Types of common errors in Middle Eastern students’ opinion essays: A case study

Suriya Kumar, Sinnadurai and Hafizoah, Kassim and Nursyaheedah, Muhammad Isa and Fathiah Izzati, Mohammad Fadzillah and Nurkarimah, Yusof and Nik Aloesnita, Nik Mohd Alwi (2019) Types of common errors in Middle Eastern students’ opinion essays: A case study. In: E-Proceedings: 6th Malaysian International Conference on Academic Strategies in English Language Teaching (My_CASELT 2019), 21-22 August 2019 , Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. pp. 246-252.. ISBN 978-967-13886-9-3

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Abstract

Analyzing students’ written errors is an approach to better understand the challenges that second and especially foreign language learners faced while writing in English. The aim of this study is to investigate the common errors in English essays made by English as a foreign language learners focusing on students from the Middle Eastern countries. Participants were ten male students who attended a preparatory intensive English program at a public university, and they were required to write an opinion essay at the beginning of the program. The errors were analyzed, identified and categorized using the parameter of types of errors set by Carl James, i.e. general grammatical, substance, lexical, syntactic and semantic errors. The findings showed that students made all types of errors with a heavy percentage on general grammatical, substance and syntactic errors. It was also found that some students did not adhere to the standard structure of an essay. By identifying the common errors, it has become an essential strategy to assist teachers to understand students’ weaknesses in writing, and their needs in order to prepare appropriate strategies and learning materials to help the students.

Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item (Lecture)
Uncontrolled Keywords: Common written errors, English for foreign language learners, Error analysis, Opinion essay
Subjects: P Language and Literature > PE English
Faculty/Division: Centre For Modern Languages and Human Sciences
Depositing User: Noorul Farina Arifin
Date Deposited: 18 Dec 2019 04:40
Last Modified: 18 Dec 2019 04:41
URI: http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/27047
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