Résumé:
English language learners commit oral syntactic errors because of mother tongue interference.
All learners aim to use the target language fluently and appropriately; however, with mother
tongue interference, they seem unable to achieve their aim. Native language interference
makes learners produce oral syntactic errors; consequently, their utterances become
ambiguous for the interlocutor. Error analysis appeared as a language study that focuses on
learners’ deviations and suggests solutions and techniques to help both teachers and learners
to overcome this obstacle. In this context, the present work aims at analyzing the frequent
syntactic errors committed by first year students of English (84 out of 252) in oral
communication as a result of modern standard Arabic language interference which enables in
suggesting solutions to overcome this problem. To achieve this goal, a descriptive method
was adopted which involves quantitative tool by means of questionnaire and qualitative one
through observation of students produced speech. The study proved that Arabic syntax
interferes with the application of English syntactic rules and that this could be diminished if
some recommendations are taken seriously by both teachers and learners.