The Structural Profile of Linguistic Difficulties among Learners of Arabic in the Malay Context: An Integrative Analysis through Language Transfer and Error Analysis

Abstract

This study examines the structural profile of linguistic difficulties among lower-grade learners of Arabic in Malaysian schools through an integrative approach combining contrastive analysis and error analysis. The study is grounded in the assumption that written errors are not merely surface-level deficiencies but reflect a structural interaction between the Malay and Arabic linguistic systems at phonological, orthographic, and syntactic levels. A descriptive-analytical methodology was employed, drawing on teacher questionnaires and analysis of students’ written samples, supported by statistical testing for significance.

The findings revealed high frequencies of difficulties related to pharyngeal sounds, hamza orthography, and grammatical agreement, indicating negative transfer from the mother tongue to the target language. The analysis further demonstrated a structural interconnection among the three linguistic levels, whereby phonological weaknesses extend to orthographic errors and subsequently to syntactic instability. The study concludes that addressing linguistic difficulties in this context requires an integrative intervention beginning with phonological awareness and extending to morphological and syntactic training. Understanding language transfer dynamics is therefore essential for designing more accurate and effective instructional programs in Arabic as a second language.