English Language Teachers’ Perspective of Using L1 in TEFL Class

Abstract

The research discussed the using the first language in teaching a foreign language that had been a debate for language teaching practitioners for decades in language acquisition. The debate was about whether it was all right to use it in a foreign language class or not and how it affected the students’ learning process and result. Because of the pro and cons of using the first language in teaching a foreign language, the research was conducted to find out the use of the first language in teaching English as a foreign language. The research aimed to discover to what extent and in which instances L1 was used by the teachers in their English teaching class in terms of the teaching stages, including pre-teaching, whilst-teaching, and post-teaching in the classroom. The research also searched teachers’ perspectives and reasons for using L1 in their English class. Moreover, the research used a qualitative method to gathered information from the participants. The participants were four English teachers who taught English at senior high school in Bandung-West Java province, Majalengka-West Java province, Pangkal Pinang- Bangka Province, and Kuok-Riau Province. The collections of the data were questionnaires and interviews. The findings show that most teachers use Indonesian as L1 in the whilst-teaching stage when they deliver the materials. They use L1 to clarify the students’ understanding of the materials given and explain English language concepts, grammatical concepts, and difficult words. They argue that using L1 helps both teachers and students in teaching and learning English as a foreign language.

El efecto de enseñar gramática inglesa de forma bilingüe a verdaderos principiantes en una universidad de Ecuador

“…Finally, despite the evidence above supporting L1 in the L2 classroom, we do not prescribe indiscriminate use of the L1, but judicious use of it. By that we mean, based on the studies that investigated the roles and functions of the L1 (Algazo, 2022;Clancy, 2018;Georgious & Krulatz, 2018;Hasrina, et al, 2018;İnal & Turhanlı, 2019;Mahmud, 2018;Perdani, 2021;Shariati, 2019;Taşçı & Aksu Ataç, 2020), using the learners' first language to teach grammar, to explain difficult vocabulary, to confirm meaning, to manage the classroom, to make students feel more comfortable, and in particular, to communicate with learners at lower levels of proficiency.…”

“…Algazo, (2022) and Taşçı and Ataç (2020) found that teachers mostly used the L1 at lower levels of proficiency. Likewise, Perdani's (2021) research showed that four high school English language teachers from Indonesia indicated through questionnaires and semi-structured interviews that they use the L1 because it was easier for them to interact with their students, explain L2 grammar, clarify meaning, and teach difficult words. From İnal and Turhanlı's (2019) questionnaires and semistructured interviews, 18 EFL university teachers from Turkey expressed they believe the L1 has several functions such as teaching grammar, explaining vocabulary, dealing with disciplinary issues, and raising students' awareness of the differences and similarities between English and their L1.…”

Cognitive and Affective Responses of L1 (Afan Oromo) in the Efl Classroom

“…As a result, the perspectives of students and teachers on the usage of L1 in English teaching are relatively consistent. Researchers such as (Marsella, 2020;Perdani, 2021) revealed that learners' L1 utilized as a resource in the foreign language classroom to give explanations of confusing English topics, but its overuse resulted in overreliance, which was a less desired outcome.…”