Use of Native Tongue in Specific EFL Classroom Situations: Attitudes of Pre-Service Teachers

Author(s):

Gülden Taner(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2017

Network:

31. LEd – Network on Language and Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

31 SES 10 A JS, Language and Teacher Education

Joint Paper Session NW 10 and NW 31

Time:

2017-08-24

15:30-17:00

Room:

W4.24

Chair:

Contribution

There are many studies examining the attitudes of teachers and students towards the language used in the classroom, though the studies conducted differ in design and methodology, results are more or less the same: native language (L1) cannot be ignored. One of the leading, and most cited researchers to criticize the English-only tendency in language teaching was Auerbach (1993) who argued that the use of native language should be respected (p.30). Investigating this English-only tendency, Şimşek (2010) draws two general conclusions from the state-of-the-art. First conclusion was that the use of native language in foreign or second language (L2) teaching cannot be ignored; and second, both the teachers and learners are aware of the strong need for the use of mother tongue especially in the fields that are difficult to teach and learn. Therefore, the exclusion of native language from language classrooms is not reflecting the reality of language teaching practices; but rather, it is an argument of the circles that advocate the superiority of native-teachers through direct methods (Şimşek 2010, p.12). These claims cited above is of great importance to teachers, for language education practices in EFL settings and for those who have or are international students in language classes.

This study aims to investigate how having an experience in teaching affects teachers’ attitudes towards native language (L1) use in English L2 classes, in specific classroom situations. It is obvious that with their previous experience as language learners, language teachers have some set of beliefs that shape their attitudes towards using L1. This has been a largely studied area. Following Auerbach (1993), Schweer (1999) conducted a questionnaire study on the beliefs of language learners and teachers towards use of their native language in the classroom. He reported a positive attitude towards the use of native language in language classrooms (p.6). This study had been a corner stone; since then, most studies conducted on teacher attitudes towards use of L1 dealt with the issue either by reporting in-service teacher beliefs or by contrasting student opinions to those of teachers. However, this study aims to investigate the attitudes of pre-service teachers towards the use of native language in classroom, and though they have very limited experience, to investigate any affect that is caused by their teaching experiences.

According to Cook (2001) there are specific areas where the language teachers may resort to native language use. Among these, such areas as vocabulary teaching, explanation of grammar rules, organization of class and testing are listed; which is in line with the results of more recent studies conducted in the discipline (cf. Al-Nofaie 2010, Levine 2003, Song 2009, Şen 2010, Şevik 2007). This was also in alignment with Kim and Elder’s (2005) findings who found a tendency of teachers towards the use of native language to avoid complex interactions in the language they are teaching. In line with these, the second aim of this study is to investigate whether preservice teachers’ opinions on L1 use to avoid these complex interactions differ across some specific classroom situations. In order to address these issues, following research questions were addressed though a detailed attitudes questionnaire and interviews with volunteers: 1) What are the attitudes of each group towards using L1 a) in specific classroom interactions, b) while teaching at different levels of proficiency and c) specific language areas?; and 2) Does having prior experience cause any difference among groups?

Method

In order to address the above-mentioned questions, a mixed-methods research study was conducted with 78 pre-service teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL). Of these, 29 pre-service teachers had no prior teaching experience (will be referred to as inexperienced group). The remaining 49 had some experience beforehand, such as offering one-to-one private courses or helping their peers to learn English, some of them had experiences in real classrooms but they were never the only one responsible for teaching. This relatively experienced group of pre-service teachers will be referred to as the experienced group. The participants are all enrolled in a 4-year language teacher education program offered at BA level at a state university in Turkey. They had already taken methodology courses but had not yet participated in school experience or practice teaching courses (these two courses constitute the practicum component of the teacher education program). Two participant groups are administered a questionnaire, which made up the quantitative part; the open-ended items in the questionnaire and semi-structured interviews with 3 participants make up the qualitative dimension of the data collection process. In the attitudes questionnaire used for this study, some items used in Levine’s (2003) study - which investigated student and teacher beliefs, attitudes about first language use, second language use and anxiety- were analyzed, and the ones regarding the attitudes of teachers towards the use of L1 in L2 classes were adapted and piloted. Other items in the questionnaire were designed with reference to literature. The hypotheses were that 1) the pre-service teachers would favor use of English-only under most circumstances, since instructors at the TE program mostly favor use of English-only in classes, and encourage students to do so and 2) having an experience would change their attitudes. The hypotheses put forward in the initial stages of the study were tested through qualitative and quantitative analyses of the data.

