Analysis of Errors in Written English of Tertiary Institution Students: A Case Study of Students of College of Education, Billiri, Gombe State

Clifford Otu Obi, Maikudi Gerson Molta, Joseph Majiyebo Timayi

Abstract


This study is an analysis of errors in written English of tertiary institution students: a case study of students of college of education, Billiri, Gombe state. Error analysis is an important branch of applied linguistics which deals with errors committed by second or foreign language learners. The study’s objectives were to identified the errors committed by students, the common types and their analysis. The Quantitative and Qualitative research designs was utilized. A sample of 140 students participated in the study comprising NCE I, II and III students of the College of Education, Billiri, Gombe State in the 2023/2024 academic session. Two instruments namely: Students English Writing Test (SERT) and English Error Analysis Questionnaire (EEAQ) were used to collect data for the study. Data collected was analyzed using frequency and percentage quantitatively. In addition, the error analysis was used on qualitative data. The findings of the study highlight that the most of the students commit grammatical errors in sub-verb agreement due to intra-lingual as well as inter-lingual factors. Moreover, subject-verb agreement errors occurred most frequently followed by spelling, capitalization, wrong form of verb and wrong word order.


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