Abstract
This study sought to examine the sort, frequency, and sources of writing wrongs committed by adult Iranian EFL students. To score the participants’ written essays and speaking interviews, the four criteria specified for the IELTS Speaking and Writing Band Scores (British Council, 2014) were taken into consideration. The study also tried to comparatively analyze the error categories made by men and women learners regarding the type and frequency of their linguistic errors. To gather the information, from the population of faculty members at Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences (HUMS) in Bandarabbas, Iran, 100 adults, both male and female, with their age ranging from 31 to 52, were selected using convenient sampling. Based on their previous IELTS band scores ranging from 4 to 6, the members are separated into three groups.The results of data analysis revealed that verb tense was the very common grammatical mistake done by members in all three groups. For the cohesion and coherence and lexical sub-categories, relative clauses and incorrect use of target lexical item were regarded as the most common categories of errors. Outcomes of Chi-Square analyses also showed substantial differences among errors committed by participants in different groups. Finally, the comparison between male and female participants’ errors revealed that male participants made both written and spoken errors more than females. According to the results, recommendations, and any suggestions that are of importance to teachers and policymakers as well as to EFL learners are presented in detail.
Highlights
Complaints about poor productive skills of Iranian EFL learners have been commonly heard from the public, teachers and even students all over the country
The writing skill, on which the present study focuses, is the hotspots of language errors and since few studies could be found to have investigated these errors thoroughly in IELTS candidates, the main purpose of this study is to investigate the types and causes of errors in the use of English for IELTS Academic module that are frequently made by Iranian EFL students hoping to help candidates and their tutors in avoiding them
The most important criteria considered for scoring IELTS academic writing are Task Achievement, Integration and Coherence, Lexical Resource, and Grammatical Area and Precision (British Council, 2014)
Summary
Complaints about poor productive skills (i.e., speaking and writing) of Iranian EFL learners have been commonly heard from the public, teachers and even students all over the country. The inadequate learning of English language system by L2 learners can be associated with the improper transference of L1 rules into the target language (Lightbown & Spada, 2006). In this regard, Nunan (2001) stated that advocate of Contrastive Investigation assertion that there is a difference between the first and second language rules, errors are likely to occur due to the interference of L1 into L2 structural system. In this regard, Nunan (2001) stated that advocate of Contrastive Investigation assertion that there is a difference between the first and second language rules, errors are likely to occur due to the interference of L1 into L2 structural system. Richards & Schmidt (2002) further argued that students’ errors committed during the process of L2 learning are caused by a number of phenomena that involve extending models from the target language, borrowing patterns from the mother tongue, and showing purposes utilizing the grammar and words that are known
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
