Role of Mother Tongue in Second Language Acquisition

Student’s Name Learnin" rel="nofollow">ing Institution Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1. Background of the Role of Mother Tongue in" rel="nofollow">in Second Language Acquisition The process of elimin" rel="nofollow">inatin" rel="nofollow">ing mother tongue (MT) from teachin" rel="nofollow">ing languages has been a major area of debate in" rel="nofollow">in teachin" rel="nofollow">ing activities sin" rel="nofollow">ince the onset of the twentieth century with the implementation of the direct methods (Bono, 2011). The implementation of Russian as a Second Language was implemented as a career for young people who visited Europe to improve their communication capabilities. By the 1970s, it was theorized that usin" rel="nofollow">ing mother tongue durin" rel="nofollow">ing classroom sessions was counter-productive. While the existin" rel="nofollow">ing evidence in" rel="nofollow">indicatin" rel="nofollow">ing the relevance of mother tongue in" rel="nofollow">in the acquisition of Russian competence as a second language are scarce, there are no serious studies that have been conducted to challenge this situation. While language learners occasionally make errors resultin" rel="nofollow">ing from the impacts of the mother tongue, a significant part of what learners get correctly is done concernin" rel="nofollow">ing it. If correspondence is not made between foreign language items and those of mother tongue, it would be significantly difficult to learn a foreign language. However, we can draw our knowledge as a poin" rel="nofollow">int of comparison rather than understandin" rel="nofollow">ing the world and everythin" rel="nofollow">ing in" rel="nofollow">in it from the begin" rel="nofollow">innin" rel="nofollow">ing. While there may be variations in" rel="nofollow">in the structures of the first language and the second language, at least MT is important in" rel="nofollow">in providin" rel="nofollow">ing somethin" rel="nofollow">ing, to begin" rel="nofollow">in with durin" rel="nofollow">ing learnin" rel="nofollow">ing. An example of the earliest models used durin" rel="nofollow">ing cross-language in" rel="nofollow">influence was applied in" rel="nofollow">in 1957. In a process referred to as the Contrastive Analysis (CA), the second language was regarded to be highly affected by the characteristics of the first language. Consequently, detailed descriptive understandin" rel="nofollow">ing of the structures of both the first language and the second language of bilin" rel="nofollow">inguals was considered important (Cook, 2013). While structures in" rel="nofollow">indicatin" rel="nofollow">ing similarities in" rel="nofollow">in the two languages was assumed to enable the acquisition, the difference in" rel="nofollow">in structures of the two languages was assumed to prevent fast acquisition. A significant theoretical shift was observed in" rel="nofollow">in lin" rel="nofollow">inguistics and psychology when there was a begin" rel="nofollow">innin" rel="nofollow">ing of a focus on universal language acquisition rather than the variations among languages. A hypothesis referred to as L1=L2 was proposed. When the errors made in" rel="nofollow">in L2 among bilin" rel="nofollow">inguals were analyzed, it was found that the errors followed patterns that were similar to that of monolin" rel="nofollow">ingual children in" rel="nofollow">involved in" rel="nofollow">in L1 acquisition (Gass, 2013). These data were in" rel="nofollow">interpreted to imply the universality of developmental sequence durin" rel="nofollow">ing language acquisition. Accordin" rel="nofollow">ing to the identity hypothesis, L2 learners have been in" rel="nofollow">involved in" rel="nofollow">in the active organization of the new language that they hear and develop generalizations regardin" rel="nofollow">ing its structure, in" rel="nofollow">in the same manner as children learnin" rel="nofollow">ing L1. Based on this framework, it was assumed that the impact of the first language and the cross-language transfer was perceived to be limited or less important. For example, it was observed that the process of creatin" rel="nofollow">ing an order of the accuracies of production of the eight grammatical morphemes in" rel="nofollow">in Russian had the same similarities for Russian as Second language learners from some backgrounds (Hutton, 2012). Research on first language and second language acquisition has also been done in" rel="nofollow">in the context of in" rel="nofollow">inflectional morphology and syntax. While these areas could be in" rel="nofollow">indicatin" rel="nofollow">ing the manner in" rel="nofollow">in which lin" rel="nofollow">inguistic prin" rel="nofollow">inciples operate to a particular extent, other areas, that in" rel="nofollow">include vocabulary development, phonology, and metacognitive methods, could in" rel="nofollow">indicate the impact of the mother tongue. Consequently, focus was shifted among researchers by studyin" rel="nofollow">ing the in" rel="nofollow">influence of mother tongue and cross-language transfer in" rel="nofollow">in the 1980s’. The present focus on cross-language transfer is, however, distin" rel="nofollow">inct from the Contrastive Analysis (CA) tradition. Suggestions have been made in" rel="nofollow">in the use of terms such as a cross-lin" rel="nofollow">inkin" rel="nofollow">ing effect or the impact of mother tongue to elimin" rel="nofollow">inate the behaviorist connotations of the word transfer (Khansir, 2012). In contrast to the CA approach, present studies in" rel="nofollow">indicate that the formal similarities in" rel="nofollow">in language structures are not enough to achieve the actual transfer. There is the need for second-language learners to be aware of the distin" rel="nofollow">inctions between mother tongue and Russian as a second language. In general, it is not the formal lin" rel="nofollow">inguistic typology but the psychotypology of the learner that determin" rel="nofollow">ines the ability to learn the second language in" rel="nofollow">in an effective manner. 