Ying Yang, Chenge Hao, Yanling Yu

Yanling Yu

30 December, 2024

L1 use preference, L2 proficiency, EFL learners.

This paper reports the results of a quasi-experiment examining the correlation between upper-intermediate EFL learners’ L1 preference and their L2 proficiency. The study started by a questionnaire eliciting scales of EFL learners’ L1 preference and was followed by an existing/no-existing word judgement task proved efficient to represent L2 proficiency. The task performance was scored by the “Number of Correct Words” thereafter the higher number means the higher level of L2 proficiency. The data analysis consists of two sessions: the One Sample t Test on the number of correct words among learners with strong L1 preference, neutral, and L2 preference; the Pearson Correlation Analysis between L1 preference and L2 proficiency. Results from the One Sample t Test indicated each group’s Number of Correct Words in the vocabulary-judgement task performance was not significantly higher than the grand average. The results of the Pearson Correlation Analysis revealed a marginal significant negative correlation (r= – 0.16, p=0.08) between L1 Preference and Number of Correct Words, and an insignificant positive correlation (r=0.16, p=0.09) between TL Preference and Number of correct words. It is concluded that in general the EFL learners’ preference to L1 use is correlated to their L2 proficiency.

© 2024, the Authors. Published by ISCCAC

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license