A Case Study on the Interference of Bahasa Melayu (L1) on the Tenses Used in Writing English (L2) Essays among Form Two Secondary Students

Writing in English language is one of the most challenging skills faced by English language learners in Malaysia especially if they do not have a good proficiency in the language. This study is to identify tenses transferred negatively and positively from L1 (Bahasa Melayu) to English (L2) essays among Form Two secondary students in one of the national schools in Ipoh, Perak. The design of this study is a qualitative which is appropriate to identify the phenomena. Two types of methods were used to collect data. The data collection instruments were document analysis and interview. To execute the study 24 writing samples were chosen from low proficiency level of students. They were instructed to write about 100 word essays on a given topic in English. The tenses were later corroborated and compared to substantiate the theoretical arguments in the field of language transfer. From the findings, it was found that mother tongue highly interferes in students’ writing in simple present tense, simple past tense and future simple tense. In addition, it was found that the sample employed a translation method although they understand the importance of English language.