THE FUNCTIONS OF CODE-SWITCHING USED DURING THE STUDENT-TEACHER INTERACTIONS IN THE CLASSROOMS: OBSERVATIONS AND IMPACTS

Abstract

The alternation among a number of languages within a stretch of language, recognized as "code-switching" (CS), is considered a valuable strategy for bilinguals in trying to make linguistic choices for purposes of communication. According to different points of view, code-switching can be viewed as a strategy to communicate meanings at the macro scale (such as identity, solidarity, etc.) or as an attempt to convey intended meaning to the hearer within the limits of conversational interaction at the micro-scale. Even though code-switching is widely accepted as a strategy for bilingual speakers, its application in foreign language learning remains controversial. However, recent researchers have emphasized its potential. This small-scale research looks at code-switching by students and teachers in an English as a foreign language lesson at Jordan University. Dialogue analysis was employed to analyze sample extracts and transcripts' code-switching occurrences. The results indicate that code-switching is being used by students and teachers to obtain access to language or as a classroom management method. This study also shows that code-switching can be utilized by learners to avoid L2 when the lesson content is irrelevant to them. In such cases, code-switching does not achieve its potential as a discourse strategy, and learning languages is unlikely to be facilitated.