Writing in English as an additional language at Key Stage 4 and ...

Writing in English as an additional language at Key Stage 4 and post-16It may be that unimportant inaccuracies in the spoken English of EAL pupils becomemore noticeable and problematic in writing, and that these types of lexical errors reflectthe process of learning English through mainstream participation, where meaning can beunderstood without noticing small details at word level. It may also be that somestrategies used by teachers to support the meaning of EAL in subject classes, such ashighlighting key words, may contribute to this phenomenon.Learning to write offers opportunities to notice these small features of English that mightpass unnoticed in talk. Encouragement of accuracy and corrective feedback on thesefeatures in formal spoken language tasks and in writing from key stage 1 onwards maybe helpful.Word class errorsIn these errors, a word of one word class (or ‘part of speech’) was used instead of a relatedword of another word class. For example, a noun was used in a verb slot, or a verb instead ofadjective:I wanted to explorerrowing machining (machine).• This type of error was largely found in Focus group scripts where it accounted for about10% of errors noted in phrases.These errors are probably due to over-generalisation of patterns of word meaning and formconnections in English. Many words follow regular patterns in which nouns, verbs, adjectives andadverbs with linked meanings have linked forms e.g. cook – cooker – cooking. The form-meaninglinks, however, are not always predictable e.g. a person who works is a worker, but a cooker is nota person who cooks. They may also reflect the ‘blurred capture’ of words learnt principally fromexposure to teacher talk in subject classrooms discussed in the previous section.Qualified comparative formsFocus group students had problems with comparisons, particularly when these used qualifyingadverbs like much, more, very. Typical errors are:very lessmore oftenlymuch more lessmore bigger.• Errors in comparative forms were mostly found in Focus group scripts, and much lessfrequently in EMT or High EAL scripts.These errors are also probably due to over-generalisation of patterns.Blended phrasesA small number of Focus group errors arose when parts of two phrases seemed to becombined to produce one:take place (part) in a sport activitylarge amount (number) of periods.35