The Effect of Mother Tongue on Grade 4 Learners when Learning English as a Second Language: Case Study of Kavango East Region in Namibia

The study examined the effects of mother tongue on the academic achievement of Namibia’s senior primary school learners in grade 4 studying English as a Second language who also speak Rukwangali, Rumanyo and Thimbukushu. Language is a significant phenomenon without which it is impossible to successfully educate learners in a classroom. The study focuses on Namibian learner’ English Second language learning. English was adopted in Namibia as an official language in 199o, since then, English has been the country’s recognised official language. In Namibia’s primary and secondary schools, English is a required subject as well as a medium of instruction from senior primary to higher institutions of learning. The usage of English in learners’ interactions in the classroom today is not enforced with much effort. Mother tongues (Rukwangali, Rumanyo and Thimbukushu) may have an impact on how well learners learn English. From several schools in Namibia’s Kavango east region, three groups of 60 senior primary learners with three different mother tongues: Rukwangali, Rumanyo and Thimbukushu were randomly chosen. The null hypothesis is maintained by CHI-SQUARE ANYLYSIS. The analysis demonstrates that no mother tongue has a distinctive impact on the process of learning English