Role of Applied Linguistics in the Teaching of English in Saudi Arabia Dr

The importance of applied linguistics in general and English language teaching in particular is perceived by almost all pedagogues and educationists. Gone are days when a postgraduate or a graduate used to join teaching profession due the fact that he possessed good knowledge in English literature or even language. In the modern educational setting, the English teacher is supposed to know linguistics or applied English linguistics in order to prove himself as an effective English language teacher. In most pedagogic situations in Saudi Arabia, the teacher of English is bound to make error/contrastive analysis between LI (Arabic) and L2 (English) so that he can evolve a compatible strategy for each sub-aspect of the language: sound, grammar, spelling, meaning etc. The present paper is a modest attempt towards exploring the use of applied linguistics in the whole process of teaching/learning of the target language (English).


Introduction
Linguistics is the science of languages, and the major concern of all the Linguists is largely related to the finding and describing the characteristics of a particular language(s).Applied linguistics takes the result of those findings and 'applies' them to other areas.The term 'applied linguistics' is often used to refer to the use of linguistic research in language teaching only, but results of linguistic research are used in many other areas especially English language teaching (ELT) in general and English as a foreign language(EFL) in particular.
Linguistic analysis is a sub-discipline of applied linguistics used by many researchers, pedagogues and educationalists by diagnosing learning difficulties and solving such problems including looking for a compatible strategy.

Importance of linguistics in ESL/EFL setting
In modern time, comparative studies have become an integral part of any discipline/field of study.The English teachers can also use comparative study/contrastive analysis as a tool for teaching of the target language.In general, Linguistics helps the teacher in the following areas/aspects:

Error analysis
Systematically analyzing errors made by learners makes it possible to determine areas that need reinforcement in teaching (Corder, 1974).Error analysis is a type of linguistic analysis that focuses on the errors that learners make.Gass & Selinker (2008) defined errors as "red flags" that provide evidence of the learner's knowledge of the second language.Researchers are interested in errors because they are believed to contain valuable information on the strategies that people use to acquire a language (Richards, 1974;Taylor, 1975;Dulay and Burt, 1972).Moreover, according to Richards and Sampson (1974, 15), "At the level of pragmatic classroom experience, error analysis will continue to provide one means by which the teacher assesses learning and teaching and determines priorities for future effort."According to Corder (1974), error analysis has two objects: one theoretical and another applied.The theoretical object serves to "elucidate what and how a learner learns when he studies a second language."And the applied object serves to enable the learner "to learn more efficiently by exploiting our knowledge of his dialect for pedagogical purposes." The investigation of errors can be at the same time diagnostic and prognostic.It is diagnostic because it can tell us the learner's state of the language (Corder, 1967) at a given point during the learning process, and prognostic because it can tell course organizers to reorient language learning materials on the basis of the learners' current problems.
2.1.1Inter lingual /Transfer errors: These types are errors are specifically attributed to the native language (NL).There are inter-lingual errors when the learner's L1 habits (patterns, systems or rules) interfere or prevent him/her, to some extent, from acquiring the patterns and rules of the second language (Corder, 1971).
2.1.2Interference (negative transfer) is the negative influence of the mother language (L1) on the performance of the target English language learner (Lado, 1964).It is 'those instances of deviation from the norms of either language which occur in the speech of bilinguals as a result of their familiarity with more than one language' (Weinreich, 1953, p.1). Error analysis emphasizes "the significance of errors in learners' interlanguage system" (Brown 1994, p. 204).Nemser (1974, p. 55) referred to it as the Approximate System, and Corder (1967) as the Idiosyncratic Dialect or Transitional Competence.
2.1.3Intralingual errors: Those errors that are made due to the language being learned (TL) are categorized as intra-lingual errors.According to Richards (1970), they are "items produced by the learner which reflect not the structure of the mother tongue, but generalizations based on partial exposure to the target language.The learner, in this case, tries to "derive the rules behind the data to which he/she has been exposed, and may develop hypotheses that correspond neither to the mother tongue nor to the target language" (Richards, 1970, p. 6).

