Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Errors of usage'
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Swanseen, Kimberly Dawn. "Effect of Belt Usage Reporting Errors on Injury Risk Estimates." Thesis, Virginia Tech, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/76919.
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This thesis presents the results of a research effort investigating the effect of belt usage reporting errors of National Automotive Sampling System-Crash Data System (NASS-CDS) investigators on injury risk estimates. Current estimates of injury risk are developed under the assumption that NASS-CDS investigators are always accurate at determining seat belt usage. The primary purpose of this research is to determine the accuracy of NASS-CDS investigators using event data recorders (EDRs) as the baseline for accuracy, and then recalculating injury risk estimates based on our findings.
The analysis of a 107 EDR dataset, from vehicle tests conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), was conducted to determine the accuracy of Chrysler, Ford, GM and Toyota EDRs. This accuracy was examined by both EDR module type and vehicle make. EDR accuracy was determined for crash delta-V, seat belt buckle status, pre-impact speed, airbag deployment status and front seat position. From this analysis we were able to conclude that EDRs were accurate, within 4.5%, when comparing maximum delta-V of EDRs that recorded the entire crash pulse length. We also determined that EDRs were 100% accurate when reporting driver seat belt status for EDRs that completely recorded the event and recorded a status for the driver's seat belt. All GM, Ford and Chrysler EDRs in our database reported a pre-impact velocity less than 6 mph different than the NHTSA and IIHS reported pre-impact velocities. We also found that all but 2 (101 out of 103) of the GM, Ford, and Toyota EDRs correctly reported airbag deployment status. Lastly we were able to conclude that seat position status was useful in determining when a smaller sized occupant was the driver or right front occupant. EDRs reported seat position of 5% Hybrid III females as "forward" in every case that seat position was recorded for this smaller occupant size.
Based on the analysis of seat belt status accuracy, a comparison of NASS-CDS investigator driver seat belt status and EDR driver seat belt status was conducted to determine the accuracy of the NASS-CDS investigators. This same comparison was conducted on reports of driver seat belt status provided by police. We found that NASS-CDS investigators had an overall error of 9.5% when determining driver seat belt status. When the EDR stated that the driver was unbuckled, investigators incorrectly coded buckled in of 29.5% of the cases. When the EDR stated that the driver was buckled, NASS-CDS error was only 1.2%. Police officers were less accurate than NASS-CDS investigators, with an overall error of 21.7%. When the EDR stated that the driver was buckled, police had an error of 2.4%. When the EDR stated that the driver's belt was unbuckled, police had an error of around 69%. In 2008, NASS-CDS investigators reported that drivers had an overall belt usage rate during accidents of 82%. After correcting for the errors we discovered, we estimate that the driver belt buckle status during a crash is around 72.6%.
Injury risk estimates and odd ratio point estimates were then calculated for NASS-CDS investigator and EDR buckled versus unbuckled cases. The cases included only frontal collisions in which there was no rollover event or fire. Injury was defined as AIS 2+. The risk ratios and point estimates were then compared between investigators and EDRs. We found that injury risk for unbelted drivers may be over estimated by NASS-CDS investigators. The unbuckled to buckled risk ratio for EDRs was 8%-12% lower than the risk ratio calculated for NASS-CDS investigators.Master of Science
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Sentance, Susan. "Recognising and responding to English article usage errors : an ICALL based approach." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 1993. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/20176.
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Artificial Intelligence techniques are increasingly being used to enhance the area of Computer-Aided Instruction. This thesis is concerned with the area of Computer-Aided Language Learning, a subset of Computer-Aided Instruction, and demonstrates how various Artificial Intelligence techniques can be incorporated into a language system to produce an intelligent educational tool. In this thesis, the focus is on the use of English articles, which is a subtle area of the English language with which even advanced students of English have difficulty. This thesis describes Artcheck, an intelligent Computer-Aided Language Learning (ICALL) system which detects, analyses and responds to English article usage errors. This system has three main features: it has knowledge of the article usage domain; it dynamically creates a model of the student; and it adapts to the individual student. The system's knowledge of the domain consists of a set of article usage rules which reflect standard teaching practice. The information necessary to apply the rules is extracted at the natural language processing stage, and includes structural and contextual information. The system models the state of the student's knowledge at all times, in order to give informative explanations to the student about any errors which are made. It is able to generate mal-rules which account for consistent errors made by the student, using version spaces and the candidate elimination algorithm. The student model can be described as dynamic because the generation of mal-rules can create new parts of the student model, in response to student behaviour, which are not pre-determined by the system designer. The system responds to individual students by giving explanations of errors which are tailored to the student's level of ability and preferred learning style.
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Shin, Seong-Chul School of Modern Language Studies UNSW. "High frequency errors in KFL and pedagogical strategies." Awarded by:University of New South Wales. School of Modern Language Studies, 2006. http://handle.unsw.edu.au/1959.4/26162.
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The problematic areas of the teaching of Korean as a foreign language have been largely neglected in the past. Few studies combine the following three aspects: 1) an examination of learner Korean; 2) the provision of substantial linguistic and pedagogical explanations; and 3) the devising of teaching or learning strategies based on empirical evidence. By studying KFL learners and their language production, insights can be gained relating to the learning of KFL and instructors will be able to provide appropriate corrective measures. This study investigated errors produced by KFL learners, focusing primarily on high frequency orthographic, lexical and grammatical errors in written language production. The study attempts to identify key areas of difficulty in learning Korean, to investigate the possible cause of difficulties and to provide more adequate information for the teaching and learning of KFL. To this end the study uses two classes of textual data and employs both statistical and descriptive analyses. At an orthographic level the study has identified four main error categories: 1) mismatch in three series consonants, 2) mismatch in vowel sounds, 3) misuse of nasals and laterals, and 4) omission and addition of ???h???. Overall the cause of key error types correlates strongly with the differences in sound quality and sound patterns between Korean and English, with some intralingual features. At a lexical level, the study found nine types of errors including 1) semantic similarity, 2) lexical misselection and 3) overgeneralization. The findings suggest that learners have a great deal of difficulty in differentiating lexical items with similar meaning and in selecting words appropriate to particular contexts or situations. As for grammatical errors, the study identified the five most active error categories, which made up more than 80% of the total grammatical errors. An overwhelming majority of grammatical errors and case particle errors in particular were errors of substitution. Many high frequency grammatical errors had distinctive triggering factors such as particular types of verb and sentence construction. The findings of the study have several pedagogical implications. First, there are key common errors for English L1-KFL learners and these common errors need increased linguistic and pedagogical attention. Secondly, the results reinforce the need to pay more active attention to the usage of the main case particles, along with the triggering constructions causing substitutions. Thirdly, the findings suggest that different types of analysis should be done in order to facilitate a plausible description of the problematic KFL items. The study argues that despite being problematic, the items discussed in this thesis are learnable and worthy of being taught with explicit or intentional strategies and that there is a need for pedagogically effective and adequate instructional input to maximize the potential of the learner???s language development in Korean.
