In many parts of the world it is widely accepted that in the language classrooms the use of L1 should be minimal, if not totally prohibited. While such practice is strongly advocated by a number of educationists and practitioners, there are others who think that a pragmatic use of L1 is not only unavoidable but also quite beneficial. Besides, in EFL context, the justification of English only classroom is questionable on practical grounds as the classrooms mostly consist of students and teachers who share the same L1, and show a poor knowledge of their L2, as in the context of the English classrooms of Bangladesh. This paper thus investigates the positive and negative effects of L1 usage in the language classroom and suggests the adoption of an appropriate stand in the EFL classrooms of Bangladesh.
Keywords: Classroom, EFL Context, English-Only, Practical Constraints, Principled Usage of l1
