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Students' Writing errors in ESL: A Case Study
Haifa Al-Buainain
Associate Professor
Department of Foreign Languages
Qatar University
haifaalbuainain@yahoo
...
qu
...
qa/drhaifa
STUDENTS’ WRITING ERRORS IN EFL: A Case Study
Abstract

Writing is a productive skill
...
This
paper is an outcome of teachers‟ concerns and efforts to identify areas of
difficulty in the writing skill among EFL students and to work out remedial
procedures to help them overcome their weaknesses
...
Two topics
were given to the students whom were asked to write freely and to express
their positive and negative points of view about certain topics
...
The study concludes with pedagogical
recommendations
...
Introduction
There is a general consensus among English language instructors at the
English Department (now called Department of Foreign Languages) in The
University of Qatar that most EFL students are weak in writing courses,
namely, Writing 1, Writing 2 and Advanced Writing
...

Hence it is necessary to investigate this problem and find, if possible, the
remedial procedures that can elevate the students‟ level and lessen the
number of repeaters every semester
...
The Purpose of the Study
Qatar University has started a new era of changing and developing since
2004
...
Self-evaluation
studies are a sign that the institution, whether academic or otherwise, is
concerned about its achievements and the level of performance of the people
involved in its mission
...
If we,
however, face possible problems before they occur, then we might be able to
avoid them
...
This article is an outcome of teachers‟
concerns and efforts to identify the problem and to understand the key issues
to EFL writing so as to suggest a remedial procedure that may help the
learners to express themselves in better English
...

3
...
The
subjects of the study are female students majoring in English (no male
students were enrolled in this course during that time) whose ages range
from eighteen to twenty years
...

Two topics were given to the students
...
The
3

Students' Writing errors in ESL: A Case Study
students were asked to write freely and to express their positive and negative
points of view about the above- mentioned topics
...

4
...
The breakdown of the marks of the
areas covered is given below:
1
...

2
...

3
...

4
...

5
...

6
...

7
...

Refer to Appendix (2) for results
...
Characteristics Defects of Students’ Writing
In general, the students writing show the characteristic defects below which
confirm Weir‟s (1988) conclusions
...
Data Analysis
Analyzing students‟ errors is a valuable source of information concerning the
transitional state of the learners‟ competence and weaknesses
...
Sentence-level grammatical errors committed by the
learners involve some syntactic features, namely verbs, relative clauses,
articles, fragments, noun modifiers, and prepositions
...
Many of
these errors are, of course, common to all non-native users of English (AlBuainain, 1988b and 2007)
...
Errors found in the Data
i)

Verbs
In the data, there are many cases exemplifying the misuse of verb tenses and
aspects in English
...
Tense and aspect errors were due to the substitution of one tense/
aspect for another
...
e
...
In Arabic, there are only the perfect and the
imperfect (past and non-past)
...

In Arabic verbs show two indicative conjugations for aspect: the Imperfect
(morphologically marked by prefixes) and the Perfect (marked by suffixes)
which may indicate whether the action is viewed as uncompleted or
completed, respectively
...
Refer to
Appendix (3) for examples of errors found in the data
...
It may be used to
indicate an action completed in the past, but which result or outcome is
still in effect
...
The nearest
Arabic equivalent to this use is V (+ perfect), but no grammatically
encoded category can be considered an exact equivalent to the English
present perfect
...
This involves the use of
particles like / qad/ and adverbs such as /tawan or litawi/ (just, now) and
so forth (Al-Buainain, 1988:226)
...
The following examples are
taken from the data
...

(Student no
...
Omission/Addition of verb to be
In cases of „intensive complementation‟ (Quirk et
...
, 1972: 820) i
...
when
a co-reference relation exists between the subject and the subject
5

Students' Writing errors in ESL: A Case Study
complement, English requires the use of a linking verb: „copula‟
...
Be is the typical copula in English
...
The tense is marked in the main verb
...
In
neutral Equational Sentences, the copula is not realized (Ferguson, 1971:
142)
...
This is signalled by the presence of the
„incomplete‟ verb /kana/
...

A
...

(Student no
...
In some cases our students overcorrected themselves by
using articles in a redundant way; they also omitted them to simplify their tasks
or replaced them with each other
...
In
Arabic the use of the definite article differs from that of English
...
There is
no indefinite article
...
Thus, although articles are among the most
frequently occurring morphemes, they are among the last elements of syntax to
be acquired by Arabs
...

