VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERISTY – HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE AND INTERNATIONAL STUDY
FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES
 ĐỖ THỊ NGỌC PHƯƠNG

THE ROLE OF MOTHER TONGUE IN TEACHING ENGLISH TO THE
FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS
AT THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION

VAI TRÒ CỦA TIẾNG MẸ ĐẺ TRONG VIỆC GIẢNG DẠY TIẾNG ANH CHO
SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM THÁI NGUYÊN

M.A MINOR THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY
CODE: 601410
SUPERVISOR: Dr. DƯƠNG THI NỤ

HANOI - 2012

iv

v
3.2. Results of the survey questionnaire 21
3.3. Results of teachers' interview 28
3.4. Results of classroom observation 32
Summary 35
Chapter 4: Discussion and Implications
4.1. Discussion 36
4.2. Implications in teaching 37
Part 3: Conclusion
1. Conclusions 40
2. Limitations and suggestions for further research 41
References
Appendices

1
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

L1: First language
L2: Second language
EFL: English as Foreign Language
CLT: Communicative Language Teaching 2
LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS

Tables
Table 1: Reasons for the learning of English
Table 2: The use of mother tongue in second language class
Table 3: Situations for the teachers to speak in the first language

this problem has changed dramatically over centuries and has been the subject of much
debate and controversy. It is known that there must be different teaching and learning
methods for different learners of different levels. The way the teachers use to teach the
beginners cannot be the same with the teaching method for the advanced learners.
However, many teachers and curriculum designers think that creating
communicative environment for learners is the best choice. It is true that in most
language classes, the teachers always create opportunities to help the students practice
and get familiar with the target language as much as possible. The communicative
environment here may be in the middle of the lecture when the teacher is lecturing or
communicating with their students in English. It will be quite easy for the higher levels
but to the beginners who have a limited range of vocabulary or grammar rules of the
target language, whether this method is useful is a problem. The modern teaching
methods focus on the practice and use of the target language as much as possible,
which will help the learners get familiar with the language they learn as well as
motivate them in the study. It is important to note that at the beginning level, the
learners do not have enough vocabulary and structures to understand and catch up with
the lesson in English. The questions are whether the first language plays an important
part in teaching the second language and how they are applied in teaching.
Being aware of those problems, the researcher would, therefore, like to conduct
this research to explore the impact of the mother tongue on the learning and teaching
of a second language with some hope that both the learners and teachers can find an
easier and more effective teaching and learning method.
Typically, the questions to be answered in this study are as follows:

4
1. What are the impacts of mother tongue on the teaching and learning of English?
2. What are the degree and situations for the use of mother tongue in the teaching
and learning of English ?
2. Objectives of the study
From the rationale above, the aims of the study were set out in order to specify the

questionnaires and interviews with the teachers as well as classroom observations.
Following the results of chapters 2 and 3 is chapter 4, which gives some discussion for
the results and the implications in the teaching and learning English. Part 3 of the
thesis, Conclusion, includes the summary of the main findings of the study,
conclusions, limitations of the study, and suggestions for further study.

6
PART 2: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1
LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter deals with different points of views on the first language and its
use in teaching and learning a second language. Besides, some teaching methods and
some kinds of language classes in which the mother tongue can be used are also
mentioned. It is strongly believed that those different opinions about the use of the
mother tongue in class will make some contributions to this research.
1.1. Second language use and learning
The use and practice of the second language is not that easy to most learners
when the L2 is rarely used in their society. It is generally accepted that that learning a
language without frequent use and practice is not effective. As Lightbown and Spada
(1993) ever noted, the second language learners also have to "pass through sequence
of development". Fortunately, it is the fact that the learners have a little opportunity to
use the second language (L2) outside the classroom. Therefore, it is important to
maximize the use of L2 in the language classroom through different activities in class.
However, it should be remembered that not all students have the same levels and
competence in using the target language. Lightbown and Spada (1993) enlightened
that even in the same classroom setting, there were still be some students that progress
more rapidly in learning a new language It will be impractical if the same amount and
level of the language are used for different types of learners. For the low - level
learners, the requirement of the use and practice of the target language should be

about second language teaching we should take into account the knowledge and skills
of their first language that the learners bring into their target language. It is what we
call the switching or transform from L1 to L2. In the past, most methods in L2
teaching pedagogy dictated that L1 should be minimized or prohibited in the
classroom. However, in the real practice of English language teaching, it proves that
this attitude is not totally effective. Lynn Cameron (2001) stated the gap between that
theory and practice. According to the researcher, those approaches seem to "ignore the
possibility that certain use of a common mother tongue might also contribute to

