Thinking While Speaking in Non-Native Language: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

This study is attempted to investigate whether the female high level English learners at the Faculty of Arts/Alasmarya Islamic University are thinking in their native language when they speak in the target language. Specifically, it aimed to discover if the English students are transferring their LI or L2 conceptual representations when speaking English. Nineteen participants are chosen randomly to participate in this investigation. They all had passed the English language skills courses, especially, listening and speaking skills. Data are collected by designing 10 prompts to test whether the participants think in English or in their native language. The findings confirmed that the participants were thinking in their native language in approximately 75% of the prompts used. On the other hand, 17% is the total of the participants' thinking in the target language. Therefore, this study suggests that the English language learners at the Faculty of Arts were thinking in their native language most of the time while speaking in English.