Journal Article

Problems of English Prepositions of Time Encountered by Libyan Secondary Stage Students

ابن خيال، صالح أحمد

2014

Overview

Many Studies of foreign language learning have tended to focus on the learner's errors since they allow for prediction of the difficulties involved in learning a foreign language. In this way, teachers can be made aware of the difficult areas encountered by their students and it may help them device teaching techniques. Prepositions, on which my present research focuses, are one of these difficult areas. Thus, the main objective is to investigate the causes of errors in the use of English prepositions of time that are frequently made by Libyan Secondary School Students. Therefore, the researcher raised three questions as an attempt to investigate and solve this problem. 1- What are the most common errors in prepositions of time that are committed by the students? 2- Why do Libyan students commit those errors in using English prepositions of time? 3- How can those problems be solved? The researcher suggested some remedial techniques in order to overcome the errors encountered by Libyan secondary school students. Data were collected through a written test given to 38 male and female students in Zliten secondary schools, as a tool to find out how they understand and use the prepositions of time. This research comprises of the following: The introduction, stating the problem, significance of the study, scope of the study, hypothesis, related literature review, problems of preposition usage, the system of temporal preposition interference, validity, reliability, methodology and procedures, statistical data and analysis, the conclusion, implications, general recommendations for both teachers and students. After analyzing the test, the researcher has come to the conclusion that students at this stage find difficulty in the use of English prepositions of time as shown by their low performance during the written test, and the reasons behind these errors are the interference from Arabic Language and other learning problems such as misuse, omission or addition of the preposition, and the best way to deal with these difficulties is to give an adequate attention both in initial teaching and in subsequent revision and reinforcement in order to develop their skills with differences and similarities among the types of English prepositions

• Publisher: الجامعة الأسمرية الإسلامية
• Subject: اللغة الإنجليزية / اللغة الإنجليزية - دراسة وتعليم / المرحلة الثانوية / حروف الجر الزمنية / ليبيا