The Effect of 1st Language on 2nd Language Acquisition: The Acquisition of English Prepositions by Arabic Native Speakers
Publication Date: 23/12/2018
Author(s): Dr. Mohammad I. Al-Khawalda, Baha Shwater.
Volume/Issue: Volume 1 , Issue 1 (2018)
Abstract:
The aim of this paper is to investigate the source of the problem which Arab learners of English face when dealing with English prepositions. It has been noted that Arabic native speakers encounter serious problems when using English prepositions. Mainly, in the situation in which Arabic uses one preposition which stands for more than one preposition in English. For instance, it is difficult for our subjects to distinguish between prepositions like ‘on’, ‘at’ and ‘in’, among others, since Arabic uses on preposition (fii) to stand for all these prepositions. One hundred fifty subjects participated in this research. All are Arabic native speakers studying English as a second language at secondary level. The subjects were asked to answer a multiple choice test designed for this purpose. The test consists of 20 items. The study reveals that Arab learners of English face serious problems in using English prepositions. It turns out that their mistakes could be attributed to the effect of their first language That is, linguistic transfer or negative transfer is clear.
