Thesis (MA) - Cyprus International University. Institute of Graduate Studies and Research English Language Teaching Department

Includes bibliography (sheets 59-63)

ABSTRACT
The aim of the present study is to investigate the most frequently made errors in the
essays written by junior secondary school students in the selected secondary schools
in Nigeria. It also discusses the teacher's attitudes towards the student's errors in the
selected schools. One hundred essays written by junior secondary school students were
collected from the selected secondary school students, and collected data were
analysed in relation to the theory of error analysis. A detailed categorization of the
most common errors, their analysis, and the comparison of the total number of
Interlingual and Intralingual errors are given a place in the present study. The number
of errors related to punctuation is 183, the number of errors related to spelling is 216,
the number of errors related to vocabulary is 112, the number of errors related to the
article is 168, the number of errors related to tense is 422, the number of errors related
to preposition is 81, and the number of errors related to pronoun is 42. The results
show that the errors related to Tense are the highest, and errors related to pronouns are
the lowest in frequency. A significant result of this study is that the frequency and
number of the Intralingual errors are higher than the Interlingual errors. The findings
of this study will aid students in developing an internalized understanding of the
regulations of the target language. Additionally, it will aid teachers in focusing their
attention on common errors and developing other successful strategies for enhancing
their pupils' written work.
Keywords: Error Analysis, Error Types, Interlingual and Intralingual, Nigerians ESL
Students