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Chapter 1

Introduction

Background of the Study

Learning English language is a growing need in this age of globalization.

Through another language, we can speak with people from around the world.
However, since people express themselves best in their mother tongue, they are
faced with challenges of learning English language. It is found that the cause of
such problematic issues is due to mother-tongue interference (Rana, 2016).
Mother-tongue interference refers to the influence of the native language of the
learner on his/her acquisition of the target language. What we mean by the
target language is the language that learner is aiming to learn.

The English language is the official and native language of Britain, Ireland,
North America, Australia, America and most of the British colonies, but it is
spoken as a second language in many more countries in the world. In the
process of teaching a second language, the teacher’s use of mother tongue can
influence the learner’s acquisition of the target language. Throughout the history
of English language teaching and second language acquisition, the role of
mother tongue has been considered a challenge. Due to globalization, every
aspect of our world is undergoing a transformation. In the present scenario,
those who are well versed in English can reap its benefits, those who are not are
marginalized. The changing and fast evolving times have witnessed the growing
importance of English language in all spheres of life. In South Africa, Sharo
(2014) conducted a study. The intent of the study was to establish the nature
and extent of mother tongue interference by Sepedi on the effectiveness of
learning English among information technology foundation students. The finding
of the study was that the students‟ first language affected their English learning.
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In the Philippines, acquisition of a second language is a way of life among

the majority of Filipinos. The language situation in the Philippines is complex.
There are an estimated 75 to 150 languages and dialects in the country, eight of
which are major languages and three regional (Ilokano, Tagalog and Cebuano).
English has been the medium of instruction since the coming of the Americans.
According to Sibayan (2011), describes the present situation that if the students
are a Tagalog speaker in an urban setting, like Manila, they learns English in
school, may speak some English at home. If the Tagalog-speaking student
comes from a remote rural community, then they learn and speak English only in
school. On the other hand, if he is a non-Tagalog-speaking student and the
language of instruction is English, and he studies in an urban setting like Cebu,
he learns English in school but it is-doubtful if he speaks English or Pilipino at
home. If he comes from a remote rural setting, then he hears and learns English
only in school. Bautista (2020), inferred that the use mother tongue in the
delivery of instruction and in the administration of learning assessment hinders
the acquisition of English as a second language.

According to Atoni (2020), mother tongue is used when giving instructions

which learners might not be able to understand in English. But the use of
mother- tongue has an impact on the proficiency of students in the English
language. Learners of English, despite their different backgrounds, face
difficulties when it comes to learning English as a second or foreign language.

It has been noticed that mother tongue interference affects the English
proficiency of a student. This derived the researchers to conduct a study about
discovering the challenges of mother tongue interference in the students’ English
proficiency.
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Statement of the Problem

One of the significant factors that greatly affect the students’ acquisition
of English as a second language is the mother tongue. As students have different
language background, the researchers seek to find out the challenges of mother
tongue interference in the English proficiency of Third year Education Students.

Specifically, it seeks to answer the following problems:

1. What are the challenges of mother tongue interference in the English

proficiency of third year education students in San Carlos College?
2. Why is mother tongue interference considered as a challenge in the
English proficiency of third year education students in San Carlos College?
3. How does mother tongue affect the students in the acquisition of English
as a second language of third year education students in San Carlos
College?

Purpose of the Study

This research primarily aims to discover the challenges of mother tongue

interference in the English proficiency of third year education students. Similarly,
this study also focus to investigate the reason why is mother tongue interference
considered as a challenge in the English proficiency of third year education
students and how mother tongue affects the students in the acquisition of
English as a second language.
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Significance of the Study

Discovering the challenges of mother tongue interference is one of the

crucial factors of the student’s English proficiency. According to the researchers,
this study could give a database that can be utilized as a concrete reference for
more effective educational offerings. The findings of the study could be beneficial
and useful in resolving issues linked to English teaching and learning. Learners,
teachers, school administrators, parents, and other research enthusiasts will
undoubtedly benefit from this.

To the learners, this study will let them know and understand the
challenges of mother tongue in the English proficiency that will serve as their
guidance to learn and may suggest a better way of learning.

To the teachers, the findings of this study could help them to be guided
on what strategies and techniques will be used in the classroom to improve the
student’s English proficiency.

To the school administrators, this study could give them guidance in

providing a support for more effective and life-changing teaching approaches to
meet the learner’s needs.

To the parents, the findings of this study could offer them assistance to
support and contribute positively to their children’s English proficiency.

