L2 Acquisition in the Arab World: An Empirical Study of Yemeni University Learners’ English Syntactic and Semantic Error Gravity

“Language is a process of free creation; its laws and principles are fixed, but the manner in which the principles of generation are used is free and infinitely varied. Even the interpretation and use of words involves a process of free creation... A good teacher knows that the best way to help students learn is to allow them to find the truth by themselves. Students don’t learn by a mere transfer of knowledge, consumed through rote memorization and later regurgitated. True learning comes about through the discovery of truth, not through the imposition of an official truth.” Noam Chomsky. Thus, this book is considered the very first study which tackles the seriousness of syntactic and semantic errors in the acquisition of English by Arabic-speaking learners. What makes this book different from others in the field is the fact that the EG studies done worldwide depend on Native and/or Non-native speakers to judge the seriousness of the errors committed by L2 learners whereas this book employs statistical methodology, as being reliably objective and surpassing the existing ones. The book also probes deeply and presents a statistical account of the error sources and consequences.