To investigate areas in which L1 is used for teaching EFL and find out how teachers think about the L1 use in FL classroom, the writer has reviewed a number of relevant studies conducted in different parts of the world and at different times.
Surveying students and teachers at his Puerto Rican university with regard to using their mother tongue (i.e. Spanish) within their English classes, Schweers (1999) finds that 100 percent of the teachers feel that Spanish should be used in their English classes. He concludes by encouraging teachers to employ L1 so as to promote dynamicity in the classroom, provide a sense of security and activate learners‟ experiences. Sharing the similar findings, Tang (2002) in his study conducted in China adds two more reasons for using L1 in L2 classrooms including effectiveness and being less time consuming. The study reveals that the use of L1 in L2 classes doesn‟t hinder L2 learning but helps teaching and learning.
In his paper on using L1 in EFL classrooms, Aqel (2006) investigates the instructors‟ and students‟ reactions to using Arabic language in teaching EFL in the
11
Department of English and Modern European languages at Qatar University. It was found that all of native English teachers and 62.5% of teachers of English believed that Arabic was accepted in EFL teaching. The researcher then recommended the judicious use of L1 in EFL classroom when it is “the shortest possible way” for students to understand the requirements.
Conducted in the same context of Arab, the study by Salah & Farrah (2012) shows that the attitude of the teachers toward Arabic use in the EFL classroom is moderate by a mean of 3.51. It also shows that teachers were aware that the excessive use of Arabic may hinder learning; therefore, their use of Arabic appeared to be limited.
Cianflone (2009) conducted a research on L1 use in English courses at the University of Messina in Italy. The results reveal that the interviewed teachers seem favorable to L1 use in terms of explaining grammar, vocabulary items, and difficult concepts as well as getting general comprehension. He concludes that in university level, such use may save time and increase students‟ motivation.
Investigating the mother tongue use at elementary and secondary schools in the context of Israel, Timor (2012) shows a positive viewpoint of teachers regarding the use of Hebrew as L1 in EFL classroom. It is indicated that most of elementary and secondary teachers see the benefits of using mother tongue as a useful tool to teach grammar, vocabulary, to give instructions, handle discipline problems. It is also concluded that Hebrew is used more frequently by elementary teachers rather than by secondary ones.
Studying the issue at the same similar level of students in English classroom in Korea, Rabbidge and Chappell (2014) indicates that despite the need of target language exposure, all participating teachers acknowledge the importance of English and Korean in the classroom. These researchers conclude that teachers‟
12
reasons for using Korean as mother tongue are to motivate students, to help them in the progress of scaffolding learning and to build a relaxing learning environment.
In Vietnam, many researches were conducted in high schools and there are some in universities. The results in the study by Kieu Hang Kim Anh (2010) which investigates the teachers in three universities in Ho Chi Minh City presents the possible useful role of Vietnamese in several situations but it should not be overused. Besides, it is reported that 83% of the teachers participating in the investigation at Ba Vi high school highlighted the positive effects of L1 on facilitating students‟ comprehension of English, and building a comfortable environment for English classes (Nguyen Thi Nhu Quynh, 2011). Conducted in an English center for young learners in Hanoi, the study by Phung Thi Hien indicates that the use of Vietnamese was an unavoidable phenomenon in English classrooms for young learners. Teachers have positive attitudes towards to the use of Vietnamese in English language classroom but it varies in terms of occasions in different-aged classes.
1.3.2. Amount of mother tongue use
Evidence from a variety of contexts shows that there is a wide discrepancy between official recommendations and the practice actually observed or reported in classrooms. For example, Turnbull (reported in Turnbull 2001; Turnbull & Arnett 2002) analyzed the L1 and TL „functional units‟ in the discourse of four teachers of French in Canadian secondary schools. He found that the use of L1 (English) ranged from 28% to 76%. Kim & Elder (2005) examined the discourse of seven native-speaker secondary-school teachers of Japanese, Korean, German and French in New Zealand and found a range from 12% to 77% use of the students‟ L1 (English). In South Korea, Liu et al. (2004) calculated the percentage of L1 (Korean) and TL words in the lessons of thirteen high-school teachers of English and found that their use of L1 ranged from only 10% (in a „model lesson‟ intended to demonstrate Teaching English Through English policy) to 90%. The overall average
13
was 40% use of L1, but in view of the special nature of the data (the teachers supplied their own audio recordings), the researchers suggest that the teachers‟ own estimate of 68% use of L1 may give a more reliable picture of their day-to-day practice. These and other studies support the conclusion reached by Macaro (1997) (as cited in Littlewood & Yu, 2009) in summing up the results of several studies, including his own detailed investigations of TL and L1 use by secondary-school teachers in the United Kingdom, that exclusive or near-exclusive use of the TL „is rarely encountered in any learning context apart from [classrooms with mixed L1 learners]‟.
1.3.3. Situations of mother tongue use
In contrast to the ideas on “English only classrooms”, the researchers have investigated the advantages of mother tongue use and they look over in what situations the teachers and students use the mother tongue. Atkinson (1987: 243,244) provided extensive knowledge on where to use mother tongue in language classrooms:
1) Eliciting language (all levels)
2) Checking comprehension (all levels) 3) Giving instructions (early levels) 4) Co-operation among learners.
5) Discussions of classroom methodology (early levels)
6) Presentations and reinforcement of language (mainly early levels) 7) Checking for sense
8) Testing
In her article, Auerbach (1993, p9) listed the reasons of using mother tongue as: a) Negotiation of the syllabus and the lesson; b) Record keeping; c) Classroom management; d) Scene setting; e) Language analysis; f) Presentation of rules governing grammar. g) Phonology, morphology and spelling; h) Discussion of cross-cultural issues; instructions of prompts; i) Explanation of errors; j) Assessment of comprehension.
14
In the context of Vietnam, the findings in the study by Kieu Hang Kim Anh (2012) indicate that the three reasons which the teacher participants chose with the highest frequency were „helping students understand complex grammatical points better‟ (75%), „helping students understand difficult new words more clearly‟ (67%) and „making sure that students understand the lessons‟ (50%). The findings of the study by Nguyen Thi Nhu Quynh (2011) also highlighted some situations in which Vietnamese appeared to be a helpful option. Data from her research instruments revealed that the most common uses among the teachers were using Vietnamese for explaining complex grammar structures, giving the meanings of new words, and clarifying the difficult abstract ideas. She indicates that the use of Vietnamese in these situations not only made the teachers feel more confident but also help students understand the lesson better.
15