Diction and Expression in Error Analysis Can Enhance Academic Writing of L2 University Students

Muhammad Sajid

Abstract


Without proper linguistic competence in English language, academic writing is one of the most challenging tasks, especially, in various genre specific disciplines by L2 novice writers. This paper examines the role of diction and expression through error analysis in English language of L2 novice writers’ academic writing in interdisciplinary texts of IT & Computer sciences and Business & Management sciences. Though the importance of vocabulary in L2 academic discourse is widely recognized, there has been little research focusing on diction and expression at higher education level. A corpus of 40 introductions of the published research articles, downloaded from the journals (e.g., 20 from IT & Computer sciences and 20 Business & Management sciences) authored by L2 novice writers, was analyzed to determine lexico-grammatical errors from the texts by applying Markin4 method of Error Analysis. ‘Rewrites’ in italics letters is an attempt to demonstrate English language flexibility, infinite vastness and richness in diction and expression, comparing it with the excerpts taken from the corpus.

Keywords: diction & expression, academic writing, error analysis, lexico-grammatical errors 


Full Text:

PDF

References


Corder, S. P. (1967). "The significance of learners' errors". International Review of Applied Linguistics, 5, 160–170. doi:10.1515/iral.1967.5.1-4.161.

Coxhead, A. (2000). A new academic word list, TESOL Quarterly, 34(2), 213-238.

Felix, U. & Lawson, M. (1994). Evaluation of an integrated bridging course on academic writing for overseas postgraduate students: Higher Education Research and Development, 13, 59-69.

Giridharan, B. (2012). “Identifying gaps in academic writing of ESL students.” US-China Education Review, 2(6), 578-587.

Hartley, J. (1998). What difficulties do first-year university students find in essay writing? Some results from a questionnaire study. Proceedings of the 5th Annual Writing Development in Higher Education Conference: University of Reading.

Hartley, J. (2002). Studying for the future. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 26(3), 207-227.

Jabeen, A., Kazemian, B., and Shahbaz, M. (2015). The role of error analysis in teaching and learning of second and foreign language. Education and Linguistics Research, 1(2), 52-62. DOI:10.5296/elr.v1i1.8189 .

Johns, A. M. (1997). Text, role, and context. Developing academic literacies: Cambridge University Pr.

Kim, Y. (2006). Effects of input elaboration on vocabulary acquisition through reading by Korean learners of English as a foreign language: TESOL Quarterly, 40(2), 341-371.

Laufer, B. (2005). Focus on form in second language vocabulary learning: Eurosla Yearbook, 5, 223-250.

Lea, M (1994). I thought I could write until I came here in Gibbs (Ed). Improving students learning, Oxonian, Rewley, Press Ltd.

Lea, M. & Street, B. (1998). Student writing in higher education: an academic literacies approach. Studies in Higher Education, 23(2), 157-172.

Leki, I. & Carson, J. (1997). “Completely different worlds”: EAP and the writing experiences of ESL students in university courses. TESOL Quarterly, 31(1), 39-69.

Nation, I. S. P. & Coxhead, A (2001). ‘The specialised vocabulary of English for academic purposes’. In J.

Nation, I. S. P. (2001). Learning vocabulary in another language.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Olivas, M., & Li, C. (2006). Understanding stressors of international students in higher education: What college counselors and personnel need to know. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 33(3), 217-222. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Woodward-Kron, R. (2002). Academic discourses and their discourses of learning: participants, texts and social practices, In C. Candlin (Ed.), Research and practice in professional discourse (pp. 499–519, Hong Kong: City University of Hong Kong Press.

Woodward-Kron, R. (2007). Negotiating meanings and scaffolding learning: writing support for non-English speaking background postgraduate students: Higher Education Research and Development, 26(3), 253-268.


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Bookmark and Share


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

2010-2023 (CC-BY) Australian International Academic Centre PTY.LTD.

Advances in Language and Literary Studies

You may require to add the 'aiac.org.au' domain to your e-mail 'safe list’ If you do not receive e-mail in your 'inbox'. Otherwise, you may check your 'Spam mail' or 'junk mail' folders.