Overall Reflections

As I mentioned before my teaching practice has been heavily informed through the

collaboration and feedback from the ESL instructors as well as through my reflective journals. I

now recognize that I need to use various methods of displaying and giving information to my

students. The use of technology could have really helped switch up the class from only using

worksheets, pictures, and vocabulary lists and provided a more interactive approach to ESL

learning. There may be a time when I am teaching beginner level ESL students who do not speak

the same native language as I do and I need to be able to help them understand word meaning. I

also realized that I focused a lot on communicative practice and trying to help my students

communicate with the doctor or their employers. While this is a major component to survival

English skills it is not the only one, being able to read and write are just as crucial.

Through this process of self-study action research I have been able to analyze and reflect

upon my own teaching practice. In doing so I have learned more than I had anticipated about

myself as well as my students language learning. I now realize that not only did my students use

the native language as a crutch, but so did I. Instead of thinking of other ways to help my

students comprehend the content I immediately used Spanish to help students understand. While

the students and I may have felt more comfortable with this approach I realize that the students

are ultimately getting less target language practice. Due to time constraints, I am not able to

immediately implement the proposed stage two action and assessment plan. However, in the

future I do plan on trying the new teaching approaches mentioned by the ESL instructors who

observed and collaborated with me. Through their observations I have been able to view the use

of native language in a completely different manner, more like one of the many tools that I can
use from my toolbox, instead of relying on the native language as the only accessible tool in my

toolbox.

Conclusion

I sought to examine the potential of students native language use in my ESL instruction.

The native language can be used as a tool, but not the only tool, to help support second language

acquisition and has many roles when integrating bilingual approaches. In order to help support

bilingual instruction approaches I must continuously deepen my own knowledge and

understanding on the topic. I have explored methods and designs employed by institutions and

researchers in our field and have used them as a guide in my own self-study action research and

design. While reading the literature related to my topic I have deepened my knowledge as well as

opened my mind to various teaching perspectives and approaches. Mandrinan (2014) has

succinctly described the pros and cons of mother tongue language use in the second language

classroom that I have presented in this paper.

It has been found that the use of first language in the second-language classroom helps

students make connections with their existing knowledge of the mother-tongue,

facilitating the process of understanding. Research suggests that the first language should

not be banned in the second-language classroom but that neither should its use be

constantly encouraged, otherwise the mother tongue may replace the target language

rather than support it (Mandrinan, 2014).

I identify some of the issues specifically related to adult ESL learners and the

complexities of teaching a second language to beginner level students. I proposed bilingual

approaches that could help foster and improve the success of students who have low proficiency

in English, and in turn created a learning environment where students have a voice and can
express their thoughts and needs. Bilingual educators, such as myself, can help create a learning

environment and lessons that are conducive to student comprehension. According to Cummins,

during the first stages of language acquisition it is important to constantly refer to the mother

tongue in order to make connections. These types of connections are what help create and foster

authentic and meaningful learning (Cummin, 2001).

Based on the literature and my self-study action research data and findings analysis we

can infer that first language does indeed have a role in the beginner second language classroom.

However, the extent and context to which the native language is used can also present some

challenges and debilitating factors, mentioned in the theories against native language use section

and in my findings. In summary, the intent of this self-study action research was to examine my

use of students native language in the second language classroom and ways in which I can

improve my teaching practice. The findings and results from this self-study action research have

greatly added to my personal teaching practice and the limited literature on beginner level adult

ESL learners and second language acquisition in a community-based setting.