Writing in English and Writing in Standard Arabic in Higher Education: A Correlational Study

Writing as a mental and cognitive process entails bringing into light students’ written products. Writing in higher education is considered one of the most important skills that students should develop. In this regard, this study investigates the correlation between writing in Standard Arabic and writing in English among university students in Morocco. To verify this link, two tests were used as research instruments. Students were asked to write a paragraph in Standard Arabic and another in English. The participants were 33 male and female university students. To analyse the scores that students obtained in the two tests, a Pearson Product Moment correlation was used as a statistical procedure. The results indicate that there is a significant correlation between writing in Standard Arabic and writing in English. The students who performed well in Standard Arabic also did well in writing in English. It has also been found that there is a 21.20% relationship between the two variables under examination. The findings of this study support the Chomskyan Universal Grammar perspective. It also supports the notion of positive transfer. The results of this study have different implications for language teaching and learning.