Lexical errors as Writing Quality Predictors

Abstract

The present paper investigates the role of lexical errors as writing quality predictors and assessment criteria of written compositions. Careful scrutiny of the compositions revealed a hierarchy of lexical error types regarding their order of frequency. The instrument used for assessment was The Profile which evaluates written production in terms of its communicative value. Analysis of the data yielded quite revealing results, since the different types of lexical errors correlated to different degrees with the score given to the composition and its vocabulary score. Considering that the presence of lexical errors does not play any relevant role in the quality of the composition and the assessment of vocabulary use in writing, we can conclude that the correlation found between lexical richness and writing quality does not hold when only errors instead of general richness are regarded. Encouraging students to take risks using partly known words and making creative use of vocabulary is called for in the light of the results of the present research. © The Editorial Board of Studia Linguistica 2007.