Written Grammatical Errors made by Algerain EFL Learners at the Middle School: An Investigation of L1 Transfer through Error Analysis.

Abstract

The present research aims at investigating the effect of first language (L1) transfer on Algerian EFL learners written productions. It attempts analyse those errors in order to find their possible sources. An Error Analysis (EA) procedure is used to predict and explain errors extracted from a selected sample of 25 papers written by BEM pupils at Ibn Aichouch Mhamed middle school at Karman district ,Tiaret. The analysis is paired with interviews with five trainer teachers to help determine whether L1 transfer is, in fact, influencing learners’ errors predicted by Contrastive Analysis (CA). Learners in this study make L1 errors along with other errors. Although an important statistical difference is found between the frequency of developmental errors and transfer errors, L1 transfer errors are still common for many learners in this data; however, the major cause of learners’ errors is not transfer errors. The incorrect usage of various grammatical structures and word-formation clarifies clearly the evidence of overgeneralization errors as a result of students’ ignorance of the rules governing the grammatical structures of English language. The analysis of the interviews suggested also that L1 plays a crucial role in influencing learners’ errors and emphasizes the fact that there exist other factors affecting their writing performance.