PHONOLOGICAL FACILITATION AND INTERFERENCE IN THE LEARNING OF ENGLISH BY IBIBIO NATIVE SPEAKERS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1           Background of the Study

Colonialism and missionary in the eighteen century brought the English Language in their trial and since then most Nigerian have become bilingual. Bilingual as used in the context is refers to contact in convergence between two different languages of culture resulting in a sociological situation were in the same individuals learns the element from a linguistic or cultural system other than his/her native system. Ibibio learners and user of English (Like all others who are in this second language situation) encounter problems which may be phonological, syntactic, semantic or morphology. Really, the feedback from the production of our school system as observed by Ekah (2005: 4-5) shows that the Nigerian child lacks worth and dignity as long as he cannot use the instruments of his Education to influence in the positive direction in the society in which he/she lives. Ekah (2005) stressed, rather than a clear-evidence is the ungrammatical English spoken by most Nigerians in the midst of experts in the language.

The Errors arise from the fact that Nigerian blessed with a multiplicity of an ethnic group, each with a clearly distinguishable system of communication. The number of languages spoken by these ethnic groups is uncertain, hence, Nigeria is said to be a multi-lingual nation. This research study shall conduct a comparative study on the phonological facilitation and interference; the case of English and Ibibio language.

Recently, claims have been outrageous over the ways the English language is handled in Africa. Milieu (Environment). Besides, the status of English in Nigeria as an official language and a medium of instruction in schools and colleges brings up challenges regarding how it is handled in our schools by the learners. It is disheartening and pathetic as the pronunciation of English words has been subjected to all forms of disinformation and reckless attention.

The researcher as earlier discussed is concerned with examining a comparative study on phonological facilitation and interference, in English by its users as a second language [examples, Ibibio speakers and learners of English].

1.2           Statement of the Problem

The problem of this study is that some Ibibio and English bilinguals are likely to encounter problems like semantic, syntactic phonological or morphological when speaking English. English and Ibibio share more areas of dissimilarities than similarities and this can cause learning difficulties. Example, the dental fricatives /Ɵ/ and /ð/ are sometimes realized as /t/ and /d/; the voiced alveolar fricative /z/ tends to be realized as /s/ by Ibibio learners of English at the early stages.

Contrastive analysis hypothesis emphasizes that when two languages differ in their structure we expect cases of interference but when they are similar in the structure we expect facilitation in the learning. Most Ibibio native speakers of English falter in areas were facilitation and learning is expected while another area will expect cases in interference.

1.3           Purpose of the Study

The basic purpose of this study was to investigate the phonological facilitation and interference in the learning of English by Ibibio native speakers.

Specifically, the study sought to:

1.             Identify areas of facilitation and areas of interference between English and Ibibio.

2.             Examine Ibibio native speakers performance in English, in the area of facilitation.

3.             Examine Ibibio native speakers performance in English, in the area of interference.

4.             Make a judgment on Ibibio native speakers performance in English in the area of interference.

                5.             Propound theories on the outcome.

1.4           Research Questions

The following research questions were formulated to guide this study.

1.             To what extent does hypercorrection influence interference and facilitation on the articulation of English sounds?

2.             To what extent do generalization of the Ibibio sound structure pattern influence facilitation and interference in the articulation in English sounds?

1.5           Significance of the Study

This study shall be of good signs to the students of English and most for those studying linguistic in the university and college of education. It shall also serve as a good source of information for those in English department in their ENG 211 (Structure of English), curriculum planners will also find this study very useful while screening courses in the English language for those in institution of higher learning, pre-primary and primary education.

1.6           Limitation of the Scope

In order to make an in-depth study and analysis, the study has a limited scope. First, as the topic suggests “phonological facilitation and interference the case of English and Ibibio language”, the research will be strictly between English and Ibibio language.

1.7           Delimitation of the Study

This work will collect information from textbooks, the research will be carried out based on spoken English of educated people, written sources, linguistic evidence and views held by other people.

It will show the relationship between phonological facilitation and interference. It will analyze the morphological and syntactic process of English and Ibibio grammar and show how relevant they are in making the learners attain a higher level of linguistic competence. It will also go further to state recommendations after the study.