The Effect of L1 in English Grammar on elt students at a State University Gamze Reis Abstract

The Effect of L1 in English Grammar on ELT Students at a State University

Gamze Reis*

Abstract
This study aims to measure the effect of native language, Turkish language, in English grammar on English Language Teaching students. For study, 19 freshman students were chosen in Sakarya University in English Language Teaching Department. The participants of the study were 10 male and 9 female. As a tool, a questionnaire developed by Al Qudah and Damra (2012) was used and the questionnaire consisted of 20 evaluation questions including questions like “I feel comfortable and less stressed when teacher used Turkish language in teaching English grammar”, “I feel afraid of making mistakes when teacher using English only in grammar class”. The study results show that English is necessary in terms of interacting with teachers and students in English grammar classes. Using English in English grammar classes is important because, the learners have a chance to think in English if the target language is used in classes. However, the results also show that the target language should be used as a medium, because if the target language is used only, the learners can feel perturbed. In addition, the results show that students can think in English if they use English. It can also be suggested that learners need to be motivated for using target language in classrooms. Besides, if native language is required to use, the teacher should know when and where it can be used in classrooms. Apart from this, in order to get more comprehensible result, the number of participants can be increased.

Key Words: L1 (Turkish Language), L2 (English Language), Learning Grammar, English Language Teaching (ELT)
Özet
Bu çalışma yerel dilin, Türk dili, İngiliz Dili Öğretimi öğrencilerine İngilizce gramerindeki etkisini ölçmeyi hedefler. Çalışma için, Sakarya Üniversitesi, İngiliz Dili Eğitimi Bölümü’nden 19 birinci sınıf öğrencisi seçildi. Katılımcıların 10’u erkek ve 9’u bayandı. Araç olarak anket kullanıldı ve anket 20 değerlendirme sorusu içeriyordu. Çalışma sonuçları İngilizcenin, İngilizce gramer sınıflarında öğretmenler ve öğrencilerle etkileşim açısından gerekli olduğunu gösterir. Buna ek olarak, çalışma öğrencilerin İngilizceyi kullanmaları durumunda, İngilizce düşünebildiklerini gösterir.