1.2. Relevance of Mother Tongue in" rel="nofollow">in Second Language Acquisition Mother Tongue (MT) is highly important in" rel="nofollow">in creatin" rel="nofollow">ing a foundation for some languages and the manner in" rel="nofollow">in which they are developed. The impact of MT on language development is brought by in" rel="nofollow">interaction with family members such as parents who create the foundation of the manner in" rel="nofollow">in which their children communicate (Kormos, 2014). When the fist language is main" rel="nofollow">intain" rel="nofollow">ined, it can be important in" rel="nofollow">in achievin" rel="nofollow">ing developmental objectives of the learner to achieve a positive self-concept. Children with the opportunity to main" rel="nofollow">intain" rel="nofollow">in their first language have the ability to extend cognitive development, in" rel="nofollow">in the process of learnin" rel="nofollow">ing Russian as a second language. The manner in" rel="nofollow">in which they show competence in" rel="nofollow">in the second language is associated with the competence they achieve in" rel="nofollow">in the first language. When children have sound knowledge of their first language, they can transfer the skills to another language. This study examin" rel="nofollow">ines the effects of differences in" rel="nofollow">in the structures of Mother Tongue on the second language. Some professionals in" rel="nofollow">in lin" rel="nofollow">inguistics and bilin" rel="nofollow">inguals have illustrated that there exist similarities between MT and the second language (Larsen-Freeman & Long, 2014). Mother Tongue education constitutes an important area of in" rel="nofollow">introduction to literacy which becomes useful in" rel="nofollow">in the acquisition of knowledge of the second language. Studies on L2 acquisition shows that learnin" rel="nofollow">ing another language can be less problematic, if a child can master the first language and develops competences in" rel="nofollow">in listenin" rel="nofollow">ing, speakin" rel="nofollow">ing, readin" rel="nofollow">ing, and writin" rel="nofollow">ing that can be transferred to learnin" rel="nofollow">ing another language. In areas where L2 is used as the medium of in" rel="nofollow">instruction, learners experience problems resultin" rel="nofollow">ing from the fact that their task is threefold. When learners make sense of the tasks in" rel="nofollow">involved in" rel="nofollow">in the in" rel="nofollow">instructional activities in" rel="nofollow">in the second language, they can attain" rel="nofollow">in lin" rel="nofollow">inguistic competence required to achieve effectiveness in" rel="nofollow">in learnin" rel="nofollow">ing as well as bein" rel="nofollow">ing able to face the problem of masterin" rel="nofollow">ing the content (Littlewood & Yu, 2011). Bilin" rel="nofollow">ingualism is the ability of a person to speak in" rel="nofollow">in two languages by understandin" rel="nofollow">ing and speakin" rel="nofollow">ing in" rel="nofollow">in either of them. Some people are likely to be comfortable when usin" rel="nofollow">ing the two languages in" rel="nofollow">in a similar environment and are likely to switch from one language to another. The aim of this paper is to explain" rel="nofollow">in the effects of mother tongue on learnin" rel="nofollow">ing Russian as a second language and the manner in" rel="nofollow">in which it is relevant in" rel="nofollow">in teachin" rel="nofollow">ing the latter. Chapter 2: Role of Mother Tongue in" rel="nofollow">in Learnin" rel="nofollow">ing and Teachin" rel="nofollow">ing Purposes 2.1. Role of Mother Tongue in" rel="nofollow">in Language Transfer Durin" rel="nofollow">ing Second Language Acquisition Language transfer has an impact on speakers in" rel="nofollow">in a positive or negative manner based on the structure of the native language they acquire. The positive transfer is achieved when there is a transfer of meanin" rel="nofollow">ing of items in" rel="nofollow">in the same manner as the method of speakin" rel="nofollow">ing and the perception of acceptability (McLaughlin" rel="nofollow">in, 2013). Negative transfer is observed when the opposite is observed, resultin" rel="nofollow">ing in" rel="nofollow">in errors. The teachin" rel="nofollow">ing methods used in" rel="nofollow">in some educational in" rel="nofollow">institutions in" rel="nofollow">involve the application of grammar translation from the origin" rel="nofollow">inal mother tongue to the target language. There is a general lack of consideration for the manner in" rel="nofollow">in which words should be pronounced. When learners use their native language, they develop a sense of security while learnin" rel="nofollow">ing a second language. They experience more challenges in" rel="nofollow">in the attempt to abandon their native language in" rel="nofollow">in spite of the communicative methods of emphasizin" rel="nofollow">ing the foreign language bein" rel="nofollow">ing taught. The perception of ceasin" rel="nofollow">ing to use one’s mother tongue in" rel="nofollow">in classroom communication has been brought by an odd situation where studyin" rel="nofollow">ing a second language for a significant period does not guarantee the students to fluently speak the second language. There were challenges in" rel="nofollow">in the assumptions regardin" rel="nofollow">ing the significance of transfer of languages as a result of cross-lin" rel="nofollow">inguistic variations in" rel="nofollow">in the manner in" rel="nofollow">in which the second language was acquired and defin" rel="nofollow">ined by contrastive analysis (Mitchell, Myles & Marsden, 2013). Contrastive analysis has been done in" rel="nofollow">in two versions: a CA prior and a CA posteriori. CA priori is also called predictive or strong version while CA posterior is also called the explanatory or a weak version of CA. accordin" rel="nofollow">ing to this hypothesis, the existence of similarities between languages enables a leaner to easily acquire skills in" rel="nofollow">in the use of a foreign language but with difficulties. The CA posteriori in" rel="nofollow">involves main" rel="nofollow">inly the analysis of errors. Some errors are observed as a result of the strategies of acquirin" rel="nofollow">ing a foreign language. Thus, there is the need for lin" rel="nofollow">inguist teachers to focus main" rel="nofollow">inly on the actions of learners rather than makin" rel="nofollow">ing assumptions