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Jin lan TangC H I N A

HERE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN CONTRADICTING VIEWS ABOUT WHETHER TO

use the mother tongue of the students in the foreign language classroom. The

monolingual approach suggests that the target language ought to be the sole

medium of communication, implying the prohibition of the native language

would maximize the effectiveness of learning the target language.

Using L1in the English

Classroom

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Background

A proponent of the monolingual approach,Krashen has argued that people learning for-eign languages follow basically the same routeas they acquire their mother tongue, hence theuse of the mother tongue in the learningprocess should be minimized (1981).

Authors of some introductory books onteaching EFL, such as Haycraft (1978), Hub-bard et al. (1983), and Harmer (1997), do notaddress this issue or pay very little attention toit. This suggests either the mother tongue doesnot play an important role in foreign languageteaching or the issue of native language usedoes not exist in the classrooms of theseauthors, since most of them are native speak-ers of English accustomed to working withmultilingual groups of students (Dörnyei, per-sonal communication).

During the past 15 years, however, mono-lingual orthodoxy has lost its appeal. Medgyesconsiders this orthodoxy “untenable on anygrounds, be they psychological, linguistic orpedagogical” (1994:66). It has been arguedthat exclusion of the mother tongue is a criti-cism of the mother tongue and renders it a sec-ond-class language. This degradation of themother tongue has harmful psychologicaleffects on learners (Nation 1990).

Professionals in second language acquisi-tion have become increasingly aware of therole the mother tongue plays in the EFL class-room. Nunan and Lamb (1996), for example,contend that EFL teachers working withmonolingual students at lower levels of Eng-lish proficiency find prohibition of the moth-er tongue to be practically impossible.Dörnyei and Kormos (1998) find that the L1is used by L2 learners as a communicationstrategy to compensate for deficiencies in thetarget language. Auerbuch (1993) not onlyacknowledges the positive role of the mothertongue in the classroom, but also identifies thefollowing uses for it: classroom management,language analysis, presenting rules that governgrammar, discussing cross-cultural issues, giv-ing instructions or prompts, explaining errors,and checking for comprehension.

My personal experience as a learner andteacher of English as a foreign language hasshown me that moderate and judicious use ofthe mother tongue can aid and facilitate thelearning and teaching of the target language, a

view shared by many colleagues of mine.However, the value of using the mothertongue is a neglected topic in the TEFLmethodology literature. This omission,together with the widely advocated principlethat the native language should not be used inthe foreign language classroom, makes mostteachers, experienced or not, feel uneasy aboutusing L1 or permitting its use in the class-room, even when there is a need to do so.

Should the students’ L1 be used in theEFL classroom? Though its use has beendefended by some language teaching special-ists, little empirical research has been done to find out if it is an effective teaching andlearning tool.

How do students and teachers look at thisissue? Schweers (1999) conducted a studywith EFL students and their teachers in aSpanish context to investigate their attitudestoward using L1 in the L2 classroom. Hisresults indicate that the majority of studentsand teachers agreed that Spanish should beused in the EFL classroom (Schweers 1999).

Inspired by his research and driven by myown interest, I decided to carry out a similarstudy on the use of the native language in theChinese context. However, differences existbetween Schweer’s study and mine. Firstly, inSchweer’s study English was the official secondlanguage of his participants, while in mineEnglish was a foreign language to the partici-pants. Secondly, the participants in myresearch were all first-year English major stu-dents and the classes observed were first-yearreading classes. Thirdly, I used a variety ofresearch methods, including classroom obser-vations, interviews, and a questionnaire.

Research design

QuestionsThis study aimed to answer the following

questions: (1) Is Chinese as the L1 used in ter-tiary-level English classrooms in China? If so,how frequently is it used and for what purpos-es? (2) What are the attitudes of the studentsand teachers toward using Chinese in the EFLclassroom?

ParticipantsThe participants of this study were 100

first-year English major students attending auniversity in Beijing. Their English was at theintermediate level. The 20 teacher participants

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were all faculty members at the same universi-ty, with their teaching experience rangingfrom one year to 30 years.

Methods and ProceduresBoth qualitative and quantitative research

methods were used, including classroomobservations, interviews, and questionnaires.

Classroom ObservationsThree randomly-selected first-year reading

classes (of about 50 minutes in length) con-ducted by three teachers were observed andrecorded to find out how frequently and onwhat occasions Chinese was used. To obtainmore authentic classroom data, the teachersand students were not informed of the obser-vation purpose beforehand.

InterviewsThe three teachers whose classes were

observed and recorded were interviewed andasked why they sometimes preferred usingChinese to English in their classes. The inter-views were recorded and summarized.

