Abstract
The present study aimed at analyzing writing errors caused by the interference of the Persian language, regarded as the first language (L1), in three writing genres, namely narration, description, and comparison/contrast by Iranian EFL students. 65 English paragraphs written by the participants, who were at the intermediate level based on their performance on a quick placement test, were analyzed by using Error Analysis (EA). The ideas of 15 teachers with more than six years of teaching in the field of TEFL were also sought through interview to validate the collected data. The results revealed that the first language interference errors fell into 12 categories: singular/plural form, modal auxiliary, subject-verb agreement, verb tense, infinitive gerund, pronoun, article, verb form, prepositions, sentence structure, word choice, comparison structure, respectively, and the number of frequent errors made in each type of written tasks was apparently different with regard to text genres. In narration, the five most frequent errors found were singular/plural form, modal auxiliary, subject-verb agreement, verb tense, and infinitive gerund, respectively, while the five most frequent errors in description were article, subject-verb agreement, modal/auxiliary, verb tense, and prepositions. The category for that of comparison/contrast comprised verb tense, singular/plural form, preposition, and subject-verb agreement respectively. The three errors of singular/plural form, verb tense, subject-verb agreement were the most frequent errors. The results reveals that different structural features required in a genre influences the writing errors made in the genre. Moreover, some pedagogical implications are provided based on the results.
Highlights
Writing is most often nominated as one of the most complex and complicated skills among the skills every second language learner is expected to master
The results revealed that the first language interference errors fell into 12 categories: singular/plural form, modal auxiliary, subject-verb agreement, verb tense, infinitive gerund, pronoun, article, verb form, prepositions, sentence structure, word choice, comparison structure, respectively, and the number of frequent errors made in each type of written tasks was apparently different with regard to text genres
In order to get a clearer picture about what causes Iranian EFL students to commit many grammatical errors in their English writing essays, recognizing perspectives of English teachers is necessary and beneficial
Summary
Writing is most often nominated as one of the most complex and complicated skills among the skills every second language learner is expected to master. One can refer to cognitive abilities required in this skill as one of the challenging requirements of writing. The skill of writing is required in a lot of situations including conveying a message in the form of letter, taking exams, and maintaining knowledge. As Trembley (1993) reports writing is a hard and risky skill. Writing in the first language is a demanding process, the task becomes more challenging when it comes to second language writing. A lot of research (e.g., Benson, 2002) has reported that the process of writing by fresh learners in a second language is interfered with the first language rules and structures. Writing in a foreign language often presents the greatest challenge to the students at all stages, essay writing, because in this activity writing is usually extended and, it becomes more demanding than in the case of writing a short paragraph
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