Grammatical errors in Hungarian EFL learners' argumentative essays

The main goal of the present paper is to provide a list of grammatical errors that Hungarian university students make in their argumentative essays (n=34) after one year of English studies. First, the essays were analyzed for errors that were then categorized by type. Subsequently, the grammatical errors were analyzed in terms of their types and the frequency of their occurrence based on the ratio of error-free and erroneous T-units. The overall results show that the most frequent errors Hungarian EFL learners make are related to the incorrect use of articles, reference words, and prepositions. While articles and prepositions are regarded as difficult elements of English grammar internationally, the correct use of reference words appears to be particularly challenging specifically for Hungarian EFL learners. Thus, the present paper aims to urge both language learners and language teachers to include this grammar point as a crucial material in their self-study or classroom teaching, respectively.