THE ROLE OF L1 IN L2 LEARNING IN CHINESE MIDDLE SCHOOLS

夏曼琪

Introduction

An extraordinarily controversial debate continuously existed in the educational field regarding whether learners should utilize L1（the first language） in the process of L2 （the second language） acquisition. This essay will analysis the disputation based on academic theories and deduced that L1 might produce more positive impact on L2 learning.

L1 serves as an essential artifact that scaffolds L2 learning acquisition. It is a broad consensus that language turns to be a privileged medium for learning communication， that is embedded socially in which language users attempt to “ make sense” of the world. In this way， meaning is created and interchanged. （Hall， 2013）. Hall s work resonates well with the work of Vygotsky. From the perspective of socioculture，he argued that people acquire knowledge from two aspects， learners establish their dialectical connections with the social community initially， and then internalize the new knowledge into their mental systems. During the learning process， L1 is the most forceful one that we possess to transmit individuals' thoughts， emotions， and meaning in L2 curricula.（Vygotsky， 1980， as cited in Wu， 2018）

Moreover， L1 might accelerate to L2 comprehension. Linguistic is the best cognitive means to understand notions， cope with the confusion， and come up with solutions. It serves as a potent "scaffolding" to assist the learners stimulate their previous learning experiences to mediate L2 meanings， that， to some extent， might contribute to learners L2 acquisition. （Vygotsky，1980， as cited in Wu， 2018） For example， a majority of Chinese students has a penchant for assimilating the target language information by utilizing the L1 capacities they already have. Also， Researchers reported that the utilize of L1 is conducive to assist in processing and completing an assignment， as well as constructing a social and cognitive space with peers to support each other during the task. （Pan， 2010）

However， some analysts hold opposite standpoints， asserting that L1 should be strictly separate from L2 within the bilingual project. It corresponds with the term of “Linguistic Transfer ” proposed by Stern （1985， as cited in Wu， 2018）， the difference between L1 and L2 is proportional to the difficulties it may cause. Turner （2013） added that a gigantic disparity existence among Asia and other Western languages. Both researchers considered that the learners mother tongue will be the major obstacle in second language acquisition. Indeed， the intrinsic difference （such as semantic， lexial， and syntactic levels） between them might result in some mistakes in L2 learning. Nevertheless， there is no denying that for all linguistics， universal and similarity still exists. Students can use the common linguistic points to counteract the passive interfere elicited by the linguistics distance. As Lado （1957） states that the approach of “contrastive analysis” assist learners in comparing the similarities and differences between linguistics so that predicting the potential errors that might happen in the target language learning. In addition， excluding Chinese from the English learning process may overlook the perceived reality. Researchers found that L1 and L2 are psychologically interdependent; Actually， the relationship is also defined as " collective underlying proficiency" proposed by Cummins （2007）. It means that although these languages could be artificially segregated on the surface，they are still intricate with each other in learners mind to function via the analogous manners.In addition， language learners might be accustomed to automatically encoding the sophisticated English sentence structures in light of their Chinese grammar conventions to make up the cognitive gap between the two languages. （Wu， 2018）

In essence， the first language is more inclined to be represented as a meaningful instrument of resources contributing to pupils' learning as opposed to hampering L2 acquisition.

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Wu， S. （2018）. Using the First Language in the Second Language Classroom. Victoria： Victoria University Press.

Pan， Y.C.， & Pan，Y.C. （2010） The use of L1 in the Foreign Language Classroom. Colombian Applied Linguistics Journal， 12 （2）， 87-96. Retrieved from http：//www.scielo.org.co/scielo.php？script=sci_arttext&pid=S0123-46412010000200007

Turner， M. （2013）. Content-based Japanese language teaching in Australian schools： Is CLIL a good fit？ Japanese Studies， 33（3）， 315-330. doi：10.1080/10371397.2013.846211

Lado， R. （1957）. Linguistics across cultures： Applied linguistics for language teachers. Ann Arbor： University of Michigan Press.

Cummins， J. （2007）. Rethinking monolingual instructional strategies in multilingual classrooms. Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics， 10（2）， 221-240.

（澳大利亞莫纳什大学 230012）