Should an ESL teacher use students’ first language in a lesson?

During the ESL kindergarten lesson, the main language teacher brought up an interesting aspect to the lesson - she used the pupils’ first language in her instructions. Why did she do this? Was it wrong to include students’ mother tongue?

There are many arguments for and against this decision, which is for you to decide as an ESL teacher to include in your lessons or not.

The use of L1 in the ESL lesson

There could be a number of advantages of using the childrens’ first language. From what I can think of, it is possible that more students would follow the lesson. Learners are likely to already have these lexical items in their first language so L1 can be used to support their learning. Using their first language can make students feel more confident and secure in the classroom. In addition, students who hear their mother tongue in the classroom can make them feel more accepted and less of a feeling of confusion or frustration. It is likely that the pupils will be more focused and motivated, as they understand more throughout the lesson. On the other hand, using L1 in the lesson could also make students pay attention to their native language more than the target language. For me, this in a way is a grammar-translation method, as the two languages are presented and compared in a classroom.

The use of only using L2 in the lesson

Well, we know from Krashen’s theory of comprehensible input that if the language is presented in an understandable and clear way, there is no need for using one’s mother tongue. Most would agree that exposure to and use of the target language is crucial for a foreign language classroom, as it causes learners to naturally acquire L2 in classroom discourse. As the main language model from the teacher, learners would copy the educator’s pronunciation of words as well as many language chunks. Some might say that the target language offers a richer, more optimal learning environment. Teacher can provide opportunities to practice and repeat language in a meaningful way through context/gestures/visual support. The teacher can check comprehension to ensure understanding, for example with the use of CCQS or other activities. Many teachers might stress that many students won’t pick up the language as fast and they would possibly just sit there and not know what’s going on in the lesson.

Here are some of my points of the use of L1 in the ESL classroom, if you have something more to add, please leave a comment down below.

Sara