L1 Influence On The Acquisition Of The Foreign Language

Language learning is characterized by successful mastery of steadily accumulating structural entities and organizing the knowledge into coherent structures leading to effective communication in the target language (Tutherford, 1987). Enhancing the students’ participation in the classroom discourse, classroom activities have shifted from individual exercises to pair and group work oriented activities. Long and Porter (1985: 207-225) articulate five pedagogical arguments for the use of group work in the classroom. They believe that group work increases the quantity of language input, improves students’ talk quality, individualizes instructions, creates positive classroom atmosphere, and improves students’ motivation. Considering the above-said, the issue of L1 influence on the acquisition of the foreign language naturally emerges.
Literature suggests various explanations and justifications of the usage of first language for the acquisition of the second or foreign language. According to Chomsky’s universal grammar theory, humans produce language through a deep structure that enables them to generate and transfer their own grammar to any other language. Stern sees the use of L1 as a “natural psychological process in foreign language development: (1992: 286). Other researchers suggest that while acquiring the foreign language, learners heavily rely on their native language structures to produce a response. Obviously if the structures of the two languages are distinctly different, a relatively high frequency of errors could be expected in L2 (Dechert, 1983, Ellis 1997). Lott (1983: 256) defines interference as “errors in the learner’s use of the foreign language that can be traced back to the mother tongues”. Ellis argues that learner...

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... of the foreign language acquisition is undoubtedly a factor worth considering. Despite the practical limitations proposed by some of the researchers on the use of the L1 in group and pair work activities, one should not underestimate the communicative impact of such type of initiatives in the classroom. Furthermore, the researchers ascertaining the negative impact of L1 on the L2 acquisition were not quite successful in proving the influence of L1 structures on errors made by the learners. At the same time, teachers should also take into consideration the threat of overusing the L1 in group or other type of activities in language classrooms. Therefore, yet again the authority of controlling and balancing L1 use during the classroom interaction vests on the teacher and it should be up to his/her discretion to what extent L1 would be allowed in various activities.