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aaaronr
Joined: 08 Nov 2008
Posts: 82
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 Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2010 7:56 pm Post subject: Common problems for Arabic Speaekers Learning English |
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I work with a lot of Arabic-speaking students, mostly from Iraq and Sudan.
I'm looking for a good source on common problems these students have speaking and writing in English, and how to correct to correct them.
Thanks. |
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basiltherat
Joined: 04 Oct 2003
Posts: 952
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| Posted: Fri Oct 22, 2010 11:08 am Post subject: |
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While not answering your query directly, 'Keep writing ' identifies and deals with most issues Arabs have at an elementary / pre-intermediate level of writing. I recommend it.
Best
Basil |
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007
Joined: 30 Oct 2006
Posts: 2684
Location: UK/Veteran of the Magic Kingdom
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| Posted: Fri Oct 22, 2010 8:49 pm Post subject: Re: Common problems for Arabic Speaekers Learning English |
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| aaaronr wrote: |
I work with a lot of Arabic-speaking students, mostly from Iraq and Sudan.
I'm looking for a good source on common problems these students have speaking and writing in English, and how to correct to correct them.
Thanks. |
Well, according to some studies (see link below), one of the causes of the above problem is the negative L1 tranfer of Arabic-speaking students and the structure and orthography of the Arabic language.
One possible solution is to encourage your students to speak and communicate in English with their friends at home and elsewhere.
http://abisamra03.tripod.com/nada/languageacq-erroranalysis.html
http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/RFL/PastIssues/rfl72ryan.pdf |
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jai123
Joined: 23 Jun 2010
Posts: 21
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| Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2011 7:39 pm Post subject: RE: Common Problems faced by Arabic speakers learning Englis |
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Hi aaaronr,
I found your post really interesting. Most Arabic speakers struggle to pronounce P (pronounce this as B) and V (pronounce this as F). This is because P and V don't exist in the Arabic alphabet. Google Learner English by Swan. He has a lot of info. on Arabic L1 interference.
By the way where are you teaching? I am kind of curious, as you mentioned you had Sudanese students. |
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Potter
Joined: 11 Jan 2011
Posts: 12
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| Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2011 6:24 pm Post subject: Re: Common problems for Arabic Speaekers Learning English |
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| aaaronr wrote: |
I work with a lot of Arabic-speaking students, mostly from Iraq and Sudan.
I'm looking for a good source on common problems these students have speaking and writing in English, and how to correct to correct them.
Thanks. |
Consonant clusters can be a problem for them. For example, when they try to say 'world', they end up saying worlid.
Some of them have difficulty with th sounds - as in the English words this and thing. Although they have those sounds in Arabic, many people still struggle with them. They often pronounce them as other sounds when speaking Arabic - such as the sounds of s, z, t (as in the words sock, zoo and top). So 'thing' might sound like 'sing' or 'ting', and 'this' might sound like 'zis'. |
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veiledsentiments
Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA
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| Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2011 3:02 pm Post subject: |
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The 'th' problem depends on their local dialect of Arabic. It certainly exists in Classical Arabic, but students don't learn this until they go to school. For instance, Egyptian Arabic speakers have difficulty with it and they would say "abu zabi" but this wasn't true of most my Gulf students.
VS |
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