INTRODUCTION

As international language, English is needed for us to learn. English is

believed as the key to get a good job and success in the future. However,

many people have realized that learning English is not as easy as they think. It

can also take a long time in learning English as foreign language. Therefore,

the Indonesian government through the Department of Education and Culture

has made English as a required subject in the curriculum and become one of

subjects of National Exam for Junior High School and Senior High School

students.

The controversial problem in the teaching of English for Junior High

School students is the use of Indonesian by the teachers when they are

teaching English in the classroom. Harmer (1989) suggests that first language

should be avoided since it will make the process of L2 acquisition go slowly

and students are not significantly exposed to English as the target language.

On the other hand, Long (1984), Charles (1987), and Spratt (1988) believed

that we cannot ignore first language.

English classes in Indonesia are mostly taught by local teachers and

this kind of condition enables the students to speak in their mother tongue, in

this case Indonesian even in an English class. This condition is in opposition

to condition of EFL classes, where English should be used more often in

teaching and learning process.

This study focused on the teachers’ use of Indonesian Language in

English classroom in Junior High School in Salatiga. The writer chose these

schools because they are three best schools in Salatiga based on the data from

Pemkot Salatiga website. Then, because there are pros-cons about the use of

L1 in L2 classroom, the writer wanted to conduct a study about the teachers’

purposes in using L1 in L2 classroom for Junior High School. Therefore, this

study attempted to find out the teachers’ purpose of using Indonesian in

teaching English for Junior High School. The significance of the study was to

improve teachers’ teaching quality by managing the use of mother tongue, in

this case Indonesian in teaching English. In addition, it is expected that the

result of this study also can be considered in designing an effective English

teaching learning strategy.

Considering the explanation above, the writer will conduct this study

in an attempt to investigate the teacher’s purpose of using Indonesian in

teaching English for Junior High School students in two private junior high

schools and one state junior high school in Salatiga. This study aims to

answer the following research question “What are the teachers’ purposes of

using Indonesian in teaching English for Junior High School students?”

Pros-Cons of Use L1 in L2 Classroom

Mother tongue is the language that learn from parents when a child.

Krashen (1981) believed that mother tongue has long been considered as

problem in second or foreign language learning, the major course of a

learner’s problem with the new language. It has been considered as popular

believed that second language acquisition is strongly influenced by the

learner’s first language. According him, the use of the mother tongue in the

learning process should be minimized.

Krashen (1982) conducted that language acquisition does not require

extensive use of conscious grammatical rules. He also stated that acquisition

requires meaningful interaction in the target language, natural communication

in which speaker was not concerned with the form of their utterances but with

the messages they are conveying and understanding. Krashen believed that

the best methods are supply 'comprehensible input' in low anxiety situations,

containing messages that students really want to hear. These methods do not

force early production in the second language, but allow students to produce

when they are 'ready'. It recognized that improvement comes from supplying

communicative and comprehensible input, and not from forcing and

correcting production. In this case, teacher often uses Indonesian in teaching

English because Indonesian as mother tongues of students.

Deller and Rinvolucri (2002) believed that using mother tongue does

not mean as theoretical approach to the use of the L1 in L2 classroom. They

also stated that the use of L1 specifically designed to offer practical ideas and

become a helpful resource for the foreign language teacher. We can assume

that as English teacher, they should manage well the use of mother tongue

when teach English. Deller and Rinvolucri (2002) also believed that overuse

the L1 in the L2 classroom might be prejudicial for the students' learning

process. Some teachers use Indonesian as medium of instruction in teaching

English for Junior High School students.

The Teachers’ Purposes in Using L1 in L2 Classroom

Tang (2002) conducted a study about teachers and students’ attitudes

towards the use of first language in English classrooms in Chinese schools.

Tang found that the highest amount of first language use was to explain the

meaning of new words. He found that the teachers claimed that using the first

language was more effective in explaining new vocabulary to students. Tang

(2002) found that the most common purposes for which L1 was used were

giving activity instructions and explaining abstract or culturally specific

words. Here are some purposes of use L1 in L2 classroom mentioned of many

experts:

Give instructions (Atkinson,1987; Hidayati, 2012; Macaro, 1997;

Spratt,1988; Tang, 2002)

Sometimes teacher needs to use L1 to give instruction to students in order to

avoid misunderstanding in doing a task.

Explain meanings of words (Cook, 2001; Tang, 2002; Willis, 1981)

Students usually find some difficult words in a task, and in this situation

teacher should be able to explain them using L1 to make clear the meaning.

