Arab EFL University Students - Errors in The Use of Prepositions by Yousef Sharif Tahaineh Pages 76-112

76
MJAL2:1JANUARY2010 ISSN 0974-8741

Arab EFL University Students' Errors in the Use of Prepositions
Yousef Sharif Tahaineh

Author
Bio Data
Yousef Sharif Tahaineh is an Assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics - Department of English -
Princess Alia University College-Al-Balqa' Applied University, Amman-Jordan. He has been
teaching EFL for 15 years. He is currently working on Linguistic matters central to EFL Arab
learners' syntactic, semantic, lexical and phonological difficulties
[email protected]

Contents
Abstract
Introduction
General perspective on the Importance of Writing Skill
Writing skill in EFL Arab Context
The Study Matrix
The Significance of this Study
Previous Studies on EFL Arab Jordanian Learners' Writing errors
Method and procedure
Validity and Reliability of the composition Test
Data Analysis and Findings
Discussion of Errors
Pedagogical Implications
By Way of Conclusion
References
Appendices

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ABSTRACT

This empirical study is an analysis of compositions written by Jordanian first-, second-and third-
year university EFL students. The aim of the current work is to find out the kinds of errors they
make in the use of prepositions. Data was derived from free compositions written by a stratified
random sample of 162 students with similar linguistic, sociocultural, and educational backgrounds.
Findings revealed that MTI is the major source of EFL learners' errors (58%=1323). However,
transfer strategies of the TL itself are also detected and constituted a major part of the errors too
(42%=967). Arab Jordanian EFL students use the proper prepositions providing equivalents are
used in their MT; select the improper prepositions if equivalents are not used in their MT; omit
prepositions if equivalents are not required in their MT and add prepositions if equivalents are
required in their MT. Although freshmen, sophomores and juniors do not appear to overgeneralise
or use transfer strategies in characteristically different ways, they do appear to use these two
learning strategies to different degrees. While overgeneralization and transfer errors may not be
qualitatively different for the three class levels, they were found to be quantitatively different. The
improper use of prepositions is prominent among EFL Arab learners even at advanced stages of
their learning. Finding of the study and its pedagogical implications are discussed.

Keywords: linguistics analysis, errors, written composition, EFL Arab learners, prepositions.

Introduction
Interest in the teaching of English as a global language has been growing throughout the Arab
world, and most Arab governments began to introduce the teaching of English as compulsory
subject into the school curriculum. At present, in most Arab countries, all students who finish the
public secondary school education must have had at least eight years of instruction in English as a
school subject. So, because of the widespread use of English as a second language, the subject of
language teaching in general and teaching English as a foreign or second language in particular, has
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become the focus of attention of most Arab researchers (Al-Khatib, 2000). As far as English at
tertiary level in the Arab world is concerned, (Zughoul, 2003; Sultana, (2001) point out that
teaching through the medium of English is obvious in the field of higher education with the
exception of Syria which maintained a strong teaching tradition through the medium of Arabic.
Zughoul, in confirming this issue has said, no laws have been enacted or language plans drawn to
be implemented regarding the use of Arabic in Arab universities in any Arab country' (ibid, (2003).
As far as Arab students are concerned, recently, Rababah has rightly stated that attitudinal studies
conducted on Arab students, consistently showed that Arab students are instrumentally motivated to
learn English and that they are well aware of the utility of knowing English. The main stimulus for
learning English is instrumental, i.e. to achieve a goal, e.g. a career (ibid, 2003).To shed more about
the present status of English in the Arab world, Zughoul rightly states: despite the hegemonic and
imperialistic nature of English, it is still badly needed in the Arab world for the purposes of
communicating with the world, education, acquisition of technology and development at large.
Teaching still needs more efforts to be exerted to raise the quality and standard of English of the
Arab learners at all levels, (ibid 2003).

General perspective on the Importance of Writing Skill
Bjork and Raisanen (1997: 8) argue: We highlight the importance of writing in all university
curricula not only because of its immediate practical application, i.e. as an isolated skill or ability,
but because we believe that, seen from a broader perspective, writing is a thinking tool. It is a tool
for language development, for critical thinking and, extension, for learning in all disciplines. This
is a line of thought that we shall develop. Ulijn and Strother (1995:153) state that speaking and
writing are generally considered to be the active or productive skills of language usage. While there
is no room in this research to deal with other studies (e.g. Leki, 1991; Purves, 1988), it is enough to
say that these studies enhance the point of interrelatedness or association between the errors of L1
(language one) and L2 (language two) with no restriction to Arabic, English or any other languages.

Writing skill in EFL Arab Context
The faulty usage of the syntactic elements, e.g. verbs, prepositions, articles, relative clauses, etc.,
affects negatively the whole theme and schema of the writing process. Therefore, developing
learners writing skills in L2 has been of concern for some time in Arab tertiary education. Students
studying in institutions of higher learning in the medium of English, which is not their native
language, have been found to face serious problems mainly in writing, making them unable to cope
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with the institutions literacy expectations (Kharma and Hajjaj, 1997; Khalil, 2000; Bacha, 2002;
Rababah, 2003). In Arab universities, English writing is significant in students academic course of
study as research work depends on it. It is needed for taking notes, describing objects or devices and
writing essays, answering written questions, writing their compositions, writing experimental
reports, etc. Further, the process of writing, specifically writing through a practical research task,
also helps to develop the students cognitive skills in acquiring the necessary strategies, such as
analysing results of a research task, inferring from the significant differences observed in comparing
means, frequencies, etc., synthesizing different ideas or styles when writing, and so forth,
instrumental in the learning process (Bacha2002:164). For these reasons, writing has always been
an essential aspect of the curriculum of English as a major, and for academic purposes. The English
writing is also a fundamental aim of teaching English in Arab institutions of higher education
because English language is the medium of instruction in these institutions, (Al-Khuwaileh and
Shoumali, 2000).

The Study Matrix

Research Objectives Research Questions Data Source Instruments
Determine whether the
possible source of the
errors can be attributed
to interlingual
interference;
To What extent does
the interlingual
interference account
for the errors?
Responses

162 Students
of 3 class
levels
Written
compositions
Determine whether the
possible source of the
errors can be attributed
to Intralingaul
interference;

To what extent does
the Intralingaul
interference account
for the errors?
Responses 162 Students
of 3 class
levels
Written
compositions
Determine the
difference of students
errors, which can be
attributed to the class
level;

To what extent can
the difference of
students errors be
attributed to their
class level ?
Frequency
of errors
computed
then
compared

162 Students
of 3 class
levels
Written
compositions
Determine the
difference of students
errors which can be
attributed to the
average length of
compositions;

To what extent can
the difference of
studentserrors be
attributed to the
average length of
compositions?

Frequency
of errors
computed
then
compared

162 Students
of 3 class
levels
Written
compositions
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The Significance of this Study
This empirical study derives its significance from the significance of the topic, the objectives it
addresses and the fact that it attempts to explore a new area in performance analysis, namely, the
relationship between the average length of compositions and the number of errors in them, which is
hoped to add another perspective to the current literature on the English prepositional system, and
the pedagogical implications it obtains. Empirical research regarding students performance of
using English prepositions in their writing is not only scarce, but urgently needed due to the
continuous faulty usage of prepositions yielding malformed sentences of their written production as
referred to by researchers (e.g. Mourtaga, 2004; Zahid, 2006; Mahmoud, 2006). The few previous
Jordanian studies have been conducted on syntactic errors and merely describing them holistically.
None of these studies, to the knowledge of the researcher, has been conducted to investigate
difficulties of using prepositions in writing per se, i.e. independent from other syntactic-grammatical
errors. Therefore, the primary significance of this study lies in taking a further step toward investigating and
gaining a comprehensive understanding of this prepositional problem. Systematically analyzing errors
makes it possible to (1) identify strategies which learners use in language teaching, (2) identify the
causes of learner errors, and (3) obtain information on common difficulties in language learning as
an aid to teaching or in development of teaching materials. Thus, it can be inferred that language
teaching cannot stand away from the findings of error analysis. Students errors have always been
of interest and significance to teachers, syllabus designers and test developers. This may lead
educators to devise appropriate materials and effective teaching techniques, and constructing tests
suitable for different levels (cf., e.g.Corder, 1986; Richards, 1974; Brown, 2000).

