A Study of Students' Errors in Writing

Shoko TANAKA
Yoshiaki NAKAMITSU
lntroduction
It has often been pointed out that a number of Japanese college
students， in spite of their attempt to learn English as a foreign language
for at least six years or more， find it very hard to express their own

thoughts in the written form of the language． Unfortunately， theabove statement seems to be true in general． A teacher often tends toassume that a college student should have adequate knowledge ofEnglish and therefore should be able to produce grammatically correctsentences． However， in reality， the students often make errors when
they are asked to write． From our teaching experience， we find thatmost of our students are often at a loss to know what to write when
they are asked to write a composition． ln addition， there are so many
mistakes in their compositions that it is often difficult for the teacher

to interpret the meanings they intend to express． The students makevarious types of errors and there are possibly several reasons for them．

It is the systematic analysis of the errors that enables us to accountfor the difficulties the students possess， and that helps us find out whatcorrective teaehing techniques are likely to be most effective．
In this paper we would like to analyze the errors our students madein the different types of tests， and consider the implications for theteaching of writing．

1． The subjects and the procedure

In order to analyze errors， two types of tests were conducted．
1． Test 1

1） The subjects
The subjects of this study were 167 students of Tokuyama University．

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徳山大学論叢

第27号

These students were taking English composition and reading courses
for general education when the study was conducted．

2） The procedure
The subjects were divided into two groups． One group of 75 students（group A） were given a series of pictures as shown in Figure 1， andthey were asked to write three or four sentences for each picture． An‑other group of 92 students （group B） were given a story written in
Japanese as shown in Figure 2， which tells the same story as in theseries of pictures mentioned above， and the students were asked towrite a composition according to the given story in Japanese． While
writing， ・students were not permitted to consult dictionaries， grammarbooks， or any other aids．

与えられた 絵／日本文 を参考にして トムとメアリーのある朝の様子を英語で書きなさい。
Fig． 1

A

B

C

D

li

152 一

1987年6月 田中晶子・中光義亮：A Study of Students'Errors in Writing
Fig． 2

もう8時55分だった。トムとメアリーはテーブル1；ついて朝食を食べていた。トムはコーヒーを飲んでいるところだった。メアリーは壁の時計を指さして『9時5分前よ、急がなくちゃ会社に遅れるわよ』と言った。
そこでトムは手にカバンを持って急いで家を飛び出した。メアリーは戸口に立って，手を振ってトムを見送った。トムはバス停まで大急ぎで走つた。バス停にはもうバスが止っていた。何人かの人がバスに乗っているところだった。バスは動き始めた。でもトムは何とかそのバスに飛乗ることができた。
materials from Progressive Picture Cornpositions

by Donn Byrne

2． Test 2

1） The subjects

Test 2 was carried out with 160 students of Tokuyama University．

Although these students were taking the same English courses at theuniversity， they were different from those in Test 1 ．

2） The procedure

The students were divided into two groups of equal number（group P ＝ 80， group L ＝＝ 80）． All the students of both groups were

given the same passage printed in English as shown in Figure 3 toread within the allocated time period， and they were asked to write
the correct forms of the given words with the help of either pictures（group P） or mother tongue equivalent （group L） as shown in Figure
4 and Figure 5．

与えられた 絵／日本文 を参考にして つぎの英文の（）内の動詞を適当な形に変えなさい。
Fig． 3

1 ． Mr． and Mrs． Brown are camping． lt一． ． 一（be） early in the morning．

The sun 2 （come） up． There 3一． （be） some clouds overthe mountains． lt 4 （rain） there． Now Mrs． Brown 5（fry） some fish， which Mr． Brown S（catch） last night． He istrying to 一2（catch） some fish this morning， too． Some hikers
8 （be） nearby． Already one hiker 一9一（cross） the river．

Two hikers 10 （cross） the river． One is going to At
153 一

第27号

徳山大学論叢（fall） into the river． But the river 12 （be） not so deep， and hecan 13 （swim）．
2． Tom has finished his homework， and now he 14 （work） on acrossword puzzle． He 一 li ．．一 （know） how to solve the puzzle， but

he cannot 16 （complete） it because he cannot 一．Lt （spell）

acertain word． He 18 （have） a small dictionary， which he
19 （borrow） from his friend yesterday， but the word 2t（be） not in it． There ．．一 2！一 ．（be） a large dictionary in the cabinet，

but he cannot ．一 22．一 （get） it because it is locked． His roommate，George， Lt （have）the key， and he Lt （go）out an hourago． Tom Lt （hope） George ±6 （return） soon． Thenhe can 27 ． （get） the large dictionary， Lt （finish） thecrossword puzzle， and一 29一 一（go） to bed．

3． Ray and John 一 30r ．一 （be） good friends． They both St（work） at the Western lnsurance Co． They 32 ． （not live） at
home． lnstead， they 一±t 一（share） a room in town． The room is

not very large， but they±t （like）it because it 2t （be）
cheap． lt ．±6 （be） December， and Ray is going home for
Christmas． Ray 3‑7 ．一 （take） his skis， because he 一一3Lt（enj oy） skiing． He ±t （think） skiing is fun， and he 3t（ski） as often as he can． Already Ray 一．Lt （finish） packing
his suitcase． lt is on the bed． The packing 一42 ．一一 ． （take） longer

than he 43 （think）， because he 44 （have） several otherthings to do． Ray is saying goodbye to John． He St （leave）
in a few minutes．

