An Analysis of English Writing Errors of Freshmen Students’ Essays: The Case of ‘Aleksandër Moisiu’ University

One of the most important elements of English language is the writing skill. It is a competence which human beings are not born with; on the contrary, it is learnt with practice and experience. In this respect, the focus must be on the hard work of English instructors, who deal painstakingly with th...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Miranda Enesi, Anisa Trifoni
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Athens Institute for Education and Research 2023-08-01
Series:Athens Journal of Education
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.athensjournals.gr/education/2023-10-3-7-Enesi.pdf
_version_ 1797289254193201152
author Miranda Enesi
Anisa Trifoni
author_facet Miranda Enesi
Anisa Trifoni
author_sort Miranda Enesi
collection DOAJ
description One of the most important elements of English language is the writing skill. It is a competence which human beings are not born with; on the contrary, it is learnt with practice and experience. In this respect, the focus must be on the hard work of English instructors, who deal painstakingly with the four skills, emphasizing writing, by means of comments, advice, explanations etc. In Albanian Educational system, foreign languages are given a considerable space. In high school students study up to two foreign languages. In ‘Aleksandër Moisiu’ University, apart from the courses that are related to the students’ profile of study, a specific importance is given to English Language as well, which helps to enhance their English Language competences. This leads us to believe that students’ progress in English is satisfactory; however, this is not always the case with all the skills. Even though students are very good at listening and speaking, when it comes to writing, many of them have serious problems, which are noticed while analyzing their written work. In this respect, this study aims to explore and analyze students’ errors through the procedure of error analysis. More specifically, a sample of 100 short essays of our freshmen students from different branches of study have been analyzed with this purpose in mind. This article analyses the types of errors and their frequency of occurrence in English language writing. Based on the research analysis, it was concluded that the mechanical errors, verb tense errors, preposition errors and to some degree article errors, resulted to be more problematic than the other categories. The importance of identifying and analyzing errors is to give English lecturers feedback on the effectiveness of their teaching techniques, information on what is to be reviewed and further notice on what parts of the syllabus need modification. Making errors is an essential part of learning and English teachers should view them from the perspective of improving their teaching approaches and techniques.
first_indexed 2024-03-07T19:02:15Z
format Article
id doaj.art-4b1ee33674f44aa9a44f3800babb909b
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2241-7958
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-07T19:02:15Z
publishDate 2023-08-01
publisher Athens Institute for Education and Research
record_format Article
series Athens Journal of Education
spelling doaj.art-4b1ee33674f44aa9a44f3800babb909b2024-03-01T12:14:09ZengAthens Institute for Education and ResearchAthens Journal of Education2241-79582023-08-0110348150610.30958/aje.10-3-7An Analysis of English Writing Errors of Freshmen Students’ Essays: The Case of ‘Aleksandër Moisiu’ University Miranda Enesi 0Anisa Trifoni1Lecturer, Polytechnic University of Tirana, AlbaniaLecturer, ‘Aleksandër Moisiu’ University, AlbaniaOne of the most important elements of English language is the writing skill. It is a competence which human beings are not born with; on the contrary, it is learnt with practice and experience. In this respect, the focus must be on the hard work of English instructors, who deal painstakingly with the four skills, emphasizing writing, by means of comments, advice, explanations etc. In Albanian Educational system, foreign languages are given a considerable space. In high school students study up to two foreign languages. In ‘Aleksandër Moisiu’ University, apart from the courses that are related to the students’ profile of study, a specific importance is given to English Language as well, which helps to enhance their English Language competences. This leads us to believe that students’ progress in English is satisfactory; however, this is not always the case with all the skills. Even though students are very good at listening and speaking, when it comes to writing, many of them have serious problems, which are noticed while analyzing their written work. In this respect, this study aims to explore and analyze students’ errors through the procedure of error analysis. More specifically, a sample of 100 short essays of our freshmen students from different branches of study have been analyzed with this purpose in mind. This article analyses the types of errors and their frequency of occurrence in English language writing. Based on the research analysis, it was concluded that the mechanical errors, verb tense errors, preposition errors and to some degree article errors, resulted to be more problematic than the other categories. The importance of identifying and analyzing errors is to give English lecturers feedback on the effectiveness of their teaching techniques, information on what is to be reviewed and further notice on what parts of the syllabus need modification. Making errors is an essential part of learning and English teachers should view them from the perspective of improving their teaching approaches and techniques.http://www.athensjournals.gr/education/2023-10-3-7-Enesi.pdferrorerror analysisgrammatical mistakeslanguage learning
spellingShingle Miranda Enesi
Anisa Trifoni
An Analysis of English Writing Errors of Freshmen Students’ Essays: The Case of ‘Aleksandër Moisiu’ University
Athens Journal of Education
error
error analysis
grammatical mistakes
language learning
title An Analysis of English Writing Errors of Freshmen Students’ Essays: The Case of ‘Aleksandër Moisiu’ University
title_full An Analysis of English Writing Errors of Freshmen Students’ Essays: The Case of ‘Aleksandër Moisiu’ University
title_fullStr An Analysis of English Writing Errors of Freshmen Students’ Essays: The Case of ‘Aleksandër Moisiu’ University
title_full_unstemmed An Analysis of English Writing Errors of Freshmen Students’ Essays: The Case of ‘Aleksandër Moisiu’ University
title_short An Analysis of English Writing Errors of Freshmen Students’ Essays: The Case of ‘Aleksandër Moisiu’ University
title_sort analysis of english writing errors of freshmen students essays the case of aleksander moisiu university
topic error
error analysis
grammatical mistakes
language learning
url http://www.athensjournals.gr/education/2023-10-3-7-Enesi.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT mirandaenesi ananalysisofenglishwritingerrorsoffreshmenstudentsessaysthecaseofaleksandermoisiuuniversity
AT anisatrifoni ananalysisofenglishwritingerrorsoffreshmenstudentsessaysthecaseofaleksandermoisiuuniversity
AT mirandaenesi analysisofenglishwritingerrorsoffreshmenstudentsessaysthecaseofaleksandermoisiuuniversity
AT anisatrifoni analysisofenglishwritingerrorsoffreshmenstudentsessaysthecaseofaleksandermoisiuuniversity