Re: Thinking in a foreign language/inner speech

From: Phil Chappell (phil_chappell@access.inet.co.th)
Date: Thu May 08 2003 - 04:36:40 PDT


At 15:00 6/5/03 -0300, Karin wrote:
>I wonder what would have happened if she were in a school where people
>prohibit students of using their L1 as a mediational tool.

Dear Karin,
A colleague and close friend of mine is currently engaged with the issue of
how to minimise the teacher's interference in the language learning
process. This is one important issue -- teachers not understanding the role
of L1 in the process of learning another language. I fail to see how people
learning how to become members of L2 discourse communities of practice can
do so without talking or thinking about the formal properties of the L2 in
their own language. The wonderful anecdotes of the contributors to this
thread have elucidated some interesting principles, including your own
example. Sadly, I am aware of many cases where teachers do not allow their
students to use their L1 in the learning process; more sadly, they do not
provide support in the form of a metalanguage for the students to use either.

I am also interested in investigating the role of inner speech a lot more
in L2 learning. It looks like some exciting new things might be forthcoming
in this community!!

Phil

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