Mother tongue as Facilitator or Barrier in learning Second language

Pages:105-107
Sarita Dahiya (D.H. Lawrence College of Education, Jhajjar)

Language is one of the unique possessions of man. It is the language that differntiates human beings from animals. If a person uses refined language he can win the hearts and if he doesn’t use proper language he can lose his dignity and degrade himself in the society. Without language, personality cannot be developed and society cannot be enriched. Ben Johnson says, “Language most shows a man: speak that I may see thee.” Language is a complex phenomenon which includes the first cry of the baby, the most rudimentary forms of human speech and all connections with all the fields of education. It is the language that unites the people of the world. It forms the basis of all the developments. Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols by means of which one can express his ideas, feelings and thoughts. One thing is crystal clear that language is a form of behaviour which is learnt and is not an automatic process like crawling. As stated it is behaviour and is acquired by making efforts. Let us take an example of a newly born baby. The infant has no language. He is continuously in the social group and there he learns the language through imitation and practice. He keeps on listening, listening and listening. With the passage of time he starts producing meaningful sounds. The point here is that the learning of any language is an effortful activity. Suppose an Indian born baby is placed in an environment where mother tongue is not Hindi and some other language (Second Language) is used all around, the children will acquire that Second language. This was the case when the child has not developed any language but if a person has already developed the mother tongue then a question arises: Does mother tongue help in learning the Second language or it hinders in the development of Second language? To answer this let us familiarize ourselves with the concepts of Mother tongue, Second language, the process of learning mother tongue and the process of learning Second language.