Error Analysis of IT Students’ English Writing at the Undergraduate Level in Riphah International University

Abstract

This study aims to identify and analyze errors in students' writing samples. For this purpose, the researchers collected data from 15 undergraduate students in the 5th semester of the Department of Computer Science at Riphah International University, Malakand Campus, Chakdara. The total number of participants includes 14 male and 1 female students. After a thorough analysis of the data using the Pit Coder’s Model of Error Analysis, the researchers identified covert, overt, omission, addition, misordering, and misinformation errors in the writing samples of the students. Moreover, the data shows that the most frequent errors highlighted in the samples are ‘omission’ and ‘misordering’, and the least frequent are addition errors. Furthermore, overt errors have appeared more frequently, while covert errors have appeared less frequently. These findings suggest that most errors stem from learners’ lack of knowledge of the basic rules of grammar. In addition, the researchers also conclude based on these findings that mother tongue influence cannot be overruled when it comes to certain errors, such as misordering, as most of the time the translator, during this translation, they mis order the words due to the different syntactic structures of the Pashto (SOV) and English Languages (SVO). This study will be very useful for teachers and tutors in helping students enhance their writing skills, knowledge, and competencies.

Keywords: Error Analysis, EFL, Pit Coder’s Model, Writing, Riphah International University.