Investigating Syntactic Errors in the Writing of Sudanese University EFL Students (A case study of Sudanese Under Graduates from Three Universities)

Abstract

This study aimed at investigating types of syntactic errors committed by fourth-year university EFL students. Sixty students were selected from three different Sudanese universities. Twenty students are selected from Sudan University for Science and Technology, College of Languages, English Department. The same number is selected from University of Khartoum Faculty of Education, English Department .The same number is also selected from Al-Neelain University Faculty of Arts, English Language Department. The researcher used descriptive method for data analysis .The descriptive data revealed some syntactic errors in the writing of Sudanese university EFL students such as prepositions, subject-verb –agreement, capitalization, full stop and the most common errors are in usage of punctuation. The less common errors are in the usage of subject-verb-agreement, and prepositions. The researcher used the social scientific package (SPSS) to analyze the collected data. The study is concluded some recommendations and suggestions for further studies.