Research Proposal

1. Content
Content........................................................................................................................................................1
2. Contextualisation.....................................................................................................................................3
2.1. Statement of the Problem ...............................................................................................................3
2.2. Rationale...........................................................................................................................................3
2.3. Background Information...................................................................................................................3
2.4. Statement of Purpose.......................................................................................................................4
2.4.2. Objectives of the Research........................................................................................................4
2.5. Critical Questions..............................................................................................................................5
2.6. Hypotheses ......................................................................................................................................5
3.Research Design .......................................................................................................................................5
3.1. Target Population.............................................................................................................................7
4. Literature Review ....................................................................................................................................7
4.1. The Concepts of Mother Tongue, Second Language and Language Transfer....................................8
4.2. Theories of Transfer..........................................................................................................................9
4.2.1. Behaviorist Theory: Thorndike’s Identical Elements..................................................................9
4.2.2. Behaviorist Perspective: Similarity of Stimuli and Response......................................................9
4.3. Factors Affecting Transfer ................................................................................................................9
5. Expected Results...................................................................................................................................10
6. Timetable of Activities...........................................................................................................................11
7. Budget and resources............................................................................................................................11
8. Dissemination........................................................................................................................................11
9. Bibliography..........................................................................................................................................12

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1. Introduction
Learning English language is a growing need in this age of globalization. Through another
language, we can speak with people from around the world. However, since people express
themselves best in their mother tongue, they are faced with challenges of learning English
language.
One of the general objectives for foreign language teaching and learning is to teach the learner to
be mastered in oral or written communication in the target language they learn. Most of the
learners have problems when they learn oral skill. Mean while, Ur (1996:12) stated that speaking
is one of the most important skills. It is a need to have other skill by people to be mastered in
speaking such as grammar competence, listening skill, vocabulary mastery and good
pronunciation.
It is very common that many foreign language learners have problems in teaching and learning
process. In this case, many of English foreign learners have difficulties in pronunciation teaching
process because of some factor. There are six factors that influence learners’ pronunciation,
mother tongue, age, amount of exposure, phonetic ability, personality, and motivation
(Kenworthy:1987).
There are about five local languages in Lichinga. Therefore, it is difficult to teach pronunciation
because the students are varied and they are all influenced by their own mother tongues. Almost
of students at Muchenga Secondary School have difficulties in pronouncing English words. So, it
needs appropriate technique in teaching pronunciation.
The challenges of mother tongue interference continue to be a serious problem. In this context
this paper will focus on the problems that students face due to mother tongue interference. This
paper attempts to address this problem by asking: What is the impact of mother tongues on
learning English language at Muchenga Secondary School. In order to answer this question, the
resesrcher wants to conduct a research.

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2. Contextualisation
2.1. Statement of the Problem
According to Ellis and Levy (1999) a statement of the problem is a claim of one or two
sentences in length that outlines the problem addressed by the study. A good problem statement
should answer these questions: what, how, where, when, why, and who.
This research proposal aims at probing the impact of mother tongues on learning English
language at Muchenga Secondary School.
As MacKay (1967) points out, (...) error may be due to a transfer from the mother languages; an
analogy with something correctly learned in the foreign language; a wild guess, vagueness in
remembering the right form; or general lack of accuracy and language skill. Of all these,
transfer from the mother tongue or interference is the most common one. Therefore, if it is so the
results of the research will confirm it.
2.2. Rationale
The rationale includes the reasons for focusing on your stated goals, objectives, and hypotheses
and reasons for choosing the materials and methods you propose to use.
First of all, the researcher developed pronunciation issues as a topic. Then, he got interested to
conduct a study related to mother tongues interference in English language learning in order to
solve the problems he faces as a student. Pronunciation teaching not only makes aware of
different sounds and sound features, but also improves speaking. So, it deserves a deep
investigation that is why of this research proposal.
2.3. Background Information
Muchenga Secondary school was founded in 1983, as an annex primary school of Amilcar
Cabral with 6th and 7th grades. Firstly, the school was built of mud. It is one of public, official and
general schools here in Lichinga city, located at Muchenga neighbourhood. In 2006 the Ministry
of Education of Niassa province, introduced grade 8, 9 and 10 (secondary school) and started
graduating since 2008. It is constituted of four blocks which make nine (9) classrooms.

