apclc 20140307

Out of “house-made learners’ corpus”L1-influenced errors made by Japanese university students

The Second Asia Pacific Corpus Linguistics Conference (APCLC 2014)07 March 2014

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Mitsumi Uchida, Mari Yamauchi and Atsuhiro Kojima(Kwansei Gakuin University, Chiba University of Commerce and Osaka Prefecture Unviersity, Japan)

Supported by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (22520573)

14年3月10日月曜日

TOC

ObjectivesData collection

L1-influenced errorsSuggestions


1st-year students at KGU

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2013$

A1 A2 B1 B2CEFR

A piece of reality


Objectives of the project

To build “house-made learners’ corpus”

To identify and describe major features of Japanese EFL learners’ interlanguage grammar at an earlier stage in development focusing on errors influenced by the L1 syntax


Data collection“House-made learners’ corpus”

for home use only


“House-made learners’ corpus”

Where Interface Size(words)

Collected by

CUC Moodle & Blogs 55,300 MY

OPU Moodle 114,300 MU

KGU Moodle 9,200 MU

Total -- 178,800 --

CUC: Chiba University of Commerce, Chiba, JapanOPU: Osaka Prefecture University, Osaka, JapanKGU: Kwansei Gakuin University, Hyogo, Japan


Where Interface Size(words)

Collected by

CUC Moodle & Blogs 55,300 MY

OPU Moodle 114,300 MU

KGU Moodle 9,200 MU

Total -- 178,800 --

CUC: Chiba University of Commerce, Chiba, JapanOPU: Osaka Prefecture University, Osaka, JapanKGU: Kwansei Gakuin University, Hyogo, Japan

“House-made learners’ corpus”


Data collection on Moodle

at OPU and KGU


Writing activities outside the classroom


Writing activities outside the classroom

Forums


Forums


Forums


Topicsself-introduction

my favourite things

if I had 10 million yen. . .

plans for the summer/winter break

what I did during the summer break

the most impressive event

school festival

my favourite films (artworks)

customs and habits for the year-end & new year holiday

overseas travels

books I have read

new year’s resolution

if there were no mobile phones. . .


Creation of ‘Backup’ XML files


Backup

Creation of ‘Backup’ XML files


‘Backup’ XML file

<MOODLE_BACKUP> <INFO> <DETAILS> <MOD> <NAME>forum</NAME> ... forum data ...

<USER> ... user data ... </USER>

<DISCUSSIONS> <DISCUSSION> ... discussion topic ... <DISCUSSION> <POST> ... discussion post ... </POST>


Text extraction tool: MooX


Error analysison spreadsheet and/or database


Data collection from Blogger

at CUC


Text extraction: Blogger


Error analysis on spreadsheet


L1-influenced errorsFindings at CUC


Words Posts Sentences Sentences / Posts

Words / Posts

2010 / Y1 5,694 140 724 5.2 40.7

2011/ Y2 8,570 176 1195 6.8 48.7

2012/ Y1 9,060 175 1,087 6.2 51.8

2012/ Y2 13,890 205 1,518 7.4 67.8

2013/ Y1 8,574 124 1,068 8.6 69.1

2013/ Y2 9,485 114 1,217 10.7 83.2

Total 55,279 Total 934 Total

6,809 Ave. 7.3 Ave. 59.2

Collected Data & Analyzed Data


Words Posts Sentences Sentences / Posts

Words / Posts

2010 / Y1 5,694 140 724 5.2 40.7

2011/ Y2 8,570 176 1195 6.8 48.7

2012/ Y1 9,060 175 1,087 6.2 51.8

2012/ Y2 13,890 205 1,518 7.4 67.8

2013/ Y1 8,574 124 1,068 8.6 69.1

2013/ Y2 9,485 114 1,217 10.7 83.2

Total 55,279 Total 934 Total

6,809 Ave. 7.3 Ave. 59.2

Collected Data & Analyzed Data

TOPICS (2013 Fall)

About MeOn Sharing Food PhotosWhat I Usually Do in My Free TimeGW HolidaysMy Favorite …Summer VacationIntroducing a World Heritage SiteWinter Break


All sentences (1,217)

Wrong P-A Str (322)

Wrong Zeroanaphora (94)

Subj (63)

WrongTopic-to-

Subject (73)

With Be (50)


Be as topic marker

This year I’m very hard. (This year my schedule is very tight.) kotoshi watashi wa haad da

I was berbecue after a long time. (I had a barbecue after a long time.) wahashi wa hisasiburino baabekyuu datta.

