INTERLINGUAL ERRORS IN COLLOCATIONS OF ADJECTIVES AND PREPOSITION

Abstract

In the process of second language acquisition, the similarities and differences of
linguistic features between the mother tounge and the target language can make learners
make errors. Errors are important for learners, teachers and linguistic researchers. Errors
can appear in many aspects of language including collocations. This study, based on
theories on collocations and errors by Firth (1957), Cruse (1986), Lennon (1991) Ellis
(1994) Richards và Schmidt (2002) investigates 50 M.A. theses, mainly on linguistics to
identify errors often made by writers. Preliminary results show that writers often make
interlingual errors in collocations between adjectives and prepositions. These results,
together with subsequent studies on collocations, will provide significant theoretical and
practical grounds for teaching and learning English for Vietnamese.