• Ashairi Suliman

  Author

English language is the second most important language in Malaysia, after Bahasa
Malaysia as the country’s national language. As Malaysia is a multicultural country with diverse
cultures, speaking like those native speakers does not seem to be crucial. Speaking in English
can prove to be a challenging task to the English language learners, especially if they do not
have a good command of the language. This study is meant to seek the mother tongue/ native
language influence on one’s speech production. Apart from investigating whether translation is
employed in speech production, it also studies whether competency in the language helps in
speech production. To execute the study, 16 Form 4 students from 2 rural areas of Sarawak are
chosen as the respondents. Observation on speech production serves as the research instrument,
which is then validated by the interview session. From the findings, it is found out that mother
tongue interferes in students’ speech production. In addition, they employ translation method
although they denote the importance of English language. Moreover, they regard speaking skill
as the most difficult skill in English language. To conclude, more actions should be taken in
order to promote fluency in speech production of the second language.

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