Whether Teachers And Students Should Use the L2 RatherThan the L1 In The Classroom.docx
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Whether Teachers And Students Should Use the L2 RatherThan the L1 In The Classroom.docx
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WhetherTeachersAndStudentsShouldUsetheL2RatherThantheL1InTheClassroom
WhetherTeachersAndStudentsShouldUsetheL2RatherThantheL1InTheClassroom
Introduction
Inordertofindwhatlanguageteachersuseinlanguageclassroom,IlookedatsomeEnglishclassvideosfromtheinternet:
PlantingbyHuiLininGuangzhouLongkouxiPrimarySchool;StudentMythbyFengXiaoinTianjinN0.25MiddleSchool;GettingAroundbyXuYaninQingdaoVocationalSchoolforForeignAffairs&Service.ThesevideosofrealclassesinChinawereplacedontheinternetasexcellentexamplesforEnglishteaching.Onecommonthingthatworthnotingisallclasses,nomatterclassesinprimaryschoolsormiddleschools,nomatterclassesinnorthpartofChinaorthesouth,theonlylanguageisEnglish.Usingtargetlanguageinclassbecomesaself-evidentprincipleinlanguageclasses.However,thisprinciplehasarousedadebateinrecentyears.Thisessaybelievesmothertonguehelpsthelearningoftargetlanguageonlyifitisusedproperly.
Theessaycanbedividedintofivesections.Firstly,abackgroundisofferedtogiveanintroductionofwhenandtowhatextentmothertongueisavoidedinlanguageclassrooms.Secondly,theadvantagesofusingmothertonguearestated.Followingthat,strategiesofusingmothertongueproperlyandsystematicallyaregiven.Thoughfirstlanguagecanbebeneficialinclass,overuseofitisdangerousanditisdiscussedinthenextsection.Finally,aconclusionofthewholeessaywillbestated.
Background
Inlatenineteenth-century,thepublicationofWelhelmVi?
tor’sleafletDerSprachunterrichtmussumkehren(Languageteachingmuststartafresh!
)markedthebeginningoftheReformMovement(Howatt1984:
170).Asmostoftheleadingexperts(WelhelmVi?
torinGermany,PaulPassyinFranceandJesperseninDenmark)wereteachersatthattime,theMovementshowedspecialinterestintheclassroom.ThreeprincipleswereproposedintheMovement:
‘theprimacyofspeech,thecentralityoftheconnectedtextasthekerneloftheteaching-learningprocess,andtheabsolutepriorityofanoralmethodologyintheclassroom’(ibid:
171).Basedonthethreeprinciples,especiallythelastone,translationshouldbeavoided.Teacherswereexpectedtospeakthetargetlanguagewhilethenativelanguagecouldonlybeusedforexplaininglinguisticpointsandclassroominstruction(RichardsandRodgers1986:
10).ThishadultimatelyledtothedevelopmentofDirectMethod.
DirectMethod,alsoknownasnaturalmethod,attemptstoteachforeignlanguageinthewayoffirstlanguagelearningnaturallyasthenamesuggests.BelieversofDirectMethodarguethat‘aforeignlanguagecouldbetaughtwithouttranslationortheuseofthelearner’snativelanguageifmeaningwasconveyeddirectlythroughdemonstrationandaction’(RichardsandRodgers1986:
11).Sincethen,mostteachingmethodbegantoavoidusingfirstlanguageinclasses.Mothertonguehasbecome‘ataboosubject,asourceofembarrassment’(Prodromou2002,citedbyButzkamm2003).TeachersevenfeelguiltybecausetheirEnglishproficiencyisnotasgoodasnativespeakers.Thisdiscouragementofusingthefirstlanguagecanbeinterpretedinstrongerorweakerforms(Cook2001).Itsstrongestformis‘bantheL1fromtheclassroom’,whichcanbeonlyachievedwhenteachersdonotspeakstudents’firstlanguagesorstudentshavedifferentones(ibid).Onthecontrary,theweakestformis‘minimizetheL1intheclassroom’.Anotherwayofsayingthatis‘maximizetheL2intheclassroom’whichfocusontheuseoftargetlanguageratherthantheshortcomingoffirstlanguage. Eventilltoday,thoughmothertongueisnotforbidden,governmentsinmanycountriesstillrecommendthatteachersinclassesshouldusetargetlanguageasmuchaspossiblewhileusingmothertongueonlywhendifficultiesarise(Butzkamm2003).Discouragementofusingfirstlanguagecanbeseeneasily.Satchwell(1997:
1)claimsthattoomuchuseofnativelanguagecandistractstudents’attentionandtheirmemories.Heevengivesalistofwordsandphrasesintargetlanguageforclassroominteractiontohelpnon-nativeteachers.EventhoughWillis(1996:
127)admitsthatitisunnaturalandunrealistictobanfirstlanguagetotally,heinsistsitisbettertousetargetlanguagewhenteachchildrenwithtask-basedlanguageteachingmethod.
Reasonsofusingfirstlanguage
Cook(2001)listsfourfactorstobeconsideredwhenusemothertongue:
(1)efficiency―islearningforeignlanguageefficientthroughmothertongue?
(2)Learning―doesusingthemothertonguehelpthelearningoftargetlanguage?
(3)Naturalness―dolearnersfeelmorecomfortableandmorenaturalusingthemothertongueratherthanthetargetlanguage?
