THE IMPACT OF MOTHER TONGUE INTERFERENCE ON ENGLISH SYNTAX: A CASE STUDY OF EFL STUDENTS AT TECHNICAL COLLEGE, SAUDI ARABIA

The influence of a speaker’s native language on second language acquisition is a wellestablished phenomenon in linguistics and English Language Teaching (ELT). This study investigates syntactic errors in the English writing of Saudi students enrolled at the Technical College of Al-Hait, Saudi Arabia, with particular attention to the impact of their first language (L1), Arabic. Data were collected from the final-term examination scripts of thirty students, and a comprehensive analysis was conducted to identify the most frequent syntactic errors. The findings indicate that the most common errors involve subject-verb agreement, word order, possessive constructions, conjunction usage, and infinitive structures. These patterns suggest a strong influence of Arabic syntax on English writing, underscoring the role of L1 interference. The study argues that such interference hinders syntactic development in English and recommends pedagogical interventions to address these challenges. Proposed strategies include explicit instruction on key syntactic differences between Arabic and English, as well as activities designed to promote metalinguistic awareness and syntactic accuracy. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of the difficulties faced by Arabic-speaking EFL learners and offers practical insights for improving their writing proficiency