CODE-SWITCHING: A BOON OR BANE IN BILINGUAL SPEAKERS

Classroom code switching is a common scenario in many multi lingual and multicultural classes. Classroom code switching has some distinctive attributes. As a part of the global transformation in the methods and techniques of English language teaching, we need to consider classroom code switching as a fact which cannot be ignored in any way especially in a country like Pakistan where English is taught as a foreign language. In most of the cases students tend to switch codes, but it is also common in teachers' discourse. This paper aims to focus on the reasons for teachers' code switching and the attitude of the teachers and students towards classroom code switching. A survey was conducted for data collection where two different sets of questionnaires were used for teachers and students. 20 English language teachers and 37 undergrad students from different universities participated in the survey. The findings of the survey result in identifying the reasons for teachers' code switching like ease of communication, explanation, maintaining discipline in the classroom, translation of the unknown terms etc. On the other hand, although many teachers consider that they should not switch codes in the class room, students possess a positive attitude towards it.  Introduction Code switching is a debatable issue in EFL classroom discourse. The old and new English language teaching methods starting from the Grammar-Translation Method up to the Communicative Language Teaching have specific rules regarding the classroom language usage for both teachers and students. Some approaches support the mother tongue interference whereas others consider it as a 'taboo' considering that it may hamper the foreign or second language acquisition. Code switching, i.e. , alteration between two languages in the same discourse is a common phenomenon in the present day multi lingual language classrooms where English is taught and grammatical rules are explained with the help of the native language and where English is the predominating language and other languages function as supportive or secondary elements in explanation and comprehension. But in case of monolingual countries where English is used and taught as a foreign language the scenario is different from that of the multilingual countries. English has a growing demand here and being a part of the global community the necessity and importance to learn English is felt more and more and day by day. English is taught as a compulsory course in primary, secondary and higher secondary levels. At the undergraduate level English is included as a compulsory course for the non-English major students studying in both public and private universities. In the public universities, the mode of instruction is English for these courses, but for other courses there is no specific instruction from the university authority regarding classroom language usage. On the other hand, in private universities the medium of instruction is English which an obligatory rule is for the teachers even taking other courses. But sometimes, even in the private university classroom discourse we find mother tongue interference as a common fact. This phenomenon creates scopes for classroom code switching. The aim of this study is, therefore, to investigate:  Why do the teachers switch codes in classroom discourse?  What attitude do the teachers and students possess towards classroom code switching?  Classroom Code Switching: A Brief Overview Codes switching in regular social context and code switching in language learning classroom have separate and distinct functions though sometimes some functions are common in both the situations. 1 Mphil Scholar in English at SBBU Sheringal Dir (U)

2009

The current research project had as main objectives the identification and description of functions of code-switching and the inquiry about eleventh grade students' perspectives of code-switching from a bilingual school. Taking into account the theories developed before by other theoreticians, about this specific topic, some information about twelve functions and some perspectives about code-switching was gathered. During the analysis of the collected data, collected through interviews (semistructured and informal), audio-recordings, and field notes, it was found that

A great part of research on bilingualism is focused on code switching. Most bilinguals use this communication strategy, and considering a bilingual education context, it would not be different. Based on Mattsson and Burenhult's (1999) functions of code switching, and Heredia and Altarriba's (2001) discussion about the reasons why bilinguals code switch, this article aims to find out what functions for code switching are being used in a bilingual classroom. In addition, it objects to find out why, how and in what circumstances students and teachers are code switching, and if code switching is effective for students communication. Data collected for this study was gathered from a series of audio recordings and journal observations. Results show that students code switch due to failure to retrieve the correct word, and the teacher switched when she needed to be affective and social with students. Moreover, although students code switch more often than the teacher does, they would be able to communicate effectively. Resumo: Uma grande parte da pesquisa sobre bilinguismo está focada em code switching. A maior parte dos bilingues usam esta estratégia de comunicação, e dentro do contexto de educação bilíngue, isso não seria diferente. Baseado nas funções do code switching de Mattsson Burenhult (1999), e na discussão sobre as razões pelas quais bilingues fazem code switching, de Heredia e Altabirra (2001), este artigo tem como objetivo descobrir quais funções estão sendo usados em uma sala de aula bilíngue. Além disso, este artigo tem como objetivo descobrir porque, como e em que circunstâncias alunos e professores estão usando code switching, e se essa estratégia é eficaz para uma comunicação efetiva. Os dados coletados para este estudo foram coletados de uma série de gravações de áudio e relatórios de observações. Os resultados mostram que o alunos alternam a língua devido a falta da palavra correta, e o professor fez essa alternância quando ela precisava ser afetiva e social com os alunos. Além disso, embora os alunos alternavam mais frequentemente do que o professor, eles foram capazes de comunicar eficazmente.

