coordinating conjunction errors in written english made by first year students majoring in english at a university in dong nai province

VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

Nguyễn Thị Diệu Huyền

COORDINATING CONJUNCTION ERRORS
IN WRITTEN ENGLISH MADE BY FIRST
YEAR STUDENTS MAJORING IN ENGLISH
AT A UNIVERSITY IN DONG NAI PROVINCE

MA THESIS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE

HO CHI MINH CITY, 2020


VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

Nguyễn Thị Diệu Huyền

COORDINATING CONJUNCTION ERRORS
IN WRITTEN ENGLISH MADE BY FIRST
YEAR STUDENTS MAJORING IN ENGLISH
AT A UNIVERSITY IN DONG NAI PROVINCE

Field: English Language
Code: 8220201
Supervisor: Nguyễn Nhân Ái, Ph. D.

HO CHI MINH CITY, 2020

DECLARATION

I, Nguyễn Thị Diệu Huyền, hereby certify that this thesis, which is
entitled “Coordination Conjunction Errors in Written English Made by
First Year Students Majoring in English at a University in Dong Nai
Province”, is the result of my own research in the fulfillment of requirement
for the Degree of Master of Arts at Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences,
Graduate Academy of Social Sciences. The thesis has not been previously
submitted for a degree to any university or institution. This thesis is carried
out without using any other author’ work except the information from
references.
Author’s signature

Nguyễn Thị Diệu Huyền

Approved by
SUPERVISOR

Nguyễn Nhân Ái, Ph.D.
Date:…...…………………….……

i


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This thesis is not only my own effort but also the support and
contribution from many individuals and organizations.
Firstly, I am deeply indebted to my supervisor, Nguyễn Nhân Ái, Ph.D.,
for her detailed guidance, valuable comments and useful advice for my study.

Without her, this thesis is impossible.
Secondly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all of my
lecturers at Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, Graduate Academy of
Social Sciences for their valuable lectures during my MA course.
Thirdly, I wish to extend my special thanks to my colleagues and
students at Dong Nai Technology University for all their support and
contribution to this study.
Finally, millions of thanks go to my beloved family who has facilitated
and encouraged me during my MA course.

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ABSTRACT

This study focuses on the analysis of errors in the use of English
coordinating conjunctions in written English made by the first-year students
majoring in English at Dong Nai Technology University with an aim to
recommend some selected implications for better teaching of English
coordinating conjunctions in particular and writing in general. The analysis
was based on the data collected from two tests: a multiple-choice test of using
coordinating conjunctions and writing compositions on three topics given.
The tests were provided by 50 first year English-majored students at Dong
Nai Technology University. The most frequently used coordinating
conjunction in students’ compositions was “And”, and the greatest frequency
of errors occurred in the uses of “And”, too. The study also discussed some
causes of coordinating conjunction errors and some implications in teaching
English coordinating conjunctions based on the findings.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION ....................................................................................... i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................... ii
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................. iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ......................................................................... iv
LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................. vii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................ viii
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .......................................................... 1
1.1 Rationale............................................................................................ 1
1.2 Aim(s) of the study ........................................................................... 2
1.3 Research questions ........................................................................... 2
1.4 Scope of the study ............................................................................ 3
1.5 Significance of the study .................................................................. 3
1.6 Research methods ............................................................................. 3
1.7 Structure of the study ....................................................................... 4
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.............................................. 5
2.1 Theoretical background..................................................................... 5
2.1.1 An overview of coordinating conjunctions ................................. 5
2.1.1.1 Definitions of Coordinating conjunctions ............................ 6
2.1.1.2 Functions of Coordinating conjunctions .............................. 7
2.1.1.3 “Comma” with Coordinating conjunctions........................ 10
2.1.2 An overview of writing ............................................................. 11
2.1.3 An overview of errors ............................................................... 12
2.1.3.1 The notions of errors in language learning ........................ 12
2.1.3.2 Distinction between errors and mistakes ............................ 13
2.1.3.3 Classifications of errors

