TSLB 3323

THEORY AND PRACTICE

IN PRIMARY ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING 2
TOPIC 5
Using Local Languages in Primary ESL
Classroom
 TOPIC 5 Using Local Languages in Primary ESL Classroom

 The role of local languages in ESL classroom

 Using local languages productively in ESL classroom
 Benefits and drawbacks
TOPIC 5 Using Local Languages in Primary ESL Classroom

Local languages?
TOPIC 5 Using Local Languages in Primary ESL Classroom

Should local languages be used in English

language classes?
 TOPIC 5 Using Local Languages in Primary ESL Classroom

Participants’ response in a study:

38.4% of the participants said ‘no’,

37.9% said ‘sometimes’
23.7% said ‘yes’

What do you think?

 TOPIC 5 Using Local Languages in Primary ESL Classroom

The explanations by the participants also varied. For example:

 No. How the heck do we improve our English if we speak different languages
in English class?
 No. Bilingualism? No way!

 Sometimes. Not for the entire session, but only to demonstrate the nuances of
different languages when applicable.
 Sometimes. Basically some sort of code switching is necessary for better
comprehension. Being purist in form seem not very feasible.

 Yes. To add flavor to the class -- such as in studying regional literary works...
or if it is necessary.
 Yes. The use of local languages. (L1) helps develop the conceptual
understanding and basic learning skills of students; thus,
learning another language (L2) will be easier. This assumption conforms to Jim
Cummins' Iceberg Hypothesis.
 TOPIC 5 Using Local Languages in Primary ESL Classroom

Our results:
• Students performed worse in Mathematics and Science tests after the language of
instruction in these subjects was switched from Bahasa Malaysia to English between
their primary and secondary school years.
• The impact of learning Mathematics and Science in English, a non-native language,
throughout primary and secondary school years was even more negative.
• Boys fared worse than girls, across the board.
• The results suggest that children learning in their native languages develop their core
skills better.
• Although the paper is unable to quantify the extent to which changing the language of
instruction negatively affected a teacher’s ability to teach, findings from other studies
indicate that the effect of changing the language of instruction on a teacher’s ability to
teach is also likely to be adverse and exacerbated if the teacher has limited or
substandard command of the new language of instruction.

Soh, Y.C., Carpio, X.D., Wang, C. (2022)

 Impact of the change in language policy on student’s
mathematics (left) and science (right) test scores

Learning in the native language, especially during the first years of formal schooling, help
children improve their cognitive skills in numeracy and problem-solving. Likewise,
teachers may also teach more effectively in their native language.
 TOPIC 5 Using Local Languages in Primary ESL Classroom

• Our paper does not argue that children should not learn a second
language.

• The paper and much of the evidence simply shows that when children
are taught in their native language, they can more effectively acquire
core skills that are important for the development of other skills,
including that of learning a second language.

• Given the importance of implementing the “right” language policy, it

is important for teaching to be imparted in the most effective language,
and consistently, to prevent harming learning outcomes and to ensure
children have the best chance to learn foundational skills.

Soh, Y.C., Carpio, X.D., Wang, C. (2022)

 TOPIC 5 Using Local Languages in Primary ESL Classroom

• In Malaysia, learning outcomes in critical subjects were harmed with

the language switch.

• But given that change in educational systems is inevitable, we hope

that studies like this one, and many others supporting the need to teach
foundational skills in a native language, are not omitted from
consideration by those designing and implementing language policy.

Soh, Y.C., Carpio, X.D., Wang, C. (2022)

 TOPIC 5 Using Local Languages in Primary ESL Classroom

 The role of local languages in ESL classroom

Should local languages be used in

English language classes?
 TOPIC 5 Using Local Languages in Primary ESL Classroom
The role of local languages in ESL classroom

WHY Negative Attitudes towards the use of local languages in English

language classrooms?

