scholarly journals Interference of L1 (Urdu) in L2 (English) in Pakistan: Teaching English as a Second Language

Author(s):  
Muhammad Hamzah Masood ◽  
Shahzeb Shafi ◽  
Muhammad Yousaf Rahim ◽  
Maqsood Ali Darwesh

Under the shadow of the inescapable fact that learning L2 (Second or Foreign Language) especially English in this global village is mandatory for academia in developing countries, thereupon, Pakistan faces akin conditions where learners are exposed to Urdu as National Language and English as Academic and Official Language besides L1 (First Language, Mother Tongue, Primary Language or Native Language). Within this confused sequential multilingualism, few achieve native-like accuracy or fluency or both, while others fall a prey to influence of L1 in L2. The current study extends to explore the different types of interferences Pakistani Urdu (L1) speakers face while learning English as Second Language (ESL) (L2). A random sample of thirty students of first semester BS (Hons.) program students with Urdu as L1 from eleven Pakistani universities were interviewed online and were examined utilizing qualitative approach for the investigation of syntactic interferences which were theoretically evaluated employing the Contrastive Analysis technique proposed by Ellis (1985). Findings unfolded four types of syntactic errors owing to interferences of L1 (Urdu) in the usage of L2 (English): Articles, prepositions, subject-verb agreement and direct implications of Urdu (L1) words which were posing hurdles for Urdu as L1 speakers of Pakistan in learning ESL as L2.

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (7) ◽  
pp. 2319-2324
Author(s):  
Rina Muka ◽  
Irida Hoti

The language acquired from the childhood is the language spoken in the family and in the place of living. This language is different from one pupil to another, because of their social, economical conditions. By starting the school the pupil faces first the ABC book and then in the second grade Albanian language learning through the Albanian language textbook. By learning Albanian language step by step focused on Reading, Writing, Speaking and Grammar the pupil is able to start learning the second language on the next years of schooling. So, the second language learning in Albanian schools is related to the first language learning (mother tongue), since the early years in primary school. In our schools, the second language (English, Italian) starts in the third grade of the elementary class. On the third grade isn’t taught grammar but the pupil is directed toward the correct usage of the language. The textbooks are structured in developing the pupil’s critical thinking. The textbooks are fully illustrated and with attractive and educative lessons adequate to the age of the pupils. This comparative study will reflect some important aspects of language learning in Albanian schools (focused on Albanian language - first language and English language - second language), grade 3-6. Our point of view in this paper will show not only the diversity of the themes, the lines and the sub-lines but also the level of language knowledge acquired at each level of education. First, the study will focus on some important issues in comparing Albanian and English language texts as well as those which make them different: chronology and topics retaken from one level of education to another, so by conception of linear and chronological order will be shown comparatively two learned languages (mother tongue and second language). By knowing and learning well mother tongue will be easier for the pupil the foreign language learning. The foreign language (as a learning curriculum) aims to provide students with the skills of using foreign language written and spoken to enable the literature to recognize the achievements of advanced world science and technology that are in the interest of developing our technique. Secondly, the study will be based on the extent of grammatical knowledge, their integration with 'Listening, Reading, Speaking and Writing' as well as the inclusion of language games and their role in language learning. The first and second language learning in Albanian schools (grade III-VI) is based on similar principles for the linearity and chronology of grammatical knowledge integrated with listening, reading, writing and speaking. The different structure of both books help the pupils integrate and use correctly both languages. In the end of the sixth grade, the pupils have good knowledge of mother tongue and the second language and are able to write and speak well both languages.


2012 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Post Silveira

This is a preliminary study in which we investigate the acquisition of English as second language (L2[1]) word stress by native speakers of Brazilian Portuguese (BP, L1[2]). In this paper, we show results of a multiple choice forced choice perception test in which native speakers of American English and native speakers of Dutch judged the production of English words bearing pre-final stress that were both cognates and non-cognates with BP words. The tokens were produced by native speakers of American English and by Brazilians that speak English as a second language. The results have shown that American and Dutch listeners were consistent in their judgments on native and non-native stress productions and both speakers' groups produced variation in stress in relation to the canonical pattern. However, the variability found in American English points to the prosodic patterns of English and the variability found in Brazilian English points to the stress patterns of Portuguese. It occurs especially in words whose forms activate neighboring similar words in the L1. Transfer from the L1 appears both at segmental and prosodic levels in BP English. [1] L2 stands for second language, foreign language, target language. [2] L1 stands for first language, mother tongue, source language.


Author(s):  
Beatrice Venturin

Abstract This study examines language preferences to express anger and happiness among 15 Russian Australians belonging to the 1.5 generation, who acquired Russian as first language (L1) and English as second language (L2), after migration during childhood. While most research into these topics has focused on L1-dominant bilinguals, this study offers a novel perspective, as 1.5-generation migrants are generally L2-dominant or multidominant (L1+L2-dominant), and possibly L1 attriters. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and underwent qualitative thematic analyses. From the results it emerges that these speakers mostly express emotions in the L2 or both languages, in line with their language dominance, but their choices do not seem to relate to language emotionality, as the L1 maintains the highest emotional resonance for them. While research on multilinguals’ expression of emotions has mainly focused on anger, this study calls attention to the expression of happiness, and points to the importance of L2-dominant and multidominant multilinguals.


