Use of the Mother Tongue in Teaching a Foreign Language

Abstract

This article addresses the controversy around teacher use of the mother tongue (MT) in foreign language (FL) teaching. Empirical and theoretical knowledge advocates that the MT should be incorporated by teachers in FL classrooms. The present study was conducted among 112 English language teachers in Hebrew-speaking elementary and secondary schools in Israel. The research tool was a questionnaire designed specifically for the purpose of the study. Findings demonstrate that teachers' overall attitude towards MT use in FL classrooms is positive; they report using the MT for teaching purposes and a small number use the MT for classroom management purposes. Elementary and secondary school teachers differ in their use of the MT. Findings may be useful to language education policy-makers in designing more formal and concrete guidelines to help FL teachers use students' MT judiciously. The article offers a model for an efficient use of the MT in FL classrooms. The question whether the students' mother tongue (MT) should be used in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms in Israel has been re-opened to controversy recently, after many years in which the MT was discouraged on pedagogical grounds in the teaching of foreign languages (FL). This situation exists in many other countries where English as a foreign language (EFL) is taught, given the processes of globalization worldwide, e.g., German as the MT in EFL lessons in German schools or Thai as the MT in EFL classrooms in Thailand. In the state of Israel, it was difficult in the past for teachers to incorporate Hebrew as the MT into EFL classrooms for two reasons: (a) Israel was founded by Jews who immigrated to Israel from all parts of the world; thus, many English teachers were newcomers and did not speak Hebrew themselves, and (b) classes were characterized by a multiplicity of MTs. However, later, when Hebrew became a commonly spoken language for more teachers and students alike, teachers often avoided using it in teaching because it was considered pedagogically inappropriate. In Israel, EFL lessons start in Grade 2 or 3 of elementary school. Although most secondary school graduates speak English at different levels and may be exposed to English on the Internet and television, English is rarely heard or spoken on the streets.