A. Fakhri, TEXT ORGANIZATION AND TRANSFER - THE CASE OF ARAB ESL LEARNERS, IRAL. International review of applied linguistics in language teaching, 32(1), 1994, pp. 78-86
Citations number
32
Categorie Soggetti
Language & Linguistics","Education & Educational Research
The purpose of this study is to determine whether Arab ESL learners tr
ansfer Arabic text organization features into their English writing. T
he features examined are: (a) loose packaging of information, (b) repe
tition and paraphrase, and (c) absence of metalingual organizers. The
data consist of thirty English essays by Arabic speakers learning ESL
and thirty essays by ESL learners whose mother tongue is not Arabic. T
he two groups are comparable with respect to their proficiency in Engl
ish. The results indicate little evidence of transfer. The lack of dif
ferences between the two groups are accounted for in terms of the infl
uence of instruction, the effect of monitoring, and the possibility th
at claims about the importance cross-linguistic differences are exagge
rated. The study points up the need for more rigorous methodology for
proving transfer, and the need for further research in the area of con
trastive discourse analysis between English and less studied languages
such as Arabic.