Explain complex ideas (Brooks and Donato,1994; Polio and Duff, 1994;

Tang, 2002)

During class discussion, sometimes students found the difficulties to

understand teachers’ explanation. In this stage, the teacher can use L1 to

clarify his/her meaning to students.

Explain grammar points (Auerbach, 1993; Cook, 2001; Hidayati,2012;

Polio and Duff, 1994; Tang,2002)

Tang (2002) stated that grammar is very difficult task that teacher should

choose a good way to explain to students. Therefore, the use of mother tongue

may make the explanation clearer.

Manage classroom (Auerbach ,1993; Cavez, 2002; Cook,2001; Macaro,

1997; Polio and Duff, 1994; Spratt,1988)

Check comprehension (Atkinson, 1987; Macaro,1997; Spratt,1988;

Urgese,1987; )

Maintain communication with students (Atkinson,1987; Cook,2001;

Kaneko, 1992; Polio and Duff, 1994)

Kaneko (1992) found in a Japanese secondary school that teachers

used L1 to provide explanations and activity instructions, manage the lesson,

and build rapport with the students. Each teacher has different purpose when

they use L1 in L2 classroom. Most of them use L1 to make material clearer

when they explain it to their students. Willis (1981) claimed that there are

some purposes for teacher to use L1 for example, to explain the aim of the

lesson or the next activity, to check students’ understanding after the

presentation, and to discuss the main ideas after a reading passage in pairs.

There is a research from Indonesia that conducted study about using

L1 in L2 classroom. Hidayati (2012) conducted a study about the use of

Indonesian language in English classroom. She observed English for general

purposes classes that taught grammar, TOEFL and English presentation.

Hidayati found that when the teachers used more of first language, the degree

of student interaction was higher than when the teachers used less of the first

language. It means that student’s interaction was higher when the first

language was used by the teacher. Students felt more comfortable during

class with a familiar language, they were better able to understand,

communicate, and participate during class. Hidayati found that the teachers

used the first language to explain difficult vocabulary, grammar points, and

classroom instructions. Her study also indicated that the use of first language

in L2 classroom was a better choice such as when giving instructions for

activities and warm-up activities.

Cook (2001) discussed the different arguments about of using first

language in L2 classroom. Cook argued against the common belief that

second language acquisition should be treated like first language acquisition.

He also argued that teachers try their best to separate the first language from

the second language in their teaching by trying to use technique such as

drawing examples to teach their students. Although the teachers tried to

separate these two languages, learners still make connections between the

vocabulary, syntax, and phonology of their first and second languages.

According Cook (2001), first language can be positively used in the

foreign language classrooms. On the other hand, he argued that L1 and L2

have two different linguistic systems and characteristics, so students should

reduce their use of the L1 in order to fully acquire the L2 as their target

language in L2 classroom.

Cook compared acquisition processes of the first language and second

language. He concluded by pointing out some teaching contexts in which the

first language can be positively used.

Other researchers also believed that using L1 in L2 classroom by the

teacher cannot avoided. Polio and Duff (1994) found that use of the first

language in English classrooms from a different point of view.

Spratt (1988) stated that the use of L1 is perceived differently.

According him, foreign language teaching used to focus on fluency and group

work. He said that nowadays there is no clear line whether L1 should be

avoided or not in the foreign language classroom. According Spratt (1988)

there are some considerations the teacher should take in deciding whether to

use L1 or not. Meanwhile, there are some purposes on which a teacher may

want to use L1 such as explanations and justifications

Atkinson (1987) found that when the teacher using L1 in L2

classroom, it’s also beneficial for students. He believed that the teachers use

of L1 in teaching English can help students understand better the material

taught and to avoid misunderstanding among students and teacher. Atkinson

(1987) also lists some teacher’s purpose using L1 in the L2 classroom:

1. Eliciting language, such as “How do you say ‘X’ in English?”

2. Giving complex instructions to basic levels

3. Using translation to highlight a recently taught language item

4. Testing Translation, it can be useful in testing mastery of forms and

meanings.

5. Developing circumlocution strategies, when students do not know how to

say something in the L2, have them think of different ways to say the same

thing in the L1, which may be easier to translate.

Auerbach (1993) suggests the possible occasions for using the mother

tongue in L2 classroom is to scene setting; language analysis; presentation of

rules governing grammar, phonology, morphology, and spelling; discussion

of cross-cultural issues; instructions or prompts; explanation of errors; and

assessment of comprehension.

