PSYCHOLINGUISTIC ANALYSIS OF THE CONSTRAINTS IN THE MASTERY OF ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The study analyses the psycholinguistic constraints affecting the mastery of English as a second language (ESL) in Nigeria. It particularly examines how the interlanguage phenomenon, fossilization and various affective factors influence the learning processes of second language learners of English. To determine how these constraints contribute to the poor mastery of English language, the study adopts a survey design to gather data. Descriptive statistics, specifically simple percentages, are used to analyze the data collected from the sampled population. The theoretical framework for the study is Stephen Krashen’s (1982) Theory of Second Language Acquisition, which consists of five hypotheses and is considered most appropriate for this research. The findings reveal that certain constraints significantly impede the mastery of English as a second, while, to a large extent, some factors facilitate the people’s performance in acquiring of English.