The Use of L1 as a Consciousness raising Tool in Teaching Grammar to Beginner and Upper intermediate EFL Students

The notion of consciousness raising came to vogue in second language teaching with the advent of Noticing Hypothesis proposed by Schmidt (1990) who strongly believed that learning does not occur unless the learner’s consciousness is raised about what is intended to be learnt. With so many advocates (Atkinson, 1987 Cook, 2001 Weschler, 1997 Phillipson, 1992 Burden, 2000 Canagarajah, 1999 Schweers, 1999), L1 has been proved to be a facilitative tool at the teacher’s disposal to be used for different pedagogical purposes. Adopting “principle grammar teaching” model by Batstone and Ellis (2009), the present study aimed to examine the effect of utilizing L1 in an EFL context as a consciousness raising tool on teaching grammar to the students at beginner and upper intermediate levels. For each proficiency level, fifty participants were selected based on Oxford Placement. Twenty five participants in each proficiency level (the experimental group) received L1 treatment in teaching grammar, whereas in the control groups L1 was not used. The analysis of the data obtained from the post test yielded contradictory results in different proficiency levels. The findings showed a marked improvement on the students’ command of grammar at the beginner level however, for the upper intermediate level, no statistically significant difference was observed. In line with the literature, the results of this study revealed that the use of L1 as a consciousness raising tool can be a facilitator in teaching grammar to beginner L2 learners. Conversely, students of upper intermediate level did not benefit equally from L1 implementation in teaching grammar.