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Thai EFL Students’ Writing Errors in Different Text Types: The Interference of the First Language

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  • Somchai Watcharapunyawong
  • Siriluck Usaha

Abstract

This study aimed at analyzing writing errors caused by the interference of the Thai language, regarded as the first language (L1), in three writing genres, namely narration, description, and comparison/contrast. 120 English paragraphs written by 40 second year English major students were analyzed by using Error Analysis (EA).The results revealed that the first language interference errors fell into 16 categories- verb tense, word choice, sentence structure, article, preposition, modal/auxiliary, singular/plural form, fragment, verb form, pronoun, run-on sentence, infinitive/gerund, transition, subject-verb agreement, parallel structure, and comparison structure, respectively, and the number of frequent errors made in each type of written tasks was apparently different. In narration, the five most frequent errors found were verb tense, word choice, sentence structure, preposition, and modal/auxiliary, respectively, while the five most frequent errors in description and comparison/contrast were article, sentence structure, word choice, singular/plural form, and subject-verb agreement, respectively. Interestingly, in the narrative and descriptive paragraphs, comparison structure was found to be the least frequent error, whereas it became the 10th frequent error in comparison/contrast writing. It was apparent that a genre did affect writing errors as different text types required different structural features. It could be concluded that to enhance students’ grammatical and lexical accuracy, a second language (L2) writing teacher should take into consideration L1 interference categories in different genres.

Suggested Citation

  • Somchai Watcharapunyawong & Siriluck Usaha, 2013. "Thai EFL Students’ Writing Errors in Different Text Types: The Interference of the First Language," English Language Teaching, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 6(1), pages 1-67, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:ibn:eltjnl:v:6:y:2013:i:1:p:67
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Singkham Rakpa, 2022. "Enhancing Thai-English Translation Capabilities of EFL Undergraduates with the Principle of Haujai Nakpraj (Learned-man Approach)," World Journal of English Language, Sciedu Press, vol. 12(8), pages 1-60, December.
    2. Bayatee Dueraman, 2015. "The Crucial Point in Time Where Thai Students Are Introduced English Language Writing," English Language Teaching, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 8(9), pages 1-96, September.
    3. Raveewan Wanchid, 2013. "The Use of Self-Correction, Paper-pencil Peer Feedback and Electronic Peer Feedback in the EFL Writing Class: Opportunities and Challenges," Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, Richtmann Publishing Ltd, vol. 2, November.
    4. Kanyakorn Sermsook & Jiraporn Liamnimitr & Rattaneekorn Pochakorn, 2017. "An Analysis of Errors in Written English Sentences: A Case Study of Thai EFL Students," English Language Teaching, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 10(3), pages 101-101, March.
    5. Sahar Nasser Alshumaimmeri & Reem Alqarni, 2022. "Teacher and Student Perceptions of CALL Feedback: Synchronous and Asynchronous Teacher Electronic Feedback in EFL-Writing at King Saud University," English Language Teaching, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 15(12), pages 114-114, December.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

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