ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

English Language Teaching

English Language Teaching

Literature Review

Since Arab EFL learners face much difficulty in learning English, there has been a growing body of research investigating writing errors specifically using articles, past tense and plural forms committed by Arab students at secondary school. The present study focuses on EFL learners in Arab where English is taught in as a foreign language (FL). It is not really used in the daily life situation because Arabic is the language of communication. Because of having such circumstances in the Arab world, it is quite difficult for Arab EFL learners to communicate in the target language in their daily life (Powel, 2004, 242-257).

It is also observed that despite 12 years of learning English as a foreign language from the first to the second secondary grade, the majority of Arabian EFL school students are very weak at reading, writing, listening and speaking. Al-khresheh (2010:105) states that "in spite of the long period where English was taught in Arabian schools and the importance given to its curriculum, it is generally observed that students are unable to write a simple meaningful sentence without committing an writing error in articles".

He also reveals that because of having such situation, Arabian EFL learners commit many grammatical and writing errors specifically using articles, and past tense. Therefore, there should be a need for purposeful that help us identify the weaknesses of Arabian EFL learners in their acquisition of English. Writing in a foreign or second language is a courageous experience especially for students whose native language is not of the same origin as the target language. Arabic-speaking students learning English is a good example here. These students are faced with the school curriculum that includes the four main skills of English language. Among these skills, they find writing skill the most difficult one and face many problems while composing simple short paragraphs.

Writing in general is the least lovable skill to Arabic-speaking students and this can be contributed to the fact that successful learning of the writing skill depends on the success learners have with the learning of other skills. Normal teaching programs adopt the natural order of listening, speaking, reading and writing in their teaching schedule. Even though writing comes as the last skill, it can't be neglected and needs a lot of attention from the teacher and the student because it is necessary in daily academic life. Students are expected to learn how to be good writers. If they can't write correctly and logically using appropriate language and style, life will be difficult for them not only at school but in adult life, too (Hirvela, 2004, 257-283).

The objective of this study is problematic areas of Arab students face in the secondary schools. The problems they face could be as a result of the lack of knowledge in English language such as not being able build up adequate vocabulary. It is also due to reason that the students do not know how to write words, phrases, and ...