For other research enthusiasts, this will help them to understand the
areas of education process that some have not discovered yet. Thus, they may
arrive at new and better ways on learning resulting to the increase of English
proficiency.
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Scope and Delimitation of the Study

This research primarily focuses on discovering the challenges of mother

tongue interference in the English proficiency of third year Education Students in
San Carlos College. This study will mainly recognize and evaluate the reason why
mother tongue interference considered as a challenge in the English proficiency
of third year education students and how does mother tongue affect the
students in the acquisition of English as a second.

Theoretical Framework

The challenges that students encounter in the process of learning a second or

foreign language have been a cause of much concern to the researchers of this
study. The cause of such challenges can be explained by referring to language
theories and learning theories. Among these theories are the Contrastive Analysis
Theory and the Error Analysis Theory.

This study was based on Lado (1957) theory of Contrastive Analysis. It

was widely used in the 1960s and early 1970s in the field of Second Language
Acquisition (SLA), as a method of explaining why certain features in second
language acquisition are more difficult to learn than others. It states that the
difficulties in acquiring a second language are derived from the differences
between the second language and the native language or mother tongue of a
learner. This method was based on the idea that the more difference between
the learners' mother-tongue and the target language, the more difficulty the
learner will face in acquiring structures or items of a target language. The major
claim of this theory is that the difficulty of second language acquisition could be
discovered or foretold depending on the degree of difference between the
learners’ first and second language. According to Lado (1957), those items of a
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target language that are similar to the learners’ first language will be easy for
students to learn. And, those items of a target language that are different than
the learners first language will be difficult for the learner to acquire. This is what
the theory of Contrastive Analysis suggests.

This theory is applied to this study because this study primarily aims to
discover the challenges of native language in the acquisition of English as a
second language. This was founded on the belief that by establishing the
linguistic differences between the learner's L1 and L2, it will predict what
problems the learner of a particular L2 would face. Therefore, the most efficient
teaching materials should be based on the careful comparison between the
learner’s native language and the language to be learned. With that, the
teachers who made this comparison would know better the real problems of their
students and thus, would increase the efficiency in L2 teaching. The theory
contributes to a better understanding of the acquisition process of second
language structures since it remains as an influential construct in the field of
second language acquisition by using comparisons of languages to explain areas
of difficulty for learners. Learning English as a second language is important,
that’s why in the theory of Contrastive Analysis, errors potentially made by
learners of a second language are predicted from interference by the native
language to discover the challenges and find out how it will be solve.

Moreover, this study was also based on Corder (1960) theory of Error
Analysis. It is one of the major topics in the field of second language acquisition,
which studies learners’ errors in the target language with the aim of recognizing
the reasons behind such errors and their causes. The basic task of this theory is
to describe how language learning occurs by examining the learner’s output. It
consists of a comparison between the errors made in the target language and
that target language itself. In this theory, it is important to note that
interferences from the learner’s mother tongue is not only the reason for
committing errors in the target language. The key point of Error Analysis is that
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many errors are produced by learners making faulty inferences about the rules of
the new language. According to Fisiak (1981), if students wants to learn a
foreign language, they will obviously meet with many kinds of learning problems
dealing with its sound system, vocabulary and structure. This is understandable
since students learning the foreign language has spoken their own native
language, which has been deeply implanted in them as part of their habit. Very
often, student’s transfers their habit into the target language they are aiming to
learns, which perhaps will cause errors. Fisiak (1981) also assumed that these
errors are caused by the different elements between the native language and the
target language. Furthermore, Erdogan (2005) explained that the field of Error
Analysis may be defined as dealing with the differences between the way people
learning a language speak and the way adult native speakers of the language
use the language. Error analysis is useful in second language learning because
this will reveal the problem areas. Therefore, it can be used to design remedial
exercises and focus more attention on the trouble spots.

The theory of Error Analysis is applied in this study because the

researchers also want to have a better understanding as to how the challenges
of mother tongue interference in the English proficiency of third year education
students can be managed. Since error analysis look at the implications to
language teaching and how errors can be managed, the researchers therefore
will become aware of the errors appearing regularly in learners’ acquisition of
second language, and this will help all those beneficiaries of this study.
Application of the theory error analysis in this study was supported by some
researchers. Richards and Schmidt (2010) mention that Error Analysis is carried
out to identify the causes of a learner’s errors as well as the difficulties they
encounters while learning. He added that Error Analysis also tells to researchers
about the strategies that student uses while learning a language. However,
Sercombe (2000) also stresses that analyzing learners’ errors is of high
importance because it greatly helps researchers to explore how students learn a
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language, and what level of proficiency they have reached. In addition, recent
research conducted by El-Dakhs and Mitchell, (2011); Zawahreh, (2012); and
Swalameh, (2013) on learners’ error analysis view errors positively and strongly
agree that learners’ errors are extremely significant and fruitful as they help
language researchers to understand the process of second language acquisition
and how it develops.

