Error Analysis Of English Writing Of English Major Students From Polytechnical Universities

It is inevitable for language learners to commit errors in the process of second language learning, and committing errors is part of it. Error analysis is an analytical means used to identify errors learners make in the process of learning a language. This inspection aims to analyze lexical and grammatical errors in the writings of 100 English major students (Grade two) from three polytechnic universities, namely, Changchun University of Technology, Changchun University of Science and Technology and Changchun Institute of Technology. And the title of their writings was given to students when they were preparing for the TEM-4, the Test for English Major 4 and their writings were completed within the given time under the supervision of a faculty. Upon data collection, Standard English Grammar complements the error analysis strategy to highlight errors from four areas of interest: orthographic, morphologic, syntactic and lexical mistakes. Meanwhile, description of how errors are classified is given in the process of analysis. And then the author calculates the percentage of the errors by classifying and counting.Universities setting up English major in China mainly fall into four types: comprehensive universities, normal universities, foreign studies universities and polytechnic universities. The author teaching in a polytechnic university argues that English major students in polytechnic universities share something in common that contribute to this research. This analysis encompasses four main goals:(1) to determine from the written compositions of English major learners the typical errors associated with grammar fundamentals and terminology; (2) to highlight error categorical proportions; (3) to evaluate the source of errors, and (4) to consult on feasible instructional tactics with regards to the outcomes. The analysis of error type proportions demonstrates eight common causes of error:the influence of psychology, deduction, superfluous generalizing, blending of speech, over-simplifying, grammar illiteracy, transmission and imagery.In association with these eight error origins, observation of the data revealed a recurrent substantial amount of lexical and grammatical mistakes made by English majors in polytechnic universities. Specifically, over-generalizing tends to be the most prevalent cause of learners’ errors, while transition from the native language to the second language exhibits secondary importance. The Chinese and English languages vastly diverge in many respects, which was very apparent in the investigation. Namely, syntactic and morphological mistakes provide evidence for this claim. As for the ramifications involved with instructional strategies, critique through reciprocal communication may serve as a foundation for improvement.