The Role of First Language in Learning a Foreign Language

The role of learners’ first language has been a debatable topic in learning a new language. Using learners’ native language has been mostly avoided in foreign language teaching and learning. Moreover, it has been largely ignored as a valid activity for language practice and improvement. Although, most language educators have completely ignored the use of mother tongue in ELT, nowadays, attitudes toward this matter have been changed and more and more professionals have believed the facilitating role of the learners’ native language in language pedagogy. Where, the nature of first language is often misunderstood, and its function in the learning process is not specified, this issue has been discussed in applications of language pedagogical methodologies. The main purpose of the present study was to investigate Iranian English learners’ use of their mother tongue as a learning strategy to learn English. It is also to find out the strategies involving first language the learners use in the process of new language learning. In order to do all this, the study employed a set of questionnaires. Firstly, 170 Iranian EFL learners were asked to answer the questionnaire involving the use of mother tongue as a learning strategy. Then, 120 students were selected to respond the learners’ questionnaire. After data analysis and statistical calculations, it appeared that language learners used a wide variety of learning strategies concerning their mother tongue to comprehend and remember as well as produce English whether or not they are discouraged to do so by their teachers.