8
foreign language learning". The question of whether students' first language should be
used in the teaching of foreign language has been debated for many years. Many
people support the idea that mother tongue should be used in class in order to help the
learners to understand the lesson better. In a monolingual classroom, the target
language is supposed to be the only language used in class which can offer the learner
opportunity and learning environment to study the language. However, it is
misjudgment to say that the L2 learners will not think in their mother tongue.
Otherwise, there are many controversial points of view that mother tongue should not
be used in language class. Those people who agree with this stated that mother tongue
can prevent the students from the frequent use of the target language. In other words,
the rationale for the use of L2 in class is that the more the students use the target
language in class, the more quickly they can learn and also it can help them to think in
English. Therefore, teachers are told not to use L1 for the benefits of their learners.
Douglas Brown, admitted that "the facilitating effects of the native language are surely
powerful in the process or more so, even though they are less observable." And to
avoid the "first language crutch syndrome", he somehow agreed with the idea of the
"direct use of the second language in class. However, in practice, this approach seems
practical and true only for the advanced learners and those who have a good
knowledge of the target language they are learning. The non-native teachers of low-
level students find that L2 only is rather ideological than pedagogical. There are many

suitable for the low-level learners who have a poor knowledge of the target language.
In order to avoid the misunderstanding in the process of study, the teachers sometimes
can use the mother tongue to explain.
Alignment: It is necessary to create the feeling of being aligned with the
students. It is the fact that most beginners of English often feel shy and unconfident in
class when they are forced to speak in the target language. It is natural when a student
with a poor knowledge of the language is lazy in participating in class activities. The
passiveness in the class can cause the demotivation in learning. On the other hand,
there is a fact that most teachers appreciate the English only policy in class and try to
speak in the target language all the time. It will be suitable for the learners who are at
advanced levels or have a good knowledge of English in order to comprehend the

10
whole lesson. The English only policy sometimes will make the learners feel
unfamiliar and unconnected to the class. Lynn Cameron has shown that the choice of
language can reflect the teachers' alignment to the students, or, in other words. how
much the teacher is "on their side".
1.3. L1 use in the classroom
It cannot be denied that in order to master a language, the practice and frequent
use of the language play an important part. However, to the beginners ò language,
using a second language in the initial stage is difficult. According to Brian McMillan
(2009), the use of the mother tongue is considered as "contravening the basic premises
of immersion". Each teacher has her own way of teaching the ESL learners in order to
help them pick up the target language effectively. It is widely believed that the most
usual way of starting from the easiest thing to the most difficult one will be suitable for
learners with certain levels. By this means, the use of L1 in the classroom is the same.
"The amount used was not dependent on teacher's proficiency since they could
all use English fluently and confidently. Rather, the different seems to come from the
teachers' perception of their pupils' ability and the status of the school"
(Lynn Cameron, p.201)

mother tongue be used?
 Giving suggestions: Using students' native language to elicit language can be
really helpful in some ways. For example, when the teacher wants to give
suggestions to the students to say something or ask about the vocabulary like
"How do you say X in English?". In stead of using any kind of illustration or
pictures, there is some kind that takes less time and less ambiguity.
 Checking comprehension: According to David Atkinson, mother tongue can be
used to check comprehension of the concept behind the structure or
comprehension of the listening or reading text.
 Giving instruction: Atkinson's reason for using mother tongue in this case is "
Give the instruction in the target language and ask for their repetition in the
students' language to ensure that everyone fully understands what to do."
 Group discussion: Atkinson suggested that both the languages should be used in
group discussion for the early level because in the foreign language there may
be some aspects that are "unfamiliar or initially unacceptable to some students."

