한국 대학생들의 글에 사용된 영어 전치사의 특성

Exploring features of prepositions in Korean university learners’ English writing

This study aims at exploring the overall features of prepositions used in English passages written by Korean university learners. Data for analysis and comparison were collected from three different sources - the learners’ writings, internet articles and passages written by native speakers of English, and children’s stories. Prepositions were analyzed in terms of the type, frequency, ratio to the total words and usages. Results indicated that both groups of learners and native speakers used 25 types of prepositions alike when the stories showed 48 types. The ratio of the prepositions was 5-7 percent in the learners’ writings, while 9-10 percent in the native speakers’ writings. Preposition of was most frequently used and then in, with, to had a high frequency in that order. Also, the learners tend to overuse a particular usage for a preposition. Finally, considerable differences among individuals were found in the learners as well as the native speakers. It is suggested that features of prepositions used in the learners’ writings can be an indicator showing their English proficiency level.