A STUDY OF MOTHER TONGUE INTERFERENCE ON ENGLISH SPOKEN BY OBORO L1 SPEAKERS

 Abstract

 This study investigates some features of mother tongue interference in the speech of Oboro L₁ learners of English. The study aims to identify the various speech sounds that cause the interference of the L₁ on learning English. The Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis (CAH) is applied in this research study to show the differences between the phonetic sound system of the L₁ and target language so as to ensure appropriate articulation of those sounds. Eighty  Oboro learners of English were chosen for this research to collect data, the data instrument  for this study was questionnaire titled “Questionnaire of mother tongue interference of Oboro on English spoken by Oboro native speakers” and Oral interview. The findings of this study is that Oboro mother tongue interference has significant influence on the academic performance of secondary school students in the study of English negatively more than University students, teachers also play a role in the influence of mother tongue on learning English and the various speech sounds that cause the interference of Oboro on English. From the findings, the study therefore recommends that Oboro learners of the English language get intensively and practically involved in oral drill of English sounds using the Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis (CAH) to ensure appropriate articulation of those sounds.