THE IMPLEMENTATION OF JIM CUMMINS’ THEORY OF SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION IN ESL CLASSROOMS

Abstract

This study was conducted to understand ESL teachers’ implementation of Jim Cummins’ theory of SLA which involves the use of the L1 when teaching English; the BICS/CALP, the developmental interdependence hypothesis (iceberg model) and threshold hypothesis. It was to investigate how theories are applied into teaching and learning situations while exploring the factors that led the teachers to use the theories as well as their limitations and advantages. 30 English teachers in Seremban, Malaysia, contributed their views and experiences through an online questionnaire and 10 of them were interviewed. The factors that led the teachers to use L1 when teaching with the guidance of Jim Cummins’ theories were due to efficiency, external relevance and naturalness (Cook, 2001, p.413) cited in Mart (2013). The limitations of using L1 include students’ willingness to communicate in the target language were compromised and they developed a dependence on L1. The advantages of using L1 in ESL classrooms were that teachers get to have a smooth lesson going and students’ affective filters were lowered. The paper concludes that there are plenty of areas to be fine-tuned for teachers to feel at ease when using L1 in English lessons such as the confusion between the need to help the students and the struggle to maintain teacher’s observation results by superiors with English supposed to be taught in the English language. It is discussed that the implementation of theories that support the use of L1 can be better viewed in Malaysia with proper policy and training.