An Error Analysis of English Paragraphs Written by First Year Debre Markos College Teacher Education Students: A Discourse Analysis Perspective, Ethiopia (original) (raw)

2019, The International Journal of Humanities & Social Studies

Introduction Discourse analysis, which refers to a broad area of inquiry that involves several dimensions and spans in a variety of disciplines. As Chomsky (1965) stated, there is no limit to the number of possible sentences that can be generated from the grammar and lexicon of a language. To be specified broadly, discourse analysis is the study of language which is used for communication. In also includes the references about the conceptual part of language. Here language includes all kinds of like above or beyond the sentence, meaning in interaction, situational meaning and usage in cultural context. Hence it can be summarized that identification, recognition, explanation of languages in both cultural and social context are the main logic behind discourse analysis. According to Carter, 1993, finding patterns as well as finding the correlation among situation where the language is occurring, especially which are not explainable from grammatical level is the main domain for discourse analysis. British and American scholars have discussed many things about the evaluation of discourse analysis. Social functions of languages have been get priority in Britain. University of Birmingham had analyzed about various contexts like debates, interviews, communication between patient and doctor, talking among groups for performing discourse analysis. Communication products on the grounds of structural-linguistic criteria are one of the well accepted areas of research for British scholars. On the other hand, Americans are highlighting on small communities of people along with their communication authentic situation. According to McCarthy (1991), social limitations of politeness and thorough description of face saving acts in speech is the most popular area for research among American scholars. Moreover, itis a general term for many approaches to analyzing written and spoken language use. Brown and Yule [1996] state that "discourse analysis" has come to be used with a wide range of meanings which cover a wide range of activities. McCarthy, M. [1991] says that Discourse analysis is concerned with the study of the relationships between language and the context in which it is used. I take the view of Brown and Yule [1996] that the term Discourse analysis is the study of how language used in linguistic products with reference to the social and psychological factors influence communication. Of the inclusiveness of discourse, all linguistic aspects and practice of using the language, analyzing the errors in writing with discourse perspective is very important. Since English language has become a necessity all over the world, it is used as an international language among all nations in the world; therefore, the means of communication through this language will be oral and written forms. As result, we should make our writing smart as much as possible in order to foster