From the above discussion, some conclusions can be drawn. Error

Analysis, a branch of Applied Linguistics emerged in the sixties to reveal that
learner errors were not only because of the learner’s native language but also
they reflected some universal strategies. This is a reaction to Contrastive Analysis
Theory which considered native language interference as the major source of
errors in second language learning what behavioristic theory suggested. “Applied
error analysis, on the other hand, concerns organizing remedial courses and
devising appropriate materials and teaching strategies based on the findings of
theoretical error analysis” ( Erdogan 2005).

Definition of Terms

To facilitate the understanding of the study, the researchers specified the

terminologies that are needed to have a better grasp of the issues that the
researchers attempted to solve. The following terms are defined based on the
particular meanings they intent to convey.

Mother Tongue. The native language one first learns to speak before
other language.

Interference. It refers to the effect of learners’ native language on the

acquisition of second language that they are learning.
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English Proficiency. The students’ ability to acquire and use the

structures of English such as syntax, vocabulary, semantics, and other areas that
demonstrate language abilities.

Challenge. It refers to the set of problems and issues encountered by

students of their mother tongue interference in the acquisition of English as a
second language.

Summary

English language has been adopted as the national and international

language and the medium of instruction at all levels of educational institutions.
Through English language, people can communicate with other people in other
country which is extremely different on knowledge, thought, culture and the way
they live. It was a result of English as a global language to connect people
over the world and makes them easy to interlacing a relationship and
developing their advancement in science and technology which are being
claimed toward the future. For those who learns English as a second
language, it is because they need English for several functions such as
education, job, academic, or business.

Mother tongue interference is one of the most challenging factors in the

acquisition of English as a second language. Learners of English come from a
variety of cultural and linguistic backgrounds, and they encounter a variety of
challenges in the English proficiency. Due to the differences between mother
tongue and English language, challenges and problems arise. Native speakers
of English exactly will not get difficulties to learn English because it was
acquired over there and it has become their first language. The problems
exactly come from people who learn English as a second language. It is being a
second language which is new on structure, pronunciation, and also in accent. It
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needs great attention to learn second language like English, as we know that
English has a complicated rule such as structure and pronunciation which is far
different with first Language.

The main focus of the present study is concern with the discovering of the
challenges of mother tongue interference in the English proficiency of third year
Education students in San Carlos College. Moreover, the reason why mother
tongue is considered as a challenge in the students’ English proficiency and how
does mother tongue affect the students in the acquisition of English as a second
language are also covers to find out in the present study.
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Chapter 2

Literature Review

This chapter shows a retrospective presentation of previously written

materials: research literature and conceptual that has relevance and significance
to the research under considered.

A. Related Literature

Mother Tongue

When a learner’s native language affects the learning of second/foreign

language, it is called interference of mother tongue (Thyab, 2016).

Mother-tongue refers to one's native language or parent language. ("mother

tongue," 2015). Mother-tongue interference refers to the influence of the native
language of the learner on her or his acquisition of the target language. What we
mean by the target language is the language the learner is aiming to learn (L2).
("Contrastive analysis," 2015).

The compound noun mother tongue is formed from the nouns “mother”, and
“tongue” meaning “language”. Webster’s Dictionary define language as, the
words and expressions used and understood by a large group of people.
Therefore, mother tongue can be defined as, as per told by Richard Nordquist
(2019), it refers to a person’s native language- that is a language learned from
birth. It is also called a first language, dominant language, home language, and
native tongue.

Moreover, Bloomfield asserts mother tongue which is learnt by human is

named native language. Children from a certain group of community, since they
were born, have gradually learned to acquire a language from their mothers in a
natural way. This is the so-called mother tongue, and this language is
continuously passed across generations. Such a mother tongue is always
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affiliated with the culture which prevails in a certain community. Therefore,

diverse groups of community may have diverse mother tongues. A language
community is commonly also associated with a certain region. Thus, it is natural
that people of diverse regions have different mother tongues as well.

Interference

Interference is the change of language system used in other element of

language which is regarded as a mistake because it deviates from the rules of
language used (Chaer and Agustina, 2011). Additionally, Lao (2017) stated that
“interference” is closely related to bilingualism. Bilingualism differs in
character. In correlative bilingualism both language systems exist together
in the individual’s mind and are independent of one another. When an
individual has good command of the two languages, there is no interference. In
the case of subordinate bilingualism, the second language is not mastered to the
degree the first language is. Here, mother tongue dominates and influences the
second language leading to interference.

