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UseofL1andTranslationintheEFLClassroom
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languageis,ofcourse,thatmanyteachersarestrugglingtogettheirstudentsto
speakmoreEnglishandlessL1(ClanfieldandFoord2000,InternationalTeacher
TrainingOrganisation).Soinsteadofwastingtheirstudents’classtimeonL1,to
whichtheyareexposedoutsidetheclassroomallthetime,teachersshouldfocus
onencouragingtheuseofL2.AnotherargumentagainstL1inlanguageteaching
isthatstudentswillbecomedependentonit,andnoteventrytounderstandmean-
ingfromcontextandexplanation,orexpresswhattheywanttosaywithintheir
limitedcommandofL2–bothofwhichareimportantskillswhichtheywillneed
tousewhencommunicatinginrealsituations(Swift2006:1).UncriticaluseofL1
willreinforcestudents’tendencytorelyonit.
Whiletheseargumentsaretrueandvalid,andtobekeptinmind,numerous
benefitsoftheuseofL1havealsobeenpresented.MostauthorsagreethatL1can
beusedtoprovideaquickandaccuratetranslationofanEnglishwordthatother-
wisemighttakealongtimefortheteachertoexplainwithoutanyguaranteethat
theexplanationinEnglishwillbeunderstoodbystudents.L1simplysavesthetime
andeffortofbothteachersandstudents(Bowena,Carreres2006,International
TeacherTrainingOrganisation,Najduchowski2008,Swift2006).Thegreatestad-
vantageofL1intheclassroom,however,isthattheteachercancontrastitwithL2
inordertoshowwhichstructuresaredifficult(vocabularyitems–falsefriends,
wordseasilyconfused,wordswithnoequivalents,etc.)andwhichareeasyand
needverylittleattention.BycomparingandcontrastingL1andL2structureswe
canmakethemmoremeaningfultoourstudentsandhelpstudentsunderstandthem
(Bowena,Buckmaster2000,Najduchowski2008,Swift2006).L1languageand
itscultureareseenasavaluableresourcebecausethroughtheiruseteacherscan
enrichthelearningprocessandfacilitatetheprogressoftheirstudentstowardsthe
othertongueandtheotherculture(Prodromou2002).Itisalsoclaimedthattheuse
ofL1canbemoreproductivethancounter-productivewhenstudents’receptive
competence(theirunderstanding)ishigherthantheirproductivecompetence(their
abilitytousethelanguage),forexampleinthecaseofreadingskillscoursesfor
studentdoctorswhohavetounderstandmedicaltextbooksandjournalsinEnglish.
AllowingthemtorespondusingL1isagoodwayofcheckingtheirreceptive
competence(Swift2006).Themothertongueisalsoparticularlyeffectivewith
youngerlearnersandadultlearnersatbeginnerlevel.Itcanbeusedwithbeginners
forpre-lessonsmalltalktogettoknowthestudentsaspeople,andfordiscussions
toexplainthecoursemethodology,tocheckcomprehension,tocheckinstructions,
tounderstandjokes,tocheckexerciseswiththeirpartnersandforgeneralclass-
roommanagement(Bowena,Buckmaster2000,Swift2006).
Alsothereismutualagreementamongauthorsthatsomelearnersneedthe
securityofthemothertongue.Weshouldtakeintoaccountdifferentlearning
stylesandindividualcharacterintheclassroom.Therearestudentswhosimply
dobetterinclasswhentheyknowtheycanaskquestionsinL1orgetananswer
inL1.Somestudentspreferhavingamothertongueequivalentinsteadofcon-
stantlyworkingthingsout(Bowena).ByallowingtheuseofL1inspecified
