A CONTRASTIVE STUDY OF ENGLISH AND IGBO STRUCTURES: A CHALLENGE TO AN IGBO ESL

Abstract

Igbo native speakers who learn English as L2 most of the time have difficulties in learning the morphological and syntactical structures of the second language. The difficulties emanate from the evidence of differences between the structures of the acquired and learnt languages. The challenges the L2 learner faces prompted the researchers into investigating the differences between the structures of the L1 and that of L2 as they pertain to the Igbo and English languages using the theory of contrastive analysis. The study concentrated only on few aspects of morphology and syntax of the languages under study. The analysis reveals that the contrastive analysis leads to error analysis as the differences and difficulties lead to numerous errors in the process of learning L2; that the knowledge of L1 interferes in the study and mastery of L2. It is therefore, recommended that the curriculum planners take cognizance of those challenges so as to proffer solution on how the difficulties should be tackled for effective teaching and learning atmosphere.