Previous Studies on EFL Arab LearnersWriting errors
Notwithstanding, the exerted attempts to tackle the difficulties and problems of English language
learning/teaching at all levels of education in the Arab world; Arab students still encounter serious
problems in their English-writing. Depicting the situation of English in Jordan, Abd Al-Haq
(1982:1) cited in Rababah,(2003, rightly states: there are general outcries about the continuous
deterioration of the standards of English proficiency of students among school teachers, university
instructors and all who are concerned with English language teaching. Strongly supporting Abd Al-
Haq, Rababah, (2003) goes on to say that Arab Jordanian learners of English encounter several
serious problems in speaking and writing. This fact has been clearly stated by many researchers,
(e.g.Zughoul, 1991, 2003; Rababah, 2001, 2003; AlKhuwaileh and Shoumali, 2000). Sharing the
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same view, Bacha, (2002:161) states:L2 writers are known to face problems in developing their
writing skills at the university level. These problems are even more accentuated with L1 Arabic
non-native speakers of English in required English composition courses. She has added that Arab
learners of ESL /EFL do have serious problems in writing and may not be motivated to develop
their writing skills (ibid, 2002:161). Several Arab researchers reported and confirmed that Arab
EFL learners in general and Jordanian EFL learners in particular, face serious problem in using
English prepositions (e.g. Rababah, 2001, 2003; Zughoul, 1991, 2003; Al-Khataybeh, 1992).The
findings of the empirical data of these studies have shown that EFL Jordanian learners at all levels
encounter several problems in all language skills. The great number of errors that Jordanian learners
of English produce is in writing. Committing a lot of errors (mainly syntactic and grammatical) in
their writing as referred to by these Arab and Jordanian researchers, is the prominent feature of
Arab adult learners of English and prepositions is a core case in a point, which appears to be an
ever-lasting problem, thereby indicates the seriousness of the problem. In supporting this prominent
fact about this serious problem encountered EFL Arab Jordanian students, Hashim (1996), has
reviewed most of the studies on syntactic errors made by Arabic-speaking students in learning
English, his results show that a lot of errors have been found and presented in seven syntactic
categories: verbal, preposition, relative clause, conjunction, adverbial clauses, sentence structure,
and articles. The results reveal that the influence of native language (mother tongue) has been found
the most common source of these deviations. L2 interference i.e. Intralingaul errors are also there
due to employing some strategies as over-generalization (analogy), false application of rules,
simplification, induced errors. Sharing the same view with Hashim, Kharma, and Hajjaj, (1997)
have reported in their study on Arab EFL learners errors, that the majority of their errors are in
English syntax, and in particular, prepositions are the most troublesome aspect of syntax. Besides,
most recent studies in the Arab world (e.g. Zahid, 2006; Mohammed, A.M. 2005; Muortaga, K. 2004)
investigated EFL Arab learners syntactic errors, the results of their empirical studies revealed that Arab
learners were incompetent and weak mainly in verbs and prepositions. Investigations of errors made by
Arab EFL learners reveal a similarity of problematic areas in English syntax.

Hence, the major problems are found to be in the use of verbs / prepositions (interchangeable in
rank), then relative clause and articles respectively. The interference of mother tongue was statistically
significant which amounted to (67%) of the total errors. Intralingual errors were also detected as a main
source of errors caused by overgeralisation, simplification, faulty analogy and other common learning
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processes. Some researchers (e.g.Kharma & Hajjaj, 1997) have described prepositions' errors as an ever-
lasting problem for EFL Arab learner. Kharmas statement based on his own empirical and theoretical
studies conducted in several Arab countries (eg. Arab Gulf countries, Jordan), and because he observed that
almost all research on syntactic errors in the Arab world, prepositions were found to be the most troublesome
grammatical words and constantly constitute a significant proportion of errors occupied the first or second
position among other syntactic and semantic errors. Besides, Several studies (e.g.Dulay & Burt 1972;
Tucker & Scott 1974; Mahdi, 1982; Hamdallah, 1988,) show that it takes a long time for the learner
of English as a second / foreign language to acquire prepositions. Therefore, it would benefit
learners, teachers and researchers to undertake a systematic in-depth study to probe into one slide of
these problematic areas of syntax that is very seldom to find in the Arab World, which is
investigating errors made by Arab Jordanian EFL students, at the tertiary level, in the use of
prepositions per se. Therefore, this study aims at identifying the types of errors they make in the use
of prepositions (interlingual or intralingual), and to determine whether the possible source of the
errors can be attributed to the class level and /or to the average length of compositions. It is with
this purpose in mind that the investigator has selected this problem for the present study, to
investigate it and find, if possible, the remedial procedures that can elevate the students level and
lessen the number of repeaters every semester.

Method and procedure

The 162 subjects of the study represent the three class levels of 1
st
- ,2
nd
- and 3
rd
-year university
students majoring in English at Al-Balqa Applied University in Jordan. The sampling method used
in this study was stratified random sampling of equal-sized strata. Each stratum consists of 54
students represent their class level. (i.e.54 students from freshmen, 54 sophomores and 54 from
Juniors). The subjects of the study, the time of conducting this research, were all students of
English at AAU in the beginning of the second semester of the academic year 2008/2009. The three
groups started the degree in 2006/2007, 2007/2008, 2008/2009 respectively, which makes them
juniors, sophomores, freshmen at the time of the research. Like all the Jordanian Students, the ones
who participate in this study started learning English as a foreign language at public schools in the
fifth grade. All subjects are homogeneous in terms of their linguistic and socio-economic
background (i.e. the subjects are homogeneous in terms of their parents occupation, level of
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education, income and area of residence), education system and field of study. The subjects live in
an exclusively Arabicspeaking community and had learned English as a foreign language prior to
taking it up as their major field of study at the university. It is important here to mention two things,
first: the fourth year students were not included, because they were attending a practical training
course of 12 credited-hours outside the university campus at the time of conducting this study.
Second, those learners who are Jordanians, but their MT is not Arabic are excluded from this study,
such as Circasians, Chechens and Greeks who constitute the main non-Arab linguistic minorities in
Jordan. The subjects were given the topics and wrote their compositions within 50-minute class
session. The selected topics were: 1-Write about yourself: What would you like to be? 2-What are
the benefits of learning English? 3- Write a composition on how we might develop the tourism
industry in Jordan .4-Population control is a necessity for the world. Discuss. The adopted criteria
for correctness in the current study is grammaticality which refers to the term error as a deviation
or breach of the rule of the code or of a selected norm, after James, 1998; Corder, 1986.

To achieve the objectives of the study, each composition was read twice, once by the researcher and
another by one of two independent coders. A word count was made and errors in the use of
prepositions were counted, classified and later analyzed. The types and frequency of these errors
were compared to observe similarities and/or differences in the type and number of errors made
across the three levels. Data from each reading were organized using the following error categories
(a) Omission: is considered as the absence of an item that must appear in a well-formed utterance
e.g. the post man goes villa to villa. (b) Substitution: is the use of the wrong preposition where
another preposition should be used, e.g. He has been teaching for 1990. (c) Addition is
denominated as the presence of an item that must not appear in a well-formed utterance, e.g. a lot
of protesters stand outside of the garden. Due to the fact that only prepositions errors are
investigated, the present study is limited in its scope and generalisability of results to populations
similar to the present one. Furthermore, the fact that different students are targeted at each class
level may add another limitation posed by these students potentially different personalities,
motivation, and writing abilities, a limitation which would have been avoided if the same students
were studied over a three-year period of time. Finally, examining the students speech would have
added further validity to the claims made in this research.

