The Influence of Word Order and Verb Use Upon Arab Students Learning English

Abstract

There is a considerable body of research in the area of language transfer between English and Arabic. However, certain aspects of second language acquisition have still yet to be addressed. For instance, there is a limited amount of research on the impact of word order and verb use on Arab learners seeking to learn English as a second language. The aim of this study is to discuss common word orders in both the Standard English and Modern Standard Arabic languages. It also explores how verb use differs between the two languages. In addition, the study will explore how these differences impact Arab students learning English as a second language. The research employed an experimental test method to explore the research objectives, involving a total of 27 Arab students taking English lessons in a technical college in Saudi Arabia. The students who participated in the study were given two tests. In these two tests, the participants were expected to translate fourteen sentences from Arabic into English. The study applied error analysis, contrastive analysis, and interlanguage theory to examine the grammatical errors made by the participants. Based on the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the errors, the results of the study indicate that word order and verb use are major factors responsible for negative language transfer from Arabic to English.