The purpose of this paper is to analyze errors in college student’s writing samples to examine L1 interference phenomenon. It is widely believed that Korean learners of English often show incorrect use of English expressions due to their L1 interference. Despite such a prevalent belief, the sources of learner errors and L1 interference errors were not clearly identified. In order to examine the sources and nature of learner errors in learner language, 30 writing samples were collected from college freshmen students who were registered for TOEIC class. Errors were classified into two categories: intralingual and interlingual. The results showed that most of learner errors intralingual and only a few cases can be attributed to L1 interference, which lends support the assumption that L2 learners follow similar developmental patterns to those found in children’s L1 acquisition. The results suggest that learners’ errors are not just deviant forms that should be corrected but they reflect creative process of seeking systematic rules of the target language.
Abstract
1. Introduction
2. Theoretical Background
3. The Study
4. Discussions
References