Institutional Repository | Satya Wacana Christian University: Students' Perceptions Toward Teacher's Uses of L1 in English Classrooms At SMA Negeri 3 Salatiga

STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS TOWARD TEACHER’S USES OF L1
IN ENGLISH CLASSROOMS AT SMA NEGERI 3 SALATIGA
Kharisma Mutiara
ABSTRACT
There has been an issue whether the use of L1 in English classroom should be included or not.
Some teachers allow the use of L1 and some do not. For the teachers who agree with the use of
L1, they see L1 as a valuable tool for learning, but some believe that L2 is best learned
monolingually. The study on the use of L1 in teaching English here to give insights about
students’ perceptions toward the teacher’s use of L1 in English classroom. The purpose of this
study is to explore students’ perceptions toward the teacher’s use of L1 in English classroom for
senior high school. This study used questionnaires distributed to 119 senior high students to
collect the data. The result revealed almost all the students agree that the teacher’s use of L1 in
English classroom is necessary. The students also showed positive perceptions toward the
teacher’s use of L1 for clarifying purpose, a tool to check students’ understanding, a tool to
explain new vocabularies, a tool to explain grammar, helping students to perform L2 better, and
reducing learner’s anxiety. From this study hopefully can provide a clear perspective about how
students perceived toward the teacher’s use of L1 in English classroom, and the teachers will be
more aware about their students’ perceptions in using L1 in their English class, so that the
teachers can use L1 and TL judiciously inside the classroom.
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Key words:

L1, the teacher’s uses of L1, students’ perceptions