Mother Tongue……. A Valuable Support for English Language Teaching
Mother Tongue……. A Valuable Support for English Language Teaching The use of the mother-tongue in an English classroom should not be a taboo, but the students` knowledge of the mother-tongue should put to good use. For example, mother-tongue can be profitably used to give instructions to the beginners, to explain meanings of the certain words like abstract nouns, to test comprehension at the early stage, to teach grammar and to tell the distinction between mother-tongue and English sounds.The knowledge of the mother-tongue is a valuable aid to the teaching of English. P.Gurrey says, “The teaching of the mother-tongue and the teaching of a foreign language can support and assist each other…and whether the language is the mother tongue or a foreign language, some of the principle underlying those methods will be the same,” W.M. Ryburn holds the view that the mother-tongue can be of the greatest assistance, directly and indirectly. He says, “If sufficient attention is paid to the