Common Errors in Thai Writing Made by Cambodian Students, Burapha University: A Case Study of the Use of Words and Sentences

Abstract

This research aimed to study the common errors of spelling in Thai writing made by Cambodian students, Burapha University and to analyze the causes of the errors including the problem solving strategies. The results revealed that the spelling errors in lexical level consisted of 4 categories including errors on parts of speech, words with wrong definitions, words carrying no meaning, and fewer or more words than the actual usage. The errors on word order included wrong modifiers, mix-up of word order, wrong adverb of time or adverb of frequency, and mix-up of adverb of time and other words. Errors on sentence level consisted of ambiguous sentence, incompliant sentence, and the sentence losing its significant parts. Causes of the aforementioned errors were the lack of knowledge on parts of speech and duties of each word, mother tongue influences, lack of knowledge on sentence structure and word order. Guidelines to correct these errors included lessons on parts of speech and word duties, provision of knowledge on Thai sentence structure and word order, solid explanation on similarities and differences of Thai language and the students’ mother tongue and regular practice of Thai sentence writing.