In many language classrooms, we quietly wrestle with a practical dilemma: Should learners be allowed to draw on their other languages, or does that get in the way of building confidence in English? A recent workplace study with hotel staff tackles this question directly.
The study
Simatupang (2025) explored what happens when Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) is combined with translanguaging (the purposeful use of learners’ full linguistic repertoire during learning) in a real professional setting rather than a classroom-only programme.
The participants were 25 adult hotel employees in Indonesia who took part in a 16-week English training course built around realistic workplace tasks such as dealing with complaints, explaining facilities, handling phone calls & managing emergency situations .
The training design was simple in principle:
- learners completed job-relevant tasks & role-plays in English
- Indonesian was used strategically to clarify meaning, discuss solutions & reflect
- tasks were then repeated with a stronger emphasis on English use
To evaluate the programme, the researcher used:
- speaking & writing tasks based on real hotel communication
- short questionnaires on learners’ perceptions of TBLT, translanguaging & their Willingness to Communicate (WTC)
- short reflective accounts from the participants about their experience at work
In practical classroom terms, this is comparable to asking adult learners to prepare how to handle a difficult customer, briefly discuss strategies in their shared L1, & then perform & repeat the interaction in English.
The findings
The learning gains were significant.
- Writing scores increased by about 30%
- Speaking scores increased by about 15%
Learners also reported very positive experiences with both approaches, especially:
- clearer understanding of task demands
- lower anxiety during training
- higher engagement in role-plays
However, the most revealing result concerns willingness to actually use English.
- Perceived quality of TBL was strongly linked to higher WTC
- Reported use of translanguaging was strongly & negatively related to WTC
In other words:
Tasks that resembled real work situations made learners more ready to speak English. Heavier reliance on L1 support was associated with lower readiness to communicate in English.
The interviews help explain this pattern.
Participants repeatedly said that using Indonesian:
- helped them grasp new expressions quickly
- reduced stress during training
- made complex service situations easier to analyse
At the same time, several learners admitted that they became dependent on L1 explanations & planning & felt less confident when they had to operate only in English with real guests.
A comparable adult classroom example would be learners who plan a negotiation task bilingually very successfully, but hesitate when they must improvise in English alone.
Why this matters for ELT
This finding fits well with classic work on Willingness to Communicate (MacIntyre et al., 2001; MacIntyre & Wang, 2021), which shows that perceived communicative competence & low anxiety are central drivers of real language use.
It also sits comfortably with long-standing evidence for TBLT (Ellis, 2017; Nunan, 2004): repeated, meaningful tasks create conditions for confidence through use.
What this study adds to current translanguaging discussions (García & Wei, 2015; Cenoz & Gorter, 2022) is an important nuance for adult learners in high-stakes contexts:
Translanguaging clearly supports comprehension & participation, but it does not automatically support communicative readiness. Without a planned shift back to English-only task performance, confidence may remain fragile.
Teacher Takeaways?
- Plan when & how L1 support will be withdrawn during task cycles, rather than leaving this to chance.
- Build in task repetition with increasing English-only pressure, not just new tasks.
- Monitor learners’ willingness to speak, not only their linguistic performance.
For adult ELT, especially in professional contexts, the key message is not whether to allow translanguaging, but how deliberately we design the transition back to English use.
L2 in class, yea or nay?
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