An Analysis of English Writing Errors of Freshmen Students’ Essays - The Case of ‘Aleksandër Moisiu’ University

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Aran

A study examines English writing problems among freshmen students, focusing on errors found in a sample of 100 short essays from different branches of study. The analysis identifies error types and their frequency, concluding that mechanical errors, verb tense errors, preposition errors, and to a certain degree article errors are most problematic. Error identification is framed as essential feedback for lecturers to improve teaching techniques, refine review priorities, and guide syllabus modification.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages26

Reading Time1 h 6 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Classification of Errors

An Analysis of English Writing Errors of Freshmen Students’ Essays: The Case of ‘Aleksandër Moisiu’ University By Miranda Enesi ∗ & Anisa Trifoni ± One of the most important elements of English language is the writing skill. It is a competence which human beings are not born with; on the contrary, it is learnt with practice and experience. In this respect, the focus must be on the hard work of English instructors, who deal painstakingly with the four skills, emphasizing writing, by means of comments, advice, explanations etc. In Albanian Educational system, foreign languages are given a considerable space. In high school students study up to two foreign languages. In ‘Aleksandër Moisiu’ University, apart from the courses that are related to the students’ profile of study, a specific importance is given to English Language as well, which helps to enhance their English Language competences. This leads us to believe that students’ progress in English is satisfactory; however, this is not always the case with all the skills. Even though students are very good at listening and speaking, when it comes to writing, many of them have serious problems, which are noticed while analyzing their written work. In this respect, this study aims to explore and analyze students’ errors through the procedure of error analysis. More specifically, a sample of 100 short essays of our freshmen students from different branches of study have been analyzed with this purpose in mind. This article analyses the types of errors and their frequency of occurrence in English language writing. Based on the research analysis, it was concluded that the mechanical errors, verb tense errors, preposition errors and to some degree article errors, resulted to be more problematic than the other categories. The importance of identifying and analyzing errors is to give English lecturers feedback on the effectiveness of their teaching techniques, information on what is to be reviewed and further notice on what parts of the syllabus need modification. Making errors is an essential part of learning and English teachers should view them from the perspective of improving their teaching approaches and techniques. Keywords: error, error analysis, grammatical mistakes, language learning Introduction Writing is a problematic process in students’ mother tongue, as well as in the foreign language. While writing in a foreign language, students encounter challenges and difficulties at all stages, especially in writing essays of various types. When students hand in essays, what is frequently noticed is that most of them keep translating word for word from Albanian to English, which leads to strange sentences that do not sound natural in English. The challenge for the English instructors is to find ways to activate the dormant knowledge of ∗Lecturer, Polytechnic University of Tirana, Albania. ±Lecturer, ‘Aleksandër Moisiu’ University, Albania. the writing skill in students and assist them to proficiency. This is found in Wachs (1993) who points out that teachers of writing classes in secondary state schools encounter students who have memorized a good amount of English vocabulary and grammar rules, but have seldom put that knowledge to practice. Contrary to what people believe, having a sound knowledge of grammar, spelling and punctuation rules is not sufficient to guarantee success (Ibrahim & Ibrahim, 2020) . Creative thinking and correct inner organization are also important in expressing a message in the written form. In the context of foreign language teaching it is often the language itself which presents a barrier in this aspect since it makes English instructors focus mostly on mechanical aspects of writing, and skipping in this way the major aim which is to achieve successful communication by means of the written text. Richardsand Renandya (2002, p. 303) point out that―The difficulty lies not only in generating and organizing ideas, but also in translating t

FAQs

What research method is used to study students’ writing problems?

The study uses an error analysis procedure, examining the types of errors and their frequency in the students’ essays.

How many essays are analyzed, and who are the writers?

A sample of 100 short essays written by freshmen students from different branches of study is analyzed.

Which error categories are reported as most problematic?

Mechanical errors, verb tense errors, preposition errors, and to some degree article errors are found to be more problematic than other categories.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Aran