CODE-SWITCHING, AN ASSET OR A LIABILITY IN A MULTILINGUAL CLASSROOM? AN INVESTIGATION INTO STUDENTS' ATTITUDES TOWARDS CODE-SWITCHING IN L2 CLASSROOMS
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Abstract
With the everchanging focus on different methodologies of teaching a foreign or second language, researchers have been arguing for or against the use of mother-tongue, especially in the context of English language classrooms from teachers' perspectives. Those against codeswitching liken second language learning with first language acquisition or consider the target language and mother tongue as two very distinct entities in the brain and favor its exclusive use in the classroom for maximizing students' exposure to the target language. However, recent research in bilingualism and multilingualism favors a moderate use of the mother tongue. The question arises what is the best practice to adopt for instructors or to what extent the use of L1 is justified to make the process of learning L2 more effective. To investigate students' attitudes towards code-switching, we collected data from the students of various linguistic and cultural backgrounds. They included: Pakistani learners of EFL at a Pakistani University with a Pakistani teacher where students and teachers share the same L1 or lingua franca, that is, Urdu; Afghan EFL students having Pashto/Persian as their L1 and being taught at a Pakistani university by a Pakistani instructor having Urdu as L1; and International multilingual learners learning Hindi as a foreign language at an American University i.e., Michigan State University with an Indian instructor whose mother tongue is Hindi but she uses English with family and in everyday conversations. The students in this group speak English or Spanish as their languge of conversation at home. They use English as a lingua franca while studying with American students. Anova used to analyse the data revealed that no matter what the cultural background of the students is, they have a positive attitude towards codeswitching, and consider it a beneficial tool to improve their linguistic abilities in the target language and to clarify some concepts.
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References
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Antón, M. and DiCamilla, F., 1998. Socio-cognitive functions of L1 collaborative interaction in the L2 classroom. Canadian modern language review, 54(3), pp.314-342. https://doi.org/10.3138/cmlr.54.3.314
Ariffin, K. and Susanti Husin, M., 2011. Code-switching and Code-mixing of English and Bahasa Malaysia in Content-Based Classrooms: Frequency and Attitudes. Linguistics Journal, 5(1).
Auerbach, E.R., 1993. Reexamining English only in the ESL classroom. Tesol Quarterly, 27(1), pp.9-32. https://doi.org/10.2307/3586949
Beck, E. P. 2016. "Adult Learners’ Code-Switching in the EFL Classroom: An Analysis of Frequency and Type of Code-Switching." International Journal of Cognitive and Language Sciences, World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology 3(11).
Bergsleithner, JM, 2002. Grammar and interaction in the EFL classroom: A sociocultural study.
Bista, K., 2010. Factors of Code Switching among Bilingual English Students in the University Classroom: A Survey. Online Submission, English for Specific Purposes World. 9(29), pp.1-19.
Brice, A., 2000. Code switching and code mixing in the ESL classroom: A study of pragmatic and syntactic features. Advances in speech language pathology, 2(1), pp.19-28. https://doi.org/10.3109/14417040008996783
Cahyani, H., de Courcy, M. and Barnett, J., 2018. Teachers’ code-switching in bilingual classrooms: exploring pedagogical and sociocultural functions. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 21(4), pp.465-479. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2016.1189509
Cantone, K.F., 2007. Code-switching in bilingual children (Vol. 296). Dordrecht: Springer.
Celik, M., 2003. Teaching vocabulary through code‐mixing. ELT Journal, 57(4), pp.361-369. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/57.4.361
Chowdhury, N., 2012. Classroom code switching of English language teachers at tertiary level: A Bangladeshi perspective. Stamford Journal of English, 7, pp.40-61. https://doi.org/10.3329/sje.v7i0.14462
Cook, V., 2001. Using the first language in the classroom. Canadian modern language review, 57(3), pp.402-423. https://doi.org/10.3138/cmlr.57.3.402
Ferguson, G., 2003. Classroom code-switching in post-colonial contexts: Functions, attitudes and policies. AILA review, 16(1), pp.38-51. https://doi.org/10.1075/aila.16.05fer
Fotos, S., 2001. Codeswitching by Japan's unrecognised bilinguals: Japanese university students' use of their native language as a learning strategy. Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, pp.329-352.
Gardner-Chloros, P., 2009. Code-switching. Cambridge University Press.
