Errors in the English Article System Among EFL Learners: Evidence from the Kurdistan Region - Iraq

Main Article Content

Lavin Azwar Omar
Karwan Mustafa Saeed

Abstract

The identification of the sources and types of students’ errors in the use of the English article system is beneficial in assisting them to overcome such problems. This study aims to investigate the types and sources of article errors made by Kurdish EFL learners. The data was collected from 61 third-year university students who were studying English at the time of the present study. The types of article errors were analysed based on surface structure taxonomy (SST). Contrastive and error analyses were adopted to analyse the sources of article errors. The study findings suggest that the students committed different types of errors in the use of the English article system, namely, substitution, omission, and addition. Omission errors were the most frequent type of article errors, while substitution errors were the least frequent ones. The sources of errors are divided into two categories: inter-lingual and intra-lingual. Analysis of the student's written samples indicates that most of the errors in the articles are attributed to the target language itself. The implications of the study suggest that teachers should pay more attention to the acquisition of the English article system. Limitations and future research considerations are discussed in the article.

Article Details

How to Cite
Omar, L. A., & Saeed, K. M. (2024). Errors in the English Article System Among EFL Learners: Evidence from the Kurdistan Region - Iraq . TESOL Today, 1(1), 16–30. https://doi.org/10.53898/tesol2024113
Section
Articles
Author Biographies

Lavin Azwar Omar, Department of English Language, Faculty of Education, Koya University, Koya, 46017, Iraq

Lavin Azwar Omar completed her undergraduate studies in English Language at Koya University in 2022. Currently, she is pursuing her master's degree in Applied Linguistics at Koya University. She works as an English Language Facilitator at the Language and Research Center in Koysinjaq, Kurdistan Region - Iraq. Her professional interests include second language acquisition, education, English language teaching, sociolinguistics, and speech-language pathology.

Karwan Mustafa Saeed, Department of English Language, Faculty of Education, Koya University, Koya, 46017, Iraq

Karwan Mustafa Saeed earned his B.A. degree in Translation from Koya University in 2008, his master's degree in Applied Linguistics from UUM in Malaysia in 2013, and his Ph.D. in TESOL from University Sains Malaysia in 2018. Currently, he works as research associate for a collaborative research project between Koya University in Kurdistan Region and Ulster University in Northern Ireland, UK. His interest is in the realm of TESOL Education, teacher professional development, speaking proficiency, language testing, and language policy. His works have appeared in a number of prestigious international peer-reviewed journals

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