regardin" rel="nofollow">ing what students are likely to do. Semantic errors are made by learners because they make general assumptions about the target language, the strategies used durin" rel="nofollow">ing learnin" rel="nofollow">ing the foreign language, the actual transfer of a language, and methods of communication usin" rel="nofollow">ing the second language. Translation constitutes an important process at the in" rel="nofollow">intermediate level and is also called the fifth language skill in" rel="nofollow">in addition to speakin" rel="nofollow">ing, readin" rel="nofollow">ing, and writin" rel="nofollow">ing which are the four main" rel="nofollow">in skills. Translation to L2 provides a room that enables understandin" rel="nofollow">ing the importance of social skills. Teachers of second languages have the knowledge of the significance of translation in" rel="nofollow">in classroom languages because all students perform mental translation of materials from language 1 to language 2 (Ball, 2010). Students face the difficulties in" rel="nofollow">in thin" rel="nofollow">inkin" rel="nofollow">ing directly in" rel="nofollow">in foreign languages durin" rel="nofollow">ing writin" rel="nofollow">ing sin" rel="nofollow">ince translation from L1 to L2 in" rel="nofollow">in their min" rel="nofollow">inds is unavoidable. Those who learn the second language rely on the composition of their native language in" rel="nofollow">in the production of utterances in" rel="nofollow">in the second language, and this can be of help or destructive to them. The use of mother tongue can have an impact on the manner in" rel="nofollow">in which they learn a foreign language in" rel="nofollow">in a positive or negative manner. The effect of a native language used by a student on the ease or difficulty of acquirin" rel="nofollow">ing the second language is determin" rel="nofollow">ined by the processes that the learner go through while learnin" rel="nofollow">ing. The proficiency acquired by some learners is native-like in" rel="nofollow">in most foreign languages they learn, while a number of them do not achieve similar proficiency in" rel="nofollow">in a foreign language in" rel="nofollow">in the same manner as the native language (Bono, 2011). General learnin" rel="nofollow">ing strategies and universal properties of a language are used. These universal attributes provides them with the ability to in" rel="nofollow">internalize the second language. The student shows the ability to develop a transitional system that demonstrates his or her present knowledge of foreign language. They also acquire knowledge of foreign language usin" rel="nofollow">ing the present knowledge that provides them with the ability to cope with challenges in" rel="nofollow">in communication. There is a variation in" rel="nofollow">in languages in" rel="nofollow">in the forms of used to create meanin" rel="nofollow">ings, in" rel="nofollow">in addition to the actual meanin" rel="nofollow">ings. For in" rel="nofollow">instance, the perceived computer translation of ‘the spirit is willin" rel="nofollow">ing, but the flesh is weak’ when translated in" rel="nofollow">into Russian implies, ‘Vodka is all right, but meat is bad’. This in" rel="nofollow">indicates that language variations have different meanin" rel="nofollow">ings for particular words (Cook, 2013). When a word is expressed in" rel="nofollow">in a particular language, it may have a number of equivalents in" rel="nofollow">in a different language. On the other hand, it is possible to obtain" rel="nofollow">in a relative actual fit in" rel="nofollow">in meanin" rel="nofollow">ings of words by relatin" rel="nofollow">ing ideas that are based on physical reality. 2.2. Role of Mother Tongue in" rel="nofollow">in Orthographic and Phonological Processin" rel="nofollow">ing In order to achieve orthographic processin" rel="nofollow">ing, a number of strategies can be used. An example of a subcomponent of orthographic processin" rel="nofollow">ing is the ability to know the symbols and their correspondin" rel="nofollow">ing identities. For in" rel="nofollow">instance, a person who reads Russian as the second language needs to memorize the alphabet, and the symbols they refer to. Readers have to understand the meanin" rel="nofollow">ings of each orthographic symbol (Gass, 2013). In alphabets, letters are representations of sounds and phonemes while in" rel="nofollow">in other languages, the symbols are used to refer to syllables or morphemes. Orthographic processin" rel="nofollow">ing also in" rel="nofollow">involves bein" rel="nofollow">ing aware of common orthographic patterns in" rel="nofollow">in alphabetic languages. Studies in" rel="nofollow">in monolin" rel="nofollow">inguals in" rel="nofollow">indicate that despite the fact that they may not be easily verbalized, skilled readers show sensitivity to common letter combin" rel="nofollow">inations in" rel="nofollow">in the language they write. Durin" rel="nofollow">ing makin" rel="nofollow">ing of non-word decisions on letter strin" rel="nofollow">ings, in" rel="nofollow">in a case where the overall test contain" rel="nofollow">ins random letter strin" rel="nofollow">ing rather than strin" rel="nofollow">ings that are word-like in" rel="nofollow">in a list in" rel="nofollow">in a combin" rel="nofollow">ination with words, different strategies can be used by readers. Chapter 3: Importance of Mother Tongue on Russian as Second Language Distin" rel="nofollow">inction 3.1. Theories Explain" rel="nofollow">inin" rel="nofollow">ing the Role of Mother Tongue in" rel="nofollow">in Second Language Acquisition There exist a number of theories explain" rel="nofollow">inin" rel="nofollow">ing the impact of mother tongue on acquisition of competence in" rel="nofollow">in the second language. For in" rel="nofollow">instance, the behavioral theory argues that second language learners imitate what they hear and develop habits in" rel="nofollow">in the use of foreign language by practicin" rel="nofollow">ing routin" rel="nofollow">inely. They also relate their current knowledge of the first language to the second language (Hutton, 2012). The occurrence of a positive transfer results from the similarities between the first language and the second language, but there is the likelihood of differences and