The Necessities for the Use of L1 in the EFL Classroom

This book is organized around the controversial issue of whether to use or avoid mother tongue in the English classroom. In Ethiopian context, and similar others, it seems to be inappropriate to totally avoid the use of the students’ L1 in the English classroom in secondary schools or lower grades as it naturally aids the learning of the target language. It is quite the best idea to talk about how to make the proper use of it in order to facilitate the effective teaching and/or learning of English. Therefore, what to be done, in my opinion, is to switch to the students’ mother tongue on the basis of the prior assessed necessities, right reasons and judicious amount in EFL classroom. This book indicates teachers of English how to make the students’ L1 a worthwhile resource in the EFL classroom thereby avoiding the inconsistent use of it among many teachers. It can also help researchers who are interested to conduct any study on or around the issue.