Errors in Argumentative Texts Written by Croatian GFL Learners

Abstract

Writing skills are one of the four fundamental skills of communicative competence. The written production of a text often presents a challenge for foreign language learners because various types of errors can occur during writing, which in turn can hinder the flow of communication. A targeted examination of frequently occurring errors is therefore necessary in foreign language teaching. Previous studies (e.g., Häusler 2003; Veijonen 2008; Svoboda 2013; Mlakar Gračner 2018; Tanir 2023; and Rexhepi 2025) in the field of German as a foreign language have shown that orthographic and morphosyntactic errors occur in German as a foreign language learners at all learning levels. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the most common orthographic and morphosyntactic errors in argumentative texts of Croatian German as a foreign language students at the beginning of their bachelor’s degree program and to analyze the frequency and most common error types. The results show that orthographic errors occur almost twice as frequently as morphosyntactic errors. The most frequent errors were observed at the orthographic level in the area of spelling and at the morphosyntactic level in relation to the use of prepositions. The possible causes for the results of this empirical study are also examined, compared with studies of German as a foreign language students, and pedagogical implications are suggested.