ŞİMŞEK, Meliha R. Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi - Eğitim Fakültesi, Turkey

Student Teachers’ Opinions On Mentor Teachers’ Use Of Native Language

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Although there have been attempts for a bilingual method that makes active use of codeswitching in the foreign language class, exclusive use of the target language remains an undisputed practice from primary to tertiary education around the world. For this reason, a survey consisting of threeclosed-ended and four open-ended questions was administered to 30 student teachers (Department of Foreign Language Education, METU) in order to investigate their perspectives on mentor teachers’ use of native language (L1) and codeswitching in the EFL class. It was found that there is L1-dominance in the practicum classes and the students’ low level of English is the major excuse for the randomness of L1 use, whereas its sparing uses concentrate on managerial and clarification purposes. While two-thirds of the student teachers supported the use of L1 and reported varied benefits of codeswitching, the rest rejected it under the influence of monolingualism.

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codeswitching , L1 , dominance , monolingualism

Mersin University Journal Of The Faculty Of Education

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