Abstract
English prepositions play a significant role in helping students form a well-structured sentence in their learning and communicating. To help Vietnamese learners of English acquire their competence, the authors have done survey research to investigate the factors affecting the uses of English prepositions made by Vietnamese learners of English. The population included 200 female and 200 male participants. A total of 400 answers on the questions provided in the 100-question questionnaire were used for hypothesis testing. The items in the survey were given different weights, and the total attainable marks were 100. The results showed that Vietnamese intra-lingual interference strongly affected prepositional sense expressed by Vietnamese EFL learners. Genders, level of learning (low, intermediate, and advanced), writing and speaking, and cognitive embodiment also played a significant role in terms of language transfer, affecting the usage of English prepositions by EFL learners.
Highlights
English prepositions cause many difficulties for learners of English (Saravanan, 2014; Sultan, 2014; Özbay & Bozkurt, 2017; Heydari & Bagheri, 2012; Sudhakaran, 2015; AlQbailat, Al-Momani, & Almahameed, 2016) or they are even considered the most challenging factor in learning this language (Gvarishvil, 2012)
The Vietnamese prepositional system is so complicated that Vietnamese learners of English often get confused in the use of English prepositions, e.g.: ‘He acrossed the street’ instead of ‘He walked across the street.’
The study put up the hypothesis that Vietnamese intra-lingual diversity does not relate to prepositional senses shown by Vietnamese EFL learners
Summary
English prepositions cause many difficulties for learners of English (Saravanan, 2014; Sultan, 2014; Özbay & Bozkurt, 2017; Heydari & Bagheri, 2012; Sudhakaran, 2015; AlQbailat, Al-Momani, & Almahameed, 2016) or they are even considered the most challenging factor in learning this language (Gvarishvil, 2012). The difficulties Vietnamese learners of English face when using English prepositions arise from the differences in Vietnamese and English prepositional system. In English, prepositions are an essential word class with 140 items and almost appear in every sentence while it is hardly defined in Vietnamese (Nguyễn Hoàng Phương, 2010). The only difference is inferred that conjunctions are used to connect clause levels, but prepositions for words or phrases. The idea of the combination of two kinds of Vietnamese word class is not actively supported. Vietnamese prepositions are classified recognized by two kinds: original prepositions, e.g., tại, bởi, vì, của, etc. The Vietnamese prepositional system is so complicated that Vietnamese learners of English often get confused in the use of English prepositions, e.g.: ‘He acrossed the street’ instead of ‘He walked across the street.’
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