An Analysis of Errors in Arabic Speakers

An Analysis of Errors in Arabic Speakers’ English Writings
Nada AbiSamra
(Email me if you have any comments or questions)
American University of Beirut

Instructor: Dr. Kassim Shaaban
Second Language Acquisition
English 345
January 2003
Click here to get it as a Word Document
(Original Form)
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Table of Contents
A. Introduction:
1. Importance of communication

2. Communicative competence
3. Oral & Written communication
4. Emphasis on written communication, the more difficult component
5. Native Speakers of English vs. Non-Native Speakers (Arabic speakers)
6. Mistake vs. Error => self-correctability factor
7. Rationale of study: Problems relating to the teaching of English as a
First language to Arabic speakers are understudied.
8. Aim of paper: Attempt to identify, describe, categorize, and diagnose Arabic
speakers’ errors in English essay writing + suggest some solutions.
9. Research Question: Is negative L1 transfer/interference the major cause for
errors in the English writings of Brevet students?
B. Theoretical Background:
1. Error Analysis

2. Models for Error Analysis
3. Sources of Errors
C. Procedures:
1. Error/Data Collection
2. Error Identification and Categorization & Taxonomy Adopted
D. Results
E. Implications
F. Limitations & Suggestions for future research
G. Conclusion
H. References
I. Appendixes:

1. General List of Abbreviations
2. School mission statement (soon)
3. Student Survey
4. Arabic: General Language Characteristics
5. ESL Tip Sheet 1: Arabic (Sofer & Raimes, 2002)
6. Table 1: Error Categories & Sources + Abbreviations
7. Table 2: Categorizing & Diagnosing Errors
8. Table 3: Categorizing & Diagnosing Errors- Interlingual / Transfer Errors
9. Table 4: Categorizing & Diagnosing Errors- Intralingual / Dev. errors
10. Table 5: Error Sources & Numbers Compared
11. Oral & Written Presentations: Guidelines & Expectations
12. Error Analysis Exercises & Objective Tests for Remediation

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Introduction
“My purpose in being Part in the goverment is Change. I want to change the
world. Change in the means of War, Freedom, and equalness. Also as being
part of the government, One should have self-confidence, can stand-up for
self, and others, and at the same time have a degree in a great
proffession.Then How am I working now, I’am participation in every activity
Possible, that has to do with improving our community today. On top of
that, I always keep in mind that to work hard, and keep my self on the right
track.”
Written by a Brevet student.

December 2002

Communication, "a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a
common system of symbols, signs, or behavior" (Merriam-Webster Online, 2003), is at the heart
of all human interactions; it is the basis of life.
No one can live alone. By the word "live" I do not just mean "survive" or "subsist", but "have a
life rich in experience" (Merriam-Webster Online, 2003). "Communicative competence involves

communicating in accordance with that fundamental system of rules that adult subjects master to
the extent that they can fulfill the conditions for a happy employment of sentences in utterances"
(Habermas, 1979). As we all know, we communicate orally and/or in writing. Our focus in this
paper is on the written part. "In spoken conversations with others, we make sense of the dialogue
in a complex back-and-forth process of negotiation of meaning between speakers. In written
texts, this back-and-forth negotiation is not possible; there is only 'one passÃ.' The sentence is
written and it is read. Because there is no possibility of negotiating meaning of written
documents, the inevitable problems of misunderstandings are exacerbated" (Penman, 1998).
Hence, we can say that writing is an “intricate” and complex task; it is the “most difficult of the
language abilities to acquire” (Allen & Corder, 1974, p. 177). Its level of difficulty varies
between native speakers (NS) who think in the language used (in our case it will be English) and
non-native speakers (NNS) who think in their own native language (in this case it will be
Arabic). While writing, non-native speakers have, in general, to think about all those rules they
need to apply, rules that native speakers are supposed to have automatized. Therefore, non-native
speakers are more prone to making mistakes and/or committing errors.
It is essential here to make a distinction between mistake and error; both Corder (1967, 1971)
and James (1998) reveal a criterion that helps us to do so: it is the self-correctability criterion. A
mistake can be self-corrected, but an error cannot. Errors are “systematic,” i.e. likely to occur
repeatedly and not recognized by the learner. Hence, only the teacher or researcher would locate
them, the learner wouldn’t (Gass & Selinker, 1994). And it is in this light that I choose to focus
on students’ errors not mistakes.

As an English teacher, I am well aware of the fact that my Arabic speaking students in grade 9,
brevet section, commit a lot of errors in essay writing. You can tell from the quotation with
which I begin this paper. These students have been studying English their whole lives and still,
their errors are numerous. Hence, I have decided to conduct an error analysis--the best tool for
describing and explaining errors made by speakers of other languages (Johanson, 1975) -- in
order to know the sources of these errors and the reasons behind their continued occurrence year
after year with different groups of learners. I need to familiarize myself with the types of errors
that my students make in order to determine the sequence and emphasis of instruction.
“Very surprisingly there are few published descriptions of how or what children learn. (There... is)
little about what mistakes the children made and how these can be explained, or what generalizations
and learning strategies the children seem to be developing” (Richards, 1974, p. 181).
After having reviewed the literature, I noticed that no study had been done (that I knew of, at
least!) which involves Arabic speaking students who have been studying English since nursery;
students who are studying English integratively, as a FIRST language. However, it is essential
here to mention the fact that the language these students speak at home is mainly Arabic, not
English (see appendix 3); hence, we can venture to say that they are ESL students, however
immersed in English they might be at school.
“To use two languages familiarly and without contaminating one by the other, is very difficult,” said
Samuel Johnson in 1761.
Can this fact account for our problems? Is my students’ native language (L1) “contaminating”
their English (L2)? If this were to be true, then we could say that the reason behind all those
errors is Negative L1 transfer/Mother Tongue interference. And the best way to discover such a
transfer is through error analysis (Sridhar, 1980). However, can transfer alone justify all the
errors made?
Our research question is then:
“Is negative L1 transfer/interference the major cause for errors in the
English writings of Brevet students?”
This paper will attempt to do the following:
1. Provide a theoretical background for: a) Error Analysis, b) Models for Error Analysis, &
c) Sources of Errors. (It will also examine related terms such as interlingual errors,
negative L1 transfer/interference, interlanguage, and intralingual errors);
2. Identify, describe, categorize, and diagnose Arabic speakers’ errors in English essay
writing in order to find the sources of those errors and a way for remediation;
3. Cover the implications of the findings for teaching ESL/English to Arabic speaking
students; and, finally,
4. Discuss the limitations of this study and propose future areas of research.
Theoretical Background
Error Analysis
Systematically analyzing errors made by language learners makes it possible to determine areas that
need reinforcement in teaching (Corder, 1974).
Error analysis is a type of linguistic analysis that focuses on the errors learners make. It consists
of a comparison between the errors made in the Target Language (TL) and that TL itself. Pit
Corder is the “Father” of Error Analysis (the EA with the “new look”). It was with his article
entitled “The significance of Learner Errors” (1967) that EA took a new turn. Errors used to be
“flaws” that needed to be eradicated. Corder presented a completely different point of view. He
contended that those errors are “important in and of themselves.” For learners themselves, errors
are 'indispensable,' since the making of errors can be regarded as a device the learner uses in
order to learn. In 1994, Gass & Selinker defined errors as “red flags” that provide evidence of the
learner’s knowledge of the second language. Researchers are interested in errors because they are
believed to contain valuable information on the strategies that people use to acquire a language
(Richards, 1974; Taylor, 1975; Dulay and Burt, 1974). Moreover, according to Richards and
Sampson (1974, p. 15), “At the level of pragmatic classroom experience, error analysis will
continue to provide one means by which the teacher assesses learning and teaching and
determines priorities for future effort.” According to Corder (1974), error analysis has two
objects: one theoretical and another applied. The theoretical object serves to “elucidate what and
how a learner learns when he studies a second language.” And the applied object serves to enable
the learner “to learn more efficiently by exploiting our knowledge of his dialect for pedagogical
purposes.”
The investigation of errors can be at the same time diagnostic and prognostic. It is diagnostic
because it can tell us the learner's state of the language (Corder, 1967) at a given point during the
learning process, and prognostic because it can tell course organizers to reorient language
learning materials on the basis of the learners' current problems.
Before we proceed, it is essential here to define a few terms that we shall use in this paper:
 Interlingual/Transfer errors: those attributed to the native language (NL). There are
interlingual errors when the learner’s L1 habits (patterns, systems or rules) interfere or
prevent him/her, to some extent, from acquiring the patterns and rules of the second language
(Corder, 1971). Interference (negative transfer) is the negative influence of the mother
language (L1) on the performance of the target language learner (L2) (Lado, 1964). It is
'those instances of deviation from the norms of either language which occur in the speech of
bilinguals as a result of their familiarity with more than one language' (Weinreich, 1953, p.1).
Error analysis emphasizes “the significance of errors in learners’ interlanguage system”
(Brown 1994, p. 204). The term interlanguage, introduced by Selinker (1972), refers to the
systematic knowledge of an L2 which is independent of both the learner’s L1 and the target
language. Nemser (1974, p. 55) referred to it as the Approximate System, and Corder (1967)
as the Idiosyncratic Dialect or Transitional Competence.
 Intralingual/Developmental errors: those due to the language being learned (TL),
independent of the native language. According to Richards (1970) they are “items produced
by the learner which reflect not the structure of the mother tongue, but generalizations based
on partial exposure to the target language. The learner, in this case, tries to “derive the rules
behind the data to which he/she has been exposed, and may develop hypotheses that
correspond neither to the mother tongue nor to the target language” (Richards, 1970, p. 6).
Models for Error Analysis
Corder (1967 & 1974) identified a model for error analysis which included three stages:
1. Data collection: Recognition of idiosyncracy
2. Description: Accounting for idiosyncratic dialect
3. Explanation (the ultimate object of error analysis).
Brown (1994, pp. 207-211) and Ellis (1995, pp. 51-52) elaborated on this model. Ellis (1997, pp.
15-20) and Hubbard et al. (1996, pp. 135-141) gave practical advice and provided clear examples
of how to identify and analyze learners’ errors. The initial step requires the selection of a
corpus of language followed by the identification of errors. The errors are then classified. The
next step, after giving a grammatical analysis of each error, demands an explanation of different
types of errors.
Moreover, Gass & Selinker (1994, p. 67) identified 6 steps followed in conducting an error
analysis: Collecting data, Identifying errors, Classifying errors, Quantifying errors, Analyzing
source of error, and Remediating for errors.
Sources of Errors

In 1972, Selinker (in Richards, 1974, p. 37) reported five sources of errors:
1. Language transfer
2. Transfer of training
3. Strategies of second language learning
4. Strategies of second language communication, and
5. Overgeneralization of TL linguistic material.
In 1974 Corder (in Allen & Corder, p. 130) identified three sources of errors: Language Transfer,
Overgeneralization or analogy, & Methods or Materials used in the Teaching (teaching-induced
error).
In the paper titled “The Study of Learner English” that Richards and Simpson wrote in 1974,
they exposed seven sources of errors:
1. Language transfer, to which one third of the deviant sentences from second language
learners could be attributed (George, 1971).
2. Intralingual interference: In 1970, Richards exposed four types and causes for intralingual
errors:
a. overgeneralization (p. 174): it is associated with redundancy reduction. It covers
instances where the learner creates a deviant structure on the basis of his
experience of other structures in the target language. It may be the result of the
learner reducing his linguistic burden.
b. ignorance of rule restrictions: i.e. applying rules to contexts to which they do not
apply.
c. incomplete application of rules
d. semantic errors such as building false concepts/systems: i.e. faulty comprehension
of distinctions in the TL.
3. Sociolinguistic situation: motivation (instrumental or integrative) and settings for
language learning (compound or co-ordinate bilingualism) may affect second language
learning.
4. Modality: modality of exposure to the TL and modality of production.
5. Age: learning capacities vary with age.
6. Successions of approximative systems: since the circumstances of language learning
vary from a person to another, so does the acquisition of new lexical, phonological, and
syntactic items.
7. Universal hierarchy of difficulty: this factor has received little attention in the literature
of 2nd language acquisition. It is concerned with the inherent difficulty for man of certain
phonological, syntactic, or semantic items or structures. Some forms may be inherently
difficult to learn no matter what the background of the learner.
James (1998, p. 178) exposed three main diagnosis-based categories of error:

1. Interlingual: interference happens when “an item or structure in the second language
manifests some degree of difference from, and some degree of similarity with the
equivalent item or structure in the learner’s first language” (Jackson, 1987: 101).
2. Intralingual:
a. Learning strategy-based errors:
i. false analogy
ii. misanalysis
iii. incomplete rule application
iv. exploiting redundancy
v. overlooking cooccurrence restrictions
vi. hypercorrection (monitor overuse)
vii. overgeneralization or system simplification
b. Communication strategy-based errors:
i. holistic strategies: e.g. approximation, language switch, calque
ii. analytic strategies: circumlocution (expressing the concept indirectly,
by allusion rather than by direct reference.
3. Induced errors: they “result more from the classroom situation than from either the
student’s incomplete competence in English grammar (intralingual errors) or first
language interference (interlingual errors) (Stenson, 1983, p. 256):
a. Material induced errors
b. Teacher-talk induced errors
c. Exercise-based induced errors
d. Errors induced by pedagogical priorities

e. Look-up errors
According to Dulay & Burt (1974), there are four types of “goofs”:
1. Interference-like goofs
2. L1 Developmental goofs
3. Ambiguous goofs (either interference-like or L1 developmental goofs)
4. Unique goofs (neither interference-like nor L1 developmental goofs)
The studies relating to the process of language transfer and overgeneralization received
considerable attention in the literature. Swan and Smith (1995, p. ix) gave a detailed account of
errors made by speakers of nineteen different L1 backgrounds in relation to their native
languages. Diab (1996) also conducted a study in order to show through error analysis the
interference of the mother-tongue, Arabic, in the English writings of EFL students at the
American University of Beirut. Okuma (1999) studied the L1 transfer in the EFL writings of
Japanese students.
Work on over-generalization errors, on the other hand, is reported by Richards (1974, pp. 174-
188), Jain (in Richards, 1974, pp. 208-214) and Taylor (1975). Furthermore, Farooq (1998)
identified and analyzed two error patterns in written texts of upper-basic Japanese learners, in an
EFL context. He focused on both transfer and overgeneralization errors. Habash (1982) studied
common errors in the use of English prepositions in the written work of UNRWA students at the
end of the preparatory cycle in the Jerusalem area and found out that more errors were
attributable to interference from Arabic than to other learning problems.
All these studies focused on Transfer &/or Overgeneralization errors, however, none of them
dealt with “ESL” students who have been studying English as a First Language. The reason why
I called them ESL students is that, at home, they speak mainly Arabic.

Procedures
1- Error/Data Collection:
For the selection of a corpus of language, following the guidelines offered by Ellis
(1995, pp. 51-52), a sample of written work was collected from 10 students. Those students are
in grade 9, Brevet section (cf. appendix 2). They have been studying English since nursery (cf.
appendix 3), and have been taught English mainly by American & Canadian teachers. However,
there is a point that needs to be mentioned here, and it is the fact that most of them speak Arabic
at home with their parents and at school with their friends. (cf. appendix 3).
These students were provided with the topic ‘What are your plans for the future?’ and were
asked to write on it in 200 to 250 words. They were given sufficient time to write (Ellis 1997, p.
114). They had to start with an outline, then a first draft and a final draft. This was their mid-term
examination at school, in December 2003.
2- Error Identification & Categorization:
As a first step, we developed, based on the literature (Corder, 1974; Richards, 1974; James,
1998; Selinker, 1972 in Richards, 1974; Richards & Sampson, 1974), a Taxonomy for Error
Analysis including the following categories and sub-categories: grammatical (prepositions,
articles, reported speech, singular/plural, adjectives, relative clauses, irregular verbs, tenses, and
possessive case), syntactic (coordination, sentence structure, nouns and pronouns, and word
order), lexical (word choice), semantic, & substance (mechanics: punctuation & capitalization,
and spelling). As for the organizational/discourse errors, we shall mention them but will not
quantify them since, first, it is difficult to do so, and, second, we had trained our students, prior
to the exam, to write a well-organized essay (thesis statement, restatement of the thesis, and the
use of transition words).
After setting the categories, we chose, also based on the literature, the error sources that we
wanted to study, and they are mainly Interlingual (negative L1 Transfer) & Intralingual
(Developmental).
Please refer to table # 1 in the appendix for further details.
So, the errors were explained in grammatical terms, and thoroughly examined to find their
sources, paying particular attention to negative L1 transfer, since we needed to address our
research question: “Is negative L1 transfer/interference the major cause for errors in the English
writings of Brevet students?” Being myself a native Arabic speaker holding a master’s degree in
translation (from/to Arabic, French, & English) and based on the literature (refer to appendix 5),
I was able to perceive and pinpoint the errors due to L1 (Arabic) Transfer. (However, we should
not forget that some errors are caused by interference from standard Arabic and others by
interference from colloquial Arabic.)
In addition, since I have been teaching English as a second language for over 12 years, and since
I have finished the coursework for my second master’s in Teaching English as a Foreign/Second
Language, I was able to detect the developmental errors in my students’ essays, and these are
listed in detail in table # 2 in the appendix.
Results:
The total number of errors that we found in the 10 essays we studied was 214. Here they are, in
the graph below, divided according to the different categories:

29 grammatical, 35 syntactic, 26 lexical, 3 semantic, and 120 substance (mechanics & spelling)
errors.
Graph number 2 shows the percentage of Transfer vs. Developmental errors for each category.
The total percentage of Transfer/Interlingual errors was 35.9%, whereas the total percentage of
Developmental/Intralingual errors was 64.1%. Based on this graph we can tell that the highest
percentage of Transfer errors was in Semantics & Lexis, respectively 100% & 73% (refer to
table 3 in the appendix). As for the highest percentage of Developmental errors, it was, by far, in
Substance (mainly spelling; refer to table 4 in the appendix).
Graph number 3 shows the number of Transfer vs. Developmental errors for each category. The
total number of Transfer/Interlingual errors was 77, whereas the total number of
Developmental/Intralingual errors was 137.
Based on these findings we can tell that Brevet students do commit errors because of
Negative L1 transfer, however, their biggest number of errors is due to
Developmental/Intralingual reasons.
Examples of Negative L1 transfer Errors: (table # 3 in the appendix)
1. Grammatical errors:
A. I would like to follow in my father’s footsteps. (‫)على خطى أبي‬
Prepositions pose a great difficulty for an ESL learner since there are various prepositions in
English that have the same function. As a result, when students are not sure which preposition to
use in a certain sentence, they often compare that sentence with its Arabic equivalence, giving a
literal translation of that Arabic preposition in English. However, "prepositions seldom have a
one to one correspondence between English and Arabic. An Arabic preposition may be
translated by several English prepositions while an English usage may have several Arabic
translations" (Scott and Tucker, 1974, p. 85).
B. Evil is▼ force that can enter a person’s soul and conquer it. (‫ >= )الش ّر قوّة‬omission of the
article in Arabic (refer to appendix 5)
C. When the evil comes (‫ يأتي الش ّر‬ ‫ >= عندما‬use of article in Arabic)
In English, abstract words referring to ideas, attributes, or qualities are used without the article
'the' to refer to that idea or attribute, etc. which belongs to everybody or everything. In Arabic,
however, such abstract words are preceded by a definite article equivalent to 'the' in English.
Hence, errors pertaining to the misuse of the article 'the' occur (Diab, 1996).
D. I wonder what god has written for me, what’s my destiny?
(‫)أتساءل ما هو مصيري‬
E. Calling others kids to come (‫)مناداة األوالد اآلخرين‬
“In Arabic, adjectives agree in number with the nouns they modify. As a result, agreement
errors of this type occur in the English writings of Lebanese students” (Diab, 1996).
2. Syntactic errors:
A. For, them not to hate me they need to respect me and realize how much I love them and
how hard I work for them. (repetition of “wa”)
“In English, items in a series are separated by commas, and the coordinate conjunction 'and' is
used just before the last word. On the other hand, in Arabic, each item in a series is preceded by
the conjunction 'wa' which is equivalent to 'and'” (Diab, 1996).
B. I have learned a lesson in my life, that you should never ever give up (، ‫تعلّمت درسا ً في حيا تي‬
‫ وهو‬...)
C. What I want to be? (‫)ما أريد أن أكون ؟‬

D. I have a lot of people in my family that are computer engineers. (colloquial Arabic)
E. That, I have been doing since a long time ago. (‫طويل‬

ٍ ‫ت‬
ٍ ‫)منذ وق‬
F. ...most people when they grow up (‫ معظم الناس حين يكبرون‬...) (also colloquial)
In Arabic, personal pronouns are often added to verbs.
3. Lexical Errors:
A. If I hit an animal it would loose trust in me and stay on irritating me while curing it.
(colloquial)
B. Some animals are nice pets to have, when they have the right health and medications. (
‫) الصحّة الجيّدة‬
C. They should have veterinarians around them in case they get sick or any strong disease
stricked them. (‫)حولهم‬
D. They should have veterinarians around them in case they get sick or any strong disease
stricked them. (‫) مرضٌ شدي ٌد‬
ٌ
E. Animals are usually very afraid of high sounds. (‫أصوات عالية‬ )
F. For me acheiving these goals makes me happy. (‫ بالنسبة لي‬...)
G. How ever each person must succeed to his ability. (‫)حسب قدرته‬
H. You never know what god has installed for you. (‫) وضع لك‬
I. For me to be counted as a one of a kind mother I need to take (‫ أُ َع ُّد‬...)
J. In my free time I will practice on improving my basketball fundamentals.(‫أتمرّن على‬ )
4. Semantic Errors: (Literal translation)
a. When I secure a job my goal is to become partner and have a quarter office.
‫عندما أؤ ّمن عمال‬

b. By accomplishing these plans I will insure myself an outstanding life.
‫أؤ ّمن لنفسي‬
c. Architecture works my brain.‫))تش ّغل عقلي‬
5. Substance (Mechanics + Spelling):
A. Punctuation
i. However▼evil ّ

has its shapes and forms. (ّ‫لكن الشر‬...)
ii. As a result, I intend to get a good education, and job, which will allow me to
raise a family in a suitable enviroment.‫و عمآل‬
iii. Obtaining a good job will be a crucial part of my life for various reasons.
One of which, is that it enables me to have a stable income.
iv. It is known to be, that a person would be more appreaciated, and treated
ّ ‫من المعروف‬...)
better▼ if he were an educated individual than a failure. (‫أن‬
v. Personally▼ ّ ‫شخصيا‬...)

I beleive that you can never be sure. (‫أظن‬
vi. When I get to university▼ I will try my best to get high honors in
architecture. (‫ حين أدخل الجامعة© سأبذل جهدي ل‬...)

B. Capitalization (No capital letters in Arabic)
i. last but not least, if I was giving an animal a shot I have to make sure that I
am giving it in the right place.
ii. Afterwards I want to get a university level education in the united states.
iii. Next I move to wall street.
iv. arabs
Lack of capitalization in the Arabic alphabet and very different punctuation conventions.
No distinction is made between upper and lower case (Sofer & Raimes, 2002).

Examples of Interlingual / Transfer Errors:
(Please refer to table # 4 in the appendix where all the errors are transcribed)

I would just like to mention here the problem of spelling. It has nothing to do with L1 transfer
since Arabic is extremely different from English.
“The general question of how bad or good English children are at spelling was investigated by the National
Foundation for Educational Research (Brooks et al, 1993), who looked at essays written by 1492 secondary
school children in England at the two ages of 11 and 15. One measure was how many mistakes children made
in the first ten lines of an essay. At the age of 11, only two children out of ten had no mistakes; two out of ten
had five or more. By 15, four children out of ten had no mistakes; one out of ten had five or more. To quote
the report, 'A good deal of improvement occurs between the ages of 11 and 15. However, even by age 15 there
is still a minority of pupils who have relatively severe problems with spelling, to the extent that their ability to
communicate in writing is seriously handicapped.'
The NFER research classified spelling mistakes into five major categories:- -
- insertion of extra letters, such as the <l> added to 'untill';
- omission of letters, such as the <r> missing from 'occuring';
- substitution of different letters, such as <a> instead of <i> in 'definate';
- transposition of two letters, such as <ei> for <ie> in 'freind';
- grapheme substitution involving more than two letters but only a single cause, for example when an
equivalent according to sound correspondence rules is substituted for the usual form, as in 'thort' for
'thought'” (Cook, 2002).
Hence, we can say that our students are not the only ones to make so many spelling mistakes.
However, this does not mean that we should not train them to write properly.
Implications:
“We cannot really teach language, we can only create conditions

in which it will develop spontaneously in the mind in its own way”
Von Humboldt (Corder, 1967).

Brevet students are, according to this study, facing two kinds of problems in essay writing:
Translation from Arabic, their mother tongue & Incomplete learning of essay writing rules and
conventions. What should we, teachers, do then?

First, it would be very useful to increase the number of assignments for the sake of which the
students would have to do a lot of research during their free time, hence they would be reading a
lot of English material and thinking in English, especially if they have to make oral presentations
for their work. (cf. appendix 11 for “Oral & Written Presentations: Guidelines & Expectations”).
In addition, if we implement Team Work in class (http://nadabs.tripod.com/team.html --there are
some useful guidelines on this site) and we get the students to work in groups on their projects,
they would have to practice together for their oral presentations, and speak English with each
other instead of Arabic. Besides, they would, hopefully, correct each other’s mistakes.
As for the writing rules and conventions, these need to be “enforced” much earlier. All teachers
(from grade 1 and on) would need to get together in order to try to solve this problem. In the
meantime, I can suggest a few error analysis exercises and objective tests (Appendix 12) that
would help the students be more accurate, but still, nothing can replace Essay Writing itself in
order to improve writing. The aforementioned project/presentation assignments are good, but
they are not enough. The students need to write in class, at home, in their journals... They need to
be given some well defined Essay Writing Rules (for the thesis statement, introduction,
conclusion, transition words, etc...), and some samples of their writings need to be transcribed
and distributed to them for correction and analysis: they would be learning from their mistakes!
In brief, we definitely have to adapt ourselves and our curriculum to their needs.
Limitations & Suggestions for Further studies
“We should be aware that different types of written material may produce a different distribution of
error or a different set of error types” (Corder, 1974, p. 126).
“The recognition of error ... depends crucially upon the analyst making a correct interpretation of
the learner’s intended meaning of the context” (Corder, 1974, p. 127).

“It has already been noted that learners often appear inconsistent in their production of errors”
(Corder, 1974, p. 131).
We need to keep all these facts in mind when conducting an error analysis and reaching
conclusions on which we would base all our teaching. Besides, this study was conducted on a
small number of students, and also on a very limited number of essays. Therefore, the
conclusions reached are far from being decisive.
We consider this study a preliminary one that just “gives an idea” of those brevet students’
sources of errors. It should set the pace for other studies which would be much more
comprehensive, covering a bigger number of students and a wider range of materials; we
hope to be able to conduct one ourselves in the near future.
Conclusion:
“Humans are prone not only to commit language errors themselves but also to err in their judgements of
those errors committed by others”
(James, 1998, p. 204).
We need to be careful when conducting an error analysis study.
This study attempted to identify, describe, categorize, and diagnose the errors in English essay
writing of the Arabic speaking Brevet students. Just as George (1972), Lance (1969), Richards
(1971), and Brudhiprabha (1972) found that only one-third of the second language learner’s
errors can be attributed to NL language transfer, this is what this study came up with. Most of
the errors are caused by an overapplication of L2. We do need to incite our students to speak
English at home and with their friends in order to reduce the number of mistakes due to Negative
L1 transfer, but we also need to try to teach more effectively the rules and conventions of
writing.
However, when trying to solve these problems, we need to bear in mind that
“L2 users’ knowledge of a second language is not the same as that of native speakers even at
advanced levels. L2 users’ knowledge of their first language (L1) is not the same as that of
monolingual native speakers. L2 users think in different ways to monolinguals. ... Trying to get
students to be like native speakers is ineffective; their minds and their knowledge of language will
inevitably be different. The benefits of learning a second language are becoming a different kind of
person, not just adding another language. The main obstacle to setting the successful L2 user as the
goal is the belief that the native speaker speaks the true form of English. This implies the comparison
of one group with another: the language of non-natives has always to be compared with that of
natives; anything that deviates is wrong. For other areas of language study, William Labov
established that it is discrimination to treat one group in terms of another group that they can never
belong to, whether women as men, black Americans as white Americans, or working-class as middle-
class. People must be allowed to be what they are when this is an unchangeable effect of birth or of
early up-bringing.
An appropriate goal for many students is then using the L2 competently for their own purposes and
in their own ways, which may very well not be the same as those of a monolingual native speaker and
indeed may not involve native speakers at all. Students can become successful L2 users rather than
forever ‘failing’ the native speaker target” (Cook, 1999).

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Additional References: Web Pages

Athabasca University- Canada- Distance learning education
http://www.athabascau.ca/

Athabasca University- Canada
Distance learning education- English language support- If English is not Your First Language
http://www.athabascau.ca/courses/engl/155/support/if_english_is_not_your_first_language.htm

Cairo Demographic Center
http://www.cdc.eun.eg/en.htm

Egyptian Demographic Center, 2000
http://www.frcu.eun.eg/www/homepage/cdc/cdc.htm

English-Arabic Translation Guidelines for Nominal Compounds
by Zouhair Maalej- University of Tunis I- Tunisia
http://simsim.rug.ac.be/Zmaalej/syncom.html

Learning the English writing system 15-Oct-02
Vivian Cook

Modern and Classical Languages- 1997
State of Maine Learning Results
http://www.state.me.us/education/lres/mcl.pdf

On Arabic-English Cross-Language Information Retrieval: A Machine Translation Approach
Mohammed Aljlayl, Ophir Frieder, & David Grossman
Information Retrieval Laboratory- Illinois Institute of Technology
http://www.ir.iit.edu/publications/downloads/073_aljlayl_m.pdf

Problems in Learning English
http://www.culturalorientation.net/iraqi/ienglish.html

Research on secondary schools and literacy
http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/Research/secondaryindex.html

The Punctuation Project Home Page
Directors: Nigel Hall and Anne Robinson
http://www.partnership.mmu.ac.uk/punctuation/punctuation.html

Transfer/Cross-linguistic influence
Cathy Benson- ELT Journal Volume 56/1 January 2002 © Oxford University Press
http://www3.oup.co.uk/eltj/hdb/Volume_56/ Issue_01/freepdf/560068.pdf

What is the Role of Transfer in Interlanguage? Powell, G.
Centre for Research in Language Education (CRILE)
Department of Linguistics and Modern English Language
LAMEL- Lancaster university- UK
http://www.ling.lancs.ac.uk/groups/crile/crile33Powell.pdf
http://www.ling.lancs.ac.uk/groups/crile/workingpapers.htm

________________________________________________________________________
APPENDIXES
________________________________________________________________________
Appendix 1: LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
1. Amb : Ambiguous
2. Av : Avoidance
3. BL : Blend
4. CAss : Cross-association
5. Cl : Clarity
6. Cohr : Coherence
7. Cohs : Cohesion
8. Conf : Confusable
9. DC : Deceptive cognate
10. Dev: Developmental
11. Devt : Development
12. Dist : Distortion
13. Dys : Dyslexic error
14. EFL: English as a Foreign Language.
15. EL: English Language.
16. ELT: English Language Teaching.
17. ESL: English as a Second Language.
18. FA: False Analogy
19. FC: False concepts/systems
20. FF : False friend
21. IE: Induced errors
22. Ign: Ignorance
23. IncompR/: Incomplete application of rule
24. InterL: Interlingual
25. IntraL: Intralingual

26. Inv : Inversion
27. L1: First Language (i.e. Arabic).
28. L1T : Native language transfer
29. L2: Second Language (i.e. English).
30. LS : Letter shape
31. Mat : Material induced error
32. Misord : Misordering
33. Missel : Misselection
34. Mor: Morphology
35. MT: Mother Tongue.
36. MTI: Mother Tongue Interference (i.e. native language which Includes both colloquial and
standard Arabic).
37. NL : Native language
38. OG: Over-generalization
39. OLP: Other Language Learning Problems.
40. Om : Omission
41. Orig : Originality
42. PhNM : Phonetic near-misses
43. Phono: Phonological
44. Rel : Relevance
45. SdSp : Sound spelling
46. SpConv : Spelling conventions
47. TE : Teacher explanation
48. TL : Target language

49. Typo : Typographic
50. UG: Under-generalization
51. UL : Unnecessary letter
52. Un : Unique
Appendix 2: School Mission Statement
To come soon
Appendix 3: Student Survey
When asked the question “How long have you been at this school?” 9 of the 10 students
whose essays were studied answered “Since nursery.” The remaining student answered
“since grade 2.”
When asked the question “Which language do you speak the most at home?” most of the
students answered “Arabic.” They do speak some English, but very little.
When asked the question “Which language do you speak the most with your friends?” 3
students answered “English.”

Student # Language spoken at home Language spoken with friends
1 English & Arabic Arabic
2 English & Arabic English & Arabic
3 Arabic Arabic/English
4 English & Arabic Bulgarian
5 Arabic Arabic
6 Arabic English
7 Arabic Arabic
8 Arabic Arabic
9 Arabic English
10 Arabic English

Appendix 4:
Arabic: General Language Characteristics

The Arabic language is one of the world's most widely used languages. According to Egyptian
Demographic Center (2000), it is the mother tongue of about 300 million people. Arabic is the
official language of many Arab nations in the Middle East and northern Africa, including
Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi
Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen (Sofer & Raimes, 2002 & World
Book Encyclopedia, 1997). It is one of the six official languages of the United Nations.

There are two types of Arabic, spoken and written. Spoken Arabic consists of dialects. Arabic is
the descendant of the language of the Koran, the sacred book of the Islamic religion. The
orientation of writing is from right-to left, and the Arabic alphabet consists of 28 letters. The
Arabic alphabet can be extended to ninety elements by writing additional shapes, marks, and
vowels (Tayli & Al-Salamah, 1990). Most Arabic words are morphologically derived from a list
of roots; it can be tri, quad, or pent-literal. Most of these roots are three constants. Arabic words
are classified into three main parts of speech: nouns (adjectives, and adverbs), verbs, and
particles. In formal writing, Arabic sentences are delimited by commas and periods as in English,
for instance. Many English words come from Arabic: alcohol, algebra, check, magazine, and
tariff.

Standard Arabic: is the formal language of literature and written expression.
Colloquial Arabic: is the ordinary familiar language used in everyday conversation among
Arabic speakers.

When discussing MTI from Arabic it should not be forgotten that some errors are caused by
interference from standard and others by interference from colloquial Arabic.

Appendix 5: ESL Tip Sheet 1: Arabic (Sofer & Raimes, 2002)
(In green is what applies to this study)

Spoken in Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman,
Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen.

The written language
Arabic is written from right to left.
Spelling is phonetic.
No distinction is made between upper and lower case.

Sentence structure and word order
Under the influence of the Qur’an (Koran), writers aim at rhythmical balance and
coordination, with the split between subject and predicate occurring midway in a sentence.
Arabic favors coordination over subordination; sentences often begin with And or So.
Basic word order in Classical Arabic is V-S-O: the verb precedes the subject: *Hoped the
committee to solve the problem. Colloquial Arabic is S - V - O .
Arabic uses a that clause where English uses infinitive: *I want that you stay.

Nouns and pronouns
Personal pronouns are often added to verbs: *My father he lives in California.
Relative pronoun makes no human/nonhuman distinction, and pronoun object is retained in a
restrictive relative clause: *Here is the student which you met her last week.
Singular noun is used after a numeral above ten: *He has eleven cousin.

Verbs and verbals
No equivalent of auxiliary do: *You have a brother?
No verb be in present tense: *They going to the movies. *Where the post office?
No modal verbs.
No gerund or infinitive forms.
Perspective of tense and time is very different from English.
Past perfect is formed with be: *They were eat.
Reported speech retains tense of original: *She said she is leaving.
Simple present tense covers meaning of simple and progressive in English: *She working now.
*She working every day.

Adjectives and adverbs
Adjectives follow noun: *a book interesting long.

Articles
No indefinite article: *He is student.
Definite article is used for days of the week, some months, some place names, and in many
idiomatic expressions: *He went to the Peru. *He is still in the bed.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Appendix 6- Table 1:
Error Analysis: Scope of Study

Topic: What are your plans for the future?
Brevet Students || Ten 250-word essays studied

Error Categories & Sources + Abbreviations

Error Sources /
Error Category Error Sources
Abbreviations
Grammatical Errors A- INTERLINGUAL: InterL/L1T
L1 (negative) Transfer / interference

B- INTRALINGUAL:
 Developmental/ analogical errors [Corder,
1974; p. 130] or over-generalization or of
TL rules (Selinker, 1972 in Richards, 1974) IntraL
= redundancy reduction (Richards, 1974; Dev
p 175) OG
 Ignorance of rule restrictions
 Incomplete application of rules = under-
generalization
e.g. nobody knew where was Barbie
(Richards + James, 1998; p 185)
Ign
 Building of false concepts/systems IncompR/
(Richards, p 174) UG
 Morphology => 3rd pers sing “s”, “ed”,
“ing” <=> Concord + Phonological error
(James p 154)
 False analogy => childs (James p 185)
 Induced errors (James p 178): from
FC
classroom situations
1. cross-association
2. teacher explanation
3. material induced errors Mor
 Omissions/avoidance because of Concord
ignorance (James p 176) Phono
FA
C- AMBIGUOUS: IE
Both interlingual/interference and
intralingual/developmental
CAss
D- UNIQUE: TE
Neither interlingual nor intralingual <=> not in Mat
L1 and not developmental (Richards p 115- Om/Av
Dulay & Burt)
Amb
Un
InterL/L1T
A- INTERLINGUAL:

B- INTRALINGUAL: (James p 157) IntraL
1. Phrase structure errors = Misselection Missel / Misord
Syntactic errors / Misordering
2. Clause errors = Omitted, Misordered,
Misselected, Blend
Om
3. Sentence errors = Discourse <=> BL
Coherence Cohr
4. Intersentence errors = Cohesion

Cohs
InterL/L1T
A- INTERLINGUAL:
L1 (negative) Transfer / interference <=> False

friends / Deceptive Cognates FF / DC
Lexical
Errors
(word choice) B- INTRALINGUAL/Developmental:
1. Confusables (James p. 145-147) IntraL/Dev
Conf
2. Distortions - form nonexistent in TL Dist
(James p 150)
INTERLINGUAL: InterL/L1T
Semantic errors
Organization A- INTERLINGUAL: InterL/L1T
(claim/thesis,
transition words L1 (negative) Transfer / interference
(TW), support,
process, logical B- INTRALINGUAL / Developmental:
progression, flow of 1. Relevance, clarity, development,
ideas) originality (James p 161) IntraL/Dev
+ 2. Coherence/content = value as a Rel/Cl/Devt
message Orig
3. Cohesion = value as a text/product
Discourse/Process
Cohr
(Das, 1878; in James p 161)

Cohs
InterL/L1T
A- INTERLINGUAL:
Substance
(Mechanics + L1 (negative) Transfer / interference
Spelling)
B- INTRALINGUAL / Developmental
IntraL/Dev
 Pronunciation: sound spelling, SdSp
unnecessary letters UL
 Convention of spelling: omissions, SpConv
inversion, letter shape (Corder p 138) Om/Inv/LS
 Dyslexic errors, phonetic near-misses Dys/ PhNM
(e.g. course/coarse), confusables,
typographic errors (James p 130) Conf/ Typo
Sources: Corder, 1974; Richards, 1974; James, 1998; Selinker, 1972 in Richards, 1974;
Richards & Sampson, 1974.


Categorizing & Diagnosing Errors
“A single word may show more than one error and appear, therefore, in more than one list” (Corder, 1974, p.
132).

Error Category Numbe Error Sources /
Error sub-
+ Conclusion / r of Examples & Error Sources Abbreviations
category
Inference Errors
Grammatical A- INTERLINGUAL: InterL/L1T
Errors
L1 (negative) Transfer /
29 E interference
14 T
B- INTRALINGUAL:
 Developmental/over-
generalization or IntraL
analogical errors [Allen & Dev
Corder, 1974; p. 130] of OG
TL rules= redundancy
reduction (Richards,
1974; p 175)
 Ignorance of rule Ign
restrictions IncR/UG
 Incomplete application
of rules = under-
generalization
e.g. nobody knew where
was Barbie (Richards +
James, 1998; p 185)
FC
 Building of false
concepts/systems
(Richards, p 174)
 Morphology => 3rd pers Mor
sing “s”, “ed”, “ing” <=> Concord/Phon
Concord + Phonological o
error (James p 154)
 False analogy => childs
(James p 185)
 Induced errors (James p
178): from classroom FA
situations IE
1. cross-
association
2. teacher CAss
explanation TE
3. material induced Mat
errors Om/Av
 Omissions/avoidance
because of ignorance
(James p 176)
Amb
C- AMBIGUOUS:
Both
interlingual/interference and
D- UNIQUE:
Neither interlingual nor
intralingual <=> not in L1 and Un
not developmental (Richards
p 115- Dulay & Burt)
 I have trouble in IntraL/Dev
school because▼ the
lack of skills in InterL/L1T
sciences. Dev
 Getting an early start
InterL/L1T
about the future can
5
help by expanding our
Prepositions/ Errors Dev/UG/

knowledge about our
Collocational
particles plans.
(2 T)
 That is so because I
would like to follow in
my father’s footsteps.
 You get a load of your
chest every time you
make a basket.
 Evil is▼ force that can InterL/L1T
enter a person’s soul
and conquer it.
InterL/L1T
 My plans for the future

is to become a

professional basketball
4E Dev/OG
player, a good father,
Articles
and▼ successful

(3 T) InterL/L1T
architect.
 ▼Most important
thing here is that I
never become a couch
potato.
 When the evil comes.
1E  I wonder what god has

Reported sp. (1 T) written for me, what’s InterL/L1T
my destiny?
Sing/Plural 1 E  I am obsessed with
money; it is just the InterL/L1T
(1 T)
way they smell.
 Calling others kids to
2E
Adjectives come.
(2 T) InterL/L1T
 Many others ways. InterL/L1T
Relative
ØE  --
clauses
 They should have
Irregular veterinarians around Dev/FA/Concor
1E them in case they get d
verbs
sick or any strong
disease stricked them.
Tenses 12 + 2  What ever path a Dev/Concord
(wrong E person choose.
tense)  I have planned my Dev/Concord
+ omission of (5 T) future a long time ago.
3rd pers. "s"  last but not least, if I
+ agreement was giving an animal a
of tenses shot I have to make InterL/L1T
sure that I am giving it
in the right place. InterL/L1T
veterinarians around Dev/Concord
them in case they get
sick or any strong InterL/L1T
 I am caring mainly Dev/Concord/O
because an animal G
doesn’t have the same
mental abilities as Dev/Concord
humans do.
 Without a complete Dev/Concord/U
and proper education, G
you got nothing.
Amb
 My plans for the future
is to become a
professional basketball InterL/L1T
player, a good father,
and successful
architect.
 Hopefully if I become
a professional
basketball player, I
would have enough
money to maintain a
good life.
 That, I have been
doing since a long time
ago.
 In both of the plans for
my future I clearly
stated, that I began
working on them from
the beginning of my
life
Possessive  That is so because I Dev/Concord

1E would like to follow in
case
my fathers footsteps.
InterL/L1T
A- INTERLINGUAL:

interference

B- INTRALINGUAL: (James p
157)
Syntactic errors IntraL
5. Phrase structure
errors =
Misselection /
35 E Misordering Missel / Misord
16 T 6. Clause errors = Om
Omitted, Misordered,
Misselected, Blend
7. Sentence errors = BL
Discourse <=> Cohr
Coherence
8. Intersentence errors
= Cohesion Cohs

Coordinatio 5 E  For, them not to hate InterL/L1T

n (3 T) me they need to
(+ Beginning respect me and realize
how much I love them
with “and”
and how hard I work
or “so”) InterL/L1T
for them.

 All my life I’ve really

enjoyed the game and

played it all my life

and of course it is my

favorite sport. InterL/L1T
 I can’t say much here
besides that playing
ball gives me a good
workout and I stay in
shape; and architecture
works my brain.
Sentence 27 E  Animals have to be not InterL/L1T
structure (11 T) acted hard on.
 Consequently one must Dev/Om
plan his life ▼ to be
successful. Missel/BL/Cohr

 A good education will Amb
help increase my self-
esteem because it InterL/L1T
makes me happier, feel Cohr
smarter, and feel more Cohr
successful than without
an education. Om/Cohr/Misse
 It is known to be, that l
a person would be Cohr
more appreaciated, and
treated better if he BL
were an educated Cohr
individual than a InterL/L1T
failure. Cohr
 I have learned a lesson BL/Cohr
in my life, that you Cohs/Cohr/BL
should never ever give InterL/L1T
up. Cohr

 Living your life
Cohr
owning a beatiful

mansion, and amazing

cars is a relative way

of my lifestyle in the

future. Amb
 My essay has covered
up my plans for the
future: to be educated,
feeling content, and
having your family and
your close friends
stand by your side all Cohr/Missel
the time. (parallelism!
coherence)
 When I secure a job
my goal is to become
partner and have a BL/Cohr
quarter office.
 I have to be
determined heading off InterL/L1T
to a foriegn country.
 I also sacrifice a lot
Amb
most of all seeing my

family.
 All for money and Cohr
respect (fragment).
 This result will give InterL/L1T
me a positive attitude
of authority over life.
 I have many goals that
I hope I will acheive. InterL/L1T
 I also have noticed
something that most
people when they grow
up they Forget their
Family and Friends
because of work and
all that stress But, I InterL/L1T
intend to still have a
very close relationship
with my family and
friends.
 I don’t just want to be
a parent but a mom
who is proud and
deserves that position
as well as an
interesting lawyer.
 What I want to be?
 My plans are for three
things: future work,
future family, and
sport I want to play.
 I will help my children
with any problems
they are facing
whether these
problems are
emotional, with
friends, with a teacher,
in school, etc...
(parallelism!)
 This image is very
important, because I
will be able to
establish a good early
start concerning my
future.
 The plans for my
future are being a
successful basketball
player & to get a job as
a computer engineer.
(parallelism)
 All my life I’ve really
enjoyed the game and
played it all my life
and of course it is my
favorite sport.
 I have a lot of people
in my family that are
computer engineers.
 That, I have been
doing since a long time
ago.
 In both of the plans for
my future I clearly
stated, that I began
working on them from
the beginning of my
life.
 That is so because I
would like to follow in
my fathers foot steps, I
love playing ball and
because I would like to
be healthy in the mind
as well as the body.
 I can’t say much here
besides that playing
ball gives me a good
workout and I stay in
shape.
 I also have noticed
something that most InterL/L1T
Nouns & Family and Friends
pronouns because of work and
2E
e.g. My all that stress But, I
(2 T)
father he intend to still have a
lives ... very close relationship InterL/L1T
with my family and
friends.
 when the evil comes, it
is hard to defy it.
Word order 1 E  I also have noticed Dev/Misord
something that most
Family and Friends
because of work and
all that stress But, I
intend to still have a
very close relationship
with my family and
friends.
InterL/L1T
A- INTERLINGUAL:
Lexical interference <=> False
Errors friends / Deceptive Cognates
(word choice) FF / DC

26 E B-
INTRALINGUAL/Developmen
tal: IntraL/Dev
19 T Conf
3. Confusables (James
p. 145-147)
4. Distortions - form Dist
nonexistent in TL
(James p 150)
24 E  If I hit an animal it InterL/L1T

(17 T) would loose trust in me
and stay on irritating
me while curing it.
InterL/L1T
 Some animals are nice

pets to have, when

they have the right InterL/L1T
health and
medications.
veterinarians around
them in case they get InterL/L1T
sick or any strong
 They should have InterL/L1T
veterinarians around
them in case they get InterL/L1T
sick or any strong
InterL/L1T
 Animals are usually

very afraid of high

sounds.
Dev
 For me acheiving these
goals makes me happy. InterL/L1T
 How ever each person
must succeed to his InterL/L1T
ability.
 When I secure a job Dev
partner and have a Dev
quarter office.
 You never know what
god has installed for Dev
you. InterL/L1T
 For me to be counted
as a one of a kind
InterL/L1T
mother I need to take

care of my kids thus

they will be successful InterL/L1T
in the future.
 I don’t just want to be
a parent but▼ a mom
who is proud and
deserves that position
as well as an
interesting lawyer. InterL/L1T
 In my free time I will
practice on improving
my basketball
fundamentals.
 Planning for the future InterL/L1T
gives an image for our
future life.
 Thus I will need to put
a good concentration InterL/L1T
of time, practicing my
basketball skills.
 Hopefully if I become Amb
a professional
basketball player, I
would have enough
money to maintain a
good life. InterL/L1T
 I need to get outside
help. That outside help Dev/Conf
is provided by my
family members.
 Like I’ve said before.
 Getting an early start
about the future can
help by expanding our
knowledge about our
plans.
 Well you know what,
I’ve given this a lot of
thought I think I’m
sure of what I want to
be.
 it rises problems.

Semantic errors INTERLINGUAL: InterL/L1T
3E
3T interference
 When I secure a job InterL/L1T
partner and have a
quarter office. InterL/L1T
3E  By acomplishing these
(3 T) pans I will insure
myself an outstanding
life. InterL/L1T
 Architecture works my
brain.
InterL/L1T
A- INTERLINGUAL:
Organization L1 (negative) Transfer /

(claim/thesis, interference
transition words
(TW), support, B- INTRALINGUAL / IntraL/Dev
process, logical Developmental: Rel/Cl/Devt/Ori
progression, flow 4. Relevance, clarity, g
of ideas) development,
+ originality (James p
161)
5. Coherence/content =
Discourse/Proce value as a message Cohr
ss 6. Cohesion = value as
a text/product (Das,
1878; in James p 161) Cohs
5 good theses 1. incorrect thesis- poor 1. Cohr/Cohs/

5 good support support- no transition
2 good TW words- no logical Cl/Devt
progression.
2. good thesis- good support- 2. Cohs
TW used incorrectly
(“therefore” at the 3.
beginning of the body; “as
a result” in the thesis.) Cohr/Cl/De
3. poor thesis- off topic- few
TW- but good mechanics. vt
4. incorrect thesis- good TW-
logical flow. 4. Cl
5. good thesis + support- few 5. Devt/Cohs
TW- third paragraph off
topic. 6. Devt/Cohs
6. good thesis- poor support-
shallow- incorrect TW 7. Devt/Cohs
7. good thesis- no respect for
order of thesis 8.
components- poor TW-
good flow. Devt/Cl/Co
8. good thesis but no
parallelism- too many hs
repetitions- too long- very
few transition words. 9. Devt
9. thesis but no parallelism-
good support- good TW- 10. Devt
good flow.
10. thesis but no narrowing
down.
A- INTERLINGUAL: InterL/L1T
Substance
(Mechanics +
Spelling)
interference

B- INTRALINGUAL /
120 E Developmental
25 T
IntraL/Dev
Punctuation 64 + 11 1. However▼evil has its InterL/L1T
E shapes and forms.
(21 T) 2. There are two paths▼evil Dev
(28%) and good.
3. Once I am a Dev
veterinarian▼the most
important thing is that I
give the right medication
to my animals which are Dev
sick.
4. First of all▼ in order to
do that I have to give the Dev
sick animal the most
benifitial medicine.
5. last but not least, if I was Dev
giving an animal a shot▼ I
have to make sure that I InterL/L1T
am giving it in the right
place.
6. Consequently▼ one must
plan his life to be InterL/L1T
successful.
7. As a result, I intend to get
a good education, and job,
which will allow me to
raise a family in a suitable Dev
enviroment.
8. Obtaining a good job will
be a crucial part of my life
for various reasons. One of InterL/L1T
which, is that it enables me Dev
to have a stable income.
9. This factor will allow me
to focus on different Dev
aspects of my life, which
make me happier and,
help me improve my life. InterL/L1T
10. It is known to be, that a
person would be more
appreaciated, and treated InterL/L1T
better▼ if he were an
educated individual than a
failure.
11. Living your life owning a Dev
beatiful mansion, and
amazing cars is a relative
way of my lifestyle in the InterL/L1T
future.
12. How ever▼ each person Dev
must succeed to his ability.
13. My plan is to succeed. To Dev
do that▼ I want to get a
good education, become a Dev
lawyer, and have positive Dev
values.
14. To get a start on my good
education▼ the first
InterL/L1T
stepping stone is

highschool graduation.
Dev
15. Afterwards▼ I want to get

a university level education
Dev
in the united states.

16. There▼ I want to get a

PhD in law.

17. When I accomplish that▼
InterL/L1T
I earn a certain level of
respect. Dev
18. Next▼ I move to wall
street. Dev
19. When I secure a job▼ my
goal is to become partner InterL/L1T
and have a quarter office.
20. I have to be determined▼ Dev
heading off to a foriegn Dev
country.
21. I also sacrifice a lot▼
most of all▼ seeing my Dev
family. Dev
22. My plan is difficult, to Dev
acheive it I have to work Dev
hard at school, become a
famous lawyer, and finally
carry positive values.
23. No matter who you are▼ Dev
try your best to beat life.
24. If money is an issue▼ Dev
apply for financial aid, or
use resources at home▼ Dev
just dont let life get the Dev
best of you.
25. Personally▼ I beleive that Dev
you can never be sure.
26. For, them not to hate me▼ Dev
they need to respect me
and realize how much I Dev
love them and how hard I
work for them.
27. I also have noticed
something▼ that most InterL/L1T
people▼ when they grow
up▼ they Forget their
Family and Friends
because of work and all
that stress▼ But, I intend InterL/L1T
to still have a very close
relationship with my
family and friends.
28. I don’t just want to be a Dev
parent▼ but a mom who is
proud and deserves that
position▼ as well as an
interesting lawyer. Dev
29. To become all this is really
hard▼ but if I set my mind
to it▼ I know that I will InterL/L1T
acheive it.
30. I hope that this is
forfilled▼ I wonder what
god has written for me,
what’s my destiny?
31. I have many plans for the InterL/L1T
future that, if
accomplished▼ will insure
me a successful life full of Dev
Dev
hapiness and joy.
32. When I get to university▼ Dev
I will try my best to get
high honors in architecture. Dev
33. After I finish university▼
I will not start working
because I also want to get a InterL/L1T
master’s degree in Dev
architecture.
34. I will help my children InterL/L1T
with any problems they are
facing▼ whether these
problems are emotional, InterL/L1T
with friends, with a
InterL/L1T
teacher, in school, etc...

35. I will support my children

in any activity they choose

to join▼ whether it is Fine
InterL/L1T
arts, or sports.

36. In my free time▼ I will
Dev
practice on improving my

basketball fundamentals. InterL/L1T
37. My advice to everyone is
to have many plans for the
future▼ instead of only InterL/L1T
one plan▼ because if one Dev
plan fails▼ you can try to
achieve another plan. Dev
38. An image, is just a vision Dev
about my future life.
39. The plans for my future Dev
are▼ being a successful
basketball player & to get a
job as a computer engineer.
40. Thus▼ I will need to put a
good concentration of
time, practicing my
basketball skills.
41. Of course▼ I will need a
lot of people’s assistance.
42. All my life▼ I’ve really
enjoyed the game.
43. Hopefully▼ if I become a
professional basketball
player, I would have
enough money to maintain
a good life.
44. Of course▼ I do not have
a lot of experience as a
computer engineer.
45. On the other hand▼ I gain
a little bit of experience by
messing around with
computers.
46. I really do agree, that
planning for the future is
essential for a person to
have a good life.
47. In both of the plans for my
future▼ I clearly stated,
that I began working on
them from the beginning of
my life.
48. Well▼ you know what,
I’ve given this a lot of
thought▼ I think I’m sure
of what I want to be.
49. That is so because I would
like to follow in my fathers
foot steps, I love playing
ball▼ and because I would
like to be healthy in the
mind as well as the body.
1. last but not least, if I was InterL/L1T
giving an animal a shot I
have to make sure that I
am giving it in the right
place.
2. Afterwards I want to get a InterL/L1T
university level education InterL/L1T
in the united states.
3. Next I move to wall street.
4. I also have noticed Dev
9E something that most people Dev
Capitalizatio (4 T) when they grow up they Dev
n (44.4% Forget their Family and
) Friends because of work
and all that stress But, I
Dev
intend to still have a very InterL/L1T
close relationship with my
family and friends.
5. I will support my children
in any activity they choose
to join whether it is Fine
arts, or sports.
6. + arabs

Spelling  Pronunciation: sound SdSp
spelling, unnecessary UL
letters SpConv
 Convention of spelling: Om/Inv/LS
omissions, inversion,
letter shape (Allen & Dys/ PhNM
Corder p 138)
 Dyslexic errors, Conf/ Typo
phonetic near-misses
(e.g. course/coarse),
confusables, typographic
errors (James p 130)
1. If I hit an animal it would UL/OG/
loose trust in me and stay
on irritating me while
curing it. SdSp
2. Veterenarians are very
important to have around, SdSp
especially in the ergent
times. SdSp
3. … which will allow me to SpConv/SdSp
raise my family in a OG
suitable enviroment. SdSp/UL
4. Belive/beleive - - - - SdSp
5. What ever Dys
6. To conqere SdSp
36 E 7. Gentel SdSp
(0%) 8. Bieng happy SpConv
9. Necassary SdSp
10. Benifitial -- Dys/Typo?
11. Acheive/acheiving - - - - - SpConv
12. Appreaciated Dys
13. Beatiful Dys
14. How ever Om
15. reuslt SdSp
16. foriegn SdSp/Om
17. dont SdSp/Om
18. forfilled SdSp/Om
19. hapiness - SdSp
20. succesful -
21. acomplishing
22. foot steps

214 Errors
TOTAL
77 Transfer Errors
35.9%
Sources: Corder, 1974; Richards, 1974; James, 1998; Selinker, 1972 in Richards, 1974;
Richards & Sampson, 1974.