QuestionnairesA questionnaire (see Appendix 1) was dis-

tributed to 100 students, and another ques-tionnaire (see Appendix 2) to 20 teachers todiscover their attitudes toward using Chinesein the English classroom. The questionnaireitems focused on the subjects’ opinions towardthe use of L1, the various occasions when theythink L1 can be used, and the perceived effec-tiveness of L1 in their EFL classroom.

Results

Classroom observationsTable 1 shows the number of times and

occasions that Chinese was used in the three50-minute reading classes.

The table shows that Chinese was used bythe three teachers in the tertiary-level Englishreading classes to give instructions and toexplain the meaning of words, complex ideas,and complex grammar points. The greatest useof Chinese, 13 times, was to explain the mean-ing of words. Teacher 1 used Chinese toexplain the words steep, strain, scatter, fine,spout, terrain, melt, and beneficiary after herEnglish explanations, which proved to bequite effective judging from the students’responses. Teacher 2 used Chinese to explainthe meanings of the words surge, high, andspell following her English explanations. Inexplaining the word high in the phrase a searchfor a ‘high’ that normal life does not supply, shecame up with an appropriate and culturally-specific Chinese translation, and the studentsseemed to understand it quickly. One couldconclude that the teachers use Chinese onlywhen they explain abstract or culturally-spe-cific words. All three teachers first attemptedto explain the words, grammar points, andmeanings of complex ideas in English, butresorted to Chinese when they thought thestudents did not or could not understand theirEnglish explanations.

Teacher 3 used Chinese most frequently togive instructions. In the first five instances, theteacher used Chinese only after first givinginstructions in English, apparently to ensurethat every student was clear about what wassaid. Because it was quite noisy outside theclassroom at the time, the teacher used Chi-nese instructions alone on four occasions to

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Table 1. Classroom observation results

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hold the students’ attention and make themfollow him.

These three class observations indicate thatChinese is used on occasions when Englishexplanations fail to work, hence the L1 plays a supportive and facilitating role in the classroom.

InterviewsAfter the classroom observations, the three

teachers whose classes had been observed wereinterviewed about their occasional use of Chi-nese in the classroom and how they viewed thecommon criticism that using Chinese reducesthe students’ exposure to English. Theiranswers are summarized as follows:

• Teacher 1: Firstly, I think using some Chi-nese is more effective and less time-con-suming. Occasionally, when you spendquite some time or use several English sen-tences to explain one word or idea, and thestudents still look confused, using one sim-ple Chinese word or idiom might solve theproblem. Class time is limited; if usingChinese is helpful, why not do it? Second-ly, criticizing the use of Chinese on thegrounds that the students’ exposure to Eng-lish will be reduced does not reflect the factthat students read the English text and stillcommunicate in English with the teacherand other students in the classroom. Theuse of some Chinese in the class actuallyprovides more time for students to practicetheir English and get exposure to English.Lastly, the amount of English used dependson the students’ language proficiency level.If their English is at an advanced level, Ifeel no need to use Chinese. All in all, Ithink that using some Chinese in the class-room is necessary and the advantages ofdoing so outweigh any disadvantages.

• Teacher 2: The main reason I use Chinesein the classroom is that sometimes stu-dents—because of their low proficiencylevel in English—fail to follow me when I only use English to explain the meaningof the text or to give instructions. Also,when I happen to know a very vivid and appropriate Chinese translation of an Eng-lish sentence, I will give it to students sothey can immediately comprehend themeaning of the English sentence. This alsohelps them compare the word choices inthe two languages.

• Teacher 3: I use Chinese to discuss themeaning of some difficult, abstract wordsand to explain the grammar and ideasexpressed in long and complicated sen-tences. Sometimes when students lookpuzzled after my English explanation ofcertain points, I will use Chinese to rein-terpret them. Furthermore, when the class-room is noisy, using Chinese to keep orderis more effective than using English.

QuestionnairesAs noted earlier, questionnaires were dis-

tributed to students and teachers. Of the 100given to students, 98 were returned. Of the 20given to teachers, 18 were returned. The find-ings are presented in Table 2.

Table 2 shows that a high percentage of thestudents (70 percent) and the teachers (72 per-cent) who participated in the study think thatChinese should be used in the classroom. Thevast majority of students (97 percent) like itwhen their teachers use some Chinese.According to students, Chinese was most nec-essary to explain complex grammar points (72percent) and to help define some new vocabu-lary items (69 percent). For teachers, Chinesewas most necessary to practice the use of somephrases and expressions (56 percent) and toexplain difficult concepts or ideas (44 per-cent). Only two teachers indicated that Chi-nese could be used to give suggestions on howto learn more effectively. In choosing theopen-ended “Other” option about when it isnecessary to use Chinese in the EFL class-room, a few students indicated that the L1could be used to translate well-written para-graphs and to compare the two languages.

