Target Language First… But Not at All Costs: A Research-Informed Case for Strategic L1 Use in Beginner Mixed-Ability Classrooms

Introduction If I had a pound for every time I’ve heard “you must stay in the target language 100% of the time”, I’d probably be writing this from a beach somewhere rather than my desk; and yet, in my experience, as appealing as such slogans may appear—succinct, emphatic, and seemingly grounded in common sense—they tend, …