Native Language Interference in Writing

Abstract

This study explores the influence of native language interference on Algerian EFL third year students’ writing at the Department of English, University of Mohammed Seddik Ben Yahia, Jijel. Therefore, this study revolves around the basic assumption that native language(Arabic) interference is the main source of errors in Algerian EFL learners’ written production. To this end, a questionnaire was handed to 06 teachers of written expression in the English department at Jijel University to ask them about the main causes and the different types of errors committed by their third year EFL students. In addition, 34 third year EFL students in the same department were asked to write paragraphs about certain topics so as to uncover the main types of errors that they made. The analysis of the data at the researcher’s disposal disclosed that third year EFL student’s commit two different types of errors namely intrelingual errors and intralingual errors. The most of the errors that appeared in the learners’ productions were mainly due to the native language (Arabic) interference. That is, the research assumption was confirmed. These gained insights into native language interference open the door to further research attempts and suggestions in the field of error analysis so as to help students overcome their difficulties in writing, and to help teachers in teaching the writing skill.