............................................. 14

2.1.3.4 Sources of errors ................................................................. 17

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2.1.4 An overview of error analysis ...................................................... 21
2.1.4.1 Definition of error analysis ................................................. 21
2.1.4.2 Stages in error analysis ...................................................... 22
2.1.4.3 Significance of error analysis ............................................. 23
2.1.4.4 Error correction and significance of error correction ....... 24
2.2 Previous studies .............................................................................. 26
2.3 Chapter summary ............................................................................ 27
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ............................... 28
3.1 Research questions .......................................................................... 28
3.2 Setting of the study.......................................................................... 28
3.3 Participants ...................................................................................... 30
3.4 Instruments of data collection ......................................................... 31
3.5 Data collection procedures .............................................................. 31
3.6 Data analysis procedure .................................................................. 32
3.7 Chapter summary ............................................................................ 32
CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS ............................... 34
4.1 General evaluation of the students’ performance ............................ 34
4.2 Results and analysis from students’ multiple-choice tests .............. 34
4.3 Results and analysis from students’ compositions .......................... 37
4.4 Chapter summary ............................................................................. 56
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION ............................................................. 58
5.1 Recapitulation ................................................................................. 58
5.2 Concluding remarks ........................................................................ 59
5.3 Implications ..................................................................................... 60

5.4 Limitations and suggestions for further study ................................ 63

v


REFERENCES ........................................................................................ 65
APPENDIX 1: MULTIPLE-CHOICE TEST ........................................... I
APPENDIX 2: KEY OF MULTIPLE-CHOICE TEST .......................... III
APPENDIX 3: WRITING COMPOSITION: TOPIC 1 .......................... V
APPENDIX 4: WRITING COMPOSITION: TOPIC 2 ........................VII
APPENDIX 5: WRITING COMPOSITION: TOPIC 3 ......................... IX

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LIST OF TABLES
Page
Table 1: Non-pass and pass students in multiple- choice
tests ................................................................................................... 34
Table 2: Total number of correct and incorrect answers in
multiple- choice tests. ....................................................................... 35
Table 3: Number of correct and incorrect answers of each
of coordinating conjunctions .......................................................... 36
Table 4: Number of coordinating conjunctions used in
compositions on topic 1 ................................................................... 37
Table 5: Number of coordinating conjunctions used in
compositions on topic 2 .................................................................... 38
Table 6: Number of coordinating conjunctions used in
compositions on topic 3 .................................................................. 39
Table 7: Number of coordinating conjunctions used in

compositions on three topics ........................................................... 40
Table 8: Students’ coordinating conjunction errors in
compositions on 3 topics ................................................................. 41

vii


LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

DNTU:

Dong Nai Technology University

FFL:

Faculty of Foreign Languages

viii


CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Rationale
In the age of globalization, English has become an important means of
communication for the exchange and cooperation among countries around the
world. More and more people of all ages have learned English. That is the
reason why English has become a core subject in all educational systems,
from the primary schools to universities or institutes of higher education.
Dong Nai Technology University (DNTU) is an example. In fact, DNTU
highly appreciates English. English is an important subject for students in all
specialties at DNTU. Especially, it also has a faculty of English for those who

are interested in English.
To learn English well, students are supposed to be competent in four skills:
listening, speaking, reading and writing. It is true that writing is a very
important skill in learning English. According to White (1985), writing is
used to examine a student’s performance in English. In 2007, Rao stated that
writing could help to motivate students’ thinking, organize ideas, and develop
their ability to summarize, analyze, and criticize as well as strengthening
students’ learning, thinking and reflecting on the English language. Writing is
also considered the most difficult skill when mastering English. In order to
write good paragraphs or essays, students need to have a wide range of
vocabulary, and firmly grasp the grammatical structures. In addition, a very
necessary factor to be considered to write good paragraphs and essays is the
unity and coherence, in which coordinating conjunctions are used with great
frequency.
In reality, at DNTU, the students’ input quality is not high compared to the
national average. Students often have difficulties using language, especially in

