Interference of Standard Arabic in EFL Academic Writing: Case of First Year LMD Students of English at Tlemcen University

Abstract

Writing is an important skill for language production. However, it is considered as a difficult skill, particularly, in English as a second/foreign language ( ESL/EFL) contexts. Thus, the present study was conducted with an aim to investigate first year LMD students’ English writing errors and their relation with learners’ first language (Standard Arabic) at Tlemcen University. It also aimed at finding out the extent of SA interference in their English academic essays, and knowing whether this transfer between L1 and L2 was more negative or positive. Moreover, the researcher aimed at obtaining strategies and suggestions on how to improve EFL learners' writing skills and to reduce their errors while writing academic essays. Therefore, in order to achieve the previous mentioned aims, the researcher has used both teachers’ and learners’ questionnaires. The data that was collected revealed that Tlemcen University students of English make a lot of errors in their academic writing, and those errors have a great relation with their first language interference. Thus, students tend to transfer linguistic rules from SA to English whenever they have linguistic gaps in the target language (English).