1. The history of ELT and teacher education

• English language teaching evolved from practices in foreign language
teaching leading to the grammar translation approach.
• using local languages in English language classrooms was not
pedagogically sound or supported by research base on the approaches
practised.
• the dominant approaches do not have a systematic approach to using local languages
in English language classrooms.
• It also shows that most of these approaches were developed in the USA and/or the
UK, which partly explains why they did not have a clearly defined role for using
local languages.
 TOPIC 5 Using Local Languages in Primary ESL Classroom

2. Hegemonic ldeologies About Language, Language Use, and Language

Learning and Teaching

Phillipson (1992) pointed out five central fallacies in English language

teaching:
Monolingualism, native-speakerism, the maximum exposure theory, the
early-start hypothesis, and the subtractive principle. All of these form part of
the normative knowledge base in the field of second and foreign language
education, which can be said to have originated from paradigms shaped by a
combination of monoglossia, purism, and recently also global capitalism and
commodificationism.
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However, such thinking and theorisation of language has been questioned

in recent times- the limitation of studies based on their focus on a single
semiotic (meaning-making) mode and ignoring how meanings are construed
and represented multimodally (using more than one mode)

e.g., by using images and text together, as in children's story books

(Canagarajah 2005; Bezemer and Kress 2014
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In responding to this gap, Mahboob (201'4) presents a 3-dimensional model

that attempts to explain how language variation can be understood in terms
of three interrelated factors:

1)relationship between participants (users of language),

2)register (purpose/use of language), and

3) mode (channel of communication);

4) along with a fourth dimension, time.

 TOPIC 5 Using Local Languages in Primary ESL Classroom

Similarly, work on language as a complex adaptive dynamic system points

out:

"(1) The system consists of multiple agents (the speakers in the speech
community) interacting with one another;

(2) The system is adaptive, that is, speakers’ behavior is based on their past
interactions, and current and past interactions together feed forward into
future behaviour;

(3) A speaker's behavior is the consequence of competing factors ranging

from perceptual mechanics to social motivations; and

(4) The structures of language emerge from interrelated patterns of

experience, social interaction, and cognitive processes” (Beckner eÏ a7.2009,
p' 2)

(see also, Hensley 2010; Larsen-Freeman and Cameron 2008).

 TOPIC 5 Using Local Languages in Primary ESL Classroom

• Mahboob and Dutcher(2014) argue that models of language proficiency need to

respond to criticisms of the static nature of language and engage with dynamic
models that we are sensitive to the setting of the communicative event, and have
the ability to select, adapt, negotiate, and use a range of linguistic resources that
are appropriate in the context.”

• This evolving body of research questions traditional static approaches to

understanding language and have implications for teaching and use of local
languages in the classroom.

• If language is a semiotic tool, if language is multimodal, and if language

proficiency is context dependent, then teaching language does not need to
exclude local languages, but use them as part of the rich set of semiotic
resources that can help students develop their understanding and use of
language.
 TOPIC 5 Using Local Languages in Primary ESL Classroom

 Some opinions

Hashemi and Kew (2020) indicated that English teachers must focus on
teaching the English language rather than teaching about the English
language using L1 in the language learning process through blended
learning approaches. Indeed, using traditional methods of language teaching
and learning facilitate teachers to teach about language.

According to Hornby (2000), teaching means instructing, providing

learners with the knowledge, skill, and language input. Hence, teachers
should potentially motivate the learners to interact using their obtained
knowledge and skills of the language.
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• Burnkart (1998) stated that language learners should avoid confusion

due to faulty pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary and observe the
social and cultural rules in each communication context. Since the
interference of L1 in a second language classroom damages the social
and cultural aspect of the language and abuses the fact that language is
purely learned by product of language itself. Therefore, the interference
of L1 in learning L2 will reduce the production of a second language.

• Badrasawi et al.(2020) stated that when the teachers produce L1 in the

classroom, students face a lack of L2 input to produce the
appropriate language. They feel a lack of vocabulary, sentence
structures, oral communicative skills, and pronunciation.
 TOPIC 5 Using Local Languages in Primary ESL Classroom

Shaari (1987) found that the major difficulty faced by many of the students is
learning the English grammar. This difficulty may also be attributed to the
environment in which language acquisition occurs. In the case of Malay
students, most of them tend to use the Malay language when interacting with
their family members and friends in their home environment as well as in
school. They also use their mother tongue to converse with their non-Malay
peers who are fluent in the Malay language too. Hence, they hardly use
English outside the language classroom, resulting in weak performances in
their writing, reading, speaking and listening skills.