Interference is that the language errors which occur when mother tongue
elements are brought into the language which is being learned. According to Lott
(2011), interference indicates the forms of errors encountered in one’s non-
native language, and such errors can be identified by probing into his mother
tongue. In a similar concept, Ellis (2012) elucidated that interference draws on a
linguistic transfer, in which it refers to the influence that the learner’s first
language exerts over the acquisition of a second language. He opined that such
a transfer occurs due to what a learner perceives of what could be transferred
from his first language to the other language, and such a transfer also happens
by virtue of the learner’s linguistic development that stems from his efforts of
learning a second or foreign language. Mother language or L1 is the mother
tongue, which is learned and used since childhood in the family; while L2 is a
language that is only then learned, namely after mastering L1. If the mastery of
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L1 is better than L2, and also the opportunity to use it is wider, there is a
possibility that the speaker's L1 will affect his L2. This influence can be in the
form of events called interference, both at the phonological, morphological,
syntactic, and lexicon levels.

Views of Different Linguists on Mother Tongue Interference

Many scholars view mother tongue’s interference as the impact of a mother

language in the structural dimension which subsumes some elements ranging
from audio-visual, audio-global, and structural-global elements. Dulay elucidates
that an interference of a language is a linguistic case that continuously receives
diverse viewpoints in linguistic studies. In a certain case of mother tongue’s
interference, a learner applies his knowledge or competence of the first language
during learning the second or foreign language. As the foregoing, language
interference takes place across linguistic domains from phonetics, morphology,
syntax, and other forms of language structures. Nonetheless, learners will find it
difficult if language interference occurs in the dimension of a great extent of
diverse parallelisms between their first and second (or foreign) language.

Weinreich (2012), asserts interference is the deviation of language norm in

usage as the effect of bilingual toward another language. The term of
interference is firstly used by Weinreich to name the existence of different
language system spoken by bilingual speaker in using a language. Interference
happens when the speaker uses second language and ones which is interfered
into second language is the first language or mother tongue.

Interference is the automatic transfer, due to habit, of the surface structure

of the first language onto the surface of the target language. Interference is the
deviation of target language as a result of their familiarity with more than one
language. They differentiate interference into two parts, the psychological and
sociolinguistic. The psychological refers to the influence of old habits when new
ones are being learned, whereas sociolinguistic refers to interactions of language
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when two language communities are in contact. Therefore students will find it
difficult in mastering the second language due to the interference, which is
influenced by old habit, familiar with mother tongue and interaction of two
languages in the communities (Dulay, 2011).

To investigate this subject, a lot of research was done (Watcharapunyawong

and Usaha, 2013) to find the most affected skill. Some researches (He, 2012)
claim that viewing L1 as potentially valuable learning resource instead of a mere
source of interference opens up greater pedagogical space and hence may bear
constructive implications for L2 instruction, especially in homogenous contexts
where both teachers and learners share the same mother tongue and target
language. This paper reports the results of a study which attempted to find
whether mother tongue interferes in second language learning or not.

Mother tongue may interfere in the learning of a second language in terms of

pronunciation which manifests itself in any aspect of the language, especially in
articulating phonemes. The study of Owhoeli (2011) supports the view that
mother tongue can be a negative factor in the successful learning of the target
language. The importance of understanding the seriousness of the negative
effect of mother tongue in the pronunciation of English words cannot be
emphasized enough. Failure to produce the correct sound in English may lead to
communication breakdown.

Mother tongue interference can be seen as a transfer that affects learning

both negatively and positively. According to Mede, Tutal, Ayaz, Çalışır and Akın
(2014) there is high probability of cross-linguistic influence in second language
acquisition and this influence may cause some errors, which are caused by
negative transfer. Manrique (2013) stated that mispronunciation and
grammatical errors are the most common types of interference between the
mother tongue and the target language. Also, it was affirmed that writing has
been considered as the most difficult of the four language skills
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(Watcharapunyawong and Usaha, 2013). They demonstrated that L1

interference categories of each writing genre varied in terms of L1 syntactic and
semantic properties. That is, in narration, the L1 interference categories with
frequency counts of more than 100 errors were verb-tense, word choice,
sentence structure, article preposition, while the L1 interference types in
descriptive writing were article, sentence structure, word choice, singular/plural
form, and subject-verb agreement, respectively. In comparison and contrast to
writing, the L1 interference categories with frequency counts of more than 100
errors were singular/plural form, word choice, article, subject-verb agreement,
sentence structure, and preposition. Furthermore, according to Maros, Kim and
Salehuddin (2011), omission and the use of wrong forms are the two most
common types of errors in all categories; although not all the errors are due to
mother tongue interference, a large number of errors identified in the use of
determiners, subject verb agreement and copula ‘’be’’ reflected the interference
of mother tongue. Additionally, Cartes (2015) explained the subject with an
enhanced disclosure and listed some other errors like semantic, syntactic,
morphological, spelling, vocabulary mistakes and also phonological errors which
are very difficult to identify in written texts. Additionally, Ashari and Munir (2015)
advocated that the interference occurred in sixteen terms of grammatical errors.
The grammatical interference involved word order, number, countability,
personal pronouns, genitive and possessive pronouns, it and there, past time, to
be, non–finite forms, modal auxiliary verbs, active and passive, negatives,
complex sentences, range and choice of vocabulary, transfer, and confusions.
However, they claimed that the interference occurred because students did not
receive input that facilitated them to write. It also occurred because of the lack
of students’ knowledge in second language acquisition.

