摘 要

错误分析理论作为应用语言学的一个分支，孕育于二十世纪七八十年代,由 C.Frices 和 R.Lado 等美国语言学家提出的对比分析理论发展而来。错误分析理论的历史悠久，近 10 年 发展迅速，由于其理论价值以及对现实外语教学不可低估的指导意义，常应用于写作、翻 译等方面但对口语语料研究较少，本文旨在用错误分析理论探究英语专业二年级学习口语 中的错误，确定错误类型，研究纠错策略，为教学过程中纠正这些错误提供参考。

关键词: 错误分析理论；英语专业；口语；纠错

Contents

1. Introduction ………………………………………………………… 1

2. Demonstration ……………………………………………………… 2

2.1 Error Analysis Theory ………………………………………………… 2

2.1.1 Definition of Errors ………………………………………………… 2

2.1.2 Classification of Errors …………………………………………… 4

• 1. An Introduction of Chinese English Majors’ Oral English Learning … 4
     1. Present Situation of English Majors’ Oral English Learning ……… 4
     2. Possible Reasons for Students’ Poor Oral English ……………… 5

2.3 Empirical Research ………………………………………………… 6

• • 1. Research Subjects and Procedure ………………………………… 7
    2. Results and Discussion …………………………………………… 8
       1. Results of the First Part of the Research ………………………… 8
       2. Results of the Second Part of the Research ………………………… 10

2.3.3 Suggestions ………………………………………………………… 10

3. Conclusion …………………………………………………………… 12

An Analysis of Errors in English Majors’ Oral English------Based on Error Analysis Theory

Introduction

Under the situation of globalization, it is necessary to communicate among different countries with an international language for international relations. English which is considered as “global language” has been recognized by countries around the world. More than 60 countries have used English as official or semi-official language and in more than 20 countries English has taken a major position. As a trade language, auxiliary language and global language, English has been widely used in all fields of the world. No matter in the fields of business, technology, science, Internet, entertainment, sports or in most medical conferences, English has been chosen to be the preferred language. Obviously, it is important for everyone to master English for better communication. The main purpose of learning English is communication. Besides, because the most direct method of communication is verbal communication which can transfer information efficiently and correctly. So teachers and students especially English majors should attach importance to oral English learning so as to fully exert the function of English in communication.

In order to adapt to new situation of the development of China’s higher education, deepen the teaching reform, improve the quality of teaching and meet the needs of national and social talents training, the ministry of education started up its long-brewed College English Teaching Reform. The goal of college English teaching is to cultivate students’ comprehensive ability of using English, especially the ability of listening and speaking, so that they are able to communicate effectively with English in subsequent work. The reason why listening and speaking should be paid much attention to is that English majors’ oral communication ability is too weak to meet the needs of the society and face the international competition. Therefore, it is necessary to pay much attention to oral English teaching and learning.

Through the study and observation, it can be found out that college English teaching does not value oral English which leads to the low proficiency in terms of listening and speaking. When students speak English, oral errors are inevitable. Moreover, due to some factors, it is difficult to change the current situation thoroughly. However, it is possible and necessary for teachers and students to improve the level of oral English through analyzing oral errors by using Error Analysis Theory. Through discovering, analyzing and correcting errors, it is helpful for teachers to find out the best time and the best way to correct English majors’ errors so as to improve their oral English level. On the other hand, because of difficulties in collecting, recording and researching, the domestic research documents now are not adequate enough to help people solve the problem.

Demonstration

• 1. Error Analysis Theory

In 1950s, some American linguists proposed contrastive analysis, the main content of contrastive analysis is that the possible errors in the process of learning target language can be foresaw based on the comparative study of learners’ mother tongue and target language. In 1967, Corder published the paper The Significance of Learner’s errors, in which he pointed out that human learning is fundamentally a process with making errors. For excavating how to completely eliminate those errors in foreign language teaching, as a branch of applied linguistics, Error Analysis Theory started to appear in the late of 1960s because of the limitations of contrastive analysis and for providing the basis for teachers and students to avoid errors as far as possible in process of teaching. Corder (1987) suggests that Error Analysis involves the following steps: recognizing errors, describing errors and explaining errors.

• • 1. Definition of Errors

As for giving the definition of “Error”, it is by no means an easy job. In Merriam-Webster dictionary, Error means a wrong statement or something that is not correct. While in the field of applied linguistics, there are various opinions on the definition of the term “Error”. As the object of EA research, errors are universal and therefore should be paid much attention to. The more detailed they are discovered and