The Mother Tongue in Second Language Acquisition A Positive Empirical Account.xlsx

Continuing the discussion about the effect of L1 use on L2 learning, this study investigates the effect of using L1 as a form of code-switching during an English grammar lesson at a university in the Republic of Korea. The aim of this study is to contribute empirical evidence about the effectiveness of code-switching as a form of translanguaging to better understand and define the optimal use of L1 in the L2 classroom. The study used existing teachers and classrooms in a quasi-experimental design with experimental and control groups to provide evidence that code-switching is not detrimental as a pedagogical approach to grammar teaching compared to a monolingual approach, in fact, it can be used quite effectively, even when teachers have little or no knowledge of students’ first language. However, the guidance of bilingual experts was required to design effective and structured code-switching for the lesson. The novel contribution of this research is the use of code-switching in grammar instruction and the use of different teachers with varying levels of L1 proficiency in the L2 classroom.