A Descriptive Study of L1 Interference in Translating Prepositions into English as an L2

Abstract

This study focuses on the effects of L1 on translating prepositions into L2 (English) among the students of grade 12. These students belonged to a developing town of the central Punjab, Pakistan. In addition to this, the study examines whether the students of government sector (learning through deductive method) make more prepositional errors than the private sector students (learning through inductive method). For the sample of the study 200 students (50% males and 50% females) were selected on the basis of similar reading skills from both types of schools. The results concluded in that the students committed considerable errors because of inter-lingual interference. Moreover, it was observed that the students of private sector schools committed more errors than the students of public sector schools. This study might be helpful for the English Language teachers in realizing the reasons of prepositional errors and in exploring new teaching approaches to lessen the ratio of prepositional errors in teaching to Pakistani English language learners.