difficulties when learnin" rel="nofollow">ing the second language. In real life environments, this type of in" rel="nofollow">information is not of significant beneficial to the learners because it requires the formation of sentences that have not been seen or used apart from utterances of words. Durin" rel="nofollow">ing the acquisition of language competences, the basic process of learnin" rel="nofollow">ing is a syllabus that in" rel="nofollow">involves a fin" rel="nofollow">inite and pre-practiced sentence. In actual life situations, these sentences do not provide enough in" rel="nofollow">information to enable conversation to take place. Another theory that explain" rel="nofollow">ins the impact of mother tongue on secondary language acquisition is the critical period hypothesis. This theory argues that after a particular period in" rel="nofollow">in a person’s life, the acquisition of a language can be almost impossible. There is the need for one to learn the language durin" rel="nofollow">ing this period, such as before one attain" rel="nofollow">ins puberty, due to the fact that it is the period when the brain" rel="nofollow">in is undergoin" rel="nofollow">ing development (Khansir, 2012). When one attain" rel="nofollow">ins puberty, the brain" rel="nofollow">in is fully developed and learnin" rel="nofollow">ing a language becomes a difficult task. This condition was observed in" rel="nofollow">in ‘Genie’ who was neglected sin" rel="nofollow">ince she was 2 years old until she attain" rel="nofollow">ined the age of 13 years and was exposed to little language in" rel="nofollow">interaction. After she was rescued from the condition of extreme neglect in" rel="nofollow">in which she lived, she developed the ability to learn some vocabulary. On the other hand, she was not able to grasp the language entirely. Accordin" rel="nofollow">ing to arguments that explain" rel="nofollow">in this condition, it was due to her low Intelligence Quotient (IQ) despite the fact that a number of people have been able to learn foreign languages even after attain" rel="nofollow">inin" rel="nofollow">ing puberty. However, they have not been able to overcome the impacts of their accents. The impact of MT on the acquisition of the second language has also been achieved by the use of natural order hypothesis. Accordin" rel="nofollow">ing to this theory, the acquisition of the second language takes place in" rel="nofollow">in a predictable manner. Studies have in" rel="nofollow">indicated that those who learn Russian as a second language make similar mistakes irrespective of their background languages (Kormos, 2014). The errors associated with those that children make durin" rel="nofollow">ing learnin" rel="nofollow">ing of first language. Different perspectives have been provided with regards to this theory but they only have general knowledge about few languages. Furthermore, studies that have been conducted are made up of only a few grammatical mistakes and with all the existin" rel="nofollow">ing languages worldwide, only a few of them have been studies effectively. If human capacity in" rel="nofollow">in language is not improved, readin" rel="nofollow">ing would become challengin" rel="nofollow">ing. The basic components that have been identified across languages in" rel="nofollow">include: morphology, semantics, syntax, pragmatics, and phonology. There is a contin" rel="nofollow">inuous progression in" rel="nofollow">in the acquisition of a language with an in" rel="nofollow">increase in" rel="nofollow">in capacity, refin" rel="nofollow">inement, understandin" rel="nofollow">ing, and usage. These components are important in" rel="nofollow">in defin" rel="nofollow">inin" rel="nofollow">ing one’s language development and skills. There are impacts of certain" rel="nofollow">in similarities and differences in" rel="nofollow">in languages that impact grammar, vocabulary and the acquisition of pronunciation on the basis of the above five components. Phonology focuses on the manner in" rel="nofollow">in which a speech is structured within" rel="nofollow">in a language (Larsen-Freeman & Long, 2014). The existence of variations in" rel="nofollow">in speech is determin" rel="nofollow">inants for the manner in" rel="nofollow">in which speeches are uttered. The sounds that constitute a language are called phonemes. The ability to understand the morphology of language is important in" rel="nofollow">in vocabulary development because they are the base words, and constitute the smallest buildin" rel="nofollow">ing blocks for understandin" rel="nofollow">ing of a language. Studies of syntax focus on meanin" rel="nofollow">ing fullness of units that are combin" rel="nofollow">ined to create a sentence. Each language is composed of its in" rel="nofollow">individual syntax, the groups of words durin" rel="nofollow">ing communication. The impact of these rules is their role in" rel="nofollow">in creatin" rel="nofollow">ing acceptable and non-acceptable sentence structures. Semantics refer to the manner in" rel="nofollow">in which a language expresses meanin" rel="nofollow">ings. It enables an in" rel="nofollow">individual to understand the importance of understandin" rel="nofollow">ing a sentence without considerin" rel="nofollow">ing its literal meanin" rel="nofollow">ing. It is dependent on culture and thus results in" rel="nofollow">in difficulties for people who are not native speakers or those who come from a different cultural background (Littlewood & Yu, 2011). The method of achievin" rel="nofollow">ing goals in" rel="nofollow">in the use of a language by a particular community is called pragmatics. The manner in" rel="nofollow">in which a person in" rel="nofollow">interacts with a child differs from the manner of in" rel="nofollow">interaction with an adult or a parent. There is s difference in" rel="nofollow">in speech formality durin" rel="nofollow">ing in" rel="nofollow">interaction between an in" rel="nofollow">individual and an employer as well as durin" rel="nofollow">ing conversation with friends. The significance of pragmatics is their role in" rel="nofollow">in improvin" rel="nofollow">ing the understandin" rel="nofollow">ing of the relevant style and the time at which it should be used. The stages in" rel="nofollow">involved in" rel="nofollow">in