A
...

(Student no
...
(1) The nominal sentence begins with a noun (i
...
SVO)
...
(3) The
Equational sentence is composed of a subject and a predicate with no
verb
...
Some students had problems
with fragments:

6

Students' Writing errors in ESL: A Case Study
A
...

(Student no
...
Discussion
The previous sections, the students marks (Appendix 2) and the students
errors (Appendix 3) clearly show that there is a problem in teaching
and/learning writing
...
There are three
main integrated issues to be discussed here: First, Method of Teaching
...

It should be clear here that there is no one answer to the question of how to
teach writing in ESL classes
...
For example, Finocchiaro‟s own
observation which goes back to (1969) is based on informal experimentation
favours a “Hear, Say, See, Do (Write) method” (156)
...

Many EFL/ESL programs use a process approach to writing instruction, and
some regularly publish collections of learners writing (for an overview see
Peyton, 1991)
...
In order to respond to
purely formal views of writing, proponents borrowed the techniques and
theories of cognitive psychology and First Language composition to refine
the ways we understand and teach writing
...
It was found that good
writers concentrated on ideas rather than on correctness
...
Writing is
seen as a communicative act with an intended purpose and audience
...
While working to make
their meanings clear, learners are assumed to acquire competence using the
style, syntax, grammar and surface features of the language
...
Learners, however, do not necessarily engage in these
activities in that order because the writing process is recursive in nature
...
” (Peregoy and Boyle, 2005:210)
...
There are,
however, some important differences in what the two groups bring to the
writing task
...
Also
English learners may not have a feeling for the way that English translates
into written form
...
Thus, one of the most important aims in
teaching writing in EFL is to improve learners' language ability
...
For example, in their survey Leki and Carson (1994:89)
found that the largest percentage of responses to the question of what students
would like to have learned or learned better in their writing classes was
“more language skills”
...
Hedgcock and Lefkowitz (1994) also noted that
both EFL and ESL responses to their survey concerning student response to
feedback conventions “indicate a strong concern for formal text features,
such as lexical and grammatical accuracy” (p
...
Myers (1997:1) believes
that “Modern composition teaching has emerged primarily from observations
of L1 freshman students, leading to a strong focus on writing „process‟,
which does not address the need of ESL students for help with sentence- level
syntax”
...
The writer presents findings which show
that ESL students‟ academic papers are often perceived as vague and
confusing (p
...
She argues that this is a result of the process-writing
curriculum, which emphasizes content and structure while only sparsely and
inconsistently addressing grammar and lexis
...
In fact, second language learning is as much a
process as writing is a process
...

Genre refers to abstract, socially organized ways of using language
...
They believe that genre
pedagogy is “buttressed by the belief that learning is best accomplished
through explicit awareness of language, rather than through experiment and
8

Students' Writing errors in ESL: A Case Study
exploration, but this does not mean replacing communicative practices with
teacher-centred ones (Hyland, 2003:27)
...
It was found that writing was
favoured over speech and journal writing was particularly favoured when
working on grammatical accuracy
...
Liu (2000:33) argues that “content
lexical ties are an important cohesive device in writing and that insufficient
use of lexical cohesive ties by ESL students contribute to the lack of cohesion
in their writings”
...
They believe that
“the results paved the path for the material designer in developing adequate
materials since they can infer particular types of conjunctions in the materials
they provide for each level” (239)
...
Correcting students‟ writing is
time-consuming work therefore, many teachers dislike correcting students‟
writing
...
This requires
explicit instruction on many items such as grammar, punctuation, spelling,
structure, style as well as on generating and expressing ideas
...
When
faced with such task some teachers will react with comments like “Oh, no”
...
For
example, students can be reminded of a previously studied grammar rule
through explaining its applicability in a specific instance
...

Positive evidence is one type of feedback
...
Positive evidence can be provided
9

Students' Writing errors in ESL: A Case Study
authentically, such as in natural conversations or in foreigner talk discourse
or in teacher talk (Ferguson, 1971)
...
It can be provided pre-emptively, such as in explanations of
grammar rules, or reactively, such as through error correction
...
Negative
feedback can be explicit (error correction) or implicit (communication
breakdown)
...

The third issue is Testing writing which is undeniably difficult
...
Recent approaches to
academic writing instruction have necessitated testing procedures that deal
with both the process and the product of writing (Upshur and Turner, 1995)
...

