A CORPUS-BASED ANALYSIS ON THE USE OF PLURAL NOUNS IN THE WRITTEN TASK OF GRADE 4 THAI PUPILS

English Language

This study was conducted to find out the common mistakes EFL pupils made when using plural nouns in their written tasks. The written tasks of the fourth-grade English class at Watdonkaitia School in Phetchaburi, Thailand served as the source of the data. The researchers chose sixteen writings from Thai fourth-graders. Ten nouns in their singular forms were included in the written output, and the pupils were instructed to modify the nouns to their plural forms. The pupils’ written task required them to create a narrative utilizing the provided nouns in their plural forms. In this study, the researchers used the corpus linguistics method. The written outputs were analyzed by the researcher to find errors on the plural noun usage of the participants in their written tasks and determine the most and the least frequent plural noun usage mistakes. The results were recorded using a table through a simple frequency count. Then, the plural noun mistakes were ranked from the most to the least frequent plural noun usage mistake. The results from this study showed that the pupils mostly add ‘s’ to form the plural nouns of regular or irregular nouns. The finding from this study also demonstrates that the least mistaken terms are kisss and sheeps whereas hoofs is the most frequent plural noun usage mistake.

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