Code-switching Practices Research Articles

Code-Switching Among Kuwaitis in the Social Context: Attitudes and Practices

This paper investigates the Kuwaiti attitudes and code-switching practices between the two most common languages used: Arabic and English. Additionally, it discusses which factors may affect how Kuwaitis code-switch, as well as their attitudes toward this phenomenon. In this study, a qualitative approach was used to collect data by conducting one-on-one interviews with seven participants. The study results showed that four of the seven participants had positive attitudes toward code-switching, whereas the remaining few had either neutral or negative attitudes. The thematic analysis of the qualitative narratives revealed that all of the participants habitually employed code-switching in their social interactions, despite their different attitudes. Being a bilingual speaker is an advantage—it can widen users’ horizons and open new socioeconomic opportunities thanks to globalization and English as a lingua franca. Therefore, parents, teachers, and policymakers are encouraged to work and help create bilingual speakers who are competent users of their mother tongue and their second language, English.

CODE SWITCHING AND CODE MIXING ON CHINA RICH GIRLFRIEND NOVEL BY KEVIN KWAN

This research aimed to find the classification of code switching and code mixing types, and the identification of the reasons that indicated the characters performing code switching and code mixing in the novel entitled China Rich Girlfriend by Kevin Kwan. The researcher used qualitative and content analysis approach in analyzing and interpreting the data. The data source of this research was China Rich Girlfriend novel and data were generated from the dialogues and utterances by the characters which contained the practice of code switching and code mixing. Through the finding of the analysis, there were 87 practices of code switching which is divided into three types. Those are intra-sentential switching, inter-sentential switching and tag switching. And there were 60 practices of code mixing which is known as insertion, alternation and congruent lexicalization. The reasons of the characters performing code switching and code mixing are talking about particular topic, interjection, quoting somebody else, being emphatic about something and expressing group identity.

Politics of Language in COVID-19: Multilingual Perspectives from South Africa

ABSTRACT This study is based on a discourse analysis of official COVID-19 addresses by South African national government ministers with a focus on linguistic choices. While access to healthcare is an obvious issue of social justice during the pandemic, language plays a covert role in processes of access and inequality. Linguistic understanding influences social participation and during an epidemic crisis, access to language plays a significant role in improving responses of affected individuals. Although English is widely accepted as a common lingua franca in the country, it excludes those who are not proficient in the language. In this article, we analyse code-switching practices, translanguaging, and increasing African language usage among ministers of parliament during official COVID-19 speeches and briefings. We argue that the growing use of multilingual resources among South African politicians carries ramifications on language politics, i.e. a shift away from an unquestioned monolingual discourse purporting English as ‘the’ lingua franca which has in the past characterised most national speeches. From this new multilingual perspective, the pandemic has effected an inward orientation rather than the previously dominating concern with international relations.

Teachers’ Perception of Their Code-Switching Practices in English as a Foreign Language Classes: The Results of Stimulated Recall Interview and Conversation Analysis

Teachers often code-switch in the EFL classroom, but the question of whether or not they are aware of their code-switching has not been satisfactorily answered. This article presents the study on teachers’ understandings and beliefs about their code-switching practices in EFL classrooms as well as effective language teaching and learning. The participants of this study came from four junior high schools in Padang, West Sumatra, Indonesia: five teachers with their respective classes. This research used the conversation analysis and stimulated recall interviews to analyze the data which came from the video recording of classroom observations and the audio recording of stimulated recall interviews with teachers. The results revealed the pedagogical functions and affective functions of teacher’s code-switching. The data also showed that the use of stimulated recall interviews helped teachers to be consciously aware of their code-switching as well as of their other pedagogical practices in the language classroom. Therefore, stimulated recall interviews can be a useful tool for teacher self-reflection that they were not aware of their code switch. This awareness could be incorporated into language teacher professional development and in-service teacher professional learning.

The Practice of Code Mixing and Code Switching among Students of ELDC Muet Jamshoro

This research study is about the practice and influence of using English code mixing and switching among students of ELDC MUET Jamshoro. The students are Sindhi/Urdu speakers and mix these languages for communication. This study investigates the causes and effects of code mixing and switching. It reveals the factors which cause failure and success in exams and understand how to avoid this practice of code mixing in English language classrooms of ELDC. In this study all the theories are mentioned which are used in theoretical framework such as the theory of grammar and its usage, language acquisition, imitation theory and inter-language theory. In this study, qualitative research method is applied; content analysis is used for data collection, its analysis and also presentation. The results and findings show that code mixing and switching has great influence on language performance of students, it causes failure and success in exams, and students feel shy to speak English in front of teachers and other students. This practice creates lack of confidence in students and they fail to master the skills of English language. This study also indicate that teachers are the main roles to avoid this practice of code mixing and switching, they are needed to avail trainings and strategies of pedagogy to apply in language classrooms. Keywords: code mixing; switching; students; classroom; language DOI: 10.7176/JLLL/77-03 Publication date: March 31 st 2021