Validity and Reliability of the composition Test

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Validity
According to Assamawi (2002:69) research instrument can be validated via three ways: (1) Self-
validation, this involves asking oneself whether each topic given in the instrument measures what it
is intended to measure. In this study, the subjects write their essays on carefully selected compatible
topics, which can be very useful testing tool (Heaton, 1990:137) for providing the learners with an
opportunity to demonstrate their ability to organize language material, to use their own words and ideas and
to reveal which language components the students could use to communicate. Hence, for achieving self-
validation, the topics employed in this study are taken from previous Jordanian investigators (e.g.
Hamdallah, 1988; Obeidat, 1986) who employed these topics in their studies to test EFL Jordanian
university students' performance in writing by analyzing the learners syntactic errors (prepositions
were a case in a point). Those studies yielded important results, which subsequently contributed to
the learning teaching process in the Arab world in general, and in Jordan in particular. The topics
were highly comparable (Hughes (1989:75) with the kind of compositions the subjects had already
written during their previous learning. (2) Experts-Validation, three experts approved that the given
topics were taken from materials appropriate to students standard and suit their age, and that the
rubric set was very clear. (3) Pilot-Validation: The pilot study: the composition test was subjected to
a pilot study to check whether the given topics would yield the samples which represent the
students ability in free writing and that the resulted samples could and would be scored reliably.
The results of the pilot study revealed that the composition topics were understood by the
participants as they intended to be, and able to elicit the participants responses on the problem
studied.

Reliability
According to Hughes, (1989: 36) reliability can be achieved by scorer reliability coefficients of
over 0.9 for the scoring of compositions. Scorer reliability is the consistency of scoring by two or
more scorers (raters or coders). Thereby, to ensure inter-coder reliability, Cohens Kappa (Cohen,
1960) was used. In the present study, the scoring process was performed by two instructors of
English, who volunteered to score the studentsanswer papers. Both have long experience in this
domain; they are familiar with English prepositions and their usage very well. The answer scripts
were read three times once by the researcher to circle every preposition used in the compositions,
and once by each of the two coders. The researcher counted and classified errors according to each
coder. Number of errors for each preposition from each coder were recorded and listed. The two
results of the two coders were compared. The comparison revealed that the two coders reached an
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agreement that 38 prepositions were used erroneously in studentscompositions. After Kappa was
being calculated according to the given formula:
Kappa =
(proportion corresponding expected proportion corresponding)

(1-expected proportion corresponding)

Kappa = the inter-coder reliability is 0.98. Result showed that reliability was achieved at 98%
which is considered according to Landis & Koch (1977:165) benchmarks from 0.81-1.00, almost
perfect. (see appendices B& C).

Findings and discussion
In this section, the findings of this study are presented and discussed in light of its questions.
Q. # 1: To what extent does the Interlingual interference account for the errors?

Table #1: total means, and SD for interlingual and intralingual errors for the three class levels

The purpose of the first question is to determine whether the possible source of the errors
committed in composition can be attributed to interlingual interference. T-test was used and results
showed that there is no statistical significant difference between interlingual and intralingual errors
(sig. (0.28) > 0.05, see table #1) and the total means of interlingual errors is 29.40 with total
standard deviation 45.82, it showed that for the majority of errors (1323 out of 2290) in the use of
prepositions in composition test, interference from the native language was the main source. (See
more illustrative examples below for interlingual errors).

Q. # 2: To what extent does the intralingual interference account for the errors?
The purpose of the second question is to determine whether the possible sources of the errors can be
attributed to intralingaul interference. The total means of intralingual errors are 21.49 with total SD
29.61, and the total errors are 967out of 2290 (see (table # 1) which indicates that the dispersion of
Category Inter Intra
Mean SD Sum Mean SD Sum t-valu Sig.
total 29.40 45.82 1323 21.49 29.61 967 1.09 0.28
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the Jordanian EFL studentsintralingual errors are relatively closer around the central tendency
(means) than those of interlingual errors, i.e. they are less heterogeneous. The possible main cause
of intralingual errors is the transfer of previously available strategies in new situations. In other
words, the subjects of this study create a deviant structure on the basis experience of other
structures in the target language. Findings indicate that interference of mother tongue and of target
language itself are both considered major sources of studentserrors despite the fact that the total
number of interlingual errors is (1323) and the intralingual (967). (see more illustrative examples
below for intralingual (TLI) errors).

Q. # 3: To what extent can the difference of students errors be attributed to their class level?
Table # 2 : Means and SD for Total Errors among the three class levels

The purpose of the third question is to determine the difference of students errors, which can be
attributed to the class level. One way ANOVA Test was used to measure the means and standard
deviation of the total number of errors held per each preposition and all prepositions for the cross-
section of three class levels. The data in table # 2 obviously shows that there is a statistical
significant difference (sig.0.003 <0.005) concerning the total number of errors among freshmen,
sophomores and juniors. Details as follow: the subjects made a total of errors in the use of
prepositions distributed on the three studying years as the following: Juniorstotal errors is (381),
total means is 12.70 with SD 14.08, which indicates that juniors made the least number of errors
with less heterogeneity, MTI (205) and 176 TLI errors, which means transfer from MT and TL
itself are the main source of their errors. Sophomores total errors is (616), the total means is 20.53
with SD 23.54, MTI (355) whereas TLI (261) and freshmens total errors is (1293), total means is
43.10 with SD 57.41, MTI (763) and TLI (530); with statistical significant difference (sig.0.003
<0.005). This means that the subjects class level has significant impact and yields high statistical
significant differences among the three university students class levels concerning the total number
of errors held per each year .i.e. a noticeable difference between each level and the other
quantitatively, but not qualitatively.
Freshmen Sophomores Juniors
Mean SD Sum Mean SD. Sum Mean SD Sum F-value Sig.
total 43.10 57.41 1293 20.53 23.54 616 12.70 14.08 381 6.14 0.003
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Q. # 4: To what extent can the difference of students errors be attributed to the average
length of compositions?
The purpose of this research question is to determine the difference of students errors which can be
attributed to the average length of compositions. The length of the compositions was different
across individual respondents as well as across class levels. A word count was performed excluding
the instructions and questions which some of the subjects copied onto the answer sheet. An average
word count for each class level was used to calculate the percentage of errors in prepositions
usage.The average length of the compositions for each of the three class levels is shown in Table #
3.

Table # 3: The Average Length of Composition across Class Level
Class level Average composition Length
Freshmen: class of 2008/2009 193
Sophomores class of 2007/2008 275
Juniors class of 2006/2007 433

Composition length was not found to have a consistent relationship with the number of errors.
While freshmen, who wrote compositions of an average count of (193) words, made a total of
(1793) errors = (12.40%), sophomores, who wrote compositions of an average count of (275)
words, made a total of 616 errors = (4.14%), juniors, who wrote compositions of an average count
of (433) words, made a total of 381 errors = (1.62%), See table # 4.

Table # 4: Total Number of Errors in Composition Based on the Total Number of Written Words.

