L1 USE IN L2 TEACHING: THE AMOUNT, FUNCTIONS, AND PERCEPTION TOWARDS THE USE OF L1 IN TURKISH PRIMARY SCHOOL CONTEXT

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Samet Taşçı
Bengü Aksu Ataç

Abstract

The employment of the mother tongue or first language (L1) in foreign (FL) or second language (L2) teaching is a controversial issue and still continues to take considerable attention from researchers. The supporters of monolingual approach have suggested that the target language should be the only medium of communication while L1 is regarded as essential and proposed to have a facilitating role in FL teaching process. Hence, the current study attempted to shed light into the use of L1 in Turkish EFL classes. In particular, it focused on the amount and the functions of L1 used by primary school EFL teachers in Turkish context. Moreover, it also aimed to investigate EFL teachers’ perceptions towards the use of L1 and compare it with their actual classroom practices. The findings revealed that the three Turkish EFL teachers used comparable amount of L1 in their classes, ranging from 21% to 30% of all classroom instruction. The current study seemed to indicate that Turkish EFL teachers were inclined to use more L1 in lower grades. The findings also revealed that EFL teachers used Turkish in 9 different functions such as giving instruction, translation of unknown words, classroom management, checking understanding, eliciting, drawing attention, giving feedback, grammar instruction, and translation of sentences, respectively. The results also demonstrated that the perceptions of EFL teachers towards the use of L1 comply with their actual practices with minor differences.

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Author Biographies

Samet Taşçı, Nevşehir Hacı Bektaş Veli University

Biodata(s): Dr. Samet Taşçı has recently completed his Ph.D. in English Language Teaching at Anadolu University. He has been working in Nevşehir Hacı Bektaş Veli University, Faculty of Education, Foreign Languages Teaching Department since 2017. His research focuses on EFL reading comprehension and syntactic and lexical errors made by EFL learners. E-mail: samettasci@nevsehir.edu.tr.

Bengü Aksu Ataç, Nevşehir Hacı Bektaş Veli University

Assist. Prof. Dr. Bengü AKSU ATAÇ has completed her Ph.D. study in Ankara University, Department of Linguistics, Foreign Languages Teaching Programme in 2008. She has been working in Nevşehir Hacı Bektaş Veli University, Faculty of Education, Foreign Languages Teaching Department since 2013. She is the Director of the School of Foreign Languages and Head of the ELT programme. Her professional interest areas are; language teaching, testing and assessment, Common European Framework of Refence for Languages, European Language Portfolio, authentic assessment, peace education and ELT for young learners. Dr. Aksu Ataç is a member of WCCI since 2004 and she is the president of WCCI Turkish Chapter and a member of the Board of WCCI International.