LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 20:4 April 2020
ISSN 1930-2940

Editors:
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         T. Deivasigamani, Ph.D.
         Pammi Pavan Kumar, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.

Managing Editor & Publisher: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.

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Error Analysis: A Study of Prepositional Errors among Kashmiri ESL Students

Hafsa Riyaz, M.Phil., M.A. Linguistics, B.Ed.

Abstract

The present study will be an attempt to investigate the errors committed in the written English by secondary school students of Kashmir valley. For this purpose questionnaires were prepared for the students to test their writing ability. The test included writing summary of a given passage and a picture based story questions. The sample of the study consisted of 300 students selected randomly from various schools of Kashmir valley. The present study will be discussing errors in prepositions. The findings revealed that these errors are mainly due to first language (Kashmiri/Urdu) negative transfer. This study is important for teachers and educators who should become aware of the types of linguistic errors that their target language learners make.

Keywords: Kashmiri ESL Students, English writing, error analysis, prepositions

1. Introduction

It is a widely accepted fact that English has acquired the status of a world language and it holds its sway in different domains of life. English, though a foreign language, occupies a unique position in the educational system of India. The situation in Jammu and Kashmir is not much different from rest of the Indian union. English has been a dominant language of Jammu and Kashmir and serves as the medium of education in government and private schools.

Learning English requires mastering the four language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. However writing is considered the most complex skill because it requires thinking and cognitive processes to reach its final product. Despite its complexity, writing is very important for communication. It is the fact that people communicate either orally or in writing. “In spoken conversations with others, they make sense of the dialogue in a complex back-and-forth process of negotiation of meaning between speakers. In written texts, this back-and-forth negotiation is not possible. There is no possibility of negotiating meaning of written documents, the problems of misunderstandings are severely increased” (Penman, 1998). Hence, it is evident that writing is an intricate and complex task. In Kashmir, students barely get acquainted with the nature of writing process and teachers also hardly make any conscious effort in this regard. Consequently, students start committing errors and mistakes in writing and these errors/mistakes are not rectified by the teachers. Finally, these errors and mistakes become permanent feature of their writing.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Hafsa Riyaz
M.Phil., M.A. Linguistics, B.Ed.
Net and Set Qualified
Shamim House, Bhagat Barzulla, Srinagar, Kashmir, 190005
Department of Linguistics
University of Kashmir, Srinagar, India
190006
hafsakachkar@gmail.com
9797864933
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