Hello valentina02,

I would have to get to know your case to offer something really useful. However, I'm telling you what I do. Sorry for referring to myself, but hopefully it might help you out.

I do not use any L1, namely Spanish. All I say in the class is in English, absolutely everything, although my students beg me for using Spanish, only one little, please.

My students are false-beginners and have nearly no capability to speak in English. Well, "It's own their business": they have got to say something, for me to "understand them". I pretend I know no Spanish at all; they know I'm Spanish like them, but at the class-time, all through it, the only language used is English. It's fun. It's like a treat and they accept it. A sort of English-speaking atmosphere is created among us all.

I think it is very important, first of all, that they would listen to me speaking, massively, so that they hear the more-or-less new language.

I give them prompts to respond something in English. If they cannot say anything, I tell them not to worry, helping my message with gestures and making faces.

This is the beginning of real communication, this is already communication, in a wide but authentic sense.

Thus I'd tell you this suggestion, if you let me so: all in English. Little by little they can even hold some conversation, with the help of the grammar and vocabulary they are learning. I'm firm at this resolution: only L2.

If they don't understand me, I'll try several other ways. They appreciate this interest by you.

Finally, to say I congratulate them whenever they say one word in English, whenever they struggle to make themselves be understood by me.

More ideas on post nº 492 from my blog. Sorry again for quoting myself; I owe a lot to other fellow-teachers.

Best wishes!

Fernando

Teacher of English and teacher trainer. Granada (Spain)

http://fernandoexperiences.blogspot.com

Use of L1 should never be encouraged at any level. As a teacher trainer, I feel the basic purpose, for joining a Communicative English Porgram, is to get comfortable, with the English Language. Coming to L1 destroys the basic purpose. I make it mandatory for the students, to communicate only in the English Language, in the class and inside the premises. I also strongly tell them, that coming to L1 once they are out of the training environment, will destroy the very purpose, for which they have joined. Initially the resistance is very high. I ensure, that I help students, by making frequent prompts, whenever they they are not able to get the word or put forth their idea. This gradually increases their confidence, and they come to a stage, where they start communicating freely. This process takes around a month. In the second phase, I ensure that I correct their structures, and get them involved in various individual and group activities. Role Plays, Talk Shows and News Reading sessions, have worked wonders for me. The teacher unarguably has to keep himself motivated and come down to their level. I have seen many cases, where teachers start off well, and then lose patience, only to see huge dropouts. This is precisely where dedicated teachers stand out, and make a huge and lasting impact on the students.

I can think of a number of reasons why you might want to use and/or allow L1:

1. If Ss are nervous/anxious about speaking entirely in a new language but they are forced to use only that language, they might instead choose to say nothing.  Allowing a mix of L1 and the new language might allow them to overcome the anxiety.
2. There has been some good evidence (in the research) that when Ss are using the L2 for conversation, if they run into communication problems, use of L1 to get over the 'tough spot' allows them to continue the conversation.  In these cases, if L1 wasn't used, the conversation would stop altogether.
3. Sometimes when Ss use L2, it's to discuss features of the L1 and how it works - and cognitive effort and negotation of meaning is surely nothing but helpful.
4. Comparison of functional expressions and lexical chunks in the two languages can help Ss to understand how word-for-word translations often don't work.
5. Comparison of grammatical structures in the two languages can help abstract or analytical learners to get a clearer picture about how the new language works.
6. It can be an efficient way to set up an activity - if the choice is between 5-10min of trying to explain an activity in the L2 and just 10-15min on a productive, realistic and communicative activity, it might be better to spend 1min using the L1 to explain it and 20-25min on the activity itself.
7. Being able to communicate is a basic human right, and for those who aren't comfortable using the L2, it can feel awful to have that right to communicate taken away from you!