In explaining why they think the use ofChinese is necessary in EFL classes, the major-ity of student participants (69 percent) indi-cate that it helps them to understand difficultconcepts better. Fewer than half of the stu-dents (42 percent) answered that Chinese wasnecessary to understand new vocabulary itemsbetter. Only six percent of the studentsresponded that they felt less lost. This figure issignificantly smaller than the correspondingstudent responses in Schweer’s study, in which68.3 percent of the students preferred the useof the L1 in order to feel less lost (1999:8). Apossible explanation for this difference is thatthe students’ English language proficiencylevel in my study was higher than in Schweer’s.

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1. Should Chinese be used in the classroom? Students: yes 70% no 30% Teachers: yes 72% no 28%

2. Do you like your teacher to use Chinese in the class? (students only) not at all 3% a little 45% sometimes 50% a lot 2%

3. When do you think it is necessary to use Chinese in the English classroom?

Students Teachers a. to explain complex grammar points 72% 39% b. to help define some new vocabulary items 69% 39% c. to explain difficult concepts or ideas 48% 44% d. to practice the use of some phrases and expressions 45% 56% e. to give instructions 6% 6% f. to give suggestions on how to learn more effectively 4% 11%

4. If you think the use of Chinese is necessary in the classroom, why? Students a. It helps me to understand the difficult concepts better. 69% b. It helps me to understand the new vocabulary items better. 42% c. It makes me feel at ease, comfortable and less stressed. 8% d. I feel less lost. 6% Teachers a. It aids comprehension greatly. 39% b. It is more effective. 44% c. It is less time-consuming. 28% 5. Do you think the use of Chinese in the classroom helps you learn this language? (students only) no 3% a little 69% fairly much 22% a lot 6%

6. How often do you think Chinese should be used in the classroom? (students only) never 0% very rarely 38% sometimes 60% fairly frequently 2%

7. What percentage of time do you think Chinese should be used in the class? (students only)

Time Response5% 38%

10% 25%20% 20%30% 10% (No students answered higher than 30%.)

Table 2. Results of the questionnaires on the use of Chinese in the English classroom.Note: Where participants could choose more than one answer to a question (items 3 and 4), totals add up to more than 100 percent.

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The few students who chose the open-ended“Other” option for why it is necessary to usethe L1 indicated that Chinese could be used tounderstand jargon and to improve their trans-lation ability.

Concerning why the use of Chinese wasnecessary, teachers answered because “it ismore effective” (44 percent) and “it aids com-prehension greatly” (39 percent). One teachersuggested that the use of L1 helps studentsbecome more aware of the differences andsimilarities between different cultures.

More than half of the students (60 percent)think Chinese should be used in the classroom“sometimes.” Concerning how much timeChinese should be used in the English class,63 percent of the students answered theamount of Chinese used should range from 5to 10 percent of class time, and 30 percent ofthe students answered it should be from 20 to30 percent of class time.

The questionnaire results show that in thereading classes of first-year English majors, theuse of Chinese is justified. It is especially use-ful for language tasks such as defining vocabu-lary items, practicing the use of phrases andexpressions, and explaining grammar rulesand some important ideas. This is in agree-ment with the classroom observation results(see Table 1). Students prefer the use of Chi-nese because it enhances their comprehensionof new concepts and new vocabulary items;teachers think using Chinese is more effectiveand can aid comprehension.

Discussion

The results of the present study on the useof the mother tongue in a Chinese EFL con-text bear many similarities to Schweer’s studyin a Spanish context. Both studies indicatethat the mother tongue was used by themajority of teachers investigated, and bothstudents and teachers responded positivelytoward its use. Minor discrepancies exist con-cerning the occasions when the L1 should beused. Some of these differences can beaccounted for by the participants’ differentlevels of L2 language proficiency.

The teachers participating in this studyindicated that the translation of some words,complex ideas, or even whole passages is a goodway to learn a foreign language. My observa-tion of the three classes suggests that without

translation, learners would be likely to makeunguided and often incorrect translations.

This study also reveals that in the EFLclasses observed Chinese plays only a support-ive and facilitating role. The chief medium ofcommunication in the class is still English. Aswith any other classroom technique, the use ofthe mother tongue is only a means to the endof improving foreign language proficiency. Iagree with the majority of student participants(about 63 percent combined) that no morethan 10 percent of class time should be spentusing Chinese. In my experience, this percent-age decreases as the students’ English profi-ciency increases. Of course, a translationcourse would be an exception.

Unlike Schweer’s student participants, thestudents in the present study are highly moti-vated to learn English. As English majors inthe university, their English language profi-ciency is regarded as a symbol of their identityand a route to future academic and employ-ment opportunities. Few of them feel thatEnglish is imposed on them or regard the useof English as a threat to their identity. Instead,they generally prefer greater or exclusive use ofEnglish in the classroom. In their view, Chi-nese should be used only when necessary tohelp them learn English better.

