Arabic Learners of English - Assignment Example

? Language Structure and Use Introduction Learning a language, especially a second language, is a complex and a very challenging undertaking. This is because as Sanks and Suleiman (1993 pp.17) say, it is very difficult to use two languages very well without one contaminating the other, a problem referred to as transference. In language acquisition, we have positive transfer which promotes learning a new language leading to a successful acquisition of a second language. There is also negative transfer, which leads to the formation of unacceptable forms which damage, delay and hinder the acquisition of a second language. Arabski (1979 pp.135-143) says that making errors is part of the process of acquiring a language and is mostly influenced by transference and simplification. English and Arabic languages are different in many ways and as expected Arab speakers encounter many phonological, morphological and semantic problems when learning English. Arabic speakers do not recognize how to use adjectives in sentences. This is because in Arabic adjectives come after the noun whereas in English adjectives come before the noun. Most Arabic speaks erroneously transfer their knowledge of adjectives during the course of learning English (Cruse 1986 pp.40). This paper will discuss how Arab speakers struggle using adjectives while giving specific learner errors. The discussion will focus on some published language teaching material and it will analyze, compare and evaluate these errors. Project Description Theoretical Framework Studying errors second language learners make is a field that has created a buzz among linguists. Several theories have been advanced, and one such theory is the Contrastive Analysis This is a process that explains the comparative aspects of the Mother tongue (MT) and the Target Language (TL). James (1998) provides examples for instance consonant clusters, tense and comparison of the form and meaning of the two languages. This according to Fries (1945) is supposed to determine the oddities that result to interference and error. The reason being a second language learner may find some aspects of the target language easy to learn and others hard. The assumption second language learners make is that it will be easy to learn those aspects that are similar to their native language and very difficult to learn those aspects that are different from their native language. Contrastive Analysis has been conducted on many languages. Khuwaileh and Al Shoumali (2000) studied the writing of Arabic learners of academic English. He was focusing the frequent errors on coherence tense errors, lack of cohesion and parts of speech errors. The study compared the Arabic language and English. Bataineh (2005) investigated the problems Arab learners of language and translators’ encounter when translating Arabic sentences. The focus was on articles. Contrastive Analysis has faced some criticism and thus other theories emerged to fill the gap. The theory advocating for the existence of a “psychological structure latent in the brain” brought in the idea of Interlanguage (IL) seen in the process of learning a second language. Selinker (1972 pp.209-231) claimed that second language learners created some interim grammars in trying to achieve the target language but this vocabulary changes depending on the task of extraction and the context. IL is influenced by Transfer of training, Language transfer, Strategies of second language communication, Overgeneralization and Strategies of second language learning. As it is impossible to acquire a second language without making errors, many linguists have invested time and resources in analyzing errors and why they occur. There are several reasons for studying errors. According to Corder (1975 pp.122-154) errors can tell a linguist how much a second language learner has acquired and what other aspects of the language require to be emphasized. Also as, James (1980) put it, errors are also markers of how the process of acquiring a second language proceeds. Lastly, errors can be used to test how far one is in acquiring a second language. We can see, therefore, that through scrutinizing the errors a second language learner is making, one gets equipped with ways of how to learn the target language. Adjectives as a problematic language area for Arabic students learning the English Language Many studies focusing on the difficulties learners from different language backgrounds face when learning to speak English have been done. Theoreticians and practitioners of language believe that interference plays a role in hindering the acquisition of a second language. Several studies conducted have analyzed the errors made by foreign learners of the language. Arabic is genealogically and structurally different from English and thus an Arabic learner is faced with challenges in learning the various structures of English. One such structural challenge is adjectives (Rabab’ah 2007 pp.180-197). Arabic learners are weak in almost all the various types of adjectives taught, but they face most problems in using adjectives in their comparative form and also in the word order (Kharma 1987). The errors that Arab learners make in the use of English language take various patterns, affect different types of adjectives and are caused by different reasons. In order to understand this problem that affects Arabic learners we need to study the errors these learners make and analyze possible reasons why. Errors can be studied through a process called error analysis as discussed earlier. This is a way of specifying causes, sequences, nature and results of unsuccessful language. According to Lennon (1991 pp.182) error analysis is a linguistic form which cannot be made by a native speaker in a similar context and in the same conditions of production. When these errors are categorized it is possible to conclude the strategies used by second language learners. There are several classes of errors. These include interference errors. These are errors that occur due to the influence of one’s mother tongue on the second language. Then we have errors caused by overgeneralization which happen when a foreign language learner extends certain rules to other areas in their second language where they prove invalid. We also have performance and developmental errors. For Arabic learners, when they use adjectives erroneously it is mostly as a result of mixture of interference and overgeneralization. A study that consisted some multiple choice questions, which a student was supposed to complete in twenty minutes was done in Jordan. This quiz that would aid in analyzing the type of errors made by Arab Learners in the usage of adjectives in English was set up. The quiz followed the categories of adjectives extended by Kharma (1987 pp.153). The categories which include the word order, or adjectives with plural reference and the double comparatives were followed to identify the problematic areas in the speech of Arabic students. The study focused on all types of