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The Roles of Mother Tongue in Enhancing English Language Acquisition in English-policy Classes

Received: 26 September 2020     Accepted: 12 October 2020     Published: 30 October 2020
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Abstract

The balance of using L1, L2, and English-only policy classes has been widely explored in English language teaching. However, research on the possible and reasonable spaces for L1 in English-only policy classes among students from diverse cultural communities has been very limited. This paper reports findings of employing the Vietnamese language among Vietnamese student-teachers of English from different ethnic groups (Kinh-Vietnamese, Hoa- Chinese, and Khmer- Cambodian) to learn English in English-only policy classrooms. These 60 student-teachers were in the final year of their program at a teacher training college in Mekong Delta, Vietnam. The findings belong to a larger project which was designed as a qualitative case study collecting triangulated data from questionnaires, observations, textual analysis, interviews, and focus groups. Results showed that Vietnamese played significant roles in students’ processing and performing tasks to adapt to the English-only classroom policy. The students’ use of Vietnamese (even by non-native Vietnamese students) enabled them to work productively and facilitate the establishment of a positive and inclusive language atmosphere thanks to the proper use of Vietnamese as a tool of cognition, affection and pedagogy.

Published in International Journal of Applied Linguistics and Translation (Volume 6, Issue 4)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijalt.20200604.11
Page(s) 109-115
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Language Acquisition, Cultural Diversity, English-Only Policy, Language Function

References
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  • APA Style

    Dan Tam Thi Nguyen. (2020). The Roles of Mother Tongue in Enhancing English Language Acquisition in English-policy Classes. International Journal of Applied Linguistics and Translation, 6(4), 109-115. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijalt.20200604.11

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    Dan Tam Thi Nguyen. The Roles of Mother Tongue in Enhancing English Language Acquisition in English-policy Classes. Int. J. Appl. Linguist. Transl. 2020, 6(4), 109-115. doi: 10.11648/j.ijalt.20200604.11

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    AMA Style

    Dan Tam Thi Nguyen. The Roles of Mother Tongue in Enhancing English Language Acquisition in English-policy Classes. Int J Appl Linguist Transl. 2020;6(4):109-115. doi: 10.11648/j.ijalt.20200604.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijalt.20200604.11,
      author = {Dan Tam Thi Nguyen},
      title = {The Roles of Mother Tongue in Enhancing English Language Acquisition in English-policy Classes},
      journal = {International Journal of Applied Linguistics and Translation},
      volume = {6},
      number = {4},
      pages = {109-115},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijalt.20200604.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijalt.20200604.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijalt.20200604.11},
      abstract = {The balance of using L1, L2, and English-only policy classes has been widely explored in English language teaching. However, research on the possible and reasonable spaces for L1 in English-only policy classes among students from diverse cultural communities has been very limited. This paper reports findings of employing the Vietnamese language among Vietnamese student-teachers of English from different ethnic groups (Kinh-Vietnamese, Hoa- Chinese, and Khmer- Cambodian) to learn English in English-only policy classrooms. These 60 student-teachers were in the final year of their program at a teacher training college in Mekong Delta, Vietnam. The findings belong to a larger project which was designed as a qualitative case study collecting triangulated data from questionnaires, observations, textual analysis, interviews, and focus groups. Results showed that Vietnamese played significant roles in students’ processing and performing tasks to adapt to the English-only classroom policy. The students’ use of Vietnamese (even by non-native Vietnamese students) enabled them to work productively and facilitate the establishment of a positive and inclusive language atmosphere thanks to the proper use of Vietnamese as a tool of cognition, affection and pedagogy.},
     year = {2020}
    }
    

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    AB  - The balance of using L1, L2, and English-only policy classes has been widely explored in English language teaching. However, research on the possible and reasonable spaces for L1 in English-only policy classes among students from diverse cultural communities has been very limited. This paper reports findings of employing the Vietnamese language among Vietnamese student-teachers of English from different ethnic groups (Kinh-Vietnamese, Hoa- Chinese, and Khmer- Cambodian) to learn English in English-only policy classrooms. These 60 student-teachers were in the final year of their program at a teacher training college in Mekong Delta, Vietnam. The findings belong to a larger project which was designed as a qualitative case study collecting triangulated data from questionnaires, observations, textual analysis, interviews, and focus groups. Results showed that Vietnamese played significant roles in students’ processing and performing tasks to adapt to the English-only classroom policy. The students’ use of Vietnamese (even by non-native Vietnamese students) enabled them to work productively and facilitate the establishment of a positive and inclusive language atmosphere thanks to the proper use of Vietnamese as a tool of cognition, affection and pedagogy.
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Author Information
  • Department of English Language, Faculty of Social Sciences and International Languages, Hong Bang International University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

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