Identity Construction through Code-Switching Practices at a University in Pakistan

Code-switching can be used to express and create different meanings and ideologies, as well as different identities. Speakers can choose various codes in their linguistic repertoires to do these things. In academic settings in Pakistan, English is likely to be used with Urdu and regional languages, such as Pashto, resulting in the expression and construction of different identities. In order to examine the link between code-switching and identity in a multilingual academic setting, this paper examines the construction of identity that emerges from code-switching practices among a group of lecturers and students at a university in Pakistan. Data were collected through recordings of interactions supplemented with semi-structured interviews, which were then ethnographically analysed from a micro-macro perspective. The findings revealed a seamless and dynamic use of code - switching, which was mainly in English and Pashto. The fluid nature of the code - switching makes it seem as if speakers have developed a different ‘language’ combining Pashto and English. Such use of code-switching reflects their socialisation in a multilingual and multicultural environment, which in turn, has led to the emergence of their hybrid identity orientations. The study contributes empirical evidence of the link between code - switching and hybrid identities in a multilingual context. The findings also imply that interactive practices should be examined from a dynamic micro-macro perspective because changes in the social environment can affect the thinking, perceptions, behaviours, and identity-orientations of the speakers.

The Practice of Classroom Code-Switching, Translanguaging or Simply Alternating Languages in FL Teacher Talk

Alternating between languages in an FL classroom is first of all observed in teacher talk which is an important dimension of FL teachers’ discourse. (Tsui 2008). The empirical study presented here focuses on the language choices made between the L1 and FL(s) by both in-service teachers (group 1) and pre-service trainees (group 2) during English lessons—but it is not meant to be an in-depth debate on L1/FL use in a language classroom. It is a small-scale diagnostic study of a FL classroom and TT behaviour of the subjects. The text starts with a brief presentation of the concepts of code-switching and translanguaging, as applied in educational contexts and here operationalized for the purposes of a pilot study on language choices in teacher talk. The observations of EFL lessons focus on the purpose(s) language alterations are made by the teachers and seek to reflect on the extent to which these purposes refer to clearly-defined instructional functions—cognitive but also affective ones. These language choices made also constitute an important pedagogical dimension beyond language instruction itself. The results of the study show that both experienced and trainee teachers switch languages consciously during the lesson at similar stages and for similar purposes, however some differences are also observed and discussed in the text. The major focus of discussion is on the pre-service teachers, as the study is part of awareness raising, and thus reflectivity enhancement of trainees participating in their teacher training at the undergraduate level (BA) but who are already active teachers in the period of their school placement.

An Exploratory Study of Language Use and Preferences among Nursing Lecturers and Students at Mzuzu University in Malawi

This article reports on the insights gained from multilingual nursing
 lecturers and students at Mzuzu University in Malawi on the languages
 they use and prefer in a classroom setting. Research (Setati, Chitera and
 Essien, 2009; Chowdhury 2012) has found that both lecturers and students
 in multilingual and multicultural settings favour code-switching practices
 in the classroom setting. Code-switching is, therefore, an important
 phenomenon, which researchers should continue exploring because of
 the several distinctive attributes associated with it. The study adheres to
 qualitative and quantitative designs through the use of a questionnaire
 and follow-up interviews as methods of data collection. The results reveal
 that both lecturers and students favour code-switching from English to
 Chichewa during lectures. From both lecturers’ and students’ perspectives,
 code-switching helps to translate and clarify difficult concepts. It also
 helps to prepare students for the nursing profession. The study has some
 practical and pedagogical implications. On the one hand, it contributes
 some meaningful insights for language planners and policy-makers; on
 the other hand, the study sheds important light on the need to include the
 workplace dimension during language in education and language planning
 conversations. This study is also important because it addresses the issue of
 how code-switching might effectively be exploited as a communicative and
 pedagogical resource in instruction.

