Teachers' Preferences on L1 and L2 Use in Malaysian Primary ESL Classrooms

The usage of L1 and L2 in ESL Classrooms has been on an ongoing debate over the decades. As teachers are responsible for learners’ learning experiences from urban rural schools Malaysia, it is crucial to investigate teachers’ preferences since there no apparent agreement whether hinders or helps classrooms regardless massive research efforts. This study attempts fill gaps teachers' use Malaysian primary both schools. It aims explore language various situations either different settings. employs a quantitative approach which online survey was done with 30 through purposive sampling. 36 158 questions Chavez’s questionnaire adapted according suitability this study. Data gathered were analysed using frequencies percentages. findings show that used by respondents most slight differences terms number items Despite strong usage, variations certain especially shown still inclined towards ‘English-only’ but remains inseparable classrooms. Thus, future proposed includes recommendation another be larger scale studies based specific reasons switching such as translanguaging, code-mixing, code-switching other diglossic approach.