ABSTRACT
This study is titled the mother tongue interference in news broadcast of some radio stations in Benin. The motivation for the study is the observation made concerning speech errors by news broadcasters heavily influenced by their mother tongue when they speak English as second language.
The theoretical framework used to carry out the study was error analysis theory. Error analysis was used because it is a set of procedures for identifying, describing and explaining learners’ errors. It does not help in detecting errors alone but actually tries in explaining why they are made.
The method of data collection used for this study is the qualitative method of data collection. The broadcasting stations used as case study are Rhythm 93.7FM and 95.7FM Benin (Silverbird radio and Edo Broadcasting Service respectively).
The findings of this study reveal that Bini L1 speakers find it difficult to articulate some English words, this is as a result of the influence their mother tongue has on their speech in English. It was further observed that Bini sound system do not have diphthongs and some sounds in a English sound system doesn’t exist in the Bini sound system.
The value of this work for linguistic study is to present an analysis on the reason for interference among Bini L1 speakers in newscasting.