Studying Year/ class
level
Total errors per
class level
The total written
words for each level
Percentage of errors for total
number of written words. (%)
Freshmen 1293 10422 12.40
Sophomores 616 14850 4.14
Juniors 381 23382 1.62

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These results are inconsistent with traditional teachers warnings that the more one writes, the more
errors he/she is bound to make. Although juniors wrote compositions with almost double the length
of those written by their freshmen and sophomore counterparts, their errors were dramatically cut to
less than 29% of those made by freshmen and 61% of those made by sophomores whose errors are
cut to less than 47% of those made by freshmen counterparts, while freshmen did more than 57 %
of the total errors made in the written compositions. In fact, the figures in tables 3 & 4 may readily
support previous research studies (e.g. Zahid, 2006; Mohammed, 2005; Mahmoud, 2002, among
others) who have asserted that the majority of errors made by the EFL learners are because of the
impact of native language transfer which was found to play a major role. Also results go in line with
several studies (e.g. Zahid, 2006; Dulay & Burt 1972; Tucker & Scott, 1974; Obeidat, 1986;
Hamdalla, 1988) who confirmed that it takes a long time for the learner of English as a second /
foreign language to acquire prepositions.

Before we move to the illustrative examples, it necessary to mention that there is also some
evidence supporting those researchers who state that avoidance is employed by EFL learners. This
is possibly manifested in the very low of errors frequency, particularly, in using phrasal verbs of
idiomatic meaning in their compositions. This might be due to the fact that the category of
idiomatic prepositions consists of the least predictable prepositional usages. Another possibility is
that many English verbs change their meaning when used with other words especially prepositions.
Such a phenomenon is not found in Arabic Mahmoud (2002), and it might also be the reason of
why Arab leaners try to avoid using them. Baker (1992) attributes the non-use of idioms by Arabic
speakers to one more reason which is the influence of written formal Arabic where idioms are
avoided.

Discussion of Errors
The subjects of this study made 2290 errors (see appendix-I ). The three sub-categories of errors
(omission, substitution and addition) will be presented along with their source whether it is
interlingual or intralingual. As the number of the errors is very large as mentioned above, only a
few examples for the sake of illustration to the three categories will be given and discussed. (For
MSA consonants transliteration and vowel please see appendices D&E). In the discussion of errors
in this study overgeneralization means all intralingual errors, as for example, Zahid, 2006;
Mahmoud, 2002 and Hamdallah, 1988; Brown, 2000) consider overgeneralization errors as any
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error which can be attributed to the application of a rule of English in an inappropriate situation. It
is the negative counterpart of intralingual errors viewed as the excessive application of the
overgeneralization strategies i.e. ignorance of rule restrictions, incomplete applications of rules,
false concepts hypothesized and transfer of training, because they are overlapped and interrelated
causes within L2. While interlingual errors due to mother tongue interference (MTI) are occurred
because the Arabic version is equivalent to English ones used in the form of a literal translation. It
is realized that prepositions seldom have a one-to-one correspondence between English and Arabic.
One preposition in Arabic might stand for the meaning of two English prepositions or more and
vice versa.

Errors of Substitution
Analysis of the data revealed instances of the substitution of prepositions which seemed to be
caused by both, the students mother tongue interference and the influence of the target language
itself. The great majority of the errors made in the use of prepositions in the composition whether
the source was interlingual or intralingual, were errors of substitution, (78% = 1783 out of 2290
(please see appendix-G). For Arabic prepositions and their transliteration please see appendix H,
and for MSA consonants transliteration and vowel please see appendices D&E).

At instead of in:
The following are illustrative examples:
*(1)- at the winter the weather is very cold.
*(2)- at the summer term all students like to take late classes.
*(3)- at the last two years different students nationalities join AAU colleges.
*(4) I have a bad dream and woke up at the night.
MSA interference is excluded in the above four sentences, because if MSA interfered the
preposition fii in will be used, and all sentences will be correct, but the case is different .In the
above sentences (1) to (4) , the learners used at instead of in. Again these errors are attributed to
overgeneralization that arises from the uncertainty in the learners mind, particularly when they face
the task of using one preposition to express different relationships and meanings, this is the case , it
is not surprising that the learners will overgeneralise one item over the other as in (1) to (4) they
overgeneralised the preposition at to be used instead of in.

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By instead of for:
The following are some illustrative examples from compositions:
*5- Jenin province is famous by its melons and fruits.
*6- Amman is famous by its ruins.
*7- and I paid JD 4,000 by the car .
*8- we must teach them severe lesson and the eye by the eye.
*9 - and his name is Abdul Ghani, but we call him Ghani by short.
*10- Efforts of participation by reaching equalization were marvelous.
*11- I had difficult time by forming new friends.
*12- He work anything by money

In all the above examples by= bi was used instead of for. In sentences (5) to (8) the error is
attributed to learners native language. MSA bi or fii = by or in which can be used
interchangeably to indicate ta9liil in (5 and 6) = to this reason or for this reason; and to
indicate ?il9iwa = in return for, in (7) . In MSA, the adjective mahuur= famous , in such
context takes bi = by. In (8) the MSA used the common prepositional phrase: ?al9aynu bi
?al9ayni= the eye by the eye= an eye for an eye. Some learners in the study transferred
erroneously the above meaning of bi by into English in form of literal translation causing the
malformed sentences. Thus, sentences (5) to (8) above will have the following MSA counterparts:
(5) Maniqatu Jenin mahuurah bi baiixihaa wa faakihatihaa = * Province Jenin is famous by
melons and fruits its. = Jenin province is famous for its melons(6) 9ammaan mahuurah bi
?aaaarihaa =*Amman famous by ruins its =Amman is famous by its ruins. (7) wa dafa9tu arba9u
?aalaaf dinar ?urdunii bi al siyaarah = * and paid I 4000 dinar Jordanian by that the car =
and I paid JD 4,000 by the car. (8) yajibu ?alaynaa ?an nu9alimahum darssan qaasiyan wa ?al9aynu
bi ?al9ayni = * Must we teach they lesson severe and the eye by the eye' = we must teach them
severe lesson and an eye for an eye.
In sentences (9) to (12), if the learners MT interfered, li-= for, would be used in MSA which
means either ta9liil= to this reason, or intihaa? al-aaya = destination, place and time; or
tabyiin = 'illustration', and there would be no errors in these sentences. But the case is different; the
errors are attributed to the imperfect command of the TL prepositions, in none of the above four
sentences the preposition bi = by means li= for or to which is supposed to be used in MSA
in such context. The learners of these sentences could not appreciate the use of for and were
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confused between two or more prepositions. This imperfect command led them to overgenerlise
by over for, resulting in the above four malformed sentences

From instead of of
*(13)- In third world countries we find that millions from people suffer from death.
*(14)- it is deprived from several sources apart from diseases and death.
*(15)- one can see how many humans die especially in Africa because from the lack of food.
Errors in the above sentences are attributed to mother tongue interference. The MSA preposition
min from, is used in the above exact senses, hence, sentences (13)and (14 ) above ,for example
will have the following MSA counterparts: (13)- fii buldaan ?al?aalam alaali najid ?anna
malaayiin min ?alnaas yu9aanuun min ?almawt= *In countries world third find we that millions
from the people suffer they the death. = In third world countries we find that millions of people
suffer from death. (14) Takuunu alayaat maruuma min 9iddat maaadir iaafatan li?alamraa
wa ?almawt.= * is it deprived from several sources apart from diseases and death = It is deprived of
several sources apart from diseases and death. The learners of the above sentences transferred two
meanings of the Arabic preposition min from, into English ; in (13) and (14) they transferred the
meaning of bayaan al-naw9 ?aw al-jins elucidation of kind or spieces while in (15) the meaning
of ?al -ta9liil = reason or cause was transferred.

