Iranian EFL Learners’ and Teachers’ Attitudes towards the Contribution of L1 in Learning English Vocabulary

Abstract

This study tries to find out students’ and teachers’ attitudes toward the use of L1 in English
language institute classes. To reach this goal, the researchers used a mixed method research
design. Two groups of participants attended this study. One group consisted of 35 EFL
intermediate learners and the other group consisted of 35 EFL teachers. The proficiency level of
the learners was determined using English Institute placement test. The quantitative data were
collected through two different questionnaires, i.e. one for teachers and the other for learners;
the qualitative data were collected through teachers’ interviews. After the data collection and
analysis, the results showed that there was no statistical difference among learners’ and
teachers’ attitudes towards using L1 in their English classrooms and both learners and teachers
had similar positive attitudes toward utilizing L1 in their English classes. Furthermore, teachers
of this study rejected the English only policy application in their English classes; learners were
also satisfied with using L1 as a strategy to learn English vocabulary.