The Influence of Mother Tongue Interference on The Practice and Performance of Grade 10 Students' Speaking Skills ":Bir Secondary School In Focus

Abstract

This study aims to explore the difficulties faced by Grade 10 students at Bir Secondary School in learning English, particularly in their speaking skills and performance. The research employed a mixed-methods approach, combining both quantitative and qualitative data, and used a descriptive research design. Data were collected through classroom observations and close ended questionnaires, and analyzed using SPSS version 20, with techniques such as percentile analysis, data reduction, presentation, and conclusion. The findings reveal that the mother tongue significantly interferes with students’ ability to learn and speak English. Specifically, mother tongue influence affects students psychologically, making them feel afraid, shy, and lacking in confidence when speaking English. It also impacts their grammatical understanding and vocabulary acquisition, as the structure and rules of English differ from their native language, Bench Non. Environmental factors further reinforce this challenge, as students often face criticism or correction from peers and others when they make mistakes in English. The study concludes that mother tongue interference affects English speaking practice and performance in multiple dimensions, including psychological, grammatical, pronunciation, phonological, morphological, syntactical, lexical, orthographic, and environmental aspects. Psychologically, students become shy and lack confidence; grammatically, their sentence structures and word choices are influenced by their native language; and environmentally, their fear of criticism discourages active participation in English conversations. The results suggest that students learning English as a second language tend to transfer patterns from their mother tongue, leading to issues such as code-switching, direct translation, and localization in pronunciation and usage. This interference arises from differences in language systems, misspellings, and cultural nuances. Overall, the study highlights the importance of addressing mother tongue influence in order to improve students’ fluency and confidence in speaking English.