Error analysis in writing skills of Arabic learners learning Turkish as a foreign language

Through this research, the misspelling of Arabic learners learning Turkish as a foreign language has been analyzed according to error analysis approach. By detecting the common mistakes and pointing at the relation between these mistakes and the learners' native language, I have been intended to make a contribution to the field of teaching Turkish as a foreign language. The data used in this research is obtained from the A1-A2 end of course exam results of 80 Arabic speaking learners learning Turkish at Istanbul University Language Center during 2016 – 2017 academic year. There are two groups; A1 and A2, each including 40 learners whose native language is Arabic. The mistakes of these learners having A1 and A2 end of course tests have been examined under the title of phonological, morphological, syntactic, semantical and spelling-punctuation mistakes based on error analysis approach. Contrastive linguistics discusses the similarities and the differences between native and target languages. It is a very well-known fact that in order to detect the accuracy and the validity of these similarities and differences defined by contrastive linguistics, the one needs error analysis method. Therefore, the difficulties that Arabic learners learning Turkish language face with during writing process and the mistakes they make have been examined based on error analysis method within the scope of intralingual errors and negative transfer. In the conclusion of the research 1316 mistakes have been detected by A1 and 1640 mistakes have been detected by A2 learners whose native language is Arabic. In A1 level, 114 of these mistakes are in phonetics, 303 are in morphology, 103 are in syntax, 161 are in semantics and 635 are in spelling – punctuation. On the other hand, in A2 level, 404 of these mistakes are in morphology, 165 are in phonetics, 132 are in syntax, 179 are in semantics and 760 are in spelling-punctuation. Key words: Turkish as a foreign language, error analysis, written expression, Arabic, contrastive analysis.