The Use of Mother Tongue in Foreign Language Classrooms In recent years, a discussion has been brought forward about whether the mother tongue (L1) should be implemented in foreign language classrooms or not. “The issue of whether language teachers should use the students’ first language in their second/ foreign language classroom has always been a controversial one” (Sharma, 2006:80). When looking at the historical process of teaching a foreign language, it is observed that teaching techniques should not be based on mother tongue. The target language (TL) is best taught in that language and by the native speakers. It is widely believed that the more exposure to the other languages, the less effective the target …show more content…
Cook (2001), claims that for more than a hundred years, the common approach in foreign language teaching has been against the mother tongue and obstructed the teachers and learners to use their native language. However, afterwards, the idea of using mother tongue has been advocated by some experts, as well. “Moderate and judicious use of the mother tongue is helpful and can facilitate the learning and teaching of the target language.” (Tang, 2002) Today, almost every teacher all around the world have a confrontation among each other when teaching a foreign language. While some argue that the usage of mother tongue facilitate the language learning, some argue that it may have unfavorable effects on students in the process of learning. This article is to express about the arguments for & against the use of mother tongue in foreign language and its advantages & disadvantages. Firstly, some teachers would prefer to use the mother tongue while they teach the foreign language. They
To learn a second languages is very important because people have better opportunities in life. For children from ages five and under it is the best time to learn as many languages. Angele Sancho Passe, the author of “Dual-Language Learners (Birth to Grade 3)”, talks about techniques for teaching English in a multilingual classroom and how reading in english to dual-language learners helps teach them oral language skills. Patton O. Tabors, the author of “One Child, Two Languages”, talks about writing case studies of children displaying different second language abilities. In the article, “Ways to Introduce Your Kids to Foreign Languages” by Grace Hwang Lynch, believes two-way bilingual immersion is a helpful way to introduce foreign languages
However, there is a lot of dispute about the use of target language (TL) in the MFL classroom and key questions such as when and how often should we use the TL?’ as well as when should we use the mother tongue?’ have arisen. On one side, many argue in favour of the TL and feel that the national curriculum requirement is best met if classes are taught as often and as possible, using the target language as ‘a real means of communication’ (Jones, Halliwell, Holmes, 2002) and ‘using it not only as a ‘target’ to be learnt but for other purposes, students are more likely to perceive it as a useful medium for communication (Littlewood, Yu) and develop more motivation to learn it (Chambers, 2013)’. In addition, using TL in the classroom provides significant learning opportunities, especially when there are few opportunities to use the TL outside of lesson (Yoshida). This view is reinforced by Turnbull (2001) who states that ‘the teacher is most often the sole linguistic model for the students and therefore their main source of TL input’ further emphasising the importance of communication in the TL in the classroom, especially when is not uncommon for
Demetria Martínez’s Mother Tongue is divided into five sections and an epilogue. The first three parts of the text present Mary/ María’s, the narrator, recollection of the time when she was nineteen and met José Luis, a refuge from El Salvador, for the first time. The forth and fifth parts, chronologically, go back to her tragic experience when she was seven years old and then her trip to El Salvador with her son, the fruit of her romance with José Luis, twenty years after she met José Luis. And finally the epilogue consists a letter from José Luis to Mary/ María after her trip to El Salvador. The essay traces the development of Mother Tongue’s principal protagonists, María/ Mary. With a close reading of the text, I argue how the forth
Not all people who speak the English language speak it the same way. It is very uncommon to find two people that speak the exact same English because there are so many different forms of the language. This is the argument that Amy Tan makes in her story, “Mother Tongue”. Tan uses pathos to portray to her audience how through her experiences with her mother and the Chinese language she came to realize who she wanted to be and how she wanted to write.
Amy Tan’s ,“Mother Tongue” and Maxine Kingston’s essay, “No Name Woman” represent a balance in cultures when obtaining an identity in American culture. As first generation Chinese-Americans both Tan and Kingston faced many obstacles. Obstacles in language and appearance while balancing two cultures. Overcoming these obstacles that were faced and preserving heritage both women gained an identity as a successful American.
Many parents believe that it is better not to speak English. When this happens the students will not receive the practice that they really need. The student must know their parents’ language it is imperative to the student’s cultural identity and has to maintain a healthy relationship with their family. Parents’ have concerns about using their native language with their children include: learning another language is too difficult it will delay their language development; the child will not be able to master either language; they will not be as proficient as the students who know one language; confusing the two languages will happen; and they will communicate in English with an accent. The school should address these concerns before the school year begins.
