Abstract

English writing, as one of the four skills of English, requires students to output the internalized knowledge they acquired correctly. Writing ability is still a short board for students who regard English as the second language. They still face some difficulties in the process of writing and always make errors inevitably. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to the teaching of writing and to make a thorough analysis to the frequently committed errors. Based on the theory of error analysis and some studies relate to error analysis both at home and abroad, this paper aims to analyze the errors in senior junior high school students’ English composition, and to find out some beneficial implications that can improve students' writing ability.

This paper is divided into five parts. The first part sets the research background according to the writing requirements in New English Curriculum Standards and the requirements in the High School Enrollment Examination. Based on this background, the purpose of this research is put forward. The second part is about the theory of error analysis. The definition of error analysis theory and the classification of several errors are given in this part. What’s more, some significant researches of error analysis are listed. The third part discusses the design of this research, which includes research questions, research subjects and data collection. The fourth part shows the results and the analysis of the research. It analyzes the main causes of these errors in students’ composition. On the basis of the results, the fifth part discusses the findings and implications for both teachers and students in their English writing teaching and learning. A summary of the whole paper and the limitations of this study will be given in the sixth part. This paper main adopts the questionnaire, interview and analytical method.

Key Words: writing; error; error analysis; junior high school students; English teaching

Contents

Abstract

摘  要

1. Introduction-1

1.1 Research Background-1

1.1.1 Writing Requirements in New English Curriculum Standards-1

1.1.2 English Writing in the National Matriculation English Test-1

1.1.3 The Status of English Writing in Junior high school-1

1.2 Purpose of the Research-2

1.3 Organization of the Paper-2

2. Literature Review-3

2.1 General Introduction on error and EA-3

2.1.1 Definitions of errors-3

2.1.2 Classifications of errors-3

2.2 Researches on EA at Home and Abroad-4

2.2.1 Related theories abroad-4

2.2.2 Related theories at home-5

3. Research Design-6

3.1 Research Questions-6

3.2 Research Subjects-6

3.3 Data collection-6

4. Results & Analysis-8

4.1 Results from the writings and interview-8

4.1.1 Common Errors Types in Students’ English Writing-8

4.1.2 Results from the Interview-13

4.2 Sources of errors-14

4.2.1 Interlanguage transfer-14

4.2.2 Intralanguage transfer-14

4.2.3 Induced Errors-16

5. Discussion-17

5.1 Major Findings-17

5.2 Implication for English Teaching and Learning-17

6. Conclusion-19

6.1 Conclusion-19

6.2 Limitations of this Study-19

Reference-20