Abstract:

The ability to write effectively is becoming an essential skill for English as a second language (ESL) students to master and to acquire in daily life. Therefore, writing is being tested in the Malaysian Education Certificate (MCE), one of the national examinations taken by Form Five students. However, the standard of English among Form Five students is declining regardless of learning English for nearly 11 years since Year One. In the process of mastering the English language, many errors were made by the students and can clearly be found in writing thus, students produced poor writing. As a result, it reflects low English language proficiency level among students. This paper attempts to discuss the finding of a case study on error analysis in two different types of writing which is directed and continuous writing. These types of writing were tested in the MCE English subject Paper One. A case study which employs qualitative method using purposive sampling was carried out to six students. The data were analysed in a descriptive form and errors made by the students were recorded into frequencies. The errors were also grouped into categories and were compared between the two types of writing. The findings of this study will be discussed.

Keywords:

Errors, error analysis, types of writing, secondary students, English as a second language.