Did I switch languages? I don’t know why,I just did: Towards the pedagogical use of classroom codeswitching

Hilda CahyaniSchool of education

The objective To explore the role of code switching in

the classrooms

Outline Bilingualism and the advantages Code switching (CS) Types of CS The Flaws of CS The Functions of CS Conclusion

Are you a bilingual?How many languages can you

speak?

The relation between bilingual and individual (adapted from Grosjean 1982, p.129)

What are the advantages of being a bilingual?

1. It’s part of our lives

2. Enhances ability to learn

3. Improves multitasking skills

4. better employment opportunities

5. good for your health

6. ways to learn

Do you code switch and code mix ?

What is codeswitching (CS)?

The use of more than one code or language in the course of a speech event (Gumperz 1982)

Two language alternations happening in “a single discourse, sentence or constituent” (Poplack 1980 , p.583)

It is the changing of one language to another in one particular situation to fit the purpose of communication

Definition of CS

CLASSROOM CODESWITCHINGrefers to the alternating use of more than one languages by any of classroom participants (Lin 2008)

Types of CS (Poplack 1980)

Inter-sentential CS

Tag CS

Intra-sentential CS

Inter-sentential switching occurs at a clause or a sentence level, where each clause or sentence is one language or another.

L1 L2

For example: “Sometimes I’ll start a sentence in Spanish y termino en espanol” [Sometimes I’ll start a sentence in Spanish and finish in Spanish].

‘Tag-switching’: the insertion of a tag phrase from one language into an utterance from another language (e.g. you know, I mean, right)

L2L1

e.g 1. a Portugese-English bilingual (Jalil 2009, p.4) “I look like Lilica, you know, nunca

paro!” [I never stop!]

2. a Malaysian-English bilingual “Yeah, kita nak pusing-pusing” [We will hang out], right, I am free tonight.

Intra-sentential switching takes place within the clause or sentence, regarded as the most complex one

L1 L2CS

e.g. 1. in a Portuguese-English bilingual’s speech (Jalil 2009, p.4)“Yeah, I don’t know omeu lugar nesse mundo…so, something that is weird, like a, like a, I guess it’s…” [I don’t know my place in this world..]

2. In an Indonesian-English bilingual:Well, it’s hard to put it into words.. I just want to tell you.. Aku sayang kamu banget.. I don’t wanna loose you. [I really love you]

What about this? e.g. Dinner-table talk between Hamed (Indonesian, speaks Indonesian, Khairon(Indian-Australian, speaks Hindi) and Shadly (South African, speaks English) (Almansour 2010)

Hamed : How are you today Khairon?Khairon : Alhamdu lillah I’m fine. What happened you look happy?Hamed : Yaah Alhamdu lillah, I finally found bookingKhairon : Great. Ma sha Allah. So when are you leaving?Hamed : In Sha Allah by the end of next month.Khairon : Bismillah.Hamed : Bismillah. What about you Shadly?Shadly : Amm. Alhamdu lillah this is my last semester.

Is CS useful in the classroom?

The opponents of CS The proponents of CS

a. Monolingual approach has been promoted in foreign language teaching (Krashen 1985; Macaro 2001; Philllipson 1992)

b. Two languages should be compartmentalised (Cook 2001; Butzkamm 2003)

CS can enhance foreign language learning and serve communicative and social functions in foreign language classrooms (Littlewood and Yu 2009; Swain, Kirkpatrick and Cummin 2010)

The flaws of CS

A sign of linguistic deficiency (Palmer 2009)

A sign of laziness

(Bathia & Ritchie 2004)

Limited exposures

(Cook 2001)

Informal register (Timm 1993)

Functions of Teachers’ CS (Mattson & Burenhult 1999, p.61)

To increase students’ understanding of L2 (topic switch)

To build solidarity and intimate relations with the students ( affective functions)

To transfer the knowledge for clarity (repetitive functions)

Functions of students’ CS(Eldridge 1996, p. 305-307)

Fun

ctio

ns

of

stu

den

ts’C

S

Equivalence

Floor holding

Reiteration

Conflict control

Conclusion CS for teachers is dealing with strategies but it is about ‘language problem’ for the students. However CS should be judiciously used for building a bridge from known to unknown and can be considered as an important element in language teaching when used efficiently.CS can be a danger if the use of L1 is too much done and threatens the primacy of TL.

ReferencesAlmansour, B.S. 2010. On’Non-Arabic speakng’ muslims. Griffith Working Papers in Pragmatics and Intercultural Communication 3, 1: 39-49.Bathia, T.K. & Ritchie, W.C. 2004. Social and psychological factors in language mixing. In W.C. Ritchie and T.K. Bathia (eds), Handbook of Bilingualism (pp. 336-352). Blackwell Publishing. Butzkamm, W. 2003. We only learn language once. The role of the mother tongue in FL classrooms: death of a dogma. Language Learning Journal, Winter 2003, No. 28: 29-39.Cook, V. 2001. Using first language in the classroom. Canadian Modern Language Review 57(3): 402-423.Eldridge, J. 1996. Code-switching in a Turkish secondary school. ELT Journal, 50,4: 303-311.Grosjean, F. 1982. Life with two languages. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.Gumperz, J. 1982. Discourse strategies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Krashen, S.D. 1985. The input hypothesis: Issues and implications. London and New York: Longman. Lin, A.M.Y. 2008. Code-switching in the classroom: Research paradigms and approaches. K.A. King and N.H. Hornberger (eds), Encyclopedia of Language and Education, 2nd Edition, Vol. 10: Research Methods in Language and Education, 273-286. Mattsson, A & Burenhult-Mattson, N. 1999. Code-switching in second language teaching of French. Working Papers 47: 59-72.Macaro, E. 2001. Analysing student teachers’ codeswitching in foreign language classrooms: Theories and decision making. The Modern Language Journal 85(4): 531-548.Palmer, D.K. 2009. Code-switching and symbolic power in a second-grade two-way classroom: a teacher’s motivation system gone awry. Bilingual Research Journal 32(1): 42-59.Phillipson, R. 1992. Linguistic imperialism, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Poplack, S. 1980. Sometimes I’ll start a sentence in Spanish Y TERMINO EN ESPANOL: Toward a typology of code-switching. Linguistics 18 (7/8): 581-618.Sert, O. 2005. The functions of code switching in ELT classrooms. The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. XI, No.8: 1-5.Swain, M, Kirkpartick, A, and Cummins, J. 2010. How to have a guilt-free life using Cantonese in the English class: A handbook for the English teachers in Hong Kong. Hong Kong: Research Center to Language Acquisition and Education in Multilingual Societies, Hong Kong Institute of Education.Timm, L. 1993. Bilingual code-switching: An overview of research. In Language and Culture in Learning: Teaching Spanish to native speakers of Spanish, ed. Henry T. Trueba and Fabian A. Samaniego. Washington, DC and London: The Falmer Press.