When testing writing ability directly, there are some considerations to take
into account:
1) The writing tasks should be properly representative of the population of
tasks that should expect the students to be able to perform
...

3) It is essential that the samples of writing can and will be scored reliably
...

Taking into consideration the first two points, we found that the testing paper
was too ambitious
...
For the third point,
the writing exam papers were scored reliably (refer to 4
...
Pedagogical Implications
How to improve our students' ability in English in general and in
academic writing in Particular? Such knowledge is important because
academic writing is a sever problem
...
In fact,

10

Students' Writing errors in ESL: A Case Study
many university students are weak in Arabic writing let alone in writing
English
...

Moody (2000:1) states that “ issues concerned with improvements to the
teaching in the English Department can be considered in two ways: (1) What
should be done in the individual writing courses and (2) What should be done
in regard to the overall teaching programme to improve students‟ writing
abilities
...
These include “revision of writing
course descriptions, the nature of teaching materials, collaboration among the
instructors of each year to set goals and common approaches within the year,
and follow- up after the first year to determine the students‟ progress and
steps to counteract impediments to their progress” (Minutes of Departmental
Meeting 2001:2)
...
The objectives of the three writing courses (Writing I,
Writing II and Advanced Writing) are in general: 1) to provide extensive
practice in the process of writing; 2) to expand the students‟ awareness of
different kinds of writing: descriptive, narrative, argumentative, creative
writing, etc
...

The objective of the First Writing Course as it is stated in the BA Plan “is the
writing of paragraphs”
...
They are to pay special attention to punctuation and spelling
...
The
context of the writing activities are in accordance with Wilkins (1976); i
...

paragraph writing, note taking, answering questions, completing forms, report
writing, letter writing, giving instructions writing invitations, writing
complaints, and replies to letters
...
(Wilkins (1976)
...
This is theoretically neat scheme, but in
practical terms, given the entry level of most students, it is a somewhat
idealistic one for most of instructors who teach writing
...
The
students are given instruction on a mode of written discourse
...
The instructor marks the students‟ drafts
...
Students have 4 hours per week
for each writing course
...
The student role in all the writing activities would
be one of learner, member of a group, participant, commentator, inquirer,
visitor and so forth
...
Moody (2000) listed some of the basic problem areas of
writing
...

Certainly, there is a large literature on the complex nature of writing (Reid,
1994)
...
We
start with a new topic for writing
...

Next, First Draft, here students are to write, just to write (i
...
to put their
thoughts on paper)
...

Revision is to follow
...
Then, comes Editing
...
They can do Peer editing
...
The next stage is Final
Draft
...
We think that, it is important for ESL/EFL students to develop some
degree of automaticity in the use of surface structure features e
...
articles,
verb tenses, spelling subject/verb agreement, etc
...
As Myers (1997: 3) puts it “
This is not a matter of disowning the insights of the process approach, but of
incorporating those insights into our instruction while still addressing the
need to teach our students syntactic features of our language which come
automatically to native speakers but not to L2 writers
...
They neglect to link the writing instruction
with authentic content area writing assignments that ESL/EFL students
encounter in their studies
...
Therefore, another suggestion, which was
put forward to find ways of improving students‟ writing in English, was to

12

Students' Writing errors in ESL: A Case Study
closely coordinate items/ structures in other relevant courses at the
department; e
...
grammar, reading, core course and so forth
...
Reading is the reception of a message transmitted through
the written word and writing is the transmission of a message through the
written word, too (Hassan et
...
, 1993)
...
The instructor reported that “the
improvement in proficiency level was noticeable” (p
...
It is always
important to show the students how to use readings as models in order to
make their own writing better
...
Novice writers cannot learn to write by process alone
...
Therefore, students‟
grammatical errors in the Writing courses were discussed in a departmental
meeting on 16th /6/2001 under Other Business by a member of staff teaching
Advanced Writing Course
...
Items “touching on (1) the nature of the errors, basically
performance vs
...