GW is [I had a great time]. (I had a great GW.) Gooruden Wiiku wa (watashi-wa) tanoshikatta

I was saw a my friend had nails, ... (I saw a friend of mine wear nail polish,...) watashi-wa tomodachi ga neiru-o siteru no o mite...

N+be+Adj

N+be+N

N+be+[SV]

N+be+V

Wrong “Topic to Subject”


Be as topic marker

[I like song] is Wish You. watashi ga suki na uta wa Wish You da(The song I like is Wish You.)

[It’s a time to work] is 3 hours, ... shigoto o suru jikan wa 3 jikan de ... (Working hours are 3 hours,...)

[Taro coming my home] is 2011 January first. Taro ga uchi ni kita no wa 2011 nen 1 gatsu tsuitachi da. (Taro came to my house on January 1st, 2011.)

SV+be+N


SV+be+N

V-ing+be+N



The next day became myalgia needless to say. Yokujitsu wa mochiron kinnikutsuu ni natta(The next day I had sore muscles, needless to say. )

But I like Amazon better. Because Amazon can buy easily more than Rakuten. Demo watashi wa Amazon no hou ga sukida. Nazenara Amazon wa Rakuten yori kantanni kaeru kara.(But I like Amazon better, because I can buy items more easily (shopping is easier) at Amazon than at Rakuten. )

I did a barbecue for Golden Week. The barbecue went in all of the committee. Watashi wa Golden Week ni barbecue o shita. Barbecue wa iinkai no minna de itta. (I had a barbecue during Golden Week. All the committee members went to the barbecue party. )

+ Wrong Zero anaphor




This year GW holiday I was busy. Because φ almost work part time job.(During the GW holidays this year I was busy, because I mostly worked part time.)

I usually practice baseball on week ends. However, when I have time to spare, φ paint one's nails.(I usually practice baseball on weekends. However, when I have time to spare, I paint my nails. )

... and, I will study hard too, read a lot of books for graduation report, and get some qualifying examinations. for this activity, φ need some money.(... and, I will study hard too, read a lot of books for my graduation thesis, and get some qualifications. To this end, I need some money.

The next day φ became myalgia needless to say.(The next day I had sore muscles, needless to say.)

Wrong Zero anaphor

+ Wrong Topic to Subject

English pro-forms are equivalent to Japanese zero-anaphors


... so it is very safety. (⬅safe)

... dakara sore wa totemo anzen da

It's too danger (⬅dangerous) and unhealthy.Dore wa kiken sugiru shi hukenkou da

※ Most na-adjectives are composed of < a noun plus -na >, and appear as < a noun plus -da > when used as the predicate.

e.g. anzen (安全)-na/da (safe), kiken (危険)-na/da (dangerous) benri (便利)-na/da (convenient), juuyoo(重要)-na/da (important)

Confusion of POSs / P-A structures lexical level

　na-adjectives


It’s very excited (⬅exiting) to play music.

I'm exiting (⬅exited) to work there.!　It (=Getting ready for the ceremony) was very hard and tired

(⬅tiring). *It was very hard and I was tired.

But we are enjoyed. I'm enjoyed! But I'm very enjoyed.But a coming of age is very enjoy!It’s very enjoy sports.


emotion/feelings


NG: X ni naru (ku naru) => become X

became myalgia "" " (have sore muscles)kinnikutsuu ni naru

become muscularity" " (build a strong body)"takumashi-ku naru

become stress relief" " (relieve stress, be stress-relieving)sutoresu kaisho ni naru

became a stage of the movie "(is where the movie was shot) eiga no butai ni natta

※ Other false friends: sugosu => spend, suru => do, tanoshii => enjoy


false friends


L1-influenced errorsConfirmed with KGU data

3rd and 4th-year Sociology students

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50+99$

100+149$

150+199$

200+249$

250+299$

300+349$

350+399$

400+449$

450+499$

500+549$

550+599$

600+649$

650+699$

700+749$

750+799$

800+849$

850+899$

900+$

2009$

2010$

2011$

2012$

2013$

. . . and they did not.

They made such errors.


Future ....


Exercises for improved awareness

http://www.lextutor.ca/concordancers/text_concord/




concordance lines for the keyword “free”





Most influential L1factors behind the scene

Apparent lack of structure,esp. over the boundaries of clauses

Direct application of L1 structuresTopic–subjectAbsence/misuse of pro-formsArgument structures⬅


Conclusion & Suggestion

Their interlanguage has its own structures.

Cross-linguistic awareness—both students’ and teachers’ —can be the key.


Documents

apclc 20140307