Are All Code-Switches Processed Alike? Examining Semantic v. Language Unexpectancy

Prior studies using the event-related potential (ERP) technique show that integrating sentential code-switches during online processing leads to a broadly distributed late positivity component (LPC), while processing semantically unexpected continuations instead leads to the emergence of an N400 effect. While the N400 is generally assumed to index lexico-semantic processing, the LPC has two different interpretations. One account suggests that it reflects the processing of an improbable or unexpected event, while an alternative account proposes sentence-level reanalysis. To investigate the relative costs of semantic to language-based unexpectancies (i.e., code-switches), the current study tests 24 Spanish-English bilinguals in an ERP reading study. Semantically constrained Spanish frames either varied in their semantic expectancy (high vs. low expectancy) and/or their language continuation (same-language vs. code-switch) while participants’ electrophysiological responses were recorded. The Spanish-to-English switch direction provides a more naturalistic test for integration costs to code-switching as it better approximates the code-switching practices of the target population. Analyses across three time windows show a main effect for semantic expectancy in the N400 time window and a main effect for code-switching in the LPC time window. Additional analyses based on the self-reported code-switching experience of the participants suggest an early positivity linked to less experience with code-switching. The results highlight that not all code-switches lead to similar integration costs and that prior experience with code-switching is an important additional factor that modulates online processing.

How ordinary child language acquisition processes can lead to the unusual outcome of a mixed language

Aims and Objectives: The aim of this study is to examine the language processing mechanisms involved when young children bring structural innovations into their community way of speaking, as part of conventionalising code-switching practices to become a mixed language. Approach: The study takes a qualitative approach to the analysis of child language acquisition and adult speech data in two contexts. Data and Analysis: The study analyses naturalistic and spontaneous speech data of children and adults speaking the mixed language, Light Warlpiri, and adults older than that age group who do not speak the new mixed language. It compares an innovative auxiliary form in Light Warlpiri to child non-target speech in English with data taken from the Child Language Data Exchange System corpus. Findings: The findings are that the Light Warlpiri-speaking children used processes of re-analysis that are commonly found in child first language acquisition in other contexts to re-analyse elements of the verbal input, but because of the sociolinguistic context they created an innovative structure. Originality: The study is the first to directly compare processes of innovation in language contact with those of non-target structures in monolingual child language acquisition, identifying the same processes in each. It is also the first to show that a dramatic structural change from a linguistic perspective may be a small, incremental change from a child learner’s perspective. Significance/Implications: The significance of the study is that until now processes of innovation in language contact situations have been thought by many to differ in quality from those in monolingual child language acquisition contexts. This study shows that the child language acquisition processes are the same in each situation, but different sociolinguistic contexts lead to different outcomes for the communities’ ways of speaking. It also shows that children do not bring in new structure that is not motivated by their input; rather, they make small changes to the input they receive.

Functions of Code-switching in Young Moroccans’ Facebook Comments

<em>This study investigates, through a qualitative approach, code-switching practices of young Moroccans in their Facebook interactions. The purpose behind this research is to analyse the functions of code-switching in Facebook comments, that were extracted from 30 Facebook accounts, and find out whether the choice of switching between languages is a conscious act that serves certain communicative functions, or it is a random choice made by young Moroccan Facebook users to compensate for a linguistic incompetence. Functions were coded and analysed using a grounded theory. Results achieved through the analysis of code-switching functions that occurred in the participants’ Facebook comments revealed that code-switching appeared, mainly, to serve notions of quotation, addressee specification, availability, principle of economy, indicating emotions, clarification, emphasis, habitual expressions, creativity and euphemism. Therefore, code-switching in young Moroccans’ Facebook comments is considered as a communication strategy that aims at enhancing their interactions in Facebook and making them more fluid and vibrant.</em>

Jeffrey Shandler. Holocaust Memory in the Digital Age: Survivors’ Stories and New Media Practices. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2017. ix + 232 pp.

