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Hsueh, F. S. – 1983
Common problems encountered in teaching Chinese that involve classical, intentional malapropisms (learned errors) are discussed. Three aspects unique to Chinese are addressed: (1) since Chinese writing is logographic, some malapropisms occur because of similar graphs; (2) since many expressions come from classical Chinese, and instruction in…
Descriptors: Chinese, Error Patterns, Higher Education, Language Usage
Gascon, Christopher D. – Texas Papers in Foreign Language Education, 1998
The Spanish psychological verb construction seems to be especially difficult for native English-speaking learners to acquire. Since some of the most common Spanish psych verbs, such as "gustar" (to please) and "encantar" (to delight), require a grammatical structure that is different from that of the English verbs frequently…
Descriptors: English, Error Patterns, Grammar, Higher Education
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Rosengrant, Sandra F. – Modern Language Journal, 1987
Evaluation of the Russian oral and written proficiency of third-year university students (N=9) suggested a clear relationship between the students' initial oral proficiency ratings and the grammatical accuracy of their written compositions; the lower a student's oral proficiency rating, the greater the average number of written mistakes, and vice…
Descriptors: College Students, Correlation, Error Analysis (Language), Error Patterns
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Randall, Mick – Second Language Research, 1991
Reports on experiments where Arabic-speaking subjects were asked to scan arrays of digits in both standard "Western numeral" and "Indian numeral" forms, and compares array-scanning patterns observed with patterns observed with speakers of other languages, particularly English. The implications in terms of the use of…
Descriptors: Arabic, Comparative Analysis, English (Second Language), Error Patterns
Zhang, Xue Bin – 1991
A study investigated patterns of usage of French connectors (e.g., "alors,""mais,""puisque") among Chinese university students of French as a foreign language. The study arose from concern that the lack of connector usage contributed to a lack of coherence in the students' oral and written language. Subjects were 45…
Descriptors: College Students, Error Patterns, Foreign Countries, French
Tickoo, Asha – Pragmatics and Language Learning, 1992
Two samples of college student writing, paragraphs from freshman compositions, are analyzed for presence or absence of two characteristics of literate prose, decontextualization and autonomy. Writing is decontextualized and autonomous when whatever is needed for its comprehension is included in the words of the text, and comprehension is not…
Descriptors: College Freshmen, Discourse Analysis, Error Patterns, Foreign Countries
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Haggan, Madeline – System, 1991
Analysis of spelling errors collected from final examinations of native-Arabic speaking students majoring in English found significant differences in frequencies of error types among remedial and advanced students. Mispronunciation and lack of awareness of spelling rules and regular spelling patterns strongly contributed to spelling errors, even…
Descriptors: Advanced Students, Arabic, College Students, Comparative Analysis
Hedayet, Nagwa – 1990
A study investigated patterns in the apparent syntactic errors of native English-speaking, upper-level learners of Arabic as a foreign language. One hundred writing samples, including summaries, criticisms, and free composition, were gathered from a number of university courses. Error types analyzed included articles, subordinate clauses, two-word…
Descriptors: Advanced Courses, Arabic, Contrastive Linguistics, Difficulty Level
Izzo, John – University of Aizu Center for Language 1994 Annual Review, 1995
A study examined patterns of English usage in 52 Japanese university freshmen's written compositions, particularly in the use of the subordinating conjunction "because." It was found that students often fragmented sentences when "because" was involved, or used a comma to separate a trailing dependent "because" clause…
Descriptors: College Freshmen, Conjunctions, English (Second Language), Error Patterns
Kim, Anna Charr – 1995
The case study examined the development of English writing skills in a native Russian-speaking college student with no previous instruction in English as a Second Language. It drew on writing samples from 2 years of English language instruction. Theories of first and second language acquisition, especially in written expression, are analyzed in…
Descriptors: Acculturation, Case Studies, College Students, Comparative Analysis
Eckermann, Carol; Kim, Anna Charr – 1996
A case study of second language development in a college student focused on comparative changes in the development of oral and written skills over a period of two years. The subject was a Russian student of English as a second language who had recently arrived in the United States. Errors and syntactic maturity were analyzed in writing samples…
Descriptors: Achievement Gains, Adult Learning, Age Differences, Case Studies
Nakamura, Tomoko – 1997
A study in Japan investigated second language skill loss and maintenance in three groups of English-as-a-Second-Language learners: (1) ninth graders studying basic vocabulary and sentence structures (true beginners); (2) students in the lowest level English class at a technical college, but with some English language skills (false beginners); and…
Descriptors: College Students, English (Second Language), Error Patterns, Foreign Countries