Fig． 4

嚢

1

み㌃隔㌔聯・

顧・．；︐

ゐ儲

ドノド

︐

鴨
■

1

購

︵

︑'

；．甥

亀

暢を

う

9﹂

﹁r一

一 154 一

匪﹃

置

タρ一'

9︽

翔

ンロ 5
i 多'

誕島 炉︒︑

・

﹁'

'．，

弼

制〃

ほ

鰯綴ク

・ご屯●い'．．
鴨■o

し● 隔 覧，」ジ｝つ亀、'
7

輔．巳．

1987年6月 田中晶子・中光義亮：A Study of Students'Errors in Writing

匿

2

薫羅1．
ssStX＄k）
）eg

鯉廼

s

'K'、

レ

rフ

3

Fig． 5

Lブラウン夫妻は キャンプをしています。朝はまだ早く 太陽がちょうど登って来た所です。でも山の上には 雲が少しかかり そこでは雨がふっている様子です。ブラウン氏が昨夜釣った魚を奥さんはいま料理しています。彼は今朝も魚を捕まえようとしているところです。何人かのハイカー達が 近くを通っています。一入のハイカー

はもう川を渡り 二人のハイカーが今川を渡ろうとしています。その内の一人 どうも川に落ちそうです。でも 川はそんなに深くないので彼は泳ぐことができます。
2．トムは すでに宿題をすませ 今はクロスワードパズルに取り組んでいます。彼はパズルの解き方はわかるのですが ある語のつづりが思い出せなくて全体を完成することができません。友達からきのう借りた小さな辞書は手元にあるのですが 辞書の中に肝心な語がないのです。戸棚には大きな辞書があるにはあるけれど鍵がかかっ
一 155 一

徳山大学論叢

第27号ていて取れません。同室のジョージが鍵を持っているのですが 彼は一時間前にでかけたままです。ジョージが早く帰ってくればと'トムは思っています。そうすれば大きな辞書を手にいれパズルを済ませて 床につくことができるからです。

3．レイとジョンは 仲のよい友達です。二人は ウエスタン保険会社で働いています。彼らは自分の家から通っていないで 会社の近くで部屋を借りて住んでいます。部屋は余り大きくないけれど 安いので気入っています。十二月になり レイは クリスマスを家で過ごすことになりました。レイはスキーをするのが 大好きなのでス
キー道具を家に持って帰ることにしました。スキーはおもしろいと彼は時間のある限りスキーをしている程です。色々と手のかかる仕事があって レイが思T）たよりも荷作りに手間取ったものの すでに荷作りを終えてカバンはベットの上に置いてあります。ジョンにさよなら を言ってもうすぐ出発です。
materials from English Conversation throughPictures 2 by ELECll ． Analysis of test 1

Major errors observed in the students' compositions

There were several types of recurrent errors that were observed in
the students' compositions of both groups． According to the result of
the study we conducted， it can be said that our students ・have muchdifficulty with the use of verbs， articles and prepositions， for many ofthe errors committed by the students were centered around these ateas．
1． Verb errors

1．1． Wrong form
Of several types of errors in verb forms as shown in Table 1， theuse of be＋verb form is noticeable． The majority of the students did

not make this type of error， but the students with poor competence
recurrently committed this error． This wrong verb form is assumed tobe concerned with faulty rule learning in the process of acquiring rulesof the target language． The following three different cases were・observed ：一 156 一1987年6月 田中晶子・中光義亮：A Study of Students'Errors in Writing
1 ． Use of be （present） 十 verb stem instead of verb stem

2， Use of be （past）十 verb stem instead of verb stem十ed
3． Use of be （past）十 verb stem十ed instead of verb stem十ed

In the cases shown above， the verb be， either the present form or the
past form， is used， The present from of the verb be， for instance， is

probably explained as a kind of marker which indicates that the tense ispresent，
e． g． XHe is drink of coffee，a）

And the past form of the verb be can be interpreted as a past tense

maker．
e． g． XHe was got on the bus．

This type of error， according to Richards， is one ofwhich have to do with faulty rule‑learning．
this type of error

intralingual errorsi） Ghadessy also states that

deals with false hypothesis based on a limited knowl‑edge of the target language．

2） lt may be considered that the use of the

be十verb form is attributable to the transfer of the Japanese verb
ending． However， Richards indicates that the occurrence of this type oferror is not related to the intrusion of the mother tongue， but concernedwith a contrastive approach to language teaching．3）

The use of regular past tense endings for irregular past tense
forms was also frequently observed in the students' compositions．
e．g．

drinked （drank）， catched （caught）， runed （ran），'etc．

These errors result from over‑generalizing a rule； that is to say， thelearners apply a particular rule which they previously learned to a newsituation． They may also be regarded as misapprehension of the rule by

the learners in the process of acquiring the target language or what
Richards implies

ignorance of rule restrictions．

1 ） Richards， J． C．，）

A Noncontrastive Approach to Error Analysis'， inRichards， J． C．， ed．，Error AnalYsis， London ： Longman， 1974， p． 178．

