Students’ Attitudes toward the Use of L1 in EFL Classrooms: The Case of EFL Algerian Students

Abstract

The instrumental use of the students’ mother tongue in the foreign-language classroom constitutes a controversial issue among language researchers and theorists. Supporters of the monolingual policy claim that the students’ mother tongue should be completely avoided in foreign-language classes, whereas opponents of this policy contend that using the mother tongue in the foreign-language classroom can have positive effects on the teaching/learning process. As the Algerian universities have adopted an English-only policy, we set out to look into the attitudes of Algerian students of English towards the use of their mother tongue (Arabic) in English classes, and to investigate the possible factors that might play a role in the conformation of their views. To this end, a questionnaire was designed and distributed to 58 students studying English at the University of Constantine 1, Algeria. A total of 46 intermediate-advanced students took part in our research study. The results showed that the students held different attitudes towards the use of Arabic in the English classroom which vary according to some specific factors, namely their English proficiency level, the purpose of the use of Arabic and the amount of its use during English classes. So, these findings may suggest that the adoption of the English-only policy at the Algerian universities should perhaps be reconsidered.