EFL Teachers’ Opinions on the Use of L1 in L2 Classrooms: Role of Experience and Context
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Abstract
The use of native language (L1) in foreign language classrooms (L2) has been studied from various perspectives, and it is important to investigate teachers’ opinions about the use of L1 to better understand their practice. This study investigates the role of experience on the attitudes of language teachers towards the use of L1 in L2 classes. The participants of this research were pre-service and in-service teachers, and research questions aimed to reveal the language teaching areas that they agreed and/or disagreed with the use of L1 in. The role of experience was clearly seen in the results of both quantitative and qualitative analyses in that the pre-service and in-service teachers differed significantly in their views about some areas where they use L1. While pre-service teachers showed a tendency to support English only, experienced teachers were more moderate towards the use of L1 in all their practices. Discussion of findings revealed that both experience and the L2 teaching and learning context were influential on teachers’ practices and beliefs. The study will provide insights into pre-service and in-service teachers’ attitudes in different educational settings and implications for pre- and in-service teacher education programs.
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