2 ） Ghadessy， M．，

lmplications of Error Analysis for Second／Foreign

Language Acquisition'， IRAL， Vol． XVIII， May 1980， p． 98．
3） Richards， J． C．， op． cit．， 1974， p． 179．
4） lbid．， p． 175．

a ） Conventionally， an asterisk before an item signifies that it is unac‑
ceptable．

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第27号

徳山大学論叢Table 1： Errors in verb forms

Number of errors

1 ． be十verb stem for verb stem

Group AGroup B

21

25

12

31

16

12

13

5

こ口 is drink of coffee

Bus is start
He is run．．．

Mary is stand．．．

2 ． be （past）十 verb stem for verb stem十ed

She was see him off．．i

He was eat breakfast
The bus was stop ．．．

Tom and Mary were eat．．．
3． be （past）十 verb stem十ed for verb stem十ed

The bus was already stopped
Mary was said．．．

Mr． Smith was woke up
He was got on the bus

4 ． Wrong form of verb stem十ed

こ口unked， catched， drinked， runed， thinked， leaved， standed

1．2． Omission of verb be
Table 2 shows two types of errors in relation to the use of verb be：

the omission of be in the position of the predicate and the omission of
be in a progressive sentence．

一 158 一1987年6月 田中晶子・三光義亮：AStudy of Students'Errors in Writing
Table 2： Omission of verb be

Number of errors

1 ． Omission of be in the position of the predicate

Group AGroup B

5

13

12

25

Many people in a bus
He thought he late for work

He tired before work
You will late．；．

2 ． Omission of be before verb十ing

He eating breakfast

The man drinking morning cafe
He running to the bus stop
Mary standing ．．．

The omission of verb be in the position of the predicate wasobserved in the compositions of both groups of students； however， there

were more in number in the compositions written by the students ofgroup B．
e． g． XYou will late for work．
XHe tired before work．

This may imply that the factor causing this error is related to mothertongue interference． This is the case of so called negative transfer

whichoccurs when the previous performance disrupts the performanceon a second task．

5） Considering this type of error as a case of mothertongue interference， the students might have misinterpreted the English
adjective word

tiredor the adverbial wordlate

as a verb since bothwords are used as verbs in Japanese．

Another type of recurrent error observed in the students' compo一5 ） Brown， H． D．， Princip les of Language Learning and Teaching， New
Jersey ： Prentice‑Hall， 1980， p． 85．

一 159 一

徳山大学論叢第27号

sitions in this category was the omission of the verb be in a progressive
sentence． The occurence of this type of error is probably due to incom‑
plete application of the rule． ln relation to the use of the progressive

form， there were some errors caused by the interference of the mothertongue．
e． g．

The clock is breaking． （The clock is broken．）

Although we did not find errors this time， the students also tend toconstruct progressive sentences using certain English verbs which can
not be used in the progressive pattern． This overuse of the progressive

pattern results from word for word translation from Japariese into
English． Bryant in the study of errors made by Japanese students
states thatJapanese extends the notion of progressive aspect into thesemantic domain of verbs which indicate not only mental activity （e． g．，
love， know）， but also sensation or perception （e． g．， see， hear， show）．

6）

1．3． The use of wrong verbs

A number of students had difficulty with the employment ofappropriate verbs． Many of the errors in this category occurred when
the students．did not know an appropriate verb that is suited for themeaning． From our experience， we often find this type of error（Table 3） in the students' compositions． The factor causing this typeof error may be related to heavy dependency on translation workand a limited knowledge of vocabulary．
Table 3： Use of wrong verbs

Number of errors

Group AGroup B

24

25

Mother swing a hand
He go on the bus

You will miss the 'company

Someone was taking a bus

6 ） Bryant， W． H．，

Typical Errors in English Made by Japanese ESL

Students'， JALT Journal， Vol． 6， No． 1 ， May 1984， p． 6．

一 160 一1987年6月 田中晶子・中島義亮：A Study of Students'Errors in Writing
1．4． Wrong tense

One of the most common errors made by the students was wrong
tense as in Table 4． The causes of errors in tense are not only attribut‑

able to mother tongue interference but also related to target language
interference． Many of the errors in tense probably derive from lack ofa sufficient knowledge of the English verb system， and the students'
carelessness， for the students can often correct wrong tense forms when
they are pointed out by the teacher． On the contrary， the errors oc‑

curred in a coordinate clause can be traceable to the use of tense inJapanese． For example：
・Kouen e yuki Yakyu o shita．

We went to the park and played baseball．

The example above indicates that in English two clauses connected by acoordinate conjunction are always equal， but in Japanese it is notalways possible to have two equal clauses． This difference between
English and Japanese may be one of the reasons for the errors in tense．

Table 4： Errors in tense

Number of errors

Group AGroup B

103

139

When husband is eating breakfast， wife said ． ． ．

Tom run as fast as he could
Mary point out the clock on the wall and said ． ． ．

Mary stood at door and see him off

1．5． Lack of agreement between subject and verb

The omission of the third person singular marker 一s was one kindof error that was frequently observed in the students' compositions．
As Table 5 indicates， the students who wrote the composition in accor‑
dance with the given story in Japanese （group B） did not make this kindof error because the students were required to describe only actions
occurred in the past． The omission of the third person marker may be
一 161 一

