L1-Induced Grammatical Errors Affecting Saudi Female EFL Students' Academic Writing: A Cross-Linguistic Study of Arabic Language Interference

Abstract

The influence of native language on second language learning has long been a hot topic in the fields of psychology and linguistics. Grammatical errors in EFL students' academic writing, specifically influenced by their mother tongue, are not a new phenomenon but rather an enduring one. This research examined the grammatical errors in Saudi EFL students' writing and evaluated whether these errors are daunting for learners due to L1 influence. Furthermore, it aimed to identify the underlying reasons for these errors and propose strategies for addressing this pinpointed issue. A mixed-methods approach was utilised in this study. An error analysis was conducted on thirty-two student essays, supplemented by a contrastive analysis to examine the distinctions between Arabic and English and to identify potential sources of interlanguage errors. A set of semi-structured interviews was conducted with six advanced female students to explore the extent to which L1 transfer influenced the errors predicted by the contrastive analysis. Results demonstrated that interlingual errors accounted for a higher percentage at 58.09% compared to intralingual errors at 41.91%, underscoring the significant impact of the mother tongue on L2 learning and writing. Interview analysis unveiled a noteworthy finding: the learners' mother tongue continues to have a pivotal impact on grammatical errors; L1-influenced grammatical errors could be attributed, at least in part, to a deficiency in Contrastive Linguistics (CL)-informed instruction.