L1 to teach L2: complexities and contradictions

Fiona Copland · Georgios Neokleous

129 citations0/0 files storedELT Journal

No readable copy stored yet — this record is metadata only.

No open-access location is known for this record yet.

Literature note Cite in a project Citation map

EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning Multilingual Education and Policy Second Language Learning and Teaching

Abstract

This article uncovers the complexities and contradictions inherent in making decisions about L1 use in the English language classroom. Through an analysis of data from classrooms in a Cypriot context and from interviews with Cypriot teachers, a number of functions for L1 use are identified, as are the teachers’ rationales for using L1 for different functions. Teachers’ decision making, it emerges, is often complex, based on either what they perceive as their students’ affective needs or on their cognitive processes. What is more, teachers often under-report or differently report their use of L1 in the classroom, contradicting beliefs by their actions. The construct of guilt is offered to explain these complexities and contradictions in the teachers’ use of L1 in this study. We conclude by suggesting that teachers should be supported in finding local solutions to local teaching problems, so that they better understand and exploit the resources available to them.

Paper brief

Loading…

Cite this work

Citation unavailable for this work.

BibTeX RIS CSL-JSON

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Citations in this library

Citation map →

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 129 citations exist upstream.

References

2000Native and non-native teachers in the classroom 2003We only learn language once. The role of the mother tongue in FL classrooms: death of a dogma 2005Codeswitching in the L2 Classroom: A Communication and Learning Strategy 1992The use of the mother tongue in the classroom 2007Student use of the mother tongue in the task-based classroom 2009Adult Learners' Perceptions of the Incorporation of their L1 in Foreign Language Teaching and Learning 2005Learner Code-Switching in the Content-Based Foreign Language Classroom

Cited by

2019An updated review on use of L1 in foreign language classrooms 2013Unresolved issues and new challenges in teaching English to young learners: the case of South Korea 2012The Use of Mother Tongue in Foreign Language Teaching from Teachers’ Practice and Perspective 2015English Teachers' Use of Learners' L1 (Arabic) in College Classrooms in Kuwait 2017An exploratory study on the relationships between attitudes toward classroom language choice, motivation, and proficiency of EFL learners 2014T(w)o and fro: using the L1 as a language teaching tool in the CLIL classroom

Explore the map →

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.

Imported from OpenAlex (CC0) — nothing here is generated.