INFLUENCE OF MOTHER TONGUE IN THE LEARNING OF ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE

Abstract

The study examined mother tongue influence in the learning of English as a second language. The theoretical framework used for this research is 'Simple statistics' which has been around for a long time, was first formally described by the statistician Ronald Fisher in the early 1900s. Two research questions were raised to guide the study. Survey research design was adopted for the study. Undergraduate students of University of Benin formed the sample population of the study. Following the response from the questionnaire administered, it was observed that from research question one (1) that more than 90% of the respondents agreed that mother tongue interfere with the verbal communication in English of undergraduate Edo students in university of Benin. The responses from research question Two (2), revealed that mother tongue does not interfere with the written communication of undergraduate students in University of Benin. Based on this note, it is therefore concluded that mother tongue influence in the learning of English as a second language does not interfere with most of the written communication of Edo speakers but rather the verbal communication. The study recommended that language labs and other instructional materials that will help enhance the effective teaching of language should be placed in our schools and appropriately used at the right time.