The Misuse of The English Prepositions (In, On, At) by Student of English Third Year LMD, University of Mohammed Seddik Ben Yahia as a Result of Transfer From Standard Arabic Into English

Abstract

This study aims at describing and probing the reality of the phenomenon of the transfer of English simple prepositions particularly (at, in and on) from Standard Arabic into English. The aim then is to check whether this transfer results in the misuse of these prepositions. For the purpose of examining our hypothesis, a test is administered to ninety students of third year English LMD at Mohammed Seddik Ben Yahia University. This test is comprised of twenty sentences and students are asked to fill in each gap with the appropriate preposition or with no preposition. The results of the data analysis demonstrates that transfer occurs positively and negatively. Most of the cases are of the negative transfer from Standard Arabic and the Algerian dialect and very few are of the positive one. This partially confirms our hypothesis and reveals that Standard Arabic is not the only source of transfer.