Verb form errors in the academic English writing of Chinese speakers

Writing ability is a key skill in higher education. However, L2 writing ability in English has been shown to differ from native ability in that tense/agreement marking is often compromised. This finding is true not only of L2 academic texts, but also of oral production, especially if the L1 does not realize comparable tense/agreement marking forms. I report on a study intended to identify the most common verb form errors in writing samples of students who completed 10-week-long English for Academic Purposes (EAP) courses. Participants, who were members of the most prominent EAP population in the UK, namely Chinese, completed a series of classroom and take-home argumentative essays in the middle of their course. The use of two forms which contradistinguish native writing ability and academic register, tense/agreement and passive forms, were analysed and compared to a baseline of modal verbs.

It was found that errors were mostly manifest as omission and misuse but errors with tense/agreement forms outnumbered both passives and modals, suggesting these English forms are especially difficult to master if cognate forms are absent in the L1. Furthermore, albeit in lower amounts, comparable rates of misuse and omission were found across passives and modals, suggesting these verb forms are ultimately attainable. I discuss the implications of the findings and recommend approaching the teaching and correction of tense/agreement forms in an ad-hoc rather than holistically manner.