Interference In Language Acquisition

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Although the English language has been the official language in Nigeria for decades, there are a good number of challenges that learners of English language continuously encounter. These problems are not only peculiar to learners but may also be existent in so-called fluent speakers. One of the most basic problems is mother tongue interference. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Awazie T. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. This is a form of language interference in which a Nigerian's first language/native language/mother-tongue (L1) hinders or influences the acquisition of a new language (possibly L2), in this case - English...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences In general, linguists maintain that a first language is acquired, that knowledge is stored unconsciously, and that a second language is learned, meaning that knowledge is gained through a conscious study of the second language’s structure. However, this distinction is not watertight and SLA can involve acquisition to a certain degree. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Nelida N. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. FLA (first language acquisition) does not, however, be learned as no instruction is required. Remember that you know your first language before you start school. There is a critical period, that of puberty, around 12...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences A language is a tool for people to communicate, so there must be some connections among different languages, include similarities and differences. If we can use their similarities properly and pay attention to differences, different languages can be interlinked. Therefore, the first language not only has a positive impact but also hurts second language acquisition. We call these effects ‘language transfer’. There are two kinds of language transfer, positive transfer, and negative transfer. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Tiffany C. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. If the first language has a good impact on second...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Successful acquisition of a first language (otherwise known as an L1) has almost a 100% success rate. Aside from a few people that are unable to read or write everyone can communicate fluently in their L1. Successful acquisition of a second language, however, does not occur nearly as often. Why is this so and can anything be learned from first language learning to improve second language fluency. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Rebekah I. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Firstly, it must be noted that among native speakers of a language there is a high amount of variation inabilities to write concisely, to use grammar...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences In this essay, I will deal with the pronunciation difficulties of German learners of English. In particular, I will treat some issues at the segmental level. Although both English and German are Germanic languages, the sound inventories of these two languages are quite different, especially the vowels. In the following table, the sounds are listed which exist only in one but not in the other language: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Gisella F. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Consonants Consonants /θ/, /ð/ tʃ/, /dʒ/ /w/ /x/ /ҫ/ Vowels Vowels Monophthongs Monophthongs /y, yː/ /eː/, /ø, øː/ /oː/ /ɜ/ /ɔ/ /ʌ/...  [Read more]