Paragraph Organization Errors in the Writing of Pakistani College-Going Students: An Error Analysis Study

Abstract

Writing something worthy of reading in a foreign language is a challenging task. Students learning English as a foreign or a second language suffer most in writing especially in paragraph writing. Although studies have been conducted to explore language errors in English composition of Pakistani students, paragraph organization errors have received little attention. Therefore, this study investigated errors in the unity, development, and coherence in the paragraphs written by Pakistani college students. Besides, the study also explored the factors that cause errors in the paragraphs. In this regard, writing samples of purposively selected 20 college participants were analyzed using error analysis classification by Liu and Wang (2011). Thereafter, five participants were interviewed individually through semi-structured interviews to explore factors that cause errors in the paragraphs of college students. The findings revealed that the students made most errors in paragraph unity, followed by paragraph development, and then paragraph coherence. Besides, the thematic analysis of the interviews revealed that cramming culture, excessive attention given to grammar and lack of quality feedback were the key factors that had affected the paragraph organization skills of these students. The study discusses implications for students and teachers.