Abstract
In the literature of second language teaching and learning, the use of students’ first language (L1) has been an issue of debate for many years. Despite the changing state of teaching and learning aspects over the years, the belief that L1 should not be used in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms has stood the test of time. Nevertheless, many studies have recently started to put this belief under question and to give the effectiveness of L1 use, the benefit of doubt. This paper investigates EFL teachers’ perceptions of the use of students’ first language at one of the universities in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, given the fact that those teachers speak students’ native language and have different English language proficiency levels. The data gathered through a questionnaire were analyzed using the IBM Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS)® to find frequencies, percentages and mean scores. The overall results of the study show that the majority of teachers agree to the use of students’ first language in their EFL classrooms. Moreover, when investigating the relationship between teachers’ English language proficiency level and their perceptions of L1 use, the results suggest that there is no correlation between the two. Furthermore, the results of the study conclude that EFL teachers are selective when it comes to the areas of language teaching where L1 is used.
Highlights
In the literature of second language teaching and learning, the use of students’ first language (L1) has been an issue of debate for many years
Despite the changing state of teaching and learning aspects over the years, the belief that L1 should not be used in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms has stood the test of time
This paper investigates EFL teachers’ perceptions of the use of students’ first language at one of the universities in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, given the fact that those teachers speak students’ native language and have different English language proficiency levels
Summary
In the literature of second language teaching and learning, the use of students’ first language (L1) has been an issue of debate for many years. From the 1840s to the 1940s, second language teaching and learning has been dominated by the Grammar-Translation method whose goal was for students to translate from and into their own native language (Richards & Rodgers, 2014). Advocates of this method emphasized the use of students’ mother tongue (MT) as a medium of instruction and communication (Kelly & Bruen, 2014). Later on, with the emergence of the Direct Method, the view of L1 use in second language classrooms has drastically changed. The use of L1 was strongly prohibited for both, teachers and students (Larsen-Freeman, 2012)
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