Comparison of formal lexical errors in English learners’ written output by native Finnish and German speakers in examination settings

Abstract

This thesis compares formal lexical errors in English learners’ output by native Finnish and German speakers. The aim of this thesis is to find similarities and differences in the acquisition of English of learners from different backgrounds. The topic is of interest because lexical items are an important part of communication and language competence. The materials used in this study included forty essays from the ICLE (International Corpus of Learner English 2020). The focus of choosing the materials was that the essays were written in examination settings where no reference tools were available. The formal lexical errors were highlighted from the learners’ essays and categorized under specific categories, following a modified version of the categorisation of formal errors of lexis by James (1998, 145–151). The results were then compared between native Finnish and German speakers and similarities and differences were brought into attention. The findings include that English compounding, prepositions and plurality are all difficult for L1 speakers of Finnish and German. English spelling also caused great challenges for learners of both backgrounds. Finnish L1 speakers were challenged by articles, whereas German L1 speakers had difficulties with capitalization.