The Study of Grammatical Errors in Iranian EFL Learners’ Spoken Discourse: A Linguistic Analysis

A convenient means of identifying learners’ linguistic abilities is the study of the grammatical errors in the sentential constructions in their spoken outputs. In so doing, this cross-sectional qualitative study aimed to examine the spoken syntactical constructions produced by the young EFL institute learners in light of the accuracy level and types of errors. Linguistic error analysis was used to chart grammatical knowledge of the learners and assess aspects of grammatical deviances that unfolded in their productions. Findings indicated that the learners’ grammatical errors, in most cases, adhered to their misuse and misapplication of the rules and linguistic patterns learnt. However, most of the errors committed were local; that is, they did not disrupt understanding, including tense marking, omission, misformation, and disordering errors. Misapplication of verb-word, concordance violation, and the use of double verbs and pronouns, as well as tense-marker, alternating forms, and regularization, were the frequent errors observed in the samples of the participants’ discourse. Eventually, pedagogical implications and applications ensued, which are dispensed to provide insight into the materials development and instruction for the enhancement of grammatical competency and proficiency in speaking skills in EFL programs.

کلیدواژه ها:

EFL context ، Error analysis ، linguistic study ، spoken discourse ، syntax