Mara Catalina Gutirrez Pea

English 8
Code: 20111101420
Mother tongue in a foreign language classroom
The role played by the learner's mother tongue as well as the teachers usage of the
mother tongue during target language classes in the acquisition of another language has
been discussed and approached from various angles in studies throughout the history of
second language acquisition research. The main purpose of this essay consists of explaining
how to use the target language as the medium of instruction and just switching to the
mother tongue when it is really necessary.

What is more, EFL teachers working with monolingual students at lower levels of
English proficiency find prohibition of the mother tongue to be practically impossible. So
instead of looking at the students native language and cultural background as inferior or a
source of errors, they must be used as a tool to maximize foreign language learning. The
mother tongue represents a powerful resource that can be used in a number of ways to
enhance learning but it must always be used in a principled way. Sheelagh Deller and Mario
Rinvolucris book Using the Mother Tongue.

Strategies to make students aware of their learning acquisition have been used for
teacher all around the world. Consequently, strategies to decrease the overuse of the L1 in a
target language classroom are easy to be found. However, it has been evident one particular
solution, which is to make students aware of the overuse the mother tongue whilst in the
foreign language classroom.

The best way to deal with the problem (at least for some teachers) is to deny the
students use of the mother tongue and determine them to speak in English, according to
Voicu, 2004. In spite of what is mentioned before, to make students aware of the overuse
the mother tongue the plan or steps to carry out this easy and helpful solution could be the
following: the first step is to video record students, in order to show the video to students
later so they can evidence how much they overuse their mother tongue. This, so as to create

Mara Catalina Gutirrez Pea

English 8
Code: 20111101420
an English or Spanish conscience since without this awareness, students would not be
able to reduce their use of L1 in a foreign language classroom.
Moreover, a more wide-ranging strategy yet is to be proactive. This sets the sights
on that the teacher should actively control and influence how and when the mother tongue
is used. Thus, the second step is based on class activities, meaning, the teacher should be
proactive and resourceful, that is teacher would implement games as a way to get students
motivated and focused on the use of the second language (L2). Now, there are possible
games aimed to promote the use of the second language such as, a Role play about a
restaurant, where students use their mother tongue menu so that natives have to explain the
dishes to target language speaking guests, Dubbing showing students a clip of a popular
mother tongue TV programme (e.g. a soap) and tell them they have been commissioned to
dub it into English for BBC, Conversation Starters using mother tongue newspapers for
conversation practice, and so forth, Interpreters which can be adapted to any oral pair work
situation. The students work in groups of three (minimum). One person is the interviewee
speaks only in L1and Translating pop songs students translate the lyrics (or small sections
of the lyrics) of their favourite songs into the mother tongue. Teenage magazines sometimes
include songs with mother tongue tranlations so you can use these to do it the other way
round as well, as Voicu (2004) mentions in her research study about Overusing mother
tongue in ELT.

In addition, this solution can be very effective for its simplicity. It is a low-cost
solution since nowadays a video recorder is a common device in the market and it is
possible to find it even in a cellphone. As a matter of fact, not only teachers but also
students have the same chance to access those electronic devices and if they do not, they
can go over the internet and get an application that offers them the same facilities.
As well as the video recorder, the other two steps are activities carried out in class
with an inexpensive budget hence all is needed to accomplish this phenomenal solution or
strategy is just students and teachers attendance. Since is worldwide known that going to
school is possibly the best way to learn and become better people.

Mara Catalina Gutirrez Pea

English 8
Code: 20111101420
All in all, when making aware students of their, sometimes, exaggerated use of the
mother tongue (L1) in a target language (L2) classroom is possible to overcome by carrying
out simple class activities. And as it involves using the target language to give instructions
when possible and switching to the mother tongue when it is needed, this is a perfectly
satisfactory possible outcome. A rational and thoughtful use of L1 in English as a foreign
language classes can only be advantageous. Therefore, L1 use must be adjusted up with
effective target language teaching, taking into consideration the learners mother tongue and
cultural background and using them to the best of their interest.

References
Voicu, Cristina Georgiana. OVERUSING MOTHER TONGUE IN ENGLISH
LANGUAGE TEACHING, Apollonia University of Iai, Romania
Corresponding author: voicucristina2004@yahoo.fr
Sheelagh Deller and Mario Rinvolucris book (2002)Using the Mother Tongue: making the
most of the learners language, Delta Publishing