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writing. Writing is considered to be a difficult skill because exposing their
ideas in written form is not very easy. They have to take a lot of aspects into
consideration: grammar, vocabulary, unity and coherence, etc. Sometimes
grammar is correct but the

vocabulary is not appropriate. Sometimes,

grammar and vocabulary are exactly used but there is a lack of cohesion.
Especially for freshmen, expressing what they intend to write is actually hard
work. They make a lot of errors in structures, vocabulary, using conjunctions,

even coordinating conjunctions.
For the above-mentioned reasons, the author wants to conduct a research
entitled “Coordinating Conjunction Errors in Written English Made by
First Year Students Majoring in English at a University in Dong Nai
Province” to investigate common coordinating conjunction errors in writings
made by the first- year English-major students at DNTU, and find out some
solutions to this problem.
1.2 Aim(s) of the study
Hopefully, the study will help to contribute to the improvement in
students’ writing skills in general and in using coordinating conjunctions in
particular. This aim can be clarified by the following objectives:
- To find out common coordinating conjunction errors made by the firstyear English majors at DNTU.
- To suggest some solutions to help students minimize these errors.
1.3 Research questions
This study is implemented to answer the following research questions:

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 What are common coordinating conjunction errors made by the
first- year English-major students at DNTU?
 What are some solutions to help students minimize these errors?
1.4 Scope of the study
There are three kinds of conjunctions (coordinating conjunctions,
correlative conjunctions and subordinating conjunctions), but this study will
focus on coordinating conjunctions with common errors that students often
make in their writings.
Coordinating conjunction errors will be studied on the writings of the
first- year English-major students at DNTU.

1.5 Significance of the study
Once this study has been completed, the teachers will discover the most
common errors of coordinating conjunctions in written English made by the
first-year English-major students, from which the teachers will find the best
solutions to this problem. This means that students can understand more and
use coordinating conjunctions correctly as well as improve their writing skills.

1.6 Research methods
In order to complete this study, the main research methods employed are:
- Statistical methods are used to find out and classify the students’
errors.
- Descriptive methods are used to describe the actual errors committed
by the students.
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1.7 Structure of the study
The study consists of five chapters:
Chapter One: Introduction - presents the rationale, the aims, research
questions, the scope, the significance, the methodology, and the structure of
the study.
Chapter Two: Literature Review - provides both theoretical backgrounds for
the study and relevant previous studies.
Chapter Three: Research Methodology - describes the methods and
procedures used to carried out the study.
Chapter Four: Data analysis and Discussion - deals with the findings drawn
out from the analysis of data.
Chapter Five: Conclusion - draws some conclusions of major findings,
recommendations, limitations of the study, and suggestions for further
studies.

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Theoretical background
2.1.1 An overview of coordinating conjunctions
Coordinating conjunctions are the most common conjunction form in
English writing and discourse production. The term ‘conjunctions’ exists
within a very broad set of grammatical categories and subcategories that
employ such terminology as connecting words, discourse markers, linking
words, logical connectors, signal words, transitional devices, and others. Their
use is essential in forming connections for cohesion, coherence, and textuality
between words, phrases, clauses, and ideas (Provost, 1985; Schills & Dehan,
1993). Cohesion refers to the relationship of meaning that exists within a
paragraph of sentences. Cohesion is, therefore, an interpretation of a clause
that is dependent on the interpretation of either a preceding or proceeding
clause. These elements can be referred to as the presupposing and the
presupposed.
Longman Dictionary (1987, p. 214) defines conjunction as “a word
such as “but”, “and”, or “while” that connects parts of sentences, phrases or
clauses”, whereas Oxford Advanced Dictionary of Current English (2004, p.
259) defines a conjunction as “a word that joins words, phrases or sentences;
for example, ‘and’, ‘but’, ‘or’”. Besides, it was also defined by many authors.
Krishnaswamy (1984, p. 302) defines conjunction as “member of a small
class, which serve as connectives” while Richards et al. (1990, p. 77) define
conjunctions as “a word which joins words, phrases, or clauses together, such
as but, and, when.” In addition, Celce- Murcia & Larsen- Freeman (1999, p.

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461) defines conjunction as “the process of combining two constituents of the
same type to produce another, larger constituent of the same type.”
Conjunction plays a very important role in writing. Without
conjunction, the meaning of the text will not be logical. Conjunction consists
of three kinds: coordinating conjunctions, correlative conjunctions and
subordinating conjunctions. In this study, the coordinating conjunctions,
which are known as FANBOYS (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so), were
selected, for their uses are more frequent in the EFL writings of students
below an advanced proficiency level than the uses of the more complex
correlatives and subordinating conjunctions.

