Exploring the effectiveness of using L1 in teaching grammar to English as a foreign language learner

Abstract

There have been many controversies in the history of language education regarding the effectiveness of using students’ mother tongue in the classroom. Some researchers believe that it can cause interference and procrastinate the process of language learning while others believe that it can have educational benefits. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of using translation in teaching grammar to English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students. 30 EFL students were selected and randomly assigned to two groups, namely control and experimental. To examine the effectiveness of using translation in teaching grammar, the two groups were taught for 18 sessions using two different methods. In the experimental group, students’ L1 was ‘judiciously’ used while teaching the grammatical rules, while in the control group, English language was used as the only language of instruction. After 18 sessions of instruction, the performance of the two groups in the pre-test and posttest were compared using T-test and Mann-Whitney U test. The findings indicated that the experimental group outperformed the control one, which confirmed the positive effect of using translation in teaching grammar to EFL learners. The results were discussed and the pedagogical implications were presented.