Abstract

This study seeks to assess the speech of final year francophone students in the bilingual degree programme in the University of Buea, in order to know the causes of the misusage of English prepositions.

To do this study , I have relied on the conversations of those students to know the problems they face with the use of English prepositions .The data collected and their discussions show that those students face the problems of : omission of a required preposition , wrong insertion or unnecessary usage or addition of prepositions ,phonetic realization and confusion of prepositions .After the discussion of the data we have the limitation of the study preceded by some recommendations that could contribute to the improvement of the teaching of English language to francophone ..

CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION AND SOME BACKGROUND

INTRODUCTION

The Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defines preposition as a word which is used before a noun, phrase or pronoun connecting it to another word. Oxford Dictionary also defines it as a word or group of words such as in, front ,to ,out of and on behalf of, used before a noun or pronoun to show place position ,time or method. This work is all about the use of English prepositions by level 500 students in the Bilingual degree program me in the University of Buea. For example instead of saying I would like to insist on the fact that they say I would like to insist

in the fact that Therefore after they have spent four years in the University of Buea, they are

not still able to use properly the English prepositions. This first chapter will be based on the introduction of the study. This will be’ done by given some background information, some observation, the statement of the problem, the formulation of the hypothesis the aim and objectives of the study, the research questions, the significance of the study, the population of the study and finally the scope of the study .

Background Of The Study

Cameroon has over two hundred and fifty four indigenous languages with French and English as official languages. These languages were inherited from the formal colonial master that is Britain and France. Ten regions comprise the Republic of Cameroon. Eight of them (Centre, West, Littoral, East, South, North, Far North, and the Adamawa) have French language as their second language. Cameroon is a member-of La Francophone and the Common Wealth of Nation. The government has established many bilingual schools in an effort to teach both languages.

– his is the reason why many francophone students come to study in the University of Buea, the urst Anglo-Saxon University in Cameroon where lectures are done in English except the French studies programme.

Apart from these official languages we also have Cameroon pidgin English (CPE),a lingua franca,mostly spoken by the people who live in the English speaking part of country that is in the North West and the South West regions of Cameroon. It has become unofficially officialized in the sense that it is central to the lives of many Cameroonians especially those from the above mentioned regions.

English language plays a vital role in the world as far as education is concerned. That is why a good number of Francophone students seek for admission every year in the University of Buea. In spite the fact that they become more’and more interested in English, francophone students from the Bilingual degree programme still find it difficult to master well the English prepositions:

Statement Of The Problem

Every researcher is motivated or pushed by one reason or another to make a choice of research work. Such reasons could be motivated through observation for a period of time. It has been observed that francophone students in the bilingual degree program me at the end of their programme are not able to use properly the English prepositions. For example we have cases like:

• My friends called me when I was in home instead of saying my friend called me when I was at home

I am in the bus instead of I am On the bus.

From these above mentioned examples I find it interesting to carry my research on the use of English prepositions by the bilingual francophone level 500 .

Hypothesis

The first reason why those students do not master well the English prepositions is that many of them do not have a firm background in English before coming to University such that three or four years of studies might not be enough to master a complex category as the prepositions.

The second reason is that the period of time allotted for their studies is not sufficient .And the third reason is that many or some prepositions in French are used in the place of three or four different prepositions in English and so the francophone background leaves them often confused. E.g. we the case of “de” which can be used as: from, of, about.

>Voici la maison de Steeve= This is the house of Steeve

>Je viens de Bamenda= I come from Bamenda

>Nous parlons de monsieur Talla= weare talking about

Aims And Objectives Of The Study

The aim of this work is to provide facts on the wrong use of English prepositions by francophone students in the bilingual degree programmed in the University of Buea. The first objective of this study is to give fact on the misusage of English prepositions by level 500 francophone in the bilingual degree program me. The second objective is to know why they do not use well prepositions. After showing this through observation, recording and analysis we will propose solutions for this problem.

Research Questions

1. Why do 500 level students in the bilingual degree program me cannot use well English prepositions?
2. Is it because they were not really been thought well?
3. Is it because they were influenced by French?
4. What types of errors are made by those students?

Population of the Study

This research will be focused on the francophone students in level 500 offering a bilingual degree in the University of Buea.

Significance of the Study

The main objective of every research work is to bring a positive changing. Therefore the importance of this study is to bring out the different errors by francophone concerning the use of English prepositions. It will also be to know why they make such types of errors and finally we will provide some solutions. This study is important in the sense that it can help francophone students to be conscious of the errors that they produce.

Scope of the Study

This study is made up of five chapters. Chapter one is the general introduction .It comprises some background of the study , the statement of the problem ,the reformulation of the hypothesis ,the aim and objective of the study .the research questions the population of the study and the significance of the study ,the information observation and questions, comprises the ion, background of the study, observation, statement of the problem, hypothesis, aim, objective, significance of the study, scope of the study and the conclusion. In chapter two,

3 the literature review that is a review of some related works or research that has been out by others on this same topic and a review on what some authors have said on the a the prepositions. Chapter three is made up of research methodology. In this chapter we in introduction, the sample population the research tools and the conclusion. Chapter four on the data presentation and the data analysis. Is made up of introduction, some ground: competence and performance and the analysis of the claims. And finally, we have is the general conclusion. It is made up of the summary, the limitation of the study and recommendations.

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