progressin" rel="nofollow">ing through the acquisition of a language by learners is similar, the only variation is the amount of time each student spends in" rel="nofollow">in different stages. The acquisition of a language takes place in" rel="nofollow">in five stages namely: pre-production stage, early production stage, the stage of speech emergence, the stage of in" rel="nofollow">intermediate fluency, and the advanced fluency stage (McLaughlin" rel="nofollow">in, 2013). In the pre-production stage, learners may use up to 500 English words in" rel="nofollow">in a vocabulary, but do not speak. Some students may ‘parrot’ what they hear but the student’s level of attentiveness is high. They also respond to visuals and pictures and have the ability to understand gestures and phrases durin" rel="nofollow">ing communication. Durin" rel="nofollow">ing early production stage, learners develop the use of active words and can use complex sentences durin" rel="nofollow">ing speakin" rel="nofollow">ing and writin" rel="nofollow">ing. Views and thoughts can be shared and discussions can be held in" rel="nofollow">in groups with much ease. This level enables learners use methods from their mother tongue to learn the contents of foreign language. Their manner of writin" rel="nofollow">ing is composed of a number of errors in" rel="nofollow">in their attempt to master the complexities associated with the second language’s grammar and structure. Universal learnin" rel="nofollow">ing and learnin" rel="nofollow">ing the second language in" rel="nofollow">indicates that a learner of a foreign language in" rel="nofollow">incorporates techniques of a first language grammar in" rel="nofollow">in makin" rel="nofollow">ing judgment whether there is grammatical correctness in" rel="nofollow">in a particular sentence (Mitchell, Myles & Marsden, 2013). Grammatical universality might have been acquired by the learner either directly or in" rel="nofollow">indirectly by the use of a native language. When not considerin" rel="nofollow">ing cognitive and situational factors, it is argued that the process of acquirin" rel="nofollow">ing the second language is similar to the first language as a result of the discrepancies that are either accidental or in" rel="nofollow">in necessarily in" rel="nofollow">in a particular situation. The learner’s min" rel="nofollow">ind creates a similarity in" rel="nofollow">in learnin" rel="nofollow">ing the foreign language as the first language. Foreign language for adults provides them with the opportunity to differentiate between grammatically correct sentences thus in" rel="nofollow">indicatin" rel="nofollow">ing that they were able to access the Universal Grammar. This prin" rel="nofollow">inciple in" rel="nofollow">indicates that movement of elements in" rel="nofollow">in the sentence must not occur beyond particular boundaries (Ball, 2010). However, the learner may not be able to achieve competence in" rel="nofollow">in Universal Grammar durin" rel="nofollow">ing learnin" rel="nofollow">ing of L2. Accordin" rel="nofollow">ing to the perspective of the Critical Theory Hypothesis, the limits to the acquisition of the first language occur between the ages of 2 to 12 years when the child’s brain" rel="nofollow">in is not yet mature. This implies that after a particular age, the accessibility to the prin" rel="nofollow">inciples of universal grammar is not easily accessible. Mother tongue that mediates enables easy acquisition of L2. The importance of L1 has been queried as a mediator despite the likelihood of acquirin" rel="nofollow">ing another language in" rel="nofollow">in the presence of the existin" rel="nofollow">ing language, there is an entrenched serious problem. Development of competence in" rel="nofollow">in L2 is determin" rel="nofollow">ined by a number of differences, which are the achievements of the learner, and personal rate of development (Bono, 2011). A number of aspects such as variables that describe cognitive thin" rel="nofollow">inkin" rel="nofollow">ing and social characteristics of humans have a hin" rel="nofollow">inderin" rel="nofollow">ing impact on the acquisition of L2. Learners have to in" rel="nofollow">interact and converse with those who are native speakers of L2 in" rel="nofollow">in order to enable them master the language. A great deal of the impact of mother tongue on the second language exists in" rel="nofollow">in translated abstracts. A study in" rel="nofollow">investigatin" rel="nofollow">ing the texts that were translated in" rel="nofollow">into Russian from 80 English abstracts demonstrated relevant mistakes that had an impact on the meanin" rel="nofollow">ings of the writin" rel="nofollow">ings of the contents (Cook, 2013). There were the impacts of negative transfers from mother tongue in" rel="nofollow">in non-professional translations. A number of poin" rel="nofollow">ints of views have been used to analyze the manner in" rel="nofollow">in which mother tongue in" rel="nofollow">interferes when writin" rel="nofollow">ing Russian. Due to lack of knowledge regardin" rel="nofollow">ing key differences between languages, learners have been in" rel="nofollow">involved in" rel="nofollow">in an erroneous use of words and sentences. These errors are significantly brought by the impact of mother tongue on the manner in" rel="nofollow">in which a person speaks. A number of translations from L1 to L2 do not account for the meanin" rel="nofollow">ing and context aspects. They ignore semantics and sociolin" rel="nofollow">inguists and focus on grammar related areas and elements that enable the creation of language forms. There is a conscious or unconscious dependence on mother tongue structures such as: discourse, tongue structures, and aspects associated with safety and comfort arisin" rel="nofollow">ing from their use (Gass, 2013). They ignore the vagueness and in" rel="nofollow">inaccuracies in" rel="nofollow">in the creation of imprecise meanin" rel="nofollow">ings. If an abstract in" rel="nofollow">in the first language provides a proper language use, while the translation to L2 shows vagueness and errors, the resultin" rel="nofollow">ing in" rel="nofollow">information becomes obscured and the audience to whom the message is in" rel="nofollow">intended does not fully understand it. This problem results due to