2.1.1.1 Definition of coordinating conjunctions
The term “Coordinating conjunctions” was defined by many authors.
Thomson and Martinet (1986, p. 288) define coordinating conjunctions as
"words join pairs of nouns, adjectives, adverbs, verbs, phrases and clauses"
while Richards et al.(1990, p. 77) define coordinating conjunctions as "coordinators such as and, or, but, that they join linguistic units which are
equivalent or of the same rank". Besides, Longman Dictionary of
Contemporary English (2001, p. 301) defines coordinating conjunction as "a
word such as 'and' or 'but', which joins two clauses of the same type".
In short, coordinating conjunctions are connecting words that join two
similarly constructed words, phrases or clauses in a sentence.
English coordinating conjunctions known as “FANBOYS” includes but,
or, so, and, yet, for, nor. Following are some examples using coordinating
conjunctions:


I like fish, but my children like meat. (showing contrast)

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

Would you prefer milk tea or orange juice? (before an alternative)



I didn’t sleep last night, so I’m very sleepy now.



I am married, and I have two daughters. (additive idea))



It’s raining heavily outside, yet he still wants to go out with his friends.
(emphasizing contrast)



Her mother must be very angry, for she doesn’t say anything. (explaining
the reason)



Mary didn’t stay at home, nor did she go to school. (for two noncontrasting grammatically negative items (not + not)).

2.1.1.2 Functions of coordinating conjunctions

 And
- To suggest that one idea is chronologically sequential to another:
Mary wrote Daisy a letter and waited for her response.
- To suggest that one idea is the result of another:
The children heard their mother’s footsteps and pretended to sleep.
- To suggest that one idea is in contrast to another (frequently replaced by but
in this usage):
Jenny is academically brilliant and Tom is creative in his thinking.
- To suggest an element of surprise (sometimes replaced by yet in this
usage):
Mumbai is a rich city and suffers from many symptoms of urban blight.
- To suggest that one clause is dependent upon another, conditionally:
Do exercise regularly and you’ll soon find yourself healthy and fit.
- To suggest a kind of ‘comment’ on the first clause:
Peter failed his driving test — and that surprised no one who knew him.

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 But
- To suggest a contrast that is unexpected in the light of the first clause:
“We lost our way home, but we still managed to find the way finally.”
- To suggest in an affirmative sense what the first part of the sentence implied
in a negative way (sometimes replaced by on the contrary):
“Ben never invested foolishly, but used the services of a wise investment
counsellor.”
- To connect two ideas with the meaning of ‘with the exception of’:
“Everybody but Cindy came to the party last night.”
 Or
- To suggest that only one option can be achieved:

“You can study hard for this exam or you will fail.”
- To interpret/refine what is said before (usually the first clause):
“NCM College is the premier all-women’s college in the country, or so it
seems to most NCM College alumnae.”
- To suggest a restatement or ‘correction’ of the first part of the sentence:
“There are no high buildings in these old villages, or so the guide tells
us.”
 Nor
The conjunction nor is not used as often as the other conjunctions. Its most
common use is in the correlative pair, neither...nor:
“He is neither brave nor intelligent.”
“That is neither what I have said nor what I have meant.”
- It can be used with other negative expressions:
“They didn’t take a map nor did they ask the local people.”
 For
The word for is generally used as a preposition, but its use as a coordinating

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conjunction is also common.
“They shouted loudly, for they saw a snake on the road.”
As far as possible do not begin a sentence with for. For has serious sequential
implications hence, you will have to look carefully at the sentences beginning
with for. In this respect, it is different form the use of because and since at the
beginning of sentences.
 So
Be careful of the conjunction so. Sometimes, it can connect two independent
clauses along with a comma, but sometimes it can’t. For instance, in this
sentence,

“Nam is not the only artist in his family, so are his brother, sister, and his
Uncle Toan.”
where the word so means ‘as well’ or ‘in addition’. However, a semicolon
between the two independent clauses would be smoother.
In the following sentence, where so is acting like ‘therefore’, the conjunction
and the comma are adequate:
“Daisy has always been nervous in large gatherings, so it is no surprise that
she avoids crowds.”
 Yet
The word yet functions sometimes as an adverb and has several meanings: in
addition (“yet another cause of trouble” or “a simple yet noble woman”), even
(“yet more expensive”), still (“he is yet a novice”), eventually (“they may yet
win”), and so soon as now (“he’s not here yet”).
It also functions as a coordinating conjunction meaning something like
‘nevertheless’ or ‘but’. The word yet seems to carry an element of
distinctiveness that the conjunction but cannot fully communicate.
“Dung plays football well, yet his favourite sport is volleyball.”

