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Formal and semantic lexical errors in L2 English writing

How do errors affect writing quality?

ORCiD logo with link | Ankara University
 | Trakya University
 | TED University
 | Middle East Technical University
 | Bursa Technical University
Published online: 23 February 2026
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/aral.24136.can
Abstract
Lexical errors have a significant impact on the clarity and effectiveness of written communication, and their existence may create serious communication breakdowns. The detection of these infelicities and their possible causes have the potential to illuminate the interlanguage phases of L2 English learners. Over the years, experts have attempted to categorise learner errors, employing various approaches. The current study uses Hemchua, S., & Schmitt, N. (2006). An analysis of lexical errors in the English compositions of Thai learners. Prospect, 21(3).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar taxonomy as the foundational framework, customising it to accommodate the characteristics of the learner corpus under examination. One hundred and thirty-nine undergraduate students in different Turkish universities wrote 244 opinion essays, which underwent error tagging by a team of researchers. The findings indicate that L1 Turkish learners of English make more semantic lexical errors than formal ones. More specifically, the corpus is characterised by prevalent errors in sense relation, style, collocational usage, and L1 transfer. Further analysis suggests that two semantic error types (i.e., confusion of sense relations and stylistic errors) and a formal error type (i.e., formal misselection) significantly influence the overall writing quality in L2 English. The findings are discussed in light of current second language acquisition theories and based on the detected lexical errors and their possible effect on writing quality, leading to several pedagogical conclusions.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Lexical errors in SLA (second language acquisition)
    • 1.2A crosslinguistic perspective on L2 lexical errors and taxonomies
    • 1.3The Source of L2 lexical errors
    • 1.4Lexical errors and text quality
    • 1.5Aim and scope of the study
  • 2.Method
    • 2.1Participants
    • 2.2LexTale
    • 2.3Learner corpus
    • 2.4Essay evaluation
    • 2.5Error coding
      • 2.5.1Coders
      • 2.5.2Error taxonomy
      • 2.5.3Adapting and calibrating the lexical error-coding scheme: Coding and naming
        • 2.5.3.1Semi-automatic error coding procedure
        • 2.5.3.2Error naming phase
    • 2.6Method of data analysis and its rationale
  • 3.Results
    • 3.1Lexical Errors in L2 English (RQ 1)
    • 3.2Possible L1 transfer effect on lexical errors (RQ-2)
    • 3.3Lexical errors, vocabulary knowledge and writing quality in L2 english (RQ-3)
    • 3.4Lexical errors and L2 writing quality (RQ-4)
  • 4.Discussion
    • 4.1Lexical errors in L2 english (RQ-1)
    • 4.2Possible L1 transfer effect on lexical errors (RQ-2)
    • 4.3Relationship between lexical errors, vocabulary knowledge and writing quality in L2 english (RQ-3)
    • 4.4The Effect of lexical error types on L2 english writing quality (RQ-4)
    • 4.5Conclusion
    • 4.6Limitations and future directions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (106)
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