María Olivares Baños

        

MOTHER TONGUE IN THE L2 CLASSROOM:

A POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE TOOL?

 

by María Olivares Baños

 

Abstract

            This study investigates the effects that the L1 (first language) has in a L2 (second language) classroom of young learners.  For this purpose an experimental study has been carried out in which two groups of four and five year old children have been observed in two different sessions. In one of these lessons the L2 was exclusively used, whereas in the other one, the L1 was used on some specific occasions.

            The main findings are that the native language has a facilitating role and is necessary to motivate young children. Concerning the issue of different learning contexts, it has been found that a teacher cannot create an intensive English-speaking environment in the short time that a formal L2 lesson takes place.

            Some of the principal conclusions are that the use of the mother tongue is justified as long as it is beneficial for the student. In addition, that the problem of motivation and demotivation can be clearly solved by incorporating the use of the mother tongue in the L2 classroom for beginner levels.

 

1. Introduction

            The use of the mother tongue in the L2 classroom has always been a controversial issue, due to the existence of very diverse opinions. On the one hand researchers that are completely against the use of the L1 in the foreign language classroom can be found, and on the other hand, there are those who consider it beneficial for the learners.

During the late 1970s and the early 1980s the use of the mother tongue in the classroom was considered as a “bad thing”, because the learners should have a maximum exposure to the target language. Therefore, researchers such as Richards and Rogers, who considered that the L1 should be inexistent within the L2 classroom, can be found ( Martín, J.M. 2000:31).

Nowadays, this perspective is changing and more and more professionals are being convinced of the facilitating role of the first language (L1) in the second and foreign language classroom (L2). In my specific case, this conviction comes from personal experience, classes that I have been observing, and books I have read.  

Many previous studies have focused on the different uses of the mother tongue in the classroom; its advantages and disadvantages for secondary school students; or even adults. But, what about young learners, that have just started with the acquisition of a second language? All these studies have not taken into account that learning a foreign language at early stages is much more complicated than it appears to be and neither have they used control or comparison groups in order to verify in which way children prefer and are more motivated to learn a second language.

The primary purpose of this study is to demonstrate that the use of the mother tongue in a foreign language classroom is beneficial and even necessary (for young learners) in some learning contexts, as long as it is justified. The differentiation of the diverse learning contexts has to be taken into account and it should not be forgotten that a domestic immersion classroom, which is similar to a study abroad context but takes place in an at home institution, is joined to many other factors, such as the time spend in the classroom, and therefore it is impossible to change a formal classroom to a domestic immersion classroom.

 

 

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