Language Use in the Foreign Language Classroom

Abstract

Students' first and target language are often used by both teachers and students during instruction in the foreign language classroom (Levine, 2011). In this study, the frequency of and reasons for students' and teachers' use of English or Spanish were analyzed using video recordings of 40 class sessions taught by eight randomly selected Spanish 102 teachers and by eight randomly selected Spanish 202 teachers. All of the videos were transcribed, and a word count was made to determine the overall use of Spanish and English by the students and teachers. The relationship between the number of code‐switches by teachers and students and the overall use of Spanish and English in the classroom were analyzed. Finally, the code‐switches between languages were categorized and counted to determine if students or teachers initiated the switch and under what circumstances, as well as the influence of code‐switching on the interlocutor's subsequent language choice. The results indicate that teacher‐initiated code‐switches had the most influence on students' subsequent language choice and that teachers code‐switched more often, even though students used a higher overall percentage of the first language. In addition, there was a strong positive relationship between the number of code‐switches and the overall use of Spanish and English during instruction.

Teachers’ First Language Use in Second Language Learning Classroom Context: A Questionnaire-based Study

“…Taken together, it is imperative to stress that teachers play the most important role in L1 use; in a recent study, Thompson and Harrison (2014) observed that majority of teachers opted for L1 substantially in spite of their training and the policies stated clearly sanctioning exclusive target language use.…”

Use or Avoid? The Perceptions of Prospective English Teachers in Turkey about L1 Use in English Classes

“…For instance, according to Macdonald (1993), it is needless to use L1 or translation in language learning process; instead, the use of simple words and structures of the target language can be sufficient to guide learners so as to infer or reveal the meanings of unknown phrases, abstract words, and most difficult expressions in the target language. However, the theorists supporting bilingual approach contrarily criticize the complete exclusion of L1 from L2 classes and rather emphasize a reasonable and proper use of L1 (Storch & Wigglesworth, 2003;Thompson & Harrison, 2014;White & Storch, 2012). In his study reviewing monolingual strategies in multilingual classes, Cummins (2007) provided three instructional assumptions such as (i) exclusive use of target language, (ii) no translation between L1 and L2; and (iii) keeping two languages rigidly separate but got almost no evidence for the effectiveness of these strategies; instead, using bilingual instructional strategies "together with monolingual strategies in a balanced and complementary way" was found more efficient (p. 221).…”

“…Besides some factors such as activity type (Rolin-Ianziti & Brownlie, 2002), lack of time, problems with classroom management, linguistic limitation of nonnative teachers (Bateman, 2008), which have impact on the use of target language, language preference of students in class also seems to depend on the language, first language or target language, used by the teacher (Thompson & Harrison, 2014).…”

Translanguaging in L2 Arabic Study Abroad: Beyond Monolingual Practices in Institutional Talk

“…Kasper and Kim () argued that research on conversations‐for‐learning is limited and more studies are needed in this context. A year earlier, Thompson and Harrison () specifically posited that “studies of language choice and code‐switching behaviors might be investigated during small group activities and in teaching–learning contexts in which students are required to learn some of the course content independently, outside of class” (p. 334). In light of the issues presented so far, the current study explores multidialectal and multilingual translanguaging in this underresearched context, where students conversed in their L2 Arabic with native speaker conversation partners during a language program in a study abroad environment.…”

“…RECENT SCHOLARSHIP IN APPLIED linguistics has challenged monolingual ideologies in second language (L2) learning contexts, and encouraged multilingual translanguaging practices that illuminate the fluidity of language boundaries to bring learners’ prior linguistic repertoires to the forefront of their interactions (see, e.g., Hawkins & Mori, ; Otheguy, García, & Reid, ; Turner & Lin, ). However, much of the research on the role of multilingual practices in L2 contexts has focused on exploring these practices between languages in the classroom (Thompson & Harrison, ). Few studies have explored multilingual practices in interactions outside the classroom (e.g., Al Masaeed, , ; Kasper, ), while virtually no studies have investigated multidialectal and multilingual translanguaging in study abroad contexts.…”