徳山大学論叢第27号

attributable to mother tongue interference， for the verb of a sentence

does not agree with its subject in person or number or gender inJapanese． However， this error is considered to be one of intralingual

errors by many researchers． For example， Richards believes that thefactor causing this error is over‑geperalization thatof the learner reducing his linguistic burden．

may'be the result7） Duskova also considers

this error as an intralingual error and explains as follows：

An explanation of this error may be found in the system of the

English verbal personal endings． Since all grammatical persons

take the same zero verbal ending except the third person
singular in the present tense， which is the only verbal form witha distinctive personal ending （apart from the anomalous am）
ommission of the 一s in the third‑person singular may be ac‑counted for by the heavy pressure of all the other endinglessforms． The endingless form is generalized for all persons， justas the fprm was is generalized for all persons and both numbersin the past tense．8）

The remainder of the errors of subject‑verb agreement are also

assumed to be intralingual errors due to over‑generalization or thelearner's misinterpretaion of the rule． ・Table 5 ： Errors in subject‑verb agreement
Number of errors

Group A
1 ． Omission of the third person singularGroup B48

He go to the bus stop
The bus ・arrive
He always get up ，．．

7） Richards， J． C．， op． cit．， 1974， p． 174．

8） Duskova， L．， On Sources of Errors in Foreign Language Learning，
IRAL， Vol． VII， Feb． 1969， p． 20．

一 162 一1987年6月 田中晶子・中光義亮：A Study of Students'Errors in Writing
2． Errors in the use of articles

That the use of articles seems to be one of the most difficult items

for Japanese students is obviously revealed in the high frequency of
mistakes． Table 6 shows some examples of the errors observed in thestudents' compositions． Errors in the use of articles can be classified
into the following four types：
O■

Unnecessary use of articles●

The use of a definite article instead of an indefinite article

φ‑←9一〇U4

The omission of articles

The use of an indefinite article instead of a definite article

Many of the errors in the use of articles are probably attributable tomo七her tongue interference， for the Japanese language has no part ofspeech equivalent to English articles． Bryant， in the study of errors
made by' Japanese students， points out that the omission of articles isfrequently encountered， especially among Asian and Slavic students，
血any of whom speak Ianguages in which definite and indefinite articles
do not exist．

9） Some students placed articles before uncountable nouns

where articles were not required to use， such as g， or t‑he before coffee

and breakfast， and g before time expressions． The occurrence of such
errors is probably due to the students' over‑consciousness of article

usage． Other errors which found infrequently in the students'
compositions were the use of an indefinite article instead of a definite
article and vice versa． These errors can be attributable to the students'
misconception of the' article usages．

9） Bryant， W． H．， op． cit．， 1984， p． 3．

163 一

第27号

徳山大学論叢Table 6： Errors in the use of articles

Number of errors

Group AGroup B

129

197

He run to bus stopHe drink a coffee

He ate the breakfast
It's a eight‑fifty fiveTom and Mary were eating a breakfast
Tom was drinking the coffee

3． Errors in the use of prepositions

A number of our students made quite a few preposition errors．
Some examples of preposition errors are shown in table 7， and there
were following three types ：1 ． The omission of prepositions
2 ． Unnecessary use of prepositions
3 ． The use of wrong prepositions

Certain number of preposition errors are considered to be'due tomother tongue interference， for some Japanese particles have functions
similar to English prepositions． ln this respect， many of our students
were able to use them correctly． For instance， the Japanese postposi‑tione， which indicates a motion towards， is similar to the English

prepositionto， which indicates the direction of a motion． However，

one to 6ne correspondence like this between a postposition in Japaneseand a preposition in English is often inapplicable． This often results inthe use of wrong prepositions． Unnecessary use of prepositions is due

not only to mother tongue interference， but also to target language
interference． The omission of prepositions （e． g．， He got the bus． He

arrived the bus stop． Mary pointed the clock．） presumably resulted
from the students' unfamiliality with the English expressions such as
get to， arrive at and point at．

一 164 一1987年6月 田中晶子・中光義亮 A Study of Students'Errors in Writing
Table 7： Errors in the use of prepositions

Number of errors

Group AGroup B

78

175

He got the bus

He run out his house
He arrived the bus stopHe went to the bus stop at early
It was at eight fifty‑five

He ran by the bus stop

Tom was drinking of coffee
Tom and Mary were eating breakfast on the tablein the table
to the table

4． General view of test 1
Table 8 shows the percentage of errors per total usage on five items．

According to the result， it may be said that the students of group B
made slightly higher percentage of errors than the students of group A．

This may imply that writing a composition based on the given infor‑

mation in Japanese required a complicated work ： First， the students
read each sentence written in Japanese， and then translated it word byword in English． This complicated process might have been the reason
that the students of group B made higher percentage of errors than thestudents of group A．
As for the students of group A， it seems that they paid much atten‑

tion to the description of the series of pictures， which might have

prevented them from checking up each grammatical item． Although thestudents were able to express progressive actions in the pictures fairly

well， they could not describe situations which did not appear in the
pictures． ln other words， the students lack in the ability to create andexpress their own ideas in English． This may result， in large part， fromlittle exposure to writing practice which requires the students to apply

