The Use of L1 in EFL Classrooms Across Various Multilingual Contexts: An Integrative Synthesis of Research

Abstract

Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) is conducted in many multilingual contexts around the world and is referred to with different terms according to the context (i.e., English as Second Language and English as a First Additional Language). Translanguaging (TL), where two or more languages are systematically used for teaching and learning inside the same lesson, is a phenomenon that has been observed in many TEFL classrooms. Although there is controversy regarding whether learners’ native language (or other languages in their repertoire) should be used in TEFL pedagogy, there is also an increasing recognition that using other languages spoken by learners can be a useful strategy. There is a substantial literature on this issue across different contexts (e.g., Asker & Martin-Jones, 2013; Mohanty, 2004). However, given the diversity of these contexts, it is difficult to draw general conclusions about whether and how learners' linguistic repertoires should be drawn on in TEFL classrooms. In multilingual contexts, most students come to the English classroom with rich linguistic repertoires consisting of one or more languages other than the English they are learning. This study addresses two questions: 1) what multidimensional model captures the pedagogically important dimensions of variation across multilingual TEFL contexts and allows for clusters of contexts to be identified? and 2) what recommendations regarding the use of learners' linguistic repertoires in TEFL classrooms in each context cluster can be identified? These questions were answered by conducting an integrative synthesis of research to map contexts and distinguish broad conclusions by context type in order to have a better understanding of how language learners switch among multiple languages, the role of each language, the role that the sociopolitical contexts play, and the tension that could create in schools and classrooms. It sought to identify important socio-cultural, political, historical, and linguistic variables that could be relevant to the challenge of producing recommendations for how to use multiple languages in the context of TEFL instruction. The study identified two particularly notable variables: the status of English and the status of indigenous languages both in the country and in education. It was found that there is a link between these two variables and the variable of the attitudes of teachers, learners, and administrators towards TL. These variables formed the basis for constructing a multidimensional model that allowed for clusters of contexts to be mapped. This study has significance both for research and for practice. For research, it can guide those conducting future studies so that they tackle open questions that need to be addressed empirically. For practice, it provides a more organized and theoretically rigorous set of recommendations for instruction and policy that are sensitive to context variables, even when empirical work may not yet be extensive. The model will allow readers to map their own context to clusters identified and thereby identify the appropriate recommendations for their context.