Teachers and students' perceptions of code switching in aviation language learning courses

Abstract

Code switching, the case of switching between two languages during the course of a conversation, has sparked much interest in the field of second language acquisition in general and in foreign language instruction, in particular. This research conducted a survey among students and teachers in aviation training center in Isfahan, Iran. The aim of the research was to assess the students and teacher's perceptions of code switching and to determine whether there were certain factors influencing these perceptions and attitudes. The study investigated forty three medium English proficient students and seven teachers at the English language learning course. A set of questionnaire containing 20 items utilizing 5-points Likert-type scale and interview were managed to quantify the attitude of code switching in classrooms. The study found that most of the teacher interviewed, sometimes used code switching mainly to explain difficult concepts and when they feel their students did not understand the materials. The students and teachers' perceptions of teachers' code switching were mostly the same about the subjects related to teacher's persona and subject access and their opinions were not in line about the subjects related to classroom management and interpersonal relation. Although code switching is considered as a medium of instruction in an EFL classroom, but research has shown the negative attitudes of learners towards their teachers' too much using of code switching.