Perceptions of teachers and students about the functions and usage of English to Urdu code-switching in Pakistani ESL Classroom
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Date
2018
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University of Management & Technology
Abstract
This topic of this research is the investigation of the perceptions and beliefs of Pakistani students and teachers concerning the usage of code-switching in the Pakistani ESL classroom. Functions and usage of code-switching are also examined in the context of the classroom. Forty teachers and eighty-six students belonging to Lahore, Pakistan, were the participants of this study. The data was collected through questionnaires. The results indicated that teachers generally perceived code-switching as an effective tool which could be employed to further enhance the process of language instruction. Nevertheless, some reservations were expressed by the teachers related to the adverse repercussions of code-switching. The opinions of the teachers conflicted with one another when it came to employing code-switching in the educational institutes, mainly in the classroom environment. This clash between opinions could be ascribed to the prevalent principles of monolingualism in the field of Second language acquisition (SLA). Students generally gave a positive response towards the usage of code-switching in classroom but not without reservations. Students believed that code-switching helped them in overcoming their lack of proficiency in English when it comes to peer to peer communication but were conflicted on the using code-switching in the classroom. These reservations are due the administrations’ and teachers’ encouragement of using English only in all contexts. Educational administration and teachers should develop strategies to employ code-switching in the classroom and minimize its negative effects rather than shunning it completely which would also give students the confidence to rely on this pedagogic tool for improvement in language learning.
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Keywords
code-switching, monolingualism, reservations, encouragement, pedagogic tool