Closing the Gap: Student Attitudes Toward First Language Use in Monolingual EFL Classrooms

Abstract

This article challenges the widely held assumption in monolingual English as a foreign language (EFL) settings that students prefer their teachers to rarely use their mother tongue (MT)the language children initially learn in order to communicate. Through an examination of data derived from eight classrooms in four private language schools in Cyprus, the author identifies 16 speech acts performed by the students' exploitation of the first language (L1)-MT and L1 are used interchangeably-and unveils the students' overall stance toward MT classroom integration. The findings reveal that the participants did not perceive L1 usage in the EFL classroom as imposing a learning constraint, with the majority of them accentuating its benefits and admitting the impossibility of alienating it from the classroom. Although they opposed an L1 usage prohibition, the participants also stressed the necessity to improve the oral input of their second language-the language students learn in addition to their MT. Studies that explore the student voice, the article concludes, should form a productive starting point for important EFL research areas because they can foster awareness on issues that are considered important by learners but are undervalued by teachers (and vice versa).

Re-evaluating the use of the L1 in the L2 classroom: students vs. teachers

“…Learners' responses to the open-ended questions indicated that the main advantage of the use of L1 was that it helped them comprehend the lessons and vocabulary. The main disadvantage was that rely mostly on their L1, a sensible argument also found in other studies (see Ellis, 1984;Neokleous, 2016;Tsagari & Diakou, 2015;Tsagari & Georgiou, 2016) and a concern that was shared by the teachers participating in this study.…”

“…However, the teachers' attitudes and perceptions were wide-ranging, based on the learners' competency level and their learning requirements. Neokleous (2016), based on data derived from eight classrooms in four private language schools in Cyprus, challenged the widely held assumption in monolingual EFL settings that learners prefer their teachers to rarely use their L1. On the contrary, the participants perceived that L1 usage in the EFL classroom does not impose a learning constraint while the majority of the teachers highlighted its benefits and admitted the impossibility of alienating it from the classroom.…”

“…Other than information about the class (i.e. date, level, aim, etc), the observation sheet was divided into 4 sections collecting information about important aspects of the lessons observed as recommended in the literature (Tsagari & Diakou, 2015;Tsagari & Georgiou, 2016;Tsagari & Giannikas, 2017;Copland and Neokleous, 2011;Neokleous, 2016). Once the data was transcribed, coded thematic analysis was used.…”

Using the First Language (L1) as a Resource in EFL Classrooms: Nepalese University Teachers’ and Students’ Perspectives

“…This ideology of minimizing students' L1 was linked to the Grammar-Translation Method, which was believed to impede learners' opportunities to develop communicative competence because of the use of L1 (Neokleous, 2017). The later introduction of the Direct Method and Audio-Lingual Method emphasized the use of only TL, underlining that the use of L1 was a barrier to L2 learning and L2 oral proficiency development (Macaro, 1997).…”

“…The use of L1, however, is a contested notion, in that many believe an ideal language learning and teaching environment is created in the TL, and L1 should have a minimal use-if not completely excluded (Macaro, 2001). Therefore, despite research indicating positive effects (e.g., Carroll & Morales, 2017;Neokleous, 2017;Vu, 2017), the use of L1 is hardly recognized in language-ineducation policies in most non-English speaking countries, and the monolingual ideologies are still dominant (Barnard & McLellan, 2014).…”