Steven Krashen, with his Natural Approach to language acquisition,

proposed that students learn their second language much in the same way that

they learn their first language. Research has shown that the purpose in using

of L1 by both students and teachers increases both comprehension and

learning of L2 (Cook, 2001; Tang, 2002; Wells, 1999).

According to Macaro (1997), there are some cases that the teacher

often uses to L1 to give instructions about activities, check comprehension,

give feedback and maintain discipline.

Urgese (1987) found that teachers use L1 to check writing and reading

comprehension exercises. To help learners to become more reflective and self

regulated, L1 can also be used by teachers to raise awareness of their

students’ styles and the strategy they use (Dajani 2002: 65).

Some studies confirmed what most teachers already know that L1 use

occurs in some form in the L2 classroom. Chavez (2002) found that teachers

use the L1 to clarify vocabulary and meaning, to discuss grammar points, and

to manage many kinds of classroom tasks. Chavez (2002) also stated that L2

students’ did not consider the classroom simulation of the target culture in

which the L2 should be used all the time.

Brooks and Donato (1994) believed that L1 use is a normal

psycholinguistic process that facilitates L2 production and allows the learners

both to initiate and sustain verbal interaction with one another” (p. 268). The

teacher use of the L1 during the complex and difficult tasks may be effective

not only for priming L2 learning, but also for regulating thinking. Therefore,

when teacher use of L1 in L2 classroom in some cases it may be beneficial

for students.

THE STUDY

Research Question

The research question for this study is: “What are the teachers’

purposes of using Indonesian in teaching English for Junior High School

students?”

Context of the study

The study was conducted at two private junior high schools and a state

junior high school. It is located in a small town of Salatiga, Central

Java,Indonesia.

The first private junior high school is taught by Teacher A. There are

three classes of seventh grades that have schedule week 1 and 3 for writing

and reading class, week 2 and 4 for speaking and listening class. There are

two English teachers and just one teacher who teach in seventh grades where

each class contains of 30 students. The writer observes two classes of seventh

grades in this school, there are 7B and 7C.

The second private junior high school is taught by Teacher B. There

are also 3 teachers in this school and just one teacher who teach in seventh

grades class. The seventh grades divided into 4 classes, there are 7A, 7B, 7C,

and 7D that contains 28-30 students in each class. Based on the agreement

with the teacher, the writer just observe two classes, there are 7C and 7D.

A state junior high school is taught by Teacher C. There are total 7

English teachers and two of them teach seventh grades students. One teacher

and 2 classes (7D and 7G) from total 9 classes of seventh grades in this

school were observed by the writer. Same with another school above, this

school also contains of 28-30 students in each class. In this school, the teacher

tries to use full English during the English lesson.

Participants

The participants of this study were three English teachers from two

private junior high schools and a state junior high school. The writer chose

these schools because they are three best schools in Salatiga based on the data

from Pemkot Salatiga website. There were around 180 students of seventh

grades from three different school were observed. The writer choose seventh

grades students because they are use the same curriculum, it is curriculum

2013. There were 2 different classes in each school that were observed. Each

class has around 30 students.

Instruments of data collection

The observations were done in English classroom to observe the

teachers in using Indonesian in English classroom activities such as doing an

exercise, discussion, presentation, etc. The lessons were recorded with audio

recorder to capture as much of the instructor’s speech Indonesian as possible.

The observations were conducted twice to three times a week between

February 7th, 2014 up to March 8th, 2014. Each teacher was recorded for 8

hours or 4 meetings. The audio recordings used to capture the moments when

the teacher use L1 during English lesson. The descriptive observation

protocol will be used in this section.

Data collection procedures

Firstly, the writer asked permission to do observation in two private

junior high schools and a state junior high school in Salatiga. After getting

permission, the writer started to do classroom observation. The observations

took 90 minutes on average and were recorded and transcribed. The purpose

of it was to know the teachers’ use Indonesian in English classroom.

Data analysis procedures

For the data analysis, after the observation the writer transcribed the

observation recordings one by one. The transcripts would be used to know the

moments when the English teachers used Indonesian for some purposes. The

data will be analyzed qualitatively. Based on the transcript, the data was

categorized into different purposes of teacher in using L2 when teaching

English (explaining meaning of words, giving instruction, maintaining

communication with students, managing classroom, explaining grammar

point, and checking comprehension). The data will be analyzed using

categorical content analysis. It means that the writer will analyze the content

of the data from conversation recording during learning process based on the

purposes of L1 use. From those data, the writer will be able to know the

teacher’s purpose in using Indonesian in teaching English for Junior High

School.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

The discussion on teachers’ purposes of using Indonesian in English

classroom was based on the observation which was conducted in two private

junior high schools and a state junior high school. The discussion would also

be combined and related to some theories to support the analysis of data.

