Amount, purpose, and teacher awareness of L1 use in the foreign language classroom
Date
2009-12-04T21:34:11Z
Authors
De la Campa, Juliane Claudia
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Abstract
This study was concerned with the teachers' use of the students' first language (L1) in two second-year German conversation university courses. It examined amount, purposes, and teacher awareness of L1 use. Data were collected through video and audio recordings of the two classes (a total of 6.6 h). teacher interviews, and stimulated recall sessions. Amount and purposes of L1 use were determined by word count and coding of L1 utterances. Results revealed a relatively low average of 11.3 % L1 use. L1 was used for the purposes of translations, activity instructions. personal comments, and bilingual L1 use. A comparison of the teachers' estimation of amount and purposes of L1 use with their classroom practice showed that they were aware of their L1 use to some extent. Findings also suggest that teachers may benefit from becoming aware of their L1 use and hence avoid extensive L1 use in their classes
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language and languages, study and teaching, German language, foreign speakers