English Only in the EFL Classroom: Worth the Hassle? In considering the use of L1 (the learners mother tongue) in ELT (English Language Teaching) on the part of the teacher, one of the first assumptions is that the teacher has a sufficient command of the students L1 to be of value in the first place. Another assumption which ma well impact this scenario is that that all the learners in a class or group have the same L1. !hile these assumptions ma often be the case in numerous E"L (English as a "oreign Language) teaching # learning settings, man times the are not. In the case of multi$ cultural classes (i.e. in the %&A, %', Australia, anada, India, etc.) where the learners have different d ifferent L1s, or when the teacher does not have a woring nowledge of the learners L1, a fre*uent occurrence in Asia, Africa and eastern Europe, applied L1 use in the E"L classroom is severel limited or ma be rendered virtuall impossible. In m case, I+ll tal about those instances where I do in fact use the learners L1 in m E"L classes. I have ac*uired a woring nowledge of &panish and all m universit and independent students have &panish as their L1. Although I+m against an substantial use of L1 in E&L (the teaching of English to &peaers of ther Languages) classes, there are situations where its use is *uite valuable. In addition, at earl levels a ratio of about - per cent native language to about - per cent target language ma be more profitable than the use of /English onl/. (Atinson, 10) n the first da of class with a new group, g roup, I e2plain to the learners that the are allowed to as /3ow do ou sa 444444 , in &panish5/ where the &panish (L1) word or phrase is filled in the blan. This allows the students to get e vocabular in their written or spoen e2pression while limiting their use of L1 in class. !hen learners are stumped for abstract le2is, a word or phrase which cannot be easil elicited during the course of a lesson, I+ll simpl /give/ them the word in &panish to aid in continuing con tinuing with the smooth flow of the lesson and not get /bogged down/ in tring to come up with the elusive le2is b other means. !hen a student gives me production of incomprehensible language, i.e., I (nor the other learners) cannot dec ipher what the student is tring to sa in English, Eng lish, I+ll sa /Tell me that in &panish./ Armed with this new understanding I (or one of the other o ther learners) can then provide that learner with corrected, comprehensible forms which otherwise might elude both (or even all) of us. 6uring a written e2am, I7ll also /give/ the learners a word or phrase writing it on the board in English and # or &panish to avoid e2tensive disruption of the test$taing process. &ince I do not prepare the e2ams, new le2is can creep into readings, instructions or e2ercises. !hen a learner, and as additional learners, as for meaning or e2planation of the word(s), I+ll simpl point to the le2is on the board without speaing. !hen plaing communicative, T89 (Asher, 1:: and passim) or /fast$paced/ vocabular games such as a learner favorite called /&T8/, I+ll again provide a translation of new le2is to help develop the learners vocabular. These could be le2is of places, names in English # &panish, &pan ish, foods, animals or some verbs or use of the L1 in various code$switching activities. (landfield $ "oord, ;< <=) This happens especiall fre*uentl when I need to e2plain wh a particular word is incorrect or cannot be used. ne additional instance when I switch to &panish is when I must tal to LE8 (Limited English 8roficienc) learners about important administrative matters or procedures for which the do not have the necessar depth of vocabular to understand. The importance of the material and their need to understand it outweigh the adherence of sticing to /English onl/ which is m /standard operating procedure/ in the classroom. This is especiall true in m case with groups o f learners with less than about ;-< contact hours of English which is e*uivalent to third semester or less. >ote? Atinson (10 and passim) states 1-< hours or less (second semester) for this stage although I have found it often e2tends into an additional semester. n occasion, students will bring in a song or lrics, usuall 9oc or 8op music, and as the meaning of a
word, phrase, e2pression or sometimes even the title. In p roviding the re*uested e2planation (when I can), I use comparisons and # or translations into &panish as often as is necessar. The same ma occur with dialogue from popular films, movies and videos produced for native speaers of English. In rare instances, a cassette recording of a radio broadcast or boo$on$tape has made its wa into m classroom for the same reasons. A final common instance in m use of L1 in the classroom is with learners in /repeat/ or /remedial/ classes of LE8 learners. &ince these learners have alread demonstrated that the /traditional/ teaching methods provided for in their course boos is insufficient in teaching them the material. All these learners have failed the course at this level at least once, some twice or more. I subse*uentl use a series of alternative methodologies including translation and other tpes of input # feedbac in the learners L1 to aid in the learning $ ac*uisition process. These methods have, in fact, proved to be ver successful. ne reason ma be that use of speciall$targeted methodologies and altered classroom conditions help to lower the learners Affective "ilters ('rashen $ Terrell, 10=) and direct the new material and le2is to them in was more compatible with their individual @ultiple Intelligences and preferred learning stles (ardner, 10=). In conclusion I have stated that m use of L1 in the E"L classroom is minimal and should not e2ceed a ratio of more than -B of the L1 to -B of the target language. 'e E"L classroom situations in which L1 can be utiliCed include? • • • • • • • •
re*uesting new le2is e2plaining abstract terms to aid in the generation of comprehensible input # production during e2ams and other high$stress situations to maintain the flow of dnamic activities to e2plain idioms and e2pressions in songs, movies a nd videos giving information # instructions to LE8 learners in adapting materials to the special needs of the learners
!hile the use of the learners L1 should be strictl controlled, it is plausible to mae accurate use of it in activities to promote learning and ac*uisition. ngoing languag e ac*uisition research and in$class practice supports that use of L1 should not be prohibited for its own sae, but allowed occasionall as an additional tool in the repertoire of the teacher and the learners as conditions warrant.
8rof. Larr @. Lnch is an English language teaching and learning e2pert author and universit professor in ali, olombia. >ow D% too can live our dreams in paradise, find romance, high adventure and get paid while travelling for free.
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