Literature Review on the role of mother tongue in learning and teaching English for Specific Purposes

Abstract

The development of the field of study ‘English for Specific Purposes’ (ESP) was as a result of the acknowledgment of the importance of the purpose and needs of language learners. There are many peculiarities found within the English language that have led to a growing interest from researchers who strive to make it possible to distinguish English for Tourism, English for Law and Business English among others. Linguists have observed that since languages are constantly subjected to change due to its flaccid state, one cannot exclusively claim that they speak perfect English or any other language as of that (Choroleeva K, 2012). Even a native speaker cannot be considered to perfectly know his/her mother tongue. The foreign language of choice for most Albanian students is English. The students do not solely want to understand how a language functions or merely know how it compares stylistically with other learned languages. The learners are interested in learning the functions of the language because it is an aspect of professional and social acceptance and it also is a self-actualization aspect. However, even after investing ample time and effort in learning a foreign language, it has been noted that students usually have inhibitions when it comes to expressing themselves in the foreign language. They still use their native language when speaking or writing. This can be blamed on the methodology that most students use when acquiring a foreign language. Instead of learning for oral communication, they learn to gain reading proficiency in a foreign language or for the sake of being scholarly (Dralo A, 2012).