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An error analysis of the oral production of English speakers (heritage learners and non-heritage learners) in learning Korean Lee, Insun

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify errors made by English-speakers learning Korean as a foreign language. The students were divided into two groups: heritage learners and non-heritage learners. By analyzing students' speech, the difficult areas of learning Korean for English-speakers were identified. First language interference was also examined. For pedagogical purposes, the weaknesses of heritage learners were compared with non-heritage learners. The subjects were 33 students (10 non-heritage learners, and 23 heritage learners ) who took Korean 102 and 200 at the University of British Columbia. Results of the study revealed that both groups showed very similar difficulties in learning Korean. However, they made slightly different errors at different levels. In K102, the heritage learners demonstrated a weakness in the sociolinguistic area, while non-heritage learners revealed weaknesses in listening competence. In K200, both groups showed very similar weaknesses in the use of particles. However, pragmatic errors started to appear in non-heritage learners' speech, and heritage learners showed poor performance, possibly due to a lack of motivation in learning Korean. This study concluded that intralingual errors were more prevalent than interlingual errors in the early stages of learning Korean.

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