Since the 1960s researchers like Nabakov (1960) have pointed unequivocally
to the advantages of bilingualism. Children who know a second language are
better at separating semantic from phonetic aspects of words, at tasks involving
classification, and at tests of creativity. They are said to have sharper awareness
of language.
 TOPIC 5 Using Local Languages in Primary ESL Classroom
Using local languages productively in ESL classroom

• Lin (2010) has been conceptualizing the Multimodalities/Entextualization

Cycle/MEC (inspired by Rothery 1994; cited in Rose and Martin 2012).

• The potential role of local language in the curriculum genre.

• The MEC can be reiterated until the target language learning goals have been
achieved.

• The key principle is to use local language and target language and genres together
with multimodalities to scaffold students' learning of specialized second/foreign
languages and genres through the systematic scaffolding of both local language and
multimodalities. To enhance the scaffolding effect, information and technology can
be used.
 TOPIC 5 Using Local Languages in Primary ESL Classroom
Using local languages productively in ESL classroom

• When we adopt a balanced and open-minded stance towards the potential

role of local languages in English language classrooms, there is a lot of
systematic planning and research that we can do to try out different kinds
of combinations of different local languages and target language
resources (together with multimodal and IT resources) that can scaffold
the development of target language.
 TOPIC 5 Using Local Languages in Primary ESL Classroom
Benefits

• Research on use of local languages in English language classes have

yielded findings that can be summarized by drawing on the
functional view of language from Halliday (1994).
• Under this view, local languages can be seen as communicative
resources readily drawn upon by classroom participants (usually the
teacher but sometimes also students) to achieve the following three
kinds of purposes:

1, Ideational functions

2. Textual functions

3. Interpersonal functions
 TOPIC 5 Using Local Languages in Primary ESL Classroom
1, Ideational functions: MEANING
Providing basic of TL(target language) - proficiency students with access to the TL
mediated curriculum switch to the students' local languages (LL) to translate or
annotate (e.g., key TL terms), explain, elaborate or exemplify TL academic content
(e.g., drawing on students' familiar life/world experiences as examples to explain a
science concept in the TL textbook/curriculum).
This is very important in mediating the meaning of academic texts which are written
in an unfamiliar language - the TL of the students
eg – gotong royong, bohsia
2. Textual functions: CONNECTION
Highlighting (signalling) topic shifts, marking out transitions between different
activity types or different focuses (e.g., focusing on technical definitions of terms vs.
exemplifications of the terms in students' everyday life). e.g. Dadah - drugs

3. Interpersonal functions: SOCIAL

Signalling and negotiating shifts in frames and footings, role-relationships and
identities, change in social distance/closeness (e.g., negotiating for in-group
solidarity), and appealing to shared cultural values or institution e.g. Mat Salleh
 TOPIC 5 Using Local Languages in Primary ESL Classroom

• Using local languages in English language teaching in the Malaysian

context can be a valuable tool for promoting student engagement and
learning.

• It can also help students to develop a deeper understanding of English by

connecting it to their own cultural and linguistic backgrounds.

• Local languages can be used in English language teaching in Malaysia in

some specific ways
 TOPIC 5 Using Local Languages in Primary ESL Classroom

Benefits

• Code-switching
Teachers can code-switch between English and local languages to explain concepts,
provide examples, and answer student questions. This can help students to better understand
the material and to develop their English skills in a more natural and supportive
environment.

• Translation
Teachers can translate English texts into local languages to help students with
comprehension. This can be especially helpful for students who are struggling with English
or who are from multilingual backgrounds.
 TOPIC 5 Using Local Languages in Primary ESL Classroom

Benefits

• Language comparison
Teachers can compare and contrast English and local languages to help students to
develop their metalinguistic awareness. This can help students to better understand
the similarities and differences between the two languages and to make
connections between them.

• Cultural integration
Teachers can incorporate elements of Malaysian culture into their English lessons.
This can include using local examples, songs, stories, and games. This can help
students to feel more engaged in their learning and to develop a deeper
appreciation for their own culture.
 TOPIC 5 Using Local Languages in Primary ESL Classroom

Benefits

• Acknowledge that multilingualism is a global norm.

Most of the world’s children grow up in multilingual communities and
interact with speakers of different languages.
In fact, research has shown that switching between languages and translation
happens instinctively to all language learners, and the L1 is actually an
important resource in the second language (L2) learning (Cook, 2001;
Woodall, 2002). For these reasons, teachers should try to work with this
innate tendency rather than against it.

