An Examination of Common Errors in Essays Written By Secondary School Students in Malawi: Some Implications for Teaching

This study aimed at analysing errors in essays written by Malawian students who were learning English as a Second Language (ESL). Its specific focus was three-fold: to analyse using Corder’s (1974) five-stage approach Error Analysis, assess sources of the and identify measures that could be applied help attain proficiency English. The utilised qualitative quantitative designs. participants this teachers. former required write which analysed Analysis while latter interviewed establish ways overcome them. has revealed following most frequent errors: tense, spelling, subject-verb agreement, articles, nouns, capitalisation fragment. further inter- lingual intra-lingual interferences main errors. demonstrated other factors such lapse reading culture, carelessness social media’s writing style influence students’ shown is helpful teachers because it enables them common problems. Teachers can, therefore, more attention on identified findings have pedagogical implications for ESL they would employ appropriate pedagogy minimise area grammar sentence structures. also practical sense some platforms organised order grill how improve their content skills writing. use these share experiences with fellow map way forward instruction skills.