LEvidence - First Language - Second Language

I was interested to know how learners in my inquiry group rate their understanding and ability in their first language compared to their understanding and ability in English as their second language. I asked them to rate their understanding, speaking, reading, and writing on specific samples given both on their first and second languages. The following show their responses.

First Language (L1)

The five learners indicate that they understand day to day talk with family and friends, they understand radio and TV talk and speaking easily, they understand most adult conversation and talk, and they have full understanding almost always, no matter what the context is.

With speaking, all can speak with friends and family and are fully fluent in any situation.

With reading, all can read and understand almost anything.

With writing, all have learned to write quite well and feel quite comfortable writing bits and pieces, and they can write really well probably as well if not better than English.

English as Second Language (L2)

They rate their understanding of English language to vary from understanding a minimal of a few words to day to day talk with friends and families.

With speaking, all state that they can speak with friends and family.

With reading, two main responses - can't read much more than a few words and can read and understand easy reading.

With writing, all say that they can write a bit - they write like they speak, and two state that they have learned how to write quite well and feel comfortable writing bits and pieces. 

Overall, it is obvious that these ELLs have full understanding of their first language, quite fluent speakers of L1, and can read and write well in L1. In contrast to their L2, they have limited understanding with limited ability in speaking, reading, and writing.

Literature says a lot about the impact of using L1 to learn L2, so it is worthwhile investigating how to use this as a strategy in teaching L2 to these learners.