Relative Clause in Iranian EFL Learners' Writing: A Corpus-based Error Analysis

The aim of the present study was to find out the common errors of relative clause in written productions of pre-intermediate and intermediate Iranian EFL learners. It also attempted to explore if there is any difference between two groups of learners regarding their knowledge of relative clause. The participants of this study were ۵۰ male and female EFL learners studying at Kermanshah language institute. To fulfill the aims of the present research, the composition writing was used in order to investigate the relative clause use in written production of EFL learners. After collecting the required data, the frequency and type of errors were computed for participants at each level. The results of the present research indicated that the most frequent relative clause error committed by pre intermediate learners was punctuating, while intermediate learners committed omission of relative pronoun as the most frequent error. The second frequent error committed by pre intermediate learners was omission of relative pronouns and errors of agreement in tense while this was use of subject for intermediate learners. Pre-intermediate learners also committed misuse of relative pronouns, use of subject and inappropriate use of pronoun and be as the least frequent errors while misuse of relative pronoun was the least frequent error committed by intermediate learners. The results of the present research also indicated that there was a significant difference between two groups of learners (pre intermediate and intermediate) regarding their knowledge of relative clause.

کلیدواژه ها:

Relative Clause Errors ، Iranian EFL Learners ، Written Production ، Relative Pronouns.