On instead of in :
*(16)- an area found on it dead people that were famous in that age.
*(17)- there is no work for everyone on the world.
*(18)- there will be no safety on the world .
*(19)- life on Zarka ......
*(20)- The people who live on this city are suffering too much.
*(21)- Thousands of families came and live on Karamah to enjoy the sun.
*(22)- to complete their studies on foreign countries.
*(23)- .... and defend it on the international institutions.
*(24)- the officials on this city offer every possible help.
*(25)- the people on Jenin are very hospitable .
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In all the above examples, (16) to (25) on was used instead of in. The above errors can not be
attributed to mother tongue interference; in none of the above sentences can 9alaa on, the MSA
preposition corresponding to on in English be grammatically correct. It is obvious that some of the
learners in this study were unable to appreciate that in the above examples, the relation is that of
interiority and not of contact. This being the case that the learners overgeneralised the preposition
on to be used instead of in, a case which indicates clearly that the subjects are ignorant of the
rules of English grammar and also it is very likely that several learners of this study, who made
these errors, over generalized the preposition on over in due to faulty analogy and which sounds
to be a major factor in the substitution process (misuse of prepositions).

By instead of of
*26- My friend takes care by herself.
*27- I dream by graduation from this university .
In the above examples by was used instead of of. The impact of the learners MT is very
obvious. MSA bi or fii =by or in which can be used interchangeably in the above exact
senses, Some learners in the study transferred erroneously the above meaning of bi by into
English in form of literal translation causing the malformed sentences hence, the sentences above,
for example will have the following MSA counterparts: (26) adiiqati ta9tani bi nafsihaa = friend-
my takes care by self-her = My friend takes care of herself. (27) ?alamu bi?altaxarruji min
haaihi ?aljaami9a=dream I by graduation from this university= I dream of graduation of this
university.

By instead of with
The following are illustrative examples
*(28)- for preparing the salad, she cuts the carrots by a sharp knife
*(29)- ...during the journey we opened the bottles of cold drinks by an odd opener.
In the above two sentences by is used instead of with. The impact of the learners mother tongue is
there. MSA preposition bi by can be used to indicate ?isti9aanah 'make use of' which fits the
exact senses used in these two examples in Arabic. The learners of these two sentences transferred
erroneously the above meaning of bi by into English in form of literal translation causing the
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malformed sentences hence, the sentences above, for example will have the following MSA
counterparts: (28) li i9dad ?alsalatah qaa9at ?aljazar bi sikkiin add= * for preparing salad, cut
she carrots bi knife sharp.= for preparing salad, she cut the carrots with a sharp knife. (29) xilaal
?alrrilah fatanaa zujaajaat ?almashruubaat albaaridah bi muftaain xaa = *during the journey,
opened we bottles the drinks cold by key special = during the journey , we opened the bottles of
cold drinks with special key.

Between instead of among
*(30)- There are many customs between the population of Amman.
*31)- .since language is a mean of communication between the people.
*(32)- before his death, the father distributed his wealth beween his sons evenly.
*(33)- 'improving the language means that communication between people will improve
*(34)- he was hidden between the trees
*(35)- I am glad to be between my close friends
In the above sentences, some learners used 'between' instead of 'among'. The meaning of between
and among is very similar, between usually involves two persons or things, some times it involves
more than two, when we have definite number in mind. then between is used, e.g. Jordan lies
between Palestine, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Whereas, among always involves more than two
persons or things. Since between is the more frequently used one, it is overgeneralized by the
learners in the study to convey the meaning of among as well. Also it is possible that MT
interference in some of the above cases as in sentences (34) and (35), was the cause of the errors,
because MSA and NSA use two different forms interchangeably, where English uses two forms
with selectional restrictions, which leads to the errors as in sentences (34) and (35). For example, in
Arabic, the two forms of the preposition between: bayna as (1) bayna ?alajaar (= between the
trees) and wasa as (2) Wasa ?alajaar (= among the trees) can be used interchangeably in such
contexts to mean in the middle of. Whereas English uses the two forms with selectional
restrictions so the learners transferred the use of MSA/NSA preposition bayna / wasat into the use
of English preposition among , this transfer took place in the form of literal translation. For example
(34) will translate into the following MSA/NSA counterpart: *(34) he was hidden between the trees
= * kaana muxtabi? bayna/wasa ?alajaar = * was hidden he between / among the trees = he was
hidden among the trees. The same is true regarding the error in sentence (35), and will translate
94


into the following MSA/NSA counterpart: *(35) I am glad to be between my close friends.=
akuunu ?anaa sa9iid bayna/wasa ?addiqaa?ii /?aabii almuqarrabiin = * I glad between /
among my friends close = I am glad to be among my close friends.

Under instead of at
*(36)- I am under his request.
*(37)- he told him that he was under his service
* (38)- 'and said , I am...under your disposal.
In the above sentences the learners native language impact is very obvious. The MSA preposition
tata under is used instead of at causing these errors, this transfer took place in form of literal
translation since the Arabic version tata is equivalent to 'under'. Therefore sentence (36) above
translate into MSA, for example, and will have the following counterpart: (36) ?anaa Akuuno
tata alabak (?amrak) = I am under request your = I am under your request. The data analysis
shows that the main reason stands behind the substitution errors is that the subjects of this study in
most cases select the improper prepositions if equivalents are not used in their mother tongue.

Errors of Addition
The addition of prepositions indicated that unnecessary prepositions are used where they are not
needed. The analysis of the data showed that 15% = 354 prepositions were added where they were
not needed. Analysis of the data revealed instances of the addition of prepositions which seemed to
be caused by both, the students' MTI and the influence of the target language itself. Here some
illustrative examples:

Addition of of
*(39) I have done very well, considering of the difficult circumstances I passed.
The error in the above example attributed to the TL interference. Similarly, MSA does not need a
preposition in such context. Therefore, the learners of this sentence overgenaralised the use of the
preposition of in positions where it is not required. (analogy or rote learning of rules).

Addition of from:
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*40- When you finish from learning.
*41- Aqaba is near from Ma'an in the south of Jordan.
The errors in the above examples (40) and (41) are attributed to L1 interference. The preposition
from in the above sentences is a literal translation of the of MSA preposition min from which
has the meaning of ?altaqriib denoting to the idea of proximity. Thereby, sentences (40 and 41)
will have the following MSA counterparts: (
40)- 9indamaa tantahi anta min ?alta9allum = When finish you from the learning = when you
finish the learning'
(41)- Al-Aqaba qariiba min ?im9aan fii januub ?laurdon = *Aqaba near from Ma9aan in south of
Jordan = Aqaba is near Ma'an in the south of Jordan.

Addition of on
The following are illustrative examples
*(42)- hence it is useful for everyone to get on a new profession.
*(43)- , but this case cannot affect only on the lack in bread
*(44)- which will assist the population on to find the enough food.
*(45)- and defend on it at the international level.
*(46)- to live on a happy life, one should work hard.
*(47)- and we go on shopping.
The addition of the preposition on in the above examples (42) to (44) is attributed to
mother tongue .The learners translated the above underlined verbs get, affect, and assist into
the following MSA counterparts respectively yaal, yu?air and yusaa9id these verbs in
MSA ,in the above contexts require the preposition 9alaa on. Thus, the (42),(43) and (44) will
translate into MSA as the following : (42) lihaaa ?alsabab ?innahu mufiid likulli waaid ?an
yaal 9alaa mihnah jadiidah = *for this reason, it is useful to everyone to get on profession
new. = hence it is useful for everyone to get a new profession. (43) laakin haaihi ?alaalah
laa tasii9 ?an tu?air faqat 9alaa ?alnaq fii ?alxubzi = * But this the case not can to affect just
on the lack in the bread = but this case cannot affect just the lack in bread (44) ?alinaa?ah
?allatii sawfa tusaa9id alnaas 9alaa ?an yajiduu ?ala9aam = * The manufacturing which will assist
population on to find they the food. = the manufacturing which will assist the population to find
food. The case in (45), (46) and (47) is rather different; the learners overgenaralised (due to
analogy or rote learning of rules resulted from their ignorance of rules restrictions) the use of the
96


preposition on in positions where it is not required. The analysis of the errors of addition shows
that the subjects of this study in most cases add prepositions if equivalents are required in their
mother tongue.

