Wh-questions play a significant role in improving a language learner’s overall language development. The use of wh-questions not only helps build learners’ vocabulary and develop their ability to produce contextually appropriate and meaningful sentences but also consequently helps improve their conversational and social skills. By stimulating complex responses from the learners, wh-questions also help promote their critical thinking and reasoning skills. Unfortunately, many EFL learners are unable to ask grammatically correct and contextually appropriate wh-questions during conversations that prevent them from developing their communication skills and eventually negatively affect their overall language learning process. The goal of the present study was to find out the major wh-question making errors by the EFL learners at the undergraduate level. With a wh-question generating instrument, the study collected and analyzed samples from 50 undergraduate students at Bangladesh Agricultural University. Each student was instructed to make 10 wh-questions and hence the total number of questions analyzed by the researcher was 500. A total of 341 errors were identified inclusively where the majority of errors (155 out of 341) was marked in the auxiliary verb category. The second large number of errors consisted of a total of 88 wh-questions that were incompatible with the given answers/contexts. A considerable number of errors were also found in the wh-word (50 out of 341) and content word (37 out of 341) categories. However, a very insignificant number of errors were identified in the preposition category (11 out of 341) whereas no errors were found at all in the determiner category. The study basically attempted to make the learners aware of their major wh-question making errors, so that, they can minimize the errors in their conversations, and can better develop their communication skills, and improve their overall language development.
| Published in | International Journal of Language and Linguistics (Volume 9, Issue 4) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.ijll.20210904.11 |
| Page(s) | 140-144 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Wh-questions, Wh-words, Wh-question Making Errors, Communication Skills, Undergraduate EFL Learners
| [1] | Adams, G. (2019, October 29). Wh-questions and why they're important. Retrieved February 16, 2021, from learning links: http://stage.learninglinks.org.au/wh-questions/. |
| [2] | Rowe, M. L., Leech, K. A., & Cabrera, N. (2017). Going Beyond Input Quantity: Wh-Questions Matter for Toddlers’ Language and Cognitive Development. Cognitive Science, 41, 162–179. |
| [3] | Plankers, M. (n. d.). Language and Literacy: Asking and Answering “Wh” Questions. Retrieved February 24, 2021, from n2y: https://www.n2y.com/blog/language-and-literacy-wh-questions/. |
| [4] | Silalahi, R. M. (2017). Indonesian University Students’ Common Mistakes when Formulating Interrogative Sentences with ‘Wh-questions’. A Journal of Culture, English Langugae, Teaching and Literature, 17 (2), 154-177. |
| [5] | Swan, M. (1980). Practical English Usage. Oxford: Oxford University Press. |
| [6] | Zhang, X. (2016). A Study on the Acquisition of English WH-question by Chinese Beginning Learners. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 6 (8), 1578-1583. |
| [7] | Masruddin, M., & Karmila, K. (2018). Constructing WH-Questions through An Error Analysis at Junior High School of Indonesia. LANGKAWI: Journal of the Association for Arabic and English, 4 (2), 123-137. |
| [8] | Jasi, M. I. (2013). Wh-questions Constructed by the Structure II Students of the English Department of Widya Mandala Catholic University Surabaya. Magister Scientiae (34), 159-174. |
| [9] | Addaibani, A. A. (2017). Acquisition of Wh-Questions in English by Saudi English Majors in Najran University. British Journal of English Linguistics, 5 (4), 17-28. |
| [10] | Al-Hassaani, A. M. (2016). A Case Study of Question Formations of the Saudi EFL Learners at Bisha University. English Language Teaching, 9 (5), 54-64. |
| [11] | Nurjanah, Anggoro, D., & Dwiastuty, N. (2017). Error Analysis of the Use of Question Words in English Sentences. Journal of English Language Teaching, 2 (1), 80-88. |
| [12] | Al-Mekhlafi, M. A. (2013). A Study of Question Formation in the English Writing of Omani EFL Learners. Standard Journal of Education and Essay, 1 (4), 57-62. |
| [13] | Lee, J. F. (2012). Teaching Hong Kong L2 Learners Wh-Questions–Using a Learning Study Approach. The Journal of Asia TEFL, 9 (1), 171-197. |
| [14] | Rowland, C. F., Pine, J. M., Lieven, E. V., & Theakston, A. L. (2005). The Incidence of Error in Young Children’s Wh-Questions. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 48, 384–404. |
| [15] | Hwayed, M. H. (2014). A Study of the Linguistic Errors in the Interrogative and Imperative Sentences Written in Test Papers. International Journal of Current Research, 6 (3), 5819-5827. |
APA Style
Md. Arif Khan Pathan. (2021). Chief Wh-question Making Errors by the Undergraduate Level EFL Learners: An Analysis. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 9(4), 140-144. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20210904.11
ACS Style
Md. Arif Khan Pathan. Chief Wh-question Making Errors by the Undergraduate Level EFL Learners: An Analysis. Int. J. Lang. Linguist. 2021, 9(4), 140-144. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20210904.11
