Linguistic barriers in English language learning: a study of mother tongue impact on UG students

The influence of a learner's native language on their acquisition of English is an important consideration in multilingual education; however, the extent and degree of interference can be significant. Factors such as phonology, grammar, vocabulary and discourse will all play a role in this interference. Students who are enrolled in English courses at an undergraduate level have utilized both their native language learning strategies in conjunction with their English language learning strategies, which has resulted in continuous problems in regard to how they pronounce and write sentences and words. This issue will become further complicated as students tend to experience limited opportunities to utilize their English language skills beyond the classroom and are often reliant on literal translations for their English language acquisition.. Through observations and findings in applied linguistics research, it can be established that negative transfer hampered students’ communicative competence and achievement in learning English. The research supports a learning approach that takes cognizance of learners’ linguistic profiles and proposes contrastive analysis and communicative learning approach methods to counteract difficulties related to mother tongue influence in learning English.