Students should be helped to develop their ability to evaluate their own
writing and to correct their errors
...
Self-correction as well as peer-correction encourage the active role
of the student and promote cooperative learning in the class
...
Ferris,
(2002) Writes about this important aspect of teaching writing to ESL/EFL
...
Some of these are Direct/Indirect Feedback, Global/
local Errors/ and treatable /Untreatable errors
...
Error analysis could be the core of the writing
class
...
Lile (2002:1) asserts that
“If students aren‟t given a reword or credit for their efforts, and no feedback
is given to the student, then most students‟ intrinsic motivation would begin
13

Students' Writing errors in ESL: A Case Study
to decrease”
...
Students need to know that the
writing process is difficult
...
Involving learners in their own writing assessment
would be motivating for them and will increase learner involvement in
aspects of the learning experience which is highly beneficial
...


(4) In fact, students seem never to stop making errors in writing in EFL in
spite of all teachers‟ endeavours
...
The classroom should be a
foreign language learning community where learners can enjoy the merit of
sharing work in progress with other members of the class community striving
to communicate in writing
...
We
should be preoccupied with how to bridge the gap between linguistic
competence and communicative competence (Revell, 1979)
...
The
textbooks systematize linear methods to teach sentence building,
paragraphing, and standard, rhetorical academic modes
...
The textbook used for this course is Stephens, M
...
Practise Advanced Writing
...
This includes course description, textbook, requirements,
marking scheme, assessment, course timetable and examinations
...
In our opinion the textbook is not enough
...
In fact,
some of the textbook materials concentrate on learning about writing at the
expense of actually practising it
...
Thus, the only best way to learn how to write is by writing
...
We should
always remember that writing is an individual effort and skill, therefore, the
instructor‟s role is to share in the process by offering constructive criticism as
well as correcting errors
...
In an ESL Programme, especially in the beginning stages, the
writing teacher must not be only a writing teacher (teaching writing fulltime, and not language) but also as the English language teacher because
teachers will need constantly to go back and revise skills which have been
covered earlier
...
g
...

(7) If writing is limited only to writing courses, then the students will have
insufficient practical writing experience
...
Thus, various writing activities are important elements in
teaching writing
...
g
...

Since the only way to learn writing is to write, then our students should be
writing every day because there are different types of writing or writing tasks
...
According to Khan
(2005:77), “one of the best ways of teaching is through literature, which is a
combination of entertainment and education and which provides the young
learners the opportunity to appreciate language at its finest
...

It is always helpful to encourage students to use different activities and
strategies to improve their writing e
...
keep a journal, get a pen-friend, keep
copies of everything you write, use a word processor, … etc (refer to Ellis
and Sinclair 1991: 106)
...
As Cook (cited in King: 1997:2) suggests “there‟s more
to computer technology than simply word processing software, and if you‟re
not using it, you‟re missing out on some exciting and valuable ways of
teaching writing
...
g
...
cit)
...
The implication of
this approach, then, is that teachers should require frequent writing exercises
from their students
...
If we are serious about
improving writing, teachers should have an idea of each student‟s individual
writing problems and this is not at all an easy task
...

Also, writing competitions are sometimes arranged and winners are given
prices and their names are announced on the notice board
...
Tennant (2001) listed a number of online resources which are
available
...

(8) The analysis revealed that the learners made use of such strategies as
simplification, paraphrase, overgeneralization, hypercorrection, avoidance
(switching topic and giving up message), Interlingual transfer and intralingual
transfer
...
Learning to write is a gradual
process which begins with simple copying and ends with free expression
...
However we have to be very
careful with such findings
...
Teachers should have different types of tasks, format,
model, editing, correction (http://writing
...
edu/references/teaching
/esl/writing
...
What instructors do in EFL teaching is to" slow down
language processes, analyze what is (or should be) happening and articulate
what first-language users take for granted” (Moody, 2005:13)
...
In their
study, the researchers focused on strategies of persuasion in order to develop
writing skills
...
In the
first phase, the teacher is to encourage oral activity by brainstorming for ideas
on a particular theme
...
The third phase is
subdivided into two stages
...


16

Students' Writing errors in ESL: A Case Study
In fact teachers cannot expect weak writers to improve simply by equipping
them with the strategies of good writers
...
One of the
principles in the Sydney School‟s approach to genre pedagogy is that
language learning occurs most effectively as part of an “interactive cycle of
teaching and learning” which includes modelling of the target text by the
teacher, co-production of an instance of the target text by teacher and student
(scaffolding), and finally independent production of the target text by the
student (Feez, 2002:64-65)
...
We believe that different approaches are to certain
extend accurate
...
In order to design a syllabus for teaching writing in EFL it
is necessary to identify the course consumers, their needs, abilities,
conceptual and intellectual levels and motivation
...
They may even try to mix
approaches to see their students‟ reaction and intake
...
However, the highly
recommended possible way to teach learners to write is to get them to read
and write then write and read and revise and rewrite and edit again and again,
drafting and re-drafting, self correction and how to employ the strategy of
making comparisons within their own use of language to develop fluent
writing
...

