Facultad de …

Carrera de Pedagogía de los Idiomas Nacionales y Extranjeros

PROPUESTA DEL TEMA DEL PROYECTO DE INVESTIGACIÓN

TEMA

Language transfer and its incidence with oral production of the English language at first
semester of Pedagogía de los Idiomas Nacionales y Extranjeros career at Universidad
Nacional de Chimborazo, in the city of Riobamba, province of Chimborazo in the
academic period May – October 2022.

DOMINO CIENTÍFICO, HUMANÍSTICO Y TECNOLÓGICO

LÍNEA DE INVESTIGACIÓN
Educación superior y formación profesional

ESTUDIANTE: López Londo Lady Gabriela

1. Introducción

The currently investigation refers to English as a foreign language and people who are non-native speakers
from different nationalities speak the language since they represent more than 350 millions of inhabitants in
the world (Brown, 2001). English language in non-native speakers has generated a phenomenon of
massification of dialects and accents causing accidents of different phonological traits or characteristics
principally because students carry on their prior knowledge of the mother tongue to fill in the phonetic and
grammatical gaps of L2 producing Language Transfer.
The phenomenon responsible for this interference is defined by Arabski (2006) as a term used in applied
linguistics to refer to a process in foreign language learning whereby learners carry over what they already
know about their first language to their performance in their new language. People usually think that
acquire a foreign language must do only with grammar rules and vocabulary in order to develop a
significance learning. However foreign language acquisition process is complex process where a set of
linguistic elements are considered.
One of the principal characteristics of this phenomenon is the incorrect pronunciation and other linguistics
errors of L2 by students due the lack of phonetic sounds required by the English language. To analyze this
problematic is important mention the causes, one of them is that students use of the prior knowledge of their
mother tongue to acquire a foreign language.
The investigation of this problem is carried out of the interest of knowing the main elements of transfer from
an L1 to an L2. Besides, to delve into the process of language transfers. In personal experience of the author
and as this person is the subject of research to become a future professional, as future English teacher it
arouses the curiosity to know the linguistic phenomena that occur when acquiring a foreign language.
This research will be carried out through an observation file and interviews that allow us to get closer to the
reality of the research that will be applied in the students of the first semester. The purposes are to approach
from epistemology how Language Transfer happens in the acquisition of the English language. To identify
the oral language patterns where the Language Transfer phenomenon takes place and to reflect with students
how their mother tongue, influence on their oral production. Because the nature of the study is descriptive
and the qualitative approach.
The study is framed on four chapters which are organized as follows:
Chapter 1.- The referential framework contains the principal information of the research in terms of general
data, introduction, problem statement and objectives.
Chapter 2.- In the theoretical framework it will be presented the historical and theoretical background data
regarding the topic and furthermore the epistemological foundations of the study variables
Chapter 3.- In this chapter the methodological framework will be presented in which the research paradigm,
approach, level and method are identified. Besides, it will be explained in detail how the research study was
carried out.
Chapter 4.- Finally, in this chapter the results will be presented and analyzed and of course, the principal
conclusion and recommendations are posted.

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2. Planteamiento del Problema