Models for Error Analysis
Corder (in Allen & Corder, p. 130) identified three sources of errors: Language Transfer, Overgeneralization or analogy, & Methods or Materials used in the Teaching (teaching-induced error).In the paper titled "The Study of Learner English" that Richards and Simpson wrote in 1974, they exposed sources of errors: 3.1 Sources of Errors 3.1.1Language transfer: These are the transfer of language learning to which one third of the deviant sentences from second language learners could be attributed (George, 1971).
3.1.2Intra-lingual interference: Richards (1970) exposed different types and causes for intra lingual errors: a. overgeneralization (p.174): it is associated with redundancy reduction.It covers instances where the learner creates a deviant structure on the basis of his experience of other structures in the target language.It may be the result of the learner reducing his linguistic burden.b. ignorance of rule restrictions: i.e. applying rules to contexts to which they do not apply.c. incomplete application of rules d. semantic errors such as building false concepts/systems: i.e. faulty comprehension of distinctions in the TL.

Types of errors:
There can be many types of errors, and their causes such as: false analogy, misanalysis, incomplete rule application, overgeneralization, intra-lingual errors or first language interference (inter-lingual errors).
According to Dulay & Burt (1974), there are four types of "goofs": Interference-like goofs, L1 Developmental goofs, ambiguous goofs (either interference-like or L1 developmental goofs), and unique goofs (neither interference-like nor L1 developmental goofs).The studies relating to the process of language transfer and overgeneralization received considerable attention in the literature.Swan and Smith (1995, p.9) gave a detailed account of errors made by speakers of nineteen different L1 backgrounds in relation to their native languages.Diab (1996) also conducted a study in order to show through error analysis the interference of the mother-tongue, Arabic, in the English writings of EFL students at the American University of Beirut.Okuma (1999) studied the L1 transfer in the EFL writings of Japanese students work on over-generalization errors, on the other hand, is reported by Richards (1974, 174-188), Jain (in Richards, 1974, 208-214) and Taylor (1975).Furthermore, Farooq (1998) identified and analyzed two error patterns in written texts of upper-basic Japanese learners, in an EFL context.He focused on both transfer and overgeneralization errors.Habash (1982) studied common errors in the use of English prepositions in the written work of UNRWA students at the end of the preparatory cycle in the Jerusalem area and found out that more errors were attributable to interference from Arabic than to other learning problems.All these studies focused on Transfer &/or Overgeneralization errors, however, none of them dealt with "ESL" students who have been studying English as a First Language.The reason why I called them ESL students is that, at home, they speak mainly Arabic.

Contrastive linguistics
Contrastive linguistics is different from error analysis as it basically studies inter-lingual errors (errors caused by other than the target language).It is very much important in the case of learning a foreign language such as English especially in a learning condition that is not very conducive for the target learners.Contrastive analysis takes into account the aspect of transfer of learning.

Problems in the learning of EFL: A contrastive analysis
Language teaching practice often assumes that most of the difficulties that learners face in the study of English are a consequence of the degree to which their native language differs from English (a contrastive analysis approach).A native speaker of Chinese, for example, may face many more difficulties than a native speaker of German, because German is more related to English in structure than Chinese.This may be true for anyone of any mother tongue setting out to learn a target language.But, there is another side of the same coin.Though Hindi or Urdu are said to be quite different from the structure and grammar of English, Indian speaker of Urdu/ Hindi may pick up the target language quicker than a German may due to the importance of English in institutions and in society.It has been noticed that most English Language learners often commit linguistic mistakes of syntax and pronunciation as an effect of the interference of their L1.This is popularly known as L1 transfer or 'inter lingual error' (Dulay:1982).In this connection, Robert Lado (1957) observed, "…those elements that are similar to his native language will be simpler for him and those elements that are different will be difficult."Weinreich (1953) after an extensive study concluded about the mechanism of bilingual interference, "… are those instances of deviation from the norms of either language which occur in the speech of bilinguals as a result of their familiarity with more than one language."The following studies also support the idea of mother-tongue interferences in different language aspects and skills: Sharan (1971), Ali (1987), Nair (1966), Alam (1983, pp36-46), Dulay and Burt (1982), Ervin-Trip (1974), David (1987),Wilkins (1972), Kachru (1992), Stenson (1983, p. 256), Baljit Bhela (1999), Khan (2003Khan ( , 2005Khan ( , 2009)), Nitschke, Kidd & Serratrice (2010).
Language learners usually make errors in English in general, and syntax and pronunciation in particular often as a result of the influence of their L1.This can theoretically be put a negative transfer of learning.In the words of Dulay and Burt (1982, p.5) these are inter lingual errors as referred earlier.It is important to remember that the mistakes in the target language are not committed only due to the linguistic reasons, but also due to sociolinguistic and psycho-linguistic reasons.
The importance of a culture can never be minimized because a language is the product of a specific culture.What is found right in one language and culture does not always "translate" into a second language for many reasons.Semantics is one of them.It is generally found that students have very different cultural perceptions in the classroom as far as learning a second language is concerned.Also, cultural differences in communication styles and preferences are significant.