pragmatism that effects the level of reality in" rel="nofollow">in the manner in" rel="nofollow">in which the translation occurs. Vocabulary is of importance because if there is no correct word in" rel="nofollow">in a sentence, communication breakdown is observed. The procedure in" rel="nofollow">involved in" rel="nofollow">in learnin" rel="nofollow">ing the second language, its later application and the manner in" rel="nofollow">in which learners compensate for lackin" rel="nofollow">ing the knowledge in" rel="nofollow">in construction of complex verb terms is greatly affected by mother tongue (Hutton, 2012). A number of errors occurrin" rel="nofollow">ing in" rel="nofollow">in the vocabulary used by a learner are caused by the in" rel="nofollow">influence of mother tongue. A number of in" rel="nofollow">inevitable errors occurrin" rel="nofollow">ing in" rel="nofollow">in the vocabulary used by a learner are caused by mappin" rel="nofollow">ing one’s mother tongue to the second language vocabulary. Sin" rel="nofollow">ince all Russian learners are customarily reliant on their mother tongue, the amount of the first language they require is determin" rel="nofollow">ined by their competence in" rel="nofollow">in lin" rel="nofollow">inguistic situations (Khansir, 2012). While it can be conclusively argued that translation from L1 to L2 in" rel="nofollow">in the learner’s min" rel="nofollow">ind is important in" rel="nofollow">in improvin" rel="nofollow">ing language development, a number of learners usually misin" rel="nofollow">interpret meanin" rel="nofollow">ings of words durin" rel="nofollow">ing writin" rel="nofollow">ing of texts in" rel="nofollow">in the second language due to the use of words that do not have similar meanin" rel="nofollow">ings when compared with the origin" rel="nofollow">inal language. Errors in" rel="nofollow">in vocabulary have been made by both learners as well as professional authors who acquired Russian as a second language. Durin" rel="nofollow">ing writin" rel="nofollow">ing, there have been in" rel="nofollow">instances of high deficiencies due to the impacts of traditional language aspects and the resultin" rel="nofollow">ing disciplin" rel="nofollow">ines, which are not effective in" rel="nofollow">in improvin" rel="nofollow">ing translations (Kormos, 2014). MT has a diverse impact in" rel="nofollow">in effectin" rel="nofollow">ing the manner in" rel="nofollow">in which the second language is acquired. Learners of a second language have strong lin" rel="nofollow">inguistic and communication skills in" rel="nofollow">in their MT that provides them with the ability to acquire the second language in" rel="nofollow">in an effective manner. Their learnin" rel="nofollow">ing methods in" rel="nofollow">involve the transfer of forms and meanin" rel="nofollow">ings durin" rel="nofollow">ing readin" rel="nofollow">ing, speakin" rel="nofollow">ing, or writin" rel="nofollow">ing a second language. The manner in" rel="nofollow">in which they understand what is bein" rel="nofollow">ing said is by transferrin" rel="nofollow">ing the in" rel="nofollow">information from L2 to L1. This shows that the cultural, academic, and lin" rel="nofollow">inguistic needs of a second language learner should not be disregarded and errors should be allowed to prevent the development of fear of learnin" rel="nofollow">ing a particular second language. 3.2. Impact of Mother Tongue in" rel="nofollow">in the use of Russian to Communicate in" rel="nofollow">in a Realistic Manner Because some students are less likely to attain" rel="nofollow">in native-like proficiency in" rel="nofollow">in their second language, there is the need to develop more realistic goals durin" rel="nofollow">ing learnin" rel="nofollow">ing. When one has a basic communicative competence in" rel="nofollow">in a secondary language such as Russian, high capabilities exist for managin" rel="nofollow">ing busin" rel="nofollow">iness and leisure activities in" rel="nofollow">in the future (Larsen-Freeman & Long, 2014). However, it is widely accepted that there exist some non-native speakers of the Russian language. Due to this situation, Russian has been regarded as an in" rel="nofollow">international language in" rel="nofollow">in the same manner as other languages. There is a parallel in" rel="nofollow">in academic consensus regardin" rel="nofollow">ing the impacts of ethnocentricism where it is concluded that measurement of the group should not be done again" rel="nofollow">inst the regulations of another. Due to this condition, it is argued that Russian grammar, methods of makin" rel="nofollow">ing pronunciation, selection of vocabulary by learners’ differences from the native language should not be used to imply the failure to become a native speaker. However, a review can be done on them as a sample a sample of a different variety of Russian (Littlewood & Yu, 2011). Consequently, durin" rel="nofollow">ing the teachin" rel="nofollow">ing of ‘communication’, there should be less focus on min" rel="nofollow">inor variations to native speaker Russian that have no impact on the ability to understand the message. Some native Russian teachers would agree that an example of an obstacle to an improvement in" rel="nofollow">in the capacity to communicate Russian effectively is the tendency to focus on min" rel="nofollow">inor details and the need to become absolutely ‘correct.' There is little doubt that some native teachers tell learners to put more emphasis on enhancin" rel="nofollow">ing the understandin" rel="nofollow">ing of what they mean, rather than bein" rel="nofollow">ing silent by bein" rel="nofollow">ing worried about the correctness of the forms. By in" rel="nofollow">insistin" rel="nofollow">ing on the use of ‘Russian only,' we will be sendin" rel="nofollow">ing students’ contradictory in" rel="nofollow">information. It will be like in" rel="nofollow">informin" rel="nofollow">ing them that pronouncin" rel="nofollow">ing Russian usin" rel="nofollow">ing their mother tongue perspectives is a mistake (McLaughlin" rel="nofollow">in, 2013). The fact that methodologists in" rel="nofollow">insist on the use of L2 does not imply that the L1 has not been practically used in" rel="nofollow">in classrooms. This is likely to have taken place through code-switchin" rel="nofollow">ing. This refers to a method used to alternate between languages to facilitate both communication and learnin" rel="nofollow">ing. The impact of L1 on L2 has been main" rel="nofollow">inly observed among immigrant communities who do not speak Russian as their first language, thus have to learn it as a second language. 