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Horvath, Veronika. "Errors and judgments : a sociolinguistic study of freshman composition." Virtual Press, 1996. http://liblink.bsu.edu/uhtbin/catkey/1027109.
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This study attempts to discover and describe patterns of variation in college students' overt attitudes toward a limited set of grammatical and lexical variables, the shibboleths of edited written American English usage. The basic instrument used in the study is a 115 item multiple choice questionnaire prepared by the researcher. Fifteen questions were designed to assess the respondents' social, economic, and demographic backgrounds, whereas the major part of the questionnaire elicited judgments about one hundred English sentences offering the choice between the attributes "good," "bad," and "I can't decide." This questionnaire was administered to 172 students in nine freshman composition classes during the spring semester of 1994 at Ball State University. The study sought to discover and describe systematic relationships between the answers to the first set of questions (extralinguistic data) and the second set of questions (linguistic data) by using various analytical methods and statistical techniques, such as correlation coefficients, chi-square tests, and multidimensional scaling.It was hypothesized that variation in subjects' overt judgments about linguistic variables would parallel the findings of numerous sociolinguistic studies about variation in linguistic production, and hence would pattern along the social and demographic characteristics of the subjects. However, although this study found considerable variation in the freshman students' judgments about the usage shibboleths, it did not find social or demographic correlates to the respondents' judgments.By investigating the nature of the variation in freshman composition students' notions about linguistic correctness, this study attempted to answer questions which have not been asked by traditional usage studies, sociolinguistics, or composition research. Moreover, this study has added support for linguists' claims that the traditional "mistakes" in usage handbooks have almost no empirical basis, even if they remain the favorites of most handbook authors and English teachers.Department of English
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Whitus, Jerry D. (Jerry Dean). "Selective Versus Wholesale Error Correction of Grammar and Usage in the Papers of Adult Intermediate Level ESL Writing Students." Thesis, University of North Texas, 1990. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc504265/.
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Over 13-weeks a control group (n=7) had all errors corrected, while an experimental group (n=9) had only article and sentence construction (run-on sentences, fragments, comma splices) errors corrected. Separating the two types of errors is essential, since the latter (representing grammar) are subject to theories of acquisition and the former (representing usage) are not. One-way analyses of variance ran on pretest versus posttest found no significant difference in either groups' article errors; however, the experimental group had significantly fewer sentence construction errors, implying that teachers should be sensitive to both the correction technique and error type; researchers should not combine the two error types in gathering data.
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Rangel-Studer, Beatriz. "Self-repair in second language interaction: Dyad groups in action." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 2006. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/2975.
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Describes the results of a research project that analyzes the interaction of a second language (L2) learners of English (non-native speakers (NNS)) with a native speakers (NS). The subjects of the study were four NNS and two NS of English at Imperial Valley College in Imperial, California. The first aspect of the analysis determines the way in which self-repair might be related to L2 development and the L2 learner's language proficiency level. The second aspect of the analysis determines whether the NNS use self-repair differently when the interlocutor is a NS or a NNS of English. Results of the study indicate that while there was not a correlation between overall frequency of self-repair and language proficiency, there was a relationship between frequency of particular types of repair and language proficiency.
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Mok, Yee Man Christabell. "What is revealed through errors? : a study of Hong Kong primary ESL learners." HKBU Institutional Repository, 2004. http://repository.hkbu.edu.hk/etd_ra/571.
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Jensen, Marie-Thérèse 1949. "Corrective feedback to spoken errors in adult ESL classrooms." Monash University, Faculty of Education, 2001. http://arrow.monash.edu.au/hdl/1959.1/8620.
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朱加信 and Karson Chu. "Written English errors: a case study of one secondary school in Hong Kong." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2005. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31679808.
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Cancian, Sonia. "Una raccolta di lettere italiane inviate agli emigrati in Canada, 1954-1955." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1999. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape9/PQDD_0028/MQ50501.pdf.
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Katayama, Akemi. "Correction of Classroom Oral Errors: Preferences among University Students of English in Japan." PDXScholar, 1996. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/5282.
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Correction of oral errors in foreign or second language classrooms has been an issue of great concern. Although the literature on error correction is abundant, the studies on student reaction to this pedagogical practice are few. This study investigated the preferences for correction of classroom oral errors among university students of English in Japan. Data were collected from anonymous questionnaires. The study examined the students' attitudes toward the views about correction of oral errors which have been controversial among foreign and second language educators. The study also investigated the students' preferences for correction of different types of oral errors (e.g., grammatical errors) and particular types of correction as well. The results showed that the students had a strong positive agreement regarding teacher correction of oral errors. They showed a tendency toward agreement concerning peer correction, and a slight tendency toward agreement regarding selective error correction. Concerning overcorrection of errors, they showed a tendency toward disagreement. There was no significant difference among the different levels of oral English proficiency. The students had positive attitudes toward the correction of all five types of errors listed in the questionnaire: grammatical errors, phonological errors, and errors regarding vocabulary, pragmatics, and discourse. Pragmatic errors received the strongest preference. A significant difference among the proficiency levels was observed in only preference for correction of discourse errors. Preferred methods of error correction were: 1) the teacher gives the student a hint which might enable the student to notice the error and selfcorrect, 2) the teacher explains why the response is incorrect, 3) the teacher points out the error, and provides the correct response, and 4) the teacher presents the correct response or part of the response. The methods disliked were: 1) the teacher ignores the student's errors and 2) the teacher repeats the original question asked of the student. A significant difference among the groups was observed in preference for only one error correction method: the teacher presents the correct response or part of the response.
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Cheung, Sin-lin Isabelle, and 張善蓮. "A study of lexical errors in South-Asian Non-Chinese speakingchildren's writing." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2006. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B36863658.
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Jim, Mei-hang, and 詹美恒. "A study of lexical errors in Cantonese ESL students' writing." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2005. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31602812.
