Syntactic Errors In English Technical Writing By ESL Learners: A Cognitive Analysis

In this comparative study, the researchers analyzed the syntactical errors in English writings of secondary-level Pakistani ESL students; though syntactical errors are commonly found in each language, it is mostly committed by ESL students in English language writings. The present study was formed on the quantitative method. The population of the study was one government and one private secondary school in the district of Lahore. Due to ethical considerations, the schools' names were not mentioned. The researchers selected 60 students’ sample from both schools; the G-group 30 students represent government schools and P-group 30 students represent private schools; the questionnaire was divided among these students as a research instrument for data collection. The data was analyzed in statistical charts, and mentioned in numbers and percentages. The findings of this comparative study disclosed that private school students committed fewer syntactical errors than government school students justifying the role of medium of instruction.

Writing is a crucial skill in English language learning, enabling learners to articulate ideas effectively and clearly. Writing is inherently complex, as it integrates content mastery, logical organization, grammar, mechanics, and stylistic choices. At the heart of this process is syntax—the rules governing sentence structure and word order, which are essential for producing clear and coherent written communication. Thus, this study examines the common syntactic errors in the English writing of Grade 10 ESL learners in Southern Palawan to identify error patterns, contributing factors, and their implications for language instruction. Using Dulay et al. (1982) Surface Strategy Taxonomy, the analysis categorized errors into omission (e.g., articles, prepositions, pronouns), addition (e.g., repetition of prepositions, singular/plural mismatches), misformation, and misordering. Data were gathered through essay evaluations and semi-structured interviews. The findings revealed that students have a satisfactory level of English writing performance. Therefore, students are still exhibiting syntactic errors, as a result, the study found out that the students are still challenged to write a clear coherent text with one of the factors including psychological condition, limited grammatical understanding, technologies specifically gadgets, and lack of exposure to structured writing that significantly contributes to these errors. Other major factors that contribute to the syntactic errors are affective, linguistic, and external factors. Findings highlight the need for tailored interventions, including explicit grammar instruction, contextualized writing exercises, vocabulary-enrichment programs or activities, and digital literacy interventions. This study offers actionable insights to enhance English language pedagogy and support ESL learners in overcoming syntactic challenges, thereby fostering improved academic and professional communication skills.

Purpose of the study: This research presents the results of research on syntactic errors in writing produced by third semester students of the Department of English and Literature, Alauddin State Islamic University, Makassar. The aim of this research is to identify the dominant types of syntactic errors and provide in-depth insight into the error patterns that frequently occur. Methodology: The research method used is descriptive qualitative by collecting data from students' final written exam sheets. Data collection involved obtaining final writing exam sheets from third semester AG 1&2 students enrolled in the Department of English and Literature at Alauddin State Islamic University Makassar. Main Findings:The analysis results show that the most common syntax errors include omissions, additions, information errors, and ordering errors. Novelty/Originality of this study:The novelty of this research lies in the focus of analyzing syntactic errors during the third semester students studying English and Literature. with a more comprehensive and detailed approach than previous research.

This research described about an analysis of Syntactical Errors in writing cause and effect paragraphs made by the 2nd semester students of English Educational Department at PGRI University of Banyuwangi. The purpose of this research was to analyze the types and the dominant forms of Syntactical Errors in students’ cause and effect paragraphs. The researcher used a descriptive qualitative method in analyzing the data. The sources of data in this research were cause and effect paragraphs made by 2nd semester students of English Educational Department at PGRI University of Banyuwangi. The researcher used Politzer and Romirez’s theory as a base for analyze the Syntactical Errors of the data. From the analysis, the researcher discovered that there were 45 different types of Syntactical Errors based on the data analysis and discussion. Students made errors in 33 types of noun phrases and 12 types of verb phrases. The errors can be percentage to 73% of noun phrases and 27% of verb phrases. From the percentages, the errors are dominated by noun phrases by 73% of the total Syntactical Errors found in writing cause and effect paragraphs made by the 2nd Semester Students of English Educational Department at PGRI University of Banyuwangi.

Analyzing errors committed by second language learners during their first year of study at the University of Taif, can offer insights and knowledge of the learners’ difficulties in acquiring technical English communication. With reference to the errors analyzed, the researcher found that the learners’ failure to understand basic English grammar could be ascribed to intralingual interference which is associated with the developmental sequence of learning English for technical communication in the form of speaking, listening, reading and writing, rather than to interference of the mother tongue. The results will be of benefit for material development, especially in the provision of materials in the Language Learning Centre.

This research paper examines the effect of teacher feedback on the syntactic accuracy of first year students of English at the Department of English, University of Larkano. The study will focus on determining the prevalent syntactic errors, the nature of teacher feedback, and how students perceive the effectiveness of teacher feedback. The research design used was descriptive and a sample of 50 students was used by convenience sampling. Written assignments and teacher comments were used to gather data and analyzed using descriptive methods to determine patterns of errors and post-feedback improvements. The results show that students often committed subject-verb agreement, tense consistency, clause structure, and sentence structure mistakes. Direct and metalinguistic feedback provided by teachers was effective in making students aware of their mistakes and correcting them, leading to a significant increase in syntactic accuracy. Students said that feedback helped them reflect, revise and focus on sentence structure. The research finds that teacher feedback in a structured form is very important in improving the syntactic competence of ESL learners, which facilitates the correction of errors consciously and the development of academic writing skills.