The Influence of American English on the Mastery of English as a Foreign Language among Some Students in Kaduna, Nigeria

Abstract

The mastery of English language in Nigeria is an imperative for obvious reasons being that it is the language of governance, official language of communication, and transition to tertiary level education among others. The English Language orientation which is recognised is the British. However, over time, American English has emerged alongside it. The problem is that most learners of English as a foreign language do not seem able to clearly differentiate between the two and at times mix them up within the same context whether formal or informal. The purpose of this paper is to explore the causes of the confusion as a means to evolve the strategies to minimise them. The methodology engaged is the administration of an Essay containing fill in the gaps with options from both British and American English and an unstructured interview. The procedure used for data analysis is interpretation of the test score and content analysis of the responses to the interview. The conclusion is that the learners are definitely confused between the two varieties of English Language resulting to American English being a distraction to the British variety. The recommendations made include organizing a workshop solely to discuss the problem among teachers, to learn the strategies to improve the situation and be made to avoid mixing up the two varieties of English themselves.