A research into the role and the use of first
language in General-English classes at Hanoi
University of Industry

Đỗ Thị Khánh Vân

Trường Đại học Ngoại Ngữ
Luận văn ThS. Chuyên ngành: English language; Mã số: 60 22 15
Người hướng dẫn: Dr. Ha Cam Tam
Năm bảo vệ: 2010 Abstract: The debate over whether English language classrooms should include or exclude
students’ native language has been a contentious issue for a long time (Brown, 2000, p195),
but not so many findings have been published in the case of Vietnamese as the mother
tongue. This paper will attempt to prove that L1 use deserves to be used despite the risk of
over-reliance on it by demonstrating that using L1 has two enhancing roles to play in
vocabulary teaching. Firstly, L1 use increases students’ participation in class time activities;
and secondly, it helps students learn the vocabulary better. Two experiments were carried out
in an attempt to substantiate these theories. In the first, four classes of 100 students at
elementary level were observed over a period of three weeks, during which time two classes
were English-only, and in the others, both teacher and students utilized Vietnamese. The
progress of these four classes is compared and then discussed. In the second experiment, two
separate lessons given to one class are compared (one with Vietnamese use, and one without).
Despite problems with causality and perhaps the inability to generalize the findings, overall
findings do indicate possible support for the researcher’s theories, and thereby for the use of
L1 in the classroom.

Keywords: Tiếng Anh; Phương pháp giảng dạy; Ngôn ngữ thứ nhất.
Content:


3.2. Results of the tests 25
3.4. Results of classroom observation 31
CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS 37
ii

1. Concluding remarks 37
2. Implications 37
3. Suggestions for further studies 38
Reference
Appendixes
1 INTRODUCTION
1. Problem statement
Among a number of experts in the field of second language acquisition, there are
increasing contradicting views about whether to use the mother tongue of the students (L1)
in the foreign language (L2) classroom or learning environments.
The monolingual approach suggests that the target language ought to be the sole medium
of communication, implying the prohibition of the native language would maximize the
effectiveness of learning the target language. However, there seems to be an increasing
conviction that the first language (L1) has a necessary and facilitating role in the second
and foreign language (L2) classroom.
Many English language professionals dispute the L1 use in the classroom,
something that should never happen in modern communicative lessons. They wonder how
students can truly appreciate target language exchanges if they are continually relying on
their L1s (Mattioli, 2004). Ellis notes that too much L1 use could “deprive the learners of
valuable input in the L2” (1984, p. 133). Auerbach (1993) observes that in ESL classroom
a numbers of teachers, holding the belief that L1 use will impede progress in the
acquisition of English, devising games, signals, and penalty systems to prevent the students

(Hatch & Brown, 1995). The study of Ringbom in 1987 clearly indicates that L1 clearly
has a very important role to play in the deliberator learning vocabulary (Nation, 2001).
Auerbach (1993) claims that the use of the learner’s L1 in the L2 classroom will have a
positive effect on learners’ second language learning, especially in the area of vocabulary.
However, what effects the use of L1 in English vocabulary teaching can cause to students’
learning is still an unanswered question that the researcher is endeavoring to discover.
2. Aims of the study
The issue this paper examined in more detail is in what ways the use of students’
L1 in the classroom hinders or facilitates their learning of vocabulary of second language
(in this case English).
The debate over whether English language classrooms should include or exclude
students' native language has been a controversial issue for a long time (Brown, 2000).
Although the use of mother tongue was banned by the supporters of the Direct Method at
the end of the nineteenth century, the positive role of the mother tongue has recurrently
been acknowledged as a rich resource which, if used judiciously, can assist second
language teaching and learning (Cook, 2001). Still, so many teachers have questions about
whether to provide L1 support, as TESOL programs at all levels on the market today
provide neither explicit training nor adequate theoretical information on the subject.
Teachers are left to work things out on their own.
3 For the researcher, the question of whether or not to use students' first language (L1
/ Vietnamese) in English classes comes from personal daily teaching, recent literature she
has read, presentations she has attended and the same concern of her peer teachers. This
position of being for the idea that L1 should be used at certain times may seem heretical in
light of what most of us were taught when trained as ESL/EFL professionals, but it is
surely worthy of serious consideration.
Therefore, this research study tries to find evidence for the approval of using
learners' mother tongue in a thoughtful way in second language teaching. In essence then,

particularly in vocabulary lessons, so as to be able to place these experiments in the proper
context. Chapter 2 deals with the study which included two experiments from the design to
analytical framework. In chapter 3 results of the observations and tests will be found
together with some discussion about English learning and teaching. First of all, we should
have a review of the issue in literature.
I

Reference
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