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Lee, Wai Ching Crystal. "Error analysis of the written works produced by the undergraduates from PRC, Taiwan and Hong Kong." HKBU Institutional Repository, 2002. http://repository.hkbu.edu.hk/etd_ra/381.
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DEMETRAS, MARTHA JO-ANN. "WORKING PARENTS' CONVERSATIONAL RESPONSES TO THEIR TWO-YEAR-OLD SONS (LINGUISTIC INPUT, LANGUAGE ACQUISITION)." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1986. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/183947.
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Despite claims by some theorists to the contrary, investigators have shown that information about grammatical errors is available to young children learning language via the conversational responses of their parents. The present study described five categories of responses in the conversations of working mothers and fathers to their normally developing two-year-old sons, and investigated whether any of these responses were differentially related to well-formed vs. ill-formed child utterances. Subjects were six middle-class, monolingual (English) parent-child dyads. Parents worked full-time jobs and the children were enrolled in full-time daycare. Within a two week period, four 20-minute conversational samples were audio and video recorded for each dyad in the subjects' homes during freeplay activities of the subjects' choice. Results indicated that the pattern of responses for these six parents was very similar to that reported for other parent-child dyads. The most frequent type of response for all parents was one that continued the conversation without either repeating or clarifying the child's previous utterance. The least frequent type of response was one that explicitly corrected portions of the child's utterance. Of all responses, repetitions--both clarifying and nonclarifying--appeared to be the type of response most differentially related to well-formed and ill-formed child utterances. Exact repetitions were more likely to follow well-formed utterances, while the remaining repetitions were more likely to follow ill-formed utterances. This pattern of differential responses was similar for all six dyads. Very few differences regarding the style or pattern of interaction were noted for fathers and mothers. Implications were drawn regarding the nature of linguistic input that is available to two-year-old children learning language.
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Cheung, Shui-man, and 張瑞文. "The causes of errors in composing in Chinese by Hong Kongstudents." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1999. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31220605.
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Mogilevski, Eugene 1974. "Structured monitoring of second order errors : focus on writing accuracy of 2nd year advanced level students of French." Monash University, French Studies, 2002. http://arrow.monash.edu.au/hdl/1959.1/8652.
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Wong, Yuk-ling Denise, and 黃玉玲. "On evaluating errors produced by some L2 speakers of English." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1985. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B42128225.
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Hui, Lai-yin Connie, and 許麗賢. "An investigation of the errors made by Hong Kong secondary students intheir written work." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2005. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B3169178X.
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Riguel, Emilie. "Les phrasal verbs : usage, acquisition (L1 & L2), et enseignement." Thesis, Sorbonne Paris Cité, 2016. http://www.theses.fr/2016USPCA166.
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Bien que typiques et incontournables de la langue anglaise, les phrasal verbs représentent cependant un véritable fléau pour les apprenants non-anglophones. Une étude quantitative s’appuyant sur la comparaison d’un corpus d’interlangue de l’anglais langue étrangère (International Corpus of Learner English, Version 2) et d’un corpus contrôle (Louvain Corpus of Native English Essays) met ainsi en lumière la sous-représentation des phrasal verbs dans les productions écrites d’étudiants non-anglophones. En second lieu, à partir d’une étude qualitative examinant l’usage des phrasal verbs dans les extraits de dissertations d’étudiants non-natifs, nous établissons une typologie des erreurs commises par les apprenants non-anglophones à l’égard des phrasal verbs. Une réflexion sur de nouvelles approches visant un meilleur apprentissage/enseignement des phrasal verbs est également proposée.Pour apporter des éléments de réponse à cette question, notre démarche consiste à observer la genèse de cette construction dans le langage de l’enfant anglophone. En effet, le rôle des constructions formées de plusieurs mots a notamment été mis en évidence dans les théories de l’acquisition de la langue maternelle (Goldberg, 1995 ; Tomasello, 2003). En outre, elles représentent une source de prédication riche et productive que les enfants de la plupart des communautés linguistiques acquièrent à un âge très précoce. Aucune étude dédiée à l’acquisition et l’usage des phrasal verbs chez le jeune enfant anglophone n’a cependant été réalisée à ce jour. Cette thèse se propose d’étudier l’émergence et le développement des constructions verbe-particule dans le langage de l’enfant en analysant les données longitudinales du discours oral spontané de deux enfants uniligues anglophones, Naima et Ella, suivies respectivement entre 0;11 et 3;10 et entre 1;00 et 4;00. Les transcriptions des corpus sont issues de la base de données CHILDES (MacWhinney, 2000a).Enfin, cette thèse s’intéresse également à l’acquisition et à l’usage du placement de la particule adverbiale au sein des verbes à particule transitifs directs dans le discours de l’enfant anglophone. En particulier, une analyse multifactorielle de plusieurs variables linguistiques sera conduite afin de voir si l’enfant reproduit le même schéma linguistique que l’adulte dans ses emplois des constructions verbe-particule transitives directes de type continu V-Prt-O et discontinu V-O-PrtAlthough typical and inevitable in the English language, phrasal verbs, however, represent a real scourge to non-English-speaking students. A quantitative study based on a comparison between an interlanguage corpus of English as a foreign language (International Corpus of Learner English, Version 2) and a control corpus (Louvain Corpus of Native English Essays) thus highlights the underrepresentation of phrasal verbs in non-English-speaking students’ written productions. Secondly, from a qualitative study examining the use of phrasal verbs in excerpts from non-native students’ essays, we draw up a typology of errors made by non-English-speaking learners with regard to phrasal verbs. A discussion on new approaches to a better learning/teaching of phrasal verbs is also proposed.To provide some answers to this question, our approach consists in observing the genesis of this construction in the English-speaking child’s language. Indeed, the role of multiword constructions has particularly been emphasized in theories of first language acquisition (Goldberg, 1995; Tomasello, 2003). Besides, they are a rich and productive source of predication that children from most of the language communities acquire at a very early age. Yet, no studies dedicated to the acquisition and usage of verb-particle constructions in young English-speaking children have been carried out so far. This thesis aims to study the emergence and development of verb-particle constructions in child language by analyzing longitudinal data from the spontaneous oral speech of two monolingual English-speaking children, Naima and Ella, respectively followed between ages 0;11 and 3;10 and between ages 1;00 and 4;00. The corpora transcripts come from the CHILDES database (MacWhinney, 2000a).Finally, this thesis also focuses on the acquisition and use of particle placement within direct transitive phrasal verbs in English-speaking children’s speech. In particular, a multifactorial analysis of several linguistic variables will be conducted to see if children reproduce the same linguistic pattern as adults in their productions of both types of direct transitive verb-particle constructions (i.e. continuous configuration V-Prt-O and split configuration V-O-Prt)
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Wong, Sau Sheung Isabella. "An error analysis of English compositions by Hong Kong junior secondary students." HKBU Institutional Repository, 1999. http://repository.hkbu.edu.hk/etd_ra/408.
