Code Switching In Moroccan High School Classrooms

Abstract

Code switching as a phenomenon has been extensively scrutinized especially in communities where people are exposed to more than two languages; that is, multilingual societies. Morocco is considered to be a multilingual country given the existence of a range of different languages (e.g. Moroccan Arabic, Tamazight, and French). Many research studies whose main concern was to deal with classroom discourse in bilingual/multilingual environments (e.g. Milk 1981, 1982; Gurthrie, 1984; Jacobson, 1979; Gonazalez & Maez 1980), were primarily concerned with the study of code switching between learners’ first language and the language used as a medium of instruction. The study at hand seeks to shed light on three essential points. Firstly, it aims at investigating the extent to which Moroccan high school teachers switch from one language to another. Secondly, it explores the hidden motives behind code switching in language classrooms. Finally, it examines students’ perceptions towards code switching.