An Analysis of Lexical and Syntactic Errors Found in English Narrative Paragraphs Written by Thai EFL English and Non-English Major Students
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1605.04Keywords:
error analysis, lexical errors, syntactic errors, Thai EFL studentsAbstract
This study aimed to analyze lexical and syntactic errors and to compare similarities and differences of types of lexical and syntactic errors found in English narrative paragraphs written by Thai EFL students. The participants in this study included 40 English and 40 non-English major students selected through purposive sampling. The research instrument was a writing test. According to the findings of the research, illustrating the first 5 ranks from the most to the least, the types of errors committed by English major students were found as follows: lexical errors: articles, spelling, prepositions, word choice, and pronouns; syntactic errors: verb tenses, punctuation, conjunctions, run-on sentences, and fragments. Moreover, regarding the errors committed by non-English major students, the results revealed types of lexical errors: spelling, prepositions, articles, word choice, and word form, and types of syntactic errors: verb tenses, punctuation, fragments, capitalization, and singular and plural. To compare the similarities and differences among error types, the findings revealed that there were 8 similar types and 2 different types of lexical errors; there were 26 similar types and 12 different types of syntactic errors. The findings of the study could significantly contribute to the development of pedagogical approaches to teaching English writing for Thai EFL students studying in both English and non-English majors.
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