Exploring teachers’ language use in university foreign language classes and its effects on students’ second language learning

孙丹

【Abstract】This study aims to explore teachers language use in foreign language classes and its effects on students second language learning. Data was collected from postgraduates class in a quantitative way， the research findings showed that students have positive attitude towards the first language use in foreign language classes， which is for better understanding and acquire other information out of the class. Students， for their part， based on their previous socialization as instructed FL classroom learners， may also not realize that they are entitled to and might benefit from greater exposure to the TL in these courses.

【Key words】Teachers language use； second language learning

Introduction

In foreign language classroom， second language needs to be maximized used wherever possible， by encouraging its use and by using it for classroom management. Many researchers have described linguistic input and interaction in ESL classrooms. However， there is little discussion on the issue of whether instructorsuse of their learners L1 in EFL classrooms would be more helpful for the learners acquisition of English or whether an English-only teaching environment would be more efficient in EFL classrooms. The study aims at exploring teacherslanguage use in university foreign language classrooms and its effects on studentssecond language learning.

Literature Review

Classroom research and the analysis of teacher talk， in particular， has been justified by many researchers. According to Atkinson （1993）， although it may not be simple to talk of a right balance or a perfect model for using L1， it can be a valuable resource if it is used at appropriate times and in appropriate ways. And the more contact between students and faculty both inside and outside the classroom， the greater the student development and satisfaction（Astin， 1993）. Additionally， student perspectives and beliefs on the relationship between usage and target language learning have received minimal attention. And other researchers find the voice of learners has been neglected.

Method

Participants were students enrolled in the foreign language classes in one foreign language studies university. Teachers of the classes use both English and Chinese as teaching language.They were selected by chance and all were female students from two different majors. Data collection took place primarily by means of individual， semi-structured interviews. The interviews were conducted in 2015， lasted between 20 and 35 minutes. In particular， the researcher dealt with the interviewees feeling of teachers use first language in class.

Findings and Discussions

The study employs quantitative method and the discussions are summarized as following.

First， The students think that using both first language and second language is better， and the combination of two languages could be beneficial for their understanding and the content of using first language to share some life experiences could enlighten students and give them different ideas about learning. Not only concerning the difficult points， for some students， as they lack of the specialized knowledge， using first language may also have difficulty understanding.

Moreover， students have positive attitudes towards using first language to assist teaching， and most of them prefer using first language to explain difficult points， which may promote understanding.

Besides， the most important finding from this study is that the first language use in class facilitates students language learning and encourages students to devote greater effort to other educationally purposeful activities during college.

Conclusions

The findings of the study have some implications for teacher education. Studies such as this can raise FL teachers' awareness of how language is being used in the classroom and how changes in English/TL use might be implemented. students also hope the teachers can paraphrase some expressions in English， instead of speaking Chinese directly. Changing the way of expressing ideas or teaching situations could also promote understanding as well as language acquisition.

But the data were obtained from only one foreign language university. And gender and age of the learners were not considered， controlled or compared in this study， for future study， teachers language use need more exploration.

References：

[1]Glenn S.L.（2003）.Student and Instructor Beliefs and Attitudes about Target Language Use，First Language Use，and Anxiety： Report of a Questionnaire Study.The Modern Language Journal，87，343-364.

[2]Loewen，S.（2009）.The use of the L1 in focus on form.Contact， 35，59-70.

[3]Swain，M.，& Lapkin，S.（2000）.Task-based second language learning： The uses of the first language.Language Teaching Research，4，251-274.