TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title page
Declaration i
Certification ii
Dedication iii
Acknowledgements iv
Table of Contents v
Abstract viii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
- Background of the Study 1
- Statement of the Problem 4
- Purpose of the Study 5
- Research Questions 6
- Research Hypothesis 6
- Significance of the Study 6
- Delimitation of the Study 7
- Definition of Terms 8
CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1 Theoretical Framework 9
2.1.2 The Social Learning Theory 9
2.2 Conceptual Empirical Framework 11
2.2.1 Parents Educational Background and Mother Tongue Interference 11
2.2.2 Socio-Economic Background and Mother Tongue Interference 16
2.2.3 Family Language of Communication and Mother Tongue Interference 18
2.3. Summary of Literature Review 21
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHOD
3.1 Research Design 23
3.2 Area of the Study 23
3.3 Population of the Study 24
3.4 Sample and Sampling Technique 24
3.5 Instrumentation 24
3.6 Validation 25
3.7 Reliability of the Instrument 25
3.8 Administration of the Instrument 25
3.9 Statistical Treatment of Data 26
CHAPTER FOUR: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
4.1 Presentation of Result of Data Analysis 27
4.1.1 Research Hypothesis I 27
4.1.2 Hypothesis II 28
4.1.3. Research Hypothesis III 29
4.2. Discussion of Findings 31
4.2.1 Parents Education Background and Mother Tongue Interference 31
4.2.2. Parents’ Socio-Economicand Mother Tongue Interference 32
4.2.3 Family Language of Communication and Mother Tongue Interference 33
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
5.1 Summary 35
5.2 Conclusion 36
5.3 Recommendation 36
5.4 Suggestion for Further Studies 37
REFERENCES
APEENDICES
ABSTRACT
The study aimed to investigate; ‘family variables and mother tongue interference among secondary school students studying English in Uyo Local Government Area of AkwaIbom State’. Three Research questions were formulated to guide the research, while Hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted an expost- facto design. A total of 200 respondents were randomly sampled from six public secondary schools in Uyo Local government. The instrument used was ‘family variables and mother tongue interference questionnaire (FVMTIQ)’.The instrument passed through face validation by the researcher’s supervisor and three experts from the faculty of education. A test retest was conducted to sample size of 20 students that were not part of the actual study to determine the reliability of the instrument. The data collected were analysed using Mean standard Deviation which was used in answering research questions while Independent T-test and Analyses of variance were used to test the hypotheses. Findings revealed that parent’s educational background, family socio-economic background and family language of communication has a significant effect on student’s mother tongue interference. It was recommended that parents should try to speak English language with their children.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
The hope of every blessed family is to see the children do well in school and become productive citizens to the society and country at large. No parent desires a nuisance as a child, since the family’s prestige ought to be upheld in transition. This explains why Badru (2004) opinesthat the family serves as a setting pace for child development.
Charles (2005) viewed the family as the basic unit of social organization in which members are constituted by marriage , blood or other social arrangement and which relationships are structured by a dense network of social norms, rules, traditions, customs and conventions. The family performs several factions in the society, which include, procreation and sustenance of human race sexual gratification, educational and economic support to the children. Beside the foregoing Omobe (2002) added that the family also serve the purpose of socializing the young ones and developing the individuals personality self-concept countermen of status and name.
The family is the first area of interaction. Man’s activities begins at home and man (male or female) learns to associate with another. It is through association that one gets learn skills and activities such as language. Omobe (2002) described the family as an important factor in a child language learning and acquisition. The child by nature is a learning organism. The child first learns to listen to others speak, then gradually the child imitates until he or she masters the structure of the language so acquired. It therefore follows that language learning is a question of societal (family) influence.
According toEkah (2015), language learning is deeply embedded in the social fabric of schools and homes and that school success is dependent upon a complex combination of home and school variables that may vary from child to child. A child who grows in an environment and interact with the nearer environment. Such language so acquired is referred to as mother tongue or native language. If the child the later enrolled into a school, he/she tends to learn English language as a second language which of course contrasts with the structure of the first language. In attempt therefore to use the target language (English), the learner unconsciously transfers feature of the first language to the second language which often results in error . Such transfer is what the author above terms: mother tongue interference.
Mother tongue interference is a problem of clash in language structures, which is rooted in a child’s home or parental background. Parental variables encompass all the factors that can have relative effects or influence on the mother tongue interference in children. These variables include: parents educational background, family socio-economic status and family language of communication at home. Parent’s educational background denotes the level of educational attainmentof parents which could be classified into three categories: literate semi-literate and illiterate (Adeyemiand Adeyemi2014). In each category, the level of value attached to education of the child differs and the urge to achieve varies proportionally. Most parents are not educated andknowledgeable enough concerning the need for early childhood stimulation in the learning of English language. Parents with little educational background may have higher aspirations just as parents with higher educational level for their children. However, their educational level may restrict their involvement in language and literacy learning activities with their children at home. Parents with low educational level tend to feel debased and do not see the need to encourage the children to speak the target language correctly, and as such, when children encounter problems such as mother tongue interference the parents (due to lack of education) could not assist them (Rogers, 2013).
Finally socio-economic status is yet another family variables which can bring about or eliminate mother tongue interference in children. Naturally, availability of books and other reading related materials at home have a motivating effect in children speaking skills. Interacting with books exposes the child to different letters and how they could combine words to form sentences . In so doing the childrencome to fully understand how different their mother tongue is from the target language. According to Ransdell and Wenselin (2008), children from low-socio economic environment may be poor readers and poor speakers due to, lack of exposure to books and materials that would help them to realize their potentials in speaking and writing. Abject poverty and general economic depression have deprived some homes of basic educational requirements, as such , some students have hardly heard a Britain or British presenter speak on the television.
The language of communication in the home is also a factor which can eliminate or bring about mother tongue interference. According to Udofot (2001), the family language of communication affects a child learning of English language especially children from bilingual or multilingual homes. If the language of communication at home is the native language say Ibibio or pidgin English, the child is bound to have problem in using language (standard English) as posited by Udofot (2001), language differ in their structure. Attempts to constantly use the native language especially at home may constantlyuse the native language rarely, he is forced to transfers features in the native language to the English and this often results in mother tongue interference. The present study examine the influences of family variables and mother tongue interference among secondary school students studying English in Uyo , Local Government Area.
1.2 Statement of Problem
Despite the vast importance of English language in Nigeria, majority of students still find it difficult to speak the English language properly. Most of these students feel since English is not their native language, they cannot be efficient or fluent. The fear of using the language in public therefore sets in. Most of the speakers too, use the language ignorantly, both in speaking and in writing. As has been observed one of the predominant issues regarding these problems is mother tongue interference .            The problem associated with mother tongue interference are not far-fetched. Students inability to pronounce words correctly and fluently as the received pronunciation or according to descriptions in the dictionary is a case of interference .
