Teachers' Use of English in Communicative German Language Classrooms: A Qualitative Analysis

Abstract

The use of English by foreign language teachers is a matter of much controversy. Whereas language switching by English‐speaking foreign language teachers has been the focus of previous research, relatively little is known about the amount of teachers' language use in the classroom when comparing native speakers of the foreign language with nonnative speakers. This qualitative study examined the amount and the purpose of English used by five teaching assistants (TAs) (three native speakers of English, one native speaker of German, and one whose first language was neither English nor German) in beginning German language classrooms. Results of the study indicate eight common functions for the use of English and also show that previous language teaching experience as well as a background in relevant teacher training coursework reduced the amount of English used.

Code-switching in Iranian Elementary EFL Classrooms: An Exploratory Investigation

“…It should be noted that almost similar categories are found Kraemer's (2006) study on the use of English in German language classrooms and in a study by Hobbs et al (2010) on CS in Japanese classrooms. However, pre-imposed categories were not used in this study and not all categories present in such studies appear in ours.…”

“…They categorized cases of CS into functions such as 'classroom administrative vocabulary', 'grammar instruction', and 'classroom management'. Kraemer (2006) studied the amount and purpose of L1 use by five language teacher assistants, and reported that a "fair amount' of L1 was used, specifically for classroom management and translation. Hobbs et al (2010) compared CS behavior of native and non-native speaker teachers in Japanese language classrooms.…”

Judicious Use of L1: A Sociocultural Investigation of Teachers’ Use of L1 in L2 Classrooms

“…These uttered and inferred claims are in line with the literature regarding L1. Kraemer (2006), for instance, identifies eight functions for L1 use by teachers in L2 classes of which using L1 for classroom management is one of the most frequently stated purposes. Rolin-Ianziti and Brownlie (2002), too, as a part of their findings stated that teachers use L1 for classroom management.…”

Assessing Student Oral Language Proficiency

“…Encouraging and motivating student engagement in the foreign language classroom is challenging on multiple levels, not the least of which is overcoming perceptions of irrelevance in real-world applications. Additionally, learning languages is becoming increasingly more difficult because research suggests that foreign language teachers tend to not use the target language exclusively in the classroom (Kraemer, 2006), in effect discounting the notion of the Comprehensible Input hypothesis (Krashen, 1981). According to theory, learners improve and progress along a natural order when they receive consistent second language input that is one step beyond their current stage of linguistic competence.…”