Gort, M., 2006. Strategic codeswitching, interliteracy, and other phenomena of emergent bilingual writing: Lessons from first grade dual language classrooms. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 6(3), pp.323-354. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468798406069796
Gulzar, M.A., 2010. Code-switching: Awareness about its utility in bilingual classrooms. Bulletin of Education and Research, 32(2), pp.23-44.
Gumperz, J.J., Drew, P. and Goodwin, M.H. eds., 1982. Language and social identity (Vol. 2). Cambridge University Press.
Hornberger, N.H. and Link, H., 2012. Translanguaging and transnational literacies in multilingual classrooms: A biliteracy lens. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 15(3), pp.261-278. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2012.658016
Iannacci, L., 2008. Beyond the pragmatic and the liminal: Culturally and linguistically diverse students code-switching in early-years classrooms. TESL Canada Journal, pp.103-123. https://doi.org/10.18806/tesl.v26i1.132.
Jingxia, L., 2010. Teachers’ code-switching to the L1 in EFL classroom. The Open Applied Linguistics Journal, 3(10), pp.10-23. DOI: 10.2174/1874913501003010010
Kamwangamalu, N.M., 2010. Multilingualism and codeswitching in education. Sociolinguistics and language education, 116. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781847692849
Kang, D.M., 2008. The classroom language use of a Korean elementary school EFL teacher: Another look at TETE. System, 36(2), pp.214-226. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2007.10.005
Kirkpatrick, A., 2014. The language (s) of HE: EMI and/or ELF and/or multilingualism?. The Asian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 1(1), pp.4-15.
Levine, G.S., 2011. Code choice in the language classroom. Multilingual Matters. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781847693341
Liang, X., 2006. Identity and language functions: High school Chinese immigrant students' code-switching dilemmas in ESL classes. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education, 5(2), pp.143-167. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327701jlie0502_3
Lin, A., 2013. Classroom code-switching: Three decades of research. Applied Linguistics Review, 4(1), pp.195-218. https://doi.org/10.1515/applirev-2013-0009
Lin, A.M., 2008. Code‐switching in the classroom: Research paradigms and approaches. Encyclopedia of language and education, pp.3464-3477. DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-02329-8_34-1
Liu, D., AHN, G.S., BAEK, K.S. and HAN, N.O., 2004. South Korean high school English teachers' code switching: Questions and challenges in the drive for maximal use of English in teaching. Tesol Quarterly, 38(4), pp.605-638.https://doi.org/10.2307/3588282
Losey, K.M., 2009. Written codeswitching in the classroom: can research resolve the tensions?. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 12(2), pp.213-230. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050802153228
Macaro, E., 2001. Analysing student teachers’ codeswitching in foreign language classrooms: Theories and decision making. The Modern Language Journal, 85(4), pp.531-548.
https://doi.org/10.1111/0026-7902.00124
Macaro, E., 2005. Codeswitching in the L2 classroom: A communication and learning strategy. In Non-native language teachers (pp. 63-84). Springer, Boston, MA.
Macaro, E., 2014. Overview: Where should we be going with classroom codeswitching research. Codeswitching in university English-medium classes: Asian perspectives, pp.10-23. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781783090914
Martínez, R.A., 2010. Spanglish as literacy tool: Toward an understanding of the potential role of Spanish-English code-switching in the development of academic literacy. Research in the Teaching of English, 45(2), p.124.
Myers-Scotton, C., 1993. Common and uncommon ground: Social and structural factors in codeswitching. Language in society, 22(4), pp.475-503. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404500017449
Naveed, Amna., 2013. Students’ Attitude Towards Code Switching. Language Teacher Research in Higher Education: Potential and Challenges, pp. 59
Nordin, N.M., Ali, F.D.R., Zubir, S.I.S.S. and Sadjirin, R., 2013. ESL learners’ reactions towards code switching in classroom settings. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 90, pp.478-487. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.07.117
Norro, S. (2022). Namibian teachers’ practices in a multilingual context. International Journal of Multilingualism, 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2022.2065280.
Phuntsog, N. (2018). Tibetan/English code-switching practices in the Tibetan diaspora classrooms: perceptions of select 6th grade teachers. International journal of multilingualism, 15(2), 214-229. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2017.1378658.
Poplack, S., 1980. Sometimes i’ll start a sentence in spanish y termino en espanol: toward a typology of code-switching1. Linguistics, 18(7-8), pp.581-618.
