A Computer-assisted Error Analysis Of Prepositional Uses In Non-English Majors' Writing

Learning to use prepositions is a very important part of the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners' grammatical development. The use of prepositions, prepositional phrases and collocations with particular prepositions constitute one of the most difficult areas of English for EFL learners (Habash 1982). A number of studies (Richard 1971; Scott 1974; Mukattash 1976) provide descriptions of the different kinds of linguistic errors produced by learners based on the traditional error analysis (EA). Prepositional errors are only mentioned with shallow and broad analysis. Some studies merely display the frequency of broad types of prepositional errors along with other common errors. Very little research is concerned exclusively with prepositional errors. The only two studies of such kind are conducted by Alami (1978) and Habash (1982). Their major findings, in particular, the explanation of causes of prepositional errors are deduced by their own observation and intuition. No subjects are interviewed so as to find the causes of these errors. From this perspective, their findings are somewhat subjective. Therefore, the present research is carried out investigating prepositional errors, with a focus on the causes of prepositional errors. The ten most frequently used prepositions occurred in the College English Learner Corpus (CELC) are investigated by doing computer-assisted error analysis. The major error patterns of the ten prepositions are illustrated with examples. It is found that the errors are not concentrated on one particular preposition. The distribution of error rates of the ten prepositions is nearly equal. However, errors are concentrated on the category of npp1 (unacceptable combination with nominal). Interviews with 50 subjects are made to reveal the causes of the occurrences of errors in the use of the ten English prepositions. Results indicate that errors are caused by the absence of prepositions in the first language (L1), the interference of the mother tongue, false analogies with other English elements, the confusion of the similar expressions in English, carelessness, and the effect of teachers Significantly more errors are made due to the absence of prepositions in L1. For the purpose of improvement in preposition teaching and learning, the application of corpus is therefore recommended in company with other techniques of teaching prepositions.