Interlingual Error Analysis in the Writing of Tamil-Speaking College Students

Writing is one of the most challenging language skills for students to master. Because of the structural differences between languages, interference from the pupils' mother tongue can cause problems when writing in English. The current study attempts to investigate how the first language's influence can hinder language acquisition, particularly in terms of writing skills. This research explores this issue deeper by looking at how the Tamil language, in particular, influences Tamil speakers' English essay writing. The respondents are chosen from the intermediate proficiency group. Intermediate proficiency suggests a score of B to C in their form five Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM). The lexical, morphological, semantic, and syntactical aspects of 42 writing samples from college students will be examined for this study. Errors will be identified, categorised, and evaluated in the writings. The findings will highlight the primary errors in the students' works: omission, overinclusion, misselection, misordering, and blends or direct translations of Tamil. While we must comprehend why and how mother tongue interference impacts their writing, it is critical to address these difficulties to reduce errors as they go to higher levels of writing. The study's findings will recommend students notice the distinctions between their first language (L1) and the English language, as well as learn to understand the languages' distinctive features and structures to compose communicative and proper sentences.