Student Teachers’ Opinions On Mentor Teachers’ Use Of Native Language

• Main Author: Meliha Şi̇mşek
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Mersin University 2012-03-01
• Series: Mersin Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi
• Subjects: -; dil değiştirme; anadil baskınlığı; tekdillilik
• Online Access: https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/mersinefd/issue/17377/181500?publisher=mersin-university

Although there have been attempts for a bilingual method that makes active use ofcodeswitching in the foreign language class, exclusive use of the target language remains an undisputedpractice from primary to tertiary education around the world. For this reason, a survey consisting of threeclosed-ended and four open-ended questions was administered to 30 student teachers (Department ofForeign Language Education, METU) in order to investigate their perspectives on mentor teachers’ use ofnative language (L1) and codeswitching in the EFL class. It was found that there is L1-dominance in thepracticum classes and the students’ low level of English is the major excuse for the randomness of L1 use,whereas its sparing uses concentrate on managerial and clarification purposes. While two-thirds of thestudent teachers supported the use of L1 and reported varied benefits of codeswitching, the rest rejected itunder the influence of monolingualism.