Morphological Errors: A Study of the Written Expressions of Pakistani ESL Students
Abstract
This study analyzes the morphological errors and sources that caused those errors in the written expressions of Pakistani ESL students at intermediate level. The present study employs the qualitative interpretive research paradigm to describe the morphological errors. The sample for the study came from 100 ESL students and their descriptive texts were used as instrument of research. Data was analyzed by following Corder’s (1974) theoretical framework of Error Analysis. The findings of the study suggest that ESL students commit morphological errors in case of inflectional morphology, particularly in nouns, verbs and prepositions. Moreover, research findings show that ESL students commit addition errors, omission errors, substitution errors and permutation errors. This study also addresses the question of factors that contribute to such errors. The study highlights that intralingual transfer and interlingual transfer are two main causes of morphological errors
Authors
Saqib Mahmood
Assistant Professor, Department of English, GIFT University Gujranwala, Punjab, Pakistan
Maryam Sanaullah Aolakh
English Language Teacher, Govt. Girls High School, Kamoki, Punjab, Pakistan
Ahmad Mujtaba
Lecturer, Department of English, GIFT University Gujranwala, Punjab, Pakistan