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Lee, Chai-yen, and 李彩燕. "An error analysis of Singapore's secondary school student's Chinese language compositions." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2006. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B37274338.
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Mntambo, Nomawabo. "A case study of oral linguistic error-treatment in second language classrooms where English is the medium of instruction." Thesis, Rhodes University, 1995. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003320.
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One of the issues that have been debated at length in second language acquisition research circles is that of error-feedback and its desirability. Although there is as yet no conclusive evidence concerning its effectiveness in contributing towards the acquisition of a second language, a number of studies that have been conducted bear evidence to its desirability in L2 classrooms. This research then, was concerned with the way teachers of content subjects reacted to their learners' linguistically erroneous responses during oral interaction in their classes. The participants were four teachers who, with their pupils, are second language speakers of English . Three of these were content subject teachers while the fourth one teaches English. The data was collected from a class of Std 5 pupils in a rural school in the Eastern Cape where the lessons of these teachers were observed and audio-taped. Subsequently some of them were transcribed and analysed. The analysis of the data revealed that teachers in content subject classes, who teach through the medium of English showed more concern for content than for linguistic errors despite the fact that they are expected to extend the pupils' chances of second language acquisition.
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Lau, Chi-leung Allen, and 劉志亮. "A study of errors made by F4 students in their written English with special reference to determiners." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2005. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31943652.
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Chan, Carol Suk Oi. "A cross-sectional study of syntactic errors in English composition by ESL students in Hong Kong : aspects of negative transfer." HKBU Institutional Repository, 2002. http://repository.hkbu.edu.hk/etd_ra/501.
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Samperi-Mangan, Jacqueline. "Languages in contact : error analysis of Italian childrens' compositions in a multilingual context." Thesis, McGill University, 1991. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=60594.
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Children of Italian immigrants in Montreal are in contact with many languages and kinds of speech. French and English are used publicly, formal Italian is studied in heritage classes, a dialect of the family's region of origin is used at home, and a kind of koine is frequently used in interactions with other Italian immigrants. The contact of these languages produces various kinds of interferences. These lead a child to make errors when he tries to use the Standard Italian code. In this research, children's compositions are examined for errors which in turn are analysed and classified. The causes of these errors are investigated and statistics are presented to indicate the frequency of errors or the power of various causes.An effort is made to show all the different errors and interferences that occur, and to discover a pattern of their causes. The data put forth might eventually serve as a base for further studies on the pedagogical prevention or correction of errors in the teaching of Standard Italian as adapted to the specific situation in Montreal.
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Wat, Lok-Sze Josephine, and 屈樂思. "Cantonese-speaking students' handling of WH-questions in English." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2006. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B3692264X.
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Fong, Wai-lin Yvonne, and 方慧玲. "Written English errors of eighth graders in an Anglo-Chinese school inHong Kong." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1987. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31949022.
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Coetzee, Wena. "Language errors in the use of English by two different dialect groups of Afrikaans first language-speakers employed by Nedbank : an analysis and possible remedy." Thesis, Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/2063.
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Thesis (MPhil (General Linguistics))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The financial sector of South Africa is increasingly under pressure to ensure that the language used in all communication is aligned with international best practice and, furthermore, that the correct business terminology is applied. Standards of language proficiency and usage have, however, deteriorated over the past few years. This appears to be due mainly to lack of good language education at school level. In Nedbank, specifically, the language used by employees in written external communication is not always on par as is evident from the documentation that Nedbank Editorial and Language Services (Nels), the “language custodian” of the bank, has to edit and translate. Nels decided six years ago that, instead of rewriting all these documents, which is not timeor cost-efficient, to rather give business-writing training across the bank to enable Nedbank employees to increase their general writing proficiency of English. This study aims to establish whether there are discrepancies in the type of error made in English as used by Coloured Afrikaans mother tongue speakers and White Afrikaans mother tongue speakers in order to determine how to customise the business-writing training materials to the benefit of each cultural grouping in Nedbank.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die finansiële sektor in Suid-Afrika is toenemend onder druk om te verseker dat die taal wat in alle kommunikasie gebruik word in ooreenstemming is met internasionale “beste praktyk”, en verder dat die korrekte besigheidsterminologie gebruik word. Taalvaardigheids- en taalgebruiksvlakke het egter oor die afgelope aantal jare verswak, waarskynlik a.g.v. onvoldoende taalonderrig op skool. In Nedbank is die taalgebruik van werknemers in geskrewe eksterne kommunikasie nie altyd van ’n aanvaarbare standaard nie, soos duidelik blyk uit die dokumentasie wat Nedbank Editorial and Language Services (Nels), die bank se “taalbewaarder”, moet redigeer en vertaal. Nels het ses jaar gelede besluit om besigheidskryfkursusse vir die hele groep aan te bied, eerder as om al die eksterne kommunikasie oor te skryf, wat nie tyd- en koste-effektief is nie. Sodoende kan werknemers hulle algemene skryfvaardighede in Engels verbeter. Hierdie studie probeer vasstel of daar moontlike verskille is in die soort foute wat in Engels deur gekleurde Afrikaans-moedertaalsprekers en wit Afrikaans-moedertaalsprekers gemaak word, in ‘n poging om doeltreffende opleidingsmateriaal te ontwikkel vir elke kulturele groepering in Nedbank.
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Olsen, Andrew Nolan. "When Infinity is Too Long to Wait: On the Convergence of Markov Chain Monte Carlo Methods." The Ohio State University, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1433770406.
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Bhattrai, Anju. "A contrastive analysis of the English and Nepali past tenses and an error analysis of Nepali learners' use of the English past tenses." Virtual Press, 1999. http://liblink.bsu.edu/uhtbin/catkey/1159139.
