Spanish syntax influence on the learning of english

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to know to what extent the Spanish syntax interferes in the process of learning English. In this case, four syntactic errors such as Word Order, Negation, Pluralization and Subject Omission have been identified in the students of Miguel Moreno high school. In order to achieve the proposed goals for this study, a quantitative and qualitative study was carried out. Instruments such as a pre and post-test, and a questionnaire for students and teachers were applied to know if the intervention portion was successful or not and to determine the different factors that cause students of the Miguel Moreno high school make syntax errors. Thus, on the basis of the results, we can conclude that high school teachers must focus on practicing more writing activities with their students in class and on motivating learners to perform English tasks at home. In doing so, students will improve the syntax of the English language and the learning of the foreign language in general. For further research, it is recommended to increase the number of English hour classes, I mean at least five hours per week, to make the intervention last greater than 32 hours, to do research regarding other syntactic errors apart from those mentioned in this study, and finally to create a plan in which activities of correction for the various English syntactic errors produced by high school students might be included.