Language choice and code-switching

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Topic 3

• Language choice and code-switching

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Language choice in communities

• Review DOMAINS
• Refer to typical habits of language use in a
  speech community
• Chinese in Hong Kong use Cantonese at home
• Indians in Singapore use English in education
• Chinese in Malaysia use Bahasa for government
  business.

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Language choice among individuals Code-switching

• As well as making generalisations about speech
  communities, we also need to account for language
  choice among individuals
• CODE-SWITCHING refers to changes of code
  (variety) by individuals
• People sometimes switch code within a domain or
  social situation
• Code-switching is not arbitrary there is always
  a reason (though it may be hard to see)
• It refers to a choice made by the individual.
  Social factors influence the choices.

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Social factors involved in code-switching

• Holmes (2001)
• Participant
• Topic
• Affective functions

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Code-switching vs code-mixing

• In much of the literature
• CODE SWITCHING is at clause or sentence level
• CODE-MIXING is within a sentence
• But sometimes they are used interchangeably.

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When is a change of code, code-switching?

• Cantonese speakers switch to English or PTH to
  address one another when a PTH speaker joins them
  even though the PTH speaker is not being spoken
  to directly
• They could continue in Cantonese but in order to
  include the PTH speaker in the group, they switch
  codes.
• Code-switching can show group solidarity, shared
  ethnicity, social distance between participants

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• Cantonese speakers participating in a discussion
  in an English language class in English change to
  Cantonese to talk about their plans for the
  weekend
• They could talk about their plans in English but
  they are more comfortable doing this in
  Cantonese.
• Code-switching can reflect associations of
  certain topics with a language.

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• A teacher uses English in class. She changes to
  Cantonese to tell off a student when she is angry
  because the student has consistently not done her
  homework.
• The student would understand the English but the
  telling off is more effective in their shared
  first language. The teachers anger is more
  apparent.
• Code switching can show a speakers feelings
  rather than carrying referential meaning.

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When is a change of code NOT code-switching?

• Code-switching refers to CHOICE
• NOT when the speaker has to change because she is
  not proficient in a given code.
• NOT when there is no word available in the code
  being used.

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Why do Cantonese speakers in Hong Kong use
English words in their speech (Tse, 1992)?

• 1. Luke (1998) refers to orientational
  switching.
• When educated Cantonese speakers have a choice,
  they may sometimes choose an English (or English
  sounding) word rather than a Cantonese word if
  the topic has Western associations AND if the 2
  choices are equal in other ways (same level of
  formality, etc.)
• 2. Holmes (2001) refers to metaphorical
  switching.
• To fill a lexical gap (expedient) owing to
  high frequency, field specific English vocabulary
  related to work or studies
• 3. To serve as euphemism or some kind of
  emotional buffer in place of the unwanted taboo
  words or words carrying emotive meaning in
  Chinese

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Code-switching as a resource

• Code-switching enables bilinguals to use their
  linguistic repertoire to respond positively to
  changes in social factors

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Code-switching in education

• Mixed code, as constructed in the Hong Kong
  government official discourses, is portrayed
  almost as an ugly, insidious, monstrous animal,
  wildly trampling on and destroying everything,
  especially young minds, if it is not severely
  controlled and banned from certain important
  domains, for instance, the classroom (Lin , 2000).

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Code-switching in education

• The Hong Kong Government emphasises that teachers
  should not use mixed code in the classroom.
  Why?
• Teachers in school are a linguistic model for
  their students. Students can only choose between
  two codes if they know two codes.
• If they consistently hear a mixture of English
  and Cantonese, their learning of English might be
  affected (probably not their learning of
  Cantonese).

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Code switching in the English classroom

• As an effective marker of boundaries in discourse
  and changes in frame (or footing). For example it
  can be employed to contextualize (usually
  simultaneously) the following
• A change in the discourse topic
• A shift in the rolerelationship between the
  teacher and students
• A modification of the participation framework

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Code switching in the English classroom

• For grammar teaching and vocabulary teaching
• the L2-L1-L2 sequence

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Two types of reasons for L1 use

• Student-initiated reasons
• Students do not understand
• Students lack discipline
• Individual students need the help of L1
• For negotiation and defence
• Not enough time left in the teaching period
• Teacher-initiated reasons
• The teacher enjoys using L1
• The teacher is over worried
• The teacher considers the use of L1 to be
  expedient

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Language choice in the Classroom

• Low-English proficiency students
• The unchanged demands of the English examination
  syllabus
• The need to live up to the expectations of
  educators and or parents

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Swain (1997) has outlined a range of important
research questions

• What use should be made of the students first
  language?
• Should the teacher ever use it?
• Are there ways in which he or she can use the
  first language to support second language
  learning rather than undermine it? And what about
  the students?
• For what purposes do they use their first
  language?
• Is the use of the first language cognitively
  essential to their learning of both content and
  the second language? (Swain, 1997, p.267)

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Language choice
By a community
By individuals
Social factors Setting Participants Topic Social
distance Status Formality Affective meaning
Code-switching
Domains
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Writing task

• Please see the handout for the writing task to be
  submitted to your seminar tutor by next Friday
• This is NOT a formally assessed piece of writing
• To give YOU some early practice in academic
  writing
• To give YOU and US an indication of any special
  problems you may have
• Read the instructions carefully and do as they
  say. Writing that does not meet the requirements
  will not be graded.