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This dissertation has two main purposes: (a) to provide an analysis of the past tenses in Nepali and compare them with those of English from a discourse pragmatic perspective; and (b) to investigate how Nepali learners of English use the English past tenses in terms of forms, meanings, and functions.A major claim of the dissertation is that tenses and aspects play various discourse functions in Nepali. Although Nepali has various past tenses as in English, their actual use is different from those of English. A significant difference between the use of the past tenses in English and Nepali is revealed in the use of the past perfect tense. In Nepali, unlike in English, the past perfect does not always require the existence of the past reference point between the event time and the speech time. Although used in similar as well as different contexts, the past perfect in both languages is found to express background information. In the analysis of the Nepali past tenses, one of the major arguments is that the traditionally termed `unknown past' does not have `past' as part of its basic meaning. The main function of this verb form is to express the speaker's unawareness of a situation at the time of its happening, whether in the past or the future.After the discussion of the Nepali past tenses in comparison with the English past tenses and aspects, an error analysis of Nepali EFL learners' use of the English past tenses in written essays is carried out. It was hypothesized that Nepali learners would make a wide variety of errors in the use of the English past tenses. Because of differences in the use of the past perfect and the past tense in the habitual sense between Nepali and English, it was expected that Nepali ESL learners would make errors in those areas. However, overgeneralization due to difference in the use was found only in a very few cases. Most of these errors cannot be traced to Nepali influence. One area, however, where Nepali has a clear effect on the students' use of English is in indirect speech. I argue that Nepali speakers do not change tenses in English indirect speech appropriately because verb tenses in Nepali are not changed from direct speech to indirect speech as in English.It is hoped that this dissertation will enhance the understanding of grammatical categories such as tense and aspect in general and of Nepali tense and aspect systems in particular. In general, this dissertation showed contribute to several areas of study in discourse analysis, second language acquisition, language transfer and contrastive analysis. A major significance of this dissertation is its demonstration of the role of tense and aspect in Nepali in the expression of various discourse functions.Department of English
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Ng, Wing-han Christina. "Does error correction lead to error reduction?" Thesis, Hong Kong : University of Hong Kong, 2002. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record.jsp?B26173347.
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Paskewitz, Paul Francis-xavier. "A corpus-based study of recurrent errors in the spoken and written English of native cantonese speakers." Thesis, Hong Kong : University of Hong Kong, 1999. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk:8888/cgi-bin/hkuto%5Ftoc%5Fpdf?b21161781.
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Jhowry, Kheerani. "Does the Provision of an Intensive and Highly Focused Indirect Corrective Feedback Lead to Accuracy?" Thesis, University of North Texas, 2010. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc28437/.
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This thesis imparts the outcomes of a seven-week long quasi-experimental study that explored whether or not L2 learners who received intensive and highly focused indirect feedback on one type of treatable error - either the third person singular -s, plural endings -s, or definite article the - eventually become more accurate in the post-test as compared to a control group that did not. The paired-samples t-test comparing the pre-test and post-test scores of both groups demonstrates that the experimental group did no better than the control group after they received indirect corrective feedback. The independent samples t-test measuring the experimental and control group's accuracy shows no significant difference between the two groups. Effect sizes calculated, however, do indicate that, had the sample sizes been bigger, both groups would have eventually become more accurate in the errors targeted, although this would not have been because of the indirect feedback.
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Stevenson, Bill. "Peer Correction by Non-native Speakers of English in Oral Group Work." PDXScholar, 1994. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/4918.
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This research is observational and descriptive. Its primary purpose is to provide data on the extent to which, and how, Non-Native Speakers (NNSs) of English engage in error correction of their peers when participating in classroom oral group work. In addition, it shows to what extent these learners self-correct their own errors in the same situation. The over-arching focus of the study is to examine the role of second language learners to determine whether they possess the potential to play a more active and productive part in their own language learning. Nine beginning level adult university ESL students are the subjects of this research. They were placed in small groups and asked to perform specified classroom tasks designed to generate maximum oral interchange among the participants. The ensuing discussions provided the basis for the data which were collected via tape recording each group's proceedings. The data samples were listened to and coded per an error typology and any correction that took place. The data were then statistically analyzed via SYSTAT. The findings are consistent with the results of other research and indicate that while many errors are not treated, a significant number of them are corrected clearly and accurately. These results lend credence to the idea that second language learners may have much more to learn from each other than they think, and that they do have the potential to play a greater role in their own language learning. Much more research is indicated in order to better understand the multi-faceted phenomenon of second language learner error and its treatment.
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Levesque, Guy-Luc. "Lexico-Semantic Influence in Interlingual Transfer." PDXScholar, 1994. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/4771.
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The present study replicates research by Tomoko Takahashi (1984) on lexico-semantic patterns used by students in an acquisition poor environment. The purpose of the current study was to determine how an acquisition rich environment affects learners' use of four lexico-semantic patterns: congruence occurs when the Ll definition of a lexical item forms a one-to-one correspondence with the L2 lexical item; convergence occurs when the Ll lexical item has broader applications than the L2 lexical item; divergence occurs when the L2 lexical item has broader applications than the Ll lexical item; and semantic gap occurs when the Ll lexical item has no appropriate corresponding L2 lexical item (Takahashi, 1984). The instrument, a lexico-semantics test, is the same instrument used in Takahashi's study. It was designed to measure which patterns are most frequently used by Japanese EFL students learning English. The results, unlike Takahashi's, suggest that beginning and advanced ESL students use the four patterns equally well. No significant difference was found between the two groups. These results are contrary to what had been expected. However, they show that the proposed hierarchical order of difficulty of congruence, convergence, divergence and semantic gap is the same in both studies. The results also indicate that the acquisition· rich environment seems to dramatically improve beginners' performance of the four patterns. Since the instrument was designed for EFL students (an acquisition poor environment) it may not have fully challenged the advanced ESL students (an acquisition rich environment) while challenging the beginning students. This may have been due to the fact that the students in the present study received a great deal of input from the acquisition rich environment, which could account for their increased ability to restructure hypotheses about L2 vocabulary items. In conclusion, more studies are needed to determine the complete role of the four lexico-semantic patterns in vocabulary acquisition. An expanded follow up study that fully tests the advanced and beginning ESL learners' ability could determine whether both groups progress along a language continuum with respect to the use of the four lexico-semantic patterns. Furthermore, although the patterns may serve, in a limited capacity, as indicators of a learner's difficulties in vocabulary acquisition, a wider body of research is needed before they can be applied in a language learning environment.
