mong a number of professionals in the field of second language acquisition, there appears to be an increasing conviction that the first language (L1) has a necessary and facilitating role in the second and foreign language (L2) classroom. In my case, this conviction comes from personal experience, recent literature I have read, and presentations I have attended. This position may seem heretical in light of what most of us were taught when trained as ESL/EFL professionals, but I believe it is worthy of serious consideration.