Teaching and learning prepositions. Implementation of In, At and On

Abstract

Teaching prepositions is a difficult but essential point during the English learning process. From this double purpose essay, I have given a perspective to implement an approach to the correct use of the prepositions in, at and on. Analysis of sentences and implementation in the classroom have been used as a guideline throughout the whole work. The main objective has been to introduce an innovative theory based in other premises than the traditional collocations. Two separate groups of students have been taught the use of prepositions according to two different approaches. On the one hand, a traditional approach and, on the other hand, a cognitive approach taking into account topological, functional, force-dynamic and also temporal dimensions, have been implemented. Results show that students in the experimental group are able to use the three prepositions more creatively and with the fluency required by the language, whereas the students in the control group have relied more on collocations.