An Analysis of Grammatical Errors in English Academic Writing: A Case of Tanzanian Undergraduate Students

The general objective of this study is to analyse the grammatical errors that undergraduates face in Tanzania. Despite the fact that the undergraduate students underwent different studies in different levels of education from standard one to form six, they cannot produce a well-written piece of academic work in English. Such academic works include writing correct sentences and logical ideas and observing punctuation marks. This study will employ the Cognitive Process Theory of writing as its theoretical framework. The Cognitive Process Theory of writing assumes that writing is a process involving three basic elements for an individual to be competent, namely (a) the task environment, (b) the writer’s long-term memory and (c) the writing process and repetitions. If the teachers were aware of the writing process this would help in teaching appropriate strategies and that would also improve the writing skills of the students. The study used mixed research techniques. The data was obtained using convenience sampling and stratified random sampling. The study used document analysis/documentary review and interviews as methods of data collection. The findings indicate that undergraduate students face challenges in utilizing English for academic writing, which encompass issues such as syntax errors, lack of coherence, poor organization of ideas, difficulties in selecting appropriate content, formulation of topic sentences, restricted vocabulary, misuse of vocabulary, and failure to comply with rhetorical conventions.