Teachers' Perception Towards The Use Of The L1 In Teaching EFL (Dissertation Sample)

UNIVERSITY OF EXETER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION AND LIFELONG LEARNING ___________________________________________________________________________ DISSERTATION Teachers' perceptions of the use of L1 (Thai language) in EFL (English as a foreign language) class at a public secondary school in Thailand PLEASE INSERT YOUR NAME Contact Tel: Date: M.Ed. in TESOL Dissertation Title: Teachers' perceptions of use of L1 (Thai language) in EFL (English as a foreign language) class at a public secondary school in Thailand. Author Name: Student ID Word count: 16250 This dissertation is presented in part fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education in TESOL , University of Exeter 2017/2018, University of Exeter 2017/2018 Table of Contents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u CHAPTER I PAGEREF _Toc521734631 \h 7Introduction PAGEREF _Toc521734632 \h 7BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY PAGEREF _Toc521734635 \h 9Rationale and aim of the study PAGEREF _Toc521734636 \h 9Research questions PAGEREF _Toc521734637 \h 102. Foreign Language teaching in Thailand: PAGEREF _Toc521734638 \h 10Present status of teaching in Thailand PAGEREF _Toc521734639 \h 11Present status of teaching institutions in Thailand: PAGEREF _Toc521734640 \h 12Organisation of the study PAGEREF _Toc521734641 \h 14CHAPTER II PAGEREF _Toc521734642 \h 15LITERATURE REVIEW PAGEREF _Toc521734643 \h 15A) Research on the use of L1 and the international context. PAGEREF _Toc521734644 \h 151)Benefits and the challenges of the use of L1 in L2 classes. PAGEREF _Toc521734645 \h 151Teacher's perceptions towards the use of Thai language in EFL classroom PAGEREF _Toc521734646 \h 17Research on L1 use and teacher attitudes from Thailand PAGEREF _Toc521734647 \h 192 Factors that influence the use of Thai and other first languages(L1) by teachers in the classroom PAGEREF _Toc521734648 \h 193 Different approaches to EFL teaching in Thailand PAGEREF _Toc521734649 \h 215. Summary PAGEREF _Toc521734650 \h 246. Literature gaps PAGEREF _Toc521734651 \h 25CHAPTER III PAGEREF _Toc521734652 \h 27Research methodology PAGEREF _Toc521734653 \h 27Introduction PAGEREF _Toc521734654 \h 27Research paradigm PAGEREF _Toc521734655 \h 27Philosophical assumptions PAGEREF _Toc521734656 \h 27Data collection PAGEREF _Toc521734657 \h 28Participants PAGEREF _Toc521734658 \h 29Sampling techniques PAGEREF _Toc521734659 \h 31Pilot study design PAGEREF _Toc521734660 \h 32Instrumentation PAGEREF _Toc521734661 \h 33Analysis of data PAGEREF _Toc521734662 \h 33Limitations PAGEREF _Toc521734663 \h 36Ethical clarification PAGEREF _Toc521734664 \h 36CHAPTER IV PAGEREF _Toc521734665 \h 38Findings and discussion PAGEREF _Toc521734666 \h 38Chapter introduction PAGEREF _Toc521734667 \h 38Discussion PAGEREF _Toc521734668 \h 42Summary PAGEREF _Toc521734669 \h 58References PAGEREF _Toc521734670 \h 63 LIST OF TABLES TOC \h \z \c "Table" Table 1: Participants' particulars PAGEREF _Toc520480434 \h 22 Table 2:Benefits of using Thai in the EFL class PAGEREF _Toc520480435 \h 29 Table 3:Challenges of using Thai in the EFL class PAGEREF _Toc520480436 \h 37 Table 4: Teacher’s purposes/aims for applying Thai in the secondary EFL classroom PAGEREF _Toc520480437 \h 41 LIST OF FIGURES Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 1 Nvivo photograph………………………………………………………………….25 Glossary EFL- English as a Foreign Language L1- First language L2- Second language Abstract This dissertation is about the perceptions of teachers towards the use of L1 in secondary EFL classrooms in a specific town in Thailand. It examines the frequency and reasons for L1 use. Additionally, this work compares the usage and teacher attitudes towards L1. This research employs the methodologies of interpretive research design, and semi-structured interviews. Eight Participants were recruited from two EFL secondary schools in Thailand. They include Payi School and Runa School (These are pseudo names). According to this study, teacher’s choice of the language to use is dependent on either the language on non-language requirements. In some cases, they choose to use other methods like the use of sign language. They carefully use this option just to maintain the attitude of the students towards L2 and the rapport at large. In many occasions, the interests of the students are the ones that drive the teacher in choosing the preferred method to use in teaching. The above statements were justified in the findings section and the appropriate recommendations derived from them. This dissertation too sort to find out whether there exist any implications that are associated with the use of L1 and L2. They could be positive or negative; and this dissertation addressed the issue at large. Before the actual study, the existing speculations made it look as if the use of L1 may be associated with the negative aspects on the side of students. In this study, the challenges