ACQUISITION OF CASE IN LITHUANIAN AS L2: ERROR ANALYSIS

Although teaching Lithuanian as a foreign language is not a new subject, there has not been much research in this field. The paper presents a study based on an analysis of grammatical errors which was carried out at Vytautas Magnus University. The data was selected randomly by analysing written assignments of beginner to advanced level students. The analysis has shown that the most frequent error is incorrect usage of case, affecting either form or meaning or both. This paper discusses the errors of overgeneralisation in case marking, difficulties in acquiring prepositional constructions and inflectional paradigms. The paper tries to interpret students' errors and suggests possible explanations, such as the impact of the students' mother tongue, or of English as the language of instruction on their Lithuanian, or the strategy of generalisation.