It Seems That There Are Fashions In Student Errors Too

This spring a fair number of students, from both of my classes, have been repeatedly using the word "advancement" when they just mean "advance", e.g. "The law was a huge advancement for African Americans". My guess is that they think it sounds 'sophisticated' or something, since it's longer. But I don't have any idea why that particular error has had a sudden spike in popularity. Has anyone else seen this?