1 Looking Back: Translation in Language Teaching
The unpopularity of translation in world language teaching traces back to the grammar translation method, which was popular through the end of the nineteenth century. This method focused almost entirely on teaching grammar and vocabulary to read Greek and Latin texts–in other words, the goal of language acquisition was never for students to be able to speak. Around the beginning of the twentieth century, language-learning goals started to shift towards communication, and the method fell out of favor (Cook, 2001). In the vacuum left by the grammar translation method, various incarnations of the direct method arose. Direct method is an umbrella term for any method which does not use students’ first language (L1) as a tool for learning the second (Cook, 2010). Therefore, in a swing of the pendulum against using the first language (L1), language learning became characterized by monolingual use of the second language (L2) and the “systematic use of the L1 in the classroom” (Cook, 2001, p. 403) has been out of favor for over a century. Communicative language teaching (CLT) is among direct method approaches which do not favor the use of L1 in the classroom.
Since translation as a pedagogy by definition requires the use of the first language, issues with avoiding L1 in the classroom need to be considered. These concerns might include a belief that students should acquire L2 the same way that they acquire L1, that is, monolingually; that the goal of language acquisition is coordinate bilingualism, in which students have two completely separate language systems; and that students can acquire L2 better by hearing more of it and less of L1 (Cook, 2001).
However, the above arguments can be countered and a positive case can be made for the use of the first language in the classroom. Cook (2001) points out that deliberate use of the first language can help students be more aware of their languages, take pride in being bilingual, and interlink L1 and L2 knowledge in their minds, helping with translanguaging skills for real-life use when two languages are simultaneously in use.
Deliberate use of the first language can help students be more aware of their languages, take pride in being bilingual, and interlink L1 and L2 knowledge in their minds.
Positive effects of L1 use include efficiency (e.g. teaching grammar, organizing tasks, discipline, praise), learning, naturalness in the teaching setting (personal contact), relevance in the situation, and, most relevant for this handbook, cases in which student use of L1 is an essential part of the learning activity, i.e. translation (Cook, V., 2001; Cook, G., 2010).
It has also been argued that both students and teachers use the first language in the classroom “under the table,” so L1 use should instead be “deliberate and systematic” (Cook, 2001). In support of this argument, Canga-Alonso and Rubio-Goita (2016) found that students believed the use of the L1 to be “unavoid