An Error Analysis Of the Writing of Tanzanian University Students

Abstract

This paper examines the general patterns of errors made by universitystudents in their essays. The study involved a group of first year studentsfrom the University of Dar as Salaam, who wrote essays about theirlinguistic backgrounds. The errors made by the students were then classifiedinto a number of classes. The results indicate that the highest per cents oferrors were in the over-elaboration, verbal and nominal classes. Specifically,a good number of students made many errors relating to over-elaboration,which is caused by over-emphasis on formal structure in the teaching ofEnglish. The paper recommends that error analysis studies pay attention toboth the structure of the language and the discussion of language functionsand the context within which the text to be analysed is produced.