ABSTRACT
Another take on the importance of the L2 lexicon is that, of all error types, learners consider vocabulary errors the most serious (Politzer, 1978, as cited in Levenston, 1979, p. 147). Additionally, large corpora of errors consistently indicate that lexical errors are the most common among L2 learners. Meara (1984, p. 229) cited Blaas (1982) as indicating that lexical errors outnumbered grammatical errors by a 3:1 ratio in one corpus. Corpus-based findings such as these have been confirmed in classroom-based studies as well, where both teachers and learners have been found to draw attention frequently to lexical issues. For example, Lyster (1998) found that 80 percent of learners’ lexical errors received corrective feedback, in comparison with 70 percent for phonological, and 56 percent for grammatical, errors. Likewise, Ellis et al. (2001a) found that, of the errors corrected by the teacher, almost 40 percent
targeted vocabulary. Students, as well, have been found to explicitly draw attention to lexical forms (e.g., J. N. Williams, 1999; R. Ellis et al., 2001b; Zhao & Bitchener, 2007; Alcón Soler & Garcia Mayo, 2008). In J. N. Williams (1999), for example, 80 percent of learners’ language-related questions pertained to vocabulary. Moreover, NSs find lexical errors to be more disruptive than grammatical errors (Johansson, 1978, as cited in Meara, 1984, p. 229). Gass (1988b) seconded this argument, noting that grammatical errors generally result in structures that are understood, whereas lexical errors may interfere with communication. As an example, consider 8-1. The listener may notice an error in 8-1 and may infer that the speaker is nonnative, but still would probably understand what was intended.
