Code—switching and Its Use in Senior High School’s English Teaching

王星 汪艳辉 周红装

【Abstract】Code-switching has drawn much attention from expert in linguistics recently. The author holds that we should adopt code-switching appropriately in the English teaching activity since it can generate some positive effects. In order to illustrate that hypothesis， the method of literature research will mainly been utilized with the help of investigation and observation at some English class at Xiangtan No.1Senior High School. Whats more， interview also is adopted to find the view of teacher and student about this phenomenon.

【Key words】code-switching； English teaching； second language acquisition

1. Introduction

What the author wants to investigated is code-switching and its use in English teaching. In the author opinion， though a good language environment is very important for learners， using Chinese in English teaching activity is necessary. It can benefit learners if teacher use it appropriately.

In linguistics， code-switching occurs when a speaker alternates between two or more languages， or language varieties， in the context of a single conversation. Richards（2002）， Poplack（1980） distinguished three kinds of code-switching： Inter-sentential switching， which occurs outside the sentence or the clause level， also called “extra-sentential switching.” For example， “他说的那件事？（the thing he talks）I dont care.” Intra-sentential switching which occurs within a sentence or a clause. Such as “记得E-mail我哦！”（Please remember e-mail me！）. Tag-switching is the switching of either a tag phrase or a word， or both， from one language to another， （common in intra-sentential switches）. Such as “它是从美国来的，you know？”（he comes from America， you know？）. Bloom and Gumerz divided it into two types according to the element of social and context： Situational code-switching and Metaphorical code-switching. The code-switching， especially used by teacher in class， belongs to the second one.

It is common knowledge that the acquisition of second language influenced greatly by first language. They think that first language always prevent them from learning English well. Thus， in the process of learning English， student is required to forget the Chinese. But as far as the author concerned， the aim of teacher of using first language in class is to make student learn English better and it is helpful for student to understand the content of the lesson and the management of the class.

2. Method of Collecting Data

In order to find the code-switching in real English teaching class， the author attended four English classes at Xiangtan No.1Senior High School， and observed the code-switching happened in it. To conclude， the author gets a table：

When teacher try to analyze a text， he only uses Chinese at some particular situations. And at practice and feedback part， English still takes up most percentage. As for students， they use most Chinese at discussion part， while less at answering question part.

On the other hand， the author has interviewed some teachers and students in order to know their views towards the phenomenon. Two teachers hold that we should use English at whole class to create a foreign atmosphere for better learning. But most of them believe that it is necessary to use code-switching in the teaching and learning process.

3. Analysis of Data

The investigation and observation are carried out at some English classes at Xiangtan No.1Senior High School. The major participation is composed of some English teachers and students. Teacher acts as a leader at most situations except the discussion and question-answering part. On the contrary， student acts as a listener and leader at discussion and question part.

Here are some situations where code-switching happens：

The first one， a teacher was analyzing a text which contains the word “Liver Failure”， he said， “It is a kind of disease. It refers to the fact that our peoples liver which is one of the organ in our body failed. 即肝脏衰竭（gang zang shuai jie）。” After the words were explained by Chinese， student suddenly understands it.

The second one， teacher said， “last week， I required all of you look for information about William Shakespeare. Is there anyone can tell me what youve found？” Student A： “He is a famous English writer， 代表作（dai biao zuo） are four 悲剧（bei ju）……” Teacher： “Ok， thank you.代表作is masterpiece， 悲剧is tragedy.” Most of student begin to note down the word “masterpiece” and try to remember it.

The third one， teacher： “this phrase can be used at following circumstances， first……（Whole class is quite， suddenly， PPT makes a sound） Teacher：“Oh， my…吓死我了。” （student is laughing.）

The fourth one， teacher： “who can give your opinion about this topic？” （Silent） “Dont be shy； you can say anything you know.”（Still silent） “大家今天怎么都不积极了啊，没睡好？就随便说说自己的观点就可以的。” After that， some students who are wonder to answer stand up and express their opinions.

The fifth one， Chinese takes almost 80% at whole class. Teacher use Chinese no matter what he wants to express， even the easiest word like wonderful. The author noticed that student hasnt use English at all.

From the data above in the table， it is easily to find that code-switching plays a crucial role in the process which student accepting knowledge. It definitely generate positive effects from some aspect， students feedback， students question-answering， and communication between teacher and student， etc..

As for five real situations， it is easy for us to find the reason why code-switching should be used in English teaching activities. Because of appropriately use of code-switching truly generates some good effects. From the first situation， code-switching appears to make student understand the word which is too difficult for them. In this case， code-switching functions as information explaining. Teacher can use it to offer student “comprehensible input”， making student understand， verify， and correct the information they received， therefore， achieve a better result of English teaching. From the second situation， when student cannot say the word correctly， he seeks help from Chinese. Under this circumstances， people uses code-switching to avoid the interruption of communication in order to express themselves clearly. At most of time， they can get the correct form and the feedback of knowledge correspondingly. Students get bored easily when teacher is teaching something. From the third situation we can find that code-switching sometimes can make class active. Using code-switching appropriately can help student ease their stress and anxious so that they can learn English effectively. From the fourth situation， Chinese has been used to encourage student who are afraid of making mistakes to overcome their anxious and emotional stress. The last situation reminds us that the use of code-switching should obey some principles； we cannot use it at any situation.

Last but not least， according to the interview the author has conducted， it has been found that people are willing to accept the existence of code-switching in English teaching activity. And most of them hold that it truly helpful， no matter for English teacher or student to some extent.

4. Summary of Findings

From the data analysis and interview， we find that people are satisfied with the phenomenon of code-switching at English teaching class. Appropriately use of code-switching at English teaching class can benefit both the student and teacher.

According to the date the author has investigated， we know that use of code-switching at English teaching class has four functions： information exvplanation， communicative function， enliven class， and communicates infections. And from the last situation， we noticed that there exist particular principles we should observed. Here are the principles the author summarized： firstly， target language is the first choice. Since students have few chances to use English， teacher should use English as their work language to ensure that student has enough English input. Secondly， the use of Chinese in English class should be controlled. The code-switching should appropriately used according to the needs of the curriculum and students. No use and overuse of Chinese both can affect the students learning. Having discussed the principles of code-switching used at English class， we， as an English teacher， must keep that in mind.

References：

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[2]贾慧.语码转换及其在英语教学中的运用[M].外语教学与研究，2009.1.