earticle

영어

This study has as its aim to investigate the process of acquisition of the prepositions in Portuguese as a second language by Korean speakers. The preposition, among other grammatical factors, is one of the factors that cause difficulty for Koreans because there are no prepositions in the Korean language. In order to do that, we have searched for theoretical support in the concepts of language transfer and interlanguage. The data were generated by means of interviews with 2 Korean speakers learning Portuguese as a second language in Brazil. The results show a transfer from the native language system or avoidance due to the difference between the Korean and Portuguese languages and to the complexity of the prepositional system. They may also suggest that the participants were still in the initial stage of language acquisition. This research offers some considerations for the tuition of Portuguese as a second language, specifically, for Korean students.