Transfer between English as the target language and students' L1 (Malay) in an oral communication class in the ESL context of Malaysia. I'm in support of using students' L1 in the teaching of English and see it as a valuable tool as a communication strategy to help overcome gaps in vocabulary when speaking and as a language learning strategy that helps learners expand their interlanguage repertoire. Language transfer manifested as language switch and literal translation gives students opportunities to apply their interlanguage to new contexts.