Teachers’ Attitudes Towards Using First Language in English Classrooms: A Case Study of Kurdish Intermediate Teachers

Abstract

This study aims to shed light on the teachers’ attitudes and insights towards using first language (L1) in intermediate English (L2) classrooms. It looks into the justifications and perceptions that teachers have regarding the use of Kurdish in English classrooms. More specifically, this study tries to find the major challenges that teachers face if the use of Kurdish language is ignored at intermediate schools. The analysis of this paper was based on a case study which was conducted on (10) intermediate English language teachers from (7) public and private schools in Sulaymaniyah. Qualitative methodology was applied by interviewing the participants virtually and asking the same open-ended questions. The results revealed that the majority of the teachers support the bilingual approach and the use of Kurdish language in intermediate English classrooms. Furthermore, the results showed that the teachers, to some extent, support the use of the Kurdish language to serve certain pedagogical functions, such as decreasing classroom anxiety, increasing students’ participation, explaining difficult idiomatic expressions, giving test instructions, and facilitating classroom management. The findings of this study will help the intermediate English language teachers and learners to overcome the challenges they may face and, ultimately, improve the teaching and learning process.