Investigating Common Grammatical Errors in Writing: The Case of EFL Students, Faculty of Education in Al-Mahrah

Abstract

Grammar must be considered seriously by learners for the sake of effective writing. It allows learners to make correct and clear sentences, and write coherently. This study aimed to investigate the most common grammatical errors in writing made by undergraduate Yemeni students in the Faculty of Education in Al-Mahrah, Yemen during the second semester of the academic year 2021-2022. It also sought to identify the underlying reasons for these errors. This study employed a census method and utilized a quantitative method to answer the study questions. Due to the limited number of students in the population of interest, all students (51) enrolled in the Bachelor degree program in the English department from the first year until the fourth year were included in the study. A test was utilized in conjunction with a modified version of Dulay, Burt, and Krashen’s (1982) approach to formulate an effective taxonomy for the precise identification of syntactic and morphological errors. Regardless of the students’ level, the findings of the study showed that students committed errors in all of the categories used with varying percentages. Verb error was the most frequent type of them by (24%), followed by agreement (21%),then articles (19%), wrong part of speech (13%),tenses (12%), and prepositions (11%). Besides, it was also revealed that the majority of errors were committed due to the negative transfer of Arabic structures and elements into English and developmental factors. This study finally might contribute to a better understanding of the challenges faced by Yemeni EFL students and facilitate the development of effective approaches to mitigate these challenges. The findings might have useful implications for ELT since the key to effective teaching is to understand students’ learning difficulties.