Evaluating the Use of Kurdish in Efl Classes at Secondary Schools in Duhok City: A Teacher’s Perspective

Abstract

This study examines the use of first language (L1) in secondary school EFL classes in Duhok city in the Kurdistan Region - Iraq. The use of L1 in EFL classes has been an ongoing debate among researchers and practitioners across the globe especially as regards its role as a facilitator of, or a hinderance/barrier to the teaching of English. Hence, the researcher aims to discover whether or not the use of Kurdish facilitates the teaching of English, in secondary schools in Duhok city. In addition, the researcher aims at finding out on what basis do teachers decide to use L1 and for what purposes do they use it. In this study, among the participants were 50 English language teachers from different secondary schools in Duhok city. The data were collected through interviews. The results indicated that the use of L1 (Kurdish) facilitates teaching of foreign language (FL) and that a balanced and judicious use of L1 in the EFL classroom by teachers can be useful in the language learning process especially with regard to grammar and vocabulary instruction.