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“They complained loudly about the pool, yet they continued to go
swimming every day.”
“The visitors complained yet continued to play baseball every day.”
(Notice the use of the comma in the first two sentences and its disappearance
in the third.)
Yet is sometimes combined with other conjunctions, but or and. It would not
be unusual to sec and vet in sentences like the ones above. This usage is
correct.
2.1.1.3 “Comma” with coordinating conjunctions

When a coordinating conjunction is used to connect two clauses which
are two different but related ideas, a comma is often accompanied (but not
always) by:
“Nam really wants to study abroad, but he has trouble speaking
English.”
“He was hungry but he didn’t eat anything at the buffet.”
The second sentence is without a comma while the first has. It would be
thought that determining whether a comma is needed or not is very confusing.
(The comma is not very easy to master, as a punctuation mark!)
But there's a very easy way out — that is, always the comma is right! The
second sentence with a comma, for example, would be correct too. That is
when used to separate two independent clauses connected by a coordinating
conjunction the comma is always correct. A comma is also correct (and
necessary) when "and" is used to attach the last item in a serial list, although
many people (particularly journalists) omit this final comma:
Correct: “Tom spent his two-month summer studying English, Basic
Maths, and Reading Comprehension.”

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Incorrect: “Tom spent his two-month summer studying English, Basic
Maths and Reading Comprehension.”
This comma, which is called the serial comma or the Oxford comma, will be
looked at under punctuation again.
A comma is not used when a coordinating conjunction is used to connect all
the elements in a series,
“Engineers and Commerce Graduates and Management Graduates and
Arts Graduates comprise the student community at IIM Ahmedabad.”
A comma is also used with but when expressing a contrast:

“This is a very interesting story, but difficult to remember its name.”
Remember that what has been said above applies to clauses, but when merely
joining two sentence elements, a comma is not used.
In most of their other roles as joiners (other than joining independent clauses,
that is), coordinating conjunctions can join two sentence elements without the
help of a comma.
“Peter and Mary are two newcomers.
It is hard to say whether English or Maths is more interesting.”
2.1.2 An overview of writing
What is writing? There is no specific definition of writing because
different writers define writing in different ways. According to Flower (1981,
p. 16), “Writing is simply the act of expressing what you think or saying what
you mean”, while Brannon et al. (1982, p. 2) consider writing as”a creative
art, not as an assembly line operation of locking words together into sentences
and bolting sentences together into paragraphs in accordance with a
predefined plan”. In addition, Taylor (1984, p. 4) states that “The act of
writing, upon examination, turns out to be a complex process wherein writers
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use language as a tool to discover and clarifying meaning on experience in
order to say exactly what they mean”. Writing means much more than simply
producing words and sentences. It is the process of forming ideas, using
words and sentences to express those ideas through grammatical structures
and cohesive devices.
Writing is an important skill in learning a language. Together with
speaking, writing becomes a powerful means of communication, which can
express people’s thoughts, ideas and feelings. Writing is also considered to be
the most difficult to achieve, not only in academic writing but also in real life.
Therefore, Cross (1992, p. 268) claims that “In terms of needs and of

preparing learners to enter the real world, writing is more difficult to justify
than the other skills”. Furthermore, Tribble (1996, p. 3), regards writing as “a
productive and taught language skill which is difficult to acquire”, and
“Writing normally requires some forms of instructions. It is not a skill that is
readily picked up by exposing” (Tribble, 1996, p. 11). Thus, it is necessary for
learners to practice to improve writing skill.
In short, writing is a complex skill in acquiring as well as leaning a
language, especially in learning a second language. It is a complex process of
producing words and sentences with the help of grammatical structures and
cohesive devices to express people’s thoughts, ideas and feelings.

