Using the Mother Tongue, part of the Professional Perspectives series, offers a variety of practical ways to make use of what is a very valuable resource by:

• providing ideas and guidelines on when and how to use the mother tongue
• encouraging teachers to use the mother tongue selectively and effectively
• raising awareness of the similarities and differences between languages
• building links between the mother tongue and the foreign language through comparison and translation

The use of the mother tongue in the foreign language classroom has often been officially discouraged; however, many teachers have recognised that in practice using one’s own language to learn a foreign language is natural, necessary and efficient.