Homework is not Deberes

Here is another notorious case of Mother Tongue Interference: when Spanish speakers (and perhaps students of othe nationalitites as well) use the word HOMEWORK in  plural. This usually happens because we tend to forget that the word HOMEWORK is Noncountable while the same word in Spanish is Countable.
In my experience I have seen students struggle with this problem even in higher levels because it is difficult to leave behind the old habit of quickly translating everything from English to Spanish. Perhaps a solution is to offer the L2 learner with another similar term. ASSIGNMENT is the most logical choice since it is a Countable noun.
Curiously the word DEBER has multiple meanings and thus it is not only HOMEWORK, but also, and in a different context, is DUTY (as in a moral or ethical obligation), and if used as a verb it can also mean TO OWE.
With so many meanings (there is a couple of others) is no wonder that Ecuadorian EFL students insist in saying HOMEWORKS.

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