Errors Made by Iraqi EFL Learners in the Use of Articles : An Error Analysis Study

Abstract

The current study seeks to identify the article errors for both first and third year students in conversations. To achieve this the aim, interview and spot the differences tasks are used as a source for data collection. The study targeted 60 samples in the Department of English, College of Education for Humanities, University of Mosul, for the academic year 2021-2022. Participants are chosen randomly from the students. As for data analysis, errors are described according to Corder's (1973) classification viz omission, addition, misordering, and selection. The current study demonstrated that learners of English as a foreign language face some difficulties in using articles in conversations. Regarding the description of errors, first year students made 65% of the errors related to the omission category, while 31% of the errors were related to addition category. Errors related to selection category occupy only 4% of article errors. As far as third year students, it has been noticed that 60% of article errors related to omission category , it represents the highest percentage among other categories. Errors associated with addition category have the percentage of 38% , while 2% of these errors are represented by choosing inappropriate items. No errors have been noticed for two levels at the level of article ordering. Regarding sources of errors, both interlanguage and intralanguage were seen as sources of article errors.