2.1.3. An overview of error
2.1.3.1 The notions of errors in language learning
“To err is human”. This saying shows that it is difficult for everyone,
whoever is, to avoid making errors. It can be understood that making errors is
the most natural thing in the world. Learning a second language is not an
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exception, especially when writing is more difficult to achieve than any other
skills. However, how is error defined? Different linguists present different
norms of error.
Corder (1974) states that “Errors are typically produced by people who
do not yet fully command some institutionalized language system”. While
George (1972) reviews errors as an unwanted form, especially, a form which
a particular course designer or teacher does not want, Chaudron (1986)
defines errors as linguistic forms of content that differed from native speaker
norms or facts and any other behaviour signaled by the teacher as needing
improvement. Whereas Johanson (1975) supposes that if native-speakers
hesitate about the acceptability of a word or construction it should not be

considered an error. Richards and Schmidt (2002, p. 184) present a clearer
definition that “Error is the use of a linguistic item (e.g. a word, a
grammatical item, a speech act. etc) in a way which a fluent or native speaker
of the language regards as showing faulty or incomplete learning”.

2.1.3.2 Distinction between errors and mistakes
In order to understand the errors better, it is necessary to distinguish
between errors and mistakes. Brown (2000, p. 217) states that “A mistake
refers to a performance error that is cither random guess or a “slip” , it is a
failure to utilize a known system correctly”. He argues that “Errors can not
often be self-corrected while mistakes can be self-corrected if the deviation is
pointed out to the speaker or when attention is called to them”. He also thinks
that “Mistakes are not the result of a deficiency incompetence but the result of
some sort of temporary breakdown or imperfection in the process of
producing speech.” (Brown, 2000, p. 217).

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According to Hubbard et al. (1983), the causes of genuine errors are
lack of language and incorrect hypotheses about the target language; while
mistakes are made accidentally by memory loss, confusion or tongue slipping.
Therefore, learners can correct mistakes by themselves but not errors. In
addition, Corder (1974) distinguishes between two types of systematic and
non-systematic errors. He called non-systematic errors made by native
speakers “mistakes” and the other occurring in the second language “errors”.
He states that a mistake is a deviation of the language norms but is not
systematic while errors are typically made when people are not fully in
command of some linguistic systems. Richard et.al (1985) think mistakes are
caused by inattention, fatigue, carelessness or other aspects of performance.

Therefore, mistakes are often non-systematic and are made due to inattention,
fatigue, carelessness or other aspects of performance so if the language
learners pay attention, learners can avoid mistakes or even can correct them
themselves. Meanwhile, errors are systematic for they are caused by the
learner's incompetence, ignorance of the rules and interference of the learners’
mother tongue and the general characteristics of rule learning.

2.1.3.3 Classifications of errors
We all know that errors are unavoidable in the process of learning a
language. Researchers in applied language field usually distinguish two types
of errors: performance errors and competence errors. Performance errors are
those made by learners when they are tired or hurried. This type, which is
normally not serious, can be overcome with little effort by the learners.
Competence errors, on the other hand, are more serious than performance
ones for the fact that competence errors reflect inadequate learning.
Corder (1974) distinguishes between systematic and non-systematic
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errors. Non-systematic errors occur in one’s native language, Corder calls
these mistakes and states that they are not significant to the process of
language learning. They can be self-corrected when there is attention. He uses
the term “errors” for the non-systematic ones, which occur in second language
learning. He believes that errors are the evidence of the language system that
the learner is using at a particular point in the course.
Other researchers (cf. Burt and Kiparsky, 1978) distinguish between
local and global errors. Local errors do not hinder communication and
understanding the meaning of an utterance. Global errors, on the other hand,
are more serious than local errors because global errors interfere with
communication and disrupt the meaning of utterances. Local errors involve

noun and verb inflections, and the use of articles, prepositions, and
auxiliaries. Global errors, for example, involve wrong word order in a
sentence.
Richards (1992, p. 173) proposed a three-dimensional error
classification:
(1) interlingual error
(2) intralingual error
(3) developmental error
The interlingual errors are those caused by the interference of the
learner’s native language on his target language production in presumably
those areas where the languages are clearly different.
The intralingual errors are those derived from the structure of English
itself.

Complex

rules-learning

behavior

is

often

characterized

by

overgeneration, incomplete application of rules, and the lack of learning the
conditions for applying rules. When the complexity of the English structure

15