Lexical Similarities (regarding Form or Meaning) and their Role in the Learning Process of Persian Arabic Learners (Surveying Learners' Errors in Writing)

Persian and Arabic languages are different in terms of linguistic and grammatical structure, but they have commonalities regarding vocabulary. It could be a great opportunity for Persian speakers because in most cases, they do not have to check the dictionary to find the meaning of the Arabic word, like what European and Chinese Arabic learners do. However, a Persian speaker might think that the meaning of the Arabic word is the same as the one used in the Persian language though it is not always true because the meaning of the common word is different in Persian and Arabic. The present study investigated the errors of Persian speakers’ Arabic writing when using these vocabularies in an attempt to identify the role of common vocabularies in the process of learning and teaching Arabic by Persian speakers. This study was conducted using writing skill test 1. The statistical population of this research was Arabic departments of the country’s state universities. Furthermore, the statistical sample included 94 undergraduate Arabic language and literature students. The scope of the test was the 9 universities of Arak, Tehran, Kharazmi, Al-Zahra, Allame Tabatabai, Shiraz, Gilan, Mashhad, and Hamedan. The results of the research indicated that Persian speakers who learn Arabic are weak in recognizing the difference in the meaning of these words and their use in writing in Arabic. Hence, these words mostly have a negative role in the process of learning Arabic.