COMMON GRAMMATICAL ERRORS IN WRITTEN ENGLISH: AN ANALYSIS OF INTERMEDIATE STUDENTS’ COMPOSITIONS AT SAHIWAL COLLEGE OF THE EDUCATOR, SAHIWAL

Abstract

This paper explores grammatical mistakes in the written compositions of the English language among the grade 12 students of Sahiwal College of the Educator, Sahiwal. The first goal is to find out the most common forms of grammatical mistakes and to examine the patterns and reasons of their occurrence. Despite the fact that much literature has been done on the grammatical mistakes of the ESL students in their writing, there is little empirical data regarding this situation when it comes to intermediate learners in this institution. The design of the research was a mixed-method one. The grammatical errors in written essays provided by students were identified and categorized to explain the fact that quantitative data were obtained, considering the written topic as the Advantages and Disadvantages of a particular topic, and the written essays as the qualitative data to be analyzed further. The research is based on the Error Analysis Theory developed by Corder (1967), according to which the errors made by learners will be viewed as signs of language competence development. The results indicate that the students had a tendency to make spelling, sentence structure, and subject-verb agreement mistakes, which shows poor grammatical proficiency and the effect of the first language (L1) interference. This research concludes that explicit teaching in grammar, routine writing, and intensive corrective feedback would be instrumental in improving students ' writing in English.