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JadwigaTopolska-Pado
circumstanceswemighttakethefearoutoflearningandmakestudentslesstense
(Buckmaster2000,Najduchowski2008,Swift2006).Thelessafraidourstudents
are,themoretheywillbeabletolearn,whichmeanssatisfactiontoeveryone
involved:theteacherandthestudent.
Najduchowski(2008)usesametaphorwhichsumsupthemanyaspectsofL1
useintheclassroom:hedescribesL1asanothertoolwhichwemayusetothe
benefitofourstudentsalongwiththechalk,thewhiteboard,theCDplayer,etc.
Itisahelpfulandvaluabletool,whichdoesnothavetobeused,butcanbeused
whennecessary.
Onthewhole,allproponentsofL1emphasisethatL1shouldnotbeoverused
intheclassroom.Criticalteachersshouldknowboththebenefitsandlimitations
ofL1use.Theyshouldreflectontheirteachingpracticeandtheyshouldmake
principleddecisionsbasedontheirawarenessoflanguageandculture,knowledge
oftheirstudents’needsaswellastheidiosyncrasiesoftheirparticularteaching
context(Gabrielatos2001:9).
Amidsttheongoingdebateontheuseornon-useofL1,ashiftinthepercep-
tionofwhatismorenaturalintheprocessoflanguagelearningseemstobetak-
ingplace.UndertheCommunicativeApproach,themostnaturalactivitywasto
acquirealanguagejustaschildrendowhilelearningtheirfirstlanguage.Forthat
reason,thelearningprocessshouldideallybeareflectionoflanguageacquisition
andtheuseofL1completelyexcluded.However,anewstandpointseemstobe
evolvingthatthemostnaturalactivityforlanguagelearnersistoassimilateL2
informationviatheirL1processing.InlearningEnglish,learnersdonotcreate
aseparatelanguagestoreofEnglish.Theyareaddingtotheirexistingknowledge
oflanguage.Itisinevitablethatlearnerswillmakecertainrightorwrongsupposi-
tionsaboutL2basedontheirexperiencewithL1andusingthelatterasaresource
(Buckmaster2000,KoppeandKremer2007).Thatiswhy,accordingtoClanfield
andFoord(2000:1),anyattempttoeliminatetheuseofthemothertonguecom-
pletelyfromtheclassroomislikelytobefutileand,accordingtoBuckmaster
(2000:1),itisratherperversetopretendthatnoneofus,whetherteacherorstu-
dent,knowsourmothertongue.Insteadweshouldconcentrateonwaysofhar-
nessingL1;thentheclassroomislikelytobemoreauthenticinthesensethatit
reflectsthenaturalinterplayofL1andL2whichisinherentinsecondlanguage
acquisition(ClanfieldandFoord2000:1).AsCarreres(2006:6)putsit“Itisnaïve
andsimplyinaccuratetoimaginethatlearnerswhoonlyhaveoneortwocontact
hoursoflanguageteachingperweekcanlearnalanguagebyimmersioninthe
samewayaschildrenlearntheirmothertongue.”Intheendalllanguagelearn-
ersarenaturaltranslatorsbecausetheymapL2directlyonthemothertongueto
short-cuttheprocessoflearning(SwaninBuckmaster2000:1),andtheystartre-
sortingtotheirtranslationskillsfromtheverybeginningofanylearningprocess,
whethertheirteacherslikeitornot(KoppeandKremer2007:3).Theyarealso
naturaltranslatorsinadifferentsense:theyhavetorespondtotherequirements
oflifeandfunctionastranslatorsineverydaysituations(Duff1989,Weigt2008).
