Fossilized Writing Errors of EFL Students

A Case Study of the English Department at Cihan University- Erbil

Abstract

This study endeavors to investigate the fossilized writing errors of students in the English department at Cihan University, Erbil. Furthermore, the paper seeks to discern the underlying causes for these persistent fossilized forms and outline potential strategies to mitigate them. Twenty-five students were selected from the fourth stage in the English department to partake in three assessments conducted over the course of two semesters. Each assessment required the participants to write essays spanning 120–150 words about any subject. Subsequently, the writing samples from the initial two tests were scrutinized and corrected by the researcher then feedback was given to the students. The researcher categorized errors committed by learners of English based on three aspects; insights gleaned from previous studies, the errors in the tests, and interviews with English language instructors in the English department. The last test aimed to find out the fossilized or the persistent linguistic inaccuracies that continued appearing regardless of correction and feedback. The analysis revealed that students’ writing production is notably influenced by their mother tongue/first language and by faulty learning from the environment.