Grammatical errors made by learners in writing descriptive essays : a case study of Mmakgabo Senior Secondary School, Koloti Circuit, Limpopo, South Africa

Abstract

The study focused on the grammatical errors made by learners in writing descriptive essays: A case study of Mmakgabo Senior Secondary School, Koloti circuit, Limpopo, South Africa, paying much attention to the use of grammatical rules features specifically, in their academic piece of writing (descriptive essay). The study aimed at finding out the patterns of grammatical errors that are present in learners’ essays and the effective approach that one can use to trace the grammatical errors made by school learners in descriptive essays. The nature of the study and type of data to be collected motivated the researcher to use qualitative approach. Therefore, the researcher deployed qualitative method to collect and analyse data for this study. This method gave the researcher a wide range of opportunities to collect invaluable data which made him to gain in-depth insight of the study and the problem researched. As data collection instruments, the research firstly relied on document analysis by analysing English essay scripts of learners. In addition, the researcher conducted structured interviews by asking relevant questions to English teachers in order to ascertain their experiences and knowledge of the kind of grammatical errors learners make when they write English texts. The researcher found from document analysis that learners commit grammatical errors such as the use informal language, sentences fragment, spelling errors, incorrect use of nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, and prepositions. The interview findings also presented similar findings and the interviewees ranked learners’ adherence to grammatical rules to average level. The researcher relied on the findings of both the interviews, and document analysis interpreted in conjunction with recent empirical studies to conclude that learners still have many challenges with regard to following grammatical rules when they write in English. Therefore, the researcher recommends that teachers put extra effort to teach learners how to write coherently in English