How to Make the Most of the Mother tongue in an English Language Class?

Abstract

This research aims at identifying and analyzing the advantages of using the mother tongue of students who learn English as a second language. Despite the fact that many second language teachers are averse to using students' native language in an English class where English is learned and taught as a second language, there are some valuable advantages to the use of students first language in teaching English as a second language. Some of these advantages include the comparison of the linguistic systems of both student’s native language and English. Moreover, teachers can also draw on some culture-bound elements of English such as proverbs, idioms, collocations and metaphor which they can compare to their equivalent counterparts in students mother tongue. The researcher supplies some examples of these culture-specific items in both English and Arabic since the mother tongue of the students whom he has been teaching is Arabic. The researcher uses the introspective and retrospective research as well as qualitative research in the form of a questionnaire as the research
methodology for this study because there is data taken from the courses and students the researcher has been teaching at the Department of English of Teachers College in King Saud University in Saudi Arabia, mainly Principles of Text-linguistics and Translation, Debate and Discussion (1,
2) and Reading (1,2,3) since 2009. The data is then analyzed qualitatively to suit the purposes of the study. The study arrived at some practical findings pertaining to the use of student’s native language in English classes. The researcher then wraps up the study with some recommendations for future research in this area or other areas related to this field.