The Effect of Mother Language Toward the Mastery of English Language Acquisition; Case of Indonesian Students in English Learning Process

Abstract

Abstract
Second Language to foreign language acquisition is needed to achieve success in education, work
or career and other goals. However, reading a text in a foreign language for non-native speakers
requires language transfer from a foreign language to the mother tongue and then only the meaning
and content can be understood. Mother tongue is a language that is absorbed by children up to the
age of 3 years. The language transition process requires an appropriate strategy with access to
language absorption that is able to facilitate language transfer in the reader's mindset. Analyzing
the strategy and process of language transfer from a foreign language to a mother tongue requires
a measurable and explainable concept or pattern. Analysis of the process of understanding a
foreign language is not an easy thing. Due to the difficulty of observing and analyzing the process
of understanding a foreign language, the researcher tries to reveal what the role of the mother
tongue is in learning and understanding a foreign language. Retrospective interviews with 5
Chinese students, 5 Japanese students, 5 Arab students and 5 Indonesian students were carried out
by the researcher accompanied by a translator/interpreter by asking some questions about when
foreign language readers use their mother tongue cognitively and how to use their mother tongue in
a cognitive way. This cognitive function can help understand the meaning of foreign language texts.
The results of this finding contribute to the theory of the process of understanding foreign
languages from a sociocultural point of view.
Keywords: Mother language, Language acquisition, English Learning Process