Reviewed by: Holocaust Memory in the Digital Age: Survivors' Stories and New Media Practices by Jeffrey Shandler Oren Baruch Stier Jeffrey Shandler. Holocaust Memory in the Digital Age: Survivors' Stories and New Media Practices. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2017. ix + 232 pp. doi:10.1017/S0364009419001120 Jeffrey Shandler's latest book is based on years of online access to the video testimonies collected by the USC Shoah Foundation's Visual History Archive (VHA). The VHA, he notes, arose and developed at a critical temporal juncture in both Holocaust memory and technological dissemination, "as it straddles the temporal boundary marked by the loss of living witnesses to the Holocaust, the VHA also bestrides the transition from the 'video age' to the 'digital age'" (3–4). Shandler asks: What are the implications and impacts of the mix of memory practices employed in and by these testimonies, as well as the archive that houses them? Preceded by a chapter that contextualizes the archive historically, memorially, and technologically, the remainder of this book presents a series of case studies grouped formally according to three categories derived from "Aristotle's Poetics—mythos, lexis, and opsis…. Situat[ing] VHA interviews within the extensive history of performed narrative works, rather than confining them to a particular genre (such as oral history or wartime memoir) or treating them as exceptional phenomena" (5). [End Page 224] The first of these groupings addresses the nature of video-recorded narrative, typically presented by various archiving projects as possessing "an unrivaled immediacy and authority" (43). But, in actuality, the narratives are highly contextual, dependent on social, structural, and institutional frameworks. Even the very nomenclature employed can affect how these narratives are understood: eyewitnesses offering their accounts are referred to as "survivors, which connotes tenacity" (46). Furthermore, "because these narratives are esteemed as providing information to historians, moral guidance to the young, and retorts to Holocaust deniers, survivor videos are often referred to as 'testimonies,' invoking this term's implication of bearing witness in a legal proceeding or making a religious avowal" (47). Of particular interest to Shandler in this chapter are "the VHA recordings in which survivors' life histories are informed by other narratives" (49), including other versions of their own story, because the "tales retold" reflect and inform the very act and craft of storytelling. Shandler focuses on two groups of testimonies that respond to other narratives: accounts that discuss the film Schindler's List (itself embedded in the origin story of the VHA, since the VHA emerged from director Steven Spielberg's discussion with Holocaust survivors in the course of making his award-winning movie) and interviews with celebrity survivors. The second set of case studies considers the complexities of language in the interviews. The VHA, like most collections of a similar nature, works on a monolingual model. Subjects chose which language to speak, which "constrained most survivors' full range of linguistic resources" (90). Shandler, an expert on Yiddish language, literature, and culture, focuses in this chapter on ways Yiddish is engaged in the VHA interviews; 633 of them were conducted fully or partially in the language (92), a choice of the interviewees that reveals the multivalency of Yiddish as well as their own thoughts concerning language and memory and the relationships between the two. In terms of the narration of the past, Shandler examines recordings in Yiddish and English in order to explore the practice of code switching and what it may indicate. He also looks at the significance of Yiddish for survivors who mention it in the course of their testimonies, a "limited, inconstant presence … [that] is itself revealing" (113). Finally, Shandler discusses cases in which Yiddish texts are performed in the interviews: episodes, typically near the end of their testimonies, in which survivors assert a greater degree of agency—moments that accentuate their very survival. Yiddish is not only symbolic in these cases, but it is also quite literally preserved "as a resource for the future" (124). The third and final group of case studies addresses optics. In a chapter titled "Spectacle: Seeing as Believing," Shandler analyzes the uniquely visual components of these interviews, including protocols for videographers and, as others have noted, the domestic setting...

How different code-switching types modulate bilinguals’ executive functions: A dual control mode perspective

AbstractMost existing studies on the relationship between code-switching and executive functions have focused on experimentally induced language-switching, which differs fundamentally from naturalistic code-switching. This study investigated whether and how bilinguals’ code-switching practices modulate different aspects of executive functioning. Our findings suggest that existing processing models of code-switching should be extended by a dual control mode perspective, differentiating between reactive and proactive monitoring. Bilinguals engaging in code-switching types that keep languages more separate (Alternation) displayed inhibitory advantages in a flanker task inducing reactive control. Dense code-switching, which requires bilinguals to constantly monitor cross-linguistic competition, explained performance in proactive monitoring conditions. Furthermore, a correlation between Dense code-switching and response inhibition suggests that linguistic co-activation may persist during articulatory stages of language processing. Crucially, bilinguals outperformed monolinguals at those aspects of the executive system that were trained by their most frequent code-switching habits. This underlines the importance of sociolinguistic variables in bilingualism research.

Can You Hear Me Now? An Autoethnographic Analysis of Code-Switching

This autoethnography, based on a cultural epistemology grounded in my lived experiences as Black and middle class, is written as an exploration of the communication practice of code-switching. It is the consideration of Du Bois’ double-consciousness as reflected in my language practices. It is a means to examine the development of my Black identity in an aggressively hegemonic society. Using Cross’ Black identity development model to structure and frame my inquiry, I examine my experiences with code-switching in both Black-dominated and White-dominated spaces to understand how the choice to use “Standard English” or Ebonics, depending on audience, reflects the tension inherent in the Black American identity. This autoethnography attempts to draw connections to how the intersection of oppressed identities results in power inequities that shape communication practices for marginalized populations.

