LISTENING TO STUDENTS’ VOICES ON TRANSLATION RELATED EXERCISES IN EFL CLASSES
The use of students’ L1 in the EFL class has always been a controversial decision to take. Opponents of the GTM method to foreign language teaching have strongly been against making use of students’ mother tongue in any form stressing that it shall be harmful to students and detrimental to learning. Based on different considerations, it is argued that it will be a total waste of students’ L2 learning time when using L1. However, the last two decades have witnessed a strong wave of research which highlighted the importance of investing L1 in foreign language classes, especially with beginners. This paper aimed at discovering students’ attitudes towards including translation-related exercises as a form of L1 in reading classes in Moroccan middle schools where L1 is officially banned. To accomplish this, 63 students had the chance to experience translation-based exercises then they were invited to complete a questionnaire. Results generally revealed that learners appreciated the exercises and are very positive about including them in EFL reading classes
Keywords: Translation-Based Exercises, Beginners, EFL, Reading