Why Do You Use L2 Use Only In The Second Language Classroom?

Since the last few decades there has been a controversy of which language to use for teaching in the second language classroom. Scholars are still arguing regarding what language is better to use in order to achieve the maximum results of the learners’ L2 acquisition.
Before going further with confusion, writer would like to elaborate more on what it means by L1 and L2. According to Mitchell and Miles (2004), the first language is the language which learners learn “through habits as respond to stimuli in their environment” (Du, 2016). They imply that the first language is the language the learners are more exposed to in their daily life. Therefore, if the learners’ environment uses Bahasa Indonesia in their daily, Bahasa Indonesia is their
The first one is using L2 only in the second language classroom will make learners understand the direct benefits of the L2 (MacDonald, 1993, & Wong-Fillmore, 1985). As I mentioned before, even though at the beginning of the semester I did not completely understand what my teacher was saying as she was using L2 only, I ended up get used to it. As the result, I have developed my English proficiency. I think that if I use L2 only in teaching someday, my students would get the same benefits I got. They would try to adjust to and understand the L2 spontaneously on their own. Normally, learners will think that because I, as the teacher, only use L2, they have to pay full attention to follow what I say. Thus they will try to catch up by learning to use the L2, inside and outside the classroom. Learners will finally realize that without catching up, they would not be able to follow the learning process. This way will elevate students’ consciousness in learning the L2 which will develop the learning process for the better
Despite what the learners might use the L2 they learn for, as the L2 teachers, we are responsible to teach them the pedagogical knowledge of the L2. Supporting this point, Quirk states that “a common standard of English use for written as well as spoken English was necessary to regulate the use of English in different contexts” (Kilickaya, 2009, p. 36). It means that after teaching the pedagogic knowledge of the L2 to the learners, later they could decide what L2 (English) version they wanted to know better or to use to communicate. Moreover, it could be much better for them to distinguish the types of English if they used the pedagogic knowledge they had learned as the reference point. Despite L2 teachers cannot take the L2 pedagogic knowledge for granted, it is also a challenge for the teachers to acknowledge the learners with the L2-natural style, and consequently establish their position as the language model for the