An Analysis of Errors Regarding Verbs, Tenses, and Aspects in Thai Graduate Students' Academic Writing

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to examine and categorize errors found in Thai students' academin writing in terms of English verbs, tenses, and aspects and to identify the possible causes of those errors. The subjects of this research were 50 graduate students studying on the English for specific Purposes program. The instruments were academic writig essays, a grammar test, and interviews. The results of this study were as follows: First, the errors found in this study fall into eight catergories: word choice, using wrong tenses of aspects, subject-verb agreement, using wrong voice, verb forms, unnecessary insertion of verb, the verb to be, and trivial errors. Second, word choice errors were the most frequent errors found in academic writing essays while for the grammar test, errors concerning unnecessaty insertion of verbs were found to be the most difficult. Moreover, two main causes of errors found in Thai graduate students' academic writing were negative transfer and ignorance of rule restrictions. Other possible causes of errors included falsely hypothesized concepts, the complexity of English academic writing, and factors resulting from personal variations (proficiency). The overall results of the study showed that verb errors are one type of grammatical error that are frequently found in the writing of Thai students, and language teachers should treat them as a point of difficulty that needs special emphasis when teaching English to Thai students.