Acquisition of English prepositions among Malaysian learners: a case study

Educationists are often in a predicament as to whether grammar should be taught formally, or whether it can be deliberately learned. This question is especially pertinent in Malaysia where there has been a general deterioration of grammar skills among English as a second language (ESL) learner. A pr...

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Main Author:	Sudhakaran, Beena
Format:	Article
Language:	English
Published:	Canadian Center of Science and Education 2015
Subjects:	PE English
Online Access:	http://irep.iium.edu.my/42806/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/42806/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/42806/4/42806_beena_45714-170767-1-PB.pdf

id	iium-42806
recordtype	eprints
spelling	iium-428062017-08-07T02:29:22Z http://irep.iium.edu.my/42806/ Acquisition of English prepositions among Malaysian learners: a case study Sudhakaran, Beena PE English Educationists are often in a predicament as to whether grammar should be taught formally, or whether it can be deliberately learned. This question is especially pertinent in Malaysia where there has been a general deterioration of grammar skills among English as a second language (ESL) learner. A prospective case study was carried out on seven Malay students from the International Islamic University Malaysia. The study sought to determine the extent to which students acquired English prepositions in the naturalistic setting in the written mode, the different types of errors, the use of alternative locative frames, and whether there was a specific pattern in the learning of prepositions. The study used writing tasks where students were required to write essays as well as make journal entries. Data was collected at six monthly intervals over three years. An analysis of students’ use of prepositions was carried out to monitor progress. It was found that most subjects had improvements in their use of prepositions, with more errors of commission than omission. One of the most common errors was the unnecessary use of the phrase involving a preposition, ‘for me’. Persistent errors could arise due to incomplete linguistic rule formation and transfer from the students’ first language (L1). There were also instances of other words like adverbs being used instead of prepositions. The best improvement was seen in the prepositions ‘for’, ‘in’ and ‘about’. These findings necessitate the need for corrective feedback on errors, and for grammar instruction to be compatible with the natural processes of acquisition. Canadian Center of Science and Education 2015-06 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/42806/4/42806_beena_45714-170767-1-PB.pdf Sudhakaran, Beena (2015) Acquisition of English prepositions among Malaysian learners: a case study. International Journal of English Linguistics, 5 (3). pp. 1-10. ISSN 1923-8703 (O), 1923-869X (P) http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/ijel/article/view/45714
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Local University
institution	International Islamic University Malaysia
building	IIUM Repository
collection	Online Access
language	English
topic	PE English
spellingShingle	PE English Sudhakaran, Beena Acquisition of English prepositions among Malaysian learners: a case study
description	Educationists are often in a predicament as to whether grammar should be taught formally, or whether it can be deliberately learned. This question is especially pertinent in Malaysia where there has been a general deterioration of grammar skills among English as a second language (ESL) learner. A prospective case study was carried out on seven Malay students from the International Islamic University Malaysia. The study sought to determine the extent to which students acquired English prepositions in the naturalistic setting in the written mode, the different types of errors, the use of alternative locative frames, and whether there was a specific pattern in the learning of prepositions. The study used writing tasks where students were required to write essays as well as make journal entries. Data was collected at six monthly intervals over three years. An analysis of students’ use of prepositions was carried out to monitor progress. It was found that most subjects had improvements in their use of prepositions, with more errors of commission than omission. One of the most common errors was the unnecessary use of the phrase involving a preposition, ‘for me’. Persistent errors could arise due to incomplete linguistic rule formation and transfer from the students’ first language (L1). There were also instances of other words like adverbs being used instead of prepositions. The best improvement was seen in the prepositions ‘for’, ‘in’ and ‘about’. These findings necessitate the need for corrective feedback on errors, and for grammar instruction to be compatible with the natural processes of acquisition.
format	Article
author	Sudhakaran, Beena
author_facet	Sudhakaran, Beena
author_sort	Sudhakaran, Beena
title	Acquisition of English prepositions among Malaysian learners: a case study
title_short	Acquisition of English prepositions among Malaysian learners: a case study
title_full	Acquisition of English prepositions among Malaysian learners: a case study
title_fullStr	Acquisition of English prepositions among Malaysian learners: a case study
title_full_unstemmed	Acquisition of English prepositions among Malaysian learners: a case study
title_sort	acquisition of english prepositions among malaysian learners: a case study
publisher	Canadian Center of Science and Education
publishDate	2015
url	http://irep.iium.edu.my/42806/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/42806/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/42806/4/42806_beena_45714-170767-1-PB.pdf
first_indexed	2023-09-18T21:01:01Z
last_indexed	2023-09-18T21:01:01Z
_version_	1777410623359942656

Acquisition of English prepositions among Malaysian learners: a case study

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