regarding to the use of L1 does not only affect the performance of students but also the daily operation of the teachers. Furthermore, this study focusses on the personal responses and strategies that participants were proposing as effective in EFL classes. Most of the responses supported the implementation of Bilingualism and the multilingualism. CHAPTER I Introduction Based on my experience as an English teacher, I found out that many colleagues use much Thai in their English classrooms. They see it more comfortable to teach English using the Thai language, and it seems this has an impact on the way students learn the target language which is English. The way students incorporate English in Thailand relies on the methodologies that their teachers employ. This is prominent since it seems that many English teachers make maximum use of the Thai language not only in English lessons but also other English related activities. Experience gathered after two or more years of teaching in Thailand since 2015 as an English teacher for foreign language forms the basis for this study. As an EFL teacher, teaching in two schools, it was striking to see how often and I did not know how appropriate use of the L1 could be used to form the basis of teaching English as the foreign language in public secondary schools in Thailand or not. Similarly, the manner in which the L1 learning language could be used by the native teachers' ability to draw upon the native language in which they share with their students in teaching English classes (Johnson et al., 2017). More so, since Most of the local schools in Thailand have students grow up using Thai as the only language (Turnbull, 2001), their proficiency in Thai is high, and their teachers find it easy conducting EFL using the Thai language. However, this affects the student’s ability to grasp English as a foreign language thoroughly, and reduces the exposure to the new language, since they only use English when in classes; something that teachers seem to notice hardly. I have noticed that the use of L1 itself is not something of much considerations among teachers; the use of L1 only concerns the learning of new vocabulary, keyword articulations, semantic variations, cognate use and the contextual relationship; skills that need to be fully implementable by EFL students (Maryam, 2012). Besides, using L1, e.g., Thai language makes students to lack range of specific words during explanations, paraphrasing, and translation activities (Maryam, 2012). It’s natural to notice the student's production of English was insufficient and not so much appealing and maybe the use of L1 greatly helped in their understanding of the English language during low proficiency classes (Deller & Rinvolucri, 2012). Most teachers in Thailand argue that if they use only English during their lessons, the cognitive depth, as well as the interactive possibilities of the experience, would have been significantly constrained. Therefore, according to them, a bilingual pedagogy involving the first language enables some positive outcomes to be achieved (Hayes, 2015). Thus, to get a better glimpse of what they meant, it takes time and ability to access their target, drawing upon the home culture and obtaining the overall impact it has on the students' learning abilities and outcomes. However, the above observations have led to my interest in this project. Thus, I would like to find out to what extent L1 may be beneficial or depriving learners of the exposure to communicative situations that they may need to develop their English proficiency. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY Rationale and aim of the study Many studies have been done that tries to explain the role and the use of L1 in making students to understand foreign languages Butzkamn, 2013). The main aim of this study is to address the benefits and the challenges in the use of L1 in teaching EFL classes. Majority of world English teaching teachers are located in countries where English is a foreign language; however, the resources and research are mostly found in countries located in the western side of the world. It seems that there are impacts in L2 classes when L1 is used as a teaching tool. It appears like the use of L1 can affect the teaching of L2, that’s why I would like to examine the benefits and challenges of using L1 in EFL classes in Thailand, and I will find out from teachers to know what their perceptions are. Before conducting the study, there were my own pre-formed ideas that I needed justification. Either to be true or false. On my case, I thought most teachers would like the fact that the use of L1 in L2 classes should be avoided by all means. This is to mean that in case a student needs to get the actual idea of the second language, they need not to involve their native language. More so, I thought that the benefits that would come about due to the use of L1 would only be felt among students but teachers. However, its worthy noting that my perception shifted as I went deep into the resea...