The mother tongue in the classroom: a neglected resource?

The role of the mother tongue in monolingual classes is a topic which is often ignored in discussions of methodology and in teacher training. In this article I suggest some of the reasons for this neglect and describe a variety of applications of the learners' first language (L1) in the classroom, with particular reference to the role which activities based on translation can play in fluency development I contend that the potential of the mother tongue as a classroom resource is so great that its role should merit considerable attention and discussion in any attempt to develop a ‘postcommunicative’ approach to TEFL for adolescents and adults.