After transcribing the recording and classifying the teacher’s talks, the

data was analyzed further to know the certain situations when the teacher

used Indonesian in English classroom. The data showed that L1 often used by

teacher for several purposes.

Table 1

Classroom observation result

Purposes Teacher Total

A B C

Explaining meaning of 24 (25,80%) 19 (25 %) 10 (13,15 %) 53 (21,63 %)

words

Giving instruction 8 (8,60 %) 15(19,73 %) 21 (27,63%) 44 (17,95 %)

Maintaining

communication with

students

22 (23,65 %) 8 (10,52 %) 13 (17,10%) 43 (17,55 %)

Managing classroom 17 (18,27 %) 13 (17,10%) 8 (10,52%) 38 (15,51 %)

Explaining grammar point 8 (8,60 %) 10 (13,15%) 17 (22,36 %) 35 (14,28 %)

Checking comprehension 14 (15,05 %) 11 (14,47%) 7 (9,21 %) 32 (13,06 %)

Total 93 (100 %) 76 (100 %) 76 (100 %) 245 (100 %)

From Table 1, we can see that the highest amount of first language use

was to explain the meaning of words. Two of the teachers (Teacher A and

Teacher B) have use L1 mostly to explain word meaning. Teacher C has the

highest frequency in giving instruction as her purpose in using L1. From the

245 of occurrences of those purposes, teacher A uses L1 more frequently than

the others (Teacher B and Teacher C). Interestingly, Teacher B and Teacher

C have the same amount in using L1 with those purposes above.

1. Explaining meaning of words

From the observation, Indonesian was mostly used to explain meaning

of words. Below is an example of using Indonesian to convey meaning of a

word or sentences done by teacher A.

Situation (the teacher just checked the quiz about verb and noun). – (1st

observation, 2nd of February)Teacher A : number 1, try and villain. What is try?S1 : mencoba (try)Teacher A: What is villain?S2: nggak tahu (don’t know)Teacher A : related with kill, apa?S3 : (just silent without answer)

Teacher A: villain is penjahatTeacher A : number 7, formula and develop. What is formulaS4 : (just silent without answer)Teacher A : formula itu rumus.

The example above showed that the teacher used Indonesian to

explain meaning of a word ‘villain’ and ‘formula’. The teacher showed the

things related to the unfamiliar words, asked them about the thing, and when

nobody knew the answer, teacher directly translated it in L1. We can see the

expression of students when teacher asked question (students just silent

without answer) showed that the word “villain” and “formula” maybe

unfamiliar for students or it’s conclude difficult words from them. So the

teacher chooses to use Indonesian to explain that words.

These findings were similar to the findings on Tang (2002) research

which stated that the highest amount of first language use was to explain the

meaning of words. It was revealed in his study that using the first language

was more effective in explaining vocabulary to students.

2. Giving instruction

During the observation, the writer found that each class has different

ability to understand what the teacher said in teaching and learning process.

In this situation, teachers use L1 to give instruction to students, for example:

Situation 1 (Teacher asked students to do an exercise in the textbook)-(3rd observation, 14th of February)

Teacher A : And your job is to write down your story based on the picture in five sentences.S1 : (just silent and did nothing)Teacher A : jadi tolong tuliskan cerita dari gambar itu dalam lima kalimat saja. (Please write a story related the picture in five sentences)

S2 : OK, Mam (start working) Situation 2 (Teacher asked students to do an exercise based on the picture in the screen) – (5th observation, 20th of February)

Teacher C : After you find and think many kinds of the words related the pictureS1 : (just silent and did nothing)Teacher C : jadi nanti kamu membuat teks sesuai dengan gambar yang ada di layar (so you make a text according the picture on the screen)S2 : OKTeacher C : So, we can write some words related the physical and personal characteristic based on the pictureS3 : Maksudnya gimana, Pak?(What do you mean, Sir?)Teacher C : Jadi, kalian menulis dulu ciri fisik dan kepribadian sesuai dengan gambar yang ada di layar. (So, we can write some words related the physical and personal characteristic based on the picture on the screen)S4 : Oooohh gituu.. (Start working)

The example above (in Situation 1) showed that L1 was basically used

to inform the students about what they should do with their task. When the

teacher only used English, sometimes the students were just silent and did

nothing. Then, the teacher shifted the language into their L1. As a result, the

students could do what the teacher asked them to do. The teacher used L1 to

make the students understand more about what they should do. In that

context, the teachers choose to use L1 to clarify the instruction.

