Analysis of the Influence of Mother Tongue Interference on Turkish EFL Students’ Written Products

Abstract

It is evident that languages vary in many aspects. The purpose of this study is to find out the errors that occur as a result of the mother tongue influence in the acquisition of written English among a group of Turkish native speaker learners of English in a formal setting. It is aimed to investigate the transfer influenced linguistic areas and to discuss the implications of this transfer in terms of teaching and learning process. Qualitative and quantitative methods of data analysis are employed in order to answer the research questions. As a result, findings of this study are expected to reveal that negative transfer at the level of lexical and syntactical linguistic categories is evident. Following this, further recommendations are presented with the aim of contributing to the SLA field. Limitations of this study are also included. In this study, interference induced errors at lexical and syntactical degrees are analyzed independently based on the learners’ level of English. In this research, three different classes at a private university, consisting of fifty Pre-intermediate students in total, take part to prove how mother tongue interference is evident in English. The classes are chosen according to the placement test held at the beginning of the course which includes higher, mid and lower classes of the same level. The written materials have been provided from the students’ Third Quarter Final Writing Exam. The students take this education under a program run by English Preparatory School at a private university in Turkey. The same coursebook is used by all the students in the program. Therefore, the risk of mother tongue interference owing to material use will be removed.