Language Areas and contrastive analysis:
There are many language areas/aspects and skills in which the target language learner face difficulties.The following are some of them: 4.2.1 Pronunciation Pronunciation or sound system is the first and the foremost aspect of the target language in which the learners face difficulties.The following are those specific aspects in which Saudi learners face specific difficulties in the process of learning.It is important to remember that learning a second language involves much more than learning the words and the sounds of a language.Communication breakdowns occur not only due to the more commonly understood syntax and pronunciation difficulties but because when we learn a language we also learn a culture.In particular, some students may have very different cultural perceptions in the classroom as far as learning a second language is concerned.Also, cultural differences in communication styles and preferences are significant.For example, the Saudi ESL students always consider British teachers as the best option for instruction in spite of the fact that such teachers don't belong to the same culture of the students.But, if these teachers fail to do justice, their ultimate choice is the group of the teachers who know the learners' culture even if they are not the product of the target language (English) culture.

Consonant phonemes
English does not have more individual consonant sounds than most languages.However, the interdentals, /ș/ and /ð/ (the sounds written with th), which are common in English (thin, thing, etc.; and the, this, that, etc.) are relatively rare in other languages.But, interestingly an Arab trying to pronounce the sound will not face much difficulty as such sound exits in his mother-tongue-Arabic.However, an Arab learner of English will face difficulties in discriminating the sounds like

and even [ts] or [dz]).
Clusters of phonemes for Saudis create problems as the feature is not available in the Arabic language.On the other hand, doubling of sound doesn't exist in English, but it is quite a prominent feature in Arabic.For example, the most common name in Arabic is Mohammed.The doubling of sound /m/ is very important in Arabic, but it is not used in English at all.
The table-1 is a description of letters and their corresponding sounds that create problems due to unavailability in the learners' mother-tongue or confusion between the two: L1 and L2.Similarly, other tables (2-8) describe the variations between the sounds and pronunciations that exist between the two languages: mother-tongue and the target language-English.The differences have been drawn and compared on the basis of the sounds: noun-verb sound system, rhyming words and homophones describe different linguistic features.The sound of a noun word is different from the verb even in Arabic but that feature is more related to the grammatical pattern while in English, it is a phonemic feature more than the derivational pattern.Rhyming words are very much available in Arabic, and stressed while teaching a poetic piece, but teaching of rhyming words for sound or spelling in Arabic is not common, and even not much required for the simple reason that silent letters are not available in L1 and don't contribute to the learning of sound system.Homophones in English are very peculiar, and found at every step of learning the target language.In Arabic, only a couple of such features may be found available that too can be differentiated with the use and the context.However, in English there are too many homophones which confuse the target language learners.

Vowel phonemes
The precise number of distinct vowel sounds depends on the variety of English: for example, Received Pronunciation has twelve monophthongs (single or "pure" vowels), eight diphthongs (double vowels) and two triphthongs (triple vowels); whereas General American has thirteen monophthongs and three diphthongs.Many learners, such as speakers of Spanish, Japanese or Arabic, have fewer vowels, or only pure ones, in their mother tongue and so may have problems both with hearing and with pronouncing these distinctions.
Unstressed vowels -Native English speakers frequently replace almost any vowel in an unstressed syllable with an unstressed vowel, often schwa.For example, from has a distinctly pronounced short 'o' sound when it is stressed (e.g.,Where are you from?), but when it is unstressed, the short 'o' reduces to a schwa (e.g., I'm from London.).In some cases, unstressed vowels may disappear altogether, in words such as chocolate (which has four syllables in Spanish, but only two as pronounced by Americans: "choc-lit", and the Saudi learner pronounce as 'shck-lit'.) Stress in English more strongly determines vowel quality than it does in most other world languages (although there are notable exceptions such as Russian).For example, in some varieties the syllables an, en, in, on and un are pronounced as homophones, that is, exactly alike.Native speakers can usually distinguish an able, enable, and unable because of their position in a sentence, but this is more difficult for inexperienced English speakers.Moreover, learners tend to over pronounce these unstressed vowels, giving their speech in unnatural rhythm.

Dictation
Though dictation is an outdated technique of teaching and assessing, it has relevance in all time teaching.It can assess the learner's listening ability, assimilating potential, knowledge of sound system, ability and reading of the same what he is writing while taking dictation, and later what he has written.Table -5 explains the case with details.

