Analysis of Turkish EFL Students’ Writing Error Types and Frequencies

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Gezder T.

11th International KTUDELL Conference, Trabzon, Türkiye, 7 - 09 Ekim 2026, ss.30-55, (Tam Metin Bildiri)

  • Yayın Türü: Bildiri / Tam Metin Bildiri
  • Basıldığı Şehir: Trabzon
  • Basıldığı Ülke: Türkiye
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.30-55
  • Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Writing activates higher-order thinking skills to stimulate cognitive functions and it is a very complex ability which leads to the production of different kinds of errors. Learners’ errors need to be seen not as symptoms of lack of good performance, but as signs that there is an active learning process going on. Finding these errors help for eliminating them. Error Analysis (EA) is the most common approach to find them. Thus, using a screening model, the study sought to uncover types and categories of errors in Turkish English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ writing performances, as well as potential differences in error frequencies. The data gained from the research was processed by means of document analysis. In the study, the sample consisted of 33 students from different departments of a state university in Türkiye. They were at preparatory classes for English and at beginner to elementary level. They were requested to write an essay in 100-150 words on the same topic. The analysis showed that Turkish EFL students made 148 errors in their writing performances. In order to show the kinds of errors, they were categorized into intralingual and interlingual. Overall the results of this study indicated that the most common errors were intralingual. Furthermore, the errors were summarized based on two types: grammatical and semantical to display error frequencies. Among these, grammatical errors were the most common, involving a wide range of categories including verb/tense errors, article errors, preposition errors, pronoun errors, adjective and adverb errors, noun errors, gerund errors, and auxiliary verb errors. Semantical errors, involving word choice, followed next in frequency.