Cultural Identity and Student Language Support in Oral Productive Tasks: Questioning the "Zero-Sum Game" Mentality

Research from a variety of frameworks suggests that appropriate use of first language can aid second language learning. However, researchers and professionals often assume that the use of student language is always bad and should therefore be reduced wherever possible. We conducted a simple experiment that suggests that the use of student language does not necessarily cut down on time spent speaking the target language. Spoken language production was tested in a variety of conditions both with and without first language support. There was no significant difference in the amount of target language produced. If these results are accepted, it is difficult to ignore the possibility that first language use may be useful in second language acquisition by facilitating control in oral language production.