In Situation 2 showed that the teacher explained the instructions using

L1 when he saw the students were not able to follow his instructions. The

teacher used L1 in order to make his instructions clearer. The use of L1 in

giving instructions made the students follow the teacher’s explanation.

Tang (2002) found that the most common purpose of L1 use was to

give instructions. He also stated that teacher needs to use L1 to give

instruction to students in order to avoid misunderstanding in doing a task.

3. Maintaining communication with students

In classroom activity, communication is the key to build relationship

between teacher and students. In this case, maintaining communication with

students is important during teaching and learning activity. Teacher always

ask questions to students or just offer helps related to the material or task.

Based on the observation, the writer found that teacher sometimes chooses to

use L1 in asking questions or offering help to the students. In the context of

asking questions to students, the teachers choose to use L1, for example:

Situation 1 (Student asked question to the teacher during doing an exercise) – (2nd observation, 7th of February)

Teacher A : Jafray mau tanya yang lain?(Jafray, is there anything you want to ask?)Jafray : tidak, tidak (No, no)5 minutes later, Jafray raised his handTeacher A : Ya Jafray, mau tanya apa? (Yes Jafray, what do you want to ask?)Jafray : santai apa Mam?(What is enjoy, Mam?)Teacher A : santai, bersantai maksudnya?(do you mean “enjoy”, “enjoying”?)Jafray : iya (yes)Teacher A : enjoying bisa

Situation 2 (Teacher just explaining the material) – (6th observation, 20th of February)

Teacher C : OK, I want to teach you how to translate, about Rama’s book shop. Anda sudah menterjemahkan belum?(Have you transalated it?)S1 : Sudah. (Yes, we have)Teacher C : OK, good.Teacher C : Gambar tadi menurut Anda gimana? (What do you think about that picture?)S2 : Good

The example in Situation 1 showed that teacher used L1 when there

was a student who asked her about the difficulties that he found during doing

a task. Situation 2 showed that teacher just asked questions to students about

the material had been given.

Also when teachers communicate with students, in the context

connected where material and real life were connected, teacher sometimes

uses L1, for example:

Situation 3 (Teacher read a story in the textbook) – (7th observation, 21th of February)

Teacher A : Ohh, he is also a biology teacher, like who in here? Seperti siapa? (Like who?)Who is our biology teacher?S1 : Bu NanikTeacher A : Ya Bu Nanik, ia juga guru biologi (Yes, Ms Nanik, she is a Biology teacher)

Cook (2001) found that the first language can be positively used such

as to maintain communication with students.

4. Managing classroom

From Table 1, it can be seen that to manage classroom, teachers need

to use L1. In some situation such as when students make a noise, the teacher

needs to remind them to be quiet. Sometimes students did not understand

what the teacher asked to them, in this point teachers chose to use L1, for

example:

Situation 1(Teacher asked the students to arrange their chair) – (1st

observation, 7th of February)Teacher A : OK, go back to your previous position without any noisy, tanpa suara (without noises)S1 : (back to previous position without noises)

Situation 2 (during presentation time, the students was noisy) -(8thobservation, 22nd of February)

Teacher C : Bagi mereka yang bicara saat temannya presentasi, nanti nilainya akan diambil oleh yang presentasi. (For them who make noise when their friends doing presentation, the grade will be taken for the presenter)S1 : (keep silent)

Auerbach (1993) and Cook (2001) suggested that one of possible

occasions for using the mother tongue in L2 classroom is to manage

classroom.

5. Explaining grammar point

Tang (2002) stated that grammar is one aspect which students

sometimes find difficulties in English course. We can see from the data that

explaining grammar point is one of teacher’s purposes in using L1. In

explaining grammar, sometimes teachers use L1 to clarify the explanation, for

example:

Situation (Teacher explaining about grammar) – (4th observation, 14th of February)