Currently English is one of the most spoken foreign language in the world, if native and non-native
speakers are considered. English as a foreign language is spoken among non-native English speakers. People
who are non-native speakers represent more than 350 million that inhabit the world during the last decades
(Brown, 2001). Therefore, English language in non-native speakers has generated a phenomenon of
massification of dialects and accents causing accidents of different phonological traits or characteristics that can
produce different effects on the effective communication.
The effective communication consists of transmitting the message in an understandable way without
altering the message and it has several elements. English language is one of the main elements because it is the
language that is going to transmit a message to generate a correct communicative competence, Diaz (2005).
Communicative competence is usually not well applied by people who are learning a new language the reason is
that their mother tongue L1 interference with the knowledge of the foreign language L2. The phenomenon
responsible for this interference is known as Language Transfer and Arabski (2006) defines it as a term used in
applied linguistics to refer to a process in foreign language learning whereby learners carry over what they
already know about their first language to their performance in their new speech.
The errors in the Language Transfer are since English is considered an international lingua franca that
comes from the Second World War mainly by countries as United Kingdom and the United States that have
remained world powers. Lingua franca is the language that is used for practical reasons between individuals who
are not native speakers of the same language, and this language is chosen by two communication agents that may
not be the native language of one of them. Castro. (2000) and that is used by non-native English speakers who
are unwilling or unable to approach the norms imposed by the dominant standard models. Because of this,
English language was adopted as a foreign language in the educational curriculum around the world. South
American countries have had the same concern about language transfer such is the case of Colombia and
Argentina. Research in Colombia mentions that the term bilingualism was adopted to access the acquisition of
English as a foreign language. However, recent reports show that according to the EPI (English Proficiency
Index) 2020 which evaluates the English level around the world, in this case Colombia ranks 17th out of 19
South American countries. Because Spanish is the mother tongue, which is spoken by most of the population, a
transfer occurring from its l1 to l2, which makes it difficult to acquire a foreign language Usma (2015). In
Argentina as mentioned Barahona, M. (2015), is necessary that the teaching of English is integrated with a more
complex knowledge where the student's mother tongue is related to his second language in order to make a
positive transfer from one language to another and generate the acquisition of English.
In national contexts, Ecuador has several ancestral languages, but Spanish is the official language, in
consequently a Vera and Alejandra research mention that the relationship between the mother tongue L1 in this
case Spanish and English as the target language have many differences because L1 lacks many phonemes, which
makes it difficult for a correct oral production of foreign language. Vera & Alejandra (2019). People who are
Kichwa speakers have only 3 vowels and 26 letters and Spanish language has 5 vowels and 27 letter are different
between them, causing unavoidable phonetic errors when a communicative competence occurs.
People who learning a foreign language must know that there are a lot of linguistics error for instance,
neglecting intonation, speaking at an inappropriate rhythm, or speaking with poor diction. that comes from of

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interference of L1 and therefore affects the communicative interaction between a non-native speaker and a native
or between two non-natives. This investigation arises from the personal experiences of the author and as this
person is the subject of research to become a future professional of the English language, it arouses the curiosity
to know the linguistic phenomena that occur when acquiring a foreign language. In addition to the desire to
know how often students use their mother tongue to acquire a second language, especially when speaking. It is
analyzed from a theoretical approach how the mother tongue affects the oral production of the foreign language
in first semester students of the National University of Chimborazo.

3. Justificación

People in general think that acquire a foreign language must do only with grammar rules and
vocabulary in order to develop a significance learning. As Novak (1998) says, meaningful learning underlies the
constructive integration of thoughts, feelings and actions which implies prior knowledge about how a student
acquires a new language. However foreign language acquisition is even a more complex process where a set of
basic linguistic codes phonology, lexicon, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics as mentioned López
(2011) and the knowledge of the teacher and student. Where the teacher must emphasize their teaching to
successfully achieve learning and students must generate motivation to create knowledge of a foreign language.
Traditionally students could learn a foreign language only in the educational institutions, but it limits
the chance to correct oral production in the new language and reduce the capacity to communicate effectively.
That is why the English language is mispronounced by learners when try to speak and carry on their prior
knowledge of the mother tongue to fill in the phonetic and grammatical gaps of L2 producing Language
Transfer.
The process of teaching and learning the English language should be a concern of all educational
curriculums and even more the correct pronunciation of the language, for this reason, this research will focus on
studying the interference of the mother tongue in the foreign language because there are difficulties in
communicatively interacting between non-native English speakers with native speakers and non-native speakers
with non-native speakers. Thus, the present search would allow to show the main elements of transfer from an
L1 to an L2 and to delve into the process of language transfers, in addition to offering possible recommendations
so that the interference of languages favors and does not delay the process of acquisition of a language foreigner
and above all the correct oral production of this. This process will be carried out through an observation file and
interviews that allow us to get closer to the reality of the research that will be applied in the students of the first
semester of the Pedagogía de los Idiomas Nacionales y Extranjeros at Universidad Nacional de Chimborazo.

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4. Objetivos

4.1 General

 To analyze the incidence between Language Transfer and oral production of the English language,
at first semester of Pedagogía de los Idiomas Nacionales y Extranjeros career, at Universidad
Nacional de Chimborazo, in city of Riobamba, province of Chimborazo.

4.2 Específicos

 To approach from epistemology how Language Transfer happens in the acquisition of English as a
foreign language.

 To identify the oral language patterns where the Language Transfer phenomenon takes place in the
participants’ oral production.

 To reflect with students on how their mother tongue influences on their oral production.

____________________________________
Srta. Lady López
ESTUDIANTE
C.I. 060552500-5

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