Investigation of Iraqi EFL Learners' Ability to Explain English Prepositions

Abstract

Learning English prepositions is difficult & slow. Prepositions are function words so the same preposition may form different functions and indicate various meanings depending on the context in which it is used and direct translation cannot be helped .Prepositions in any language represents an essential part of speech which one would never expect a text or a paragraph to be empty of . As parallel to their importance in Language structure , prepositions form one of the most difficult areas which the majority of FL learners suffer from .In our classrooms , prepositions are always taught depending on structure only, for learning literal meaning without referring to the various meanings of the same preposition .So this study aims at shedding light on the process of explaining some English prepositions by EFL students. The present study is limited to some English monosyllabic prepositions and the sample of students of this study is the third year students / Tikrit University / College of Education / English Department. A test is constructed. Its validity and reliability have been ascertained. Data has been analyzed and conclusions have been drawn.