Grammar
Grammar as an aspect of English language is perhaps the most important target to be achieved.It is felt, however wrongly that without a strong base of grammar one can't even think of learning a language in general and a foreign language like English in particular.Therefore, the whole focus of a traditional English classroom is always on the teaching/learning of grammar.
Saudi learners face problems in the learning of almost all the aspect of the target language grammar, but the following is a summary of those grammar sub-aspects that create a lot of difficulties for the target learners: 4.5.1 Structure: The following is an example of the usual mistakes committed by Saudi learners.If a teacher asks a question such as 'where do you belong to?No one may answer.But, if the question is asked in a different way: where are you from?The responses that usually come from the target students have been presented in table.6.Such problems are basically caused by the humble background of the students in the target language.In addition, grammar is not integrated with writing.In most of the second/foreign language situations, grammar of English is taught traditionally (Khan: 2009).Therefore, the students face more problems in communication.

Adjectives: degrees
The degrees of adjectives are the sub-aspects of adjective that pose great difficulties to the Saudi learners, however, such features are available in the learners' mother-tongue (Arabic) as well.Therefore, the teacher may use the comparative strategy to clarify the concept by refereeing to at least one type of degrees: kabeer-akbar-al-akbar or kois(haseen)-ahsan-al-ahsan.

One word different uses
Such features are extremely rare in Arabic, however, very common in English.This is probably the reason that the Saudi students face problems in the start of the learning process, however, it has been found that most of them overcome such difficulties after they made serious attempts to understand the nature of the target language grammar.
The following is one of the many examples of one-word with different contextual uses: -The doctor asked me to apply the ointment twice daily.(as an infinitive), -I applied for a job in a company two weeks ago.

Causes of such problems:
The learners face hard times in mastering such features of prefixes due to variety of rules while in Arabic, there are two patterns of making opposites: 1-Another word with a new root,(taweel-qaseer) The feature is available in English also.
Example: good-bad, tall-short, 2-prefix ghair ( that means non or not)is used in Arabic as mother-tongue.
Suffixes: Some Examples in English: -able (as in Honorable), -age (package), -al (vocal), -ality punctuality, -atory (laboratory), -ery (machinery), -ful (powerful) etc. 4.5.5 Tenses -English has a relatively large number of tenses with some quite subtle differences, such as the difference between the simple past 'I ate' and the present perfect 'I have eaten.'4.5.6 Functions of auxiliaries -Learners of English are supposed to find it difficult to manipulate the various ways in which English uses the first auxiliary verb of a tense.These include negation (e.g.He hasn't been drinking.),inversion with the subject to form a question (e.g.Has he been drinking?),short answers (e.g.Yes, he has.) and tag questions (has he?).A further complication is that the dummy auxiliary verb do/does /did is added to fulfil these functions in the simple present and simple past, but not for the verb to be.4.5.7 Modal verbs -English also has a significant number of modal auxiliary verbs which each have a number of uses.For example, the opposite of "You must be here at 8" (obligation) is usually "You don't have to be here at 8" (lack of obligation, choice), while "must" in "You must not drink the water" (prohibition) has a different meaning from "must" in "You must not be a native speaker" (deduction).This complexity takes considerable work for most English language learners to master.4.5.8Articles -English has an appreciable number of articles, including the definite article the and the indefinite articles a, an.At times, English nouns are used without an article; this is called the zero articles.Some of the differences between definite, indefinite and zero article are very easy to learn, but others are not, particularly since a learner's native language may lack articles or use them in different ways than English does.Although the information conveyed by articles is rarely essential for communication, English uses them frequently (several times in the average sentence), so that they require some sincere effort from the learner.