Motivation is the key to all learning
...
Al-Buainain and El-Emadi (1998:17) found that “[…] as the
students progressed, the correlation between their attitudes and their
achievement increased”
...
Bacha (2002:14) argued that
“Students‟ grade expectations are often higher, which may negatively affect
student motivation”
...
19)
...

17

Students' Writing errors in ESL: A Case Study
Motivation and attitude are not only related to the learners but to the teacher
him/herself
...
e
...
At the end, no actual learning takes
place
...
In fact, too much time
is spent by teachers on identification and correction of students‟ writing
errors
...
This paper load would have a
great deal on the teacher getting crushed by heaps of students‟ writings while
they already suffer from busy timetables, large class sizes, attending meetings
and conferences, participating in workshops, presenting seminars, writing
reports, preparing course portfolios and other activities
...
Such factors inhibit
teachers‟ good performance and frustrate them
...

(10) Other issues that we should keep in mind are writing at schools, how
much writing is given to pupils, methods of teaching and how to develop
them
...
Altaha (1993) investigated teaching composition to ESL
students in King Faisal University
...
6)
...
Conclusion and Recommendations
Writing is a productive skill
...
It is
especially difficult for nonnative speakers because learners are expected to
create written products that demonstrate their ability to organize the content ,
to address the correct audience as well as to demonstrate their linguistic
ability (vocabulary, punctuation, spelling, etc)
...
In this investigation,
the problem is complicated by the fact that the study is cross-sectional and
involves a number of learners who learn English in similar situations
...
However, this study could be used as a starting point
...
This, in turn, implies that both teachers and
learners must see errors as the key to understanding and solving accuracy
problems in English writing courses
...
Teachers should try to find the best
method to deliver the lesson to their students
...

Therefore, teachers regularly apply different methods that are suitable for the
students‟ needs, interests and abilities
...
Learners should be
always encouraged to do remedial exercises
...
According to Chomsky (1986), grammar consists of various levels,
which are ordered and interrelated
...
Writing is hard work in one‟s own language let alone in a
second language
...
Teachers should be happy with whatever
progress learners make
...

As it stands now, the writing courses need to be improved so that students
can benefit more from them
...


*An earlier version of the paper was presented at The 2nd International AUC OXF
conference on Language and Linguistics
...
Cairo, Egypt
...
H
...
“A linguistic analysis of spelling errors made by
Jordanian University students”
...
and Ling
...
A
...
Second Language Acquisition of Arabic: The
Development of Negation and Interrogation among Learners in the U
...
Dar
Al-Thakafa, Qatar
...


19

Students' Writing errors in ESL: A Case Study
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Norwood, NJ: Ablex
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M
...
Text, Role and Context: Developing academic literacies
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Jonhs, A
...
(2002)
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Mahwah,
NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates
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(2005)
...
Language Forum Vol
...
1
...
(1981)
...
IRAL 19(4):333-45
...
and A
...
Longman
...
R
...
Kherzrineshad (2001)
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ITL Review of Applied Linguistics
...

King, N
...
“Using Computers to Teach Writing”
...
nmia
...
(1999)
...
Modern Language Journal, 83(1):51-64
...
(1982)
...

Oxford
...

Lado, R
...
Linguistics across Cultures
...
University of
Michigan Press
...
Carson (1994)
...
TESOL Quarterly ,28 (1), 81-101
...
(1997)
...
The Internet TESL Journal
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12
...

Lile, W
...
(2002)
...
The Internet TESL
Journal, Vol
...
1
...
(2000)
...
English
Teaching Forum
...

Long, H
...
(1990)
...
W
...
),
Adult Learning methods
...
23-27)
Lowe, I
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“Statistics and research design: essential concepts for working
teachers”
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July 2001: 36-42
...
(2002)
...
The Internet TESL Journal, Vol
...
12
...
(1978)
...
Ph
...
thesis University of London
...

