“A target-language-only approach may be distressing for lower level students” (Von Woorde, 2003:7)

My stance on the issue of L1 use in the L2 language learning classroom

Until now, I have been very ‘anti’ the use of student’s L1, and have never used Chinese in my class. I believe this stems from my CELTA training, where I have been indoctrinised into the notions of minimising T.T.T. (Teacher Talk Time) and maximising S.T.T. (in L2). Also, there is a general rule at my school to use “English-only” in the classroom.  However, having not taught an absolute beginner until recently, I have only just begun to appreciate impressions of stress and confusion on my student’s face when I utter something, apparently ‘incomprehensible’ in L2. Now I see quite clearly how a target-language-only approach can bring about “a generalized feeling of uneasiness” (p4) for lower level students, which in turn may hinder their foreign language acquisition.

Similarly, one of the factors students in the von Woorde study felt contributed to anxiety was “…feeling overwhelmed and anxious when speaking, perhaps due to an immature vocabulary or limited grammatically knowledge” (p5). I feel that such distressing situations can be avoided if teachers are aware of what their students can or cannot do linguistically in the L2, and so don’t push students to do something they have not been prepared to do.

On the other hand, as a student of the Chinese language, I have experienced not-enough L2 an over-reliance of L1! I recently helped a new online Chinese language teaching company to trail their online classes and suggested that, rather than translate blocking words into L1 (here, read, English, which is NOT most students L1), it would be better to: (i) repeat (ii) speak slower and (iii) use synonyms. If the student still cannot understand, then it stands to reason that the language/grammar point in question may not be appropriate for their level. Again, this highlights the need for teachers to have a clear understanding of each individual students abilities before demanding certain language tasks to be completed.

L1, then, if used discriminately by the teacher, relative to level of language competence, is very worthwhile, especially as it may allay anxiety and actually “…increase language acquisition, retention and learner motivation” (p12).

References

Von Worde 2003, Students’ Perspectives on Foreign Language Anxiety.  Inquiry, 8, 1

Image: http://www.slideshare.net/carinne27/understanding-your-esl-students