Hey all.

An "English only environment", as Diana pointed out, is indeed an ideal situation for accelerating the learning process. However, if English is being taught in a country where L1 is a language other than English, there is no English "environment" outside of the classroom, and any English Only environment created within the classroom will be temporary and artificial at best. The teacher will naturally scale down his/her use of English to assure that the students are understanding at least the gist. The students will be limited by their own proficiency in the language. This artificial environment is not necessarily "bad", should rather be taken advantage of. A chat with friends over a beer is not artificial. A game of Trivial is artificial. Playing Trivial in English Only might be wonderful, it is taking a real-life artificial environment and making it into a learning experience.

Understanding, comprehension comes from recognition. You can not understand a word you've never heard before in your life, a word you do not know how to say or are unaware of its meaning. So, when that scientist begins using $100 words you might get the gist of his sentences because you recognize the grammar he uses, but you won't understand what he's talking about because so much of the sound output will be unfamiliar to you. Yet, if you were also a scientist, if you also used those words on a daily basis, you would recognize them at once, you would not need to go through the task of separating words, translating them into meaningful units, then plugging them back into the sentence. An ESL student is only going to be able to understand language that he/she already controls to a certain extent. If words or constructions are used that are not within the student's language bank, there will be no recognition and thus not cognition and finally, no understanding. One does not improve listening and comprehension skills through passively listening but rather through actively speaking and adding vocabulary and structures to language.

English Only makes the head feel swollen. For the teacher it may be the feeling that he/she is always speaking ESL, or worse, that the "natural language" used is not getting through to that student with more difficulty in understanding. For the student there is that feeling of a huge cloud around their head, a cloud that sometimes is very thick and dark, other times is thin and only partially covers the sky of understanding and communicating. With both the teacher and the student feeling "uncomfortable" with the language being used in the class, the environment becomes strained and the steps forward become like walking through thick mud.

A balance, then, must be made. Perhaps it is the balance that Diana has found in her classes. Her experience is similar to mine, concerning younger kids and pre-teens. If I restrict the younger kids to English Only the only language they produce is the parrot-like "I am 6 years old" stuff that their schools teach them. If I encourage the older kids to use only English, they are more willing to create sentences based on their limited lexicon, albeit broken, fragmented, grammatically and structural nightmares of sentences. Adults feel limited, embarrassed, ashamed of their inability to communicate, they can be perfectionists or they can be shy or they can be whatever you imagine them to be, but if you shut off their natural means of communication they will shut up in all languages and you will end up with a question-very very short answer session, not with a pleasant chat or conversation.

English Only is just one of many tools that can be taken advantage of in the ESL classroom. I only wish to advise that it should not, in my opinion and experience, be made into an iron-clad rule. As an ending note, besides appreciating a teacher who is able to explain or translate a word here and there in L1, students also have a living example before them that their teacher knows what he/she is doing. If the teacher has learned the L1 of the students then that teacher has been a good student and can share that experience with his/her students. If the teacher stubbornly insists that he/she only speaks English, who is he/she to insist that the students give up their language in favor of English. The end result of the class should be gradual improvement and communication, not the application of a rule with possible punishment for breaking such.

But again, I'm pretty hard-headed and outspoken on this subject. Thanks for reading.

peace,
revel.

Hi
I read the article and posts (briefly, thereis a lot of info here) but I get the feeling that that it is the non native English speakers who are anti the English only concept. Is my assumption correct?
Regards
Steve

It is easy to say and write to enforce your "English only rule" but the class becomes a battlefield rather than an educational setting. Think of a time when you had to learn by force. Not because you wanted to but because you had to. Did you really retain that information or just did what you needed to in order to get pass that time period or that day? Now think of a time when you learned something because it was interesting and you wanted to learn it. I bet you still remember it up to now. The key is not in ruling the class with an iron fist, but rather making the class with an atmosphere where the student's interests are peaked, and at the same time having ground rules that are realistic and achievable. Telling your class to speak "English only" when the class is not equipped to do so only sets them up for failure and frustration on both sides. Once they break the rule, confidence goes down in their learning abilities, and you've loss that student. Of course, you'll have success with students who are average to above average in English, but that is not the case with most ESL students, specially not in Korea. But as educators, our duty is to help every single student and not just the advance few. It is easier to rule and force the class into submission with iron fisted rules like "English only" than to come up and actually think of ways that might improve learning for everyone. It's not that difficult, it just requires a little bit of research on the educators part and all the information in this day in age is on the web. So definitely have ground rules, but make them rules that students can achieve and research methods of teaching that are effective, that will peak students interest, that will make learning fun, and that will create an atmosphere that is beneficial for everyone.

Not at all. I am a native English speaker and I believe a mix between "English Only" and some L1 support is fruitful for students. Building a rapport with your students is about as important as the actual teaching process, in my opinion.... once they trust you, it is much easier to implement such things as "English Only" on certain days. Also, English Only is entirely unhelpful for classes that only meet between 50 minutes and 2 hours a week. The children, especially, don't get enough practice outside of class to justify it, especially at lower levels.

now I am teaching at private school in Turkey.
being esl teacher is not easy indeed, moreover when you haven't mastered it's mother language at all.
can u give me a suggestion of how handle children (10-12 years old) to stop taking in their mother language??

I am teaching communicative english in a very reputed school in kerala with a strength of 3000+ students. I have tried several measures to make the campus an english friendly one. but I am desperately sad to say that the students still speak in their vernacular language. Please help me out to find a solution.

Maybe so, but I actually think it's more of an issue with intermediate level teachers.

At beginner levels in a non-native environment, like Korea, students don't have much exposure to English to acquire working knowledge of grammar use. So, many teachers explain language using L1. However, there comes a point when students could benefit from learning English in English. It's at that point that teachers who have become comfortable with using L1 (even native English speakers) might rely on it rather than English only.

Where are you teaching, Steve?

Hey all!

Here in Spain, the majority of the teachers in the regular school system are non-native teachers. They may have more or less control over the spoken language, but the problem is that they teach their classes exclusively in English, which leads to the problem that I face as a "review" teacher.

Students need clear explanations of grammar and vocabulary. If these explanations are given in a language that they do not understand, they never come to grips with the basics and the problems accumulate through their learning of the language.

Though, as I mention in my earlier comments, English-Only in certain activities is the best way to go about those activities, the idea that the kids will learn somehow through osmosis just because the teacher only speaks English is (IMHO) just silly and a waste of time and the cause for my having had to explain these concepts in Spanish to kids who are failing their English classes.

These non-native teachers are working under the false assumption that using English only in the classroom, not using L1 to explain and clarify, is the best way to go about things. The incredible failure rate is proof that such is not true. I am a native speaker and am very very against the "English Only" philosophy except in cases where students are able to defend themselves in English and need conversational practice.

peace,
revel.

These ideas are very insightful but I think they only work on theory. I don't see myself applying these tips in my classes here in Colombia. Groups are 45+ students in some rural areas where they had never had an English class before.

Thanks anyway

Old article, I know, but still very relevant. I agree with others who have stated that English only is not 100% necessary, at least at the beginning. Some students may get anxious if they only listen to English when they do not know the language so i guess that a little bit of their own language may be used if necessary.