Conclusion

The research seems to show that limitedand judicious use of the mother tongue in theEnglish classroom does not reduce students’exposure to English, but rather can assist inthe teaching and learning processes. This isnot to overstate the role of the L1 or advocategreater use of L1 in the EFL classroom, butrather to clarify some misconceptions thathave troubled foreign language teachers foryears, such as whether they should use themother tongue when there is a need for it andwhether the often-mentioned principle of nonative language in the classroom is justifiable.It is hoped that these findings will help makemore people acknowledge the role of thenative language in the foreign language class-room and stimulate further study in this area.

References

Auerbach, E. 1993. Reexaming English only in theESL classroom. TESOL Quarterly 27, 1, pp. 9–32.

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Dörnyei, Z. and J. Kormos. 1998. Problem-solvingmechanisms in L2 communication: A psy-cholinguistic perspective. Studies in Second Lan-guage Acquisition, 20, 3, pp. 349–385.

Harmer, J. 1997. The practice of English languageteaching. London: Longman.

Haycraft, J. 1978. An introduction to English lan-guage teaching. London: Longman.

Hubbard, P., H. Jones, B. Thornton, and R.Wheeler. 1983. A training course for TEFL.Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Krashen, S. 1981. Second language acquisition andsecond language learning. Oxford: Pergamon.

Medgyes, P. 1994. The non-native teacher. London:Macmillan Publishers Ltd.

Nation, I. S. P. 1990. Teaching and learning vocab-ulary. New York: Newbury House.

Nunan, D. and C. Lamb. 1996. The self-directedteacher. Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress.

Schweers, W. Jr. 1999. Using L1 in the L2 classroom.English Teaching Forum, 37, 2, pp. 6–9. z

JINLAN TANG is a lecturer in English at Beijing Foreign Studies University.

42 J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 2 E N G L I S H T E A C H I N G F O R U M

This questionnaire aims to find out your attitude toward using Chinese in theEnglish classroom. Your answers will be used for research purposes only.Thank you for your cooperation!

1. Should Chinese be used in the classroom? Yes No

2. Do you like your teacher to use Chinese in the class?not at all a little sometimes a lot

3.When do you think it is necessary to use Chinese in the English classroom?a. to help define some new vocabulary items (e.g., some abstract words)b. to practice the use of some phrases and expressions (e.g., doing translation

exercises)c. to explain complex grammar pointsd. to explain difficult concepts or idease. to give instructionsf. to give suggestions on how to learn more effectivelyg. other, please specify

4. If you think the use of Chinese is necessary in the classroom, why?a. It helps me to understand difficult concepts better.b. It helps me to understand new vocabulary items better.c. It makes me feel at ease, comfortable and less stressed.d. I feel less lost.e. other, please specify

5. Do you think the use of Chinese in the classroom helps you learn this language?no a little fairly much a lot

6. How often do you think Chinese should be used in the classroom?never very rarely sometimes fairly frequently

7. What percentage of the time do you think Chinese should be used in the class? Choose one.

5% 10% 20% 30% 40%50% 60% 70% 80% 90%

APPENDIX 1–STUDENT QUESTIONNAIRE ON THE USE OF CHINESE IN THE ENGLISH CLASSROOM

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This questionnaire aims to find out your attitude toward using Chinese in theclassroom. Your answers will be used for research purposes only. Thank youfor your cooperation!

1. Should Chinese be used in the classroom?Yes No

2. When do you think it is necessary to use Chinese in the classroom?a. to help define some new vocabulary items (e.g., some abstract words)b. to practice the use of some phrases and expressions (e.g., doing translation

exercises)c. to explain complex grammar pointsd. to explain difficult concepts or idease. to give instructionsf. to give suggestions on how to learn more effectivelyg. other, please specify

3. If you think the use of Chinese is necessary in the classroom, why?a. It aids comprehension greatly.b. It is more effective.c. It is less time-consuming.d. other, please specify

APPENDIX 2–TEACHER QUESTIONNAIRE ON THE USE OF CHINESE IN THE ENGLISH CLASSROOM

A N S W E R S T O T H E L I G H T E R S I D E

Answer to the logic puzzle on inside back cover:WHATWASYOURORDER?

Reggie had the cola,cheeseburger with pickles,and Frenchfries.The numbers in parentheses beside each person’s name indi-cate which facts applies for figuring out who ordered what.

Jane (6 & 10)Diet cola,grilled chicken sandwich,and French friesJack (4, 7 & 11)Vanilla milkshake and two hot dogsJill (4, 5 & 11)Cola and taco saladArchie (6, 7 & 8)Cola,plain hamburger,and French friesBetty (5, 7 & 8)Diet cola,fish sandwich,and onion ringsReggie (5, 7, 8 & 9)Cola,cheeseburger with pickles,and French fries

“Where’s the Beef?”

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