Mother Tounge Interference in English

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Wilkins observes:


(Wilkins, 1972 : P 199)



Why Monolingualism?

This is a justified fear. It reminds me of the “slippery slope” argument, that once you start you will find it impossible to stop just like the first step onto the slippery slope leads to sliding right down the hill. This argument is also called the “thin end of the wedge” argument or the “foot in the door” argument. In all these images, an initial first step is irreversible and leads to more steps along that path.

I like to compare this to the question of whether or not to drink alcohol, which used to say “It is the first drink that make you an alcoholic not the last”. It is much easier to say “no” totally and from the beginning, than to exercise control and restrict the alcohol.

This illustration of alcoholic drink parallels the use of L1 in the L2 classroom It is much easier to refuse the L1 totally than it is to control the use of L1. Butzkamm though is arguing for controlled principled use and argues that it can mean L2 is learned quicker. (

If your students are monolingual then it is easier to make a contrastive analysis, diagnose the problems and find solutions,

▪ The first step is to find errors.
▪ Be careful not to assume that all errors stem form mother tongue interferences. ▪ Try to identify the most common ones and give these priority. The errors can be classified by type:


There is mother tongue interference in the areas of syntax, grammar, lexis and pronunciation.

For Pronunciation, look at individual sounds (Phonemes); errors might be happening because a specific sound in English does not occur in MTI. In this case, the students need to be helped first to actually hear the sound, then they need to be shown how the sound is formed and then given lots of practice in using it. Stress patterns at word and sentence level could be another phonological challenge and Intonation...
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