Analysis of Errors in English Writings Committed by Arab First-year College Students of EFL in Israel

Abstract

This study is conducted as an attempt to examine the errors in English writings committed by Arab learners who live in Israel. These students were required to write an essay in English. The participants were 22 students, four males and 18 females. For error identifications and categorizations, the researchers developed, based on the Israeli matriculation (Bagrut), and on the literature (Ellis, 2004; Fries, 1974 and Robertson, 2000), a table of categories and subcategories. The findings of the current study reveal that the participants committed four types of errors in varying degrees, they are: Errors in content and organization, vocabulary, language use and mechanism. The most frequent error type is 'language use'. This type of errors consists of word order, negation, copula and auxiliary omission, subject-verb agreement and prepositions. The causes of these errors are attributed to interlingual factors, i.e. negative transfer of interference and overgeneralization, especially in cases of differences between English and Arabic (negative interference. In cases of similarities between L1 and L2 (positive transfer), errors are less frequent. Neither gender, nor age played an important role in this study. Finally the researcher recommended conducting another study to investigate the types of errors in speaking skill committed by Arab learners of English in Israel.