You are teaching in the sixth level.

As always, after having practised a new structure

you want your students to find out the rules. Do you think it is helpful and/or
advisable to use L1 in this case?

I would like to start this case by stating that this is a very interesting case since depending
on the way we teach, the results in the learning process of our students may vary.

The current legislation, based on LOE 2/2006, modified by LOMCE 8/2013, establishes the
student-centeredness as one of the most important aspects of the teaching-learning
process. The Royal Decree 126/2014 establishes as one of its main principles that the
teachers take into consideration the students. In addition, the Decree 198/2014 posits that
the student must be an active element in his learning process.

Once clarified this, we can deduce from the title of this case that the teacher uses an
inductive approach to teach grammar. The inductive method consists of presenting the use
of a structure without having explained its rule. Therefore, the students must guess what
the rule is and, in this way, they are an active part in the teaching-learning process. On the
contrary, when using a deductive approach, the rules are taught formerly and, later on, they
are practised through different activities or exercises.

Taking as a starting point this situation, to give a proper solution to this practical case, we
have to establish a concrete context because depending on it, the answer would be
different.

Although we all know that the students in the sixth grade are mature enough to follow a
lesson fully developed in English, it is necessary to know their stage of development. The
children of these ages (11-12 years old) have longer attention spans and are able to
develop their own learning strategies, as it is asked for in the treatment on basic
competences. They need to personalise their own learning and we, as teachers, should
provide them with tasks that require focus and commitment. So, this is a fact that the
inductive approach would be a great option for them to use adult intellectual tools. In this
way, they will feel motivated and we will have lowered the affective filter according to
Krashen's hypotheses.

Once established the level of development of children in the sixth level of Primary
Education, let us focus on the question of this practical case.

To answer the question "Is it helpful and/or advisable to use L1 in this case?", it is
necessary to set a specific school context where this situation would take place. The
current legislation, concretely Royal Decree 126/2014, states that: "The Castilian or co-
official language will only be used as a support in the process of learning a foreign
language. Oral comprehension and expression will be prioritised. Therefore, the use of the
first language is allowed, and could be helpful and even advisable if the school is located in
a neighborhood with a complicated situation, where the student's level is deficient.

In this case, the teacher could let his students use the first language to check if they have
understood the rule because, otherwise, they will not be able to go on with the practice
level. In this way, they will feel confident and capable to learn the foreign language, which is
our main aim.

On the other hand, if we talked about a bilingual centre with and intensive immersion (as
defined in the Order of 5th June 2015, which regulates the bilingual system in Murcia), that
would mean that the students in the last level of the second stretch would have been
studying most of the subjects in English. Therefore, they are supposed to have a great
commando of this language. In this case I do not think it is advisable to use the mother
tongue since they should be used to speaking in the foreign language. It could be helpful to
use the first language if the new structure was so difficult to be understood and we wanted
them to acquire it properly.

Anyway, there are different strategies to try on before making a decision. For instance, they
can try to speak in English using their mother tongue as a support; the teacher can
translate into English what they are expressing in Spanish.

The Royal Decree limits the use of the mother tongue just as a support in the learning
process, as it has been said formerly. It means that we should lead our lesson using the
foreign language, al all moments, but taking into consideration our students' necessities for
they are the centre of the teaching-learning process, and we have to make them reach the
communicative competence asked for in one of the general objectives of the Stage (f),
which says.

"To acquire, in at least one foreign language, the basic communicative competence that
enables them to express and comprehend easy messages, and get on in daily situations"

Taking this aim as a basis, we could conclude that it can be helpful and/or advisable to use
the L1 whenever it is undoubtedly necessary but it must never interfere with the
achievement of communicative competence.