Interlanguage Errors in Learning Arabic as a Foreign Language: A Morphological, Syntactic, and Lexical Analysis of University Students’ Translation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21111/lisanudhad.v13i1.66Keywords:
inter language, Arabic as a foreign language, error analysis, interlingual transfer, Indonesian higher educationAbstract
Empirical research on inter language development among Arabic-as-a-foreign-language (AFL) learners in Indonesian higher education remains scarce. This study investigates inter language phenomena among fourth- and sixth-semester students through translation error analysis, contributing empirical evidence from this underexplored institutional context. Adopting a descriptive qualitative design grounded in Corder’s (1982) error analysis framework and Selinker’s (1972) inter language theory, the data comprised Indonesian-to-Arabic translation texts produced by 34 purposively selected students at STAIN Mandailing Natal. Errors were identified, described, and classified by linguistic aspect and inter language source through a five-step procedure. The findings show that learners have reached an intermediate inter language stage, marked by adequate receptive vocabulary and a basic command of Arabic morphology and simple sentence structures, yet apply these competencies inconsistently in complex rules, exceptions, and authentic Arabic style (uslub). Of 21 errors across 16 sentences, inter lingual transfer was the most dominant source (11; 52%), followed by simplification and overgeneralization (5 each; 24%), distributed across morphological, syntactic, and lexical dimensions. These results carry direct pedagogical implications: contrastive analysis, targeted drilling on morphological exceptions, and inter language-informed sequencing are recommended to guide learners toward greater accuracy. The study advances AFL pedagogy in Indonesia through context-specific, empirically grounded evidence.
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