The Role of L1 in English Language Acquisition Using Translanguaging Pedagogy of Indonesian EFL Students

Ratrika Pristy Nugrahaeni, Abdul Asib

Abstract

In EFL environments when students' opportunities to use English are limited to the classroom, reducing their use ofi L1 to increase English fluency is frequently advocated in instruction. Recent research, however, have found thati students' partial use of L1 in translanguaging offers a variety of pedagogical benefits. This study looks at how advanced Indonesian high school students use and perceive L1 (Indonesian) in translanguaging during L2i (English) classroom activities. The study attempted to reveal context-sensitive findings about students' use of L1 in translanguaging in the EFL classroom and identify the effectiveness of the use of L1 in English class activities using translanguaging pedagogy by drawing on both quantitative data from a questionnaire answered by 29 third-year junior highi school students and qualitative data from classroom observations and in-depth interviews with three students from the same group. The quantitative questionnaire results revealed that, to varied degrees, all of the students used L1 during L2 activities. Data from classroom observations backed up the questionnaire results and indicated speech functions of children' partial L1 use in activities. Furthermore, the interview data revealed students' varied motives for and perceptions of their partial L1 use during such activities, emphasizing a distinct communication layer for translanguaging. Recommendations for pursuing communicative language instruction and translanguaging pedagogy in EFL classrooms are presented at the end of the paper based on the discussion of the findings.

Keywords

bilingualism; EFL; first language; L1; translanguaging

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.20961/ee.v10i3.60357

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