一 165 一

第27号

徳山大学論叢what they have learned to various novel situations．
The result of test 1 also indicates that our students do not havesufficient fundamental knowledge of English． The reason for the
students' inadequate knowledge of basic English is that too muchemphasis is placed on the accumulation of grammatieal knowledge， andthat practice necessary for developing communicative competence isneglected．
Table 8： Percentage of errors per total usage％

Number of errors

Total us．age

Group A Group B Group A Group B Group A Group B

1， be十verb stem

4sc

am

49

77

9．9

12，2

87

169

12

25

13，8

14，8

10s

139

18，3

19，2

lee

197

ss，8

ee，5

78

175

17，2

25，1

be十verb stem十ed
2， Omission of bebefore verb 十 ing

4 ， Anicles

窩鵬翻

圃鋤姐

3， Tense

5， Prepositions

皿．Analysis of test 2

Heaton says，

lnformation concerning the performance of thestudents as a whole and of individua1 students is very important forteaching purposes， especially as many test results can show not only thetypes of errors most frequently made but also the actual reasons for theerrors being made．

iO）

Although we cannot make an ultimate evaluation of our students
from the result of test 1， we find that many of our students don't haveany satisfactory control of language structure， to say nothing of crea‑

tivity or originality in writing． ln other words， they cannot seem to10） Heaton， J． B．， Writing English Language Tests， London ： Longman，
1975， p． 175．

一 166 一1987年6月 田中晶子・中光義亮：AStudy of Students'Errors in Writing

have sufficient academic atteinment in composition writing． The
writing of a composition is， as Heaton writes，a task involves thestudent in manipulating words in grammatically correct'sentences andlinking those sentences to form a piece of continuous writing which
successfully communicates the writer's thoughts and ideas on a certain
topics．

ii） lt is true that our students have difficulty with most of theexercises deqling with grammatical structures， which are particularly
difficult to use in writing， and they often avoid the use of certain

grammatical patterns and lexical items in writing compositions．
As for the method of foreign language teaching at school， the tradi‑tional one is widely taken up as before， where七he students are provided

with many translation exercises． Consequently students try to translate

every word and phrases separately one by one， and often compose
ambiguous or incomprehensible sentences at the end．
After analyzing the result of test 1， we came to a conclusion thattest 2 should be centered on measuring the students' control of the basic

grammatical patterns that cause difficulty in writing English． So insetting questions， we referred to the types of errors most frequently
made in test 1， and took up the use of verbs as a poin't being discussed．

The emphasis of test 2 was， therefore， to measure the extent of student

achievement in grammatical forms， that is， to measure how to make useof a verb． At the same time， we tried to investigate the validity ofusing pictures or mother tongue equivalent as well as printed words offoreign language as a stimulus which would produce the best results．
The tes七i七self is an objective writing‑ability test， in which we are

testing sensitivity of the student to the grammatical pattern appropri‑
ate to the written form of the language． Each individual student in two

groups was given the passage containing about thirty sentences withforty‑five blanks to test verb tenses， The infinitive form of a required

verb was written in bracket after each blank． ln addition to that， thestudehts in group P were given specially prepared pictures representing
the meaning of the sentences， and those in group L were given mothertongue equivalent of the sentences as a help．

11） lbid．， p． 127．

一 167 一

第27号

徳山大学論叢1． lnterpretaion of scores
The mean score of the test is the arithmetical average as the tablebelow shows． ln the following table and formula， note that the symbol
x is used to denote the score， N the number of testees， and m the mean．

The symbol f denotes the frequency which a score occurs． The symbol
Z means the sum of．

Table 9： Mean Score‑ニー．1⊥＝2fx

一 168 一Group L

Total＝

X3
83
6
0681
0
81
61
110
4
65
f
5
5
8
12
43
60
4
17
1 323
13
1
12
109

‑⊥

1673

f112441122344451137
×××××××××××××××××××××
X3
83
63
53
43
23
13
02
92
827
26
25
24
23
22
21
20
1

1⊥

Total ＝＝

X4
17
23
46
63
22
46
02
95
62
75
09
64
67
66
36
07
6
f

f12121421212428334
××××××××××××××X××××××××××
X4
13
63
43
33
23
13
02
92
827
25
24
23
22
21
20
19
1
Group P

1915

＝ 2fx

1987年6月 田中晶子・中光義亮 AStudy of Students'Errors in Writing
Σ

fN

2 fx

X

m＝

m＝

N

1673

19 15

80

80

20．91

23．94

The table below shows a frequency distribution on the test 2 ．
Table 10： Score Distribution
Frequency

03
63
22
82
42
01
61
2
44
13
732
92
52
11
71
39
4
Score

Group P

Group L

l

o

o

1

5

6

8

8

5

13

17

23

19

28

20

1

5

0

MFrequency ＝ the numbers of students

obtaining the right answers in eachgroup of 80

The following curves illustrate the distribution of the scores．
A standard deviation of 5．32 in group L shows a slightly smaller spreadof scores七han a s七andard deviation of 6．89 in group P．

