The classroom language use of a Korean elementary school EFL teacher: Another look at TETE

The continued interest in better EFL pedagogy for elementary school students has led to many interesting suggestions, one of which is TETE, Teaching English through English. Notwithstanding the importance of the method (policy), though, few studies have been conducted to describe and explain a non-native EFL teacher’s practice of TETE in the elementary school classroom. The present study, a case study of a Korean elementary school EFL teacher undertaken to fill the empirical gap, found that the teacher used both L1 and TL for many pedagogical reasons among which her attention to her students’ interest was principal. The study also revealed that her language use reflected the students’ perspectives.