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Taking into consideration of the English Language Teaching (ELT) policy English is being
taught in order to have the students communicating in English in all situations i.e. for
communicative purpose. The main purpose of the school is to enable teaching and learning
process. In this context the school management creates conductive conditions that allow quality
and learning. The school has still grade 8, 9 and 10. The English language teaching occurs in all
three grades as well as in all shifts. In order to understand how Muchenga Secondary School
students face the problem of pronunciation, first it is necessary to understand the context in
which the process of English language learning at Muchenga secondary school takes place.
English is considered to be a foreign language in our country. For this reason it is not normally
used as a means of communication in everyday life.
2.4. Statement of Purpose
2.4.1. Aim of the Research
A research proposal's aims are statements that broadly point out what you hope to accomplish
and your desired outcomes from the research. Aims focus on long-term intended outcomes -your
aspirations in reference to the research. Therefore, the general aim of this study is to get deeply
what is the impact of mother tongues on learning English language.
2.4.2. Objectives of the Research
Objectives lay out how you plan to accomplish your aims. While aims are broad in nature,
objectives are focused and practical. They tend to pinpoint your research's more immediate
effects. They include a list of practical steps and tasks you're going to take to meet your aims.
Objectives are typically numbered, so each one stands alone. Each objective must have a
concrete method set out.
In order to attain the above general aim, the following objectives will guide the study:
· To investigate the relationship between mother tongue and English language.
· To investigate the way learners of English language write and pronounce words of
English language.
· To provide guidelines and suggestions to be used by students of English language.

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2.5. Critical Questions
1. What is the relationship between mother tongues and English language on learning English
language?
2. How does the process of transference of elements of mother tongues to English language
occur?
3. What do teachers do in order to help students with pronunciation problems?
2.6. Hypotheses
Medawar cited in Bell (1993:33) says that all advances in scientific understanding, at every level,
begin with a speculative adventure, an imaginative preconception of what might be true – a
preconception which always, and necessarily, goes a little way (sometimes a long way) beyond
anything which we have logical or factual authority to believe in.
According to the same author the possibility of proof/disproof is built into the whole notion of an
hypothesis. It takes the form ‘if (theory X) is true, then (under conditions Y) we might expect to
find (result X)’. The test of the hypothesis ‘If . . . then . . .’ lies in finding (or not finding) the
expected outcome.
Taking into consideration to Medawar’s point of view the hypotheses of this research are:
· If teachers take into consideration that they can banish the Mather Tongues from the
classroom it is true that they cannot banish it from the students’ heads.
· If the process of transferring occurs only to the extent that the original and transfer tasks
have identical elements then it is true that students transfer because of minimal pairs.
· If a student pronounces English words awkwardly because of the process of transfer, then
the outcomes of this research can help him to pay attention.
3. Research Design
The Methodology is the general research strategy that outlines the way in which a research
project is to be undertaken and, among other things, identifies the methods to be used in it. These
Methods, described in the methodology, define the means or modes of data collection or,
sometimes, how a specific result is to be calculated. Howell, (2013).

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As in all research, the methods selected for gathering information depend on the nature of the
information required. It is applied research, carried out by practitioners who have themselves
identified a need for change or improvement, sometimes with support from outside the
institution; other times not. The aim is ‘to arrive at recommendations for good practice that
will tackle a problem or enhance the performance of the organization and individuals through
changes to the rules and procedures within which they operate’ Denscombe cited by Bell
(1993:8).
In this case the methodology to be applied in this research will be triangulation in order to ‘see
the same thing from different perspectives and thus to be able to confirm or challenge the
findings of one method with those of another’ as points out Laws cited by Bell (1993:116); it
will consist of exploring students’ experiences on pronouncing and writing words by
interviewing and it will take longer in contact involving the collection of extensive narrative data
in order to gain insight into a phenomenon of interest.
One major advantage of the interview is its adaptability. A skilful interviewer can follow up
ideas, probe responses and investigate motives and feelings, which the questionnaire can never
do.
The way in which a response is made (the tone of voice, facial expression, hesitation, etc.) can
provide information that a written response would conceal. Questionnaire responses have to be
taken at face value, but a response in an interview can be developed and clarified.
There are problems, of course. Interviews are time-consuming, and so in a 100-hour project you
will be able to interview only a relatively small number of people. It is a highly subjective
technique and therefore there is always the danger of bias. Analysing responses can present
problems, and wording the questions is almost as demanding for interviews as it is for
questionnaires. Even so, the interview can yield rich material and can often put flesh on the
bones of questionnaire responses.
Moser and Kalton Cited in Bell (1993:157) describe the survey interview as “a conversation
between interviewer and respondent with the purpose of eliciting certain information from the
respondent”.
This, they continue, might appear a straightforward matter, but the attainment of a successful
interview is much more complex than this statement might suggest.

