Analysis Of Verbs In College English Writing

As we all know, no one can master language without errors which are very common in language learning. Errors can help students realize their real level in English study as well as helping teachers pay attention to some mistakes often made by students. So the learning of errors is very useful and meaningful. As verb is one of the most important elements in sentence, it plays an essential role in the process of language learning. Thus the study of verbs errors is really significant.According to Corder(1974), there are five steps of error analysis:(1) Collecting samples of language learner(2) Identifying errors(3) Describing errors(4) Explaining errors(5) Evaluating of errors. Based on the theory of error analysis and language transfer, the author collected thecompositions of freshmen fromone college of Jilin University and built the corpus, which was analyzed by using a combination of qualitative and quantitative method. There are two questions in this research: 1)What kind of verb errors will appear in the college students’ English writing? 2) What factors cause the verb errors in the college students’ English writing?Through analyzing the collected data and the questionnaire, the author obtained the following findings:1. There are nine types of verb errors in students’ compositions: non-finite verbs errors; subject-verb disagreement; incorrect use of verbs; misuse of verb collocations;errors of omission and redundancy; errors after the modal verbs and auxiliaries; tense errors; voice errors and verb spelling errors. Among these types, the frequency of subject-predict errors and non-predict verb errors are the highest.2. There are five main factors leading to the verb errors in college students’ English writing, namely: deep influence by mother language,overgeneralizing target language, environmental factors, cultural difference and the lack of knowledge of target language.In the end, based on the findings, the author offered some strategies. For the teachers:(1) making the English Writing Routinization(2) Guiding Students’ Writing(3) Arousing Students’ Enthusiasm of Writing(4) Developing a Correct Attitude to Errors(5) Paying Attention to Cultural Diversity. For the students:(1) Treating Errors Correctly(2) Taking a Positive Attitude to Learning(3) Enhancing Language Input(4)Making Personal Plan and Persevering(5) Avoiding Negative Transfer of Mother Language. The author hoped they would be beneficial for both the teachers and students...