The objective of this study is to identify the errors in writing committed by Malay ESL learners which can be attributed to mother tongue interference. Twenty pre-degree quantity surveyor students from Universiti Teknologi MARA Perak campus participated in the study. They were instructed to write between 200- to 300-word essays on a given topic in English and in Malay. Their compositions were analyzed using the algorithm for conducting error analysis (EA) proposed by James (1998) which are practiced by current EA practitioners. Since the main focus of the study is mother tongue interference, only errors related to L1 interference were addressed. The paper presents and discusses the descriptive analysis of the results in relation to three major types of interference which are ‘transfer of rules’, ‘redundancy reduction’ and ‘overgeneralization’.
Abushihab, I. (2014). An Analysis of Grammatical Errors in Writing Made by Turkish Learners of English as a Foreign Language. International Journal of Linguistics, 6(4), 213-223.
Chan, A. Y. W. (2004). Syntactic transfer: Evidence from the interlanguage of Hong Kong Chinese ESL learners. The Modern Language Journal, 88(1), 56-74. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.0026-7902.2004.00218.x
Fauziati, E. (2014). Contrastive Analysis, Transfer Analysis, Error Analysis, And Interlanguage: Four Concepts One Goal. Ahmad Dahlan Journal of English Studies (ADJES), 1(1-2), 9-21.
Ghabool, N., Mariadass, M.E. & Kashef, S. H. (2012). Investigating Malaysian ESL Students' Writing Problems on Conventions, Punctuation, and Language Use at Secondary School Level. Journal of Studies in Education, 2(3), 130-143.
Hanafi, A. (2014). The Second Language Influence on Foreign Language Learners’ errors: The Case Of the French Language For Algerian Students Learning English As A Foreign Language. European Scientific Journal, SPECIAL/edition, 2,30-38.
Hourani, T. M. (2008). An Analysis of the Common Grammatical Errors in the English Writing Made by 3rd Secondary Male Students in the Eastern Coast of the UAE, Dissertation, Institute of Education, British University in Dubai.
Jalaludin, N. H., Mat Awal, N. & Abu Bakar, K. (2008). The mastery of English language among lower secondary school students in Malaysia: A linguistic analysis. European Journal of Social Sciences, 7 (2), 106-119.
James, C. (1998). Errors in Language Learning and Use – exploring Error Analysis. Edinburgh: Harlow.
Jie, X. (2008). Error theories and second language acquisition. US-China Foreign Language, 6(1), 35-42.
Lee, N., (1990). Notions of“Error”and Appropriate Corrective Treatment. HongKong Papers in Linguistics and Language Teaching, 13, 55-69.
Maros, M., Tan, K. H. & Salehuddin, K. (2007). Interference in learning English: Grammatical errors in English essay writing among rural Malay secondary school students in Malaysia. Journal e-Bangi, 2(2), 1-15.
Mojica, L. A. (2010). An Investigation on self-reported writing problems and actual writing deficiencies of EFL learners in the beginners' level. TESOL Journal, 2, 24-38.
Mourtaga, K. R. (2004). Investigating Writing Problems among Palestinian Students: Studying English as a Foreign Language. Bloomington, Indiana: Author House.
Stapa, S. H. & Abdul Majid, A.H. (2006). The use of first language in limited proficiency classes: Good, bad or ugly. Journal e-Bangi, 1(1), 1-12.
Thep-Ackrapong, T. (2005). Teaching English in Thailand: An uphill battle. Journal of Humanities Parithat, Srinakharinwirot University, 27(1), 51-62.
Watcharapunyawong, S. & Usaha, S. (2013). Thai EFL Students’ Writing Errors in Different Text Types: The Interference of the First Language. English Language Teaching, 6(1), 67-78.
Wee, R., Sim, J. & Jusoff, K. (2010). Verb-form errors in EAP writing. Educational Research and Review, 5 (1), 016-023.
Yuksel, G. (2007). Grammatical Errors in the Compositions Written by Turkish Learners of English, Master Thesis. Erzrum: Ataturk University.
Manan, N. A. A., Zamari, Z. M., Pillay, I. A. S., Adnan, A. H. M., Yusof, J., & Raslee, N. N. (2017). Mother Tongue Interference in the Writing of English as a Second Language (ESL) Malay Learners. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 7(11), 1183-1190.
Copyright: © 2018 The Author(s)
Published by Human Resource Management Academic Research Society (www.hrmars.com)
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