Structural Patterns of Multilingual Codeswitching between Arabic and English

As multilingualism is increasingly embraced in Saudi Arabia, the inevitable practice of codeswitching is a topic of heated debate. While it has been the subject of strong-held beliefs and opinions, established scholarly work is needed to enlighten the understanding of this use of languages. Hence, this study explored naturally occurring data of the codeswitching use of Arabic and English by multilingual Arab students as they attend Arabic weekly cultural seminar sessions during their temporary stay and study in the US. It captures their codeswitching use via video recordings and subjected to linguistic analyses on three levels: whole text-level, sentence-level and morpheme-level, with the implementation of the mixed-method approach. The findings revealed that the linguistic analysis of 523 codeswitching occurrences found in the data revealed the structural complexity and variety of codeswitching as a linguistic resource available to multilinguals fluent in Arabic and English. Occurring spontaneously and rather unpredictably in multilingual interactions, it disproved common Saudi and other perceptions of it as a form of language offense and careless linguistic behavior.

False foe? When and how code switching practices can support knowledge sharing in multinational corporations

Abstract The operating environment of multinational corporations (MNC) is multilingual, adding significant complexity to knowledge-sharing interactions between employees. In this paper, we explore how knowledge sharing in MNCs is influenced by code switching, or shifting between languages during interaction. Previous international business research has mostly described code switching as a behavior that has a negative impact on knowledge sharing by creating distrust and exclusion. Our case study of a major Finnish MNC from the perspective of faultline theory shows that in situations where organizational norms and routines help limit the potential impacts of code switching on subgroup formation and inter-subgroup animosity, it can also aid knowledge sharing by (i) supporting the development and maintenance of key technical vocabulary, (ii) enhancing inclusion in knowledge-sharing interactions, and (iii) supporting knowledge contextualization processes. Thus, code switching is not necessarily just a form of linguistic interference, but it can also be intended—and often functions—as a strategic behavior that draws on multiple languages to build efficient and successful knowledge-sharing interactions.

Indexicalities in Code-Switching Practices across Namibian Ethnicities

This study addresses the question of how multilectal behaviours can become stylistically functional. It proposes as a case study informal multilectal behaviours in Namibia, where indigenous languages co-exist with English and Afrikaans, the country’s lingua francas. The data involve informal intra-ethnic interactions featuring five Namibian ethnicities. A turn-by- turn analysis seeks to establish whether the participants’ code-switching patterns possess sequential salience and thus stylistic potential. Subsequently, an ethnographic perspective is taken to confirm whether this stylistic potential translates into sociolinguistic indexicalities. The study finds that—apart from white Namibians—the ethnolinguistic groups involved tend to display comparable interactional patterns of convergence/divergence in their code-switching behaviours, suggesting that the participants attach stylistic potential to code-switching. The ethnographic perspective links English to authority/worldliness, native languages to ingroupness, and L2 Afrikaans varieties to “street smart” attributes. Additionally, it shows that specific code-switching patterns are used as balancing acts between these values.

Language policy and practice between urban and rural schools in Galicia, Spain

Bilingual communities face many obstacles when considering the legal and applied aspects of language use in schools. Many bilingual countries exhibit the following linguistic spatial pattern: Prestigious state language is predominately spoken in cities and familial regional language is predominately spoken in the countryside. This study seeks to gauge language norms between urban and rural schools in Galicia, Spain by collecting self-reported classroom language use from Galician teachers and students across three urban and three rural school sites. Rural teachers and students reported more code switching behavior than those in urban schools. Furthermore, Galician subject teachers reported code switching more frequently than Castilian subject teachers regardless of locale. These findings show the common practice of code switching in Galicia is more prevalent in spaces of Galician speakership, and that Castilian is more readily utilized across locales despite sentiments directed at the need to preserve the Galician language.

Pedagogical Practices of Code-Switching in EFL Classrooms in Padang, Indonesia

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Tracing emergent multilectal styles

Abstract This study addresses the question of how focused code-switching practices can become. It takes two complementary approaches to determine sorts and degrees of focusing, namely, a sequential analyst perspective, and a holistic perspective involving general sociolinguistic data and member’s perspectives. The case study presented involves a multilectal interaction between urban speakers of Oshiwambo, the main ethnic language of Namibia, where it cohabits with English and Afrikaans, the country’s lingua francas. The analysis reveals a range of structurally or qualitatively distinctive CS patterns involving Oshiwambo (dialects), English, and Afrikaans, used by all participants. Mostly alternational CS and specific types of backflagging display sequential regularity, while other CS patterns seem randomly distributed, at first sight an attribute of ‘free variation’. However, the examination of social indexicalities attached to the observed CS patterns shows that they all contribute to the performance of a multi-layered balancing act between urban and ethnic authenticities.