uab.ro

2013

Code-Switching is, according to Gumperz (1982:97), a phenomenon in which "speakers rely on juxtaposition of grammatically distinct subsystems to generate conversational inferences". The broad use of code-switching in diverse contexts and with at least two languages in contact has made this language practice be one of behavioural features of bilinguals' speech which has been studied most (cf. Gregori and Alcantud 2012). Additionally, code-switching seems to accomplish an important communicative function which includes conversational purposes, that is the reason why it is a very interesting aspect of sociolinguistics to be researched. Nowadays, the development of educational provision is reaching more and more social strata. This fact, together with a wider use of new technologies and globalization, has "served to accentuate our sense of a visibly and audibly multilingual modern world" (Milroy and Muysken 1995:1). One of the consequences of this modernization has been the incorporation of second languages in the subject syllabus at earlier and earlier ages and, as a result, some new ways of communication are being created from this contact between two or more languages; this explains second language acquisition. When children are in contact with second language teachers, code switching is one of the natural devices they use in order to communicate. In fact, the "equivalence constraint on code-switching may be used to measure degree of bilingual ability" (Poplack 1980:581). At the same time, teachers make use of codeswitching within the class with the purpose of achieving a more fluent communication, with their students, among other reasons. It is thus the objective of this article to analyze in which situations code-switching is used inside a second language acquisition classroom of monolingual beginners. To achieve this objective, I selected, recorded and analyzed a class that consisted of four-year-old Spanish monolingual children in their first days of English classes, in order to study the use of code-switching by the teachers. The most remarkable conclusion drawn from the present study is that code-switching is used by teachers and students in a very high percentage to call beginners attention and to make communication and language learning easier. The structure of this article is as follows: I will first discuss some general issues regarding-code switching such as its definition and types. I will later describe at some length the presence of code-switching within the field of language acquisition and I will attempt to restrict the boundaries of the research to code-switching used by teachers, consciously or unconsciously in the early-aged monolingual second language acquisition process. I will subsequently expose a case study carried out in a four-year-old monolingual class. This will finally allow me to draw some conclusions and comments on the uses of code-switching as a teaching/learning strategy for the sake of communication. 2. Theoretical background 2.1 General scope of code-switching This section is devoted to depicting the use of code-switching in a broad spectrum regarding its functions, types and uses. Code-switching can be located within a wide range of linguistic contexts, from "highly educated bilinguals […] talking among themselves, alternating between two codes which closely reflect the relevant monolingual norms, to situations where social multilingualism is the general norm" (Gardner-Chloros 1995:68). Many scholars have been particularly influential in the search for general principles underlying code-switching: Weinreich (1953), Hangen (1950), Gumperz (1972-1984) and Poplack (1980) to mention but a few. Hence, I have made the decision of solely summing up the information gathered from all of these authors and focus on one definition: Code-switching may be understood as the alternative use by bilinguals of two or more languages in the same conversation. The use of this alternation will occur not only between the turns of different speakers in the conversation, but between utterances within a single turn, and even within a single utterance.

