The Effect of Mother Tongue Interference on EFL Learners’ Writing . The Case of First Year Learners at Mohamed El Bachir El Ibrahimi University

Abstract

The current research aims at shedding light on the effect of interfering the first language in developing English writing competence of first year English students at the University of Mohammed El Bachir El Ibrahimi. This study aims to identify the challenges that learners have when learning the English language, mainly in writing. One of the key goals of both teachers and students in this regard is to achieve a satisfactory level of writing in English. Many students, on the other hand, are unable to write well due to difficulties in writing caused by mother tongue interference. Therefore, the aim of this study is to find out whether students’ problems and difficulties are caused by their mother tongue interference. In order to fulfill the aim of the study, this research was conducted through a qualitative method for the semi-structured interview with 3 written expression teachers at the University of Mohammed El Bachir El Ibrahimi, to ask them about the way they use to identify learners’ writing level, the essential causes and different types of errors made by1st year learners, ended with some suggestions to prevent this type of problem. In Addition to that, the quantitative method was applied through the two (02) practical tests to explore the influence of mother tongue (Arabic) on grammatical components cloistered and analyzed through70 paragraphs about any accident that happened to students in the past, and 15 sentences to be translated from Arabic (mother tongue) to English (target language) written by 1st year EFL learners at Mohammed El Bachir El Ibrahimi University. Results showed that 1st year students do rely on their mother tongue (Arabic) more than using English in writing; this was illustrated by different types of errors committed during their writing process. This problem affects learners’ writing level as well as their linguistic competence. The findings show that the more learners use L1 in their writing, the more they commit errors and this will affect their writing performance. Thus, learners' level would not develop