Linguistic transfer: Example from the usage of ‘wish’ by Arabic native speakers

Abstract

This paper aims at investigating the effect of first language on mastering a second language
and to fill a gap in linguistic studies of transfer. There has been few explicit studies
addressing the grammatical transfer issue between Arabic and English directly. This paper
will shed light on the problems which Arabic native speakers encounter when dealing with the
usage of 'wish'. It has been recognized that Arabic native speakers encounter serious problems
when dealing with 'wish'. The usage of 'wish' in English is one of the most difficult structure
for English learners. On the other hand, in spite of the strong association between 'wish' and
'if-clauses', they do not face such a problem when dealing with 'if-clauses'. Eighty eight first
year students majoring in English enrolled in this experiment, all of them are Arabic native
speakers. It turns out that the problems which they face when dealing with 'wish' result from
applying their knowledge in Arabic language (L1) to answer the questions about ‘wish’ in
English.

Keywords

• transfer, linguistic, wish, if-clause, first language, second language, Arabic

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