Furthermore, teaching materials starting from the similarities and gradually evolving to the differences between the first language and a new one deserve a try.
- Copyright
- © 2023 The Author(s)
- Open Access
- Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.
Cite this article
TY - CONF AU - Weilu Wang AU - Manfu Duan AU - Jinyu Liu PY - 2022 DA - 2022/12/19 TI - A Corpus-Based Study on the Development of Grammatical Accuracy in EFL Writing BT - Proceedings of the 2022 International Conference on Diversified Education and Social Development (DESD 2022) PB - Atlantis Press SP - 328 EP - 337 SN - 2352-5398 UR - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-494069-37-4_41 DO - 10.2991/978-2-494069-37-4_41 ID - Wang2022 ER -