In the grand sheme of the thing; Sinha, Banerjee and Shastri (2011) alleged
that monolingual students were better in English receptive vocabulary, reading
comprehension and writing fluency. Nevertheless, in English grammar
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awareness, phonological awareness, expressive vocabulary, vocabulary density

and writing quality both groups were equivalent. This showed that bilinguals
despite being proficient in two languages (L1 and L2) do not completely excel
the monolinguals in reading and writing related skills. Finally, Kavaliauskiene
(2012) expressed different results. First, all the learners customarily rely on their
mother tongue in learning English and also the students’ autonomously
generated reading comprehension exercises, summary writing and back-
translation activities help raise learners’ awareness of differences between
English and the mother tongue, and facilitate linguistic development.

As William Littlewood (2011) points out in his book named “Foreign and
Second Language Learning”, that the interference results from the fact that the
learner uses what he already knows about language, in order to make sense of
new experience. In the case of mother tongue interference, the learner uses his
previous mother-tongue experience as a means of organizing the second
language phones. In fact, surprisingly, surveys from university and college in
China obviously show that not only students but also teachers are often found to
be much confused with such interference problems in the course of College
English teaching and learning (Luo Jian-ping & Huang Ling-yan, 2012).

B. Related Studies

Foreign Studies

Elif Nur Denizer’s “Does Mother Tongue Interfere in Second Language?

(2017)” revealed some evidences about interference of mother tongue. In
addition to other researches about mother tongue interference, in brief it is
possible to say that mother tongue interferences in second language learning in
almost all aspects. The biggest effect of mother tongue interference can be seen
in the speaking as a language skills and grammar as a language area. In addition
to its effect in second language learning, it also affects the learners’
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performance. Results show that it leads learners to making errors especially in

speaking without preparation and translating a passage into the target language.
In addition, it is possible to say that learners especially have difficulty with
determiners, sounds, sentence structures, and articles.
The study “Mother Tongue Interference towards Student’ English
Pronunciation (2020)” Leffi Noveyenty’s delineates that mother tongue
interference can affect students’ English speaking skill especially in pronouncing
the words intrinsically. This study investigated the forms of mother tongue
interfering students in pronouncing English words, and how they were interfered.
The result of the study shows that there were five ways of interference. First,
they sounded short vowels into long vowels. Second, they sounded long vowels
into short vowels. Third, they changed vowels. Fourth, they changed diphthongs
into vowels. Fifth, they changed vowels into diphthongs. However, the
interference that influenced English words was only in the dimension of
pronouncing English words, while the meanings were still understandable.
Rana Abid Thyab (2016) research entitled, “Mother Tongue Interference
in the Acquisition of English Articles by L1 Arabic Students” examines the
challenges of mother tongue interference in learning English. Native speakers of
Arabic face a number of problems in their attempt to acquire the English
language. One of these problems is encountered in their attempt to use English
articles. According to earlier studies, learning English articles by students whose
mother-tongue is Arabic is one of the most frequent and significant difficulties
Arab learners of English come across. This paper supports and highlights such
findings. Arab learners of English encounter difficulties in their use of the English
articles because of the differences between the article systems in both
languages. The Arabic language has an article system that functions differently,
the notion of definiteness and indefiniteness are encoded differently than in that
of the English language. Given the fact that articles are one of the most frequent
words used in the English language, this paper has aimed to pin down such an
important issue. The aim of this paper is to pinpoint previous researchers'
 18

findings regarding English articles. This is done by illustrating how the

differences between the Arabic and English languages in concern to the article
system cause Arab learners of English to make mistakes or even errors in their
English learning process.
Nor Ashikin Ab Manan and Indrani Pillay’s investigation about “Mother
Tongue Interference in the Writing of English as a Second Language (ESL) Malay
Learners (2017)” concluded that interference errors under redundancy reduction
category were probably committed due to the non-existent of a certain rule or
concept in the participants’ L1. Due to the absence of ‘be’ verb and ‘article’ in
Malay, the students have the tendency to drop necessary ‘be’ verbs or
articles and add unnecessary ones in their writing. Under the category of
transfer of rules, it was found that the learners had difficulty in choosing
appropriate propositions to use because there are only about 15 propositions in
Malay whereas there are more than hundreds of prepositions in English. The
students also committed errors related to the use of adjective because in
Malay, an adjective usually comes before a noun whereas in English it is
the other way round. Finally, it was found that the rules that are frequently
overgeneralized include the rules related to conversion of verbs from present to
past tense and singular to plural nouns.