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Kwan, Chung-hin, and 關仲顯. "An investigation of English errors of Hong Kong secondary 1 and secondary 5 students and their relationship with mother tongueCantonese transfer." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1997. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B3195943X.
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Kou, Meng Chu. "A consciousness-raising approach to error correction : a case study of the acquisition of the placement of prepositional phrases by Macao secondary school students." Thesis, University of Macau, 2010. http://umaclib3.umac.mo/record=b2456359.
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Bader, Fadel Mohammed Na'im. "Analysis of error type, source, and gravity in the writing of Arabic ESL students in U.S.A. colleges." PDXScholar, 1988. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/3753.
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The purpose of this study is to determine the type, possible source and gravity of errors found in the Test of Written English and Placement Tests compositions written by native speakers of Arabic at college level. The first part of the study is an error analysis designed to reveal the types of errors that are most frequently made by Arab students at college level. The sources of these errors are explained according to Richards' classification of errors as inter- and intralingual (1971). Seven types of errors are identified under interlingual category: articles, prepositions, the copula, embedded questions, pronoun retention, semantic and stylistic errors. Intralingual errors included errors in overgeneralization and ignorance of rule restriction.
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Chow, Po-ki, and 周寶琪. "Tense and aspect in interlanguage: error analysis in the English of Cantonese-speaking secondary schoolstudents." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2006. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B36856228.
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Mallan, Vijay Kumar, and n/a. "The influence of contextual factors on revision strategies : the case of four Malaysian native speakers of English in a mainstream E.S.L. classroom." University of Otago. Department of English, 2005. http://adt.otago.ac.nz./public/adt-NZDU20061024.115955.
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This case study explored the revision strategies of four Malaysian native speakers of English when they composed aloud while writing an argumentative essay. Think aloud verbal protocols were analysed using the grounded theory approach in conjunction with written texts.
The findings suggest that contextual factors influenced classroom practices. The contextual factors included a teacher who was not provided with adequate training, administrative policies which did not provide support for the development of writers based on their abilities, writing instruction which viewed revision as a process of error correction and public assessment practices which were non-transparent. These classroom practices influenced the participants� beliefs about revision. These beliefs affected the quality of their essays as judged by Malaysian public examiners. Additionally, the findings suggest a mismatch between classroom instruction and public examination.
Suggestions are made to address these concerns by considering the theoretical underpinnings of the cognitive process, socio-cultural and community of practice models of writing and learning. These include instruction on revision strategies, considering alternative assessment practices, providing formative feedback, ability streaming, focussing on critical reading skills and providing adequate support to the teacher.
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Kwok, Hong-lok, and 郭康樂. "Developing an error analysis and error correction strategy for form 6 English composition classes in Hong Kong." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1987. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31949071.
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Wong, Wing-yin Winnie, and 黃穎賢. "The study of the use of written English in the Hong Kong civilservice." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1997. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31951569.
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Sibayan, Anna Marie. "Prompted and Unprompted Self-Repairs of Filipino Students of Spanish as a Foreign Language." Doctoral thesis, Universitat de Barcelona, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/454821.
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The present dissertation, which contributes to the dearth of research on the acquisition of Spanish as a foreign language by Filipinos, is a pseudolongitudinal study of their Spanish interlanguage (IL) whose two-fold objective is to provide a descriptive analysis of their developing IL based on errors produced in their speech as influenced by language proficiency levels and crosslinguistic similarity of their other known languages, and to identify the thresholds of their IL based on the prompted and unprompted self-repair of these errors.
Participants of the study were four groups of students learning Spanish in a Philippine university who have had 432 hours, 1,008 hours, 1,872 hours, and 2,160 hours of formal instruction in Spanish, respectively. They were recorded in their own classroom contexts and individually in order to build two complementing oral corpora for the analysis of their speech. For the gathering of monologic data elicitation procedures from the research project El desarrollo del repertorio lingüístico en hablantes no nativos de castellano y catalán (Tolchinsky & Perera, 2006), which form part of the larger research project Developing Literacy in Different Contexts and Different Languages (Berman
& Verhoeven, 2002) was adopted. All 20 recorded classroom sessions and 40 monologic texts were transcribed according to the conventions of a transcription program. Errors were categorized according to their formal linguistic levels (Jarvis & Pavlenko, 2010), while prompted and unprompted self-repairs were identified as a result of classifying teacher feedback based on an adapted taxonomy of recasts and prompts (Lyster & Ranta, 1997). To respond to the objectives the following were analyzed: (a) the distribution of error types and subtypes in relation to the targetlanguage (TL) proficiency, (b) the frequency of attempts to self-repair these errors with and without the prompting of the teacher, (c) the rate of success of prompted and unprompted self-repairs in
relation to TL proficiency, and (d) the effect of crosslinguistic similarity of previously learned languages and their corresponding proficiency levels on error production.
Results showed that morphosyntactic errors were produced the most, followed by lexicalsemantic errors, and lastly, by phonetic-phonological errors, with each proficiency group producing such errors quite differently (e.g., omission of determiners is largely a characteristic of a beginner). Results likewise showed that while TL proficiency has a negative effect on the production of errors, it has no effect on the distribution of error types nor in the recognition of these errors. Teachers and students alike verbally recognized approximately 20% of the errors; teachers called out lexical-semantic errors the most, while students most independently recognized and successfully self-repair morphosyntactic errors. Of the recognized errors, about 60% of teacher-prompted errors and roughly 80% of independently recognized errors were successfully repaired. Albeit inconclusive, TL proficiency may have a positive effect on success in self-repair.
