THE EFFECTIVENESS OF IRAQI LANGUAGE WRITING PROFICIENCY ON FOREIGN LANGUAGE PERFORMANCE (ENGLISH) IN THE WRITING SKILL OF PREPARATORY SCHOOL PUPILS IN IRAQ

Abstract

Purposes: This study aims at investigating the relationship between the Effectiveness of Iraqi Language Writing Proficiency on Foreign Language Performance (English) in the Writing Skill of Preparatory School Pupils in Iraq.
 Novelty: Despite the linguistic distance between English and Arabic, it is postulated that Arabic writing skills can be transferred positively to the target language (English).
 Methodology: The researchers used the composition prompt test instrument for this purpose; one test was in Arabic and the other was in English. The population was from two preparatory schools in the general directorate of Thi-Qar. The participants were 25 male students who were chosen on the basis of the students' achievement in the previous years.
 Results: That is, the participants proved to be proficient writers in Arabic after they had had a pretest in which they were asked to write a short paragraph about themselves. In conclusion, the results of the present study showed that there is no statistically significant relationship between the two languages. Those students who got high marks and were proficient in the Iraq language (Arabic) writing performed well in the counter skill (English).
 Implication/Application: This result supports the theoretical views of Cummins' threshold hypothesis and Chomskian's Interdependence theory. The results of the study indicate that there is no need for integrating the instruction of writing skills between the two languages in textbooks so that the writing level of students in the foreign language (English) can be improved.