An Investigation On Code-switching Of English Teachers In Junior High Schools

Code-switching refers to the speakers' alternate use from one language or language variety to another in one conversation or utterance.Since the 1960s,code-switching in foreign language classroom has become a hot topic.Due to the influence of the audio-lingual method and communicative language teaching,many researchers advocate the use of target language in EFL classroom.They think that the use of mother tongue will hinder foreign language teaching.However,as time passes,many scholars have made extensive and in-depth research on foreign language classroom,and found that the conversion between mother tongue and target language is universal in foreign language classroom and is regarded as an effective teaching strategy.On this basis,this thesis discusses the current situation of code-switching in English classroom of a township junior high school in Xiangshui County,Yancheng City.This study focuses on the following three questions:1.What types of code-switching are commonly used in EFL classroom?2.What attitude do teachers and students have to code-switching in EFL classroom?3.What are the functions of code-switching?This study collects data through three channels:classroom observation and recording,student questionnaire and teacher interview,and then uses quantitative and qualitative methods to analyze the collected data.The research object of this thesis is 196 students and five local excellent English teachers from a township junior high school in Xiangshui County,Yancheng City.The quantitative research focuses on the transcribing of classroom recordings and the summarizing of the feedback information from students' questionnaires and teachers' interviews,so as to find out the proportion,quantity and structural type of code-switching in EFL classroom.According to Poplack' s code-switching typology,three kinds of code-switching are also found in EFL classroom,namely inter-sentential code-switching,intra-sentential code-switching and tag code-switching.Among all code-switching,tag code-switching is the least commonly used.In addition,the results of the students'questionnaire show that most of the students are in favor of using their mother tongue in English class,which is most helpful when teachers teach new vocabularies,explain grammar or review lessons.However,a considerable number of students' attitudes towards code-switching in class are indifferent.From the perspective of teacher interviews,teachers admit that they often use Chinese in the teaching process and support the use of code-switching.They all see the positive side of code switching to their teaching and students' learning.This qualitative study focuses on the function of code-switching in EFL classroom.It is found that the functions of code-switching are mainly teaching,communication and adaptation.Teachers sometimes use L1 to build scaffolding for students.Considering time constraints and examination scores,teachers help them simplify complex concepts.To sum up,code switching is mainly used by teachers to save time,improve teaching efficiency,promote students'understanding of the knowledge and improve English scores.From the research,the author mainly draws the following teaching implications:code-switching of English teachers in rural areas is common,and there is an excessive use of mother tongue in the junior high school EFL classroom in the township,and teachers use their mother tongue at will.Therefore,teachers should make good use of the positive role of code-switching in junior high school English teaching,so as to prevent too much use of mother tongue from hindering the target language input.Besides,the teacher should know the English level of the students in his/her class to ensure that the students can get the most benefit from the code-switching.