Korean Interlanguage Errors of the American Children in a Bilingual Immersion Program in the US

Abstract

This study attempts to dεscribe the interlanguage errors in the Korean writings by English-speaking American children enrolled in a Korean/English two-way immersion program in the US. The study employs a longitudinal approach and identifies the types of errors the students make over the period of three years. The study found that the students' errors demonstrate both interlingual and intralingual transfers. ηle kindergarten level students made basic orthographic errors in their writing, while first graders made spelling errors and basic grammatical errors. Sociolinguistic errors were observed from first gradε on. Implications for second language teaching and suggestions for further research are discussed.