Errors in signalling nouns in opinion writing by EFL Chinese and Korean learners

Research on error analysis has taken a holistic approach to gain general insights into how L2 learners make errors when using various linguistic items. However, the present study attempts to fine-tune the analysis of signalling noun errors. Using Korean and Chinese learners’ opinion writing samples drawn from the International Corpus Network of Asian Learners of English (ICNALE), the study analyzes signalling noun errors in terms of quantities and qualities. The findings revealed that despite a higher amount of signalling nouns produced by the Chinese group, the Korean group made significantly more signalling noun errors, most of which consisted of determiner colligation errors. It also showed that their developmental processes at the intermediate levels varied despite their overall decreased errors in the final stage in both groups. This study has implications for teaching signalling nouns for lexical coherence in academic writing.