The Use Of The Mother Tongue In Fll: The Case Of Arabic In An Efl Classroom

Résumé: The present paper sheds light on the many advantages that can be drawn from the use of the mother tongue in foreign language learning in general and in the teaching of English in particular. Needless to recall, the use of the mother tongue had for a long time been considered as a 'bad thing' which could do harm to the language learning/teaching process. This view stemmed from the fact that, in an EFL classroom, everything should be done in the target language so as to give the learner maximum exposure to that language. Worse still, the 'never translate-demonstrate principle put forward by the direct method advocates had added, so to speak, fuel to the flames. Conversely, the recourse to translation, in our case the use of Arabic with all its different varieties, can be used as a cognitive strategy and a teaching technique by the learner and teacher to facilitate the learning and teaching process respectively. However, the paper tries to redraw a common sense area to decide where and/or where not to use the learners' mother tongue in English classes.

Publié dans la revue: IMAGO Interculturalité et Didactique