Errors Related to the Patterns of Prepositions of Place among the Second Language Learners in English

Abstract

A main issue observed with the undergraduates‟ writing and every day speech is the prepositional errors. The notion of correctness as far as prepositional use is concerned depending on linguistic competence and performance of the learner or speaker. Analysis of these errors especially in second language learning and teaching situations is more or less a learning device. Therefore it is important to carry out an error analysis in which the errors made in the area of prepositions of place will be identified and systematically will be analysed to identify the type of error. The major objective of this research is to determine the patterns of errors in prepositions of place among Tamil learners of English. To identify the pattern that is mostly used and to show the least used pattern are some of the minor objectives of this research. All the identified errors have been classified into three main categories as Wrong Substitution, Preposition Omission, and Unnecessary Insertion. The results of the study explored Wrong Substitution as the main category where the students tend to make most of the errors. The research hopes to support the following hypotheses: most of the students generally do not flunk to acquire the proper use of prepositions of place and some students make errors in prepositions of place when they arrange the diagnostic test. To achieve the objectives a diagnostic test will be conducted by the researcher among undergraduates of the Faculty of Islamic Studies and Arabic Language of South Eastern University of Sri Lanka (SEUSL). The faculty consists of Sri Lankan Hindus, Christians and Muslims who learn English as their Second Language (L2) and who only speak Tamil language.