THE USE OF L1 IN THE EFL CLASSROOM

Öz

In English Language Teaching (ELT) profession, there still is no general consensus on the use of mother language (L1) while teaching a target language (L2).  Views on the issue differ from both person to person and approach to approach. There are proponents of L1 who believe it can be used when necessary. There are also those who totally shun the use of the mother tongue because, according to them, it hinders the learning of a foreign language.  This study tries to contribute to ELT field by examining the effects of the use of L1 on the internalization of L2 grammar structures in Turkish university English preparatory school.  165 students whose major is business, participated into the study.  The study attempts to analyze how one of the variables changes when another variable is manipulated and has an explanatory nature.  The relationship between the dependent and independent variables is established through the analysis of data collected through two tests: an achievement test and a progressive test by means of descriptive statistics and t-tests.  This study could not find hard evidence in favour of L1 being used in the L2 context.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• language

Kaynakça

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