Ali Derakshan’s “The Interference of First Language and Second Language

Acquisition (2016)” summarizes some difficulties that second language learners
may face to learn English. It has tried to find out factors that play an important
role in the acquisition of second language. It is a popular belief that first
language has an effect on the second language acquisition, and it is claimed
that L1 can interfere with the acquisition of L2. It is also believed that the role of
L1 in the L2 depends on some similarities and differences between the two
languages.
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The study “Native Language Interference in Learning English

Pronunciation (2017)” Marcella Melly Kosasih analyzed the problems of learning
English pronunciation by Indonesian students and investigated the extent of
mother tongue influence on the learning of English pronunciation. Significant
differences between the pronunciation system of the two languages are the
cause of the interference occurred. They are found in phonemes, phonetic
features, word stress, sentence stress, and intonation. By knowing the problems
and how to solve them, students are able to master English pronunciation so
that misunderstandings in communication can be avoided. Besides, teachers can
construct their materials better. In this way, the aim of teaching English
pronunciation in the first place will be achieved.

Local Studies

The research work of Maribel Malana (2018) “First Language Interference

in Learning the English Language”, examines how Ilocanos, Ibanags and Itawes
use their own mother tongue in learning English. Ilocanos have the tendencies of
transferring rules or patterns of intonation from their L1 in learning L2. For that
reason they commit more errors while they communicate in English. The Ibanags
tend to transfer the L1 pronunciation rule to L2. That is why they commit errors
on pronunciation. The author investigates that when speaking in a target
language code-shifting and code-switching are tendencies of L2 learners like the
Ilocano, the Ibang, and the Itawes. The learners use these strategies when they
find it difficult to proceed with a learning task in L2.

In the study of Gaerlan (2016), she argued that Filipinos despite being
bilingual in Filipino and English (being the medium of instruction) not all Filipino
learners are successful in learning English which is their second language (L2).

In the study conducted by Namanya (2017) “The Effects of Mother

Tongue-Based Multilingual Education on the Engllish Proficiency of Children in
Silang, Philippines”, examined the effects of MTB-MLE on the English literacy
 20

development of Filipino children. The results showed that children taught in

the mother tongue demonstrated a decline in English literacy level,
confirming certain language acquisition theories and fears of some scholars.

Edgar Eslit (2019) research entitled “First Languages and Its´ Impact on
the (English) Language Competency of Students”, revealed a deeper
understanding of the influence of first language in English linguistic competence
of the students in school. With this, an instructional module was proposed which
provides intervention activities to augment linguistic competence of the students.
This proposed instructional module is a month long program that could be
implemented starting 1st or 2nd semester of academic year, 2018 – 2019. This
module would help students lessen or remove the influence of first language to
their linguistic competence to become proficient in English language someday.
However, results revealed that the respondents’ linguistic competence was
slightly correlated to the influence of first language. The findings were used to
formulate and conceptualized an English instructional module which aims to
develop and enhance the respondents’ linguistic competence by engaging them
to meaningful discussions and some interactive activities that would help in
overcoming their first language interference.

When learners of second language want to write or speak in the target

language, they tend to rely on their first language structures. If the structures
are different then a lot of errors occur in L1 thus this indicates an interference of
first language on second language (Decherts &Dllis, as cited in Derakshan &
Karimi, 2016, p.22). A learner has difficulties in second language such as in
phonology, vocabulary and grammar due to the interference of habits from L1
and L2 (Beardsmore, as mentioned by Derakshan & Karimi, 2016). This research
then primarily aimed to find out whether use of first language in the context
under study influences (interferes or transfers) acquisition of linguistic skills in
English and if so provides instructional program to promote the success of
Linguistic competence in English.
 21

Learning English language and factors that may affect this process have
attracted language researchers’ focus for many years. Studies about English
proficiency and the influence of mother tongue (first language) have brought the
attention of research worldwide. According to Odlin (2016) as mentioned in the
study of Atetwe, 2017, transfer in language learning is “the influence resulting
from similarities and differences between the target language and any other
language that has been previously acquired” (p.27). Transfer is a psychological
term that is used to describe a situation where one learned event influences the
learning of a subsequent learning event. The influence in this case has two
facets; commonly known as interference or negative transfer and positive
transfer. Positive transfer or facilitation entails transfer of skill or part of the
native language which facilitates the learning of the target language. In contrast,
negative command of transfer or interference of a skill which impedes the
learning or has negative influence on the command of a skill in the target
language.

