Errors in English Writing Composition at Secondary Level in Abbottabad (original) (raw)

Learning a second language and gaining competence in it can only be attained through regular practice and active use of it and during that process learners are expected to commit errors (Brown, 2000). The analysis of their errors stressed on the need for a systematic method based on foundations and perceptions furnished by linguistics to diagnose, segregate, and systematically interrupt the undesirable grammatical structures formed by these learners (Crystal, 2003). Apart from listening, speaking, and, reading skills errors committed in writing skills also need to be diagnosed. The current study explored the nature of incorrect structures produced by the students learning English as a second language and their written compositions were selected to point out the causes of these errors and suggest suitable remedial measures. Being action-based research it was a mix-method inquiry to analyzing the learners' errors. Ellis's (1985) approach to analyze learners' errors was applied to probe into the faulty structures produced in the written composition. The current research was conducted in a government secondary, Abbottabad, and all the students studying English at the secondary level were assigned the task to compose an essay on an already decided topic. These handwritten scripts were manually computed in Microsoft word format and online software, Grammarly, was utilized to find the errors to investigate the nature of errors that most commonly occur in learners' writing in L2. The findings of the study highlighted the written compositions of the students contained a variety of interlingual and intralingual or developmental errors. The study also recommended some of the feasible corrective measures especially individual corrective feedback to overcome these errors. Key Words: error analysis, writing skills, secondary level, interlingual errors, intralingual errors 1. Introduction Learning a second language (L2) is consistent practice and demands active involvement of L2 learners and to gain the proficiency in the second language, the learner is desired to be sufficiently exposed to all the receptive (listening and reading) and productive (reading and writing) skills of the second language (Brown, 2000). In the local context of Pakistan, the teaching of the English language currently emphasizes the instruction and erudition of the aforesaid receptive and productive skills. On the other hand, regardless of learning the English language for several years at school, the standard of English language competence among the students is marching towards decline. Being weak in almost all the aspect of the English language, students are lacking behind in writing skills and they produce a lot of faulty structures in their written compositions. Therefore, it has been hypothesized in the present study that English language learners commit several errors in their written compositions. In the past, there were many studies conducted on the error analysis of ESL learners, especially in written compositions. It has been revealed that the writings of the ESL learners are full of mistakes and learners are weak in grammar, produce incorrect spellings, and use inaccurate vocabulary (Lim Ho Peng, 1976, James, 1988, Khan, 2005 and Vahdatinejad, 2008). In the background of the present study, it was noted that no such study was conducted in the regional context of Abbottabad and it was much needed to investigate the errors in the local context. Learning a second language is widely acknowledged as a steady course of action. In this process, erroneous structures are likely to be produced at all stages of learning and these errors will not be removed by merely pointing them out to the learner (Ferris, 2002) as in the natural process of learning, students are bound to commit errors and these faulty structures produced during the process of learning a second language are desired to be responded with a positive note. Second language teachers have to seriously consider that "learning ability varies from person to person" and "all language learning is based on continual exposure, hypothesizing and, even with the correct hypothesis, testing and reinforcing the ideas behind them" (Bartholomae, 1980: 97). Thus, error analysis (EA) is one of the most appropriate methods which can be utilized to categorize and explain errors committed by the speakers of other languages. In the context of the current study, error analysis (EA) was applied to uncover the nature and basis of the errors committed in the written composition of the students learning English language at the secondary level in Abbottabad. The current research helped to explore the kinds and frequency of errors concerning chain and choice.