Error types in Malaysian lower secondary school student writing: a corpus-informed analysis of subject-verb agreement and copula be

The issue of English language proficiency among Malaysian students has always been a subject of ongoing discussion among educators. While English is taught as a second language in primary and secondary schools, many students, especially those from rural areas, have problems using the language co...

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Main Authors: Ang, Leng Hong, Tan, Kim Hua, Lye, Guang Yang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2020
Online Access:http://journalarticle.ukm.my/16542/1/43117-145062-2-PB.pdf
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author Ang, Leng Hong
Tan, Kim Hua
Lye, Guang Yang
author_facet Ang, Leng Hong
Tan, Kim Hua
Lye, Guang Yang
author_sort Ang, Leng Hong
collection UKM
description The issue of English language proficiency among Malaysian students has always been a subject of ongoing discussion among educators. While English is taught as a second language in primary and secondary schools, many students, especially those from rural areas, have problems using the language correctly. Also, it has been said that students' English language proficiency in most rural contexts takes on the quality of a foreign language rather than a second language. The current study addresses this problem by examining the use of Subject-Verb Agreement and copula be in essays written by 32 Malay lower secondary school students from a rural school in Kedah state, Malaysia. Using corpus-linguistic approach, this study compiled 128 essays and tagged them with online part-of-speech (POS) UCREL CLAWS tagger. This is a novel attempt in integrating Error Analysis (EA) framework with a corpus tagging approach to examine error patterning in learner writing. Using corpus-based techniques, this study identifies and analyses errors associated with SVA and copula be in Malaysian lower secondary school student writing. The findings showed that student writings were riddled with various types of errors, namely misselection, omission, blends, and overinclusion. Based on these findings, this study offers pedagogical suggestions for improving the teaching and learning of the language.
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spelling ukm.eprints-165422021-05-10T02:39:24Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/16542/ Error types in Malaysian lower secondary school student writing: a corpus-informed analysis of subject-verb agreement and copula be Ang, Leng Hong Tan, Kim Hua Lye, Guang Yang The issue of English language proficiency among Malaysian students has always been a subject of ongoing discussion among educators. While English is taught as a second language in primary and secondary schools, many students, especially those from rural areas, have problems using the language correctly. Also, it has been said that students' English language proficiency in most rural contexts takes on the quality of a foreign language rather than a second language. The current study addresses this problem by examining the use of Subject-Verb Agreement and copula be in essays written by 32 Malay lower secondary school students from a rural school in Kedah state, Malaysia. Using corpus-linguistic approach, this study compiled 128 essays and tagged them with online part-of-speech (POS) UCREL CLAWS tagger. This is a novel attempt in integrating Error Analysis (EA) framework with a corpus tagging approach to examine error patterning in learner writing. Using corpus-based techniques, this study identifies and analyses errors associated with SVA and copula be in Malaysian lower secondary school student writing. The findings showed that student writings were riddled with various types of errors, namely misselection, omission, blends, and overinclusion. Based on these findings, this study offers pedagogical suggestions for improving the teaching and learning of the language. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2020 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/16542/1/43117-145062-2-PB.pdf Ang, Leng Hong and Tan, Kim Hua and Lye, Guang Yang (2020) Error types in Malaysian lower secondary school student writing: a corpus-informed analysis of subject-verb agreement and copula be. 3L; Language,Linguistics and Literature,The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies., 26 (4). pp. 127-140. ISSN 0128-5157 https://ejournals.ukm.my/3l/issue/view/1364
spellingShingle Ang, Leng Hong
Tan, Kim Hua
Lye, Guang Yang
Error types in Malaysian lower secondary school student writing: a corpus-informed analysis of subject-verb agreement and copula be
title Error types in Malaysian lower secondary school student writing: a corpus-informed analysis of subject-verb agreement and copula be
title_full Error types in Malaysian lower secondary school student writing: a corpus-informed analysis of subject-verb agreement and copula be
title_fullStr Error types in Malaysian lower secondary school student writing: a corpus-informed analysis of subject-verb agreement and copula be
title_full_unstemmed Error types in Malaysian lower secondary school student writing: a corpus-informed analysis of subject-verb agreement and copula be
title_short Error types in Malaysian lower secondary school student writing: a corpus-informed analysis of subject-verb agreement and copula be
title_sort error types in malaysian lower secondary school student writing a corpus informed analysis of subject verb agreement and copula be
url http://journalarticle.ukm.my/16542/1/43117-145062-2-PB.pdf
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