Investigating Mother Tongue Effect in the Acquisition of English Prepositions by Indonesian-Speaking Learners

Abstract

English prepositions are problematic for non-native speakers. The debate on whether prepositions should be memorized as divergent cases or introduced in the teaching process by revealing their manifold senses as a network of related meanings is more likely to be resolved by adhering to the latter, occasionally referred to as the motivating polysemy method. The article investigated the source of the problems that Indonesian-speaking learners face when using English prepositions. Twenty-three students participated in this study. The participants were third-year English–major students writing for a professional context class of Madura University (UNIRA) in the academic year 2020 – 2021. The participants were supposed to answer a multiple-choice test designed for this purpose. The test was made up of 15 questions. Findings indicated that UNIRA learners of English meet considerable problems in employing English prepositions. The study suggested that the Indonesian language as a mother tongue interferes with using English prepositions by Indonesian-speaking learners and brings about numerous difficulties in English prepositions.