2007

The study of how individuals use and process two or more languages is an extremely important area of research, especially as the world's bilingual population continues to increase. It has been reported that currently, a majority of people worldwide are bilingual (Bhatia and Ritchie, 2004; Edwards, 2004; Tabouret-Keller, 2004). Although much of the research conducted in the domain of cognitive psychology has focused on the interesting question of how a bilingual represents or stores both of their languages in memory, there is a growing body of literature designed to explore how bilinguals process and switch in and out of languages. This usually occurs in speech production when an individual is speaking one language (i.e., referred to as the matrix or base language) and then rapidly replaces a word or phrase in that language with a word in the other language (i.e., guest language) (Li, 1996). For example, Heredia and Altarriba (2001, p. 164) introduced an example of code-switching that could be observed in the informal speech of a Spanish-English bilingual: "Dame una hamburguesa sin lettuce por favor?" ("Give me a hamburger without lettuce please?"), where in this statement the English word lettuce is used in place of its Spanish translation. Although the terms code (language)-mixing and code-switching are used interchangeably in current discussions (Heredia and Altarriba, 2001), differences between the two phenomena have been pointed out in previous work. Code-mixing was originally described as using words and phrases from one language in place of those in the other language within a single sentence (i.e., the previous example where switching languages occurs within one sentence) (Sridhar and Sridhar, 1980, p. 408). On the other hand, code-switching has been described as switching between languages based on changes in the speech situation, where the topic or members of the conversation change (see e.g., Altarriba and Santiago-Rivera, 1994, for No part of this digital document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means. The publisher has taken reasonable care in the preparation of this digital document, but makes no expressed or implied warranty of any kind and assumes no responsibility for any errors or omissions. No liability is assumed for incidental or consequential damages in connection with or arising out of information contained herein. This digital document is sold with the clear understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, medical or any other professional services.

The significance of role of code switching and code mixing in classrooms where medium of instruction is second/foreign language is approved reality. Observations of bilingual/multilingual classrooms show that teachers use code switching and code mixing in different situations for different purposes. This study aims at knowing the functions of CS (code switching) and CM (code mixing), use teachers in classrooms and the significance of the functions. The data for this study would be collected from teachers, teaching at intermediate level, of government and private colleges, using survey technique. The data would be analyzed statistically using SPSS software. The finding of this study would develop awareness about the use of CS and CM in bilingual classrooms. This study is significant as it would create flexibility in teaching methodologies of teachers.

2018

In modern society, code switching is considered a bridge between two multilingual groups, which allows them to overcome the difficulties they face of staying inside two language groups by favorably influencing the modern language culture. In this article, we are trying to study cultural influence of code-switching on the language of modern-day bilinguals. We are trying to understand what advantages the ability of using two languages in one sentence brings to the societies, where bilinguals live. The world is changing and the language doesn’t stand still, so now more and more linguists are looking into the computer language (the language of social networks and messengers). Some social networks are even focused on common ethnolinguistic characteristics of the users and can be used by ethnolinguistically heterogeneous individuals. Modern linguists compare the computer language to everyday speech in order to find the synchronous or asynchronous features in them. Therefore, it is believe...

Bilingualism: Language and Cognition

Code-switching is a common phenomenon that bilinguals engage in, including bilingual children. While many researchers have analyzed code-switching behaviors to better understand more about the language processes in bilingual children, few have examined how code-switching behavior affects a child's linguistic competence. This study thus sought to examine the relationship between code-switching and linguistic competency in bilingual children. Fifty-five English–Mandarin bilingual children aged 5 to 6 years were observed during classroom activities over five days (three hours each day). A number of different word roots and mean length of utterance for both languages, and a number of code-switched utterances for each child, were computed. English receptive vocabulary scores were also obtained. Additionally, teachers rated children's English and Mandarin language competencies approximately six months later. Correlational and hierarchical regression analyses support the argument t...

International Research Journal of Management, IT and Social sciences, 2020

Code-switching refers to the use of more than one language in a sentence or discourse. It is a natural commix that happens in utterances in bilingual and multilingual speakers reasoning one or more communal languages. Codeswitching (CS) denotes an alteration that is recorded between more than one variation in language following in the context of a single conversation. In sociolinguistics, code-switching is considered not merely one element of social life but encircles the social strata of speakers' social settings, linguistic variation and social variables. It is a linguistic strategy of bilingual or multilingual speakers. It is referred to as a "conversational scheme which is employed to constitute, cross or abolish group boundaries, to create, evoke or change interactive relation with their rights and commitments". (Gal, 1988). In multilingual contexts like Pakistan, code-switching is a common phenomenon. It appears as a conscious choice of language teachers to promote second language (L2) learning and improve second language comprehension among L2 learners. This article highlights the benefits of code-switching in the course of learning, explores some of the aspects of code-switching and its effectiveness in increasing L2 comprehension among the students at UE. It helped to illustrate the impact of code-switching to make classroom sessions interactive, to know the main causes of code-switching in communication and to know those triggering factors which forced students to switch from the native language (L1) to L2.

