Thai EFL Senior High School Students’ Errors in Paragraph Writing

Abstract

The present study aims to analyze errors occurred in the process of paragraph writing of Thai EFL secondary students in Amnat Charoen province in Thailand. Amnat Charoen is a small province situated in central northeastern Thailand. Most researchers have explored error analysis (EA) focusing particularly on undergraduate students, few studies have been done at a secondary level. The written paragraphs were collected at 7 major secondary schools in 7 districts in Anmat Charoen province, taking extracts of 210 written paragraphs. The writing errors were collected, labeled and categorized into elements of syntax, grammar, mechanics and etc. The findings illustrated that the following errors occurred, percentage indicating the level of occurrence capitalization (82%), punctuation (57%), contraction (43%), fragments (43%), run-ons (39%), subject-verb agreement (22%), spelling (20%), conjunctions (20%), tenses (18%) and comma splices (12%). The results of error analysis could be useful as pedagogical implications for teachers who design and select teaching materials, involved with paragraph writing suitable for the learners’ needs.