Common informative writing errors among junior high school students: input to lesson exemplars

This thesis sought to identify and analyze common informative writing errors committed by junior high school students in order to provide meaningful input to the development of lesson exemplars. Respondents were selected through using convenient sampling method. The respondents gave to the researchers copies of the informative errors they produced in their English class. There were coded as to the errors committed. There were identified and the results were validated by three master teachers of English.
Results showed 12 themes indicating common errors i.e., word choice, punctuation, spelling, capitalization, subject and verb agreement, preposition, articles, verb tenses, pluralization, pronouns, word forms and conjunctions. Of these, spelling errors emerged as the most prominent under the mechanics category next is word choice under the grammatical category followed by preposition from style category.
Based on the findings, the study had reached the following conclusions:
·         Mechanical, Grammatical, and Style errors are the most common errors the students commit when writing an English informative essay. Among them the errors that have the most occurrences were the Mechanical error.
·         Spelling, Preposition and Word Choice are the errors that primarily affect the overall quality of the students' written output specially when writing an informative essay as they rank first among their respective categories.
·         Word choice on students’ informative essays affects the idea that the writer wants to convey on the output. Among them is the inappropriate use of words, the best example of it is the use of words with the same sound but different meaning that gives an impact to the output.
Based on this study’s preceding and findings and conclusions, the following recommendations are made:
·         Students must actively seek guidance from the teachers to give them proper assistance in terms of writing, this will be a big help in correcting their own write-ups.
·         Students must find opportunities to develop their writing skills outside of the classroom. Investigate online resources, writing communities, or workshops that offer more help and experience in informative writing. Students should explore various genres to expand their knowledge and ability in writing.
·         Teachers should assist students in expanding their vocabulary by assigning substantial reading assignments on various themes. They should provide students with immediate oral and written comments on their writing skills. They should use the sample lesson examples in the thesis as practical models, converting them into workbook activities that fit the desired learning outcomes.
·         Future research should look into the long-term impacts of writing errors in junior high school students' written output and if interventions and instructional approaches impact students' writing skills outside of the immediate setting.
·         Lesson exemplars provided by the researchers that address writing faults are valuable tools for enhancing students' informative writing skills. These exemplars will assist students in developing a better knowledge of good grammar, sentence structure, and organization by providing clear instances of frequent problems and teaching how to address them. Students can improve their writing skills and academic performance by analyzing and applying these exemplars.