Giving Instruction When L1 is Used in L2 Classroom

18 Ss: Ok Miss. 4 th observation; March 6, 2013 The finding above displayed that the teacher used L1 to give instruction. As stated in the example above, the teacher asked the students to write the summary of the lesson they learnt that day and they should write it in a big size, so that when they are studying, it will help them to study easily. From the classroom observation and example above, it could be seen clearly that L1 was really helpful in giving instruction to the students. Students would pay attention more if their teacher gave instruction using L1 than L2. Not only pay attention, but the students also did what their teacher had asked quickly. The students followed and understood the lesson when the teacher used clear language instructions. In English language classrooms, the language instructions also took important roles in the teaching learning process. Instead of using English, Indonesian could be useful language to give the instructions to the students. Cook 2001 as cited by Zacharias 2002 argued that the purpose of using L1 is useful to give instruction about classroom activities. Tang 2002 adds teacher uses L1 in beginning and intermediate classes to give instruction. In the primary level of English language teaching, L1 takes an important part in giving instruction to the students. Giving instructions in L1 has been considered to be effective in helping the learners achieving the goal of classroom activities Atkinson, 1987; Cook, 2001; Lucas and Katz, 1994; Macaro, 1997 in Manara 2007.

3. Translating

The use of L1 in L2 teaching was also used in translating. Teacher sometimes translated what they said. It could be in giving instruction, checking comprehension, even explaining the 19 materials. Here are two examples of L1 used when translating based on 2 nd classroom observation on February 23, 2013: 1. T: “Asking for something” itu meminta sesuatu. 2. T: If it is add “pay” it becomes pay you attention please itu berarti kalau pakai tambahan “pay” artinya sama untuk mohon perhatian. From the examples above, it showed that L1 was also helpul for teacher when teaching L2. In the example number 1 and 2 showed that teacher used L1 when translating a new thing or conveying a meaning to the students. It was used to decrease their confusion in learning and convey a meaning of a sentence. The data above was supported by the result from Mrs. A, in her interview, she said that the use of L1 in teaching L2 was really helpful when she taught and found something new or a new word for students. She used L1 to convey the meaning and sometimes also to explain the new words to students. Sometimes teacher conveyed meaning through paraphrasing or translating into their first language to make students get clear meaning of the word. As stated by Franklin 1990, teacher use L1 for conveying word and sentence meaning recognizes that the two languages are closely linked in the mind.

4. Explaining the Materials

The last finding in my classroom observation of the use of L1 in L2 teaching was when explaining the materials. Using L1 was really helpful for teaching especially in explaining the materials. It was proven in the 1 st , 2 nd , 3 rd , 4 th , 5 th and 6 th classroom observation. The following was the results of L1 use in explaining the materials: