Modern standard Arabic interference in Algerian English as a foreign language students’ writings

Abstract

Linguistic interference is a phenomenon which occurs when the learners’ knowledge of his first language or the mother tongue interferes with the knowledge of the language that is being learnt. This problem is recurrent among foreign language learners, a case in point in Algeria, Modern Standard Arabic interfere with English in students oral and written productions. Hence, stylistic errors are produced by the learners because the knowledge about the foreign language is established incorrectly. Accordingly,   this paper will explore the   types of linguistic interference errors done by pupils on their English writings at Bouazza Miloud high school in Tlemcen-Algeria. The quantitative and qualitative analysis of pupils’ productions revealed the existence of syntactic, lexical and semantic errors. These findings underline the need for a detailed analysis to propose pedagogical solutions as using authentic materials and the focus on reading to write correctly and coherently.

Keywords: Modern Standard Arabic; language interference; Negative transfer; interlingual errors; writing.