The Influence Of Mother Tongue On English Language Acquisition: A Case Study At Nguyen Tat Thanh University
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.69980/ajpr.v28i1.38Keywords:
ESL, second language acquisition, mother tongue, English language proficiencyAbstract
This study investigates the impact of students' native languages on their acquisition of English at Nguyen Tat Thanh University (NTTU) in Vietnam. Employing a mixed-methods approach, the research examines how mother tongue influences both the pronunciation and overall proficiency of English language learners. Qualitative data were gathered through interviews with 30 English majors, focusing on their experiences and perceptions of native language interference.Quantitative data were collected via standardized English proficiency tests administered to 100 students, assessing areas such as pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary. Findings indicate that negative transfer from the mother tongue significantly affects English pronunciation and structural aspects of language use. Specifically, phonetic discrepancies between Vietnamese and English lead to common pronunciation errors, while syntactic differences contribute to challenges in grammar and sentence construction. The study underscores the necessity for pedagogical strategies that address these specific areas of interference, suggesting that targeted pronunciation training and contrastive analysis of linguistic structures could mitigate the adverse effects of mother tongue influence. These insights aim to inform curriculum development and teaching methodologies at NTTU, ultimately enhancing English language acquisition among students.
References
1. Avery, P., & Ehrlich, S. (1992). Teaching American English pronunciation. Oxford University Press.
2. Bhela, B. (1999). Native language interference in learning a second language: Exploratory case studies of native language interference with target language usage. International Education Journal, 1(1), 22-31.
3. Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2019). Reflecting on reflexive thematic analysis. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 11(4), 589-597. https://doi.org/10.1080/2159676X.2019.1628806
4. British Council. (2020). IELTS guide for teachers. British Council. Retrieved from https://www.britishcouncil.org/exam/ielts
5. Cao, X. H. (1998). Vietnamese grammar. Social Sciences Publishing House.
6. Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D. M., & Snow, M. A. (2014). Teaching English as a second or foreign language (4th ed.). National Geographic Learning.
7. Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2018). Research methods in education (8th ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315456539
8. Creswell, J. W., & Plano Clark, V. L. (2018). Designing and conducting mixed methods research (3rd ed.). Sage Publications.
9. Dang, T. N. D. (2013). An inquiry into the impact of the mother tongue on Vietnamese adult EFL learners’ speech intelligibility with reference to syllable structure. [Doctoral dissertation, Griffith University]. Griffith Research Online. https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au/handle/10072/366941
10. Dörnyei, Z. (2007). Research methods in applied linguistics: Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methodologies. Oxford University Press
11. Ellis, R. (1997). Second language acquisition. Oxford University Press.
12. Ellis, R. (2015). Understanding second language acquisition (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.
13. Field, A. (2018). Discovering statistics using IBM SPSS statistics (5th ed.). Sage Publications.
14. Flick, U. (2018). An introduction to qualitative research (6th ed.). Sage Publications.
15. Gass, S. M., & Selinker, L. (2008). Second language acquisition: An introductory course (3rd ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203932841
16. Jarvis, S., & Pavlenko, A. (2008). Crosslinguistic influence in language and cognition. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203891438
17. Kroll, J. F., & Sunderman, G. (2003). Cognitive processes in second language learners and bilinguals: The development of lexical and conceptual representations. The Handbook of Second Language Acquisition, 104-129.
18. Lado, R. (1957). Linguistics across cultures: Applied linguistics for language teachers. University of Michigan Press.
19. Levis, J. M., & Sonsaat, S. (2020). Pronunciation instruction for second language learners: Past, present, and future. Language Teaching, 53(2), 123-140. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444819000416
20. Lotto, L., & de Groot, A. M. B. (1998). Effects of learning method and word type on acquiring vocabulary in an unfamiliar language. Language Learning, 48(1), 31-69. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9922.00032
21. Mackey, A., & Gass, S. M. (2016). Second language research: Methodology and design (2nd ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315889191
22. Merriam, S. B., & Tisdell, E. J. (2016). Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation (4th ed.). Jossey-Bass.
23. Miles, M. B., Huberman, A. M., & Saldaña, J. (2014). Qualitative data analysis: A methods sourcebook (3rd ed.). Sage Publications.
24. Nguyen, H. T., & Habók, A. (2020). Vietnamese non-English-major students' motivation to learn English as a foreign language. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 582593. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.582593
25. Nguyen, T. T. H., & Dutta, S. (2019). Investigating syntactic errors among Vietnamese ESL learners: A corpus-based approach. Asian EFL Journal, 21(3), 56-75.
26. Nguyen, T. T. H., & Duy, D. T. (2019). The roles of mother tongue in enhancing English language acquisition in English-policy classes. VNU Journal of Foreign Studies, 35(5), 140-151. https://doi.org/10.25073/2525-2445/vnufs.4519
27. Nguyen, T. T., & Ingram, J. (2005). Vietnamese acquisition of English consonant clusters. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, 28(2), 19-36. https://doi.org/10.1075/aral.28.2.02ngu
28. Odlin, T. (1989). Language transfer: Cross-linguistic influence in language learning. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139524537
29. Pham, T. T., & McLeod, S. (2016). English pronunciation difficulties reported by Vietnamese adults and children. Speech, Language and Hearing, 19(2), 80-90. https://doi.org/10.1080/2050571X.2016.1145327
30. Phuong, H. Y., & Danh, D. T. (2021). English-majored students' perceptions on teachers' use of Vietnamese in EFL classrooms. Journal of English Education and Linguistics Studies, 8(2), 221-241. https://doi.org/10.30762/jeels.v8i2.3379
31. Swan, M., & Smith, B. (2001). Learner English: A teacher’s guide to interference and other problems (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.
32. Thompson, L. C. (1965). A Vietnamese grammar. University of Washington Press.
33. Tran, T. H. (2010). The impact of mother tongue interference on English writing skills: A case study of Vietnamese learners. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 1(3), 181-187. https://doi.org/10.4304/jltr.1.3.181-187
34. Tran, T. H. (2021). The impact of mother tongue interference on English writing skills: A case study of Vietnamese learners. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 12(3), 456-465. https://doi.org/10.17507/jltr.1203.10
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License permitting all use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