(Dixon,K., 2018)
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Benefits

• Learners learn more

When learners use their home language to learn another language, their
understanding and performance is likely to improve. Being able to move
between two languages lessens the cognitive load (the brain having to do
too many tasks at once) and lets learners explain what they know and can
do.

Also, being able to use the local languages with students can be more
efficient and make time for more useful activities.

For example, if instructions to activity are complicated and students do not

seem to comprehend the English explanation, asking a student who does
understand to translate for the entire class would create more time for the
activity and prevent a lot of frustration for both teachers and students.

(Dixon,K., 2018)
 TOPIC 5 Using Local Languages in Primary ESL Classroom

Benefits

• Teachers can learn from learners

Humans are problem-solvers, and we use our resources to communicate with
each other in lots of different ways. What counts as a mistake in the target
language is often a creative attempt to solve a problem using language
resources learners already have.

• Welcoming local languages will involve learners

Making space for only one language sends a message that ‘there is no space
here for you’. But when children feel their home language is respected, they
are more willing to participate in the classroom.

(Dixon,K., 2018)
 TOPIC 5 Using Local Languages in Primary ESL Classroom

Benefits

• Cultural integration
Teachers can incorporate elements of Malaysian culture into their English
lessons. This can include using local examples, songs, stories, and games. This
can help students to feel more engaged in their learning and to develop a deeper
appreciation for their own culture.

Our languages express certain feelings, concepts or ideas particularly well.

Learning and using these words and phrases together as a class can create
community and provide insight into cultures. Teachers can also encourage
children to read books in their home languages. Families, aides and learners can
help with readings and translation.

(Dixon,K., 2018)
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Benefits

• Seeing and hearing home languages can make school a safer place

Schools that create a culture where linguistic diversity and multilingualism are the
standard can lessen prejudice against learners. It also improves teacher-student
rapport (Harbord, 1992).

(Dixon,K., 2018)
 TOPIC 5 Using Local Languages in Primary ESL Classroom

Benefits

• Writing and speaking in home languages strengthens connections between

school and home

Learners can write or audio-record messages from the school to home, like lists of
essential items for field trips, in their home language. Children often do lots of
translation for parents. Respecting these abilities acknowledges the skills children
have developed and recognises the valuable role they play in the family.

• Learning another language should add richness to students’ lives

It should not devalue their own language and culture. By allowing L1 use,
students would get the sense that learning another language is a positive experience.
They can have access to a valuable resource that supports them and they do not
have to feel guilty for doing what comes naturally.

(Dixon,K., 2018)
 TOPIC 5 Using Local Languages in Primary ESL Classroom

SETBACKS

• L1 Influence and Interference -errors

- Language learners often produce errors in syntax and pronunciation
resulting from the influence of their L1, such as mapping its grammatical
patterns inappropriately onto the L2
Example:
pluralism in nouns, pronouncing certain sounds incorrectly or with
difficulty, and confusing equivalent in vocabulary

-This is known as L1 transfer or "language interference".

-However, these transfer effects are typically stronger for beginners'

language production, SLA research has highlighted many errors which
cannot be attributed to the L1, as they are attested in learners of many
language backgrounds.
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• Complexity of English language

- While English is no more complex than other languages, it has several

features which may create difficulties for learners. - - Conversely,
because such a large number of people are studying it, products have
been developed to help them do so, such as the monolingual learner's
dictionary, which is written with a restricted defining vocabulary.
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• Translation issues

- This can significantly reduce students’ opportunities to practice

English, and students fail to realize that using English in classroom
activities is essential to improve their language skills. Translation also
regularly creates the problem of oversimplification. Because many
cultural and linguistic nuances cannot be directly translated (Harbord,
1992).
- For example, the sentence, “That’s so cool!” in English means that
something is amazing or incredible.
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• Too dependent on local language

- Translation could lead to the development of an excessive

dependency on the students’ mother tongue (Harbord, 1992) by both
teachers and students.
- Consequently, students lose confidence in their ability to
communicate in English
- They may feel that the only way they would understand anything the
teacher says is when it has been translated. Or they use their mother
tongue even when they are perfectly capable of expressing the same
idea in English.