Subject-Verb Agreement Errors in ESL Students' Academic Writing: A Surface Taxonomy Approach
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53057/linfo/2023.5.2.3Keywords:
surface taxonomy, ESL students, subject-verb agreement errors, qualitative studyAbstract
This qualitative research study aims to analyze subject-verb agreement errors made by non-native English-speaking ESL students in their writing. The researcher assigned a task to the students to write a 200-sentence paragraph on the importance of education, and their writing samples were analyzed using a surface taxonomy approach. The study used purposive sampling to select 10 students from a public university in Lahore. The results showed that omission errors were the most common type of error, followed by misformation, addition, and misordering errors. This study provides insights into the challenges that ESL students face in mastering subject-verb agreement in their writing. These findings have implications for ESL teachers in designing effective language instruction that can help students improve their writing skills and avoid common subject-verb agreement errors.
Downloads
References
Abdelrady, A. H., & Akram, H. (2022). An empirical study of ClassPoint tool application in enhancing EFL students’ online learning satisfaction. Systems, 10(5), 154.
Akram, H., Abdelrady, A. H., Al-Adwan, A. S., & Ramzan, M. (2022). Teachers' Perceptions of Technology Integration in Teaching-Learning Practices: A Systematic Review. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 920317-920317.
Akram, H., Yingxiu, Y., Al-Adwan, A. S., & Alkhalifah, A. (2021). Technology integration in higher education during COVID-19: An assessment of online teaching competencies through technological pedagogical content knowledge model. Frontiers in psychology, 12, 736522.
Bozorgian, M., & Azadmanesh, N. (2015). A survey on the subject-verb agreement in Google machine translation. International Journal of Research Studies in Educational Technology, 4(1).
Fauziati, E. (2009). Readings on Applied Linguistics: A Handbook for Language Teachers and Teacher Researchers. Surakarta; Era Pustaka.
Hans, A., & Hans, E. (2017). Role of grammar in communication–writing skills. International Journal of English Language, Literature and Humanities, 5(1), 39-50.
Jäger, L. A., Mertzen, D., Van Dyke, J. A., & Vasishth, S. (2020). Interference patterns in subject-verb agreement and reflexives revisited: A large-sample study. Journal of Memory and Language, 111, 104063.
Jayanti, A. D. (2019). Students’ writing ability on english descriptive text at grade viii in smpn 33 padang. ENGLISH FRANCA: Academic Journal of English Language and Education, 3(1), 72-94.
Kurniawan, I., & Seprizanna, S. (2016). An Analysis of Students’ Ability in Using Subject-Verb Agreement. English Education: Jurnal Tadris Bahasa Inggris, 9(2), 327-343.
Nawaz, S. et al (2020). A Study on Urdu Speakers’ Use of English Stress Patterns: Phonological Variation from Native Speakers. - Elementary Education Online, 2020; Vol 19 (Issue 4): pp. 6215-6235 http://ilkogretim-online.org doi: 10.17051/ilkonline.2020.04.765028
Nurjanah, S. (2017). An Analysis of Subject-Verb Agreement Errors on Students’ writing. ELT Echo: The Journal of English Language Teaching in Foreign Language Context, 2(1), 13-25.
Pawlak, M. (2020). 17 Grammar and Good Language Teachers. Lessons from good language teachers, 219.
Pawlak, M., & Csizér, K. (2022). Investigating the use of grammar learning strategies in Hungary and Poland: A comparative study. Applied Linguistics, amac038.
Sari, E. A., Gustiani, S., Yusri, Y., & Simanjuntak, T. (2022, February). An Error Analysis of English Sentence Construction in Writing Subject. In 5th FIRST T3 2021 International Conference (FIRST-T3 2021) (pp. 20-27). Atlantis Press.
Sompong, M. (2014). Error Analysis. Language Institute; Thammasat University.
Suraprajit, P. (2021). An analysis of errors in English essays written by thai non-english major students. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 11(1), 12-19.
Yusuf, Y. Q., Mustafa, F., & Iqbal, R. M. (2021). An inquiry into grammatical errors in writing committed by high achieving EFL students. International journal of language studies, 15(2).
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Muhammad Rizwan
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
License Terms
All articles published by MARS Publishers are made immediately available worldwide under an open access license. This means:
- everyone has free and unlimited access to the full-text of all articles published in MARS Publishers' journals;
- everyone is free to re-use the published material if proper accreditation/citation of the original publication is given.