Syntactic Error Analysis on Oral Classroom Discourse

Purpose: This qualitative research shed light on the syntactic errors frequently made by Grade 11 students in speaking. This research also explored and understood the probable linguistic reasons for these occurrences. The results of this study were intended for English teachers to obtain a deeper understanding of the existence and significance of errors in language learning. Methodology: This study is a qualitative research design using the Error Analysis approach. Twelve participants from three different private schools in the Davao Region were purposefully chosen. The following data collection techniques, namely observation, interview, and documentation were utilized. Error Analysis was carried out in four successive stages; a collection of a sample of learner language, identification of errors, description of errors, and explanation of errors. Findings: Results showed that among the syntactic errors committed by the participants in classroom discourse were omission, addition, selection, and ordering. Results further revealed that the causes of syntactic errors were intralingual, as the common cause of errors, and interlingual. Furthermore, the FGD results showed that there were other reasons for committing errors like fear to commit errors and lack of confidence, which impede the students in their speaking performance. Significance: As gleaned from the results of this qualitative study, English teachers are encouraged to focus on correcting high frequency and general errors rather than correcting every syntactic error committed by the students. Secondly, English teachers might consider pedagogical reforms in teaching speaking. Lastly, English teachers must mitigate anxiety while improving students’ oral proficiency.