Grammatical Errors as Strategic Adjustments: A Corpus-Based Study of Definite Article Use in EAP Learners’ Oral Presentations

Author(s) : Muhammad Waqar Amin1 and Musarat Yasmin2

Abstract:

Grammatical accuracy remains a persistent challenge for second language learners, particularly in spoken academic contexts This study investigates the grammatical errors made by English for Academic Purposes (EAP) learners during oral presentations at the undergraduate level. The collected data is taken in the recorded form that is transcribed and processed via Antconc 3.5.9.0 software. Corder’s theory of error analysis (1967) is adopted as framework to discuss the findings which are presented in the form of four separate tables representing four semesters of BS. Fixed-Size sampling technique is utilized for this study as it follows qualitative research methodology and only the syntactic errors of definite article are considered for discussion and analysis. The finding presents two types of errors one is incorrect use of definite article with proper nouns and second is repetition of definite article with single noun and without noun. The final results justify the purpose of this study and support the argument that even though the errors are due to lack of grammatical knowledge but they are also adopted as strategies by the EAP learners to compensate the pauses they take to think next words or syntactic structure to communicate. This study is beneficial for language teachers and also for researchers who look to analyze stage fright and its impact on language.

Keywords: Error Analysis (EA), English for Academic Purpose (EAP), Syntactic Errors, English as Second Language (ESL), Second Language Acquisition (SLA).