By contrast, SL proficiency was observed to have a positive effect on the production of transfer errors, however, in the case of the multilingual learner, transfer mostly comes from the more objectively similar language and not from the language that he perceives to be more similar to the TL. The implications of these findings for future research and language pedagogy are outlined in the final chapter, which concludes the present dissertation.Esta tesis, que contribuye a la carencia de estudios sobre la adquisición de los filipinos del español como lengua extranjera, tiene el doble objetivo de proporcionar un análisis descriptivo de su interlengua (IL) en desarrollo, partiendo de los errores encontrados en su producción oral influidos por el conocimiento de otros idiomas y el dominio de éstos; y de identificar los límites de su IL partiendo de las autorreparaciones. Se recogieron y transcribieron los datos de interacción en el aula (20 horas) y datos monológicos producidos (40 textos) por cuatro grupos de alumnos de español de una universidad filipina, que habían pertenecientes a los niveles A1-, A1+, B1- y B1+. Para responder a los objetivos, se analizaron los siguientes aspectos: (a) la distribución de los tipos y tipos de errores en relación con el dominio de la lengua objeto (LO), (b) la frecuencia de las autorreparaciones con y sin la ayuda del profesor, (c) la tasa de éxito de las autorreparaciones en relación con el dominio de la LO, y (d) el efecto de la similitud de lenguas previamente aprendidas y del nivel de dominio de dichas lenguas en la producción de errores. Los resultados indican que los errores morfosintácticos son los que aparecen con mayor frecuencia, seguidos, en este orden, por los léxico-semánticos y los fonético-fonológicos. También se observa que si bien el dominio de la LO tiene un efecto negativo en la producción total de errores, no determina la distribución de los tipos de error ni el reconocimiento de estos errores por parte de los aprendices. Por otra parte, los alumnos se autorreparon con más éxito en el caso de aquellos errores que son capaces de identificar por sí mismos en contraste con lo que ocurre con los detectados con la ayuda del profesor. Por el contrario, el dominio de otras lenguas y/o su cercanía tipológica con la LO tienen un efecto positivo en la producción de errores de transferencia. Es decir, cuánto más dominio y más similitud tiene, mayor es su influencia en la producción de errores. Se concluye el trabajo con una discusión de las implicaciones de estos hallazgos.
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Ma, Li. "Web error classification and usage based model for Web reliability improvement." Ann Arbor, Mich. : ProQuest, 2007. http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:3258042.
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Thesis (Ph.D. in Computer Science)--S.M.U., 2007.Title from PDF title page (viewed Mar. 18, 2008). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-03, Section: B, page: 1731. Adviser: Jeff Tian. Includes bibliographical references.
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Lu, Bin. "Energy Usage Evaluation and Condition Monitoring for Electric Machines using Wireless Sensor Networks." Diss., Georgia Institute of Technology, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/1853/14152.
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Energy usage evaluation and condition monitoring for electric machines are important in industry for overall energy savings. Traditionally these functions are realized only for large motors in wired systems formed by communication cables and various types of sensors. The unique characteristics of the wireless sensor networks (WSN) make them the ideal wireless structure for low-cost energy management in industrial plants.
This work focuses on developing nonintrusive motor-efficiency-estimation methods, which are essential in the wireless motor-energy-management systems in a WSN architecture that is capable of improving overall energy savings in U.S. industry.
This work starts with an investigation of existing motor-efficiency-evaluation methods. Based on the findings, a general approach of developing nonintrusive efficiency-estimation methods is proposed, incorporating sensorless rotor-speed detection, stator-resistance estimation, and loss estimation techniques. Following this approach, two new methods are proposed for estimating the efficiencies of in-service induction motors, using air-gap torque estimation and a modified induction motor equivalent circuit, respectively. The experimental results show that both methods achieve accurate efficiency estimates within ¡À2-3% errors under normal load conditions, using only a few cycles of input voltages and currents. The analytical results obtained from error analysis agree well with the experimental results.
Using the proposed efficiency-estimation methods, a closed-loop motor-energy-management scheme for industrial plants with a WSN architecture is proposed. Besides the energy-usage-evaluation algorithms, this scheme also incorporates various sensorless current-based motor-condition-monitoring algorithms. A uniform data interface is defined to seamlessly integrate these energy-evaluation and condition-monitoring algorithms. Prototype wireless sensor devices are designed and implemented to satisfy the specific needs of motor energy management. A WSN test bed is implemented. The applicability of the proposed scheme is validated from the experimental results using multiple motors with different physical configurations under various load conditions. To demonstrate the validity of the measured and estimated motor efficiencies in the experiments presented in this work, an in-depth error analysis on motor efficiency measurement and estimation is conducted, using maximum error estimation, worst-case error estimation, and realistic error estimation techniques. The conclusions, contributions, and recommendations are summarized at the end.
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Fredrickson, Katie. "With So Little Time, Where Do We Start? Targeted Teaching Through Analyzing Error Egregiousness and Error Frequency." BYU ScholarsArchive, 2014. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/4129.
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Why do so many students confuse good writing with simply error-free writing, and what can writing instructors do about it? In order to answer this question, the present study first undertakes an exploration of the different meanings associated with grammar and how those definitions have influenced composition instruction. These influences range from an over-emphasis on grammar in the first half of the twentieth century to allowing it to disappear almost completely from the composition curriculum in the second half of the century. However, because research demonstrates that students over this same time period make errors in writing at a fairly constant rate, the present study investigated how writing instructors might target their teaching in order to strategically eliminate or decrease error from student writing while still maintaining composition classes focused on writing rather than grammar. A survey of frequent errors was constructed based on findings from Connors & Lunsford's 1988 study and Lunsford & Lunsford's 2008 study of error frequency; following Hairston's 1981 study, the survey also focused on error egregiousness. The survey was sent to samples from three different university populations: faculty, first-year writing students, and advanced writing students. Faculty's identification of errors and their seriousness is compared to that of students. The results of the survey help composition instructors target what to teach based on what students already know and don't know about error and its relative seriousness. The study offers suggestions for teaching the identified taxonomy of the most frequent, most serious errors; it also calls for more research in order to continue building the data instructors use to justify pedagogy.
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Machado, Filha Maria Carmelia. "A study in contrastive analysis and error analysis: article usage in english and portuguese." reponame:Repositório Institucional da UFSC, 2013. https://repositorio.ufsc.br/handle/123456789/106035.
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Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, 1977.Made available in DSpace on 2013-12-05T18:57:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 321796.pdf: 2709666 bytes, checksum: c94936800c560d172bb945a686e66eb7 (MD5)
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Durrani, Samiullah. "Data Entry Error in Mobile Keyboard Device Usage Subject to Cognitive, Environmental, and Communication Workload Stressors Present in Fully Activated Emergency Operations Centers." Doctoral diss., University of Central Florida, 2009. http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ETD/id/2782.