Summary

A large number of previous investigations has been compiled and

summarized. Most of the previous studies show the challenges and issues of
mother tongue interference in the acquisition of English as a second language,
some difficulties that second language learners may face to learn English, and
revealed the different aspects in which learners always encountered errors
because of the learners’ mother tongue interference such as pronunciation,
writing and speaking skills, grammar, and articles. The goal of this research is to
strengthen the foundations for prior investigations and to discover the challenges
and effects of mother tongue interference in the learner’s English proficiency.
 22

Chapter 3

Methodology

Introduction

This chapter presents the research procedure. The researcher provides

the detail of the method of research used in collecting data for the project which
also includes the instrument used. It defines clearly the target population for the
research, the data gathering instrument used for the research, the procedure for
data collection, the data analysis techniques and also the ethical considerations.
This work also made use of primary and secondary sources of data.

First, research design is the overall strategy chosen by the researchers to

integrate the different components of the study in a coherent and logical way,
thereby, ensuring effectively address the research problem; it constitutes the
blueprint for the collection, measurement, and analysis of data. Second, data
collection techniques described as the process of gathering, measuring, and
analyzing precise insights for research using well-established procedures. It
includes interviews, observations (direct and participant), questionnaires, and
relevant documents. The use of data collection techniques and sources
strengthens the credibility of outcomes and enables different interpretations and

meanings to be included in data analysis.   Third, instrumentation is the process

of constructing research instruments that could be used appropriately in
gathering data on the study. Fourth, population is generally a large collection of
individuals or objects that is the main focus of a scientific query. Fifth, data
analysis is the process of systematically applying statistical and/or logical
techniques to describe and illustrate, condense and recap, and evaluate
data. Lastly, ethical considerations are set of principles that must be followed in
 23

conducting the research. It is also concerned with the confidentiality of the

information supplied by research subjects and the anonymity of informants.

This qualitative research is about the challenges of mother tongue

interference in the English proficiency of third year education students. Since
English learners come from a variety of languages, it is expected that they would
face a numerous challenges with their mother tongue interfering with their
English proficiency. Specifically, this study seeks to answer the reason why is
mother tongue interference considered as a challenge in the English proficiency
of third year education students in San Carlos College and how does mother
tongue affect the students in the acquisition of English as a second language.

Research Design

This study will utilize the Phenomenological research method. It focuses

on the commonality of a lived experience within a particular group. Through this
process the researcher may construct the universal meaning of the event,
situation or experience and arrive at a more profound understanding of the
phenomenon. The researchers will use this method because they want to learn
about the participants' experiences and ideas regarding the challenges of mother
tongue interference in the English proficiency. Furthermore, by using this
research method, the researchers can also ask participants open-ended
questions and responses in conveying their ideas and feelings. It is relevant to
the current study because the researchers will gather data on students'
perspectives on the challenges they have faced in learning English as a second
language as a result of their mother tongue interference; the reason why is
mother tongue interference considered as a challenge in the English proficiency
of third year education students and how does mother tongue affect the
students in the acquisition of English as a second language.
 24

Data Collection Techniques

The researcher will use the method of interview in order to collect

adequate and relevant data to address the research problem of this study.
Interview is one of the great ways to obtain relevant data, whose aim is to
identify participant’s emotions, feelings, and opinions regarding the challenges of
mother tongue interference in the English proficiency. The main advantage of
interview is, it involve personal and direct contact between the researchers and
participants. The interview process encouraged the participants to respond to the
questions as accurately as possible.

As far as data collection technique is concerned, the conduction of the

study involved the use of semi-structured questionnaire, which will be used as an
interview guide for the researchers. Some certain questions were prepared to
guide the researchers in the interview towards the satisfaction of the research
purpose, but additional questions were possibly encountered during the
interviews. The interview questions were well planned and organized in line with
the purpose of the study. Also, the questions were designed clearly to ensure
proper responses from the participants. The interview process will also
conducted using the English language, but the use of the mother tongue
language will be used for those individuals who could not understand English
thus enabling them to contribute relevant information in relation to the topic
under study.

A set of questions will be compiled, and the people will be guided by them
based on the topic. This fosters an environment in which people are encouraged
to communicate their thoughts and opinions. These interview questions were
used to get the information needed from the population. Questions 1.1 and 1.2
talks about the different challenges and possible solutions in mother tongue
interference to students’ English proficiency, while from questions 2.1, 2.2, and
 25

2.3 is the reason why mother tongue interference considered as a challenge on

learning English, and questions 3.1 to 3.4 will determine how does mother
tongue interference affect the students in the acquisition of English as a second
language.

Research Question No. 1: What are the challenges of mother tongue

interference in the English proficiency of third year education students in San
Carlos College?