一 169 一

徳山大学論叢第27号

Fig． 6： Score Distribution Curve

Group P

Group L

No．

No．

of．

of．

stds．

stds．

20

20

10

10

40

20

MEAN
SD

20．91

20

Score

MEAN 23．51

SD 5．32

6．89

2． ltem analysis
The facility index is a measure of how easy or difficult an item inthe test is． lt is obtained by calculating the proportion of the students

answering the item correctly． Although an average facility value of O．5
is generally de＄irable for many achievement tests， the facility index ofa large number of individual items such as these in test 2 varies

considerably． Several test items with very low facility index are
observed among them （e． g． Q． 2， 10， 26， 31， 32， 38）．

一 170 一40

Score

1987年6月 田中晶子・中光義亮：AStudy of Students'Errors in Writing

Group L

O．71

O．9

0．14

0．13

0．88

0．85

0．35

0．34

0．39

0．3

0．41

0．29

0．63

0．69

0．79

0．79

0．6

0．63

0．24

0．25

0．55

0．74

0．81

0．9

0．36

0．54

0．41

0．36

0．45

0．41

0．45

0．61

0．41

0．64

0．83

0．83

0．64

0．66

0．5

0．71

0．74

0．76

0．39

0．6

0．68

0．58

㎝2425262728293031323334353637383940414243姐4Group Phα㎝﹂23456789101112131415161718192021盟2
R
Q

Table 11 ： Facility lndex （1）Group P

Group L

O．66

O．49

0．53

0．46

0．11

0．03

0，48

0．7

0．1

0．38

0．16

0．58

0．91

0．89

0．19

0．13

0．2

0．14

0．29

0．36

0．31

0．46

0．78

0．8

0．81

0．73

0．58

0．46

0．15

0．16

0．36

0．56

0．33

0．16

0．88

0．81

0．2

0．29

0．3

0．31

0．14

0．3

0．33

0．61

In order to identify certain difficult items in the test， we divided
forty‑five items into six groups in relation to the forms of a verb： （1）verb be， （2） base form， （3） present tense， （4） past tense， （5） progressiveand （6） future． The identification of these items can prove just as

valuable in its implications for teaching as for testing． The facil‑
ity index in the following table is expressed as a percentage．

171 一

徳山大学論叢第27号

Ta ble 12 ： Facility lndex （2）Group P

Group L76．97％

81．4 9060（2） base form

39．19

60．72

（3） present tense

40．23

38．89

（4） past tense

47．84

47．2

（5） progressive

30．54 一27．5（6） future

21．9

31．9

verbs
（1） be

The following profile shows the students' academic attainment in aplane figure． Each figure in brackets corresponds to those in the Table

12 mentioned above．
Fig． 7： Grade Profile
（1）

︶
︵

tAN

s N
tllX
，'

tl

l

NN N

︐'存

t

＼／︐'z

tlT
N N
P 1 X N

（6）

2

s

勃
︵

s
（3）

：Group P・一一一一一一一 ：Group L（4）

Analyzing the Table 12 above， we can assume that the students who
took the test managed to make use of verb be since nearly 809060 of themanswered the individual items correctly． Some errors of subject‑verb
agreeMent arid wrong‑tense were observed here and there． Meanwhile，
the formation of regular and irregular verbs seems to be a subject of

discussion here； most students mixed up the present tense and pasttense in various cases within one passage． This may be attributable tomother tongue interference we mentioned before， since the facility valueof group L falls slightly below the other group in relation to both tenses．

A considerable use of regular past tense endings for irregular past

一 172 一1987年6月 田中晶子・中光義亮：A Study of Students'Errors in Writing
tense forms was observed in test 2 just like in test 1 ；e． g．，

catched（caught）， taked （took）， thinked （thought）， etc． The omission of thethird person singular marker 一s was also frequently observed， and many

students couldn't manage the negative form of the auxiliary verb do．
Table 13 and 14 below show the details of the items analized respectively．

Note that frequency is the total number of students who got right ineach group of 80 and facility index is expressed as a percentage in thefollowing tables． The symbol P rneans the group P and L the group L．
Table 13： ltem Analysis （present tense）

Item Correct

Frequency

AnswerP

Q． 15 knows

36

33

nU
◎5
44
2
ρ

ρ0
04
ハ∩
06
7
ハ

L

Facility lndex

PSome samples of errors

L

45

41，3 know （P）6（L） 23， knew （P） 23 （L） 10，

82．5

82．5 had （P） 11 （L） 9

known （P） 4 （L） 4

18 has23 has
25 hopes

31 work

15

67．5

57．5 had （P） 14 （L） 7， have （P）4（L） 11

52．5

46，3 hoped （P） 27 （L） 10， hope （P）4（L） 10，

10

18．8

12，5 worked （P） 22 （L） 4， working （P） 21

1120

13．8 are not live （P） 16 （L） 12， are nothoping （P） 1 （L） 15（L） 27， are working （P）7（L） 16

32 don't live

16

living （P） 11 （L） 11， not live （P） 1（L） 8， didn't live （P） 4 （L） 1

33 share

23

29

28．8

36，3 shared （P） 25 （L） 9， shares （P） 931，346．3 liked （P） 25 （L） 9， likes （P） 16（L） 10， are sharing （P） 3 （L） 934 like25． 37（L） 21， are like （P） 3 （L） 1001（is taking）

