The use of L1 in English teaching

2. Waste of lesson time

• Because if I use mother-tongue all the time, learners won’t get enough exposure to English.
• But constant use of English, when a lot of the time it is incomprehensible, can also be a waste of time.
• And using L1 can SAVE time (e.g. instructions) that can then be devoted to English.

3. L2 learning should imitate L1 learning

• Because that’s the way children learn their first language
• Because it’s the natural way to learn a language
• But it isn’t the first language: learners already have a meaning-symbol system in place; and it is natural and easier for people to approach their second language via their first.

4. I want them to ‘think in English’

• I want them to go straight into thinking ideas in English, not via their mother tongue
• But they won’t: learners automatically think first in L1.

5. The native-speaker model

• Because I want them to be as like native speakers as possible, rather than Hebrew- or Arabic-speakers who also know English. And native speakers don’t translate or engage with other languages.
• On the contrary, that (Hebrew/Arabic speakers who also know English) is precisely what I want them to be…

6. Use of L1 will encourage interference

• Because if I encourage them to think of L1 equivalents, the L1 will interfere and produce mistakes
• Interference is a natural and inevitable phenomenon, even if you pretend the L1 isn’t there. Probably the best way to deal with it is to make learners aware of it through contrast and translation.

7. Encouraging the translation fallacy

• Because if I constantly translate, pupils will think the two languages have exact equivalents
• On the contrary: if you never make them face the problems of identifying true equivalents rather than literal translations, they will continue, intuitively, to translate literally.