Selective Use of the Mother Tongue to Enhance Students’ English Learning Processes...Beyond the Same Assumptions

• Main Author: Luis Fernando Cuartas Alvarez
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidad Nacional de Colombia 2014-04-01
• Series: Profile Issues in Teachers' Professional Development
• Subjects: English as a foreign language; language learning; mother tongue; selective use of mother tongue
• Online Access: http://www.revistas.unal.edu.co/index.php/profile/article/view/38661/44503

This article reports the results of an action-research project that examines enhancing students’ English learning processes through the selective use of their mother tongues with the aim of overcoming their reluctant attitudes toward learning English in the classroom. This study involves forty ninth-graders from an all-girls public school in Medellin, Colombia. The data gathered included field notes, questionnaires, and participants’ focus group interviews. The findings show that the mother tongue plays an important role in students’ English learning processes by fostering students’ affective, motivational, cognitive, and attitudinal aspects. Thus, the mother tongue serves as the foothold for further advances in learning English when used selectively.