Pousada, A., 1992. Rodolfo Jacobson and Christian Faltis (eds.), Language distribution issues in bilingual schooling. Clevedon, Avon, England: Multilingual Matters, 1990. Pp. xiv+ 193. Language in Society, 21(1), pp.167-169. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404500015190
Rukh, S., Saleem, N., Javeed, H.G.M. and Mehmood, N., 2014. Students’ Attitudes towards Teachers’ Code-Mixing/Code-Switching to L1 and Its Influence on Their L2 Learning: A Case of Business Students in Sargodha. International Journal of Science and Research, 3(5), pp.1111-1116.
Salim, M.T.H., 2014. Mother Tongue in Other Tongue Learning: The Third Way. Journal of SUB, 5(1), pp.97-117.
Sampson, A., 2011. Learner code-switching versus English only. ELT journal, 66(3), pp.293-303. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccr067
Selamat, J.T., 2014. Code switching in the Malaysian ESL classroom (Doctoral dissertation, University of Otago).
Seng, G.H. and Hashim, F., 2006. Use of L1 in L2 reading comprehension among tertiary ESL learners. Reading in a foreign language, 18(1), pp.29-54.
Skiba, R., 1997. Code switching as a countenance of language interference. The Internet TESL Journal, 3(10), pp.1-6.
Söderberg Arnfast, J. and Jørgensen, J.N., 2003. Code‐switching as a communication, learning, and social negotiation strategy in first‐year learners of Danish. International journal of applied linguistics, 13(1), pp.23-53. https://doi.org/10.1111/1473-4192.00036
Swain, M. and Lapkin, S., 2000. Task-based second language learning: The uses of the first language. Language teaching research, 4(3), pp.251-274. https://doi.org/10.1177/136216880000400304
Then, D.C.O. and Ting, S.H., 2009. A Preliminary Study of Teacher Code-Switching in Secondary English and Science in Malaysia. Tesl-Ej, 13(1), p.n1.
Tian, L. and Macaro, E., 2012. Comparing the effect of teacher codeswitching with English-only explanations on the vocabulary acquisition of Chinese university students: A Lexical Focus-on-Form study. Language Teaching Research, 16(3), pp.367-391. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168812436909
Turnbull, M. and Arnett, K., 2002. 11. Teachers' Uses of the Target and First Languages in Second and Foreign Language Classrooms. Annual review of applied linguistics, 22, p.204. DOI:10.1017/S0267190502000119
Üstünel, E. and Seedhouse, P., 2005. Why that, in that language, right now? Code‐switching and pedagogical focus. International journal of applied linguistics, 15(3), pp.302-325.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1473-4192.2005.00093.x
Yao, M., 2011. On attitudes to teachers' code-switching in EFL classes. World journal of English language, 1(1), p.19. doi:10.5430/wjel.v1n1p19
Zahoor, A., 2013. Student and Teacher Views about Using the L1 in English Classrooms. Language Teacher Research in Higher Education: Potential and Challenges, p.49.
Antón, M. and DiCamilla, F., 1998. Socio-cognitive functions of L1 collaborative interaction in the L2 classroom. Canadian modern language review, 54(3), pp.314-342. https://doi.org/10.3138/cmlr.54.3.314
Ariffin, K. and Susanti Husin, M., 2011. Code-switching and Code-mixing of English and Bahasa Malaysia in Content-Based Classrooms: Frequency and Attitudes. Linguistics Journal, 5(1).
Auerbach, E.R., 1993. Reexamining English only in the ESL classroom. Tesol Quarterly, 27(1), pp.9-32. https://doi.org/10.2307/3586949
Beck, E. P. 2016. "Adult Learners’ Code-Switching in the EFL Classroom: An Analysis of Frequency and Type of Code-Switching." International Journal of Cognitive and Language Sciences, World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology 3(11).
Bergsleithner, JM, 2002. Grammar and interaction in the EFL classroom: A sociocultural study.
Bista, K., 2010. Factors of Code Switching among Bilingual English Students in the University Classroom: A Survey. Online Submission, English for Specific Purposes World. 9(29), pp.1-19.
