Investigating intralingual and interlingual errors of algerian middle school efl learners in their written compositions: a case study

Abstract

The present paper investigates the intralingual and interlingual errors of Algerian Middle School EFL learners in their writing compositions. The purpose of the study is to identify the major errors and classify them according to their types and sources. Besides, it aims at suggesting some solutions to this problem. The sample of the study consists of 1/3 of fourth year learners of Youcef Ben Berkane Middle School of Akbou – Bejaia, Algeria. Accordingly, a corpus of 62 written compositions is collected and analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. The findings revealed that all the participants significantly make errors in their written compositions. Besides, most of the learners make errors at the levels of spelling, tense, punctuation, subject-verb agreement, sentence fragment, articles, prepositions, and French interference. In view of that, it is also shown that the main source of the learners’ errors is intralingual followed by interlingual transfer. However, promoting extensive reading, integrating reliable writing activities in the classroom and practicing handwriting are some of pedagogical implications suggested to overcome the learners’ repeated errors.Key Words: EFL, Writing, Language Interference, Error Analysis, Bejaia, Algeria.