COMMON ERRORS IN EFAL WRITING: CASE STUDY OF SOUTH AFRICAN TVET STUDENTS

Abstract

Writing skills are an essential element of communication throughout students’ academic journey, as they develop the ability to structure ideas and emotions effectively and convey meaning through clear, well-developed content. The study investigated the common errors committed by English First Additional Language (EFAL) students in writing. The aim of the study was to explore errors students commit in their academic writing. The study was premised on the interpretivist paradigm and employed a case study design. The study population consisted of two campuses of the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) college in Limpopo Province, South Africa, and was selected through convenience sampling. The participants were 30 EFAL level 4 students, and their 6 lecturers were sampled purposively. The data collection instruments used were document analysis and open-ended questionnaires. The main errors discovered include problems with grammar, cohesion and coherence problems, lack of ideas, problems with punctuation, problems with tenses, spelling problems, poor vocabulary, poor sentence and paragraph structure, and lack of language and editing skills. The study recommends that TVET students attend writing workshops, engage in peer tutoring, integrate reading and writing activities, and that lecturers provide ample opportunities for students to practice academic writing as novel solutions to the problem.