Most of the world's English teaching today happens in countries where English is not a medium of instruction, but simply a school or university subject. In this respect, EFL (English as a Foreign Language) has a lot in common with the teaching of foreign languages such as French or Chinese in the West. In both contexts, the roles of teacher and textbook become highly intensified and there is one vital and distinctive element of pedagogy: most teachers will share a first language with their students. The first language is a fundamental part of who we are: how we think, feel, see ourselves and the world. But amazingly, across the globe, its use in L2 teaching often remains devalued and even demonised.

There have been few empirical studies which capture the ways in which teachers make use of L1 in their L2 teaching, particularly in Asian EFL. The current project aims to address this gap, and it does so primarily by watching lessons and talking to nine teachers located at a Thai university – the former workplace of the researcher. Additionally, I draw upon my experience of working with teachers in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam; and with teachers from across Asia who have travelled to the West for postgraduate training.

This book explores the impact of L1 in L2 classrooms at three levels. First, it illustrates practices of pedagogy in EFL: what teachers actually do, and what they say about it. Second, it looks at the personal, to see how L2 users 'perform' a foreign tongue and what this means for their sense of identity. And third, it looks outward to the profession, considering global EFL textbooks, and the distinctive nature of the EFL domain. There are no existing books which offer this tri-level perspective upon what are majority-world practices of English language teaching.