The Application Of Learning Strategies In Interlanguage Errors Analysis

The output of second or foreign language learners is known as interlanguage (IL). Language learners are always somewhere along the interlanguage continuum, which refers to an in-between and inherently various system between native language and target language. With the amount of study, IL gradually reaches target language. However, errors are inevitable. The process of foreign language learning is a process of creating IL, developing IL by inherently correcting errors. Therefore, students on different levels always commit different errors in their process of IL development, which has a strong connection with the employment of learning strategies. Based on the theory of IL and learning strategies, this thesis applies learning strategies to explaining IL errors, and two research questions are addressed: 1) What are the main differences of IL errors and leaning strategies respectively among students at three levels of proficiency? 2) What is the relationship between IL errors they commit and the learning strategies they employ? Both quantitative and qualitative analyses are adopted in the research. To be specific, the thesis is integrated by six chapters, each of which is relatively independent but concentrates on a specific topic with the core of IL development.The paper firstly reviews the previous studies on IL and the application of learning strategies in interlanguage development, thus forming a theory framework for the present study. A detailed description of the instrument design of the whole study is then comprehensively introduced.Data collection includes compositions written and questionnaires done by three groups of students at different levels. Students involved in the study are first-year undergraduates majoring in Electronic Information Technology, third-year undergraduates majoring in Communication Engineering and first-year postgraduates majoring in Traditional Chinese Medicine. First-year undergraduates have not participated in CET-4. Compositions of those who have passed CET-4 in the third-year class and compositions of those who have passed CET-6 in the first-year postgraduate class are picked up. Then these compositions are corrected and scored in three groups. 20 compositions of each group are randomly selected according to the range of scores, which provides the data of IL errors. And their responses to the questionnaire provided the thesis with data of learning strategies. And then a data-based analysis of IL and learning strategies has been made by using both qualitative and quantitative analyses, which is the key part of the study. Based on the above chapters, the findings and implications can be summarized as follows:A. The data show students at three levels of proficiency stay at transitional stages along the continuum of interlanguage development from low to high.B. Syntactical errors rank first in all groups, so syntactically-based language learning is still the center of English language teaching in China.C. According to the distribution and frequencies analyzed, the total number of errors committed by G1 is larger than that of the other two groups while G1 adopts learning strategies more frequently than the other two groups in general. Therefore, it is the type, not the number and frequency of learning strategies that play a part in eliminating interlanguage errors and improving the language proficiency.D. Most importantly, the teaching of English in class should put priority to training students' awareness of learning strategies which would transform them from "what to learn" to "how to learn" in the process of interlanguage development.The last chapter ends with a brief review, contributions, limitations and suggestions.