Pragmatic-discursive error analysis in an oral corpus of Spanish as a foreign language

Abstract

Pragmatic-discursive error analysis in an oral corpus of Spanish as a foreign language. This study analyses the pragmatic-discourse competence in the oral production of forty (N=40) learners of Spanish and compares it with usage by native speakers (N=4). Data belong to a learner corpus of oral interviews with university learners from over nine language backgrounds at intermediate level: A2 (N=20) and B1 (N=20) (Common European Framework of Reference). Our methodology is Learner Corpus Research, especifically Computer-aided Error Analysis (D’Agneaux et al. 1998; Barlow 2005) and Contrastive Interlanguage Analysis (Granger 1996; Gilquin 2008). At the Discourse level, we analyse cohesion (use of discourse markers, anaphoric and deictic expressions, repetition of elements, and changes between past and present tense) and coherence (logic of the utterance or presence/lack of contradictions). At the pragmatic level, we analyse register, use of functional exponents, and cultural errors. Finally, we also consider other pragmatic-discourse errors such as receptive errors (James 1998). Results in our corpus show that cohesion errors are more frequent, although there is considerable variability across individuals.