Code-switching to first language in repair – A resource for students’ problem solving in a foreign language classroom

Abstract

In foreign language classrooms, students and teachers together create practices for language use; they talk the institutional context and institutional identities into being. According to Lave and Wenger, learning can be seen as a deepening process of participation in a community of practice. Learning a language in a classroom can be regarded as gradual changes in language use that are accomplished through participation in collaborative work. In that case, the study of variation in language alternation, code-switching and the activities the students and the teachers are engaged in can contribute to understand language learning in a foreign language classroom context. The purpose of this article is to describe and analyse how code-switching as a local practice is used in teaching and learning Swedish as a foreign language. The context of the study is classes in Swedish as a foreign language in upper secondary schools in Finland. The material consists of video recordings of one lesson in second grade where the students have been studying Swedish for 5 years. The article focuses especially on the practices of language choice in repair. Students tend to keep up a division of labour between FL used for institutional work and L1 as the language reserved for interaction. The article discusses the conditions of learning repair practices in an FL classroom.