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Wiseman and Aron Cited by Bell (1993:157) liken interviewing to a fishing expedition and,
pursuing this analogy, Cohen Cited by Bell (1993:158) adds that “like fishing, interviewing is an
activity requiring careful preparation, much patience, and considerable practice if the eventual
reward is to be a worthwhile catch”.
Preparation for interviews follows much the same procedures as for questionnaires. Topics need
to be selected, questions devised, methods of analysis considered and a schedule prepared and
piloted.
3.1. Target Population
Target population refers to the entire group of individuals to which researchers are interested in
generalizing the conclusions. The target population usually has varying characteristics and it is
also known as the theoretical population.
3.1.1. Universe Target population
The research will be carried out at Muchenga Secondary School. The target population will
consist of grade 9, three streams and some teachers of English language, at least four of them.
3.1.2. Sample of Target Population
The sample of population as a small part of universal target population in this research will be
taken into consideration the stream ‘E’, 9th grade; it has 97 students (37 boys and 60 ladies).
4. Literature Review
According to LAMB (2013) literature review aims to situate the current study within the body of
literature and to provide context for the particular reader. Literature reviews are a staple for
research in nearly every academic field.
A review of the literature is important because without it you will not acquire an
understanding of your topic, of what has already been done on it, how it has been
researched, and what the key issues are. In your written project you will be expected to
show that you understand previous research on your topic. This amounts to showing that
you have understood the main theories in the subject area and how they have been applied

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and developed, as well as the main criticisms that have been made of work on the topic.
Hart cited in Bell (1993:99)
In Hart’s view, ‘the review is therefore a part of your academic development – of becoming an
expert in the field’
In order to situate and acquire an understanding of the study of the impact of mother tongues in
the learning of English language are provided some aspects contextualised to the topic.
4.1. The Concepts of Mother Tongue, Second Language and Language Transfer
According to Ashworth (1992), mother tongue or native language is the language which the
person acquires in early years and which normally becomes his/her natural instrument of thought
and communication.
On the other hand, Ashworth (1992) states that “the second language is a language acquired by a
person in addition to her Mother tongue.”
According to Ellis (1999) “transfer is the process of using knowledge of the first language in
learning a second language, it is negative transfer.”
For the purpose of this research transfer will be considered the same as interference. Interference
may be viewed as the transference of elements of one language to another (Berthold cited in
Ormrod, 1990).
The basic problem of the foreign language learning arise not out of any essential difficulty in the
features of the new language themselves, but primarily out of the special “set” created by the
foreign language habits (Labo cited in Ellis, 1999:124).
Berthold defines grammatical interference as the first language influencing the second in terms
of word order, use of pronouns, articles and so on. Labo cited in Ellis (1999) claims that the
grammatical structure of the mother tongues tends to be transferred to English language and it is
the major problem in learning English language and there are three interacting factors in the
determination of language transfer:
· A learner’s psycho typology, how a learner organizes her Native Language;

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· Perception of Native Language-Transference Language distance;
· Actual knowledge of the Transference Language.
When something learned in one situation hinders one’s ability to learn or perform in a second
situation, then negative transfer has occurred. Individuals accustomed to driving a standard
transmission who then find themselves behind the wheel of an automatic transmission often step
on a clutch hat isn’t there. People who learn a foreign language typically apply patterns of speech
production characteristic of their mother tongues, thus giving them a foreign accent (Schmidt
&Young, 1987).
As long as there is a “common something” among tasks, the possibility of transfer between one
task to another exists (Gray & Orasanu, 1987). Let’s look at some theories of transfer.
4.2. Theories of Transfer
Ormrod presents four theories of transfer, but the researcher is going to present only two.
4.2.1. Behaviorist Theory: Thorndike’s Identical Elements
Edward Thorndike cited in Ormrod (1990) proposed a theory of transfer that emphasized specific
transfer: transfer occurs only to the extent that the original and transfer tasks have identical
elements.
4.2.2. Behaviorist Perspective: Similarity of Stimuli and Response
Since Thorndike’s work, behaviorist views of transfer have focused on how transfer is affected
by stimulus and response characteristics in the original and transfer situations. In general,
principles of transfer which have emerged from behaviorist literature (Osgood, cited in Ormrod,
1990) include the following:
· When stimuli and responses are similar in the two situations, maximal positive transfer
will occur.
· When stimuli are different and responses are similar, some positive transfer will occur.
· When stimuli are similar and responses are different, negative transfer will occur.
4.3. Factors Affecting Transfer

