Como posso ajudar?

This paper has a two-fold purpose. One is to review the stances of language-oriented theorists, who are practicing foreign/second-language teachers and learners from various parts of the world, regarding the long-standing controversy over whether or not the learner’s mother tongue plays a positive role in the foreign/second-language learning-teaching context. A second purpose is to offer, from a non-native-speaker L2-teacher standpoint, some suggestions on when and how learners’ native language can be capitalised on in the process of learning another language. This implies that the learner’s mother tongue can be a valuable tool at the disposal of foreign/second-language teachers in their classrooms worldwide.

Key words: language-oriented professionals, role of mother tongue, foreign/second-language learning context