Using Mother Tongue In Primary School English Classes

As English teachers, we have all enthusiastically read books or articles that forbid or advise against the use of the L1 in the L2 classroom. This has been a view widely accepted by language teaching professionals over the last 50 years. Nevertheless, times are changing and so are perspectives and attitudes to language teaching. In recent years, researchers' focus gradually shifts from the negative transfer function to the active and positive transfer function of mother tongue in teaching foreign languages.There are strong arguments that the monolingual principle is an impediment to effective language teaching, especially in primary school English classes. It is true that the ideal language classroom should involve communication in the foreign language only. We have to admit that native interference and inhibition is also an true reality. In China, we teach English as a foreign language. Using Chinese in English classes is by no means a theoretical approach to the use of the mother tongue. On the contrary, it is specifically designed to offer practical ideas and provide a helpful resource for the foreign language teachers.The thesis analyses the theories and views of the main schools of the foreign language teaching methodologies abroad, including Language Transfer Theories, Translation Method, Theory of Second Language Acquisition, Direct Method, Self-conscious Comparative Method, Audio-lingual Approach and Audio-visual Approach, Communicative Language Teaching, and expounds the active psychological and linguistic functions of the mother tongue in teaching English in primary schools.This thesis first explains what Mother-tongue Background is. For most of the primary English teachers in China, using Chinese is an option. We are considering how to use the mother tongue and what aspects of the mother tongue background knowledge can be useful. We can use Chinese when we cannot find a better way, and using the knowledge and skill of mother tongue should be employed as learning resources, teaching strategies and a knowledge setting. A number of strategies concerning vocabulary, reading and writing are discussed.Secondly the thesis proposes some teaching principles, situations and strategies of the controlled usage. We briefly discuss the positive contribution of mother tongue thinking and knowledge in English learning, and then make a preliminary study of the correlation of mother tongue and English learning from both theoretical and practical perspectives.The thesis employs the methods of research, analysis, discussion, class observation and illustration. To test the role of the mother tongue in the practice of English teaching and learning, some surveys were conducted among 200 students from two different primary schools.We conclude that the role of the mother tongue should be restricted to be facilitative, supportive and compensatory aspects in the primary school English classes. We elicited the actual and potential functions of Chinese in English classrooms. We encourage the controlled use of the mother tongue to manage activities, create a positive environment in the classroom, elicit learning strategies etc. Furthermore, some affective factors, for example, sense of identity, security, social interaction are also examined.The results of this study indicate that we have learned to think, learned to communicate and acquired an intuitive understanding of language by using the mother tongue. The mother tongue opens the door not only to its own construction of language, but to all languages. For this reason, the mother tongue is the master key to foreign languages, the tool which gives us the fastest, surest, most precise, and most complete means of accessing a foreign language.There has been much argument about the role of mother tongue in foreign language classes. The present writer doesn't want to impose her interpretations or suggestions on others. It is only hoped that the results will make the English teachers rethink or redefine their positions on the use of the mother tongue, and overcome prejudices about the use of the mother tongue in our classes.