Analyzing Linguistic Errors in English Essay Writing: A Case Study of ESL Learners at FG Secondary Schools in Okara, Pakistan
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.48047/HM.10.1.2024.1988-2004Keywords:
error analysis, ESL, essay writing, Junko Otoshi, linguistic taxonomy, grammatical errors, verb, article, wrong word, sentence structure, FG school, OkaraAbstract
This study examined the various linguistic errors made by students in grades 6, 7, and 8 at three FG Secondary Schools in Okara, Pakistan, during the academic year 2023-24. The study included 45 male and 45 female students, selected from a purposive sample of 90 students, and ages ranging from 11 to 13 years. Students were required to write an essay of their own choosing on the topic My School. Experienced teachers reviewed these essays to categorize them based on key linguistic mistakes. Junko Otoshi’s (2005) Linguistic Taxonomy of Grammatical Errors served as the analytical framework, focusing on five error categories: verb, noun, article, wrong, and construction mistakes. The study identified a total of 878 errors, with verb errors dominating wrong word errors, closely followed by sentence structure errors, noun ending errors, and article errors. Comparison of mistakes made in each grade indicated that 6th-grade students made the highest error percentage of 52%, 7th graders made 33%, and 8th-grade students made only 15% of the total mistakes. According to gender distribution, male students contributed 51% of errors, while female students contributed 49%. The results stress the importance of individual instructional interventions for error types to build up improved English and writing proficiency in ESL classrooms. The suggestions based on the results of this research contain useful information for enhancing the teaching of the English language in similar schools.
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