1.1 Which do you think is the most challenging aspect when

learning English language of having mother tongue
interference? Grammar, pronunciation, or vocabulary? Why
do you say so?
1.2 Among those aspects (grammar, pronunciation or
vocabulary), what is/are the possible solution/s of mother
tongue interference to students’ English proficiency?

Research Question No. 2: Why is mother tongue interference considered as a

challenge in the English proficiency of third year education students in San Carlos
College?

2.1 How does mother tongue interfere with your grammar,

pronunciation, and vocabulary in English language?
2.2 Does mother tongue play an important role in the English
proficiency? Why or why not?
2.3 In terms of having proficiency in grammar, pronunciation,
and vocabulary, how different is your mother tongue to
English language that makes it difficult to learn?
 26

Research Question No. 3: How does mother tongue interference affect the
students in the acquisition of English as a second language?

3.1 Does your mother tongue affect your grammar in the

acquisition of English as a second language? Why or why
not?
3.2 Does your mother tongue affect your English pronunciation?
Why or why not?
3.3 Do you find hard time in learning new words in English
because of your mother tongue? Why or why not?
3.4 Is mother tongue interference advantageous or
disadvantageous to you in learning the English language?
Why?

Instrumentation

This study intended to use interview in the data gathering procedure.

Purposive sampling will be utilized to identify the population that will respond to
the interview questions. The interview questions are designed based on the
statement of the problem that the researchers have formulated. Due of the lack
of face-to-face communication during the pandemic, the researcher wanted to
utilize a semi-structured approach in which only open-ended questions were
asked using online platforms such as video calls and Google meet.

Population

The population in this qualitative research will be the third year education
students in San Carlos College. From the total population of 50, a sample size of
30 was chosen. The sample size was chosen through a non-probability purposive
sampling. According to Ritchie et al., (2011) defines this sampling approach as a
strategy where “Members of a sample are chosen with a purpose to represent a
 27

location or type in relation to the criterion” (p. 77). It is also known as

judgmental, selective, or subjective sampling, is a form of non-probability
sampling in which researchers rely on their own judgment when choosing
members of the population to participate in their surveys. The researchers
choose specific people within a sample population. This is in contrast to random
studies where elements of your sample are known and you may deliberately
include multiple criteria such as gender, ethnicity, culture etc. The researchers
chose these respondents primarily because they had the expertise and
experience that the researchers require. In addition, these respondents would be
able to provide the researchers the necessary information that they need
regarding the challenges of mother tongue interference in English proficiency.

Data Analysis

The data that will be gathered from the interview will arrange and
summarize according to the statement of the problem: the challenges of mother
tongue interference in the English proficiency of third year education students,
the reason why is mother tongue interference considered as a challenge in the
English proficiency of third year education students, and how does mother
tongue affect the students in the acquisition of English as a second language.
The researcher then will analyze and interpret the information which provided by
the participants in accordance with the problems of the study in order to create
explanations and findings.

Ethical Considerations

The researcher ensured that ethics remained a top priority throughout the
study to ensure that this study will be conducted in an appropriate manner.
Participants will be fully informed regarding the purpose of the study. The
 28

researchers will reassured that participants’ answers will treated as confidential

and will be used only for the purposes of the particular study. The researchers
will ensure that anonymity will be granted to the participants and the responses
will also anonymized, if they wish. Permission to record the process of the
interview will also obtain from the participants.

At the end of the interview, both the participants and the researcher will
debriefed by talking about the process of the interview itself and the impact of
the interview. The aim of the debriefing is to ensure that the participants will not
left emotionally harm from the interview. Each of the participants will engage
freely in the conversations and this indicates that that the interview process
allowed the participants to share their feelings in a safe environment and without
being judged, since the researchers will attempted to create and maintain a
climate of comfort.

Summary

This chapter discussed the method and instrument used in the data
collection. It is the most significant part of the research work because it enables
the researchers to take decisions related to the information available and
understand how helpful is the information that will assist in carrying forward the
research work. By choosing the research methods, the researchers formulated
the path to be used in conducting the study and reporting the findings. It helps
in the search of literature, development of research questions, and the creation
of the most suitable study design. It also assists in the interpretation of the
findings in journals. Furthermore, the population of this study is clarified. Having
a sample that is representative of the target population is important for the
researchers to be able to generalize results found from the interviews of the
sample to the target population. In addition, data analysis summarizes the
collected data. It involves interpretation of data gathered through the use of
 29

analytical and logical reasoning to determine patterns, relationships or trends.

Lastly, ethical considerations promote the aims of the research such as
expanding knowledge. It supports the values required for collaborative work,
including mutual respect and fairness. This is essential because scientific
research depends on the collaboration between researchers and groups.
 30

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