Difficulties Facing Algerian Undergraduate Students in Translating Spatial Prepositions from Arabic into English

This study investigates the major errors made by English language learners in translating Arabic spatial prepositions into English. The data were obtained from a diagnostic test involving Arabic spatial prepositions, administered to third-year university students in order to assess their proficiency in using these forms. The students’ errors were examined and classified to identify the types of difficulties Algerian learners encounter in the use of English prepositions and to explore the possible sources of these difficulties. The analysis reveals both similarities and differences between English and Arabic in this domain. The findings indicate that the teaching and learning of English spatial prepositions can be enhanced by explicitly highlighting these cross-linguistic similarities and differences. To this end, the spatial meanings of English prepositions are compared with their Arabic counterparts to determine the extent to which these meanings are conveyed across the two languages. The results point to the need for more extensive comparative illustration in the teaching of prepositions.