Page 1 of 17
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/
e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 02 Issue 6
June 2016
Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 57
Experiencing Language Transfer among Secondary School
Students in Tanzania: An Analysis of Syntactic Transfer of
Essays from Three Secondary Schools in Moshi Municipality -
Kilimanjaro
Asteria Gabriel Ngaiza
Department of Management, Moshi Co-operative University (MoCU)
P. O. Box 474, Kilimanjaro-Tanzania
E-mail: asteria.ngaiza@mocu.ac.tz
Abstract
This paper explores essays from three
secondary schools in Moshi Municipality
to determine the evidence of language
transfer. The study was guided by
Selinker’s interlanguage theory. The
study involved two classes in each school;
the classes were Form Three and Form
Four. The essays were analyzed and
instances of transfer counted using
content analysis and were arranged
according to their pattern, namely word
order transfer, article deletion, pronoun
redundant and subject omission. The
instances were then grouped and counted
and comparatively described in
percentages according to the levels and
schools. The findings reveal that students
in both levels consistently transferred
some syntactic features of their First
Language (L1) when writing in English.
The transfer types observed from their
essays include word order transfer,
article deletion, subject omission, and
redundant pronoun. However, word order
transfer featured more dominantly
compared to the other types. It is
concluded that the results from the study
reported herein suggest that Tanzanian
secondary school students use more
features of their first language when
producing the target texts.
Keywords
Interlanguage, language transfer, syntax,
a sentence
Introduction
Acquiring a second language involves
many challenges, one of which is the
difference that exists between the
learners’ native language and the target
language. There have been various
theoretical approaches to second language
learning which have tried to address such
challenges, for example Language
Transfer (LT) and Interlanguage (IL).
Page 2 of 17
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/
e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 02 Issue 6
June 2016
Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 58
Transfer is a traditional term from
psychology of learning which means
imposition of previously learned patterns
onto a new learning situation (Gass &
Selinker, 2008). According to Odlin
(1989), transfer is an influence resulting
from similarities and differences between
the Target Language (TL) and any other
language that has been previously and
perhaps imperfectly acquired.
Transfer can be observed in all aspects of
language. For instance, Singleton (2006),
Ringbom (2007), Cenoz (2001)
extensively explored on the importance of
transfer in Second Language Acquisition
(SLA). Some have looked at transfer in
morphology (DE Angelis & Selinker,
2001). A study by Mwambapa (2012) on
phonological transfer reports that students
encounter difficulties in pronunciation of
English words because of Kiswahili
Language. This shows that student’s first
language, in this sense Kiswahili, affects
their ability in acquiring English because
they tend to transfer some L1 features into
L2. While Mocho (2012) found that
Idakho first language speaker who is
learning Kiswahili as a second language
transfer their L1 in the areas of
pronominal prefixes, adverbial prefixes,
verbal prefixes, subject prefixes,
augmentatives, diminutives, and locatives.
In (SLA), the knowledge of L1 in the
acquisition of L2 can indeed have a
facilitative or inhibitive effect on the
learner’s progress in mastering a new
language (Gass & Selinker, ibid). Usually,
facilitation effect is known as positive
transfer while inhibition is considered
negative transfer. Negative transfer
appears to be of great concern among
researchers working on SLA such as Yip
and Mathews, (2000) and Boroditsky,
(2000) because it seems that, through
proper understanding of negative transfer,
one can be able to establish a hierarchy of
difficulty and therefore the hierarchy of
learning.
It is also said that languages unrelated to
the target language influence learning of
the target language. This is because
second language learners tend to assume
such similarities in the L1 even if such
similarities do not exist (Ringbom, 2007).
Kiswahili and other Bantu languages are
said to have different cross-linguistic
similarities with English language. For
example Kiswahili is described to be a
morphologically complex agglutinative
language while English is an inflective
language (Deen, 2002).
Page 3 of 17
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/
e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 02 Issue 6
June 2016
Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 59
In Tanzania, Kiswahili is both a subject
and a Medium of Instruction (MoI) in
primary schools. Tanzania employs a
late-exit transitional bilingual model
where Kiswahili is the language of
instruction in primary schools for seven
(7) years and then a switch is made to
English when students enter secondary
schools where English becomes the MoI.
However Qorro (2006), Muzale (1993),
Campbell and Qorro (1987) assert that,
although English is the language of
secondary education, it has remained
mainly the language of the classroom.
This implies that Kiswahili is widely used
outside classroom environment something
which eventually facilitates language
transfer in the process of SLA. This is
because when two or more languages
come into contact and used
simultaneously, there is high possibility
that language transfer would take place
during writing and speaking. Such
transfer between these languages may
either be positive or negative. It is said
that, between the two, the positive one in
most cases facilitates second language
learning. This is clearly put forward by
Ringbom (2007) as he comments;
“learners usually transfer to the target
language the properties of their first
language or any other language that they
have mastery of”. This is because one of
the most recognizable traits of L2
learner’s speech is that it bears certain
resemblance to the L1. For instance,
someone whose L1 is French is likely to
sound different from someone whose L1
is Germany when they both speak English
(Archibald, 1996).
Looking at the status of education system
in Tanzania, where the two languages are
used as the medium of instruction, it gives
the justification for the present study to
examine syntactic transfer in essays of
three secondary schools.
Theoretical Consideration
The present study adopts Interlanguage
Theory (IL) by Selinker (1972). IL theory
holds that transfer is one of the factors
associated with the unique system of the
L2 learner’s language, i.e. language
transfer exists in L2. The theory further
explains that learners do not construct
rules from the vacuum; rather they work
with whatever information is at their
disposal. That is to say, their L1 is
considered as a kind of input from the
inside. This is why IL theory will be used
to explain the syntactic transfer on
students‘essays.
Before probing into major discussion, it is
important to consider the following
