Twenty years ago when I first thought about becoming an ESL teacher, I distinctly remember wondering how on earth I would teach beginner EAL students without being bilingual myself. Fast forward twenty years, and here is my answer to ‘Do ESL Teachers need to be bilingual?’:
ESL teachers do not have to be bilingual. There are a wide range of ESL teaching strategies that avoid the need to be able to speak the first language of the language learner. Some would argue, though, that it is preferable to have learnt a second language yourself so that you understand the language acquisition process.
During my career as an ESL teacher, I have taught with teachers who have been bilingual, teachers who were strict anglophones, and teachers like myself that developed some ability in a second language.
I am going to share with you my reflections on how this positively and negatively affected the progress of the students that we/they taught and let you make your mind up for yourself as to whether being a bilingual ESL teacher is an advantage or not. So, let’s go…
The Advantages Of Bilingual ESL/TEFL Teachers
Firstly, bilingual teachers were often more popular with lower level students. Naturally, the students felt more at ease with someone in the classroom with whom they could switch into their first language at the drop of a hat.
At first glance this seems as though it should be a good thing, but, what I noticed is that it was like a safety blanket for the students. The first sign of struggle and they would break into their own first language with a bilingual teacher.
Now, undeniably this has its advantages, you do want ESL/EFL students to feel at ease when they are learning, and using a students first language to explain an activity or complex point can be time saving, however; personally I felt when this ability wasn’t properly moderated it became an imposition to the students progress.
Rather than forcing the students to go through the struggle of making sense of new language input I feel that bilingual teachers can actually rob them of their greatest learning opportunity; which is struggling through difficult conversations and situations with the limited language that you do have.
This is one of the best ways to really get students to start thinking in a different language, and when students start to do that they can make much faster progress, in my experience. This will never happen, however, if they are being spoon-fed the difficult parts in their own language and avoiding all those opportunities for growth.
At this point you might be interested in our tried and tested 15 Speaking Projects And Activities For ESL Students here.
Can You Teach ESL If You Only Speak English?
You can teach ESL students effectively even if you only speak English. In fact, ESL teachers who have no ability in a second language will avoid the trap of helping a student too much in their own language and inadvertently limit their learning.
Without being nudged along in their own language students are forced to engage with English to a greater extent and develop fluency faster.
Whilst a teacher not having any ability in a second language can be frustrating for both student and teacher at times; in my experience, the battle is more than worth it.
If a student is starting from a complete beginner level there is always going to be a period of silence and then a further period of time when they are starting to respond but in an incoherent manner before they finally start to string together sentences coherently.
This language acquisition process, I find, creates a very resilient language learner that knows how they learn and has developed the tenacity to stick at it for the long haul – this attitude will stand them in good stead far better than if they had tried to ‘shortcut’ the process by using their own language!
Furthermore, it can mean that teachers really think about the teaching/differentiation strategies that they are going to use in more depth than if they have a bilingual ability to rely on.
Honestly, it is tough to teach ESL if you have not thought through your lesson sufficiently, and it will be a less than enjoyable experience for both student and teacher, so the added focus on lesson planning is no bad thing! All of the TEFL certificates I recommend place a strong emphasis on preparation, and rightly so.
Recommended reading: Can Bilingual Teachers teach ESL?
A Bilingual Sweet Spot?
Finally, you come to the category I fall into. At the time of writing, I teach Thai students in Thailand, so technically TEFL teaching, although it is an English immersion/international curriculum school; in other words everyone speaks English all the time despite the school being in Thailand.
Anyway, I can listen and speak Thai to an intermediate level and I have found it to be quite a sweet spot, not only can I help very low level students get started in an activity by speaking in Thai but my level of spoken Thai is not good enough for discussing anything with intermediate to high level students.
Subsequently, this means that students actively do not want to speak Thai with me they much prefer to speak English as they can discuss much more complex topics with me that way, and afterall, they know that their exams will be in English and so they need to be able to do everything in English.
On the other hand, being able to listen and comprehend spoken Thai is an advantage when it comes to classroom management. I can often hear when a student is making a rude joke or poking fun at another student and I am able to make an appropriate comment that shows that I have understood; this then stops the low-level disruption at source.
Often students do know that I can speak and listen and read Thai language but they don’t take advantage of that fact when they are past a low level of English. There comes a point when they realize it is not in their favor to try to use the Thai language with me and that they are far better off progressing in English.
Another significant advantage of having some knowledge of the students’ first language is that you will be able to understand the reasons why they are making the mistakes that they are making. And it is often because of the contrasting characteristics between English and their first language that explains why they make certain mistakes in their second language.
This is known as L1 interference and by knowing about these specific issues you can actively prepare teaching strategies that deal with these in advance. For example, Thai students need lots of extra practice with articles (a, an, and the) because these do not exist in their own language. They also do not have a system of tenses where verbs conjugate so they, therefore, find it difficult to master our 12 tenses and the various verb forms that we make use of. Here are some more interesting L1 case studies.
So, I guess overall, what I’m saying is that there are pros and cons to being a bilingual ESL teacher. Personally, I feel I have hit a sweet spot with having enough of the students’ language myself to be able to help really low levels progress past certain sticking points but I am not fluent enough to create a barrier for high-level students.
Furthermore, it is important to be able to teach very low level ESL students without knowing their language. Clearly, you can’t learn the language of every student in your class so all ESL/EFL teachers will need to have developed a sufficient base of low-level ESL teaching strategies to help them through these situations which really should be our bread and butter.
Finally, then, do ESL teachers have to be bilingual? ‘no’ ESL teachers do not have to be bilingual but the very best teachers I have worked with have all developed fluency in a second language and I feel that this gives them an insightful edge as to how they might help ESL students, as well as giving them an empathetic edge over those who have never really applied themselves to learning a language in the past.
You might also be interested in one of my most read articles: How To Support And ESL Student In The Classroom