Teacher A : Kalau subjeknya satu, selalu pakai “is”, kalau Falen, he, she, it pakainya is, kalau are untuk apa? (If the subject just one, it’s always uses “is”, for example Falen, he, she, it, it uses tobe “is”, what is the subject for tobe “are?”)S1 : We, you, theyTeacher A : Ya, we, you, they, dan atau orangnya lebih dari satu, tapi kalau I selalu pakai am ya Nak yaa.., ngerti ya, Nak ,yaa? (Yes, we, you, they ; it’s for subject which means more than one , but the subject I always uses “am”, understand?)S2 : Yes, Mam.Teacher A : Contoh : Falen eat pete, apa bedanya Falen makan pete dengan Falen sudah makan pete? (For example : Falen eat pete, what is the differentiate between Falen is eating pete and Falen have eaten pete?)S3 : (still silent and no answer)Teacher A : Kalau kalian ingin mengungkapkan kalimat yang berarti sedang, Falen is eating petai. (If you want to make a sentence which means “sedang” , Falen is eating pete )S4 : (nodding)

Tang (2002) stated that grammar is very difficult task that teacher

should be choose the good way to explain it by using L1. My own view is

maybe they use mother tongue to make clear the explanation.

6. Checking comprehension

From 245 of the occurrences of L1 use in L2 classroom, checking

comprehension is the purpose which was used the least. In situation when

teachers already explain the words or sentence before, in this case the

teachers just uses L1 to check whether the students remember about the

vocabulary that they have learned before, for example:

Situation 1(Teacher read a story in the textbook) – (7th observation, 21th of February)

Teacher A : So, arti dari plant disitu adalah?( So, what is the meaning of plant there?)S1 : menanam (plant)Teacher A : Kalau kata bendanya, plant itu (if a noun, plant means...)S2 : tanaman (plant)Teacher A : Kalau kata kerjanya? (if a verb, plant means....)S2 : menanam (plant)Teacher A : Water, water harusnya? (the meanig of water should be...)S4 : air (water)Teacher A : Tapi kata kerjanya menjadi? (if a verb,water means...)S5 : menyiram (water)

Situation 2 (The teacher explained about pronoun) - (10th observation, 1st of March)

Teacher B : Whose tadi artinya apa? (what is the meaning of “whose”?)S1 : Milik siapa. (whose)Teacher B : Misalkan, buku punyanya Ana, jadinya gimana?(for example, this book Ana’s book, how it would be like?)S2 : Ana’s book.Teacher B : OK, good job.

The examples showed that the teacher just repeated the answer from

students or just to give a confirmation whether was the answer right or wrong.

It showed that the teacher used L1 to check whether the students understood

about the explanation in English or not. Therefore, in checking the students’

comprehension, L1 was still needed to help the students understand the

material better.

Atkinson (1987) found that one of the teacher’s purposes in using L1

is to check comprehension. He also stated that teachers also use L1 for

comprehension of a reading and listening text.

Conclusion and Recommendation

The conclusion is based on the observation which was conducted by

the writer in two private junior high schools and a state junior high school

with the participant of three English teachers, Teacher A, Teacher B, and

Teacher C. The aim of the study is to find out the teacher’s purpose of using

Indonesian in teaching English for Junior High School students.

In the study, the writer found that the highest amount of first language

use was to explain the meaning of words. Two of the teachers (Teacher A and

Teacher B) have use L1 mostly to explain word meaning. Teacher C has the

highest frequency in giving instruction as her purpose in using L1. From the

245 of occurrences of those purposes, teacher A uses L1 more frequently than

the others (Teacher B and Teacher C). Surprisingly, Teacher B and Teacher C

have the same amount in using L1 with those purposes above.

This study is useful for English teachers so they can improve their

teaching quality by managing the use of mother tongue, in this case

Indonesian in teaching English. This study is also useful for those who want

to conduct the same research about teacher’s purpose in using L1 in L2

classroom.

The writer concludes that three teachers use L1 in the same purposes

with different amount. According to Hidayati (2012), these purposes in using

L1 the degree of student interaction was higher than when the teachers used

less of the first language. It means that student’s interaction was higher when

the first language was used by the teacher because students felt more

comfortable during class with a familiar language; they were better able to

understand, communicate, and participate during class.

Throughout this study, the writer realized that there are needs to

develop a further study and research related the using first language in L2

classroom. Therefore, in the future, it is strongly recommended for those who

want to conduct a similar study, that they can do a similar research with a

broader scope involving more strategy in research (by interviewing the

teacher). Further study can also be done by knowing the teacher’s decision

whether to translate or give further instruction in explaining the meaning of

words. Overall, the writer hopes that the findings on this study can be useful

on how to manage in using L1 in L2 classroom.

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APPENDIX

Observation Protocol

Name of course: ……………………………….

Class time: …………………………

Class length: …………………………….

Name of instructor:..........................

Total number of students:...................

Teacher Question Time of Occurrence

Students’ behavior