It then suggests that parents should maintain their home language with their children as learning their first language at home can benefit the child by making it easier for them to learn and better understand basic grammatical and linguistic rules of a second language. This also prevents the possibility for the child to lose the ability to speak their home language, as it should be supported and consolidated at home by the family.
Bilingualism and home language can be encouraged by the educator to ensure that the student learns successfully. As an ELL student it can be a challenge to learn a new language, this is why educators should allow students to use their first language to promote a meaningful connection with the second language that is being learned. At home it is quite evident that ELL students communicate using their primary language, therefore at school it is a complete turnaround. Educators, at this point can promote literacy skills in which the native language is used, but then transferred into skills that are valuable to learn English. The home language use in effect influences English learning in maintenance of cognitive aspects in bilingualism by the ELL students (Academic Writing Tips, 2011). For example, encouraging collaboration and peer groups of students of the same academic level, but of various cultures, will promote the student to use their language sparingly, but also become familiar with the second language. ELL students have to have the confidence and courage to learn a second language and develop the literacy skills that are involved in learning, this is when parental and community resources should be available to incorporate English acquisition skills.
Reading “Mother Tongue” again, while using the techniques from module two, Amy Tan’s goal has not changed. She enlightened the audience to the barriers that still exist today. By understanding that a problem exists is the first step to problem resolution. Since this was personal for the author, there were many heartfelt emotions associated within this text. I feel that the author has achieved her goal. There are many techniques, however, I feel she utilized everything to her advantage, which she felt necessary in achieving her goal
“One of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time”, Federico Fellini once stated that “A different language is a different vision of life” and I, in my turn tend to say that he was perfectly right. A person who speaks more than one language can experience multiple personalities, visions and reflections consisting which language is he speaking. High School students should comprehend the real benefit of speaking a foreign language. Being a multilingual myself and speaking fluently four languages and studying another two, I consider that I am qualified enough to persuade that my argument is strong, plausible and not ultimately-right. In the following paragraphs I am going to address the following three reasons why should other High School students learn at least one foreign language? Firstly, learning a new language enhances performances in the academic domain and makes you smarter. Secondly, knowing a new language is a high estimated and a very valuable characteristic in your professional CV. Thirdly, international travel is more pleasant through knowing a foreign language.
English is a just a language not a measure of intelligence. This statement is easy to comprehend but hard to practice. A majority of people are tempted to believe that English is a measure of intelligence and, in particular, an individual's ability to exercise brain power. As a matter of fact, the best that English – as a language – can be used to measure is relevant grammatical knowledge and skill level but not intelligence. According to Ghirlanda et al. (2014), intelligence refers to an individual's ability to not only grasp concepts but also build ideas on them. Knowledge, on the other hand, refers to the facts, information, and skills acquired by an individual through information (Polanyi, 2015). This proves (beyond the reasonable
Bilingual education is an academic approach followed by some instructors, which is using the native language for new English learners for instructions. Within the international context, bilingual education has become a necessity due to the high number of immigration, colonialism and the great number of local languages (Yushau & Bokhari, 2005). This approach in instruction has reflected back positively or negatively in many dimensions such as social, psychological, and pedagogical. However, bilingual instruction is an effective way of teaching English as a second language, in case of well implementation it can be seen as an educational advantage. This literature covers a wide variety of opinions that revolves around a topic that researchers find it controversial, this review will highlight the major question and findings which emerge in
Language is universal. People voice their ideas, emotions, and thoughts across to the world through language. Multitudes of people across the country speak a varierty of languages. However, a foreigner is reduced to their native language, and sometimes has difficulties mainstreaming English into their dialect. A native language is a foreigner's blueprint for the world to hear. Native language gives homage to a foreigner's culture and home life. Native tongues open doors for education and job opprutunities. A native tongue is translated in books and plastered on signs across the communites. Imagine if language decreased to just English, and no another language existed. People would mirror each other, and have no idea of diversity. So where
There are many bilingual and multicultural people in the world today. For many, the choices of which language they use, and how they use it, correspond to what social or cultural community they belong to. Amy Tan, a Chinese American novelist, portrays this well in her short essay "Mother Tongue." Tan grew up in two vastly different worlds, using different "Englishes." The first world, which consists of her close family, she speaks what we may call "broken" or "limited" English. The second world, which is her business and professional world, Tan speaks and writes perfect standard and academic English. Having to "shuttle" between these two communities with very different languages has had many different positive and negative effects on
With all the students having a difficulty in coping with their lessons, Mother tongue-based multilingual education may be helpful or not in solving this problem.