Date of Award

2010

Thesis Type

Masters

Document Type

Dissertation

Divisions

Faculty of Languages and Linguistics

Department

Department of English Language

Institution

Universiti Malaya

Abstract

This study has two main objectives. The first objective is to find the similarities and differences between the prepositions in English and Malay through the description of the prepositions of both the languages. Next, the second objective is to identify prepositional errors in the written text of Malay Form Five students and explain why these errors occur. The primary sources of reference for English prepositions are from four written sources namely Casell’s Students’ English Grammar, A University Grammar of English, A Practical English Grammar, and A Communicative Grammar of English. Tatabahasa Dewan, Tatabahasa Melayu and Nahu Kemas Kini: Panduan Bahasa yang Baik dan Betul are three written sources of reference for Malay prepositions. The methodology used is the Contrastive and Error Analysis approach as the two methods complement each other. Moreover, Contrastive Analysis reveals that the similarities between the native language and the target language facilitate learning for the students. It also suggests that the differences between both the languages can cause difficulties in the learning of the target language. Using Contrastive Analysis, the researcher found that there are similarities and differences between English and Malay prepositions. A hierarchy of difficulties is drawn up based on the analysis with the most difficult prepositions on the top of the hierarchy to the easiest ones at the bottom. An Error Analysis which focussed on the use of English prepositions in sixty written essays by thirty Malay students from SMK Alam Megah, Shah Alam was carried out to find whether the results of the Error Analysis would match with the findings of the Contrastive Analysis. iii One of the findings of this study is that prepositions which are easy to learn share the same functions and distributions in a sentence for both languages. When a preposition in English has more functions and meanings despite having the same distribution, this preposition is difficult to learn. Some prepositions in English do share the same meaning and Malay learners tend to think they can use one preposition for various functions and meanings. Next, the error analysis carried out on the study essays revealed that many errors were caused by interference of the learners’ mother tongue as learners tend to translate from their native language (Malay) to the target language (English). Malay learners have difficulty using simple English prepositions which they are familiar with. In addition, they also face difficulty with prepositions that do not exist in their own language.

Initial

khm

Additional Information

Dissertation (M.A.) – Faculty of Languages and Linguistics, Universiti Malaya, 2010.

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