LEXICO-GRAMMATICAL ERROR ANALYSIS IN THE DESCRIPTIVE WRITING OF 5TH-GRADE EFL LEARNERS

This study examines the types and frequency of lexico-grammatical errors in the descriptive writing of 60 fifth-grade EFL learners from three primary schools in Uzbekistan. Applying Error Analysis (Corder, 1967) and Interlanguage Theory (Selinker, 1972), a total of 486 errors (mean = 8.1 per text) were classified into six categories spanning two broad types: lexical errors (Spelling + Vocabulary Misuse = 38.7%) and grammatical errors (Article + Subject-Verb Agreement + Tense + Preposition = 61.3%). Spelling errors were the most frequent single category (25.5%), followed by article errors (20.2%). School-context comparisons revealed a clear urban–rural gradient: rural learners averaged 9.6 errors per text compared to 6.6 for urban peers. L1 interference, overgeneralization, and simplification were identified as the primary error sources, with implications for primary EFL curriculum and pedagogy in Uzbekistan.