A Comparison of Two Different Types of Vocabulary Treatment: Inclusion or Exclusion of L1?

Abstract

The use of language learners’ mother language has traditionally been banned and the potential uses of it still continue to be undermined and neglected. To date, research has not conclusively demonstrated a detrimental effect resulting from use of learners’ mother language in foreign language learning classes. On the other hand, there are many studies which have demonstrated the potential power of using the learners’ mother language in different areas of foreign language learning. This study examined the possible role of the learners’ mother tongue in learning new vocabulary items through a relatively unexplored presentation technique. The results showed the group that learned the words through first language definitions outperformed the group that learned the words through English definitions.