THE INFLUENCE OF NEGATIVE TRANSFER ON STUDENTS' ABILITY TO USE GOOD ENGLISH

Native speakers of Arabic face a number of problems in their attempt to acquire the English language. One of these problems is found in their attempt to use determiners, such as articles, quantifiers, adjectival possessive pronouns, and so forth. The most common reason of mistake, error and failure in appropriately learning and communicating in English as a second/foreign language is due to what is known as mother-tongue interference and negative transfer from one's native language, especially by L1 Arabic learners. The Arabic language has a structural system which, in many features, is different from that in English. Therefore, mistakes and errors occur when students refer back to their native language (Arabic) when communicating in the second/foreign language (English). The aim of this paper is to pinpoint the influence of Arabic mother-tongue interference and negative transfer from the students' first language on proper command of English, especially regarding the above mentioned structural features. This is done by illustrating how the differences between the Arabic and English languages in concern to the certain grammatical and structural features cause L1 Arabic learners of English as a second/foreign language to make repeatable mistakes and errors in English. Given the fact that determiners, articles, as well as prepositions, and other below mentioned structural features are one of the most frequent words used in the English language, this paper has, therefore, aimed to discuss such an important matter.