Errors of Omission
Analysis of the data revealed that there are 7% = 153 prepositions were omitted from places
where they were needed. Also, analysis of the data revealed instances of the omission of
prepositions which seemed to be caused by both, the students' MT and the influence of the target
language itself. Here are some illustrative examples:

Omission of of
*(48)- To deal with a foreigner requires knowledge ^ his Mother tongue.
*(49)- they knew the importance ^Jordan between foreign countries, so '
*(50)- and they know the strategic position ^ Jordan'
*(51)- In the beginning ^ the second week'
*(52) The tools ^ the communication are the skills'
In the above sentences (48) to (52) show that the preposition of was omitted in positions
where it is required. The only possible explanation for this type of error is the learners native
language interference. In all of the above examples MSA does not use the preposition of. Hence,
sentences (50) to (52), for example, will have the following MSA counterparts: (50) wa ya9rifuun
mawqi? ?al?urdon ?al?istratiijii = * 'and know they position Jordan the strategic = They know
the strategic position of Jordan. (51) fii bidaayat-i ?al-yawm-i al-thaanii = * in beginning the second
day = in the beginning of the second day. (52) ?adawaat ?al?itiaal hiya ?almahaaraat = * The
tools the communication are the skills= The tools of the communication are the skills

Omission of to
*(53)- I got ^ Amman airport.
*(54)- when you get ^ Mecca you will notice the difference.
*(55)- I left it to get ^ Irbid
*(56)- I saw the girl who I sent ^ a message.
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The omission of the preposition to in (54) to (55) is attributed to MT interference. The
corresponding MSA verb of the verb get in the above examples is yail. The students probably
omitted the prepositions because the verb yail = get, in (53) to (55) in the above contexts in
MSA can be used with or without the preposition ?ilaa or li= to .This is being the case, the
subjects may have translated the verb get as yail with no preposition. Thereby, the (53) and
(54), for example, could be translated into MSA counterparts: (53) waalto maaar Amman= *got I
airport Amman = I got to Amman airport. (54) ?indamaa tailu Mecca satulaai ?alfarq = *when
got you Mecca will notice the difference.= When you get to Mecca you notice the difference. In
sentence (56) the case is different. The preposition to was omitted due to TLI. This type of error
represents the strategy of simplification implemented by some of the learners of this sentence.
Actually, if the learners MT interfered would the sentence be correct, and be written as r?aito
?albint allati ?arsalto ?ilayha risaalah = *saw I the girl who sent I to her a message = I saw the girl
who I sent to her a message. Therefore, the probable explanation of this error is strategy of
simplification which can also play an important role in the production of errors.
The data analysis of the errors in the omission examples shows that the subjects of this study in
most cases omit prepositions if equivalents are not required in their mother tongue.

Pedagogical Implications
Pedagogically, learners errors will enable teachers to infer the nature of the learner's knowledge of
the prepositions at a given stage in his learning career and discover what he still has to learn,
(Lightbown & Spada, 1999: 70). For the learner, a study of his/her errors could provide devices
which could be used in order to further the learning process. Errors provide feedback (Corder,
1973:265) they inform the teacher about the effectiveness of his teaching material and his teaching
techniques and show him what parts of syllabus he has been following inadequately learned or
taught and need further attention. They enable the teacher to decide whether he must devote more
time the item he has been working on. Errors provide information for designing a remedial syllabus
or program of teaching. Another finding from this study is that, when learners are encountered
with inherent complexities of TL, they will overgeneralise, analogise simplify etc., to reduce their
learning burden. When they overgeneralise, for instance, they rely on a TL rule of great generic
and which they already know; this results in avoiding learning the appropriate rule and inevitably
results in errors. For example, the occurrence of the preposition in, in the phrases like in detail,
in fact, in high spirit, in reality, in the room, etc., lead them to use in in a phrase like in the other
98


hand which reflects their way of thinking , this may appear more logic led them to use in in
such positions. This way of thinking is more persistent in the use of prepositions associated with
verbs, nouns and adjectives , the student may think that because the verb, for example, choose
does not take a preposition in a sentence like : I choose my friend Layla as the best girl so; he/she
omits the preposition in a sentence like: to arrange ^ him everything or he depends on his parents
to choose^ him the girl , or, like he showed me new novel leads to he explained me his new
novel.

It is believed that the insights gained from the study of learners errors in the use of prepositions
can provide invaluable information for devising appropriate materials and effective teaching
techniques. Finally, the identification of the prepositional problem, its uses and constructions in the
study can help text book designers and curriculum specialists by providing them with the
information that can help them in designing a remedial syllabus or a programme of teaching
including pedagogical grammar. As Bhatia (1974) indicates, a course based on the frequency and
types of errors will enable the teacher to teach those items of syntax, morphology and phonology
with which learners have most difficulty.

By Way of Conclusion
This study is set out to investigate kinds of errors made by Jordanian 1
st
-, 2nd- and 3
rd
year
university EFL students in the use of prepositions in written composition. The research findings
reveal that EFL Arab Jordanian students at the tertiary level experience serious difficulties in using
the correct prepositions in their writing. The prepositions proved to be the most common in use and
the most difficult ones for the learners in this study are by, in, on, to, with, of, from, for and at
respectively (see appendix-F). Mother tongue interference (MTI) is a learning strategy that most
foreign-language learners fall back on especially in acquisition-poor classroom situations where
exposure to the language is confined to a few hours per week of formal instruction. The majority of
errors made by the three groups are the result of the learners mother tongue interference as the
major source (1323 errors =58%) of the total errors 2290). These findings lend support to previous
research studies (e.g. Khodabandeh, 2007; Velloo, 2000; Zahid, 2006; Mohammad, 2005;
Mahmoud, 2002; Hamdallah, 1988, among others) who have confirmed that the majority of errors
made by the EFL learners are because of the impact of MTI, which was found to play an
outstanding role.
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The data shows that the subjects select the improper prepositions if equivalents are not used in their
mother tongue; delete prepositions if equivalents are not required in their mother tongue , add
prepositions if equivalents are required in their mother tongue and use the proper English
prepositions providing equivalents are used in their mother tongue. However, transfer strategies of
TL itself, (967errors =42%) as overgeneralisation (analogy) and ignorance of rule restrictions
appeared the most possible twofold cause of intralingual errors. Learners' performance differs
significantly from one item to another among the three proficiency levels. The subjects class level
has significant impact and yields high statistical significant differences among the students, with
regard to the total number of errors held per each year. In other words, although there were some
trends peculiar to the freshmen versus the sophomores and juniors, the large number of similarities
in the error types, which were most common for the freshmen, sophomores and juniors, tends to
indicate that increased proficiency in English does not qualitatively affect the kinds of errors which
a learner makes. The other important conclusion was that although freshmen, sophomores and
juniors do not appear to overgeneralise or use transfer strategies in characteristically different ways,
they do appear to use these two learning strategies to different degrees. While overgeneralization
and transfer errors may not be qualitatively different for the three class levels, they were found to be
quantitatively different.

