Prepositional Errors in English as a Foreign Language: L1 Interference, Trilingual Transfer, and Task-Format Effects Among Moroccan Arabic Undergraduates

Abstract

Abstract

This study investigates the influence of first language (L1) interference on English preposition of place acquisition among Moroccan Arabic-speaking undergraduates. The present study has three objectives. The first objective is to quantify L1 interference effects using chi-square analysis across three task formats. The second objective is to identify which prepositions generate disproportionate errors and explain their differential difficulty structurally. The third objective is to examine whether French as a co-present language in Morocco's trilingual educational environment functions as an additional transfer source. Fifty participants completed a translation task, a multiple-choice questionnaire (MCQ), and a fill-in-the-blanks exercise; 15 participants took part in semi-structured interviews stratified by proficiency level. Fifty participants completed a translation task, a multiple-choice questionnaire (MCQ), and a fill-in-the-blanks exercise; 15 participants took part in semi-structured interviews stratified by proficiency level.

Keywords: analysis; Arabic; EFL; error; interference; L1; Moroccan; prepositions; transfer; trilingual