Interference of L1 Prepositional Knowledge in Acquiring of Prepositional Usage in English

Abstract

The purpose of the current study is to examine the extent to which students rely on their L1 prepositional knowledge in acquiring an understanding of prepositional usage in English. Learning English is becoming essential in a time of worldwide communication, apart from different peculiarities of English language structure, preposition usage occupies one of the prominent place. Being the essential part of set-expressions, prepositional phrases, phrasal verbs and certain collocations they produce distinct problems not only for lower level students bur for advanced ones. Especially, in cases of the similar constructions (but with another preposition) in L1.Theoreticians and language teachers have long recognized the important role of a native language (L1) in the acquisition of a second language (L2). However certain elements in the first language hinder second language acquisition through negative interference. Therefore, the teacher of English can use the students L1 for structures that use equivalent prepositions in both languages. On the other hand, whenever there are verbs or expressions in the L1 and L2 that have different structures, with different prepositions, or that have no equivalent in one of the languages, instructors should point out these differences to their students.