An Error Analysis in Passive Voice Sentences Made by EFL Fourth Year Students at Almergib University

Abstract

In language learning, mistakes and errors have been inevitably produced. Learners make errors in the process of constructing a new system of the language they are acquiring. This study aimed to an error analysis in passive voice sentences made by English foreign language (EFL) fourth year students from English language department at Almergib University in Alkhoms. A written test was administered to a group of one hundred thirty three students as a sample of this study and the students were selected randomly. The descriptive analysis method was used in this study to describe students’ errors. The results showed that there were 2092 error passives sentences or 84.39% were made by the students. The largest number of errors in misformation of passive made by the students was in verb ‘to be’ which was about 47% followed by past participle which was about 33% followed by verb tense which was about 12% and then subject-verb agreement which was about 7%. These errors serve as a useful guide for English teachers to design an effective curriculum for teaching and learning of English as a second language and improve understanding of causes of errors made in passive sentence construction.