Author(s):  
Balogun Sarah ◽  
Murana Muniru Oladayo

This article attempts a comparative analysis of code-switching and code-mixing in the Nigerian music industry, using the lyrics of Flavour and 9ice as a case study. Although the English language is the national language in Nigeria and the language used by most of the musicians for the composition of their songs, and due to the linguistic plurality of Nigeria, most of these musicians tend to lace their songs chunks of words and phrases from their mother tongue or at least one of the three major languages in Nigeria, which are Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba. The Markedness Model by Myers-Scotton (1993) is used as the framework to interrogate the switching and mixing in the codes used by these selected musicians and we find that while most code-switching is done in three languages – English, Nigerian Pidgin and the artist’ first language (mother tongue)  – their mother tongue plays the prominent role. Code-switching or code-mixing in these songs, therefore, becomes a depiction of the Nigerian state with its diverse languages and it provides the links between the literates and the illiterates thereby giving the artiste the popularity desired. The study concludes that the unique identity created by code-switching and code-mixing in the Nigerian music industry has a positive influence on music lovers, helping artists to achieve wide patronage and reflecting the ethnolinguistic diversity of the Nigerian nation.


1976 ◽  
Vol 158 (2) ◽  
pp. 39-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Macnamara

The thesis of the following paper is that the process of learning a second language, if it produces successful results, is the same as that of learning a first language. The paper reviews various objections that have been raised against this thesis, and it discusses the considerable body of research which explores it. It examines the appropriateness of the research data for throwing light on the validity of the thesis. It concludes with some practical guidelines for language teachers drawn from observations of babies learning their mother tongue.


PhaenEx ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
DOROTA GLOWACKA

Looking at Holocaust testimonies, which in her view always involve some form of translation, the author seeks to develop an ethics of translation in the context of Levinas’ hyperbolic ethics of responsibility. Calling on Benjamin and Derrida to make explicit the precipitous task of the translator, she argues that the translator faces an ethical call or assignation that resembles the fundamental structure of Levinasian subjectivity. The author relates the paradoxes of translation in Holocaust testimony to Levinas’ silence on the problem of translation—puzzling if one considers Levinas’ focus on the ethical essence of language, his multilingualism, and the fact that he wrote his texts in a second language. She proposes that the trace of the philosopher’s displacement from his linguistic community can be discerned in his exilic conception of ethical subjectivity and in the testimonial impetus that animates his work. Thus, although Levinas’ Saying is posited as a translinguistic horizon that transcends the boundaries of a particular national language, it carries the remainder of the disavowed loss of the mother tongue.


1990 ◽  
Vol 37 ◽  
pp. 83-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geert Driessen ◽  
Kees de Bot

Evaluation of the effect of mother tongue teaching to migrant children in the Netherlands. Data are presented on first- and second-language proficiency of the Turkish sample (n=368). The aim of the investigation was to find out to what extent learner characteristics influence proficiency scores. It is concluded that the correlation between first and second-language proficiency is particularly low, which does not support Cummins' interdependency hypothesis. Interestingly parents' interest in school is an important global factor. Age on arrival appears to be of little importance for scores on the first-language tests. This suggests that children who have lived in the Netherlands for most of their lives, still show a continued development of their mother tongue.


2022 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Antonija Šarić

In this paper, the author attempts to identify the most common errors that occur in the interlanguage of students at the Faculty of Food Technology when formulating indirect questions in English language. According to Processability theory (PT), language is acquired in a predictable way, in six stages, the last stage being acquiring word order in subordinate clauses, i.e. cancelling inversion. Since interlanguage presents a dynamic language system that retains some features of the first language or generalizes the second language rules in speech or writing, the origin of errors can be found in mother tongue or in the misapplication of the rules when adopting a second language. Although PT is not concerned with the errors made by the second language learners, this paper will try to identify the origin of errors that appear in the students' interlanguage and the acquisition of the last stage, i.e. the word order in subordinate clauses. In that way, it will be determined whether the errors (inter- or intralingual) made by the students prevent them from acquiring the last stage of PT.


Author(s):  
Jens Haugan

Norway has two official written language varieties: Bokmål (DanoNorwegian) and Nynorsk (New Norwegian). Normally, all Norwegian pupils must learn both varieties of the written Norwegian language in school, and at the end of secondary school, they obtain two separate grades in written Norwegian. However, one of the varieties is considered to be and is taught as the main written language, whereas the other variety is the second or alternative written language. Approximately 85 percent of the pupils in school have the DanoNorwegian variety as their main written language and many of these pupils develop antipathies toward the other variety with the result that they do not master it very well at the end of secondary school. In fact, many pupils achieve better results in English than in the alternative variety of their own so-called mother tongue. In this paper, I will discuss some of the challenges that are related to learning Nynorsk in the Norwegian educational system and society. With reference to Norton (2013) and others, I will argue that these challenges may actually be best understood from the perspectives of identity, social power, motivation, investment and second language acquisition.


2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Jigme Dorji

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the conceptualization of communicative language teaching (CLT) by the English as Second Language (ESL) teachers in Chukha district in Bhutan. Four ESL teachers were selected as the participants for the semi-structured interview through purposive sampling technique. A set of 15 predetermined open-ended questions on CLT were framed and asked based on Savignon�s (1983) Foreign Language Attitude Survey Test (FLAST). The content validity of interview questions was ensured by consulting three experts and computing Item Object Congruence (IOC) in accordance with Lynn�s (1986) item acceptability criteria. The data were analyzed using content analysis technique. The results revealed teachers� conceptualization under two categories; in compliance with and deviance from CLT principles. Under first category, the results showed that the participants believed CLT as a language teaching approach that focuses on developing communicative competence, teaching language for real life, child-centered teaching, and teaching culture in the second language classroom. Under the second category, the results indicated that the participants believed CLT as not using mother tongue in teaching English and only teaching listening and speaking skills. In addition, the study also uncovered the fact that ESL teachers are not aware of CLT approach. The article concludes with the discussion on the areas of training particularly relevant to this group of Bhutanese ESL teachers and recommendations for future studies. ��� �Keywords: communicative competence, communicative language teaching, conceptualization


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