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Teacher-Initiated Code-Switching in the EFL Classroom

Introduction

In a world where English plays a crucial role as a global language and a language for

business purposes, English programs and teachers in contexts where English is taught as a

foreign language (EFL) are important resources for English language learners (Fareed, 2017).

Many of these programs have English-only policies, either for teachers or students (Liu, Ahn,

Baek, & Han, 2004). Others don’t have set policies, but allow teachers to use either English or

the students’ first language (L1) at their discretion (Järvinen, 2014; Siong & Min, 2017).

However, exclusively speaking English is not the only possible mode of instruction. Code-

switching, or “[switching] between languages in…communication” is another option for English

language instruction (Fareed, 2017, p. 1). This paper will investigate the extent to which teacher-

initiated code-switching has been researched, focusing on research related to the frequency of

code-switching, student and teacher attitudes toward code-switching, and the effects of code-

switching on student language acquisition.

Frequency of Teacher-initiated Code-switching

A number of studies have commented on the frequency of teacher code-switching in the

classroom (Liu, Ahn, Baek, et al., 2004; Lee, 2010; Jarvinan, 2014; Yataganbaba & Yildirim,

2015; Gwee & Saravanan, 2016; Grant & Nguyen, 2017), however most of these studies relied

on qualitative statements from teachers. A review of relevant studies revealed only three studies

that conducted a quantitative discourse analysis of code-switching in language classrooms.

(Gwee & Saravanan, 2016; Yataganbaba & Yildirim, 2015; Liu, Ahn, Baek, et al., 2004). The

results of these studies show that there is a high amount of variability in the frequency of code-

switching. Gwee & Saravanan (2016) found that teachers rarely used the students’ L1 in the
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classroom. Their study used conversation analysis of 5th grade multilingual classes in several

content areas in Singapore including science, math, social science, and language classes. Their

analysis was extensive, covering 5 units of material for each content area. After all of the speech

acts were analyzed, the results showed that teachers code-switched to the students’ L1 during

only 4% of the interactions. Although the frequency was low for all teachers, there was variation

depending on the content area. According to the analysis, science and math teachers used code-

switching twice as often as English and social science teachers. This may have been influenced

by the difficulty of explaining unfamiliar concepts in these fields. The low amount of code-

switching may have also been influenced by the school’s policies emphasizing the use of English

in the classroom. These findings were confirmed to some extent by another study showing that

the amount of code-switching in Turkish EFL classrooms ranged from 0.6% to 27.5%

(Yataganbaba & Yildirim, 2015). Although there was a considerable amount of variation

between teachers, the overall frequency was still relatively low. In contrast to this situation, Liu,

Ahn, Baek, et al. (2004) found that high-school English teachers in South Korea used code-

switching frequently in the classroom, with almost 70% of the interactions conducted partially in

the students’ L1. Although there was a government policy encouraging the use of English in both

Singapore and Korea, teachers in Korea code-switched much more frequently than the teachers

in Singapore. From this study it seems apparent that English policies are not the only factor

affecting the use of code-switching in the classroom.

Student and Teacher Attitudes toward Code-switching

Attitudes toward code-switching are another factor that could affect the use of teacher-

initiated code-switching. A number of studies have investigated both teacher and student

attitudes toward code-switching. These two topics will be addressed in turn.

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Three studies surveyed teachers and found that in general teachers had a tentatively

positive attitude toward code-switching (Lee, 2010; Simasiku, Kasanda, & Smit, 2015; Siong &

Min, 2017). However, all three studies added some sort of caveat about using code-switching in

the language classroom. According to Lee (2010), approximately 85% of the teachers surveyed

had a positive view of code-switching, but a large majority also believed that the frequency of

code-switching should be regulated. Of the teachers who thought that the frequency should be

regulated, 47% said that code-switching should only be used when necessary, and another 42%

said that code-switching should be used sometimes. Simasiku, Kasanda, & Smit (2015) also

found that many teachers had a positive attitude toward code-switching, but many of the teachers

expressed concerns about effects of code-switching. Some of concerns included decreased

student comprehension of English, decreased proficiency and test scores, and student reliance on

code-switching in both spoken and written English. The comments of one teacher seem to reflect

the general consensus by stating that code-switching is “both positive and negative. If done to a

lesser extent it won’t have a negative effect on the improvement of medium of instruction” (p.

72). A survey by Siong & Min (2017) found a similar mix of positive and negative attitudes

toward code-switching, but noted that the attitudes of teachers were moderated by ethnicity and

classroom experience. Teachers who were the same ethnicity as their students showed a more

positive attitude toward code-switching, especially when used to aid interpersonal relationships

with their students. Interestingly, the more years of experience a teacher had, the more likely it

was they would show a positive attitude toward code-switching. This suggests that as teachers

gain experience with teaching, they recognize benefits and possible uses of code-switching as a

teaching tool.
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Student attitudes regarding teacher code-switching in the language classroom are harder

to gauge, partially due to the small number of studies focusing on student perspectives (Liu et al.,

2004; Simasiku, Kasanda & Smit, 2015; Fareed, 2016; Rauf, 2017). Of these four studies, only

one study found an overwhelmingly positive attitude toward teacher code-switching (Rauf,

2017). The authors noted that code-switching was “in vogue among the students and teachers”

(p. 216) at the institution where the survey was conducted, but also recognized that the results of

the survey may not be generalizable to other contexts. The other studies involving student

attitudes showed more mixed responses (Liu et al., 2004; Simasiku, Kasanda & Smit, 2015;

