The functions of Code-Switching in English Language Teaching classroom discourse by Kindergarten teachers in five Elementary schools in an Educational District in Saint Lucia.
Introduction
The English language teacher is still the main person in the classroom from which students derive many of their language experiences. Therefore, teachers need to remain vigilant in the manner in which they use the language. Teachers who are bilingual speakers may often opt to alternate between languages for particular reasons or do so unconsciously. There are teachers who believe that in English language teaching, code–switching should be avoided, meanwhile others perceive code-switching as being a helpful teaching strategy in understanding components of the target language which is sometimes English. Irrespective of the opinions by teachers about which aspect should be favoured, it is crucial that the reasons which influence code-switching by teachers in English language learning classrooms be studied. This will assist other educators in making a better determination of whether to include or exclude code-switching in the language teaching process.
Background to the Study
Saint Lucia is a bilingual nation where Saint Lucian English and a French lexified-Creole (Kweyol) are widely spoken in similar domains. Contrary to English being the official language in Saint Lucia and the argument of whether the language situation is still diglossic, schools predominantly acknowledge the use of both languages by teachers and students in formal classroom discourse. Classroom discourse in this research paper implies the talk or face to face conversation that is undertaken in the classroom. As a result, situations arise in the class...
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...ment of confidentiality, the names of each participant shall be anonymous in the study with capitalized symbols ‘A, B, C, D, E' to represent each of the participants.
Population and Sample
The population of the research includes nineteen Kindergarten teachers who are all females from ten Primary Schools in Educational District 6 in Saint Lucia. The five teachers and their schools selected for this investigation shall be deliberately selected, that is after permission is granted to implement the research, based on the teacher's competence to speak both Kweyol and English and because of close proximity to the researcher's ability to conduct the research. In schools selected where there are more than one Kindergarten teacher and they are all competent bilingual speakers, the researcher will allow the principal to select the teacher for the investigation.
It is interesting for Lisa Kanae to use three different voices in her book, Sista Tongue. The structure of Sista Tongue is different from standard books as if to make her words flow and become active. Her message still holds truth in today’s society. In many homes, younger generations face the inadequacy of being unable to understand their mother tongues while their parents struggle with learning English. Code-switching is natural for bilingual people and those that speak to other sub-cultures. Lisa Kanae’s different voices are similar to
In Verhsawn Ashanti Young’s article titled, “Nah, We Straight: An argument Against Code Switching,” he makes his objectives clear as he argues against people Right to their own language. The author questions the advantage of standard American English as opposed to other types of English. He refers to those aspect as code switching, which he believes can lead to racist thinking. Code switching, according to Young, calls out for one way of speaking to be omitted in favor of others, based on one's rhetorical situations. The author points out that students are required to translate from Afro-American English or Spanglish to standard English and not the other way around, which is concerning. Youngs method to get around this segregation is the usage
As a result of many negative stereotypes associated with certain variations of English many students have adapted codeswitching. When this concept came up in the book it made me think about my own language. I realized that I code switch quite often between what is seen as Standard English and African American English or Ebonics. Usually with family or other friends that speak Ebonics I use that Ebonics to communicate, but when I am in school, in a
Everyone has various styles of speaking and various ranges of vocabulary that they utilize depending upon with whom they speak. This concept, known as code switching, portrays an integral part of our lives in today’s society. The fact that different groups of people speak in different ways necessitates the use of code switching. One would not speak to a group of high school students in the manner that one would speak to a scholar, or speak to a prison inmate in the same regard that one would speak with the President of the United States. Speaking in standard American English and then in African American Vernacular English (AAVE), or Ebonics, portrays the most prominent use of code switching in today’s society, especially among American youths. Today, people utilize code switching to associate better amongst a group of people. In William Wells Brown’s Clotel, code switching plays an important role in the escape of two slaves, outwitting a train employee, and simply showing the difference between a slave’s behavior with other slaves and the slave’s behavior in the presence of his owner.
