Análisis de errores en narrativas escritas por estudiantes tailandeses de español como lengua extranjera

Abstract

In recent years Spanish as foreign language (SFL) has been the target of a steadily increasing demand in Thailand, especially in the tourism industry. Given this growing professional prominence, the acquisition of (some) Spanish has become much sought after in, amongst other contexts, tertiary education.

This paper addresses the issue of nascent error production by elementary Thai students of Spanish as foreign language. These students are also competent in English as foreign language. After an academic trimester at Mahidol University International College, error analysis in written narratives provided by 83 students has been meticulously applied. Results yield irrefutable evidence that interference from both mother tongue (L1) and foreign language (FL) -Thai and English- have a notable impact on the students’ command of their written Spanish at this stage in their learning path.