Notes:
 E = Error
 T = L1 Transfer
 The number that comes after the “+” accounts for the errors found but not transcribed.

Appendix 8 - Table 3:

Interlingual / Transfer Errors

Number
Error Error sub-
of Examples
Category category
Errors
Grammatical Errors- 29 E- 14 T
 Getting an early start about the future can
5 Errors help by expanding our knowledge about our
Prepositions/
plans.
particles (2 T)  That is so because I would like to follow in
my father’s footsteps.
 Evil is▼ force that can enter a person’s
soul and conquer it.
4E
Articles  My plans for the future is to become a
(3 T) professional basketball player, a good
father, and▼ successful architect.
 When the evil comes.

1E
Reported sp. (1 T)  I wonder what god has written for me,
what’s my destiny?
Sing/Plural
1E  I am obsessed with money; it is just the way
(1 T) they smell.
2E  Calling others kids to come.

Adjectives (2 T)  Many others ways.
Syntactic errors 35 E- 16 T
 For, them not to hate me they need to
respect me and realize how much I love
them and how hard I work for them.
Coordination
(+ Beginning 5 E  All my life I’ve really enjoyed the game
and played it all my life and of course it is
with “and” or (3 T)
my favorite sport.
“so”)
 I can’t say much here besides that playing
ball gives me a good workout and I stay in
shape; and architecture works my brain.
Sentence 27 E  Animals have to be not acted hard on.
structure (11 T)  It is known to be, that a person would be
more appreaciated, and treated better if he
were an educated individual than a failure.
 I have learned a lesson in my life, that you
should never ever give up.
 This result will give me a positive attitude
of authority over life.
 What I want to be?
 This image is very important, because I will
be able to establish a good early start
concerning my future.
 I have a lot of people in my family that are
computer engineers.
 That, I have been doing since a long time
ago.
 In both of the plans for my future I clearly
stated, that I began working on them from
the beginning of my life.
 That is so because I would like to follow in
my fathers foot steps, I love playing ball
and because I would like to be healthy in
the mind as well as the body.
 I can’t say much here besides that playing
ball gives me a good workout and I stay in
shape.
 I also have noticed something that most
Nouns & people when they grow up they Forget their
Family and Friends because of work and all
pronouns 2E
that stress But, I intend to still have a very
e.g. My father (2 T) close relationship with my family and
he lives ... friends.
 when the evil comes, it is hard to defy it.
Lexical Errors (word choice) 26 E - 19 T
24 E  If I hit an animal it would loose trust in me

(17 T) and stay on irritating me while curing it.
 Some animals are nice pets to have, when
they have the right health and medications.
 They should have veterinarians around
them in case they get sick or any strong
 They should have veterinarians around
them in case they get sick or any strong
 Animals are usually very afraid of high
sounds.
 For me acheiving these goals makes me
happy.
 How ever each person must succeed to his
ability.
 You never know what god has installed for
you.
 For me to be counted as a one of a kind
mother I need to take
 In my free time I will practice on improving
my basketball fundamentals.
 Planning for the future gives an image for
our future life.
 Thus I will need to put a good concentration
of time, practicing my basketball skills.
 Hopefully if I become a professional
basketball player, I would have enough
money to maintain a good life.
 I need to get outside help. That outside help
is provided by my family members.
 Like I’ve said before.
 Getting an early start about the future can
help by expanding our knowledge about our
plans.
 Well you know what, I’ve given this a lot of
thought I think I’m sure of what I want to
be.

Semantic errors 3 E-3T
 When I secure a job my goal is to become

partner and have a quarter office.
3E
(3 T)  By acomplishing these pans I will insure
myself an outstanding life.
 Architecture works my brain.
Substance (Mechanics + Spelling) 120 E - 25 T
Punctuation 64 + 11 1. However▼evil has its shapes and forms.

E 2. As a result, I intend to get a good education,
(21 T) and job, which will allow me to raise a family
(28%) in a suitable enviroment.
3. Obtaining a good job will be a crucial part of
my life for various reasons. One of which, is
that it enables me to have a stable income.
4. It is known to be, that a person would be more
appreaciated, and treated better▼ if he were an
educated individual than a failure.
5. How ever▼ each person must succeed to his
ability.
6. My plan is to succeed. To do that▼ I want to
get a good education, become a lawyer, and
have positive values.
7. Afterwards▼ I want to get a university level
education in the united states.
8. I have to be determined▼ heading off to a
foriegn country.
9. No matter who you are▼ try your best to beat
life.
10. Personally▼ I beleive that you can never be
sure.
11. When I get to university▼ I will try my best to
get high honors in architecture.
12. After I finish university▼ I will not start
working because I also want to get a master’s
degree in architecture.
13. In my free time▼ I will practice on improving
my basketball fundamentals.
14. My advice to everyone is to have many plans
for the future▼ instead of only one plan▼
because if one plan fails▼ you can try to
achieve another plan.
15. Of course▼ I will need a lot of people’s
assistance.
16. Hopefully▼ if I become a professional
basketball player, I would have enough money
to maintain a good life.
17. Of course▼ I do not have a lot of experience as
a computer engineer.
18. On the other hand▼ I gain a little bit of
experience by messing around with computers.
19. have a good life.
20. In both of the plans for my future▼ I clearly
stated, that I began working on them from the
beginning of my life.
21. Well▼ you know what, I’ve given this a lot of
thought▼ I think I’m sure of what I want to be.
22. That is so because I would like to follow in my
fathers foot steps, I love playing ball▼ and
because I would like to be healthy in the mind
as well as the body.
1. last but not least, if I was giving an animal a
shot I have to make sure that I am giving it in
9E the right place.
Capitalization (4 T) 2. Afterwards I want to get a university level
(44.4%) education in the united states.
3. Next I move to wall street.
4. arabs
TOTAL 77 Transfer Errors 35.9%
Out of 214 Errors

Appendix 9 - Table 4:

Intralingual/Developmental Errors

Error Error sub- Number
Examples
Category category of Errors
Grammatical Errors 29 E - 14 T
 I have trouble in school because▼ the lack of
skills in sciences.
5 Errors

Prepositions/
 Getting an early start about the future can help
particles (2 T) by expanding our knowledge about our plans.
 You get a load of your chest every time you
make a basket.
4E
Articles
 ▼Most important thing here is that I never
(3 T) become a couch potato.
Irregular  They should have veterinarians around them in

1E case they get sick or any strong disease stricked
verbs
them.
 What ever path a person choose.
 I have planned my future a long time ago.
 They should have veterinarians around them in
case they get sick or any strong disease stricked
Tenses (wrong them.
tense)  Without a complete and proper education, you
12 + 2 E got nothing.
+ omission of
 My plans for the future is to become a
3rd pers. "s" (5 T)
+ agreement professional basketball player, a good father,
and successful architect.
of tenses
 Hopefully if I become a professional basketball
player, I would have enough money to maintain
a good life.
 That, I have been doing since a long time ago.

Possessive
1E  That is so because I would like to follow in my
case fathers footsteps.
Syntactic errors 35 E- 16 T
Sentence 27 E  Consequently one must plan his life ▼ to be
structure (11 T) successful.
 A good education will help increase my self-
esteem because it makes me happier, feel
smarter, and feel more successful than without
an education.
 It is known to be, that a person would be more
appreaciated, and treated better if he were an
 Living your life owning a beatiful mansion, and
amazing cars is a relative way of my lifestyle in
the future.
 My essay has covered up my plans for the
future: to be educated, feeling content, and
having your family and your close friends stand
by your side all the time. (parallelism!
coherence)
 When I secure a job my goal is to become
 I have to be determined heading off to a foriegn
country.
 I also sacrifice a lot most of all seeing my
family.
 All for money and respect (fragment).
 I have many goals that I hope I will acheive.
 I also have noticed something that most people
when they grow up they Forget their Family
and Friends because of work and all that stress
But, I intend to still have a very close
relationship with my family and friends.
 I don’t just want to be a parent but a mom who
is proud and deserves that position as well as an
interesting lawyer.
 My plans are for three things: future work,
future family, and sport I want to play.
 I will help my children with any problems they
are facing whether these problems are
emotional, with friends, with a teacher, in
school, etc... (parallelism!)
 This image is very important, because I will be
able to establish a good early start concerning
my future.
 The plans for my future are being a successful
basketball player & to get a job as a computer
engineer. (parallelism)
 All my life I’ve really enjoyed the game and
played it all my life and of course it is my
favorite sport.
 That, I have been doing since a long time ago.
 In both of the plans for my future I clearly
stated, that I began working on them from the
beginning of my life.
 I also have noticed something that most people
when they grow up they Forget their Family
Word order 1E and Friends because of work and all that stress
But, I intend to still have a very close
relationship with my family and friends.
Lexical Errors (word choice) 26 E - 19 T
 For me to be counted as a one of a kind mother

I need to take care of my kids thus they will be
successful in the future.
 I don’t just want to be a parent but▼ a mom
24 E who is proud and deserves that position as well
(17 T) as an interesting lawyer.
 Getting an early start about the future can help
by expanding our knowledge about our plans.
 it rises problems.

Organization (claim/thesis, transition words (TW), support, process, logical
progression, flow of ideas) + Discourse/Process
1. incorrect thesis- poor support- no transition words-

no logical progression.
2. good thesis- good support- TW used incorrectly
(“therefore” at the beginning of the body; “as a
result” in the thesis.)
5 good 3. poor thesis- off topic- few TW- but good
theses mechanics.
5 good 4. incorrect thesis- good TW- logical flow.
support 5. good thesis + support- few TW- third paragraph off

2 good topic.
TW 6. good thesis- poor support- shallow- incorrect TW
7. good thesis- no respect for order of thesis
components- poor TW- good flow.
8. good thesis but no parallelism- too many
repetitions- too long- very few transition words.
9. thesis but no parallelism- good support- good TW-
good flow.
10. thesis but no narrowing down.
Substance (Mechanics + Spelling) 120 E- 25 T
Punctuation 64 + 11 1. There are two paths▼evil and good.

