ERROR ANALYSIS AND ENGLISH‐LANGUAGE STRATEGIES OF ARAB STUDENTS1

This study examined the English proficiency of 22 Arabic-speaking students enrolled in a low intermediate intensive English course at the American University of Beirut. Written and oral samples were taken at the beginning and end of the term. Errors were analysed in terms of performance mistakes, mother-tongue interference or false intralanguage analogy. The data provided a rank ordering of the subjects' areas of difficulty and enabled us to describe tentatively some aspects of their transitional grammar. The results should provide useful information to teachers of Arabic speakers studying English and to researchers investigating the phenomenon of second-language acquisition in general.