Matsuo, C
...
Bevan (2002)
...
www
...
fukuoka
...
jp/fu844/home2/Ronso/ Jinbun/L38-/ L3801_0155
...
(1973)
...
M
...
Thesis
...
Institute of Science and Technology
...
16/6/2001
...

Moody, J
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“Discussion Paper for the writing Committee”
...
Department of English
...

Moody, J
...
“Pragmatics and reading: Towards a Teaching
Methodology”
...
9-11 March, 2005
...
(1978)
...
Interlanguage Studies Bulletin
...

Mukattash, L
...
Wh-questions in English: A problem for Arab students
...
19(4):317-25
...
(1997)
...
Teaching English as a
Second Language or Foreign Language
...
No
...
(pp
...

Newton, J
...
(1996)
...
System, 24(4), 309322
...
Cambridge University press
...
K
...
“ Listening to students‟ voices: Educational materials
written by and for adults learning English”
...
Washington, DC:

23

Students' Writing errors in ESL: A Case Study
National Clearinghouse on Literacy Education
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Ed 317096)
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and C
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(1993)
...
Macmillan Publishers
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...
; S
...
Leech and J
...
A Grammar of
Contemporary English
...

Rabideau, D
...
“Integrating reading and writing into adult ESL
instruction”
...
ERIC Identifier: ED358749
...
(1983)
...
Oxford
...
M
...
The Process of Paragraph writing
...

Revell, J
...
Teaching Techniques for Communicative English
...

Rivers, W
...
„From Linguistic competence to communicative
competence”
...
7, No
...

Savignon, S
...
(1993)
...
Silberstin (ed
...
Alexandria, V
...
35-51
...
and J
...
Tucker (1974)
...
Language Learning
...

Selinker, L
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Language transfer
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9:67-92
...
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...
IRAL
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Stephens, M
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Practise Advanced Writing
...
Longman
...
(1903)
...
Part II Syntax
...

Tennant, S
...
“Useful Resources for Editing Academic writing in
English”
...
Volume:32
...
2
...

Thalji, A
...
Structure and Function in Arabic
...
D
...

Linguistics Department
...

Thompson-Panos, K
...
Thomas-Ruzic (1983)
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TESOL
Quarterly 17:609-623
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“Problems facing Arab Learners of English”
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Upshur, J and C
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“Academic Writing- can we please all the people all the time?”
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24

Students' Writing errors in ESL: A Case Study
Widdowson, H
...
Explorations in Applied Linguistics 2
...

Wilkins, D
...
National Syllabuses
...

White, R
...
“Academic writing: (Process and Product)” in ELT
Documents:129, Pauline C
...
), Modern English Publication in
Association with British Council (Publishers) pp
...

Internet Sites:
Error Analysis: Review
...
lancs
...
uk/postgrad/tono/analysis
...
http://www
...
edu/
The Internet TESL Journal http://iteslj
...
colostate
...
cfm
PPENDIX 1: Topics given to the students
January 15, 2001
………………………
Autumn 2000/2001
……………………
...

below is the advertisement you saw before you went
...

* Free course materials and use of library and language lab
...

* Sports and social activities (all included in your fees)
* All teachers are qualified and experienced native speakers
...

For further information/registration write to:
Oxford House School of English, 14
Victoria Street, Plymouth, UK
However, you were disappointed because your course was not as advertised
...
Explain the problems in detail and suggest what he/she can do to
make you happy
...
Write on one of the following topics: (30 marks)
...


The advantages and disadvantages of studying abroad
...


You can talk about the cost, cultural issues, academic benefits or difficulties, influence on one's character and influence
on one's native country
...
Write a narrative (4 00-500 words) about the following series of events
...
Labongo was the chief of a village
...
0ne year, the village witnessed a horrible famine
...
Ndhiti, the medicine-man, told Labongo that his ancestors appeared to him in his dream arid told him that in order
for the rain to fall,
Labongo had to sacrifice his only daughter Oganda
...
The chief was disrnayed, but he had to obey the will of his forefathers if he wanted his people to survive
...
He told Oganda
...

6
...

7
...

8
...

9
...

10
...
They fled away
...
That night, rain fell heavily
...
Layout
2
...

