The Impact of First Language and Cultural Background on English Learning among Bangladeshi EFL Learners

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-581-2_6How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Native language interference; Cultural influence; EFL learners; Language transfer

Abstract

In an ever-globalized world in which English is a leading medium of instruction and communication, English proficiency is an important element in academic success and career mobility. Students in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) environment like Bangladesh often encounter issues in attaining communicative competence mainly because of interference by their first language (L1) and culture which significantly affect other aspects of language acquisition such as grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, motivation and classroom participation. Though the previous research has identified the significance of the L1 transfer and sociocultural factors in the second language acquisition, there is still a gap in empirical quantitative research on the extent of the mentioned factors in the context of the Bangladeshi EFL. In order to fill this gap, this study utilized a quantitative survey of 40 undergraduate EFL students at American International University-Bangladesh using a structured questionnaire comprising of 13 Likert-scale questions, and descriptive statistics techniques (mean and standard deviation) to analyze the perceptions of the learners in relation to the influence of L1 and cultural factors to English learning. The instrument exhibited great reliability with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.928 indicating good internal consistency. The results indicate a high degree of mean scores, which ranged between 4.08 and 4.68, showing that both L1 interference and cultural factors had a high degree of influence on the motivation of learners (M = 4.68), their confidence when teachers respect native culture (M = 4.62), and their comfort in classrooms (M = 4.57). On the whole, the results will imply that both linguistic and cultural factors are significant contributors to EFL learning experiences, and that integrating L1-based knowledge and cultural context of the learners into the English learning experience can enhance motivation, accuracy and confidence, and reduce language errors, with important pedagogical implications of developing culturally responsive and context-sensitive EFL teaching practices in Bangladesh, as well as of emphasizing the need to balance global English learning goals with local linguistic and cultural realities in order to improve learning outcomes.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Sabikun Nahar Aurty
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/05/30
TI  - The Impact of First Language and Cultural Background on English Learning among Bangladeshi EFL Learners
BT  - Proceedings of the International Conference on Challenges and Trends in Arts and Social Sciences (ICCTASS 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 69
EP  - 81
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-581-2_6
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-581-2_6
ID  - Aurty2026
ER  -