The Impact of Biological Gender Exploring on L1 Negative Transfer in English Preposition Learning

This study investigates the influence of biological gender on L1 negative transfer in learning English prepositions. Interviews were conducted with 12 English language learners, revealing that males performed better in spatial prepositions but struggled with other types. A mixed-methods approach was used, combining qualitative and quantitative research. Female participants demonstrated higher performance, and the study was conducted in Luxembourg, a multilingual country. Ethical considerations were addressed, achieving a 91.08% response rate. Results indicated females generally outperformed males in prepositional accuracy. Language transfer from L1 impacted preposition acquisition, with replacement errors being common. Females showed greater syntactic maturity, while males exhibited advanced linguistic skills. Stylistic differences in writing styles were observed. The study highlights the influence of gender in language acquisition and contributes to understanding gender disparities in second language learning.