Nominal-phrase premodifications by non-native English speakers: The case of attributive adjective word order of Saudi EFL students at tertiary level

Abstract

English nominal premodifications such as adjective word order have piqued the interest of researchers in recent years due to their learning difficulty for all language learners regardless of their linguistic backgrounds. Non-native English speakers like EFL students may find this case challenging. In light of this, the current study sought to ascertain the difficulty level of Saudi EFL students in recognising the natural order of English attributive adjectives, taking into account the most challenging order sequence, gender, and language proficiency levels. To accomplish this main objective, a designed pronominal adjective test was developed and carried out on 139 Saudi undergraduate EFL students who were purposively recruited for this study. According to the findings, Saudi EFL students had varying degrees of difficulty recognising the natural English adjective word order. While 66.2% of students had moderate difficulty choosing the appropriate adjective sequence, only 15.1% and 18.7% of participants had low and high difficulty, respectively. The most difficult was nominal premodifications with four modifiers, followed by three and two modifiers. When there were only two modifiers, most participants correctly identified incorrect adjective word ordering and provided corrections. When more modifiers existed, the percentages decreased, and the difficulty level increased. Proficiency language level and gender statistically significant differences were also discovered. Although the former revealed no differences, the latter had differences in favour of males, implying that females performed better in the test than males. Based on these findings, limitations and future research directions were proposed.