Code Switching in EFL Classroom Discourse: Teachers’ Function, Learners’ Voice, and Language Choice

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of English Language Teaching, Farhangian University, Tehran, Iran

2 M. A. in TEFL, Khatam University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Employing code switching as an instructional medium in the foreign language classroom has proved to be controversial. Moreover, learners’ voice and implementing learners’ power in the classroom context can be pursued in English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom code switching. The goal of the current study was to examine how language choice and code-switching by instructors and students function in EFL classroom conversations. To do so, a qualitative study was designed, and the data were collected by means of in-depth live observations of four classes encompassing 50 intermediate-level EFL learners and interviews with EFL teachers of the aforementioned classes, as well as 600 minutes of the classroom interactions recorded in the observed sessions. Based on the descriptive and empirical methods used to analyze the data, code switching was widely used in intermediate EFL classrooms. The learners also used code switching to satisfy their immediate needs pertaining to facilitated learning. Finally, the teachers used code switching as a facilitating factor to enhance their learners’ understanding of pragmatic and socio-cultural aspects of the English language. Furthermore, the inter-sentential form of code switching was the most common one among the students followed by intra-sentential code switching and tag-switching. Different functions of code switching were also identified, and the learners’ errors were specified as the trigger to this phenomenon. These errors were analyzed and proved to be of pragmatic, semantic, and structural types, with the first one taking priority over the other two. The findings of the present study can help develop the interlanguage research, especially on bilingual and multilingual grounds. Both linguists and applied linguists can use the study findings in the future research on L2 classrooms. Moreover, EFL teachers and leaners can benefit from the study findings in their language choice in the L2 classroom for more clarified communication.

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Main Subjects

References

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Journal of Studies in Language Learning and Teaching
Volume 1, Issue 2
July 2024
Pages 227-249

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History

  • Receive Date: 20 March 2024
  • Revise Date: 28 May 2024
  • Accept Date: 13 July 2024

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