Hyunjin Kim

3/15/16
Title: Benefits of Using First Languages in a Classrooms - Research Paper
Context: Introduction to Linguistic
Description of Artifact:
This artifact is a research paper that I wrote in the introduction to linguistic class. This
class was one of my first quarters class for the TESOL program, and it helped me a lot to
formulate the basis ideas of language teaching. Before I started the TESOL program at UCR
extension, I thought language learning is same for everyone whether they are learning the first or
second languages. I believed that the only difference between first and second language learning
is that second language learning takes more time than the first language learning.
New ideas, information, or awareness from this artifact:
I gathered lots of essential elements of linguistics learning and teaching as I started
TESOL program, however, I could not agree to some theories from textbooks that were used in
classes. In many times, theories or teaching methods state that teachers should prohibit the use of
the first language in the second language classrooms. I decided to write on this argument since I
did not believe that using first languages in the second language classrooms hinders the students
language learning greatly. As I did some research on it, I found that some of scholars also casted
doubt on this theory due to the fact that all ESL classrooms have different learning/teaching
environment.
Reflection on how this will impact your approach to teaching and learning:

Classrooms in a country like South Korea, using first language is very common since the
most of classrooms are formulated for same language, culture, ethnicity backgrounds. On
account of the fact that students share the almost identical environment of language learning,
using the primary language which is Korean, would rather accelerate the students learning
process, especially for beginning level students.

!
Hyunjin Kim
Intro to Linguistic
Dr. Abel
3/15/16
Benefits of Using First Languages in a Classrooms
There is no cast of doubt on the fact that the second language acquisition became
essential dramatically over the world in the recent decades. Furthermore, people consider English
as a basic language, especially, countries like in South Korea. Although S. Koreans do not use
English in daily lives, people are still required to show their English proficiency to get decent
jobs. On account of these circumstances, a large number of S. Korean parents would like to start
educating their children in foreign languages as soon as possible. On the other hand, there is a
controversy among different people about whether teaching young children to acquire language
other than their mother tongue language is necessary or not. These days parents send their
children to English kindergartens, foreign language schools, and after school private academies.
In a majority of English kindergartens or foreign language schools, students are only allowed to
use English or their targeted foreign languages; however, not all students are able to adapt to this

environment, unfortunately. This environment causes some of the drawbacks such as social
isolation, affection on values of the native language. To solve this adverse effects of using
English only in classrooms, several people suggested using both native and a second language
during lessons as an alternative to this problem. In this paper, I will examine whether using the
first language for the second language acquisition is effective or not.
According to Denham and Lobeck (2013), acquiring and learning a language is different.
Language acquisition is the unconscious process of language development without direct
instruction while language learning is based on conscious language learning through instruction
(p. 4). In addition, Denham and Lobeck argue that the first language is acquired and the second
language is learned (p. 37-46). Due to the fact that the second language has to be learned, second
language learners have to take various tasks to master the second language such as practicing,
memorizing. During these processes, students sometimes need instructions in their first
languages, especially when they are at the beginning level. A scholar, Madrinan (2014) advocates
that using the mother tongue language as a support for the class in order to help the second
language acquisition process is useful for teachers because it helps to teach students to develop
not only the target language but also the cognitive development which is vital to academic
success (p. 53). In schools like English kindergartens and international schools, it is imperative
to ensure that students are at the level that they can deal with the academic level. According to
Madrinans research, the level of participation was higher within the use of the first language in
the second language classroom (p.60). Helping students to engage more during the class
activities accelerate students understanding of the class materials and also promote the studentteacher interactions which change the classroom atmosphere.

Furthermore, using both first and second language changes the students attitude toward
classes. Schweers (1999) states that starting with the L1 provides a sense of security and
validates the learners lived experiences, allowing them to express themselves (p. 6). Once
students feel the comfort to speak out in the class, they are willing to experiment and take the
risk of speaking in English. In classrooms in S. Korea, many of students hesitate to talk during
the class because S. Koreans value collectivism. In another word, if someone stands out
conspicuous in the classroom, the rest of his/her classmates might judge that person in some way,
and S. Koreans extremely care about what other people think about them. Also, some students
are just afraid of making any mistakes when they are speaking in English, or maybe they are just
shy. On account of these cultural backgrounds, if using the first language in the second language
classes brings the positive effect of opulence to participate more actively in the lectures, it is
definitely adopted by many schools and teachers.
In my opinion, utilizing both the first and second languages are a MUST technique for
teachers. When I was a senior at the high school, I was stranded in the American high school by
my father. I could not speak or understand in English at all back in time, and I was suddenly
having classes for high school level contents. The only class that was different with other
American students were the English class which was not very helpful that time. Since I did not
have any support in my first language and also was not allow to use dictionaries, I could not
understand a thing in that class. As a result, I was unable to participate during the course and
ended up giving up to understand the lessons. I had to study and follow up the lectures provided
by myself, and it was not easy at all. If I had the support from someone that who could explain
what is going on in the class at that time, I am pretty sure that I could learn more stuff through

that class. However, I think the use of the first language in the second language classrooms
should be prohibited for the advanced level students because students are capable of
understanding the most of teachers material, therefore, using those languages might rather delay
the students the second language acquisition.

!
References
Madrinan, M (2014). The Use of First Language in the Second-Language Classroom: A
Support for Second Language Acquisition. GIST; Education and Learning Research Journal (9).
Retrieved from https://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?sid=5d0fb02f-d26b-4fe0-a0c7f8ff6875b274%40sessionmgr4002&vid=0&hid=4002&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ
%3d%3d&preview=false#AN=101135119&db=eue
Schweers, W (1999). Using L1 in the L2 classroom. English Teaching Forum. Retrieved
from http://dosfan.lib.uic.edu/usia/E-USIA/forum/acrobat/P6.pdf
Denham, K. Lobeck, A (2013). Linguistics for Everyone. Wadsworth.