Simona Nissan
San José State University
Using mother tongue in classroom of second language (L2) or foreign language (FL) is a controversial topic for decades. On the one hand, linguistic approach supporters argue that target language should be the only language that teachers adopt in order to teach and communicate in class, since this is the only possible way to maximize the effectiveness of teaching and learning L2 and FL (Baños, 2009). However, on the other side of the divide stand teachers and researchers who supporter the Bilingual approach. The idea of this approach his to integrate the L1 in the process of acquiring the target language, such as give explanations for complicated grammar …show more content…
This study found that one of the reasons that one of the factors that increases the language proficiency is the amount of time which the teacher uses the target language in class. Wolf in 1977 analyzed Carol 's data and found a positive correlation between number of activities in target language (French) and student achievement in language skills (Thompson, 2006). Usage of first language in classroom by the teacher causes a decrease in the quantity of use of the target language by the students, and as a result they do not practice enough the language and do not getting better. Furthermore, some of the students does not have the opportunity to practice in target language outside of classroom, and the class is the only place where they can experience the language. Students lose the opportunity to experience the language, such as new words, pronunciation, grammar and get feedback on their progress. Another issue is the translation from the source language to the target language. The teacher translates part of the guidelines or reading text from L1 to target language, since he thinks it cause the students to better understanding of the content and be more relaxed. This is maybe true! However, the student does not build his confidence and does not develop some English language skills such as reading comprehension, …show more content…
The main conclusion from this paper is that the teachers should base their decision if to use L1 in class or not according the students ' needs from academic and emotionally aspects. Therefore, I support the approach of using L1 limited and controlled manner in L2/FL class. The idea of course is not to teach in the mother tongue, but use it as a tool to help students overcome the lack of understanding or push their confident. our job as teachers is to diagnose what levels and topics to use L1 and when to start reducing this use and give the second language students to deal with the target language even if it difficult for them. It is ok to transfer the students the message that they need to make effort and discover the language, and the teacher use L1 to help them, but defiantly not be handed the language on a silver platter (Wharton, 2007). To get in-depth information on the subject especially how to use of L1in the L2/FL more research is needed. We understand that students need more low level of support, but what is the limit of use L1 in order to help the students with the translation or explanation. When did we decide it was time to start making more use of the intensive second