Throughout the history, people have wanted to learn different languages due to many different reasons. Before the sixteenth century, Latin and Greek were the languages that people wanted to learn to grow intellectually. However, the political changes which emerged in Europe, led French and Italian to become popular.
Thereafter, the advancement in technology, industry and business along with the colonial expansion of English speaking countries has resulted in the spread of English. English has become not only the dominant language all over the world but also the medium of international communication.
With the globalization, English has been occupying more and more space in people’s professional and daily lives (Akulova, 2019). Therefore, different language teaching approaches and methods which have different assumptions emerged to teach English in the best way (Taşkın, 2011).
Some of these different teaching approaches and methods value learners’ first language whereas some of them ban the use of their mother tongue in the foreign language classroom.
The issue of whether the use of mother tongue in the foreign language classroom should be banned or combined with the target language has been the most controversial issues in the field of foreign language education (Shin, Dixon & Choi, 2019).
A number of pedagogical, linguistic, and ideological factors have affected the opinions of scholars on the use of mother tongue while language learning and teaching process (Inal & Turhanlı, 2019).
Until the nineteenth century, the target language (TL) was taught via the mother tongue of the learners. The grammar translation method (GTM) was employed in teaching and learning languages like Latin and Greek (Larsen- Freeman, 2000; as cited in Akulova, 2019).
This method focused on writing skills, vocabulary and grammar of the target language in order for learners to be capable of reading literature in TL. Learners’ mother tongue had a significant role in language acquisition and all classroom instruction was given only in the mother tongue.
However, in the mid-nineteenth century, many pioneers of alternative approaches criticised the GTM and emphasized the need for oral proficiency (Richard & Rodgers, 2001).
Against this long tradition, several approaches the focus of which was on the spoken form of TL emerged (e.g. direct method, audiolingual method, natural approach, communicative approach, task-based approach).
The Direct Method supports the idea that the more learners are exposed to TL and the more they practice, the better learners can learn languages. The language schools where the direct method is conducted have maintained strong TL Only stance (Tunçay, 2014).
In the mid-twentieth century, the Audio-Lingual Method (ALM), which is based on structural linguistics and behavioural psychology, became popular.
This method emphasises the importance of usage of only a TL in the classroom. Language is seen as speech, a set of habits and what its native speaker say (Moulton, 1961). I
n the late 20th century, the Natural Approach, which supports the idea of acquiring TL in the same manner people learn their mother tongue, emerged. The pioneers of this approach support the avoidance of mother tongue in language learning and teaching process.
Finally, more recent approaches, such as CLT and TBLT, emphasizes the significance of the use of authentic language and a rich TL environment, which increases the exposure to TL input and creates opportunities for TL output.
These approaches implicitly discourages the use of mother tongue. As a result of this discouragement, the role of mother tongue in the teaching of TL lost its position in modern language lessons that aim at practical communication (Shin et al., 2019).
All approaches which discourage mother tongue use put forward some reasons for the TL Only stance. Using the TL extensively and avoiding mother tongue is a taboo since the use of mother tongue is considered to impede learners’ learning process (Belz, 2003; as cited in Taşkın, 2011).
According to Cook (2001), TL and mother tongue should be taught and kept separately while learning TL because mother tongue may lead some problems that are mentioned by transfer theories.
In addition, it is considered that the more the learners are exposed to the TL, the better they learn it. A lack of sufficient exposure to the TL and overusing L1 can lead to overdependence on L1 (Taşkın, 2011).
Littlewood (2014) and Macaro (2009) claim that the use of mother tongue hinders the negotiation of meaning and faster and effortless TL acquisition (Wash & Monroy, 2019).
On the other hand, Phillipson (1992) claimed that standards of the TL will drop if other languages will be included too much in learning process (cited in Auerbach, 1993). He also emphasised that L1 avoidance is a necessity to maintain English as a dominant language (Kaymakamoğlu & Yıltanlar, 2019).
Therefore, L1 use is seen as something which should be avoided and discouraged (Taşkın, 2011).
In contrast to the arguments of L1 avoidance, there are a number of arguments that supports the inclusion of L1 in TL teaching. Rolin- Ianziti and Varshney (2008) explain the main functions of the L1 by dividing them into two: ‘medium-oriented’ and ‘framework-oriented’.
The former function stresses the effectiveness of the translation technique in making the meaning of grammatical and lexical input more clear. It can also promote learners’ language awareness by leading learners to do syntactic cross-linguistic comparisons.
In addition, the mother tongue can be a scaffolding tool to express meaning while developing TL communication skills. As for the framework-oriented functions, the mother tongue both helps in maintaining classroom discipline, saving time and increase the learners’ confidence, make personal connections with teachers.
It is understood that using mother tongue in TL teaching classrooms is a controversial issue in the field of English Language Teaching. Therefore, the issue of mother tongue use is discussed by many researchers all over the world.
The results of these researches have indicated that mother tongue may be a useful tool for TL learning. Yet, it has been neglected in ELT for two reasons. The first one is that mother tongue use is often associated with the GTM. That is why TL Only stance has gained support through many ELT methods.
The second one is TL Only classes are often accepted as the most effective context for the TL learning. However, since TL Only approach is usually advocated from the top-down through language policies of educational institution, there is a gap that exists between the policy and teaching practices (Ma, 2016).
Most of the Turkish education institutions offering English language programs have TL Only stance.
Some of these institutions restricts the teachers and the learners to use the TL as the only medium of communication whereas some accept optimal level of mother tongue use in the classroom. Among teachers and learners, this issue is also controversial.
That’s why there are researchers who investigate students and teachers’ opinions towards the use of the mother tongue in different settings (Akulova, 2019; Inal & Turhanlı, 2019; Kuru & Tekin, 2019; Sali, 2011; Solhi & Büyükyazı, 2011; Taşkın, 2011; Tunçay, 2014).
The results of the studies based on teachers’ opinions have indicated that the teachers’ attitude towards the using mother tongue are not only positive or negative but also neutral.
Those who support TL Only stance claim that the classroom is the only place where the learners are exposed to the TL. Those who support L1 use argue that enforcing the learners to communicate in the TL may make them feel threatened and mother tongue may be used as awareness-raising tool and facilitator.
On the other hand, those who are neutral to the use of mother tongue report that other dimensions such as workplace, nationality factors and philosophy of their teaching restrict their L1 use in the classroom (Kaymakamoğlu & Yıltanlar, 2019).
To my knowledge, there is not a comparative research on the perspectives of EFL teachers working at a private pre-school, secondary school, high school and university on the mother tongue use in EFL classroom and whether the policies that schools follow affect their use of L1 in the classroom.
Therefore, the current study aims to answer the following research questions from the perspectives of EFL teachers working at private school context on using mother tongue in English language classrooms and the effect of the school policy on the use of L1.
