Modern Standard Arabic Interference on English Foreign Language Students Spoken English Syntactic Structures:

Abstract

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.