(4)Externalrelevance―doesithelpinthespecialneedsoflearnersintherealworldwithbothlanguages?
1.Learners’preference
Atkinson(1987)claimsthattranslationtechniquesarepartofthepreferredlearningstrategiesformostlearners.Butzkamm(2003)givesanexampleofanEnglishteacherwhoislearningGreek.Herexperienceindicatesthatwhenlearnersmeetanewlanguage,theywanttoknowitdirectlysothattheycanmakeusewithitimmediately.Burden(2000)surveysthat73%of290studentsbelieveteachersshouldusemothertongueinlanguageclassrooms.Nomatterconsciouslyorunconsciously,learnersalwaystrytoassociateanewwordorsentencewithasimilaroneintheirmothertongue(Danchev1982,citedbyHarbord1992).Sincethisisanaturalwayoflanguageacquisition,languageteachingshouldworkwithitratherthanagainstit.
2.Efficiency
Languageteachingcanbemoreefficientwiththehelpofmothertongue.Bothteachersandstudentsaremuchmorefamiliarwithit.Thusinformationtransmittingtakesteacherslesstimeandstudentscanunderstandmorequickly.
Usingmothertongueismoreefficientnotonlyintimeconsuming,butalsoininformationdelivering.Butzkamm(2003)pointsoutthat‘a“foreignlanguagefriendly”atmosphereisbestachievedthroughselectiveuseofthemothertongue’.Inaddition,usingthemothertonguegivesstudentsconfidence.Theywillunderstandthemeaningsoclearlythattheystopbeingshyandbelievetheycanexpressthemselvesintargetlanguagecorrectly.Whenlearnersmeetdifficulttexts,usingmothertongueallowsthemtounderstandbetter.Forexample,storiesintargetlanguagesometimesaredifficultforbeginners.Abilingualeditionofastory,orastoryinmothertonguefirstandtargetlanguagesecondlycanstimulatestheirinterestsandhelpstheirunderstanding.Thesetwopointsareespeciallyimportantfornoviceteacherssinceitmaybehardforthemtocontrolthewholeclassortogothroughthelessonintargetlanguagetotally. 3.Foundationofotherlanguages
Butzkamm(2003)liststhreeadvantagesbyusingmothertongueinlanguageclassroom―ithelpstothink,tocommunicateandtoacquireanintuitiveunderstandingofgrammar.Hecomparesusingmothertonguetoopeningadoor,notonlytothegrammarofmothertongue,butalllanguageslikeafoundation.Wegaintheabilityofreading,writingandotherskillsthroughmothertongueandcanalsobeappliedinforeignlanguages.Noonecandenythatthemothertongueexistsallthetimeinlearners’mindeveninmonolingualclass.Inaddition,createlinkswithmothertonguecanhelplearnersremembernewwords.Whenwelearnnewthings,itisnormaltolinkthemwithknownknowledge.Yetthemothertongue,themostusefulresourceforunderstandingwhichoneknowsbestisalwaysdeliberatelyavoided.
Strategiesofusingfirstlanguage
Aswehavediscussed,itishelpfulonlyifthefirstlanguageisusedproperlyandsystematicallyratherthanabandonedblindly.Cook(2001)explainsseveralmethodsasexamplesthatcombinetwolanguagestogether:
Alternatinglanguageapproaches―students‘areatonemomentlearningtheirL2,atanotherusingtheirL1’(ibid).Bothlanguagesareincludedandofsameimportance.Itrequiresthepresenceofstudentswithdifferentmothertongue.Keyschooltwo-waymodelisavariationofitinwhichtwolanguagesareswitchedatcertainmomentatschooltime.Similarly,alternatedaysapproachswitcheslanguageseveryotherday.Anothervariationisduallanguageprogramstryingtobalancethetwolanguagesinschoolcurriculum.ReciprocallanguageteachingisproposedinEuropeinwhichstudentslearnfromeachother.
Othermethods―NewConcurrentMethodrequiresteacherstoswitchlanguagesatcertainpointsaccordingtouniquerules.Incommunitylanguagelearning,studentstalktoeachotherwillinglywiththehelpofmothertongue.ThelastoneisDodson’sbilingualmethod.Itrequirestheteachertoreadasentenceintargetlangueseveraltimesandexplainitsmeaningintargetlanguage.
Ifwegothroughalltheseapproaches,firstlanguageismainlyusedincertainfunctions.Burden(2000)madeasurveytoexaminewhatthestudentsthinkteachersshouldusemothertonguefor.Theresultsshowthat61%of211studentsagreemothertongueshouldbeusedtorelaxstudents.53%believeitshouldbeusedtoexplainthedifferencesbetweenmothertongueandtargetlanguage.Explainingnewwordsandtalkingabouttestshavethesameamountofsupportersof50%. Wills(1996)listsseveralrulesonmothertongueuseinclassroomswhicharesetbystudentsandteacherstogether:
?
ifastudenthasaquestiontoasktheteacherthattheycannotexplaininEnglish;
?
iftheteacheraskstheclasshowtheywouldsayawordorphraseintheirlanguage,tocheckthatithasbeenunderstoodcorrectly;
?
iftheteacherneedstoexplainsomethingquickly;
?
ifstudentsarecomparingtargetlanguagewithmother-tongueuse;
?
ifstudentsaredoingtasksinvolvingtranslationor
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