Grammatical Errors in ESL Writings

A Comparison of Secondary and Higher Secondary Levels in Muzaffarabad

Abstract

This study examines the errors committed by ESL learners at two educational levels in district Muzaffarabad Azad Jammu & Kashmir. The main purpose of the study is to investigate different types of errors in English essays of ESL learners. It also aims at revealing the most and least frequent errors of these learners in their writing. It further intends to compare these errors at secondary and higher secondary levels to determine whether the grammatical errors increase, decrease or remain same at these two levels. For the collection and analysis of data, Gass and Selinker’s (2008) Model for Error Analysis has been replicated. To find statistically significant differences among the learners of both levels, an independent t-test was used.  The results reveal that ESL learners commit verb, tense/aspect, concord, word-order and infinitive errors in their writings. The frequencies of these errors vary at secondary and higher secondary levels. Significant differences have been found among secondary and higher secondary level learners in concord, tense/aspect and word order errors. On the other hand, no significant difference exists among the learners of these levels in verb and infinitive errors.