The Grammatical Competence in Amharic of Native English Speakers

Amharic is the official language of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. Many foreigners from different ethno-linguistic groups come to Ethiopia as researchers, missionaries, tourists, employees, investors and official representatives of their countries. These people are eager to learn Amharic in order to communicate, work and share experiences with Ethiopians; however, the efforts of teaching Amharic are accompanied by many problems such as multi-level classes, lack of quality textbooks and other teaching materials, absence of curriculum and poor teaching and testing methods. In order to overcome these problems, learners difficulties have to be identified to support textbook writers and second language acquisition researchers. Moreover, it is important to understand the process of second language acquisition. In this book several of the common problems native English speakers face with the Amharic grammar and the acquisition order of Amharic morphemes are discussed in depth. The book is highly valuable as a reference guide for learners, teachers, textbook writers and curriculum designers of Amharic as a Second Language.