The First Language Influence on the EFL-Learners’ Writing Performance: Errors Analysis and Remedial Perspective

Abstract

The purpose of the  study was to inspect, identify, classify the source of errors to recognize the influence on learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) performance in writing text.  The study was intended to find a remedial strategies  to cope with the difficulties that affect the written works. A 100 students were chosen from the first level of English sections. It was found that the students’ spelling, syntactic and lexical errors could be attributed to many sources such as: interference, different learning styles, inexperienced instructing and negative attitude towards the writing process. It is recommended that teachers should be trained to master writing, style and usage of the language, along with a steady marking scheme and feed back to encourage the learners improve their writing performance; furthermore, an attractive syllabus ought to be designed to meet the students needs.

Keywords: EFL-Learners; error analysis; first language; intralingual; interlanguage; writing