The Influence Of First Language To The Second Language In Teaching And Learning Kiswahili In Secondary School In Gakenke District

Previous studies investigated the influence of mother tongue on teaching and learning second language. Influence of L1 to L2 can be similarity, interlanguage and interference. This study was conducted in secondary schools in Gakenke District to investigate the influence of Kinyarwanda on teaching and learning Kiswahili. This study was guided by Sociocultural Theory by Vygotsky (1978), and the theory of first language (L1) and second language (L2) learning by Weineich (1953). Therefore, Kiswahili has been introduced in Rwanda since 1979 after signing agreement between Government of Rwanda and the United Republic of Tanzania. The aim of this paper was to establish to what extent does the first language influence negatively while teaching and learning a second language. In this study, different tools were used to gather information, whereby purposive sampling for interviews was used to select groups of respondents to be interviewed and classroom observation was used too. The obtained results showed that most of the time second language teachers interact with students, using first language in order to help learners as well as saving time. This study also found out that, students tend to confuse Kiswahili and Kinyarwanda because, both of them have some similarities. As a result, we noticed that, there was a serious problem of limited exposure to foreign languages. Despite all the challenges mentioned above, teachers claimed that, they are trying to cope with the demands of the new language policy, whereby new strategies have been put in place so as to encourage students to make their efforts in linguistic learning activities to attain educational objectives. Key words: first language, second language, teaching and learning, interlanguage, interference.