E 2. Once I am a veterinarian▼the most important
(21 T) thing is that I give the right medication to my
(28%) animals which are sick.
3. First of all▼ in order to do that I have to give the
sick animal the most benifitial medicine.
4. last but not least, if I was giving an animal a shot▼
I have to make sure that I am giving it in the right
place.
5. Consequently▼ one must plan his life to be
successful.
6. suitable enviroment.
7. This factor will allow me to focus on different
aspects of my life, which make me happier and,
help me improve my life.
8. It is known to be, that a person would be more
appreaciated, and treated better▼ if he were an
9. Living your life owning a beatiful mansion, and
amazing cars is a relative way of my lifestyle in the
future.
10. To get a start on my good education▼ the first
stepping stone is highschool graduation.
11. There▼ I want to get a PhD in law.
12. When I accomplish that▼ I earn a certain level of
respect.
13. Next▼ I move to wall street.
14. When I secure a job▼ my goal is to become
15. I also sacrifice a lot▼ most of all▼ seeing my
family.
16. My plan is difficult, to acheive it I have to work
hard at school, become a famous lawyer, and finally
carry positive values.
17. If money is an issue▼ apply for financial aid, or
use resources at home▼ just dont let life get the
best of you.
18. For, them not to hate me▼ they need to respect me
and realize how much I love them and how hard I
work for them.
19. I also have noticed something▼ that most people▼
when they grow up▼ they Forget their Family and
Friends because of work and all that stress▼ But, I
intend to still have a very close relationship with
my family and friends.
20. I don’t just want to be a parent▼ but a mom who is
proud and deserves that position▼ as well as an
interesting lawyer.
21. To become all this is really hard▼ but if I set my
mind to it▼ I know that I will acheive it.
22. I hope that this is forfilled▼ I wonder what god has
written for me, what’s my destiny?
23. I have many plans for the future that, if
accomplished▼ will insure me a successful life full
of hapiness and joy.
24. I will help my children with any problems they are
facing▼ whether these problems are emotional,
with friends, with a teacher, in school, etc...
25. I will support my children in any activity they
choose to join▼ whether it is Fine arts, or sports.
26. An image, is just a vision about my future life.
27. The plans for my future are▼ being a successful
basketball player & to get a job as a computer
engineer.
28. Thus▼ I will need to put a good concentration of
time, practicing my basketball skills.
29. All my life▼ I’ve really enjoyed the game.
30. I really do agree, that planning for the future is
essential for a person to have a good life.
31. Well▼ you know what, I’ve given this a lot of
thought▼ I think I’m sure of what I want to be.
32. That is so because I would like to follow in my
fathers foot steps, I love playing ball▼ and because
I would like to be healthy in the mind as well as the
body.
1. I also have noticed something that most people
when they grow up they Forget their Family and
Friends because of work and all that stress But, I
9E
intend to still have a very close relationship with
Capitalization (4 T) my family and friends.
(44.4%)
2. I will support my children in any activity they
choose to join whether it is Fine arts, or sports.

Spelling 36 E 1. If I hit an animal it would loose trust in me and stay
(0%) on irritating me while curing it.
2. Veterenarians are very important to have around,
especially in the ergent times.
3. … which will allow me to raise my family in a
suitable enviroment.
4. Belive/beleive - - - -
5. What ever
6. To conqere
7. Gentel
8. Bieng happy
9. Necassary
10. Benifitial --
11. Acheive/acheiving - - - - -
12. Appreaciated
13. Beatiful
14. How ever
15. reuslt
16. foriegn
17. dont
18. forfilled
19. hapiness -
20. succesful -
21. acomplishing
22. foot steps
TOTAL 214 Errors

137 Developmental Errors 64.1%


Error Sources & Numbers compared

Interlingua Intralingua
Error Category l Errors l Errors Error Sources
InterL/L1T IntraL/Dev
A- INTERLINGUAL:

B- INTRALINGUAL:
 Developmental/ analogical errors [Corder,
1974; p. 130] or over-generalization or of TL
rules (Selinker, 1972 in Richards, 1974) =
redundancy reduction (Richards, 1974; p
175)
 Ignorance of rule restrictions
 Incomplete application of rules = under-
generalization
e.g. nobody knew where was Barbie
(Richards + James, 1998; p 185)
 Building of false concepts/systems
(Richards, p 174)
14  Morphology => 3rd pers sing “s”, “ed”,
Grammatical
Transfer 15 Dev. “ing” <=> Concord + Phonological error
Errors
(48.2%) (James p 154)
 False analogy => childs (James p 185)
 Induced errors (James p 178): from
classroom situations
1. cross-association
2. teacher explanation
3. material induced errors
 Omissions/avoidance because of
ignorance (James p 176)

C- AMBIGUOUS:
Both interlingual/interference and
D- UNIQUE:
Neither interlingual nor intralingual <=> not in
L1 and not developmental (Richards p 115-
Dulay & Burt)
Syntactic errors 16 T 19 D A- INTERLINGUAL:
(45.7%)

B- INTRALINGUAL: (James p 157)
1. Phrase structure errors = Misselection /
Misordering
2. Clause errors = Omitted, Misordered,
Misselected, Blend
3. Sentence errors = Discourse <=>
Coherence
4. Intersentence errors = Cohesion

A- INTERLINGUAL:
L1 (negative) Transfer / interference <=> False

Lexical 19 T friends / Deceptive Cognates
Errors 7D
(word choice) (73%) B- INTRALINGUAL/Developmental:
1. Confusables (James p. 145-147)
2. Distortions - form nonexistent in TL
(James p 150)
INTERLINGUAL:
Semantic errors 3T
0D
(100%) L1 (negative) Transfer / interference
Organization
A- INTERLINGUAL:
(claim/thesis,

transition words
(TW), support,

process, logical
B- INTRALINGUAL / Developmental:
progression, flow
of ideas) 1. Relevance, clarity, development, originality
(James p 161)
+
2. Coherence/content = value as a message
3. Cohesion = value as a text/product (Das,
1878; in James p 161)
Discourse/Process
A- INTERLINGUAL:
Substance
25 T
(Mechanics + 95 D L1 (negative) Transfer / interference
(20.8%)
Spelling)
B- INTRALINGUAL / Developmental
 Pronunciation: sound spelling,
unnecessary letters
Punctuation (28% T)  Convention of spelling: omissions,
Capitalization (44.4% T)
Spelling inversion, letter shape (Corder p 138)
Spelling (0% T)
 Dyslexic errors, phonetic near-misses (e.g.
course/coarse), confusables, typographic
errors (James p 130)
77
137 Dev.
Transfer 214 Errors
Errors
TOTAL Errors
64.1%
35.9%
Sources: Corder, 1974; Richards, 1974; James, 1998; Selinker, 1972 in Richards, 1974; Richards & Sampson, 1974

Summary
Of Negative L1 Transfer Error Percentage
 Semantic 100%
 Lexical 73.0%
 Grammatical 48.2%
 Syntactic 45.7 %
 Substance/Mechanics 20.8%

Appendix 11
Oral/Written Presentations
Guidelines and Expectations
http://nadabs.tripod.com/presguide1.html
Appendix 12
ERROR ANALYSIS EXERCISES & OBJECTIVE TESTS

http://nadabs.tripod.com/onlinematerials.htm#3

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An Analysis of Errors in Arabic Speakers’ English Writings

American University of Beirut

1. Importance of communication

B. Theoretical Background:

1. Error Analysis

Written by a Brevet student.

Communication, "a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a

of all human interactions; it is the basis of life.

life rich in experience" (Merriam-Webster Online, 2003). "Communicative competence involves

in a complex back-and-forth process of negotiation of meaning between speakers. In written

written and it is read. Because there is no possibility of negotiating meaning of written

documents, the inevitable problems of misunderstandings are exacerbated" (Penman, 1998).

speakers are more prone to making mistakes and/or committing errors.

on students’ errors not mistakes.

immersed in English they might be at school.

Samuel Johnson in 1761.

“Is negative L1 transfer/interference the major cause for errors in the

English writings of Brevet students?”

This paper will attempt to do the following:

negative L1 transfer/interference, interlanguage, and intralingual errors);

students; and, finally,

need reinforcement in teaching (Corder, 1974).

learning materials on the basis of the learners' current problems.

Error analysis emphasizes “the significance of errors in learners’ interlanguage system”

as the Idiosyncratic Dialect or Transitional Competence.

Models for Error Analysis

1. Data collection: Recognition of idiosyncracy

2. Description: Accounting for idiosyncratic dialect

3. Explanation (the ultimate object of error analysis).

source of error, and Remediating for errors.

1. Language transfer

2. Transfer of training

3. Strategies of second language learning

4. Strategies of second language communication, and

5. Overgeneralization of TL linguistic material.

Overgeneralization or analogy, & Methods or Materials used in the Teaching (teaching-induced

they exposed seven sources of errors:

learners could be attributed (George, 1971).

learner reducing his linguistic burden.

c. incomplete application of rules

d. semantic errors such as building false concepts/systems: i.e. faulty comprehension

of distinctions in the TL.

3. Sociolinguistic situation: motivation (instrumental or integrative) and settings for

language learning (compound or co-ordinate bilingualism) may affect second language

4. Modality: modality of exposure to the TL and modality of production.

5. Age: learning capacities vary with age.

6. Successions of approximative systems: since the circumstances of language learning

phonological, syntactic, or semantic items or structures. Some forms may be inherently

difficult to learn no matter what the background of the learner.

James (1998, p. 178) exposed three main diagnosis-based categories of error:

a. Learning strategy-based errors:

i. false analogy

ii. misanalysis

iii. incomplete rule application

iv. exploiting redundancy

v. overlooking cooccurrence restrictions

vi. hypercorrection (monitor overuse)

vii. overgeneralization or system simplification