The Role of Mother Tongue in Second Language Acquisition

Abstract

In the first part of this paper, the author discusses the importance of the first language in the process of learning English as a second language as explored by previous researchers. In the second part, the author describes the results obtained, in two small case studies, among the students of different ethnic backgrounds learning the English language. The present paper consists of two parts. The first part is comprised of online questionnaire answers provided by Georgian, Mandarin, Hindi and Lithuanian speakers, where participants were asked to answer questions regarding their experience while learning English and whether they were encouraged to use their MTs in the process. The second study was conducted at the International School of the Hague (ISH). Five students were interviewed and recorded as they shared their experiences of using their MTs during the learning process.

The research generates mixed pictures, however most of the participants agree on the importance of their mother tongues in learning the target language.