Classification of Grammatical Errors Found in English Verb Forms from Students’ Academic Writing Tasks at Gishari Integrated Polytechnic Regional College (IPRC), Rwanda

Abstract

The analysis of language errors has been a beneficial exercise in academia and research, particularly for individual learners who use English as a second or foreign language. This study aimed to identify and classify grammatical errors in verb forms use among engineering students' academic writing tasks. It pursued one specific objective of categorizing errors in verb forms. The study involved 133 students and 15 teachers, who contributed to data collection through essay tests and questionnaires. Analytical methods included document analysis, deductive thematic analysis, and descriptive statistics were used to gather useful linguistic facts on the issue. The grammatical errors discovered encompassed all five verb forms errors and were categorized as omission, addition, misformation, and misordering based on students' essays and teachers' evaluation of the essays. Thus, writing errors detract the reader from the piece's overall readability with poor quality of writing and blurs written communication. Therefore, it is necessary to pinpoint the students' verb-form errors in order to provide them with the required foundational knowledge to write flawlessly. Teachers should be on the alert of grammatical verb forms errors when assessing their students’ writings and ensure they correctly use the verb forms.