CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION:
Background
of the Study.
Language
is a creation which every human being is endowed with or blessed; a unique gift
of language is used naturally as one tool of expression consisting of different
sub skills.
The
English language is the official and native language of Britain, Ireland, North
America, Australia, America and most of the British colonies, (for the
colonies, it is regarded as the official language rather than native). It is
commonly divided by periods into Anglo-Saxon, or old English (about 450-1100
Bc), Middle English (about 1100 to 15Bc) and modern English (from 1500 to
date).
Mother tongue is one’s native language. A
language besides being the major distinguishing phenomenon between man and
other creatures is evidently the most enduring of every people’s cultural heritage.
It reflects the culture of a people and it is in extricable bound up with it.
Language
is an important tool that enhances human communication and interaction. It is a
vital instrument in cultural transmission and preservation of a social group.
It is in a fundamental sense, a crucial tool in the preservation and
propagation of the human species. An examination of the linguistic content of a
particular speech community can provide information about the life style,
occupation etc. of a given people.
The
English language beings the national official language for the British colonies
of which Nigeria is among makes it our second language. Hence, our respective
mother tongue exists before colonization. This has necessitated the teaching
and learning of the English language and its consequent interference in our
mother tongue in various study points nation wide. It is therefore, glaring to
state that, Nigeria is a linguistically complex society by the mere fact of the
history of its creation. It is estimated that there are between 250 and 400
language spoken in Nigeria (INTER NET).
This
linguistic heterogeneity promotes the continued use of English in Nigeria.
Ethnologic include English amongst its list of Nigeria language this hardly
supervising since the role of English language in Nigeria diverse and
ubiquitous, especially as a means of intra and inter national communication. It
is as a result of the negative effects which the mother tongue had caused the
study of English language on the educational structures of the attempt to
determine the effect of the use of mother tongue on the teaching and learning
process in secondary schools.
Statement of the Problem.
Before
the advent of British traders, missionaries and colonialists, indigenous
Nigerian language defined every aspect of the speech community from its
religious, cultural, political, Economics, social to whatever else that can be
through of the language functioned effectively to deal with every thing
relating to the day existence of the people. The arrival of the British,
concomitant with the English language provided a language contact situation
with an attempt to a language shift in the population.
New sets of ideas, concepts and values
were introduced to the system where indigenous local language had previously
been self-sufficient, rendering them inadequate to deal with the new concepts
introduced by the British, particularly in the areas of formal education,
Western law etc. the result was the initial subtle and later blatant intrusion
& influence of English language on domains that were the exclusive preserve
of indigenous language.
Now, the English language is generally
an accepted language which was introduced into Nigeria through colonialism and
missionary activities is now spoken, thought and learned in Nigeria.
Where English language sentence are
made, they are characteristically uttered with variation in pitch often
referred to as intonation. This is often an area of difficulty for second
language, users of English language who have tonal? Language as their first
language. This is one of the major problems encountered by learners of English
language. Other areas of problem encountered are’, Sentence and word stresses,
vowel sounds and English suprasegmental of pitch. The study intended to identify
the effect of mother tongue in the study of English language in senior
secondary schools in Enugu North Local Government Area of Enugu State.
Significance
of the Study:
This study will help to expose the numerous
factors that influence the interference of the study of English language by the
mother tongue or native languages. It will also identify the effects of this
interference on other study area that are based on the use of the English
language as the basic communication.
This study will enable teachers to
identify their problems in English language. This study will also enable
student to understand how to make use of English words especially in
pronunciation, intonation and phonetics. It will also enable the teachers to
make more research on the use of English language.
Since
English language has been used as a second official and some times even as a
foreign language in Nigeria for along time and give the inescapable behaviour
of language in contact, it is normal to expect it to have factors which can
identify it as bonafide subject, dialect, variely or idiom of world English.
These may be seen as research findings relating to interference, derintation
and creativity as are seen to obtain among speakers. In Nigeria. English is now
the term Nigerian English is used to refer to the subject of English spoken or
written by Nigerians, it is commonly known that the features of Nigerians
English language, like those of other new English, are essentially inherent
particularly at the early stages of learning by the mother tongue features.
Purpose
of the Study:
1. To
find out the level at which mother
tongue can interfere in the learning of English language in secondary school.
2. To
investigate the qualifications of English teachers in secondary school in Enugu
North.
3. To
know how teachers makes use of correct methods in teaching of English language
in secondary school in Enugu North
Reasarch Question
1.
Does mother tongue actually interferes in the learning of English
language in secondary school?.
2.
Are
the English language teacher in schools qualified?
3.
Does English language teachers adopt correct
teaching methods in teaching?
Hypothesis
Ho Mother tongue interfers in the learning of
English language.
Hi Mother
tongue dose not interfers in the learning of English language.
Ho2 English
language teachers makes use of correct method of teaching in teaching and
learning of English language.
Ho2 English
language teacher do not make use of correct teaching method.
The
Scope of the Study.
This research is the effect of mother tongue
interference in study of English language among secondary school students in
Enugu North Local Government Area.
It is based on the available result gotten
from continuous assessment and summative examinations of schools such as West
Africa Examination Council, the national examination council and examination
development centre for senior school certificate examination all in English
Language.
Definition
of Terms:
It
is imperative to properly defined the terms that make the heading of the
research topic under study. This will go along way at giving direction to the
research work.
These
includes:
MOTHER TONGUE:
The native language one first learns to speak before other language.
INTERFERENCE: In
this context, interruption of a language by another especially in pronunciation
and intonations.
ANGLO-XASON: A
person whose an cestors were English. (2) An English person of the period
before the norman conquest.
FUNDAMENTAL:
Serious and very important affecting the most central and important parts of
something. (2) Foundation of reality.
HETEROGENEITY:
Consisting of many different kinds of people or things (2) Uniformity/Alike.
ETHNOLOGICAL:
The moral ideas and attitudes that belong to a particular group or society (2)
peculiar to a race or nation.