Syntactic errors committed by Arab EFL learners

الملخص EN

This analytic and descriptive research investigates the types of syntactic errors generally committed by native Arabic speakers learning English as a foreign language.

It also aims at exploring the sources of these errors and suggesting remedies to avoid them.

Data for this study were collected from guided and free written compositions developed by EFL learners.

These written and uncorrected compositions were obtained from King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia.

Analysis of the data included descriptive statistics using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS).

Contrastive analysis of Arabic and English was discussed when it was called for.

Results of the study include the identification of critical problems in learning the English syntax.

The study shows syntactic errors in the use of prepositions, articles and third singular marker by Arabs learning EFL.

The study also indicates the source of these errors as L, interference (IF), Over-generalization (OG), and Insufficient Mastery of Syntax (IMS).

The errors committed by Arabs give evidence of their relative difficulties in the target language.

The study implies that the people interested in error analysis can predict the types and sources of errors committed by the Arabs learning EFL.

EFL curriculum experts, EFL teachers, EFL learners and developers of EFLinservice, preservice teacher-training programs might cooperatively bring about an innovative design to overcome the learners' syntactical difficulties in learning the target language.