An Analysis of Errors in the Written English of Class-four Learners in Migori County

Abstract

The present study set out to investigate the errors made by class-four students in their written English. The sample of students was selected from twelve primary schools in the Migori County of Kenya. The study collected data from guided compositions which the participants were asked to write. It looked at a wide range of errors, which it divided into categories: writing-mechanics errors (among which spelling errors), morphological errors, syntactic errors and lexical-choice ones. Its objectives were: (a) to identify which ones were most frequent within each category, (b) to establish whether there were quantitative differences between the errors made by learners from rural schools and those from urban schools, and (c) to establish whether there were quantitative differences between the errors made by female learners and those made by male ones. The study found that errors related to writing mechanics (e.g. spelling errors) were the most frequent, that learners from rural schools made more errors than those from urban schools, and that the male learners made more errors than the female ones.