This study examines the most prevalent lexical errors committed by Dutch learners when they write in Korean. It also examines whether the proficiency levels of learners influence their tendency to...Show moreThis study examines the most prevalent lexical errors committed by Dutch learners when they write in Korean. It also examines whether the proficiency levels of learners influence their tendency to make language transfer errors, distinguishing between inter- or intralingual errors. Although error analysis studies are plentiful in the field of second language acquisition, both lexical errors and Dutch learners of Korean have been neglected as research subjects. By making use of error and statistical analysis, this study aims to fill that gap. This results demonstrate that the most prevalent lexical errors among Dutch learners of Korean of all proficiency levels is literal translation, followed by confusion with semantic similarity, paraphrasing or circumlocution, confusion with formal similarity, and omission or incompletion errors. The study further finds evidence for the claim that learners with high proficiency levels of Korean make more intralingual errors than learners with low proficiency levels, but it does not find evidence that learners with low proficiency levels make more interlingual errors than learners with high proficiency levels. These results suggest that instructors might need to focus on helping advanced learners in their understanding and use of complex Korean language structures and vocabulary, whilst not neglecting correction of language transfer errors in general.Show less
