Abstract:
The aim of this research was to analyze the most commonly committed essay writing errors.
Three hundred fifty seven samples participated in this study were non English major second
year students who were taken as a class unit from six randomly selected departments.
Students' errors were collected via essay writing test, and analyzed quantitatively using SPSS
16.0 and ranked according to the mean value of each error. From the study, 7859 errors were
found from sample students' essays. Furthermore, a questionnaire was administered to obtain
further data about students' writing errors and their possible sources. The data gained through
essay writing test and questionnaires were analyzed quantitatively using SPSS 16.0 software.
Students' responses for open ended questions were summarized and listed. Analytical scoring
guidelines and numerical scores were used to mark the essays and group students into three
achievement levels.
It was found that the ten most common errors that the participants made were word choice,
missing /extra/ wrong article, verb-missing, sentence fragments, missing /extra/ wrong
preposition, run-on sentences, word form errors, misplaced/dangling modifiers, and subject
verb agreement errors.
Furthermore, the frequency of errors and students' achievement in essay writing were
computed and the Pearson correlation coefficient revealed that there is a negative relationship
between frequency of writing errors and students' essay writing fluency.
The findings of this study revealed that the errors students made might have resulted from
poor vocabulary knowledge, mother tongue interference, false hypothesis, ignorance of the
correct sentence patterns of English structures and lack of knowledge in grammatical rules,
avoidance strategies, and students' motivation and attitude.
The attempts made to highlight some of the possible causes of those errors might. lead to the
solution to inform teachers lessen those errors, and the findings may also enable students to
be aware of the problematic areas in writing and prevent such errors and shape their learning strategies accordingly.