The essay starts off by talking about a common belief shared by many parents now about how students miss out on “a great deal by not being taught their family’s language”(Rodriguez 525). But the author states that this isn’t always true especially considering the children who are socially disadvantaged in any way, they more than likely consider their native tongue or the language used at home to be just that a private language that should only be used around or with the family, he also highlights how odd it was that his childhood classmates
When people in todays society code-switch, we enhance our character and overall roundness to ourselves. There are instances where people code-switch to communicate with others in a different language, or we change our tone with certain groups of people. Speaking multiple languages in a household, can lead to a lot of code-switching because you can have that one relative who can’t speak english, so you become a “translator” to help them with daily tasks. Even though code-switching can happen with different languages, the most common code-switching is used when speaking to different groups of people. Talking to an adult would have a different type of tone, rather than speaking to one of your friends. Code-switching is used to help strengthen
Many linguists define CS as “the use of two different languages or language within a single conversation or written text” (Benson, 2001). We are using the term in a much broader sense to highlight how a speaker may express themselves in conversation. For the purpose of our research we will describe the phenomenon of code-switching (CS) as “the practice of shifting languages you use or the way you express yourself in conversation” (NPR, 2013). CS expands across many cultures as there is code-switching between languages, dialects, race, gender, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. There are many factors that motivate a speaker to switch from one language, dialect, style, or register to another. Depending on the situation, a speaker may CS consciously
America is home for thousands of cultures and languages. Most people can speak at least two different languages either because of the environment and family or simply by taking another world language class in school. One of the advantages with knowing more than one language is that code-switching becomes a part of you and it happens naturally. In “‘ I Don’t ‘Code-Switch’ to Hide my Identity. I ‘Code-Switch’ to celebrate It,”’ Vaidehi Mujumdar states that code-switching is enriching and exciting based on her personal experience. In “learning How to Code-Switching: Humbling, But Necessary,” Eric Deggans claims that code-switching is valuable and necessary in everyday lifestyle and it is lot more than just being about cultural differences. If one were to put Deggans and
Language is a mean of communication in any given society. It represents the ability to evolve and progress through the ongoing process of living with other human beings. Many can perceive this instrument as tool of liberation and transformation but others as an instrument to enslave, manipulate or oppress a group of people. Whichever the case one need to acknowledge that it is necessary and not a waste of time the many different discussions about this ongoing topic regardless of the time period or social context any country might have. In Puerto Rico, there has been an ongoing dilemma about languages; Dr. Alicia Pousada examines on her essay what many might define “the language madness on the island”. Throughout this paper some of her most interesting ideas will be shared and discussed so that this already extended topic might find another page to take place.
For this research requirement I chose three different experiments to examine thoroughly. The first of these experiments came from the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. The study done in this journal was an examination of orthographic learning and self-teaching in a bilingual and biliterate context. The aim of the study was to figure out the advantages and/or disadvantages of a student learning a native language when they are either monolingual, bilingual, or biliterate, and the study was focused on learning English because this is the most commonly learned non-native language in the world.
Primary schools that introduce language learning at an earlier phase may do so for a number of purposes, but it is because of the benefits of learning a language at a younger age that this paper has chosen Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) as its target scheme of work. For the purpose of this assignment the focus language will be French (but the strategies to be discussed will apply to any MFL). The ideas within the scheme of work will be critically discussed as part of university experience, school practice and relevant research.
To start with, this research was conducted in Monsenyor Gibert Primary School located in Sant Fruitós de Bages (Bages). It is a two-form entry public school, which covers students from Preschool Education to Primary Education, age 3 to 12. Furthermore, they lack of a CLIL program, but the English teacher uses once a week a book with different topics about all the subjects. Thus, children can acquire some vocabulary about other disciplines in the foreign language.
In the twentieth century, the avoidance of the using L1 in classrooms dominated teachers’ minds; as well it was implemented in many policies and guidelines of language teaching (Cook, 2001). Thornbury (2010) listed a set of arguments against using L1 in L2 classrooms mainly for that the translation of L2 into another language will play negative effects on students’ learning process. He pointed out that the use of L1 will result learners to have a cognitive dependence on their mother tongue at the expense of developing independence TL learning. Although the two language systems are not equivalent in many aspects, students may have an awareness of the notion of equivalence of the two languages if translation serves to convey meanings. Some argue that the use of translation to convey the meaning of the TL is more efficient and more memorable. However, Thornbury (2010) sees the opposite. He stated that the simple and direct way of translation will make L2 knowledge less memorable since the process lacks mental efforts in working out meanings.
Kachru, B. B. (1992). Teaching world Englishes. The other tongue: English across cultures, 2, 355-366.
Teachers of young children have a difficult task – to be a model, provider, and facilitator in promoting language learning and literacy. These roles can be very challenging to achieve. The teacher needs to be sensitive to the individual child’s needs – when to supply information and when to hold it back; when to talk and when to listen. The teacher’s attitude towards the child’s speech is critically important. In this way, a teacher can maximize the child’s language development. (Machado, 2014)