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The diversity and dynamic nature of disaster management environments necessitate the use of convenient, yet reliable, tools for technology. While there have been many improvements in mitigating the effects of disasters, it is clearly evident by recent events, such as Hurricane Katrina that issues related to emergency response and management require considerable research and improvement to effectively respond to these situations. One of the links in a disaster management chain is the Emergency Operations Center (EOC). The EOC is a physical command center responsible for the overall strategic control of the disaster response and functions as an information and communication hub. The effectiveness and accuracy of the disaster response greatly depends on the quality and timeliness of inter-personnel communication within an EOC. The advent of handheld mobile communication devices have introduced new avenues of communication that been widely adopted by disaster management officials. The portability afforded by these devices allows users to exchange, manage and access vital information during critical situations. While their use and importance is gaining momentum, little is still known about the ergonomic and human reliability implications of human-handheld interaction, particularly in an Emergency Operations Center setting. The purpose of this effort is to establish basic human error probabilities (bHEP's) for handheld QWERTY data entry and to study the effects of various performance shaping factors, specifically, environmental conditions, communication load, and cognitive load. The factors selected are designed to simulate the conditions prevalent in an Emergency Operations Center. The objectives are accomplished through a three-factor between-subjects randomized full factorial experiment in which a bHEP value of 0.0296 is found. It is also determined that a combination of cognitive loading and environmental conditions has a statistically significant detrimental impact on the HEP.Ph.D.
Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems
Engineering and Computer Science
Industrial Engineering PhD
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Tranefeldt, Sophia. "Verbanvändning vid skriftlig produktion hos avancerade inlärare av svenska som andraspråk." Thesis, Karlstads universitet, Estetisk-filosofiska fakulteten, 2011. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-6764.
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Sammanfattning Den här uppsatsen undersöker verbanvändningen i skriftlig produktion hos en grupp avancerade svenska som andraspråkselever. Studien granskar såväl kvantitativa som kvalitativa aspekter i elevernas verbordförråd. Uppsatsens syfte är att kartlägga L2-elevernas verbvokabulär med avseende på frekvens, variation, fördelning över semantiska fält samt semantisk och konstruktionsmässig korrekthet. L2-gruppens resultat kontrasteras mot en kontrollgrupp bestående av L1-elever. Undersökningsmaterialet består av 20 argumenterande uppsatser skrivna av komvuxelever med svenska som andraspråk samt 20 argumenterande uppsatser skrivna av komvuxelever med svenska som förstaspråk. Samtliga verb har extraherats, räknats och, i de fall det varit tillämpbart, satts in i ett av de 13 semantiska fält som undersökts i uppsatsen. De olika typer av inkorrekt verbanvändning som påträffats i materialet har kategoriserats utifrån feltyp. De typer av fel som varit av intresse i denna studie är konstruktionsfel i prefixverb, reflexivverb, partikelverb samt fel i verb + substantiv- kollokationer. Förutom konstruktionsfel undersöker uppsatsen även primärt semantiska fel, dvs. fel som i första hand har att göra med verbets semantiska betydelse. Undersökningsresultatet visar att verbfrekvensen hos L2-talarna är lägre i jämförelse med L1-gruppen. Orsaken därtill är att L1-uppsatserna i snitt är längre än L2-uppsatserna och därmed innehåller många fler verb. Det verkar inte föreligga någon anmärkningsvärd skillnad i verbvariationen om man ser till verben i sin helhet. Vissa semantiska fält är dock mer utbyggda och mer varierade i L1-gruppen. Verbfrekvenstabellerna visar att andelen partikelverb är hälften så stor i L2-gruppen jämfört med L1-gruppen. Listan över de 20 vanligaste verben visar att andraspråkseleverna, vid en jämförelse med L1-eleverna, underanvänder verben få och ska och överanvänder säga, vilja och finnas. Eftersom inga fler indikationer på överanvändning av kärnverb ges i materialet måste just detta interimspråkdrag ses som en mycket begränsad företeelse hos de avancerade L2-eleverna. De allra vanligaste feltyperna hos såväl L1- som L2-talare är av primärt semantisk karaktär. Bland dessa fel är, i L2-gruppen, fel kopplade till det semantiska fältets betydelsesidoordning vanligast. Det innebär att studien pekar mot att det som ställer till mest problem för andraspråkseleverna, när det gäller verblexikonet, är sådant som har att göra med semantisk precisering och nyansering, dvs. att välja rätt synonym.Abstract This essay deals with lexical competence in written language production among advanced learners of Swedish as a second language. The study focuses on the use of verbs with regard to both quantitative and qualitative aspects. The aim of this essay is to examine the L2-learners verb vocabulary, paying attention to frequency, variation, distribution in semantic fields as well as semantic and constructional correctness. The results of the investigations are compared to the results of a control group consisting of L1-speakers. The material in the present investigation consists of 40 argumentative essays written by 20 adult students with Swedish as their second language and 20 adult students with Swedish as their first language. All students were enrolled in an adult education program, attending the courses Swedish as a second language B and Swedish B at senior high school level. All verbs have been extracted, counted and, where applicable, inserted into the 13 semantic fields which are examined in this study. Errors in connection with the use of verb have been categorized according to two major error types, i.e. constructional errors (errors connected to prefixed verbs, reflexive verbs, particle verbs, and errors in verb + noun combinations) and primarily semantic errors. The investigation demonstrates that the verb frequency is lower in the L2-group compared to the L1-group. The higher verb frequency in the L1-group is probably due to the, on average, longer essays in that particular group. The verb frequency tables show that use of particle verbs is twice as high in the L1-essays compared to the L2-essays. The tables of the 20 most common verbs demonstrate that L2-students, compared to the L1-students, tend to underuse certain verbs and overuse others. Three verbs that are particularly overused by the L2-students, are säga, vilja and finnas, while the verbs få and ska underused to a great extent by the same group. The tree overused verbs are nuclear verbs in their specific semantic fields (VERBAL COMMUNICATION, WISH and EXISTENCE). Apart from the overuse of these nuclear verbs the investigation material does not give further indications of overuse of nuclear verbs. This shows that overuse of nuclear verbs as an interlanguage feature is not particularly prominent in the advanced L2-learners. There does not seem to be any notable difference in verb variation when looking at the verbs in their entirety. However, certain semantic fields are more extended and more varied in the L1-group. In the essays written by the L1-students there are very few occurrences of constructional errors. The most frequent error type, in both student groups, is of a semantic nature. The L2-material shows that the most common semantic error is related to the horizontal structure (and not the vertical structure) of the semantic fields. This means that L2-students find it hard to differ between synonyms in the same semantic field at the same hierarchical level. The current study thus indicates that, as far as the verb vocabulary goes, the L2-students main difficulty is semantic specification, i.e. choosing the right synonym. Among the combinatory errors, the errors connected to verb + noun combinations have the highest frequency.