Error Analysis of Jordanian First - Year University Students’ English Language Writing at Arab Open University – Case Study

Abstract

The present study aims at analyzing 33 English paragraphs written by first -year students at Arab Open University in Jordan. The participants are from different academic majors, and, all the participants are English foreign language students and face challenges in learning the English language. The tool of the current study was the participants’ written paragraphs. All errors committed by the participants were analyzed and classified into different categories. The results showed that the most frequent error category was omission and addition, and the errors committed by the participants are attributed to intralingual difficulties due to the deformation of language learning as well as limited interlingual errors. In the light of the obtained results, several recommendations and pedagogical implications were suggested in order to help instructors and teachers in general in their efforts in lessening the obstacles regarding writing paragraphs in the English language