3.3. Impact of Mother tongue and Translation in" rel="nofollow">in Language Teachin" rel="nofollow">ing It is important to create a distin" rel="nofollow">inction between the teachin" rel="nofollow">ing of translation as a skill and the implementation of mother tongue durin" rel="nofollow">ing teachin" rel="nofollow">ing sessions. The importance of translation durin" rel="nofollow">ing learnin" rel="nofollow">ing of a language is main" rel="nofollow">inly recommended by non-native teachers. Native teachers of Russian have the perception that learnin" rel="nofollow">ing a foreign language requires much exposure in" rel="nofollow">in classroom sessions and the use of L1 or translation is not necessary (Mitchell, Myles & Marsden, 2013). This is not the case because it has been observed that learners who are exposed to L1 develop competence in" rel="nofollow">in L2 compared with those who are restricted to use the only L2. Previously, some L2 pedagogy required that L1 should not be permitted in" rel="nofollow">in the classroom. Most communicative methods to language learnin" rel="nofollow">ing in" rel="nofollow">in the 1980s did not consider L1 to be of importance. However, there has been a recent change in" rel="nofollow">in attitude towards mother tongue and translation in" rel="nofollow">in class activities in" rel="nofollow">involvin" rel="nofollow">ing the provision of language competence to learners. Translation is also called the fifth language skill in" rel="nofollow">in addition to other basic skills such as listenin" rel="nofollow">ing, speakin" rel="nofollow">ing, readin" rel="nofollow">ing, and writin" rel="nofollow">ing. Translation is of great importance at an in" rel="nofollow">intermediate and advanced level of teachin" rel="nofollow">ing and learnin" rel="nofollow">ing a particular language because it promotes communication and the ability of people of different languages to understand one another (Ball, 2010). There exist both positive and negative impacts of the use of mother tongue to learn a second language. It performs both social and cognitive functions in" rel="nofollow">in language development. When students work in" rel="nofollow">in groups, they do not have to speak Russian all the time. The use of mother tongue is associated with the identity of the learner. The impact of the use of mother tongue is that in" rel="nofollow">increased use of L1 may undermin" rel="nofollow">ine in" rel="nofollow">interaction durin" rel="nofollow">ing learnin" rel="nofollow">ing of Russian (Bono, 2011). Despite the competence that a student may have in" rel="nofollow">in understandin" rel="nofollow">ing the authentic readin" rel="nofollow">ing and listenin" rel="nofollow">ing resources, a significant number focus on translatin" rel="nofollow">ing from L2 to L1 and vice versa. Due to this situation, teachers of L2 are made aware of the significance of translation in" rel="nofollow">in language sessions. The use of mother tongue by second language learners has been associated with lin" rel="nofollow">inguistic in" rel="nofollow">incapability of the students to activate the vocabulary for a particular task. Furthermore, translation is a natural activity durin" rel="nofollow">ing language learnin" rel="nofollow">ing, and code-switchin" rel="nofollow">ing durin" rel="nofollow">ing communication in" rel="nofollow">in different languages is considered to be naturally for developmental objectives. The level of the use of L1 by students may be caused by differences in" rel="nofollow">in the styles used by learners and their capabilities (Cook, 2013). The outcomes of studies in" rel="nofollow">into the important issue of the use of L1 in" rel="nofollow">in classrooms in" rel="nofollow">in different parts of the world shows that L1 is of value in" rel="nofollow">in achievin" rel="nofollow">ing socio-cognitive objectives durin" rel="nofollow">ing learnin" rel="nofollow">ing. L1 is also used in" rel="nofollow">in the classroom to foster a positive, effective environment and to promote the use of a native language by the teacher to in" rel="nofollow">influence class dynamics, and create a sense of security and validate the experiences that learners go through. The actual importance of translation in" rel="nofollow">in English is the manner in" rel="nofollow">in which it can be exploited durin" rel="nofollow">ing comparison of vocabulary, word order, and other poin" rel="nofollow">ints are language use of the learner’s mother tongue. If students have the knowledge of the differences, language in" rel="nofollow">interference from the native language can be reduced. It is known that lin" rel="nofollow">inguistic competence can be achieved consciously or unconsciously. Similarities and differences across languages can facilitate the positive transfer or negative transfer such as the occurrence of errors, over production, or misrepresentation. There should be more emphasis on the view that positive transfer is not always associated with the impact of native language (Gass, 2013). Some studies showed that both positive and negative transfers in" rel="nofollow">in the uses of L1 and L2 were important in" rel="nofollow">in the attain" rel="nofollow">inment of language development objectives and the complex systems of L2 learnin" rel="nofollow">ing. Accordin" rel="nofollow">ing to the data on the transfer between languages, there is a high probability that L2 learners will demonstrate a thin" rel="nofollow">inkin" rel="nofollow">ing aspect that applies L1 strategies, even in" rel="nofollow">in advanced levels. Also, translation in" rel="nofollow">in the L2 learnin" rel="nofollow">ing environment provides a way that illustrates the similarities and variations between L1 and L2 forms. It is important to achieve the translation objectives because it in" rel="nofollow">involves the use of authentic materials, it is in" rel="nofollow">interactive, and it is centered on learners while promotin" rel="nofollow">ing autonomy. With regards to the use of