The Influence of First Language and Cultural Factors on English Language Teaching Practices

Abstract

This paper explores how English Language Teaching (ELT) activities in multilingual classrooms are affected by the two factors: first language (L1) and culture. The data were gathered using a mixed-method which involved taking of a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews to 20 Teachers and 50 students. The results indicate that L1 is relevant in language acquisition where 78 per cent of the students have agreed that it assists in grasping English concepts and 68 per cent have said that it causes grammatical errors through negative transfer. It was also established that cultural factors have a strong impact on classroom behaviour with 52% of the participants reporting that it had a high impact on the participation in a classroom and 65% reporting that the issue of cultural norms had a pronounced influence on honoring teacher authority. As to teaching activities, the vast majority of teachers (60 per cent) often resorted to code-switching, and 70 per cent of them applied visual aids to understand the information better. Nevertheless, the language barriers (65%) and the lack of culture diversity management training (55%) were considered as the major barriers. The research findings are that a successful ELT should involve the balanced combination of the L1 and culturally responsive teaching practices to enhance student engagement and learning performance. The conclusions offer important ideas to teachers and policy makers who wish to make teaching effective in a diverse teaching setting.