Closing the Gap: Student Attitudes Toward First Language Use in Monolingual EFL Classrooms

TESOL Journal ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 314-341 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georgios Neokleous
Keyword(s):  
Student Attitudes ◽  
Language Use ◽  
First Language ◽  
Closing The Gap ◽  
Efl Classrooms

First and second language use in English medium instruction contexts

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 382-402 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ernesto Macaro ◽  
Lili Tian ◽  
Lingmin Chu
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
First Language ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Academic Disciplines ◽  
Chinese University ◽  
English Medium Instruction ◽  
Efl Classrooms ◽  
Academic Content

Although there is a wealth of research on the use of the first language (L1) in English as a foreign language (EFL) classrooms, there is as yet very little research of this kind in classrooms where the prime pedagogical objective is to teach academic content through English as a second language (English medium instruction; EMI). It is important to begin filling this gap because a purported aim of content-based programs is to expose students to large quantities of the target language. We investigated the practices of five EMI teachers in a Chinese university and measured the reactions of their students both quantitatively and qualitatively. Our findings show that these teachers switched to the L1 rarely (although with considerable differences among the teachers) and mostly to explain both simple and complex concepts in their academic disciplines. Although students were unperturbed by the switches to the L1, some felt that the teacher could have made more of an effort to explain it in L2 first.

scholarly journals Pragmatics in Teacher Talk: The Case of Pre-Primary Education

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 168
Author(s):  
Júlia Barón ◽  
Helena Roquet ◽  
Natalia Evnitskaya ◽  
Noelia Navarro
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Primary Education ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Primary Teachers ◽  
Teacher Talk ◽  
Pragmatic Competence ◽  
Efl Classrooms ◽  
L1 English

This study aims to explore how the speech act of requesting is performed in Catalan (L1), English (L1) and EFL classrooms by pre-primary teachers. The study examines transcripts of 40-minute video-recorded lessons (six in Catalan/L1, six in English/FL, and three in English/L1) collected in several pre-primary schools in Catalonia, Spain. Recall interviews with the teachers were also conducted in order to examine their perceptions of their pragmatic performances in the classroom. Results show that teachers predominantly use imperatives in the three groups (Catalan L1, English L1 and EFL); however, a wider variety of requesting strategies is used in the L1 lessons. The study concludes with reflections on the pedagogical implications of the findings and calls for the need to raise teachers’ awareness about the effect their language use might have on the development of learners’ pragmatic competence both in the L1 and the foreign language.

scholarly journals The use of person-first language in scholarly writing may accentuate stigma

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morton Ann Gernsbacher
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Children With Disabilities ◽  
First Language ◽  
Typical Development ◽  
Scholarly Writing ◽  
American Psychological ◽  
Adults With Disabilities ◽  
Style Guides

Numerous style guides, including those issued by the American Psychological and the American Psychiatric Associations, prescribe that writers use only person-first language so that nouns referring to persons (e.g. children) always precede phrases referring to characteristics (e.g. children with typical development). Person-first language is based on the premise that everyone, regardless of whether they have a disability, is a person-first, and therefore everyone should be referred to with person-first language. However, my analysis of scholarly writing suggests that person-first language is used more frequently to refer to children with disabilities than to refer to children without disabilities; person-first language is more frequently used to refer to children with disabilities than adults with disabilities; and person-first language is most frequently used to refer to children with the most stigmatized disabilities. Therefore, the use of person-first language in scholarly writing may actually accentuate stigma rather than attenuate it. Recommendations are forwarded for language use that may reduce stigma.

scholarly journals Completing the English Vocabulary Profile: C1 and C2 vocabulary

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annette Capel
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Use ◽  
First Language ◽  
Substantial Part ◽  
Academic English ◽  
Learner Corpus ◽  
Validation Phase ◽  
Extensive Information ◽  
The Common ◽  
Polysemous Words