り召0∪

37

（will take）

1

3

12

13

takes

38 enjoys

4

3

57．5

46．3 taking （P） 13 （L） 7

15

16．3 enjoyed （P） 37 （L） 14， enjoy （P）8
（L） 30， enjoies （P） 3 （L） 3

39・ thinks

29

49

36．3

56．3 thought （P） 14 （L） 10，
think （P） 8 （L） 13

40 skis

26

13

32．5

16．3 skies （P） 17 （L） 9， ski （P） 11 （L） 3，

skiing （P） 19 （L） 16

173

徳山大学論叢

第27号

Table 14： ltem Analysis （past tense）

Item Correct

Frequency

AnswerP

Q． 6 caught

33

L

Facility lndex

P
23

Some samples of errors

L

41．3

28．8 catched （P） 19 （L） 10， cought （P） 14（L） 20， catches （P） 2 （L） 2

19 borrowed

4

4

∩07

（has crossed）

44

9 crossed

51

53

53

39

60

62．5 cross （P） 6 （L） 6， crossing （P） 7（L） 4， had crossed （P） 3 （L） 3，

have crossed （P） 3 （L） 2
63．8

66．3 borrow （P） 4 （L） 9，

66．3

48．8 goes （P） 12 （L） 4， going （P） 3borrowing （P） 7 （L） 2

24 went（L） 6， has gone （P） 2 （L） 5

6
V
EQ
Oり
召3

41 finished 63（has finished） 7

42 took 16
43 thought

24

25

87．5

81．3 had finished （P） 2 （L） 1

20

28．8 takes （P） 26 （L） 9， take （P） 13（L） 22， taked （P） 6 （L） 8，

is take （P） 4 （L） 330

31．3 thinks （P） 26 （L） 15， think （P） 3（L） 6，thinked （P） 4 （L） 944 had

11

24

13．8

30 has （P） 59 （L） 49， have （P） 1（L） 4

Now we look at another feature of the contrast between present

simple and present progressive．

In mQst teaching grammars the

progressive is described as referring to events in progress at the momentof speech一 and the simple from to habits or general truth． Neither isentirely accurate， though they may serve their pedagogic function，writes Wilkins．'2） Although we admit there are certainly many diffi‑
culties for the learner of English to deal with these forms， we weredissatisfied with such a low facility index as in Table 15 below． The
omission of be in a progressive sentence was frequently observed．

12） Wilkins， D． A．， Linguistics in language teaching， London： Edward
Arnold， 1972， p． 76．

一 174 一1987年6月 田中晶子・中光義亮：AStudy of Students'Errors in Writing
Table 15： ltem Analysis （progressive）
Item Correct

Frequeney

P

AnswerP

13．8 12．5 coming （P） 18 （L） 32， came （P） 27

Q．2 is coming

8

7（has come）

3

3

28 27

4 is raining

Facility lndex Some samples of errors

LL（L） 16， comes （P） 13 （L） 10

35 33．8 raining （P） 19 （L） 32，
rains （P） 9 （L） 7，

rainy （P） 5 （L） 3

31 24

5 is frying

38．8 30 frying （P） 30 （L） 29， fring （P）3
（L） 3， fried （P） 6 （L） 8

10 are crossing

19 20

23．8 25 crossing （P） 21 （L） 23， erosses （P） 11（L） 8， is crossing （P） 9 （L） 7

14 is working

35 29

41．3 36．3 working （P） 27 （L） 26，
works （P） 11 （L） 16

The meaning will is rarely purely temporal，'3） and in addition tothat several other forms are used as frequently to refer to future time．

The students of group P seemed to be at a little disadvantage in
grasping the meaning of the future tense as shown in Table 16 below．

We assume here that the absence of the Japanese language makes thecomposition writing less efficient in relation to the future tense， though

the availability of the pictures as a whole is very effec．tive in thestudents' ability to grasp the meaning of the sentences．
Table 16： ltem Analysis （future）

Item Correct Frequency Facility lndex Some samples of errors

Answer P

L P L

Q． 26 will return 9 2 11．3 2．5 returned （P） 30 （L） 15， return（P） 13 （L） 39， returns （P） 17（L） 13， returning （P） 6 （L） 6

45 will leave 5 7 left （P） 26 （L） 6， leave （P）3（leaves） 20 40 32．5 61，3 （L）1， leaving（P）3（L）1，（is leaving） 1 2 leaved （P） 11 （L）8
We also divided thirty‑two sentences in the passage into four groups

in relation to its construction in order to find what percentage of the13） lbid．， p． 76．

一 175 一

徳山大学論叢第27号

students comprehend the basic English structures together with theitems being tested． Students must be一 able to tell， with conscious
differentiation of meaning， what is the most appropriate form of theverb for each sentence． While analyzing the results， we observed wrong

tense in complex sentences rather than in simple sentences． We assume
the reason for this is that most of the students are used to piecing thewords together Without thinking relations between the meanings ofdifferent sentences． Here we can estimate several levels of attainment
in English structures the students have reached from the table below．
Table 17： Facility Index（3）Types of sentences

