Exploring the problems of second language learners’ English pronunciation: A contrastive analysis of English and Oshiwambo (Oshikwanyama)

Abstract

English is the official language of Namibia. The majority of Namibians have to learn English as a second language because their mother tongue is either one of the Namibian indigenous languages or a different foreign language. Learning English has been a challenge to many learners and several studies attribute the high failure rate in Namibia to poor proficiency in English. In particular, contrastive analysis studies attribute some of the second language learners’ learning difficulties to their first language influence on the target language, English. This study, also a contrastive analysis, focuses on the difficulties which the native speakers of Oshiwambo encounter in learning to speak English, with particular reference to the Ovakwanyama. The study attempts to identify common errors which Oshikwanyama speakers would make in English and establishes the grounds for such errors. Finally, the study makes suggestion for the intervention strategies to remedy the situation.