Brice, A., 2000. Code switching and code mixing in the ESL classroom: A study of pragmatic and syntactic features. Advances in speech language pathology, 2(1), pp.19-28. https://doi.org/10.3109/14417040008996783
Cahyani, H., de Courcy, M. and Barnett, J., 2018. Teachers’ code-switching in bilingual classrooms: exploring pedagogical and sociocultural functions. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 21(4), pp.465-479. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2016.1189509
Cantone, K.F., 2007. Code-switching in bilingual children (Vol. 296). Dordrecht: Springer.
Celik, M., 2003. Teaching vocabulary through code‐mixing. ELT Journal, 57(4), pp.361-369. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/57.4.361
Chowdhury, N., 2012. Classroom code switching of English language teachers at tertiary level: A Bangladeshi perspective. Stamford Journal of English, 7, pp.40-61. https://doi.org/10.3329/sje.v7i0.14462
Cook, V., 2001. Using the first language in the classroom. Canadian modern language review, 57(3), pp.402-423. https://doi.org/10.3138/cmlr.57.3.402
Ferguson, G., 2003. Classroom code-switching in post-colonial contexts: Functions, attitudes and policies. AILA review, 16(1), pp.38-51. https://doi.org/10.1075/aila.16.05fer
Fotos, S., 2001. Codeswitching by Japan's unrecognised bilinguals: Japanese university students' use of their native language as a learning strategy. Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, pp.329-352.
Gardner-Chloros, P., 2009. Code-switching. Cambridge University Press.
Gort, M., 2006. Strategic codeswitching, interliteracy, and other phenomena of emergent bilingual writing: Lessons from first grade dual language classrooms. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 6(3), pp.323-354. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468798406069796
Gulzar, M.A., 2010. Code-switching: Awareness about its utility in bilingual classrooms. Bulletin of Education and Research, 32(2), pp.23-44.
Gumperz, J.J., Drew, P. and Goodwin, M.H. eds., 1982. Language and social identity (Vol. 2). Cambridge University Press.
Hornberger, N.H. and Link, H., 2012. Translanguaging and transnational literacies in multilingual classrooms: A biliteracy lens. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 15(3), pp.261-278. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2012.658016
Iannacci, L., 2008. Beyond the pragmatic and the liminal: Culturally and linguistically diverse students code-switching in early-years classrooms. TESL Canada Journal, pp.103-123. https://doi.org/10.18806/tesl.v26i1.132.
Jingxia, L., 2010. Teachers’ code-switching to the L1 in EFL classroom. The Open Applied Linguistics Journal, 3(10), pp.10-23. DOI: 10.2174/1874913501003010010
Kamwangamalu, N.M., 2010. Multilingualism and codeswitching in education. Sociolinguistics and language education, 116. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781847692849
Kang, D.M., 2008. The classroom language use of a Korean elementary school EFL teacher: Another look at TETE. System, 36(2), pp.214-226. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2007.10.005
Kirkpatrick, A., 2014. The language (s) of HE: EMI and/or ELF and/or multilingualism?. The Asian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 1(1), pp.4-15.
Levine, G.S., 2011. Code choice in the language classroom. Multilingual Matters. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781847693341
Liang, X., 2006. Identity and language functions: High school Chinese immigrant students' code-switching dilemmas in ESL classes. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education, 5(2), pp.143-167. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327701jlie0502_3
Lin, A., 2013. Classroom code-switching: Three decades of research. Applied Linguistics Review, 4(1), pp.195-218. https://doi.org/10.1515/applirev-2013-0009
Lin, A.M., 2008. Code‐switching in the classroom: Research paradigms and approaches. Encyclopedia of language and education, pp.3464-3477. DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-02329-8_34-1
Liu, D., AHN, G.S., BAEK, K.S. and HAN, N.O., 2004. South Korean high school English teachers' code switching: Questions and challenges in the drive for maximal use of English in teaching. Tesol Quarterly, 38(4), pp.605-638.https://doi.org/10.2307/3588282
Losey, K.M., 2009. Written codeswitching in the classroom: can research resolve the tensions?. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 12(2), pp.213-230. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050802153228
Macaro, E., 2001. Analysing student teachers’ codeswitching in foreign language classrooms: Theories and decision making. The Modern Language Journal, 85(4), pp.531-548.
https://doi.org/10.1111/0026-7902.00124
Macaro, E., 2005. Codeswitching in the L2 classroom: A communication and learning strategy. In Non-native language teachers (pp. 63-84). Springer, Boston, MA.