Group P

Group L（1） simple sentence

51．19060

54．910）60（2） compound sentence

49．76

58．21

（3） complex sentence

30．58

28．37

（4） mixed sentence

51．48

60．67

3． General view of test 2

0ur students made errors in all sorts of items in the test 2 withvery little exception． This indicates that their ability in English is noton the level they ought to have attained by now． ln other words， ourstudents do not have sufficient basic knowledge of English for writing
compositions． The obvious fact is， as Wilkins writes， that to communi‑

cate at all seriously and adequately through the language a command ofboth grammar and vocabulary is necessary．i）

We often find that many students try to memorize a lot of gram‑
matical rules and vocabulary without integrating words into a linguistic

context， and it is a common sight in high school classes． ln otherwords， many students take a word‑by‑word approach to reading andwriting English through exercises frequently provided for them at school．

If they memorize number of words without learning to constructsentences， however， they will gain little for all their trouble． The
reason for this is that the mere accumulation of grammatical rules and14） lbid．， p． 110．

一 176 一1987年6月 田中晶子・中光義亮：A Study of Students'Errors in Writing
vocabulary will cause the students' inability in manipulating the words
in novel situations． lf that's the way things are， we may have to give alittle reconsideration to the exercises or materials we have used inteaching writing．

Translation is the traditional method of foreign language teachingin Japan． From the results of both tests， however， we assume thatmother tongue interference is one of the noticeable causes of errors inverbs． Rivers says，

Few of our students become professional trans‑

lators， and those who wish to do so would be well advises to pursue
specialized courses in the art of translation at a later date． For the

rest of our students， continual emphasis on translation inculcates thenaive belief that language have a basic one‑to．one．equivalence which
they must identify， with the dictionary as their indispensable tool．

'5）

Translation exercises， therefore， may not be always efficient as ateaching device in the general writing classes．

Visual aid in general helps the learner to review and improve his

understanding of English， and so we used pictures as well as mothertongue equivalent in the hope that our students would be able to under‑

stand the situations set up for the tests more clearly． However， we
couldn't find much difference in effectiveness between the two aids as
we had expected． On the one hand we are disappointed in our hopes； onthe other hand we are apprehensive that we restrain the students'

imaginative power by giving information in Japanese in the writingclass from the beginning． That is to say， we may prevent the students

from expressing their own ideas and opinions in composition writing bygiving inadequate materials． ln any case， we should reflect thoroughlyon the method and materials in teaching writing．

Conclusion
One of the aims of error analysis is to help teachers know moreaccurately what remedial work would be necessary for our students so15） Rivers， Wilga M．， Teaching 170reign‑Language Shills， Chicago ： The
University of Chicago Press， 1968， p． 242．

一 177 一

徳山大学論叢第27号

as to help them avoid those errors that students make frequently andthose that impede communication． Errors made by a student

provideevidence for the system of the language that he is using at a particularpoint in the course，'6） so the teacher， by analyzing the student's errors，is able to find out common Weaknesses and to tell what items in thesyllabus need to be emphasized． Error analysis can also help the teacher
decide on items to be included in materials for classroom teaching．
A close attention to the student's errors leads the teacher to becomeaware of the nature and various causes of the errors， and this enables

the teacher to reconsider and improve teaching techniques in order tohelp the student aboid making errors． Without analyzing the student's

errors， the teacher may waste a considerable amount of time before
he／she finds out what type of errors the student is likely to make andwhat corrective teaching techniques are likely to be most effective．
Error analysis is a basic step to help teachers increase the knowl‑edge of the student's competence in the use of the target language， and
it is necessary for the teacher to make full use of it so as to help ourstudents reduce difficulties．

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Brown， H． D．， Principles of Language Learning and Teaching， New
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Bryant， W． H．，

Typical Errors in Enghish Made by Japanese ESL

Students'， JALT Journal， Vol． 6／1 ， 1984， pp． 1‑17．
Corder， S． Pit，

The Significance of Learner's Errors'， IRAL， Vol． 5， 1969，

pp． 161‑170．

Dodson， C． J．， Language Teaching and the Bilingual Method， London ：Pitman Publishing， 1967．

Duskova， Libuse，

On Sources of Errrors in Foreign Language Learning'，

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Etherton， A． R． B．，

Error Analysis ： Problems and Procedures'， English

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16） Corder， S． P．，

The significance of Learner's Errors'， IRAL， Vol．

V／4， Nov． 1967， p． 167．

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Ghadessy， M．，

lmplications of Error Analysis for Second／Foreign

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Harris， D． P．， Testing English as a Second Language， New York：
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Nemser， W．，

Approximative Systems of Foreign Language Learners'，

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Norrish， J，， Language Learners and Their Errors， London ： Macmillan
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Rivers， W． M．， Teaching Foreign‑Language Skills， Chicago ： The Univer‑sity of Chicago Press， 1968．
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英語の評価テストと文法訳読主義教授法改善策の研究'「中国地区英語教育学会研究紀要」No．13，1983， pp．95‑103．

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書くことの指導の事後処理と評価'「英語数育」1979，3，pp．

24‑26．
179 一

徳山大学論叢
We would like to state here that a part of this paper was presented

at the 3 rd Annual Convention of JACET Chugoku‑Shikoku Chapter in

1986． For your information we also state that Nakamitsu is
answerable for the analysis of test 1 and Tanaka for the analysis oftest 2．

一 180 一第27号