Mother tongue acquisition versus foreign language learning

Abstract EN

This study was conducted in Elobied town, North Kordofan State, Sudan in the year 2022 on English language teachers and finalist learners at the University of Kordofan.

The study dealt with Mother Tongue Acquisition Versus Foreign Language Learning.

It considered Arabic as mother-tongue and English as a foreign language.

The Study aimed to find out factors that affected mother tongue acquisition to apply them on English language learning.

The Study followed the descriptive analytical approach.

Data were collected by Structured questionnaire.

It included 40 respondents who were randomly selected from 140 English language learners who constituted the Study population.

Data were analyzed descriptively by the statistical Packages for Social Sciences.

Results showed that all the respondents agree that pair work and group work were the best interaction patterns for English language learning while 92% of the respondents indicated that English words containing silent letters need more practice.

The results also revealed that 60% of the respondents indicated that factors which help in mother-tongue acquisition, helping environment, motivation, needs, interests, ease, enough time ana avoiding anxiety also help in foreign language learning particularly in the common and shared.

The Study recommended that enough time should be given for English language learning.

It also recommended that motivation, learners- needs, interests and helping environment should be considered in English language learning.