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.

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