12
1.4. L1 transfer - linguistic theory of the role of the first language
There are many researches on the relationship between mother tongue and second
language learning. The aim of those studies is to find out the influence of the mother
tongue on the process of second language teaching and learning. It is important to
remember that the students do not step into the classroom with empty heads but they
have lived and communicated in their mother tongue for a long period of time. Also, it is
not a coat that can be taken off easily and thrown away before a student enters a foreign
classroom. What the learners have learnt from their mother tongue is firmly printed in
their minds. Consequently, it is not easy to ignore the transfer of their mother tongue and
only use English to think. It is natural for them to consider the mother tongue as a
medium to link the foreign language and their thinking together. In order to have a clear
look at the previous points of views of the L1 effects on L2 learning, it is important to
clarify its effects on L2 learning in terms of linguistic views.

encoding it, or incorrectly sees some value in using information from one setting to
another. It is also known as negative interference. When there are differences in a
structure between two languages, the different points will always be the difficulty for
the learners. Rob Ellis, in his "second language acquisition", stated that in the early
day of second language teaching, negative transfer was considered "the result of
interference". That is why first language was "supposed to prevent the learners from
learning the habits of second language." (Ellis, 1997)
However, in fact, the result of positive transfer seems to be unnoticed. According
to Ellis (1997), "the differences between the target and native languages do not always
result in learning difficulty". Generally speaking, the more similar the two languages
are, the more the learners will be aware of the relation between their structures,
vocabulary, linguistics, the more input the learners can have.
1.5. Grammar -translation Teaching versus Communicative Language Teaching:
In the era of technology and communication nowadays, each person is required
to know at least a foreign language in order to communicate with other people from
many countries. That demands from the society has given the learners many new
challenges. The change in the world of work also makes all schools change their ways
of teaching. For centuries, the foreign language has been taught with Grammar -
translation method, which was first called the classical method (Douglass

14
Brown,1994). To put it more simply, this method was used to teach foreign language
for the sake of being scholar in that language, not for oral competence. This classical
method, which was first used before the nineteenth century is still in practice in many
schools nowadays under the name of grammar -translation teaching method. In
Grammar translation method, the influence of the mother tongue on second language
learning and teaching is partly an important factor. It is known that the first language is
formed first and, to some extent, affects the way of thinking and use of the foreign
language. The language transfer, according to many experts, has great influence on the
way of learning a foreign language. On the one hand, it can help us understand the

achieve "a higher standard of English". Mother tongue can be regarded as the bridge or
the means for the students of low level of English to express what they want to say.
According to Atkinson (1987), after knowing what the learners want to say. the
teacher then can "encourage them to find a way of expressing their meaning in
English, or, if necessary, help out"
1.6. The Monolingual Approach versus The Bilingual Approach
Communicative language teaching is becoming the most effective teaching
method nowadays. Many people have realized its benefits when using CLT in teaching
and learning second language.
In the previous section, the opposite views of the use of L1 in L2 classroom have
been stated as a current problem in teaching methodology. In many English classrooms,
mother tongue is becoming useless. Native teachers are considered better than the EFL
teachers. The English only policy is the best choice in language classes. Those who
support the monolingual approach in language classroom state that L1 can give the
hindrance to the students in the process of learning L2. However, as mentioned, the
support for the use of L1 in language classroom has been increasing which indicates that
the appropriate use of L1 can lead to a significant success of teaching and learning
language. So, what are Monolingual approach and Bilingual approach?
In many Asian countries where English is considered the second language and a
compulsory subject in many universities, the teachers are encouraged to use "English
only" policy in the classroom. This English only policy is what we call monolingual
approach. As discussed in the previous section, this approach is supported by those who
consider L1 as a hindrance in teaching and learning second language. Krashen (1982)