3
...
Style
We wish you the best of luck

APPENDIX 2: Results

26

Students' Writing errors in ESL: A Case Study
Total
50 Marks
34
35
37
27
35
24
27
32
38
43
42
34
32
40
28
25
35
28
37
29
23
28
23
22
38
40
30
25
46
29
29
25
37
37
36
15
34
38
35
25

Second Topic
30 Marks
20
20
22
15
20
12
15
20
23
25
25
20
20
22
15
12
20
15
22
17
10
14
14
10
22
23
15
15
27
15
17
12
22
22
23
10
20
20
20
15

First Topic
20 Marks
14
15
15
12
15
12
12
12
15
18
17
14
12
18
13
13
15
13
15
12
13
14
9
12
16
17
15
10
19
14
12
13
15
15
13
5
14
18
15
10

Number of Student
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40

27

Students' Writing errors in ESL: A Case Study
APPENDIX 3: Errors found in the Data

i)

Verbs
1
...
* They always shouting and open my room
...
23; Topic 1)
B
...

(Student no
...
* I am writing this letter and I hope that I receiving apology
...
30; Topic 1)
D
...

(Student no
...
Present/Past Perfect Versus Simple Present/past Verb Tense
A
...

(Student no
...
* Since I came to your school, I was unhappy
...
2; Topic 1)
C
...

(Student no
...
Omission/Addition of verb to be

A
...

(Student no
...
*I interested
...
20; Topic 1)
C
...
(this is the
original spelling)
(Student no
...
* When the person he boring cannot go to visit friends such as what
he do in his country
...
6; Topic 2)
...
* It‟s really depends on the person‟s character
...
1; Topic 2)
F
...

(Student no
...
* I am really feel disappointing
...
31; Topic 1)
12
...
Some substitution errors
(e
...
has instead of have as in Example A below must have resulted from
hypercorrection:
A
...

(Student no
...
*It give you …
...
4; Topic 2)
C
...

(Student no
...
*Some student are send to forgien countries
...
3; Topic 2)
E
...

(Student no
...
* […]and they was offered them a good house
...
5; Topic 2)
G
...

(Student no
...
* […] because the books was not enough
...
27; Topic 1)
13
...
In many cases the form of the main verb in the
sentence was incorrect:
A
...

(Student no
...
*In each group there was more than 20 students that you can not heard
what the teacher said
...
1; Topic 1)
C
...

29

Students' Writing errors in ESL: A Case Study
(Student no
...
*[…] students can also enjoyed […]
(Student no
...
*You couldn‟t find any faithful person
...
25; Topic 2)
F
...

(Student no
...
* When you go to live in another country you will want more time to
make alive in that country
...
8; Topic 2)
H
...

(Student no
...
* I should took […]
* I must said […]
(Student no
...
The
following errors in English relative clauses were made by our students:
A
...

(Student no
...
* Moreover, I stayed with an English family whom their children
didn‟t let me study or sleep
...
12; Topic 1
...
*In a small village there was a chief his name is Labongo
...
1; Topic 2
...
* When students stay with people have bad habits, this can have
influence on their characters
...
11; Topic 1
...
* Sometimes the country needs someone who studied in a branch that
the country doesn‟t have it
...
11; Topic 1
...
* I went to London where my friends live in
...
23; Topic 1)
G
...

(Student no
...
* You will find that school can provide books easily, which that the
students won‟t have any difficulty to get their books
...
40; Topic 1)
30

Students' Writing errors in ESL: A Case Study
iii
...
* I think studying abroad is good thing
...
25; Topic 2)
B
...

(Student no
...
* There was old woman and she was ill and weak
...
30; Topic 2)
D
...

(Student no
...
* We have good university in Qatar
...
4; Topic 2)
F
...

(Student no
...
* Student may get married from the country he is staying in
...
11; Topic 2)
H
...
(this is the original spelling)
(Student no
...
Fragments:
A
...

(Student no
...
*Although there are many advantages
...
9; Topic 2)
D
...

(Student no
...
* I spend my time dreaming to study abroad in England or America
but no longer
...
4; Topic 2)
F
...

(Student no
...
* Most of the teachers here are qualified and such a wonderful
...
3; Topic 1)
v
...
* This professors are helpful
...
4; Topic 1
...
* The beautifuls sunsets make Laguanda happy
...
10; Topic 2
...
* Other example of the disadvantages is the bad influence on one‟s
character
...
2; Topic 2)
D
...

(Student no
...
* She will indeed see some strange habbit
...
12; Topic 2)
vi
...
Our learners had problems with noun form
...
They also overgeneralized the use of the plural in some
cases
...

A
...