Child Development, 2019

This study investigated whether the effect of exposure to code-switching on bilingual children's language performance varied depending on verbal working memory. A large sample of schoolaged Spanish-English bilingual children (N = 174, M age = 7.78) was recruited, and children were administered language measures in English and Spanish. The frequency with which the children were exposed to code-switching was gathered through parent report. For children with high verbal working memory, greater exposure to code-switching was associated with higher levels of language ability. In contrast, for children with lower verbal working memory, greater exposure to code-switching was associated with lower levels of language ability. These findings indicate that children's cognitive processing capacity dictates whether exposure to code-switching facilitates or hinders language skills.

Eternal (English, Teaching, Learning & Research Journal), 2023

Linguists are explicitly divided on code switching's (CS hereinafter) effect on the oral communication skills of English language learners. Some studies asserted that CS is beneficial (positive) while others criticized its negative impact on the target language (TL hereinafter) proficiency in communication skills. This study examined the influence of CS strategy on the oral communication skills of bilingual Cebuano-Visayan Senior High School students of the University of Cebu-Banilad, Cebu City, Philippines. This bridges the ongoing debate and as a recent contributing perspective on the CS phenomenon, especially the English and Cebuano-Visayan language pair not yet explored in a conversational analysis in a new dialectal context (locale). Employing a case study design with 9 participants for data saturation, real-life conversations of students and teachers in English classrooms were audio-recorded for one month and triangulated with interviews and observations. The thematic and conversational analysis then ensued, which yielded the finding that CS adversely affects the students' oral communication skills in morphology, phonology, and syntax but positively facilitates the strategic competence of bilingual oral communicators. CS, therefore, has a polar influence (both positive and negative) on the student's oral communication skills.

Over the past four decades, code-switching (CS) has been established as a mark of high linguistic competence among adult simultaneous (2L1) bilinguals, those who acquired two 'first' languages before age three. The status of CS among second language (L2) learners, who learned one language after age three, is much less clear; children represent an especially understudied population in this line of inquiry. This study aims to address this research gap and presents a comparison of child 2L1 bilinguals and child L2 learners in kindergarten, first and second grade of a Spanish immersion program. Twelve hours of recorded spontaneous classroom speech were analyzed for grammatical categories, switch points, and conversational strategies of CS. The results of this study show that the grammatical patterns and conversational strategies of child L2 learner CS strongly parallel those of 2L1 child bilinguals, pointing toward a high level of linguistic competence. Based on these findings, it is suggested that proficiency rather than language background may be a greater factor in CS patterns. Furthermore, evidence of the strategic use of CS by 2L1 and L2 learners alike suggests the potential benefit of an alternative bilingual pedagogy, which normalizes the use of CS as a linguistic resource instead of the more commonly evoked 'deficit perspective' on L2 learner CS.

Indian Journal of Applied Research, 2014

Bilingualism is defined as the use of at least two languages either by an individual or by a group of speakers. Bilingual is a person who uses at least two languages with some degree of proficiency. Depending on the demands of a particular communicative situation, bilingual or multilingual speakers switch between language varieties. A question which caught the attention of many linguists is: Is there a relationship between the pattern variations in code-switching and the bilingual speaker's language proficiency? The present study makes an attempt to review the most prominent notions on this issue and provide an answer to the question.

I chose this terms because I am interested in why and how people do code-switching. As far as I read, people do code-switching because of some languages have words that are not available in the others and that makes those languages better for expressing certain idea, we match the language of the listeners’, showing that you and the listener share an identity makes the conversation more pleasant and more effective, to reach a goal, to say something in secret, the slip of tongue out of realization. But then how about the phenomenon that sometimes happened as “An English department student does a code-switching word from Bahasa Indonesia to English in talking to a friends, also some students are even use three codes in communication. Of course it is because translation is not that easy and we tend to use the easier accessibility of a word lexicon in the other language motivates us to use it. But is there another reason? Is it a strength or weakness in doing code switching or code mixing?