A study of mother tongue influence on learning English as a second language by Tamil speaking students

Abstract

As an adult, learning a second language is bounded to his or her own strategies and it is also mostly governed by one’s mother tongue at the initial stage of learning. Tamil speaking learners of English also symbolize such characters in learning English as a second language. This study determined the mother tongue influence on learning English as a second language and related issues among Tamil speaking students. The sample comprises forty students from the first year of Faculty of Arts, South Eastern University of Sri Lanka. It covers Muslim and Tamil students of the Eastern province. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods were used for the purpose of this research. There are two types of data that include task sheets of errors and the background of the students. According to the survey, sentences of errors which had Tamil influence were identified. The Tamil sentence “MINSARAM POAY WITTATHU.”, “மின்சாரம் போய்விட்டது.” is one of the examples from the set. It means “There is a power failure.”, Students’ approaches towards the above sentence symbolize several types of errors and they are mostly influenced by the mother tongue. Similarly, errors of other sentences in English translated from Tamil also proved the influence of mother tongue. The influence of mother tongue in a second language learning process is inevitable. But it can be minimised considerably with the appropriate guidance. The knowledge on the area where interference is occurred and alternative measures in teaching a second language will improve the quality of learning a second language.