The relationship between misuse of prepositions and the first language interference in EFL classes of Biskra University

Abstract

This work aims mainly at determining the main errors and finding out the causes or sources of the errors in using English prepositions by second year university students at the English department, Mohamed Khider, Biskra. This study is conducted under the consideration that the use of prepositions in English is used in a different way from Arabic and this difference make it difficult for students to master and use prepositions in an effective way. In this research, we adopt two kinds of means of research, a students’ test and questionnaire. We adopt the students’ test (pre-test and post-test) in order to see what are the types of prepositions that usually cause errors to second year students and what is the source of those errors and we adopt the questionnaire in order to confirm the result that we conclude it from the test, and through the analysis of the sources of the misuse of prepositions in learning English as a foreign language, the study confirms that interference from Arabic, the native language of the learners, is the main factor that effects their process of learning. It is noteworthy that errors in using English prepositions are still made by second year students. So it is suggested that the learners of English as a foreign language should pay considerable attention to English grammar rules.