Investigating Errors in Academic Essays: A Comparative Study of the Students of the Institute of Medical Technology
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36586/jcl.2.2026.0.54.0110Keywords:
Error analysis, English essays, L2, academic writing, grammatical errorsAbstract
considered as a second language (L2), it causes problems for them in learning the four skills, including writing. The purpose of this study to investigate and compare errors found in academic essays of undergraduate students at the Institute of Medical Technology, Middle Technical University. It mainly focuses on eighteen errors as classified and adapted from Darus and Ching (2009), with the six most common errors being discussed and analyzed using the Markin software. The researcher analyzed and compared the errors in essays from the first and second stages, contributing to the existing body of literature. Sixty-four samples were analyzed. The most common errors among first-year students were spelling, subject-verb agreement, other lexical errors (repetition), lexical categories (prepositions), tenses, articles, word forms, and vocabulary choice. Second-year students, who have more experience and practice, made higher percentages of errors in spelling, articles, incomplete structures, vocabulary choice, and other lexical errors (repetition). The study found that the mother tongue (first language) and the lack of attention to distinguishing key words in structures were the main causes of the errors. English language teachers are advised to pay much attention to categorizing, discussing, and explaining these errors to reduce their occurrences and make essay writing easy for students.
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