Jazer N. Papas
June 25, 2010
Arabic language and English language falls in the same protoform which is the Indo-European. So most likely, the familiarity on the structure is not that hard as compared to other languages. The article discussed on the role of prepositions in learning the English. It is true that language user misuse or even forgot to use preposition in a sentence. There are lot of prepositions in English language but we only use those we always heard from seatmates, teachers, media and the people surrounds us. Even in the Philippine language if we translate some prepositions in English, they have their equivalent while others do not have even in other languages in the world it is the same problem. Primarily, every language is unique and it must be studied properly. I agree with Gass (1978) that we can effectively transfer if we know the similarities and differences of two languages but you cannot totally transfer it perfectly because you cannot leave your L1. You are still using you background knowledge in L1 while processing your learning in L2. The study on prepositional uses in Arabic and English is very good because they admit that even the teacher tend to use the Arabic structure form instead of the Standard English in teaching prepositions to their students. So there are lots of differences that really hinder in learning a second language. Just like what happened, Arabs are cautious in using prepositions in sentence whether to omit it or add it or they don’t know the proper usage of different preposition. Maybe there are factors might affect the students why they still rely on their L1. They are not confident enough to trust the knowledge they have learn. It could help that instruction as well as exposure must be integrated so that there is a simultaneous flow of inbound and outbound knowledge. Now, if you ask me if I really understand the transfer of preposition from Arabic to English? Definitely not cause it lacks sufficient data like Arabic word itself I want to see them even in one example. The article is so colloidal that all study must be written and you cannot understand immediately because it contours lot of analysis. Anyway this will pave a way for us Filipino students to understand our own problem why we cannot afford to use the preposition properly and creatively.
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