An Analysis of the Most Common L1 Interference Grammar, Vocabulary and Syntax Errors of Lithuanian Learners in Written English

Abstract

The paper describes a study on the most common English mistakes among Lithuanians in written tasks on the topic of business and finance. The study was conducted with high school students and university students, and the effectiveness of error feedback in reducing the occurrence of errors was also examined by comparing 2 written texts of each participant. Grammatical errors related to the use of articles and punctuation were found to be the most common types of errors, and feedback on errors was found to be an effective tool in increasing learner motivation and understanding, reducing common errors but not reducing the most common types of errors. The research showed that detailed, personalized feedback can help minimize mistakes in writing assignments, especially if it can be accessed during or in between tasks. However, it is uncertain whether this method will have long-lasting benefits or if improvements are dependent on continual feedback reference. Participants were advised to keep their error feedback forms and utilize teachers’ feedback as a constant guide for improvement. We plan to utilize data on frequently occurring errors to conduct additional research on tackling and enhancing language errors that have become ingrained, employing various strategies. Based on the findings, directions for future research were identified. In the future we intend to carry out a study, using controlled texts with a pre-determined number of errors in diagnostic testing. This would allow us to more precisely analyse learners’ improvements in the use of given structures, through a more extensive research.

Keywords

• error analysis
• contrastive analysis
• l1 interference
• university students
• writing skills