Error Analysis of the Written English Composition of Undergraduates: A Case Study of Nigeria

Abstract

Research findings in the writing composition always show that there are common and recurrent errors in all aspects of English and these are linguistically and communicatively affecting learners. This study, therefore, analysed errors in written English examination papers of 50 undergraduates. The students were final year undergraduates in the Department of Arts Education (English Education Unit), AdekunleAjasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State, Nigeria. 25 male and 25 female students’ examination papers were sampled.All the participants were Nigerians. The purpose of the study was to find out the types of errors that still manifested in the written work of graduating students studying English. The research instrument used for the study was the graduating students’ written examination papers. All the errors were identified and classified into various grammatical categories. The results of the study show the five most common errors committed by the final year students: verb tense, spelling, subject verb agreement, preposition and capitalization. The paper provides an insight into some problems of second language learning in Nigeria and therefore concludes that more attention should be given to these types of errors in Nigerian higher institutions.