edit

· My favourite career.

· My future house.

· My favourite memory.

· My college

The time limit for the exam was 2 hours.

Methodology:

Data were collected by the class writing instructor and was reviewed and corrected by two writing instructors at Qassim University. The exam worth 100 points divided on certain aspects including

-Structure.

- Strength of argument.

- Spelling.

- Grammar.

- Punctuation.

Data Analysis:

This section lists the errors that student’s committed. I classified errors into several categories which are

· Grammar errors.

· Articles errors.

· Relative clause errors.

· Preposition errors.

· Vocabulary use errors.

· Spelling errors.

· Punctuation errors.

1- Grammar errors

Data showed that the participants were challenged in choosing the appropriate verb form. Since Arabic is different from English in the concept of time, L1 negative transfer could be the reason behind these errors. That conclusion is supported by (Mukkattash, 1978) who claim that Arab students struggle with progressive and perfect aspect since they are different in Arabic.

The most common grammatical errors are copula use, tens, and subject-verb agreement. As for the copula use the error can be either omission of copula or addition of it. The following examples from data shows both types

a. * The college it is a place.

Correction

· The college is a place.

Example (a) shows an addition of (it). It is clear that the student have translated the sentence from Arabic and wrote it in English. Thus, if we translate sentence (a) to Arabic, the sentence will be correct grammatically.

b. * It a big college.

Correction

· It is a big college.

c. * The students trying.

Correction

· The students are trying.

Examples (b) and (c) shows an omission of verb to be. Again, negative transfer is the reason behind these errors since Arabic doesn’t require to have verb to be.

Second type of grammatical errors is tens errors. Students struggled with choosing the appropriate form of tense. Therefore, a number of errors were committed in changing past to present or present to progressive and so on.

d. * We used to visited.

Correction

· We use to visit.

e. * With work hard.

Correction

With working hard.

f. We take the bus

Correction

We took the bus.

Examples (d), (e) and (f) shows crucial errors in choosing the correct tense of the verb. It is obvious that the different concept of tense between Arabic and English is causing these errors.

The third type of grammatical errors are subject-verb agreement errors. Data showed that students couldn’t figure out when to choose (is) and when to choose (are). For example

g. * When morning come.

Correction

· When morning comes.

h. * We was there.

Correction

· We were there.

i. * There is ten buildings.

Correction

· There are ten buildings.

j. * There are a copy centre that..

Correction

· There is a copy centre.

It is clear from Examples (g), (h), (i) and (j) that students have struggled with subject-verb agreement. In fact, data showed that it is the most common grammatical error.

Another result from the data is that students have failed to deal with relative clauses in many occasions. Data showed that students missed writing words such as who, which, that many times. For example

a. There are many things need to be fixed.

Correction

· There are many things that/which need to be fixed.

b. Some buildings have small classes don’t have enough chairs.

Correction

· Some buildings have small classes that do not have enough chairs.

c. That is my cousin he works at a hotel.

Correction

-That is my cousin who works at a hotel.

Articles:

Data showed that students have difficulties with articles in their writing. If we considered the difference between Arabic in English in this specific aspect, we will note that Arabic has one mark of definiteness which is (al). In contrast, English has a, an, and the as three articles which mark definiteness. Therefore, it is the negative impact of Arabic that causes article errors. Also, data revealed that the participants struggled weather to use an article before the noun or not. In addition, some errors committed by the participants showed that they overcorrect themselves by overusing articles in places in which they shouldn’t.

For example

a. * Stay there for day.

Correction

· Stay there for a day.

b. * In future,…

Correction

· In the future.

c. * It was amazing goal

Correction

· It was an amazing goal

It is clear from examples (a) (b) and (c) that students found it difficult to decide when to add an article and when they don’t. In addition, data showed that article errors are frequent throughout the scripts with 70 article errors.

Spelling

As for spelling, data showed a large number of errors. I tried to analyse these errors and classify them into several categories. For example

a. Egyptans / Jordonian / Ketchen

Correction

Egyptians Jordanian Kitchen

In group (a) we notice spelling errors are either adjectives or nouns.

b. Visite / fenshed / priy

Correction

Visit finished pray

Group (b) shows spelling errors in verbs

c. Hosbital / Taim / facation

Correction

Hospital Time Vacation

Group (c) shows a different cause of error. It appears that students spell the word depending on how they pronounce it. Thus, since Arabic language lack the sound (p) Saudi students use the sound (b) instead, therefore, the error occurred; that is also found in the word (vacation) since Arabic lack the sound [v]. As for the word (time), it is obvious that the student spelled it depending on his pronunciation.

d. Hapy / scorred

Correction

Happy / Scored

In group (d) we notice that the error is in the geminate sound. For the first word the geminate (p). On the other hand, germinate [r] is added in the second word. Thus, it is clear that students were not sure whether to use geminate sounds or not. Overall, students made 102 spelling error.

Prepositions

As for prepositions errors, they are categorized into two types. First, choosing inappropriate preposition. Second, deletion of the preposition. We will notice these errors in the following examples.

a. Many doctors in different nationalities.

Correction

· Many doctors from different nationalities.

b. Arrived in London.