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A number of variables are related to the occurrence of transfer. I will consider two of them.
· The more thoroughly something is learned, the more likely it is to be transferred to
a new situation: there is often a trade-off between instructional time and transfer; the
more quickly a topic is covered, the less likely it is to be transferred (Cormier 1987; Ellis,
1999; Gick & Holyoak, 1987). The implications of this finding for educational practice
are clear: students should demonstrate thorough mastery of material if they will be
expected to apply that information in future situations.
· The more similar two situations are, the more likely it is that what is learned in one
situation will be applied to the other situation: behaviorists have argued that similarity
of either stimuli or responses is necessary for transfer to occur. Cognitivists have
proposed instead that because transfer depends on retrieval of relevant information at the
appropriate time, the perceived similarity rather than actual similarity of the two
situations is important (Gick & Holyoak, 1987). Either way, one thing is clear: similarity
between two situations affects transfer.
Briefly, transfer is the process of applying what has been acquired or learned in one situation to
one’s learning or performance in another situation. Two theories of transfer have been proposed.
Cognitivists argued that transfer depends on retrieval of relevant information. However,
Behaviorists argued, that for transfer to occur it needs to have a stimuli or response.
With these different opinions about transfer and how it occurs I ask: “what is the impact of
mother tongue and stimuli/response in English?” and “what are the problems that students face
with the interference of their mother tongue into English?” These challenges will be highlighted
after the study by being carried out at Muchenga Secondary School.
5. Expected Results
The research’s expectations are to understand: what will be the relationship between mother
tongue and English language on English language learning, how does the process of transference
of elements of mother tongues to English language occur, to know the way learners of English
language write and pronounce words of English language, to gain guidelines and suggestions to
be used by learners of English language.

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6. Timetable of Activities
Table 1: Timetable of Activities
Activities 2014 2015
Aug Sept Oct Apr May to Sep Oct Nov Dec
Literature Review X
Project writing X X
Project Presentation X
Data collection X X
Data treatment X
Data analyse X
Monograph Writing X X
Revision X
Delivering to the supervisor X
Delivering to the department X
Monograph Presentation X
Source: Author (adapted)
7. Budget and resources
Table 2: Material and resources
Material Cost (MT)
1 Pen 10,00MT
1 Ream of A4 200,00MT
Typing and printing 1.000,00MT
Transport 1.500,00MT
Binding 300,00MT
Food 1.500,00MT
Internet 1.200,00MT
Communication 1.500,00MT
Overall : 7.210,00MT
Source: Author (adapted)
8. Dissemination
According to Rabin, at al (2008:14) dissemination research is the systematic study of processes
and factors that lead to widespread use of an evidence-based intervention by the target
population. Its focus is to identify the best methods that enhance the uptake and utilization of the
intervention.

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Taking into consideration what Rabin states above this research will be disseminated in writing a
monograph at the end of the course as when all the hard work of gathering and analysing
evidences is complete, we have to write the final report in this case a monograph for this
research.
According to Bogdan and Biklen cited in Bell (1993:231) “you are never ‘ready’ to write;
writing is something you must make a conscious decision to do and then discipline yourself to
follow through”.
9. Bibliography
· ASHWORTH, M. (1992). Beyond Methodology. Malta: Cambridge University Press.
· BELL, Judith. Doing your research project. A guide for first-time researchers in
education and social science. Buckingham, Open University Press, 1993.
· ELLIS, R. (1999). Understanding Second Language Acquisition. Oxford University
Press.
· ELLIS, T. J., & LEVY, Y. (in press). A framework of problem-based research: A guide
for novice researchers. Informing Science Journal.

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· GICK, M. L. & HOLYOAK, K. J. (1987). The Cognitive Basis of Knowledge Transfer.
San Diego: Academic Press.
· HOWELL, K. E. (2013) Introduction to the Philosophy of Methodology. London: Sage
Publications.
· LAMB, David. "The Uses of Analysis: Rhetorical Analysis, Article Analysis, and the
Literature Review". Academic Writing Tutor, 2013.
· MACKAY, W. F. (1967). Language teaching analysis. Indiana: Indiana University Press.
· ORMOD, J. E. (1990). Human Theories, Principles, and Educational Applications. New
York: Maxwell Macmillan International Publishing Group.
· RABIN, B.A., at al (2008). A Glossary for Dissemination and Implementation Research
in Health. Journal of Public Health Management Practice.
· SCHMIDT, R. A., & YOUNG, D. E (1987). Transfer of Movement Control in Motor
Skill Learning. San Diego: Academic Press.
· SKIBA, R. (2000). The American Heriditage Dictionnary of the English Language.