The present study is consistent with results of previous studies on Arabic-speaking learners of
English. Learners whose native language is Arabic face two particular difficulties, stemming from
(1) An Arabic preposition is equivalent to more than one English preposition.(2) Interference from
the native language which is related directly to the problem of literal translation from Arabic into
English. The pedagogical implication here is that these adult learners could be made aware of this
transfer strategy and its outcome. Cases of positive and negative transfer could be discussed with
them so that they know when to transfer and when not to. Needless to say, more exposure to the
language through reading and listening is necessary. Although the results achieved in this study are
sound and significant, more research is needed. A longitudinal study using subjects from four class
levels over the period of their study might prove invaluable for these purposes, not to mention
incorporating oral as well as written data in the analysis. Finally, in respect of this problem, indeed,
a serious collaborative effort needs to be made here by all concerned, including teachers, learners,
researchers and material writers alike. It is also proper to state here that if measures are not taken to
100


overcome this problem as difficulties in using prepositions or any other parts of the English
grammar beforehand, then such issues will build up to become a major issue which will be too
difficult or too late to undertake simultaneously.

101


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Appendices
Appendix A: Main Abbreviations used in the study:

AAU : Al-Balqa Applied University
ALALC : American Library Association Library of Congress
EFL : English as a Foreign Language
ELT : English Language Teaching
add Addition
subs Substitution
om Omission
PAUC : Princess Alia University College
MT : Mother Tongue
MTI : Mother Tongue Interference
MSA : Modern Standard Arabic
NSA : Non-Standard Arabic
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L1 : Native Language (Mother Tongue)
L2 : Target Language (Second Language i.e. English)
L1 : Native Language (Mother Tongue)
L2 : Target Language (Second Language i.e. English)
Intra Intralingual
Inter interlingual.
TLI target language interference
ESL English as a second language.
TL Target language

Appendix B : Kappa

To find Kappa, the following formula is followed:
Kappa = (proportion corresponding expected proportion corresponding)

(1-expected proportion corresponding)
1- Proportion corresponding is calculated by dividing the sum of the number of codes on the
diagonal 2284 by the total number (2290). This gives 99 per cent correspondence.
2- The expected proportion corresponding is calculated by multiplying and adding marginal
frequencies; example for calculating result of the preposition 'by' = 324 (first coder reading) / 2290
x 322 (second coder reading) / 2290 (readings of the two coders) = 0.0198944.
The same thing will be done to the total number of errors of each preposition, and the result will be
the expected proportion = 0.0831946
0.99 0.083

1- 0.083

So Kappa is = 0.989 i.e. the inter-coder reliability is 0.98.
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Appendix-C Landis & Koch (1977) Benchmarks for Interpreting Kappa

Appendix-D Transliteration Systems of MSA Consonants.

S.N. Arabic Consonants English Equivalents Description: place and manner of articulation & voiced or
voiceless
1- , ? glottal stop
2- b a voiced bilabial stop
3- t a voiceless non-emphatic denti-alveolar fricative
4- a voiceless non-emphatic denti-alveolar fricative
5- j a voiced palato-alveolar fricative
6- a voiceless pharyngeal fricative
7- x a voiceless uvular fricative
8- d a voiced non-emphatic denti alveolar stop
9- A voiced interdental fricative
10- r A voiced alveolar flap
11- z A voiced palato-alveolar fricative
Kappa statistic Strength of Agreement
< 0.00 Poor
0.00-0.20 slight
0.21-0.40 Fair
0.41-0.60 Moderate
0.61-0.80 Substantial
0.81- 1.00 Almost Perfect
106


12- s A voiceless non-emphatic denti-alveolar fricative
13- A voiceless palato-alveolar fricative
14- A voiceless emphatic denti-alveolar fricative
15- A voiced emphatic denti-alveolar plosive
16- A voiceless emphatic denti-alveolar plosive
17- A voiced emphatic denti-alveolar fricative
18- 9 A voiced pharyngeal fricative
19- A voiced uvular fricative
20 f A voiceless labiodental fricative
21- q Voiceless uvular plosive
22- k A voiceless velar plosive
23- L a voiced alveolar lateral
24- m a voiced bilabial nasal
25- n A voiced alveolar nasal
26- - h glottal fricative
27- w Labial-velar semi-vowel
28- , y A palatal semi-vowel

Appendix-E Vowels and diphthongs in MSA

There are six vowels in MSA three of them are short and three are long as in the table below:
Transliteration Systems of MSA Vowels.

There are two diphthongs in MSA transliterated as follow:
SR MSA Vowel Description of the Vowel and an Example From Arabic and its meaning in English
1- i Short high front unrounded eg. Sit = English : six
2- ii Long high front unrounded e.g. Haziin = English : Sad
3- u back high rounded short e.g. sum = English : deaf
4- uu High back rounded long e.g. kub=English : cup
5- a low central unrounded Short e.g.mal =English: got bored
6- aa Front low unrounded long e.g.maal=English : money
107


Transliteration Systems of MSA Diphthongs.

Appendix-F The Nine Most Common Prepositions Used Erroneously in Composition

Appendix G Means and SD, of the Three Sub-categories of Errors in Composition for the Three Levels
Type of Error Omission Substitution Addition F-value and Sig.
Mean

SD Sum Mean SD Sum Mean SD Sum F-value sig.
total 5.10 3.99 153 59.43 49.89 1783 11.80 15.60 354 26.90 0.000

Appendix- H Arabic Prepositions
SR MSA diphthong Example from MSA English Meaning
1- ay As in bayt house
2- aw As in yawm day
S.N. Preposition Total
Frequencies
Total
Errors
MT
Errors
MT
Percentage
TL
Errors
TL
Percentage
Total
Percentage
1 By 787 324 286 36% 38 5% 41%
2 In 817 259 174 21% 85 10% 32%
3 On 752 221 143 19% 78 10% 29%
4 To 793 220 140 18% 80 10% 28%
5 With 757 206 124 16% 82 11% 27%
6 Of 815 203 86 11% 117 14% 25%
7 From 626 181 96 15% 85 14% 29%
8 For 513 163 106 21% 57 11% 32%
9 At 592 124 0 0% 124 21% 21%
Arabic prep. Roman .alph. Example on one usage

Meaning in English
'-' (bi) Amsaktu al-arami biyadi

I caught the thief by hand
108


Appendix -I The Prepositions Used Erroneously in Composition and their Frequenc hierarchically
'-' taa Tallaahi.

I swear by Allah
'' kaaf Ali qawiyon ka-alasadi = like
ya9mal Waalidahu ka-mudiir = as
Ali is strong like a lion.
His father works as a manager

`' Lam Addarrajatu li Salma

The bicycle is for Salma
,' waw Wallaahi I swear by Allah
= gan Saalto ganhu I asked about him
fi Ahmed fi alurfati Ahmed is in the room
_ Kay Kaymah? why?what is the reason?
_- mag Qaama zaidun wa Amrun magan They stood together
- min Min awal yawm From the first day
_' ilaa ahabtu ilaa almadrasti I went to school
rubba rubbama aatii adan perhapsI come tomorrow
_'= galaa Alqalam gala al-taawila The pen is on the table
--- Munu munu yawm aljumugah almaii since last Friday
`= xala ahaba alnasu xala Salem They left except Salem
-= gada ahaba alnasu gada Salem people left except Salem
_-- Mata The same example in 18 The same example in 18
_-= attaa mata al-afa Al-uula atta algurun from the first page to
.' Lagallaa Lagallahu qadiman al -yawm Hope he is coming today
'-'= aaaa ahabuu aaa Salem people left except Salem
S.N. Preposition F-CL1 F-CL2 F-CL3 T.F. E-CL1 E-CL2 E-CL3

T.E.
1 By 215 287 285 787 211 72 41 324
2 In 230 295 292 817 155 65 39 259
3 On 217 273 262 752 121 63 37 221
4 To 213 289 291 793 120 62 38 220
5 With 203 276 278 757 116 54 36 206
6 Of 218 295 302 815 108 56 39 203
109


Note:
F=frequency,
E= error,
CL1= Class level 1,
CL2=Class level 2 ,
CL3=Class level 3,
T=Total