Macaro, E., 2014. Overview: Where should we be going with classroom codeswitching research. Codeswitching in university English-medium classes: Asian perspectives, pp.10-23. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781783090914
Martínez, R.A., 2010. Spanglish as literacy tool: Toward an understanding of the potential role of Spanish-English code-switching in the development of academic literacy. Research in the Teaching of English, 45(2), p.124.
Myers-Scotton, C., 1993. Common and uncommon ground: Social and structural factors in codeswitching. Language in society, 22(4), pp.475-503. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404500017449
Naveed, Amna., 2013. Students’ Attitude Towards Code Switching. Language Teacher Research in Higher Education: Potential and Challenges, pp. 59
Nordin, N.M., Ali, F.D.R., Zubir, S.I.S.S. and Sadjirin, R., 2013. ESL learners’ reactions towards code switching in classroom settings. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 90, pp.478-487. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.07.117
Norro, S. (2022). Namibian teachers’ practices in a multilingual context. International Journal of Multilingualism, 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2022.2065280.
Phuntsog, N. (2018). Tibetan/English code-switching practices in the Tibetan diaspora classrooms: perceptions of select 6th grade teachers. International journal of multilingualism, 15(2), 214-229. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2017.1378658.
Poplack, S., 1980. Sometimes i’ll start a sentence in spanish y termino en espanol: toward a typology of code-switching1. Linguistics, 18(7-8), pp.581-618.
Pousada, A., 1992. Rodolfo Jacobson and Christian Faltis (eds.), Language distribution issues in bilingual schooling. Clevedon, Avon, England: Multilingual Matters, 1990. Pp. xiv+ 193. Language in Society, 21(1), pp.167-169. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404500015190
Rukh, S., Saleem, N., Javeed, H.G.M. and Mehmood, N., 2014. Students’ Attitudes towards Teachers’ Code-Mixing/Code-Switching to L1 and Its Influence on Their L2 Learning: A Case of Business Students in Sargodha. International Journal of Science and Research, 3(5), pp.1111-1116.
Salim, M.T.H., 2014. Mother Tongue in Other Tongue Learning: The Third Way. Journal of SUB, 5(1), pp.97-117.
Sampson, A., 2011. Learner code-switching versus English only. ELT journal, 66(3), pp.293-303. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccr067
Selamat, J.T., 2014. Code switching in the Malaysian ESL classroom (Doctoral dissertation, University of Otago).
Seng, G.H. and Hashim, F., 2006. Use of L1 in L2 reading comprehension among tertiary ESL learners. Reading in a foreign language, 18(1), pp.29-54.
Skiba, R., 1997. Code switching as a countenance of language interference. The Internet TESL Journal, 3(10), pp.1-6.
Söderberg Arnfast, J. and Jørgensen, J.N., 2003. Code‐switching as a communication, learning, and social negotiation strategy in first‐year learners of Danish. International journal of applied linguistics, 13(1), pp.23-53. https://doi.org/10.1111/1473-4192.00036
Swain, M. and Lapkin, S., 2000. Task-based second language learning: The uses of the first language. Language teaching research, 4(3), pp.251-274. https://doi.org/10.1177/136216880000400304
Then, D.C.O. and Ting, S.H., 2009. A Preliminary Study of Teacher Code-Switching in Secondary English and Science in Malaysia. Tesl-Ej, 13(1), p.n1.
Tian, L. and Macaro, E., 2012. Comparing the effect of teacher codeswitching with English-only explanations on the vocabulary acquisition of Chinese university students: A Lexical Focus-on-Form study. Language Teaching Research, 16(3), pp.367-391. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168812436909
Turnbull, M. and Arnett, K., 2002. 11. Teachers' Uses of the Target and First Languages in Second and Foreign Language Classrooms. Annual review of applied linguistics, 22, p.204. DOI:10.1017/S0267190502000119
Üstünel, E. and Seedhouse, P., 2005. Why that, in that language, right now? Code‐switching and pedagogical focus. International journal of applied linguistics, 15(3), pp.302-325.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1473-4192.2005.00093.x
Yao, M., 2011. On attitudes to teachers' code-switching in EFL classes. World journal of English language, 1(1), p.19. doi:10.5430/wjel.v1n1p19
Zahoor, A., 2013. Student and Teacher Views about Using the L1 in English Classrooms. Language Teacher Research in Higher Education: Potential and Challenges, p.49.