Types And Causes Of Errors In Essay Writing: Error Analysis Of Students' Essays At Ssc And O-Level In Pakistan

This comparative study analyses the errors in writing essays in English by the students of Secondary School Certificate (SSC/Matriculation) and the General Certificate of Education-Ordinary level (GCE-O-Level) in the Province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) in Pakistan. The population of the study has included the students and English Language teachers of SSC and O-Level in KP through Random Sampling Technique. The study is descriptive in nature. The data has been collected in the form of written essays and through structured interviews from the students and teachers respectively. The data is analyzed descriptively by employing Corder model of Error Analysis (1967), and the frequency of various types of errors has also been discussed. The study has revealed that O-Level students are comparatively competent in essay writing than the SSC level students as SSC students committed more errors in writing essays as compared to O-Level students in Pakistan. The findings of the study reveals that ELT teachers in Pakistan need to adopt effective teaching methodologies for teaching essay writing skills and are suggested to provide proper feedback to their students in order to make them aware of the errors and the possible causes for committing such errors. The findings of the study will facilitate the teaching-learning process of essay writing in English in Pakistan.