(Student no
...
* Beside mens who study out there are a lot of girls or womens who
study out
...
13; Topic 2)
C
...
14; Topic 2)
vii
...
Most
preposition errors were due to the students‟ lack of knowledge of the English
preposition system:
A
...

(Student no
...
* […] without knowing anything for the country
...
7; Topic 2)
C
...

(Student no8; Topic 2)
D
...

32

Students' Writing errors in ESL: A Case Study
(Student no
...
* It also gives us more experience at our life
...
28; Topic 2)
F
...
30; Topic 2)
G
...

(Student no
...
Students will work on
sentences and the combination of sentences, paying, additional attention to
punctuation and spelling
...


BA 212115 Writing, (2)

2 credit hours, 4 contact hours, prerequisite: BA 212114 Writing (1)
Building on the paragraph-writing skills of BA Writing (1), this course will
concentrate on short essays of three paragraphs
...
The course will move toward more formal outlining
or organizing ideas into clearly stated themes, or purpose, supporting statements
and conclusionary remarks
...
Students will continue to develop the skills begun in BA
Writing (2) and will be introduced to the conventions of incorporating
references into their essays
...
Students will work on
sentences and the combination of sentence, paying additional attention to
punctuation and spelling
...

(The course meets three times each week, for a total of four hours per week
...
London: Longman, 1992
...
attend classes
...
ALL ABSENCES-- FOR
WHATEVER REASON-- ARE CONSIDERED IN THIS CALCULATION;
THERE ARE NO "EXCUSED" ABSENCES
...
)
2
...
(It is
especially important to complete writing assignments on time because improving
your writing skills depends on your learning from each assignment so that you avoid
making the same mistakes on the next one
...
Participate actively in class work and class discussion
...

C:
D+
...


90-100%
85-89%
80-84%
75-79%
70-74%
65-69%
60-64%
0-59%

34

Students' Writing errors in ESL: A Case Study
ASSESSMENT:
Students' final mark in this course will be based on the following:
Course work:
This mark will be determined as follows:
2 quizzes (5 marks each):
5 assignments (2 marks each):

20%

10%
10%

Mid-semester examination:

30%

Final examination:

50%

TIMETABLE:
(The term units refer to the units in the textbook
...
): Introduction to the course; writing skills
Week 2 (28 Sept
...
): Unit 3 (Giving Personal Information)
Week 3 (5 - 9 Oct
...
): Unit 5 (Notes and Messages)
Week 5 (19 -23 Oct
...
Quiz 1
Week 6 (26 - 30 Oct
...
): Unit 8 (Advertisements and Notices)
Week 8 (9 - 13 Nov
...
): Unit 1 (Writing a Personal Profile)
Week 10 (23 -27 Nov
...
- 4 Dec
...
): Unit 16 (Describing a Scene)
Week 13 (14 - 18 Dec
...
): Unit 16 (Describing a Scene)
Week 15 (28 Dec
...
): Revision

EXAMINATIONS:
The times and places of the mid-semester and final examinations will be announced
...

35

Students' Writing errors in ESL: A Case Study
APPENDIX 5 :REQUIREMENTS FOR WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS
UNIVERSITY OF QATAR
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH AND MODERN EUROPEAN LANGUAGES
COURSE: ENGLISH 114 (WRITING 1)

REQUIREMENTS FOR WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS
The following requirements must be observed for all written assignments:
1
...
Smaller sizes and other colours are not
acceptable
...
No decorations or fancy borders are to appear on the paper
...

3
...
Paper clips
should not be used
...
Students should write clearly the following information in the top right-hand corner of
the first page: their full name (as it appears on the class registration list), the course number
(E114), their group number, and the date
...
Space should be left between the lines on the paper, by skipping a line, for the
instructor's comments
...
All assignments must be handwritten
...

7
...
Light coloured or shiny ink should
not be used
...
Assignments must be handed in by the date required
...

NOTE: Students should keep all returned and marked assignments
...

Could you let me have the following information for these students?
I
i

1
...
The course she is taking with you (number and name)
3
...
A photocopy of the answer(s) she has submitted, together with your
markings! corrections
5
...
) and what you would like her to be able to do
6
...

Sundays - third and fourth periods
Mondays - second and fourth periods
Tuesdays - third and fourth periods
Wednesdays - second and fourth periods
Thursdays - fourth period
I shall keep you informed of the student's work and progress

---