Using the First Language in the Classroom
Open accessAbstract
This paper argues for the re-examination of the time-honoured view that the first language should be avoided in the classroom by teachers and students. The justifications for this rest on a doubtful analogy with first language acquisition, on a questionable compartmentalization of the two languages in the mind, and on the aim of maximizing students' exposure to the second language, laudable but not incompatible with use of the first language. The L1 has already been used in alternating language methods and in methods that actively create links between L1 and L2, such as the New Concurrent Method, Community Language Learning, and Dodson's Bilingual Method. Treating the L1 as a classroom resource opens up several ways to use it, such as for teachers to convey meaning, explain grammar, and organize the class, and for students to use as part of their collaborative learning and individual strategy use. The first language can be a useful element in creating authentic L2 users rather than something to be shunned at all costs.
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Traditional EFL teaching has favored a monolingual approach that bans L1 use because L1 is thought to interfere with target language development.
“The traditional EFL teaching paradigm has long advocated for a monolingual approach, minimizing or prohibiting the use of the learners' first language (L1) based on the belief that it interferes with target language development (Cook, 2001).”
From Code-Switching as a Cognitive Strategy in Vocabulary Acquisition: A Classroom Action Research on Senior High School EFL Learners (2025) · cites this paper as Cook, 2001
The bilingual competence of learners should be viewed as a resource rather than a deficiency.
“As Cook (2001) argues, the bilingual competence of learners should be treated as a resource, not a deficiency.”
From Code-Switching as a Cognitive Strategy in Vocabulary Acquisition: A Classroom Action Research on Senior High School EFL Learners (2025) · cites this paper as Cook, 2001
The study challenges the traditional monolingual approach and supports the view that L1 is a resource rather than an obstacle.
“This study challenges the traditional monolingual approach and validates the view that a learner's L1 is a resource, not an impediment (Cook, 2001).”
From Code-Switching as a Cognitive Strategy in Vocabulary Acquisition: A Classroom Action Research on Senior High School EFL Learners (2025) · cites this paper as Cook, 2001
Cites
Long, M. (1991) · Studies in Bilingualism · doi:10.1075/sibil.2.07lon · Cited by 1,775 · cited 2× · see citing works
“cates of language awareness and of Focus on Form (FonF), who claim that grammar teaching, rather than being a starting point, may be used when it arises naturally out of classroom activities (Long, 1991). However, while the contributors to Doughty and Williams (1998) raise”
BackgroundNeurolinguists, beware! The bilingual is not two monolinguals in one person.
Grosjean, F. (1989) · Brain and Language · doi:10.1016/0093-934x(89)90048-5 · Cited by 1,490 · see citing works
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Own-language use in language teaching and learning
Hall, G., & Cook, G. (2012) · Language Teaching · doi:10.1017/s0261444812000067 · Cited by 466 · see citing works
The effects of biliteracy instruction on morphological awareness
Lyster, R., Quiroga, J., & Ballinger, S. (2013) · Journal of Immersion and Content-Based Language Education · doi:10.1075/jicb.1.2.02lys · Cited by 100 · see citing works
Turnbull, B. (2019) · Bilingual Research Journal · doi:10.1080/15235882.2019.1589603 · Cited by 68 · see citing works
T(w)o and fro: using the L1 as a language teaching tool in the CLIL classroom
Gallagher, F., & Colohan, G. (2017) · The Language Learning Journal · doi:10.1080/09571736.2014.947382 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
“…above, many researchers have begun to question the notion of the monolingual principle and have begun to investigate ways in which the L1 could be used as a teaching and learning tool in the language classroom (Cook 2001; de la Colina and del Pilar García Mayo 2009; Lewis, Jones and Baker 2012).”
BackgroundInfluentialChimbutane, F. (2013) · Language and Education · doi:10.1080/09500782.2013.788022 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
de Klerk, E. D., Palmer, J. M., & Papashane, M. (2021) · South African Journal of Education · doi:10.15700/saje.v41ns1a2064 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Murtianda, G., Yuliana, Y. G. S., & Susilawati, E. (2025) · International journal of research and innovation in social science · doi:10.47772/ijriss.2025.925ileiid000082
- Authors
- Cook, V.
- Corresponding author
- Cook, Vivian
- Venue
- The Canadian Modern Language Review
- Published
- 2001-03-01
- Volume
- 57
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 402-423
- ISSN
- 0008-4506 (ISSN-L)
- 1710-1131
- OpenAlex
- W2105088257
- Cited by
- 1,404
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 32 · 2025: 54 · 2024: 90 · 2023: 74 · 2022: 105 · 2021: 98 · 2020: 142 · 2019: 118 · 2018: 112 · 2017: 71 · 2016: 71 · 2015: 76 · 2014: 60 · 2013: 67 · 2012: 63
- FWCI
- 41.08
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- doi.org
- Locations
- Canadian Modern Language Review/ La Revue canadienne des langues vivantes (publishedVersion)
- Newcastle University ePrints (Newcastle Univesity)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Literature and Literary Theory › Second Language Learning and Teaching
- Social Sciences › Linguistics and Language › Multilingual Education and Policy
- Keywords
- first language use in the classroom, second language teaching, second language exposure, community language learning, grammatical explanation, cooperative learning
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