Expected Outcomes

It was seen that the pre-service teachers were generally in favor of using English only, but they were also positive about the use of L1 especially in some teaching situations which they consider as problematic. However, they view L1 as a ‘last resort’ rather than an indispensable construct of the language learning environment. Most of them support the use of English only in the classroom, as prescribed by the theory. For the second part of first question, it was seen that the degree to which the pre-service teachers supported L1 use in classroom changed in accordance with the levels of the students. At lower levels, they all agreed that the amount English can be used is less when compared to advanced levels. All the data analyzed under the first two research questions were also correlated with the experience variable; although the differences among the two groups were not statistically significant, experienced group was relatively more positive towards the use of L1 in classroom. Therefore, it can be concluded that experience had only a slight effect on teacher attitudes; which was quite understandable considering how limited their experiences are. It is believed that their beliefs might be shaped further when they became in-service teachers in real teaching contexts. Therefore, a follow-up study for controlling whether the experience gained as an in-service teacher resulted in a substantial change in teacher attitudes is proposed.

References

Al-Nofaie (2010) The Attitudes Of Teachers And Students Towards Using Arabic In Efl Classrooms In Saudi Public Schools- A Case Study. Novitas-ROYAL (Research on Youth and Language), 4 (1), 64-95. Auerbach, E. (1993). Reexaming English only in the ESL classroom. TESOL Quarterly 27(1), 9-32 [online] retrieved on 27.10.2011 from http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/3586949.pdf?acceptTC=true Cook, V. (2001) Using the first language in the classroom. The Canadian Modern Language Review, 57, (3), 402-423. Kim, S. and Elder, C. (2005) Language choices and pedagogic functions in the foreign language classroom: a cross-linguistic functional analysis of teacher talk. Language Teaching Research 9,4 (2005); pp. 355–380 Levine, G. S. (2003), Student and Instructor Beliefs and Attitudes about Target Language Use, First Language Use, and Anxiety: Report of a Questionnaire Study. The Modern Language Journal, 87: 343–364. doi: 10.1111/1540-4781.00194 Schweer, C. W. (1999). Using L1 in the L2 Classroom. English Teaching Forum, 37, 2, pp. 6–9. Şen, Y. (2010) L1 Use In Englısh As A Foreıgn Language Classrooms In Turkey. Abant İzzet Baysal Üniversitesi Dergisi Vol.10:2, pp.161-171 Şevik, M. (2007) The Place of Mother Tongue in Foreign Language Classes. Ankara University, Journal of Faculty of Educational Sciences, year: 2007, vol: 40, no: 1, 99-119 Şimşek, M. R. (2010) Yabancı Dil Öğretiminde Anadil Kullanımı, Mersin University Journal of the Faculty of Education, Vol. 6, Issue 1, June 2010, pp. 1-14. Song, Y. (2009) An investigation into L2 teacher beliefs about L1 in China Prospect Volume 24 No 1 pp.30-39 retrieved from http://trove.nla.gov.au/goto?i=x&w=153054097&d=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ameprc.mq.edu.au%2Fdocs%2Fprospect_journal%2Fvolume_24_no_1%2FYananSong.pdf

Author Information

Gülden Taner (presenting / submitting)

Middle East Technical University, Turkey

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