AbstractThe English Vocabulary Profile is an online vocabulary resource for teachers, teacher trainers, exam setters, materials writers and syllabus designers. It offers extensive information about the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) levels of words, phrases, phrasal verbs and idioms, and currently includes just under 7,000 headwords. This article reports on the trialling and validation phase of the A1−B2 levels of the resource, as well as outlining the research and completion of the C1 and C2 levels. The project has followed a ‘can-do’ rationale, focusing on what learners actually know rather than prescribing what they should know, and is underpinned by up-to-date corpus evidence, including the 50-million word Cambridge Learner Corpus and the 1.2-billion word Cambridge English Corpus of first language use. At C1 and C2 levels, the English Vocabulary Profile describes both General and Academic English, and the additional sources used to research this area of language learning are described in the article. Polysemous words are treated in depth and the project has sought to determine which meanings of these important words appear to be acquired first; new, less frequent meanings often continue to be learned across all six CEFR levels. Phrases form another substantial part of the resource and this aspect has been guided by expert research (see Martínez 2011).

scholarly journals Living in several languages: Language, gender and identities

2011 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 361-378 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte Burck
Keyword(s):  
Family Relationships ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
First Language ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Language Differences ◽  
Discursive Analysis ◽  
First Languages ◽  
Research Interviews

Living in several languages encompasses experiencing and constructing oneself differently in each language. The research study on which this article is based takes an intersectional approach to explore insider accounts of the place of language speaking in individuals’ constructions of self, family relationships and the wider context. Twenty-four research interviews and five published autobiographies were analysed using grounded theory, narrative and discursive analysis. A major finding was that learning a new language inducted individuals into somewhat ‘stereotyped’ gendered discourses and power relations within the new language, while also enabling them to view themselves differently in the context of their first language. This embodied process could be challenging and often required reflection and discursive work to negotiate the dissimilarities, discontinuities and contradictions between languages and cultures. However, the participants generally claimed that their linguistic multiplicity generated creativity. Women and men used their language differences differently to ‘perform their gender’. This was particularly evident in language use within families, which involved gendered differences in the choice of language for parenting – despite the fact that both men and women experience their first languages as conveying intimacy in their relationships with their children. The article argues that the notion of ‘mother tongue’ (rather than ‘first language’) is unhelpful in this process as well as in considering the implications of living in several languages for systemic therapy.

Code Switching in EFL Classrooms: A Bangladeshi Perspective

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 924
Author(s):  
Md. Obaidullah
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
First Language ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Medium Of Instruction ◽  
Pedagogical Issues ◽  
Common Phenomenon ◽  
English As Foreign Language ◽  
Efl Classrooms

Code switching (CS) in classrooms, especially in bilingual classes, is a common phenomenon. This paper tends to expose the plausible reasons behind the application of first language (L1) in English as Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms where English is considered the medium of instruction in all spheres of pedagogical issues. Another important aspect of this study is to reveal the perception of both students and teachers towards their CS to L1. The findings of this survey show that a switch to L1, whether initiated by the teachers or the students, makes the lesson or topic discussed in the class more comprehensible.

scholarly journals The Kinds of the Linguistic Interference

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 176
Author(s):  
Sayana Movsum Baghirova
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Student Attitudes ◽  
Scientific Literature ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
First Language ◽  
The Other ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Teacher Student ◽  
Linguistic Interference

In the scientific literature, the symbols L1 (Language 1) and L2 (Language 2) are used to indicate the sequence of languages. In most countries, L1 is understood as a first language, and it usually coincides with the mother tongue. The other languages are learned later. This can be seen in the children of multilingual parents. Teaching a second foreign language covers everything a student hears and sees in a new language. This includes a variety of discourse activities, such as exchanges in restaurants and shops, talking to friends, reading billboards and newspapers, as well as teacher-student attitudes in the classroom, as well as language activities and books in the classroom. Regardless of the learning environment, the learner's goal is to master a target language. The learner starts the task of learning a second language from scratch (or close to it) and uses the necessary language skills in the mother tongue to determine the reciprocity of language units in the target language.

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