Maltese to English language transfer : comparative error analysis of Year 7 and Year 9 writing

Abstract

The present study investigates the role of language transfer in the writing tasks of 11-12 year old (year 7) and 13-14 year old (year 9) Maltese learners of English who follow a track 2 curriculum in a bilingual context. The study’s main aims are to identify the extent of language transfer, to determine the language areas influenced by language transfer, and to analyse the role of age and text type on language transfer. The rationale behind this is to explore the pedagogical implications of the findings that can address the negative consequences of language transfer and increase accuracy in writing, and to discuss the findings in light of key language transfer perspectives. The 41 collected writing tasks were compiled into a learner corpus of 7,431 words. Computer-Aided Error Analysis was used to analyse the data. The errors were tagged using a three-level annotation system as the surface structure classification, the language area and source of each morphological and syntactical error was identified. The annotated data was principally quantitively analysed. The findings illustrate that language transfer was not prevalent in the learner corpus. Crosslinguistic influence was mostly evident in the misuse of prepositions, the use of the past simple over the past perfect, and the misuse of indefinite articles. There was no statistically significant association between the two variables: age and text type, and the types of errors. The descriptive data shows that there was an increase in verb errors in the older age group and that more verb errors were found in the narrative writing tasks. These findings shed light on different strategies that can be used for the teaching and learning, and assessment of writing skills, as well as on the importance of adopting translingual practices to reinforce the benefits of crosslinguistic influence and limit possible negative consequences.