This abstract presents a review of literature which looks at to what extent translation from the second language (L2) to first language (L1) facilitates the encoding and retrieval of new vocabulary words in English as a Second Language (ESL) learners. Based on the literature, it can be concluded that the imposition of western pedagogical practices on ESL learners with no consideration for their culture and identity may have detrimental effects on their language learning success. Thus, it is suggested that the existing learner strategies based on the mainstream pedagogy for second language acquisition needs to be re-evaluated in order to maximize language learning success of ESL learners.

Published in: Canada International Conference on Education, 2017

• Date of Conference: 26-29 June, 2017
• DOI: 10.2053/CICE.2017.0172
• Electronic ISBN: 978-1-908320-83-4
• Conference Location: University of Toronto Mississauga, Canada