An Analysis Of Verb Errors In English Compositions Of Senior High School Students

Writing,as a mode of output in language learning,plays a vital role in evaluating the English level of senior high school students.However,there are many problems in the current senior high school English writing teaching.Due to a variety of reasons,the students generate types of errors in their compositions,and it is hard for teachers to define and identify the errors systematically,to describe the types of errors accurately,and to analyze the causes of errors reasonably.Generally speaking,verb error is a key point for Chinese learners of English because of the difference between these two languages.Therefore,this paper collects 360 English compositions written by 120 students from Grade Eleven in Panzhou Senior High School,focuses on their verb errors and analyzes the possible causes so as to provide suggestions for senior high school English writing teaching.The research questions are as follows:(1)What are the verb errors frequently committed by the students of Grade Eleven in senior high school in their English writings?(2)What are the main causes of these errors and their pedagogical implications for English writing teaching?This research adopts text analysis,questionnaire and interview to answer these questions.Focusing on finite verbs and non-finite verbs in the students’ compositions,it analyzes the verb errors from the dimensions of interlingual,intralingual and learning environment.Finally,it concludes:(1)The finite verb errors in the students’ compositions involve in tense,agreement,transitivity,auxiliary,voice,verbal phrases,emission,redundancy and mood,while their non-finite verb errors consist of the errors of infinitive,-ing form and-ed form.(2)The causes for the verb errors are negative transfer of mother tongue,over-generalization,ignorance or incomplete application of rules,false understanding of concepts and the limitation of learning environment.The study proposes the following suggestions for senior high school English writing teaching: Before writing,teachers should conduct writing strategy training properly and flexibly,explanation the usage of verbs when necessary and cultivate students’ good writing habits.In writing,teachers should help students to establish a sense of self-monitoring of errors to improve writing efficiency.After writing,teachers should give students feedback promptly and encourage them to hold a positive attitude towards errors.