L1 influence on writing in l2 among UCSI chinese students: a case study

Approximately one-third of the students of the English Language and Communication (ELC) Department at UCSI University come from mainland China. As English is the medium of instruction in almost all courses in the university, these students are exposed to various situations where the English language is used. They do not encounter major difficulties with the spoken language, but problems emerge when they write paragraphs, reports, or term papers. This study aims to investigate the common errors in the paragraphs written by ELC Chinese students and suggest ways to address this problem. Paragraphs written by the 30 Chinese students who registered between January and May semesters 2015 were analyzed and categorized into types of errors. Moreover, 10 students (from the May semester) were interviewed to solicit their ideas on what aspects of writing in English they found difficult, and how these problems could be solved. The results showed that the most common errors were on word choice and word form, spelling, tenses, use of articles and determiners, number, and agreement of subject and verb. The interview further revealed that students were aware of the interference of their first language (L1) on their writing in English, and of their tendency to translate from their L1 to English when writing in Englis