Perception of teachers on the influence of mother tongue interference on secondary school students Academic performance in English language

Due to the place of English language in Nigeria, the poor performance of students in the use of the language is definitely an issue of national concern. Therefore, the study was designed to explore the perception of teachers on the influence of mother tongue interference on the secondary school students’ academic performance in English language.
The subjects for the study consist of fifty teachers from twenty secondary schools in Ibadan South East Local Government Area of Oyo State. Questionnaires were given to the teachers to elicit information on the interference of mother tongue on learning of English language.
The findings from the study indicates that language interference features usually show up in the learners’ pronunciation of English words, the use of stress, intonation and general accents. They also show up in grammatical construction, in the choice of some words and expression and so on.
We, then conclude that, not many learner’s of English language as a second language can overcome or totally avoid manifestation and interference in their use of English.
Based on the findings above, it was thus recommended that the three factors that determine the level of interference which are the level of immersion of the individual, the level of the individual’s education and the individual’s oral English education exposure should be well taken care of in every student. Students should be made to realize their deficiencies in the use of English Language. English Language teachers should also update their knowledge regularly to understand the peculiar areas which they or the students have problems in the teaching and learning of English language as a result of mother tongue interference.