ERROR ANALYSIS OF PARAGRAPH WRITING BY ENGLISH-MAJOR STUDENTS: INSIGHTS FROM THE INTERLANGUAGE THEORY

Abstract

This study determined some common writing errors experienced by English-major students at the intermediate level to understand some factors related to second language acquisition (SLA). The study used a qualitative approach through descriptive-exploratory, which focused on students' paragraph writing from a sample of ten students from a selected public university. Document analysis was used to construct a taxonomy of errors, including grammar, lexical, syntactic, mechanical, developmental, and interlingual which was grounded by The Interlanguage Theory by Selinker (1972). Findings indicate that that the majority of all the errors that occur are grammatical, followed by mechanical, lexical, syntactic, developmental, and interlingual errors. On the other hand, the proportions of specific error items showed the highest proportion of verb tenses and articles; meanwhile, the lowest rank was occupied by word order. The study's findings have shown a remarkable gap in the English writing skills of the students; therefore, clear instructional methods are required to close this gap. The study also had several limitations, and further studies were recommended to be undertaken to improve the students' writing and overall language competence.