Back to Izmir Schedule

Presenter
Dr. Ayhan  KAHRAMAN ,
Dumlupınar University,
Kütahya,
Turkey

Title
The Role of Mother Tongue in Fostering Affective Factors in ELT Classrooms

Abstract
The debate on whether English language classrooms should include or exclude students’ native language is a contentious issue in the ELT world and in Turkey as well. As far as the literature of ELT is concerned it is not convincing in either way and what is more important is: there is no sufficient empirical research on this issue. The literature has usually focused on the reasons and occasions for L1 use and questioned the beliefs, perceptions or attitudes of learners and teachers without searching empirical correlation among all these. Thus, in this study, it is aspired to compare the possible effects of the use and abuse of the mother tongue in the EFL classrooms. The study is conducted in the fall semester 2008-2009, at the English Language Teaching (ELT) Division at the Faculty of Education of Hacettepe University, Ankara by participation of 42 freshman students. There were two intact groups, one experimental and one control group, each consisting of 21 participants; 4 males and 17 females. The data collection procedure was twofold; descriptive and experimental. The descriptive part consisted of an adopted version of the foreign language classroom anxiety scale by Horwitz, et al. (1986) to ensure comparability of the participant groups prior and after treatment as a pre- / post-tests to measure the effects of treatment. Results of this Anxiety Scale are examined and, a significant negative correlation is found. Overall, it seems statistically evident that the acceptance, valuing active, systematic and judicious use of the students’ mother tongue reduces anxiety, and enhances affective environment for learning a foreign language.

Key words: L1 use, anxiety, attitude, affective factors, cognitive benefits.