The Analysis of Errors Persian Learners of English Make in Writing Tasks

Writing is one of the most challenging language skills in second language learning. In fact, even for those who speak English as a first language, the ability to write requires long, intensive and specialized instruction. This study investigated common English language errors in writing made by Persian students who learn English as a foreign language. Errors were identified and classified into various categories.From the result, it was found out that most frequent errors made by the learners were errors of omission, selection, addition, and ordering respectively. In terms of the levels of the errors made, most errors were made in the syntax, morphology, and lexicon levels respectively. Errors in writing can affect not just the form but communication as well. So, the study is important to educators and study material developers who should become aware of the kind of errors that their target learners make, so that they are in a better position to put appropriate intervention strategies into place.

Keywords:

Error analysis , language transfer , Overpassivization , Simplification , Overgeneralization