A lexical-semantic analysis of the English prepositions at, on and in and their conceptual mapping onto Arabic
Abstract
The study in question focuses on the core and the peripheral senses of the English prepositions at, on and in as well as on their mappings onto Arabic. The observations and the suggestions are built on a comparison of the performance of Arabian ESL learners to Japanese and Spanish ESL learners and aim at enabling an insight into some of the language problems typically encountered by SL learners, particularly focussing on the question whether the problems are inter-lingual or intra-lingual. The data analysis is based upon the use of a repeated measures ANOVA test. Particular attention is given to the types of error produced by the participants in each language group by looking at questions such as whether the core meaning or the peripheral meaning is more difficult, which preposition is the most challenging one for the test participants, and how images might assist test participants in choosing the correct preposition. The deviation between the ESL learners’ performance when using the prepositions in question is explained in relation to cognitive semantics and second language acquisition theories. The main source of difficulties seems to be attributable to the polysemy, the idiomaticity and the diversity in the usage of these prepositions in English. Potential pedagogical benefits of the test results are discussed as well.
© 2016 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Titelei
- Contents
- Section A
- Introduction: Cognitive approaches to L2 learning and teaching
- German modals in second language acquisition: A constructionist approach
- „Im Deutschen kan das nicht“ – Text type didactics for the teaching of German modal verb constructions
- Path encoding in German as a foreign language: Difficulties encountered by L1 Spanish learners
- One step closer to the target: Using Construction Grammar to teach the expression of motion events to Japanese learners of English
- Section B
- Metaphors and grammar teaching
- The acquisition of the German case system by foreign language learners through computer animations based on cognitive linguistics
- Animation of grammar – Interplay of cognitive linguistics and multimedia learning: The example of German modal auxiliaries
- Teaching the form-function mapping of German ‘prefield’ elements using Concept-Based Instruction
- Frame-based instruction: Teaching polysemous nouns in the L2
- Conceptual motivation as a tool for raising language awareness in the English as a foreign language classroom – Does it enhance learning outcomes? Insights from an empirical study
- A lexical-semantic analysis of the English prepositions at, on and in and their conceptual mapping onto Arabic
- Section C
- The role of scaffolding in children’s questions: Implications for (preschool) language assessment from a usage-based perspective
- Destabilisation, IL variation and restructuring in foreign language learning
- Gesture as a window onto conceptualization in multiple tasks: Implications for second language teaching
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Titelei
- Contents
- Section A
- Introduction: Cognitive approaches to L2 learning and teaching
- German modals in second language acquisition: A constructionist approach
- „Im Deutschen kan das nicht“ – Text type didactics for the teaching of German modal verb constructions
- Path encoding in German as a foreign language: Difficulties encountered by L1 Spanish learners
- One step closer to the target: Using Construction Grammar to teach the expression of motion events to Japanese learners of English
- Section B
- Metaphors and grammar teaching
- The acquisition of the German case system by foreign language learners through computer animations based on cognitive linguistics
- Animation of grammar – Interplay of cognitive linguistics and multimedia learning: The example of German modal auxiliaries
- Teaching the form-function mapping of German ‘prefield’ elements using Concept-Based Instruction
- Frame-based instruction: Teaching polysemous nouns in the L2
- Conceptual motivation as a tool for raising language awareness in the English as a foreign language classroom – Does it enhance learning outcomes? Insights from an empirical study
- A lexical-semantic analysis of the English prepositions at, on and in and their conceptual mapping onto Arabic
- Section C
- The role of scaffolding in children’s questions: Implications for (preschool) language assessment from a usage-based perspective
- Destabilisation, IL variation and restructuring in foreign language learning
- Gesture as a window onto conceptualization in multiple tasks: Implications for second language teaching