Fareed, 2016). As an example, Fareed (2016) surveyed 156 university students in Karachi,

finding that student attitudes varied significantly, with some students showing positive attitudes

while others showed negative attitudes. While some students believed that code-switching helped

reduce anxiety and facilitated learning, others felt that code-switching restricted their access to

English input, reduced proficiency gains, or negatively impacted the rhythm of the lecture. Some

students even saw code-switching as a negative reflection on teachers’ language abilities for

teachers who were non-native speakers of English (Fareed, 2016, p. 6). This variety in attitudes

was also found in the surveys conducted by Liu et al. (2004) and Simasiku, Kasanda & Smit

(2015). These results serve as a good reminder that any discussion on student attitudes should be

tempered by awareness that the personal preferences and learning styles of students can affect

their attitudes toward different aspects of classroom learning.

Effects of Code-switching

Regardless of teacher and student attitudes toward code-switching, a more important

question may be what effect teacher-initiated code-switching has on second language acquisition.

Although several studies found that teachers believe that code-switching helps the students learn
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a second language (Lee, 2010; Yataganbaba, 2015), few studies tested whether that was actually

the case. A review of the relevant literature revealed only two studies that included quantitative

data on the effects of code-switching as a teaching tool (Rauf, 2017; Zhu & Vanek, 2017). Both

studies were published within the past year, showing that research in this area is still in the

beginning stages.

Rauf (2017) examined the relationship between teacher-initiated code-switching and

student scores on achievement tests at the end of the school year for 400 intermediate Pakistani

students. The students’ score from the previous year was used as a baseline for individual student

proficiency. All of the participants answered a questionnaire in which they rated items related to

teacher-initiated code-switching on a 5-point Likert scale. A correlation showed no significant

relationship between teacher-initiated code-switching and test scores. However, the students

came from several institutions, meaning that differences between student test scores could be

influenced by a number of variables related to the learning environment. Pinpointing specific

aspects of teaching styles and classroom behaviors that influence test scores would be difficult in

this situation, especially when the frequency of teacher-initiated code-switching was only

reported through the questionnaire. From this study it is difficult to make any conclusions about

the effects of teacher-initiated code-switching on language acquisition.

In contrast to the study conducted by Rauf (2017), Zhu & Vanek (2017) found that

teacher-initiated code-switching had a significant effect on the length of classroom interactions.

Their study used classroom observations and interviews to compare the frequency and length of

student responses in English-only classes and English-Chinese code-switching classes at a

Chinese secondary school. Results showed that teachers in the code-switching classrooms were

fairly consistent in the amount of code-switching that they employed, with only a 2-3%
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difference between class sessions. The analysis revealed that students in the code-switching

classrooms showed increased response frequencies as well as a longer mean length of utterance

(MLU). While it appears that students participated more in classrooms where code-switching

was used, it should also be noted that the students tended to respond using the same language

that the teacher used. It is possible that students in the English-only classes used shorter

utterances, but used more of the target language overall. As with Rauf’s study (2017), more

research is needed to confirm or deny whether teacher-initiated code-switching has a measurable

effect on language acquisition.

Conclusion

At the present time there are not many definite conclusions that can be made from the

existing research. Current studies show a considerable amount of variation (Liu et al., 2004;

Simasiku, Kasanda & Smit, 2015; Rauf, 2017), but the source of the variation is not clear. There

are only a small number of studies focusing on each aspect of code-switching, and each study

has a number of uncontrolled variables. Variation could stem from policies specific to the

countries (e.g. government policies in Singapore and South Korea), individual differences, or

differences in experimental procedures.

Future Research

To address the gaps in research, future studies could investigate cultural and individual

factors that affect the use of code-switching in different countries. These studies could measure

the effect of different factors on the frequency of code-switching or attitudes toward code-

switching. There is also a need for quantitative research the investigates whether code-switching

is as effective as teaching only in English. This knowledge would be especially pertinent for EFL

contexts where teachers share an L1 with their students and have the option of communicating
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with them in both languages. As discussed by Fareed (2016), teachers have mixed attitudes

toward code-switching, partially resulting from a lack of knowledge about the effectiveness of

code-switching. Without this basic knowledge, teachers will continue to be unsure whether their

use of code-switching is based on solid evidence from research.

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References

Fareed, M., Humayun, S., & Akhtar, H. (2016). English language teachers’ code-switching in

class: ESL learners’ perceptions. Journal of Education & Social Sciences, 4(1), 1-11.

Gwee, S., & Saravanan, V. (2016). Use of code-switching in multilingual content subject and

language classrooms. International Journal of Multilingualism, 1-18.

Grant, L. E., & Nguyen, T. H. (2017). Code-switching in Vietnamese university EFL teachers’

classroom instruction: a pedagogical focus. Language Awareness, 26(3), 244-259.

Järvinen, H. (2014). An EFL teacher's code-switching and language choice in primary school: a

case study (Master’s thesis). Retrieved from

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Lee, H. L. J. (2010). Code switching in the teaching of English as a second language to

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Liu, D., Ahn, G. S., Baek, K. S., & Han, N. O. (2004). South Korean high school English

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Simasiku, L., Kasanda, C., & Smit, T. (2015). Can code switching enhance learners’ academic

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Siong, T. N., & Min, L. H. (2017). Socio-environmental factors impacting on teachers’ attitudes

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