16
Fsuggested the "first language interference" as the "major source of syntactic errors in
adult second language performance" or the "indication of low acquisition" In other words,
in monolingual classes, the target language is the only language that is allowed to be used.
This approach is often conducted by the native-speaker teachers who believe that it can
provide the best language environment for students to learn the target language. Students

understanding of what is being said in "English-only" class. The teacher in
the bilingual classroom can be reasonably sure that the learners' knowledge in the
target language is not good enough to understand the difficult English structure.
Summary
In the foreign language teaching, it has been suggested that we should create a
"pure foreign language environment. It is no doubt that it is helpful to make the students
improve their foreign language level. However, is it suitable for the students who only
have a poor knowledge of the target language or just start learning it? The differences of
the language ability between low-level and advanced learners cannot be denied. In this
cases, the mother tongue can be helpful to motivate or play as a "language transfer" in
the second language learning. The debate on whether it is helpful to use mother tongue
in English class is still fierce. The ESL teacher should be careful in choosing language
and the amount of using the first language in class. There is always two sides of one
thing, but there is no doubt that the first language is quite essential for low-level non-
native students of English.

18
CHAPTER 2
METHODOLOGY
This chapter presents the issues of methodology, which provides the audience with the
methods that the researcher used to collect and analyze data, including the subjects of the
study and the instrument for data collection. The explanations of how the work was
conducted as well as the reasons for the choice of the methods are also given in this chapter.
2.1. Subjects of the study
The subjects of this study will be about 110 first-year students of Thai Nguyen
University of Education and the teachers of the Foreign Language Faculty of Thai
Nguyen University of Education. These 110 students have different levels of English
because they are from different areas of the country. Some (coming from city) have
learnt English for 9 years, while others(coming from mountainous areas where English
is not considered very important) are just the beginners of English. The teachers of this

study have been teaching for at least 10 years; therefore, their opinions are useful for
my research in evaluating the effectiveness of using the first language in the teaching
of the second language. Collecting data from the learners' point of view and the
teacher's point of view, who are the participants of the language lessons, can provide
the researcher a full picture of the fact in using native language in the classroom.
The last part will focus on classroom observation in order to experience the fact of the
use of the mother tongue in English classes. It will be able to help avoid the subjective
elements in collecting data. The observation is carried out in 10 English classes of Thai
Nguyen University of Education. The students' use and attitude in the language class will
be counted as well as the teachers' use of the mother tongue. An observation sheet was
prepared in order to have the exact categories that the researcher needs to observe. In
addition, to make sure of the reliability of the result, no participant is announced about the
content of the observation beforehand. In this way, the researcher can identify the way the
teachers use the mother tongue and the fact of using it in class.
2.3. Data analysis
After being collected, the data will be further interpreted and analyzed. The data
consisted of both quantitative and qualitative questionnaires with 110 students and an
interview with 10 teachers. The respondents provide the information using standard

20
closed and open-ended questions about their perception and reaction towards the use of
the mother tongue in the language class. After all the data are collected, they are
analyzed to have the best overview on the use of the native language in English lessons.
Then the data will be categorized and the number of the answers will be counted.
The statistic result will be counted with the following formula:
N1
N2
In which:
P = percentage
N1 = the number of the participants choose an item

the learners' responses and attitudes towards the use of the native language. The
teachers' points of view and the class observation are also considered as an important
data collection instrument to support the hypothesis of the study.
3.1. The situation of English Teaching and the Learning at Thai Nguyen
University of Education
In order to understand the study and support the research, it is important to
identify the teaching and learning condition of Thai Nguyen University.
Thai Nguyen University has more than ten thousand students learning in different
faculties, which all have the need to equip their students with certain knowledge of
English for their majors. However, many of the students are the beginners of English.
Some have learnt English for 3 years at high school. Others have never learnt it before.
This really leads to some difficulties for the teachers in their teaching because of the
differences in the students‟ level. Additionally, for the students from mountainous areas
who do not have many chances to use English in everyday life like those in the big city,
English is a difficult subject to master. The lack of knowledge as well as some important
skills in English is an obstacle to most students to understand the whole lesson in English.
Furthermore, the number of students per class is too big for the teachers to control the
whole class during the lesson. With the number of more than 50 students per class, it is
impossible for the teacher to take care of each student and observe how they learn during
the semester. In those conditions, the question is whether using monolingual method can
bring effectiveness in the lesson.
Before the fact in using the mother tongue in the class and its contribution to the
study of the second language in the student's points of view was found out, the reasons for
learning English were given to all the participants. 22
Table 1: Reasons for the learning of English
Reasons to learn English
Percentage

which results from the different spans of time that they learnt English at high school.