Author: Sabariah, Sulaiman; Bekkulov, Erkin Raimovich

Annotation: Non-native speakers often face difficulties in writing essays in Malay, which leads to many errors occurring while constructing written texts in the language. Therefore, this study was conducted to identify the types of these errors, focusing on word usage, and to provide suggestions for correcting each error. This qualitative study, using content analysis, examined ten short essays written by non-native students learning Malay at a university in Uzbekistan. The essays, titled "Introduction to Myself," were written within 45 minutes, with no more than 100 words. The analysis of errors in word usage based on Corder's theory in this study revealed three types of word errors. The most common error was in the use of auxiliary verbs, followed by errors in the copula and affixes. It is hoped that the findings of this study will provide useful information for both instructors and non-native students to enhance the quality of their writing.

Keywords: writing; affixes; conjunctions; copula; non-native speakers

Pages in journal: 263 - 274