An Analysis of Lexical Errors in Written English

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of lexical errors in the written English of Standard Eight Pupils in Rigoma Division of Nyamira District, Kenya. The Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (K.C.P.E) results of 1998- 2002 showed that Nyamira District was always ranked poorly nation-wide. Rigoma, being one of the seven divisions in Nyamira District has been identified as the best in the overall performance in the district but its mean grade in English for the five years was a dismal D+ (plus). The national reports on K.C.P.E results indicate that most pupils make errors in composition writing, thus contributing to the poor performance in English language. Thus, our objective was to examine the lexical errors in the pupils’ written English. We found that pupils make three categories of lexical errors due to first language (L1) transfer, incomplete application of rules and overgeneralization.