AMA Style
Md. Arif Khan Pathan. Chief Wh-question Making Errors by the Undergraduate Level EFL Learners: An Analysis. Int J Lang Linguist. 2021;9(4):140-144. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20210904.11
Share This Article
Twitter
Linked In
Facebook
Copy
Download@article{10.11648/j.ijll.20210904.11,
author = {Md. Arif Khan Pathan},
title = {Chief Wh-question Making Errors by the Undergraduate Level EFL Learners: An Analysis},
journal = {International Journal of Language and Linguistics},
volume = {9},
number = {4},
pages = {140-144},
doi = {10.11648/j.ijll.20210904.11},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20210904.11},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijll.20210904.11},
abstract = {Wh-questions play a significant role in improving a language learner’s overall language development. The use of wh-questions not only helps build learners’ vocabulary and develop their ability to produce contextually appropriate and meaningful sentences but also consequently helps improve their conversational and social skills. By stimulating complex responses from the learners, wh-questions also help promote their critical thinking and reasoning skills. Unfortunately, many EFL learners are unable to ask grammatically correct and contextually appropriate wh-questions during conversations that prevent them from developing their communication skills and eventually negatively affect their overall language learning process. The goal of the present study was to find out the major wh-question making errors by the EFL learners at the undergraduate level. With a wh-question generating instrument, the study collected and analyzed samples from 50 undergraduate students at Bangladesh Agricultural University. Each student was instructed to make 10 wh-questions and hence the total number of questions analyzed by the researcher was 500. A total of 341 errors were identified inclusively where the majority of errors (155 out of 341) was marked in the auxiliary verb category. The second large number of errors consisted of a total of 88 wh-questions that were incompatible with the given answers/contexts. A considerable number of errors were also found in the wh-word (50 out of 341) and content word (37 out of 341) categories. However, a very insignificant number of errors were identified in the preposition category (11 out of 341) whereas no errors were found at all in the determiner category. The study basically attempted to make the learners aware of their major wh-question making errors, so that, they can minimize the errors in their conversations, and can better develop their communication skills, and improve their overall language development.},
year = {2021}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - Chief Wh-question Making Errors by the Undergraduate Level EFL Learners: An Analysis AU - Md. Arif Khan Pathan Y1 - 2021/06/09 PY - 2021 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20210904.11 DO - 10.11648/j.ijll.20210904.11 T2 - International Journal of Language and Linguistics JF - International Journal of Language and Linguistics JO - International Journal of Language and Linguistics SP - 140 EP - 144 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2330-0221 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20210904.11 AB - Wh-questions play a significant role in improving a language learner’s overall language development. The use of wh-questions not only helps build learners’ vocabulary and develop their ability to produce contextually appropriate and meaningful sentences but also consequently helps improve their conversational and social skills. By stimulating complex responses from the learners, wh-questions also help promote their critical thinking and reasoning skills. Unfortunately, many EFL learners are unable to ask grammatically correct and contextually appropriate wh-questions during conversations that prevent them from developing their communication skills and eventually negatively affect their overall language learning process. The goal of the present study was to find out the major wh-question making errors by the EFL learners at the undergraduate level. With a wh-question generating instrument, the study collected and analyzed samples from 50 undergraduate students at Bangladesh Agricultural University. Each student was instructed to make 10 wh-questions and hence the total number of questions analyzed by the researcher was 500. A total of 341 errors were identified inclusively where the majority of errors (155 out of 341) was marked in the auxiliary verb category. The second large number of errors consisted of a total of 88 wh-questions that were incompatible with the given answers/contexts. A considerable number of errors were also found in the wh-word (50 out of 341) and content word (37 out of 341) categories. However, a very insignificant number of errors were identified in the preposition category (11 out of 341) whereas no errors were found at all in the determiner category. The study basically attempted to make the learners aware of their major wh-question making errors, so that, they can minimize the errors in their conversations, and can better develop their communication skills, and improve their overall language development. VL - 9 IS - 4 ER -
Information
Email: