Teaching Prepositions to Japanese EFL College Students: Bridging Theory and Practice

Abstract

Although universities in Japan have begun emphasizing on the importance of English education in producing globally-competitive human resources, in reality, the English proficiency level of the Japanese college students has deteriorated. Judging from the current situation, the Japanese college students need to take more English classes to improve their English proficiency level. However, they found it difficult to learn English in the classroom more than what they already have due to time constraint. This paper introduces modularstyle teaching materials that are offered at our university in the e-learning system called eAlps, which utilizes Moodle. E-Alps is a platform that enables the students to learn English on their own, outside classroom, to overcome the problem of limited English learning class hours. The English materials are available on e-Alps for students to download freely. This paper is twofold. Firstly, it discusses the semantics of the English preposition to and secondly proposes a modular-style material concerning to and will prove our material to be advantageous for the Japanese EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students.