Appendix-J More Erroneous Utterances Taken from Students Compositions

(The right preposition is posed between brackets at the end of each sentence).
7 From 169 226 231 626 108 45 28 181
8 For 136 187 190 513 86 47 30 163
9 At 165 217 210 592 72 34 18 124
10 Under 34 48 64 146 32 11 8 51
11 As 19 22 29 70 17 15 11 43
12 Off 33 44 46 123 17 8 5 30
13 Between 32 40 39 111 12 5 3 20
14 Since 15 22 21 58 9 5 0 14
15 Concerning 13 17 14 44 5 2 1 8
16 After 13 17 11 41 4 2 1 7
17 About 19 25 29 73 16 8 6 30
18 Down to 16 26 29 71 9 6 4 19
19 up 7 7 7 21 6 5 5 16
20 Below 17 28 26 71 4 6 4 14
21 Onto 7 12 11 30 7 4 2 13
22 Into 18 25 28 71 7 3 3 13
23 Near 12 19 21 52 2 5 4 11
24 against 8 15 17 40 6 4 1 11
25 Among 8 15 19 42 5 3 1 9
26 Across 7 17 21 45 2 4 3 9
27 Because of 12 19 12 43 2 4 2 8
28 Before 9 10 17 36 4 2 1 7
29 considering 11 12 17 40 4 2 1 7
30 underneath 9 10 10 29 4 2 1 7
31 like 11 12 15 38 4 2 1 7
32 Alongside 7 10 11 28 3 2 1 6
33 Beneath 8 10 13 31 3 2 1 6
34 Beside 7 12 15 34 3 2 1 6
35 Concerned about 7 7 10 24 3 1 1 5
36 down 5 11 11 27 2 2 1 5
37 behind 9 14 15 38 2 1 1 4
38 Inside 7 10 18 35 2 0 1 3
Total 2146 2881 2937 7964 1293 616 381 2290
110


- I mean in this example. Instead of: I mean by this example.
- Driving in a high speed. Instead of: Driving at a high speed.
- He is ready to the exam.(for)
- under your disposal. Instead of: ...at your disposal.
-Do not show off intellectually, financially or anything from this sort.(of)-
-I have trouble in school because ^ the lack of skills in sciences.(of)
-that man over there ^ the black hair is my uncle. ( Of)
-...we went home in the train yesterday.(by)
-Get in inside the car. (in)( addition )
-They laughed on me. (at)
-She helped to me (to)
-I was first member of my family to sail from the Red sea to Egypt. (across)
-I sat at the edge of the rock. (on)
I will not be dependent at my husband.(on)
-psychology deals of human behaviour.(with)
I intend ^ put into use all Ive learned.(to)
-His effort did not of course result to anything .(in)
-It is green in outside and yellow inside .()
-I promise to my mother.()
-our English exam was eventually cancelled because of the high failure rate. (due to).\
- ..usually I drink coffee and I put ^ sugar. (in)
-..every night he looks ^ new movie . (for)
-my sister took my car and left me ^ home.(at)
-therefore I quarreled ^ her ..(with).
-I learned to help some ^ my classmates. (of)
-they proceeded ^ their tour (excursion). (on)
- the bus will move 6.30 a.m. (at).
.good students should take care with his lectures.(of)
- considering the attendance, students have to be extremely cautious. (concerning)
after four years ^ studying ..(of)
- -I called ^ our dog softly. (to)
-then the girl call off for help.(out/)
-when I was ^ first year I was^ section 5.(in)
-the bird was very beautiful to look ^ and..(at)\
-I was afraid not because ^ the dark (of)
-and of course different kinds of people to get acquainted on . (with)
-beside doing the cleaning I help my husband . (besides)
-he would think it under him to tell a lie.( beneath)
-my friend Layla married under her class..(beneath)
-he went onto board ship.(on) [= embark]
- the cat jumped on the shelf (onto)
- in Saturday, I was riding on my bicycle.( on, )
- the whole members of my family climbed on the roof of our building to(onto)
- he is waiting in the bus-stop.(at)
-Ahmed is sitting in the sun in the sea. (at)
-Salma is below me. (under)
- she puts the pictures beneath her pillow.(under)
111


- the snow crackled beneath my feet.(under)
-it is very hot, wait me underneath that tree. (under)
-he got out of the car and looked under it.(underneath)
- Sanaa was wearing a smart jacket with a T-shirt under.(underneath)
- It is near where the railway goes under the road.(underneath)
-he told him that he was under his service. (at)
- They live under us .(below)
- he has been here since two years.(for)
-Dr. Salam has been teaching here since seven years.( for)
My father traveled at sea since six months.(for)
-I told him when you are in Jordan do like the Jordanians do.,(as)
-He shouted as a madman.(like)
-I worked as a slave .(as)= I was a slave .
-..because of the unemployment, the government has a plan for the coming three years.
(Concerning)
-I pour hot tea straight down to my throat as Moroccan do in Spain. (down)
-My grandfather uses his stick for a device to defend himself ..(as)
-the plane took up .(off)
-I was afraid off making him angry.(of)
- this is as a prison..(like)
- I am happy to be between friends..( among)
-dont touch it in bare hands..(with)
-the women in grey hair...( with)
-the mountains are covered of snow.(with)
-some Arab countries are on peace with Israel (at)
do you see that small car which parks before that green bus, it is mine..(in front of)
- both of us were walking alongside the narrow path beside the stream.(along)
-I went Egypt and I saw the Nile which flows to the Mediterranean sea.(into)
-Jordan river flows of Al-Sheikh mountain into the Dead sea. (from ,to)
- I usually meet the tourists along the bus station. (alongside)
- doctors say that it is unwise to bathe immediately at eating ( after)
-she has gone to home ()
-we dont speak in the meal.(during)
-he caught me at my right hand and..(by) 208-also
-he caught me of my right hand and..(by)
- what did you open the can by? (with)
-are you talking with me ..?to
-I came for study..(to)\
-we arrive to Jordan (in)
-the wood is near the university ..(near by /Adjective)
-the thief climbed on the roof of our building and(onto)
I am sure that Dr.Ahmed lives somewhere near by here. (near)
-the first group lives near by Amman whereas the 2
nd
group lives in the near town of Amman
(near ,near by)
-..Today is a lot of transportation available, so that we can travel in cars, trains, planes,etc(by).
- I filled up all the necessary documents at his office ( out)
-I pass across her window and talk to her... (by) ,
-I was wandering between the trees when I saw that horrible crime(Among)
112


-The dentist asked me to put my tongue at my teeth.(against)
-Dr.Jamal will take ^ the management next week.(up)
-.the relationship among the government and the students unions is not okay.(between)
-female students took at such procedures and measures last year. (against)
Declaration
I hereby declare that this article submitted for publication in The Modern Journal of Applied
Llinguistics is entirely my own work and that it has not been submitted for publication to any other
source, it is not already published and I don't have any plan to send for publication through other
source/s.
Dr. Yousef Sharif Tahaineh

Work
Department of Basic Sciences English Language and Literature Section
Princess Alia University College Al-Balqa' Applied University, Amman-Jordan

Expertise
Dr.Yousef Sharif Tahaineh is an Assistant professor in English Applied Linguistics. He has been
teaching English as a foreign Language for 17 years. He is currently working on Linguistic matters
central to EFL Arab learners' syntactic, semantic, lexical and phonological difficulties.

Interests
His interests include Contrastive studies, Linguistic analysis and Interlangauge, Universal
Grammar, Translation, Psycholinguistics, phonology, syntactic and semantic studies.

For Correspondence
P. O. Box 962972-Northern Arjan
Postal code: 11196 Amman-Jordan
HP 00962 786845993
Office Tel. 00962 6 5666188/ 5666189
E-Mail: [email protected]

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