Corpus-Driven Analysis of Phonological and Morphemic Errors in the Tilawati Textbook: Evidence for Improving Qur’anic Literacy Materials

Abstract

This study critically examines the linguistic integrity of Tilawati, one of the most widely used Qur’an-based instructional textbooks for reading practice in Indonesia, with particular attention to the accuracy of its phonological and morphemic representations. The complete textbook was digitized and compiled into an annotated corpus, enabling the identification of two-dimensional error patterns across phonological (vowel and consonant) and morphemic (derivation, root–pattern, and affixation) levels. The analysis is theoretically grounded in error analysis theory, interlanguage theory, and core principles of corpus linguistics. The findings demonstrate that phonological and morphemic errors occur systematically rather than randomly, with a higher concentration of errors appearing in the initial stages of instruction. The most recurrent error categories involve vowel-related phonological deviations and root–pattern morphemic inaccuracies, predominantly manifested through substitution and omission processes. In addition, several errors exhibit cross-dimensional co-occurrence, indicating a compounded linguistic load at the level of individual tokens and instructional contexts. Such patterns suggest that inaccurate linguistic input at the level of basic linguistic units in the corpus may hinder learners’ development of stable phonological and morphemic representations. From a pedagogical perspective, these results underscore the importance of providing precise and internally consistent linguistic input in Qur’anic reading materials. Methodologically, the study demonstrates the value of corpus-driven approaches for the systematic evaluation of instructional textbooks. Overall, the findings provide an empirical foundation for revising the Tilawati series and contribute to broader efforts to enhance the accuracy, pedagogical coherence, and linguistic reliability of Qur’anic literacy instruction (QLI) within formal educational contexts.