Page 46 - BRIDGES - ISSUE 7

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feelings must be respected and acted Newsletter December 1998:21-24) Medgyes, P. 1994. The Non-Native
upon. But howexactly ? Kramsch, C. 1993. Context and Cul- Teacher ( Macmillan)
There are two ways in which from the ture in Language Teaching (Oxford Phillipson, R.1992. Linguistic Imperi-
teacher’s point of view such surveys University Press) alism (Oxford University Press)
may be useful : firstly, they allow the Krashen, S. 1988. Second Language Widdowson,H1996.’Comment :au-
teacher to enter into a dialogue with Acquisition and Second Language thenticity and autonomy’ E LT Jour-
thestudents , which in itself isgood for Learning (Prentice Hall) nal,50/1:67-68))
teacher-student rapport , apart from
any new knowledge that may result Appendices
from the process Secondly, it helps
the teach luge the degree of ac- Fig. 1
e o :me ideas and the de-
SIS r .ce to others. Thus, Mother tongue toother tonguequestionnaire
au ling methodological Do you use the LI to...
Lassroom, the teacher 1 explain the meaning of newwords
will oe mo » awareof the need to 2 explaingrammar
:nes of learner train- 3 check the meaning of new words
em. .iO »
ing to crem .r r:si: :ve attitudes in the 4 check that grammar has been understood
students tow izds any planned inno- 5 explain the context of a dialogue/text
vation. It would , in other words, be 6 explain the methodology ' used in class
7 give instructions
foolhardy ,given the results of such an 8 correct errors
extensive questionnaire,for a teacher 9 explain the aims of the lesson
to use the LI extensivelyor uncritically 10 test (through translation)
in class, particular from intermediate 11 teach through translation
level upwards. 12 docontrastive analysis
On the other hand , the generalscepti-
cism towards LI in the ELT Fig.2
In the previous issue of Bridges, I il-
lustrated a range of techniques for MotherTongueQuestionnaire
using the LI to promote both learn- Survey:300students
ing and acquisition; these techniques The three columns in the charts refer to the responses given by beginners,
attempted tostrikea balance between, intermediate and advanced students.Theyare%.
on the one hand, the constructive use
of LI as a resource in learning a for- thefigures refer to responsesfrom beginners, intermediate and advanced stu-
dents, in that order
eign language and,on theother hand,
the need to respect the students ap- 100Studentsat the three levels were asked toanswer yes or no to the following
parent wish to be exposed to the tar- questions.
get language to the highest possible
degree duringclass time. 1Should the teacher know the students’ mother-tongue ? 65 53 53
2 Should the teacher use the students’ mother-tongue ? 66 58 29
Bibliography 3 Should the students use their mother-tongue ? 63 53 35
Atkinson, D. 1987. ’The mother- It is useful if theteacheruses LI when
tongue in the classroom: a neglected 4 explaining new words 25 35 18
resource ?’(ELTJournal, 44/1:3-10) 5 explaining grammar 31 7 0
Atkinson, D. 1993. Teaching Mono- 6 explaining differences between LI and L2 grammar 27 4 6
lingual Classes (Longman) 7 explaining differences in the use of LI and L2 rules 33 22 20
Auerbach, E. 1993. ’Re-examining 8 giving instructions 3 9 0
only in the ESL classroom’
LQuarterly, 27/1:9-32) Students should be allowed touse LI when
1983.’Mother Tongue 9 talking in pairs and groups 22 3
- ~n Second Language Lit- 10 asking how dowe say’..’ in English ? 13 38 6
-
nal.37/4:312-318) 11 translating an L2word into LI to show
rrj 32 • S. pTi ' rlemsandprin- they understand it 18 13 6
Teaching. 12 translating a text from L2 to LI to show
they understand it 21 7 6 6
21 2
· :r . Oxford The teacherand studentscan use LI to:
13 translating as a test
; _
L
n : ion
.
Imr · JLC — :: roor- 14 check listening comprehension 27 9
tur .U.r r > -;cce 15 check reading comprehension 14 7
16 discuss the methods used in class
21 13
I