Vocabulary
Teaching/learning of English is incomplete without a due focus on the teaching of words.It is very important for developing almost all the skills such as listening, reading, speaking and writing.It involves the sound of a word, meaning, grammar and everything that can be related to the target language.The following aspects of vocabulary are highly significant while teaching/learning the target language: 4.6.1 Synonyms: These are the most important aspect of teaching English vocabulary.The mother-tongue doesn't often create problem in learning vocabulary of the target language, however, the learners face problem due to the fact that they are not even at home in using or differentiating the actual meaning in their native language, and the translation of the same in to the target language.Most Saudi students use the adjective 'beautiful' even for describing a man's charm and smartness.However, in their mother-tongue as well there are words that are used differently in given situations such as: waseem (handsome),jameel (beautiful) or helu (pretty).4.6.2Antonyms: In the case of using Antonyms to teach synonyms, the second language learners face similar kind of problems as they are not aware of either synonyms or antonyms.The patter of making antonyms is quite uncommon in Arabic because their L1 has one or two ways of making opposites.On the other hand, there are many prefixes that change the meaning to opposite as shown in table-8.4.6.3Word derivation -Word derivation in English requires a lot of rote learning.For example, an adjective can be negated by using the prefix un-(e.g.unable), in-(e.g.inappropriate), dis-(e.g.dishonest), or a-(e.g.amoral), or through the use of one of a myriad related but rarer prefixes, all modified versions of the first four.4.6.4Size of lexicon -The history of English has resulted in a very large vocabulary, essentially one stream from Old English and one from the Norman infusion of Latin-derived terms.It is commonly understood that English has one of the largest vocabularies of any known language.Therefore, it is a harder task for the English language learner to learn words and their uses.This inevitably requires more work for a learner to master the language.4.6.5 Collocations -Collocations in English refer to the tendency for words to occur regularly with others.For example, nouns and verbs that go together (ride a bike/ drive a car), travel by a train and walk on foot.Native speakers tend to use chunks of collocations and the ESL learners make mistakes with collocations in their writing/speaking which lead to confusion and vagueness.Teaching English, therefore, involves not only helping the student to use the form of English, but also exposure to local and cultural styles so that the student will be able to discern meaning even when the words, grammar or pronunciation are different to the form of English he is being taught to speak or write.4.7 Spelling (English is quite un phonetic): The spelling system of English is quite un phonetic.It is not like Hind, Urdu or Arabic.Hindi is hundred percent phonetic.There is no case of silent letters.While in Urdu and Arabic, there is a case of silent letter in Haroof shamsi like As Shams.
In the learning of spelling system in English, the following three characteristics pose greater difficulties in the process: 4.7.1 Silent letters: Silent letters don't usually exist in Arabic language, therefore, the target language learners are unable to understand the spelling rules or patterns quite easily.The words or the spelling pattern that usually create trouble for the Saudi learners include: Edge, Half, Though, Know etc. 4.7.2The other issue that create problems for the Saudi learner is the following linguistic feature: -One letter-different sounds: /a/ in: apple, bat, bathe, talk etc. 4.7.3Different letters one sound: As the above mentioned groups pose problems the following feature can't also be ignored as it is very important due to the fact that such features are not at all available in the mother-tongue: Arabic.The following group of letters produce the same sound: /ce/ in ocean, /sh/ in fashion, /ti/ in patient, /ss/ in Russia, and /s/ Sugar.4.7.4One group different sounds: This feature is also very typical in English, and a contrastive linguistic doesn't provide any evidence of sound system in the mother-tongue of Saudis as in 'rough' (gh=f) and 'though' (/gh/ is silent).

Conclusion
Teaching of English as a second/foreign language (ESL/EFL) requires a good perception of at least two languages: L1 and L2 if one wants to contrast the characteristics of the two languages.This is expected from each teacher because it is ultimately required to cope with the arising teaching/learning situations.The above description, though seems ordinary, is practically highly essential in order to discharge the pedagogic responsibilities of an actual teacher of English in a situation like Saudi Arabia where the target learners face different problems while learning English.But, if he doesn't know about linguistic features such as error or contrastive analysis, he won't be able to even realize as to why the learning is not actually and properly taking place.It is expected that if the teacher is linguistically equipped, he'll diagnose the errors, their types, and accordingly evolve a compatible strategy to deliver in a more effective manner in the target classroom in general and Saudi EFL situation in particular.The teacher has to bear the fact in mind that each aspect of English language has different features, and an entirely different approach to pedagogy is needed in order to minimize or remove the learning problems of the target learners.This way the curricular goals may appropriately be accomplished.

Notes Used in words Letters
Though this sound exists in L1 they are confused with /p/ sound.
(simple past), -I have already applied for the same job.(past participle), -I studied mathematics and applied physics in the university.(adjective) 4.5.4Specific problems in Learning Affixes: Prefixes and Suffixes The following examples are related to derivations (prefixes and suffixes) that change the meanings and uses of the words.The examples follow: Prefixes: Unimportant, Restart, inefficient, immoral, illegal, irregular, Disregard, non-Arab, -misconduct etc.

Table 2 .
Difference between the sound of a noun and a verbThe phonetic transcription of the following group of words explain the differences between the sounds of the a noun and a verb:

Table 3 .
(Rhyming words)The following group of rhyming words can better be understood the ending sound as shown through phonetic transcription:

(
If we transcribe the above group of homophones, it will be crystal clear that the homophone pairs remain the same in sound, however, they differ in spelling and meanings.)