Correction

· Arrived to London.

c. I was very happy in that time

Correction

· I was very happy at that time

In (a), (b) and (c) we notice that students did not choose the appropriate preopstiotin. However, if we translated these sentences to Arabic, they will look fine grammaticaly. Thus, it is clear that the reason behind these errors is the negative transfer from Arabic. Another type of preposition errors found in the following examples

d. Most the class

Correction

· Most of the class

e. I always want attend

Correction

I always want to attend

Examples (d) and (e) shows total loss of the preposition. It is not clear why the students made these errors.

Punctuation

Data showed that students made several errors in using punctuation marks, especially with apostrophise, commas and period. As we know, apostrophise are marks to indicate possession. However, the students couldn’t master this skill and made errors by not using the apostrophe when needed. Also, run-on sentences made many errors with leaving the period (.) when needed. This goes parallel with (Gomaa, 2014) study who claim that Arab students write too many run-on sentences. Finally, students struggled with commas as they missed putting them in their writing. In fact, commas errors are the most common punctuation error with 35 error compare to 10 apostrophe error and 21 period error.

a. Finally I am going

Correction

· Finally, I am going

b. To my grandmathers house

Correction

To my grandmothers’ house

Examples (a) and (b) shows errors in punctuation.

Vocabulary use

Data showed that students have limited range of vocabulary. Also, another issue was using inappropriate vocabulary. The following examples shows these errors.

a. * If you want a beautiful house you need to put it in a good location.

Correction

· If you want a beautiful house, you need to build/buy it in a good location.

b. * Give it to my house.

Correction

· Deliver it to my house.

c. * To do my dream.

Correction

· To make my dream come true

d. * Good job with good money.

Correction

· Good job with good salary.

The previous example shows inappropriate use of vocabulary. However, the limited range of vocabulary that the students have along with the direct translation from Arabic could be the reason behind these errors. Data showed a (55) errors in vocabulary use.

Discussion

After analysing data, we can state that Qassim University students have difficulties in their writing performance. As for the most common error, data have shown that grammatical errors. The findings of this study are similar to (Al buainain, 2006) who claim that tense and aspects are the most frequent errors in Qatari students writing. According to Al buainain, different concept of tense between Arabic and English is causing many errors in choosing the appropriate verb. Hence, we can state that L1 negative transfer is the reason behind grammar errors. Also, Saudi students faced difficulties with relative clauses. This finding goes in line with (Albuainain, 2006) who claim that the different construction of relative clause made Arab students struggle with relative clauses. The following chart shows the frequency of grammatical errors.

Table. 1

The second most frequent errors are the article errors. As for the current data, I have divided article errors into three types which are omission, addition and substitution. The following table demonstrate the frequency of each type

Table 2

From this data we can see that omission errors are the most common error among articles errors. Also, it is clear that the definite article (the) is more frequent than indifnite articles (a) and (an). The finding of this study is consistent with previous studies such as (Mourtaga, 2004). Relatively, (Alhaysony, 2012) indicated that the negative transfer of L1, Arabic, made students confused which article to use since the article system is different between Arabic and English. Also, the fact that Arabic doesn’t have written form of indefinite article also can lead to these errors (Alhaysony, 2012).

The third frequent errors are spelling errors. Among the plausible explinations of the reason behind spelling errors is the fact that Arabic and English have different phonemic inventories. The Arabic phonemic inventory lack several English sounds such as /v/,/p/ and g As a result, a large number of errors were committed with substituting the letter [P] with [B] or [V] with [F]. Also, (Al Buainain, 2006) state that different vowel system affect students ability to spell the word correctly. Also, the findings provide evidence that students tend to spell the words from their pronunciation e.g. (Taim) instead of (Time) and (Taking) instead of (Talking).

After analysing preposition errors, it was clear that students are lacking the knowledge of the English preposition use. Data showed that students made 76 prepositions errors. The reason behind preposition errors is that students tend to translate the Arabic preposition and use it in their sentences. I reached that conclusion after translating the sentences that has errors into Arabic, and they turn to be perfectly acceptable.

As for punctuation errors, the participants clearly found it difficult to use commas and periods. The tendency to write run-on sentences lead to many missing commas and sometimes periods. Also, students have struggled with apostrophise. The following table shows the frequency of each type

Table.3

Finally, the students made errors in their use of vocabulary. The reason behind vocabulary errors is the limited range of vocabulary that the students have. However, this type of errors is the least common error with 37 errors.

The results of the current study indicates that the most common errors among Qassim university students are the grammatical errors. The following table summrisez the frequency of all types of errors from the current data.

Table 4

Conclusion

Writing is one of most important language skills. However, like every other skill in life, practice makes it better. It is possible to claim that not everyone is born as gifted writer. Yet, there is always room for improvement, with working hard becoming a better writer is possible.

To sum up, it is clear that Saudi students at Qassim University are facing difficulties in their writing tasks. However, writing instructors need to be patient with their students and work hard with them in order to get to the required level. The results presented here may facilitate improvements in the writing level of Saudi students. First, we understand more about the reasons behind writing errors. Second, we know which the most common writing error are and focus on them. Like every study, the current paper has limitation. For example, the participants are all males since no female were included. Also, cohesion, coherence and style of writing were out of the scope in this study.

Grammatical Errors

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