ANALYSIS OF ERRORS IN THE ENGLISH WRITINGS OF TEACHER EDUCATION STUDENTS
Keywords:
Error Analysis, linguistic errors, linguistic skills, language transferAbstract
Using the qualitative research design, the study aimed to analyze the common linguistic errors in the English writings of teacher education students. This paper specifically sought to identify and describe the prevailing linguistic errors in the English writings of the students. Moreover, it investigated the possible causes of these errors and drew out implications to language learning and teaching. Using random sampling, the written compositions of the students were subjected to error analysis using the Taxonomy of Errors patterned after the model of Darus and Ching (2009.)
The study found out that errors in verb tenses are the most common linguistic errors of the students, followed by error in sentence structure, punctuations, word choice, spelling, use of prepositions and articles. These errors fall under the grammatical, mechanics/ substance and syntactic aspects of writing English. Majority of these errors are caused by learners’ poor knowledge of the target language (English), specifically ignorance of rule restrictions. Others are attributed to the learners’ carelessness, first language transfer or interference and limited vocabulary in the target language.
Through this study, language teachers are guided to assess their own teaching methodologies and identify their students' ability in writing and to choose the strategies and topics that are best suited to their students.
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