adjectives. These are; gradable and non gradable adjectives, participle, compound, to-infinitives, adjectives with that clause, comparative and superlative adjectives, Attributive, predicative adjectives and lastly adjectives with a prepositional phrase. The study consisted of Arabic speaking learners, and the researcher chose Corder’s error analysis procedure. The results were telling. The study established that Arabic speaking learners are most challenged by comparative adjectives but not as much by attributive and predicative adjectives as the students did not have many problems here. Causes of the errors most Arabic speaking learners make In cases where an Arabic learner makes a double comparative error for example writing or saying ‘Mona is more prettier than Sara” such is attributed to a student transferring knowledge from his/her mother tongue to English language. In Arabic language ‘more’ and ‘most’ do not exist in their place we have ‘ashed’ and ‘akther’ words used with one or two syllable words. This is unlike in English where ‘more’ and ‘most’ are used with words with more than two syllables. Arab students transfer Arabic language rules to English and this transference also goes for the errors involving word order. Arabic speakers precede the adjective with noun and usually they transfer this rule thereby distorting the word order. For example, it is possible to for an Arab speaking learner to come up with ‘She is a girl slender.” The reason for this, is that, in Arabic language attributive adjectives occur after nouns not before like it is the case in English language. To cite an example it would be incorrect to say “hathhe jameelah bent” where ‘jameelah’ is an adjective and ‘bent’ is a noun. The correct utterance is “Hathhe bent jameelah”. Language transfer, transfer of training, overgeneralization, strategies of second language training and language communication are the factors which influence output of the inter-language system among Arabic speaking learners (Selinker 1972 pp. 209-231). There are also some types of adjectives that cause to Arab speaking learners more difficulties than others. The types of adjectives that are the most problematic are the comparative adjectives, adjectives used with prepositions, superlatives adjectives and non-gradable adjectives. There are other types that do not cause a lot of problems for Arabic speaking learners. These include participles adjectives, adjectives with that-clause, compound adjectives, adjectives with to-infinitive, predicative adjectives, attributive adjectives and gradable adjectives Watson 2002 pp67-80). It emerges that the problematic adjectives are superlative adjectives, comparative adjectives and adjectives with prepositions. Mukattash (1983) agrees there are some categories of adjectives errors that are frequent. These are articles, verbals, prepositions, relatives and nominals. Using nouns instead of adjectives which are followed by errors of degree are the most frequent. As discussed, Arab learners transfer these aspects of language from their mother tongue to the English language. This is because comparative adjectives in English are different from Arabic. There is no ‘more’ and ‘most’ in Arabic and transference is the biggest problem. For adjectives with prepositions, the problem is promoted by the fact Arabic learners are taught in Arabic and in then they erroneously form adjectives with prepositions using their native language. Conclusion By investigating errors weaknesses and flaws of Arabic learners of English are exposed and this might be the first step towards remedying the situation. We can clearly see adjectives that are most challenging and those that Arabic learners are comfortable in. this paper has also revealed the mistakes committed by Arabic learners. Also revealed is the interference between Arabic and English language in the usage of adjectives. As scholars, through analyzing the problems encountered by Arabic learners, we gain a deeper understanding of how certain aspects of language function differently in both Arabic and in English (Thompson-Panos & Thomas-Ruzic 1983 pp.609-623). The studies done purposely to find out the difficulties encountered by Arab learners in the process of learning English adjectives have many advantages. The studies find out the reasons for these problems and also propose solutions that if applied can help overcome these problems. It has emerged therefore that, Arabic learners face challenges when learning English Adjectives. The reason is, these learners when using adjectives are depending in their native language. So, language instructors should pay attention to this area in order to assist students to overcome this problem. Emphasis should be on teaching comparative adjectives and adjectives with a preposition. This paper creates awareness on the difference between adjectives in Arabic and adjectives in English and how complex this category is in learning a language (Genesee, Paradis & Crago 2004). In conclusion, it is good to note that there are many errors that Arabic speakers make when they are learning English. They distort the sentential basic word order of Subject-Verb-Object, their speech may not differentiate between the second and third person pronoun since in Arabic there exists’ ten different pronouns. Also, they may distort the usage of articles, various prepositions, they may indicate gender even on neutral nouns and now what this article covers – errors made from adjectives (Prochazka 2006). In analyzing these challenges solutions can be found that would make the process of learning English for Arabic speakers easier (Selinker 1992pp 56). It should be noted though as Scott & Tucker (1974 pp 69-97) write, when trying to acquire a second language there is an advantage gained through interacting with the target language. A second language learner should not be so concerned with the form of what they utter. Their main focus should be on the message they are trying to convey to others and/or trying to understand from others. Therefore error or no error the goal is to communicate after all as languages reflect the culture of a people it is only fair that culture will affect language. References Arabski, J 1979, “Contrastive studies and interlanguage.” Papers and Studies in Contrastive Linguistic, vol. 10 no.1, pp. 135-143. Bataineh, RF 2005, Jordanian Undergraduate EFL Students: Errors in the Use of the Indefinite Article. Unpublished. Corder, SP 1974, Error Analysis. In J.P.B. Allen and S. Pit Corder (eds.) Techniques in Applied Linguistics. Oxford University Press, London. Cruse, DA 1986, Lexical semantics. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. Fries, CC 1945, Teaching and Learning English as a Foreign Language. University of Michigan Press, Michigan. Genesee, F, Paradis, J & Crago, M 2004, Dual Language Development and Disorders: A Handbook on Bilingualism and Second Language Learning. Paul H. Brookes, Baltimore. James, C 1980, Contrastive Analysis. Longman, London. 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