Language and the learner

周如怡

Introduction

English class in China now is still teacher-centre class， although teachers want to have a student-centre class. Because of the current education policy， we have to pay more attention to the mark of test， which is the evaluation for students learning ability. Teachers explain different language points in their first language which makes langauge points easily understood. Therefore， Students find that is very boring and lose interest in it.

The use of L1 in L2 secondary classroom

The use of the first language in second language class is a contentious issue （Macaro 2001， p.531）. Some linguists view code-switching as inevitable， and feel it helps to express meanings more precisely （Cheng and Butler 1989）. Macaro （2005：68） argues “the language of thought for all but the most advanced L2 learners is inevitably his/her L1.” Brooks and Donato （1994， p. 268） hold the opinion that L1 in L2 class， which “is a normal psycholinguistic process that facilitates L2 production and allows the learners both to initiate and sustain verbal interaction with one another.”

In addition， numerous researches are done to prove the use of L1 in L2 class is necessary. For instance， Eldridge， J. （1996） did a research in a small Turkish secondary- Deniz High School， where English is taught as a second language. Indeed， the students were also asked to offer instances of when they use their mother tongue and gave the reason why they used L1 in L2 class.

However， some linguists believe the use of L1 in L2 class can serve to pollute a language， rather than enhance the students communication （Cheng and Butler 1989）. Chaudron （1988） strongly asserts that quantity of exposure to the target language is the primary factor in facilitating the language acquisition process. Indeed， using L1 would undermine students learning process （Macdonald 1993）.

Whether excluding L1 from L2 class is always contentious （Macaro 2001， p.531）. Some asserts that it is essential to use target language only in L2 class， while others strongly oppose it（Macaro 2001）. For me， I think we can resort to L1 when we meet some difficulties in L2 class.

In fact， in my speaking classe， I spoke English for the whole time. I just try my best to explain the new words and phrases in more simple way in English. I found some students are very active and speak a lot in class， while others often keep silent. So after class， I ask them whether they understood this lesson or not. The result is that some students thought they understood the class totally， and the majority of the students thought they mastered the most of it， while few students of low level felt very frustrated for they just understood the meaning of word referring to the picture， but they could not understand what I explained and what instruction I gave in class because I spoke English in the class for the whole time. So just as the research above mentioned， only use target language in L2 class may accelerate some students development， but it may also have negative impact on some students （Eldridge 1996）.endprint

According to the feedback of class， I found extremely excluding mother tongue from the second language class is not reasonable， especially for the low- level students in my class. The next lesson I had was grammar lesson， which was about the countable nouns and uncountable nouns， I believe if I use English to explain the grammar for the whole time， some students must be very frustrated. Therefore， first I just try my best to speak English as much as possible and I also resort to some pictures to present the difference between countable nouns and uncountable nouns. Just like Chambers （1992） claims that referring to students would feel tired for listening to target language for a long time， availability of time， the level of students understanding， complexity of language， grammar and disruption in class for their bad behaviour， she would revert to the mother tongue in the class. Obviously， this class is a grammar class and some vocabulary， phrases and grammar language point are very complicated， I have to use the first language to explain these so as to let students can get better understanding of the knowledge point. Satisfied， I found the most of students can do the exercises correctly and just few students could not do it totally right. So I would try my best to explain it again in Chinese and let them do extra exercises again to make sure that all of students had mastered the grammar knowledge.

At last， I felt very satisfied and believed that we should use target language as much as possible in our class， but sometimes we should also resort to the first language to help us to explain difficult knowledge points， therefore， students can feel much easier to understand and master difficult knowledge as well as develop their English.

References：

[1]Brooks F.and R.Donato.1994.Vygotskian approaches to understanding foreign language learner discourse during communicative tasks.Hispania 77/2：262–74.

[2]Busato，V.V.，Prins，F(xiàn).J.，Elshout，J.J.and Hamakera，C.1999.The relation between learning styles，the Big Five personality traits and achievement motivation in higher education.Personality and Individual Differences 26，pp.129-140.endprint