| Learners’ mother tongue is one of the most important factors in foreign language learning.It has been argued for a long time that whether the mother tongue can be employed in foreign language classes.Generally speaking,foreign language learning is based on learners’ acquisition of their mother tongue.In China,students’ English learning is no doubt influenced by Chinese since the formal English learning for most Chinese students,especially for students from townships,starts from junior high school.The township schools are far behind the urban schools in various aspects,such as the learning environment,teaching staffs and students’ learning ability.The English-only class is still not widespread in the urban schools,let alone in the township schools.Therefore,the mother tongue,as a kind of auxiliary teaching tool,may play a role in township English teaching.Throughout the former studies on the application of mother tongue in foreign language classes,there are few studies focusing on the use of mother tongue in township English classes.Therefore,the author selected a township senior high school in Changle,Fuzhou as the research subject to carry out this study.The study is aimed at figuring out the following three questions:1.Do teachers use Chinese in township English classes? If they do,how often do they use Chinese?2.When and where do teachers use Chinese in township English classes? What are the effects?3.What are the attitudes of teachers and students towards using Chinese in township English classes? Why?The results are as follows:1.The teachers do use Chinese in township English classes.However,according to the different needs of students,the frequency of teachers’ use of Chinese varies in different contexts.2.The teachers mainly use Chinese in the following contexts: vocabulary introduction,grammar explanation,exercise interpretation,text analysis and classroom management.The effects of mother tongue can be divided into the positive effect and the negative effect.Therefore,teachers must control their use of mother tongue in township English classes.3.Most of the teachers and their students hold a positive attitude towards using Chinese in township English classes.For teachers,it can help to improve their teaching efficiency.For students,teachers’ use of mother tongue is of great benefits to their understanding of English knowledge and skills. |
