‘First Language Interference’, as an idea, has had a rather unique history in second language acquisition, research and practice. It was presumed to be the only source of syntactic errors in adult second-language performance (Lado, 1957) and a great deal of materials preparation was done with this assumption in mind (Banathy, Trager and Waddle, 1966). However, work done by Jack C. Richards in the field of error analysis has led several scholars to question the value of contrastive analysis. Richards’ work in error analysis (1971) posits the view that the first language is but one of the several sources of error and other sources need to be considered.

According to Newmark (1966), first language influence is simply the result of the performer being expected to “perform before he has learned the new “behaviour”. The result is “padding”, using old knowledge, and supplying what is known to make up for what is not known. Newmark suggests that the “cure for interference is simply the cure for ignorance: learning” (In terms of Krashen’s Monitor Model, this would mean “acquisition”). Thus the L1 may “substitute for the acquired L2 as an utterance initiator when the performer has to produce the Target Language but has not acquired enough of the L2 to do this. According to Newmark’s theory (1966), “interference” is not the first language “getting in the way” of second language skills. Rather, it is the result of the performer “falling back” on old knowledge when he or she has not yet acquired enough of the second language.

Kellerman (1978) suggests another condition for “transfer” to occur. The acquirer must perceive a similarity between items in the first and second language. Items that appear to be language specific (e.g. idioms) will be less prone to transfer.

First Language Interference has simply been seen as the effect of the language learner’s first language on their production of the language they are learning. The effect can be on any aspect of the language: grammar, vocabulary, accent, spelling and so on. It is most often discussed as a source of errors (negative transfer), although where the relevant feature of both languages is the same, it results in correct language production (positive transfer). The greater the difference between the two languages, the more negative the effects of interference are likely to be. It will inevitably occur in any situation where the person has not mastered the second language.

First Language Interference often results in an English distinctive to the learner’s first language. It is often easy to determine a non-native English speaker’s first language by the mistakes they commonly make in syntax, word choice and especially pronunciation.

Chomsky distinguished between the terms ‘competence’ and ‘performance’ in 1965. According to him, a speaker’s competence is the underlying ability to produce and interpret well-formed sentences in a given language and to distinguish well-formed from ill-formed strings. Performance, on the other hand, covers not only the manifestation of competence on actual occasions of language use, but also the effects of memory, perception and attention on language behaviour. One could use these two terms as an analogy to explain the dilemma faced by a typical Indian student learning English as a second language. Given a limited level of ‘competence’ in his knowledge of English, his ‘performance’ has to constantly be monitored consciously by the English teacher, especially in formal situations, like interviews, group discussions, meetings, conferences, etc. and attention needs to be paid to effective pronunciation.

Multilingualism is a unique feature among Indians. A Chinese boy will know only Chinese and maybe English, the Japanese can only speak Japanese, and so on. But in India, one will hardly ever find any Indian who cannot speak at least two Indian languages. A typical Mumbaite, for instance, will simultaneously know his mother tongue, Marathi, Hindi and English. Such multilingualism can be used to the Indian student's advantage. For Indians it is vital to learn a larger language of wider communication like English. They seldom achieve the proficiency of native speakers and, therefore, find it that much more difficult to present their viewpoints, reply to questions, etc. Spoken English courses are, therefore, in great demand.

Colleges also run add-on courses in Spoken English or Conversational English for students and outsiders alike. I would like to focus on the challenges faced by the teacher while teaching spoken English to students and how pronunciation can be improved by using the Devnagari script in the teaching of English pronunciation.

A genuine problem that one has come across in one's career as a teacher of English in a typical suburban college in Mumbai is poor pronunciation of English. In spite of repeated attempts at correcting them, students show varying levels of first language interference. Certain typical problems in pronunciation that one commonly observes are:

The list can, of course, go on. The issue that I would like to raise here is that the Indian speaker of English as a second language learner is bound to be at some kind of a disadvantage owing to his first language or native tongue "interfering" with his pronunciation of English. The "interference" occurs only because he is unaware and not habituated to uttering words in Standard English or accepted English. With a little bit of training and conscious effort the problem can easily be sorted out.

There are a few things that have worked in the classroom, which I would like to share. Knowledge of the Devnagari script can be used to our advantage in the classroom in order to understand the concept of "stress" or "emphasis". A word which is commonly mispronounced in Maharashtra like "bill" can be written in Marathi in the Devnagari script with the correct maatra used to illustrate the problem, i.e. the correct English pronunciation having the shorter maatra and the wrong pronunciation having the longer maatra. Words like "communication" can be broken up into syllables and the concept of primary stress can be taught through word endings. For instance, one can easily teach a student that all words ending with "tion" or "sion" take the stress in the syllable before the ending. Words ending in "ic" or "ical" take the stress before the ending too. For instance, "spe ci fic" or "phy si o lo gical". The concept of stress shifting with a change in the form of the word can also be illustrated through examples like:

Bi o lo gy becoming bi o lo gi cal; e co lo gy becomes e co lo gi cal, etc.

A clear understanding of concepts like syllable, stress, primary stress and length of the syllable can make a lot of difference. An understanding of English phonology and how it is necessarily different from native Indian languages also helps. Using a portable tape recorder in the classroom and making the student speak into it and playing it back to point out problems helps a great deal. Exercises like stress marking (circling the stressed syllable) and grouping words according to similar vowel sounds are immensely popular and attract the students' attention.

Lakshmi Muthukumar has been a lecturer in the Degree College, Dept. of English, S.I.E.S. College of Arts, Science and Commerce, Mumbai since February 1995. She took an M.A. in English Literature from the University of Mumbai in 1994. Her area of specialization has been Teaching English as a Second Language.