An error analysis of written Spanish language in secondary school students in Trinidad

Abstract

With the new thrust towards learning the Spanish language in Trinidad and Tobago, the need for well-equipped Spanish teachers who are aware and capable of dealing with the problems faced by the student becomes evident. This paper attempts to make some headway in this under-investigated area. It analyses the grammatical errors in agreement of 35 students from two secondary schools in Trinidad. It uses, principally, the work of Fernández for its grammatical classification and explanations, and interprets the data both quantitatively and qualitatively. The investigation shows that errors in agreement form almost 50 percent of all errors produced by the language learner. The paper reveals that despite the different levels of academic performance associated with the schools, difficulties in the aforementioned area are common to both. Finally, it attempts to sensitize educators to these areas so that Spanish language education in the secondary school can be more effective