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ESL forum >
Message board > MOTHER TONGUE ON ENGLISH TEACHING?
MOTHER TONGUE ON ENGLISH TEACHING?
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memthefirst
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MOTHER TONGUE ON ENGLISH TEACHING?
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How does the mother tongue effect the student.Is it positive or negative? |
7 Dec 2008
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Logos
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The study of mother tongue interference in language teachin is called �Contrastive Analysis� and for some features of language it can be an advantage to have similar structures to the language learned, and others can cause confusion. The general opinion is that mother tongue interference is usually negative - especially in the field of pronunciation.
It is a highly involved subject and can be searched through google by selecting - contrastive analysis language - and see what comes up |
7 Dec 2008
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Damielle
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Dear memthefirst,
I think that some issues should be considered when judging the influence of mother tongue when teaching ESL. Some of them are the approach, the methodology, the strategies, the environment, the characteristics of students, the available resources, the time constrains, and the characteristics of the course. Although it is sometimes unadvisable to use your mother tongue in some cases it is advisable to use it most of the time to reach a specific aim.
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7 Dec 2008
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Tere-arg
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I am not for the use of mother tongue but what you say, Damielle, is quite true.
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7 Dec 2008
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Logos
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This could turn out to be quite a nice linguistic argument for once, rather than some of the petty things submitted lately. When I saw the first request, I assumed memthefirst was asking about first language interference. Damielle and tere-arg seem to be talking about the use of 1st language in the 2nd language classroom.
Damielle wrote "Although it is sometimes unadvisable to use your mother tongue in some cases it is advisable to use it most the time to reach a specific aim" Tere-arg agreed with this.
I would totally disagree. Using the mother tongue in second language teaching is what I would call �short term gain for long term loss�. Yes kids immediately understand what you say, yes they can get on with the task immediately and everyone is happy. But have they been given a chance to �wrestle� with the language?
Krashen (the famous 2nd language learning professor) has stated that Children need a language rich environment with �comprehensible input� and this means using first language as much as possible.
Now don�t get me wrong - I am not totally against using the mother tongue in teaching English, but use it as a last resort. If the class does not understand what you say in English, then say it in a different way. If they still don�t understand then demonstrate, gesture, draw pictures, mime, whatever to show what it is that you are saying. If they still don�t understand, then translate into mother tongue.
Does this waste a lot of time. Yes it does, but it is time well spent. They are getting real language with real input. If for instance i was teaching you Chinese and I said �Kai nide shu� then you would not understand what I was saying - but if I said it and took a text book and opened the book in front of the class as I was saying it, then you would pick up the fact that I was actually saying �Open your book�.
You would waste a bit of time, maybe have to repeat and show the class the same thing two or three times for them to get it - but they would get it, they would understand and you wouldn�t have to ever translate that again. Short term loss for long term gain�.
I could go on, but this forum is too short to put down all my reasoning. My plea to teachers is give your kids a language rich environment - avoid using the first language except as a last resort |
7 Dec 2008
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Damielle
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Logos is right but I think that he is talking about communicative language teaching of ESL. In this case I agree that you have to use the second language most of the time. But I�m also considering some other instances with specific purposes. Let�s consider an example: if you have to teach ESP, that is, English for Specific Purposes, in a specific field during six months and the aim is that true or false beginners students be able to understand the text and get specific information to draw and complete mind maps or make summaries in their first language, it is strongly adviced to use your native language. Of course, it is absolutely essential that everybody in the class speak the same language!!! |
7 Dec 2008
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manonski (f)
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I agree with you Logos. I believe that English should be taught in English. I always try to analyse why I�ve had to resort to mother at the end of a class. (does not happen often but it does). Most of the time, it comes down to a lack of preparation on my time, lack of resources or inappropriate task for my students. I�d rather do something "less challenging" and speak English than explain it in the mother tongue. I am not doing anybody a favor by speaking them in L1. For most of these kids, I�m the only second language model they�ll hear in their week. |
7 Dec 2008
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GIOVANNI
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I agree with both Logos and Damielle, but I also think it depends on what type of class your are teaching. I am presently teaching English Immersion for adults. They have six hours of English each day. I also teach Esl for adults where the classes are only 2 hours. My approach is a little different between the classes. In both of these classes I do not like to use their mother tongue unless is is for a grammatical explanation in lower levels only. However, I find that when the classes are only 2 hours with 25 students I do not have as much time for demonstration if a student does not grasp the meaning. I then explain the grammar in their mother tongue, but only for the beginning level.
I have a question. Does anyone recall the name of the method in which a language is taught mostly with demonstsrations, gestures and pictures? |
7 Dec 2008
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eng789
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You should only use mother tongue in class when there is no other way to getthe kids to understand.
Before you do, try drawing pictures and using your body.
Once you use mother tongue they will get lazy and start asking for it all the tome instead of trying to understand on their own.
Having said that, mother tongue is a trap that I also sometimes fall into because we want them to pay attention and stay with us and when they don�t understand, we lose them.
So like you find on most remedies: USE SPARINGLY AND WITH CAUTION.
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7 Dec 2008
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