EFL teachers' views on the use of L1 in ELT classrooms

This study was planned to investigate the views of EFL teachers on the use of L1 (Turkish) in ELT classrooms. In addition to determining EFL teachers' views, their views were analysed according to several variables such as their length of teaching experience, educational degrees, and the departments from which they graduated. EFL teachers' preferred uses of L1 in ELT classrooms were also investigated. In this study, quantitative and qualitative data gathering techniques were used within a mixed-methods design. The quantitative data were gathered via a questionnaire developed by Tunçay in 2014, which was administered to 174 English teachers working at state schools in Siirt, Turkey. The qualitative data were collected via semi-structured interviews with 20 teachers who had previously completed the questionnaire. Quantitative data from the questionnaire were analysed using SPSS and qualitative data were analysed by content analysis. The findings indicated that EFL teachers preferred the use of Turkish in a balanced and appropriate way based on the proficiency levels of the students and the subject being taught in order to facilitate the language learning process. This study has also demonstrated that English teachers with different years of experience and different educational degrees shared similar attitudes regarding the use of Turkish in ELT classrooms. However, in terms of the affective dimensions of language learning, the graduates of ELT departments and graduates of other departments were found to have different attitudes. EFL teachers' practices of L1 showed that they employed Turkish mostly for metalinguistic and clarification purposes.