A typological investigation of errors in the use of English in the bilingual and multilingual linguistic landscape of Tehran.

The present paper examined the errors occurring in the use of English in the linguistic landscape of Tehran, the capital of Iran. To this end, a total of 400 bilingual (Persian and English) and multilingual signs (Persian, English and Arabic) were culled from the landscape of the city in a course of eighteen months. Having analysed all the signs, 101 errors in terms of translation and word choice, spelling, transliteration, grammar, and L₁ influence were detected. Adopting a mixed methods approach, the findings of our study revealed that errors on top-down signs significantly exceeded those of bottom-up. The results also showed that spelling errors and mistranslations vastly outnumbered other types on both top-down and bottom-up signs. Being the first paper in error typology in the use of English in the LL in the context of Iran, the study concludes by reviewing how language policy and foreign language education could result in inaccurate use of English in the LL. In the end, suggestions for further studies have been propounded in other areas of LL for those who are interested in this fascinating line of research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]