L1 and L2 in" rel="nofollow">in classroom environments, it s recommended that the experiences of students towards it should be studied. Studies conducted by Ball (2010), shows that when learners are restricted from usin" rel="nofollow">ing their mother tongue durin" rel="nofollow">ing learnin" rel="nofollow">ing, they develop the feelin" rel="nofollow">ing that their identity is threatened (Hutton, 2012). Most students have also been of the view that mother tongue should be used in" rel="nofollow">in elaboratin" rel="nofollow">ing difficult concepts and durin" rel="nofollow">ing the in" rel="nofollow">introduction of new materials. Learners have been in" rel="nofollow">involved in" rel="nofollow">in a constant effort to check the meanin" rel="nofollow">ings of terms durin" rel="nofollow">ing L2 learnin" rel="nofollow">ing in" rel="nofollow">in their native language by lookin" rel="nofollow">ing up the meanin" rel="nofollow">ings in" rel="nofollow">in bilin" rel="nofollow">ingual dictionaries or recommendin" rel="nofollow">ing that the teacher teaches them in" rel="nofollow">in L1. When native language is used in" rel="nofollow">in classrooms, students are made to thin" rel="nofollow">ink that words in" rel="nofollow">in L2 have an L1 correspondence, but this is usually not common (Khansir, 2012). Consequently, improvin" rel="nofollow">ing the student’s consciousness of the non-parallel characteristic of the second language to the first language is likely to enable comparative thin" rel="nofollow">inkin" rel="nofollow">ing among learners. The greatest concern is the method that can be used to reach a balance in" rel="nofollow">in the application of L2 durin" rel="nofollow">ing learnin" rel="nofollow">ing of L2. It is recommended that the factors that should be considered in" rel="nofollow">include: the previous experience of the student, the level of learnin" rel="nofollow">ing, the stage of course, and the in" rel="nofollow">individual lesson. Conclusion This paper has explain" rel="nofollow">ined the topic of the role of mother tongue in" rel="nofollow">in second language acquisition. It examin" rel="nofollow">ines the manner in" rel="nofollow">in which learners of a second language can use their mother tongues as the basis of achievin" rel="nofollow">ing learnin" rel="nofollow">ing objectives such as readin" rel="nofollow">ing, writin" rel="nofollow">ing, speakin" rel="nofollow">ing, and in" rel="nofollow">interactin" rel="nofollow">ing in" rel="nofollow">in a second language by applyin" rel="nofollow">ing their mother tongue concepts. In the paper, the second language of focus was Russian. It is established that there exist few publications explain" rel="nofollow">inin" rel="nofollow">ing the impact of mother tongue on L2 in" rel="nofollow">in the case where the second language is Russia. However, this study shows that mother tongue is important in" rel="nofollow">in providin" rel="nofollow">ing the learners with confidence in" rel="nofollow">in communicatin" rel="nofollow">ing as well as enablin" rel="nofollow">ing the elaboration of concepts which cannot be easily understood. It also enables the students to communicate in" rel="nofollow">in a more realistic manner durin" rel="nofollow">ing speakin" rel="nofollow">ing, writin" rel="nofollow">ing and listenin" rel="nofollow">ing to the in" rel="nofollow">information provided to them by their in" rel="nofollow">instructor. The use of L1 is also effective in" rel="nofollow">in improvin" rel="nofollow">ing the ability of learners to improve their cognitive abilities. Among the theories explain" rel="nofollow">inin" rel="nofollow">ing the impact of L1 durin" rel="nofollow">ing learnin" rel="nofollow">ing of L2, the Contrastive Analysis theory explain" rel="nofollow">ins that mother tongue is important in" rel="nofollow">in the acquisition of competence in" rel="nofollow">in the second language by enablin" rel="nofollow">ing translation of the second language to the first language. There are some words that have similar sounds or orthographic characteristics when used in" rel="nofollow">in a secondary language as well as a primary language, thus promotin" rel="nofollow">ing the understandin" rel="nofollow">ing of the former. Lastly, this paper examin" rel="nofollow">ines the impact of mother tongue in" rel="nofollow">in enablin" rel="nofollow">ing teachin" rel="nofollow">ing in" rel="nofollow">in classroom sessions. It is found that when children are less restricted to use mother tongue, they are more likely to cooperate with the in" rel="nofollow">instructors so that their ability to understand L2 is improved. References Ball, J. (2010). Educational equity for children from diverse language backgrounds: mother tongue-based bilin" rel="nofollow">ingual or multilin" rel="nofollow">ingual education in" rel="nofollow">in the early years: summary. Bono, M. (2011). Crosslin" rel="nofollow">inguistic in" rel="nofollow">interaction and metalin" rel="nofollow">inguistic awareness in" rel="nofollow">in third language acquisition. New trends in" rel="nofollow">in crosslin" rel="nofollow">inguistic in" rel="nofollow">influence and multilin" rel="nofollow">ingualism research, 60, 25. Cook, V. (2013). Second language learnin" rel="nofollow">ing and language teachin" rel="nofollow">ing. Routledge. Gass, S. M. (2013). Second language acquisition: An in" rel="nofollow">introductory course. Routledge. Hutton, C. (2012). Lin" rel="nofollow">inguistics and the Third Reich: Mother-tongue fascism, race and the science of language. Routledge. Khansir, A. A. (2012). Error analysis and second language acquisition.Theory and practice in" rel="nofollow">in language studies, 2(5), 1027. Kormos, J. (2014). Speech production and second language acquisition. Routledge. Larsen-Freeman, D., & Long, M. H. (2014). An in" rel="nofollow">introduction to second language acquisition research. Routledge. Littlewood, W., & Yu, B. (2011). First language and target language in" rel="nofollow">in the foreign language classroom. Language Teachin" rel="nofollow">ing, 44(01), 64-77. McLaughlin" rel="nofollow">in, B. (2013). Second language acquisition in" rel="nofollow">in childhood: Volume 2: School-age Children. Psychology Press. Mitchell, R., Myles, F., & Marsden, E. (2013). Second language learnin" rel="nofollow">ing theories. Routled