Analysis of Written English: The Case of Female University Students in Saudi Arabia
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This research sheds some light on the difficulties faced by Saudi students when writing in the English language by examining specific writing errors committed by the students. Fifty female students in their fourth year of study at the University of Tabuk in the department of languages and translation who were enrolled in the subject of error analysis (a kind of linguistic analysis that emphasizes the errors learners make in a target language) were given a quiz to write approximately one page about each one of three topics: effects of social media on Saudi social life, Saudi marriage customs, and Saudi economy. The quiz was graded and the writing errors were classified into four main categories: grammatical, syntactic, substance, and lexical types following Hubbard et al. (1996) classifications of errors. Then, the number of errors in each category was counted and the corresponding frequency was calculated. The findings of this study show that most frequent types of errors made by the students were in the categories of grammar (tenses, singular/plural, articles), syntax (subject-verb agreement), and substance (spelling).
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Saudi EFL learners struggle with vocabulary retention and application in writing and speaking.
“Consequently, learners struggle with vocabulary retention and application in writing and speaking (Ababneh, 2017;Alsehibany & Abdelhalim, 2023), revealing a gap between curricular objectives and actual proficiency (Al-Seghayer, 2017).”
From Integrating ChatGPT for vocabulary learning and retention: A classroom-based study of Saudi EFL learners (2025) · cites this paper as Ababneh, 2017
The Results and Discussions report improper word choices in the writing of the female Saudi university students studied, supporting difficulty applying vocabulary in writing. The paper does not assess vocabulary retention or speaking, and it cautions that its findings cannot be generalized to all Saudi learners. (LLM, conf=0.88)
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- Abdullah, A. K., & Ali, A. S. (2000). Writing Errors: A study of the writing ability of the Arab learners of academic English and Arabic at University. Language, Culture, Curriculum, 13(2), 174-183. https://doi.org/10.1080/07908310008666597 · DOI
- AbiSamra, N. (2003). An analysis of errors in Arabic speakers' English writing. In Mourtaga, K. (Ed.). Investigating writing problems among Palestinian students studying English as a foreign language. Unpublished doctoral dissertation.
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- Corder, S. P. (1967). The significance of learners' errors. Reprinted in J. C. Richards (ed.) (1984). Error analysis: Perspectives on second language acquisition, London: Longman, 19-27.
- Corder, S. P. (1974). Error Analysis. In J. P. B. Allen and S. Pit Corder (eds.) Techniques in Applied Linguistics (The Edinburgh Course in Applied Linguistics:3). London: Oxford University Press (Language and Language Learning), 122-154.
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- Jarvis, S. (2002). Topic continuity in L2 English article use. Studies in second language acquisition, 24, 387-418. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0272263102003029 · DOI
- Ridha, N. (2012). The Effect of EFL Learners' Mother Tongue on their Writings in English: An Error Analysis Study. Journal of the College of Arts (University of Basrah), 60, 22-45.
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- Vahdatinejad, S. (2008). Students' error analysis and attitude towards teacher feedback using a selected software: a case study. Unpublished Masters thesis. Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi.
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Abdelhalim, S. M., & Alsehibany, R. (2025) · Language Learning & Technology · doi:10.64152/10125/73635 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
- Authors
- Ababneh, I.
- Affiliations
- University of Tabuk (SA)
- Corresponding author
- Ababneh, Islam
- ORCID
- Ababneh, Islam
- Venue
- International Journal of Social Science Studies
- Publisher
- Redfame Publishing
- Published
- 2017-03-08
- Volume
- 5
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 1
- ISSN
- 2324-8033 (ISSN-L)
- 2324-8041
- OpenAlex
- W2593769675
- Cited by
- 15
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 4 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 1
- FWCI
- 6.35
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Locations
- International Journal of Social Science Studies (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Second Language Acquisition and Learning
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › Linguistics and Language Analysis
- Keywords
- error analysis, English as a foreign language, female university students, Saudi students, writing errors, grammatical errors, syntactic errors, lexical errors, subject-verb agreement, tense, articles, spelling errors, error rate
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