ERROR ANALYSIS AND LEXICAL INVESTIGATIONS ON STUDENTS’ ILOKANO WRITINGS Joel B. Manuel, Ph.D. in Linguistics Dr. Mee Jay Domingo, Adviser June 10, 2018 ABSTRACT: Error analysis is a method in applied linguistics wherein the investigator will look into the errors committed by learners in the production of the target language. By looking at the errors, the researcher would be informed of the challenges and difficulties besetting the learners. This particular study looked into the language difficulties of learners about their mother tongue, which surprisingly was not included as their language of initial literacy. This study analyzed the errors generated by learners in terms of orthography and mechanics, grammar, structures and discourse as they write in their native language, Ilokano. It also uncovered the emerging lexical innovations and borrowings of the Ilokano millennial learners with the aim of informing possible interventions on the academic field to refine the use of Ilokano in curricular and professional settings. It was found out that the most number of errors was in orthography and in the grammatical levels. It was further revealed that there is a sizable percentage of lexical borrowings and innovations which is being used by the Ilokano millennial learners. INTRODUCTION With the advent of Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013, otherwise known as the K to 12 Law, the mother tongue of the learner was finally recognized as a potent tool in his education. Since its inception by DepEd Order No 79, series 2009, Mother Tongue –Based Multilingual education has been deemed important in the initial education of the child. This legal move was claimed to had been backed up by researches worldwide which points to the fact that when a child is taught in his mother tongue, his capacity of learning another language is increased as well as his overall academic achievement would be improved (Burton, 2013, 1). In the Philippine MTB-MLE setting, the use of Ilokano as one of the original MTB-MLE languages as medium of instruction was mandated in the aforementioned DepEd Order. Since then, one of the concerns of the program is to craft working orthographies and materials for the language. Since its institutionalization in 2009, the MTB-MLE program in the elementary grades had spurred some problems, particularly in materials production and lack of a unified orthography. The lack of such materials would hamper the program. Also, among the difficulties encountered is the lack of teacher literacy themselves (Manuel, 2013, 2). The DepEd order specifically mandates the production of materials and the training of teachers to ensure the smooth implementation of the program (Young, 2010, 3). Since the program is new, it is a rarity to find Ilokano teachers who had acquired mastery of the language. In fact, the program calls for a reengineering of the teacher training programs to address the