Analysis of Morpho-Syntactic Errors in the Narrative Writings of Pakistani O’ Level Students

Abstract

Since the teaching of English as second or foreign language, it has been the dream of all the teachers that their students should compose error-free piece of writing. The primary goal of this study is to explore morphosyntactic errors of Pakistani O’ Level students while writing English narratives. The study was conducted in five leading schools of O’ Level in Lahore, Pakistan. The most important errors found in the students’ essays included: tense, subject/verb agreement, spellings, punctuation, articles and prepositions. The errors were classified according to frequency and percentage in the students’ narratives. The research sample consisted of 200 students who were asked to compose a narrative write up reflecting their attitudes and opinions towards the writing skill of English language. The findings revealed that the Pakistani O’ Level students make different types of morpho-syntactic errors which are mostly due to intralingual transfer, though interlanguage errors are not an exception. It was suggested that the English writing skills of Pakistani O’ Level students need extensive practice for meeting international examination standards.