Impact of Code Switching on ESL Learners during Pandemic at The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Rahim Yar Khan Campus

Abstract

This study investigated the impact of code-switching on ESL learners specifically during pandemic situations. The population was the language teachers of The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Rahim Yar Khan. The basic focus of the study was to find out the advantages that teachers achieved through code-switching in ESL classrooms during pandemics. It tried to find out how code-switching is efficient to increase the learning proficiency among ESL learners. Actually, COVID-19 added to the sufferings of the world and caused the immeasurable loss. After health, the greatest loss was observed in the field of education. This pandemic slowed down the pace of learning by creating a lot of hurdles in the way of gaining knowledge. Physical classes were extinct and the online system was new for the learners and instructors both. In the present era, a good number of educational institutions in Pakistan have declared that the language of instruction in the classrooms should be English, which is the chief second language in the country. When a language user jumps from one language to another language, this process is called code-switching. This technique is widely used in Pakistani classrooms. It is believed to be beneficial to switch from one code to another in an ESL class. Sociolinguistics measures code-switching not only as a constituent of communal social life but surrounds the societal strata of speakers’ linguistic differences, societal variables, and societal settings. Seemingly language teachers deliberately choose code-switching for the promotion, comprehension, and improvement of second language (L2) learning. This paper puts light on the advantages of code-switching on the track of language learning, investigates a few strands of code-switching and then its efficacy in developing L2 knowledge amongst the students at The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Rahim Yar Khan Campus. The findings of the study make clear that code-switching causes learning sessions to connect and it facilitates the learners to switch from L2 to L1. It can be implied that code-switching has a strong impact on language teaching.