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errors which have been detailed in numerous studies. These errors are mostly orthographical and relate to the difficulties of some complicated spelling rules. In case of the L2 (or to be exact the L2WS) learners, however, studies (e.g. Abu-Rabia and Taha, 2006; Abu Al-Rub, 2007) have shown that their writing difficulties touch on many linguistic aspects, such as grammar, phonology and orthography. That said, it is herein hypothesized that English-speaking learners of Arabic would make almost the same common orthographical (spelling) errors that native speakers make in writing Arabic. Being L2WS learner does not really change the fact that some spelling rules are merely complicated within the WS itself. This was described in our discussion of the research hypothesis (section 1.5).

Preliminary results of the research, however, showed a rather high rate in specific error types such as the letter shape, phonological and orthographical errors. Hence, the researcher had to check that these common errors were a result of the validated writing

KEY

→ Directionality, P Phonological error, GB Grapheme (Beginning), GM Grapheme (Middle), Grapheme (End), T Transfer from English, D Dots, L Letter shape, O Orthographic error, S Letter substitution, Sh Gemination and doubling errors, IM Missing or insertions

142 tests, and not due to other external factors such as the difficulty level, language (wording) of the tests, or known issues in writing among native Arabic speakers themselves. In order to check the validity and reliability of the tests and consequently their results, some Arabic native speakers were asked to take the writing tests under relatively identical settings to the research instrument. Two men and two women (all are graduate 25-35-year-old) undertook the three tests: open-ended essay, multiple-choice test and dictation respectively. They spent the same time as the participants on each test and were given the same information along with the consent forms that participants had, so as to have the most genuine results out of the checking test.

Finally, a comparison was made between the results of the two tests: the actual (English speaking learners of Arabic as L2WS) test and the checking (native speakers or users of L1WS) test. The researcher calculated the mean number of error occurrences for all the test results, as described in section 4.8.1. The mean numbers were then reported in bar charts for both groups, side by side in each test. Additionally, a t-test was utilised to investigate any real significance between the two groups. Table 5.5, and Table 5.6 illustrate comparison results, which show that the L1WS participants performed as expected, with a small numbers of errors which mainly consisted of the letter shape and orthographical error types. The results of L2WS users on the other hand, as seen, showed different picture with plentiful errors spread widely across several error types.

143 Table 5.5 Mean Errors for Both Groups in OEET & Dictation

Error category Key OEET Dictation

L1WS L2WS L1WS L2WS Directionality → 0 1.95 0 2.63 Phonological P 0 3.84 0 35.13 Grapheme (Beginning) GB 0 2.00 0 2.92 Grapheme (Middle) GM 0.25 2.37 1.25 4.55 Grapheme (End) GE 0 1.16 0 0.84

Transfer from English T 0 0.84 0 1.39

Dots D 0.25 4.07 0.25 8.50

Letter ductus, size and teeth L 2.75 9.47 6.5 14.87

Orthographic errors O 5.25 9.26 1.75 17.71 Character substitution S 0 1.28 0.25 12.16 Gemination (Shadda) Sh 0 0.44 0 4.55 Missing letter M 0 1.65 0 13.89 Insertion I 0.25 1.02 0.75 7.32 Other errors ? 0 0.65 0 3.55

Table 5.6 Mean Errors of Category for Both Groups in MCT

Error category Key L1WS L2WS

Directionality → 0 0.09

Phonological P 0 1.23

Grapheme (Beginning) GB 0 0.30

Grapheme (Middle) GM 0 0.45

Grapheme (End) GE 0 0.52

Transfer from English T 0 0.20

Dots D 0.25 0.91

Letter ductus, size and teeth L 0 1.82

Orthographic errors O 0.75 1.64

Character substitution S 0 0.32

Gemination (Shadda) Sh 0 0.39

Omission/Insertion IM 0 0.86

Figure 5.12 shows that in the Open Ended Essay Test, the most common errors made by English-speaking learners of Arabic as L2WS were in letter shapes and orthography by far, followed by dots and phonology. The average numbers of these errors among this group were 9.47, 9.26, 4.07 and 3.84 occurrences respectively. On the other hand, L1WS users have only two common errors which are orthography, with a mean number of 5.25, and letter shapes with 2.75 as the mean number.

Because the analysis used so far was only descriptive, it had to be verified that this difference in the mean error occurrence between the two groups is statistically significant. An unrelated (independent) t-test was conducted, and the test confirms that there is a

144 significant difference in the results for L2WS users (M=40; SD 21.55) and L1WS users (M=8.75; SD 7.80), conditions being; t=2.85, p= 0.003. Dictation shows the same pattern. The L1WS users (native speaker group) have the letter shape errors in common with 6.5 mean occurrences, whereas the L2WS users (English speaker group) shared several errors in common, some of them with high rates, especially the error type of phonology (35.13 mean occurrences). A t-test reveals that the two sets of data samples L2WS users (M=130; SD 41.86) and L1WS users (M=10.75; SD 8.88) are significantly different with t=5.62 and p= 0.0000008. In the Multiple Choice Test, orthographical errors in particular were the weakest point for L1WS users, with a mean of 0.75 errors as shown in Figure 5.14. In return, the L2WS users recorded high rates in different types of errors such as letter shape (M=1.82), orthography (M=1.64) and phonology (M=1.23). Besides, Figure 5.15 demonstrates that the test was far easier for the L1WS users with only one mark lost, than on the other group whose mean score was 21.27 out of 30 in the same test. There was a significant difference in the scores as t-test suggests recording a condition of t-3.83, p= 0.0001.

145 Figure 5.13 Mean Occurrence of Each Error Type for Both Groups in Dictation

Figure 5.14 Mean Occurrence of Each Error Type for Both Groups in MCT

146 The checking test results and the inferential statistic test that were carried out show that there is a significant difference between L1WS users and L2WS users, both in the mean number of errors and in the error types. The tests confirm that the native speakers acted as expected on such writing tests. This checking test may then raise the validity of the research instruments for such results. These findings in all, by showing statistical significance between the two groups, prove that the research writing tests are most likely valid and reliable as they meet both the results from previous studies and the researcher’s expectations.