Factors Affecting the Morphological Errors in Young ESL Learners’ Writing

Learning grammar has always been a challenging task for individuals especially for ESL learners. Most ESL learners face difficulties in learning the concepts and rules of the second language due to mother tongue intervention, which lead to poor writing that consequently hinders the process of conveying ideas, thoughts and expressions. This paper explores the factors that contribute to morphological errors in ESL learners’ writing. A total of 30 essays written by primary students were analysed according to Surface Strategy Taxonomy (1982) classification. The findings show that the main cause of error in the students’ writing is intralingual factor or the interference of language within the second language for the students tend to overgeneralize one rule of grammar into another. This paper concludes that teachers need to be more attentive towards students’ language proficiency and the area of learning the students lack understanding, in order for them to tackle the errors committed by the students. A thorough description is needed to assist the students in learning second language even with the conviction that complete elimination of error is impossible.