Learning English as a second language is never an easy task. It can be made even more difficult depending on the first language of the learner. For an ESL teacher, there must be an awareness of the difficulties faced by students because of the language they are entering with. When it comes to Arabic speaking students, there are five common mistakes they are making when learning English, because of the effects of their first language. If ESL teachers are aware of these, it will better equip them to understand and correct these problems.
Run-on sentences
It's a common problem for native Arabic speakers to write never-ending English sentences. When it comes to the Arabic language, run-on sentences are perfectly acceptable, so this habit can easily be transferred to the English language learning of these students. When the teacher understands that this error is being made because of the first language, it's easier to point it out and explain that, although it's an acceptable practice in Arabic, in English it can be quite confusing to a reader. Challenge your students to answer questions or write essays that are limited in word length. They can use Easy Word Count to see if they're staying within their word limits. When grades are on the line, ESL students will want to make sure they're handing in their best possible work. Some proofreading assistance from an expert at Grade on Fire is the key to perfecting their assignments.
Repetitiveness
Redundancy in sentences is also a commonly accepted practice in Arabic. Repetitiveness in Arabic is seen as reinforcing an idea, whereas in English it's seen as unnecessary. Teachers that realize this language practice will understand that their Arabic students aren't purposefully being repetitive because they are unable to think of other ideas or words to use. They are doing it because it's a welcome practice in Arabic that they've transferred over to their newly learned language. Encouragement can be given to create shorter sentences without any repetition. And, when they want a real person to check over their work before submitting it, Dissertation services can proofread their assignments to eliminate the repetitiveness and other errors.
Literal translations
There are many colloquial and language-specific sayings that simply can't be translated in their original form. In English, it's common to say things like, "It's raining cats and dogs outside!" If one were to translate that in literal terms, they would literally be saying cats and dogs are falling from the sky in the form of rain. The same thing applies when an Arabic speaker is trying to relay a thought from what they know in Arabic to English. Although this is an issue that can only be fixed over a period of time with constant assistance, knowledge of why this problem happens is essential. For ESL learners applying for a job, they'll especially want to make sure their resumes are written properly and without any literal translations. Resumention can look over their resumes to check for clarity and other writing errors.
Punctuation
Arabic is a less stringent language in terms of the use of punctuation. It's one of the reasons why students feel free to use endless commas in run-on sentences. You'll find exclamation marks and other punctuation are used quite frequently, while other things like semi-colons are almost non-existent. Punctuation lessons should be a large part of English language learning, and its importance should be reinforced by the ESL teacher. Some help with punctuation and other writing components can be found in the resources at State of Writing. If students are having trouble with some of the other intricacies of the English language, including differences in homonyms like 'to' and 'too', Write My Essay can give them a quick and easy to understand explanation.
Organized writing
The overall structure of English writing is quite different than that found in Arabic writing. While English essays are structured to be circular, beginning with a thesis, providing evidence to support it, and reinforce the conclusion, Arabic writing is very linear, moving through in one direction with newly presented information making an appearance in the conclusion. Retraining students in this new essay structure will be a large component of teaching them to write properly structured essays in English. If they could use a helping hand with some editing work, Elite Assignment Help and Paper Fellows have professional writers and editors that will find and correct any errors within their written assignments.
When ESL teachers take the time to educate themselves in the native languages of their students, they will be better prepared to address problems as they arise and understand why these problems are happening.
Freddie Tubbs is an eLearning project manager from Fort Myers, Florida. He works as a language researcher at Best Australian Writers.