All learners of English, whatever their situation, come to the classroom with at least one other language, their mother tongue (often called their LI). We need to ask ourselves, th

All learners of English, whatever their situation, come to the classroom with at least one other language, their mother tongue (often called their LI). We need to ask ourselves, therefore, whether it is appropriate for them to use the LI in class when their main object is, after all to learn an L2 (in our case English).

The first thing to remember is that, especially at beginner levels, students are going to translate what is happening into their LI whether teachers want them to or not. It is a natural process of learning a foreign language. On the other hand, an English-language classroom should have English in it, and as far as possible, there should be an English environment in the room, where English is heard and used as much of the time as possible. For that reason, it is advisable for teachers to use English as often as possible, and not to spend a long time talking in the students’ LI.

However, where teacher and students share the same LI it would be foolish to deny its existence and potential value. Once we have given instructions for an activity, for example, we can ask students to repeat the instructions back to us in the LI - and this will tell us whether they have understood what they have to do. When we have complicated instructions to explain, we may want to do this in the LI, and where students need individual help or encouragement, the use of the LI may have very beneficial effects.

(Harmer. 1998. How to teach English. Adaptado)

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