The Purposes of L1 in Teaching English to Young Learners in Kindergarten

Abstract

Pro and cons in using L1 in English language classroom has been discussed for many years. The pro sides argue that using L1 in FL classroom will demotivate the learners in acquiring the target language. However, the cons sides revealed that using L1 in FL classroom gave positive effect in teaching-learning process, such as; to provide instructions or explanation, to manage or to discipline a class, to motivate students to learn L2, and to give comments on students‟ works and progresses. Inspired by the pros and cons, this study has attempted to investigate the purposes of the teacher uses L1 when teaching bilingual-kindergarten students. This paper is based on the classroom observations conducted in SWCC, Salatiga. It aims at showing the use of L1 in Teaching English to Young Learners in kindergarten. The findings suggested that the purposes of using L1 still took important roles in teaching learning process.